The leader displayed his identification.

"Mr. Lu Jingran, regarding the Lu Medical group’s suspected commercial embezzlement, malicious rumors, and illegal acquisition of commercial data, please cooperate with our investigation."

The color drained from Mina’s face instantly.

She instinctively stepped back half a step, trying to distance herself from Lu Jingran.

Lu Jingran looked at her sharply.

"What are you afraid of?"

Mina shook her head frantically: "Mr. Lu, I don't know anything, I just followed your arrangements..."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the room was in an uproar.

Lu Jingran’s eyes were sinister.

"Fool."

Only then did Mina realize she had let it slip, her face turning ghastly white.

I looked at her, finding it laughable.

She had always been best at relying on men’s power.

Julian could give her designer bags, and Lu Jingran could take her to galas.

But when the backing collapsed, she was always the first one to be pushed to the front to take the hit.

18

Before Lu Jingran was taken away, he looked back at me.

"Clara Shen, do you think that by beating the Fu family and the Lu family, you can keep winning forever?"

I looked at him calmly.

"I don't need to win forever."

"I only need those who deserve to lose, to lose clearly and completely."

He sneered and was led out of the banquet hall.

Mina stood where she was, her legs weak.

Julian finally walked over to support her.

But the moment his hand touched her arm, Mina clung to him like a life-saving straw, speaking urgently:

"Julian, you have to help me! Lu Jingran told me to livestream; he said that as long as I dragged Clara Shen into the mud, the Fu family would completely break ties with Evergreen. When that happens, the Lu family would take over Fu Medical, and you could return to the company!"

Julian froze entirely.

"What did you say?"

Mina cried as she explained: "I did it for you! I didn't want to watch you be stepped on by Clara Shen, I didn't want to see the Fu family bullied by her..."

Julian pulled his hand away and stepped back.

At that moment, the look in his eyes no longer held the sympathy of the past.

There was only humiliation, disgust, and a belated realization.

"So you’ve been using me all along?"

Mina shook her head: "No, Julian, I love you. I really love you."

Julian gave a low laugh.

There was not a trace of warmth in that laugh.

"You love me, so you used me as a bargaining chip?"

"You love me, so you made my father's company a tool for you and the Lu family?"

"You love me, so you pushed me out in front of everyone to be humiliated?"

Mina’s tears streamed down her face.

"I had no choice. I just wanted to climb higher. I’m not like Clara Shen; she has everything, I had to fight for it myself."

I spoke calmly:

"Fighting for yourself is not the same thing as destroying someone else's marriage, misappropriating marital assets, or spreading rumors to sell sympathy."

Mina looked at me sharply, her eyes full of hatred.

"Clara Shen, you’ve already won; why won't you let me go?"

I looked at her.

"Because after you did those wrong things, you never truly admitted your fault."

She opened her mouth, wanting to argue.

Patrick had already walked up to her.

"Ms. Mina, regarding your receipt of Mr. Julian Fu’s marital assets, your involvement in online defamation, and your cooperation with the Lu family in spreading false information, we will pursue legal action."

Mina stumbled back a step.

"You can't do this..."

No one paid her any attention.

The sympathy she once traded for with tears was worth nothing in the face of evidence.

Julian stood in the crowd, looking as if all his strength had been drained.

He looked at me, his voice hoarse:

"Clara, I'm sorry."

This time, he wasn't angry, he wasn't unwilling, and he wasn't forced.

He was just pathetic.

I looked at him.

I had waited three years for these words.

Waited until the food went cold on the table late at night.

Waited for him to say he was "busy with the company" on our anniversary.

Waited for his mother's cold mockery.

Waited for his sister's humiliations in her social media posts.

Waited for that final divorce certificate.

But now that I had finally waited for it, I realized it no longer had any meaning.

"Julian Fu."

I said softly.

"You aren't sorry to me."

He was stunned.

I continued:

"You are sorry to the Clara Shen who once truly loved you and was willing to live an ordinary life with you."

"But she is gone."

Julian’s eyes turned red instantly.

He took a step forward.

"Clara, can we still..."

"No."

I interrupted him.

"I don't look back."

He stood there, as if he finally understood what he had lost.

It wasn't Ms. Lin’s daughter.

It wasn't the heir to 2.8 billion in assets.

It wasn't the representative of Evergreen Capital.

It was the Clara Shen who used to cook him hangover soup in the Fu family kitchen, leave the lights on for him when he stayed up late, and carefully maintain his dignity in front of his parents.

Unfortunately, people only learn to measure value after they lose it.

And as for me, I no longer need him to understand.

19

After the gala, Chairman Fu took the initiative to find me and my mother.

Overnight, he seemed to have aged ten years.

"Ms. Lin, Clara, Fu Medical is willing to accept all the conditions proposed by Evergreen."

My mother didn't speak; she looked at me.

This time, everyone understood that I was the one with the real decision-making power.

I opened the document Patrick handed over.

"Fu Medical retains its core medical projects but exits the primary market competition."

"Evergreen takes over 18% of the shares and dispatches a financial and risk management team."

"Julian Fu will no longer hold any management positions and cannot participate in Fu Medical’s operational decisions for three years."

"The Fu family must return the misappropriated marital assets, and the gifts received by Mina under her name must be recovered according to the law."

"Sia and Leung Pui-wan must publicly apologize for their previous rumors and insults."

I looked up at Chairman Fu.

"Sign it, and Fu Medical can survive."

"But from now on, Fu Medical will no longer be the Fu family's Fu Medical."

Chairman Fu gripped the pen, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Julian stood behind him and whispered:

"Dad, sign it."

Chairman Fu closed his eyes and finally signed his name.

With that stroke, the era of the Fu family ended.

In the following month, everything proceeded according to plan.

Lu Medical was officially investigated, and multiple projects were halted.

Lu Jingran was banned from leaving the country.

The old case of the Lu family framing the Shen and Gu families twenty years ago re-entered the public eye.

My father’s innocence, arriving twenty years late, was restored by an official report.

That day, my mother went to the cemetery alone.

I went with her.

The man on the tombstone had gentle eyes.

My mother crouched down and wiped the fallen leaves from the stone.

She didn't cry.

She just whispered:

"Old Shen, Clara has grown up."

I stood behind her, my eyes suddenly burning.

For so many years, I thought Mom was so strong that she didn't need anyone.

But that day I realized, it wasn't that she didn't feel pain.

She had just hidden all the pain away to hold up the sky for me.

I walked over and held her hand.

"Mom, from now on, I'll be with you."

She looked at me and smiled.

"Okay."

The Fu family’s apology statement was also released.

Leung Pui-wan recorded a video in person.

In the video, she was no longer the aloof Mrs. Fu.

Her face was haggard, her tone stiff, but she was forced to admit every word:

"Over the past three years, I have engaged in verbal abuse and inappropriate treatment of Ms. Clara Shen; I hereby offer my solemn apology."

Sia’s account stopped updating entirely.

I heard that all her previously agreed-upon brand collaborations were canceled, and no one in her social circle wanted to associate with her anymore.

Mina’s situation was even worse.

Brands terminated their contracts, and the platform banned her livestreaming account.

After the lawsuit for the recovery of the gifts she received was heard in court, she was forced to sell most of her luxury goods, only to find that the second-hand resale value of the things she once boasted about was far lower than she imagined.

Later, she sent me a very long email.

She said she regretted it.

She said she just wanted to change her fate too much.

She said if she could do it over again, she wouldn't have taken this path.