Chapter 22: You Have Lost!

He Di burst into a fit of wild laughter, his guffaws echoing through the air, thick with triumph.

Jiang Zhaoyang felt a wave of nausea, as if he had swallowed a dead fly. With an icy tone, he demanded, "Give me back my phone."

He Di pulled the device from his person. "This is yours? I didn’t realize it was yours at the time. I just… took it by chance." He Di offered a playful smirk, then produced his own phone as well. "I really should thank you for this phone. Without it, how could I have found out Xiao Wen’s birthday? Ha! Not to mention using money to win over her family and make them look at me with such admiration."

As He Di mentioned Xiao Wen, a flicker of pain crossed Jiang Zhaoyang’s eyes.

"Now, and in the future, Xiao Wen is destined to be mine," He Di provoked. "So what if I’ve usurped your place? So what if I’ve stolen your love? The world belongs to the strong. I have the power to win her—is that a crime?" He roared with laughter, his voice filled with arrogance and defiance. "It is destiny! Even your phone has helped me from the shadows! Ha, no, that’s wrong!"

He Di suddenly shifted his tone, his eyes glinting with cunning. "It’s that even you have been secretly facilitating this! If you hadn’t been so careless as to swap our phones back then, how would I have had such an opportunity?"

Every word from He Di landed like a razor blade, carving bloody gashes into Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, yet he maintained his composure and restraint.

"When luck turns, even a hero is powerless; when it arrives, iron turns to gold, and heaven and earth conspire to help! You have lost, Jiang Zhaoyang. You have lost completely."

He Di wore a mocking smile, his expression filled with smug provocation, like a cat toying with a trapped mouse. He then shifted his tone again, speaking with a touch of mockery: "But don't worry, I won't treat you poorly in the future."

Jiang Zhaoyang was startled, unable to fathom what He Di was plotting.

He Di curled his lip into a cold sneer. "I will take a photo of myself and Xiao Wen in an intimate moment so you can share in this rare joy. No, no! That’s too ordinary; it proves nothing." His eyes shimmered with lecherous desire. "Don’t worry, why would I be so sloppy? I’m going to capture a photo of Xiao Wen in my arms—her eyes hazy, her heart stirred, her body soft and yielding. That will be the proof that she is entirely mine. I’ll be generous enough to let you have a look!"

He Di paused, savoring the complex, twisted expression on Jiang Zhaoyang’s face. He continued, his voice dripping with arrogance: "I want you to know what true despair is. What it means to lose everything! This photo will make your blood boil and keep you awake at night!"

He Di let out another sinister laugh. He threw the phone he had been toying with onto the wide desk with a dull thud.

"This is indeed your phone. Its mission is complete. To me, it’s just a piece of scrap metal now, worthless! I can give it back to you—returned to its rightful owner!"

However, his expression shifted, turning profound and inscrutable. A cryptic, mischievous curve touched his lips as he drew out his words, baiting Jiang Zhaoyang.

Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart sank, his stomach churning. He suppressed his discomfort and asked coldly, "Just what? Stop beating around the bush and say it."

"Just," He Di said, his tone turning eerie, "have you read *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*?"

"I have," Jiang Zhaoyang replied, a sense of foreboding rising within him. "What kind of nonsense are you trying to pull?"

"Heh!" He Di’s laughter rang out again, like the cry of a sinister hawk in the night. "Then you must know that Liu Bei had a horse. Its name was Dilu, right?" He spat the name out slowly, each syllable squeezed through his teeth with an unspeakable chill. The air seemed to fill with an ominous aura. "Those who ride it meet with misfortune; Liu Bei’s strategist, Pang Tong, died because he rode that horse. This phone is just like Dilu—it has already brought you bad luck, hasn't it?"

He Di tossed the phone into the air and caught it steadily, asking mockingly, "Still want it? Ha!"

Jiang Zhaoyang retorted indignantly, "A phone is just a communication tool. Its value lies in transmitting information, not in some ethereal prophecies or superstitions. Only someone like you would believe in such feudal dregs." Before the words were fully out, he slammed He Di’s phone onto the desk.

It hit the table with a sharp crack. "Here is yours back." Jiang Zhaoyang then picked up his own phone from the desk, tucked it into his coat, and turned to leave without another word.

Behind him, He Di’s cold laughter followed: "Miser! Penny-pincher! You’re just a pauper! Too stingy to buy a new phone, clinging to a jinxed one. And full of lies, saying you don't believe in superstition! If you aren't willing to let go, how can you ever gain anything? What kind of great things could a man like you ever achieve? Who would ever respect you?"

After leaving the office, Jiang Zhaoyang walked toward the office of the Town Mayor, Lin Weiquan. The sunlight in the corridor was dappled, stretching his shadow long and adding to his sense of desolation. Suddenly, he collided with someone rushing in the opposite direction.

The person was incredibly soft. Jiang Zhaoyang was shaken. He had run into a woman as light as willow fluff.

He was currently in a difficult position. At such a sensitive time, any small stir could become leverage for others to criticize him, especially an accidental physical encounter with a woman. The slightest slip could lead to accusations of "intentional harassment" or even "indecency." If the other party were to make a scene, he would be in deep trouble!

He was about to apologize with an apologetic expression when the woman spoke first, sounding pleasantly surprised: "Director, you’re still here?"

Jiang Zhaoyang was stunned. It was Bai Wei. Most of his former colleagues were avoiding him like the plague. Why was Bai Wei still addressing him as "Director" as if nothing had changed? Wasn't she just asking for Lin Weiquan’s displeasure? Wasn't she afraid of being targeted or ostracized?

Jiang Zhaoyang’s heart was a whirlpool of conflicting emotions. Was Bai Wei’s gesture unintentional, or was it deliberate?