Chapter 6: Can the Loss Be Recovered?

Xu Ruyan sat behind her desk. After finishing the little bit of work in front of her, she was ready to take a short break.

When she heard a knock at the door, she thought it was one of the managers downstairs with something to report, but it turned out to be Yang Tao.

Actually, when Xu Ruyan looked at Yang Tao, it was as if she were looking at a younger cousin from her own family. That cousin had been very close to her and had always trailed after her when they were children, which was why she treated Yang Tao so kindly. Otherwise, why would Xu Ruyan be so approachable toward a stranger? Even some of the company managers thought Xu Ruyan was far too hard to get close to.

Seeing Yang Tao come in, Xu Ruyan frowned. That morning when she came out of the elevator, she had noticed that Yang Tao looked very pale and weak. Before he got on the elevator he had been perfectly fine, but by the time he came out, he looked like a different person.

She had asked him then, but Yang Tao had not wanted to say anything, so she had not bothered to press the issue. After all, Yang Tao only looked like her cousin; he was not really her cousin.

But now he looked even weaker, and his lips had almost no color left.

"Come sit." Xu Ruyan stood up and told Yang Tao to sit on the sofa.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? If you are, I'll approve leave for you. Go to the hospital and get checked out." Xu Ruyan thought Yang Tao had come to ask for time off.

"Ms. Xu, I'm not sick, and I didn't come here to ask for leave." Yang Tao sighed and looked into Xu Ruyan's eyes, his face full of sincerity and worry.

"Then what is it?" Xu Ruyan frowned. If he wasn't here for leave, then what had he come to her for?

"Ms. Xu, have you ever had your fortune told?" Yang Tao answered a question with a question.

Xu Ruyan froze. Fortune telling?

She did know a little about it. She came from a wealthy family, and the elders at home were very willing to believe in feng shui. The higher one's status, the more one knew, and when it came to these things, people would rather believe they were real than risk missing the truth.

"No." Xu Ruyan didn't understand what Yang Tao was trying to say, so she simply answered and waited quietly for him to continue.

"Then you should know something about this as well, right?" Yang Tao continued to guide her.

"I do." Xu Ruyan was getting a little impatient. She knew this sort of conversation very well. It was the kind of thing that gradually deepened the other person's assumptions and stirred up curiosity.

If Yang Tao hadn't looked like her cousin, she would probably have already thrown him out.

Seeing Xu Ruyan's suddenly impatient expression, Yang Tao's heart gave a jolt. He coughed hard, forcing himself to look even weaker.

He was still too inexperienced. Whether in his past life or in this one, he had never dealt with people from the upper class. His intelligence and emotional awareness were decent, but there were many things he had never truly experienced; relying only on his own reasoning was not enough.

He had originally planned to slowly arouse Xu Ruyan's curiosity and then peel back his mysterious facade step by step so that she would believe him. But he had never considered what he would do if Xu Ruyan didn't follow his script.

Seeing his face grow even paler, Xu Ruyan's expression softened. She leaned slightly forward on the sofa, showing that she was listening. "Yang Tao, just say whatever you want. I'm listening. Even if you say something wrong, I won't blame you."

Yang Tao silently sighed. "It's like this, Ms. Xu. This morning when you came out of the elevator and asked why my face had suddenly turned so bad, I didn't tell you because I saw something you couldn't see."

Xu Ruyan kept her expression unreadable, but her eyes clearly changed. She leaned even farther forward.

"Go on."

"Actually, I'm a disciple of a reclusive sect. I didn't come to work yesterday because I had just finally achieved something in my training. Our sect has a special ability: we can see certain future events in a person's life."

"In other words, what people commonly call fortune telling." As he said that, Yang Tao glanced at Xu Ruyan's expression and saw that she was already showing a very interested look.

"So you're saying that in the elevator, you helped me tell my fortune, and that caused a backlash?" Xu Ruyan said with a smile.

Yang Tao shook his head, knowing that Xu Ruyan was already mocking him inwardly. A reclusive sect? In this day and age, what reclusive sect was there? They were all just con artists.

"No," Yang Tao said, shaking his head. "Fortune telling doesn't cause backlash, but telling someone's fortune without permission does drain some of my energy, which is why you thought I looked unwell then."

"Ms. Xu, your fate is very good. Both your wealth and your fortune are excellent. I'm guessing your assets are probably no less than a hundred million."

Only then did Yang Tao throw out a topic that shocked Xu Ruyan a little.

Xu Ruyan felt uncertain. She had come to Changsha to work in order to avoid her ex-husband's harassment, and no one knew her identity. Even her car was just an ordinary Audi A4, and the clothes she wore cost only a few thousand yuan a set.

That kind of outfit would suit the vice president of a small company, but Yang Tao said her assets were no less than a hundred million, and he said it with such certainty that it didn't sound like he was probing at all. She trusted her own judgment; Yang Tao must have learned something.

"Have you investigated me?" That was Xu Ruyan's first reaction, and her voice turned a little cold.

Yang Tao still shook his head. "Ms. Xu, I don't know you, and I don't know what background you have. This really is what I figured out. And I also figured out that at 2:21 this afternoon, you will lose more than twenty million."

"Impossible!" Xu Ruyan immediately shot back.

"Ms. Xu, don't rush to deny it. Think about whether anything has been off lately. After all, more than twenty million isn't a small amount. And I can also tell you that this more than twenty million isn't all cash. Part of it is cash, and part of it is fixed assets. It's almost one o'clock now, and there's still an hour and a half before everything is settled. You have plenty of time to confirm it, don't you?"

"Besides, do you really think that based on how much you know about me, I have any ability to dig into your background? Before this, I was just an ordinary person."

Yang Tao was able to determine that Xu Ruyan had assets of no less than a hundred million because he could tell from the scale of the loss. Someone who could invest more than twenty million, plus hold some fixed assets, would hardly have less than a hundred million.

What Yang Tao could see in the future would tell him how much Xu Ruyan would lose and at what time, whether it was cash or fixed assets, but not the exact manner of the loss. Otherwise, Yang Tao could have told Xu Ruyan directly.

Just like with the girl from Sichuan before, he could see the loss of fortune, the time, and the amount, but he did not know it was caused by a robbery.

Only through the changes in fortune could he make rough guesses about some things.

But Xu Ruyan's fortune had not changed much over the past three months, so the loss of more than twenty million probably would not have much impact on her in the near term.

Xu Ruyan looked at Yang Tao with flickering eyes. Indeed, with Yang Tao's abilities, there was no way he could have found out about her background.

She really had invested a large sum of money recently, and for that she had even sold a house. If it was all counted together, it came to more than twenty million. She had not told anyone about this, so Yang Tao had no way of knowing.

Taking a deep breath, Xu Ruyan suppressed the shock in her heart. "I understand. You can go out first. If it's true, I'll thank you."

Yang Tao looked at Xu Ruyan, not knowing whether she had taken it seriously, but since he had already said it, whether or not he managed to recover the loss would prove that what he said was true.

"All right, Ms. Xu. Then I'll head out first." Yang Tao stood up, nodded, and walked out.

Having just described himself as a disciple of a reclusive sect, he naturally needed a plausible identity for himself. At first, Yang Tao had thought he should keep a low profile and not change his personality or manner too quickly, so as not to arouse suspicion.

But now he was openly telling Xu Ruyan that he could read fortunes and knew what was about to happen, and this morning he had even gone head-to-head with Zhang Zhang, clearly showing how different his personality had become.

Those two behaviors were actually pulling in opposite directions. That was because Yang Tao felt that if he kept his former timid, introverted personality and changed too slowly, he would never be able to complete the first task the system had given him within the required time.

It was better to be direct.

As for whether saying this to Xu Ruyan would make her call the police or stir up other thoughts, Yang Tao felt that calling the police was almost impossible. Even if she did, the police would have to believe her. As for any other thoughts, if what he said was true, people would be too busy flattering him to dare entertain anything else.

Mysterious and uncanny things were the most awe-inspiring of all.

Yang Tao returned to his workstation. Afternoon work started at two o'clock, and it was only one now. The act was done, so it was time to rest. He lay his head on the desk, and soon a faint snore could be heard.

Yang Tao fell asleep, but Xu Ruyan had no intention of sleeping. A loss of more than twenty million was a huge sum to anyone, and Xu Ruyan could not pretend this had not happened.

She made call after call, and within less than twenty minutes, a return call came in.

"Sister Ruyan, you're amazing. That bastard was just about to run off with the money, and we've blocked him on the way to the airport." An excited voice came from the other end.

"What!" Xu Ruyan was astonished. "Where was he trying to go?"

"A small country in Africa. Everything was already arranged. If he had really gotten on that plane, we might never have found him."

The caller went on, "Sister Ruyan, how did you know about this? That's just uncanny."

"That bastard didn't tell anyone. He kept everything extremely secretive. When we stopped him, he looked completely dumbfounded. It was fucking hilarious!" The other side was probably too excited and couldn't help blurting out a curse.

"Don't swear!"

Xu Ruyan quickly recovered. She did not answer the question. Her eyes flickered. "He took more than twenty million from me. It should still be on him. After you get the money back, transfer it to my card. Keep one million for yourself."

"Got it!" The other end laughed. "Sister Ruyan, when did you get him to handle so much money? Nobody even knew about it."

"That's none of your business." Xu Ruyan gave no explanation and said flatly, "That's enough for now. Go handle your work."

"All right! You can trust me. If he doesn't spit the money back out, I'll kill him." The other side said fiercely.

"Don't act recklessly. The money is definitely still on him. It's just a matter of how you'll make him hand it over." Xu Ruyan warned him.

By now she already basically believed Yang Tao's words. It was only a little past 1:40 now. Since Yang Tao had said that the money would not be definitively lost until after two o'clock, and since that bastard was already on his way to the plane, it was enough to confirm that once the plane took off and left the ground normally, the money would never come back.

Once the plane took off and he reached Africa, Xu Ruyan would have no ability to get that money back, and the loss would be final. Since it had not yet taken off, the money must still be on the man himself.

Sitting in her chair, Xu Ruyan's chest rose and fell hard, and the buttons on her blouse looked like they were about to burst.

She had never imagined that people like this really existed in the world. In this society, to discover danger one step ahead of everyone else was an incredibly powerful ability. Xu Ruyan could already imagine how miraculous Yang Tao would be in the future.

"Why would he tell me this?" As a woman, no matter how high her status was, Xu Ruyan's thoughts were always a little different from a man's. In an instant, countless thoughts rose in her mind.

"He must be feeling awful right now." Suddenly remembering Yang Tao's pale, weak look when he came in, Xu Ruyan panicked and hurried to her feet, opening the door.

At this time it was still noon. Most people were resting, and only a few did not sleep at midday, instead scrolling through novels on their phones or playing games.

Xu Ruyan spotted Yang Tao asleep at his workstation at a glance. To her now, Yang Tao was completely different.

In her heart there was gratitude, lingering fear, concern, and another feeling she could not put into words.

A loss of more than twenty million was already enough to affect many things in Xu Ruyan's current situation. She did not dare imagine what kind of predicament she would face if this investment had failed.

She could hardly even imagine it.

"Better not disturb him for now." Xu Ruyan hesitated for a moment and decided to wait until Yang Tao woke up before looking for him.