Chapter 4 - The Boardroom Marriage
The district court office didn't smell like incense or roses; it smelled of old ink, state-issued glue, and the sharp, chemical tang of the cleaning fluid used on the linoleum floors. A small woman with thick spectacles sat behind a glass partition, her fingers moving across a mechanical stamp with the rhythmic, unbothered speed of a factory worker.
Thump. Thump.
The red ink seal hit the paper twice, leaving two identical circles that joined the lives of Ethan Vance and Lin Xia under the civil code of the municipality.
Xia looked at her name next to his on the red booklet. It looked like an error. Her father’s name was listed on the secondary verification sheet as a retired mechanic; Ethan’s father was listed simply as Deceased, with an identification number that began with the prefix reserved for the city’s founding industrial families.
"You can keep that," Ethan said as they walked out into the gray light of the courtyard. He didn't look at his own booklet; he had already dropped it into the leather briefcase held by his assistant, a young man named Secretary Chang who had been standing three paces behind them since they left the Maybach. "It has no legal weight beyond the domestic registry. My lawyers have already filed the corporate separation annex. If you try to claim an asset split at the end of the six months, the court will automatically reject the filing based on the pre-existing retainer contract."
"I don't want your assets, Mr. Vance," Xia said, her hands tucked deep into the pockets of her coat. She felt small next to him, small and gray, like a sparrow that had accidentally flown into an office building. "The hospital called me ten minutes ago. My father’s account has been cleared. He’s being transferred to the private pavilion on the top floor this afternoon."
"That was part of the valuation," Ethan said, stepping into the back of the Maybach as Chang held the door. "Now let's talk about your family. Your uncle, Lin Guorong, has an outstanding loan with a commercial cooperative in the West District. He’s been using your father’s old workshop as collateral. Next Tuesday, the cooperative is going to foreclose."
Xia went rigid, her hand tightening around the strap of her bag. "My uncle told me that loan was cleared last winter!"
"Your uncle lies, Miss Lin," Ethan said, his voice smooth and cold as he adjusted his cuffs. "It’s a common trait among men who have more ambition than liquidity. On Sunday, there is a family dinner at your grandmother's house in the old quarter. You will introduce me as your husband. You will tell them I work in 'consulting.' You will not mention Dami Technology, and you will not mention the three million."
"Why?" Xia asked, leaning back against the leather seat as the car pulled smoothly from the curb. "If you want them to leave us alone, wouldn't showing them your real name be faster? My uncle would turn into a ghost if he knew he was sitting next to the Chairman."
"If your uncle knows who I am, he will try to sell me a twenty-percent stake in a fraudulent logistics company within forty minutes," Ethan said, his eyes tracking the stock ticker on his tablet. "And my uncles on the corporate board will find out about you within fifty. I don't want them looking at you yet, Xia. A variable is only useful when it remains hidden from the market."
The car turned onto the main avenue, the glass tower of Dami Tech rising in the distance like an iron spear against the clouds. Xia looked at it, then at the man sitting next to her. He didn't look like he had ever crouched by a curb or begged for twenty yuan. He looked like the building—sharp, cold, and designed to withstand a strike from the sky.
"What happens if I make a mistake?" she asked quietly. "What if I say the wrong thing to your board?"
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Ethan closed the tablet with a soft, definitive snap. He turned his head fully toward her for the first time, his dark eyes locking onto hers with a pressure that made the air in the cabin feel heavy.
"You won't make a mistake, Xia," he said. "Because if you do, the contract terminates, the hospital pavilion closes, and your father goes back to the outpatient ward on Seventh Road before the market closes that day. I don't pay for inefficiencies."
