Novel
Luo Chen turns the ancestral restaurant’s paperwork war into open documentary pressure. In front of Madam Shen, Shen Guohai, Qin Zhen, and the bank liaison, he exposes the seal mismatch, the altered chain of custody, and the supplier-number pattern tied to the missing valuation appendix. Shen Yulian finally refuses to sign the revised valuation, breaking Madam Shen’s hold over the room. Luo Chen then forces the financing issue onto speaker with the bank, making the altered valuation a live threat to the loan. When Madam Shen tries to recast the evidence as Luo Chen’s sabotage, he lays out the restaurant’s own records and shows who benefited from the delays. Shen Guohai launches a public counterattack, but the paper trail is now visible to everyone. The chapter ends with Qin Zhen revealing that a city-level bidder has requested the full package, widening the war beyond the Shen family and exposing that they were never the top of the food chain.
Madam Shen had arranged the front hall like a judgment seat, and Luo Chen was meant to stand in the wrong place.
The family table had been turned lengthwise toward the entrance, so the best light fell on Madam Shen’s face and the worst of it on him. Qin Zhen sat with his black briefcase closed on his lap, a picture of polished neutrality. The bank liaison held a pen poised over a legal pad, but wasn’t writing anymore. Shen Guohai had