The Young Lady is a Bit Unruly [Fragrant Harbor] - Chapter 78: Control Your Wife

Chapter 78: Control Your Wife

Between New Year’s Day and Spring Festival, charity events at Nanhua Third Hospital came one after another.

On this day, Sir Fang was resting in the backstage VIP room after attending an event.

Ye Baoxin arrived as scheduled, carrying a large branded handbag.

He glanced at the door, and his personal attendant tactfully withdrew.

Looking at the girl dressed in formal attire, Sir Fang’s eyes held a rather playful expression.

Ye Baoxin wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, but she was young, knew how to dress, was a well-educated international student, and understood romance – exactly his type.

He asked: Still unwilling to give up?

Ye Baoxin explained quietly: Shanxing took the initiative to reconcile with me.

Sir Fang: What do you think yourself?

Ye Baoxin stepped forward, her voice soft: What can you offer me?

I told you last time, whatever Shanxing cannot give you, I can provide. I can make you the head of the public welfare fund under Nanhua Third Hospital, starting as vice chairman first. When the time is ripe and you have gained experience, I’ll promote you to chairman. This job is respectable, offers high salary, involves light work, allows you to socialize with high officials and noble lords – bringing both fame and profit. You can also choose a suitable man to marry. On the surface, you’ll be someone else’s wife, but in reality, you’ll be my woman. I’ll give you monthly allowance. When I die, I’ll leave you an inheritance too. Sir Fang had planned everything clearly.

He knew Ye Baoxin’s current predicament very well, and he knew exactly how attractive the bait he offered was.

Money was secondary, but the position of chairman of the public welfare foundation was a guarantee to move smoothly in upper-class society for a lifetime.

Ye Baoxin looked out the window, a barely noticeable longing appearing on her face. She asked: If I go to Nanhua Third Hospital’s public welfare fund as the head, how will you explain it to Shanxing?

Sir Fang laughed: That’s simple. I’ll say that to make you break up, I offered you the position of head of the public welfare fund, and you, for personal gain, chose to abandon him. That way he’ll completely give up.

Ye Baoxin nodded slightly: Okay. Grandpa Fang, give me some time. I hope to part with Shanxing on good terms.

Hearing her agreement, Sir Fang smiled with satisfaction.

But the address Grandpa Fang displeased him.

Though in his seventies, he maintained himself well and looked much younger than Ye Qizu.

He gently placed his hand on the back of Ye Baoxin’s hand, Don’t call me grandpa. Call me Dingkun. Everyone calls me Sir Fang, it’s been many years since anyone called me by my name.

Ye Baoxin suppressed her disgust and withdrew her hand, Before I break up with Shanxing, you must not do anything inappropriate to me.

Sir Fang glanced at her – having rules was a good thing.

So he didn’t press further.

*

At Qiyuan office, Ye Baoling was discussing the investment plan for the coming year with Liu Haonan.

After the stock market crash, they had left over 200 million in US stocks with five times leverage going long on US markets. In these two months, 200 million had become 500 million.

They transferred some funds back to Hong Kong stocks. With Ye Qingtang’s circulating shares in the secondary market becoming scarce, they could no longer continue buying at bottom prices.

Ye Baoling’s strategy was to buy Hongtong Industry at low prices.

After completing the layout, she returned to Jade Dragon Mansion, first attending the Leaf Pure Tea meeting in the morning.

The production of the second batch of Jasmine Iced Tea was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Two versions of Ice Black Tea have been developed and are ready for production: one is the American version with increased sweetness following L&D’s recommendation, and the other is the Hong Kong version with moderate sweetness.

Regarding the factory setup in Shenzhen, Ye Baoling assigned Qu Zhengming to lead a preliminary research team. Even if her grandfather disapproved of building the facility, solid groundwork must be laid first before devising strategies to achieve the goal later.

After wrapping up these matters and having lunch, the afternoon continued with Su Manzhu’s strategic meeting.

Procurement Director Yan Youli reported: We’ve secured the Australian Xiao Bibo Gold Mine, but we won’t be able to use gold from our own mine until the second half of the year. For now, we must continue purchasing gold raw materials from Philis.

Ye Baoling inquired: I noticed Philis’ wholesale prices aren’t cheap. Is there any room for negotiation?

Yan Youli glanced at Ye Kaisen before smiling: We’ve collaborated with Philis for years, and this is actually quite reasonable. Gold purchased from the London Bullion Market would be even more expensive.

Ye Kaisen nodded slightly: Indeed, this supplier was originally negotiated by the old master himself.

Ye Baoling scanned them, sensing something amiss but feigning ignorance as she insisted: If negotiations fail, switch suppliers. I’ve learned that both Zou Shengsheng and Gezhi Jewellery signed direct procurement contracts with South African mining companies—their costs are at least 0.5% lower than ours.

After another glance at Ye Kaisen, Yan Youli conceded: We’ll look into it.

Lin Meijuan asked: Should we proceed with our planned promotions right after the New Year?

Ye Baoling confirmed: Absolutely. We can’t wait until the second half to push—we must launch promotions in the first half.

Following the executive meeting, Ye Baoling personally participated in Su Manzhu’s branding department work plan discussion.

The branding team had preliminarily completed their first-phase plan.

Besides intensifying promotion of The Creator of 999 Gold Standards, they would implement a series of in-store discount activities.

First, gold price reduction: customers purchasing over 20 grams receive either a 1% overall discount or a 2-yuan per gram deduction…

Second, gold purchase gifts: new customers buying over 10 grams of gold at Su Manzhu receive small gold beans…

Third, craftsmanship fee discounts…

After reviewing the plan, Ye Baoling asked: Did you run similar activities last year?

We did, but not at this scale.

Hence the mediocre results.

Having brainstormed with He Jiayi and others beforehand, Ye Baoling had already prepared an alternative proposal.

He Jiayi presented: We’ve outlined several directions for your reference. Currently, the largest gold demand comes from weddings. Collaborating with bridal studios is an effective approach—couples booking wedding photos inevitably need gold. Offering appropriate discounts through studios can also help them attract customers. You have the expertise to develop specific implementation plans.

Second point: launch a ‘Golden Twelve Dragon Balls’ campaign. For weddings, people need to buy nine gold items, gold pig pendants, and dragon-phoenix bracelets. For every certain gram threshold reached, we gift a golden dragon ball – similar to the small gold beans mentioned earlier, but these twelve dragon balls feature the twelve zodiac animals. If they collect all twelve zodiac signs, we’ll gift a small gold bar. When couples get married, relatives and elders give gold jewelry to the bride, so their relatives will naturally recommend each other to buy gold at Su Manzhu Jewelry to collect the golden dragon balls.

As soon as this point was made, someone questioned: Isn’t this giving away too much?

With current craftsmanship, 0.2g of gold can make one hollow dragon ball, costing only about 20 yuan; a 2g gold bar costs just over 200 yuan.

Another person said: Would a 2g gold bar be too small?

Free gold, no matter how small, will attract attention. If we want to attract more customers, we can be more generous and give more – this is something we need to discuss internally…

Someone else tried to speak, but Ye Baoling stopped them: No interruptions, let He Jiayi finish presenting our ideas.

The brand director quickly added: The twelve golden dragon balls campaign is very interesting. We can discuss the details later.

No one dared to interrupt further, so He Jiayi continued: Third point: we need to connect and interact with fashion and trends, such as sponsoring the Hong Kong Film Awards trophy. The current trophy is gold-plated copper, but we could make the orb in the Golden Bauhinia Lady’s hand into real gold.

This immediately sparked everyone’s interest.

Even within the company, only such buzzworthy topics could truly capture their attention.

This is great! Turning the Film Awards trophy into real gold would make male and female stars compete fiercely for it, and we’d get free coverage in all the entertainment gossip magazines.

Our weakest point has been not being fashionable enough and lacking trendy topics. This would perfectly align with current trends.

Everyone began discussing excitedly.

Ye Baoling said: Besides the small marketing initiatives we just discussed, we also need major topic marketing. For the specific work, you’ll need to form a dedicated team to handle it.

The meeting didn’t adjourn until nearly 5 pm.

Speaking of major topic marketing, Ye Baoling immediately took action after work.

She arranged to meet Gu Man’er and Fang Haiming at a quiet bar.

The three sat in a private room, chatting over drinks.

Fang Haiming poured whiskey for Ye Baoling: Man’er told me you want to collaborate with me?

Ye Baoling smiled and nodded: Yes, but it depends on whether you have the courage to take on this job.

Fang Haiming, who always enjoyed challenges, became interested: What kind of job requires courage to accept?

Ye Baoling: You might offend some people, like those from our third branch. Didn’t you previously collaborate with them on treasure authentication?

Fang Haiming laughed, That’s fine. If I offend people from your husband’s side, you’ll definitely handle it, right?

Exactly, so no need to worry. All the backlash will come to me.

The three lightly clinked glasses.

After taking a sip, Ye Baoling asked him: What’s your opinion on diamonds?

Diamonds? I have some knowledge about diamonds, but I don’t usually encourage people to collect them, and I don’t collect them myself.

Perfect that he didn’t like collecting diamonds – she had found the right person.

Why is that? Ye Baoling swapped the shredded squid she didn’t like with Man’er.

Fang Haiming continued, Simply put, diamonds are just carbon elements. Their global reserves are relatively scarce, but not to the extent advertised. Why does the public believe they’re extremely rare and precious? It’s because suppliers strictly control production to hype up diamond prices. Moreover, diamonds can be synthetically produced. Some high-tech synthetic diamonds are even purer and more brilliant than natural ones. Although the technical threshold is currently high and not widely accessible, it will definitely become mainstream in the future. Eventually, whether the diamond ring you wear is real or fake will be nearly indistinguishable to the naked eye.

While first-hand diamond prices are sky-high, unlike gold, the small diamonds available on the market depreciate immediately after purchase. Some have resale values below 30%—meaning you’d lose 70% of its value the moment you buy it.

So when Fang Haiming earlier said he’d done some research, he was being modest—he clearly knew his stuff.

Most importantly, his perspective aligned perfectly with Ye Baoling’s.

Nodding, Ye Baoling asked, What do you think is the fundamental difference between diamonds and gold?

Fang Haiming replied, The biggest distinction is that diamonds are non-standardized products with highly volatile pricing. Gold is a standardized commodity with a globally unified resale price. Even if gold might depreciate temporarily, it retains and appreciates in value long-term. Diamonds are unpredictable—larger stones fare better, but small diamonds have zero value retention.

Gu Man’er couldn’t resist interjecting, So for ordinary folks like us, should we avoid diamonds altogether and just store gold?

Fang Haiming chuckled, Wealthy citizens like your cousin can have whatever they want—they needn’t choose between luxuries. But for average people like you, it’s wiser to buy gold that appreciates. For marriage, a simple platinum ring suffices—whether it’s diamond-studded or not doesn’t matter. Skipping the diamonds could even save you money to invest in gold.

I see, Gu Man’er said, feeling enlightened.

Everything Fang Haiming said today was precisely what Ye Baoling wanted the public to hear.

She revealed her purpose for approaching him: I want to short sell diamonds in the court of public opinion.

Fang Haiming, who followed the news, remarked, But your family owns diamond mines.

The Third Branch does. Our Oldest Branch doesn’t, Ye Baoling stated frankly. We’ve acquired a gold mine in Australia, though it hasn’t been announced yet.

Fang Haiming understood. You want me to devalue diamonds on my show?

Gu Man’er immediately corrected him, Not devalue—cousin means revealing the truth about diamonds to the public.

Ye Baoling clarified, Your treasure appraisal program is hugely popular. I’m hoping you can humorously educate viewers about the reality of diamonds.

Fang Haiming nodded slightly. If it were anyone else, he might not have agreed. But this was his girlfriend’s cousin, and the target was her in-laws’ interests—clearly, he wouldn’t face significant risks.

His mind raced. The reason some citizens blindly believe in diamonds is because of one famously effective slogan from diamond companies.

Gu Man’er laughed, I know—’A diamond is forever.’

Ye Baoling suggested, You could creatively adapt that phrase with humor. If needed, our company’s branding department can join a brainstorming session.

Sure, I’ll schedule a diamond appraisal for the next episode.

Thanks for your hard work.

Fang Haiming knew Ye Baoling was currently in charge of Su Manzhu Jewelry. He suggested: The most popular TV program in Port City right now is the 7 PM sitcom. You could consider collaborating with the show – have an episode where a main character selects gold jewelry before marriage. With some funding, the TV station would definitely be happy to cooperate.

Ye Baoling nodded enthusiastically: That’s a great idea! Could you help make the connection?

I’m good friends with the producer. I’ll help you communicate with them.

Thank you! Ye Baoling gently clinked glasses with them and said to Gu Man’er: You’ve found the right boyfriend.

As the original male lead, there was probably nothing he couldn’t accomplish if you asked for his help.

The next day, Ye Baoling summoned Bai Zhu to the company.

This time they didn’t need to meet secretly outside but could openly discuss cooperation.

After hearing Ye Baoling’s cooperation requirements, Bai Zhu roughly understood: The day after ‘Appraisal’ ends, multiple media outlets will simultaneously report the truth about diamonds, right?

Ye Baoling shook her head slightly: Not exactly. Here’s what I’m thinking – instead of formal reports, we can expand on some humorous remarks from the appraisal program, just pointing out that diamonds aren’t truly forever is enough.

Bai Zhu expressed concern: I need to communicate with them first. Most major media outlets in the market have business dealings with Hongtong Industry, their major client. They might not dare to write about this or offend Hongtong.

Ye Baoling said: Don’t approach media outlets you’re uncertain about. Once you communicate with them, you’ll alert the enemy. Find media that don’t have such close relationships with Hongtong – they’ll definitely be willing to charge forward.

Most of those are small media outlets.

That’s fine. Once the momentum builds, larger media will follow up.

Tumbleweed Financial Weekly was growing increasingly larger and preparing to transition into a magazine, which presented an opportunity.

Bai Zhu said: Other media can be humorous and joking, but Tumbleweed needs to write differently – more systematic and standardized. We’ll do a inaugural issue cover plus extensive coverage.

Ye Baoling agreed: That works. For the inaugural issue release, we’ll cover the costs, offer a 50% discount on pricing, and increase distribution.

Several days later, the latest episode of Appraisal featuring diamond appraisal aired.

Fang Haiming revealed in the program that he never collects diamonds.

He joked that diamonds were: A diamond is forever, but you’ll regret it to death after buying one.

He also said: Diamonds aren’t eternal, marketing created the legend.

This is a golden hoop that diamond manufacturer De Beers placed on marrying couples worldwide. The so-called ‘A diamond is forever’ really only means it can be passed down, because no merchant is willing to buy it back. Major jewelry brands all buy back gold at uniform prices, fair to all, but they hardly ever buy back ordinary ring diamonds. Only very high-quality large diamonds might be bought back at steep discounts.

The next day, various newspapers and radio stations began reporting Fang Haiming’s comments about diamonds from the Appraisal program.

Some headlines read: Exposing the Diamond Lie, The Diamond Myth Collapses, Port City Residents Follow Trends Buying Diamonds, Get Trapped…

And Tumbleweed’s extensive coverage created an enormous impact.

After all, most Tumbleweed readers were stock investors.

When investors saw such reports, many chose to temporarily sell their shares in Hongtong Industry for risk aversion purposes.

Thus, even before Gezhi Jewellery felt the chill, Hongtong Industry’s stock price began to decline.

Coinciding with major capital short selling Hongtong Industry behind the scenes and bribing major media to fuel the trend, diamonds that were once excessively mythologized were now being excessively devalued, almost rendering them worthless.

Simultaneously, some media outlets sensationalized Hongtong Industry’s 1987 performance crash and the mainland government reclaiming Hongtong’s equity and construction rights in Dapeng Port, among other issues.

With Ye Huaizhang away from Hong Kong, Ye Jinsong and Ye Jinfeng were caught completely off guard.

The stock market descended into chaos.

Liu Haonan urgently called Ye Baoling: Hongtong Industry is being shorted by major funds, and the stock price is plummeting. We’re losing money on all our previous purchases. Should we sell now and buy back later? Let’s capitalize on this volatility.

Ye Baoling wasn’t interested in such small profits: Divert funds to buy as many shares as we can. Also pull back some capital from the U.S. stock market.

Liu Haonan reminded her: Hongtong Industry’s market capitalization is too large. Even if we use all our funds to buy shares, we won’t become major shareholders.

We don’t need to be major shareholders – being minor shareholders is sufficient. Just follow my instructions.

During this sharp decline, time was money. Liu Haonan hurriedly replied: Alright, I’ll handle it immediately.

Liu Haonan had previously thought his boss simply wanted to help Su Manzhu Jewelry capture Gezhi Jewellery’s market share, but he realized he had been too naive.

She was actually killing two birds with one stone.

She had probably anticipated that major funds would short Hongtong Industry.

This move was truly brilliant!

Becoming shareholders of Hongtong Industry would be beneficial – even just collecting long-term dividends would generate substantial income.

Moreover, he suspected her ambitions extended beyond mere dividend collection.

That day was Fang Shanxing’s sister’s birthday. Ye Baoxin was making a cake at home with the young girl.

Sir Fang was playing chess with his grandson in the tea room, while his son Fang Xuhua watched from the side.

When the birthday cake was ready, Ye Baoxin cheerfully called them out to enjoy it.

Sir Fang noticed Ye Baoxin seemed particularly happy today – understandably so, since she had promised to break up with Fang Shanxing after today and be with him instead.

Everything she wanted was about to come true.

Her happiness was perfectly normal.

Lighting candles, singing happy birthday, making wishes…

After the young girl blew out the candles but before cutting the cake, Ye Baoxin shyly announced: I’d like to share some good news with everyone.

The innocent young girl looked up: Sister Baoxin, what’s the good news?

Ye Baoxin glanced around at everyone, even making eye contact with Sir Fang for half a second, before finally resting her gaze on the young girl’s face.

Qingqing, you’re going to be an aunt soon.

What kind of aunt? Qingqing didn’t understand.

Fang Shanxing comprehended immediately, though he seemed somewhat surprised himself. He looked at Ye Baoxin with delighted shock, I’m going to be a father?

As understanding dawned, Qingqing’s mouth fell open in amazement before she immediately stood up, Really?!

Ye Baoxin smiled and nodded slightly.

Fang Shanxing was so overjoyed he nearly lifted Ye Baoxin off her feet.

Fang Xuhua was also pleased, It seems we’re all getting promoted.

Only Sir Fang forced a smile – this Ye Baoxin had outmaneuvered him!

Under these circumstances, we should quickly arrange your wedding plans, Fang Xuhua told Baoxin, who had made a favorable impression on him. Since she was the woman his son loved, other conditions didn’t need to be strictly enforced.

Moreover, they could publicly claim to have married the granddaughter of the Ye family’s Oldest Branch, which would uphold their reputation.

After finishing the cake, Sir Fang did not avoid others but openly said, Baoxin, come to my study. I need to talk with you.

Fang Shanxing, still immersed in joy, worried that his grandfather might give his girlfriend a hard time and quickly pleaded, Grandfather.

Sir Fang glared at his grandson, I won’t eat her!

Ye Baoxin held Fang Shanxing’s hand, It’s fine. Grandfather just wants to have a chat with me.

Upon entering the study, Ye Baoxin maintained a distance of two meters from Sir Fang.

Sir Fang asked, Are you really pregnant?

Really pregnant.

You did it on purpose, didn’t you?

I did thorough research. She had deliberately pestered Fang Shanxing several times during her ovulation days.

Luck was on her side, and she actually conceived.

Fang Dingkun’s eyes suddenly turned sharp: Get an abortion! You’re not worthy of bearing a child for our Fang family.

Ye Baoxin swallowed hard. After scheming for so long, she was still somewhat nervous.

Shanxing told me that even if it means breaking ties with you, he still wants to be with me.

Are you threatening me?

Not exactly a threat. If I wanted to threaten you, Ye Baoxin nervously picked at her fingers, I would tell you that I recorded everything you said to me last time. Grandfather Fang.

What he said last time?

Fang Dingkun froze. No wonder she carried such a large handbag that day.

Having lived all these years, he never expected to be manipulated by a young girl.

How outrageous.

Before Sir Fang could respond, Ye Baoxin, her palms sweaty, mustered her courage and added, Are you thinking of telling me I don’t know how to write the character for ‘death’? Don’t worry. If anything happens to me, that recording of our conversation will be sent to the television station. If I die, you’ll be ruined too.

He had truly underestimated her!

Fang Dingkun was so angry his heart trembled, but he maintained a facade of composure.

Who did you give the recording to?

Ye Baoxin refused to tell him: A friend. Grandfather Fang, rest assured, I only want to be a proper granddaughter-in-law of the Fang family. I will strictly adhere to my duties as a granddaughter-in-law.

Her words carried a double-edged meaning, implicitly reminding Fang Dingkun to also fulfill his own responsibilities.

In the Third Branch, Ye Jinsong and Ye Jinfeng gathered in Guan Lao Taijun’s room.

After discussion, they decided to execute a buyback of no less than 200 million yuan for Hongtong Industry.

Guan Lao Taijun said, The major funds shorting us are taking advantage of Huaizhang’s absence to hit us hard.

Ye Jinsong nodded: Yes, we still don’t know where these large short-selling funds are coming from. If it’s foreign capital, they might just want to make a quick profit and leave. But if it’s local capital with such capability, only the Li Family fits the bill—then their goal isn’t just short-selling.

Ye Jinfeng was furious. He snorted coldly and said, Whoever it is, it’s our own people who handed them the knife. What use is a daughter-in-law like Ye Baoling? For the benefit of her Oldest Branch, she’s brought this disaster upon us!

Guan Lao Taijun remarked, You used to mock the Oldest Branch for having no capable people. Now that they do, it stings, doesn’t it?

Ye Jinfeng retorted, But Ye Baoling is our Third Branch’s daughter-in-law.

Guan Lao Taijun countered, Su Manzhu is competing with us in a legitimate business war. Since we chose to enter the jewelry industry, we should be prepared that one day the Oldest Branch would clash with us. You can’t blame her just because Baoling is our daughter-in-law. If Gezhi Jewellery is defeated this time, it means you were outmatched.

Ye Jinfeng: …

The telephone rang. Ye Jinfeng, sitting beside it, picked up the receiver. Hello!

Ye Huaizhang’s voice came from the other end. Ye Jinfeng immediately complained: Huaizhang, when are you coming back? Hurry back and control your wife properly.

Ye Huaizhang didn’t want to talk to Ye Jinfeng: Let my father take the call.

Only then did Ye Jinfeng reluctantly hand the phone to his elder brother.

After finishing the phone call, Ye Jinsong turned to his mother and said, Huaizhang wants us to pool all our funds to compete with major capital in the secondary market for shares.

Author’s note: Ye Qizu: Today is a good day mischievous grin