From Rags to Winning Over a Billionaire CEO

Synopsis of Chess in the Backlight: From Dust to a Billionaire CEO

On a rooftop on a stormy night, Su Wan clutches her father's critical condition notice and a three-million-yuan loan-shark IOU. In the newspaper, she sees her ex-husband, Lu Chengzhou, being celebrated as the president of Chengzhou Group. Three years ago, she poured her savings into helping him squeeze into a rented apartment and build his business. Now he has taken all their assets, leaving her with nothing, unable even to scrape together her father's dialysis fees. To save him, she risks her life in a high-risk clinical trial, hiding evidence and fleeing pursuers as she grasps the first glimmer of hope at the edge of death. While working as a dishwasher, she stays up late sketching designs. Lu Chengzhou maliciously cancels her contracts and spreads rumors that she plagiarized, but her courage and integrity win over building-materials merchant Wang Jianguo, earning her an office building design contract from Qihang Group.

From a six-square-meter attic studio to a team of 200, and from a single design business to a full industrial chain spanning design, building materials, and cultural tourism, Su Wan advances one step at a time. When rivals try to poach her staff, core partner Chen Xi turns down a million-yuan salary to stay. After 15 failed attempts to secure funding, investor Gu Yanzhou is won over by her vision and injects 50 million yuan in crucial capital. In a battle with Lu Chengzhou over an ancient-town development project, her plan to protect intangible cultural heritage defeats his approach of tearing everything down and rebuilding, making her an overnight sensation. When Lu Chengzhou frames her with fabricated evidence and has her father attacked, she refuses to endure it any longer. Armed with hard proof of his financial fraud, she unleashes a bombshell at his company's listing press conference, sending him from the heights of success straight to prison.

In the end, Su Wan acquires Chengzhou Group's valuable assets, establishes Qingxiang Group, leads it to a Hong Kong listing, and takes its market value past ten billion yuan. Her personal wealth tops 100 million yuan, and she makes the Hurun China Rich List of Women Entrepreneurs.