The Throne: On the Edge of the Cliff

Her name was Shen Yao, an ordinary young woman who had just graduated from a second-tier university. She had no prestigious-school credentials or standout professional skills. The only thing people remembered about her was her face, so exquisite it was almost perfect. When she walked into the headquarters of Dingsheng Group for an interview, everyone assumed she was just another applicant who would be rejected. But the moment the interviewer saw her, fate took a sharp turn: she received a job offer, despite being the least qualified candidate. It took Shen Yao three years to rise from administrative assistant to vice president. Over those three years, her relationship with the group’s president, Lu Beichen, evolved from flirtatious glances across the office to a passionate affair in five-star hotels. She thought she was a clever woman who had climbed the ladder through her own wiles, not realizing she was merely a pawn on Lu Beichen’s chessboard. Only when the president’s wife, Lin Wanqing, posted a trove of sordid photos, audio recordings, and videos taken by a private investigator on the group’s internal website did Shen Yao finally understand: Some paths, once taken, leave you with no way back. And behind her, a pair of greedy eyes after another waited for her to fall, ready to swallow her whole.