Zhao Shunian glanced at his wristwatch. It was 7:15 PM now—definitely unusual, and clearly unexpected.
Because at this hour, his wife would typically be in the mindset of "I'm going to drain every last cent of your wealth," and the walk-in closet would be welcoming various "new guests."
Once, during an argument, she had spent over twenty million of his money in just two hours in a fit of anger. If it were her own money—even two thousand—she would feel the sting, but spending his money, she never held back.
That said, Zhao Shunian didn't mind much; he simply regarded it as his wife's routine spending. Compared to other wives who squandered money recklessly, jet-setting around the world, occasionally gambling big for a "thrill," or even keeping an obedient lover on the side for their own pleasure, his wife was quite well-behaved and proper, with no bad habits. He could guess what she did every day without anyone reporting to him.
Regarding Yu Yin's unusual behavior, Zhao Shunian asked Qin He, "What do you think is the reason?"
Qin He hesitated for a moment before saying, "It might be related to the rumors about you and Miss Xu Ronghao."
Zhao Shunian actually thought that matter was easy to resolve—he had no improper relationship with Xu Ronghao whatsoever—but Yu Yin's reaction was out of the ordinary. If she had made a few large purchases today to bleed him dry and cheer herself up, then he wouldn't be in a hurry to go home; he'd deal with it in a couple of days, as handling his current work was more important. The fact was, she hadn't done that.
Then Qin He added, "Madam went for a medical check-up today."
He felt that the boss didn't seem like the type to comfort someone, and he suspected that the madam might have been upset enough to fall ill.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Shunian's slender fingers tapped lightly on the desk, then stopped quickly as he made a decision. "Isn't Wen Lufeng out?"
Wen Lufeng was in charge of public relations and external liaison for the General Manager's Office, so matters of this sort were also delegated to him.
Qin He said, "He left the office over an hour ago."
"Contact him and find out the progress. The fact that he didn't handle it promptly before and let the public opinion escalate—I can let that slide. But he's had two days, yesterday and today. If he still hasn't resolved it by now…" Zhao Shunian didn't finish the sentence, but Qin He knew—and Wen Lufeng knew even better—what it meant.
There were still a little over four hours until midnight. Qin He was about to step out to call Wen Lufeng when he heard Zhao Shunian instruct him further: "I need to be home by ten. Calculate the timing."
Only then did Qin He acknowledge and leave. He needed to notify the driver to have the car ready and waiting, set the time, and when it was about time, he would go to the office to remind the boss that it was time to head home. As for Wen Lufeng, his remaining time was growing shorter by the minute.
Back at his own desk, Qin He dialed Wen Lufeng's number.
Wen Lufeng was having dinner at a Western restaurant, enjoying drinks and conversation with a beautiful woman he'd recently met. When the distinctive ringtone of his work phone sounded, he nearly fumbled his wine glass. He excused himself to the woman, then hurried out to take the call, paying no mind to whether she was displeased by his departure.
As he walked toward a secluded spot outside the restaurant, he answered, "Hello, Assistant Qin. Is the boss looking for me?"
Qin He said, "The boss is asking about yesterday's matter. Have you handled it?"
Wen Lufeng stopped in his tracks. "Still handling it. We can't just do a blanket takedown right now—blocking all the news at once would easily trigger a public backlash, and even rumors would start sounding true. So we need a bit more time to manage this. The popularity has dropped considerably today. Xu Ronghao's studio has already released a statement denying the rumors, and we've been deleting and throttling high-traffic posts under her name. She's been cooperative on her end too."
"Two days, and this is all you've managed to accomplish?"
Wen Lufeng grew nervous. If Assistant Qin was dissatisfied, it meant the boss was dissatisfied. He said cautiously, "Assistant Qin, you're the boss's right-hand man. Could you give me a hint?"
"I'll tell you this—the boss is going home to be with his wife. He'll be home by ten. I suggest you have this resolved by around nine-thirty." Qin He then relayed Zhao Shunian's words to him verbatim.
In the bitter cold of January, sweat still broke out on Wen Lufeng's forehead. He'd assumed the boss didn't care much about this—just a baseless rumor. But no matter how he calculated, he couldn't have predicted this. The nearly invisible Mrs. Zhao had made a dazzling entrance.
The wife never came to the group—not here, not at the group's headquarters in Gangcheng. He didn't even know her name; all he knew was that she was the daughter of the Liang family. In the general manager's office, only Zhuang Jie and Qin He had ever met her. The boss himself went ten days to half a month without going home, constantly shuttling between Gangcheng and the capital. This had led him to mistakenly believe the couple's relationship was ice-cold—a purely commercial marriage.
Qin He asked Wen Lufeng, "Has Xu Ronghao's studio filed any lawsuits over this?"
Wen Lufeng snapped back to attention and replied, "No, just a stamped statement."
"Have Xu Ronghao come out personally to say she's single and reject all rumors. Get the UID list of the rumor-mongers out as soon as possible. I'm inclined toward having her sue some of the big gossip accounts that are jumping the highest—pursue legal action to make an example of them. Also, look into recent entertainment rumors that have been circulating without solid evidence, find paparazzi to confirm them, get material from them, and use that to drown this out. If netizens want gossip, give them gossip to satisfy their curiosity. On Xu Ronghao's end, it's best to put out some sympathy pieces through this—say someone is slandering and framing her precisely to cover up a real scandal. Wen Lufeng, I'm holding your hand through this for the boss's sake. Can you give him good news before he gets home?"
Qin He had fully reframed this as an entertainment industry matter, blurring the presence of outsider Zhao Shunian in the rumor and minimizing his visibility to the lowest possible level. The mysterious man would not be him.
Wen Lufeng repeatedly assured him he would get it done, flattering Qin He with praise as if compliments cost nothing. Qin He told him to shut up and stop wasting time, then hung up directly.
Money makes the world go round. Even the most sluggish operations were now racing forward at full speed, and public opinion online was about to brew into a new climax.
At the Western restaurant, the beautiful woman never saw Wen Lufeng return. She suspected he was a con man who'd used answering a phone call as an excuse to skip out on the bill—trying to get a free meal at her expense.
She was suppressing her anger and preparing to pay when the waiter told her the bill had already been charged to that gentleman's account. Her anger subsided somewhat. She called to ask him what was going on, wanting to give him a chance to explain—but he didn't answer!
…