Lu Yunsheng moved quickly. The next day, the topic #Full Exposé on a Popular Female Singer’s Plagiarism Controversy# was pushed onto the trending list, its popularity even surpassing the negative news about Ruan Wanning. Before netizens could fully understand the gossip, the post disappeared.
But soon, the topic appeared on the trending list again. Just a few minutes later, the new post was deleted as well.
With the trending topic being removed again and again, there was obviously something juicy going on! The netizens’ curiosity was completely ignited, and the related topic instantly shot to number one on the trending list.
After netizens dug into it carefully, they discovered that the person at the center of the plagiarism scandal was none other than Chu Yidan, affectionately called the “Little Queen of Pop” by her fans.
Chu Yidan was a popular singer in the music industry with fairly high public recognition. She was beautiful, and her fans worked hard to promote her, so many passersby still had a good impression of her. Naturally, quite a few people clicked into the trending topic to enjoy the gossip.
At first, some passersby who didn’t know whether the claims were true or false still spoke up for her:
—Echo plagiarized something? Is that true? That’s my ringtone!
—Oh my god, something feels a little off. Which powerful company did Starlight Entertainment offend?
—This counts as plagiarism? Can you stop deliberately smearing our Little Queen of Pop?!
Following the clues provided in the article, attentive netizens really did dig up quite a lot of dirt on Chu Yidan.
—Do you guys still remember Chu Yidan’s debut show, I Am a Rising Star? Go dig up Season 3, Episode 1!
—Holy crap, she actually formed a clique and bullied another contestant from the same season.
—The plagiarized author responded. Link here: (link)
As the incident continued to ferment, people began digging up clips from the variety shows she had previously appeared on. Chu Yidan’s behavior of joining forces with other contestants to isolate teammates and showing disrespect toward fans greatly disgusted netizens. A major fan account even came forward and revealed that every album Chu Yidan had promoted as original had actually been created with ghostwriters.
Chu Yidan’s side poured a huge amount of money into paid commenters and repeatedly removed trending topics, but none of it managed to quiet the criticism. Left with no other choice, she called Lu Yunsheng.
“Brother, how could you treat me like this for an outsider? You…” Chu Yidan’s voice choked with sobs.
Lu Yunsheng interrupted her, his tone solemn.
“She’s not an outsider. She’s my treasure.”
With that, Lu Yunsheng ignored the crying coming from the other end of the call and blocked the number.
Ruan Wanning, who was standing beside him, quietly blushed upon hearing the confession.
Lin Zhihua was unexpectedly force-fed a bowl of dog food.
For reasons that couldn’t be mentioned, Great Lawyer Fu was unable to leave the house today, so Lin Zhihua was responsible for meeting the clients. She seriously and thoroughly explained the court proceedings and important points to the two of them, as well as how they should respond when questioned by the judge.
Lin Zhihua reminded them, “The evidence we’ve provided is very complete, so there’s a high possibility that the judge will issue the ruling in court. As for the letter of forgiveness from the family, I hope Miss Ruan will think it through carefully in advance.”
“I won’t agree to sign a letter of forgiveness.” Ruan Wanning’s tone was extremely serious. No matter how strong blood ties were, whatever familial affection had once existed had long since been worn away by years of daily torment.
Lu Yunsheng held her hand and comforted her softly. “Don’t worry, Ningning. I’ve already made arrangements. Once the hearing is over, we’ll release a statement to clarify everything.”
Once the serious matters were finished, Lin Zhihua said goodbye to the young couple and prepared to go back and organize the case materials.
Her phone vibrated twice. Lin Zhihua thought it was Fu Shengyan, who was at home memorizing his book, looking for her. Unexpectedly, the messages were from Ye Qianxi.
No Unpaid Overtime: President, you haven’t come to the company for a full twenty-two hours!
No Unpaid Overtime: President Li has already arrived and is currently waiting for you in the reception room.
Crap. She had accidentally forgotten about her actual job.
Lin Zhihua quickly turned the car around and stepped on the accelerator toward the company.
Lin Zhihua hurriedly arrived at the company. Feeling guilty, she ignored Ye Qianxi’s resentful little gaze, straightened her sleeves, and pushed open the reception room door.
After seeing the business partner off, before Lin Zhihua could even breathe a sigh of relief, her capable secretary appeared behind her without her noticing.
“President Lin, are you preparing to get off work?”
“Of course not. It’s not even time to get off work yet.” Lin Zhihua pulled back the right foot she had already stepped forward with and said seriously, “I was just going to see President Li out.”
Ye Qianxi pushed up her glasses, her expression solemn. “I’ve placed all the documents that need your signature from yesterday and today on your desk. They’re very. Urgent.”
If Secretary Ye said they were urgent, then they really were urgent.
President Lin seriously reflected on herself and decided to work through lunch first, hoping to finish tomorrow’s work at the same time.
Lin Zhihua was highly efficient. In less than two hours, she finished reviewing and approving every document that needed to be handled.
She glanced at the time. It was already one in the afternoon. She wondered whether Fu Shengyan had eaten lunch yet.
“Secretary Ye, I won’t be coming to the company this afternoon or tomorrow. Send anything important directly to my email.”
Ye Qianxi lifted her gaze from the melodramatic idol drama playing on her phone and looked at Lin Zhihua resentfully. “President Lin, isn’t Little Ye your most trusted secretary anymore?”
Lin Zhihua: “?”
“Now whenever something happens, you contact Secretary Yu instead, and you even assigned him a special task outside the company.” Ye Qianxi rested her chin in her hand, looking somewhat aggrieved.
She might occasionally slack off at work, but wasn’t that because she was efficient?
Rejecting excessive competition was the only way to improve happiness at work.
For the past two days, the president had actually been neglecting her and wasn’t even coming to the company. Ye Qianxi felt that her position as chief secretary was beginning to waver.
To regain Secretary Ye’s trust and make future work arrangements easier, Lin Zhihua told Ye Qianxi about Fu Shengyan’s amnesia. At the end, she reminded her, “Keep this confidential. The fewer people who know, the better.”
Ye Qianxi nodded like a chick pecking at rice, indicating that she would definitely keep her mouth shut.
“Then doesn’t Lawyer Fu not remember you anymore? Are you two following the ‘marriage first, love later’ script now?!” Ye Qianxi sucked in a sharp breath, her expression visibly becoming excited. “Even if I lose every memory related to you, the moment I see you again, I’ll still helplessly fall in love with you.”
What kind of beautiful romance was this?!
It was way too sweet. She really wanted to fangirl over this new sweetness with the girls in the group chat.
Lin Zhihua was speechless for a moment. It had only been a short while, and she had already come up with an entire script?
“Fu Shengyan and I grew up together. He only lost the memories from these seven years. He didn’t forget me.” Lin Zhihua coughed lightly, although the first time he lost his memory, he really had forgotten her.
Hearing Lin Zhihua say that, Ye Qianxi’s eyes grew even brighter after her initial surprise.
“Then it’s: I woke up one day and got exactly what I wished for. I actually married the white moonlight I had secretly loved for eighteen years!”
“Editor Ye is truly wasting her talents by working as my secretary.” Lin Zhihua no longer wanted to chat with Secretary Ye when she wasn’t in work mode. “I’m heading back first. I won’t be at the company tomorrow. Contact me directly if anything important comes up.”
“President Lin, young people may be healthy, but you still have to exercise some restraint.” Ye Qianxi smiled ambiguously, wearing an expression that said, I understand.
What the hell could someone who had been single since birth for twenty-eight years possibly understand?
Lin Zhihua took a deep breath, wishing she could shake all those melodramatic idol-drama plots and certain dirty thoughts straight out of Ye Qianxi’s brain.
“Don’t spread rumors about your president. I have serious business tomorrow. I’m accompanying the amnesiac Lawyer Fu to court.” Lin Zhihua rubbed her face and explained to her quite seriously.
She had already reported everything honestly. She absolutely refused to let more gossip about the president spread through the company.
Ye Qianxi solemnly promised, “Okay, President Lin. I’ll take care of all the miscellaneous work at the company. You can trust Secretary Ye.”
Lin Zhihua left the company without feeling particularly reassured.
Holding a pile of sweetness with no one to share it with only made Ye Qianxi itch even more. After thinking for a long while, she decisively pulled Yu Yao into the group chat.
[Marketing Xiao Qin: Welcome, newcomer~]
[Receptionist Xiao Li: Welcome, newcomer! Flowers everywhere~~]
[Finance Wang Xin: Newcomer, remember to change your display name!]
[Wife, Kids, and a Warm Bed: What group is this? Who added me?]
Yu Yao stared in confusion at the group that had suddenly appeared on his phone.
“Picking Up Sugar Everywhere Again Today? What kind of group is this?”
The group members seemed to all be colleagues from the company. Which person had created this little private group?
He didn’t think much of it. After changing his display name, he quietly lurked in the group.
“Secretary Yu, why isn’t Zhizhi back yet?” Fu Shengyan walked over and asked him for the twenty-third time.
Yu Yao put down his phone and said with a world-weary expression, “President Lin is working overtime. She’ll be back later this afternoon.”
“Oh.” Fu Shengyan calmly nodded, then solemnly picked up his professional book again.
Yu Yao couldn’t help saying, “Mr. Fu, you could just send President Lin a message and ask her yourself.”
He had been staring at that same page for almost an hour!
Fu Shengyan verbally acknowledged him, but he had no intention of messaging Lin Zhihua.
The dating tips said that being too clingy with your partner would make them feel annoyed. You had to give your partner enough trust and private space.
He had already looked through the chat history. Fu Shengyan certainly wasn’t going to ask Zhizhi every day when she would be coming home.
But another dating tip said that you should show plenty of concern for your partner so that they would feel loved.
He began struggling with the decision again. Looking at the hundreds of comments beneath this dating tip, the two little people inside his head were practically about to start fighting.
Click.
The sound of the lock turning came from the entrance.
The moment he saw Lin Zhihua return, Fu Shengyan’s eyes lit up.
“Zhizhi, I already ordered takeout for you. Eat first.” Fu Shengyan quickly walked over and helped put away her bag and car keys.
The corner of Yu Yao’s mouth twitched.
He was obviously the one who ordered the takeout, okay?!
Time passed in the blink of an eye, and soon the day of the court hearing arrived.
On the way to the courthouse, Lin Zhihua seriously instructed Fu Shengyan, “When we’re in court later, if the presiding judge doesn’t call your name, don’t speak.”
Fu Shengyan was somewhat displeased. “I finished reading the case files last night. I’d be fine going by myself.”
“No.” Lin Zhihua straightened his lawyer’s robe and fixed the slightly crooked tie that a certain someone had clumsily tied that morning.
The neatly dressed Great Lawyer Fu was in low spirits. He buried his nose against Lin Zhihua’s shoulder and said in a muffled voice, “Zhizhi, you don’t trust me.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s your first time, so shouldn’t you familiarize yourself with the process first?” Lin Zhihua looked at Fu Shengyan tugging on the corner of her clothes and couldn’t help coaxing him softly. “Be good. Next time, I’ll let you handle it yourself, okay?”
After receiving her promise, Fu Shengyan was quickly coaxed back into a good mood. He happily raised his head and once again picked up Professional Ethics and Professional Conduct for Lawyers, reading it with great enthusiasm.
The morning rush hour had already passed, so there weren’t many cars on the road. They soon arrived at a district-level court in City A.
This was Lin Zhihua’s first time seeing Ruan Xingyun and his family in person.
Perhaps because they had received such a huge transfer, all three members of the Ruan family had bought themselves impressive new outfits. They looked radiant, and even the way they looked at people carried arrogance.
Before coming to court, Ruan Xingyun had specially asked someone to hire a small-time lawyer. Only after consulting him did he learn that it was completely impossible for children to legally sever ties with their own parents!
In other words, when they became old, Ruan Wanning would still have to provide support payments and care for them until their deaths.
Only then did Ruan Xingyun arrive at the courthouse without fear, even planning to have the judge settle things fairly for them and demand even more support payments!
Before the hearing began, the moment Li Suhui saw Ruan Wanning, anger inexplicably surged within her. Pointing at her, she began cursing furiously.
“You money-losing burden! You really dared to sue us! I never should’ve given birth to you in the first place! You want to sever ties with us? Dream on!”
“Order.” The presiding judge struck the gavel.
“The court will now announce the courtroom rules…”
When they saw the witnesses who had come to testify in person and the photographic evidence Ruan Wanning presented, Ruan Xingyun and his wife could hardly believe their eyes. They cursed Ruan Wanning continuously for five full minutes.
The presiding judge frowned repeatedly.
Ruan Wanning sat in the plaintiff’s seat with an indifferent expression, too lazy to even spare them a glance.
Lu Yunsheng, seated in the gallery, had an expression so dark it seemed water could drip from it.
Fu Shengyan calmly watched them.
When it was time for the plaintiff and her representative to speak, Lin Zhihua slowly stood up.
Her gaze swept over Ruan Xingyun and his wife on the opposite side before finally settling on the solemn face of the presiding judge.
“Honorable Presiding Judge and members of the collegiate panel,” she began, her voice clear and steady, yet carrying a hidden edge, “today, on behalf of the plaintiff, Ms. Ruan Wanning, I will present the facts and claims of this case to the court…”
“What we are suing over is not support payments, but a question: as children, do we have the right not to love our parents?” Her gaze was sharp as she slowly looked around the courtroom. “A parent’s love and care should be instinctive. When parents show no kindness, how can they demand filial devotion from their children? If they give birth but fail to raise them, what right do they have to demand gratitude?”
The gavel fell.
The presiding judge looked deeply at Lin Zhihua.
“This court hereby announces that all claims made by the plaintiff are upheld. The defendants, Ruan Xingyun and Li Suhui, committed serious acts of abuse…”
The moment they heard the verdict, Ruan Xingyun and his wife, who had still been shouting moments earlier, turned pale and collapsed into their seats.