"Slap!" The teacup in Wen Su's hand was slammed onto the table because of those words.
They could talk about her all they wanted, but her daughter was off-limits.
Liu Yumei watched Wen Su's face turn pale with anger and immediately tapped her own mouth with her fingers: "It's my big mouth, Dr. Wen, don't take it to heart. I'm just saying those gossiping women—they're unhappy with their own lives, yet they still meddle in other people's family affairs."
"I'll step out for a moment, Yumei. Thank you for telling me all this." Wen Su stood up and walked toward the door.
Wen Su went straight to the break room. Before she even reached the entrance, she heard people inside chatting in hushed, excited voices.
"No way, Dr. Wen's daughter has congenital heart disease? This is the first I've heard of it."
"Of course it's true. This kind of illness can be mild or severe. Even if it's treated, there's no guarantee they'll live to old age. And there are plenty of cases where treatment fails."
"Shh, I'm only telling you all—don't spread this around. If word gets back to President Shen, we're all done for."
"If it's true, then President Shen is really unlucky. Who wouldn't want a healthy child?"
"Exactly. So, small-minded people end up having children with problems too…"
Wen Su turned off the recording on her phone and walked in through the doorway.
There was a cup of coffee sitting nearby that someone had already drunk from. Wen Su picked it up directly and splashed it across the face of the female supervisor who loved to gossip the most.
She was someone from Lu Qingyun's team, and Wen Su had every reason to suspect she was the one who started spreading the rumor.
"Dr… Dr. Wen." Everyone present scrambled in panic at the sight of Wen Su, scattering like birds and beasts.
"Dr. Wen, why did you splash me?" Wang Yue, the female supervisor with black coffee stains all over her face, demanded through suppressed anger.
Wen Su looked at her coldly: "Because you have a filthy mouth."
"I…" Wang Yue's heart lurched with panic, and her face turned pale.
Wen Su turned and walked away: "With maggots like you in the company, you'll only keep stirring up trouble. Perhaps the one who should leave is you."
"Dr. Wen." Wang Yue had worked under Lu Qingyun for years and had picked up some of Lu Qingyun's arrogance: "Is Dr. Wen exercising her authority as Mrs. Shen? Firing me, an associate team leader, over personal grudges?"
Wen Su stared at her coldly.
Wang Yue grabbed a tissue and cleaned up the mess on her face, then let out a derisive laugh: "My, what an impressive display of power. But Dr. Lu's resignation letter is probably going to be torn up by President Shen. If you want to drive her out of the company and take all the glory for yourself, I'm afraid that won't be possible."
"Everyone knows Dr. Lu is the Shen family's…"
"Are you done?" Wen Su said, pulling out her phone and playing the recording of the rumors she had just spread.
Wang Yue's voice was the loudest—the two remarks about the child were both hers.
Wang Yue's proud expression instantly cracked. The next second, she forced a fawning smile and stepped forward to apologize: "Dr. Wen, please spare me this once. I have a filthy mouth—I didn't mean any of it."
Wen Su looked at her with a cold face: "Whether you meant it or not, let President Shen be the judge of that."
"No, no, no—don't let President Shen know. Please, Dr. Wen, I promise you…"
"Your promises aren't worth a single cent."
Wen Su shook off the arm Wang Yue had grabbed and strode toward the direction of the president's office.
Wang Yue stood frozen in place, gripped by the fear that doomsday had arrived.
At the same time!
In the president's office, Shen Fei'an stood by the massive ebony desk, clutching the resignation letter in his hand.
His assistant had brought it over first thing in the morning. Reason for resignation: personal reasons.
Lu Qingyun stood before the desk. Her impeccably tailored sapphire-blue suit couldn't hide how thin and frail she had become in recent days. Her delicate face was pale, but her eyes held a resolute determination, as if she were staking everything on one final gamble.
"This is your choice?"
Shen Fei'an's voice was low and hoarse, his current emotions unreadable.
His gaze wasn't on her—it remained fixed on those four words: personal reasons.
Lu Qingyun's eyes suddenly reddened, but she suppressed the emotions surging up inside her.
She took a soft breath: "Perhaps my leaving would be the best choice—for the Shen family, and for the company."
After hearing her words, Shen Fei'an tore the resignation letter in his hand in half, then tore it again, and casually tossed it into the trash bin beside him.
"I told you, I will protect you. I never go back on my word."
"I won't let you go abroad. Drop that idea."
"Fei An…" Lu Qingyun called out in a trembling voice.
"Your resignation—I don't approve it." Only then did Shen Fei'an turn his head, and seeing the fragile tears sliding down her cheeks, he took a tissue.
He walked up to her and gently wiped them away himself: "Don't cry. Why are you still like when we were kids—the moment you feel wronged, the tears start falling?"
"I…" Lu Qingyun bit her lip: "Of course I'm reluctant to leave the Shen family, to leave the company, and to leave…"
A sudden knock came from outside the door, and Lu Qingyun bit down hard on that word "you," swallowing it back into her stomach.
"Alright, you're all grown up now, so stop being as willful as you were as a child. I know you're upset because you weren't invited to the family dinner on Friday night. It won't happen again—from now on, every family dinner will have a place for you." Shen Fei'an lowered his voice to soothe her, then patted her arm. "Get back to your post and become that confident, radiant Lu Qingyun again."
Lu Qingyun lifted her gaze to glance at the man, her expression momentarily distant.
"I understand." Lu Qingyun turned and walked toward the door. As she opened it, she saw Wen Su standing at the entrance.
"Susu, are you here to see Fei An? Then I won't disturb the two of you." Lu Qingyun spoke as she always did, her voice gentle and sweet.
Wen Su's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
"Come in." The man's deep, magnetic voice rang out.
Wen Su stepped into the office and closed the door behind her.
"Is there something you need?" Shen Fei'an looked as if he had just dealt with something troublesome; a trace of emotional weariness lingered on his handsome face.
Wen Su got straight to the point. She took out her phone and played the recording she had captured outside the break room door moments ago.
Shen Fei'an's cold gaze darkened, and he fixed his eyes on her. "Who exactly leaked news about my daughter?"
Wen Su met his gaze with a cool, clear look. "I'd like to know that too. This information isn't even known to some people within the Shen family."
Hearing her words, which seemed to carry a hidden meaning, he tapped his fingers heavily on the desk. "What do you want to do about it?"
"Naturally, kill the chicken to scare the monkeys—make an example of them." Wen Su said each word deliberately.
Shen Fei'an's gaze lingered on her face for two seconds. Clearly, he hadn't expected the always gentle and good-tempered Wen Su to make such a decisive, ruthless call.
"I'll handle it." Shen Fei'an spoke.
Wen Su's gaze inadvertently flicked toward the trash can, where two freshly torn scraps of paper still lay on the floor.
"Should we also look into who leaked Qingqing's condition to the outside?"
Shen Fei'an's handsome face darkened. "As long as we get rid of the person with the loose tongue, no one will dare spread this around anymore."
Hearing this, Wen Su felt a sharp pang in her heart, as if she understood the implication beneath his words. She nodded. "Alright, understood."
Without saying anything more, Wen Su turned, opened the door, and left.
Shen Fei'an immediately summoned his assistant, Duan Xing, and conveyed his orders.
Wang Yue, who had been gossiping loudly in the break room that morning, received her termination notice at nine-thirty. She stood frozen in place.
"Dr. Lu, save me…" Wang Yue pushed open Lu Qingyun's office door in a panic.