Li Yun Hui’s face appropriately turned ugly. Among the crowd, she accurately looked at Ding Jie and asked, “How long ago did you see them?”
Originally, not many people knew it was Ding Jie who had spoken. Now, with Li Yun Hui’s question, everyone knew.
Ding Jie paused, then said with a stiff neck that it was twenty minutes ago.
Now the real show was about to begin!
They had said the Ding family couldn’t possibly be so calm and composed in offering birthday congratulations to the Fu family. So they were waiting here with a scheme!
It was unclear whether it was the Ding family’s plot or Fu Dongfeng’s own problem. But in any case, the Ding family’s intentions were malicious.
Some people sympathized with Li Yun Hui. For a loving husband to openly cheat on such an occasion, even if he was set up, it would be a lifelong humiliation.
Others took pleasure in her misfortune. They came from similar backgrounds, so why did Li Yun Hui get to have a loving husband and filial children? Since such a big joke had erupted today, they were determined to get their money’s worth watching, to make sure Li Yun Hui couldn’t step down from this stage.
Xu Ziyan finally got excited too. 『This is getting good! We’re about to see the most thrilling scene! Why didn’t I realize I was such a gossip before? I love eating melons (watching drama)! Where’s Ding Yao? The chance to be a good son is here, for heaven’s sake don’t be a dumbass and laugh at Old Man Ding.』
Ding Yao was on the edge of the crowd adjusting Yang Anni’s dress. Hearing this inner voice, he was stunned. What did that mean? Did it involve him too? What ‘good son’? Why didn’t she say a few more words?
Someone had already deliberately stirred the pot. “Twenty minutes is way too long. What if something happened? We should go check.”
“Yeah, let’s all go together. If there’s trouble, we can help.”
Some had malicious intentions, others wanted to step forward and stop them. Regardless, the whole group headed towards that room. The door had excellent soundproofing, but as soon as Li Yun Hui pushed it open a crack, indecent sounds wafted out. Her face turned even uglier.
Someone snickered softly. “That’s quite vigorous. He still got it in his old age.”
“Pfft—keep your voice down. But they really are like a dry forest meeting a spark.”
A lady standing beside Li Yun Hui grabbed her and said kindly, “Perhaps someone drank too much and lost their sense of propriety. Let’s not go in.”
Li Yun Hui immediately said, “Right, let’s not disturb them then.” She moved to close the door.
Ding Jie hadn’t expected Li Yun Hui to try to cover it up at the final moment. He frowned tightly. What now? Was this plotline just going to be wasted?
Bai Qingqing was beside him and more or less understood what he was trying to do. She had been ignored for too long today. Ding Jie’s attention was either on these “official matters” or on Xu Ziyan. He hadn’t shown her any concern. Every time she faced Xu Ziyan, she felt a sense of losing control. She had to increase her own importance in Ding Jie’s heart.
So she mustered her courage, stepped forward, took Li Yun Hui’s hand, and declared righteously, “Mr. Fu has wronged Mrs. Fu. We will all help Mrs. Fu hold him accountable. Mrs. Fu, don’t be afraid. Confront him directly.”
The crowd wondered, who is this? Before they could react, Bai Qingqing pushed the door open and walked in. Of course, everyone else had to follow.
On the bed, the two were passionately entangled, so absorbed they didn’t notice the crowd entering. Bai Qingqing picked up a glass of wine from the table and splashed it in their faces. Only then did they sober up. Seeing the crowd, they hurriedly grabbed the blanket to cover themselves.
“Ah—” Qin Yuexiang had initially felt smug upon seeing Li Yun Hui, but when she clearly saw the man beside her, she let out a terrified scream.
The expressions of the crowd were also stunned with disbelief. They stood frozen in place.
Fu Dongfeng stood at the back of the crowd and asked, “Why is everyone here? What happened?”
Ding Jie, afraid Qin Yuexiang would see him and act abnormally, hadn’t gone in. The moment he saw Fu Dongfeng, he was dumbfounded. “Why are you here?”
Fu Dongfeng gave a half-smile. “Why shouldn’t I be here? Where did you think I should be?”
He emphasized the word “should” very heavily. Ding Jie immediately knew his scheme had been seen through. But if Fu Dongfeng hadn’t fallen for the trap, then who was the man inside? A bad premonition suddenly hit him, and he immediately pushed his way inside.
The crowd made way for him, their eyes filled with contempt. His and Fu Dongfeng’s reactions just now were clear to everyone. The situation was obvious: Ding Jie had tried to set up Fu Dongfeng, but Fu Dongfeng was more skillful and had pushed Ding Father into the pit instead.
No one could blame Fu Dongfeng for this. If it were them, they’d have retaliated even more harshly. When you got down to it, the Ding family was the one picking a fight for no reason. This illegitimate son of the Ding family was really outrageous. Heard he stole the Fu family’s game not long ago too. Such low-handed methods.
When Ding Jie squeezed in and saw Ding Father, he knew it was over. Completely botched.
Ding Father had sobered up by now and roared angrily, “Aren’t you going to get them out?”
At that moment, Ding Yao arrived just in time and said openly, “Just a romantic dalliance. My father had too much to drink, my apologies. Please give us some face, let my father get dressed. Thank you, everyone.”
Ding Yao didn’t give Ding Jie a chance to redeem himself. He stepped forward and persuaded everyone to leave, then called a servant to bring new clothes for Ding Father. He remembered hearing Xu Ziyan’s inner voice before about some ‘climbing into bed’ scheme. Xu Ziyan had helped him so much; he’d help her get rid of this woman.
Ding Yao said to Ding Father, “People outside will say all sorts of things now. For the sake of your image, to salvage a bit of dignity, why not just say this lady is your girlfriend. You’re single anyway, having a girlfriend is no big deal. Just say you drank too much and didn’t pay attention to the setting. At least it puts a fig leaf over the situation. No one can say anything then.”
Ding Father looked at him, surprised his eldest son had grown a brain. This was indeed the best cover-up. Better than the blatant plot against Fu Dongfeng, and better than admitting he himself had been set up. “Do it that way,” he said, then glared furiously at Qin Yuexiang. “Aren’t you coming over to take my arm? Whatever deal you had with Ding Jie, forget it all from now on. You are my female companion. Play your role well!”
Qin Yuexiang didn’t dare say a word, nodding repeatedly as she went to stand by his side.
Ding Father then looked at Ding Jie, his expression extremely grim. “Useless trash who only messes things up! Just like your mother, useless trash! I don’t want to see you again. Take your idiot girlfriend and get out!”
Ding Father left with Qin Yuexiang on his arm to announce his departure. Ding Yao glanced at Ding Jie, gave a contemptuous snort, and followed.
Bai Qingqing was already trembling with fear, looking at Ding Jie cautiously. “D-did I ruin things?”
Ding Jie whipped his head around to look at her, his eyes gloomy and terrifying. “Who told you to take matters into your own hands? You’ve destroyed everything!” He strode away. Bai Qingqing felt like staying in this luxurious mansion was a form of torture. She just wanted to cross social strata, to latch onto a rich second-generation heir. Why was it so hard? She didn’t dare stay alone to endure the strange looks, so she could only stumble after Ding Jie as he left.
『Congratulations, Host, for completing the plot: Assist the Male Lead in successfully helping Qin Yuexiang climb into bed.』
Xu Ziyan sighed. “The bed-climbing succeeded, but she drugged herself too and mistook the person while in a daze. So the subsequent plot of the parents divorcing won’t happen. Oh well, getting this far is already impressive. The Fu family won’t meet a tragic end, so the later plot that depended on that is essentially gone.”
She smiled at Yuan Bin and took him to pull in some investments. Her handsome male companion had provided so much emotional value and pissed off Ding Jie thoroughly. Of course, she had to give ample reward in return. For someone in the entertainment industry, the best reward was connections and resources. She happened to have them, so she gave generously.
Fu Dongfeng and Li Yun Hui exchanged a look. As for the divorce thing, there was nothing they could do. They had to follow the plot enough for Ding Jie to know, but they couldn’t actually get divorced and announce it everywhere, right? That would definitely cause huge repercussions. The company would suffer who knows how many losses. The key was those plots about tragic downfalls—they couldn’t actually let the company’s capital chain break or let anything happen to the children.
So, getting to this point, everyone had really tried their best. They could only do their part and leave the rest to fate.
After this birthday banquet ended, Fu Dongfeng and Li Yun Hui discovered they could no longer hear Xu Ziyan’s inner thoughts. They felt a sense of loss, as if they had lost a bridge to their daughter’s heart. But they knew to cherish their good fortune. Relying on the inner voice to avoid crisis had been incredibly lucky. They couldn’t ask for more. From now on, their family would just live well together.
Ding Jie, dealt a blow, was too preoccupied to bother with other matters, giving Xu Ziyan quite a few days of peace. Coincidentally, the employee benefits she was implementing at the company began to be put into practice: flexible holidays, high-quality afternoon tea, comfortable areas for pregnant employees, anonymous psychological counseling, etc. These were all based on employee surveys, comprehensively refined employee needs.
The company would naturally have an extra expense for this, but for a corporation as large as the Fu Corporation, it absolutely wasn’t a burden. It’s just that, from a corporate angle, they usually didn’t do unnecessary things. This time, because Xu Ziyan remembered her own days as a beast of burden, she saw herself as a representative of the laborers and managed to secure quite a few benefits for the employees. She was responsible for arranging all of it, so it was implemented particularly well.
Once the benefits were rolled out, they received widespread praise. Everyone finally had a strong, positive impression of this CEO’s sister. Especially the pregnant employees, who not only didn’t have to worry about job reassignment but were also moved to more comfortable work areas. Their gratitude towards Xu Ziyan was immense!
Many small details in everyone’s work areas changed, making things more convenient and comfortable. At first, people felt the changes weren’t big, but slowly they realized the wisdom behind them. Their work pressure was unconsciously reduced. When they rested, they could rest fully; when they worked, they could concentrate. Work efficiency significantly improved.
Now even the upper management didn’t object. Fu Qixuan hadn’t expected such genuinely good changes either. He praised Xu Ziyan profusely, arranged a formal office for her, and gave her a new position. She was now the Fu Corporation’s Welfare Department Manager!
While Xu Ziyan was busy, Ding Yao wasn’t idle either. He remembered his greatest crisis hadn’t passed yet. Wanting Ding Jie to cooperate in getting him reduced to beggary was unrealistic. He had to provoke Ding Jie, make Ding Jie take some action so he could exploit a loophole to follow the plot.
Ding Yao also understood why Xu Ziyan had wanted him to be a filial son at the banquet. Because it was a golden opportunity for him to return to the Ding family! Not only did he return by himself, he also brought Yang Anni to live with him in the Ding family’s main residence.
When Ding Jie was packing his things to move out, he overheard Ding Yao telling Yang Anni they should start designing a nursery room after getting married. He was suddenly struck by the realization that Ding Father didn’t necessarily have to pass the Ding family legacy to a son. Even if Ding Father was disappointed in Ding Yao, he could still train Ding Yao’s son.
This realization made Ding Jie feel time was running out. He had stolen Fu Qixuan’s trade secrets. With some time to study them thoroughly, he could make a comeback within the Ding Corporation and regain favor. But if he didn’t deal with Ding Yao now, he would completely lose his chance. He had to take a desperate gamble.
Ding Yao was too much of an eyesore. He had to make Ding Yao disappear!