"The Bai family?" Jin Xin asked after reading the relevant information.

"I estimate that seven provincial newspapers, plus dozens of local newspapers, all reprinted it. Who has that kind of power? To be honest, external forces simply don't have the ability to make people speak."

“I think they’re not serious yet. This is just an appetizer, a warning and a lesson for you. These things won’t affect you much, since you’re not married,” Jin Xin said.

"If it were a few years earlier, I would have at least been sentenced to life imprisonment for this kind of thing."

"Look at you, so calm and fearless, you don't seem to care about this at all. Tell me how you're going to handle this, so I can learn from you."

Xing Baohua said irritably, "You're the one who brought this all out. You want to learn from me? I'm going to offer you up as a sacrifice and have you surrender."

"Stop talking nonsense. If you wanted to get rid of me, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now? Tell me, what's the next step? Are you going to sue these media outlets for spreading rumors based on a few photos without any substantial evidence?" Jin Xin pressed.

“If we ignore it, nothing will happen. The more we confront them, the more we add fuel to the fire. These photos show that the Bai family made a basic mistake.”

"What do you mean?"

Xing Baohua pointed to one of the photos of him holding hands with Zou Wenjuan and said, "This photo was taken at my villa in Hong Kong. There is a hillside opposite, and the other party took the photo from there. I faxed it to the head of the security team in Hong Kong, and he said it was done by an insider."

So, some of my bodyguards are monitoring me and protecting me. These kinds of people only obey one department. The fact that the Bai family could get this photo of me shows they've overstepped their bounds. And then they're using their connections to influence the media—that's going too far.

After listening to Xing Baohua's analysis, Jin Xin immediately understood.

After all, she is somewhat of a government employee, and her family is also part of it. The relationships here are complicated and difficult to navigate smoothly.

However, one point to remember is not to overstep boundaries in matters that are not your concern; if you overstep your bounds, some people will be unhappy.

Jin Xin said, "It must have been the younger generation of the Bai family who got involved, otherwise they wouldn't have pulled this stunt when Old Master Bai was about to retire."

"Is Old Master Bai about to retire?" Xing Baohua asked in surprise.

"You don't know?" Jin Xin asked rhetorically, then gave a wry smile. It was normal for Xing Baohua not to know; how could an ordinary person know someone of Bai Lao's level?

However, Jin Xin still admired Xing Baohua's intelligence, which allowed him to analyze the situation.

A short while later, the head of the guards called to say that they had found the person. Xing Baohua asked them to find out who had ultimately received the photo.

When Xing Baohua learned that the other party had been handed over to his superiors, he didn't say anything more and told the guard captain to transfer the person to another position.

Xing Baohua called Captain Han directly: "Your men exposed me, you have to give me an explanation!"

In fact, Captain Han had already vented his anger on one of his subordinates and had taken the matter into internal custody. Just then, Xing Baohua called, and the results of the investigation could be communicated to that person.

Regardless of how others handle it internally, Xing Baohua insists that your people have caused serious consequences for me, and the impact must be eliminated!

Would these few photos, which weren't provided, really cause such a stir among the public?

Captain Han said, "Don't worry, this matter will be reported to higher authorities, and we just need to wait for their approval."

After hanging up the phone, Xing Baohua said to Jin Xin, "What if we find a reason to shut down Pengfei, and then shut down the wafer fabs in Shanghai as well?"

"Naive! They make basic mistakes, and you follow suit. This shows that you are unstable. Even without the Bai family's intervention, the higher-ups will give you a warning."

“There has to be some fuss; only the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” Xing Baohua said, lying on his executive chair with his feet propped up on the edge of the table.

“You have too few chips. Making a scene will only hurt you. I suggest you stay put and see if the higher-ups will give you an explanation. From what I understand through my channels, you carry a lot of weight in those higher-ups.”

Xing Baohua nodded in agreement. "Listen to advice, eat your fill. This era is unpredictable; don't inadvertently put yourself under too much pressure."

At this moment in the capital, at the Bai family residence, Bai Junbin was cursing Bai Yan.

"I told you not to touch him, but you insisted on doing it?" Bai Junbin said angrily, pointing his finger at Bai Yan.

"It's just reporting a little thing about him, nothing serious, it just upsets him and makes him feel bad," Bai Yan stubbornly explained.

“Where did you get these photos? People have already followed that lead. There are some things we can use, but we need to be aware of them. Once you expose this, others will know that we've overstepped our bounds. Your grandfather has already said that whoever caused this mess has to clean it up. If they can't, they'll get out of the Bai family. It's better to get out now and avoid implicating their brothers and sisters.”

Bai Yan was so moved by what he said that tears welled up in her eyes. She just couldn't understand why the old man was taking it so seriously, since it was such a small matter.

Bai Yan returned home in tears. When her husband came home from get off work, she explained what had happened. A small matter had escalated into a big one, even attracting the attention of her grandfather.

He Kai couldn't understand for a moment why things had suddenly become so serious.

He turned around and took Bai Yan to his parents' house to ask for their advice.

As soon as he told the story, He Kai's father slapped him across the face. He wouldn't dare hit his daughter-in-law, but he couldn't possibly beat his own child.

Children are ignorant and misuse public resources for private purposes; the consequences can be serious or minor.

It's fine to use it occasionally, but it depends on who's using it. This varies depending on whether they have the ability or not, and whether they have a background or not.

Do you really think that Xing Baohua has no background just because he was born into a working-class family? He worked his way up step by step and got his name on the leaderboard.

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