13. "Love is doubt."
Seeing Fang Kaixuan's face darken, Xiaoju knew she was inevitably thinking about those unpleasant things again, so she quickly interrupted her:
"Come on, let me see a picture of your handsome man. Let me make this clear first, I don't believe it. Back then you described Chen Zhilun as the best in the world, but when I saw him, he was just an ordinary guy. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and your romantic filter is really too much."
Over the past two months, Xiaoju has been interviewing several women who have been severely harmed by "pig butchering" scams. Among them, the one who touched her the most was a victim suffering from cancer.
During her illness, the victim met a man online who claimed to be a doctor at a foreign-owned hospital. She fell in love with him and soon transferred over a million yuan—money she had saved from selling her house and originally intended for his treatment—to him. The conman told her he was working day and night "for our future."
The outcome was naturally disastrous. The moment the money arrived, the perpetrator vanished. Because the amount of money obtained was large enough, and the victim had been completely drained, from an efficiency standpoint, there was no need to continue playing the long game.
The victim was already undergoing chemotherapy and was in extremely poor health. This further blow weakened her, leaving her weighing only about 70 pounds, and her mental state completely collapsed.
On the day they met, Xiao Ju looked at her eyes, which were fixed intently on the endless horizon. Because she was so thin, her eyes appeared exceptionally large, and those huge, black pupils were empty, staring intently at you as if gazing deep into your soul.
Ren Xiaoju has met countless people in the past few years as a reporter, but even she was somewhat intimidated by this gaze.
Not long after, the victim passed away, filled with grief and hatred. Even until her death, she still held onto a sliver of hope for her vanished lover, believing that perhaps he wasn't a fraud, but rather had genuinely faced unspeakable hardships that forced him to do what he did.
After completing this series of interviews, Xiao Ju suddenly felt extremely tired, as if she had suffered a professional injury. Indeed, facing negative events that one cannot change for a long time is really not good for one's physical and mental health.
This story also made Xiaoju ask herself, what exactly is love? It can kill so subtly and without drawing blood, not only physically but also emotionally. Although she had witnessed many tragic lives during her career as a journalist, this incident still had a huge impact on Xiaoju.
Many life-altering accidents are due to unforeseen circumstances or uncontrollable external forces; though tragic, they are ultimately unavoidable. However, these women, ensnared by deception wrapped in the sweet coating of emotions, not only suffer financial and health losses, but their hearts and minds are also reduced to ruins.
Therefore, lately, she has been extremely wary of stories about perfect men falling from the sky.
Who else could be the perfect man besides those involved in "pig butchering scams"?
*
When Xiao Ju asked to see the photos, Fang Kaixuan realized that she indeed didn't have any photos of him or any pictures of the two of them together. It wasn't that he was deliberately avoiding her; he had always been open and honest. But the two of them had never thought of taking a picture together. They spent their limited time watching the snow, the mountains, and the sunset, as if there was no need for farewells or for them to remember each other.
“I knew it,” Xiao Ju warned her. “These people would never leave a real image.” She explained that scammers typically refuse to meet their victims in person, using stolen images and fake videos, or AI face-swapping tools, in online chats. If they absolutely have to show their faces, it's because they have a bigger, more worthwhile target to risk.
Xiao Ju spoke with great conviction, and Fang Kaixuan, though skeptical, nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I promise I'll be careful. I'll report to you first about anything involving money, okay?"
"Most importantly, don't let your emotions cloud your judgment. I hope you've used up all your romantic brainpower in this whole life in your entanglement with that bastard Chen Zhilun." Xiao Ju knew how much Fang Kaixuan had suffered in that relationship.
Fang Kaixuan was suddenly moved. He leaned over and hugged Xiaoju, pressing his face against her shoulder, and lingered there for a long time.
"That's so cheesy." Xiao Ju made a disgusted face. "Alright, alright, this episode of anti-telecom fraud awareness education is over. Come on, tell me about it."
A smile involuntarily appeared on Fang Kaixuan's face.
We will meet again soon.
She tried her best to remember the warnings about "pig butchering scams." She also felt that the whole thing was illogical, but even things that seem logical don't necessarily end well. What became of Chen Zhilun, a seemingly perfect lover who conformed to all logic?
The next day, when Fang Kaixuan arrived at the office, he carefully read an email that Xiao Ju had forwarded to him.
When we met the night before, Xiao Ju talked about the cancer patient who was scammed in a "pig butchering" scam. Suddenly, she remembered something else and hurriedly told Fang Kaixuan: "A family member of a cancer patient contacted me through a magazine to report a pharmaceutical company. I think it was you who reported it."
Xiao Ju revealed this to Fang Kaixuan for two reasons: first, she wanted Fang Kaixuan to help her gather information; second, in case this was a project Fang Kaixuan had been involved in, it would serve as an early warning. Otherwise, if negative news broke, the aftermath would be extremely troublesome.
"What's going on?" Fang Kaixuan's heart sank. She really didn't like to think about work outside of work.
"The patient's family reported that a sales representative from this pharmaceutical company induced the patient to undergo expensive genetic testing, fabricated a positive result for a certain gene locus, and is suspected of insurance fraud. The patient passed away last month. The family reported the matter to the company and demanded that those responsible be held accountable, but the company ignored them. The family contacted me through the magazine because they had read my previous articles on the subject." Xiao Ju opened her phone and forwarded the email to Fang Kaixuan.
"Okay, I'll take a closer look later." After hearing the summary, Fang Kaixuan already knew which company it was; the company's internal project code was SuperNova, and its internal abbreviation was SN.
The company invested in this enterprise four years ago. At that time, the enterprise was already seeking an IPO, but unfortunately, its listing process was hampered by an investigation by regulatory authorities into its intermediary institutions. This stalled the listing process. This year, however, things finally took a turn for the better, with an opportunity to be acquired by another industry leader. Due diligence is nearing completion. If the acquisition is successfully completed, the returns, while not comparable to an independent IPO, will be quite a good deal given the current market downturn.
Fang Kaixuan carefully examined each email attachment, and the more he looked, the more alarmed he became.
The email came from the family of the deceased cancer patient. The body of the email was logically clear and the timeline was well-defined, resembling a research paper. The attachments provided ample evidence, from the sales representative persuading the patient to undergo genetic testing, to issuing a positive report without submitting the sample, to the company's senior management refusing to communicate... Each accusation was supported by screenshots.
The email ended with contact information and stated that this was not an isolated case, hoping that reporter Xu Xiying would investigate the truth.
Fang Kaixuan thought for a moment and then called Xiao Ju: "Do you plan to report on this?"
"I will consult the experts I interviewed before and do my homework before contacting the family. I am forwarding this email to you so that you can see if you can find out from the inside whether you have any relevant information."
"Even if such a thing were to happen, it's highly unlikely that our investors would know. However, I have some personal connections within their organization, so I can ask them."
"Okay, let's talk again later?"
“Xiao Ju,” Fang Kaixuan called out to her, then hesitated for a moment, “I’m only looking into this from a personal perspective, and I’m not sure what I can do about it.”
Little Orange understands.
It wasn't that Fang Kaixuan was heartless, but she knew the nature of financial investors. As long as the financial figures looked good, they could pass the equity of a company to the next round of investors like a game of musical chairs, and that would be considered a victory.
They've always been concerned with whitewashing the truth, from top to bottom. Who bears the responsibility for a lost life is never considered.
Fang Kaixuan called Alice, who was in charge of branding at the company. They had met during a company visit. It was just a normal work-related chat, but they got along well. It turned out that Alice was Fang Kaixuan's junior from undergraduate school, so they felt especially close and had always had a good relationship.
Alice is straightforward and doesn't try to hide anything when Fang Kaixuan asks such specific questions.
"Senior, since you know such inside information, let's talk privately," Alice said in a low voice, probably making the call secretly from somewhere in the company. "This family member is quite shrewd. At first, she pretended to be thanking the salesperson by inviting him to dinner, and managed to extract a lot of evidence from him. Because the other party had sufficient evidence, the company was initially willing to offer 1 million yuan in compensation to settle the matter, but the family member refused to accept it and insisted that the company publicly admit the problem. How could that be possible? If we admitted it like that, would we still be able to do business? Would we still be able to raise funds? The boss was furious and was determined to stand his ground, preparing to offer her an even higher price that she couldn't refuse, and then sue her for extortion."
"Is this entrapment? How unethical!"
“However, the other party didn’t fall for it and insisted on not accepting compensation, only publicly admitting the problem and apologizing, so the company couldn’t do anything about it.” Alice probably realized she had said too much and quickly stopped herself. “Senior, everything I’ve said is off-record, okay? It absolutely, absolutely cannot be told to anyone else. Please, or I’m doomed.”
"Don't worry, no one will know that you told me," Fang Kaixuan promised.
Alice's words corroborated most of the information in the patient's family member's email. Even though she was a minor figure in brand public relations, she was well-informed about everything, big and small.
They are especially aware of bad things, and know them most clearly and promptly.
However, knowing this is one thing, but whether or not one can stop the boss from doing something stupid is not something that a small public relations firm can decide.
Fang Kaixuan told Xiaoju about Alice's information, but didn't mention the specific source. She had to keep her promise to remain anonymous; she understood the difficulties of being a cog in the machine of the company.
Anyway, given Xiaoju's work habits, she would rigorously verify and confirm all information.
Fang Kaixuan sighed and threw himself into his bullshit job.
*
Putting aside her heartbreak, Fang Kaixuan seemed perfectly normal on the surface. She was still that diligent and conscientious employee, the one who could stay up until the wee hours of the morning to make her PPT presentation look beautiful and then arrive at the meeting at eight in the morning with her makeup on.
Although she understood perfectly well that those PowerPoint presentations never created any value and those meetings were nothing more than a game of shifting blame.
She just does it out of habit.
Lately, the office has been unusually solemn, with everyone working very diligently. The company doesn't require clocking in, but everyone is quietly at their desks before nine in the morning.
The company is taking advantage of the new fiscal year to carry out a new round of organizational restructuring, laying off redundant staff under the guise of team optimization.
For a time, everyone felt insecure.
At this moment, Fang Kaixuan was actually relieved that many people misunderstood her relationship with her boss as unusual, at least she could temporarily escape the layoff list. She was unusually impulsive and simply took a week off in mid-March. Her unused annual leave from the previous year would be forfeited at the end of March. She didn't want to benefit the capitalists.
Mid-March is the last chance of the year to see the blue ice of Lake Baikal. After that, the ice will gradually melt. The vast lake reaches a depth of 1600 meters, enough to stack two Burj Khalifas or five Eiffel Towers.
Literally, it means utterly doomed.
This vast and desolate place is exactly what Fang Kaixuan longs for now, after all, she has just climbed out of an abyss.
The tickets were booked, and she was just waiting to leave. There, she would find one of the few people in the world who could gently catch her fragile heart.
///
The perfect man is finally making a comeback!
They're back! They're back!
The closing words gently touched my tear ducts after a day of lousy work.
hug hug
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