Chapter 358: Dinner
A time and restaurant address are attached at the end.
Ji Wan looked at the address. It was a high-end private restaurant known for its privacy.
She breathed a sigh of relief and started the car.
Inside the restaurant's private room, the lighting was soft and the air was filled with the faint aroma of food.
Chi Wenyan sat opposite him, his posture relaxed, but with an invisible sense of oppression.
The dishes on the table were exquisite and delicious, but Ji Wan had no taste for them.
"Boss Chi, thank you so much this time."
She picked up the teacup in front of her and said, "Tea instead of wine. If it weren't for you, I don't know how this would end."
Chi Wenyan's gaze fell on her face, deep and difficult to discern.
His voice was low and not much emotion could be heard.
"It's just a small favor. Hua Junyi won't be in any trouble for the time being."
Ji Wan nodded, knowing in her heart that there was probably a lot behind this simple task.
She put down her teacup and tried to lighten the mood.
"Anyway, I'll take note of this favor. This restaurant is delicious. How did you find it, Mr. Chi?"
Chi Wenyan turned his gaze to the window, the night was hazy.
His answer was brief and he didn't want to elaborate too much.
“A friend recommended it.”
A subtle silence fell between the two of them again.
Ji Wan lowered his eyes and looked at the clear yellow tea in the cup.
She could feel that Chi Wenyan's gaze seemed to still be on her.
This meal was more relaxing than I had imagined.
Near the end, there seemed to be a faint flash of light outside the window.
Ji Wan looked over subconsciously, but only saw the dark glass reflecting the lights in the room.
Is it an illusion?
She withdrew her gaze, and a subtle sense of strangeness flashed through her mind.
The next day, Ji Wan was woken up by the continuous vibration of his cell phone.
She frowned and picked up her phone, the screen filled with various unread messages and push notifications.
The headline of an entertainment news suddenly caught my eye.
Shocking news! Ji Wan secretly met with a mysterious man late at night, new evidence of infidelity?
Her heart sank.
With trembling fingers, I clicked on the link.
A photo that was not very clear but taken at a tricky angle took up the entire screen.
The photo shows the scene in the restaurant box last night.
She and Chi Wenyan sat opposite each other, the lighting was ambiguous, her face was slightly lowered, as if with a smile, while Chi Wenyan was looking at her with his head tilted to the side, his eyes focused.
The photographer is obviously outside the window, using light and angles through the glass to create an extremely intimate atmosphere.
Below the photo is a long paragraph of exaggerated text.
Describing last night's thank-you dinner as a secret tryst.
The words between the lines imply that she is fickle and has behaved improperly during marriage.
It even brought up some previously groundless rumors, which were very convincing.
"According to people familiar with the matter..."
Such disgusting words again.
He Wanqing!
The name instantly popped into Ji Wan's mind.
Who else but her would be so deliberate in throwing dirty water on her?
A chill rose from the soles of my feet and quickly spread throughout my body.
A mixture of anger and nausea made her stomach churn.
As I walked into the company building, the atmosphere was clearly not right.
Colleagues who were usually quite friendly began to look at her with flickering eyes when they saw her.
Whispering sounded behind her and stopped abruptly when she turned around.
The air was filled with silent pointing and whispering.
The receptionist was a little hesitant when handing her the documents.
Ji Wan walked into his office expressionlessly, closed the door, and blocked out those inquiring gazes.
But the restlessness in my heart cannot be isolated.
Sure enough, not long after, the internal phone rang.
She is the boss's secretary.
"Director Ji, your boss wants you to go to his office."
Here it comes.
Ji Wan took a deep breath, stood up, straightened his clothes, and walked out.
Push open the heavy door of the chairman's office.
The boss was sitting behind a large desk, holding a tablet in his hand, and the eye-catching news was on the screen.
He looked up at Ji Wan with a complex expression of pain and blame on his face.
"Xiao Wan, what's going on? These things on the Internet have a very bad impact on you and the company." His tone sounded like that of a concerned elder.
Ji Wan pursed his lips.
"This is completely taken out of context and is slanderous. Mr. Chi Wenyan and I just had a meal together to thank him for his previous help."
The boss sighed and put down the tablet.
He paused and changed the subject.
"I believe in you, Xiao Wan, but the outside world doesn't. The shareholders and partners don't believe you. Now public opinion is very unfavorable to you, and it has indirectly affected the company's reputation."
He leaned forward slightly and drummed his fingers on the table.
Just then, Chi Lin rushed in with an unpleasant voice.
"I have an important dinner tonight to discuss a new project with Mr. Zhang. Mr. Zhang is crucial to our project. If you come with me, we can clarify things in front of Mr. Zhang."
Ji Wan frowned.
The man's voice continued.
"Let him see your state and know that you haven't been affected by those rumors and are still dedicated to the company. This is also an opportunity to reverse some of the negative impact. What do you think?"
His words sounded reasonable and he was thinking about her and the company at every turn.
But when Ji Wan looked into his shrewd and sharp eyes, he only felt a chill.
The so-called opportunity for clarification is more like a carefully designed trap.
He wanted to use this "scandal" to completely squeeze out the last bit of her value.
Push her in front of the so-called Mr. Zhang.
Ji Wan knew that she had no choice but to accept, so she finally said it with a stiff upper lip.
"good."
Meanwhile, in a penthouse on the other side of town.
The air still lingered with the slightly bitter aroma of morning coffee.
Chi Wenyan's fingertips slid across the cold screen of the tablet computer, his eyes fixed on the deliberately enlarged photo.
The light from the screen reflected in his deep eyes, creating a layer of frost.
The angle of the photo is tricky and ambiguous, framing him and Ji Wan in a suggestive picture.
The text below distorts the facts even more, and every word is hurtful.
"Secret tryst".
"Fickle".
"Marital infidelity".
These dirty words were like sharp icicles, piercing the quiet silhouette of the woman in the photo.
He could even imagine Ji Wan's expression when he saw this, the anger and powerlessness beneath the forced calmness.
The knuckles of his fingers gripping the tablet turned white from the force.
This is He Wanqing's work again.
Apart from her, no one would use such despicable means and spare no effort to target Ji Wan.
A mixture of anger and worry rolled and swelled in his chest.
He almost immediately thought of Ji Wan's current situation in the Chi family.
Chi Lin, that old fox, will never let go of this opportunity.
The phone screen lit up, and he swiped the answer button almost immediately, without even seeing the caller ID.
The man's voice was as cold as ice: "Hey."
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