Episode 71 Public Opinion
The construction site, which had just been completed but not yet delivered, was in a basement that was as imprisoned as a prison, with stagnant air and dim light.
The two children were tied back to back on a small stool with a backrest. Ruxing was tired of crying and fell asleep with her head tilted to one side. Tears dried on her delicate face, but Jiaze still looked defensive...
Seeing the little boy's alert yet timid look, Cen Shuo couldn't help but sneer.
"Who asked you to follow me? Your dream of being a superhero has been shattered, right?"
“…Who told you to kidnap Ruxing? I can’t just stand by and watch her die.”
He found this quite boring and ignored him.
The air in the basement was extremely bad, and it was very suffocating to stay in such a place for a long time. After he sent the message, he began to think of going outside to get some fresh air for a few minutes.
The surroundings were extremely desolate, with not even an emergency light. He walked to a secluded but relatively open corner, took out his lighter, and rubbed it against the cigarette in his mouth...
This was something he had confiscated from her a few days ago when he and Xu Yiwei went on a trip. He was afraid that she would get addicted and feel uncomfortable, so he kept it. He didn't expect that it would end up being used by him to relieve his fatigue.
He was inhaling too much secondhand smoke, and it was really hard to get used to the sudden puff of smoke. He curled up in the dark, imitating Xu Yiwei's way of puffing out cigarettes, but ended up choking - he really didn't know what the use of this thing was to relieve fatigue.
The smell of burnt tobacco leaves made him feel sad and resentful for no reason. How could he have come to this point?
I deliberately chose this location to hide, not only because the building was remote and had no signal network installed, but also because it was the largest project my father had ever undertaken during his lifetime.
That was six years ago when he was still in high school. It was also the first time that Mr. Cen received this project. He heard that this project was backed by a large enterprise and had lucrative investments, so it should have been a business that was sure to make money.
As a result, only one year after the construction started, due to the impact of the epidemic, material prices fluctuated greatly, and coupled with the shrinking real estate industry, funds gradually stopped being allocated... That was the first time that Mr. Cen took an order from another place. He had thought that he could come to Shanghai before his son to make a living, but after several setbacks, the building became a castle in the air.
The final payment was not received and the project was halted. The original investors had long since withdrawn, and the new investors did not care either. The project was completely rotten here - after all, it was in the suburbs, no one cared, and the company was unable to take care of itself.
He also fell seriously ill. Mother Cen came from his hometown to see him and advised him to go home and recuperate. Before leaving, she went to see her son's girlfriend. At that time, Cen Shuo was a sophomore in college, at the age of high spirits, and his girlfriend was also very beautiful. It was a pity that she had a low level of education and a poor family background.
Although the Cen family was not wealthy, they were considered wealthy in their hometown, and their son was admitted to a prestigious university. Naturally, the Cen family's parents were more picky, and Cen Shuo at that time was also picky - but he didn't know it.
Mother Cen had no job and lived off Father Cen, but he had been ill for three years, the business had not opened, and he had spent a lot of money on medical expenses, so his income was naturally tight.
Originally, he should be enjoying a peaceful and restful age, but Father Cen always feels unwilling to do so, especially when he thinks that his son is about to graduate and wants to stay in Shanghai to develop and settle down. He will need money a lot in the future, so how can he support it by himself?
It's unclear whether it was fate or destiny that meant he shouldn't come back. When Jianglin Group found him again, he accepted without a second thought. His wife and children tried to persuade him to stop, but he insisted it was fate's will. He'd been raising the company for a few years and it wasn't a big deal. Besides, the project was already well-established, and no one else wanted to take it, but he did.
He was willing to do it, so he braved the 40-degree heat to help his coworkers move cement. Before his coworkers could even say thank you, he collapsed next to the cement truck...
"Jiang Lin profited from the misfortune of others" made headlines, and public opinion was in an uproar for a week or two. It finally ended with Jianglin Group paying compensation and apologizing. The company is still the same company, and Jiang Shu is still the same Jiang Shu.
But before Cen Shuo's father could even receive the compensation, he passed away...
The wind was strong tonight and the cigarette burned very quickly. Before he could taste anything, one cigarette was burned out by the wind. Helplessly, he had to light another one.
He checked the time on his phone and a message popped up on the screen—it was Wang Duo. He asked him why he didn't follow the plan and kidnapped his son.
Cen Shuo couldn't help but sneer twice, answering the question irrelevantly, typing:
"You put me in this situation, and you can just get rid of it with two dollars and a job?"
He originally wanted to gain more leverage by kidnapping another Jiaze, but soon he realized that the situation was not right...
The entries originally focused on the endless stream of "illegitimate daughters" and "illegitimate daughters of wealthy families" in the Jianglin Group were suddenly replaced by another wave of topics...
The most eye-catching topic broke through the encirclement at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.
"The kidnapped person is suspected to be the eldest grandson of Hong Kong financial tycoon Song Qihui"
Someone actually posted a photo of two children being tied up, showing the children's state of captivity, but the children's faces were mosaiced...
Seeing this, his pupils trembled - oh no!
He dropped the half-burned cigarette and immediately returned to the basement of the building.
When he saw Xu Yiwei appearing for no reason, his whole body almost went off the rails and he lost weight for a moment.
Outside the building, within a shabby park within five kilometers, three plainclothes police cars were on standby, and sandwiched between them was that truly eye-catching Bentley...
Lin Ying swiped through the newly pushed public account tweets with her hand. The headlines such as "Song Family's Rising Star in Hong Kong Circle" that had already surpassed the Jianglin Group's hot topics really made her feel relieved.
Similar topics were like bombshells, rumbling in and setting off a wave of gossip.
[Holy crap, the illegitimate grandson of a financial tycoon?! True or false?]
[Who would dare to make up such a big story? If it were fake, they would have been sued long ago!]
[Let me think about this. I remember Song Qihui only had one daughter, didn't he? He had a daughter in his old age.]
[He can't even eat melons. This is obviously an illegitimate child, no, an illegitimate grandson! But considering it's the Song Group in Hong Kong, it's normal.]
[What?! So Jiang Lin is just taking the blame for the Song family?]
For a time, similar speculation and rhetoric swept the internet like a tsunami, with major financial media outlets, gossip accounts, and investment forums all following suit and pushing the stories.
In less than half an hour, "Hong Kong financial tycoon Song" and "suspected illegitimate child of a Hong Kong tycoon" became popular search terms...
Lin Ying watched all this happen, and the stone in her heart gradually fell to the ground - but now, instead of mocking Wang Duo for shooting himself in the foot, she was still completely tense in the empty building five kilometers away.
She stared at the dialog box with Xu Yiwei, looking at the photo she had sent to herself fifty minutes ago. After slightly altering it to cover it up, she sent it to another person - Song Qi.
As expected of a media professional, it only took half an hour from getting the "ingredients" to simmering them over low heat until the topic became popular.
As the gold medal editor-in-chief, Song Qi is very familiar with manipulating the ups and downs of public opinion tonight.
She did not directly point out the relationship between her father Song Qihui and Wang Duo, but cleverly released clues - vague equity transactions, ambiguous internal emails, and a few meaningful old photos.
Putting these together is enough for the public to make up their own minds.
She knew that the real killer lay not in "hard evidence" but in "doubt." As long as doubt loomed, her father would have to make concessions for the future of mother and daughter.
Soon, as the incident fermented further, someone dug up Song Qihui's reputation in the Hong Kong circle:
[Business is ruthless, love is frivolous, and illegitimate children are spread all over the world]
As a result, the "low-key rise" of Wang Duo, general manager of Tengchun Culture, has also been re-examined - it turns out that the so-called starting from scratch was nothing more than secret support from capital.
On the Internet, ridicule and emotion are intertwined:
"It turns out to be a palace drama of intrigue among wealthy families. We've all been worrying for nothing."
"So those two from the Jiang family are the scapegoats? They're taking the blame for the capitalists?"
"Men are really not easy to deal with."
…
As for people, the more money they have, the more burden they will have to worry about their reputation.
In the beginning, Song Qihui was willing to marry his mother out of respectability, in order to silence the gossips about his romantic past. Now that his own daughter had touched a sore spot, even though he was furious, he couldn't overreact - being backstabbed by his own daughter seemed to make him feel more embarrassed than the fact that his illegitimate child was exposed.
Speaking of which, she also had to thank the encounter with Lin Ying at the door of Wang Duo's house that day. She was going to have a frank talk with Wang Duo that day, but she didn't expect to bump into his "fiancée".
The atmosphere was not harmonious at first, Song Qi even warned...
"You'd better think carefully before marrying him. He's not someone you can manipulate so easily."
Perhaps these words really did enlighten her. As a mother in her thirties, it was always right to be more careful about everything. Being careful was one thing, but being able to prevent it was another. Since she kindly reminded her, Lin Ying had to reciprocate.
"You're coming here with such a strong attitude. Since Mr. Song values Wang Duo so much, he must value Jiaze as well, right? Otherwise, why would he compromise and give custody of the child to his ex-wife to raise in Hong Kong?"
When Song Qi saw the topic of public opinion that Wang Duo had sparked tonight, she could no longer hold back, but was struggling to find a breakthrough point - until the photo sent by Lin Ying gave her the opportunity to turn things around.
As long as people are still at the table, no matter how close they are, they have to rely on chips to turn the tables - the heavier the chips, the more they can leverage the dealer to make greater concessions.
Since they wanted to play, she would just call.
Before her father could send her lawyer's letter, her mother Luo Suqin couldn't hold back any longer.
"Qiqi, isn't this too risky? After all, it's your father..."
"Taking a risk? Mom, what have we been like in his eyes all these years? He can pave the way for an illegitimate child. In order to see his grandson more often, he would rather let Wang Duo's ex-wife take custody of the child, but he has never been willing to give you, his legitimate wife, a decent explanation.
I just laid the truth out in the open, letting him know who holds the real bargaining chip!"
Snap——
As soon as she hung up the phone, she looked out through the floor-to-ceiling window of the study. In the dark night, the city's sparks were surging. Everything around her was silent, and the hustle and bustle was climbing and tearing among thousands of networks.
The truth needs scandals to cover it up, and people's hearts need scandals to fill them.
At this moment, she received messages from Lin Ying and Jiang Shu respectively——
Lin Ying: The child is no longer in danger.
Jiang Shu sent a picture: a photo of Wang Duo's car and the building where the kidnapping took place.
Ten minutes later.
She was very pleased to hear a phone call ring - Song Qihui's rare proactive condolences to her daughter.
Before answering the call, she sent an emoticon to Lin Ying with the text:
"It's almost time to boil over high heat. Thank you."
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