Chapter 17
As the saying goes, you can only work well if you eat well. The three people who were well fed by Chen Huanong on the weekend were now sitting contentedly in the Zhao Group's Legal Affairs Office to organize materials and study subsequent countermeasures. Because they were concentrating on the case, they didn't notice that the atmosphere in the Zhao Group had undergone subtle but obvious changes when they came in the morning.
In this age of Internet communication, which no one could have anticipated, what can happen in an hour. Under the guise of human rights and in the name of freedom of speech, some people think they are the embodiment of justice. Without knowing the truth, they can harbor the greatest malice and launch despicable personal attacks on strangers. Is this the fault of the times or the fault of the people themselves?
This was the defense Chen Huanong made two years ago for a suspect in intentional injury to reduce his sentence. The suspect was exposed because he expressed opinions on Weibo that were different from the mainstream public opinion on a certain matter. His family and friends were affected, and the suspect herself suffered a lot. In the end, she took revenge on the person who exposed all her information.
The timeline keeps moving forward, and historical misfortunes never occur only once.
Unfortunately, the direct victim this time was Chen Huanong of Shensong.
Three hours before the explosion, the assistant sister felt a lot of gazes cast at her while she was waiting for the elevator with Chen Huanong. After getting out of the elevator, the assistant asked Chen Huanong if he felt anything strange. Chen Huanong had started looking at documents in the car, and now his mind was full of various data, so he didn't pay much attention to what the assistant said.
"After all, I am a regular guest on the local public channel. It's normal for some people to know me. Besides, the bankruptcy of Zhao Liangguo's factory is big news in their company. People must be curious when they see us. They don't know how we will deal with it. Can't we discuss it in private?" Perhaps Chen Huanong looked too confident, which made the assistant feel at ease and ignored too many details.
The whispers of the crowd, the inquiring glances from the group's legal counsel in the conference room, and the occasional group employee who pretended to pass by but frequently glanced towards the conference room—all hinted at something significant happening. If the assistant, always proud of her gossip-savvy, had just grabbed someone and asked them about it, as she usually did, the situation would never have deteriorated to the point it did.
When Zhao Liangqi's secretary walked into the conference room with a security team, the displeasure in Chen Huanong's eyes was like a sharp knife stabbing into the secretary's knee. The secretary, who had accompanied Zhao Liangqi through countless storms, calmed herself down and handed the iPad to Chen Huanong. "Lawyer Chen, for your safety, I would like you and your team to leave the group immediately. President Zhao has arranged a new office location for you, and we will get you there safely."
Chen Huanong sat in the main seat for a minute. Her assistant's trembling hands scrolled across the pages of negative reviews. The screen full of dirty words was frightening. Since she took the position of Chen Huanong's assistant, she had met all kinds of people. She prided herself on having a thorough understanding of human nature, but what she saw today made her realize that what she had seen in the past was just a glimpse of the whole picture.
Chen Huanong took out a handkerchief from her bag and handed it to her assistant. "Why are you crying? It's not you who was scolded. Wipe your tears. We women from Shensong never cry easily."
A long time later, the past was brought up again. Mo Yiyan asked Chen Huanong, "Aren't you angry?" Chen Huanong smiled. How could she not be angry? But just like crying couldn't solve the problem, getting angry couldn't solve it either. In the minute she sat quietly, she first thought about whether Chen's parents had seen it, then thought about how Tang Chengting would react if he knew, and finally began to think about how she should solve this problem.
"I'll be staying in a hotel for the time being. Please book a room for me at Wanda, preferably one with direct access to the surveillance cameras. The stay is tentatively set for a week. I can't go to the institute for the time being. Qin Huai, please tell the director and my master for me. I'll handle it. Don't let them worry. As for negotiating with the creditors, let my master handle it. Tell Zhao Liangqi to let the three candidates bid openly." She cleared her thoughts, and her anger subsided a lot. The look she gave the secretary was no longer as sharp. "Send me the new office location. Starting tomorrow, please ask Mr. Zhao to have someone pick up my team members morning and night. Make sure they are safe."
"What about you? You are the most unsafe one right now." Chi Buyu looked at her worriedly. With so many negative comments online, he didn't know whether she really acted as if it didn't matter or if she was just pretending.
Chen Huanong didn't say a word. She packed up her things and followed her secretary downstairs. She had never experienced cyberbullying, but she did have some experience to draw on.
Tang Chengting had just finished a meeting and was coming downstairs. Before he could arrange his work, he was pulled into the tea room by the office girl. The girl glanced outside for a few times, and when she saw no one else, she started talking. Tang Chengting never expected that the girl was here to talk about Chen Huanong.
The young woman was browsing Weibo this morning when she saw a trending post titled "The Strongest Mistress." She clicked on it and saw Chen Huanong's Weibo profile and photos. She then went to Chen Huanong's latest post and found the comments below it to be truly appalling. The post claimed that Chen Huanong had been kept by Zhao Liangqi in her early years, which was how she rose to power so quickly. To secure her position, she even forced Zhao Liangqi to divorce his first wife. The post even included photos of Zhao Liangqi's first wife meeting Chen Huanong, providing overwhelming evidence.
The little girl asked Tang Chengting with red eyes, "Director, Sister Huahua is not that kind of person, right? You have been married to her for so many years, you believe in her, right? You won't abandon her at this time, right?"
The little girl often asked Chen Huanong for advice on cooking, and over time, Chen Huanong became her mentor and friend. She had a quarrel with her boyfriend, and Chen Huanong comforted her, telling her not to always believe the toxic chicken soup written in the public account, and not to look at what the other person said, especially when quarreling, but to look at what the other person did. Chen Huanong has many roles, and at that moment she was a gentle big sister who would not force people to instill a bunch of big truths, but like the wind and moon in the mountains, she calmed her anxiety without rushing or slowing down. She didn't believe that Chen Huanong would be such a despicable person.
Tang Chengting did not answer her many questions. Chen Huanong was not what she is now from the beginning. Chen Huanong was polished into what she is now little by little. He could not answer what Chen Huanong was like in the past, in the years when he was not involved.
When Zhang Xingyan called, Tang Chengting realized he had been distracted for over two hours. "What are you going to do? The internet has already started digging up your marriage history. The verdict has even been posted."
"If it were you, what would you do?"
"Infidelity is hard to prove, and it happened seven years ago. Without proof, it's slander. If it were me, I'd definitely call the police and arrest and prosecute the ones who caused the most trouble. Who knows what a mess their private lives are like? They really think they're the messenger of justice."
"Do you believe Chen Huanong?"
"If Chen Huanong really wanted to be with Zhao Liangqi, she wouldn't have married you at all. No matter how you look at it, Zhao Liangqi is more suitable for her."
"What?"
"Look for yourself. Zhao Liangqi is a successful businessman, and he can help Chen Huanong in so many ways. To exaggerate, Chen Huanong can even stop working. He and his ex-wife already have a son, and if she marries him, she can have the baby if she wants, or not. She's eight years younger than Zhao Liangqi, so shouldn't she be pampered like a daughter? No matter how you think about it, you should choose Zhao Liangqi!" Zhang Xingyan became more and more excited as he spoke, completely disregarding brotherly feelings. "I'm not saying you're not good, you're naturally excellent, but the problem is that you don't love Chen Huanong. So it seems that Chen Huanong chose you, but you weren't the best person for you to marry."
Tang Chengting had rarely been defeated in speech, especially by Zhang Xingyan. It was the first time he was blocked and unable to say a word. Seeing that he hadn't said anything for a long time, Zhang Xingyan asked again, "You haven't said what you are going to do yet? Why don't you call Chen Huanong and ask for a solution?"
"No need. She definitely knows how to do what you already know."
Chen Huanong hadn't originally planned to take action so quickly until someone uploaded the verdicts for her and Tang Chengting that afternoon. The assistant later recalled this scene with a lingering fear. After five years with Chen Huanong, this was the first time she'd seen him act in a rage. After a thousand words, she was at a loss for words and finally condensed them into four words: a werewolf.
The entire criminal investigation team was temporarily reassigned to the hotel's presidential suite. The identities of the individuals who initially uploaded the post, the person who published Chen Huanong's Weibo account, and the person who uploaded the verdict were neatly laid out before them. All they had to do was gather the evidence and, incidentally, help the criminal police draft the indictment. Chen Huanong, pleased with their efficiency, immediately called an old classmate at the Public Security Bureau to briefly explain the situation. He then instructed Chi Buyu to deliver the materials.
As soon as Chen Huanong received the notice of filing, he took a photo and posted it on Weibo. At the same time, he blurred the personal information of the top 20 people who left the most malicious comments. Within half an hour, almost all the malicious comments on Weibo were deleted.
"Even though I don't want to admit it, I have to admit, your wife is really tough!" Zhang Xingyan watched the malicious posts and comments disappear at the speed of light, and couldn't help but applaud Chen Huanong. "I heard from Momo that Chen Huanong asked someone to trace the IP address at noon. He originally wanted to give him a private lecture and discourage him before calling the police. But in the afternoon, he suddenly transferred people from the police station to compile evidence and materials. He took care of all the police work, so they could just arrest him. The police were also confused. They had never seen anyone report a case like that before."
As the 9 o'clock evening news just started, Weibo was in an uproar again. Zhao Liangqi's original wife suddenly appeared on Chen Huanong's pinned Weibo.
"Neither of us are public figures, and we're truly terrified by the attention we've received. With the situation having reached this point, the social order disrupted by our private lives needs to be restored to normal. People are strange: they can face career failure, but find it difficult to admit to a failed relationship. A failed marriage doesn't necessarily require the involvement of a young, beautiful woman. We tend to blame others simply because we don't want to face the reality of our own emotional failures. My ex-husband and I went through a passionate love period and a difficult period, but we couldn't get through the mundane daily grind of life. This was a problem between the two of us. Before we got married, we didn't seriously consider each other's values, needs, and ideals. After we got married, we didn't adjust quickly enough to prepare for individual development within a group while maintaining the rationality to separate ourselves from the group. We didn't build a solid protective shell for our marriage to fend off external temptations or harm. Mr. Zhao and I fell in love freely and broke up peacefully. It has nothing to do with anyone else."
Chen Huanong never thought that she would meet Sun Huiyun a second time.
"I didn't expect you to invite me for afternoon tea. After all, these are things between friends." Sun Huiyun had just turned 40, and because of her good maintenance, she really looked like a friend of Chen Huanong. "I'm not trying to help you, I'm just making peace with myself."
"When I first learned about you, I resented you. Of all the people, why did you choose my man? Of all the families, why did you destroy mine? The day after I met you, I heard you moved out of the apartment, but I wondered if it was just a roundabout way of doing things. During that year, I didn't trust anyone."
"If it's not him, then anyone will do."
"What?"
"I didn't choose your man for granted. Maybe that sounds like a quibble to you, but I didn't choose anyone on purpose. I was living in a daze for a few years, thinking that if I couldn't get what I wanted, I would replace it with something else that would make me happy. Anything would do. He happened to appear at that time, with the money and power I wanted, so I took it."
"If you like it, why give up so easily?"
"It's just that I like you, not to the point where I'd give up on myself." Their first meeting had been unpleasant; such a calm conversation was impossible. Could meeting again like this after six years be considered reconciliation with her past self? Chen Huanong never looked back. Right or wrong, it was all part of her journey, laughter or tears, all part of her life, and she accepted it all. Even if Sun Huiyuan had appeared last night to accuse her, she accepted it all.
"What do you want?" Sun Huiyun took a sip of coffee and asked her like an old friend, "Is it your husband?"
Chen Huanong was very surprised to hear someone mention Tang Chengting on this occasion, then she remembered the information about him on Weibo before, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her subtle reaction was all seen by Sun Huiyun, who thought that this couple was interesting.
"Your husband came to see me. He said he was sorry for not being by your side during the years when you needed him the most and for letting you get lost. If this is the kind of person you want, then I can understand why you gave up on Zhao Liangqi."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
