Chapter 112 Now I belong completely to you
Beijing North, Lexingdao Headquarters.
Huo Jing looked at the phone that had been hung up and angrily slammed the documents in her hand onto the table.
"madman!"
She simply couldn't believe that at a time like this, Huo Yanzhi was thinking of completely isolating the project manager from the gunfire.
This is absolutely ridiculous!
She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.
Huo Jing picked up the phone again, dialed the internal line, and her voice regained its usual calmness and assertiveness.
"Notify the legal department to have all personnel stand by and prepare materials for the infringement lawsuit against Creative Toys."
"Public relations department, immediately activate the S-level crisis plan. In this war of public opinion, we cannot concede an inch."
As she issued her instructions, the entire massive machine of the Huo Group began to operate at high speed for the nascent project, Lexing Island.
Meanwhile, Moonlight Island, at the eye of the storm, remained sunny and calm.
Time ticked by, and it was almost noon.
Ruan Yao sat on a lounge chair on the villa's terrace, holding a tablet computer, her legs swinging happily.
She refreshed the official website of Lexingdao again and again, her heart pounding with anticipation.
However, the screen always displayed the same small text: "[Server busy, please try again later]".
"Huh? What's going on?"
Ruan Yao muttered something and tried to open Weibo to check the topic square, but the page kept loading for a long time and only showed a lonely "Network connection error".
Undeterred, she tried other social media apps, but without exception, the signal was so bad that she couldn't even load a single picture.
An inexplicable sense of unease welled up inside her, and her heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.
Not far away, Huo Yanzhi was finishing a phone call.
He was turned to the side, his shadow stretched long by the sunlight, seemingly admiring the scenery, but the tiny Bluetooth earpiece hidden in his ear had just finished receiving Qin Feng's last report.
"...countermeasures will be carried out as originally planned."
He whispered something to the air, then naturally raised his hand and took off his headphones.
When he turned around, he was that gentle and considerate husband again.
He walked over to Ruan Yao, looked at her slightly furrowed brows, and bent down to take the tablet from her hand.
Still thinking about work?
“No…” Ruan Yao pointed to the screen with a hint of grievance, “I don’t know what’s wrong, the internet keeps failing to connect, and I can’t access the official website either.”
Upon hearing this, Huo Yanzhi lowered his eyes, his handsome eyebrows twitching almost imperceptibly, and then he sighed softly.
"Even on vacation, you still focus on work."
He cast her entirely in his shadow, his voice carrying a barely perceptible hint of grievance and disappointment.
"It seems I haven't done a good enough job and haven't been able to get Team Leader Ruan's attention completely to me."
Ruan Yao's heart skipped a beat.
The anxiety and unease that arose from the network problem were instantly replaced by another, stronger emotion.
Her mind was instantly filled with memories of Huo Yanzhi and her time together.
He almost never touched work, devoting all his time and energy entirely to her.
But what about her?
Even though it was a trip for two, she was still thinking about work, and even made him feel neglected.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry."
Ruan Yao looked up, cupped his cheeks in her hands, and apologized hastily.
"I was wrong, it was my fault, I shouldn't have been distracted."
Huo Yanzhi didn't speak, he just looked at her quietly.
He pulled her into his arms and let her sit on his lap, his warm chest pressed against her back.
He rested his chin on her shoulder and spoke in a deep voice in her ear.
"I don't blame you."
His deep voice sounded in her ear.
“I know how much effort you’ve put into this project, but… it’s rare for us to have some time alone together, and I don’t want to be disturbed by anything.”
He paused, lifted her face, and caressed her soft lips with his fingertips.
"How about we go for a couples' spa this afternoon?"
He looked at her and continued speaking in a seductive tone.
"The signal on the island is intermittent, so I can leave my phone and computer in the villa and completely relax."
To make up for her "oversight," Ruan Yao nodded in agreement almost without hesitation.
"Okay, whatever you say."
She jumped down from Huo Yanzhi's arms, grabbed his hand, and walked briskly into the villa.
"We're going to put all the phones away now, and nobody's allowed to touch them."
Huo Yanzhi followed behind her, a satisfied smile on his face, watching her proactive demeanor.
The two placed their phones side by side on the coffee table in the living room, and the screens quietly went out.
Unseen by Ruan Yao, behind the extinguished screen, a war without gunpowder is raging across the entire business district of northern Beijing.
*
It's exactly 12 noon Beijing time.
Jiang Tangtang sat in front of her computer, eager to rush to the Lexingdao official website, buy the entire "Summer Wonderland" series designed by her best friend, and then take screenshots to post on her WeChat Moments to show off.
She pressed the refresh button precisely.
The dreamy and adorable product page I had envisioned did not appear.
Instead, social media platforms are flooded with bold, scarlet headlines.
#Creative Toys' new product "Summer Fantasy" launches today! Igniting the trend market!#
Jiang Tangtang was taken aback.
Before she could react, news notifications popped up one after another in the bottom right corner.
#Shocking! The S-level project at Lexing Island is actually a plagiarized work?#
#Is it creative similarity or commercial theft? Creative Toys and Lexingdao's new product launches clash!#
#Let's expose the "genius" designer at Lexing Island who rose to power through connections#
Jiang Tangtang clicked on an article that compared "Summer Fantasy" with the design sketches that Ruan Yao had previously posted on social media. Every word and sentence was meant to lead the reader to believe that Lexingdao had plagiarized Creative Art.
"Damn it!"
Jiang Tangtang slammed her hand on the table in anger, instantly erupting in fury.
"These shameless bastards! They're crying 'stop thief' while being the thief themselves!"
She immediately dialed Ruan Yao's number, but all she heard was a cold system notification.
"Sorry, the number you dialed is temporarily unavailable..."
Meanwhile, Ruan Sheng also received the news through his own channels.
Unlike the gossip news that Jiang Tangtang saw, the information he received was more direct.
"Brother Sheng, your sister's company is in trouble. Chuangyi has snatched your family's new project, and now the two sides are fighting each other commercially. The atmosphere is very tense."
Ruan Sheng slammed the document in his hand onto the table with a "thud".
"What did you say?"
"It's all over the industry. Wang Pangzi from Creative Arts has really gone all out this time, preparing to go head-to-head with Lexing Island. But the strangest thing is that the person in charge of the project, your sister, hasn't shown up at all. It's like she's vanished into thin air."
Ruan Sheng's face instantly darkened.
He immediately dialed Ruan Yao's number, but it was also unreachable.
He then dialed Huo Yanzhi's number.
The phone rang for a long time, and just when Ruan Sheng thought no one would answer, it was finally connected.
But what came through was not Huo Yanzhi's voice.
"Mr. Ruan, hello, I am Qin Feng."
"Where's my sister? Where's Yanzhi?!" Ruan Sheng's voice was full of anxiety. "Have you all seen those messages online? Yaoyao, as the project leader, has disappeared?"
"Mr. Ruan, please rest assured, President Huo is handling it." Qin Feng's voice was always so calm, revealing no emotion. "There won't be any problems."
This official reassurance made Ruan Sheng extremely anxious.
"Handle? My sister is the project manager, and now there are smear articles all over the place criticizing her, but she's disappeared. What kind of handling is that?"
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
Then, Qin Feng, in his unchanging tone, said something that almost left Ruan Sheng speechless.
"Mr. Huo and his wife are on a private trip. Mr. Huo has instructed that he does not want anyone to disturb their vacation."
After saying that, the call was disconnected without giving Ruan Sheng any chance to ask further questions.
Ruan Sheng stood there, holding his phone, completely exasperated.
His sister is being slandered to the point of being blackmailed, yet Huo Yanzhi still has the mood to take her on vacation.
Although reason told him that Huo Yanzhi's abilities wouldn't allow things to get out of control, this bizarre operation still made the fire in his heart burn brighter and brighter.
What's going on?!
At this moment, inside the top-tier spa center on Moonlight Island.
Ruan Yao, who was on everyone's mind, was completely unaware of this.
Ruan Yao changed into a soft bathrobe, went barefoot, and walked into the fragrant, secluded private treatment room.
Warm lights, soothing music, and the sound of flowing water instantly shut out all the noise from the outside world.
Huo Yanzhi was standing with his back to her in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
Ruan Yao hugged his strong waist from behind and pressed her cheek against his broad back.
She looked up at him, her eyes softening with the steam rising from the water.
"Okay, now I completely belong to you."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com