The Whole Company Thinks I'm the Boss's Mistress, But Only the Boss's Wife Pays Me - Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Every sound in the conference room stopped.
I held my phone, my fingertips ice-cold.
The phone in my hand nearly slipped and fell.
Zhao Mingyuan was the first to go pale. Chen Lu stopped pretending to smile too.
Song Wantang stood where she was, unmoving.
I saw her fingers slowly tighten until her knuckles turned white.
But there wasn’t much expression on her face.
It was as if she had heard this answer long ago, and today, someone had finally said it out loud in front of everyone.
Zhao Mingyuan was the first to react.
He cursed.
“Lu Chengzhou, are you insane?”
Lu Chengzhou looked at Song Wantang.
“I wronged you in this matter.”
His voice lowered, like he was admitting to a mistake in a meeting.
“But it has nothing to do with the company.”
I almost laughed from sheer anger.
Lin Yuan had been forced to resign, project funds had been transferred away, slander had been used as a weapon, and hospital text messages had been used to threaten my mom.
Suddenly, I understood.
He wanted to reduce all of this to an affair within a marriage.
The money, the accounts, the resignation agreement, and all the filth thrown onto Lin Yuan-he could stuff all of it under the two words “private matter.”
Song Wantang finally spoke.
“The child is yours?”
Lu Chengzhou said, “Yes.”
“Was Lin Yuan willing?”
Lu Chengzhou fell silent for one second.
And in that one second, the answer was already clear.
Song Wantang took one step forward.
“She messaged me. She said she didn’t want money. She only wanted an explanation.”
“What explanation did you give her?”
Lu Chengzhou avoided her gaze.
Zhao Mingyuan suddenly cut in.
“CEO Song, don’t act like your hands are completely clean.”
He gave a cold laugh.
“Back when something happened to Lin Yuan, didn’t you fail to follow it through to the end too?”
Song Wantang looked at him.
Zhao Mingyuan seemed to have grabbed hold of a lifeline.
“You were busy raising capital then, busy meeting investors. Lin Yuan was just an assistant. She said CEO Lu had taken advantage of her-did you believe her?”
“Did you investigate?”
“Why are you acting all righteous now?”
Song Wantang’s expression finally changed.
She did not refute him.
I suddenly remembered the faint, suppressed exhaustion in her eyes when she showed me Lin Yuan’s messages.
That hadn’t been simple anger.
It had been guilt.
Lu Chengzhou seized the chance and walked toward her.
“Wantang, let’s go back and talk.”
“You can handle it however you want.”
“But don’t make a scene at the company.”
He said it gently.
As if he were coaxing an out-of-control wife.
A chill turned in my stomach as I listened.
When he reached out, his cuff links were still fastened perfectly.
As if, so long as his clothes were neat enough, the things he had done could never be dirty.
Song Wantang did not step back.
She asked him, “Why did you touch the money for the Blue Whale Project?”
Lu Chengzhou frowned.
“There’s no point talking about that now.”
“There is.”
Song Wantang’s voice was very soft.
“Lin Yuan didn’t come to me because of the child.”
Lu Chengzhou’s expression changed.
Song Wantang looked at me.
“Xu Mian, give the paper from the earring to legal.”
I took that little piece of paper out of my bag.
Lu Chengzhou’s gaze instantly pinned itself to my hand.
He instinctively took a step forward.
I stepped back.
Legal blocked him from me.
Song Wantang said, “0709, Blue Whale-those aren’t just a date and a conference room.”
She looked at Lu Chengzhou.
“I checked Qinghe’s old servers. There was an encrypted file inside.”
“The file name was Blue Whale.”
My head snapped toward her.
Song Wantang said quietly, “Before your former company went under, I bought Qinghe’s old servers.”
Legal opened a computer and entered the file name.
The first password was 0709.
The page flickered, but it did not open.
A verification question appeared on the screen.
What does little Xu Mian hate eating the most?
I stared at those words, and my throat suddenly closed up.
Every time Lin Yuan treated me to a meal, she would pick all the cilantro out of my bowl and move it to her own plate.
As she did, she would scold me, “Little Xu Mian, do you know how much happiness you’re missing out on in this life?”
Lin Yuan hadn’t written the answer outright.
She had simply placed the key back into my hands, waiting for me to open the door myself.
Everyone was looking at me.
I said, “Cilantro.”
The playback button lit up.
The first voice was Lin Yuan’s.
She was crying, but she was trying hard to make herself clear.
“CEO Lu, I won’t sign this resignation agreement.”
“I didn’t take the money from the Blue Whale Project.”
Next came Lu Chengzhou.
His voice was younger than it was now, and even more impatient.
“Lin Yuan, you’re pregnant. Don’t make this uglier than it needs to be.”
Lin Yuan said, “Are you threatening me?”
The third voice was Zhao Mingyuan’s.
“Young lady, be sensible. If you really drag this out into the open, don’t expect the child in your belly to have it easy either.”
Chen Lu’s voice appeared last.
She laughed once.
“The kickback accounts have already been put under your name.”
“Who do you think Song Wantang will believe-you, or us?”
The recording stopped there.
The conference room was as silent as death.
Song Wantang closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, she picked up her phone.
“Now we can call the police.”
