The little cousin stood at the door, feeling completely unsettled.

What? A corpse had been replaced? Could it be that there had been some hidden truth behind her cousin-in-law’s death?

—Or was it that her cousin still refused to accept the reality of his spouse’s death?

Thinking this, the little cousin trembled but let out a shaky sigh of relief. Her second cousin really might have behaved this way.

After all, the internet had already dug up that her second cousin, after his husband died, had forcibly traveled to over ten countries, refusing to accept reality.

Some even found interviews in local tabloids.

—At that time, Ye Wangxing had looked so haggard that it was pitiful to see.

Thinking this, the little cousin’s expression relaxed a little.

Then she heard a gentle voice from inside the room.

It was the voice of one of her cousin’s prospective spouses.

“I witnessed him being crushed to pieces in the car with my own eyes, dear. I’ve told you many times—no one could survive an accident like that.”

The blond man spoke as gently as ever, but the little cousin felt a chill rise from the bottom of her heart.

…It was like she had intended to touch the golden-haired man, only to feel the coldness of a frozen python.

The little cousin shivered all over.

But then her expression turned to shock—how dared the blond man speak of her cousin-in-law like that in front of her cousin?

Even if the man was about to take a higher position, using a tone that made it sound like he was talking about a heap of rotting meat when referring to his predecessor was way too much.

…With her cousin’s temper, his fist would probably have hit the man’s face the next second.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, she heard Ye Wangxing’s voice from inside.

He hadn’t been angry. He spoke in a tone that mixed calmness with a hint of madness: “But that was Kaizer. He absolutely wouldn’t die from an ordinary car accident.”

The little cousin then understood why her cousin had brought up his spouse—her cousin seemed to have relapsed.

Her expression softened with a hint of sympathy.

At that moment, someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder from behind. She almost screamed but quickly covered her mouth and turned around, seeing Assistant Wang looking at her with confusion.

The little cousin had spent quite some time interacting with Assistant Wang recently. After all, she was nominally one of his subordinates. But because of her status as a “connections” hire, she only needed to do minor tasks at her desk and manage some side work every day. She received full benefits and a monthly salary of fifty thousand yuan.

This made the little cousin automatically place a positive filter on her second cousin.

—As long as her second cousin didn’t break the law or violate labor regulations, whatever he did was right!

In this, Assistant Wang and the little cousin reached a consensus.

He was originally just an ordinary assistant. Normally, according to the experience of predecessors, he would have needed at least ten years at the company to be assigned to another branch and become a general manager.

But after their boss’s successful rise and taking control of most of the Gore family business, this time had been halved. With two more years at the company, he could be assigned to another branch or even become an interstate-level executive.

Thinking of his bright future, Assistant Wang had decided that as long as it wasn’t murder or arson, he could handle anything for his boss.

—Of course, if abroad, as long as the boss paid enough, he could probably contact the right people.

By now, his salary plus bonuses had reached a substantial amount, which made him even more conscientious about his work.

So when he saw his subordinate—and a “connections” hire—eavesdropping here, Assistant Wang instinctively wanted to call her away. After all, if she overheard something serious, only the law here could protect her.

—Otherwise, she might even lose her job.

He liked this subordinate with the same surname as himself. She had a good temper, was honest, and knew she was just here for the salary. Besides working at her desk, she occasionally filled the water dispenser or went to the restroom.

Unlike other “connections” hires who bossed around the company or tried to take more money, she happily stayed at her desk. The worst thing she had done was bring her Labrador to the office, causing a stir among the employees.

That afternoon, everyone played with the dog and no one focused on work.

That dog, named Fa Cai, had since become one of the company’s therapy dogs—earning a salary of five thousand yuan per month.

Truly fitting the name. (Fa Cai – have meaning of Fortune)

So Assistant Wang had thoughtfully intended to get his subordinate to leave. But when Wang Qi looked at him, she surprisingly seemed relieved. This puzzled him, but she quickly typed on her phone to explain what had happened.

‘My cousin thinks Mr. Kaizer isn’t dead again. It seems his psychological condition worsened. Mr. Octo is comforting him now.’

Wang Qi typed the message, her expression carrying a trace of pity.

But this comment made Assistant Wang frown.

His boss was emotionally fragile?

As the private assistant closest to his boss, Assistant Wang had personally followed his boss through everything that had happened the past year. Even though his boss hadn’t said much, he had noticed that the relationship between his boss and Mr. Kaizer had already developed problems.

Though their relationship appeared flamboyant on the surface, behind closed doors their emotions were like a powder keg about to explode—just one spark away.

At that time, Assistant Wang had been extremely cautious, fearing that if they divorced, he wouldn’t know which side to support.

—After all, he had originally been trained as the second-in-command of the assistant team under Mr. Kaizer.

Now that assistant had stayed abroad and become the head of the group.

Getting back to the point, the powder keg hadn’t exploded yet when Mr. Kaizer suddenly passed away. This left his boss feeling hollow for several days. Although his boss appeared emotionally agitated, Assistant Wang observed that it seemed like acting.

No matter how intense the emotions looked, his inner feelings were empty and vacant, as if he couldn’t believe Kaizer had really left. Later, when his boss carried that mass of flesh and traveled to so many countries for verification, Assistant Wang accompanied him.

Every time his boss saw the DNA test confirming it was indeed Kaizer, the expression on his face was indescribable.

—It looked as if he wanted to believe it was Kaizer’s DNA but didn’t want to see the result. His entire expression twisted to the extreme.

But Assistant Wang was certain that this emotion wasn’t like Wang Qi described—that his boss simply refused to accept Kaizer’s death out of love.

Although Assistant Wang had agonized over this for a long time, in reality, it only took an instant. Before he could even pull Wang Qi away, he heard another voice from inside.

“But that was a Scania, dear—a fully loaded Scania with no sign of braking. It carried a full load of sand and just smashed into the car.”

The blond man’s gentle voice sounded again, but the words were exceptionally cruel. He seemed to force Ye Wangxing to confront reality by describing every detail of the accident vividly.

“Even though his Lincoln had been modified with bulletproof protection comparable to a presidential vehicle, that doesn’t mean it could withstand the impact. No car can resist a tens-of-tons sand truck moving at eighty kilometers per hour.”

“Dear, you confirmed that he got into the Lincoln that morning, then the person in the car that day had to have been him.”

After this statement, there was a long silence. Ye Wangxing seemed unable to accept reality or perhaps was thinking of some other problem. After a long while, he spoke.

“—Then how do you explain the hand that appeared in my room and the signet ring I received earlier?”

Ye Wangxing’s voice trembled slightly, tinged with nervousness.

“If there are no ghosts in this world, that hand must have been Kaizer’s! I could feel it even with my eyes closed! His index finger bore the mark of the family ring he always wore, and the palm had a scar—I bit it myself!”

The little cousin gasped again and covered her mouth. Assistant Wang’s expression turned peculiar.

—Now he understood why Kaizer would kiss his boss’s palm every time before leaving home, making his boss’s face flush as he pushed the person out the door.

‘Playing it complicated’ Assistant Wang thought.

But the following conversation became increasingly tense. Ye Wangxing’s tone grew agitated.

“And that signet ring—after the police investigation, it was valued at around fifteen million. It had flowed from abroad into the country. I had Assistant Wang check overseas records, that ring disappeared from the market last year, exactly one month before Kaizer’s death!”

“And now it appeared here! And no one besides you could casually give a fifteen-million-yuan ring as if it were a trinket!”

Ye Wangxing’s voice in the meeting room grew louder. He seemed unable to contain himself, his emotions were extremely intense.

After saying this, he breathed heavily several times, gradually calming down and finally said softly: “Sorry, I lost control.”

“…No need, dear. You never need to apologize to me. I know your mental pressure is high. I will help you.”

The blond man spoke gently.

“I’m glad you can release your emotions in front of me. It means we’ve come a step closer, doesn’t it?”

He added a light laugh.

Ye Wangxing said nothing, only letting out a long sigh after a while, his voice carrying a trace of helplessness, as if thinking, I shouldn’t have apologized.

Just when Assistant Wang thought the conversation was over, Ye Wangxing spoke again. This time, fully composed, his tone became serious and calm.

But what he said immediately stunned Assistant Wang.

“I had Chris check the exit records. None of Kaizer’s fake identities had left the country, including those he thought I didn’t know about.”

Ye Wangxing spoke extremely calmly: “It will still take some time domestically, but I have already provided the authorities with Kaizer’s photos and facial recognition data. As long as Kaizer stayed in the country for even one day without a full-face mask, we would find him sooner or later.”

The blonde man heard Ye Wangxing’s words and added a trace of seriousness to his voice: “I will help you find his beloved, but after you find him, beloved, what do you plan to do with him?”

As he said this, the blonde man suddenly smiled.

“—I suppose you might want to meet the hundred-ton king with national characteristics?”

Assistant Wang’s face suddenly changed. He grabbed Wang Qi, who still didn’t understand what was happening, and dragged her straight outside.

“Brother Wang, what happened? Why does your face look so grim? Did Mr. Chris tell a hellish joke?”

Wang Qi asked in confusion. From her perspective, someone who didn’t know the truth, the situation looked like Ye Wangxing’s mental state had deteriorated again, and the blonde man was comforting him.

Of course, she sensed something was off, but thinking about her 50,000-yuan monthly salary… Wang Qi eventually suppressed her desire to investigate the truth.

Since the police hadn’t discovered anything wrong, she decided it was safer to stay quiet.

Assistant Wang ran until he reached a safe place, gasping for breath.

After finally calming down, he looked back at Wang Qi with a hint of helplessness toward the ignorant human.

This wasn’t a hellish joke…

…it was a criminal plan!

However, Assistant Wang obviously didn’t intend to tell Wang Qi about this. He only said a few perfunctory words, warning her not to tell anyone, and then escorted her away. Wang Qi obediently returned to her position as the bag-carrying assistant for the day.

—But she still turned and reported the whole thing to her elder cousin.

Wang Qi knew something was off, but first, she didn’t have the brainpower to figure out exactly what. Second, even if she realized it, revealing the truth at his current position could endanger their family.

It was better to tell the elder cousin everything. After all, her second cousin was reasonable and wouldn’t fire her just for worrying about his mental state.

Wang Qi returned to her seat, trembling slightly.

She was still a little scared, worried her elder cousin might sell her out.

Fortunately, Song Yun was reliable as always. When he saw what his little cousin had reported, he didn’t tell anyone, not even Shi Xuanzhu, and his expression became grim.

Song Yun no longer had the energy to deal with Shi Xuanzhu, which made him unusually quiet during the live broadcast. Sometimes he merely wrote perfunctory answers, but Ye Wangxing and the other guests distracted attention from him.

Those guests, who caused endless laughs because they were doing tasks outside their skill set, slightly overshadowed the observation room guests. Yet this also led the livestream to break ten million viewers for the first time.

The director grinned from ear to ear.

In stark contrast, even Song Yun’s smiles at the end looked forced, but fortunately, no one noticed.

Yet Song Yun kept thinking about the matter, tossing and turning in bed at night.

Why had Ye Wangxing said those words? Wasn’t he close with his brother-in-law? Or was there some hidden truth he didn’t know?

And what did that “hundred-ton king” joke really mean?

…It couldn’t be the most unlikely thing he imagined, right?

Song Yun’s eyes suddenly widened, but then he felt it was unbearable.

After all, such a crazy act couldn’t possibly have been done by the little clingy kid who always stuck to him as a child, could it?

But really not?

Song Yun spent the whole night without finding an answer. This led to dark circles under his eyes when he arrived at the livestream studio the next morning. Fortunately, the makeup artist skillfully concealed them.

His expression still looked somewhat listless, but the guests’ humor was strong enough that no one noticed.

Even though their comedic moments waned after adapting to work, it seemed the director had finally been blessed by the traffic gods after several days of bad luck.

—In the livestream room, Chris’s department leader walked to the office for the eighth time and pointed at everyone except Chris.

The red-haired man, interrupted for the eighth time, couldn’t hold back.

He lifted his head, wearing a sarcastic smile:

“—Has Octo finally gone blind, or are his subordinates blind?”

The small leader, ready to give instructions, froze when he saw the red-haired man’s expression.

“If this were abroad, and Octo saw you, your promoting leader and their superior would probably be dragged down too,” the red-haired man said playfully.

When the handsome young man finally freed himself from Octor and, along with the cameraman, reached the office, he saw the red-haired man standing there with a teasing expression and exaggerated concern.

The department leader across from him wiped tears, and the subordinate leader, shorter and with a beer belly, looked painfully awkward while crying.

“Mr. Chris, you went too far. How could you say that to me?”

The red-haired man said exaggeratedly: “It’s just a joke, don’t be so sensitive~”

He even patted the leader’s shoulder as if they were close brothers, startling him.

The leader looked helpless, unable to retaliate.

The handsome young man watched this and couldn’t stand it. He stepped forward and asked what had happened. The department leader explained everything.

The handsome young man frowned and said to the red-haired man: “You’re playing this bullying game on ordinary people again?”

His voice was calm, but the tone was dangerous.

“I remember I told you before, if I saw you play this game again, you would never see me again.”

Meanwhile, the comments on the livestream flooded.

“If I hadn’t seen the middle manager enter eight times this morning, I might really have believed he was being bullied.”

“Widower, don’t be fooled! That guy is bullying ordinary employees!”

“What to do? Ordinary workers don’t dare speak up. Are we really going to see Mr. Chris scolded?”

“…You guys treat this like a drama, thinking both sides stay silent? While you discuss, he’s already playing the victim and complaining.”

The comments drew everyone’s attention back to the livestream—by then, the red-haired man had finished his complaints.

He nearly tried to steal another kiss while the handsome young man looked embarrassed, but the young man pushed him away. When he glanced at the department leader, his expression turned serious.

Next, everyone saw the young man’s disciplinary skills. Unlike with the red-haired man, he didn’t use physical force, he was polite, civil, and didn’t swear.

Yet it put considerable pressure on many viewers.

The employees and livestream audience were full of envy.

“…Where is your department’s budget request? Making staff work overtime, though with pay, the company should also allocate funds to compensate them for lost rest time. Otherwise, why would employees voluntarily comply?”

“…Saving labor costs for the company? All department funds aren’t even enough for Octo private plane fuel, yet it’s a big sum for employees—are you going to let it generate interest on the account?”

“…Wanting to manage employees to prevent slacking? Our company’s wages aren’t high enough to have employees on call 24/7—that’s the job of a million-yuan-per-year personal assistant.”

“Just like Octo paying so much, yet only hiring someone like you,” the handsome young man said calmly.

The department leader looked even more embarrassed, nearly sinking into the floor.

At that moment, the blonde man entered. The handsome young man said to him: “Ask your senior staff where they found such a miser. I don’t get it—they don’t need to spend his money. Why is he so stingy?”

Seeing the young man’s puzzled expression, the blonde man nodded gently and quietly explained a few things, avoiding the camera.

—Meanwhile, his bodyguard rushed in and dragged the department leader out.

The comments went wild: “I should’ve shown my boss, who makes me work overtime and withholds pay, what it’s like!”

“He also started from the bottom, working abroad many years. Life only got better in the last two years, he probably suffered a lot before.”

“True, we thought living abroad was better, but now we see it could be worse than here. That’s why he regulated department funds.”

The comments were full of admiration, and the observation room guests also praised his actions.

Yet, because of class differences, a few guests who had opened companies had detached discussions—like the top celebrity, the veteran, and Shi Xuanzhu.

The veteran had closed his company and lived off savings, but his arrogance remained. Shi Xuanzhu agreed with his senior but added his own insight.

“…This lesson is basically no different from the department leader—both were crushed by someone stronger. He should reflect, if he truly thought as we guessed.”

Shi Xuanzhu spoke gently, almost sympathetically.

At that moment, a quiet voice beside him said: “Have you reflected yourself? Yet you demand it from others.”

Shi Xuanzhu instinctively turned his head and saw Song Yun smiling at him.

“I-I didn’t do that. I haven’t even run a company,” Shi Xuanzhu said, sweating cold.

He hadn’t run a company, but he instantly understood Song Yun’s meaning.

—It was about the mental infidelity matter.

Shi Xuanzhu didn’t dare gamble, unsure how much evidence Song Yun had. He didn’t dare assume the netizens were blind, so he chose to laugh it off.

Song Yun didn’t continue speaking, just smiled and turned back to the screen. His words, however, caught the audience’s attention.

The viewers were not fools, they quickly inferred the truth.

The next day, a new trending topic appeared on Weibo:

#ActorShi XuanzhuCheated#

By the time Shi Xuanzhu managed to suppress this, three days had passed. He took Song Yun out to dinner to prove their relationship was fine.

When they returned home and stood at the entrance, Shi Xuanzhu looked at Song Yun, sighed deeply, hoping Song Yun would realize the trouble he had caused.

But Song Yun was still thinking about the previous matter. He couldn’t ask his brother, so he kept it in his heart, agonizing over it.

He was so focused he didn’t notice Shi Xuanzhu sighing, nor the two extra people in the villa.

Until Shi Xuanzhu called out to the smart assistant to activate home mode.

The next moment, he met a pair of stern eyes.

They were the eyes a man feared most, belonging uniquely to his father.

Shi Xuanzhu trembled and called out:

“Dad…”

 

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