Another round of passionate intimacy concluded, and Qing Muye left with reluctance.
After he departed, Meng Jingwei contacted Qi He from the private detective agency.
Before heading to the Hidden Clan, she had invested in Lu Sen's private detective agency and opened a branch in Country C.
Initially, Meng Jingwei had poached Qi He and Zhang Hui from Lu Sen. She then assigned Zhang Hui to the company in Country C, while Qi He managed the company in Lancheng.
Upon connecting the call, Qi He directly asked, "Boss, what's the matter?"
"Help me investigate someone. His name is Qing Kangyu." After giving the instruction, Meng Jingwei added, "Act in secret. No one should know, not even Lu Sen."
"Understood." Qi He agreed. "I'll get back to you."
"Mm."
After finishing the call, Meng Jingwei lay on the bed.
However, with her mind troubled, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
*Buzz buzz buzz—*
Her phone, placed by the pillow, vibrated. Meng Jingwei picked it up and saw it was Xiao Cheng's call.
Why was he calling at this hour?
Meng Jingwei was perplexed but answered the phone, "Xiao Cheng?"
"Look at Weibo."
The person on the other end spoke only three words.
Meng Jingwei, still confused, opened Weibo and put the phone on speaker. "What's wrong with Weibo?"
As she asked, she navigated to the trending topics page. Immediately, several headlines caught her eye, plunging her into thought.
Hot Search 1: Qing Muye Pursues Film Empress Tang Wanxing After Divorce; Hot Search 2: Meng Jingwei Suspected of Cheating with a Muscular Man Before Marriage; Hot Search 3: Meng Jingwei Still Clinging to Her Ex-Husband After Being Divorced; Hot Search 4: Meng Jingwei Seen Holding Hands with a Man Late at Night, Confirming Pre-Marital Cheating.
Upon seeing the word 'cheating', Meng Jingwei immediately understood the situation.
She clicked on one of the trending topics. Below the headline was a photograph taken in an underground parking garage.
The photo depicted the scene from hours earlier when Xiao Cheng was about to fight Qing Muye, and she had pulled Xiao Cheng away.
"The entire internet is scolding you now. I'll clarify things later," Xiao Cheng said, not expecting the situation to escalate this far. "I've implicated you. However, with you being attacked like this, shouldn't Qing Muye do something?"
Regardless, Qing Muye was Meng Jingwei's husband, and he absolutely could not stand idly by.
"There's no need to deal with this. It will pass once the hype dies down. Especially you, don't say anything or make any appearance." Meng Jingwei held her phone in one hand while scrolling through the vile curses under the Weibo topics. "Your face isn't fully visible in the photo. It would be foolish to reveal your identity!"
"I'll listen to you."
Xiao Cheng decided to do whatever Meng Jingwei said.
"The netizens are really idle these days, always eager to join in the fun. Alright, it's nothing. Go to sleep."
"It's good that you can think this way. Gossip can be deadly, so don't take it to heart."
"Am I that fragile? It's all minor." Meng Jingwei smiled and hung up.
Although she spoke lightly, Meng Jingwei found the situation on Weibo extremely troublesome.
Especially the comments below, which claimed that Qing Muye had been disfigured and crippled before, but miraculously returned after his 'death'. They alleged she had orchestrated a plot to harm Qing Muye and seize his fortune, but her plan failed, and she was kicked out of the Qing family by Qing Muye.
All the comments were eerily consistent, indicating that the narrative had been manipulated.
It was a lie to say that the vulgar words didn't bother her, but Meng Jingwei didn't let them weigh too heavily on her mind.
She got up, slipped into her slippers, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. She gazed out at the vast city of Lancheng, its myriad lights, and its splendid prosperity, yet her mood felt inexplicably heavy.
Thinking of the incident at Qing Muye's factory, Meng Jingwei was about to call Song Ci out of concern, but then she changed her mind and drafted a text message: "Don't tell Ye about the Weibo trending topics. I'll have your brother handle it."