The next morning, photos and videos of Xie Qining assaulting someone at the restaurant, and the conflict between his table and Qin Tianyi's group, hit the headlines.
As soon as Xiao Anjing arrived at the group, he walked quickly into Qin Tianyi's office without knocking.
"Quick, look at this morning's headlines. Someone at that restaurant last night took photos and videos! Shit, were there paparazzi or reporters there then..."
Before he could finish speaking, he saw Qin Tianyi lying on the office sofa, with a jacket draped over him, asking strangely, "Are you here to catch up on sleep, or did you not go home last night?"
Qin Tianyi removed the jacket, sat up, and rubbed his face with his hand. He didn't answer, saying, "You're coming to work so early, why not take a few more days off?"
Xiao Anjing looked at his casual shirt with a probing gaze and answered his own question, "You didn't go home all night, what's going on? Weren't you all fine during dinner last night? How did you start arguing so quickly?"
"We didn't argue," Qin Tianyi sat down in front of his desk and looked at the documents. "The project on the land you acquired earlier is about to start. I worked overtime last night to research a plan."
Xiao Anjing picked up the documents on his desk disbelievingly. "Are you kidding me? Do you have to work this hard? Even if you bought a private jet, you wouldn't be in financial crisis."
"This land is in a good location, it can't be wasted," Qin Tianyi said, annoyed by his fuss. "Go back and spend more time with your wife. Haven't you been on vacation for half a year yet?"
"I wish I could take the full half year," Xiao Anjing said helplessly. "But my mother wouldn't let me. She insisted on sending me back, saying you've been so kind to us and I shouldn't just leave everything to have fun for half a year, worrying you might get sick from overwork."
Qin Tianyi smiled and said, "Is your mother doing well?"
"She's great. She's joined various senior clubs there and her life is more colorful than ours." Xiao Anjing returned the documents to him. "But her worry is justified. Seeing you work day and night like this, you might really overwork yourself."
Qin Tianyi asked irritably, "What were you yelling about just now? It was so loud."
He held his forehead, feeling a headache from lack of sleep. He had barely managed to doze off until dawn last night.
Xiao Anjing said, "Take a look at your phone."
Qin Tianyi said "Oh," picked up his phone from the desk, and as soon as he opened the news page, he understood everything.
"I thought something serious happened. Don't worry, this news will disappear soon." He didn't take it seriously. Then he saw another gossip piece and glanced at Xiao Anjing, saying, "Someone has dug up the relationship between Xie Qining and your wife. Will your wife be okay after seeing this?"
"Ah." Xiao Anjing quickly took out his phone and checked. It was true. The netizens were so fast at digging up dirt. "She went to school to practice dancing early this morning. I'll go find her now."
As he spoke, Xiao Anjing wished he could run away. Tianyi called out to him, "Don't panic, be careful on the road. I suspect the Xie family also doesn't want to publicize the relationship between Xie Qining and Lan Yu, so they'll probably suppress it."
"Okay, I understand." Xiao Anjing had already quickly turned and left his office.
Qin Tianyi zoomed in on the videos and photos. Xie Qining hitting his female companion was clearly captured. The photos of Xiao Anjing twisting his arm were a bit blurry, but they captured him and Susu.
The headlines deliberately focused on the conflict between him and Xie Qining to attract public attention, as he was more famous than Xiao Anjing in the outside world.
His gaze involuntarily lingered on Susu in the photo, unable to look away. He wondered if she would be very sad after he left her last night, and if she slept well alone.
He just wanted to give her enough time, without his interference, to properly mourn Yang Sijie and to figure out who she truly loved.
He sighed, closed his eyes, and turned off his phone, forcing himself to focus on the group's affairs. He went to the office's rest area to wash his face and change his clothes.
...
Early in the morning, a lawyer led Xie Qining out of the police station and had him get into a black luxury car that had been waiting outside.
Xie Qining had no intention of getting into the car. He angrily shouted at the lawyer, "They're saying I assaulted someone, and I'm going to sue Xiao Anjing for assault! Look at my arm, it was clearly him who injured me..."
"Young Master Xie, your father's intention is to downplay the matter and not escalate it further," the lawyer explained.
Xie Qining lifted his arm, which was already in a splint and bandaged, and complained, "So my hand was injured for nothing!"
The lawyer didn't know what to say. He glanced at Xie Zhendong, who was already in the car. "This... this..."
"You useless lawyer," Xie Qining made a move to kick the lawyer, only to hear Xie Zhendong's voice from inside the car, "Are you not embarrassed enough? Get in the car."
Xie Qining then realized his father was in the car. He glared at the lawyer and mouthed, "Dad's here, and you didn't tell me earlier!"
The lawyer pretended not to understand and opened the car door for him.
He finally sat in the car obediently. The lawyer watched the car drive away, feeling relieved.
He knew that getting this Young Master Xie out smoothly was thanks to the woman who kept telling the police that she wouldn't press charges against Xie Qining and was willing to reach a settlement with him.
As soon as the driver in the front raised the partition, Xie Zhendong slapped Xie Qining on the head.
Xie Qining hurriedly protected his head with his uninjured hand and said, "Dad, it hurts! You'll make me stupid if you hit me like this!"
"Hitting you is light. Is that brain of yours useful at all?" Xie Zhendong was already furious with him. To suppress the news, he hadn't had a moment's peace all morning.
Xie Qining still felt very wronged. "I just happened to run into Lan Yu at dinner and wanted to say hello. Who knew that Xiao Anjing from Aoxiang would directly attack me, and I couldn't control myself..."
"Xiao Anjing? Mr. Xiao from Aoxiang? He doesn't seem like someone who doesn't know his limits. How did Lan Yu get together with someone from Aoxiang?" Xie Zhendong hadn't fully understood the situation and decided to suppress the trending topic first.
Xie Qining said resentfully again, "Not only did they get together, but Xiao Anjing said Lan Yu is his wife. I really underestimated this woman. She stood at our Xie family's gate for a day and a night, refusing to leave, and I almost softened. I didn't expect her to marry Xiao Anjing so quickly and latch onto a rich man. She even dared to have Xiao Anjing attack me. I won't let her off!"
Xie Zhendong remained silent. If it weren't for the women in the family protecting him, he would have beaten this brat to death.
He was troubled by his only son, but he disdained women like Lan Yu even more.
She was originally not worthy of their Xie family, yet she shamelessly insisted on marrying in. As expected, she caused trouble at home all the time.