Lu Chengwen gave Xu Xuejiao a supremely confident look. "If you want to be my subordinate, you have to meet all my demands."
"Oh, is that so?"
Xu Xuejiao felt like Lu Chengwen's destined nemesis.
Now that she knew his inner intentions, she certainly wasn't going to play along with his script obediently. Instead, she grew even more excited, eager to see how this scoundrel was going to force her into playing the good guy and saving this poor girl.
*You want to bully her so I'll step up and be the hero?*
*Heh, if this were yesterday or earlier, the script probably would have gone exactly the way you planned.*
*I would have thought you were the scum of the earth, the absolute worst of the scum. But today... I'm sorry, Big Sis has already seen right through your heart, liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys.*
Xu Xuejiao chimed in, "Wow, Brother Chengwen is so imposing! Xuejiao loves it!"
Lu Chengwen's brain was already reaching its limit.
*What on earth is going on with the female leads in this book?!*
*What kind of game are you all playing?!*
*Why aren't you following the tropes?!*
Bracing himself, Lu Chengwen forced himself to continue his act. He leaned closer to Jiang Shihhan, who was still kneeling on the ground in a daze, flashed an evil smile, and grabbed her by the chin. "Tonight, come to my private villa. I have a lot, *a lot* of work to discuss with you. Heh heh. And... we need to communicate... completely naked, without a single barrier or obstacle between us. Heh heh heh. You get what I mean, right?"
Jiang Shihhan's brain completely stopped working.
In a trance-like daze, she actually nodded.
Xu Xuejiao chuckled. "Then you'd better give it your all tonight, Brother Chengwen!"
Lu Chengwen looked back at Xu Xuejiao. "I'm going to sleep with her tonight using my position."
"Mmm, mmm, absolutely, you should." Xu Xuejiao gave him her full approval.
*[You should your big fat head!]*
*[Big Sis, as... you're supposed to have a sense of justice! Shouldn't you curse me out and then make me name a price to buy out her contract?!]*
*[If you act like this... it's going to be really hard for me to wrap up this scene! Should I keep acting or not?!]*
Xu Xuejiao was almost laughing out loud. *Keep acting, keep acting! I love watching this, it's too hilarious.*
Jiang Shihhan forced herself to snap back to reality.
*What on earth is this man doing? Is he trying to force President Xu to buy out my contract?*
Lu Chengwen stood up, thought for a moment, and continued his performance by pointing at Xu Xuejiao and proclaiming proudly, "Little Sister Xuejiao, do you know why she takes all my abuse lying down and begs me for a job no matter how hard I make things for her?"
Xu Xuejiao replied, "No idea."
"Because her mother is sick, and her medical bills come out to around a million a year! So, hahaha, no matter how I treat her, she has to endure it, she has to submit! She never dares to defy me in the slightest, let alone make me angry. She has no way to fight back against me!"
Xu Xuejiao said, "Mmm, mmm, is that so? Impressive, impressive."
Suppressing the urge to vomit blood, Lu Chengwen pressed on. "This is human weakness, and I am the best at exploiting other people's weaknesses to bully them. Am I right?"
Xu Xuejiao nodded frantically. "You are, you are."
Lu Chengwen's facial muscles twitched.
"But!" Lu Chengwen declared, "What if someone were to show up right now and offer her the exact same salary I do—just over one hundred thousand a month—and save her from this sea of misery?"
Xu Xuejiao asked, "Is that so?"
Lu Chengwen said triumphantly, "Little Sister Xuejiao, tell me, where is this person?"
With a look of utter confusion, pure innocence, and overwhelming cuteness, Xu Xuejiao said, "I don't know."
Lu Chengwen thought to himself: *Are you doing this on purpose just to piss me off?*
"Is it possible that *you* are this person?!" Lu Chengwen snapped, driven to the brink of madness as he pointed an imposing finger at Xu Xuejiao. "It's you! By giving her one hundred and twenty thousand a month, you can rescue her from this sea of misery and grant her a brand-new life! From then on, she'll never have to suffer bullying from a black-hearted boss again, she can walk the path of a normal life, and she can live happily with her mother forever!"
Xu Xuejiao pointed at herself. "Me?"
Then she shook her head. "Not interested."
Lu Chengwen felt that the female leads in this book were truly... Couldn't they at least do a simple good deed and perform a casual favor?
How are you supposed to be female leads acting like this? How are you going to conquer the readers?
Is this main heroine poisonous or something?!
Lu Chengwen pulled Xu Xuejiao into a hug. "Look at her. Isn't she pitiful?"
"Pitiful."
"Isn't her life tragic?"
"Tragic."
"Then are you going to save her?"
"Not interested."
Panicking, Lu Chengwen demanded, "Xu Xuejiao, how can you not be interested in saving someone?! You're supposed to be Xu Xuejiao, the healer with a benevolent heart! When patients have the slightest headache or fever, you hurt for them as if you were suffering yourself. You want to save everyone in the world and make it a better place—that was your original reason for studying medicine! Now a poor, wretched soul is standing right in front of you, how could you possibly not want to save her?! Give me an answer!"
Lu Chengwen shouted. This heroine was too infuriating!
"I want a complete explanation from you!"
Xu Xuejiao thought about it. "It's too expensive. Spending an annual salary of a million and hundreds of thousands in year-end bonuses just to look at thighs and touch asses—that's something only you would do."
Lu Chengwen was stunned.
*It's because of the money?!*
Lu Chengwen felt that... the author of this book really needed to fill the craters in their brain with some fresh manure.
What in the world was this?!
What kind of freaks were these female leads?!
Have they no shame left at all?!
If this is their level of awareness, why am I even bothering to be the male lead of a trash book?!
Being too stingy with money to save a person... I've seriously never heard of such a thing!
But he couldn't stop here. His ultimate goal was to make these two main heroines stay far, far away from him. Long Aotian could only disappear for a day, and after twenty-four hours, these two women would become ticking time bombs that would detonate the plot.
Lu Chengwen wrapped his arm around Xu Xuejiao again and said with a cheeky smile, "Little Sister Xuejiao, it's me, Lu Chengwen—the bad guy! I saw you stick up for this girl just now, and I wasn't bluffing. Would you mind pulling out eighty or ninety thousand to save her and take her away? Or... fifty thousand would work too?"
Xu Xuejiao slowly shook her head. "I mind."
"Come on, you're really something... Look, as long as you hire her, I'll pay her salary. You won't have to spend a single penny. Surely that works, right?"
Xu Xuejiao still shook her head. "Oh, I get it! You're trying to shake me down!"
Lu Chengwen's face turned the color of a pig's liver from sheer anger.
"What am I shaking you down for?! You don't even have to pay her, she becomes yours, she does the work for you, and—"
"How could a good deal like that ever fall into my lap?" Xu Xuejiao retorted. "You definitely want to plant a corporate spy on my side. Don't think I'm easy to fool! I'm very smart!"
Suppressing his temper, Lu Chengwen hissed, "Are you an idiot? She's not a corporate spy! Even if she were, couldn't you just stick her in some out-of-the-way position where she can't touch any core information?"
Xu Xuejiao said, "I practice medicine and make pharmaceuticals. The people I use must be reliable. This woman—judging by the way she cowers and scrapes, she doesn't look like a good person!"
Lu Chengwen completely lost his temper.
"How does she not look like a good person?! She's the most filial, the smartest, the most capable, and the most enduring girl I've ever met!"
"Because of her mother's illness, she dropped out of school as a teenager to work. Nobody else was willing to be my secretary, but she heard the pay was high, so even though she knew I was a lecher, a scoundrel, and a bastard, she still came!"
"She's been with me for five years, working conscientiously and never making a single mistake! Every time I grope her thighs, lift her skirt, peek at her, or harass her with vulgar jokes... she puts up with it! All to earn money for her mother's medical treatment!"
"She takes all the gossip in the office all by herself, never defending herself, never arguing. Every day at work she endures workplace harassment from a jerk like me, and after work she doesn't go clubbing, doesn't eat hot pot, doesn't go to the movies, and doesn't shop at the mall... Apart from her professional work attire, which looks decent, she usually wears cheap clothes from street stalls. Do you know why?"
Lu Chengwen said angrily, "It's because she's terrified of losing her job, so she has to save every penny she can to treat her mother! How could a girl like this be a bad person? How could she look like a bad person?"
"Oh? Brother Chengwen, you know her quite well, don't you?"
"No shit, it's been five years!" Lu Chengwen said passionately. "Xu Xuejiao, I misjudged you! I thought you were kind-hearted, lovely, loving, warm, and compassionate. I thought when you saw someone in need, you would reach out a helping hand without a second thought. But right now, I don't even know what the hell I'm saying..."
Lu Chengwen began slapping himself across the face. *Smack! Smack!*
*[Damn it, why am I getting so worked up? What the hell am I rambling about? That sounded like something out of a righteous male protagonist's mouth! Why am I putting on a hypocritical act here?]*
The two women watched as Lu Chengwen slumped despondently into a chair, resting his elbows on his knees and massaging his temples in utter misery.
Jiang Shihhan was completely frozen.
*President Lu... is that really how he sees me?*
*Was he actually a kind and warm-hearted person all along?*
*Then why... did he always bully me? If... if you wanted to help me, you could have just helped me yourself! Why did you have to push me off onto President Xu?*
It made no sense. This guy was completely unhinged today.
With a smile, Xu Xuejiao said, "Brother Chengwen, my secretary just texted me—the press conference is about to start. I'm going to go get ready!"
Without looking back, Lu Chengwen gave a frustrated wave of his hand, signaling her to get lost already, you little demon.
Suppressing her laughter, Xu Xuejiao pushed the door open and walked out. The moment she looked back and saw Lu Chengwen flapping his arm around like an electric fan and slapping himself repeatedly, she burst out laughing.
***
At the press conference.
Lu Chengwen forced himself to muster his energy and read the speech provided by his secretary team.
The speech was actually well-written; it heavily emphasized that when faced with a choice between profit and morality, the Ninth Pharmaceutical Factory had resolutely chosen morality.
At the same time, it promised the media and society that the Ninth Pharmaceutical Factory would launch a profound self-reflection and internal investigation into the matter.
Sure enough, midway through the press conference, the phones of Lu Chengwen and the other executives wouldn't stop ringing. The stock price was plummeting at a terrifying rate.
Embarrassing press conferences like this usually didn't include a Q&A session.
However, the reporters were far too enthusiastic.
A reporter stood up and asked, "Mr. Lu, does this fake medicine incident carry a certain symbolic meaning? Is this kind of thing going to happen again in the future? How can your factory guarantee that all medicines produced in the future will be qualified products? Can you even guarantee that similar situations haven't occurred with medicines your factory previously produced and sold?"
Jiang Shihhan immediately interjected, "I'm sorry, we did not schedule a Q&A session. Please—"
With a wave of his hand, Lu Chengwen leaned closer to the microphone. "If it happened in the past, this press conference would have been held back then. If it happens in the future, this press conference will be held again. I can't guarantee that our production process will always be perfect and flawless, but I can guarantee that every time something like this happens, we will destroy the batches and hold a press conference just like this. In fact, having the courage to hold this press conference is our way of broadcasting to the entire society that when choosing between morality and profit, the Ninth Pharmaceutical Factory will always prioritize morality."
Jiang Shihhan was shocked.
This guy usually never said anything serious, but his answer today was surprisingly good.
A pretty female reporter stood up. "President Lu, I heard that you're about to hold an engagement ceremony with Miss Leng Qingqiu, the executive president of the Qianfeng Group. Is that true? There are rumors outside that you pursued Miss Leng for a long time and ultimately used your family's influence to force the Leng family into submission. Is there any truth to that?"
Jiang Shihhan immediately stepped in. "Apologies, this matter is unrelated to the topic of today's press conference, and we will not answer such questions."
Clearly refusing to back down, the pretty female reporter continued, "Rumors say that you are a profit-driven capitalist who has always cared only about profits and ignored morality. Is this destruction of goods and today's press conference just a show? Just a stunt to project an image of a conscientious and responsible pharmaceutical factory to the outside world?"
Looking at this pesky nuisance, Lu Chengwen suddenly remembered.
*Damn it, another main heroine.*
True, Long Aotian had been locked in a cage for a day, but why were all of his harem members running around loose?
He couldn't afford to offend a female reporter right here at a press conference.
With a smile, Lu Chengwen said, "I am a capitalist, but whether I am profit-driven is not for me to say—it's for you to judge. As for whether this press conference is a show, that's also not for me to decide—it's up to you. However, I have indeed conveyed an attitude to the outside world. First, a profound self-examination, and second, that we are serious and responsible. Thank you."
Jiang Shihhan immediately announced, "Thank you all for coming. Today's press conference is now concluded."
Lu Chengwen stood up and walked away immediately, surrounded by a security team rushing him toward the exit.
A crowd of reporters swarmed forward. The female reporter, in particular, squeezed right to the front, thrusting her voice recorder into his face. "President Lu! With such a massive blunder at the pharmaceutical factory, can a single press conference wipe everything away? Will similar flaws continue to appear in the factory's production processes in the future? Was this mistake intentional or accidental? If it was intentional, who should be held responsible for this massive error..."
With a dark expression, Lu Chengwen walked away, ignoring her completely.
*Damn you, Long Aotian. You winged bastard.*
*You might be quiet, but my troubles haven't lessened by a single bit.*
*Why the hell did you have to hook up with so many women?*
*Fine, most male leads in novels have multiple wives and concubines, but you... aren't you a bit too flirtatious?*
*Fine, I envy you, but you... aren't you a bit too shameless?*
*Fine, I want to become you, but you... you really are quite dashing.*
Leaving the main hall and entering the dedicated passageway, Lu Chengwen strode forward with long, purposeful strides.
Coming from the opposite direction was another group. At the lead was a young woman wearing a qipao and high heels, walking right toward him.
Lu Chengwen spotted her instantly.
An alluring figure, a perfect body, a heaven-defying visage...
Yet another main heroine: Chen Mengyun.
Chen Mengyun was Chen Qiushou's granddaughter, and the older sister of Chen Moqun and Chen Mohuan.
Presently, she was the group president of the Chen family—wielding immense power and acting with supreme arrogance.
Yet once upon a time, she had been his legitimate girlfriend, his childhood sweetheart and first love.
Because of Chen Mohuan's mischief, their relationship had ended in bitter discord, leaving his first love a wretched, chaotic mess.
Meeting an old flame today was bound to be awkward.
Fortunately, Lu Chengwen was moving in a hurry, so he simply decided to pretend not to see her and strode right past her.
*[You can't see me, you can't see me, you can't see me...]*
*[In short, you simply can't see me!]*
*[It was my fault back then, I have no face to face you, let's just each live in peace from now on.]*
Chen Mengyun turned around and watched Lu Chengwen's retreating back.
*This guy... am I hallucinating?*
At that thought, Chen Mengyun gave a bitter smile.
*Could it be that I still haven't let him go?*
Lu Chengwen had only taken a few steps when Xu Xuejiao appeared from ahead, blocking his path in a flash.
"Brother Chengwen! Hehe, I just saw Sister Mengyun walk past! Sister Mengyun!"
Lu Chengwen was losing his mind. *Don't... don't call her!*
"Sister Mengyun, over here!"
Chen Mengyun had wanted to leave as well; she felt ridiculous.
It had been over three years since she and Lu Chengwen broke up. In those three years, aside from never asking her out to dinner or apologizing, Lu Chengwen hadn't even sent a single phone call or text message.
He had treated her with total, utter estrangement.
Yet seeing him today, her heart had still skipped a beat.
After all, he was her first love—the person she had cherished, a girl's first man. It was impossible to wipe those memories completely clean.
Even if she were seventy or eighty years old, sitting in a wheelchair, she would surely remember her very first boyfriend. Unless, of course, she had amnesia.
Having been called out by Xu Xuejiao, neither of them could avoid facing each other anymore.
Among the Four Major Families, talking about "sharing weal and woe" was putting it too strongly, but they all valued etiquette.
In upper-class society, nobody truly tore off all pretense with major figures and powerful groups.
There wasn't much genuine friendship among these rich second-generation heirs either; they were mostly nodding acquaintances who frequently ran into each other at various events.
When they met, it was just polite chit-chat and mutual flattery.
Chen Mengyun turned back around, a smile on her face. "I thought the person who just walked by looked familiar. So it's you, President Lu. How have you been? Seems like you've changed your style lately?"
Lu Chengwen gave a hearty laugh, forcing a natural expression. "Oh, my apologies, my apologies! I've had way too much on my mind lately, I always get lost in thought when I walk."
After dragging two people together, Xu Xuejiao suddenly stopped talking.
She knew these two had a history, and today she was deliberately stirring up trouble just to watch the show.
After finishing her polite pleasantries, Chen Mengyun suddenly choked up, at a loss for words.
After offering his explanation, Lu Chengwen's brain also short-circuited, unable to squeeze out any further conversation.
The two of them stood there staring at each other, their mouths moving, but no sound coming out.
The three of them stood in a bizarre silence.
Xu Xuejiao looked back and forth between their expressions.
Lu Chengwen opened and closed his mouth, having nothing to say, and could only squeeze out a polite smile.
Chen Mengyun was equally agonizingly embarrassed. Wanting to speak but not knowing what to say, she could only tilt her head slightly and tidy her hair to cover her awkwardness.
This was peak awkwardness.
*[Xu Xuejiao, you little pest, why did you call her over?!]*
*[I'm dying of embarrassment here, I want to dig a hole and crawl into it.]*
*[Mengyun is even prettier now, her breasts have developed so nicely, I used to touch them back then. What a pity I didn't lock things down with her back then...]*
Extremely shocked, Chen Mengyun asked suspiciously, "President Lu, what did you just say?"