Ye Qingcheng repeatedly emphasized, "Be sure to thoroughly check their work IDs and don't let any unauthorized people in."
Guo Hui, the head of security, patted his chest and assured her, "President Ye, you can completely trust me with this."
Yet while preparing backstage, Ye Qingcheng still felt uneasy.
Lu Yun squeezed her palm and asked, "What's wrong, Sister?"
"I don't know. My right eyelid has been twitching since this morning, and I just have a feeling something bad is going to happen."
"It's fine, I'm here. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you."
"You only know how to comfort me."
Ye Qingcheng glared at Lu Yun. Although she knew that if something really happened, Lu Yun wouldn't be able to help much, having him say those words somehow made her heart settle a great deal.
At ten o'clock sharp, the press conference began on time.
Ye Qingcheng tidied her makeup and stepped to the front of the stage, instantly stunning countless members of the media.
They had heard Ye Qingcheng's name before to some extent, knowing there was such a beautiful female CEO in Jiangcheng, but most people thought the praise was exaggerated.
Nowadays, as long as a woman had regular facial features and was carefully styled, she could be called a beauty.
Especially with the blessing of beauty filters, even a plain Jane could turn into a goddess.
Yet the moment they saw Ye Qingcheng walk out, they realized they were wrong.
Ye Qingcheng was tall with an extraordinary temperament, and especially that breathtaking face of hers—unlike those internet celebrities covered in heavy makeup, she only wore a light touch of cosmetics, which was enough to outshine ninety-nine percent of women.
True to her name, with a single smile she could captivate a city.
The reporters instantly perked up.
Ye Qingcheng's performance did not disappoint them either; poised and graceful, she introduced the company's new products in an orderly fashion, completely devoid of the nervousness she had shown backstage.
The first half of the press conference went extremely smoothly.
Ye Qingcheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that she might really have been worrying over nothing.
However, not long after, a sudden change occurred.
A female reporter suddenly stood up and asked, "There are reports that in order to secure a high-position for her toy boy, President Ye went so far as to oust old employees of the company. Is this rumor true?"
Swish!
The expressions of everyone from Qingcheng Group changed instantly.
"What is wrong with this reporter? Who told you to ask such an ignorant question?"
Several company security guards prepared to chase the female reporter out of the venue, but Guo Hui, the head of security, stopped them.
"Please answer my question, President Ye." The female reporter pressed on relentlessly.
Other media outlets also locked their lenses tightly on Ye Qingcheng's face; compared to Qingcheng Group's new products, they were much more enthusiastic about digging into the private life of a beautiful female CEO.
Ye Qingcheng's pretty face turned icy as she said, "This question has nothing to do with today's press conference, and I refuse to answer."
"How could it have nothing to do with it?"
At that moment, the doors of the conference room were suddenly pushed open, and Liu Zhifeng walked in with a sneering expression.
Entering right along with him was He Shun.
He Shun was in a wheelchair, his legs covered in plaster and one arm wrapped in a bandage, hanging across his chest.
Upon seeing this scene, Guo Hui, the head of security, not only failed to stop them, but instead proactively stepped forward to help push He Shun's wheelchair.
Immediately, a reporter shoved a microphone toward Liu Zhifeng's mouth: "Excuse me, sir, do you have some kind of grudge against Qingcheng Group?"
"Of course. I am that old employee who was laid off by Ye Qingcheng."
Chapter 9: Blows Come One After Another
The moment she saw Liu Zhifeng, Ye Qingcheng knew the situation was turning bad, and she snapped coldly, "Liu Zhifeng, you are no longer an employee of this group, please get out!"
"Heh, President Ye, are you in such a hurry to chase me away because you're afraid I'll expose your filthy deeds?"
Liu Zhifeng sneered.
Ye Qingcheng's delicate brows rose in anger: "I, Ye Qingcheng, conduct myself with absolute integrity and am not afraid of you splashing dirty water. It's just that what you're talking about has nothing to do with today's press conference, so please leave!"
"Heh, once I finish speaking, you'll know whether it has to do with it or not."
Liu Zhifeng continued to sneer.
"Mr. Liu, could you tell us in detail about how things actually happened?" a reporter asked.
Immediately, all the camera lenses were aimed at Liu Zhifeng, and no one paid any more attention to Qingcheng Group's new products.
"Of course I can. I came here today precisely to tear off Ye Qingcheng's hypocritical mask and let you all see just how ugly her heart really is."
Liu Zhifeng cleared his throat and continued:
"My name is Liu Zhifeng, and I used to be the Human Resources Manager of Qingcheng Group. I worked diligently and conscientiously for the company for over a dozen years..."
"It is no exaggeration to say that Qingcheng Group could not have achieved what it has today without a contribution from me, Liu Zhifeng."
"Now the company is about to go public, and I was very happy, feeling that my years of dedication had finally been rewarded, but..."
"But this woman Ye Qingcheng bites the hand that feeds her. In order to lift her toy boy into a high position, she actually kicked me, a veteran who has contributed so much, out of the company."
"Do you think this is fair?"
Liu Zhifeng accused loudly.
The media murmured among themselves, and the looks they directed at Ye Qingcheng changed completely.
You can never judge a person's heart simply by their face; such a beautiful woman turned out to be as vicious as a snake or scorpion.
Such a company still wants to go public? They might as well go dig their own graves!
Ye Qingcheng's expression sank:
"Liu Zhifeng, you're talking nonsense. It was clearly you who colluded with Liren Group first. It's already generous of me not to pursue your criminal liability, yet you actually dare to make counter-accusations. Have you no shame?"
"I colluded with Liren Group? Ye Qingcheng, you need to provide evidence for what you say."
"That day in my office, didn't you admit with your own mouth that you were colluding with Liren Group? Now you actually have the nerve to ask me for evidence?"
"What a joke!"
Liu Zhifeng shouted loudly, pointing at the gathered media as he said:
"You judge this for me—do you believe this claim? Assuming you betrayed the company, would you stand up and admit it yourself? Do you think I'm a fool?"
Everyone shook their heads one after another.
Only a fool would stand up and admit they were colluding with another company.
Ye Qingcheng's explanation was simply too lacking in credibility.
"The one who suffered the greatest grievance is my brother He Shun."
Liu Zhifeng pointed again at He Shun in the wheelchair, saying indignantly:
"He was originally Ye Qingcheng's driver, and he was also the first to discover that Ye Qingcheng was keeping a toy boy. In the end, just because he tried to offer a few words of persuasion, look at what they beat him into!"
All camera lenses instantly shifted to He Shun.
He Shun also very cooperatively pulled out a medical diagnosis, gritting his teeth as he said: "This is the diagnosis given to me by the hospital: comminuted fracture of the right upper limb wrist bone, and bilateral knee joint ligament tears."
Boom!
Like a deep-sea bomb suddenly detonating, the entire venue erupted.
"This is going too far! They completely have no regard for the law!"
"A woman with such a venomous heart still has the nerve to stand on stage and hold a press conference—get down off there right now!"
"Ye Qingcheng, you must give us an explanation! You must obtain justice for Mr. He Shun and Mr. Liu Zhifeng!"
Public opinion instantly tilted to one side, and all the media reporters were filled with righteous indignation.
Ye Qingcheng's face turned slightly pale, and she said with a trembling voice:
"Liu Zhifeng, you keep claiming I pushed a toy boy into a high position, and you keep claiming I sent people to beat He Shun—where is the evidence? Please bring out the evidence!"
The only thing she could do right now was demand that Liu Zhifeng produce evidence.
Liu Zhifeng let out a cold snort without replying. At that moment, a middle-aged man sitting in the front row suddenly stood up.
"I have something to say."
His name was Jiang Tao, and he was the current Human Resources Manager of Qingcheng Group. Back when Liu Zhifeng held the position, he had been the deputy.
"I can prove that what Liu Zhifeng said is the truth."
Just when everyone thought he was going to speak up for Ye Qingcheng, unexpectedly, Jiang Tao actually stood on Liu Zhifeng's side.
The entire venue was in an uproar.
Ye Qingcheng's delicate body trembled as she said, "Jiang Tao, what are you talking about?"
"Could President Ye not understand what I'm saying?"
"Everyone in the company knows that this manager position was originally intended by you for that toy boy. It was only later, under pressure, that you handed the position over to me."
As Jiang Tao spoke, he unpinned his work badge and said with unyielding backbone: "I, Jiang Tao, will not eat this food handed out with insults!"
Boom!
Ye Qingcheng's body shuddered violently, but before she could recover, the doors of the conference room were pushed open once again.
The people walking in this time were none other than Xu Kai, the young master of the Xu Family, along with Wang Gang!
"Mr. Jiang speaks well. A woman like Ye Qingcheng is simply not worth your loyalty. Leave Qingcheng Group, and the Xu Family welcomes you to join us at any time."
Xu Kai's appearance once again pushed the media reporters into a frenzy.
They all knew that the Xu Family was Qingcheng Group's largest distribution partner, and Young Master Xu was even Ye Qingcheng's zealous suitor—how come he had come as well?
Right, it must be that Ye Qingcheng's behavior of keeping a toy boy had infuriated him.
Sure enough, Xu Kai took a microphone handed to him by a reporter and said, "I announce that from now on, all cooperation with Qingcheng Group is severed."
Then he looked at Wang Gang: "Didn't you also have something to say? You can say it now."
With that, he handed the microphone to Wang Gang.
A trace of resentment flashed in the depths of Wang Gang's eyes, and he thought to himself: *Ye Qingcheng, Young Master Xu promised to help me pay off my gambling debts, so don't blame me—you were the one who was unfaithful first.*
"My name is Wang Gang. Just like Ye Qingcheng, I grew up in the Sunshine Orphanage, so I know her character. Ye Qingcheng has liked bullying other children ever since she was little, and I was among them."
Wang Gang spun a web of falsehoods, shifting everything he had done back at the orphanage entirely onto Ye Qingcheng.
"I won't mention childhood matters; let's talk about recently. The old director fell gravely ill and needed a large sum of money for treatment. I went to Ye Qingcheng countless times, kneeling and begging her to lend me money."
"But Ye Qingcheng? Not only did she refuse to lend it, she even cursed me as a scoundrel and told me to get lost..."
After Wang Gang finished his accusations.
There was a long, long silence.
The entire conference hall was shrouded in an oppressive atmosphere, an oppression that was the precursor to an explosion of fury.
"Ye Qingcheng, you are absolute human scum!"
Finally, following a lengthy and oppressive silence, everyone's anger completely erupted.
"Ye Qingcheng, an ungrateful and disloyal woman like you doesn't even deserve to live—go die right now!"
"As a woman, I feel ashamed for you, you shameless bitch!"
"Ye Qingcheng, I hope you rot in hell early..."
The fierce attacks and condemnations made Ye Qingcheng's body sway precariously as tears rolled down her face.
"No, it's not like that. None of these things he said did I ever do..."
Ye Qingcheng shook her head desperately, aggrieved tears wetting the front of her clothes, but no one listened to her explanation at all.
They had already concluded that Ye Qingcheng was an ungrateful, bridge-burning, and shameless vixen.
She deserved to be drowned in the spittle of the crowd.
"Ye Qingcheng, you really hid yourself deep. I, Gu Anqi, was your sister for so long, and yet I never saw through your true nature."
Gu Anqi sneered as she unpinned her work badge and smashed it hard onto the ground: "Working with a person like you, I find it humiliating!"
"Anqi, even you..."
No matter how strong Ye Qingcheng was, she could not withstand such a succession of blows, and her vision finally went dark as she fainted.
Yet just as she was about to fall to the ground, a figure suddenly rushed out from backstage and caught that fragile body.
"Today, not a single one of you will escape responsibility!!!"
Chapter 10: Tremble, Tremble to Your Heart's Content! (Part 1)
When Liu Zhifeng first came out to fling random dirt, Lu Yun was already extremely angry, but he didn't make a sound.
He was enduring!
He wanted to see just how many people the other side had, and how many methods they would use to bully his eldest sister.
Guo Hui!
He Shun!
Jiang Tao!
Xu Kai!
Wang Gang!
And.
Gu Anqi!
One by one, they jumped out to slander, smear, and insult his eldest sister.
And these media outlets, listening to one-sided words and without any substantive evidence, condemned and attacked Sister Qingcheng.
The anger in Lu Yun's heart had long since piled up layer upon layer, layer upon layer.
Endless!
Yet at this moment, Liu Zhifeng remained utterly oblivious and pointed at Lu Yun, saying, "It's him! He's the toy boy Ye Qingcheng is keeping!"
Swish!
Lu Yun's figure instantly vanished, and when he appeared the next second, he was already right in front of Liu Zhifeng.
"Do you! Fucking! Lack! A beating?! Do you lack a beating?! Do you lack a beating?!"
Lu Yun grabbed a handful of Liu Zhifeng's hair and fiercely smashed his head against a nearby table—once, twice, three times...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Liu Zhifeng was instantly bloody-headed.
"You... you barbarian, what right do you have to hit people?"
The surrounding media reporters snapped back to their senses and angrily reprimanded Lu Yun.
With his face covered in blood and screaming in agony, Liu Zhifeng still didn't forget to roar:
"You all saw it! How arrogant this toy boy is! Hurry up and film his crimes, I want him to rot in prison! Ah!!!"
Without needing his reminder, the reporters were already frantically clicking their camera shutters.
"Looks like you won't shed tears until you see your coffin!"
Anger surged in Lu Yun's eyes as he hoisted Liu Zhifeng onto the stage like a little chick.
"Turn on the projector and play the files in my USB drive!"
Lu Yun shouted loudly to the backstage staff.
Snap!
The projector lit up.
Immediately following that, a piece of dialogue rang out:
"Director Li, I've already arranged for my brother He Shun to go to Ye Qingcheng's side as a driver. I believe it won't be long before we can snap some explicit photos of that bitch."
"Well done. It would be best to publish the photos before Qingcheng Group goes public; I want to make Qingcheng Group a laughingstock."
"Then the money you promised the two of us brothers..."
"Rest assured, once it's done, not a single penny will be missing."
This was an audio file, but it was unmistakably clear that one of the people was Liu Zhifeng.
And just as the audio ended, two photos suddenly popped up on the projector: one was Liu Zhifeng's family portrait, and the other was a bed photo.
There were three people in the bed photo: Liu Zhifeng, He Shun, and a woman.
Comparing it with the family portrait, it was clear that this woman was none other than Liu Zhifeng's wife.
Whoosh!
The entire media exploded.
The spearhead of anger instantly turned toward Liu Zhifeng and He Shun.
"So the real scumbags are the two of you!"
"Tricking our emotions, you two scumbags deserve to die!"
"I recognized it—the Director Li in the audio is Li Gaofei, the boss of Liren Group. I never thought Liren Group would use such filthy methods to suppress a competitor."
"Expose them! Must expose them! Let everyone boycott Liren Group's products!"
Faced with the sharp tongues of the media, Liu Zhifeng had long forgotten the pain on his head, standing there like a man who had lost his soul.
How could this be?
How could this be?
He had secretly recorded this audio himself, intending to use it to prevent Li Gaofei from reneging on his debts.
Yet he couldn't figure it out—he had kept it safely stored, so how did it suddenly end up in Lu Yun's hands? And even his private photos had been leaked too!
Liu Zhifeng was utterly in despair.
The media reporters were still launching criticisms, but at this moment, Lu Yun suddenly let out a loud shout: "Shut up!"
The massive conference hall instantly fell into dead silence.
Lu Yun's sharp gaze swept across all the reporters, sending a creeping chill straight down everyone's spines.
"Before condemning others, ask yourselves—do you even qualify?"
These unscrupulous media outlets would latch onto a single point and attack it relentlessly, not even having to bear any responsibility if their attacks were wrong.
They simply didn't care how much trauma the wrongfully accused people would suffer.
"All of you owe Sister Qingcheng an apology. Kneel!"
The scene was plunged into absolute silence.
Yet not a single person knelt.
They admitted they had wronged Ye Qingcheng, but for Lu Yun to demand that they kneel was simply too overbearing, wasn't it?
"Hmph, what a big tone!"
At that moment, Xu Kai suddenly let out a cold snort and said, "Those things just now only prove that Liu Zhifeng is more despicable, but they can't cover up the fact that Ye Qingcheng is keeping a toy boy and is ungrateful."
That Lu Yun was able to produce evidence to counterattack Liu Zhifeng had indeed surprised Xu Kai somewhat, but it couldn't affect the overall situation at all.
Everything was still within his control.
"Young Master Xu is right. Liu Zhifeng is no good thing, and neither is Ye Qingcheng!" A reporter immediately chimed in.
A trace of cold intent flashed in Lu Yun's eyes.
This Xu Kai had already been added to his list of crippled people.
"Sister Qingcheng is an older sister whom I deeply respect, and nothing more."
"What evidence do you have to prove that?" asked the female reporter who had started the provocation in the first place.
Lu Yun glanced at her coldly: "I don't need to prove anything. Besides, even if I really did have something with Sister Qingcheng, I wouldn't need to report it to a bitch like you."
"You... Sir, you are now launching a personal attack against me."
"A personal attack?"
Lu Yun let out a cold snort, and an overwhelming killing intent suddenly erupted from his body, piercing straight into the female reporter.
"If you say one more word, see if I dare to kill you or not!"
Plop!
The female reporter's legs went soft, and she collapsed instantly to the ground. From beneath her white hip-hugging skirt, a pungent and foul-smelling puddle suddenly spread out.
She had been scared to the point of pissing herself!
At that very instant, it felt as though a terrifying demon was looking down upon her, as if she would truly die on the spot if she uttered another word.
Lu Yun's cold gaze moved away from the female reporter, locking next onto Wang Gang.
Swish!
Wang Gang's face turned instantly pale.
"You just said Sister Qingcheng bullied you when you were little?"
"You just said you begged Sister Qingcheng for money to treat Grandpa Wu?"
"You just said Sister Qingcheng is an ungrateful person?"
Lu Yun walked step by step toward Wang Gang, scaring him into retreating repeatedly. His already pale face lost even the slightest trace of blood.
"I... I..."
Wang Gang's body trembled as he could already feel a terrifying chill rolling over him, so nervous he couldn't even speak.
This feeling was as if a god of slaughter was approaching him step by step.
His nervous system was on the verge of snapping!
"I... I admit, it was me..."