Chapter 39: The Core Data Has Been Leaked

Zou Xin had only returned to the country a few days earlier.

Since her return, she had been reaching out through mutual friends, persistently trying to arrange a meeting with Fu Yancheng.

Fu Yancheng had initially wanted to refuse.

But considering their shared history and the necessity of a final, definitive break, he thought it over and decided to meet her after all.

In the restaurant, Zou Xin tried her best to keep the conversation going.

Yet Fu Yancheng was clearly absent-minded.

Most of the time, he ate in silence, and even when he responded, it was with terse, distant replies.

Eventually, Zou Xin could no longer keep up the act.

She set down her cutlery, unwillingness clouding her beautiful face. “Yancheng, are you so cold to me because… you have a new girlfriend?”

This was the moment Fu Yancheng had been waiting for.

He lifted his gaze, his eyes calm as they met hers directly.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.”

At his words, a flicker of hope passed through Zou Xin’s eyes.

But then Fu Yancheng slowly raised his left hand, revealing the diamond ring he always wore on his ring finger.

Watching the shock freeze Zou Xin’s expression, he enunciated each word with quiet finality. “I’m married.”

Zou Xin was stunned beyond belief.

Her lovely eyes brimmed with disbelief.

She had only gone abroad for a few years. How could Fu Yancheng… have gotten married without a single word?

Who was it?

What woman had such ability?

Fu Yancheng ignored the pallor of her face, elegantly dabbed at his mouth with a napkin, and stood.

“I’m done. Let’s not meet again, Miss Zou.”

With that, he didn’t spare her another glance and walked away.

He was about to leave the restaurant when a scene outside the glass wall stopped him in his tracks.

There, just beyond the window, were Qiao Xi and Lu Yanzhi.

The two walked side by side.

Qiao Xi seemed to have had a little to drink, her steps unsteady; Lu Yanzhi supported her arm considerately, a gentle smile on his face.

Qiao Xi didn’t push him away. On the contrary, tipsy as she was, her body leaned unconsciously toward Lu Yanzhi.

From Fu Yancheng’s vantage point, their closeness was strikingly intimate and impossible to ignore.

His eyes darkened with a cold light, his jaw clenched tight.

Just yesterday, she’d had a huge argument with him over his meal with Lu Yanzhi—she’d even stormed out.

And today, she was with Lu Yanzhi again? Drinking? Letting him touch her?

Veins stood out on Fu Yancheng’s hands as he fought the urge to rush over.

Lu Yanzhi helped Qiao Xi into the car, where she slumped against the passenger seat.

He glanced at her.

At that moment, Qiao Xi’s cheeks were flushed, her long lashes trembling, her vulnerability and lack of defenses making her appear unexpectedly gentle and endearing.

Lu Yanzhi drove steadily to Qiao Xi’s mother’s apartment building.

“We’re here.”

He parked the car, walked around to the passenger side, and helped her out.

Qiao Xi could barely stand.

Lu Yanzhi wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her as they made their way inside.

“Thank you… my savior,” Qiao Xi mumbled, trying unsuccessfully to steady herself.

“Careful,” Lu Yanzhi said, looking down at her as she leaned into his arms, that strange feeling rising in him once more.

After handing Qiao Xi over to her worried mother, Lu Yanzhi finally left.

He sat in his car for a while without starting the engine, savoring the memory of Qiao Xi’s gentle, docile demeanor when drunk. His fingers drummed unconsciously on the steering wheel.

Qiao Xi’s mother helped her back to her room.

Her head was foggy, but her heart felt heavy and tight.

She closed her eyes, only to be haunted by the image of Fu Yancheng and Zou Xin sitting together, and those two ambiguous photos that flashed relentlessly through her mind, nearly suffocating her.

At that moment, her phone rang—the name “Gu Ranran” flashing on the screen.

Qiao Xi took a deep breath, forcing down her turmoil, and answered, “Ranran…”

“Xi Bao, something’s happened!”

On the other end, Gu Ranran’s voice had lost its usual cheer.

“A competitor just popped up here in Country M, accusing us of plagiarizing their patent in the core ingredients of the new ‘Snow Kiss’ line!”

“They’ve already applied for a temporary injunction in court. All our products have been pulled from the shelves and frozen pending investigation…”

“What?!”

Qiao Xi shot upright, the shock sobering her up almost instantly, a cold sweat breaking out on her back.

Gu Ranran’s voice trembled with anxiety. “The lawyer says you—the boss and chief scientist—must come handle this personally! How soon can you get here?”

Qiao Xi’s mind raced, personal emotions instantly set aside.

“I understand. I’ll book the earliest flight.”

She didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“Ranran, hold the fort until I arrive!”

She hung up, opened her laptop to check emails and news, her expression grim.

Drawing a deep breath, she logged into the company’s internal system, submitted a leave of absence to HR, stating her reasons succinctly.

Then she began to pack swiftly.

The next day.

Fu Yancheng glanced instinctively toward Qiao Xi’s laboratory, only to find it empty.

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

He immediately called Lin Moran on the internal line.

Lin Moran soon arrived at the president’s office. “President Fu?”

“Where’s Qiao Xi?” Fu Yancheng asked directly.

Lin Moran replied, “Team Leader Qiao requested a long leave from HR this morning, citing an urgent family matter.”

“A long leave?” Fu Yancheng’s heart dropped. “Did she say what it was? Where she went?”

Lin Moran shook her head. “She just submitted the request—said nothing else. We were all surprised.”

Fu Yancheng’s expression grew thunderous.

He waved Lin Moran away, then immediately took out his phone to call Qiao Xi.

—“The number you dialed is powered off.”

Powered off?

A surge of panic and helplessness drowned him.

Where had she gone?

What emergency was so dire she’d leave so abruptly and power off her phone?

Suddenly, he remembered Qiao Xi’s mother and dialed her number at once. “Mom, is Xi Xi home? I need to talk to her.”

Qiao Xi’s mother sounded taken aback. “Yancheng?”

“Didn’t Xi Xi leave for Country M in the middle of the night yesterday? She said she was helping a friend. Didn’t she tell you?”

Country M?

Fu Yancheng’s heart felt as though it had been wrenched in a vice, the pain so intense he could barely breathe.

She was gone.

She hadn’t even told him…

He forced down the lump in his throat and the panic threatening to spill over. “Oh… She did mention it. I just forgot. It’s nothing, Mom. Don’t worry.”

He hung up and collapsed into his chair, not even noticing his phone slip from his grasp.

This time, he had truly lost her…

Elsewhere.

Qiao Xi had just arrived at “Snow Kiss” headquarters and immediately threw herself into crisis management.

But when she saw the so-called evidence provided by the rival company, her heart plummeted.

They had obtained unpublished core research data from the “Forever Young Project”!

What chilled her even more was the identity of the rival company’s director: Carl Miller—a businessman from Country M notorious for his ruthless tactics and frequent, bitter clashes with Fu Yancheng at business summits.

Miller’s company had an infamous reputation for stealing trade secrets.

How could he possibly have gotten his hands on the top-secret data from the “Forever Young Project”?

Unless… the Fu Corporation had already been infiltrated, or a core insider had sold the information to Miller!

A cold dread gripped Qiao Xi.

This sudden lawsuit was likely to be far more complicated—and dangerous—than she’d imagined.

She would not only have to fight an external legal battle but also hunt down the viper lurking within the Fu Corporation…