DLWAV CH73

As soon as the news came out, Weibo predictably lagged again.

[Is this for real?]

[I don’t know, but I feel like it probably is.]

[At the very least, what Xia Yuanzheng said—that he and Su Yiyue once had a relationship—is indeed true, and it’s not exactly a secret in high society.
Although a lot of people say that back then, Xia Yuanzheng was really just keeping Su Yiyue as a mistress for a few months.
But considering what Xia Yuanzheng said about Su Yiyue jumping into a rushing river to save him when he accidentally fell into the water, I think that rumor is probably false.
After all, if Su Yiyue were really the kind of woman who had degraded herself like that, how could she possibly have done something so brave?]

[And besides, twenty-five years ago, it really was common in the countryside for women not to go to hospitals for prenatal checkups when they were pregnant. For example, my mom said that when she gave birth to my older brother, she had a midwife from the neighboring village deliver him.]

[Most importantly, what Xia Lewen said sounds pretty reasonable too, because if he really coveted the Xia family fortune, then why would he have gone into the entertainment industry to become a celebrity?]

[What’s more, the Xia family head is even prepared to gift Xia Ruizhe an office building on Changning Street—that’s an office building in the city center, one that would casually be worth four or five hundred million yuan—and they’re also planning to donate five hundred million yuan to charity in Xia Ruizhe’s father’s name. All that is enough to show the Xia family’s sincerity.]

[So in other words, this whole thing seems like it can only be blamed on a tragic chain of misunderstandings.]

[So did we really misunderstand the Xia family?]

Comments like these directly took over the comment sections of all the major social media platforms, pushing some dissenting voices all the way to the bottom, such as:

[You all really think a baby born two months early is just premature birth? If your belly at five months is as big as someone else’s at seven months, no one’s going to get suspicious?]

[Xia Zhou has already been dead for seven years. Dead people can’t speak, so now they can say whatever they want.]

[All I know right now is that Xia Ruizhe’s father got cuckolded for no reason, raised someone else’s son for eighteen years, Xia Yuanzheng got a biological son for free, and when Xia Ruizhe wanted revenge, they just casually tossed ten hundred million yuan at him to make him go away.]

Public opinion flipped in an instant.

That very day, before Ao Ruizhe could even respond, Xiafeng Group’s stock had already recovered half of its losses.

At that point, the whole internet turned its attention to Ao Ruizhe.

Ao Ruizhe only posted one Weibo:

[No need. I think that office building is filthy.]

[???]

The moment this Weibo post came out, the internet erupted once again.

[What does Xia Ruizhe mean by this?]

[What he obviously means is that everything the Xia family said is fake, that Su Yiyue deliberately married Xia Zhou while pregnant with Xia Yuanzheng’s child, and that Xia Yuanzheng only married Su Yiyue because he knew Xia Lewen was his son…]

Of course, Xia Ruizhe’s fans immediately threw their full support behind Ao Ruizhe.

[I believe in our Ruizhe.]

[I knew Xia Lewen’s family was lying.]

[There can’t possibly be that many coincidences in the world, and yet all of them just happened to land on the Xia family.]

[The key point is that those people like the chairman of Baiwei Group actually really did come out to testify for the Xia family.]

[And with assets worth hundreds of billions, the Xia family actually wanted to dismiss Xia Ruizhe with just five hundred million. They’re really so generous.]

[And then look at the comment section, all full of congratulations to Xia Yuanzheng for gaining a noble son. Is this the power of capital? I’m gonna throw up.]

…

Seeing this, Xia Lewen’s die-hard fans were instantly unhappy.

[What do you mean, “they actually wanted to dismiss Xia Ruizhe with just five hundred million”? This is hilarious. A bunch of people earning 3,000 a month looking down on five hundred million.]

[Who knows whether your Ruizhe will earn five hundred million in this lifetime at all.]

[The ironclad facts are already right in front of him, and he still refuses to believe them. Is he trying to keep hyping himself up?]

The moment Xia Ruizhe’s fans saw that, they exploded.

[Ironclad facts? Do you even have brains? In your understanding, “ironclad facts” means whatever someone says automatically becomes true, right? Fine then, I’m saying your dad is a rent boy, your mom is a prostitute, and you’re both a hooker and a gigolo yourself. That’s also an ironclad fact then, right?!]

Xia Lewen’s fans naturally refused to just take the insults:

[So when we call this an ironclad fact, we have no brains, but when you say the Xia family must be lying, that means you do have brains? You people are unbelievably hypocritical.]

…

[Wait, are you maybe still not clear on what the current situation is?]

[The current situation is that no matter how hard you jump around, our Lewen is already the indisputable real young master of the Xia family, the heir of Xiafeng Group, while your Xia Ruizhe, barring surprises, is going to be nothing more than an actor for the rest of his life.]

[Oh right, and he’s so ungrateful that he even refused the office building the Xia family rewarded him with.]

Seeing this, Xia Ruizhe’s fans completely blew up.

But the truth was that no matter how fiercely they argued, the matter never made it back onto the trending list again. Even when it was pushed onto the trends, it was quickly suppressed by gossip like some actress secretly being married or some Best Actor cheating.

So in the span of just three short days, a fierce storm of public opinion was dissolved into nothing.

Whose handiwork it was went without saying—

[That’s why they say old ginger is still the spiciest.]

In villas big and small all across Qianshi, many people looked in the direction of the Xia family estate and couldn’t help shaking their heads.

[Xia Ruizhe is finished.]

Anyone could guess that the Xia family would never let him off.

Although even now, they still had not figured out why Xia Ruizhe had dared to attack the Xia family, or what gave him the confidence to do it.

But none of that mattered anymore, because no matter how many trump cards Xia Ruizhe still had, could he really be a match for the Xia family?

As long as Xiafeng Group didn’t collapse, even the mayor of Qianshi had to greet Xia Yuanzheng with a smile.

At almost the exact same time, seeing those comments from his fans, the gloom that had lingered between Xia Lewen’s brows for days was instantly swept away.

That was right—so what if he had suffered such a huge setback at Xia Ruizhe’s hands?

He was still Xia Yuanzheng’s only son, the only heir to Xiafeng Group.

As long as Xia Yuanzheng was still there, as long as Xiafeng Group still stood, he would remain someone Xia Ruizhe could never reach no matter how hard he schemed.

Just like right now—so what if Xia Ruizhe had stirred up such a huge wave?

In the face of absolute power, his little tricks didn’t even qualify as a back scratch to the Xia family.

At that moment, Su Yiyue knocked and came in, her face unable to hide her excitement. “Lewen, your father wants you to report to Xiafeng Group tomorrow.”

Hearing that, Xia Lewen couldn’t help smiling.

See? This was the best proof of all.

What they didn’t know was that at that very moment, inside the laboratory of Haishi Vocational College of Electronic Technology—

Looking at the ten brand-new phone screens in the testing room, along with the thick stack of test data in his hand, Professor Liu let out a long, forceful breath, barely suppressing the excitement in his heart.

Not only because they were about to create a piece of history that would make all Chinese people proud.

But also because with this in hand, Ao Ruizhe probably would no longer have to fear retaliation from the Xia family.

Professor Liu immediately said, “I’ll organize all the relevant materials as soon as possible, and then I’ll have someone apply for a global patent.”

As early as the year before last, more than two hundred countries around the world had jointly established the World Intellectual Property Bureau, so applying for global patents had become much easier now.

For a utility-model patent like this, as long as one was willing to pay a high expedited substantive examination fee, the grant notice could usually be received within a month.

Once the grant notice was in hand, the patent could be monetized or transferred.

“Good,” Ao Ruizhe said.

Then he took out another folder.

“And then we can start on the new project.”

A new project?

Professor Liu subconsciously took the folder and opened it. On the top page, written clearly, was:

Research on a New Type of Thermal Insulation Material

So-called thermal insulation material, as the name suggests, was a material that reduced the transfer of heat between substances. Its industrial applications were extremely broad, from making airplanes, rockets, and high-speed trains, all the way down to thermos cups and insulated walls…

But that wasn’t the important part. The important part was that, if he remembered correctly, besides being the largest phone-screen protector manufacturer in the country, Xiafeng Group also had several very powerful subsidiaries. One of them seemed to be Tongda Plastic Products Co., Ltd., whose main business was thermal insulation strips for broken-bridge windows. The cooperation between the American company Leip and Xiafeng Group involved importing a batch of these insulation strips from Tongda Plastic Products and selling them to Africa.

Professor Liu: “…”

That couldn’t also be a coincidence, could it?

The moment the realization hit him, Professor Liu became instantly excited.

Because he also wanted to know what kind of expression the Xia family would have when they realized that the person they had offended was not some ant they could casually crush, but a colossal giant.

There was only one issue—

In a practiced tone, he said, “We’ve run out of money again.”

In a practiced motion, Ao Ruizhe took out his phone and sent Qin Xiuyan another message:

[President Qin, I’ve run out of money again. Could you lend me another five million?]

After receiving the message, Qin Xiuyan, while thinking about whether Ao Ruizhe might post yet another extra Moments update tonight, skillfully called his secretary in and told him to transfer another five million to Ao Ruizhe.

Secretary: “…”

The secretary finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. He said, “President Qin, you’ve already lent nearly thirty million to Xia Ruizhe.”

The key point was that it hadn’t even been a month yet.

You couldn’t spend that much money on keeping ten little celebrities in a month.

—He wasn’t stupid. How could he not tell something was off with Qin Xiuyan?

Qin Xiuyan: “…”

Had he already lent Ao Ruizhe that much money?

Secretary: “And that’s not even the main issue. The main issue is, President Qin, the Xia family definitely isn’t going to let Xia Ruizhe off…”

If they continued being entangled with Xia Ruizhe, the Xia family would definitely add Wanhai to their list as well.

—He had every reason to suspect that Xia Ruizhe had tried to crawl into Qin Xiuyan’s bed from the very beginning just to pull Qin Xiuyan in as backing.

Wanhai might not be afraid of the Xia family, but who would willingly want one more vicious enemy?

Even though he sympathized with Xia Ruizhe, they still had to think about the several thousand employees under Wanhai too.

Hearing this, Qin Xiuyan fell silent.

After quite a while, he said, “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

In truth, he hadn’t taken the secretary’s words to heart at all.

Mainly because… wasn’t he supposed to be a proper man?

And weren’t proper men supposed to stick to their principles?

But what exactly was he doing now?

Hearing that, the secretary finally put his mind at ease.

Only, what he didn’t expect was that that very night, when he drove Qin Xiuyan home and had just pushed the door open, he once again saw Ao Ruizhe sitting cross-legged on the sofa.

The key part was that in the very next second, Qin Xiuyan instinctively slammed the door shut again.

For the third time, the secretary was directly knocked back by the door and nearly fell to the ground from losing his balance: “…”

Ao Ruizhe, on the other hand, couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Qin Xiuyan, coming back to himself: “…”

He took a deep breath and said word by word, “Mr. Xia, I believe I already made myself very clear before…”

Who would’ve thought that the very next second, Ao Ruizhe’s expression suddenly changed, and he directly clutched his chest.

Qin Xiuyan’s unfinished words instantly got stuck in his throat. “What’s wrong with you?”

Ao Ruizhe frowned tightly. “I think something bit me?”

What?

Qin Xiuyan hurried over, pulled open Ao Ruizhe’s clothes, and started examining him.

But no matter how he looked, he couldn’t find any wound. What he did notice, however, was that Ao Ruizhe’s chest muscles looked even sexier up close.

So much so that Qin Xiuyan’s gaze couldn’t help drifting.

At just that moment, Ao Ruizhe’s voice sounded.

“Does it look good?”

“Is it even better than the video I posted on Moments?”

Qin Xiuyan subconsciously nodded.

Then he suddenly reacted.

First he looked at the hand with which he was clutching Ao Ruizhe’s clothes, then he jerked his head up—

and in the next second, met Ao Ruizhe’s slightly raised eyes directly.

He’d fallen for it—

Because wasn’t this basically telling Ao Ruizhe outright that he had been secretly stalking his Moments all along?

And that still wasn’t even the most important part.

The most important part was—

A thought suddenly rose in his mind for no reason at all:

Ao Ruizhe had gone bad!

He hadn’t been this bold before, let alone this full of tricks.

As if he had guessed what Qin Xiuyan was thinking, Ao Ruizhe gave a little hum and then said:

“You trained me.”

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