"The investigation just now was rushed, so there"s still a lot we don"t understand. Let me get someone to properly look into Zhu Hexuan. I"m guessing she must have always been jealous of you for living the good life. She"s going to be happy over your misery once she investigates this. We can still put a stop to this news, but Zhu Hexuan works with the mainstream media. It would be impossible to erase it, especially now since it"s all over the internet. The only thing we can do is public relations work to lower the heat on this situation," Yan Beicheng said coldly after some thought.
"I know. I"ve handled similar situations before. It won"t be any use to erase the news. The fastest and most effective way to deal with this is to create another hot piece of news to bury the heat of the original news. But we don"t need to do anything this time. Besides my personal news getting revealed, I don"t think I"ve suffered any loss. If you helped salvage this situation, wouldn"t that just give the Lin family an advantage?" Lin Chu said.
"They must be trying desperately to find a way out of this. Let them solve it by themselves, there"s no reason to give them a hand. One doesn"t need to announce their name when doing a good deed. Even if you did, they wouldn"t be grateful. They"ll just take the opportunity to a.s.sociate their name with yours. That would be so disgusting," Lin Chu"s cheeks puffed up in anger.
Yan Beicheng was tickled by her and poked at her cheeks.
"Anyone can learn my story by watching the news. That"s okay for me. There"s no need to help the Lin family. You"re not allowed to secretly suppress the news," Lin Chu said as she looked at Yan Beicheng worriedly.
"I"ll do anything you say," Yan Beicheng nodded.
Lin Chu could not help but laugh, "Oh yeah, is it possible to keep my contact a secret? In case those reporters try and get me to comment."
"This would be no problem, I"ve already given the order," Yan Beicheng nodded.
The next day was the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. It was the first working day of the Chinese New Year.
She was not sure if it was Yan Beicheng"s doing, but no one gave her any calls. Lin Chu gave it a thought and finally understood. What they wanted was the Lin family, she was considered incidental. Now that the story has had its effect, no one would be coming to her for the truth.
Anyway, there was still Zhu Hexuan. She was in the know and could appear in the news story as someone close to the story. There was no need to reveal her name and expose herself.
When the market opened, Lin Chu took some interest in it, even though she had never been concerned about the stock market. Lin Mao was in trouble.
"Lin Chu, when did you become so interested in the stock market? Are you planning to invest?" Zheng Yuntong asked when she came back with a cup of coffee in her hand and saw Lin Chu"s computer screen.
Lin Chu did not bother to hide anything from here. Even if Zheng Yuntong had not seen the news, someone would tell her and she would learn about it sooner or later.
She said quietly, "Did you see the news about the Lin family yesterday?"
Zheng Yuntong nodded in embarra.s.sment, "I heard your name mentioned in the video and thought it might be you. But this is your personal matter and I was too embarra.s.sed to ask you about it."
Lin Chu nodded frankly, "It is me. I have no idea who did this. I guess the Lin family might be doing badly after the news came out, so I decided to take a look."
"You"re thinking about helping them?" Zheng Yuntong asked in surprise.
Judging by the video, Lin Yuwen and Su Changxin did not hold themselves back when discussing Lin Chu. One would immediately know that Lin Chu did not have a good life with the Lin family. If it was up to her, she would not even lift a finger to help the Lin family.
Lin Chu shook her head, "Well, they did bring me up. I"m not going to rub salt into their wound and give them more trouble, but I"m not going to help them either. I was just planning to find out how the situation is progressing, so I"m checking it out."
At that point, Zheng Yuntong had a phone call. She did not attempt to hide the call from Lin Chu, "h.e.l.lo."
"Nope, that"s way out of my budget."
"It"s really urgent. I don"t specifically need a good location but I need to move in as soon as possible. I"ve already told you the rental I can afford. If the rental owner is hiking up the price because of this, I"m not going to agree."
Lin Chu listened at the side and asked Zheng Yuntong after she hung up, "Are you looking for a place to stay?"
"Yeah. The son of the owner of my original rental is getting married. He suddenly told me to move out and let his son have it as a marriage gift. He wants to return the remainder of my deposit and get me to move out in a month. Isn"t this the Lunar New Year holidays? I was in my hometown when she called me during the start of the Lunar New Year. She practically ruined my holiday. I kept thinking about how to solve the problem of my accommodation. I went straight to a property agent the moment I came back yesterday. But it"s not that easy to find a suitable place with such a tight deadline. Even if the rental owners hike up the price, it"s a loss I"m forced to take," Zheng Yuntong drank a mouthful of coffee and said irritably.
"Do you mind sharing a house with someone?" Lin Chu asked.
"I don"t mind if we get along," said Zheng Yuntong. Renting a place with someone that one cannot get along with was quite a terrible thing. They might fight every day over really petty matters.
"I was renting a two-room house with my friend, but I moved out during the holidays," Lin Chu told her the address.
By the looks of Lin Chu, Zheng Yuntong knew that she had moved in with Yan Beicheng. She did not say anything but still could not help giving Lin Chu a playful look.
Lin Chu poked her in the back of the hand before saying, "My friend has a great personality and is straightforward. She"s quite similar to you. I think the two of you would get along. The house still has more than seven months" lease on it. She would like to get someone whom she can get along with to share the rental. This way, I won"t lose any rental money either. I"d feel better with someone there to accompany her. If you are interested in it, let"s go there to take a look and have a chat with my friend. If you get long, you can stay here. It"ll also solve your rental problem."
Zheng Yuntong immediately nodded, "If it"s someone who can get along with you, then there"d sure be no problem for me. How much is the rental?"
"We share the rental, so it"s half each at 3500 dollars a month," said Lin Chu.
Zheng Yuntong was so happy that she banged her cup on the table, the loud noise scared the other colleagues, "It can"t be better than this. The house I"m staying at requires more than 4000 a month. This is much lower than my original budget. When do you think would be a good time?"
Lin Chu looked at her impatience and said, "I"ll give her a call first."
Zheng Yuntong quickly nodded, "I"m moving at the end of this month. If it"s possible, I"d like to move in immediately after."
Lin Chu gave Xu Moyan a call in front of Zheng Yuntong and told her about the situation. They agreed on a time and she told Zheng Yuntong, "How about this Sat.u.r.day? I"ll bring you up to the house to chat with Moyan."
Lin Chu had finally managed to solve this dilemma of hers.
Lu Lixin came over in the afternoon to get Lin Chu and Zheng Yuntong for a meeting with him.
Lu Lixin explained to them in the car, "You know about Lin Mao. Lin Mao wants to salvage their reputation and stop this problem from further development. They contacted President Wei this morning. President Wei requested for both of you to come along as well."
"Would I be suitable for this?" Lin Chu was well aware of Lin Yuwen"s temperament. One look at her and she would be like a wild dog. It would not be easy to talk about business.
Everyone at Lin Yi was now aware of the relations.h.i.+p between Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng. They also knew that Lin Chu was no stranger to Wei Zilin, so he told her honestly, "President Wei wants to you to come along to give you an outlet to release some frustration. You don"t need to worry."
Zheng Yuntong"s eyes widened, "Isn"t this using official matters for private gains?"
Lu Lixin"s lips twitched and he hit Zheng Yuntong on the head, "What official matters for private gains?! Is President Wei this sort of person? We have come up with a perfect solution for this, which will also allow Lin Chu to have some release. This is called win-win, do you understand?"
"Nevertheless, I don"t think they will be happy about seeing me. Once they start shooting their mouths off, every one of you will be under fire as well," said Lin Chu.
"Then we"ll just let them be. They are the ones that approached us in the first place," this did not seem to bother Lu Lixin. He wanted to take a smoke but for the sake of his two female apprentices in the car, he decided against it. He smacked his lips; it was difficult to repress the urge.
"Our company does not simply take on cases. Someone had come to us, pleading on their behalf. President Wei saw that it was Lin Mao and contacted Master Yan. Master Yan thought this would be good for you, which was why President Wei took up this case. If they are not willing, we"ll just take our leave. Lin Yi is not lacking in work. It"s the Lin family that"s begging us, not the other way around. If they feel that another company can do better, they are welcome to go to them."
"Tch! If it was another company, we"d do the same thing," Lu Lixin snorted, the situation did not bother him at all.
Lin Chu felt much better after hearing his words.
The three of them arrived at Lin Mao and Lu Lixin informed them of their ident.i.ty and business here. The three of them were brought to the conference room on the top floor.
It might be because Wei Zilin was not here, so the Lin family were not waiting in the room. The meeting room was empty save the three of them.
After the secretary left, Lu Lixin snorted again, "Looks like the Lin family are used to stepping on the little people and wors.h.i.+pping those up higher up the hierarchy. No good would come out of people like this."
Not long after, the meeting room opened and the secretary came in with four cups of tea.
Lin Yuwen and Cheng Ziming followed behind. Lin Yuwen suddenly stopped as her face turned dark. She did not even look at Lin Chu and said to Lu Lixin, "Why is she here?"
Lu Lixin stood up and smiled firmly but politely, "Miss Lin, Mr. Cheng, how are you? We are in charge of your case. My name is Lu Lixin."
Lu Lixin took out his name card, as if he did not hear Lin Yuwen"s questions and acted like he did not know the relations.h.i.+p between Lin Chu and the Lin family. His expression did not change as he made the introduction, "These two are my apprentices, Zheng Yuntong and Lin Chu."
Cheng Ziming frowned and nodded at Lu Lixin.
Lin Yuwen glared at Lin Chu, "What are you doing here? I don"t need you to handle our situation."
Lin Chu replied casually, "I"m sorry, I"m here because it"s the company"s decision. If Miss Lin has a problem with it, please contact our company. They will make arrangements to remove me should they find me not suitable for this job."
Lin Yuwen looked coldly at Lu Lixin, "Is this the way your company treats your clients?"
Lu Lixin smiled and replied casually, "Miss Lin, we are here to talk about business, not to argue. If Miss Lin finds my apprentice unsatisfactory, you may make a complaint to our company. Lin Chu has always been pertinent with her words; I don"t find anything wrong with it."
"Okay, I"ll give your company a call now and get them to change someone else here!" Lin Yuwen said as she took out her phone in front of them.
No one was sure what was said on the other end of the line when Lin Yuwen demanded a change of personnel. But one could give a good guess as Lin Yuwen"s face turned darker.
Lu Lixin smiled and asked after she hung up, "Miss Lin, have you decided we should leave, or…"
"I apologize for my daughter. She still has a lot to learn. Please take a seat," the meeting room was suddenly opened and Lin Zhenghe walked in. For some reason, he had found out about the situation.
"Dad…" Lin Yuwen had begun to complain when Lin Zhenghe gave her a warning glare. She could only sit down angrily.
Lin Zhenghe clasped his hands as he placed them on the table, "You are aware of the situation in Lin Mao. How do you plan to solve it?"
"Mr. Lin, do you want to suppress the news, or do you want to salvage Lin Mao"s reputation?" Lu Lixin asked as he took a sip of tea calmly.
Lin Zhenghe grimly pressed his lips before saying, "It would be to salvage Lin Mao"s reputation, of course. Even if the news is suppressed, everyone has learned about it. The damage will still be there."
Lu Lixin nodded, "Of course, if all you want is for the news to be suppressed, all we need to do is create another hot topic for the news and let the matter slowly fade away. But this would obviously be just a temporary solution and not a permanent one. To give a few familiar examples, a male celebrity who had cheated on his marriage was exposed by the media. It has been five years since he last appeared on screen because the audience would not like it. It would be a piece of old news that very few will mention but people tend to remember it. It"s the same with Lin Mao, even if it was less than five years, even one year or a few months" worths of loss, Lin Mao would not be able to take it."
Lin Zhenghe"s expression went stiff, but he did not disagree.
"So, what do you have planned?"
"Originally, this matter could have been solved with just a few words of description. We could have created a false image of a happy family. All you needed to do was to make a few public appearances and take a few pictures of situations like Mrs. Lin delivering tonics and supplements to Lin Chu or going out shopping together. Unfortunately, Miss Lin and Mrs. Lin"s conduct and words were too obvious, it would be difficult to beautify them," Lu Lixin gave the pale Lin Yuwen a look.
He continued, "If we cannot suppress the news or create a false image of peace, then, there is only one way left."
He looked at all three of the Lin family, and Lu Lixin blurted only one word, "Apologize."
As the colors on all three faces changed, he continued, "Since this is the reality of the situation, there is no point in denying it. All is left, is to give Lin Chu a sincere apology. Of course, since President Lin did not appear in the video, you can act as if you were not aware of the whole situation and say that your wife and daughter had hidden this from you. After all, it would be believable that you are always busy at work and not aware of what goes on at home. This way, when Mrs. Lin and Miss Lin apologize to Lin Chu, you can berate them with painful disbelieve. At the same time, express your regret at not taking better care of Lin Chu."
"After Mrs. Lin and Miss Lin apologizes and the public is appeased, they would begin to forgive you upon witnessing your sincerity. They would even pity you in many ways. Once this contradictory feeling starts growing in people, Lin Mao will slowly regain its reputation," said Lu Lixin.
While listening, Lin Chu realized that this was Yan Beicheng and Wei Zilin"s plan.
Yan Beicheng did not create this situation with Lin Mao but since this situation was exposed, Yan Beicheng would not save Lin Mao but use the opportunity to let Lin Chu have her revenge.
Lin Zhenghe immediately understood that Lu Lixin was asking of him to choose between his reputation and his wife and daughter. If he were to protect Lin Mao and himself, he would have to sacrifice Su Changxin and Lin Yuwen.
He had not appeared in the video. No matter if the public believed it or not, he did have the advantage of insisting that he was not aware of the whole situation. As for the very hostile Su Changxina and Lin Yuwen, they were not able to escape this as they were clearly heard and seen in the video, they would not be able to avoid the public"s persecution.
Before Lin Zhenghe could answer, Lin Yuwen had already stood up as both her hands. .h.i.t the table hard. She glared viciously at Lin Chu, "You want us to apologize to her? No way!"
Lu Lixin"s expression did not change, he acted professionally, "This is the solution we have provided. If Miss Lin is not satisfied, then we are sorry. This is the best we can do."
Lin Yuwen pointed at Lin Chu and screamed in a rage, "This is all your doing, isn"t it?! You told Yan Beicheng to help you with your revenge on us, didn"t you? You pretend to be this poor little thing to gain sympathy and then throw dirt on us to make us apologize later. What kind of solution is this?! All that you"re saying is total bulls.h.i.+t! You are coming after us for revenge!"
Lin Chu replied calmly, "Miss Lin, please calm down, and please remember your status. You are the young lady of a wealthy family; you should stop spouting dirty words and have some sensibility. I"m not aware of this situation with the Lin family and it"s definitely not my doing. If I were to target the Lin family, I would not be dragging myself through the dirt as well. Making myself look like a victim while announcing my personal affairs to the public? What good would that be? It"s a disgraceful thing to do."
"How would we know? You could be hurting yourself just for the sake of revenge!" Lin Yuwen said unreasonably.
Lin Chu did not say anything more. It was best to stop there, especially since her mentor, Lu Lixin was present.
Lu Lixin was already given specific instructions by Wei Zilin, so he did not give in much to the Lin family, "You can think about this matter. If you feel that I"m not professional enough and am using this situation for personal gain, then I implore you to find other help. If you can find someone who can provide a better solution than I did, then I admit my incompetence."
"I don"t need any of you! You want me to apologize to you? Never! Why should you get an apology from us? You"re not worthy of it!" Lin Yuwen screamed and grabbed the hot tea in front of her to splash on Lin Chu.
She was an orphan who wanted everything Lin Yuwen owned since they were young. Now that they were grown up and she had taken her boyfriend away from her, Lin Chu continued to lead the good life by getting together with Yan Beicheng immediately.
Yan Beicheng was the man that she could never be worthy of, she did not even dare dream about it. Yet, he was now with Lin Chu.
The thought of this nearly made Lin Yuwen"s heart and lungs explode from anger.
It was lucky that Lin Chu reacted fast and move quickly to the corner. The teacup had smashed the wall behind her and the yellowish-brown colored tea stained the white wall, dripping downwards and leaving a curvy trail of yellowish-brown stains.
Lin Chu did not get splashed but Zheng Yuntong, who was sitting at the side, got some of the tea on her clothes.
"Are you hurt?" Lin Chu checked on Zheng Yuntong.
"I"m fine. I"ve just got a little tea on my clothes," Zheng Yuntong replied. She was not bothered by it.
"Yuwen!" Lin Zhenghe called out warningly.
Lin Yuwen was breathing heavily with Cheng Ziming trying to advise her to calm down, "You"re pregnant with our baby, try not to affect it. It"s not good for your body."
Lin Zhenghe looked grim. He did not expect today to turn out this way, he could only reply coldly, "I will think this over and give you an answer."
Lin Zhenghe did not have much time for consideration. One day lost to the scandal was another day of heartache for the company.
Whatever happened with the Lin family was none of the business of Lin Chu and the others. They nodded and left without care.
That night, Lin Chu was telling Yan Beicheng about what happened in the day. Yan Beicheng was thinking the matter through and was deciding how to get back at the Lin family while they were in chaos when Lin Chu received a call from the police station.
"Okay, I"ll be there immediately."
Yan Beicheng saw Lin Chu hung up worriedly and asked, "What happened?"
"Put on your clothes. I"ll tell you on the way there," Lin Chu pulled Yan Beicheng and returned to the bedroom to change. They left soon after.