Chapter 101: The Suitor

After breakfast, Gu Zehuai insisted on taking Wen Jiu to work. Wen Jiu couldn’t persuade him otherwise, so she let him have his way.

—

At that moment, Shen Mengxia had just arrived downstairs at her apartment and saw Ye Chen waiting by his car to take her to work. Remembering the events of the previous evening, Shen Mengxia still felt a bit uneasy. She walked over to Ye Chen slowly, and he greeted her with a gentle smile.

“Xiaxia, good morning. Let’s go to work together,” he said.

Shen Mengxia was somewhat startled; she had never seen Ye Chen act like this before.

Ye Chen added, “Xiaxia, please don’t refuse me. Just give this suitor a chance.”

Shen Mengxia’s heart softened. Although she had sorted out her thoughts last night, the shadows of the past made it hard for her to accept him right away.

Ye Chen seemed to understand her worries and assured her that he would show her his sincerity.

Shen Mengxia didn’t hesitate, telling him directly that she needed time to accept.

Ye Chen was so excited he nearly cheered on the spot.

Looking at Ye Chen before her, Shen Mengxia felt a unique emotion beginning to spread within her.

She smiled generously and said, “Alright, let’s go, suitor.”

Ye Chen quickly opened the passenger door, holding it against the roof to let Shen Mengxia enter.

“All right!”

The car set off slowly towards the company.

—

Xu Xinying had been sleeping in her studio for several nights now. As long as the plagiarism issue remained unresolved, she couldn’t find peace.

The studio had not issued any statement to clarify matters nor given consumers an explanation, resulting in widespread boycotts from customers.

It wasn’t that Xu Xinying didn’t want to clear things up—if possible, she would have posted a statement immediately.

But according to the PR team’s analysis, if she insisted on keeping her brand, even after firing those designers, the reputation of the brand would still plummet.

Plagiarism is a taboo in any industry. Those designers were now blacklisted from the jewelry design world, and no company or brand would ever hire them again. Xu Xinying’s jewelry design studio wouldn’t fare much better either.

Xu Xinying wanted to make a statement, but she would only accept the PR team’s wording about the studio’s poor personnel decisions, refusing to apologize to consumers, and instead offering measures and compensation solutions.

Many employees in the studio sighed, feeling that such actions would only tarnish the studio’s image further.

But Xu Xinying was the boss; they had no choice but to comply.

Days had passed, and public opinion was growing worse, as if someone was fanning the flames behind the scenes.

Leaning against her desk, Xu Xinying tossed her tablet onto it, pinched her temples, and shouted at her newly arrived assistant, “Find out immediately who’s stirring the pot!”

The assistant dared not provoke Xu Xinying, who was like a powder keg at the moment, and hurried out after agreeing.

Xu Xinying racked her brain, wondering who it could be.

The first person she thought of was Gu Zehuai. Suddenly, memories of her past failures surged up, filling her chest with frustration.

—

In truth, Gu Zehuai had only heard about the incident from Pei Yi and wasn’t concerned about it, nor did he have any intention of targeting Xu Xinying. He simply wanted her to stay as far away from him as possible.

Gu Zehuai and Wen Jiu had spent several days inseparable, until both were called home for family dinners.

Gu Zehuai was already considering what gifts to prepare when visiting Jiu’s family.

Wen Jiu was unaware of Gu Zehuai’s plans and was ready to say goodbye and drive herself home.

Gu Zehuai, hoping to spend a little more time with Wen Jiu, insisted on driving her.

It was the first time Gu Zehuai had taken Wen Jiu back to her family home. Even though he was only dropping her off at the door, he felt inexplicably nervous.

When they reached the gate of the Wen residence, Wen Jiu invited Gu Zehuai inside for a while, but he politely declined.

“Jiu, I haven’t prepared anything yet. I wouldn’t dare visit your parents empty-handed; I want to make a good impression on them. Next time, I’ll pay a proper visit.”

Wen Jiu nodded, thinking his words made sense.

After unfastening her seatbelt, she leaned over and kissed Gu Zehuai on the corner of his lips, smiling as she said goodbye.

Gu Zehuai watched Wen Jiu enter before driving away.

Little did he know, from the second-floor balcony, Mother Wen, Lin Sheng, had witnessed everything.