63: Chapter 63 The Lin Family's Annulment of the Engagement, and the Liu Family's Schemes
In the Jiangcheng gaming industry group chat, an anonymous message struck like a poisoned needle, causing the entire office area to explode—
“Zhang Fan of Singularity Technology used dirty tricks to take down Blue Whale! Now he's propping up Liu Ruyan as a ‘genius,’ but in reality, their relationship is shady, and Liu Ruyan used sex to secure the Digital Power project!”
The photos attached to the message were deliberately faked: after working late one night, Liu Ruyan was walking in front while Zhang Fan followed behind holding an umbrella, but the image was cropped to look like they were “intimately holding hands.”
Wang Chengsi walked by with his coffee and spat it all over his keyboard: “Who the hell could this be if not Liu Mingxuan?! Ruyan stays up late every night coding, how does that equate to sleeping her way to the top?”
Gu Jingshen gripped his phone until his knuckles turned white: “I'm going to find my mom right now and have her blast the evidence of Liu Mingxuan's rumors across every business group chat, making sure that bastard can't survive in Jiangcheng!”
Liu Ruyan sat at her workstation, her fingers frozen on the keyboard. The code on her screen blurred into a mess. She clicked on the comment section, and words like “ingrate” and “shameless” pelted down like hailstones, her tears nearly falling into the gaps of the keyboard.
Zhou Yurou walked over quickly and gently closed her phone: “Don't believe it; this is just another one of Liu Mingxuan's tricks to force you back. The more successful you become, the more afraid they are, so they can only resort to smearing you to make you feel disgusted.”
At this moment, Zhang Fan returned from outside. He had just gone to the incubator's property management office to retrieve surveillance footage. His expression was as cold as winter ice, but he didn't lash out immediately. He simply placed a stack of printed screenshots on the table: “I just contacted Lawyer Wang. The first step is to make him delete the posts, apologize, and compensate for the damage to our reputation. If he doesn't cooperate, we'll take legal action and sue him for defamation. If he wants to stir up trouble, he has to pay the price.”
Zhou Yurou handed over Director Li's proof: “The chain of evidence is complete—surveillance footage, project reports, and Director Li's testimony are enough to make him regret this.”
Zhang Fan nodded, his fingertips unconsciously swiping over an encrypted folder on his phone—it contained the full video from the night of April 14th, showing Liu Mengqi and Fu Chengyu on a date at the “Old Place Noodle Shop” and checking into the Jiangcheng Hotel, with even their conversation at the reception desk recorded clearly.
Heh, I don't look for trouble, but you decided to come looking for it, didn't you? Fine, then don't blame me for being unkind—I've never been a pushover for anyone to manipulate.
I had originally intended to keep those videos of Liu Mengqi and Fu Chengyu as a contingency plan and didn't plan on revealing them so soon. But since Liu Mingxuan made the first move, these things will come in handy.
“Old Gu,” Zhang Fan handed the phone to Gu Jingshen, the screen showing a thumbnail of the video, “Find a way to send this to the Lin Family anonymously. If the Lin Family has any backbone, they will take the initiative to break off the engagement; if they ignore it and play dumb, then just post the video clips to the local forum. I want to see if the in-law relationship between the Liu Family and the Lin Family can still hold up.”
Gu Jingshen's eyes lit up, and he immediately took the phone: “Don't worry, leave this to me! I know a distant relative of the Lin Family; I guarantee the old master of the Lin Family will see it the first chance he gets!”
Two hours later, in the living room of the Liu Family villa, the atmosphere was so heavy it could have been wrung out like water.
The Second Master of the Lin Family sat on the living room sofa with a livid expression, clutching a USB drive: “Chairman Liu, this is a video we received. See for yourself! Your daughter, Liu Mengqi, while engaged to our Zhe, still went to a hotel with the young master of the Fu Family. Are you treating our Lin Family like fools?”
Chairman Liu took the USB drive and plugged it into the TV. The screen immediately displayed intimate footage of Liu Mengqi and Fu Chengyu—eating from the same bowl of noodles at the noodle shop, hugging in the parking lot, and kissing as they entered the elevator at the hotel entrance. Every shot was blindingly clear.
Liu Mingxuan stood nearby, his face turning pale instantly, his hands trembling involuntarily: “This... this must be faked! Someone is deliberately framing Mengqi!”
“Faked?” The Second Master of the Lin Family sneered, took out his phone, and played a recording of the conversation between Liu Mengqi and Fu Chengyu while they were checking into the hotel: “Chengyu, after I break off the engagement with the Lin Family, will you take me to the Fu Family to meet your parents?”
“Don't worry, baby. That fool from the Lin Family still thinks you're so pure...”
The voice in the recording was sweet and clear. Chairman Liu's face instantly turned the color of liver, and he slammed the table: “Absurd! This is absolutely absurd!”
“Chairman Liu, the dignity of our Lin Family is not something your Liu Family can trample on at will.” The Second Master of the Lin Family stood up, his tone cold, “From now on, the engagement between Liu Mengqi and Lin Zhe is officially terminated! Furthermore, the previously promised 80 million investment is also completely cancelled!”
With that, he turned and left, his leather shoes clicking “clack-clack” on the floor like the tolling of a funeral bell for the Liu Family.
The living room was dead silent. Chairman Liu collapsed onto the sofa, clutching his chest, his face pale—the 80 million investment from the Lin Family was the last hope for the Liu Family's mining machinery business to transition to AI. Now that this money was gone, the company would go completely bankrupt within three months.
“Dad, what do we do?” Liu Mengqi ran in, weeping, her eyes red and swollen like walnuts, “The Lin Family really wants to break off the engagement and has withdrawn the investment; our family is finished...”
“Finished? This is all your fault!” Liu Mingxuan suddenly exploded, pointing at Liu Mengqi's nose and cursing, “If you hadn't been meeting Fu Chengyu in secret, would this have happened? Now look, the investment is gone, the engagement is ruined, and our Liu Family is completely finished!”
“I didn't want this either...” Liu Mengqi cried even harder, “It was Fu Chengyu who forced me! He said that as long as I stayed with him, he would help our family secure the investment...”
“How powerful is the main branch of the Fu Family in the capital? If Chengyu could marry you, would we still have to worry about the money for the Liu Family's transition?” Chairman Liu leaned forward, his voice filled with urgency, “They are ten, a hundred times stronger than the Lin Family! You hurry up and tell Chengyu to marry you. As long as he nods, the Liu Family will be saved!”
Liu Mengqi's eyes suddenly dimmed, her fingers twisting her skirt hem, her voice as low as a mosquito's hum: “It's useless... Brother Chengyu has an arranged marriage with the Qiao Family in the capital, set by the old master of the Fu Family. He doesn't dare to defy it... He said he loves me, but he can't marry me.”
“Loves you, but can't marry you?” Chairman Liu's voice instantly rose, the hope in his eyes completely extinguished, replaced by fury.
He stood up abruptly, pointing at Liu Mengqi's nose, spit flying onto her face: “Then what use are you?! You mess around with someone and can't even get a title, can't even keep the engagement with the Lin Family. What else can you do besides cause trouble?!”
Liu Mengqi trembled all over from being scolded, tears falling again: “I didn't want to... Fu Chengyu tricked me into sleeping with him, I had no choice...”
“Tricked you? You're just stupid!” Chairman Liu's chest heaved with anger, pointing at the door, “Get out! Don't be an eyesore in front of me! If you can't figure out a way to recover the investment, don't you dare call me Dad!”
Liu Mengqi covered her face and ran back to her room, crying. Only Chairman Liu and Liu Mingxuan remained in the living room, staring at the investment withdrawal notice on the coffee table, their faces pale.
“Dad, what do we do now?” Liu Mingxuan's voice was filled with a crying tone, “Without the Lin Family's money, the company is really going to go bankrupt.”
Chairman Liu remained silent for a long time, then suddenly looked up, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes like a beast backed into a corner: “What else can we do? The Liu Family still has a ‘biological daughter’.”
“You mean... Liu Ruyan?” Liu Mingxuan was stunned for a moment, then realized, “She definitely won't agree...”
“Like it or not, she will!” Chairman Liu's tone was unyielding and firm, “Announce to the public that the children were switched at birth, that Liu Ruyan is the real biological daughter of the Liu Family, and Liu Mengqi is the adopted daughter! The Lin Family wants the engagement of the ‘Liu Family Heiress,’ so let Liu Ruyan marry over! A marriage alliance with a biological daughter shows more sincerity than an adopted one; the Lin Family might just restore the investment!”
“But what if she... doesn't agree...”
“She has no choice!” Chairman Liu slammed the table, “She is a Liu, so she should sacrifice for the Liu Family! You go to Singularity Technology right now and bring her back to me! Tell her, either she marries Lin Zhe, or the Liu Family will cut ties with her and make sure she can never hold her head up for the rest of her life!”
Liu Mingxuan looked at his father's resolute gaze, then thought of the nearly depleted cash flow in the company's accounts, and finally gritted his teeth: “Alright, I'll go right now!”