Chapter 38 Fu Yancheng’s Weakness

Page 1 of 3

It was a young woman in a black, seductive slip dress, her eyes clouded with drunkenness.

“Get off me!”

Caught off guard by this sudden embrace, Fu Yancheng frowned and tried to push her away.

But the woman’s arms coiled around his neck like a water snake, pressing herself shamelessly into his arms. She mumbled, “Handsome, drinking alone is so boring. Have a drink with me…”

Mu Zenshan and Shen Yu were both stunned. It was obvious that this heavily intoxicated woman had stumbled into the wrong booth.

“Hey! Who are you? Get away, get away!”

Mu Zenshan snapped back to his senses and immediately stood up, attempting to pull her off.

At that moment, a man lurking in the shadows of the corridor seized the opportunity. He swiftly took several ambiguous photos with his phone, capturing the scene from suggestive angles, and sent them off.

Almost simultaneously, Fu Yancheng coldly and forcefully tore the drunken woman off himself.

His voice was icy as frost: “Get her out of here!”

He irritably straightened his rumpled shirt, his mood plummeting to the darkest depths.

Meanwhile—

Qiao Xi, who sat silently by the window, tears streaming down her face into the night, felt her phone vibrate several times in quick succession.

She picked it up.

On the screen, two new anonymous picture messages had arrived.

With trembling hands, she opened them.

There, in the photos, Fu Yancheng sat in a booth. A woman, alluringly dressed and heavily made-up, nestled close in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck. The two looked intimately entangled.

Qiao Xi’s eyes reddened instantly.

What was this supposed to be?

Was he allowed to set fires while forbidding others to even light a candle?

He wouldn’t let her meet with Lu Yanzhi, but then went out seeking pleasure with another woman himself?!

The tears that had just stopped broke free once more.

At that very moment—

Lu Yanzhi sat in his study, swirling a glass of red wine with satisfaction as he reviewed the “results” just sent to him by his subordinates.

The two photos were perfectly timed—provocative enough to spark imagination, yet not clear enough to reveal the truth at a glance.

He had already delivered this “generous gift” to Qiao Xi.

“Fu Yancheng…”

A calculating gleam flickered in Lu Yanzhi’s eyes. “I’ve finally found your weakness.”

And as for that Qiao Xi—she proved even more useful than he had imagined.

Page 2 of 3

The next day, at Fu Corporation.

Every employee held their breath, moving with utmost caution. Even the clattering of keyboards was hushed.

The door to the president’s office was tightly shut.

Yet every so often, Fu Yancheng’s cold, intimidating rebukes would ring out from inside, punctuated by the dull thud of documents being slammed onto the desk.

Several executives emerged one after another, looking battered and pale, thoroughly scolded.

Zhou Ze braced himself and brought in a cup of black coffee, but was back out in less than a minute.

Meeting the worried gazes of the assistants outside, he could only shake his head helplessly.

President Fu’s mood could not have been worse today.

Qiao Xi arrived at work on time, but it was as if she were a different person.

Dressed in a strict black business suit, her face was expressionless, immersed in her tasks with mechanical precision—like an emotionless automaton.

“Qiao Qiao, what’s wrong? Did you have a fight with your husband?”

Lin Moran tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but received only a cold, distant reply.

Several times, Fu Yancheng found excuses to pass through the lab, his gaze heavy as it fell on her. But she didn’t even spare him a glance, treating him as if he were invisible.

She didn’t go up to the executive floor as usual to report to him, either. Every document requiring his approval was passed through Lin Moran instead.

Fu Yancheng’s face grew even darker, his grip on his pen so tight it nearly snapped.

As soon as the workday ended, Qiao Xi took off her lab coat, grabbed her bag, and prepared to leave—eager to spend not a moment more at the company.

No sooner had she stepped outside than her phone rang. It was Lu Yanzhi.

“Qiao Xi, are you off work?” His voice was as gentle as always. “About yesterday—I'm sorry. It seems I caused some misunderstanding between you and President Fu.”

His tone brimmed with apology and concern. “Are you feeling any better? Why don’t we have dinner together—just to lift your spirits?”

Ordinarily, Qiao Xi would have refused.

But as she recalled those two compromising photos from the night before, defiance and indignation surged within her.

He could accuse her without reason, he could wrap his arms around another woman—why shouldn’t she have dinner with someone else?

Besides, this man was her benefactor!

“Alright.”

She agreed almost without hesitation. “You pick the place.”

Lu Yanzhi was clearly surprised by her swift consent, but quickly responded with delight, naming a high-end restaurant.

Half an hour later, Qiao Xi sat in Lu Yanzhi’s car.

On the way, her mind was a tangle of vengeful excitement and inexplicable emptiness and sorrow.

Once they arrived at the restaurant, Lu Yanzhi chivalrously opened the door for her, and the two entered side by side.

Page 3 of 3

But just as they passed a half-open, opulent private dining room, Qiao Xi suddenly halted.

Fu Yancheng was there.

He sat across from a woman of dazzling beauty.

She wore a champagne-colored gown that shimmered with every movement, her makeup flawless, her figure elegant, her features strikingly alluring.

It was none other than Zou Xin—the international supermodel and film star who graced the headlines of both financial and entertainment news, famed for her illustrious family background.

Zou Xin was laughing and speaking to Fu Yancheng, her eyes sparkling, her manner intimate and natural.

Fu Yancheng’s expression was hard to read, but he showed no sign of rejection; occasionally he even nodded in response.

The scene stabbed into Qiao Xi’s heart like a knife, robbing her of breath.

So he didn’t just tangle with women in bars—he also dined with luminaries like Zou Xin!

What, then, did his outrage and supposed concern yesterday amount to?

Perhaps he was only angry that his possession had attracted another’s gaze, not because he truly cared about her…

Compared to the radiant Zou Xin, she felt like a drab, insignificant duckling.

A tidal wave of inferiority and sharp jealousy crashed over her, leaving her suffocating with pain and humiliation.

“Qiao Xi?”

Lu Yanzhi, noticing her dazed look, followed her gaze in surprise. “Oh? Isn’t that President Fu with Miss Zou?”

“They… seem to be getting along quite well.”

As he spoke, he gently steadied Qiao Xi’s trembling shoulders.

“Are you alright? You look so pale.”

Snapping back to herself, Qiao Xi quickly looked away, lowering her head as if burned, hiding her reddening eyes and distress.

“I’m… I’m fine.”

Her voice was dry, forced from her throat.

She compelled herself to smile. “Let’s… let’s go sit over there.”

She dared not look in that direction again, nearly fleeing as she followed Lu Yanzhi to their reserved table.

Lu Yanzhi took in her pallor and her efforts to suppress her sorrow, but said nothing further, though calculation deepened in his eyes.

It seemed this fire was burning even fiercer than he’d expected.

He had learned in advance that Fu Yancheng and Zou Xin would dine at this restaurant, which was why he brought Qiao Xi here.

Fu Yancheng, I have your weakness firmly in my grasp now.

This show is only just beginning.