CHAPTER 129: CHAPTER 129; SCANDALS (F)

MarketWatch_Pro: Already shorted at 34% down. Predicting another 20% drop by market close tomorrow.

Investment_Guru: This is going to be a business school case study for decades. How to destroy a billion-dollar company in under two hours.

FinanceQueen: I feel bad for the employees. They did nothing wrong and they’re about to lose their jobs because their CEO couldn’t keep it in his pants.

Entertainment News Sites

Headline: "PRESS CONFERENCE DISASTER: Lu Zeyan’s Redemption Arc Becomes Revenge Story"

Headline: "Lin Shuyin: From Prisoner to Power Player in One Devastating Exit"

Headline: "Lin Yueling Pregnancy Confirmed: Timeline Suggests Affair During Engagement..."

Headline: "WHO LEAKED THE VIDEO? Internet Theories Range from Business Rival to Insider Revenge"

Headline: "Lu Corp Stock in Freefall as Scandal Unfolds in Real Time"

Student Forums

The younger generation was having a field day:

"My mom just called me crying because she saw the news. She said she’s been following Shuyin’s story for months and she’s SO PROUD of her for getting out. My MOM. The woman who told me to ’just be grateful’ when my ex cheated. THIS is the cultural shift we needed."

"The professor cancelled our business ethics class today because ’real-world examples are unfolding as we speak.’ We spent the entire period watching the press conference and discussing the leak timing. Best class ever."

"My boyfriend asked me what I’d do in Shuyin’s situation. I told him I’d do exactly what she did: get everything in writing, secure the assets, THEN let the truth come out. He looked terrified. Good."

International Coverage

Even international media had picked up the story:

BBC: "Chinese Business Scandal Unfolds Live: CEO’s Affair Exposed During Apology Press Conference"

CNN: "Social Media in China Erupts Over Billionaire’s Betrayal of Wrongfully Imprisoned Wife"

Financial Times: "Lu Corp Shares Plummet 34% Following CEO Scandal; Analysts Predict Further Decline"

The Guardian: "The Fall of Lu Zeyan: How One Video Destroyed a Carefully Crafted Redemption"

By evening, the story had evolved beyond just the scandal itself.

People were analyzing Shuyin’s strategy. Praising her composure. Creating fan accounts dedicated to her "savage exit." Turning her into a symbol of feminine strength and strategic thinking.

New Trending Hashtag:

# BeLikeShuyin — 1.2 billion views

Women across the country were sharing stories of their own betrayals, their own moments of choosing dignity over revenge, their own strategic exits from toxic situations.

Shuyin had become more than just a wronged fiancé.

She’d become a movement.

And somewhere in a luxury SUV crossing the city, the woman at the center of it all was reading through the comments with a small, satisfied smile, watching in real-time as the world tore apart the man who’d tried to control her story.

Watching as someone else’s careful planning gave her exactly what she’d needed: total, complete, undeniable victory.

LIN YUELING’S POV

Across the city, in a high-rise apartment that Lu Zeyan had paid for but never officially put in her name, the first warning sign she’d ignored, Lin Yueling sat frozen on the edge of her bed, phone trembling in her hand so badly she nearly dropped it three times.

"No, no, no, no...." The words came out in a breathless chant, like a prayer to a god who’d already stopped listening.

She tapped the replay on the video.

Again.

The hospital corridor. Sterile white walls. The distinctive blue door of the private consultation room.

Her face, smiling, radiant, one hand resting protectively on her visible baby bump.

Lu Zeyan was beside her, his hand covering hers on her stomach, his expression softer than she’d ever seen it in public.

The timestamp in the corner: Nearly two months ago. A week after Shuyin’s imprisonment.

And then the headline that kept appearing over and over, in variation after variation across every platform:

LU ZEYAN’S MISTRESS CONFIRMED PREGNANT

CEO’S SECRET AFFAIR: Timeline Proves Deception During "Redemption"

PREGNANT MISTRESS REVEALED: Lu Zeyan’s Marriage Was A Lie

She felt bile rise in her throat.

"This wasn’t me...." she said to the empty apartment, her voice rising to something close to a shout. "I didn’t leak this! I didn’t authorize, I would never...."

Her phone buzzed.

Then again.

Then it didn’t stop buzzing.

Calls from numbers she didn’t recognize. Text messages were flooding in faster than she could read them. Social media notifications in the hundreds, then thousands, then too many to count.

Unknown Number: Is it true? Are you really pregnant with Lu Zeyan’s baby?

Unknown Number: How much did he pay you to ruin his marriage?

Unknown Number: You should be ashamed of yourself.

Unknown Number: Home-wrecker. I hope you and that baby rot in hell.

She started blocking numbers, but they kept coming, an endless flood of judgment and rage and vitriol from people who’d never met her, who knew nothing about her except what they’d seen in a leaked video and read in sensationalized headlines.

Her Weibo account, which she’d kept private, with only 200 carefully curated followers, had been found. The messages there were even worse:

"You destroyed a woman’s life and you’re PROUD of it?"

"That baby is cursed. Mark my words."

"Does Lu Zeyan know you’re nothing but a gold-digging whore?"

"I hope Shuyin sues you for everything. I hope you end up with nothing."

Lin Yueling’s hands shook so hard she could barely navigate her phone. She tried to post something, a denial, an explanation, anything, but her account had been restricted.

"Due to high report volume, this account has been temporarily suspended pending review."

"No!" She threw her phone across the room, watched it hit the wall, and clatter to the floor. "No, no, NO!"

This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

Zeyan had promised her. Had promised that when the truth came out, and it would come out eventually, they’d both known that, it would be controlled. Managed.

Spun in a way that made him look like a man who’d found real love after a marriage of convenience, made her look like the woman who’d been there all along, waiting patiently.

Not this.