Chapter 75.1

The tumor in Boss You’s brain was benign, and the surgery had been successful.

However, Madame Song remained worried for her husband and chose to keep him at home to recuperate even after the operation.

Every weekend, Li Xiao brought Jiang Rou and An An to visit him. It seemed that the extended recovery period had been quite comfortable, as Boss You had noticeably gained weight.

The You family had relocated to a villa halfway up a mountain in the suburbs. The villa was wide, with a golf course and two horses in the backyard.

One of the horses was black and belonged to Boss You, while the other was Lele’s.

An An had developed a fondness for the white pony and frequently went to visit it. Lele arranged for someone to bring the pony out and took An An along to feed it.

They even gave the pony a name. Although the pony originally had a name—Medea, given when it was imported from abroad—An An found it hard to pronounce and did not like it. She cleverly renamed the pony Baozi, explaining that Baozi was also white, just like her mother’s delicious buns.

Lele had always been indulgent with his little sister. He complied with An An’s wishes and joined her in calling the pony Baozi and even praising An An for choosing such a fitting name.

An An puffed out her chest with pride.

After leaving Boss You’s house, An An pestered her father to buy a pony for them as well.

Li Xiao flatly refused, “It’s too expensive. I don’t have the money.”

An An was not convinced, replying, “You’re lying. You have money.”

She then suggested cleverly, “You could sell the piano.”

Having observed her mother reselling old toys, An An now understood that things no longer needed could be sold.

Li Xiao sighed, thinking it might not be ideal for his daughter to be too perceptive. “Our house isn’t as large as Lele’s. Where would we keep the pony? Mom and Dad don’t have time to care for it, and you’ll be going to school.”

An An frowned in confusion and asked, “Can’t we put it in the backyard?”

Li Xiao replied, “Think about Lele’s backyard compared to ours. Isn’t ours much smaller?”

An An, sitting unhappily in the back of the car, realized the difference and asked, “Then can’t we move to a bigger house?”

Li Xiao smiled and said, “We really don’t have the money. A bigger house is too expensive. We’ll have to wait a few more years before we can afford one.”

An An sighed with the wisdom of someone much older. “Okay, then Daddy, you have to work hard.”

Although Li Xiao didn’t buy An An a pony, he did bring home a white lamb a few days later. The lamb had been born recently and was still in the nursing stage.

An An was excited when she saw it. She took an immediate liking to the white lamb and named it Mantou.

Every morning and evening, she fed Mantou with her childhood milk bottle. She also bathed and dressed Mantou, and under her care, the lamb grew more beautiful. Even though Jiang Rou and Li Xiao forbade her from bringing Mantou into the house, An An insisted on hugging the lamb while watching TV.

If Jiang Rou hadn’t strictly intervened, An An would likely have taken Mantou to the bed to sleep with her.

Because of this, Jiang Rou scolded Li Xiao—she felt that he should have bought something more appropriate rather than a sheep. Li Xiao, however, defended his choice: “Sheep are great. When they grow up, we can drink goat milk and eat roasted whole sheep.”

Jiang Rou was at a loss for words. Roasting a whole sheep? She wondered how they could possibly eat one of the animals they were raising

with such affection.

—o—o—o—

In May, summer had arrived in G Province. Everyone was dressed in short-sleeved shirts, shorts, and slippers. Jiang Rou, enjoying a relatively free period, dedicated her time to her family. She started her mornings by preparing nutritious breakfasts for An An and Li Xiao. In the afternoons, after picking up the children, she would head directly to Li Xiao, and then the family of three would go home together.

Sometimes, on their way home, they would stop to buy a bouquet of flowers and a lollipop as gifts for Li Xiao and An An. Both father and daughter were delighted, with An An’s sweet little mouth constantly expressing her affection with phrases like “Mom, I love you” and “Mom, I’m so good.” Li Xiao, though more reserved, initially remarked that it was a waste of money, but he would later search through the kitchen cabinets to find a suitable vase for the flowers.

As the flowers wilted after a few days, Jiang Rou couldn’t bring herself to throw them away. Instead, she crafted them into bookmarks and stored them in the family album.

An An noticed and said, “Mom, next time give me fake flowers. They’re cheap and don’t wilt easily.” She had seen them sold at the store near their school for just one cent each and thought they were very pretty.

Jiang Rou smiled and gently rubbed An An’s little head. “You don’t understand.”

An An tilted her head in confusion, not seeing why her mother preferred real flowers over fake ones.

“Then I’ll buy fake flowers for Daddy next time,” An An decided.

Li Xiao overheard this and said with a hint of annoyance, “Well, thank you very much.”

An An replied earnestly, “You’re welcome.”

—o—o—o—

During this time, Li Xiao’s company had gradually gotten back on track. While the nature of his work had not changed drastically, he was busier than before.

In the past, he could leave work early in the afternoon, but now, with more responsibilities, he had to stay later. Social events had increased as well. He was the factory director, but now, he was the chairman, a role that came with more invitations to dinners and events.

Although he did not enjoy these social activities, he sometimes had to attend them.

Despite this, the company’s growth was steady.

Li Xiao’s management philosophy significantly contributed to the company’s success. When it was still a factory, he had worked hard to expand its market reach, establishing a national sales network and building its reputation.

Now, with two large factories and a company, his focus remained on producing high-quality products, maintaining steady development, and pursuing a long-term strategy.

He avoided the pitfalls of sacrificing consumer rights for short-term gains, a practice that could ultimately lead to bankruptcy and harm to others.

However, Li Xiao had not anticipated that trouble would still find him despite his careful management.

Late in the night, the head of the company’s publicity department called him urgently—reporting that their new product had been sued by a large foreign company for alleged infringement involving the product’s packaging.

The details were unclear over the phone, and the person in charge was anxious, asking Li Xiao how to handle the situation.

Li Xiao got up, dressed quickly, and held the phone between his shoulder and ear. He said calmly, “Notify the other company supervisors to come to the office for a meeting immediately.”

“Okay,” came the reply.

Jiang Rou, disturbed by the noise, woke up and saw him preparing to leave. Not asking any questions, she got up to see him off.

Li Xiao reassured her, “It’s alright. Go back to sleep, and remember to close the door.”

Jiang Rou nodded.

Li Xiao drove off, and as he reached the gate of the community, Zhou Jian arrived in a hurry. The two left for the company in tandem. Upon arriving, they went straight to the meeting room. The first order of business was to understand the situation. They discovered that the new packaging for the twelve zodiac signs was identical to that of a foreign snack brand. Li Xiao requested the products and design drawings for inspection.

The secretary brought both products and the previous design drawings. Comparing them, it was clear that they were identical. Li Xiao’s brow furrowed as he looked at the packaging. “I remember excluding this design. Who put it back in?”

The design had seemed familiar to him at the time, and he had excluded it because it appeared to be a copy.

The employees exchanged glances and began to place blame on each other.

Design department staff claimed they hadn’t created the drawing. The administrative department said they had forwarded the final design directly to the packaging company…

After hours of discussion and argument, they had a rough idea of where the issue arose. The drawing had been designed by a new intern who had copied it from the foreign brand. He had submitted it to report to his team leader, believing his work wouldn’t be selected.

However, no one knew who had secretly included the excluded drawing in the final design. This discovery made everyone uneasy, hinting at a potential mole within the company.

Li Xiao then recalled something and requested the surveillance footage.

Prior to moving in, Li Xiao had installed surveillance cameras in the company as a precaution against potential internal threats—he learned this method because of Chang Yong’s family’s past issues.

Some employees were unfamiliar with the implications of the surveillance cameras, but given the chairman’s serious expression, they sensed it was significant. They exchanged nervous glances.

Before the surveillance footage could be reviewed, a male employee, pale-faced, stood up. “I think I know who did it.”

The entire conference room fell silent as everyone turned to him, waiting for his explanation.

Li Xiao’s gaze remained icy as he awaited the employee’s next words.

The male employee swallowed nervously and said in a low voice, “After I received the manuscript that day, Yao Shiling came to see me and gave me a cup of American coffee. During our conversation, I took a phone call and stepped outside for a while. When I returned, she was gone. At the time, I didn’t think much of it and went straight to the packaging company with the drawings.”

Upon hearing this, everyone seemed somewhat unconvinced. Zhou Jian was the first to speak up, “This shouldn’t be important, right?”

Someone else chimed in, “Yes, Yao Shiling has resigned and left, so it can’t be verified now.”

The male employee, anxious that the boss might blame him, said, “What I’ve said is true. She was the only one who came to see me at that time, and I didn’t examine the drawings for those ten minutes. If it wasn’t Yao Shiling, then someone must have taken advantage of those ten minutes to insert this drawing.”

At that moment, Secretary Meng hurried in with a USB flash drive containing the surveillance footage. “All the surveillance footage for March has been saved. Here’s the footage for that month,” he said.

He then inserted the USB into the desktop computer next to Li Xiao. Zhou Jian, noticing this, leaned in and craned his neck to watch. Seeing this, the others also quietly gathered around to take a look.

Secretary Meng adjusted the time to two months ago and found the day when the male employee received the manuscript. The male employee tried to recall, “It seemed to be around eight o’clock in the morning or maybe nine. I can’t remember clearly.”

Li Xiao, unsure of the exact time he sent the manuscript down, suggested, “First, check the surveillance of the administrative department, starting from eight o’clock.”

Secretary Meng located the surveillance footage of the administrative department and set the time to eight o’clock in the morning. At that hour, almost all the administrative staff were present, each busy with their own tasks. The male employee was among them. After observing for a while and noting no changes, Secretary Meng began adjusting the footage forward, all the way to ten o’clock.

The male employee had stepped out briefly, resulting in a few minutes of blank footage. At ten o’clock, nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds, he returned with the manuscript, which was in a cowhide bag. He placed the manuscript on his desk, sat down to rest for a moment, drank some water, and picked up some documents to process. He appeared to dawdle, drawing several glances from his colleagues and several leaders who were also watching the surveillance.

The male employee’s face reddened as the footage contradicted his previous interpretation.

He regretted not simply taking the drawings and leaving—as this situation might have been avoided.

Despite his regret, he watched the footage intently, eager to discover who was behind the scheme against him.

Not only did he watch closely, but everyone was fixated on the computer screen—unwilling to miss any detail.

Soon, a figure appeared on the screen—it was Yao Shiling, as mentioned by the male employee. Yao Shiling approached with a cup of coffee, and the two appeared to be conversing with smiles on their faces.

However, the surveillance camera could not capture any sound, so only the movement of their lips was visible.

The male employee took a sip of the coffee. Suddenly, his mobile phone seemed to ring. He took it out, answered the call, then stood up, searched the table, and after finding what he needed, said goodbye to Yao Shiling and left.

After the male employee left, Yao Shiling did not immediately depart. She sat down in his chair, glanced around to ensure no one was watching, and then discreetly took out a piece of paper from her body. She spread it out, smoothed it, and carefully stuffed it into the brown paper bag.

Secretary Meng clicked pause, and the image froze on Yao Shiling’s action of getting up.

“Seeing this, is there any confusion left?” he asked.

The evidence was clear: Yao Shiling was responsible.

Zhou Jian was momentarily stunned. “How could this be?” he asked, clearly in disbelief.

Despite his promise to Li Xiao to put the matter behind him, Zhou Jian found it hard to forget Yao Shiling.

To him, Yao Shiling was a very beautiful person, but this scene made it impossible to excuse her actions.

Li Xiao, on the other hand, remained calm, as if Yao Shiling’s actions were not surprising.

The male employee, now panicked, said, “It was her. She is the insider. No wonder she resigned.”

The meeting room fell silent once more. Those who had previously defended Yao Shiling were now at a loss for words.

Li Xiao then instructed everyone to return to their seats and said coldly, “Collect all the evidence, contact the police immediately, and consult with a lawyer to assess how to minimize the risks from the infringement claims by foreign snack brands.”

He continued, “The publicity department needs to respond to this matter quickly and work on restoring our image.”

—o—o—o—

Lucia: Zhou Jian just shut up.