As Qin Mingyuan walked out of the meeting room, he glanced at his watch. The meeting had lasted about two hours—recently, the people working under him had been slowing down. It seemed they needed a little push to improve their efficiency.

Zhou Yang, holding his phone, followed closely behind, tapping on the screen to bring up the schedule. He leaned in and said, “President Qin, there’s a lunch meeting today.”

“If it’s not important, cancel it,” Qin Mingyuan said, massaging his temples. He had always disliked discussing business over meals—low efficiency and it ruined his appetite.

When he first took over the family business and hadn’t yet established himself, he had no choice but to attend such meetings. He often spent hours exchanging pleasantries without any substantial discussion. But now, as he held full control, fewer business partners required his presence, so he avoided these meetings whenever possible.

“Understood.” Since it wasn’t a crucial business partner, Zhou Yang quickly deleted the appointment from the schedule.

Just before turning off the phone, a notification popped up. Recognizing a familiar name, Zhou Yang hesitated for a moment, then glanced cautiously at his boss walking ahead. Without saying anything, he clicked on it.

It was a new Weibo post from Yun Yuexian. Since his boss was interested in him, Zhou Yang, as an assistant, had set up notifications to stay updated on Yun Yuexian’s activities. The moment a new post went live, Zhou Yang received a notification.

As he scrolled through the content and the comments, Zhou Yang couldn’t help but let out a sharp breath and clicked his tongue in disbelief. His hands instinctively began searching for related information, and sure enough, there were already quite a few trending topics.

He was so engrossed that he didn’t notice when Qin Mingyuan stopped walking and stepped aside. Zhou Yang, unaware, kept moving forward until he bumped right into the glass door of the office area.

“Ow… damn…” Zhou Yang blurted out half a curse before catching himself, quickly swallowing the rest and cautiously glancing at his boss. Qin Mingyuan stood three steps away, looking at him with an expressionless face. 

Zhou Yang mentally cursed himself, “I’m done for. ‘President Qin…’”

Qin Mingyuan looked at his assistant’s foolish expression, a little annoyed, and pursed his lips. Had his standards for hiring assistants been too low? 

His gaze then shifted to Zhou Yang’s phone, and he raised an eyebrow. “Slacking off during work?”

Zhou Yang shivered and, in an effort to avoid being fired on the spot, quickly handed over his phone to divert attention. 

“President Qin, look, Young Master Yun was injured and sent to the hospital yesterday!”

The mention of those three words made Qin Mingyuan’s brows twitch. He took the phone and, upon seeing the headline, he paused slightly. For some reason, he felt a strange sense of relief.

Although Yun Yuexian wasn’t a top-tier celebrity, he had gained some popularity. His collaboration with an award-winning actor on a film, though not yet released, had already drawn some curiosity. Naturally, the paparazzi kept a close eye on him.

The moment he was rushed to the hospital with a head injury, photos were promptly leaked online. Fans were worried, passersby were gossiping, and the incident even trended. Speculation ran rampant in the comments. Tabloid accounts wrote extensive articles, weaving elaborate conspiracy theories, with most focusing on guessing the dirty secrets of the rich.

It wasn’t a secret that Yun Yuexian’s family had money. When he entered the entertainment industry, he presented himself as an innocent young master from a wealthy family. Most people believed he came from a blended family, with Yun Haowei being his stepfather.

He had an “unrelated” brother who was involved in a car accident when they were young, leaving him crippled. Apparently, this brother rarely left home and had a very reclusive personality.

As with most wealthy families, the drama of the original and stepmother’s children vying for power, infighting, and even physical confrontations caught the public’s eye. Tabloid accounts wrote their stories with such conviction, as if they had witnessed everything firsthand.

Casual onlookers treated it as entertainment, while fans focused solely on worrying about their idol. They half-heartedly tried to control the narrative, but didn’t take the baseless rumors too seriously.

Since Yun Yuexian’s popularity hadn’t reached its peak—the movie boosting his fame hadn’t been released yet—the public’s interest quickly faded, especially since there were no follow-up revelations. Soon enough, the related topics began to disappear from the trending list.

However, just now, Yun Yuexian posted on Weibo. Most of the post was typical—reassuring fans not to worry, saying his injury wasn’t serious and only looked alarming. But the last sentence was particularly intriguing.

“Brother didn’t do it on purpose, so please don’t make random guesses.”

Qin Mingyuan’s gaze lingered on that sentence for a moment. He scrolled down and, unsurprisingly, the comment section was filled with angry outbursts.

“What the hell?! So it really was his brother who hit him?!”

“Damn! Is his brother not only crippled but mentally unstable too?!”

“Honestly, based on what Yun Yuexian has said before, I always had the feeling that his brother didn’t like him. Now he’s even laid hands on him?!”

“I get that the first wife’s son wouldn’t like the second wife’s son, but hitting him is crossing the line. His mom’s dead—he can’t expect his dad not to remarry. If he’s unhappy, he should argue with his dad, not bully our Yuexian!”

“This kind of trash, being crippled serves him right. Why didn’t the car just kill him back then?!”

“A crippled man in a wheelchair can still hit someone? Guess he’s not disabled enough. He should be paralyzed entirely!”

“With a son like that, his mom can’t have been much better. That car accident must have been karma. Too bad it didn’t take him along with her!”

“If I were his dad, I’d beat the crap out of him. How dare he hit our Yuexian, especially in the face? Damn, just thinking about it makes me furious!”

…

There were too many vile comments. Qin Mingyuan didn’t want to read anymore—it was polluting his eyes. He refreshed the page and saw two replies from Yun Yuexian at the top, asking fans not to curse. He said it would make him unhappy.

The fans immediately shifted, showering him with virtual hugs and comfort, as if they hadn’t just spewed vitriol moments earlier.

Qin Mingyuan scoffed and exited the app. He opened the trending list, where related tags were already climbing in rank.

He didn’t even need to look to know what kind of content would be there. Without bothering to check, he handed the phone back to Zhou Yang, tapping on the trending tag with his finger. “It’s an eyesore. Get it taken down.”

Zhou Yang resisted the urge to ask questions, took back the phone, and nodded obediently. He didn’t want to lose his well-paying job.

As Qin Mingyuan walked away, he suddenly stopped, recalling Yun Pei’s fate from the original storyline. He turned back and said, “Get the necessary files to my office soon. We’ll finish early today.”

Before Zhou Yang could respond, Qin Mingyuan had already strode back to his office. Zhou Yang made a face and sighed deeply.

His boss’s cold exterior was clearly just an act. In reality, he couldn’t forget about the Young Master Yun at all—getting the trending topic removed, planning to visit in person… Ah, hopelessly infatuated.

——

A black Maybach slowly came to a stop outside the Yun family’s villa. Inside the car, Qin Mingyuan lightly tapped the steering wheel.

Only after arriving did he start to question why he had come. Resting his chin on his hand, he hesitated, unsure if he should actually go inside.

Before he could decide, someone knocked lightly on the driver’s side window. Turning his head, he saw it was the neighborhood security guard.

The security recognized the car. The Yun family had given special instructions before—this vehicle was to be let in without any hassle. Its owner was someone not to be offended.

The security guard had seen the car drive up, but when it stayed parked for so long, he thought something might be wrong—perhaps the car had broken down. So he approached to check.

“Hello, do you need help?”

The guard smiled politely, with a hint of flattery. Seeing the cold man inside shake his head, the guard added, “Then you can go ahead. The Yun family said you don’t need to register. If you stay here, it’ll be hard for other cars to get through later.”

Qin Mingyuan lowered his gaze, pressed the gas, and drove into the villa complex under the watchful eye of the security guard.

He had been to the Yun family home twice—once for Yun Yuexian’s birthday party and once to drop Yun Pei off. The route was still familiar.

However, the first time had been at night, and the second time it was raining, so he hadn’t seen much. This time, he noticed the area was quite nice—the greenery was well-maintained, and as he drove by, he saw people walking their dogs in the golden glow of the setting sun.

It was a nice place, but not everyone who lived there was a good person.

As he neared the Yun family villa, his car slowed down and eventually came to a stop. Through the window, he noticed a silver sports car parked ahead, clearly quite expensive. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

The Yun family usually parked their cars in the garage, and none of them drove sports cars. It seemed that today, he wasn’t the only visitor.

Unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car, he glanced at the vehicle, and after a moment of thought, he guessed who it belonged to. Things were about to get interesting.

Closing the car door, Qin Mingyuan adjusted his tie, took a long stride to the villa’s entrance, and pressed the video doorbell.

“Who is it?” A few seconds later, someone answered—it sounded like the housekeeper. Before he could respond, the voice on the other end exclaimed in surprise, “President Qin!”

Knowing they could see him through the video feed, Qin Mingyuan nodded slightly in greeting. Without needing to say more, the door unlocked with a click.

He walked in as comfortably as if it were his own home. After only a few steps, Yun Haowei hurried out to greet him from afar, calling out, “President Qin, what brings you here?”

Qin Mingyuan stopped and waited for him to approach. His tone was neither warm nor cold as he replied, “I saw the news.”

That was all he said, leaving it to Yun Haowei to interpret the rest.

Naturally, Yun Haowei’s mind immediately connected the dots to his younger son. Though he didn’t show it on his face, inside he sneered. After being treated that way, Qin Mingyuan still couldn’t resist coming over. Did he think he didn’t care about Yun Yuexian? And yet, here he was, rushing over.

“It’s really not a big deal. We didn’t expect to trouble President Qin into coming personally.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t busy today.” Qin Mingyuan dismissed him with a curt reply and walked straight inside.

Yun Haowei’s heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, he wanted to stop him, but realized it wouldn’t be appropriate. As he hesitated, the man had already reached the villa door, so he simply let it go and quickened his pace to catch up.

If they actually confronted each other, well, that was their business. Thinking it over, Yun Haowei figured their family might benefit from it in the end.

The two of them entered the house together. The housekeeper brought over a pair of guest slippers, and Qin Mingyuan thanked her as he leisurely changed into them.

“President Qin, if you were planning to visit, you should have called ahead so we could greet you properly,” Huo Lijuan said with a bright smile. She glanced back and explained, “Ah Yue is entertaining a guest right now, I hope you don’t mind.”

Qin Mingyuan said nothing, following the two inside. The moment he walked into the living room, he saw the man sitting on the sofa. Just as he arrived, the man lifted his eyes, and their gazes locked.

“Brother Mingyuan.” Yun Yuexian, sitting nearby, stood up and called out to him. His forehead was still bandaged, and his face was a bit pale. He smiled sweetly, looking quite pitiful.

He’s still able to move, Qin Mingyuan noted, concluding that Yun Pei’s body wasn’t strong enough—he hadn’t hit him hard enough. With that, he casually replied with a simple “Hmm.”

“I didn’t expect to run into President Qin here.” The man who had been sitting quietly, Liang Zichen, stood up and smiled. The curve of his lips seemed calculated, perfectly measured.

An actor’s professional instincts, Qin Mingyuan thought, silently assessing his biggest rival from the original story. He gave a polite nod. “Neither did I.”

As the two men, similar in height, stood facing each other, a subtle storm seemed to brew between them. Yun Yuexian, while hesitating, felt a secret thrill—they were competing because of him.

Huo Lijuan had the same thought, and her smugness was almost visible. Both the heirs of the Qin and Liang families were here for her son, vying for his attention. That illegitimate son, born from Luo Yujing, could never even compare to a single strand of her son’s hair.