The scene suddenly fell silent. All eyes were on Zhao Shenglun, even Meng Suihuan, whom he hated the most, was staring at him. Her expression froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting him to suddenly jump in. Zhao Shenglun stood tall and looked directly at Meng Suihuan, speaking in a firm voice, “Before, you might have been able to make some excuses regarding the internal matter, but now, with the leakage of company secrets, there are hundreds of people here who witnessed it firsthand. Let’s see how you plan to defend yourself!”

“Leakage of company secrets?” Meng Suihuan repeated incredulously, growing more amused the more she thought about it. “Mr. Zhao, indeed, we had some minor conflicts before, and I can understand if you hold a grudge. I can also understand your doubts about our company, and I won’t press the issue for now.”

“But accusing us without any basis, isn’t that a bit excessive?”

Seeing Meng Suihuan getting angry, Zhao Shenglun felt a moment of panic, but he quickly suppressed it and spoke with hostility. “President Meng, don’t try to deflect. I’m merely raising a reasonable doubt. What’s wrong with that? Besides, I didn’t even mention your name specifically. Why are you so quick to shift the topic?”

Zhao Shenglun sneered, “Feeling guilty?”

“Feeling guilty?” Meng Suihuan raised an eyebrow, calmly replying, “No, I’m just kindly reminding you, Mr. Zhao, not to shoot yourself in the foot.”

“It’ll hurt,” she added with a faint smile.

Zhao Shenglun glared at her coldly. “Hmph! You don’t need to worry about that, I have everything under control.”

“Let’s get back to the main issue. Let’s talk about the leakage of company secrets!”

Meng Suihuan smiled, shook her head, and took a small step back, leaving the stage to the professionals. She had intentionally provoked Zhao Shenglun earlier to downplay the situation, as making a big fuss wouldn’t benefit her. Unfortunately, the person before her didn’t listen to advice and preferred to act recklessly. If he ended up getting into trouble, it wouldn’t be her problem.

Despite his tough words, Zhao Shenglun felt his heart racing and his panic growing. This unease continued until the disclosure of the signed agreement letters from all participating companies, with the signatures and seals of each company’s CEO. Among the names, he even recognized a few familiar ones.

“How could this be? How could this happen?”

“They’re all fake. You must have colluded to deceive me. This is all lies…” Zhao Shenglun went mad and rushed to destroy the evidence, but he was quickly stopped by the security personnel around him.

With that, the farce ended, and Xuyu Corporation successfully went public. Taking advantage of this IPO opportunity, Meng Suihuan threw out her trump card by announcing her collaboration with Feiyun Group to create a new smartphone. The news quickly spread online. However, many people were hesitant because the real estate and smartphone industries had no direct connection.

But when this news reached the smartphone development companies, it was like a thunderbolt. It was clear that Xuyu Group, by partnering with Feiyun Group, was trying to claim a piece of the smartphone market.

Ning City, though it could be seen as either large or small, saw several top smartphone companies in attendance that day, and upon hearing the news, they grew anxious. They wanted to ask Meng Suihuan directly, but as the center of attention, she was surrounded by people eager to ask her questions. As a result, they had no choice but to direct their inquiries toward Feiyun Group’s CEO, Mr. Chen.

Mr. Chen, who had built Feiyun Group to its current stature, was no fool. He spoke in an official tone, saying vague things without revealing any key information. As for Meng Suihuan, her situation was similar to Mr. Chen’s. She only spoke about trivial matters, keeping everyone hanging, and then with a faint smile, added, “If you want to know more later, you can follow Tianxia.com, where we will release further details.”

Since the company went public, Meng Suihuan has been receiving the most blessings, with compliments so numerous that they could not fit into a basket.

Lu Linshen’s gaze had been fixed on her the entire time. Suddenly, his shoulder was patted, and when he turned his head, he saw Jiang Chengxuan holding a black woven bag, eagerly inviting him. “Brother Lu, want to join me in congratulating Meng Jie?”

“Sure, I can.” Lu Linshen naturally didn’t refuse.

“Sister Meng, you’ve already heard plenty of blessings for a while now, so I won’t repeat them. On this special day, I’ve prepared a special gift for you,” Jiang Chengxuan teased, drawing the attention of many people. Not only were the others curious, but Meng Suihuan also looked at him with interest and jokingly said, “Come on, let me see what amazing gift you’ve prepared.”

Jiang Chengxuan opened the black woven bag, and in the next moment, he pulled out a vibrant bouquet of flowers and slowly handed it to her.

“Meng Jie, last time you said that when standing on stage, you must have both flowers and applause. Today, we’ve already given you the applause, so I’m here to make up for the missing flowers.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s indeed a very special gift.”

“I really like it.” Meng Suihuan was a bit surprised but also delighted. She had casually mentioned this back when she and Jiang Chengxuan were in Shuangyang County, and didn’t expect him to remember. Although the gift wasn’t as refined as something from the 21st century, this simple gesture made her genuinely happy.

Jiang Chengxuan smiled, “This gift isn’t anything much. Lu Ge also prepared a gift for you, and it’s definitely better than mine.”

Upon hearing this, Meng Suihuan’s gaze naturally shifted to Lu Linshen. Compared to the bouquet of flowers from Jiang Chengxuan, she was even more curious about what gift Lu Linshen had prepared for her. She looked at him with curiosity but saw that his hands were empty, making it look like he hadn’t brought a gift. It seemed like he was going to deliver some congratulatory words, just like everyone else.

With this thought, her expectations, which had just risen, immediately dropped, and her tone became more casual. “Lu Linshen, what gift did you prepare?”

Lu Linshen slowly reached into his pocket, took out a small wooden box that was plain and square with no noticeable features. She took the box, opened it, and found a neatly folded piece of paper inside, covered with many words.

“Hmm?” Meng Suihuan looked at the paper in her hands, then looked at him in disbelief. “This wouldn’t be your gift, right?”

To her surprise, Lu Linshen nodded without hesitation.

Meng Suihuan was speechless. This gift was even worse than the endless compliments she had heard earlier! With so many people around, she didn’t want to embarrass him, so she could only force a smile and cover for him, “Such a long handwritten note, you really put a lot of thought into it. Thank you.”

“It’s not a congratulatory message,” Lu Linshen said seriously, looking at her. “It’s the user manual for the phone.”

“Heh.” Meng Suihuan chuckled dryly, “This gift is really unique.” It was a gift she never would’ve imagined— a user manual. What use did she have for that?

“You said before that the little communicator was too simple and you weren’t satisfied with it.”

“Hmm.” Meng Suihuan nodded.

“So, I swapped out the chip inside the little communicator. You can try the phone below according to the manual and see how it performs.”

Lu Linshen spoke with calmness, his tone as casual as if he were talking about what they had for lunch today. But when those words hit Meng Suihuan’s ears, it was like a thunderclap.

“What did you just say?!”

Lu Linshen patiently repeated himself.

This time, Meng Suihuan heard him clearly. She immediately put down everything else in her hands and eagerly picked up the manual. Sure enough, underneath it lay the latest little communicator. She turned it on, and the first thing that caught her eye was the phone’s screen, with colors that seemed bright and exaggerated compared to the color technology of the future, not as pure, and slightly overwhelming at first glance. But in this world full of black-and-white, the phone in her hand had color!

“Because the chip isn’t fully compatible, only some functions are available, like the wireless function we talked about earlier, which is still not supported. But I tested it, and overall, the performance has improved compared to before.”

Meng Suihuan had no intention of listening to his explanation. She immediately began testing all the new features and then looked up at him, smiling brightly.

“Lu Linshen, this is the best gift I’ve received today. To be fair, I’ll grant you one wish, too.”

“Tell me, is there anything you want? I’ll try my best to fulfill your wish.”

“Any wish?” Lu Linshen looked up at her, not paying attention to his inner emotions.

Meng Suihuan was startled by his gaze and silently cursed herself. How could she have gotten so carried away?! She had just made such a promise to Lu Linshen. What if he wanted to sever ties with her or ask for a divorce? Wouldn’t that ruin her plans for making money?

Hmm…

What if he really brings up divorce later? How should she cover up this lie?

Before she could come up with a solution, she heard Lu Linshen’s voice not far away: “I’ve been practicing driving recently, but I’m not very good at it. Can you teach me when you have time?”

“Is that okay?”

“Of course,” he replied. As long as he wasn’t talking about divorcing her and stopping her plans for making money, she would agree to anything!

However, she didn’t expect Lu Linshen to quietly start learning how to drive. According to the original story, he only learned to drive after getting together with the female lead, to make it easier to pick her up. Now, for some unknown reason, he had started learning earlier. Though surprised, Meng Suihuan didn’t ask any more questions. After all, as long as he was still honestly helping her make money, she could let everything else go with the flow.

Hearing her agreement, Lu Linshen felt his heartbeat unconsciously quicken, and his ears grew hot.

Meanwhile, seeing the cheerful and friendly exchange between the two, Jiang Chengxuan found it extremely irritating. As a man himself, he could clearly see that Lu Linshen had feelings for Meng Suihuan, so he deliberately mentioned his name to show off and provoke him. But to his surprise, Lu Linshen had come prepared and had prepared something that was not even available on the market. It seemed he had underestimated him before.

Suddenly, he felt a heavy pressure on his shoulder as a hand casually draped over it. “Isn’t it unpleasant to bring trouble upon yourself?”

Jiang Chengxuan turned his head and met Qin Yu’s teasing gaze.

“What are you looking at me for? Am I wrong?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Qin Yu’s hand lightly tapped on his shoulder. “You can deny it if you want, but I have to kindly remind you: I don’t care what your feelings for Sister Meng are, but if you hurt Lu Ge…”

“Then, I’m sorry—”