Since the stock market didn’t open on the weekend, by Monday, Henghua Group was fully prepared from top to bottom to face the situation.

As expected, no matter how much the government tried to suppress it, the plummeting stocks were only delayed, not avoided.

Trillions in market value evaporated, impacting the entire federation’s economy. Yet, strangely, there was no buzz about it on the internet.

It was as if an invisible hand had grabbed some people by the throat, rendering them unable to speak.

We are just insignificant specks in the vast interstellar world, while the real predators wear masks of decency.

Throughout history, any organization that dabbles in this kind of shady business shares similar slogans. Xiao Zong had a clean political background, so naturally, he couldn’t be involved with such people. But that didn’t stop them from spending a great deal of effort just to “talk business.”

And they approached Old Master Xiao for that.

Xiao Zong planned to subtly inquire about it with the old man when the time was right.

But what surprised him was that something else started gaining traction online.

It started with a photo. In the picture, two people exchanged glances: one dressed in a luxurious black suit, looking charming, while the other in a pure white suit had a small part of his face showing, enough to reveal a soft, gentle smile at the corner of his lips.

What a perfect snapshot of an A with an O’s delicate appearance.

The details of their outfits, which most people wouldn’t notice, became glaringly obvious in this frozen moment.

Next came the eye-catching headline, [Years of Obsessive Love, Who’s Responsible for the Debt of the Aristocratic Playboy?]

Same old formula, same old flavor.

Xiao Zong’s temples throbbed as soon as he saw the headline.

Back in the day, paparazzi camped outside the Xiao residence for days, just to corner Fang Runjin with the question: “How do you feel about your relationship with Mr. Xiao?”

The gossip-hungry public hoped to see a scorned wife cry to the media about how heartless Second Master Xiao was, how he wronged her and their son, how hard her life was in the aristocratic family, and how hateful the mistresses were.

But Ms. Fang simply responded lightly, “I have never doubted the warmth during our time together or his sincere love and care for our mother and child, even now.”

The media left disappointed and turned to interview those mistresses clamoring for attention, hoping to uncover more family secrets.

When Xiao Zong was still an innocent youth, he used to feel indignant over his mother’s forbearance.

It wasn’t until later that he learned a word, “public relations.” Every statement his family made was carefully crafted, shattering his once pure A-heart to pieces.

Soon after, he realized that the entertainment headline was just giving him a headache. The content, however, was enough to make him tear his hair out.

The paparazzi had somehow gotten hold of the photo and spun a story that stretched into thousands of words. The story concluded with Xiao Zong dumping his old flame for a new love and leaving early with his new secretary, while his old flame secretly nursed a broken heart.

The story’s alternate title? [The CEO and the Secretary’s Untold Night.]

PR had warned him not to respond. After all, the public’s fascination with tabloid gossip was better than them focusing on other matters. People would read such news, and that would be the end of it. The murkier the water, the harder it became for anyone to distinguish the truth.

The photo was blurry and lacked a specific timestamp. Xiao Zong attended countless social events throughout the year, and for now, the discussions hadn’t yet pointed to the Fu Hua Hotel.

Perhaps because the content was so scandalous, it managed to evade that invisible hand and was shamelessly plastered all over the social media platforms.

Xiao Zong feeling irritable, closed the webpage and missed the “latest development” part of the live broadcast, where Gu Yin’s identity as the secretary was revealed, and he was swarmed by the paparazzi.

Suddenly, his phone rang. Xiao Zong glanced at it; it was Officer Lu.

“The official name registered is Shen Yuan, but on the streets, he’s known as ‘Yuan.’ He’s an intergalactic assassin wanted by the federation. He fled to a colony planet before but returned to the main star at some point,” Officer Lu’s voice sounded weary, as if he had been working non-stop for days. “… The bodies of the waiters who were impersonated have also been found in the sea.”

“You’re now a key protection target. Don’t disclose this information. We’ll apprehend the suspect soon—”

Xiao Zong remained silent for a long time before suddenly asking, “Won’t this be made public?”

“What?”

“The system suffered a large-scale attack. Hundreds, if not thousands, of companies incurred significant losses. So many people have died. Shouldn’t the police issue a public statement?”

Officer Lu paused, then sighed, “Sometimes, it’s not up to us.”

“Is this the government’s decision or the federation’s?”

“That I really can’t disclose. Please don’t make things difficult for me, Mr. Xiao.”

Xiao Zong pressed his thin lips together and said nothing more.

Further questioning would only result in the same answer.

Both ends of the call fell into silence.

After a while, Xiao Zong said coldly, “Just because StarNet isn’t posting about it doesn’t mean it won’t spread. Can you really silence everyone?”

Shortly after hanging up, another call came through.

“Boss, the Ministry of Science’s project documents on the energy mines were sent to you by Secretary Gu. If I calculate the time, he should have arrived by now, right?”

Wei Mian was very punctual; he had everything perfectly timed.

Wei Mian was well aware of how eager Gu Yin was to see Xiao Zong.

That night, Gu Yin had decisively sabotaged the central control, and despite hearing gunfire, this O had gone out to look for someone, in freezing temperatures just around zero degrees Celsius, getting drenched by the lawn sprinklers.

Foolish, yet heartwarming.

Ma Weiming had threatened to sue Gu Yin for intentional injury, but that kick had only cracked the flower bed, and it wasn’t even considered a minor injury. The diagnosis came back as soft tissue bruising.

In other words, a bruise.

Everyone in the circle already knew that the deputy chairman of the business association liked to harass his assistants, and finally, someone had dared to fight back. It was quite the spectacle, especially since after that night, everyone had more important things to worry about—like addressing their company’s losses.

Assistant Wei truly believed Gu Yin had the luck of a koi, and given the boss’s recent attitude, it seemed only a matter of time before the secretary became the boss’s wife.

Yin Yin, you must do your best!

“No,” Xiao Zong switched back to the smart system of the entire villa estate.

This was Henghua’s self-developed home smart control system. The surrounding area was Xiao Zong’s private forest, purchased by Second Master Xiao. Several kilometers around were under the system’s monitoring.

“Why would you give those documents to him? When did Gu Yin leave?”

Xiao Zong was already in a bad mood, and his tone turned cold.

“That’s odd,” Assistant Wei said in confusion over the phone. “I arranged a car for him, and it’s not rush hour. Plus, there were plenty of reporters outside… Wait, did he leave without driving?”

The assistant’s tone suddenly shifted.

Gu Yin was missing?!

Gu Yin wasn’t missing.

Not until sunset did the villa’s smart system detect someone entering the area, with the biometric data matching Gu Yin’s.

A bodyguard drove him inside. When Gu Yin stood before Xiao Zong, the line between day and night had just faded below the horizon.

He looked a mess, his white shirt all wrinkled. Upon entering the study, the first thing he did was place the brown paper file containing the project materials on the desk.

Xiao Zong sat in his leather chair, not flipping through the documents. Instead, his face darkened as he asked, “Where did you go?”

Gu Yin responded in a small voice, “There was traffic…”

“You’re lying.”

The spacious study seemed to echo his words, causing Gu Yin’s pale face to stiffen. He then said, “There were too many reporters…”

As soon as he drove out, he was surrounded by reporters. Their microphones nearly pierced through the bulletproof glass, practically shoved into his face. Gu Yin, frightened, turned the car around and parked it back.

He tried the back door, but even that was blocked by quite a few people.

In the end, he found a hidden corner and climbed over the wall. But after walking a few steps, he realized there were reporters pretending to be pedestrians, patrolling the area around Henghua’s headquarters!

How could Gu Yin have known that reporters were now practically trained like special forces? He quickly hailed a cab and fled.

Before long, the reporters tracked down the cab by its license plate and encircled it on the highway, turning it into a dangerous chase. Anyone unaware would have thought a celebrity was being chased by obsessive fans.

Gu Yin instructed the taxi driver to make a break for it, and after managing to shake off the reporters thanks to a traffic jam, he looked at his phone. My goodness, his number had somehow been leaked, and there were hundreds of missed calls.

Assistant Wei alone had called dozens of times.

Even more terrifying, there was one missed call from Xiao Zong.

That single call weighed heavily.

Gu Yin had never experienced such a scene before, but he had heard that Xiao Zong had been so fed up with this in his childhood that he was sent to study abroad in another country.

After dismissing Gu Yin, Xiao Zong expressionlessly stared at the screen.

The smart system displayed that there were more and more [unauthorised individuals] near the forest area, while the adjacent split screen showed the latest trending topics. There were three major headlines:

1. “Responding Party: Second Master and I Are Just Friends” with a picture of Ye Yumeng.
2. “New Flame Secretly Meets CEO Late at Night” with a picture of Gu Yin in a taxi, and… a happy selfie of the driver and the interviewed reporter.
3. “Stock Prices Plummet, Admirer Withdraws Funds, Will Xiao Zong Become a Villain?”

In a single day, the rankings of these social media trending topics skyrocketed, with people already analyzing the entire saga, from blonde models to secretaries rising in status.

With Fang Runjin’s example, no one believed in the low-profile aristocracy anymore, and they quickly skipped ahead to digging into the backstory of the CEO and his secretary.

As for the journalists writing these reports, they all worked for Leng Entertainment.

Xiao Zong silently cursed and picked up the phone to call Henghua’s PR department.

“Delete the posts. Delete them tonight. All of Secretary Gu’s personal information, especially photos—every bit of it, even his back view.”

Gu Yin’s mother and grandfather lived in a regular residential area, and if the media dug them up, their lives would undoubtedly be severely disrupted and harassed.

After handling all of this, Xiao Zong didn’t feel relieved at all. Instead, he felt utterly exhausted.

Gu Yin wasn’t suited for this life.

The silly little secretary, naive and soft-hearted, was probably well-protected by his family, but Xiao Zong really couldn’t spare more energy to protect others right now.

He had to fire him. The farther Gu Yin stayed from this circle, the better.

As for Gu Yin’s need to save money for tuition, that was a joke. Did Second Master Xiao look like someone who couldn’t afford to pay wages?

Though he thought this, it didn’t make him feel any lighter.

Xiao Zong had always held himself to high standards, and this sense of helplessness was something he had only felt once before, back when he first returned to the family.

“Knock, knock.”

The half-open door was tapped on by the butler. The old butler had been responsible for taking care of Xiao Zong when he was sent abroad. It was only after Xiao Zong had a falling out with Old Master Xiao that he was transferred back to Xian Yun Manor.

Back then, Xiao Yan had forbidden anyone from interfering in Xiao Zong’s affairs, and the old man’s words were law. Only the old butler dared to go against orders, secretly checking in on him from time to time.

Xiao Zong’s expression softened slightly. “Come in. What is it?”

“Young Master,” the butler came in holding a delicate dessert tray with a wobbly pudding on it. “Would you like to have some dessert to cool off?”

Xiao Zong: …

He hadn’t eaten sweets much as a child, but after his fallout with the family, his living conditions drastically declined. Xiao Zong had to cover all his own expenses, including tuition. Since he didn’t have the temperament for menial jobs where he would be ordered around, he ended up ghostwriting papers for rich second-generation students in university. That was how he made some money.

He was meticulous in his work and would thoroughly learn the subject matter just to write a single paper, which meant his schedule was packed tight.

The mental strain gradually led to his sweet tooth.

But he wouldn’t tell the butler such trivial details.

“Who made this?”

The butler smiled. “Secretary Gu borrowed the kitchen earlier.”

That guy sure loves sneaking into the kitchen.

Xiao Zong took a scoop with a silver spoon. The pudding had a sweet mango flavor with a hint of creamy milk.

“Not sweet enough,” he criticised.

The butler shrugged noncommittally.

Xiao Zong put the spoon down and asked, “Where is he?”

“In the living room.”

When Xiao Zong came downstairs, Gu Yin was crouching on the thick, soft Persian carpet, head down, doing something.

The villa had the heater on, so Gu Yin wasn’t wearing his coat, and a large fluffy tail was brushing against his ankle.

Xiao Zong called out, “Commander, stop messing around.”

The cat let out a loud “meow” clearly displeased, hissing at Xiao Zong.

This Napoleon short-legged cat was Xiao Zong’s pet.

Big tail, pouting expression, and completely ungrateful, friendly to everyone but always giving Xiao Zong attitude.

“…” Gu Yin, hearing the cat’s name, immediately straightened up in awe.

But from Xiao Zong’s perspective, as soon as Gu Yin heard his voice, his entire back stiffened.

That little white-eyed wolf would sweetly call Wei Mian “Wei-ge” and act all affectionate behind his back, but in front of Xiao Zong, he looked like a mouse facing a cat.

Seeing them together, Xiao Zong really wished he could just pack them both up and toss them out.

But Gu Yin quickly grasped the situation outside. Holding the cat in one hand and pointing towards the direction outside with the other, he pitifully said, “Boss, I can’t get out.”

“——Can I stay at your place tonight?”