Finally, Bai Tao realized what was going on.

You bastard, Pei Shi! Are you planning maternity leave for yourself?! First kid’s not enough, you’re planning for the second too! Damn it!

Even though her eyes were red with anger, Bai Tao didn’t dare confront Pei Shi now. She could only glare at him with a bluff. Fortunately, Pei Shi still had a conscience. He glanced at Bai Tao and then got up, releasing her from his restraint.

He glanced at Bai Tao for a moment, his tone carrying a subtle warning, “You… behave…” However, midway through, as if recalling something, Pei Shi abruptly changed his tone, averting his gaze awkwardly and saying, “Be good.”

With that, he didn’t look at Bai Tao again, adjusted his bathrobe, his face slightly flushed, and headed straight to the bathroom.

*****

While Pei Shi was showering, Bai Tao quickly sneaked back to her own room. However, as she emerged from Pei Shi’s room, she bumped into Sun Jing, who seemed to be heading downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast. Sun Jing looked up, startled, subconsciously glanced at her room number…

Bai Tao cleared her throat and hurriedly explained, “I was delivering men’s skincare products to President Pei this morning!”

But as soon as Bai Tao said this, instead of better, Sun Jing looked even more furious. However, she didn’t say anything, took a deep breath, composed herself, then looked at Bai Tao with mixed emotions before turning and walking towards the elevator.

Throughout the day, Sun Jing seemed to sulk, ignoring Bai Tao.

Could it be that she misunderstood something between Pei Shi and herself?

Although she did indeed have something going on with Pei Shi, theirs was a legally acknowledged relationship. However, these details couldn’t be openly discussed with Sun Jing. Fairly considering her options, Bai Tao decided it was time to set things straight for Pei Shi.

Pei Shi had successfully completed the merger negotiations on this morning and signed the merger agreement. In the afternoon, they boarded a flight back to Rong City.

To avoid any misunderstandings with Sun Jing, Bai Tao made a conscious effort to keep her distance from Pei Shi during the return flight and decided to assert her stance—

“President Pei and Madam Pei have such a wonderful relationship! Sister Sun Jing, isn’t President Pei particularly devoted to his wife?”

“There must be a deep mutual trust between President Pei and Madam Pei. Look, on this business trip, Madam Pei didn’t check on him once. They must have a telepathic connection, and Madam Pei understands President Pei’s character, knowing he’s a man who sticks to his principles…”

Bai Tao’s plan was simple: praise and extol Pei Shi’s marriage and love. Through this approach, she subtly hinted to Sun Jing—first, that she knew Pei Shi was married, and second, that Pei Shi adhered to his principles, and there was no messing around.

But as Bai Tao continued with these words, Sun Jing’s expression didn’t lighten up; it actually grew uglier.

Could these words not dispel the misunderstanding either?

After thinking it over, Bai Tao decided to take a more drastic measure. She coughed lightly, pretending to chat casually, “Sister Sun Jing, my husband and I actually have a good relationship too…”

By stating she was married and had a good relationship with her husband, she hoped to clear up any misunderstandings.

Unfortunately, Bai Tao didn’t realize that in Sun Jing’s eyes, all this had the opposite effect—Sun Jing became even more resentful!

This damn mistress, being so brazen! Despite knowing President Pei’s marriage was originally very happy, she still dared to encroach upon the tiger’s den! And now, hearing what she was saying, she even used this mocking tone? And she herself was married too! How dare she gallivant outside like this!

Sun Jing wasn’t blind; throughout the trip, she clearly saw how accommodating President Pei was towards this Fiona. He even changed hotels for her and kept her close the whole time. Sun Jing had even called Fiona’s room last night; the woman hadn’t been in her own room all night, and now she was walking out of President Pei’s room in the morning. The truth was now clear as day!

President Pei was truly having an affair!

Teacher Bai Tao got cheated on! The grass on her head was practically tall enough to race horses on!

*****

Bai Tao felt frustrated. Despite her explanations, Sun Jing’s attitude didn’t improve; she continued to glare at Bai Tao angrily.

According to Yuan Mu, if he ended up drunk while on a business trip, his assistants would have to step up, not only in work but also in personal details to assist Pei Shi.

Naturally, Yuan Mu rarely got drunk, so his assistants rarely had the chance to prove themselves. But now that Yuan Mu had to step back, it was originally a good opportunity for Sun Jing to “move up,” but Bai Tao had unexpectedly taken her place?

However, Bai Tao soon had no time to care about these things.

After the plane landed, because a subsidiary had a technical team causing trouble outside the company, Pei Shi and Yuan Mu planned to go to the subsidiary to handle it. After dealing with this, Pei Shi also intended to decisively deal with Zhang Zhixing. Therefore, he asked Sun Jing and Bai Tao to return to the headquarters first.

Initially, Sun Jing ignored Bai Tao. Bai Tao noticed her absent-mindedly watching videos on her phone. However, shortly after, Sun Jing suddenly sat up straight, her mouth agape in disbelief. In her panic, she accidentally touched something, and the video on her phone started playing aloud—

“It is reported that Bai Tao’s marriage with Pei Shi is currently in crisis. Bai Tao was spotted meeting a young man at night and staying at hotels multiple times. Informed sources claim that the two are planning to announce their divorce soon…”

???

Before Bai Tao could react, Sun Jing took action first. Her expression was complex as she glanced at Bai Tao, her voice filled with a world-weary sigh, “So it was Teacher Bai Tao who cheated on President Pei first… Well, I suppose…”

“No, that’s not true! I didn’t do anything like that! Don’t believe this nonsense!” Bai Tao almost instinctively began to defend herself. “This is completely baseless news! Sun Jing, be more mature. You should have your own judgment about this kind of gossip. How can you believe it so easily? President Pei and his wife are definitely fine! This is absolutely a rumor! His wife loves him dearly; how could she possibly cheat? This is absolutely a rumor!”

Sun Jing seemed somewhat speechless, unable to understand Bai Tao’s standpoint. She fell silent for a moment, then refocused on the event itself. “But there are photos in the expose…”

Bai Tao quickly grabbed the phone to see for herself. “What do these photos prove? It’s just a silhouette! How can they determine it’s me? Besides, I’ve never shown my face publicly. How would anyone know what I look like? These gossip sites just make up stories!”

“But this car… This car belongs to Teacher Bai Tao…”

“It’s photoshopped! Don’t you get it?!”

But not half a day later, Bai Tao searched for herself, only to find that rumors of her supposedly being involved with a young man had spread like wildfire. Many marketing accounts had reposted with absolute certainty, claiming that she and Pei Shi were on the brink of divorce.

Bai Tao didn’t have time to worry about Sun Jing anymore. Her conscience was clear, and though she had come from another time and didn’t fully understand what the previous Bai Tao had done, she had thoroughly checked through Bai Tao’s phone—chat logs, photo albums, and memos—all of which showed no sign of another man. The memos were almost entirely filled with Pei Shi’s presence, documenting their loving daily life. It was impossible to deceive anyone with such authentic everyday affection!

That evening, as soon as Pei Shi arrived home, Bai Tao rushed towards him with her phone in hand. “Honey, have you seen the news about us getting divorced?”

The news had spread far and wide. At Pei Shi’s company that afternoon, employees were whispering about it, so Pei Shi couldn’t possibly be unaware.

Sure enough, Pei Shi paused in his movements, his expression somewhat unnatural. He glanced at Bai Tao. “What’s wrong?”

Although his demeanor remained calm, Bai Tao sensed a hint of emotional fluctuation in Pei Shi’s voice. “Is there something on your mind?”

This question was delicate.