Helping My Ex-Wife Find Love Every Day - Chapter 40

Pure-Hearted Loli chattered relentlessly: [Based on the plotline, Bai Mengzhao should have recognized you long ago. Now, for some reason, she still hasn’t. We guess it’s because you’ve become prettier.]

Yao Xiangyi felt quite speechless. The internet was full of her old, ugly photos. Doesn’t Bai Mengzhao use the internet?

Pure-Hearted Loli: [Dear, you must get close to her and be ‘ugly’ for her to trigger her memory point.]

Could the demands be any more excessive?

Yao Xiangyi’s face visibly darkened quickly.

Qiu Qingshi wiped a milk stain from her mouth with a napkin, glanced at the phone, and asked with a hint of guilt: “What’s wrong?”

Yao Xiangyi’s gaze was profound. She said, “It’s nothing,” then wanted to ask what Bai Mengzhao had said on the phone, but on second thought, worried that Qiu Qingshi would be jealous. After a moment of silence, she put on a gentle look, hugged Qiu Qingshi, and left for work.

On the road, she was preoccupied.

The driver, seeing her foul mood through the rearview mirror, immediately became highly cautious, on high alert, afraid of accidentally angering her. He carefully turned on the air conditioning and set it to her favorite twenty-two degrees Celsius.

As the heat flowing through the car dissipated, Yao Xiangyi’s furiously working brain regained a sliver of clarity, and her dark eyes gradually brightened.

Her original plan was to play the margins: outwardly divorce, then try to increase the interaction between Qiu Qingshi and Bai Mengzhao to gain the “sweetness value,” and thus unlock the complete original outline in the shortest possible time.

Unfortunately, her careful calculations were ruined; the unexpected arrived before tomorrow, greatly increasing the difficulty of her actions.

When the troops come, use the dam; when the water comes, use the earth to block it. The plan must be changed—while increasing the interaction between Qiu Qingshi and Bai Mengzhao, she needed to pretend to pursue Bai Mengzhao, all without letting Qiu Qingshi know.

Yao Xiangyi sneered. The original female lead really did get different treatment; the whole world had to revolve around her! This was only to highlight the desolation of cannon fodder tools like them.

She was angry and sad, truly having woes she could not speak of. The critical point was that if she really did this, she would be letting down her wife, Qiu Qingshi, too much.

Qiu Qingshi was so wonderful: she was poised and skilled both inside and outside the home, considerate, and sensible, and even her little fits of temper were adorably spoiled.

With this heavy anxiety, Yao Xiangyi’s low pressure thickly shrouded the Group’s headquarters.

The employees were as quiet as chickens. The internal work chat groups were unprecedentedly silent, demonstrating a strong survival instinct. The management team reported their work to Yao Xiangyi without dragging it out, hoping to escape the sea of suffering and flee the premises one second earlier.

Yao Xiangyi finally had a moment to breathe during a lull. She called in Qin Chun, instructing her to drop her current work and select yachts and private jets for Qiu Qingshi, compiling them into a brochure for Qiu Qingshi’s review.

No kidding, the moment she mentioned spending money on her wife, her sense of guilt immediately lessened a few degrees.

Qin Chun pushed up her glasses, her excited voice fluctuating: “You’re giving the madam a yacht and a private jet?”

Yao Xiangyi spun the fountain pen between her fingers, tapping the desktop with the end of the pen, and asked: “Is there a problem?”

“N-no, none at all.”

Qin Chun calmed her excited heart, respectfully accepted the order, and withdrew.

As soon as she returned to her desk, she took out her phone and opened the “Dating CP Fan Group.” This was the small haven for shipping couples that she had personally founded, allowing her to immediately post first-hand information to her fellow, hungry devotees.

Fan Leader Chun: [Family, reliable news! CEO Yao is buying the Madam a yacht and a private jet! I’m dying of sweetness, I’m so obsessed!!!]

[[Wow][Wow] Yao Xiangyi is so bold about spending money on Sister!]

[I want to marry CEO Yao too! First, a generous donation of 300 million to give Sister face, and now she’s buying a yacht and a flying machine (airplane)!!]

[Now that’s luxury! My eyes are open.]

[I checked, it’s not Sister’s birthday recently. Such a grand gift?]

[Maybe it’s their wedding anniversary.]

[Could it really be that Sister is pregnant!!! CEO Yao is celebrating the joy of gaining an heir!!!]

[Sister Chun Chun, can you find out anything about this? I’m so curious if Sister is pregnant.]

Qin Chun usually did not reveal too much personal information. Everyone assumed she was some kind of entertainment industry worker. She replied earnestly: [Actress Qiu and CEO Yao have an excellent relationship, and their marriage is well-known. If she were truly pregnant, there’d be no need to hide it. Everyone should either wait for the official announcement or the clarification.]

In short: do not speculate wildly.

On the other side, Yao Xiangyi was having a video call with her bodyguard leader.

In recent days, the bodyguard leader, following Yao Xiangyi’s instructions, had deployed several capable men to guard Bai Mengzhao’s door 24 hours a day, preventing harassment from local ruffians.

Another team was busy investigating whether someone was deliberately targeting Bai Mengzhao. The answer was yes, but who it was remained unknown.

Clearly, the opposing party was well-hidden and had considerable influence.

Yao Xiangyi, an all-powerful CEO in Hai City, rarely encountered someone she couldn’t investigate, unless they were her equal in power.

That left… only the He family.

Her family, the Yao family, was a large, century-old, thriving family with deep roots and complex business operations.

The He family was different. In the mid-1990s, when the electronics industry was emerging, He Haixiang, then in his thirties, foresaw the new wave. He kept pace with the times, resigned from his secure job, sold his house, and took all his savings to the coast. He and his partners developed an instant messaging software based on the Internet.

In just twenty-five years, the He Group grew like a sponge absorbing water, rapidly becoming one of the largest media platforms on the internet and one of the largest private enterprises in China.

Thinking of this, Yao Xiangyi was reminded of Bai Mengzhao’s tragic background—an orphan.

She had watched too many brainless dramas; she understood the melodramatic tropes.

Bai Mengzhao was highly likely to be the daughter of a wealthy family, perhaps even the He family.

But why would the He family make trouble for her?

If a person acts strangely, there must be a reason.

Yao Xiangyi nodded slightly and instructed the bodyguard leader: “Go and investigate the He family’s situation, especially whether they lost a child in the early years.”

The bodyguard leader affirmed and logged off.

Yao Xiangyi, however, could not be at peace. Bai Mengzhao’s persona was sweet and naive. She wouldn’t bother Qiu Qingshi unless it was absolutely necessary. A phone call so early in the morning probably meant she was really in trouble.

Although she didn’t like the girl, to be honest, the girl had never provoked her. If she didn’t help her when she was in trouble, she would feel uneasy.

After signing the last document on her desk, she called out to Qin Chun, took the elevator to the parking lot, and drove to Bai Mengzhao’s place alone, without her driver. Seeing that she wasn’t home, she asked her bedridden father for her phone number and called her.

As soon as the call connected, Bai Mengzhao’s sobs were audible.

“It’s me, Yao Xiangyi.”

Bai Mengzhao said with a suppressed cry: “CEO Yao?”

Yao Xiangyi stood in the center of the patio, her shoe tip grinding the moss growing between the brick seams. She asked pointedly: “Where are you?”

“At school.”

“Is someone bullying you?”

Bai Mengzhao stammered shyly: “No.”

Yao Xiangyi saw through her facade: “I can hear you crying.”

Bai Mengzhao felt both bitter and embarrassed, shuffling out a reluctant “Hmm.”

Yao Xiangyi reacted, stepping onto the old cement stairs, crossing the shaky threshold, and sitting back in her car: “I’ll be right there.”

Five words, without any superfluous words, unexpectedly brought a sudden warmth to Bai Mengzhao’s heart.

The grievance that Bai Mengzhao had barely managed to settle fermented again. She choked for a moment before finally trembling out a single phrase: “…Thank you, CEO Yao.”

Yao Xiangyi tossed the phone aside and turned the steering wheel.

Qiu Qingshi had attended the Hai City Film Academy. Back then, when they were deep in love, Yao Xiangyi often came here to date Qiu Qingshi, riding bicycles down the tree-lined avenue.

Arriving at the school, Yao Xiangyi easily parked the car beneath the Zhixue Building, based on the location Bai Mengzhao sent.

This building was relatively old. Its exterior walls had been repainted once, but only the new desks and chairs had been replaced inside. The interior walls were still faintly yellow, reminding everyone of the old times that would never return.

The first and second floors housed the counselors’ offices. The moment Yao Xiangyi walked in, she noticed an echo coming from the second floor.

She heard a woman shouting loudly, vaguely catching the three words “Bai Mengzhao.”

“Bai Mengzhao!” the counselor shrieked menacingly. “Do you think you’re a big star just because you acted in a small web drama? The entire internet is telling you to get out of the entertainment circle!”

Bai Mengzhao’s shoulders hunched up and down. She tightened her lips, stubbornly holding back tears: “Teacher—”

“If you don’t have a backer, stop trying to make it in the entertainment circle. Give up now!” The counselor gave a long “Pffft,” splashing spit onto Bai Mengzhao’s slightly red eyes. “And you dare to fight! Paying back debt is only right and proper. Just because you got famous, you can skip paying back money! Look at how badly you beat him up! Bringing this to school really brings honor to our school!”

“Teacher, he’s lying.” Bai Mengzhao glared at the man with the crew cut who was leaning against the wall, laughing at her.

No, he wasn’t crew cut anymore. To frame Bai Mengzhao, he had dyed his hair back to black and gotten a new haircut, a Korean-style fringe, making him look like a fine young man striving for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

But secretly, he was still the leader of the loan shark debt collection circle.

He shook his plaster-cast arm hanging across his chest and said with deep emotion: “I treated you like a good friend. I pitied you and understood your filial piety, so I lent you money to treat your mother’s illness. But you—you repay kindness with malice!”

It’s hard for a scholar to explain his reasoning to a soldier, let alone to a local ruffian. Bai Mengzhao trembled with anger, her teeth chattering: “You’re slandering me!”

The crew cut man puffed out his skinny chest: “I came to your house to plead for you to repay the money, and you found people to beat me up like this! Many people saw it.”

“You brought this upon yourself.”

“Teacher, listen,” the crew cut man sought the counselor’s help and complained, “Good borrowing and good returning makes re-borrowing easy. I needed money urgently, so I begged her to pay back a little, but her attitude was too awful. I truly regret getting to know her as a friend.”

The crew cut man stepped forward: “That night, I went to her for the money, and she had this attitude. She called many helpers and they all beat me up.”

Bai Mengzhao reached her limit. Finding strength from who knows where, she pushed him against the hallway wall.

The counselor saw this and yelled that she was defying authority. She fiercely poked Bai Mengzhao’s forehead with a pointed nail, drawing a shallow cut that bled faintly.

The crew cut man added fuel to the fire: “I don’t think the school can handle this. I’ll just call the police!”

The counselor clamped down on the hand reaching for the phone, laughing apologetically: “No, no, no! Sir, taking this to the police station is inappropriate.”

Bai Mengzhao was a public figure. If this was exposed online, it would cause an uproar. She hadn’t graduated yet, and the school would suffer as well, definitely affecting their reputation.

Being a counselor wasn’t easy. Bai Mengzhao was her student. Her superiors could easily determine her to be negligent, and in a severe case, she might even be fired.

What rotten luck!

“Apologize immediately, Bai Mengzhao!” the counselor said, her face flushed with anxiety.

Bai Mengzhao clenched her fists, turned sideways, and refused to answer.

Yao Xiangyi, supporting herself on the railing, walked up the stairs. Just as she turned the corner, she saw a middle-aged woman with her hair pulled up in the middle of the corridor.

Yao Xiangyi recognized her. The impression was quite deep. She remembered her surname was Zhao. She had a long chin and a horse-like face. Students secretly nicknamed her “Horse-Face Zhao.” Back then, she was the counselor for Chi Guyuan and Tang Sili, and notoriously snobbish.

Chi Guyuan, relying on her father, the famous Movie King Chi, was not afraid of trouble, and Horse-Face Zhao loved to curry favor with her. Tang Sili was different. Born into an ordinary family with no background, Horse-Face Zhao loved to make things difficult for her, giving thankless chores to poor students like Tang Sili, and also venting her anger on them. She was extremely lacking in professional ethics.

Chi Guyuan and Tang Sili were roommates. Living together day and night, their affection naturally deepened. Chi Guyuan, with the heroic spirit of “ending all injustice in the world,” protected Tang Sili like an eagle shielding a chick. They became good friends, and Horse-Face Zhao reluctantly restrained herself a lot.

Yao Xiangyi met Tang Sili through Chi Guyuan. After Tang Sili graduated, she invited her to join Jinghong Entertainment.

She hadn’t expected that after so many years, Horse-Face Zhao still hadn’t changed her bad ways.

Look how practiced she was at bullying Bai Mengzhao.

Yao Xiangyi took three quick steps and was instantly there, grabbing the counselor’s hand, which was raised high and ready to slap.

Counselor Zhao was stunned.

“Who are you?!”

Yao Xiangyi, daring to stop her tantrum, took responsibility for her actions. She threw the hand away, pulled out the silk handkerchief she carried, and meticulously wiped her five fingers and palm, as if she had just touched something filthy.

“I’m asking you, who are you, barging in so casually! Do you know where this is?”

Yao Xiangyi stared at her, her eyes calm and unwavering.

Counselor Zhao was unnerved. The muscles in her cheeks twitched. She scrutinized Yao Xiangyi and noticed her clothes were expensive. She then sarcastically swung her machine gun of words toward Bai Mengzhao: “Aiya, so you have a Sugar Daddy! I thought you were so pure! Pah!”