I Became the Rich Family’s Stepfather and Couldn’t Stop Laughing - Chapter 15

After getting a rough grasp of the situation, Xi Ling opened Weibo and discovered that the fake news about him livestreaming for “Yaxin” had climbed three spots further up the tail end of the trending topics.

Having realized that his previous two responses had only backfired, Xi Ling decided to be smarter this time. He first called Secretary Dong.

Upon having the call hung up on him and receiving a text message indicating that the secretary was in a meeting, Xi Ling looked at the pitch-black sky outside the window. He let out a sigh about how being a “working stiff” isn’t easy, before replying to the secretary’s text.

While waiting for Secretary Dong’s meeting to conclude, Xi Ling scrolled through the comment section:

[Wow, impressive. The boss’s wife of Chuangsi Technology is livestreaming for Yaxin? Can Xi Ling be any more ridiculous?]

[Wait, why hasn’t Xi Ling been thrown in jail yet? Weren’t there rumors before about him abusing his three-year-old stepson??]

[The first two comments must be from people who just got internet access. The “Xi Ling abusing the kid” drama was settled long ago. According to a gossip thread, Xi Ling has already been dumped, otherwise, why would he take a livestreaming gig for a rival company? Honestly, even if he was the CEO’s wife before, doing livestream shopping is just too low-class.]

…

“Bad news travels fast” that perfectly described Xi Ling’s current situation.

In truth, as long as it didn’t affect his happy little life, Xi Ling didn’t care what was said online. His only red line was his “ATM husband.” What if the man got angry and stopped letting him swipe his credit card limitlessly?

Although he had been told the guy might kick the bucket at the end of some unknown year, until that day came, his “ATM husband” was the untouchable reverse scale of Xi Ling!

Meanwhile, inside the child’s bedroom.

Huo Xingmian had finished his bath quite a while ago but was still waiting for his stepfather to come and read the photo comments to him. The picture book in his hands had lost its appeal. After some deliberation, he grabbed the tail of his Pikachu doll and hopped off the bed.

A moment later, the little boy clad in Pikachu pajamas shuffled out dragging his Pikachu doll. What he saw was Xi Ling pacing around the living room like a headless fly.

“Dada, what are you doing?” the child asked in a soft, milky, and confused tone.

Xi Ling looked down to find two yellow “electric rodents” one of which was his freshly washed, sweet-smelling kid and he was instantly melted by the cuteness.

He scooped the child into his arms, patted his soft hair, and, counting on the fact that a child wouldn’t understand, began to ramble: “Some bad guy touched my reverse scale.”

Huo Xingmian: …?

“Re-reverse scale, what is that?”

Xi Ling looked up at the crystal lamp in the distance, his eyes slightly unfocused, his tone heavy: “It is… something more important than Yiping’s thorns.”

Huo Xingmian: ???

A bottle of what thorns? What was that???

Xi Ling looked down to find the child staring at him with wide, baffled eyes and burst into laughter. Using tropes from another world felt like speaking in code.

He gently pinched the child’s chubby cheeks, using a universal adult answer: “You’ll understand when you grow up, Mianmian.”

Huo Xingmian was left completely bewildered. However, before he could steer the conversation back to the photo comments, he was interrupted by Xi Ling’s phone ringing.

Xi Ling answered the call while signaling the nanny, Ms. Bai, to take the child back to his room.

As soon as Secretary Dong finished his meeting, he called back. “Apologies for keeping you waiting. The evidence regarding Fu Hao has basically been fully collected. We can file a lawsuit now to sever all ties.”

After giving him that peace of mind, he concisely explained the crimes Fu Hao had committed by abusing his position as an agent.

Over the past two years, he had repeatedly falsified film pay and commercial endorsement fees. Currently, they had uncovered the embezzlement of six million yuan in business revenue. Furthermore, by signing “Yin-Yang contracts” (dual contracts) with intermediaries, he had defrauded the original body of five million yuan in performance fees that should have been paid out.

Xi Ling was shocked after hearing this. He had always thought the original host was just terribly incompetent, which was why there was only a little over one million yuan left in the account. Although he had an unlimited black card to use, thinking about how much money the original host had invested in himself, only for it all to be lost, Xi Ling felt a pang of heartache. He hadn’t expected that the money the original host earned had all been siphoned off by Fu Hao.

He had seen agents skim money from their bosses, but never someone like Fu Hao, who left his boss with only pocket change. It was enough to make capitalists weep and Jews feel ashamed.

And just what kind of “ultimate sucker” was the original body? First, a “Mother Tian” fleeced him for nearly ten million, then a Fu Hao with a baseline of eleven million…

Xi Ling’s head was spinning. He said wordlessly, “He really is a ‘rich man’ in name, isn’t he?”

Secretary Dong curled his lips slightly, his tone remaining professional. “That money has already been gambled away. I suspect he agreed to the livestreaming gig against your wishes because he wanted to collect some ‘convenience fees’ to pay off his gambling debts.”

“Gambling debts?”

“Yes.” Secretary Dong didn’t elaborate on Fu Hao’s gambling problem and brought the topic back to the trending search tags. “You don’t need to actually agree. By simply stating that there was a ‘miscommunication with the agent,’ Yaxin can release three to five trending topics.”

“From the moment you ‘agreed’ to the stream until you ‘refused,’ and then Yaxin apologizing to you for their ‘operational error’ you don’t even need to step foot in their studio to have provided them with enough hype for their new product.”

Although Chuangsi Technology didn’t need to worry about the CEO’s marriage status, being played like this by Yaxin would inevitably cause some negative impact.

Yaxin was an established, deep-rooted technology company, whereas Chuangsi’s real rise had occurred only within the last five years.

While Yaxin’s R&D had become a weakness, the old brand still had a solid national reputation. It wasn’t until a new CEO took over three years ago that they started making foolish decisions; now that their reputation was ruined, they were willing to do anything.

Furthermore, Secretary Dong hinted to Xi Ling that Yaxin’s current CEO and his “ATM husband” had a history of bad blood.

Xi Ling understood completely. Even if he could explain and distance himself from Yaxin, it wouldn’t matter.

A string of follow-up tags like #YaxinCancelsXiLingLivestream#, #YaxinRespondsToLivestreamMiscommunication#, #YaxinApologizesToXiLing#, #YaxinDeniesUsingXiLingForHype#… were all waiting for him like adhesive plasters.

Not only would these make Chuangsi look bad, but they could very well affect his ATM husband’s attitude toward him.

For Xi Ling, nothing was more important than maintaining the current perfect status quo. He took a deep breath and asked earnestly, “What should I do to minimize the impact?”

Given the suddenness of the situation, Secretary Dong checked his boss’s schedule and said thoughtfully, “Tomorrow happens to be the Little New Year (Xiao Nian). Perhaps we could arrange a grand family reunion dinner…”

If Yaxin could use underhanded tricks to boost their popularity by stepping on Xi Ling and Chuangsi, Chuangsi could create an even bigger headline through Xi Ling, leaving the public with no time to care about Yaxin.

Coincidentally, tomorrow was both the Little New Year and the completion ceremony of the Chuangsi AI Plaza. What could be more eye-catching than a couple appearing together to debunk divorce rumors?

While Yaxin was using their CEO’s marriage as a gimmick, the couple would be seen enjoying the new AI Plaza with their child and having a reunion dinner.

Moreover, Yaxin’s technology was limited to smart home appliances, while Chuangsi had integrated the entire AI industry chain. Being compared side-by-side, Yaxin would not only fail to gain an advantage, but they would also be crushed into dust.

As they spoke, Secretary Dong already had a Plan C in his head. Leveraging their influence was a good strategy, but knowing his boss’s level of rejection toward Xi Ling, as a secretary, he needed to prepare for multiple scenarios.

“The specific PR plan needs to be approved by President Huo. For now, you should prepare to take the young master to the banquet…”

Not long after the call ended, Xi Ling received a draft of the statement regarding the lawsuit against Fu Hao.

Xi Ling had known early on that Fu Hao was trouble and had even recorded their previous phone conversation where he refused the gig. So, when he posted his clarification, he included the recording and wrote:

[1. The recording is proof: I directly refused Yaxin’s livestreaming offer from the start. 2. There is concrete evidence of Fu Hao’s embezzlement, and a lawsuit has been filed; any of his actions have nothing to do with me. 3. I live as a person of Chuangsi, and I die as a soul of Chuangsi! Yaxin, please take responsibility for your own mess don’t involve me! Don’t involve me! Don’t involve me!]

If he weren’t worried about being sued for defamation, Xi Ling would have loved to expose Yaxin’s future dirty tricks, but for now, passing the buck and showing his loyalty was the best he could do.

At this moment, Xi Ling truly understood why his “ATM” hated Yaxin. This behavior was like a toad jumping around everywhere not biting, but absolutely disgusting.

You want to slap them in the face, but you risk getting their “hype” on yourself. Tsk.

After posting, Xi Ling went to wash up, wondering if he should take the child to buy some festive clothes for the Little New Year.

It wasn’t because he wanted to see his “ATM.” The man hadn’t asked about the child in two years and was clearly annoyed by his “male wife,” and Xi Ling had no desire to be ignored.

To erase the impact of Yaxin’s “adhesive plaster,” Xi Ling’s mindset was simply to take the child to “check in” with his ATM husband, and then continue to firmly maintain their cold, purely financial relationship. Hehehe~

Imagining his soft, white, mochi-like little boy dressed in festive red, the smile at the corners of Xi Ling’s mouth deepened. Mianmian dressed as a little red envelope would definitely be super cute!

Just as he was picturing the rosy little boy, he pushed open the door and found two yellow “electric rodents” on his bed.

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?” And why did he run to his room?

Huo Xingmian was holding a medium-sized Pikachu doll, his chin resting on its head. His eyes were drooping, and his little mouth was pouted, looking quite unhappy.

He had been waiting for his stepfather to come read the comments to him, but he waited and waited until he fell asleep, and his stepdad never showed up!

Actually, it didn’t matter if he didn’t read them sometimes, but thinking about how his “stinky stepdad” had been nice to other kids today, and how he had pretended to be asleep to ignore him on the way back… after waking up from needing to use the bathroom, he couldn’t help but run over here.

Huo Xingmian blinked his droopy, puppy-like eyes and said in a soft, milky tone, “Mianmian wants to hear… Classic of Mountains and Seas.”

Xi Ling gulped. It was late at night, and the child’s accent was a bit tempting. He walked over and pinched the child’s little nose: “You want to hear it that much? But Daddy only knows how to tell the story of Gonggong angrily striking Mount Buzhou.”

Huo Xingmian tilted his head up: “Not that one, I’ve heard it already.”

Xi Ling pulled back the covers and scooped the child into his arms, snuggling into the soft mattress. Righteous but loud: “That’s right, precisely because you’ve heard it, Daddy can tell it! Oh, right, I know the beginning of Nüwa mending the sky, too.”

When they were napping at the cat house at noon, Chu Xinnian had told these stories.

Huo Xingmian suppressed his inner disappointment and tilted his head to act like a naive child: “…Okay, just Gonggong, not that one.”

Xi Ling’s memory had always been decent. After listening once, he managed to replicate Chu Xinnian’s version of the Classic of Mountains and Seas quite well. He was the one who felt sleepy after finishing, while the child in his arms still had eyes like big lightbulbs: “Not enough.”

Xi Ling was so sleepy his brain was tying itself in knots. He patted the child’s head with one hand and his back with the other, trying to speed up the child’s falling asleep process through other means.

At the same time, he yawned and muttered: “Tomorrow is the Little New Year, and we are going to see your other daddy. So Mianmian needs to sleep early, so you can be in top shape tomorrow…”

The child, who had already given up on hearing new stories or photo comments and was closing his eyes in regret, suddenly opened them wide again.

Go see that man?!

No way!!!