The Domineering Older Man Snatches His Cold And Aloof Wife - Chapter 5

Lou Qingshuang and Bai Wan called a meeting the moment they returned to the company. The two erupted in fury inside the conference room, yet with absolute composure, they ordered their subordinates to begin a thorough review of the surveillance footage. They needed to find out exactly who had entered the core research lab and the lounge where Bai Wan’s office safe was located.

There was a safe inside Bai Wan’s lounge, and only she and Lou Qingshuang held the keys to it. It had been set up specifically to guard their core data.

The research lab was similarly guarded by security personnel, ordinary employees had no way of entering it.

This internal investigation was absolutely necessary. At the same time, the two women, along with the rest of the management team, began discussing how to fight back in the public relations war.

“The best way forward is to wait for the initial heat to die down. Once consumers grow tired of the constant bickering between both companies, we can pinpoint the flaws in Lan Dai’s products,” said a woman sitting on the other side of the table, looking up.

She was an executive hired by Bai Wan and Lou Qingshuang to manage the company. Her approach was direct and aggressive: muddy the waters so that no one could walk away with an advantage.

Lou Qingshuang and Bai Wan muller it over and agreed it was a viable strategy, delegating full authority over the matter to her.

“We can start today. We need a war of attrition. By leveraging this wave of ‘underdog versus giant’ traffic, we can win public sympathy. At the same time, we can look up past cases of hostile takeovers and suggest that Lan Dai is trying to acquire our company,” Lou Qingshuang added, her eyelids lowered as she filled in the details. Hearing this, Bai Wan’s eyes lit up.

“We should approach more marketing accounts, let’s find some neutral ones to speak out,” Bai Wan immediately chimed in with her own ideas.

The three of them went back and forth, refining the execution of the strategy and discussing how to handle Lan Dai’s inevitable counteroffensive.

Once everything was settled, Lou Qingshuang rubbed her temples, looking thoroughly exhausted.

“Alright, spill. What did the big boss Liu say to you?” Bai Wan poured a glass of water and placed it by Lou Qingshuang’s hand.

She leaned against the edge of the conference table, slowly sipping her hot water.

“She didn’t say much,” Lou Qingshuang shook her head.

“Didn’t say much? You looked completely soul-shattered the moment you walked out. Did you really think you were hiding it well?” Bai Wan shot a sideways glance at her best friend.

Lou Qingshuang looked up at her. “Isn’t she your idol?”

“An idol is nothing compared to a best friend,” Bai Wan rolled her eyes. She merely admired Liu Yu’s professional competence, nothing more.

Single handedly, Liu Yu had revitalized the collapsing Liu Group, wrested control from the family patriarch, and systematically placed members of the Liu family into various major industries.

She had built a massive, influential empire for the Liu family.

Very few people possessed that kind of grit and breadth of vision.

Furthermore, the entire Liu family revered her. Even if she didn’t show her face for weeks at a time, not a single person in the family entertained any thoughts of usurping her power.

With such staggering capability, Liu Yu was someone the younger generation in upper class circles envied to the point of jealousy, and someone they deeply feared.

Liu Yu was a true, top-tier powerhouse. If she wanted to do something… Bai Wan subconsciously looked at her friend’s face, reaching out to lift Lou Qingshuang’s chin. “She hasn’t taken a liking to you, has she?”

Lou Qingshuang tilted her head back slightly, locking eyes with her friend in utter despair.

“Holy crap! She’s shameless!” Bai Wan swore.

“But do you like her?” Bai Wan suddenly leaned in close, her face alive with excitement as she probed.

Lou Qingshuang rolled her eyes at her, grabbed her folder, and walked out.

“Hey, Shuangshuang, hold the line!” Bai Wan called out dramatically after her, extending a hand in vain.

Lou Qingshuang rolled her eyes yet again. Other matters were weighing heavily on her mind, making her heart feel tight with anxiety.

Meanwhile, the security captain was leading his team through the surveillance logs. The new product had been on the market for less than a month, and the patent had been registered for less than two months. Lan Dai’s timeline was identical, except they had kept their new product hidden for the final competition without disclosing it. As a result, the product formulas of the two companies had never been compared side by side. Therefore, the surveillance footage would definitely reveal who had been to the core lab and Bai Wan’s lounge.

“Chairman, you truly predicted it perfectly. Ms. Lou’s Wanshuang Company has also started making its move,” Zhu Yan said, looking at her chairman with immense admiration, fully flexing her upward networking skills.

Liu Yu glanced at her. “This is only the beginning. I’ve already reviewed these documents; you can send them back to their respective departments.”

With a practiced, familiar smile, Zhu Yan took her leave. In ordinary moments, Liu Yu was quite lenient, allowing for occasional jokes and flattery.

As Liu Yu put pen to paper to continue writing, the image of Lou Qingshuang flashed through her mind. That woman had thrown away the room card she offered for the second time now. It was truly a bit frustrating. A trace of amusement flickered deep within Liu Yu’s eyes, and the corners of her mouth curved upward slightly, though her expression quickly reverted to its usual professional composure as she resumed her work.

Returning to her own lab, Lou Qingshuang leaned against the cold desk in her white lab coat. She exuded a cool, fragile aura, feeling truly weary for the first time.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

Her phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw it was a call from her mother.

“Mom, what’s wrong?” Lou Qingshuang asked, quickly adjusting her tone.

“Baby, is something wrong at the company?” Lou Qingshuang’s mother asked, her voice incredibly gentle and cautious.

Hearing her mother’s voice, Lou Qingshuang’s eyes stung. She looked up at the white ceiling, forcing back the bitterness in her eyes and swallowing the tremor in her throat. “Everything is fine. It’s just normal commercial competition. We can handle it.”

“If anything happens, you must tell Mom. I’ll cook something delicious for you tonight,” Lou Qingshuang’s mother said softly, calling Lou Qingshuang by her childhood nickname.

“Mom, I’m already twenty-six. Stop calling me by my nickname,” Lou Qingshuang replied helplessly, though a happy smile touched her eyes.

“No matter how old you are, you’re still my child. If your Ma-mi were still here, she would definitely be so happy to see how much you’ve grown,” her mother said softly.

“Yeah.” Lou Qingshuang thought of her Mami too, the person who used to shield them from the wind and rain. Sadly, she was gone now. At the thought of her, Lou Qingshuang could barely keep the tears from her eyes.

“Baby, work hard. Come home early tonight,” her mother said gently before hanging up, not wanting to disrupt her workday.

Lou Qingshuang stared blankly at her phone for a moment before setting it aside, throwing herself completely into the analysis of Lan Dai’s products.

She needed to test the components of the new product Lan Dai had just launched and find out exactly how similar it was to theirs.

Wearing her safety goggles and nitrile gloves to prevent any possible contamination of the cosmetic ingredients, Lou Qingshuang was efficient, calm, and utterly focused. The gentle, domestic aura she usually carried vanished entirely, replaced by a distant professionalism.

She remained buried in the laboratory, leaving the raging storm outside to Bai Wan.

Ultimately, Lou Qingshuang managed to detect some component DNA from Lan Dai’s product. It showed slight discrepancies from their current version, aligning perfectly with the very first draft of the formula she had developed.

Fortunately, Lou Qingshuang had preserved a complete series of raw experimental data. These initial and intermediate data sets had been securely archived by her. They served as the genetic code proving the product’s origin, and stood as the most airtight evidence that the product belonged to her.

Liu Yu had said she would add fuel to the fire for Lou Qingshuang, and she did exactly that.

Out of nowhere, Wanshuang Company’s products were included in a partnership with the Liu Group. In an instant, the tide of public opinion on the internet shifted dramatically, pushing the traffic surrounding the plagiarism scandal to its absolute peak.

As for whether Lou Qingshuang could successfully capitalize on the massive traffic handed to her, that would depend entirely on her own capabilities.

Meanwhile, the entire internet was left in shock, why on earth was the market’s biggest cosmetics giant partnering with a small company like Wanshuang?!