The richest man's parents were kidnapped, and his adorable son captivated the entire family.

It was a black leather ledger, the paper worn and red marks remaining at the bottom of the pages, recording dozens of details of overseas fund flows that bypassed audits.

She suppressed her racing heart and quickly snapped photos of each page. Just as she sent the photos to Gu Yinshen, she heard light footsteps and the soft click of a door lock behind her!

She immediately locked the door, opened the fire door hidden behind the bookshelf, and began her escape through the dark and narrow stairwell.

The pursuers' footsteps were getting closer and closer behind her. She climbed over two platforms and found a ventilation opening next to a maintenance well on the third floor.

Without time to hesitate, she gritted her teeth and squeezed into the narrow pipe, her clothes torn and her knees bleeding profusely. She finally slipped out through the abandoned passage at the logistics exit and disappeared into the night.

However, just as Gu Yinshen was trying to organize the evidence and prepare for the next legal action, Ruolan made her move.

She wore a graceful off-white dress, her makeup was tasteful and light, but her eyes held an unusually complex expression. She personally dialed Gu Yinshen's number, speaking in a deliberately slow tone:

"Yin Shen, can we... meet? Just once. I won't say much, and I won't cry or make a scene. I just... want to talk about the past. The last time."

She chose a secluded Western restaurant as the meeting place, a location she had already arranged for photographers to take pictures from. Tall lamps, latte art, heavy curtains... every detail concealed the photography team Ruolan had planted behind the scenes.

Gu Yinshen arrived, initially maintaining sufficient restraint and distance.

"Ruolan, I know what you want."

“I admit that I handled many things too harshly in the past. But you are also… you keep harping on your father’s last wishes and your so-called family debts.”

Ruolan looked aggrieved, but her eyes held a carefully rehearsed emotional rollercoaster.

"Yin Shen, what if I said I'm willing to let go? As long as you're willing, I won't interfere with the Gu family anymore, and I won't influence any of your decisions. I just want to raise the child and live a good life... a good life."

After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and took a sip of red wine, her eyes resolute and calm.

She actually knew that Gu Yinshen wouldn't agree.

What she was waiting for was for him to say, "You should take care of the child yourself; you've never been a mother," or "Stop using Mengmeng as a bargaining chip."

As long as he says it, as long as her team captures him rejecting the "child's mother," that's enough.

Gu Yinshen did indeed fall victim to the trap.

Less than two hours later, a set of photos appeared on major media platforms, trending topics, and WeChat official account headlines:

Gu Yinshen reunites with his ex-lover; Xie Yumin's alleged attempt to intervene fails.

In the photo, the two are sitting and talking in the dim light. Ruolan looks gentle, while Gu Yinshen looks solemn, which is just like a script for a "rekindling old flame".

The camera secretly filmed them through the window, capturing their every body language in an incredibly ambiguous way.

Within two hours of the photos going viral online, topics such as "Gu Yinshen rekindles his old flame" and "Xie Yumin's attempt to interfere fails" became trending topics.

Emotional gossip bloggers quickly formed a group to tear each other apart, editing various past videos and adding captions such as "insider revelations," packaging a complex power struggle and capital battle into a real-life "CEO's Shura Field."

One of the most popular and highly-rated comments was, "A woman who climbed to the top using her body ultimately lost to true feelings."

Public opinion surged, crashing down on Xie Yumin.

Her private email inbox was flooded overnight.

It contained angry condemnations, shameless harassment, and blatant threats.

Some people even sent her old photos from the Gu's Company's annual meeting, with insulting watermarks, and forwarded them on multiple platforms as "ironclad evidence" of her "vixen" identity.

At this moment, Ruolan, dressed in black, was sitting in front of the camera doing a live broadcast.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, she wore light makeup, her voice was choked with emotion, and she bit her lower lip, trying to hold back her tears.

"I'm not here to clarify anything, nor am I here to create hype. I'm just a mother. Mengmeng is innocent; she needs a complete family, an emotionally stable father, and an understanding mother. But these past few years, Yinshen... I don't blame him... I just want everyone to... think about the child..."

She lowered her head, pressing a tissue to the corner of her eye, as if she were about to collapse at any moment.

The live chat immediately exploded with comments: "So pitiful!", "Gu Yinshen is a real scoundrel!", "Xie Yumin, get out of the Gu family!"

Thus, the questions that should have focused on perjury and framing were completely replaced by her "motherly pain." Public sympathy overwhelmingly sided with her, and media headlines softened: "Former Mrs. Gu, Ruolan, tearfully recounts her love story," "Female executive Xie faces further public scrutiny"...

Meanwhile, undercurrents were surging within the company.

Several minority shareholders and independent directors raised questions in the board meeting group:

Does the chairman's chaotic private life affect the group's image?

"The investigation into Ruolan's past involvement in fraud remains unclear, and her current entanglement with the chairman raises the question of whether there is a risk of 'concealing interests'?"

"We demand that Mr. Gu Yinshen provide an explanation as soon as possible!"

In an effort to quell the unrest, Gu Yinshen convened an emergency online press conference.

He was impeccably dressed in a suit, his face serious, and his eyes still bloodshot. He faced the camera directly and responded in an extremely calm tone:

“Those photos were all deliberately fabricated. There is only the past between me and Ruolan, not the future. She was family, and I respect her status as a mother, but that does not mean I tolerate manipulation and scheming.”

But no sooner had he finished speaking than screenshots surfaced online, seemingly showing a photoshopped image of a text message from Gu Yinshen promising Ruolan a reconciliation. The statement had little effect.

But Xie Yumin did not back down.

She endured the ridicule and pressure online, and privately contacted old friends in the tech community to trace the IP address of the account that first posted the photos using underlying data technology. After multiple redirects and reverse tracing, she finally found a clue on a relay server.

The original source of this information was a company that had long provided "information management support" to Ruolan's legal team, and its registered address was the same as that of Ruolan Private Firm.

More importantly, she also found a deliveryman outside the restaurant who was the one who witnessed the entire filming process by the photography crew that day.

“Miss, I…I felt something was wrong right away. Those people kept trying to adjust the angle to take pictures at the restaurant entrance, and they kept muttering, ‘This lens is too flat, add some light’…I don’t really understand, but…I’m willing to testify,” the young man said somewhat timidly.

Xie Yumin immediately initiated the appeal process, prepared witness testimonies, and prepared to submit the fact that the photos were fake to the court.

However, misfortune struck just as she was walking to court with the witness.