Sure enough, just as she had expected, it was Lu Fenglin who was behind this!
Meanwhile, Gao Bo rushed over excitedly. He had managed to identify from the blurry features of the girl whose face was partially covered by hair in the photo that she was Zhuang Hailan, the secretary of Lu Fenglin, an employee from the same company.
Gao Bo reported to Xu Qingqing and showed her Zhuang Hailan's personal information. "Miss Xu, the woman in the photo with General Manager Lu is Manager Lu's secretary."
"I can assure you on my honor that General Manager Lu has absolutely no relationship with this secretary! They haven't even exchanged a single word!"
Saying this, Gao Bo quietly glanced around at the busy staff members. Then he leaned over and whispered in Xu Qingqing's ear.
"Actually, I think this whole thing was probably cooked up by Manager Lu. General Manager Lu would never do such a thing."
Xu Qingqing nodded, feeling ashamed of her wild speculations.
"Secretary Gao, I understand."
Xu Qingqing took out her phone and stared at Lu Chuanbai's barely visible face in the photo. An idea came to her mind.
Although Lu Chuanbai and Lu Fenglin had different mothers, they both inherited their father's facial features. If it weren't for Xu Qingqing's familiarity with Lu Chuanbai, an ordinary person would hardly be able to tell whether it was Lu Chuanbai or Lu Fenglin just from the pair of eyes showing in the photo.
Xu Qingqing asked Gao Bo for help. "Could you please help me issue a statement online to inform netizens that the person in the photo is Lu Fenglin, not Lu Chuanbai."
"By the way, officially announce their relationship. They've collaborated so well. It would be a pity if they don't get together."
Professional people could surely tell that the photo wasn't Photoshopped. So now they could only pin the whole thing on Lu Fenglin since he was the mastermind.
Gao Bo nodded in agreement. "Most of the photos on the internet have been deleted. I'll have someone make some minor adjustments to the original photo to make it look more like Manager Lu."
"Okay, then I'll trouble you." After thanking Gao Bo, Xu Qingqing rushed home.
Lu Qi helped the drowsy Lu Chuanbai to the bed and sent the two kids standing outside the door to sleep.
"Dad has Uncle here to take care of him. You kids go to sleep quickly."
"Okay."
Xu Yiyi and Xu An'an exchanged a glance, nodded obediently, and went back to their children's room.
Xu Yiyi pulled back the quilt on his bed and opened his laptop.
The computer screen was black, with strings of fluorescent green programming code flashing on it.
Xu An'an lay beside Xu Yiyi, watching him type in the last string of letters. Then he pressed the Enter key, and the program started to run.
Xu An'an propped her little head up and tilted it, looking at Xu Yiyi's serious little face. "Brother, can this really expose the IP addresses of those people who spread rumors about Dad having an affair on the internet?"
"Of course it can." Xu Yiyi nodded confidently.
The two little kids had seen the widely spread photos on the internet after Xu Qingqing left. Although Xu Yiyi couldn't find any signs of Photoshopping, he still believed that Lu Chuanbai would never do such a thing.
Coincidentally, he had learned some programming recently that could expose IP addresses. As long as they exposed all the accounts with the same IP address among the thousands of posts, this rumor would be self - debunked.
After Xu Yiyi's program started running, netizens noticed that the same IP address appeared behind the accounts that were the most vocal in accusing Lu Chuanbai of having an affair. This proved that they were hired trolls.
At the same time, Gao Bo issued a statement, informing netizens that the person in the photo was Lu Fenglin, not Lu Chuanbai. There was also a passionate official announcement text blessing the relationship between Lu Fenglin and Zhuang Hailan.
Lu Fenglin, who had been happily enjoying the online condemnation of Lu Chuanbai, suddenly found that an IP address had appeared behind his account. He also saw the explanation statement issued by the official account of the Lu Group.
After reading the complete text, Lu Fenglin was so angry that he threw his phone on the ground. Even after the phone was shattered, he still felt dissatisfied. He reached out and crushed the glass on the round table.
The shards of the glass pierced into his hand, and blood dripped on the floor. Lu Fenglin gritted his teeth in anger as if he didn't feel any pain.
He knew how powerful the drug he had given Lu Chuanbai was, so this statement definitely wasn't issued by Lu Chuanbai. The only one who dared to post such a text on the official account was Xu Qingqing.
Did this woman think he was being too gentle with her? How dare she tie him and Zhuang Hailan together!
That bitch Zhuang Hailan didn't deserve to be with him!
Lu Fenglin used his spare phone to call the public relations department of the company, demanding that they immediately remove this text. Otherwise, he would fire them.
Gao Bo had long anticipated that Lu Fenglin would call. Worried that ordinary staff wouldn't be able to handle it, he had been waiting specifically.
"Immediately delete the text posted on the official account. How dare you do this without my permission? Aren't you afraid that I'll fire you?"
"Manager Lu." Gao Bo crossed his legs and spoke unhurriedly. "My direct supervisor is General Manager Lu. No one but him can fire me."
"The photo and the text were requested by Miss Xu Qingqing. Seeing how intimate you and Zhuang Hailan look in the photo, I specially chose a passionate official announcement text for you. You should be happy!"
"I'm not in a relationship with Zhuang Hailan! The person in the photo is Lu Chuanbai, not me!" Lu Fenglin gritted his teeth in anger.
"But Manager Lu probably doesn't want to see General Manager Lu and Miss Xu Qingqing have a rift because of a photo. So Manager Lu should just bear with it."
After saying this, Gao Bo hung up the phone and told the public relations department colleagues who had been working overtime until midnight to go home and rest.
A female colleague looked at Gao Bo worriedly. "Secretary Gao, what if Manager Lu really gets angry?"
After all, Lu Fenglin was the second son of the Lu family. If he really got angry and fired them all, where could they cry?
"With General Manager Lu covering you, what are you worried about? Go and rest."
Gao Bo stretched his limbs and yawned.
It seemed that there would be a fierce battle between Lu Chuanbai and Lu Fenglin soon. He needed to keep himself well - rested to be Lu Chuanbai's best backup.
In the simply decorated apartment with a gray color scheme, Lu Fenglin slumped on the carpet, pouring red wine into his mouth. His resentment reached its peak.
It was okay for Lu Qi to wrong him casually, but even Lu Chuanbai's secretary didn't take him seriously and dared to hang up on him.
He really had no status in the Lu Group!
This further strengthened Lu Fenglin's determination to carry out a thorough reshuffle after he took over the Lu Group. He would drive away all those who were loyal to Lu Chuanbai and make them regret it!
Xu Qingqing rushed home in a hurry. Lu Qi was dozing off beside Lu Chuanbai's bed. When he saw Xu Qingqing, he asked her to arrange a guest room for him so that he could go to sleep.
Xu Qingqing first made sure that Lu Chuanbai in the bed was safe and sound. Then she settled Lu Qi down. After that, she stayed by Lu Chuanbai's bedside without leaving for a single step.
"Chuanbai? Wake up!" Xu Qingqing squatted beside the bed and shook Lu Chuanbai's body forcefully.