Because of what happened at the banquet hall.
Bao An, the new president of Little Broken Station who had transformed from a mere assistant, had overnight become the latest topic of gossip for the city’s wealthy.
It wasn’t often that something so interesting happened, so of course, they had to talk about it.
From that day on, wherever Bao An went, he could feel gazes from afar, both intentional and unintentional. Nearly all of them were filled with mockery.
After returning home that day, he had a huge fight with his family.
All because of some woman, they had the nerve to question him like that.
As a result, Bao An locked his wife in her room, forbidding her from going out.
After he calmed down, he couldn’t help but recall Lin Feng’s meaningful expression at the banquet hall. Suddenly, the pieces started to connect in his mind.
His wife had never exactly been the perfect, virtuous spouse, but thanks to the image he had cultivated at home...
His in-laws all thought he was a simple, honest man.
And his wife believed it without a shadow of a doubt.
Therefore, there was no way she would have simply believed someone else’s word that he was having an affair.
As he thought of this, something suddenly flashed through Bao An’s mind.
At the banquet hall, when his wife had suddenly appeared, she had thrown a small object at him.
He had been completely stunned at the time and hadn’t gotten a good look at it. He hadn’t picked it up when he left, either.
He remembered clearly now. That thing... it seemed to be a... USB drive?
Bao An took a deep breath and immediately rushed back to the banquet hall to find the manager.
This time, however, Bao An was smarter.
He didn’t go himself. Instead, he had his driver go in his place to ask for the USB drive.
The driver was in a difficult position, but in the end, he had no choice but to brave the scrutinizing gazes of the hotel staff and the manager’s knowing expression to retrieve the drive.
"B-Boss, I got it back!"
The driver stammered as he handed the USB drive to Bao An.
He hadn’t been present to hear what happened last night, but other bosses’ drivers had gone inside. They had heard everything clearly and recounted it to him, word for word.
So, the driver knew exactly what was on this USB drive.
Holding it in his hand the entire way back, the driver’s heart pounded like a drum. He was terrified that he would be silenced in the next moment.
As a driver, he simply knew too much.
Bao An’s face was grim. He took the drive from the driver with one hand and then gestured with his eyes for him to leave.
After listening to its contents again, Bao An slammed his fist against the car window.
The only people who could have recorded this audio had to be from Little Broken Station.
Moreover, it had to be someone with access to his office.
Did that mean Lin Feng had secretly planted someone from Douhu inside Little Broken Station?
Closing his eyes, Bao An mentally sifted through all the possible suspects.
In the end, only his secretary’s face remained.
’No, impossible!’
The woman had no reason to do this. She knew that if the recording was exposed, she’d be ostracized, and his wife would come after her. Even he himself would never let her off the hook.
Under these circumstances, she’d have to be crazy to do something like that!
Besides, Bao An was certain his secretary had no connection to Lin Feng.
Gritting his teeth, Bao An opened his eyes. He wanted to destroy the USB drive in his hand, but he stopped just as he was about to do it.
He had to keep this thing. He had to keep it to remind himself that someone had set him up and subjected him to this monstrous public humiliation. No matter who it was, he would not let them get away with it!
「On the other side.」
The sun was bright, and a gentle breeze blew through the afternoon air.
Lin Feng sat in the classroom, bored out of his mind and on the verge of yawning.
This afternoon’s class was incredibly dull. It wasn’t just him; at least one in every ten students in the classroom had their head down on their desk.
Even so, the professor was unfazed, continuing to lecture on his own, reading the dry facts point by point, straight from the PowerPoint slides.
Lin Feng was speechless. At his company, anyone who dared to give a presentation like that would be gone in less than a day.
He took out his phone and secretly checked the time.
’There are only two weeks left until summer break, so why is the professor still just reading off a PowerPoint?’
’Shouldn’t he be highlighting the key points for us to prepare for the final exams?’
He couldn’t hold it in any longer. Lin Feng let out a yawn.
"Want some?"
Su Ruoxi produced a bottled drink from somewhere and placed it in front of Lin Feng.
She had frozen it in advance to help beat the heat.
After sitting out for the afternoon, it had mostly thawed. Now, only the chilled drink remained; the ice had all melted.
Lin Feng glanced at it, casually took it, twisted off the cap, and took a couple of sips. Feeling a bit more awake, he handed the rest back to her:
"You have some too. There’s no air conditioning in this classroom, be careful not to overheat..."
Passing it back and forth, they finished the entire bottle in no time.
They finally made it through to the end of class and left the room together.
"Oh, right, Brother Feng!"
Su Ruoxi said excitedly, linking her arm with Lin Feng’s.
"I’m planning to travel abroad for summer break. Do you want to come with me?"
It was rare to get such a long vacation; she had to make good use of it.
Hearing this, Lin Feng froze for a moment, a hesitant look on his face.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go. It was just that Douhu was currently facing a predatory Little Broken Station. He was worried that if he were gone for too long, Little Broken Station would take advantage of his absence.
By then, he’d be too far away to put out a fire back home, unable to rush back in time.
It just goes to show that plans can never keep up with reality.
No matter how perfect the plan, sometimes it’s just impossible to carry out.
Sighing, Su Ruoxi’s face fell with disappointment.
"Then forget it."
"If you’re not going, I’ll just go with my friends."
Lin Feng was speechless.
’Why do I get the feeling,’ he wondered, ’that her tone rose on those last few words, clearly filled with impatience and excitement? Where was the slightest hint of disappointment?’
Narrowing his eyes, Lin Feng used two fingers to tilt up Su Ruoxi’s chin.
Su Ruoxi blinked, calmly letting him look.
After a long moment, Lin Feng lost.
Honestly, Su Ruoxi’s eyes were sparkling. The joy radiating from within her was simply impossible to hide.
But she was deliberately holding it back, leaving Lin Feng at a loss for words.
"Fine!"
After a moment, Lin Feng nodded.
"You can go with your friends. But you have to let me know where you are every step of the way."
"It’s not about monitoring you. It’s just that you’ll be in an unfamiliar place."
"I’m worried about you."
After he said this, Lin Feng saw—just as he’d expected—Su Ruoxi’s expression change in an instant.
It went from disappointed to delighted, the switch so fast it was hard to describe.
That’s right. Her question just now had been a test.
This trip abroad was something she had already planned with her friends.
To ensure they had fun, the rule was that no one could bring their boyfriend. The most important thing was for the "sisters’ group" to have a good time.
She knew Lin Feng wouldn’t agree offhandedly, so she had pretended to want to go with him, knowing full well he wouldn’t be able to, just to sound him out.
But to have succeeded so quickly, Su Ruoxi felt like she’d hit the jackpot.

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