Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 410: Unlucky Lu Hui

The reason Qu Jing had fallen for Zhou Yuwen back then was that he had looked like a mafia boss. Even though she had been in a vulnerable position at the time, it was precisely under those circumstances that she developed a deep sense of attachment to him. This attachment naturally manifested as a desire to join his side; she had subconsciously placed herself in Lu Lin's shoes from that moment.And now, she finally had the chance to use Zhou Yuwen's name to throw her weight around. How could she pass up such an opportunity? She acted like a fiercely loyal little guard dog. When Lu Hui had disrespected Zhou Yuwen earlier, Qu Jing was already furious. The moment Zhou Yuwen ordered the door closed, it was as if a strange bloodline had awakened within her; she lunged at Lu Hui and began tearing into her without a second thought.

Naturally, Lu Hui tried to fight back, but she was absolutely no match for Qu Jing. Quick and efficient, Qu Jing grabbed her by the hair, pinned her to the ground, and delivered two slaps to her face. Her reasoning was simple: "How dare you curse at my Boss?"

"Who do you think you are, daring to tell us what to do? You stupid bitch!"

Qu Jing's combat prowess had always been off the charts. It had been this way ever since she helped Tao Tian bully Zheng Yanyan. Faced with such overwhelming fighting capability, all Lu Hui could do was desperately cover her head and take the beating.

However, Qu Jing began tearing at Lu Hui's clothes, forcefully pulling them down until one of her shoulders was completely exposed.

Seeing that Lu Hui would likely be stripped naked if this continued, Zhou Yuwen finally told Qu Jing that enough was enough.

By this point, Lu Hui had completely lost her arrogant attitude. She was cowering, lying prone on the floor.

With his hands in his pockets, Zhou Yuwen looked down at Lu Hui with a cold expression. Full of disdain, he said, "If you want to expose me, go ahead. I think Liu Shuo has sheltered you far too well. Did you really think I wouldn't dare do anything to you?"

"You are more than welcome to try."

"If you expose me, at most I'll lose a few women. But you..."

Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh as he spoke.

Lu Hui, however, couldn't suppress a shudder. Earlier, she had only cared about venting her anger and hadn't considered the consequences.

If she really did expose this matter...

Wouldn't she be completely ruined?

Even if Zhou Yuwen didn't do anything drastic and only exerted a tiny bit of pressure, would she ever be able to survive in Jinling?

The final resolution was simple, as Zhou Yuwen didn't want to be overly entangled with her. He had originally intended to fire her on the spot, but since Qu Jing had beaten her up, he decided to compensate her with two months' salary. In return, he would let the matter of the five thousand yuan slide. They would part ways amicably.

Otherwise, he would let Lu Hui leak the story, call the police himself, and let everyone know about her criminal record.

Ultimately, Lu Hui compromised and left without uttering a single word.

Qu Jing, on the other hand, was still dissatisfied. Originally, she had been beautifully dressing up in black silk stockings and high heels, giving off a mature older sister vibe. But during the scuffle, not only had her hair become a mess, but her high heels had also been knocked off. The sight of her small feet wrapped in black stockings stepping on the hardwood floor was quite amusing. As Lu Hui left, Qu Jing didn't forget to shout, "I'll beat you up every time I see you from now on!"

Watching this unfold, Zhou Yuwen couldn't help but laugh. He said, "Alright, she's already gone. Look at the state of you!"

At that moment, Qu Jing instantly transformed from a shrew into an obedient little puppy. She ran over to Zhou Yuwen, trying to curry favor, and asked, "Master, was I obedient?"

Zhou Yuwen reached out to pat her head and smiled. "Yes, of course you were."

Qu Jing giggled happily.

It was already noon by the time Lu Hui emerged from Zhou Yuwen's room. There was hardly anyone left in the office. It was fortunate that it was empty; otherwise, who knew how much she would have been ridiculed if people saw her in such a miserable state.

She ran into the restroom and quickly adjusted her clothes. Looking in the mirror at herself—her bruised forehead and the cuts at the corner of the mouth—an inexplicable wave of sorrow suddenly washed over her. Her nose stung, and then, with a choked sob, she began to cry.

Her crying grew louder and louder. At this moment, she truly felt regret. She deeply regretted going behind Liu Shuo's back to be with Li Qiang. Now, she had absolutely nothing. Lu Hui knew that she would never find a job as lucrative as this one ever again. At that thought, she wailed even louder.

"Sister Hui!" At that exact moment, Li Qiang, who had finally managed to fall asleep in the dormitory, jolted awake as if sharing a telepathic link with her. He had just been having a dream—a dream where Lu Hui was being beaten until she cried. Thinking of this, an inexplicable pang of heartache hit him. He thought to himself that everyone was bullying his Sister Hui, and he swore he had to protect her.

Back in the room, Zhou Yuwen chatted a bit more with Qu Jing. That morning, because Zhou Yuwen had been flaunting his affection with Tao Tian right in front of her, Qu Jing had been nursing a stomach full of anger. Now that she had vented it all out on Lu Hui, she felt utterly refreshed.

And right then, Zhou Yuwen gave her another surprise.

He told her to pick a time and take Tao Tian to buy a car for commuting, with a budget of three to four hundred thousand yuan.

Overwhelmed by the favor, Qu Jing wanted to say that she wasn't with him for his money; she only wanted him to spend more time with her.

But Zhou Yuwen casually replied, "This car isn't just for you."

"Consider this vehicle a mode of transportation for you and Sweetie. You two live in the same residential area, so you can commute to and from work together. You used to be friends anyway."

Hearing that she had to share it with Tao Tian made Qu Jing a little unhappy. However, since it was Zhou Yuwen's demand, she had no room to complain.

Lu Hui's departure had no negative impact on Zhou Yuwen's company. In fact, excising her actually helped optimize the company's internal structure.

Jiang Xinyi had no idea about the exact nature of the relationship between Tao Tian and Zhou Yuwen. Through their interactions, she simply felt that Tao Tian was an incredibly capable girl. Furthermore, Tao Tian's emotional intelligence was genuinely high. Ever since weathering that previous storm, Tao Tian had become much more reserved and understated, which earned her Jiang Xinyi's deep affection.

Jiang Xinyi even told Zhou Yuwen that Tao Tian was the most competent person in the entire company.

"Though, of course, she's still a bit behind me."

Zhou Yuwen merely smiled at this, silently expressing that as long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.

That afternoon, Zhou Yuwen received a phone call from Zhu Hong.

By now, Zhu Hong had moved into the Acting President's office. Anxious to remove the word "Acting" from her title, she was exceptionally enthusiastic toward Zhou Yuwen, inviting him to play golf every couple of days.

Upon answering her call, Zhou Yuwen found it rather amusing. "It seems Lady Luck has been smiling on you lately, President Zhu."

Zhu Hong replied, "Mhm. In some ways, you are my lucky star."

Just like usual, Zhu Hong invited him out for a round of golf. Zhou Yuwen had initially wanted to decline.

But Zhu Hong insisted, stating that today she could offer him a satisfactory price.

"President Zhou, you can't get fat on one bite. Your development has been too rapid, and the food delivery networks at the various universities are far too isolated from one another. Speaking purely from a business perspective, there is immense room for cooperation between us," Zhu Hong reasoned.

Zhou Yuwen asked, "Are you in a position to make that decision?"

Zhu Hong replied, "That will still require President Zhou's support."

"Alright then," Zhou Yuwen agreed.

Jiang Xinyi had other matters to attend to that afternoon, while Tao Tian had just taken over some new work responsibilities and was looking quite excited. Zhou Yuwen told her to accompany him to play golf.

Tao Tian was overwhelmed by the invitation. She let out a soft gasp, her small face flushing red as she stammered, "B-but I don't know how to play."

"It doesn't matter if you don't know how; you can take your time learning. For now, let's go buy you a nice outfit."

And so, on yet another bright and sunny day, Zhou Yuwen met up with Zhu Hong for golf. Zhu Hong was delighted to see Tao Tian. "Ah, Sweetie! Long time no see. You've gotten even prettier."

Tao Tian blushed and replied, "Not at all, Sister Hong, you're the one who keeps getting more beautiful."

Compared to Jiang Xinyi, Tao Tian completely lacked the arrogance of a wealthy young lady. She kept a very humble and low profile, which allowed Zhu Hong to converse with her effortlessly.

Holding Tao Tian's hand, Zhu Hong remarked, "Yuwen and I have played golf several times now, but he never brings you along. If he hadn't brought you this time, I would have assumed the two of you broke up."

Leaning on a golf club, Zhou Yuwen smiled and said, "I'd have to be out of my mind to break up with her."

Ordinary people might not have caught the underlying meaning, but Zhu Hong's eyes twinkled with mirth. She understood instantly and shot Zhou Yuwen a playful glare.

Because they were playing golf today, Tao Tian wore a sporty outfit: a white pleated skirt paired with a cropped shirt. Her long legs were accentuated by a pair of white over-the-knee socks.

While this outfit would look nice on any other girl, it simply didn't have the same striking impact as it did when worn by Tao Tian.

'Zhou Yuwen really was feasting well.'

The problem was that he changed his menu every single day.

Lu Wanting was also somewhat surprised to see Tao Tian, but she was even more shocked that, in Zhu Hong's presence, Tao Tian was openly assuming the role of Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend.

Hold on.

During the introductions, Tao Tian acted very graciously and warmly greeted Lu Wanting.

Zhu Hong jokingly added, "This is your boyfriend's cousin-in-law, you know."

"Ah?" Tao Tian let out a bewildered sound and turned to look at Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen simply wrapped an arm around Tao Tian's slender waist, planted a kiss on her cheek, and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense. She's just tricking you."

Zhou Yuwen then recounted the whole story about how Lu Wanting was actually his cousin-in-law and the incident where she had to pretend to be a girlfriend.

Tao Tian covered her small mouth and giggled.

Although they had come out this time to discuss business, Zhu Hong didn't appear overly eager. When they first started, Tao Tian reiterated that she didn't know how to play.

Zhou Yuwen simply said, "I'll teach you."

Then, the two of them moved off to the side to practice.

In reality, Zhou Yuwen had only played a few times himself, but he was more than qualified to teach Tao Tian. He told her that the most important thing in golf was posture!

He then embraced Tao Tian from behind, guiding her hands to show her how to swing.

Tao Tian smelled wonderfully fragrant, and her cropped shirt highlighted her curves exceptionally well. As they practiced, he leaned in and stole a kiss on her cheek.

This left Tao Tian feeling flustered and shy. She whispered, "Sister Zhu Hong was the one who invited us to play, but we're just leaving her off to the side while we play by ourselves. Isn't that a bit rude?"

Zhou Yuwen asked what was so bad about it.

"She isn't in a hurry, so why should we be? Come on, I'll keep teaching you."

And just like that, Zhou Yuwen continued to hold Tao Tian from behind, resuming their golf lesson.

Not far away, Lu Wanting watched the two of them being all lovey-dovey. For a moment, her mind felt like it was going to explode. The main issue was that a while back, Lu Wanting had wanted to strengthen her connections with Zhou Yuwen, but she had been too embarrassed to seek him out directly. Consequently, she had adopted a roundabout strategy and sought out Su Qing to chat.

Su Qing had been very happy to make friends with Lu Wanting. By now, their relationship could easily be considered that of besties.

Yet, right at this moment, Lu Wanting suddenly discovered that Zhou Yuwen had other women!

'Wait, are young people nowadays really this wild?'

'In that case, how am I supposed to face Su Qing from now on?'

Just as Lu Wanting was standing there feeling hesitant and uncertain, Zhu Hong, who had just finished a phone call with headquarters, walked over. Seeing her dazed expression, she smiled and asked, "What are you spacing out for?"

"Ah, n-nothing," Lu Wanting quickly denied it.

Zhu Hong smiled. "Are you surprised?"

"..." Lu Wanting fell silent for a moment.

Zhu Hong told her that since she had just started working, there were still some things she didn't quite understand.

"Once you've been in the workforce for a while, you'll realize that these things are very common. We have to learn to treat them with indifference."

Hearing this, Lu Wanting wanted to say something, but she couldn't figure out the right words. After a long moment of hesitation, she finally confessed, "President Zhu, the truth is, I'm besties with his other girlfriend."

"That's wonderful," Zhu Hong chuckled in response.

She seemed to see right through Lu Wanting's confusion, so she smiled and explained, "Wanting, we are very lucky to be living in an era of equality between men and women. However, this equality is only relative. In certain aspects, we are still unequal."

"Men are naturally capable of commanding better resources than women. You might look at Zhou Yuwen flirting around right now and have a negative impression of him. But think about it from another angle: how many men like Zhou Yuwen are there in the entire world?"

"Young, handsome, and incredibly talented!" Zhu Hong counted off on her fingers. She pointed out that Zhou Yuwen possessed a level of shrewdness far beyond his peers, which meant that everything he had right now was merely the beginning.

"In the future, he will attain even greater wealth and prestige. In comparison, these women appear far too ordinary."

"Women carry the instinct to submit to the strong in their DNA. So, while it may look to you like Zhou Yuwen is the one fooling around, from another perspective, it is actually these women who are fighting over him."

"You must understand, simply being able to meet a man like Zhou Yuwen and secure a place by his side is already an enormous stroke of luck for these women."

Zhu Hong was capable of breaking away from conventional female thinking to analyze situations, which was precisely why she was destined to be more successful than other women.

Yet, this particular set of philosophies left a profound impact on Lu Wanting.

Following Zhu Hong's way of thinking, just having the opportunity to associate with Zhou Yuwen was already a rare privilege. There wasn't a single woman who didn't want to find a powerful man, unless she lacked the qualifications to do so.

If a woman was beautiful enough and reasonably capable, would she really be willing to settle for a mediocre man for the rest of her life?

"Well, I'm certainly not that kind of woman. In my opinion, I'd rather share an excellent man with many other women than hoard a mediocre man all to myself."

This was Zhu Hong's final statement. After saying this, she smiled and walked over to start chatting with Zhou Yuwen.

She left Lu Wanting standing there, slowly digesting those words.