After returning home with the child, her ex-husband knelt down and gently coaxed her.

Upon hearing An Xuan's name mentioned, An Ning's eyes instantly turned cold.

She didn't care how others smeared her, and she could pretend not to hear it. But she wouldn't allow outsiders to slander her son like that, especially with such unfounded accusations.

She gave them a warning look, and her already aloof demeanor became even more stern when she turned cold, revealing a hint of ferocity. The two whispering employees immediately looked away and shut their mouths.

An Ning stepped quickly into the elevator, her brows furrowing slightly.

Who took that photo on Mrs. Dong's phone?

The elevator stopped at the project office floor. As soon as An Ning stepped inside, she noticed many probing eyes scanning her up and down before quickly looking away.

Those eyes held curiosity, shock, disbelief, and some even a hint of... disdain.

An Ning knew perfectly well what the workplace was like—a place where gossip and rumors were most likely to arise and spread the widest in a short period of time.

The news of what just happened downstairs must have spread throughout the entire Haowei Group by now, not to mention the project department.

"Anning, what happened to your face?"

Li Hui's slightly shocked voice came through, yet it carried an undisguised smile, "You got beaten up? Look at these finger marks on your face, it was quite a beating!"

Her eyes were fixed on An Ning's face, and she raised her voice, "Our An Ning is so capable, and she has President Dong backing her up. Who would dare to lay a hand on you like this?"

Her words made those probing eyes look at her even more blatantly.

"Li Hui, what nonsense are you spouting? Would it kill you to say less?"

Huang Yuanyuan, still angry, retorted a few times and quickly went to An Ning, "Ningning, are you alright?"

An Ning ignored Li Hui's words, gently shook her head, and comforted Huang Yuanyuan, "It's nothing, just a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" Upon hearing these two words, Li Hui burst into laughter. "Even the boss's wife from Haowei has come to the company to catch her husband cheating! Is this a misunderstanding or a shameful scandal?"

"Alright!"

Sun Liangying emerged from the supervisor's office at some point, crossed her arms, glanced at everyone, and finally fixed her gaze on An Ning. "Get ready for a meeting."

......

"west Yan, I heard from your Uncle Ji that you haven't signed those documents he sent you yet?"

In the CEO's office, the man stood by the floor-to-ceiling window making a phone call. From the other end came Lu Lixiao's puzzled question, "Is something wrong?"

"I've been quite busy lately, so these documents have been sitting in the drawer."

Lu Xiyan gazed at the distant horizon and said calmly, "I'll sign it in a few days and have someone hand it over to Uncle Ji."

"Okay." Lu Lixiao said gently, "The engagement is at the end of the month, so you need to be more attentive. You can't always let Wanwan, a girl, worry about so many things. Her health isn't good, and if she gets sick from overwork, your Uncle Cheng and Aunt Han will nag me again—"

"Okay, Grandpa."

Before Lu Lixiao could finish speaking, Lu Xiyan interrupted calmly, "I have a meeting to attend, I'm hanging up."

He hung up the phone, holding it in his hand, his face cold and stern, his deep eyes calm and unwavering.

"President Lu."

At the door, Jiang Yao walked in, staring at the man's back, and hesitated before speaking, "Hao Wei... has made headlines."

Upon hearing this, the man's eyes flashed. "What?"

Jiang Yao looked at his cold expression and lowered his voice, "All the employees at Haowei Group are saying today that Dong Chenghai is having an affair with Miss An from the project department, and that they even have an illegitimate child..."

Lu Xiyan's eyes darkened, and he turned to look at Jiang Yao.

Jiang Yao was startled by his cold gaze and quickly said, "Dong Chenghai's wife even caused a scene at the company and hit Miss An in front of many employees..."

His hands, clasped behind his back, clenched unconsciously. Lu Xiyan asked coldly, "She didn't fight back?"

"She returned it!" Jiang Yao said immediately. "Miss An immediately fought back, completely stunning Mrs. Dong Chenghai!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the man's cold gaze softened slightly. Although she was somewhat soft-hearted, she wasn't someone to be trifled with. When faced with injustice, she would stand up for herself.

Especially when slandered by such rumors, it is inevitable that she will fight back.

Thinking of this, Lu Xiyan's expression turned cold again.

Whether she gets hit or not, and whether she fights back or not, has nothing to do with him!

Jiang Yao immediately realized what was happening and said with an awkward laugh, "Mr. Lu, do you also think that Miss An's story was fabricated? I knew it! How could Miss An be that kind of person? How could she be so absurd!"

Lu Xiyan snorted coldly, "She wouldn't be so desperate as to be indiscriminate in her choices."

......

The meeting lasted for more than two hours. Before it ended, Sun Liangying flipped through the documents in her hand and looked at An Ning, asking, "How's the cooperation with Ou Teng going?"

An Ning's eyes darkened. Recently, Lu Xiyan had not seen her at all and had made it clear that he had no intention of cooperating with Hao Wei.

She looked at Jane Sun, "Still following."

After saying that, Sun Liangying slammed the documents in her hand shut and said sternly, "An Ning, you haven't even sent out your project proposal yet, have you? If you can't handle this job, you should get out of here as soon as possible!"

"President Lu hasn't looked at my project proposal yet," An Ning said, glancing up at her. "But that doesn't mean my proposal is bad. I remember Manager Sun gave us a three-month deadline, and it hasn't even been a month yet, so there's no rush, is there?"

"You're quite good at stalling for time." Sun Liangying sneered and tossed a document to her. "I'll give you a chance to prove yourself. You'll be in charge of this project."

An Ning opened the document. "To Dianchi Lake?"

Dianhai is located at the southernmost point, far from Jinghai.

Furthermore, the address marked in the document is located in the mountainous area of ​​Dianchi Lake.

"President Dong is currently interested in the organic food from the Dianchi Lake region and needs a senior nutritionist to go there for research; it's a short business trip." Sun Liangying looked at her shocked expression. "You're not willing?"

After a moment's thought, An Ning realized that she was not confident in securing the cooperation with Ou Teng. During her time at Hao Wei, she had consistently failed to achieve anything and had let down President Dong's trust in her.

"When?" she asked.

"End of the month."

An Ning's fingertips suddenly trembled; the end of the month...

It was the day of Lu Xiyan's engagement.

"Okay," she agreed, "I'll go."

Upon hearing this, Sun Liangying changed her previous expression of dissatisfaction and subtly curved the corners of her mouth into a smile.

The journey to Dianhai is long and the project area is located in a remote, primitive mountainous region with no market signal. No one in the entire project team wanted to work on this project.

Moreover, she was lying to Anning. President Dong wasn't that interested in this project at all; he was most interested in cooperating with Ou Teng.

Sending Anning to Dianhai serves two purposes: first, it delays her cooperation with Ou Teng, preventing her from reaching an agreement and forcing her to leave Haowei completely; second, it keeps her far away, out of sight, out of mind.

More importantly, this was instructed by the eldest daughter of the Cheng family—she did not want to see Anning in Jinghai during the engagement period.

"Okay." Sun Liangying softened her tone. "Then it's settled. You can go there at the end of the month."