Earning 100 million a day, yet trapped in a county town.

Chapter 97 Cheng Wanhua! You traitorous dog!

Zhou Lijuan suddenly raised her head, her eyes slightly red.

"Edison Chen, it's not that Mom doesn't want to tell you—but he's your stepfather!"

"He and his mother have lived together for so many years, and Xiao Jun is still in school. The family depends entirely on him to support them."

"I know he did wrong, but what can Mom do? Mom has tried to persuade him, but he won't listen!"

Wang Guanxi didn't say anything, leaning back in his chair and looking at her.

Seeing that her son didn't interrupt her, Zhou Lijuan became a little bolder and changed her tone from arguing to confiding.

"Edison Chen, you have to be understanding of him. He's a middle-aged man; he lost his factory, he lost everything."

"He used to deliver food, but after a few days he said his back and legs hurt and he couldn't do it anymore."

"At his age, and without any special skills, what would you want him to do?"

She paused, her voice lowering slightly, carrying a cautious, tentative tone.

"If you had let him work at Chongxi and given him a less demanding job, he wouldn't have ended up like that—"

He's not a bad person, he just had a moment of despair.

"This definitely wasn't his own idea; it must have been Wen Guoliang who instigated him!"

"You know your stepfather; he's easily swayed and takes the bait the moment someone tries to persuade him."

Wang Guanxi listened quietly, his expression unchanged.

He waited until Zhou Lijuan had finished speaking before asking a question casually.

"Mom, are you done talking?"

Zhou Lijuan opened her mouth, but swallowed the words that were about to come out, and finally just gave a soft "hmm".

"Now that you've finished speaking, you can leave."

Wang Guanxi's tone was very calm, and you couldn't even tell what emotions he was expressing.

But it was precisely this calm that made Zhou Lijuan's heart sink.

She knows her son all too well.

When he's really angry, he won't yell. The more you yell at him, the calmer he becomes, so calm that it sends chills down your spine.

"Edison Chen————"

"go out."

Zhou Lijuan opened her mouth, but ultimately didn't dare to say anything more.

She stood up, rubbing the hem of her work jacket with both hands, and walked out of the office, looking back every few steps.

The moment the door closed behind him, Wang Guanxi sat alone at his desk, remaining silent for a long time.

He picked up his phone, scrolled to a number in his contacts that he hadn't dialed in a long time, and pressed the dial button.

The phone rang a few times before being answered.

"Hey, Edison?" Wang Jiming's voice came from the other end, tinged with surprise. "What made you think of calling me?"

Without exchanging pleasantries, Wang Guanxi told Wang Jiming everything Cheng Wanhua had done and what Zhou Lijuan had said that day, word for word.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

A long silence followed.

It was so long that Wang Guanxi thought the phone call had been disconnected.

Then Wang Jiming's voice rang out again, a few decibels deeper than before.

"Your stepfather—he's a real scoundrel."

He paused, then said, "But Edison, you've grown up. You built Chongxi from scratch, and you're a person of importance now. How to handle this matter is up to you. Dad trusts your judgment."

There was another brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Then Zhu Jiming lowered his voice, revealing a hint of almost imperceptible fatigue.

"And your mother's side—don't let her work at Chongxi anymore. She's getting old, and it's not good for her to stand all day as a quality inspector."

"I'm single and don't have many expenses. I'll send her some money every month, enough for her to live on."

Wang Guanxi held the phone, understanding the unspoken meaning in his father's words.

Wang Jiming wasn't really worried that Zhou Lijuan was too old to do hard work.

He was afraid that if Zhou Lijuan continued to stay in Chongxi, she would be caught in the middle between Cheng Wanhua and her son every day.

Given Zhou Lijuan's personality, she'll be persuaded by Cheng Wanhua sooner or later and do something to betray her son.

Rather than worrying about her after she causes trouble, it's better to let her leave as soon as possible.

"Dad, no need." Wang Guanxi's voice was calm. "Keep your money for yourself. I'll transfer some money to her card every month from now on, just enough for her to spend."

Wang Jiming on the other end of the phone was silent for two seconds, then softly hummed in agreement.

"Okay, then you can handle it yourself. Let me know anytime if anything comes up."

"understood."

After hanging up the phone, Wang Guanxi put his phone on the table and stared blankly at the factory yard outside the window for a while.

In the yard, several workers were loading cargo boxes onto a truck.

The sun was shining brightly, and everything seemed to be functioning normally.

But Wang Guanxi knew that some things had changed.

He won't let this matter with Cheng Wanhua go so easily.

But Zhou Lijuan was, after all, his biological mother. He couldn't do anything to her, nor could he let her suffer as a result.

Paying her to stay away from us might be the best option for everyone.

After Hun Sen showed Wang Guanxi the video of Cheng Wanhua apologizing, he instructed Cheng Wanhua to release the video.

The local Douyin (TikTok) account in Jiangcheng quickly went viral again.

This time, however, the winds have completely reversed.

"Holy crap? A plot twist?"

"So it was Meiwei who was behind this?"

"Wen Guoliang? Is that the boss of Meiwei?"

"I knew it! There's something just wrong with a stepfather coming out and beating his son."

"Cheng Wanhua is such a scoundrel! He'd go to such lengths to ruin his stepson over a mere 50,000 yuan?"

"Wait, he said it was to extort money? Then all those sob stories in those videos were just an act?"

"It's a shame this acting isn't an Oscar winner."

The comments section was overwhelmingly filled with criticism of Cheng Wanhua.

However, many people are also criticizing Wen Guoliang.

"Isn't Meiwei's method too dirty? Bribing her stepfather to smear someone's son?"

"I even bought clothes from Meiwei before, disgusting."

"It would be a miracle if a company like this could make good products."

Chongxi's fans went wild, frantically sharing the apology video.

"Chongxi is awesome! Boss Wang is awesome!"

"Hey haters, come out and show yourselves!"

"I knew Mr. Wang wasn't that kind of person!"

Cheng Wanhua's apology video saw its views rise at an alarming rate.

100,000, 200,000, 500,000 —

Meanwhile, the online troll accounts that Wen Guoliang had bribed earlier have shifted their commentary from "Wang Guanxi, get out of Jiangcheng" to "Meiwei is shameless."

Everything turned upside down overnight.

Jiangzhou City, Meiwei Headquarters.

Wen Guoliang sat behind his desk, leisurely sipping tea.

He scrolled through Douyin, waiting to see how flustered Chongxi was.

Then, he came across a new video.

The headline read: "Cheng Wanhua publicly apologizes: I was bribed by Wen Guoliang!"

Wen Guoliang almost dropped the teacup in his hand.

He opened the video and watched it from beginning to end.

When Cheng Wanhua said to the camera, "I just want to extort money from Wang Guanxi," his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

When Cheng Wanhua said, "I was bribed by Wen Guoliang," the teacup in his hand slammed to the ground.

The scalding hot tea splashed all over the floor.

Wen Guoliang suddenly stood up, his chest heaving.