Emma had been listening to her rave about how delicious this Chongqing noodles place was all the way there.
It wasn't until they reached the entrance and just turned the corner that Emma glanced to the side and suddenly spotted someone hiding behind a tree not far away. Her expression darkened.
Then she let out a soft laugh, "You go ahead into the shop, I see an acquaintance I need to greet."
Song Yu looked around, but all she saw were pedestrians; she couldn't tell who Emma's acquaintance was. However, she didn't ask further and just waved with a smile, walking ahead on her own.
Emma didn't move at first, waiting until Song Yu was far away before she walked in the opposite direction.
When she got there and saw Liu Hui, she directly dragged her to the side of the road.
"What do you want? Following me?" Emma laughed, not expecting Liu Hui to be so unrepentant.
Liu Hui whispered, "I'm not."
"Then what do you want? Planning to keep watching until you find out where my dad is?" Emma sneered.
Liu Hui suddenly looked up at her and said, "Have you ever thought that your dad has been holding back because of you, that's why he gave me up? You're just preventing his happiness. He's been waiting for so long, are you going to make him keep waiting for the rest of his life for someone who's been dead for over a decade?"
Emma was--->
amused, tilting her head coldly as she looked at her: "So you're trying to tell me that what you two have is true love? Want me to bless you two?"
Liu Hui looked at her with anticipation.
Emma's voice was extremely light as she said, "What's gained through deception will eventually have to be returned."
Liu Hui mocked her, nodding, "Right, I did deceive him, but I love him too. Emma, do you have any idea how your dad and I saved up to go from a place like the Middle East to Vietnam?"
Emma quietly looked at her.
"I was able to survive in a place where people eat each other; do you really think I'm afraid of you? If it weren't for the fact that you're PingSen's daughter, do you think I'd be begging you like this?" Liu Hui closed her eyes for a moment, "So don't push me too far. I have nothing now, but you're different. You have such a great job, such a happy family."
Liu Hui seemed to find something particularly funny: "The man you married is so wealthy; you almost have everything. Why can't you give PingSen back to me? Why can't you, why are you so selfish, selfish!"
By the end, Liu Hui's emotions seemed to spiral out of control, her voice sharply rising.
Liu Hui probably realized she had lost control of her emotions, so she turned her face away, took a deep breath, and after a while, her heaving chest gradually calmed down.
Emma looked at her expression, no longer cold but rather pitiful.
When people are completely out of options, they think that their fierce threats will force the other party to submit, but they don't realize that this completely exposes their weaknesses.
She had no other options, only able to threaten herself.
Ni PingSen decided to take back his love for her, and Liu Hui was well aware of this. She always felt that it was Emma who was scheming to break them up.
She subconsciously put all the blame on Emma.
Yes, Emma was the bad guy, the one who tore them apart.
They were just the ones who had been separated.
Emma took a deep breath, feeling like she had wasted her time again because talking to Liu Hui was superfluous. She nodded, "If next time I see you around my newspaper office again, I will call the police immediately."
After saying that, she turned and left.
But after she had taken a few steps, Liu Hui muttered behind her, "You will regret it."
Emma didn't pay her any more attention and just left.
However, when she arrived at the noodle shop, Song Yu had already ordered and was waiting for her with the food on the table. Seeing her come over, she waved and smiled, "Sister Jingxi, you're just in time; the boss just brought over the noodles."
Emma smiled, but she was still thinking about Liu Hui.
After going through so much, it was impossible for her not to develop a bit of caution.
Others might not know, but Emma, who had been in the Middle East, understood the true horror there after experiencing war and religious conflicts. One thing Liu Hui said that made her particularly wary was that she claimed to have taken Ni PingSen away from the Middle East.
No matter how she managed to leave, this woman was extremely capable.
Perhaps being with Ni PingSen had softened her, even if she remained beautiful but no longer poisonous, but after Ni PingSen left, the toxins hidden in her heart gradually resurfaced.
Emma had to be on guard against her.
After finishing her meal, Emma found a moment to call Tang Mi.
As soon as Tang Mi answered, she asked, "Do you know anyone who works as a private detective?"
Tang Mi was taken aback: "Private detective? Who do you want to investigate?"
At that moment, Tang Mi had an ominous thought. Could it be that Emma wanted to investigate...
Emma had never mentioned Liu Hui to Tang Mi before, as it was her father's private matter and she didn't want to spread it around. But the only person she could trust and who had wide connections was Tang Mi.
She briefly explained the situation with Liu Hui.
Tang Mi was almost swearing in anger as she listened, and by the time Emma finished, she could no longer contain her rage: "Is this woman out of her mind? Her audacity is really something. What gives her the nerve to come to you and talk nonsense? Now, it's uncle who has seen her true colors and wants to cut ties with her. She can't still think it's you who's instigating between them, can she?"
"You're really smart," Emma sincerely complimented.
Tang Mi was so angry she cursed.
She said, "Don't worry, leave this to me. We're not going to do anything to her; we just have to be careful that she doesn't do anything to you."
Never provoke a paranoid person, because normal people have no idea what they're like when they go crazy.
There were too many examples in front of Emma, and she had to be wary of Tang Mi.
But what she didn't expect was that her worries were completely justified.
In the afternoon coffee shop, there was no one at any of the surrounding tables, only two people at a corner table. Wen Tang smiled and pushed the sandwich in front of her towards the opposite person, saying softly, "You haven't eaten, have you? Have something first."
But the person opposite didn't move.
Wen Tang's lips curved into a gentler smile: "I just showed you my credentials; I really am a reporter from Xinhua News Agency. If you have any difficulties, I can definitely help you."
"Really?" the person opposite finally spoke slowly.
If Emma had been there, she would have been surprised to see these two together because the person sitting opposite Wen Tang was Liu Hui.
Liu Hui at this moment had none of her usual glamour.
She looked a bit haggard, her complexion pale, her face plain, and she seemed a bit unsophisticated.
She looked at the other person cautiously and said softly, "You say you can really help me?"
"Of course, on the condition that you tell me, what's your relationship with Emma?" Wen Tang said curiously, coaxing, "I'm also a reporter, and I can do everything possible to help you."
In fact, last night when this woman blocked Emma's car, she happened to be going out to get her car and saw it all clearly. She thought it was just an informant, but today she came again, and Emma's attitude towards her was strange.
So after Emma left, Wen Tang deliberately approached Liu Hui, wanting to get some information out of her.
It turned out this woman was really not simple.
At this moment, Liu Hui placed her bag on her lap, looking nervous and uneasy. In the end, she still whispered about her relationship with Ni PingSen.
Finally, she couldn't help but cover her face: "I really just want to be with her dad."
Wen Tang was stunned, never expecting to hear such a story that could rival a TV drama.
She suddenly became incredibly excited, almost stuttering when she spoke: "Is everything you're saying true?"
Liu Hui nodded.
Wen Tang suddenly said, "Are you willing to let me write your story? Or are you willing to tell this story in front of the camera?"
She seemed afraid that Liu Hui would disagree, saying, "You and her dad are a couple; you've been innocently torn apart. If you don't want to face the camera, I can have someone blur your face. But you need to provide me with some evidence of your life together."
"Will this help me?" Liu Hui looked up at her and asked.
Wen Tang immediately nodded: "Of course, it definitely will. We can use this evidence to negotiate with her in the early stages. If she still tries to stop you, you can tell your story in front of the camera."
If Ni PingSen was just Emma's dad, it might not attract much attention.
Such family ethical disputes would at most appear on shows like "Auntie's Mediation."
But Emma is the daughter-in-law of the Jason family, Jason's wife, and everyone will be watching this gossip closely, and Emma will eventually be unable to hold her head up.
She will lose all face.
The more Wen Tang thought about it, the more delighted she became. She was eager to see how Emma could still have the face to compete with her in the future.
However, Wen Tang wasn't stupid; her identity simply couldn't be involved in this matter. But after being a reporter for so many years, she knew many paparazzi, not to mention even marketing accounts.
It depended on which ones were willing to risk their lives for traffic and dare to leak information on this matter.
Wen Tang kept in close contact with Liu Hui, and a few days later, the two met again.
Emma looked at the photo in front of her, taken by a private detective. Liu Hui had rented a short-term apartment; she had no friends and rarely went out. The only time she went out to meet someone, the detective captured it all on camera.
"These two actually got together, do you think Wen Tang is just asking for trouble?" Tang Mi was both angry and amused when she saw the photos, finding the whole situation laughable.
Emma nodded, "I'll handle it."
Tang Mi asked curiously, "How are you going to handle it?"
Emma sat on the sofa, legs crossed, and said softly, "You know, I used to think that one shouldn't be too absolute in doing things, always leaving some leeway."
Tang Mi blinked, a bit puzzled. Did she?
"Now I don't think so.
"Because some people really want to court death, and I have to satisfy them."
Tang Mi looked at her and asked in a low voice, "What are you planning to do?"
Life is indeed full of challenges, especially when you encounter petty people. You might not want to have anything to do with them, wishing to stay as far away as possible, but can you really avoid them?
They see your happy life and get so angry that they want to (destroy) it.
Since they won't let her go, Emma felt she didn't need to be polite anymore.
She sat on the sofa, legs crossed, still staring at the photo in front of her, a bit dazed. She had never done this before; in Emma's limited experience with conflicts, most were with men.
On the contrary, she had always been tolerant towards women.
But perhaps it was because the girls she had met before all had good characters, and now she was encountering one difficult person after another.
Compared to Wen Tang, she was more worried about Liu Hui.
Emma picked up a photo, in which Liu Hui was without makeup, and her expression looked a bit timid, like someone who hadn't seen much of the world and was easy to deceive.
In contrast, Wen Tang had a haughty face, giving off an air of control.
Tang Mi saw her staring at the photo for several minutes and asked proactively, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Do you think Liu Hui looks like in this photo?" Emma handed the photo to Tang Mi.
Tang Mi took it, looked down for a moment, and said after some thought, "I think she looks quite timid and vulnerable. Do you think she might be deceived by Wen Tang? Is Wen Tang trying to use Liu Hui to attack you?"
From the photo, it indeed seemed that way.
Emma looked at her and couldn't help but chuckle softly, "So that's the biggest problem."
Tang Mi's eyes widened, what was the problem?
"You've never met Liu Hui, so you have no idea what her character is like. But think about it, she and my dad went from the Middle East to Vietnam, and then they almost established themselves there." Emma narrowed her eyes, "She played a major role in all of this. So do you think such a woman would be easily deceived and timid?"
It wasn't that Emma looked down on Ni PingSen, but Ni PingSen's character had always been gentle and not aggressive enough.
He didn't have that kind of relentless determination.
To smuggle from the Middle East to Vietnam and then establish themselves in a place like the Chinatown in Vietnam, where all sorts of people mixed, it really couldn't be done just by being a nice person.
This was her concern, Liu Hui wasn't that kind of character, so why was she pretending to be like that in front of Wen Tang?
Tang Mi looked at the photo again and again, she had thought Liu Hui was just a gentle and simple woman.
But after hearing what Emma said, she suddenly felt a chill down her spine.
"According to what you're saying, she's way too calculating," Tang Mi couldn't help but touch her neck, she was genuinely chilled.
The person who looked so harmless in the photo was actually the character Emma described.
Tang Mi felt she was really a bit scary.
What is she trying to achieve by packaging herself in such a gentle and harmless manner?
After a while, Tang Mi couldn't help but say, "What on earth does she want? If she really does anything to you, Uncle Ni will never forgive her."
"What if she doesn't want my dad's forgiveness, but just doesn't want to let me go?"
Emma's tone was calm, as if this matter was quite ordinary to her. However, she indeed didn't take it to heart because she never felt she owed Liu Hui anything. Perhaps in her eyes, she was the culprit who tore her and her dad apart.
Once a person enters the realm of obsession, they can find ten thousand reasons to convince themselves to continue down this dead-end path.
Tang Mi let out a howl, she turned to look at Emma and asked, "How can there be such people?"
Seeing Tang Mi's frantic expression, Emma gently patted her head, "Calm down, life is like this."
"Wow, Emma, are you becoming a saint amidst all these setbacks?" Tang Mi thought Emma was really amazing; these things hadn't driven her crazy.
If she knew there was a group of psychopaths deliberately trying to harm her, she would definitely take action and fight back.
Yet Emma still had the presence of mind to comfort her.
As they were talking, suddenly there was a sound of a door opening. Emma quickly put away all the photos, pressing them under a cushion on the sofa.
In a short while, Ni PingSen came in and saw Tang Mi in the living room, smiling, "Tang Mi is here, have you eaten?"
"I have, Uncle Ni," Tang Mi greeted, and she warmly asked, "Uncle, where have you been?"
"I went to check on the shop; it's being renovated, and I need to supervise," Ni PingSen said with a smile.
Previously, Emma had mentioned opening a shop for Ni PingSen, mainly to give him something to do in his free time, so he wouldn't have to look for a job elsewhere. After she shared this idea with Ni PingSen, he was surprised but clearly delighted because he had been considering finding work himself.
However, Ni PingSen had concerns, fearing that the shop was an investment specifically for him by Jason. He wasn't old-fashioned, but he didn't want to appear as someone who lived off his daughter-in-law.
In the end, it was Emma who used her own savings to invest in the small shop.
The shop was a porridge restaurant, with a total investment of 400,000 yuan. The storefront was found by Xiao Yichen at Jason's request. Despite his complaints, Xiao Yichen did find a very suitable location.
The shop was currently under renovation, and Emma had only been there once, with Ni PingSen overseeing the rest.
Anyway, he left early and returned late, almost keeping the same schedule as Emma and the others.
Seeing Ni PingSen return, Tang Mi glanced at her watch and stood up, saying, "I should head home too."
"Aren't you staying a bit longer?" Ni PingSen asked softly.
Tang Mi quickly shook her head, "No, I really need to go back; it's already quite late."
Emma nodded, "I'll see you out."
They stood up from the sofa, and Emma glanced at the photos hidden under the cushion, then looked at Ni PingSen who was greeting Tang Mi and preparing to go upstairs, so she confidently saw Tang Mi out the door.
At the door, Tang Mi smiled at her, "No matter what you do, Emma, I support you."
Emma smiled back, "Your words sound a bit morally ambiguous."
Tang Mi said with a grin, "I don't care; whatever Emma does is right."
Emma slightly raised her eyebrows, her eyes filled with a warm smile. This was probably what friendship was about—no matter what she chose to do, Tang Mi would support her.
*
Emma continued to have the private detective keep an eye on Liu Hui. In the past few days, Liu Hui still lived a secluded life as before. Wen Tang didn't go to see her either.
What Emma didn't know was that the reason Wen Tang didn't go to see her was because she encountered problems with finding media to expose the story.
She originally didn't want to involve herself and planned to hand over the news to someone else to expose.
However, these gossip reporters, who usually dared to follow any celebrity, seemed to hesitate when it came to exposing this matter.
Seeing that phone contact was ineffective, Wen Tang simply called the person out.
This paparazzo was someone she had known before. He said with a bitter face, "Sis Wen, you have no idea how crazy Hengya Group's lawyers are. You know about the previous scandal between Jason and Su Yiheng, right? That was claimed to be the number one gossip studio in the entertainment industry, but it was shut down in the end. Not only that, but those who worked there still have a hard time finding jobs now."
"What, can Hengya Group cover up the sky with one hand?" Wen Tang frowned.
The paparazzo showed a helpless expression and said, "They have money and a team of lawyers; they just want to drag you down. One lawsuit after another, this one hasn't ended, and that one comes up. Who the hell can stand that?"
Wen Tang's face turned ugly as she said discontentedly, "So no one dares to expose this?"
"Sis, I'm really telling you the truth. If it were a scandal involving Jason, we'd risk our lives to do it. But this is about his father-in-law's romantic affair. Who wants to risk offending Hengya Group just to expose such a trivial matter?"
Although the person's words were not pleasant to hear, they were all true.
Wentang's face looked grim. She had already been rejected over the phone, and now to be dismissed in person was nothing short of a slap in the face.
As she left, she was unaware that someone was waiting outside to capture her meeting with the paparazzi on camera.
Twenty minutes later, Emma's phone pinged with photos forwarded by Tang Mi.
Since Tang Mi was in charge of hiring the private investigator, all the photos were sent to her first, and then she forwarded them to Emma.
Emma picked up her phone and glanced down.
Tang Mi: "The man Wentang just met is from a paparazzi studio. She's probably looking to leak some information."
Emma calmly read Tang Mi's message.
It wasn't until Song Yu called out to her, "Sister Jingxi, what's wrong?" that she turned her head and replied, "Nothing."
She had thought it wouldn't come to a complete breakdown, but she couldn't tolerate the idea of someone targeting her family.
Wentang was merely trying to use her father's situation to undermine her, to humiliate her, and even potentially tarnish her father's reputation by suggesting he had abandoned Liu Hui.
Emma couldn't bear the thought of this becoming fodder for gossip.
For her father, it was an indelible part of his life, a past he preferred not to discuss. Yet some people were willing to destroy her father's life just to get to her.
Watching Ni Pingsen bustling about, sharing the latest updates on the store's renovation when he came home, Emma couldn't imagine the pain he would go through if this were exposed by the media.
His peaceful life was just beginning to restart.
Emma took a deep breath and started to look up information. In the newspaper's archive, she could find any information she wanted. For example, all the interviews and reports Wentang had done since joining Xinhua News Agency.
Emma quietly flipped through the pages.
The next day, after having lunch with Song Yu and returning, Song Yu went out for a while. When she came back, she seemed restless and a bit dazed.
It wasn't until she asked in a low voice, "Sister Jingxi, if someone buys stocks based on insider information, would that constitute insider trading?"
They were both primarily economic journalists, and the newspaper had repeatedly warned against exploiting any loopholes. After all, journalists could easily get insider information, but anyone daring to profit from such information would undoubtedly ruin their career.
Emma looked at her and immediately pulled her away from the desk until they were outside in an open area, with no one within ten meters.
She asked, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Seeing Emma's seriousness, Song Yu thought she was suspected and quickly shook her head, saying, "It's not me, I'm not talking about myself."
"I know," Emma said calmly.
Until Song Yu whispered, "I just accidentally overheard someone from our newspaper on the phone, saying that a numerical control company is currently restructuring, and it's a rare opportunity to act quickly."
The person on the phone was careful, but Song Yu was in the storage room looking for something. She wanted to find something on her desk from the cleaning lady.
Unexpectedly, as she was about to leave, she heard someone on the phone nearby.
She didn't dare to leave immediately, fearing being misunderstood as eavesdropping.
Emma looked at her and said earnestly, "Don't mention this to anyone else, just pretend you didn't hear it."
Song Yu looked up at her, sniffed quietly, and carefully said, "But insider trading is illegal, can I just turn a blind eye?"
"So I'll handle it," Emma said to her.
Song Yu's eyes widened in surprise as she said, "Do you know who it is?"
"There aren't many journalists I know who would do such a thing."
And Wentang happened to be one of them.