Wentang was quite famous at the Huimin News Agency, known for her extensive connections and her ability to interview high-profile figures. Emma had never associated her with insider trading until one day when they were chatting, and it just so happened that a listed group was restructuring, which was the topic of discussion.
Wentang proudly mentioned that she had already bought shares, and everyone praised her for her good judgment, saying she was truly a chief reporter.
What truly raised Emma's suspicions was the second time when Wentang publicly stated that a company's stock was worth buying. At the time, everyone was buzzing, thinking she must have made a mistake.
However, a week later, the company suddenly announced a successful financing round, with the amount being so significant that it made headlines that year.
It was then that Emma began to suspect her, especially since Wentang wasn't exactly discreet in her dealings. It's just that there had been no concrete evidence.
Emma had been looking for evidence these past few days, knowing that those who had tasted the benefits would not stop. The convenience of it all would be too tempting for her to resist.
She just didn't expect Wentang to be as careless as before. Or perhaps she was so used to her privileges that she felt she could continue to evade legal consequences.
Song Yu worriedly said, "Is something going to happen?"
Emma let out a light laugh.
However, Song Yu had inadvertently helped her solve a problem because she clearly heard Wentang mention a high-tech company that was about to undergo an acquisition and restructuring, becoming the largest big data medical service in the country.
When Emma returned to the office, Wentang happened to be back as well. She cast a sidelong glance at Emma and sneered.
In the evening, Emma was staring blankly at her computer, which displayed a举报信 (whistleblower letter). She had compiled all the information she had gathered into the document, but she hesitated to save it.
It wasn't until the door behind her opened and Jason walked in that Emma turned her head, startled. But she instinctively pressed her laptop down a bit.
Jason looked at her action, somewhat surprised, but still walked over: "Why aren't you resting yet?"
He had returned late enough, but when he entered the small study, Emma was still there.
Their house had many rooms, and Jason's study was usually locked, with Emma not going in, so she had turned another room into her own study.
After all, everyone had their own work and there was no need to share a room.
Jason walked over, and Emma sighed. He frowned, "Got something on your mind?"
Emma shook her head, but then nodded the next second.
She said with a wry smile, "Suddenly I feel like I'm being a bit despicable."
Writing a whistleblower letter was like tattling to a teacher in school. Emma knew it was because Wentang was indeed involved in legal issues and was not innocent. But she had always been forthright and open in her actions.
Jason: "Why do you say that?"
Emma didn't know where to start, so she simply lifted the computer screen, and Jason immediately saw the words "whistleblower letter."
His eyebrows lifted slightly; he hadn't expected Emma to be doing this.
As he read on, his brows furrowed more tightly. As the CEO of a listed company, he was well aware of how serious insider trading was. Even in the business world, many had been investigated for it and ended up serving years in prison.
He hadn't expected a journalist to dare do such a thing.
"Are you troubled by this?" Jason asked softly, guessing the source of Emma's distress.
Emma then recounted the situation with Liu Hui and Wentang, and it was then that Jason remembered Liu Hui. He had delegated the investigation to Tang Mian, but with the EU hearing coming to a final determination recently, he had been coming home late every night and hadn't had time to deal with it.
He bent down to embrace Emma for the first time, feeling guilty: "Sorry, it's my fault."
Emma held onto his waist and immediately said, "Don't blame yourself. I know you want to protect me and do everything for me. But you have your own matters, with so many businesses and futures tied to you."
"Be careful with your words, I don't want you to worry about everything."
Although Emma didn't know exactly what Jason had been busy with, she had heard some rumors.
After all, it wasn't a secret.
She just hadn't asked because she didn't want to add to his burden.
Now, his sudden apology made Emma feel even worse.
Jason held her in his arms, but he still felt guilty. Someone was trying to harm her, yet he had been preoccupied with his own affairs.
Emma broke free from his embrace, cupping his face with both hands.
"I know I'm still small and can't protect you like you protect me. But I will take care of myself and not worry you. So you just move forward, leave the rear to me."
They were husband and wife; she could continue to rely on Jason like this.
But she didn't want to make him work so hard, so tired.
Jason smiled lightly, looking at Emma and saying, "If you're troubled by this, I can tell you, you're doing the right thing."
Emma smiled back, "I just feel like I'm dealing with her out of personal grudges, which is not a good starting point."
If she had merely discovered Wentang's insider trading and reported it, she would have no guilt and would act without hesitation.
Jason touched her long hair, smiling lightly, "Emma."
Emma blinked, not expecting Jason to call her that. Tang Mi and the others were used to it, and she felt no shame, but when he said it, her sense of shame exploded.
Even her cheeks warmed slightly.
Jason looked at Emma: "The important thing is not the reason you're doing this, but the correctness of doing it. She committed a crime, and everyone has the right and the obligation to do this."
When Emma didn't respond, Jason chuckled softly: "If you don't want to do it, I can help."
Emma thought about it, having the CEO of Hengya Group help her submit a whistleblower letter...
That was still too extravagant.
A week later, while everyone was still at work, several people suddenly appeared in the office, heading straight for Wentang's desk as soon as they entered.
"Miss Wentang, we are the investigation team from the Shanghai Securities Regulatory Commission. We now suspect you of being involved in insider trading. Please cooperate with our investigation."
When they identified themselves, the entire office was in an uproar.
Everyone present knew what insider trading meant.
Wentang slowly stood up, her face pale as death.
Emma stood not far away, watching her, her heart unmoved. Perhaps, when she was profiting from these trades, she should have expected this day.
Just as Wentang was about to leave with them, she suddenly turned and rushed to Emma's desk: "It was you, right? You must be the one behind this."
"Behind this?" Emma thought of her meeting with Liu Hui and couldn't help but curl her lips.
So she slowly approached Wentang and whispered: "Then why did you meet with Liu Hui?"
Wentang had completely crossed her (bottom line), so she wouldn't go easy on her.
Wentang's face turned completely pale, and she glared at Emma.
Until Emma took a step back, looking at her coldly: "Admit your mistakes and stand firm when hit."
"So you need to stand firm and take the hit this time."
Emma's voice was as cold as piercing ice; perhaps she was never a kind-hearted person. Whoever touched her family would be sent to hell by her.
After a moment of stupor, Wentang almost went mad, looking at Emma with venom. But the investigators nearby asked her to cooperate immediately.
Soon, Xue Yujie hurried over; he was Wentang's boss and also needed to be questioned.
Of course, this was just a routine procedure.
Xue Yujie calmly indicated his acceptance, and Wentang wanted to say something, but Xue Yujie looked at her calmly and said: "Wentang, the most important thing for you now is to clarify the issue as soon as possible."
Wentang, reminded by him, was already flustered.
Although she had been reckless before because she thought she was doing everything secretly, now that she was confronted, she was completely panicked.
After Wentang was taken away, the entire office erupted.
No one expected their colleague to be taken away for insider trading; they all understood that if the charge of insider trading was established, she might go to jail. A very capable business genius in the country had previously been convicted for insider trading.
And before Wentang left, she said a few words to Emma. Although no one heard what they were talking about, many people were now looking over here as if to appraise.
Song Yu looked at Emma worriedly.
However, Emma's expression remained indifferent, not greatly affected. That's just her character; once she's determined, she'll do it and won't be easily influenced by the outside world.
Then someone asked, "Wentang won't go to jail, right?"
But after she asked the question, no one in the office answered her because no one knew what Wentang's situation was now, whether the amount of her insider trading was huge, or whether it had a very significant impact.
After all, if it was just a small transaction, confiscating the illegal proceeds and fining her would be nothing.
Everyone knew that Wentang came from a well-off family and even had a rich second-generation boyfriend; if it was just a fine, she should be able to bear it.
But if she had gone too far...
In the afternoon, before Xue Yujie returned, he didn't call Emma directly in the office but called her outside beforehand.
Xue Yujie leaned against the railing; this was an extended balcony in the news agency where people often liked to chat during their lunch break. At the moment, it was work time, so there wasn't anyone around.
As Emma slowly approached, Xue Yujie heard her footsteps and turned around, smiling at Emma: "You know what?" But after uttering just four words, he suddenly laughed, turned around, and placed both hands on the railing.
"Wentang is really going to be in deep trouble this time," he said indifferently.
When Xue Yujie went to assist with the investigation, although the other party said they were still in the process of investigation and couldn't disclose more details, Xue Yujie still managed to find a friend. After all, he had always been in charge of economic news, and despite his young age, he had secured his position with naturally impressive connections.
Although the other party didn't reveal specifics, the implication was that this incident was huge, very huge. It wasn't just about Wentang. And she was very likely to end up in jail.
Emma glanced at him indifferently: "Seems she's not just a little greedy."
Emma wasn't exactly surprised by the outcome, but she wasn't entirely unsurprised either. She walked to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the railing. It wasn't a high-rise building, so she could only see the road opposite.
At that moment, a cleaning lady with her water cup just came out of a milk tea shop. When she reached the door, she slightly bowed to the people inside. With the hot weather these days, it's easy for cleaners to suffer from heatstroke, and many shops along the street provide places for them to rest and offer drinking water.
Xue Yujie turned to look at her, and after a while, noticing her gaze fixed across the street, he followed her line of sight.
"What's up?" he asked.
Emma watched the lady slowly walk to her garbage cart, open her cup, and start drinking. She lightly lifted her chin: "People with power who don't feel grateful at all, instead using their power to increasingly profit themselves. Yet it's the ordinary people who are quietly following the rules of society."
"Say thank you when helped, and bow in gratitude when treated well."
Xue Yujie was silent for a long time, then suddenly shook his head with a smile: "Emma, you really are beyond my comprehension."
"Admitted," Emma replied politely.
Xue Yujie's phone rang just then. After glancing at it, he sighed and said, "It seems news travels fast in our industry."
Wentang's incident had just occurred, and someone had already called him to ask about it. After all, a Xinhua News Agency reporter being investigated for insider trading was a huge scandal in the journalism world. He figured the higher-ups wouldn't let him off the hook for a few days.
Xue Yujie nodded and smiled lightly: "You've really thrown me a big challenge this time."
Emma looked at him quietly until she softly said, "My resignation letter is already written. I'll send it to your email before the end of the workday."
Xue Yujie's eyes widened; he hadn't expected Emma to be so decisive and thorough.
"I didn't mean that," Xue Yujie sighed.
Emma, however, seemed quite relaxed as she looked at him and said, "I know Wentang's incident will inevitably affect you and the news agency since she's your subordinate. I'm not resigning out of guilt, but because I know I've brought negative attention to the agency."
So she wanted to resign.
Xue Yujie didn't quite know how to respond.
He sighed, "What if I want to keep you? Jingxi, you're a great reporter, strong and socially responsible. Losing you would be harder for me to accept than Wentang getting caught."
Emma smiled easily, sincerely saying, "Thank you, even knowing you're the type to speak like this, I'm still very happy."
Xue Yujie's eyes widened innocently as he said, "What's wrong with how I speak? I never praise lightly."
But just after saying that, he became serious: "Actually, this opportunity has been available for a while now. I wanted to tell you today that we have a training opportunity in Beijing for three months. This training is really a rare chance, and the teachers you'll have are beyond your imagination."
Although he said that, to entice Emma, Xue Yujie still revealed the names of a few teachers.
Sure enough, Emma's eyes lit up.
Originally, Xue Yujie had planned to offer this opportunity to Emma, and he hadn't expected this incident to happen in between, so it was like a premature disclosure.
After their chat, they went their separate ways downstairs.
In the following days, Wentang didn't come to work. Although she hadn't been detained yet, she had been applied for a travel ban. And it was said that her rich second-generation boyfriend was also involved.
Even without Emma's intervention, the large-scale manipulation of accounts would have been detected by the securities regulatory commission's big data monitoring. However, due to the vast amount of information involved in insider trading, different people receive different favorable messages, making it difficult to identify the true manipulators of these accounts, a process that could take several months.
Now, Emma's involvement has allowed the regulatory commission to lock onto the suspects directly.
Soon, various financial media began to leak news of the insider trading, and the Shanghai media went into a frenzy digging into Wentang's and her boyfriend's backgrounds.
Since Wentang is part of the media circle, it's not difficult to uncover news about her.
Her name was quickly exposed in the media, and netizens almost despised her, especially considering the stock market hasn't been doing well in recent years. Many people have lost money, while Wentang has been profiting handsomely from her position and insider information.
Emma decided to accept Xue Yujie's proposal to study in Beijing.
When she told Jason about it, he was silent for a few seconds. Emma thought he was reluctant to let her go and immediately hugged him, whispering, "We still have the weekends, I promise to come back and see you every weekend."
Before Jason could respond, Emma hooked her neck and gently shook it.
"Are you really not happy?" Emma carefully observed his expression, thinking Jason wouldn't mind since Beijing and Shanghai are not far apart and the flight is quick.
Then Jason looked up and said calmly, "I just wanted you to act coquettish for a while longer."
Emma was taken aback.
Then she looked at Jason and suddenly tilted her head slightly, "Thank you, honey, I love you the most."
Her usually aloof tone softened, and for a moment, a tingling sensation rose from his tailbone, especially as she moved on his lap.
Who could withstand that?
When Jason looked at her, his eyes were red.
The next second, he pushed Emma down and almost gritted his teeth, whispering in her ear, "I was going to let you off..."
Emma was almost amused by his behavior.
Why does this man always have so many high-sounding reasons?
*
Emma had already started preparing for her trip to Beijing, and Ni Pingsen was very supportive. He believed that since Emma was young, it was good for her to learn more while she was still young.
And he was right, Beijing was so close.
However, when the news of the EU's special hearing against Hengya Group was first reported by Reuters, the world's attention focused on this Chinese giant company.
Immediately, Hengya Group issued a statement saying it would cooperate with the hearing to prove the legality and rationality of all its business activities.
When Emma saw this news in the office, she was no more shocked than anyone else.
She usually doesn't interfere much with Jason's work because it involves many trade secrets, and she rarely goes to his study at home.
Although there are no secrets between husband and wife, they respect each other's work.
Unless it's something they voluntarily bring up.
She always knew that Hengya Group was dealing with the EU recently, but she didn't expect the situation to be so bad.
When she came home at night, Jason saw her worried expression and hugged her, "Don't worry, I'm fine. You go to Beijing to study, and I'll come to see you in a few days."
Emma looked up at him, "Can I trust you?"
Jason smiled lightly, leaned down and kissed her forehead, "Yes, I'll be fine. You forgot, we haven't reported our wedding yet."
Emma didn't expect him to mention this at a time like this.
The next day, Emma went to Xue Yujie's office, put her resignation letter on his desk, and said apologetically, "Sorry, I've disappointed you in the end."
Xue Yujie looked at her and asked softly, "Is it because of your husband's situation?"
Emma nodded, "I can't focus on work at a time like this. I know he has a large legal team handling this matter, but I want to be by his side."
Every time she was in trouble, Jason was by her side.
He had sacrificed so much for her.
Emma reflected and realized she couldn't think of anything she had given up for him, so this time she wanted to be by his side, even if she couldn't do anything, just holding his hand would be enough.
Love is never a one-way street.
This time, she wanted to do something for her Jason.
Xue Yujie picked up the resignation letter, but instead of opening it, he tore it up directly: "I agree to give you a leave, and I also agree that you don't have to go to Beijing. So, no resignation needed."
Emma didn't expect Xue Yujie to give her such an easy pass.
Seeing her astonished expression, Xue Yujie waved his hand: "Don't be too grateful to me, I'm just trying to help the newspaper retain its talent."
When Jason arrived home in the evening, he saw the neatly packed suitcases at the door.
As he entered the cloakroom, he saw Emma sitting on the floor, carefully folding clothes one by one. When she looked up and saw Jason, she said, "Look, I've almost finished packing."
"Do you need to bring so many clothes to Beijing?" Jason looked at the several boxes she had packed and couldn't help but laugh.
But to his surprise, Emma looked up at him and said, "I'm not going to Beijing."
Jason was taken aback.
Emma reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. Jason knelt on one knee and heard her softly say, "Jason, it's my turn to be by your side this time."
"Always before it was your choices, now let me choose."
"This time, I choose you."
The cloakroom suddenly became very quiet. Jason quietly looked at her, his eyes deep like a pool of ink, hiding all emotions.
Emma thought he was still hesitating, so she pointed to the luggage outside and then to the suitcases on the ground: "I've packed my bags, even if you don't want to take me, you have to."
Finally, Jason let out a soft sigh: "Stars, the situation is not as serious as you think."
Really, he had never expected Emma to do this.
He had already planned that after returning from Europe, he would go straight to Beijing to see her. His little girl should focus on her studies and work hard to enrich herself for the career she loves.
She didn't need to give up anything for him; her safety and happiness were his greatest joy.
But Emma's silent choice surprised Jason.
He never expected Emma to act this way.
He knew how much she loved her job. No matter the beatings, the war zones, or even the brutal bombings, she had never thought of giving up. Jason wasn't saying she had to choose between her work and him.
Just as Emma wouldn't ask him to choose between his work and her.
They supported each other.
But this time, Emma silently chose to be with him, just as she said, perhaps she couldn't do anything, but she wanted to be by his side during his toughest times.
Whether it was under the scrutiny of the whole world or facing global public opinion, she was determined to be with him.
With a heart full of courage, she would stand by his side, sharing the pressure from the entire world with him.
Jason said he couldn't help but be moved. At this moment, he could only look at her silently, feeling somewhat at a loss.
He had sworn to protect his little girl with everything he had.
Now she was telling him, it's okay, I can also hold your hand and go through the storm with you. He never saw her as a delicate flower; she had always grown wild and strong on her own, even without his protection, she would become a towering tree.
Emma looked at him, her voice still firm: "I just want to be with you."
Jason closed his eyes for a moment, finally unable to resist, and gently leaned in. His forehead lightly touched hers, and after a while, his voice was somewhat deep: "Stars."
For a moment, his heart melted completely.
It wasn't just a moment, but a feeling that persisted until now, an emotion so unfamiliar to him.
"I love you," he whispered, gently nuzzling her forehead.
Emma reached out and hugged his waist, gently patting him as if to soothe.
She really didn't expect that what she thought was an ordinary decision would make this usually calm and composed man so emotionally open, and now she also realized how excessive she had been in the past.
She said she wanted to stay in the old house waiting for her father, and he, such a dignified person, didn't hesitate to accompany her in the dilapidated old house.
When she was attacked, he was so angry he wanted to kill the attacker.
When she was at a loss after the bombing and sat on the hospital steps, it was he who appeared and took her home.
The man she loved, though silent, always protected her in his arms.
Emma's heart was instantly filled with guilt and sadness.
As she gently lifted her head and kissed him, she realized how much she had taken for granted.
He seemed cold and hard on the outside, with an overly handsome appearance and a proud temperament that ( means 'unconsciously' or 'invisibly') created a sense of distance between him and others.
So no one knew how tender Jason truly was.
Emma cautiously probed with her tongue, trying to trace the shape of his lips. Kissing had always seemed to be his initiative. Until she no longer wanted to be so hesitant and pressed forward.
But she misjudged her strength, and Jason, who had been kneeling on one leg for so long, barely maintained his balance, which was lost in an instant.
As Emma's eyes widened and she lunged forward, Jason held her tightly in his arms.
A very broad and sturdy person cushioned her fall, and Emma felt no discomfort.
She propped her hands on his chest, about to push herself up, but Jason's palm rested on her back, gently pressing, and with a slight hook in his eyes, he looked at her and said in a hoarse voice, "Keep going."
Keep doing what you were just doing.
Emma was stunned for a few seconds because she thought this man was quite mischievous; his inaction was entirely a ploy to lure her in.
But the next moment, she still leaned down and kissed him.
Not for anything else, but because she loved him, and she wanted to kiss him.