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Her Rose – Chapter 60

Do You Have Any Cigarettes at Home?

Cheng Ying stared blankly at the woman before her. Her eyes were a little red, making her look like a pitiful puppy.

Evidently, baring her soul like this was a bit out of character for Jiang Hanguang. Under Cheng Ying’s gaze, her face turned red.

But right now, there was something more important to do than being shy.

She leaned over and gently touched Cheng Ying’s forehead, coaxing the Alpha in a tone that was both coquettish and comforting, “So don’t be sad, okay?”

How could she possibly feel bad anymore?

Cheng Ying’s heart was softened by Jiang Hanguang’s sudden, heartfelt confession. The Omega’s bright eyes were just inches away, seeming to hold all the light in the world.

Yet they just stared straight at her, shining on her, only hoping that she wouldn’t be sad.

The self-loathing born from powerlessness was swept away, replaced by a sense of responsibility filled with hope.

Even if the world was terrible, even if she was truly powerless, at least Jiang Hanguang still trusted her, relied on her, just as she always had.

For the sake of this trust, she had to give it her all, instead of wallowing in self-pity like this.

Cheng Ying sat up, wrapped an arm around Jiang Hanguang’s supple waist, and pulled her into an embrace. The woman’s rose scent was the best comfort in the world. She buried her head in the crook of Jiang Hanguang’s neck and hummed softly.

Then she mumbled, “This makes me feel even more useless. You’re the one who’s had to deal with this, yet you’re the one comforting me.”

But she still felt guilty. It was Jiang Hanguang who had suffered all this injustice, yet it was also Jiang Hanguang who, bearing these scars, was comforting her.

The woman in her arms gently shook her head, stroking the back of her head, her tone firm. “It’s not like that. I would have encountered these things even without you. With you here, I’m not so afraid. Don’t say that ever again.”

How could she be so good?

After experiencing all those terrible things, her soul still radiated a sincere warmth, as if no amount of hardship could diminish it in the slightest.

For the first time, Cheng Ying felt unworthy in front of someone, and for the countless time, she thanked the heavens for letting her meet her.

She rubbed her face against the delicate skin on the side of Jiang Hanguang’s neck and solemnly promised, “I will do my best… to protect you.”

Seeing her mood improve, Jiang Hanguang relaxed and had the leeway to joke, “Besides, it’s not all bad. I really like Director Yan’s work. I never thought I’d have a chance to work with him.”

The Director Yan Jiang Hanguang mentioned was the director of 《Return》. His full name was Yan Zhi, currently 50 years old. He was a top arthouse film director in the industry, known for being serious about his work and having a fiery temper. Even his worst films had won at least two awards.

In fact, aside from the upsetting plot, the other aspects of 《Return》 met the standards Cheng Ying had originally set for a script for Jiang Hanguang. Not only was the production team excellent, but as an arthouse film, its perspective was relatively narrow, meaning Jiang Hanguang would be the sole and most prominent protagonist. This was confirmed just by looking at the cast list, where besides Jiang Hanguang, she didn’t recognize a single name.

Cheng Ying was more aware of these things than Jiang Hanguang, but the plot alone had been enough to make her too angry to consider anything else.

Now that the decision to film it had been made, these points could indeed be brought up as some consolation.

With only three days left before filming began, Jiang Hanguang decided to make the most of her time to familiarize herself with the script. So, after another moment of tenderness with Cheng Ying, she returned to her room alone to start studying the script.

Cheng Ying, on the other hand, went to her screening room. She had been so furious earlier that she had told Cheng Mantou to investigate the Feng family without giving any specific direction, so slow progress was inevitable. Now that she had calmed down, she planned to do some preliminary digging herself before formulating a detailed strategy.

She first searched for information related to Feng’s Food Group online, intending to filter for the information she needed starting from the most superficial level.

Although her search was essentially no different from an ordinary person looking up information online, Cheng Ying’s self-programmed search engine, combined with Cheng Mantou’s vast computing power, was enough to scan for information from every nook and cranny. In less than half a second, the huge display screen was filled with search results, all neatly categorized by time and sentiment, clear at a glance.

The so-called “sentiment” referred to whether the vocabulary used when mentioning Feng’s Food Group was positive or negative. Cheng Ying simply classified it into three levels: positive, neutral, and negative.

She read the information on the screen ten lines at a time and quickly came to her own conclusion.

Currently, Feng’s overall reputation was still good, but it was noteworthy that starting from six months ago, negative information about Feng’s Food Group had been growing exponentially and had maintained this growth trend.

Although this was still insignificant compared to the vast amount of positive reviews, for someone like Cheng Ying who was deliberately looking for trouble, it was an important piece of information.

What happened six months ago?

This time, Cheng Ying no longer searched for information on the public network but directly hacked into Feng’s internal network.

It was said that after several cases a few years ago where internal company data was leaked, leading to heavy losses, traditional enterprises like Feng’s Food Group had also begun to take confidentiality seriously, spending huge sums to hire specialized network security companies to protect their internal networks.

But for a top-tier hacker like Cheng Ying, who could enter and exit the internal network of a “tech giant” like Cheng’s Energy Group as if it were her own backyard, it was just a matter of spending an extra half a minute.

“Hm?” Cheng Ying casually scrolled through the information that supposedly only the senior management of Feng’s Food Group was qualified to view, her gaze finally landing on a notice.

The notice was issued exactly seven months ago, only a month’s difference from when the negative information about Feng’s Food Group began to multiply.

It was a personnel transfer order, worded in a very businesslike manner, announcing the position changes of several senior executives at Feng’s.

Cheng Ying raised an eyebrow and began to search for the names on the notice one by one.

The deeds of those corporate executives were naturally not as public as corporate information, but for Cheng Ying, as long as they had ever appeared on the internet, she could definitely find them.

“50, 55, 49, 52, 37…” Cheng Ying lined up the people and their information and looked at them one by one.

Soon, she found the part that interested her. The replaced executives were generally older, while the newly appointed ones were all very young.

Although it was normal for a company to replace the old with the new in its senior management, the process was usually slow and cautious.

A large-scale reshuffle like this most likely meant a change in power at the very top of the company.

Cheng Ying pondered for a moment, then typed “Feng Ying” into the search box.

Feng Ying, a female Alpha, currently 57 years old, Chairman of Feng’s Food Group, and mother of the current President of Feng’s Food Group, Feng Nan. She was known for being low-key and cautious. The period when she was in charge of Feng’s Food Group was its period of most rapid development. At the age of 50, she was diagnosed with liver cancer. Shortly after, Feng Nan replaced Feng Ying as the President of Feng’s.

When the news of Feng Ying’s illness was announced, the stock price of Feng’s Food Group fell sharply. It only gradually recovered to its original level after people discovered that her illness did not have a major impact on the company’s operations.

Seven years ago?

Cheng Ying sifted through Feng’s internal data from seven years ago and found that the senior management was calm and peaceful, with no changes at all.

For a large corporation undergoing a power transition, this was the most abnormal thing.

She closed her eyes. In an instant, countless clues intertwined and converged in her mind, finally weaving into a clear thread.

After Feng Ying fell ill, she worried that her son couldn’t steer this giant ship. So, she first released the news of her illness, then openly abdicated her position to Feng Nan, guiding him from behind the scenes to help him secure his seat.

That notice from seven months ago wasn’t a so-called management change, but Feng Ying’s critical illness notice.

This well-meaning mother was probably no longer able to control the giant ship, so she could only let go and allow her son to take over completely.

But could a guy like Feng Nan, who would even scheme against his ex-wife of ten years, really secure his position as his mother hoped?

Cheng Ying opened her eyes, a glint of light flashing within them.

She began to sift through the negative information related to Feng’s Food Group from the past seven months.

After automatically filtering out the usual bad reviews and all the insignificant complaints.

A piece of information caught her eye—”Feng’s Food Group defaults on payment to supplier, supplier dies mysteriously after appealing.”

This piece of information wasn’t a factual news report. It appeared on the gossip section of some third-rate forum. The poster’s narrative was incoherent and deliberately mysterious, having the style of a cheap, common ghost story. At the time, it didn’t attract much attention at all.

But even so, the post was still deleted ten minutes after it was published and vanished completely from the internet.

In other words, Feng’s Food Group itself, at least, cared about this information. They were afraid of the news spreading, even if the possibility was minuscule.

Without Cheng Ying’s nearly limitless search capabilities and her technology to recover deleted information, no one would have noticed this post.

Cheng Ying sent the information to Cheng Mantou, telling her to first investigate what happened to this supplier afterward.

Then she stretched, and just as she was about to look up information on Feng Ying, the doorbell to the screening room suddenly rang.

Cheng Ying wasn’t used to being suddenly disturbed while working, and she slipped, nearly falling off her chair.

Then she remembered that besides herself, there was another person in the house now.

Subsequently, a hint of a smile appeared on her previously expressionless face. She turned off the computer, got up, and opened the door.

Jiang Hanguang stood outside the door, holding a notebook in one hand, her brow slightly furrowed as if she was pondering something.

Seeing Cheng Ying open the door, she looked at the smiling Alpha and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Do you have any cigarettes at home?”

Cheng Ying: “…?”


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