Chapter 88: The Truth Comes to Light, Crush Them to Death (Seek Subscriptions)

The next morning, the whistle of the “Dudu” blared.

Song Yuncheng slowly opened her eyes; last night she had dreamed that after graduation, she joined an e-commerce company in Shanghai, started as a salesperson, rose to a senior executive at a listed company, earning a million yuan a year.

At that time, Chen Yan’s business had failed, Meng Jie had left him, and in his lowest moment, she, like a dominant CEO from a romance drama, told Chen Yan: “From now on, I’ll support you.”

Just as she was enjoying the dream, a sudden clamor jolted her awake.

She struggled to sit up, and the towel wrapped around her suddenly slipped off—only then did she realize she wasn’t wearing a single piece of clothing.

Turning around, she saw that the “pillow” that had been poking her in the dream was actually Chen Yan’s body.

Instinctively, she reached out to wake him, then suddenly remembered she was completely naked—she should put on clothes first.

As she quietly got out of bed, her peripheral vision caught the thermometer, fever patches, fever medicine, and thermometer on the nightstand.

Only then did Song Yuncheng recall: the last thing she remembered was showering—so, did I have a fever?

“But how did I end up sleeping in Chen Yan’s arms all night?” Song Yuncheng couldn’t figure it out.

Chen Yan slept lightly; even Song Yuncheng’s slightest movement woke him.

“You’re awake. Still feverish?”

Chen Yan smiled as he watched her bare feet on the carpet.

“Close your eyes!” Song Yuncheng hastily wrapped the towel around herself and shouted.

“I’ve seen enough last night. What’s the point of covering up now?” Chen Yan yawned, teasing her lightly.

Song Yuncheng froze; her fair, smooth oval face flushed crimson. “Ah!” she cried, snatched up her clothes, and dashed into the bathroom.

Three minutes later, Song Yuncheng returned.

“Why are you staring at me? You passed out in the bathroom—I took care of you all night!”

Chen Yan rolled his eyes, unbuttoning his shirt as he headed for the bathroom to freshen up.

“I don’t believe you didn’t take advantage of me,” said Song Yuncheng, fully dressed, fuming.

“It was just convenient.”

Chen Yan admitted it openly, then stripped off his shirt and walked into the bathroom bare-chested.

Song Yuncheng turned away as he undressed, and only when his footsteps faded did she sneak a glance.

This bastard has such a great body!

Song Yuncheng swallowed hard, silently sighing—but she shook her head repeatedly, as if trying to shake off these chaotic thoughts.

“As long as Chen Yan is fine, Song Yuncheng, you must keep your distance—he’s got a girlfriend next door. If they find out, you’ll never explain it.”

Song Yuncheng propped her chin in her hand, silently warning herself.

“Didn’t you forget about confessing yesterday? You’ve always been a girl who wants to break up other people’s relationships. Stop pretending.”

As one thought flashed through her mind, another immediately surfaced.

Nervousness, panic, guilt—negative emotions poured in. Song Yuncheng grabbed her backpack and ran for the door.

How desperately she had wanted to see Chen Yan yesterday, now she didn’t want to lay eyes on him.

“Bang!”

Chen Yan, mid-soap, stared blankly—he thought Song Yuncheng must be hungry and had gone downstairs for breakfast.

When he finished washing and came out, he found her backpack gone too—and a text message on his phone: “I’m going back to Xu City.”

Is this woman insane?

Chen Yan threw his phone onto the bed, helplessly muttering under his breath.

He couldn’t help missing Cheng Guo—the girl who constantly dressed up in cosplay for him: Spider-Man, Black Widow, Avatar, Angel Beast—you name it, always making Chen Zong laugh.

But then he remembered Cheng Guo in 2010 was probably still in kindergarten—and his thoughts vanished.

Chen Yan changed into clean clothes, walked out, and sent a text to Meng Jie.

Meanwhile.

Keywords like “FoxTao Reports to Police” and “FoxTao Tenfold Compensation for Fakes” quietly climbed into the top ten trending topics.

A bottle of Maotai cost 1,499 yuan; customers who held an authentication certificate from the China Inspection Institute or Maotai’s Anti-Counterfeit Office could contact FoxTao customer service for a 14,990 yuan compensation.

The comment section, once filled with angry rants, suddenly turned harmonious.

Wang Zihao, via Police Inspector channels, obtained contact details of 23 joint complainants and assigned customer service staff to reach out to each one with blunt, straightforward soothing tactics.

Ask for bank account numbers—then just transfer the money!

As soon as users opened the FoxTao homepage, a “Tenfold Compensation for Fakes” notice popped up.

Before the news of “FoxTao Selling Fake Maotai” fully exploded, Chen Yan had already swiftly regained user trust by offering “Tenfold Compensation for Fakes.”

“Lost 15,000 yuan. Should’ve used two priority queue codes!”

“@FoxTao CEO Chen Yan, Chen Zong, when are you selling Maotai again? I’ll definitely buy!”

“Pfft! You don’t want to support him—you just want to make money, say it straight!”

“I think Chen Yan’s a decent guy—daring to promise tenfold compensation. Besides, the facts aren’t clear yet; maybe he’s innocent.”

On Weibo, some regretted missing out on Maotai, some mocked, others began defending Chen Yan and FoxTao.

And this trend grew clearer—more and more people were speaking up for FoxTao.

Until several Shanghai netizens who had bought fake Maotai spoke out: “Chen Zong’s character is fine. Just for daring to promise tenfold compensation, I’ll keep shopping at FoxTao.”

After the tenfold compensation was paid, users who bought fake wine changed their attitudes and began defending Chen Yan.

Coupled with interviews featuring Chen Yan aired by E-Commerce Daily and Shanghai News, public opinion flipped 180 degrees.

They had assumed FoxTao, as a CPS referral platform, only cared about collecting commissions and ignored product quality.

After watching the video, they learned FoxTao sent every flash-sale item for professional testing.

The problematic Maotai batch had a compliance report from the China Inspection Institute, proving FoxTao had done its utmost.

The real culprit was probably Jiushen Network!

Instantly, FoxTao became the innocent victim, while Jiushen Network was branded the villain.

Netizens demanded the Police Inspector thoroughly investigate Jiushen Network, suspecting it mixed fake and real goods—some even called the Industry and Commerce Bureau and Market Supervision, leaving Liu Zhiping in a frenzy.

Fortunately, that night, the Police Inspector brought good news.

Following the logistics chain from Yancheng all the way to Shanghai, they finally spotted anomalies at the Yizhou sorting center.

The surveillance footage from December 20 was mysteriously missing 27 minutes.

Surveillance tech back then was relatively basic, lacking automatic anomaly detection or package tracking—if the culprits hadn’t deleted the footage, the Police Inspector might never have found it.

But these guys were guilty and nervous, so they tampered with the cameras.

This fake wine scandal involved hundreds of thousands of yuan in illicit funds; both buyers and sellers had filed reports, and an 18-year-old college entrepreneur was also implicated.

Daily trending topics put immense pressure on the Police Inspector officers.

Once the clue was caught, the rest was simple.

Two sorters and one surveillance guard had swapped real Maotai with fakes, sold them to liquor dealers, and pocketed 76,000 yuan.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan scoffed—he never imagined he’d end up in the Police Inspector’s office over just a few ten thousand yuan.

The truth was out!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief!

Jiushen Network immediately contacted several major Weibo influencers overnight and released the full story.

They also posted a lawyer’s letter on Weibo to Yunsu Express, demanding:

First, compensation for Jiushen Network’s reputational damage;

Second, coverage of all user complaints and refund costs triggered by the fake wine;

Third, compensation for indirect economic losses including reduced orders and customer attrition.

One hour later, FoxTao’s Legal Force also sent a lawyer’s letter to Yunsu Express, with identical demands.

Together, they were determined to destroy this courier company.

There’s no such thing as absolute innocence—if they didn’t clear things up, FoxTao and Jiushen Network would be the ones blamed.

Not to mention Jiushen Network, which had grand ambitions to dominate the liquor e-commerce market but now faced ruin—possibly never recovering.

Just the damage to FoxTao’s funding and valuation alone would be enough to cripple Yunsu Express.

Even if they got little compensation, Yunsu’s reputation was ruined—no one would ever cooperate with them again.

Enraged, Yunsu’s boss Liao Wei vented all his fury on the three employees involved, even using connections to demand severe punishment.

Even after their families offered full restitution, Liao Wei refused to relent, issuing a midnight announcement: “Due to management gaps, Jiushen Network and FoxTao suffered major losses. We sincerely apologize. We have terminated the three employees involved and will strengthen surveillance protocols…”

His tone was humble, as if surrendering.

Liao Wei called Liu Zhiping first; as soon as Liu answered, Liao Wei hung up without a word.

He quickly used connections to beg for mercy; someone advised him: “Jiushen Network and FoxTao trended for two days, orders halved—they’re desperate to vent. Just endure for now.”

Jiushen Network’s boss came from Tsinghua’s business circle, unlike Liao Wei, a mere street hustler—he had wide networks and abundant resources, and even as a startup, he secured Maotai’s partnership; he didn’t give a damn about Liao Wei.

On the other side, Chen Yan’s Weibo followers surged to 2.6 million; his pinned post was the lawyer’s letter targeting Yunsu Express.

Sitting in his office, Liao Wei panicked—if Chen Yan kept publicly shaming Yunsu every day, he might as well kill himself.

“Boss, the families of the three employees are still causing a ruckus downstairs. Should we call the police?” The assistant knocked and whispered.

“Where are the security guards? Are they just collecting pay? Kick them all out!” Liao Wei slammed his desk in rage.

“Yes, Boss!” The assistant nodded, turning to call security.

“Wait!” Liao Wei suddenly had an idea, called the assistant back, and whispered instructions.

“Boss, what if they’re heartless?” The assistant stared, thinking Liao Wei’s plan was unrealistic.

“They’re determined to crush me—what can I do?” Liao Wei spread his hands, playing the helpless rogue.

“Alright, I’ll handle it right away.” The assistant understood his boss’s plight—Yunsu had only been around four years, and its growth had been strong, even securing an exclusive deal with Jiushen Network.

Who could have expected that right at the start of the partnership, Yun Su had been planted with such a massive bomb?

The assistant left the office, went downstairs to the company entrance, spoke a few words to the protesting family members, then turned and walked back.

He had no desire to deal with these troublemakers—thieves caught red-handed still had the nerve to cause a scene at the company; it was truly unbelievable, what kind of people were out there.

……

……

Chen Yansen took Meng Jie and kept playing until the afternoon of the 26th, then took the high-speed train back to Xu City.

It had been three days since he was taken to the Police Inspector’s office.

On the second floor of the startup park, calm had returned, though several workstations were now empty.

“Boss Chen, you’re finally back!”

Xiang Pengfei spotted Chen Yansen at the stairwell out of the corner of his eye, shouted loudly, and rushed toward him with open arms.

Chen Yansen sidestepped, eyeing him with distaste, as if to say: You’re a grown man—why are you trying to hug me?

The others also gathered around him, their eyes filled with grievance, seeing Chen Yansen as if he were their father.

During the days Chen Yansen was gone, they had truly lost their bearings.

(End of Chapter)