Chapter 988: Discovering the Mole in the Company

Yang Jing did not answer, just stared at him, her gaze like a knife, scraping across his face bit by bit.

Ma Rui felt his spine crawl under her gaze and hurriedly added, "It was Liu Wei who joined a film crew and got involved with a male actor; she lost control for a moment. Later, she discovered that the man wasn't very reliable and had some mental issues, with an extremely strong desire for control. Liu Wei couldn't stand it, so she stopped paying attention to him. Then later... she found out she was pregnant."

Before he could finish, Yang Jing slapped her chopsticks onto the table with a "Clack!", reached out, and grabbed his ear. The force wasn't great, but it was filled with fire: "Are you still trying to feed me lines? The tabloids all over the streets are publishing stories about you and Liu Wei right now!"

Ma Rui winced in pain, but his mouth didn't let up: "Yang Jing, don't be fooled! Right now, we and two other film and television companies all want to go public, but only one can make it in the end. They are deliberately trying to sow discord between us, making us fight and split up so they can sit back and reap the rewards!"

Yang Jing suddenly became anxious, her eye sockets turning red, and her voice rose: "Do you think I'm that unreasonable? Would I sabotage you? But you can't treat me like a fool to my face! I've seen photos of that child; the features are carved from the same mold as yours. Especially those single eyelids. Ma Rui, if you tell me the truth today, I won't do anything to you—but you must not lie to me again."

Ma Rui lowered his eyes, his lips moving as if something were stuck in his throat, but in the end, he said nothing and just lowered his head in silence.

Watching him like this, the stifling feeling in Yang Jing's chest surged up, her nose felt sore, and her voice trembled: "Ma Rui, if you find me an eyesore, I don't want anything of yours; I'll leave with nothing. After all, if it weren't for you back then, I wouldn't be where I am today."

Ma Rui nodded, his throat feeling as if it were blocked by something, and it took a long time for him to squeeze out a few words: "I'm sorry, we..."

Yang Jing could no longer hold it in and burst into loud sobs with a "Waa."

Ma Rui felt a pang in his heart, raised his hand, and slapped himself hard across the face a few times, the "Slap! Slap!" sounds ringing out, and his cheeks immediately turned red.

He leaned over, pulled her tightly into his arms, rested his chin on the top of her head, and his voice was extremely hoarse: "I wanted to tell you a long time ago... but I didn't have the courage."

"You're just a liar!" Yang Jing cried while pounding on his chest, her fists striking in a hurried and chaotic manner.

Ma Rui let her hit him, and when she was tired of pounding, he suddenly lowered his head, his voice dropping a few notches: "Yang Jing, tell me—who leaked the news to you?"

"Liu Ying! Liu Wei's best friend," Yang Jing said, sobbing.

Ma Rui's eyes turned cold: "Liu Ying is a traitor. She is very close to Brother Film and Television Company. I suspect she is a spy planted by them in our company. And she even wanted to make us, husband and wife, fight. Yang Jing, at a time like this, we must not have internal strife. Let me tell you, the communication software we acquired might bring us immense wealth; I actually don't care much about whether those actors leave our company. We could even go public in Hong Kong."

After hearing this, Yang Jing, her tears not yet dry, suddenly said: "Let me tell you some good news: I'm pregnant. It was supposed to be a happy thing, but that Liu Ying insisted on telling me that news, causing us to have this fight..."

Ma Rui was stunned for a second, then immediately hugged her tightly, kissed her face several times, and smiled so wide his gums showed: "Wife, that's great! My mom and uncle will be so happy when they hear this news!"

Yang Jing frowned, her tone shifting: "Since Liu Wei gave birth to a son for you, I demand—no matter what, my son cannot receive less inheritance than Liu Wei's son in the future."

Ma Rui chuckled and replied with a glib tongue: "How could the one born to the Empress get less than the one born to a concubine!"

Yang Jing slapped him hard and glared: "You still want to be an Emperor! Give up that thought!"

Ma Rui laughed and hugged her tighter: "Actually, I've always felt that you knew about Liu Wei a long time ago..."

Yang Jing scolded: "If I had known, I wouldn't have married you."

Ma Rui hurriedly held her and coaxed: "I'm sorry... I committed the mistake that all men under heaven commit."

Yang Jing slapped him directly on the back and cursed: "Shameless! Filthy!"

The next day, Ma Rui walked into the Chairman's office with a pair of dark, bruised circles under his eyes.

Deputy General Manager Liu Yuan pushed the door open, and upon seeing his face, she couldn't help but laugh: "Sister-in-law is back, you should take care of your health too!"

"Don't make fun of me." Ma Rui rubbed his temples and waved his hand, "I didn't sleep well last night, and I thought about it carefully—there is unfavorable news about us in the entertainment reports every day, and what they say sounds quite plausible. We have a mole; you need to investigate carefully!"

Liu Yuan thought about it carefully and nodded: "Chairman Ma is wise, that is indeed the case. But after thinking about it all night, do you have any suspicious candidates?"

"Have you noticed this person, Liu Ying, lately—is there anything unusual about her?"

Liu Yuan was stunned, frowned, and recalled for a moment before saying: "I wouldn't call it unusual... she is just particularly vain and likes to compare herself to others, but as for doing anything to harm the company, it doesn't seem so. However, she is quite close to Liu Wei..."

As she spoke, Liu Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had remembered something: "Oh, now that you mention it, I remember—she often asks me about the company going public. I even scolded her, 'You don't have any shares, what does the company going public have to do with you?' Her reason to me was that listed companies generally have good benefits, and they might even distribute some shares to employees before going public. I thought she was just greedy for money at the time and didn't think too deeply about it."

Ma Rui narrowed his eyes and leaned forward: "You should send a few people to keep an eye on her recently. She is a bit unusual—she actually went to tell Yang Jing about me and Liu Wei. This matter, besides you, Chen Jiadong, Yu Zhiwei, and Lao Zhao, no one else knew."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan's face turned pale, and she hurriedly waved her hands: "Chairman Ma, I have never leaked a single word! If you ask me, it's nine times out of ten that she pried it out of Liu Wei. Think about it, she is such good friends with Liu Wei, Liu Wei must have let it slip at some point."

Ma Rui nodded, his knuckles tapping on the desk: "She is Liu Wei's good friend, yet she went to tell Yang Jing about me and Liu Wei; isn't that sabotage? If she stirs things up like this and makes Yang Jing and me break up, the listing will be ruined."

Liu Yuan's expression became serious, and her tone was crisp and decisive: "Don't worry, I will definitely get to the bottom of this for you. We must neither wrong a good person nor let a bad person go."

Ma Rui glanced at her, the corners of his mouth curling slightly: "With you here, I can rest easy."

After Liu Yuan went out, the office became quiet.

Ma Rui took a cigarette from the pack, put it in his mouth, lit it with a "Clack!", and took a deep drag.

The smoke slowly dissipated in front of him; he stared out the window, lost in thought, his brow never relaxing.

After only a few puffs, the door was knocked on.

"Come in, the door isn't locked." Ma Rui didn't even lift his head.

The person who pushed the door open was a man wearing a jacket and carrying an old briefcase, looking like a traveling salesman.

But as soon as Ma Rui looked up, he recognized him—Lao Xiao, a person from the Technical Department of He Zheng's company, and also a secret nail he had planted there.

Ma Rui took a Zhonghua cigarette from the pack and handed it to him: "Lao Xiao? Is there something urgent?"

Lao Xiao chuckled, sat down in the chair opposite Ma Rui, and said mysteriously: "Chairman Ma, I've dug up a shocking piece of news—the communication software over at Chairman He's side has started developing a payment function."

Ma Rui raised an eyebrow, his tone clearly dismissive: "What does communication software have to do with payments? They're worlds apart."

Lao Xiao lit the cigarette he received from Ma Rui, took a puff, and said slowly: "I heard some core people from their department chatting while eating. They said this payment function is incredible and could eventually stand on equal footing with banks. They also said they want to do instant messaging where you can see each other, which is even better than a phone call..."

Ma Rui sneered, leaned back in his chair, and crossed his legs: "Are they just painting a big picture for now? With that crappy software, it's hard enough to send text, let alone make phone calls? That'll take until the year of the monkey."

Lao Xiao blew a smoke ring and said unhurriedly: "Chairman Ma, technology is something that comes step by step. Think about it, back in '95 or '96, you had to use a phone line to dial up to get online, but now hasn't it all been changed to broadband? Let me tell you, in the future, mobile phones will be able to replace computers. Do you believe it?"

Ma Rui glared: "Don't talk nonsense. How can a phone the size of a palm replace a computer?"