Zhong Ziping typed on the computer keyboard, his fingers a blur.
Those around him watched silently, each with their own thoughts.
Qin Wen desperately wanted to tell his boss that he had misunderstood this time, but the little lady was watching him, putting him under immense pressure, making it impossible to even hint at the truth.
"Found it!" Soon, Zhong Ziping stopped and dragged out several files and programs from numerous folders.
"Boss, this is the company's financial data analysis for the first half of the year, the business expansion direction plan for the next quarter, and our self-developed crawler program..."
"And... a surveillance video from the Jiangcheng branch."
As he said this, Zhong Ziping's expression turned grim, and his voice was icy cold as he spoke to Gu Jiangyan, "Boss, now you can tell me who did this, right?"
"Jian Junruo, you truly are unrepentant!" Gu Jiangyan exuded an aura of dark, fierce intensity. His gaze swept across Jian Sheng and her group, finally settling on Qin Wen. "When we get back, I need an explanation from you."
With that, he turned to leave.
At this point, anyone with a shred of sense knew what he was about to do.
Jian Sheng jumped down from her chair and ran to grab Gu Jiangyan's trouser leg. She tilted her small head and said earnestly, "Daddy, are you going to bully Mommy again?"
Gu Jiangyan's heart was filled with an insurmountable surge of anger and frustration. He had finally begun to change his perception of that woman, Jian Junruo, only for her to start playing these games again. It made him feel like he had been blind, to have even briefly believed that the woman wasn't so bad.
Gu Jiangyan bent down and pinched the little one's chin, "Are you protecting your black-hearted mother this much?"
The little girl stubbornly replied, "Mommy is the best mommy in the whole world, you're not allowed to talk about her like that!"
Gu Jiangyan's eyes grew even fiercer, "You said yesterday that I was the best daddy in the whole world, and now? Aren't you still an ungrateful wretch?"
The little girl maintained her stance, "But Mommy didn't do anything wrong!"
"So you mean I did something wrong?" Gu Jiangyan's eyes blazed, on the verge of exploding. "It seems I really shouldn't have let that woman continue raising you, or you'll end up being led astray by her."
That damned woman!
"Daddy, it hurts~" The little dumpling's eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and her voice softened.
The force of his fingers on her chin grew heavier. Although Jian Sheng's magical powers were recovering, her body was still that of a delicate child. Her not crying out in pain until now was a testament to her enduring.
Gu Jiangyan instantly released his grip as if he had been burned. The spot he had pinched now bore a distinct purplish-blue finger mark, glaringly obvious on the girl's fair, jade-like chin.
Taking a deep breath, he decided that regardless, this was between him and that woman; it was not worth implicating a child.
However, the custody matter indeed needed to be addressed. He couldn't stand by and watch his daughter turn out to be as calculating and deep as Jian Junruo.
Forcing himself not to look at the glaring bruise on the little girl's chin, Gu Jiangyan called out to Zhong Ziping, "Let's go, I'll take you to meet that corporate spy. This time, I won't let her off easily."
Qi Suibai pulled the little girl towards him and gently stroked the bruise on her chin. The girl immediately winced in pain.
Qi Suibai's gaze deepened, and he looked at Gu Jiangyan as if he were looking at a dead man.
Their Qi family cherished this little ancestor, fearing she would melt even from a gentle breeze. How dare Gu Jiangyan treat her like this!
"Assistant Qin, how long are you going to just watch? At this point, shouldn't you say something to your boss?" Qi Suibai placed a hand on Qin Wen's back and pushed him, his usually gentle voice laced with malice.
Qin Wen's scalp tingled. He had finally realized this was a battle between gods, and he was just a mortal caught in the middle, making things difficult for himself.
But at this juncture, he had no choice but to step forward.
Gu Jiangyan's sharp gaze shifted from Qi Suibai to Qin Wen. "Qin Wen, don't tell me you were also involved in this."
Qin Wen felt like crying but had no tears. He was indeed involved in this matter, but not in the way his boss was thinking!
Steeling himself, Qin Wen said, "Boss, you might have truly misunderstood Madam this time."
"Misunderstood?" Gu Jiangyan chuckled at the absurdity, pointing at the computer on the desk. "With concrete evidence, you tell me it's a misunderstanding?"
Qin Wen: "...Is there a possibility that someone framed Madam?"
Gu Jiangyan sneered, "Then tell me, for a single mother, who would go to such lengths to frame her?"
At this moment, Zhong Ziping also caught on and watched from the side with a cold eye.
No wonder the boss had remained tight-lipped about the suspect; the problem lay with someone close to him. It was true that the closest person could be the greatest threat.
As Qin Wen hesitated about where to begin, Qi Suibai, having had enough of their dawdling, tossed him a phone. It was already unlocked, displaying a watermark camera recording.
Gu Jiangyan's gaze flickered between the two, his questioning look making Qin Wen's scalp crawl. He quickly handed the phone over, "Boss, I don't know if Madam is problematic, but there is definitely someone in the company who is!"
"Who?" Gu Jiangyan asked, already taking the phone.
"A newcomer in the finance department, Tang Xiaoxiao." Qin Wen said the name, and Gu Jiangyan happened to see the back of a short-haired woman in the video. "Boss, do you remember the woman I told you seemed off yesterday? It's this person in the video."
As Qin Wen spoke, he recounted the events that had transpired in the company to Gu Jiangyan, including the problem they discovered when checking the surveillance footage – that it had been overwritten.
The surveillance had been functioning perfectly until Tang Xiaoxiao passed by, and the problem arose. Such a coincidence was the biggest red flag.
Zhong Ziping, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "There's a surveillance record on this computer. The overwritten footage you're talking about is likely this one."
Gu Jiangyan's wavering resolve hardened once more, "Is there anything else you wish to say?"
Qin Wen's head was spinning. Their boss was usually so intelligent and insightful, yet when it came to Madam's affairs, he seemed to be under some sort of intelligence-draining halo.
Couldn't he see Tang Xiaoxiao, such a clear suspect? Why was he fixated on Madam, who had an alibi?
Jian Sheng was lifted back onto the chair, and from there, she stood up abruptly. "You just want to frame Mommy, why are you saying it so righteously? Mommy was injured and went to the hospital, her computer was left at home, Mommy can't possibly operate a computer remotely from the hospital, can she?"
"Even if you don't believe Mommy, don't you believe yourself? Daddy, you personally sent Mommy to the hospital, and Madam couldn't commit the crime right under your nose, could she?"
Gu Jiangyan, who had been relentlessly attacked by his supposedly nemesis-like, leaky-roofed cotton jacket, was on the verge of an explosive outburst. However, upon hearing his little daughter's final words, his momentum deflated like a pricked balloon, and his anger visibly subsided.