Chapter 70: Exposure

In the deep silence of the night, the hidden fuse that had been lying in wait was ignited. Wen Lan Sheng updated his post, exposing Rong Xiu’s identity.

“I’ve endured again and again, but you’ve only gotten worse. You stole my wife-master, encouraged my wife-master to turn against my family, and ruined our relationship of over a decade. Now I have nothing left… Rong Xiu, are you satisfied?”

The netizens who had been speculating about the identity of the third party couldn’t believe it when they saw Wen Lan Sheng personally reveal Rong Xiu’s identity. The internet exploded, with major bloggers reposting, and it immediately shot to the top of the hot search list.

#RongXiuThirdParty#

#ShanHaiGroup#

#OriginalWife’sDesperate Counterattack#

#MostArrogantThirdPartyInHistory#

“Rong Xiu? Is it the current male president of the Shanhai Group, the Rong Xiu who’s revered as a model of independent men by countless men? It’s too scary, could it be someone with the same name?”

“Among the top 500 male executives in the country, who would dare to have the same name as Rong Xiu!”

“Can the original poster’s named accusation be false? What independent male role model, he’s just a home-wrecker! A worthless piece of trash who’d die without a woman! He’s ruined the words ‘independent male’!”

“The Shanhai Group is so rich, couldn’t he have a normal relationship with other rich heirs? Why did he have to destroy someone’s family? It’s disgusting!”

“The Rong family is considered a noble family, right? Such a big pharmaceutical company, and they raised such an embarrassing thing. Even those from lowly backgrounds are better. I really don’t know how the Rong family taught him. If I were Rong Xiu’s father, I’d strangle Rong Xiu and then kill myself.”

“Yeah, I’m currently getting an IV drip at a hospital under the Shanhai Group, and I feel awful now. Can’t the Shanhai Group fire Rong Xiu? It’s sickening to even think about it.”

“So, men will always be men, unable to bear heavy responsibilities. Give them a little power and they think they’re something special. If the Shanhai Group doesn’t want its reputation ruined, they should fire Rong Xiu quickly!”

“I agree, fire Rong Xiu immediately! Those male executives should also be thoroughly investigated to see if they’re rotten behind their shiny facades.”

“From personal experience, male executives all like to target young male subordinates, but they’re very nice to female subordinates and colleagues. Two-faced and vicious, always fooling around, thinking they’re popular with women and being smug about it. In reality, the female employees all treat them as objects to be casually flirted with, and don’t respect them at all in their hearts.”

“Isn’t Rong Xiu just like this? He was so harsh to the original wife, even gloating over the original poster’s self-harm wounds. Then he turns around and clings to the original poster’s wife-master as a third party, isn’t that despicable!”

“I thought male CEOs were all high-class, but it turns out… tsk tsk…”

“Just thinking about how miserable the original poster is, while Rong Xiu, this third party, can live freely, makes me feel sick. Ugh— What kind of president, they’re all dirty things willingly played by women.”

Bang—

Rong Xiu closed his laptop. Now the internet was full of overwhelming condemnation and abuse towards him. He knew the coming days would be difficult to endure, but he didn’t expect it to be this unbearable. It was as if he could feel the flying spittle through the screen.

Angry netizens had even made various memes and GIFs using his face. The memes were paired with unspeakable text, and the GIFs were apparently taken from some disgusting short videos, with the male lead’s degrading actions pasted with his face.

Rong Xiu felt a wave of nausea in his chest and rushed to the bathroom. Hunched over the toilet, he dry-heaved. Even though nothing came out, Rong Xiu continued to retch physiologically, tears of bitterness flowing from the corners of his eyes.

His face had been pasted onto the bodies of those AV male actors, performing those filthy acts. He had never suffered such humiliation before.

The phone that had fallen to the ground buzzed continuously, with various messages popping up incessantly. They were all from young masters and misses, feigning concern and comfort, assuring him it was nothing and would soon pass. But between every line, there was a sense of smugness at having him under their feet.

Rong Xiu wanted to turn off the phone, but at that moment, it rang inopportunely. It was Fu Nan, his father.

“Is what they’re saying online true? Are you trying to anger me to death?!” Fu Nan started with a barrage of scolding at Rong Xiu.

“If it weren’t for my old friends sending me messages just now, I would still be in the dark. You may not care about face, but I do! Doing such shameful things, how am I supposed to show my face in social circles! Now everyone out there is saying I didn’t raise my son well!” Fu Nan slapped his own old face, producing a crisp sound of skin, trembling with anger.

“Did the Rong family starve you or leave you naked? Are you that desperate? So lacking in women that you have to seduce a married woman? Shameful! You’ve completely disgraced the Rong family! I said the position of chairman shouldn’t be held by a man like you. If it had been given to your elder sister back then, this wouldn’t have happened. Now everyone out there is talking about firing you, and I think they’re right. It’s perfect for your sister—”

Rong Xiu’s fingertips trembled as he hung up Fu Nan’s call. A tear, like a transparent glass knife, cut fiercely across his cheek.

But in the next second, another call came in. It was Chen Yu Ze: “You still did it, didn’t you? Rong Xiu, I advised you before, but you didn’t listen…”

Rong Xiu opened his mouth but suddenly found his throat too hoarse to speak.

Chen Yu Ze didn’t wait for him to speak: “We shouldn’t contact each other anymore. Let’s pretend we don’t know each other.”

The meaning of these words was to end their friendship.

“…Alright.” Rong Xiu rasped, his throat feeling as if he had swallowed a thousand needles, piercing it full of holes, bleeding profusely. In an instant, it seemed as if everyone had distanced themselves from him, hating him, disgusted by him, keeping their distance. It was as if he had become a pathogen, and anyone who loved him would become the next ‘adulterer’, ‘indecent’, lowly third party.

Rong Xiu pretended to calmly hang up the phone, but his thin back was hunched, trembling incessantly as if he had caught a chill. His fingertips were pale as if bloodless, revealing that he had reached the point of extreme fragility.

It wasn’t until a warm palm covered his back that he seemed to come back to life, like a dying person being injected with life anew.

“I’ve already had the PR team delete those entries about you online, and they’re in the process of deleting more… Also, I’m already in contact with Wen Lan Sheng. I’ll definitely make him clarify in person.” Fan Xia crouched very gently beside Rong Xiu, looking at his pale face, her palm caressing his face, her eyes full of concern: “I’m sorry, I’ve hurt you.”

Rong Xiu pressed his colorless lips together, his slightly cool face nuzzling her palm: “It’s not your fault. I was willing from the beginning, and… Wen Lan Sheng is right. I am indeed the third party. I did seduce you, luring you from his bed to mine. So all these insults, I brought them upon myself. I deserve it, I accept it!”

Rong Xiu’s ink-black eyes flashed with faint tears, fragile yet determined: “But I don’t regret it. Fan Xia, if I could do it all over again, I would make the same choice.”

Fan Xia’s pupils trembled as she embraced him.

Rong Xiu nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, drawing warmth from her body: “Fan Xia, I want to go home.”

“Alright, I’ll take you home.”

With things in this state, staying at the company no longer made sense. Moreover, many gossip reporters were now lurking outside the building. Entertainment celebrities were their prey, but they pounced on business tycoons’ scandals just like sharks smelling blood.

The internal affairs of the group were also in chaos. Because of that post, the stock price had fallen. Zhuang Nian was busy dealing with the phone calls flooding into the office and sealing the mouths of the group’s internal staff, asking them to adjust their mindset and work normally, with the most important thing being not to accept any interviews. Everyone in the entire building was like walking on hot coals, unable to stop for a moment. Fan Xia took Rong Xiu to the underground parking lot, taking out the keys to Rong Xiu’s car. She chose his car mainly because it had better privacy than hers, making it less likely to be caught by the long lenses of gossip reporters.

But just as she took out the car keys, a man she had never seen before, holding a strange plastic bottle, charged desperately towards Rong Xiu. As he charged, he shouted: “Third party, go to hell!”

Almost simultaneously, the plastic bottle sprayed an unknown liquid towards Rong Xiu’s face. Rong Xiu had no time to dodge. Just as the transparent liquid was about to splash onto Rong Xiu’s face, Fan Xia kicked the man in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The bottle in his hand fell, and white water spilled all over the ground.

But some still splashed onto Rong Xiu’s face. His face instantly turned pale, all traces of his usual cool composure gone, frantically wiping the water from his face. Infinite terror spread from the bottom of his heart, tears trembling at the corners of his eyes.

“What did you splash? Speak!” Fan Xia grabbed the man’s collar and demanded.

“Bleach!” The man laughed with a somewhat crazed expression: “A slut like you should have acid thrown on your face, you got off easy! Why should third parties like you, who steal our wife-masters and leave our children without mothers, be able to be so arrogant and triumphant? While we have to endure the fate of being abandoned and neglected! You deserve to die! Rong Xiu, you deserve to die! Ruin your face, and let’s see what you use to seduce her!”

Hearing it was bleach, Fan Xia relaxed a little, but still worriedly embraced the now stunned Rong Xiu: “Did any bleach get in your eyes? Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you to the hospital for a check-up now.”

Rong Xiu shuddered in Fan Xia’s arms, like a frightened and unsettled little beast, clinging tightly to Fan Xia and refusing to let go.

In the instant the bleach was thrown at him, he seemed to see the tangible happiness shattering before his eyes. Fortunately, it was only bleach, but if he escaped this man, wouldn’t there be other crazy men who would want to ruin his appearance? To turn him into an ugly monster? At that time, what would he use to keep Fan Xia? What right would he have to stand by her side?!