Chapter 48 - NOT the New Missus

Wang Yimin slapped numerous newspapers and articles on the table. It made a loud smacking sound against the glass that made Feng Xuan flinch. It was the morning after her 'little talk' with Li Zongying in front of Qing Chen's office.

"This is crazy!" Wang Yimin said, pacing in front of her. "This?! This was what you were working on the past few days? Because Li Zongying claims that she's pregnant with Qing Chen's child?"

Feng Xuan took one of the papers and read a part from the tabloid. "'Congratulations are in order to the CEO of The Kingly Hotel as he is now a soon-to-be father! Mr. Qing Chen must be celebrating with the rest of his family. However, it cannot be said the same to his new wife, Feng Xuan of the Feng & Yang Corp. A source told us yesterday that the pregnant woman, is NOT the new missus! Qing Chen and Feng Xuan got married last… blah blah." She scanned the rest of the paper but found nothing else relevant. No mention about who the mystery woman was.

"Where is Qing Chen?" Wang Yimin asked.

"He went to work."

"And did he know about this?"

"I guess he does now." Feng Xuan raised her hands to her forehead, massaging. She had to get to school today but she highly doubt that Wang Yimin would let her out of the house with this issue circulating. Wang Yimin told her that she saw some media vans near their property.

Feng Xuan filled Wang Yimin with the necessary details and how last night she and Qing Chen celebrated but it was cut-off by this stupid article that held no bearing.

"That bitch," Feng Xuan whispered under her breath. Then she laughed. "Alright, she was pretty smart. I have to hand to it to her."

Wang Yimin's phone started blaring and she stepped outside to take the call. She could hear the muffled shouts of her cousin to whomever she was talking to. Feng Xuan grabbed her phone and tried to dial Qing Chen's number. As she expected, it went straight to voicemail.

He must be flooded this morning because of the headlines. They had to do damage control as soon as possible.

"That was CelebRumors. They said they are going to take the article down," Wang Yimin said when she reentered the living room. "Not that it would help as the damage has already been done. I think you should still file a case for slander."

Feng Xuan said, "I'm just worried about Qing Chen right now."

It had been a mystery to Qing Chen why his phone had been going off since the early morning. He did form the habit of not checking his phone while he was still at home because he wanted to make sure he was giving Feng Xuan all the time he had before going to the office.

On the way to the hotel, Qing Chen finally checked the messages and about the gazillion emails he received. There were calls from his father, Qing Lok, and his grandmother. Puzzled, Qing Chen clicked on the link from Qing Lok's message and it redirected him to a tabloid website.

'The new CEO of The Kingly Hotel is a cheater?!' the headline read. Well, he really didn't expect a good headline from a tabloid page but, really? In the rest of the article he read that a source called yesterday to report about Qing Chen's infidelity and how he got a woman pregnant who was not his wife.

Qing Chen cursed under his breath. It was bound to be a long day at the office now. He told the driver to drop him off at the parking lot. No doubt there would be press right in front of The Kingly.

His employees, whose names he did not even know, where eyeing him as he made his way to the elevators and down the halls. He found Li Zongying's desk empty. Yesterday, she also abandoned her post and probably had already skipped town after making that phone call. The moment they heard about the article, Qing Chen had men after Li Zongying, but her apartment was already empty. They were tracking her down.

Maybe it was good that she was not there as Qing Chen's emotions were on an eleven and it was not that far off the level that he might strangle her. First thing he did when he got to his chair was call his brother. "Where is that doctor?!"

"We tried to get to her yesterday but she went out with her family after her clinic hours and went straight home with the kids in the car."

"I need her within the day. Drag her out if you must."

"You got it, boss."

Qing Chen didn't even have to call, the PR manager was already knocking on his door. He hadn't even answered when the lady walked in, all long limbs. "Violet," he greeted. She had studied overseas and preferred to be called by her Western name.

The woman's eyes glared at him from under her thick bangs that covered her forehead. "Mr. Qing," she greeted back.

"First things first, it is not true," he said.

"Yes, I got that idea. I already spoke with the IT team and they traced the call to your secretary's telephone. Seeing as she is not here, I assumed you already fired her?"

"Well, she's not here because she already left Chengshi," he grumbled. "I have people looking for her."

"Ugh, that stupid girl," Violet groraned. "I have made drafts for a statement release around four in the afternoon. I already sent them to your email."

Qing Chen waved her off. "I am contacting the doctor that gave Li Zongying the fake doc.u.ments about the pregnancy. I will send you the details once I have it. Let's release a statement by tomorrow."

Violet nodded. "But as you should know, the stocks are taking a dip."

Qing Chen nodded once and Violet left. He couldn't fight the stock prices going down after this. But he didn't want to release a statement with proof of the lie.

Qing Chen's phone sounded a notification and he looked at the screen and called the messenger. "Hello, grandmother."

"QING CHEN!" his grandmother's voice bellowed. "That secretary of yours, I will have her beheaded for what she did!"

"As much as you want to take her nails one by one, you need to calm down for now. Li Zongying already skipped town."

"Another thing," Xie Changying said, "I made a call to these stupid media last week to call us if something would come out. But they must've been paid a higher price they could not refuse that moment. I will have their companies closed down--no, I will have their offices burned down. I failed to close that line in the plan."

"It's alright, grandmother," he said while massaging his temples. "We'll find out who that person was that paid for our destruction. I promise I won't stop you if you want to skin that person alive." He gave a quick update about everything. Qing Chen had always wanted to see the good in people but seeing as one of their doctors could have been easily bribed, he did not know who to trust anymore.

As his secretary would be gone from now on, Qing Chen opened their company messaging app and called for a meeting in the next ten minutes. Finally, he called his wife.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"I'm doing good. Wang Yimin is putting me on house arrest for the day."

"That might be for the better."

"Yeah." Feng Xuan's voice was soft and quiet. "I expect Li Zongying did not go to work today?"

"Yes. Apparently, she's not that thick-faced."

Feng Xuan let out a laugh. "You're taking care of things over there?"

"Yes," he answered. "This will all be over by tonight. Don't worry."

"Okay," Feng Xuan said. "Come home the soonest you can. I have plenty of time to cook. Let's have a satisfying meal later."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Okay, husband. I'll see you later."

Qing Chen went to the meeting with all his managers. As he had some of the best people in the industry, they already had a proposal on what could they use as marketing tactics to keep the stocks from going down. Qing Chen suspected that once the article went online on the internet, these people didn't sleep a wink because they knew he would ask for a solution for this. It was pretty evident as most of the people in his meeting room had circles under their eyes and crumpled shirts as if they were in a rush to get to the office.

Qing Chen felt bad for having them answer for something so personal to him. But it wasn't just Qing Chen whom Li Zongying attacked. He took the Qing name and dragged it through the mud. It wasn't just the hotel that would be bustling for the next few days but the rest of the other businesses of their family. His father also had a busy day ahead of him as the chairman of The Kingly Empire.

After the numerous presentations, Qing Chen signed the papers and told one of the managers to take the rest of the team to lunch all expenses paid, and to have them take the rest of the day off.

Qing Chen just exited the room and received a call from Qing Lok. "Did you get her?"

"The doctor? Yes. Screaming and thrashing. She's having a really nice dream right now at the backseat."

Qing Chen took a deep breath. Whatever happens, he was going to get his answers today, even if he had to squeeze it out of her… literally.