Chapter 36: Prenatal Check-up At Black Clinic Is Spread
Tai Duoduo saw Lian Cheng’s unhappy face, clutching her mobile phone tightly, veins bulging on the back of her hand.
It was clear she was extremely angry.
She quickly circled to her workstation, put an arm around her shoulder, and comforted her, “Don’t listen to her nonsense, everyone in our group knows you’re capable. Maitreya Buddha even praised you as a ‘newcomer ace’ privately.”
Seeing her expression didn’t relax at all, Tai Duoduo understood the core issue was rumors. “Look at how absurd she was at the end. No one believes it. Maitreya Buddha doesn’t believe it, I don’t believe it, even Young Madam Bai told her to shut up.”
“No one believes it?” Lian Cheng’s heart pounded. “She said I went for a prenatal check-up.”
Tai Duoduo tightened her grip on her, “Only an idiot would believe that. Who in our group doesn’t know you went to sell Heji’s Chestnut Cake yesterday? That place has a one-hour wait, and with travel time, your two-hour leave wouldn’t even be enough.”
Lian Cheng barely calmed down.
Tai Duoduo, across the workstation, threw her bag into a chair, “However, you do need to think of a way to explain this.”
Lian Cheng’s heart rose again, “Explain what.”
“How will you explain it to Maitreya Buddha?” Tai Duoduo said as a matter of course. “Work is so busy, and you wanted to take leave to buy Chestnut Cake? Even though everyone in the group has benefited from you, leaders don’t necessarily appreciate good deeds. You even lied and said it was a blind date…”
“Tai Duoduo, do you think just because Taiyin Xingjun is badmouthing me, I can’t hear it?”
Lian Cheng turned her head.
Maitreya Buddha appeared silently, and before they knew it, he was standing behind them. Their gazes met, and his expression sank, “A beautiful belly? I think you mean a belly that wants to eat.”
Lian Cheng was in the wrong and stayed silent.
Tai Duoduo was about to speak up for her, but Maitreya Buddha raised a warning finger. Seeing that she had shut up, he turned to Lian Cheng and asked, “The leader isn’t making things difficult for you. This incident in the company-wide group chat damages the reputation of the Special Project Team. Give me a clear answer, is Liu Lan slandering you?”
“Yes,” Lian Cheng clenched her fist. “The black sports car is my best friend’s car. When I joined the team that day, she came to find me. Surveillance cameras can confirm it.”
“Then that’s settled,” Maitreya Buddha rested his elbow on the partition of her workstation. “Pregnancy is also a fabrication. I’ll go find her team leader later. Liu Lan must publicly apologize to you.”
Tai Duoduo straightened her arms and gave him a double thumbs-up, “My Buddha, a true man.”
Maitreya Buddha flicked his bangs, “Aren’t I ‘Fatty Niangniang’ anymore?”
Tai Duoduo hadn’t expected that their private whispers with Lian Cheng would be asked directly to her face, causing her to chuckle awkwardly.
Lian Cheng tried to cover, “Not Niangniang. The fat is just your lean and small body, unable to contain your great personality.”
Maitreya Buddha left, satisfied.
Tai Duoduo invited Lian Cheng to eat breakfast together at the company cafeteria. Lian Cheng’s mind was a mess, and she refused, not going.
She had her prenatal check-up in an alley, her hat and mask covering her like a terrorist, deliberately avoiding surveillance cameras.
Before entering and exiting the alley, she had checked if anyone was around. Did Liu Lan find out about her check-up from there?
The whole morning had been filled with shocks. A thousand threads of thought tangled in her mind, and the more she thought, the more her head ached.
She opened her bag, intending to find her phone to ask the owner of the black clinic if anyone had investigated her whereabouts.
As a result, the first thing she saw was not her phone, but a meal box that had inexplicably appeared.
It was a silver aluminum rectangular container, with a stylized “Liang” character in the center of the lid.
Lian Cheng was startled. Mother Liang occasionally made handmade pastries during lunchtime and packed them in this style of meal box to give to close noblewomen, or sent them to the Liang Family for Father Liang and Liang Chaosu.
She had always known about such meal boxes, and even knew where they were kept, but she had never received one.
Upon seeing it now, her hand moved faster than her brain. She opened it and found a corn and ham sandwich.
She immediately realized this was the breakfast bento the servant prepared for Liang Chaosu. He liked corn, and for the four years they lived together in the North, Lian Cheng had woken up countless times to prepare it for him.
Of course, it was his insistence.
Although he never explicitly asked, if she was lazy one day and Liang Chaosu went out with a gloomy face in the morning and returned with a gloomy face in the evening, he would be unhappy with everything.
If she didn’t grovel to appease him before going to bed, his anger could have burned her alive in bed.
The memories were not pleasant, and Lian Cheng felt disgusted even looking at the sandwich. She couldn’t understand how it ended up in her bag.
She called Zhang An, “He forgot his breakfast here.”
Zhang An clearly paused, and his tone shifted, “Miss Lian Cheng, I am just a driver. I can’t manage this matter.”
“You don’t need to manage it, just help me tell him.”
“Eldest Young Master is already at the Liang Corporation. It’s not convenient for me, a driver, to go upstairs. Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
Lian Cheng refused, but before she could utter the words, Zhang An had already hung up the phone.
Lian Cheng understood this obvious attempt to distance himself.
Her relationship with Liang Chaosu was taboo, a sinking ship with no way out, heading for the bottom at any moment. Anyone who got involved with her would gain nothing and only bring trouble upon themselves.
Lian Cheng didn’t make a phone call, but took a photo and sent it to Liang Chaosu.
Given the choice, she didn’t want to say a word to him.
After sending the message, there was no reply.
Lian Cheng had expected this. The Liang Corporation had busy affairs. Even if they didn’t, given Liang Chaosu’s attitude towards her, a read-and-ignore was very normal.
Anyway, she had given him notice. He wouldn’t have an excuse to cause trouble anymore.
After the morning meeting in their group ended.
Lian Cheng returned to her seat, and Liang Chaosu actually replied, “For you, eat it.”
Staring at the message for a minute, her doubts grew, reaching a point of horror.
All morning, he had given her his bag, been gentle in his attitude, and now he had even prepared breakfast.
What was he planning?
Before Lian Cheng could think further, she glimpsed Maitreya Buddha going downstairs, likely to find Liu Lan’s team leader.
She immediately followed him.
She was unsure how much Liu Lan knew now. If she really had solid evidence, she would be finished if things went wrong during the confrontation.
Downstairs, Liu Lan was not in the restroom, and Maitreya Buddha was invited to the office by the team leader.
Lian Cheng didn’t follow them in and used an excuse to go to the restroom.
As she entered, Liu Lan was standing in front of the mirror applying mascara. Seeing Lian Cheng’s figure in the mirror, she was startled for a moment, then hastily put away her mascara and lowered her head, preparing to leave.
Seeing Liu Lan’s guilty reaction, Lian Cheng felt a bit relieved.
If she had evidence, or had seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have reacted this way.
“I heard you say I’m dating a rich second-generation, that I rented a room, and am pregnant?”
Liu Lan ignored her, walked around her, and continued towards the exit.
Lian Cheng stood directly in her way, “Aren’t you going to tell me, the person involved?”
“You know what you’ve done yourself,” Liu Lan’s eyelashes trembled slightly, smudging into a dark streak. “Was the black sports car that morning fake?”
“I don’t deny the sports car,” Lian Cheng carefully observed her emotions. “Then, where did you see me getting a prenatal check-up?”
Liu Lan clenched her hands. She had only seen Lian Cheng appearing near the alley, and there was a black clinic in the alley, where she had secretly had an abortion.
Yesterday, Maitreya Buddha had been so aggressive that she blurted it out impulsively. Now she was scared and flustered.
She didn’t want to publicly apologize and be humiliated, but if she didn’t, Lian Cheng would make a fuss. If Lian Cheng went to the small clinic to prove her innocence, and it was discovered she had had an abortion, she wouldn’t be able to stay at the company.
Just as Lian Cheng was about to speak, a female colleague came in, “The team leader asked me to call you.”
Lian Cheng glanced at Liu Lan and turned to leave.
She had already confirmed that Liu Lan knew nothing, and had just made a wild accusation by mistake, purely by chance.
This matter could be easily handled at the company. Once Liu Lan apologized, all the slanderous remarks would cease.
However, the impact it had caused was precarious.
Liang Chaosu had sharp ears and eyes, and was always wary of her. It was hard to guarantee he wouldn’t catch wind of the rumors.
Furthermore, Bai Xiwen knew her identity, and the rumors were handled swiftly this time.
It would be the perfect topic to bring up when meeting Liang Chaosu in the business world.
Having pregnancy rumors twice in a short period, even if clarified, the fact that she was seen on the platform during work hours was undeniable. She had been dismissive then and hadn’t given a reasonable explanation.
Given Liang Chaosu’s suspicious and cautious nature, he would most likely arrange for his own people to investigate again.
After all, with his power and many resources, investigating was effortless, but it would bring him greater peace of mind.
Thinking of this, Lian Cheng felt her head was about to explode.
Misfortune never comes alone.
At three in the afternoon, Lian Cheng received a call from Mother Liang, “Lian Cheng, come back now to try on clothes. We’re meeting at Shengyuan at five. The outfit you’re wearing to work is not appropriate.”
Lian Cheng felt drained, having forgotten about the blind date.
