Lu Man continued to ponder.

Within the discussions of those girls, she was undoubtedly the protagonist, so who became the antagonist?

Chen Yan, Yang Rou, and Sister Mei Li.

And also, Chenlu Film Company of her and Chen Yan.

Thinking of this, Lu Man suddenly seemed to understand something.

As she thought, her expression changed, and she pulled her assistant Xiao Tao and walked out.

Xiao Tao had been following behind Lu Man like a tail the whole time.

Suddenly being pulled along by Lu Man, she nearly stumbled.

Therefore, while she hurried to keep up with Lu Man's pace, making three steps in two, she carefully observed Lu Man's ever-changing expressions and then asked in a soft voice, "Sister Man Man, are we not playing anymore?"

Lu Man glared at her ferociously, "Play, play, play. That's all you know."

"The company pays you so much money, just for you to play?"

"If we keep playing, our home will be stolen by others!"

Hearing Lu Man's words, Xiao Tao bit her lip, not daring to speak.

The company paid her to accompany Lu Man in her play, so it wasn't wrong for her to play and get paid for it...

At this moment, Lu Man, after scolding Xiao Tao, suddenly froze.

She stopped, her gaze scanning up and down Xiao Tao's body incessantly.

Xiao Tao snapped back to reality, startled by Lu Man's "perverted" gaze at her, panicking about where to put her hands.

Then, she saw Lu Man suddenly hug her and with a flattering smile said, "Xiao Tao, haven't you called Sister Rou in a while?"

Feeling Lu Man's soft body hugging her and hearing her words, Xiao Tao panicked even more. She quickly shook her head like a tambourine, "Sister Man Man, I haven't been in touch with Sister Rou. I really haven't contacted her."

Hearing Xiao Tao's response, Lu Man patted her shoulder with a smile and said, "See, that's where you're wrong!"

"As an employee of the company, you should report to Sister Rou more often."

"Always being so independent from the leadership makes you seem so special!"

Hearing Lu Man's words, Xiao Tao looked at her innocently and said, "But Sister Man, you're my boss. Even in the employment contract, I signed with the agency, not with Sister Rou..."

Lu Man: .....

"If I tell you to call, just call! Why so many problems?!!"

Startled by Lu Man's shout, Xiao Tao quickly took out her phone and prepared to make the call.

But when she opened the dialer, she froze.

Her phone had been taken by Lu Man, who bought her a new phone and a new SIM card, neither of which had Yang Rou's number.

"158....."

Xiao Tao looked up at Lu Man in surprise.

Lu Man continued to recite Yang Rou's mobile number.

While reciting, she pointed at Xiao Tao's phone number.

Xiao Tao snapped back to reality and hurriedly input the numbers reported by Lu Man, then hit the "call" button.

While the phone was dialing, Xiao Tao admired Lu Man in her heart: Sister Man Man is so amazing... she even memorized Sister Rou's mobile number. Has she memorized the numbers of all the important people in the company for emergencies?

Inside Lu Man's mind: Hmph. Luckily, I had long suspected that Chen Yan and Yang Rou had an improper relationship. So, I secretly memorized her number, planning to use a burner to test the waters.

I didn't expect it to come in handy now...

"Doo... doo... doo..."

After a few rings, the call was answered. Yang Rou's cold voice came from the other end, "Hello. Who is this?"

Just as Xiao Tao was about to speak, Lu Man held up a piece of paper.

The note read [Ask her about the current public opinion on me! But do not reveal my whereabouts!!!]

The three huge exclamation points startled Xiao Tao.

Like a bullied little thing, she nodded aggrievedly and then asked quietly, "Sister Rou, this is Xiao Tao, Lu Man's assistant."

"I wanted to ask you if there have been any public opinions about our Sister Man Man recently?"

Hearing Xiao Tao's voice, Yang Rou on the phone obviously hesitated for a moment.

After a while, she said in her cold, measured tone, "Xiao Tao, where are you and Man Man right now?"

Upon hearing Yang Rou's words, Xiao Tao instinctively looked to the side, ready to reveal their location.

But Lu Man immediately covered her mouth and gestured for silence with a "hush" sign.

This reminded Xiao Tao that she couldn't disclose Lu Man's location.

So, hesitantly, she said weakly, "Sister Rou, Sister Man doesn't want me to say. Please don't ask."

"Snap!" Lu Man slapped her forehead.

Great... sold out completely.

Xiao Tao looked at Lu Man cautiously and then said softly, "Sister Rou, just tell me."

On the phone, Yang Rou chuckled lightly, her chilly voice saying, "Alright. Then I'll inform you."

She picked up some documents, flipped through them, and said, "Recently, there have indeed been many public opinions about Man Man."

"But most are favorable."

"Many people online say that Man Man has developed very well these past few years, and the company has gotten to where it is now with her help."

"This is beneficial for her image building and the overall promotion."

Hearing Yang Rou's analysis, Lu Man couldn't help herself and asked, "Sister Rou, so you think this is actually a good thing?"

When Yang Rou heard Lu Man's voice, she didn't show any surprise.

She replied calmly, "Yes. It's a good thing."

Hearing Yang Rou's words, Lu Man felt something was off, but couldn't pinpoint what it was.

However, since Chenlu's most capable Yang Rou said it was a good thing, it probably was.

Thinking thus, she handed the phone back to her assistant and continued to listen in.

After seeing this, Xiao Tao knew there wasn't much more to ask, so she inquired about a few more related matters and then hung up the phone.

After the call ended, Xiao Tao looked pitifully at Lu Man and asked, "Sister Man, is this okay now?"

Lu Man examined Xiao Tao from top to bottom and said, "You... haven't been secretly passing messages to Sister Rou, have you?"

Xiao Tao was confused for a moment, "I made the call right under your nose. How could I be passing messages..."

Lu Man huffed lightly, "Who knows if you guys have some coded signals or something like morse code. Come, let me check."

With that, her hands began to wander over Xiao Tao's body.

Tickled and unable to move, Xiao Tao almost cried with frustration: Being an assistant to a celebrity is so hard!

If I understood morse code, why would I be an assistant?

And on Lu Man's side: Hehehe, Xiao Tao's figure seems to have improved a lot. So big~

After the phone call with Yang Rou, Lu Man also felt a lot more relieved.

Since Yang Rou said it was no problem, she thought there was no need to worry anymore.

However, after reminiscing about how someone was creating stories about Chen Yan and disparaging both her and Chen Yan's company, Lu Man was still a little annoyed.

She contemplated for a moment and figured that she could actually help clarify things indirectly.

This way, she could maintain her image and let everyone know that she hadn't been blacklisted but was just on vacation.

So, after considering, she pulled Xiao Tao to the Ferris wheel nearby, posed with a victory sign, and took a photo.

After taking the photo, she excitedly... began to Photoshop it.

Once the photo was edited, Lu Man posted on Weibo: To avoid Chen Yan finding her, she threw away both her and Xiao Tao's phones, and now had a new phone with nothing installed on it.

Then she uploaded the picture and posted, "Every day of vacation is beautiful~~"

After posting, she happily stowed her phone, deciding to continue having fun with Xiao Tao.

However, she hadn't gone far when Xiao Tao called out to her, "Sister Man Man, wait a minute."

Lu Man looked towards Xiao Tao, "What's up?"

Xiao Tao said softly, "Did you just post on Weibo?"

Lu Man hummed a response, nonchalantly saying, "Yeah. I just wanted to share our photo. Don't overthink it. It wasn't to explain things for Chen Yan or the company."

Hearing Lu Man's words, Xiao Tao quickly waved her hands, "No, no, that's not it."

Lu Man turned to her, "Then what is it?"

Xiao Tao whispered, "It's just... our photo seems to be of the iconic structure of Yuan Special Amusement Park. Combined with some other information, Director Chen might be able to deduce our current location."

Hearing Xiao Tao's words, Lu Man said in surprise, "Really?"

Xiao Tao nodded earnestly and then began to show Lu Man how a photo could be used to pinpoint her location.

After Xiao Tao had demonstrated, Lu Man was stunned.

Xiao Tao continued to explain softly, "This kind of stuff is not well-known by the general public, but Sister Mei Li knows. So whenever we post your pictures or those of Sister Xiao Gu, we do some extra photo editing or compress the image's information."

"To avoid revealing your whereabouts."

"But it seems like... you didn't know."

Listening to Xiao Tao, Lu Man covered her face involuntarily. As a female celebrity with a whole team managing her, of course, she didn't know these things.

No wonder every time she wanted to post a picture, Sister Mei Li would ask for it to fine-tune.

At first, she thought it was because she might not have taken the photo from a good angle, and a few times she even confidently told Sister Mei Li that she was beautiful from all 360 degrees.

Sister Mei Li probably didn't want to trouble her with explanations, so she went along with it.

Thinking this, Lu Man felt a twinge of shame.

While musing, she quickly took out her phone, opened Weibo, and deleted the photo.

After deleting it, she still stubbornly commented, "Hmph. It seems Chen Yan is destined to be wronged and saddled with the blame. I can't be blamed for that."

After saying that, she guiltily uninstalled Weibo and then continued to pull Xiao Tao along to play.

However, what she didn't know was that even though she deleted her Weibo, many people had saved or screenshotted it.

And her behavior of posting and then deleting even caused a significant impact...

...

Meanwhile, on Qin Island.

Chenlu Film Company. CEO's office.

Yang Rou, who had just hung up the phone with Lu Man, sat behind her desk, looked at Chen Yan sitting on the sofa, and said with a smirk, "You really care about Man Man. Even when there's trouble, you still don't want to tell her."

"Can you believe she was told it was a good thing?"

"Our company has been bashed online, and that's supposed to be a good thing?"

Dressed in a sharp suit, Chen Yan smiled upon hearing Yang Rou's words and said, "She can't help with anything. Telling her would just add to her troubles."

"So, just let her be happy and leave it at that."

Hearing Chen Yan's words, Yang Rou glanced at him while organizing the files on her desk and asked, "Don't you care where she is right now?"

Chen Yan said nonchalantly, "Where else could she be but at Tianfu Fun Park?"

Surprised by Chen Yan's confidence, Yang Rou gave him a puzzled look, wondering how he knew.

At that moment, her desk phone rang.

She picked up the call, exchanged a few words, then looked at Chen Yan with a face full of surprise.

After a moment, she hung up the phone, turned to Chen Yan, and said, "She is actually at Tianfu Fun Park."

"How did you know?"

Chen Yan looked back at her and counter-asked, "How did you know?"

Yang Rou replied coolly, "Someone from the company's PR department called me. They said Lu Manqing posted a weibo on her own."

"Judging from the logo in the photo she posted on weibo, she should be at the Fun Park."

"And there are only a few cities with a Fun Park. By comparing the height of the sun and the surrounding environment, they deduced that she must be at the one in Tianfu."

Chen Yan nodded in understanding.

He realized that the internet was really advanced now, but privacy was seriously being compromised.

A single photo could reveal so much information.

That was unimaginable in the past.

Seeing that Chen Yan was silent, Yang Rou thought for a moment, then asked again,

"Since you know where she is, don't you want to bring her back?"

Chen Yan,

"Bring her back?"

Chen Yan crossed his arms behind his head and lay back on the sofa, "Looking for her now would only pour fuel on the fire. Let her cool off first. When the time is right, I'll go find her."

"By then, she might not be angry with me anymore, and the issue would be easier to resolve."

After hearing Chen Yan's words, Yang Rou gave him a glance and shook her head.

She didn't understand the romantic pursuits of these young people.

Well... to be honest, she didn't understand love too well herself.

Her feelings were simple; being happy with Chen Yan was all that mattered.

Love was destined to be just a seasoning. She preferred her career.

If she could successfully make Chenlu Film Company the number one film company in the country, she would be satisfied...

...

Evening, Tianfu.

Lu Man and Xiao Tao boarded a plane to Hai Bei.

As they were boarding, Xiao Tao quietly asked Lu Man, "Sister Man, didn't you say you weren't done having fun? Why are we leaving now?"

Lu Man whispered, "Didn't you say the weibo I posted leaked our information?"

"I think you have a point."

"So, I plan to move overnight."

"What if Chen Yan analyzes our current location and sends someone to track us?"

Hearing Lu Man's words, Xiao Tao weakly contested, "That wouldn't be tracking; that would be protection, right? I think Director Chen is quite nice, sending someone to protect us is pretty normal."

Lu Man twisted Xiao Tao's ear, "Ah? You little girl, always taking other people's side! Speaking up for Chen Yan!"

Xiao Tao pleaded repeatedly while saying, "No, no, Sister Man, I'm wrongly accused here."

After hearing this, Lu Man let go of her ear.

Xiao Tao muttered softly, "After all, it's Director Chen who pays my salary. Isn't it natural for me to side with him?"

"What? What are you muttering about now?" Lu Man gave Xiao Tao a suspicious look.

Xiao Tao waved her hands to dismiss the question.

And so, the two of them took the overnight plane to Hai Bei.

....

First class on the plane, pitch black outside, all the passengers in the cabin were sleeping.

Lu Man couldn't sleep and stared out the window.

Vaguely, she thought she saw Chen Yan's reflection on the glass.

She looked closely in surprise, only to find it was just a trick of her eyes.

That... was just a cloud that looked quite like Chen Yan.

Or rather, a cloud with no resemblance to Chen Yan at all, but Lu Man mistook it for him...

Lu Man turned her gaze inside and let out a small sigh.

During the days away from Qin Island, she really hadn't been feeling well.

Vacation is supposed to be happy.

But happiness only comes with one's beloved by their side.

Now, her beloved wasn't with her, and he might even be... lying next to some other woman. The thought twisted her heart painfully.

Is love always this difficult?

Memories of Chen Yan flooded before Lu Man's eyes.

There was the good, the very good, the exceptionally good with Chen Yan...

In short, there was nothing bad about Chen Yan.

Honestly.

She missed Chen Yan a little...

She looked out the window, "I wonder if that jerk is thinking about me..."

...

Meanwhile, Chen Yan was on the phone with He Mengxue.

He wasn't sharing tender feelings with He Mengxue, but was actually discussing issues related to Lu Man.

"How's that private jet your father's helping me buy coming along?"

"It's been over half a year. Why isn't it here yet?"

The private jet was something Chen Yan had fallen for when he borrowed the He family's jet for a negotiation in Tiandu.

He felt increasingly busy with the need to fly everywhere, and his team also had to travel frequently.

Owning his own jet would be far more comfortable than always taking commercial flights.

So, afterward, he arranged with the He family to order one for him.

Now, more than half a year had passed and it still hadn't been delivered.

On the other end of the phone, He Mengxue sounded indignant, "You're so eager for it, you must want to be able to see Lu Man at any time."

Blushing at having his thoughts unmasked, Chen Yan was glad they were on the phone and He Mengxue couldn't see his expression. He coughed and said, "What nonsense. It's for work. For work."

He added silently in his heart: Well... after all, bringing back Lu Man, a company partner, is indeed part of the work.

Even though He Mengxue knew Chen Yan was lying, she said helplessly, "Okay, okay... I'll go ask for you."

"I seem to have heard my father mention that it was already built and they're just fine-tuning it. It should be ready soon."

Then she added, "Oh, and remember to have the money ready. You kept saying you wanted to order, but never paid up."

Hearing He Mengxue's words, Chen Yan was taken aback, "I need to pay?"

He Mengxue: ?????

Chen Yan coughed and asked, "Mengxue, have you ever thought about owning your own private jet?"

He Mengxue replied, "Stop it. I can't afford to buy or maintain one."

After saying that, she continued, "You better find a way to pay. It's billions we're talking about. My dad has already paid the down payment out of kindness. If you don't pay up, he will get his money back even if he has to kill you for it."

Chen Yan said shamelessly, "If he kills me, his daughter would be heartbroken."

He Mengxue blushed and whispered defensively, "You and your big mouth."

Then, she hung up the phone to ask her father about the private jet...

...

A night without words.

Lu Man had arrived in Hai Bei just after midnight.

Thanks to the hotel providing a shuttle service, she and Xiao Tao made it to the hotel without any trouble.

After checking in at the hotel and getting organized, the two didn't get to sleep until 2 A.M.

This caused them to get up only when the sun was high in the sky the next day.

Removing her hand from Xiao Tao's body, Lu Man stretched and yawned.

Startled by Lu Man, Xiao Tao turned over and continued to sleep.

Lu Man looked at the little girl and smiled mischievously, then reached out and playfully caressed Xiao Tao several times, earning a few coquettish protests until she laughed and hopped out of bed to wash up.

In the bathroom, Lu Man washed her face and brushed her teeth, then checked her weibo on her phone.

As soon as she opened weibo, she discovered the top trending story was about her.

At first, she was smug, thinking it was some fresh news about herself.

But upon closer inspection, she stopped brushing her teeth in shock.

The top trend on weibo was: "Lu Man's weibo is suspected to be taken over by her company."

Lu Man quickly checked her weibo backstage and found nothing amiss.

Confused, she said, "Huh, it hasn't been taken over."

She clicked on the trend to find out more.

It turned out to be several marketing accounts spreading a rumor.

The screenshots were from her weibo post from the day before.

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