Qi Mo finally finished the phone call. His eyes scanned the room, but he didn't see Sheng Mumu anywhere.
Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door from outside.
Opening the door, Zhang Housekeeper stood outside.
He held out the tray respectfully, with a subtle laugh in his tone:
"Sir, this is prepared by Madam for you. She asked me to tell you to remember to moisten your throat after being on the phone for so long."
On the tray, a bowl of honey pear slices was steaming hot.
In an instant, the man's ink black pupils were softened by the faint steam.
In a low, gentle voice he asked:
"Where's Madam?"
"Madam went out in her car," Zhang Housekeeper recalled. "Madam was on the phone when she went out. It seems like she mentioned going to discuss work."
Qi Mo thought for a few seconds and quickly figured it out.
With her impulsive personality, she most likely had a sudden idea and wanted to discuss it with someone.
Qi Mo lightly hmm'd and brought the soup back to the bedroom.
The outer layer of the bowl spread warmth to his palms.
The man lowered his eyes, his long lashes concealing the gentle light in his eyes.
He took a spoonful of the sweet syrup.
A strand of warmth also rippled through his heart.
Sweetness rose up.
*
The "One Bouquet for Life" brand was successfully launched.
In the Madam group chat that didn't miss any news, the ladies excitedly discussed:
-【Congratulations Madam Qi for being the first madam in our group to successfully start a business.】
-【Building 12 sends congratulations. [Flower][Clapping hands]】
-【Haha, Building 5 also sends congratulations.】
-【Madam Qi, I admit I had some misunderstandings about you before, thinking you were just playing around with the flower shop. I didn't expect that in just a few months, you've managed it into a brand, and done it so well. [Thumbs up][Thumbs up][Thumbs up]】
-【Today when I was getting my beauty treatments, I heard people next to me talking about Yueji Flower Shop, and I proudly told them that it was opened by our district's madam [Proud][Laugh out loud]】
-【I already got my husband to buy a 'One Bouquet for Life', using up his one-time purchase chance. [Covering laugh]】
-【Seeing Madam Qi's resounding business success, I also got the idea of starting my own business.】
-【I'll be honest with you, recently I've been thinking of opening a snack shop. Want to do it together?】
The chat was lively in the group.
Suddenly, a forwarded news link appeared on the screen.
The headline was: 【A certain up-and-coming flower brand is suspected of using "hybrid peonies" to pass off as imported roses】
The news didn't directly reveal the company name, but hinted towards "Yueji" in every line.
The lively chat atmosphere in the group stopped abruptly.
Sheng Mumu's eyebrows furrowed as she tapped into the comments section.
Several comments condemning "Yueji" were prominently ranked at the top, with exceptionally high numbers of likes.
-【Ineffectual mosaic, no need to guess, it must be the recently heavily advertised "One Bouquet for Life" brand.】
-【Pfft, a bouquet of broken roses selling for over 5,000 yuan, I thought it was something impressive, didn't expect it was using peonies to pass off as roses, taking consumers for fools?】
-【Unethical company, unethical boss.】
-【Boycott this kind of consumer deception, friends, call on those around you to boycott together.】
Sheng Mumu's fingers flexed. Her brows were tightly knitted.
As expected.
What was bound to come, still came.
Where there are profits, there will be competition; where there is competition, all kinds of tactics are inevitable...
She had anticipated all kinds of situations that could happen, just didn't expect it to come so quickly.
As she contemplated countermeasures in her mind, it took several rings of the phone before she heard it.
She picked up the call.
Su Tingran's voice sounded very anxious.
"Mumu, did you see what's in the group?"
Sheng Mumu's tone was calm. "Yeah, just saw it."
Su Tingran: "How come it's that [l] again, it was her last time too."
Sheng Mumu didn't notice earlier.
Only after Su Tingran's reminder did she realize the person who shared this news was the same one who revealed Sheng Lei was her brother in the group last time.
Su Tingran: "I asked Madam Sun and Madam Qian, asked if they knew who this person was, but neither could answer."
[l] didn't use a name as her nickname, and rarely talked about herself in the group.
It was as if she appeared overnight.
Su Tingran worriedly asked: "She seems prepared, targeting you every time, Mumu. Why don't I add her as a friend and ask who she is and what she wants."
Sheng Mumu squeezed the phone a bit tighter, her tone calm:
"No need, Tingran. If that person is really targeting me, since she dares to post in the group, she must have prepared follow-up responses. Even if we directly ask her, she won't reveal any flaws, it'll only let her know we've noticed her."
Su Tingran felt Sheng Mumu made sense, but was still worried. She asked:
"Mumu, have any strange people with a 'l' in their name appeared around you recently?"
Perhaps Su Tingran had been watching too many mystery shows lately, thinking to analyze the person's identity from their online name.
Sheng Mumu murmured: "l?"
Among all the people she knew, three had an l in their names.
Liu Zhenzhen, Sheng Lei, Qiao Li.
Sheng Lei was still in jail, it couldn't be him.
Liu Zhenzhen was just a high schooler.
Although they had conflict before, they had clarified face-to-face. Liu Zhenzhen was probably avoiding her, there's no reason she would take the initiative to stir up trouble.
Plus, most crucially.
Sheng Lei and Liu Zhenzhen couldn't possibly appear in the Xiyu Yue Court madam group chat.
So the only one left with an l in their name who could appear in the madam group was Qiao Li.
Qiao Li's face appeared in Sheng Mumu's mind.
Recently, Feng Yaoqin had been coming over every few days, eating meals together with them.
She would occasionally bring Qiao Li along.
Through several interactions, Sheng Mumu had a great impression of Qiao Li, she was a very outstanding girl.
Usually quiet, you could tell she was very smart and clever.
Sheng Mumu didn't believe Qiao Li would be [l], and she didn't have any motive or reason to sabotage Yueji either.
Sheng Mumu pursed her lips and slowly said:
"Among the people I know, there are none that can be associated with the letter 'l'. Perhaps l doesn't represent a name, but has some other meaning."
After chatting with Su Tingran a bit more, Sheng Mumu hung up.
She decided to not agonize over finding out who [l] was for now.
Even if [l] was standing in front of her now, there was no evidence to accuse the other party of hiring internet water armies to smear Yueji.
She couldn't confront someone just because they forwarded news in the group chat, or said a couple things related to her.
At present, dealing with Yueji Flower Shop's PR crisis was more important than finding [l].
On the other side.
Qi Group headquarters building, top floor CEO office.
"President Qi."
The executive assistant knocked and entered, handing his phone to Qi Mo. His speech urgent:
"There is bad news spreading online about Madam's company."
