Qian Meng rubbed her lip with her finger.

  This man had an underlying motive to keep Bai Ye Qing onboard, but Qian Meng didn't know smaller businessmen in the city. There were plenty of those. She knew the board members and their shares, but without their names, she couldn't identify any of them. She didn't have their pictures.

  And no one here took names like they knew each other and didn't want to include the new people in the conversation.

  "Sorry, Chairman Bai. I was compiling my defense," Bai Ye Qing announced. He smiled at the room. "I have some words to say that I feel the members of the board should hear before coming to a judgment."

  Qian Meng was dying to know what those words could be.

  The speaker cleared his throat. "I suppose that is okay."

  Bai Yu looked at his son curiously. "Go ahead," he said.

  Bai Ye Qing pushed the speaker aside and adjusted the microphone for himself. Qian Meng watched with rapt fascination and wondered how he led anyone in anything. He had no presence to speak of or intelligence for that matter.

  What an odd son to a brilliant man. She couldn't help but feel pity once again.

  "This hearing is a disgrace in the face of our company. I deny the allegations made against me. Though more powerful than me by birth, the woman who has made this happen has lied through her teeth to smear my name in the public eye. I, in no way, threatened her or the other woman. As I see it, she took this route to infiltrate the company and ensure that any and all threats against her were cleared before the contracts with her were signed."

  "Is he talking about the Venus CEO?" people whispered around her. Qian Meng raised her brow and stared at Bai Ye Qing. He had no sense to even look around the room. He didn't know she was sitting right under his nose as he spouted nonsense.

  But would he have cared anyway? Who knew?

  "The past few weeks have been a calculated and orchestrated business hit, fueled with a wave of pent-up anger from Miss Yun that I found out she was involved with other men and fear that her company name would be smeared. She has intentionally put me in the public eye to whitewash her image in the public eye and in turn, tried to ensure that I have no foothold or power to respond to her accusations."

  Mr. Bai turned to look at Qian Meng. She shrugged as she chuckled. She didn't know how to speak when he so passionately tried to blame others for his downfall.

  People beside her heard her laugh and turned to look at her curiously. Bai Ye Qing did not notice any of this.

  He went into a monologue about the unstable power structure of the company and how outside forces were trying to use his father to become richer and invincible. It all sounded like a grand old conspiracy theory.

  Finally, he stopped and looked around the room. His eye slipped past her before he did a double-take and stared at her in horror.

  She gave him a blinding smile. She pressed the microphone in front of her and began to speak.

  "Director Bai, are you saying that the claim that you were in multiple relationships while pursuing marriage with me a lie? Or are you saying that you didn't harass and abuse all those women?" she asked cheekily. This question was purely for herself. To defend her honor and to let everyone know who she was.

  "Why are you even in this room? You have no right to sit in," Bai Ye Qing sneered. But he wasn't angry enough to yell. Qian Meng scrutinized his expression and realized that he didn't think it was too farfetched if she was here. "Are you here to act as a witness and tell everyone what a horrible human I am?"

  Qian Meng waved it off. "I don't need to tell anyone what kind of person you are. I have already given all the proof required for people to make their own judgment. Unfortunately, one or more of the shareholders sold part of their stake in the company and gave me enough power to sit in on this meeting."

  Bai Ye Qing grew eerily silent. He suddenly realized that she was here to sow discord between the people. Now, everyone, including those on his side would start pointing fingers at one another.

  They would start wondering what Yun Qian Meng had offered for those shares apart from the price. Was it contracts? What benefits did it bring? Should they follow her lead to not offend her or cast her aside as a minor shareholder and outvote her?

  All these questions came to the minds of the others in the room.

  But Bai Ye Qing knew… she had bought shares from his father. There was no one else who Qian Meng could easily access.

  His face was scrunched with dissatisfaction and Qian Meng felt delighted at the turn of events. His misfortune brought her great joy. "It was targeted and my movements manipulated to look a certain way," he claimed, looking at her without a hint of fear.

  Qian Mend nodded sagely. "Of course. Let me rephrase that question: Were you meeting other women while you were trying to pursue me?" she asked again.

  "Yes, probably. Haven't you ever done that?" he countered.

  "Can you answer the question clearly?" she responded.

  "Yes. But so were you!"

  Qian Meng rolled her eyes. "I was not pursuing a relationship with you." She took a moment to look at the speaker. "Were you meeting aforementioned women on company time?" she added in a little later.

  Bai Ye Qing sucked in a breath. "What does that mean?" he yelled.

  "According to the information online, it can be estimated that you were not present at the office or working on anything with relation to the company during the period of time you were spending with other women."