"What about the mole, Boss?" Li Min asked.

  Qian Meng's eyes cooled. "Is there any progress on who it was?" she questioned.

  Li Min shook her head. "We have the IT team looking at all correspondence for the answer. I suppose it will take some time for it to happen. But once we find out, what is the mode of punishment?"

  Qian Meng smiled. "The usual. Lawsuit for breach of NDA, loss, and a testimony for our lawsuit against Sophie's Secret. Make sure the news travels to everyone in the industry so that they never get a job. There is no use for a rat in the company." She was firm and cold in that.

  Mo Qingchen gazed on passionately. He always believed her to be kind to her employees, but to those that did her wrong, she wasn't kind in the least. She needed to be cold and ruthlessly calculating even against her closest people. This was a lesson she was going to learn the hard way and he was happy with the progress she had made so far.

  And the call ended. The whole thing had calmed down it seemed.

  It was a long moment before Qian Meng fully turned to Mo Qingchen.

  "Did you just help me solve the problem?" she asked.

  Mo Qingchen looked bewildered. "I just told you a few poetic lines and you figured it out all on your own. How am I supposed to strategize like a military general?" he scoffed. "I tell you, you would make a cunning general in the ancient times. You scare me sometimes," he said with a small smile.

  "Well, thank you for your help. I just couldn't think of anything and you swooped in and answered everything."

  Mo Qingchen thought about his response for a minute. "I suppose… it was inspiration more than me telling you the answer. It's better this way. You were going to lose money from this collection in the domestic market, so you cut it out. It's simple. If you don't cut off the rotten limb, it spreads everywhere."

  Qian Meng rolled her eyes. "You and your military strategy language."

  "You played it beautifully," he acknowledged. "And your employees… you made them work more strategically. I like that," he whispered. "You still have a long way to go, though," he said gently.

  "It really bothered me when you told me, you know?" she admitted. "But then I thought back to it and Li Min seemed to think the same way," she informed him.

  "You believed her but were insulted by me?" he asked in confusion.

  "Mm. I think it's because you are my family. I don't want to be criticized by my family. I want to make you proud." She sounded almost childlike at that moment. Her eyes even watered a little.

  "I am proud of you." He stroked her hair with one hand while the other remained on the keyboard. "I'm happy that you consider me your family. I wasn't criticizing you; I was just telling you that I am proud of you and I can't wait to see you grow as a businesswoman."

  Qian Meng fell silent. "Do you know? You sound really condescending sometimes."

  His mind blanked. "I… I am sorry about that. It's my age, I think. I am growing old too quickly." In his mind, he was over forty years old. But she was still in her mid-twenties. How was she supposed to live side by side with a middle-aged man?

  He hadn't thought about how he sounded. Now, he regretted not making himself clear.

  "You don't look too old, thankfully. It would be a shame if that were the case," she said off-handedly.

  In his eyes, Qian Meng was almost back to normal. She was still bubbly and sarcastic. She bit back at every turn she got, but he wondered if she was pushing back everything into her heart, left to fester when she was alone.

  He worried.

  It plagued his mind. He would rather she cried and slept until all shred of fear and doubt was gone from her mind and heart.

  But how could he do that? He couldn't even make himself a better human to help her…
——

  The high anxiety broke when the call from Li Min came in.

  "Did you find the mole?" Qian Meng asked impatiently.

  "Yes, Boss. It is not a direct employee of ours. The manufacturing company in Hong Kong has a short-term employee who leaked the pictures. We requested all contracted companies to investigate the matter one by one and we found it immediately. The employee was using the company wifi to send pictures to a friend of his. So far, we made a very small connection to Sophie's Secret. And the messages look harmless," Li Min informed.

  "Has he been fired and held accountable yet?"

  "No. The manufacturing company is reluctant on the move. They are trying to absolve themselves and their staff of any wrongdoing."

  Qian Meng scrunched her brow in confusion. "They want to keep the one who gives out company secrets in their company?"

  "Not exactly. The employee left their job a month or two ago. He somehow took pictures of the first sample. They can't terminate him again but can hold him accountable for a breach of contract. I have spoken to our executive in Hong Kong and he also acknowledges that it is going to be hard to take action."

  Qian Meng groaned. "And?"

  "The manufacturer refused to send out the product until the matter was resolved. We sent out the executive for talks but they said they would only change their minds if the CEO came and spoke to them privately," Li Min acknowledged.

  "It's a joke, obviously," Qian Meng waved it off.

  "No, Boss. I think they are dissatisfied with the contract amount and are therefore acting up. Even the mole came from their side. I spoke to Li Jun and he said that the manufacturer can deny products in cases of plagiarism and such," Li Min said.