One-way Passage

When Xia Wennan exited his office, walked down the corridor to his lab, and peeked inside through the windows, he saw that, in lieu of working, everyone had come together and was having a discussion.
He strolled right past them and took the elevator up to Ming Luchuan’s office.

After greeting Xia Wennan, the assistant immediately welcomed him into Ming Luchuan’s office, where he would be waiting for him.

Xia Wennan opened the door and walked in.
Ming Luchuan, who was sitting behind his desk, was on the phone.
His face was solemn, but he didn’t appear all that tense—he even blinked at Xia Wennan when he noticed him.

Xia Wennan settled down on the sofa and waited for Ming Luchuan there.

Ming Luchuan was apparently talking about Moze’s news.

Xia Wennan’s heart was in a state of indefineable disarray.
While he waited, he took out his phone and looked up news on the internet.
He discovered that there wasn’t much relevant news at the moment and came upon a piece of gossip instead; someone had photographed him and He Yufeng on their walk at the university the night before and had uploaded the photos on a relevant forum.

Neither he nor He Yufeng were celebrities, but the banner revealed their identities, sparking a small discussion beneath the post.

The photos were shared last night, and the initial discussion was about Ming Yan’s chief perfumer walking with Moze’s boss, with some even questioning if Xia Wennan was having an affair.

The second Moze’s article was released this afternoon, this forum post blew up.
People flocked to speculate on whether Xia Wennan would jump ship to Moze, and given Xia Wennan’s relationship with Ming Luchuan, some even speculated on if he would divorce him.

Moments later, Xia Wennan saw that his and He Yufeng’s photos were actually trending on a much larger social networking platform.
He was completely perplexed, unable to see why this issue was so worthy of attention.

Unable to resist, he opened the trending topics and found that not many people were talking about this issue; the first related topic was still news about Moze’s pheromone perfumes.
Underneath, many were questioning who these two people were, and some were even wondering what was going on.
Later on, a marketing account posted a lengthy comment explaining Xia Wennan and He Yufeng’s identities, as well as raising the question of whether or not Moze’s pheromone perfume launch suggested that Xia Wennan would be leaving Ming Yan for Moze.

“Moze is media-playing.” Ming Luchuan’s voice suddenly sounded in Xia Wennan’s ear.

Xia Wennan, who had been concentrating on his phone, was abruptly startled.
His lax grip caused his phone to fall before he hurried to catch it.
He clutched his chest and, with a dismal expression on his face, he said, “You scared the living hell out of me.”

Ming Luchuan reached out to take his phone and casually turned it over.
“What is it that you’re scared of?”

“When did you get here?” Although Xia Wennan felt that getting on the trending topics was somewhat novel, he also wasn’t too fond of being the talk of town.
He watched on as Ming Luchuan scrolled through the topic without getting any closer.

Ming Luchuan said, “After I hung up.”

Xia Wennan hurriedly questioned, “What’s going on with Moze?”

“Nothing,” said Ming Luchuan.
“Moze’s pheromone perfumes took more than one or two days to develop—the timing they chose is just inconvenient for us.”

Thinking of Yin Zejing’s identity, Xia Wennan couldn’t help but grab Ming Luchuan’s wrist.
“Are you sure that they developed their pheromone perfumes themselves?” he said in a small voice.

Ming Luchuan looked up at him.
“What do you mean?”

“Your—”

Before Xia Wennan could finish speaking, the door to Ming Luchuan’s office burst open from the outside.
Ming Qin walked into Ming Luchuan’s office, clad in a black suit and black leather shoes, followed closely behind by Ming Siyan.

When Ming Qin spotted Xia Wennan, he said, “Good, Wennan’s here too.
Let’s have a family meeting.”

Then, Ming Qin turned around and addressed Xu Feng, who was standing at the desk by the doorway.
“Prepare a meeting room.”

Xu Feng cast a glance at Ming Luchuan before nodding and saying, “Yes, Mr.
Ming.”

Inside the meeting room, Min Qin sat at the head of the table.

Xue Jing came in with a tray containing several cups of tea.
She was noticeably apprehensive as she placed a cup in front of Ming Qin.

After setting all four cups on the table, Ming Luchuan told Xue Jing, “You can leave, close the door on your way out.”

Xue Jing promptly nodded and left the room.

Ming Luchuan sat immediately to Ming Qin’s right, Ming Siyan across from him, and Xia Wennan next to him.

Weirdly, Xia Wennan had the impression that this seating arrangement was similar to that of the Ming house’s dinner table; only the setting had changed to the bright and orderly meeting room, and the atmosphere had suddenly become grave.
Furthermore, everyone was dressed in formal attire.
When Xia Wennan lowered his head to take a quick look at himself, he noticed that his collar was unbuttoned, so he swiftly affected an air of nonchalance and fastened the button with his fingers.

This was actually his first time seeing Ming Qin dressed so sharp.
Though his demeanour was solemn, he reclined against the back of the chair with an indolent air about him, his aura ineffable.

“What’s going on between Wennan and He Yufeng?” Ming Qin asked.
His tone was no different from usual, mild and gentle.

“He’s my senior.
We share the same graduate advisor,” Xia Wennan explained.
“I went to see my teacher with him yesterday.”

Ming Qi gave a nod.

“I know what happened,” Ming Luchuan spoke up.
“He Yufeng must’ve found someone to take those pictures and distribute them as a marketing stunt.”

Netizens were generally interested in controversies about other people’s private lives, and even though they weren’t major celebrities, anything involving a third-person and adultery was bound to garner some attention.

Ming Yan was highly reputed for their pheromone perfumes, and as the perfumer, Xia Wennan would inevitably have the public eye on him.
At this time, his connection to the general manager of Moze, whose company was set to launch their own pheromone perfumes, would consequently make people’s imaginations go wild.

As long as they gained online exposure and then He Yufeng and Xia Wennan came out to set the record straight, reputations would not be harmed, while Moze’s new products would be promoted to a considerable degree.

“He Yufeng is way too shameless!” Ming Siyan slapped the table in anger.

Ming Qin maintained his calm.
He nodded and said, “Wennan should clear this up as soon as possible.
People will lose interest and will cease to pay attention.”

“Wennan doesn’t have an account on this platform,” said Ming Luchuan.
“I’ll have Xu Feng reach out to the official platform and sign up for a verified account.
We can directly clarify this matter and send a lawyer’s letter to the marketing account requesting that the post be deleted.”

Ming Qin didn’t speak.
His gaze was locked on the surface of the conference table, his left hand’s fingers toying with the ring on his right.
A while later, he asked, “What about Moze’s pheromone perfumes?”

“They ought to have been developed by Moze themselves,” said Ming Luchuan.

“Are you sure?” This time, it was Ming Siyan who opened his mouth.
His head was slightly cocked to one side as he gave Ming Luchuan a doubtful look.
“Da-ge, are you sure that our patents and formulas haven’t been leaked?”

Ming Luchuan looked up at him and calmly asked, “Why do you say that? Do you have any knowledge of Moze’s internal affairs?”

Right as Ming Siyan was about to speak, a voice rang out from beside Ming Luchuan, “We can’t be sure.”

Ming Luchuan turned his head.
The speaker was none other than Xia Wennan.

Xia Wennan reclined back on his chair and inwardly thought, who can’t put on a show? With one hand atop the conference table, his fair round fingertips knocked on the wooden surface, producing a muffled sound.
“We have a mole in our company,” he stated.

Ming Siyan stared at him with wide-eyes.

Xia Wennan furtively pointed towards Ming Qin and said, “Yin Zejing.” After uttering this name, he didn’t wait for anyone to question him before saying in one go, “Why Yin Zejing, you ask? Because Yin Zejing is He Yufeng’s younger brother—he’s Moze’s second prince.
Why do I know this? Because I remember.”