Chapter 29: The Smartphone Spirit Reduced to a Corporate Slave for the CEO

The Huang family remained unyielding; they would never stand by and watch Huang Sheng go to prison, even though the police had made it clear that his arrest was entirely due to his own insatiable greed, having embezzled tens of millions from the Shen family’s coffers. In the eyes of the Huangs, however, their precious son and golden grandson could never be in the wrong. It had to be Shen Yuanzhong who had led their sweet, sensible boy astray. Given such an aggressive stance from the Huang family, one could easily imagine how chaotic life had become for Shen Yuanzhong and Huang Yuwan.

Huang Yuwan suffered the most, caught between her natal family and her husband, feeling as though siding with one meant betraying the other. Deep down, however, her loyalty leaned toward Shen Yuanzhong; no matter how well her family had treated her, they could not compare to the husband with whom she had built a life. Consequently, upon learning that the only way to secure Huang Sheng’s release was for Shen Yuanzhong to sign that specific contract, she not only stood by her husband but actively kept the matter a secret, refusing to let a single word slip to her family.

With the Huangs constantly showing up to cause trouble, Shen Yuanzhong and Huang Yuwan had considered retreating to the Shen family estate. Yet, they feared the Huangs would pursue them regardless, and if the matter reached the ears of the elder Mr. Shen, his stern nature would ensure that Shen Yuanzhong faced severe consequences. Huang Yuwan sighed in frustration, completely at a loss. Her family’s daily visits had made life unbearable for the neighbors, and the property management office had already issued several warnings. Huang Yuwan felt deeply humiliated, yet she saw no way out.

As she sat on the sofa, consumed by worry, her phone suddenly pinged. She picked it up to find a message from an unknown number. She had intended to ignore the anonymous text, but the subject line was too audacious to overlook: "The child is two years old. Does he look like your husband?"

What kind of trashy spam uses a subject line like that? Huang Yuwan reflexively tapped it open. She hadn't taken the title seriously at first, but once the message loaded, her eyes were met with a photo of a man holding a young child. The man was leaning down, cradling the toddler with a gentle, loving expression, while the child—who bore a striking resemblance to him—looked up with eyes full of adoration. Even through the screen, one could sense the warmth of the moment... if only the man in the photo weren’t Shen Yuanzhong.

A chill ran through Huang Yuwan’s entire body. There were several photos, each taken in a different setting, but they all featured the same man: Shen Yuanzhong. There were shots of him tenderly playing with the child, and selfies of a woman leaning against him like a bird in a nest while he slept. Huang Yuwan flung the phone away in a panic.

***

"It’s sent. She’s already opened it," Chi Yu reported to Shen Yanzhi immediately after completing the task.

"Thank you," Shen Yanzhi said, sitting in his office chair and reaching out to stroke the phone. He had rarely touched his phone when he didn't need to in the past, but he had gradually developed a habit of wanting to reach out and touch it every now and then.

"No problem at all! I’ve hidden the IP address and applied anti-tracking measures. No matter how skilled a hacker they find, they will never be able to trace where this anonymous message originated," Chi Yu typed confidently. All the reading she had been doing over the past few days certainly hadn't gone to waste!