After Teasing the Heroine and Running Away, I Was Forced into Love - Chapter 11

Fortunately, the morning’s awkwardness didn’t linger. He Roushuang quickly tidied up and prepared for work, having already given Shi Qing the option to leave her current company.

Shi Qing was still hesitating about leaving the company with the greasy boss, so He Roushuang didn’t press her.

But today, Shi Qing had taken a full day off.

This was a hard-won vacation. Considering how difficult it was to get time off at her current company, Shi Qing was seriously considering He Roushuang’s suggestion to transfer to Tianze Group.

On a typical day off, Shi Qing might have chosen to work a part-time job at a restaurant, carrying trays until her wrists ached, before visiting her mother in the hospital.

But with He Roushuang’s support, Shi Qing’s financial burdens had eased significantly, allowing her to skip the full day of part-time work.

Instead, she decided to spend the day with her mother.

Shi Qing carried a bouquet of fresh flowers—jasmine, lilies, and delicate green leaves clustered together—intending to visit her mother.

She arrived at the hospital where her mother was staying.

Before leaving for work, He Roushuang had warned her that even though the public relations department was working tirelessly to suppress the news and erase the video completely, some people would inevitably see it.

Therefore, if Shi Qing wanted to keep her mother from finding out, she had to firmly deny that it was her in the video.

After all, the video had already vanished from the internet. As for why…

Shi Qing recalled He Roushuang’s teasing smile and raised eyebrow as she explained:

“Because those who recklessly spread others’ private information have been… eliminated.”

Shi Qing knew He Roushuang was joking. The truth was that the accounts had been hacked, providing a double layer of security.

Tianze Group absolutely couldn’t afford rumors about their CEO to spread like wildfire.

It would severely impact their stock prices.

Huo Wenlan was staying in a multi-bed hospital room. Due to her stomach cancer, she couldn’t eat most of the time, and the feeling of hunger had become almost negligible to her.

The room had a television, and she often spent her days staring blankly at the screen with her fellow patients.

But when the pain flared up, she couldn’t care less about what was on TV.

Today, the old man in the next bed was being visited by his granddaughter, who had taken control of the remote and was idly flipping through channels.

She finally settled on an entertainment program.

The show was reporting on recent celebrity gossip, none of which Huo Wenlan recognized.

Just then, the door opened, and Shi Qing walked in. She was wearing a mask, but how could a mother not recognize her own daughter?

Huo Wenlan’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Qingqing,” she called out, using her daughter’s nickname. Shi Qing nodded and replaced the flowers on her mother’s bedside table. It had been a while since her last visit.

Fortunately, these flowers were long-lasting and hadn’t yet withered or rotted.

“Why are you here so early today? Don’t you have your part-time job? Shouldn’t you be at the restaurant in the morning?”

Huo Wenlan had already figured out her daughter’s daily routine, so she never expected Shi Qing to show up in the morning.

“I have the day off,” Shi Qing said simply.

The mother and daughter sat in silence for a long time. Huo Wenlan hesitated before finally speaking.

“Maybe I should just stop treatment. There should still be some money left from selling the house. Qingqing, I can’t give you what other mothers give their daughters, but at least I can make things a little easier for you.”

Though she didn’t want to die, she couldn’t bear the thought of continuing to drain her daughter’s life force just to survive.

In reality, Huo Wenlan had no idea how dire their financial situation had become. The money from selling the house was nearly gone, and Shi Qing’s father remained missing. Sometimes she wondered if he had been sold abroad, his organs priced and sold on the black market.

Shi Qing always lied to her mother, claiming there was still some money left, when in truth, there was nothing left at all.

Once you’re in the hospital, money vanishes like water down a drain, gone in an instant, despite how agonizingly difficult it is to earn even a single yuan.

“Mom, why are you saying all this?”

“Dad ran away. You’re all I have left. I can’t let anything happen to you.”

Shi Qing took her mother’s hand and gently stroked it, noticing she had grown even thinner since her last visit.

Just then, a breaking news bulletin interrupted the entertainment program on TV.

The words “Tianze Group” caught Shi Qing’s attention, and she stared intently at the screen.

“Breaking news! The Tianze Group siblings’ rivalry over the same woman has become a hot topic. Everyone’s speculating: what exactly makes this woman so irresistible?”

“Fortunately, Assistant He Roushuang has already issued a statement to the media, clarifying that it’s not a case of siblings fighting over the same person. Instead, He Shanjian took a liking to He Roushuang’s attractive partner and acted inappropriately!”

The anchor gestured dramatically as he scrolled through images on the screen behind him, painting a vivid picture.

“This has sparked deep reflection among netizens: just how stunning must this woman be to drive the siblings of a wealthy family to such extremes?”

“Although a video circulated briefly online, it was quickly removed due to privacy concerns… Even I, the anchor, never got to see it.”

“But one can only imagine she must possess beauty that rivals the moon and shames the flowers, beauty that could sink fish and fell wild geese!”

“Only such extraordinary allure could make two immensely wealthy heirs fight tooth and nail for her!”

Hearing the news anchor’s eloquent commentary, the granddaughter holding the remote scoffed dismissively.

“What ‘beauty that sinks fish and brings down geese,’ ‘moon-eclipsing, flower-shaming’? She’s just a gold digger.”

“After milking the sister, she’s probably after the brother next.”

“Only rich fools fall for it. They see a pretty face and throw money at her.”

Shi Qing sat silently nearby, showing no reaction whatsoever, as if they weren’t even talking about her.

“Ugh, I’ll never respect such greedy gold diggers. I’d never date someone like that.”

The boy beside her, whether her brother or boyfriend, chimed in agreement.

He Roushuang arrived just in time to hear this remark, her expression darkening slightly.

Just as I thought… the female lead’s path to success is even more treacherous than ours, the villains.

If this were a novel, as a reader witnessing this scene, she would have felt the helplessness of wanting to slap them through the screen. But now, He Roushuang could actually reach out and slap those two across the face.

So she strode into the room, her aura practically radiating dominance.

“Who are you calling a gold digger?”

The pair froze, clearly stunned that the person they’d been gossiping about on TV had suddenly appeared before them.

The two students glanced uncertainly at the television, then at the woman by the door, finally confirming it was the same person.

Gulp. The girl and boy swallowed hard. Nothing in the world could be more awkward than being caught gossiping behind someone’s back by the person themselves.

“You don’t even know the truth,” He Roushuang sneered. “You hear a few sensationalized headlines and take it as gospel.”

“You’re dumber than gold diggers. At least they know how to make money for themselves. But you? You’re just puppets for the media, being manipulated like pigs.”

He Roushuang’s insults were relentless.

The two students, their faces flushed crimson, finally snapped.

“How dare you insult us like that! If you keep this up, I’ll record this and post it online! A CEO of your stature bullying ordinary people like us!” The boy stood up, refusing to endure further humiliation.

“Bullying you?” He Roushuang’s glass-like eyes flickered with amusement. She chuckled softly. “Very well, I’ll let you off the hook.”

“Today, I’m here representing Tianze Group to show compassion for cancer patients. Since you don’t need it, I’ll just give all the rewards to this patient next door.”

He Roushuang slowly approached Huo Wenlan’s bedside.

In full view of the assembled media, she brazenly offered help and favoritism to Huo Wenlan.