Chapter 18: The Phoenix Man
[凤凰男 (fènghuáng nán): lit. phoenix man; fig. a man from a poor rural background who climbs the social ladder, often through marriage or opportunistic means.]
Digging deeper revealed shocking truths. Following the blogger’s lead, netizens soon uncovered something astonishing—the woman and child who appeared so intimate with Feng Chengda were not his wife Yin He and son Yin Chengjue at all!
But in the photos, they looked so harmonious, their smiles so sweet, shopping for matching family outfits at a brand store and even exchanging affectionate kisses.
With interactions like that, who would believe they were just friends?
Netizens weren’t fools. They quickly realized—this wasn’t some rags-to-riches story of a poor boy working hard to become a CEO and falling in love with a wealthy heiress!
This was a phoenix man using his first wife to get ahead while keeping a mistress and raising an illegitimate child!
The slogan "If you marry, marry Feng Chengda" was still floating around, but now it looked like a joke, mocking the blogger who had initially praised Feng Chengda as the perfect husband.
The spectators gradually caught on—this wasn’t some sweet, heartwarming love story. It was a disgusting pile of crap!
What 'public display of affection'? This was just the mistress openly challenging the wife's place
A scumbag flaunting his mistress and illegitimate child in public, buying matching outfits and sharing sweet kisses, then riding the wave of "couple goals" to trending status.
The worst part? Feng Chengda wasn’t some born-rich heir—he was a phoenix man who got ahead by marrying a wealthy heiress. Betrayal from someone like him was especially despicable.
At first, the trending topics were all praising Feng Chengda, and his company’s PR team, insensitive to such matters, naively thought he was just out shopping and showing off his love with Yin He.
So they did nothing. By the time the truth came out and the situation reversed, it was too late. All those earlier compliments turned into glaring sarcasm, like slaps to the face, utterly destroying Feng Chengda’s image.
"What the hell is going on?!" Inside the CEO’s office of the Yin Group, Feng Chengda was furious, berating his assistant.
"Can’t even handle something this small! What use are you people? Useless idiots! Good-for-nothing trash!" Feng Chengda glared at the front-page news in the papers, his lungs about to explode from rage.
In his mind, keeping a mistress and raising an illegitimate child wasn’t the problem—the problem was whoever exposed it at the wrong time!
"Find out who took those photos! Who leaked them! Investigate everything!" Feng Chengda slammed the desk, then suddenly remembered something. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed a number—
"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently busy. Please try again later…"
He tried several more times but couldn’t get through. It dawned on him—Yin He had blocked him.
In that moment, Feng Chengda was overwhelmed by an indescribable panic.
Though he now held the CEO position at the Yin Group, his shares were fewer than Yin He’s. Worse, Old Man Yin still hadn’t fully accepted him as a son-in-law, keeping tight control over his shares, as if afraid his daughter would transfer them to Feng Chengda. He hadn’t even given many to Yin He herself.
So Feng Chengda had always played the dutiful husband on the surface, only daring to carry on his affair in secret. Those days he spent shopping with his mistress and illegitimate child were only because Yin He was away on a business trip abroad and couldn’t keep tabs on him.
Yet despite all his caution, someone had still managed to photograph him.
Feng Chengda’s mind raced, trying to figure out how to placate Yin He—to convince her he was innocent and get her to help salvage the company’s tarnished image.
Little did he know, at that very moment, Yin He was humming a tune while watering and fertilizing the plants in her glass greenhouse.
Through her earpiece, her assistant was reporting on the situation, detailing the online backlash and public reaction.
This exposure had been orchestrated by Yin He herself. But even so, during the investigation, she had been deeply hurt by Feng Chengda’s actions over the years.
She had trusted him so much—believed in his potential, in their love. That was why she had once defied her father for him.
If not for the photos Yin Chengjue had given her, Yin He might never have mustered the resolve to dig up all of Feng Chengda’s secrets.
She had thought that even between spouses, some privacy was fine—that marriage didn’t require prying into every little thing.
But Feng Chengda had shown her with his actions that their love had been a lie from the very beginning.
A lie built on money and profit.
They were the true lovers, destined to be together till death. She was just a free ATM, a stepping stone. Once she could no longer provide money and the ladder had reached its end, she would be kicked aside without hesitation.
Snip! Yin He cut off a red rose, then slowly crushed it in her palm, red juice seeping out.
"Chairman Yin?" The assistant, having finished the report, called out when she received no response.
"Hmm?" Yin He snapped back to reality and tossed the crushed petals into the flowerpot. "No rush. The other two in the photos aren’t panicking yet—why should I?"
Hmm
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