RYEY -Chapter 457 The Scandalous Newspaper Photo

“This report didn’t even need such a large photo. What was your purpose in doing so?”

Liu Yang knew Lu Xiaoyan fairly well. This girl had lofty ambitions but a fragile fate, always hoping to find a rich and handsome man. Li Huan was exactly the target in her heart.

Lu Xiaoyan felt a little guilty. Before the newspaper published it, she had already shown Li Huan’s photo to her friends and relatives, declaring that this man would be her destined one.

Her parents even praised her for having an eye for good men—someone wealthy and handsome like him was practically a rare existence and had to be won over.

If their daughter could win this man, their family would truly turn their fortunes around. Once they had money in their pockets, they could renovate their house and marry off the two sons.

For the first time, Lu Xiaoyan felt the love of her parents and brothers. Her mother even bought a piece of meat from the market so she could finally sit at the table at home and eat meat properly.

Even her two brothers watched her with beaming smiles, even placing the fattest piece of meat into her bowl, giving her immense satisfaction.

“Editor Liu, please believe me—I have no ulterior motive. I just wanted our newspaper to have another selling point so that the Liangzhou Daily can develop quickly and prosper.”

Liu Yang: “…”

“Now, the main subject doesn’t agree to having his photo in the newspaper. Rewrite the report, remove the photo, write an apology letter, and this quarter your bonus will be deducted to compensate for his portrait rights.”

Hearing that her bonus would go to Li Huan, Lu Xiaoyan immediately agreed. Could this mean they now had an indirect connection? After all, it was a full quarter’s bonus, and the amount was not small.

“Editor, this news is to be reported for three consecutive days. Today’s draft has already been submitted; it will likely be published tomorrow. If it’s going to be changed, it will be tomorrow’s task.”

“What time is it now? How could it have already been submitted?”

“I stayed up all night finishing the draft and submitted it directly. Here, this is the original draft, please take a look.”

Liu Yang trusted Lu Xiaoyan’s writing ability and didn’t scrutinize it, but he already had a plan. He returned to his office and picked up the phone.

He called the printing factory. The newspaper and printing factory were long-time partners. Upon receiving Liu Yang’s call, the factory manager immediately went to the workshop and discovered that tomorrow’s newspaper hadn’t even been put on the press yet, which was a relief.

Li Huan quietly listened as Liu Yang made the call, his anger gradually subsiding. So it was that Lu Xiaoyan who had made the decision herself. He hadn’t expected people nowadays to be so calculating—it was scary.

“Comrade Li Huan, I deeply apologize for the trouble caused by our mistake. I will explain this situation to the higher-ups. Tomorrow’s newspaper will publish our apology letter.”

“Fine. I hope my photo will no longer appear in the newspaper. I’m not someone who likes the spotlight.”

“Our newspaper will prepare compensation for you as an apology. I will personally deliver it to your residence in a couple of days.”

“No need.”

Li Huan rode his bicycle away. Along the way, people pointed and whispered. Some even questioned whether he was male or female. Growing up like this, it was a little strange.

The older girls and young women he passed stopped—some shyly peeking, others boldly blocking his path and asking when his family farm would open.

Li Huan felt annoyed but couldn’t lose his temper in public, or Cheng Qiao’s hard work would be wasted. Walking and stopping intermittently, a sudden chill ran through his chest.

“Not good… the hard-earned true energy can’t suppress the cold poison.”

Li Huan immediately took out his health pills from his pocket, swallowing five or six at once. The pills circulated rapidly in his body, temporarily suppressing the icy chill.

He took a deep breath, took out a handkerchief, folded it into a triangle as a mask to cover his face, and rode to the dormitory.

Once inside, he first lit the heated kang bed, then took the remaining water Cheng Qiao had left in the thermos and drank several cups in succession.

Then he sat cross-legged on the kang, meditating. He was still at the fourth meditation stage, and advancing further was extremely difficult.

While Li Huan meditated in the dormitory, Yang Jun and the others faced trouble. Suddenly, many people appeared at the construction site, all curious about what this so-called family farm looked like.

Many came just to gawk, driven by curiosity. Lu Xiaoyan’s parents and brothers also came. When they saw the piles of cement, bricks, and wood at the site, their eyes lit up.

“Old man, why not take some materials home? We can renovate the house too.”

Lu Xiaoyan’s father nodded. They couldn’t take them during the day, so they could come at night. That evening, tents were set up at the construction site as temporary resting spots for those on duty.

The two villagers on duty felt bored. Luckily, they had some money in their pockets and bought two bottles of wine and two packs of peanuts. Drinking wine and eating peanuts, they finished both bottles and soon fell into a deep sleep under the heavy intoxication.

Lu Xiaoyan’s father and two brothers pushed a cart and quietly arrived at the construction site. They ignored everything else, only taking cement and bricks, carting them home one load at a time.

“Crack…”

“Crack…”

Flashbulbs went off repeatedly. The three thieves turned to look. In the moonlight, a woman held a camera, continuously taking photos of them.

Lu Xiaoyan’s father thought this was bad and wanted to snatch the camera, but his two sons held him back, unconcerned—it belonged to their sister’s husband, so taking it wasn’t illegal.

The next day, Yang Jun arrived at the site and noticed materials were missing. There were many footprints and wheel marks. When he questioned the two villagers on duty, they claimed ignorance, infuriating Yang Jun, who said he would dock their wages before they got serious.

Unfortunately, no matter how much they tried to recall, they could only remember their own drinking, and then everything else was gone from their memory. Yang Jun didn’t hesitate and went to find Cheng Qiao, who told him to report it to the police.

The police were in a difficult position. There were no surveillance cameras here, no names written on the cement or red bricks, and there were many workers on the construction site. How could they investigate?

“No need to investigate. The newspaper has already revealed who the thief is,”

One officer held up a copy of a small local newspaper. These papers sold well because they mostly reported on trivial, everyday matters, which made them very popular.

“Who are these three men? Isn’t this Li Huan? And who is he entangled with?”

“Are you blind? Doesn’t it say here that Lu Xiaoyan is having an affair with a married man? Her own father and brother were moving materials at the construction site. This already proves her motives and purpose for the affair.”

“Nonsense! Who wrote this? Go check it out! Something bad is going to happen… a serious incident…”