Hearing this, Xu Yamei instantly widened her eyes.
Just then, Minister Zhao and the others came downstairs.
Earlier, after Jiang Si had hurriedly gone downstairs, Assistant An grew increasingly uneasy and quickly went upstairs to briefly report the situation.
“What happened?” Before coming down, Minister Zhao only knew that a fight had broken out, but he wasn’t aware of the specifics.
Now, seeing Jiang Si standing there with a frosty expression, he asked while instinctively glancing at the others.
With just one look, he spotted the problem.
“What’s going on? Instead of working properly during office hours, you’re resorting to physical altercations?”
His tone was stern as he spoke, making everyone break out in a cold sweat.
One by one, they all lowered their heads.
Such matters were usually discussed privately—who would dare bring them up in front of the people involved and their superiors?
“It’s nothing much,” Jiang Si said coolly, just as everyone wished they could vanish on the spot. “I just heard Comrade Xu Yamei here saying that I was ‘shacking up’ with another man. I’m quite curious—who exactly was it?”
“Since you’re here, Minister Zhao, let’s have Comrade Xu Yamei clarify this so we can confront the matter directly.”
As soon as she finished speaking, Minister Zhao and the other leaders present looked stunned.
“Minister Zhao!” Perhaps Jiang Si’s words had given Assistant Qi courage.
In front of everyone, she pointed at Xu Yamei. “Not only did she spread rumors about Engineer Jiang betraying Comrade Huo, but she also said many other vile things…”
With every word Assistant Qi spoke, the leaders’ expressions darkened further.
Had Comrade Xu Yamei lost her mind?
Everyone could see how devoted Engineer Jiang and her husband were.
Moreover, she was deeply cherished by her in-laws—otherwise, the Huo family wouldn’t have assigned a guard to chauffeur her daily!
Besides, whenever she worked with Special Assistant Chi, their assistants always waited outside the door. Where would they even get the chance to “shack up”?
And the claim that she gave up her university spot for Special Assistant Chi was utterly baseless!
Wait—that didn’t add up.
Minister Zhao’s expression suddenly turned grim as if he had realized something.
The matter of Comrade Jiang giving up her worker-peasant-soldier university quota had only been discussed among a small circle—very few people knew about it.
How had it spread so widely in just a few days?
“Minister Zhao.” Noticing his reaction, Jiang Si decided to push further.
She didn’t bring it up publicly, however, but instead pulled Minister Zhao aside.
“Minister Zhao, these irresponsible rumors don’t just concern my personal reputation—they also severely tarnish the image of the Construction Ministry and the embassy. I hope the organization will thoroughly investigate this matter.”
If the other party wanted to escalate things, she might as well take it further.
Jiang Si wasn’t the type to endure humiliation quietly.
The goal behind this was clearly to ruin her reputation and force her out of the workplace.
Well, she could use this opportunity to rightfully expose the culprit and remove them from the game.
With that in mind, she raised the stakes for Minister Zhao. “Losing face is one thing, but if this affects diplomatic relations between the two countries…”
Her expression practically spelled out the words “treacherous intentions.”
Minister Zhao fell silent.
Anyone who had risen to his position wasn’t a fool.
Moreover, he knew Jiang Si wasn’t exaggerating.
Not only was she the chief designer of the foreign-related hotel—a highly sensitive role—but behind her stood the Huo family from the military!
If such a scandal spread, how would other ministry leaders and foreign embassy personnel view them?
The problem was, this matter involved many people.
How to investigate it, and how far to go, was a delicate issue.
Yet before Minister Zhao could sort out his thoughts, early the next morning, as soon as he arrived at the office, Assistant An rushed over.
“Minister Zhao, the military has sent people.”
He had expected the Huo family to intervene, but he hadn’t anticipated they’d act this quickly.
Of course, Jiang Si had played a part in this.
She wasn’t one to sit back and wait.
So the previous evening, she had told her father-in-law about the situation.
Father Huo was fiercely protective of his family, and now that he had a legitimate reason to defend his daughter-in-law while also uprooting a mole planted in the Construction Ministry, why wouldn’t he step in?
And he wasn’t alone.
As the two sides exchanged greetings, several more cars pulled in.
The license plates made it clear—these were embassy vehicles.
Their arrival at this critical moment was undoubtedly related to yesterday’s incident.
Strangely, however, Chi Heng was absent today.
In his place was Chris.
Well, it wasn’t exactly “in his place,” since the scandal also involved her.
“Jiang Si—”
The fact that the two had reconciled at the embassy last time wasn’t common knowledge in the workplace.
So when Chris stepped out of the car and strode toward Jiang Si with a stern face,
Everyone present couldn’t help but sweat nervously for Jiang Si.
“Uh, Miss Chris, this is all a misunderstanding. Let’s talk this out calmly!”
Seeing Deputy Minister Xu stepping forward to defuse the tension, Chris frowned.
“Exactly, I do want to talk to her properly.”
But first, you need to move aside.
When Deputy Minister Xu failed to grasp her meaning, Chris couldn’t be bothered to explain.
She simply sidestepped him and walked past.
Just as everyone was speculating whether Chris would lose her temper and slap Jiang Si—
Chris instead asked with genuine concern, “Are you okay?”
“…”
The crowd instinctively glanced at the sun—still hanging in the east, perfectly normal.
“I’m fine,” Jiang Si shook her head. “You know me—I can handle anything except being taken advantage of.”
“True enough,” Chris visibly relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief. “You scared me! I thought you… Ugh, all that worry for nothing.”
Her words left everyone speechless.
She was worried?
She was actually worried!
Did they hear that right?
As the crowd reeled in surprise, Chris added earnestly, “Don’t get the wrong idea—I didn’t spread those rumors!”
“I know,” Jiang Si said, fully understanding her. “If you wanted to badmouth me, you’d do it to my face. You’d never resort to sneaky tricks behind my back.”
It wasn’t exactly a compliment, but Chris lit up as if she’d found a kindred spirit. “Exactly! You get me!”
Without caring whether others could hear, she immediately started grumbling aloud.
“Who’s so rotten-hearted, spreading baseless rumors like this? Disgusting.”
Jiang Si knew but could only shake her head. “I’m not sure yet. Still investigating.”
“Well, don’t worry. I’ll vouch for you.”
“Thanks.” Jiang Si’s gratitude was sincere.
Chris waved it off casually—no big deal.
“By the way, what time will you be free later?”
“Why? Something up?”
“Nah, nothing major.” She was just craving something.
Chris lowered her voice. “When you’re done, let’s go eat that duck dish. My treat!”
Ever since Jiang Si introduced her to that duck dish last time, she hadn’t been able to forget it.
Just thinking about it now made her mouth water.
Jiang Si wasn’t sure how long work would take, but she happily accepted the invitation.
And so, under the stunned gazes of the crowd, the two walked off chatting, heading straight for the office building.
At exactly 9 a.m., the review proceedings officially began.
Father Huo had clearly come prepared—not only was he personally overseeing things, but he’d also brought in seasoned interrogation experts from the public security system to assist.
The first to be called in for questioning were those caught red-handed the day before.
Though they’d braced themselves mentally, being led into the conference room still sent cold sweat down their backs.
At this point, sisterly solidarity was the last thing on their minds.
The moment the officers began questioning, they spilled everything.
As batch after batch of people were called in, all clues eventually pointed to one person.
When the list landed in his hands, Deputy Minister Zhao frowned in disbelief.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Since there wasn’t much she could help with, Jiang Si took Chris to her office.
With so many people around earlier, she hadn’t had a chance to ask.
Now, as Chris settled in, Jiang Si poured her a glass of water and casually asked, “Why didn’t Chi Heng come today?”
Her tone was perfectly neutral.
But Chris’s reaction was anything but—she looked up in surprise—
