Chapter 257: Unmasking Betrayal in the Shadows

“You just said Hu Haikun claimed that if he can’t have something, he’d rather destroy it than let anyone else have it. Do you think he’s already made a move?”

Some people are unbelievably greedy, ruthless and narrow-minded.

Hu Haikun is exactly that kind of person.

He’s already wealthy enough to last several lifetimes, but the moment he saw the potential profits in Jin Yu Interactive, he insisted on forcing his way in, trying to buy shares regardless of what the founders wanted.

Getting what he wants by whatever means has long become his habit. The moment anyone resists, he instantly turns hostile and uses force.

“He actually started acting half a month ago. During a concert, he deliberately sent people to stir up trouble and cause chaos. Luckily, our security team was on point. They took care of the troublemakers and handed them over to the police before things got out of hand. The second time, he bribed one of our artists, who then started spreading rumors and creating drama both in public and online, smearing the company’s reputation.”

Li Luo had already told Zhou Can that the company had run into two big problems recently.

Zhou Can originally thought Li Luo was just playing the victim to kick him out, but now he realized Li Luo wasn’t lying. Everything he said was the truth.

That left Zhou Can feeling guilty. He couldn’t help but think he owed Li Luo an apology.

At the same time, he was filled with rage at what Hu Haikun had done.

He had to find a way to take this guy down.

“For entertainment companies like ours, a little gossip about the artists is usually good—it raises their profile. But when an artist deliberately tarnishes the company’s image, that’s a different story. This time, Hu Wei took things up a notch, spreading all sorts of lies about Jinyu Company abusing its artists and even making up nasty false rumors about Su Qianqian.”

Li Luo got especially angry when talking about this artist called Hu Wei.

“Trying to ruin Qianqian’s reputation?”

A rare glint of ice flared in Zhou Can’s eyes.

He might usually come across as easygoing and tolerant, but if anyone messed with Su Qianqian or his loved ones, he’d never show mercy.

If he could wipe them out completely, he wouldn’t settle for just a warning. If he had to maim, he wouldn’t stop at just a beating.

“Hu Wei was part of our first batch of company-trained artists. He knows a lot of details about Su Qianqian. The plan was to develop him as an actor, but he never put in the effort. After a year and a half, he was getting nowhere and just kept pestering the female artists in the company. We eventually sidelined him. Who could have guessed Hu Haikun would secretly buy him off, using him to attack and smear us?”

“They say when a traitor bites you, the pain cuts deep. It really hurt when our own guy turned on us. I went to a lot of trouble and tried all sorts of ways just to keep the damage to a minimum.”

There was exhaustion in Li Luo’s voice.

Dealing with a backstabber like this really gave him a headache.

Sometimes the people who hurt you most are the ones closest to you.

Because only those close know your weaknesses and can strike where it counts.

“We can’t let this traitor off the hook. We need to make an example of him and teach him a brutal lesson,” Zhou Can said through gritted teeth.

If they didn’t respond, who knew how many others in the company would follow suit.

After all, the man pulling the strings was the richest tycoon in the province.

He had more influence and wealth than most people could even imagine. Hu Haikun could easily buy off more employees to come after Jin Yu Interactive.

“For the company’s top artists, it’ll be hard to buy them, but there’s always a small group who are tempted. They see Hu Wei backstabbing us and not only staying unpunished, but living the high life, and some will want to copy him. Hu Haikun is a master at these shady moves. Word is, he gave Hu Wei an apartment just to make sure he’d do everything in his power for him.”

It was a way to show everyone working at Jin Yu Interactive: side with Hu Haikun and you’ll be set for life.

For a superstar like Su Qianqian, a single apartment didn’t mean much.

But for those struggling lower down the ladder, that was a powerful lure.

All they needed to do was betray their old company and air some dirty laundry, and they’d land their own apartment. No wonder so many people would be lining up.

“Can’t we just sue Hu Wei for defaming the company and dragging Qianqian’s name through the dirt?” Zhou Can asked.

“These days, everything comes down to evidence and the law. A lot of what he said is half-truths and rumors—neither side can really prove anything. Taking him to court wouldn’t help and would only raise his profile, fueling his arrogance. Our hands are tied for now. But if we get hard proof, we could ruin him in court.”

Li Luo wasn’t unwilling to deal with the guy, just powerless.

In a law-driven society, only evidence matters.

When the rumors are half-true, even bringing the case to court might not work.

“He’s just too infuriating. Bad people getting away with things drives me crazy,” Zhou Can ground his teeth at the mention of Hu Wei.

He remembered Hu Wei as a good-looking, young man.

He’d seen him a few times on trips to the company.

At the time, Hu Wei had only just graduated from film school and was struggling to find work. If Jin Yu Interactive hadn’t taken him in, he’d never have survived in the city.

Now, not only was he ungrateful, but he’d stabbed his former company in the back.

That kind of disloyalty made him especially despicable.

“Hu Wei’s still doing what he can to smear us, but the effect is limited. He basically makes up scandalous stories about Su Qianqian to get clicks. The louder he gets, though, the more evidence we can collect. Sooner or later, we’ll have enough to bring him to justice. My bigger concern now is Hu Haikun’s next moves.”

Li Luo was deeply wary of Hu Haikun.

No one underestimated the destructive power that a financial shark like him could unleash.

“Qianqian is our company’s main star, and obviously Hu Haikun’s top target. You and I are like brothers, so I’ll be straight with you. You’ve got to keep Su Qianqian safe—don’t give those vultures any chances. And make sure she doesn’t get poached directly by Hu Haikun.”

Li Luo understood the darker sides of human nature all too well.

Some people would do anything for money and personal gain.

He’d deliberately told Zhou Can not to bring Su Qianqian here today, just in case she actually started having second thoughts.

Besides, this wasn’t something she should hear.

“Don’t worry. Su Qianqian is my woman. If there’s a problem, I’ll take responsibility. If she ever did fall for Hu Haikun, I’d make sure to end everything myself. I believe Jin Yu Interactive was able to make her a star; we can do it for someone else too.”

There was an icy edge to Zhou Can’s words.

It wasn’t that he was cold-hearted; it was that he had the power to do it.

“Still, until now, I trust Qianqian wouldn’t betray me. If she was the type to go wherever she got fed, I wouldn’t bother loving her at all.”

Zhou Can actually had pretty high standards for his girlfriend.

Especially when it came to character—he’d never accept a fickle or unfaithful woman.

……

He and Li Luo talked for a long time. By the time Zhou Can got back to his apartment, it was already past eleven at night.

Jin Yu Interactive’s crisis weighed on him. Lying in bed, he quietly mulled over possible solutions. If Hu Haikun wanted to crush them, he wasn’t about to let Li Luo take the fall alone.

Zhou Can was also a major shareholder, receiving half the profits each quarter. When trouble hit the company, it was only right for him to do his part.

Rather than passively take hits, he figured it was better to make the first move.

The best defense is always a good offense.

Hu Haikun would definitely keep making moves, sometimes using dirty tricks that were impossible to guard against.

Maybe, he thought, Hu Wei could become the perfect entry point for a counterattack.

A bold plan slowly took shape in Zhou Can’s mind.

Dealing with scumbags like this, there’s no need to play fair—as long as the method works, that’s what matters.

Still, this would require the right opportunity.

Zhou Can was sure the enemy would deliver that moment themselves.

The key person to all this was Su Qianqian; only with her cooperation could the plan succeed.

The next day, Zhou Can called Su Qianqian and quickly filled her in. Trusting him completely, she agreed without even a second thought.

With everything set, Zhou Can went back to work at the hospital.

His status in the Gastroenterology Department had only grown more solid.

That day, while Zhou Can was in his office helping a patient through discharge procedures, Dr. Chi walked in with a heavy look on his face.

Dr. Chi returned to his desk, took a drink of water, then started searching something on his computer. After ten minutes or so, he glanced at Zhou Can but didn’t say anything.

He quickly looked away again.

In just a few minutes, Dr. Chi stole seven or eight glances at Zhou Can.

There was no doubt—something was up.

Many attending physicians were like Dr. Chi: whenever they needed Zhou Can’s help, they’d hesitate and stall.

Honestly, it was just pride getting in the way. They were afraid of being refused, afraid of being laughed at.

After all, having an attending physician asking a trainee for help wasn’t exactly something to brag about.

Zhou Can could feel Dr. Chi glancing his way but didn’t mention it.

He just kept working.

Finally, Dr. Chi couldn’t hold it anymore and walked over to Zhou Can’s desk.

“Busy today, Dr. Zhou?”

Dr. Chi put on a forced smile, his expression a little awkward.

Doctors who do research and manage to get anywhere all act like this—proud on the inside, with a fierce sense of self-worth.

But no matter how skilled, they couldn’t ignore the needs of their patients.

All in all, it was less intimidating asking Zhou Can for help than going to the chief physician.

Besides, some tricky cases couldn’t be solved even by the chief. They’d admit the patient, run every test, then still end up baffled and having to send the patient home.

It was different with Zhou Can. Out of ten tough cases, he’d solve seven himself.

For the remaining three, after some research, he’d usually crack one or two eventually.

Given all the benefits, the attending physicians were willing to swallow their pride and ask Zhou Can for help, even if they risked some mockery.

“I’m not busy at all, Dr. Chi. What can I do for you?”

Zhou Can stopped what he was doing and looked up.

He always gave these attending doctors full respect. It was the least he could do to lessen their discomfort.

“I’ve had a patient admitted for two days now—she’s positive for occult blood, lost her appetite, losing weight, and throwing up intermittently. Her diarrhea’s only getting worse. We ran a batch of tests but couldn’t pin down the cause. Today I ordered another digestive tract imaging, which shows coarse, granular changes in her small intestine’s mucosa. My initial suspicion is small intestine tuberculosis, but when I wrote her prescription just now, I still felt uneasy.”

Dr. Chi hesitated, then went on.

“She’s just a kid, only turned seventeen this year. If I get it wrong and hold up her treatment, it’d be such a waste! You’re always accurate with your diagnoses—so I was hoping you could double-check for me.”

As Dr. Chi asked, his cheeks flushed red.

He was almost up for promotion. And here he was, having to ask a trainee to check his work.

It was like a teacher asking their own student if they’d solved a problem right.

“I wouldn’t dare say I’m checking your work. At most, we’re just discussing and learning together.”

Zhou Can made sure to preserve Dr. Chi’s dignity as much as possible.

Seeing Zhou Can agree, Dr. Chi breathed a little easier, a happy smile lighting up his face.

“All the patient’s information is on the computer. Her name’s Tang Menghui.”

Zhou Can opened up the department’s patient list. Between current cases and those waiting for diagnoses, there were hundreds of files. Scrolling through them one by one would be a waste of time, so he searched the name directly.

Her file popped up right away.

“Yes, that’s her!”

Dr. Chi pointed at her name from behind.

Zhou Can began reviewing everything one by one.

The patient’s file wasn’t complete yet, but the admission tests, consultation notes and symptom records gave Zhou Can enough to make a full diagnosis for this girl.

She’d just turned seventeen—such a young age, like a flower just blooming.

If her illness got worse because of a misdiagnosis, it would be a real tragedy.

So Zhou Can didn’t take any chances. He focused, reviewing every piece of her information.

“From her test results and symptoms, it does look like small intestine tuberculosis. She’s still hospitalized, right?”

“That’s right! She’s in bed 105.”

Dr. Chi nodded.

“I’ll go see her in person. Sometimes, you get a better sense face-to-face.”

When diagnosing tough cases, Zhou Can relied on a combination of things—how the patient looked, her physical state, her energy level—and then cross-referenced those with test results and her medical history to get a complete picture.

Dr. Chi joined him to the ward.

Bed 105 held a pale-faced girl. She was strikingly pretty, with delicate features, but her body was so thin she looked almost sickly—just like an old-fashioned heiress from a legend, fragile and weak.

“Does your vomiting follow any pattern? Like, does it happen after eating or at certain times?”

Zhou Can asked her gently.

Her family beside her looked utterly confused, wondering what was going on.

Dr. Chi, well into his forties, had brought such a young-looking doctor to check on their relative. And honestly, it seemed like Dr. Chi was just following this young doctor’s lead.

Was this young doctor secretly some overseas-educated genius?

The family member was curious, but most kept their questions to themselves.

Occasionally, a more blunt family member would ask the attending doctor about the newcomer’s credentials.

“My vomiting isn’t really on a schedule. Most times, it’s one or two hours after eating. But sometimes, it even happens in the middle of the night, when I’m asleep—I just suddenly feel awful, then end up throwing up.”

The girl answered weakly.

Zhou Can gently pressed the back of his hand to her forehead.

She felt a little warm, probably a low-grade fever.

He’d just checked her vitals in her charts and confirmed the fever was ongoing.

That kind of low fever left her tired and drained.

Really, it was her body burning extra energy, raising her temperature to boost her immune system and keep out nasty infections.

For every degree the body’s temperature rises, the immune system gets a solid boost.

A fever is just the body’s self-defense mechanism at work.

Fever can give you clues about all sorts of illnesses. A sudden high fever means something fierce and acute, like a bad flu or viral infection.

With a lingering low fever, it’s usually chronic disease.

The worst are intermittent or recurring fevers—they’re a challenge to diagnose.

“Could you lift your shirt a bit? I’d like to check your abdomen.”

He spoke as calmly and professionally as he could.

Any time an exam involved private areas, especially for young female patients, you had to show extra caution. If a family member was quick to anger, misunderstandings could quickly spiral into trouble.

Doctors are there to treat and heal, and the doctor–patient relationship is always voluntary.

If a patient wouldn’t cooperate, you could never force it.

The girl blushed but, with a little encouragement from her mother, carefully lifted her shirt to reveal her smooth, flat stomach.

“Just lift it to here. If you feel any pain while I’m pressing around, let me know right away.”

Zhou Can told her gently.

Palpating for tenderness helps doctors pinpoint where the problem really is.