The crew was filming in the deep mountains and old forests, where the mobile signal was barely existent. Xie Guan only saw the news a day after the incident. When he tried calling Huo Mingjun, the phone rang for a long time with no answer.

He watched with a thumping heart the various reposts and speculations on news webpages and Weibo. Public sentiment was inflamed, and all public opinion was directed at Hengrui Group. The authorities had formed a special task force for the major accident. In just a few short days, numerous victims and their families, without even reaching a compensation agreement, chose to file a joint lawsuit, taking Hengrui Group directly to court.

The reputation of Hengrui Group and the Huo family plummeted, stock prices fell, and foot traffic at the "Yihe Yipin" department stores across the country dropped sharply. Extremists even launched boycotts, going so far as to hold signs and stage sit-in protests at the company headquarters' entrance.

But Hengrui Group only issued a single announcement four hours after the accident, promising to conduct an immediate investigation, compensate for the losses, and apologize to the victims. After that, they went silent.

Countless reporters rushed to the scene, attempting to interview the person in charge of Hengrui Group or inquire about the progress of the investigation, but all returned without success.

Xie Guan was filled with anxiety but was still unable to contact Huo Mingjun. Rumors and slander were rampant online; some even falsely claimed that the police had already arrested several of the main people responsible. Although he knew it was fake, he couldn't help but imagine the worst. While coping with a high-pressure filming schedule, he was also worried about the situation at Hengrui Group. His negative state of mind continuously amplified, finally reaching a point where Director Bai could no longer stand it.

“Cut!”

“Xie Guan, wrong line.”

“Blocking! Stand on your mark! I just emphasized this in the last scene! Do you have the memory of a goldfish?!”

“Pay attention to your eyes. You two are not just mortal enemies, but also well-matched opponents. When you hear the news of his defeat, there should be emotional turmoil inside you, don't look so lifeless. Again.”

“Cut, wrong expression, again.”

“...Ten-minute break. Xie Guan, come with me.”

Xie Guan knew he wasn't in good form. He quickly apologized to Ji Feng, his co-star in the scene, and the crew members on set, then turned to find Bai Luzhou.

“What's the matter with you?” Bai Luzhou asked directly.

Xie Guan wearily wiped his face. “I'm sorry, Director Bai...”

“Don't apologize to me,” Bai Luzhou said impatiently. “If you have a problem, then state it and solve it. Otherwise, a whole group of people are wasting their time here with you. What damn good is just an apology?”

Xie Guan said, “A friend's family had an accident. It's become a huge deal, and I haven't been able to contact him. I'm a little worried.”

Bai Luzhou thought about the investors behind this film, then about the recent major news that had caused such an uproar. She frowned deeply and asked, “Is it... Hengrui?”

Xie Guan was taken aback, not expecting her to guess correctly, and nodded silently.

Bai Luzhou asked, “So what are you going to do? Take a leave of absence to go find him?”

Now that she knew the inside story, the worried expression Xie Guan had been deliberately hiding for days dared to surface. He gave a bitter smile. “To be honest, I don't know either. Even if I rush over now, I'm just an outsider and can't help him with anything.”

Hengrui's accident this time was incredibly perilous. The slightest misstep in handling it could trigger a chain of adverse reactions. At this juncture, Xie Guan's best choice was, of course, to not get involved or stick his neck out. Once a celebrity gets tangled up in these kinds of affairs, it is bound to attract a great deal of controversy.

But the person trapped in the middle of it was Huo Mingjun. Xie Guan had the instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm, but he couldn't bring himself to think rationally and remain indifferent at a time like this.

“Being loyal and righteous is a good thing,” Bai Luzhou said faintly, “but you're twenty-six now, not sixteen. Don't be impulsive like a young brat. Since you know you can't help, just wait quietly for news and handle your own affairs properly. Don't wait for him to be fine only to have things on your end become a complete mess.”

“I understand. Rest assured, Director Bai,” Xie Guan took a deep breath, mustering his spirits. “I'll adjust my state as quickly as possible, but there's one thing I still need to ask for your help with in advance.”

“Say it.”

Xie Guan said, “If there comes a time when he needs help, I hope Director Bai can be flexible.”

“...” Bai Luzhou stared at him for a moment, then said thoughtfully, “I never noticed before that you're actually this stubborn.”

“Fine, I won't stop you. Pull yourself together. We'll reshoot that last scene in a little while.”

Pingcheng City, G Province.

On the day of the incident, Huo Mingjun rushed from B City overnight to oversee things personally. After the news broke, countless people called to ask for information. Even his maternal uncle, Yue Lin, who held a post in another province, was alerted and subtly reminded him that he must control the fallout. Huo Mingjun cooperated with the police investigation while also conducting an internal one within the group. He had to manage the overall situation, find ways to salvage their reputation, stop the stock price from plummeting, and deal with the questioning from the board of directors and Old Master Huo. He wished he could split himself into eight people and have 36 hours a day.

The moment Huo Mingjun heard where the accident occurred, he had a bad feeling, and it was just as he'd expected when he arrived. This "Yihe Yipin" shopping center was built five years ago, a product of the Huo family's internal power struggle at the time.

The Huo family started out in real estate and later established Hengrui Investment Group, with business segments in commercial real estate, department store chains, food and beverage, and resorts. By the time it was in Huo Mingjun's hands, he had successively ventured into new fields such as film and television investment and the medical industry. With the changes in domestic policy in recent years, Hengrui has continuously expanded into new businesses, but real estate and department stores have always been their pillar industries.

Huo Mingjun began to access the core power of Hengrui Group about seven years ago. Back then, the chairman was still Old Master Huo. His father, Huo Zhongchen, his second uncle, and his youngest uncle were all in the group's upper management. Originally, the chairman's position was meant to be passed to Huo Zhongchen, and then from Huo Zhongchen to Huo Mingjun. But due to the kidnapping incident, Old Master Huo grew dissatisfied with his eldest son and directly placed his eldest grandson at the core of power, on equal footing with his father and uncles.

This move made Huo Zhongchen extremely dissatisfied. As the old master gradually relinquished power, most of it landed in Huo Mingjun's hands. Although Huo Zhongchen's position was high in name, he was in reality just a rubber stamp—a decorative but useless figurehead.

In order to seize power from his own son, he took the opportunity of developing the "Yihe Yipin" project in Pingcheng City, G Province, to rope in his own cronies, poaching several people Huo Mingjun had placed in important positions. He spent a massive amount of funds to create Pingcheng City's number one commercial center, as well as that scenic corridor bridge, nicknamed the "Skywalk."

Pingcheng City is the third-largest prefecture-level city in G Province, with the mining industry as its economic center. But during the site selection, Huo Mingjun had been pessimistic about the location. Many housing complexes had been built in the area, but the vacancy rate was quite high, and he feared it would become a ghost town in the future. But Huo Zhongchen stubbornly insisted that Pingcheng had many wealthy people and that more of the population would move in later. He believed that after "Yihe Yipin" moved in, it would drive the prosperity of the surrounding businesses and form a CBD commercial district.

In the end, Huo Zhongchen joined forces with the fourth son, Huo Zhonghan, bypassed Huo Mingjun, and pushed the project through. It took two years to build the Pingcheng "Yihe Yipin." Unexpectedly, a year after it opened, air pollution became a hot-button social issue. The country successively introduced multiple environmental protection policies that dealt a massive blow to traditional high-energy-consumption, high-pollution industries. The small mines that had sprouted up all over Pingcheng were shut down for rectification one by one, and more and more people moved away. "Yihe Yipin" naturally grew more desolate. Not only did it fail to turn a profit, but as of last year, it had been consistently losing money.

After this affair, Huo Zhongchen's position in the group was greatly diminished, and Huo Mingjun used this opportunity to take over the position of Hengrui Group's chairman, skipping a generation.

It was just that Huo Mingjun never imagined that the money-losing venture created by his foolish and indecisive father all those years ago would turn into a landmine that nearly blew the entire Huo family sky-high.

“Boss,” Fang Hui knocked and hurried in, holding a document. “The court has accepted their lawsuit. They're now asking us to submit a statement of defense.”

Huo Mingjun was reading a several-hundred-page investigation report. At her words, he said, “Give it to Zhong Heguang. Have the legal department prepare it.”

“Yes,” Fang Hui replied, then added cautiously, “The butler just called me. He said... Old Master Huo and your father are requesting that you make a trip back to B City.”

Fang Hui put it diplomatically, but Huo Mingjun could imagine the tone of the original request. He said coldly, “I'm busy. No time. If they feel Hengrui isn't collapsing fast enough, they can find someone to replace me.”

Assistant Fang shivered, firmly refusing to admit she was intimidated and insisting that the room's air conditioner was just set too low.

She was about to back out when the phone in her pocket rang again. Fang Hui took it out, glanced at the caller ID, and immediately scurried over, presenting it to Huo Mingjun with both hands.

It was a call from the Huo family.

Huo Mingjun glanced at his assistant, who wished she could shrink herself into the floorboards, and reached for the phone. “It's me. What is it?”

He had already blacklisted the numbers of the Old Master, Huo Zhongchen, and the others on his own phone. Since they couldn't reach him, they had no choice but to go through Fang Hui to pass on messages.

Assistant Fang, sporting a pair of dark circles under her eyes, watched Huo Mingjun negotiate with the person on the other end, but she didn't feel the least bit relieved.

Every day, she had to field at least dozens of calls, all asking for Huo Mingjun—asking him what to do, urging him to make a decision, asking him for money, demanding an explanation. Even his closest blood relatives put on a formal, business-like facade, ordering Huo Mingjun to “come back to B City tomorrow, the Old Master and Mr. Huo want to see him.”

No one asked if Huo Mingjun was tired or if he needed help.

When there was profit to be made, these people would fight tooth and nail to get into Hengrui, but as soon as something went wrong, they all hid like turtles in their shells. They would only criticize Huo Mingjun for handling this or that badly, but never once would they step forward to shoulder some of the storm for him.

“I'll stick to what I said: whoever created this disaster should be the one to pay for it. If he truly feels guilty, he'd be better off kowtowing to the victims. Once they forgive him, he naturally won't feel guilty anymore.”

“Neither he nor I have forgotten what happened ten years ago. It's questionable whether he even considers me his son, so what's this talk of 'the son paying the father's debts'?” Huo Mingjun gave a faint sneer. “Grandpa, to put it bluntly, from your perspective, it's 'children are debts to be repaid'; when it comes to my turn, it's 'the son pays the father's debts.' He gets to have all the advantages in the world. On what grounds? Just because he was born into the right family?”

A loud sound came from the earpiece, and the line went dead.

Huo Mingjun was about to hand the phone back to Fang Hui when he looked up and froze. “What are you crying about?”

The days of constant anxiety, the weariness from running around, the verbal abuse and attacks endured from the eye of the storm... all of this mental pressure, with the feeling of being wronged adding fuel to the fire like the last straw, finally broke through her isolated and helpless defenses like a raging flood.

Fang Hui desperately held back her tears, shaking her head again and again.

She understood Huo Mingjun's character—he was consistently hard as steel, inside and out. He himself never showed weakness, and he disliked it when others showed weakness in front of him.

Huo Mingjun pulled two tissues from the box on the desk and handed them to her.

“You're too tired. Wipe your tears, go back and get some sleep.” He maintained a gentlemanly distance, his gaze resting gently on her face for a moment. “Even if the sky falls, your boss is here to hold it up. Don't worry.”