Mom's Back. The Villain Triplets Are in Trouble.

Chapter 32: Chapter 32: How Interesting

The follow-cam director was at his wit’s end. He quickly contacted the chief director to ask if they should shut down the livestream.

Unexpectedly, after a moment of consideration, the chief director chose to keep the stream going. ”Right or wrong, I want this broadcast in its entirety.”

You don’t turn down free publicity when it falls into your lap.

Things went exactly as the director predicted. Many viewers had already screen-recorded the incident and posted it on Weibo. The ”Happy Family” show’s popularity skyrocketed, and tons of gossip-hungry netizens flooded the livestream, eager to see how it would all play out.

The follow-cam director was practically tearing his hair out, but an order from a superior was absolute. He had no choice but to comply.

Soon, the person in charge of the beach’s recreational activities arrived. He was a middle-aged man in business attire, slightly heavyset, with a broad smile that made him look like a laughing Buddha. He immediately went around, shaking hands and offering polite greetings.

Fu Zimo, of course, looked down on some lowly manager. But as someone in the entertainment industry, he had an image to maintain, so he could only extend his hand with a polite smile.

Mrs. Fu, in contrast, was much more direct. Not only did she refuse to shake his hand, she let out a cold snort and rolled her eyes to show her displeasure and anger.

Fu Zimo’s eyes darkened. He angled himself away from the camera and tugged on her hand, signaling for her to tone it down.

For some reason, Mrs. Fu was incredibly worked up. She violently shook off Fu Zimo’s hand, strode forward, and unleashed a verbal assault. ”How on earth do you select your employees? What kind of character is this? Taking advantage of tourists in the line of duty! Are you sure this is a legitimate operation?”

”My, my, what a thing to say.” The manager pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. He then explained, as if it were a casual aside, ”We’re Hengtai, a Fortune 500 company. How could we possibly be involved in anything illegitimate?”

Hengtai?

In this country, the name was a household word. Even those who didn’t follow the business world had heard of it. Hengtai started in real estate and was once an industry leader. Later, as the sector declined, Hengtai was gradually abandoned by the market and teetered on the brink of bankruptcy several times.

During that period, many large corporations were just waiting for Hengtai to go bankrupt so they could get a slice of the pie.

Unfortunately for them, Hengtai had deep roots. After receiving a major capital injection, it began a strong push into the tourism industry, and it was now thriving.

Realizing this was Hengtai’s territory, Fu Zimo’s heart sank. He regretted not stopping his mother sooner.

As for Mrs. Fu, she knew of Hengtai—the villa her family lived in was built by them—but she didn’t truly understand how powerful the company was.

Ultimately, her social circle was too small and her perspective too narrow. She thought herself impressive but didn’t realize she hadn’t even touched the threshold of the truly wealthy elite.

”Are you implying I’m slandering you?” Mrs. Fu’s chest heaved with anger, her face flushed red. She pointed at the instructor and shouted at the manager, ”Ask him! Ask him if his hands weren’t all over the place!”

The instructor was a bit of a rogue himself. Right in front of the livestream cameras, he sneered, ”You think you’re some kind of supermodel? Take advantage of you? My wife is better-looking, younger, and has a better figure than you. Why would I bother?”

”You!” Mrs. Fu was so angry she was speechless. After sputtering ”You... you...” a few times, she turned back to the manager. ”Look at his attitude!”

The instructor scoffed. ’I’m being falsely accused to death here, and you expect me to have a good attitude?’

The manager kept a smile on his face, but inwardly he was cursing up a storm. ’If this had happened on any other day, it would be one thing, but it just had to be broadcast live. If I don’t handle this well, it could damage Hengtai’s reputation, and my job would definitely be on the line.’

He looked at the instructor with a professional, by-the-book demeanor. ”Xiao Li, why don’t you describe what happened.”

Just as Xiao Li was about to speak, a voice came from the crowd of onlookers. ”Haven’t you been filming the whole time? Why not just watch the playback? Facts speak louder than words, after all.”

Everyone turned to look. Their eyes fell upon a stunning beauty in a professional swimsuit, with a familiar-looking handsome man standing beside her.

Fu Zimo’s expression instantly soured. ’Huo Xinghai and Gu Qingyin? What are they doing here? Did they come just to laugh at us?’

The manager noticed the camera crew following the pair and understood that they were also guests on the show. He gave a polite smile, then turned to the Fu family’s follow-cam director. ”Is it possible to see the playback?”

The follow-cam director certainly wasn’t going to refuse. It was his first time encountering a situation like this, and he was so stunned he had completely forgotten about the playback option.

”Yes, yes, of course. Let’s watch it right now.”

While they reviewed the footage, the playback was also shown in the livestream to ensure fairness and transparency.

Under the high-definition camera, the footage was crystal clear.

At the beginning, the instructor kept his hands properly on Mrs. Fu’s waist. It was only when she started struggling and screaming in fear that his hand slipped up a bit, landing on her chest area.

But this was understandable. As an instructor, his priority was to ensure the tourist’s safety. His hand slipping upward was just an instinctive reaction. If she had fallen, his responsibility would have been even greater.

Most importantly, Mrs. Fu was wearing a life jacket.

The life jackets provided here were standard-issue foam vests—lightweight, highly buoyant, and four centimeters thick...

Everyone fell silent. The manager’s eyes, however, lit up. To still call this harassment would be completely unreasonable.

Fu Zimo’s face was grim; he said nothing. Mrs. Fu’s expression was also a bit stiff.

The manager cleared his throat, offering them a way out. ”It’s clear from the video that the lady was very frightened, so it’s normal to make a misjudgment. Since it’s all a misunderstanding, shall we just let the matter drop?”

Mrs. Fu pressed her lips together, silent and dying of embarrassment. Looking back now, she found it strange. How had things escalated to this point?

Fu Zimo also couldn’t understand what his mother was making a fuss about. He couldn’t force a smile any longer and could only nod, saying, ”Sorry to have troubled you.”

The manager breathed a sigh of relief, his smile becoming a little more genuine. ”Not at all, not at all. This is the service industry, after all.”

After a few more pleasantries, the manager left with the instructor, Xiao Li.

Fu Zimo led Mrs. Fu away as well. When they passed Huo Xinghai and Gu Qingyin, he, for once, didn’t make any provocative gesture, instead hurrying away with a blank expression.

He was probably too embarrassed.

Seeing the drama was over, a portion of the livestream audience left, but another group stayed behind to fiercely debate the rights and wrongs of the incident.

Most people felt the instructor was the victim of an unfortunate disaster and expressed deep sympathy. Their impression of Mrs. Fu wasn’t great, but there wasn’t too much malice, since she had been frightened after all. It was just that she had definitely lost some public favor. Others commented that rich wives were just melodramatic, making a huge fuss over nothing.

Gu Qingyin couldn’t see the live comments, but if she could, she wouldn’t have hesitated to help clarify things.

Mrs. Fu wasn’t being melodramatic or high-maintenance; she was being affected by Evil Qi. Evil Qi amplifies a person’s emotions. Under its influence, Mrs. Fu ended up doing a series of irrational things.

The interest in Gu Qingyin’s eyes grew stronger. ’This island is fascinating. In just half a day, I’ve already found two unclean things.’

’I have to ask Huo Xingye who the owner of this island is. I might even be able to earn some extra cash.’