I stared at the floating words until they disappeared.

【Within three days, the factory will suffer an accident that will destroy Zhao Gang’s career.】

Chen Xing was asleep in my arms, one chubby hand still clutching the corner of my apron.

I should have felt satisfied.

Zhao Gang had thrown me out.

His mother had humiliated me.

Li Mei had paraded her son through the neighborhood as if she had personally given birth to an emperor.

If Zhao Gang lost his position, wasn’t that simply karma?

But another line appeared.

【The accident will happen because Manager Sun secretly replaced the factory’s qualified steel with inferior material and pocketed the difference.】

【Zhao Gang will be blamed because his signature is on the inspection report.】

Then—

【Three workers will still be inside the warehouse when the roof structure fails.】

My smile disappeared.

Whatever Zhao Gang had done to me, those workers had nothing to do with it.

I put Chen Xing into his little bed.

The next morning, I closed the food stall earlier than usual and went to the factory.

The guard recognized me.

“Chen Lan?”

He looked at my clean coat, then at the bicycle behind me.

“I heard you’re making money selling braised meat now.”

“Enough to eat.”

He laughed.

“So you finally stopped dreaming about getting Zhao Gang back?”

I ignored him.

“I need to see the safety director.”

His expression changed.

“What for?”

“Warehouse Seven has a structural problem.”

He laughed even harder.

“You collect scrap metal for two weeks and suddenly you’re an engineer?”

I looked directly at him.

“Tell Director Wu that the support beam marked C-17 was replaced during the last repair.”

The laughter stopped.

“How do you know that?”

“Tell him.”

Ten minutes later, Director Wu came outside.

He had known me from when I worked at the factory.

“Chen Lan, this isn’t somewhere you can create trouble because you’re angry at your ex-husband.”

“I’m not here because of Zhao Gang.”

I lowered my voice.

“Check C-17.”

Director Wu studied me for several seconds.

Finally he sighed.

“Fine.”

I thought that was enough.

It wasn’t.

That afternoon, the comments appeared again.

【Manager Sun found out someone reported the beam.】

【He bribed the inspection team.】

【The report will say everything is normal.】

I put down the knife in my hand.

So that was how it was.

By evening, Zhao Gang came to my stall himself.

He was furious.

“Were you the one who reported Warehouse Seven?”

I kept stirring the pot.

“Yes.”

“Are you insane?”

“No.”

“You’re trying to destroy me because I divorced you.”

I looked at him.

“If I wanted to destroy you, I wouldn’t need to touch your factory.”

His face darkened.

“Don’t think earning eight hundred yuan makes you important.”

Behind me, little Chen Xing was stacking wooden spoons.

Zhao Gang glanced at him and sneered.

“You’re raising garbage and selling pig intestines. Know your place.”

I stopped stirring.

“Tomorrow morning, don’t allow anyone into Warehouse Seven.”

He stared at me.

“What?”

“Especially between nine and eleven.”

“Why?”

“I can’t explain.”

He laughed.

“Then get lost.”

I leaned closer.

“For once in your life, Zhao Gang, stop worrying about whether advice comes from someone you respect and ask whether it might be right.”

His expression changed slightly.

But I knew him too well.

Pride would win.

It always did.

The next morning, at eight forty-five, the floating comments filled my vision so densely that I could barely see the street.

【It’s starting!】

【Manager Sun ordered workers into Warehouse Seven to move inventory before the auditors arrive!】

【Zhao Gang still hasn’t stopped them!】

I grabbed Chen Xing, tied him securely against my back, and ran.

When I reached the factory gates, I could already hear shouting.

Zhao Gang stood outside Warehouse Seven arguing with Director Wu.

“You inspected it yesterday!”

“The report says it’s safe!”

I looked upward.

A crack ran along the connection above the side entrance.

“GET EVERYONE OUT!”

Dozens of heads turned.

Manager Sun pointed at me.

“Who let this woman inside?”

I ignored him.

“Get the workers out now!”

Zhao Gang grabbed my arm.

“Chen Lan, enough!”

Then—

A terrible metallic groan echoed through the warehouse.

Everyone froze.

Director Wu’s face went white.

“Evacuate!”

The workers began rushing toward the doors.

Seconds later, part of the internal support structure gave way with a deafening crash, sending dust rolling through the open entrance.

No one spoke.

Then someone shouted:

“Everyone’s out!”

My knees nearly gave way.

The comments flashed.

【Changed! The workers survived!】

【Host changed the original plot!】

Manager Sun immediately turned toward Zhao Gang.

“You signed the inspection approval!”

Zhao Gang stared at him.

“What?”

“You certified those materials!”

“I signed what your department gave me!”

Manager Sun shouted louder.

“So now you blame me?”

Factory executives arrived.

Then investigators.

And within an hour, Zhao Gang was escorted into the administrative building.

His mother arrived screaming.

“My son was framed!”

Then she saw me.

Her finger shot toward my face.

“You!”

She rushed over.

“This poisonous woman! You couldn’t give him a son, so now you’re destroying his career!”

I didn’t move.

Behind her, Li Mei appeared carrying the Zhao family’s precious grandson.

She looked frightened.

Not because of the factory.

Because the floating words above her had changed.

【Here comes the real father.】

I slowly turned.

A black government sedan had stopped beside the factory entrance.

A man in his thirties stepped out.

Li Mei’s face became completely white.

He wore a neat gray coat and carried an official inspection briefcase.

The moment he saw her child, he stopped walking.

Li Mei instinctively covered the baby’s face.

Too late.

The man’s expression changed.

“Li Mei?”

Zhao Gang’s mother frowned.

“You know my daughter-in-law?”

The man said nothing.

His eyes stayed fixed on the child.

Then he asked a question that silenced everyone around us.

“Why does that baby have the jade pendant I gave you last year?”

Li Mei staggered backward.

Zhao Gang had just been brought outside.

He heard every word.

“What pendant?”

His mother quickly pulled the red cord from beneath the baby’s clothes.

A small piece of carved jade appeared.

The inspector stared at it.

Then at Li Mei.

Zhao Gang’s face slowly turned gray.

“Explain.”

Li Mei’s lips trembled.

“I…I bought it.”

“No, you didn’t,” the man said.

His voice was quiet.

“I commissioned two identical pieces.”

He reached beneath his collar and revealed the matching half.

The crowd exploded into whispers.

Zhao Gang walked toward Li Mei.

“Whose child is that?”

She backed away.

“Gang, listen to me…”

“WHOSE CHILD?”

The baby began crying.

And suddenly, every person who had mocked me for failing to give Zhao Gang a son was staring at the “heir” in Li Mei’s arms.

But before she could answer, several police officers emerged from the administrative building.

One approached Zhao Gang.

“We found evidence that the inspection documents were altered after you signed them.”

His head snapped up.

“So I’m cleared?”

“Not yet.”

The officer turned toward Manager Sun.

“But Manager Sun is now under investigation for corruption and falsifying safety records.”

Manager Sun went pale.

For the first time that day, Zhao Gang looked at me differently.

Not with contempt.

With shock.

“You knew.”

I said nothing.

He stepped closer.

“You knew the warehouse would fail.”

His eyes dropped to Chen Xing on my back.

Then he suddenly noticed something around my son’s neck.

A tiny pendant.

The only object that had been wrapped with him when I found him in the trash.

I had never understood the strange symbol carved into it.

But the government inspector did.

The moment he saw it, his entire body went rigid.

He walked toward me.

“Where did you get that?”

I instinctively covered Chen Xing.

“I found it with my son.”

“With your son?”

“Yes.”

His breathing changed.

“May I see it?”

“No.”

He immediately stepped back, as if afraid of frightening me.

Then he opened his briefcase with trembling hands and removed an old newspaper clipping.

On it was a photograph of an elderly man standing outside a massive Beijing estate.

Beside the photograph was the same symbol.

The inspector looked at Chen Xing.

Then at me.

His voice was barely audible.

“That isn’t an ordinary pendant.”

My arms tightened around my child.

“What is it?”

He swallowed.

“It belongs to the Shen family.”

Even Zhao Gang stopped breathing.

Everyone in the country knew that name.

Banks.

Shipping.

Mining.

Real estate.

A fortune so enormous that newspapers called the Shen family an empire.

The inspector continued:

“Seven months ago, their newborn heir disappeared.”

My heart slammed against my ribs.

The floating comments erupted all at once.

【The plot has reached the key point!】

【Don’t hand Chen Xing over! Someone in the Shen family ordered his disappearance!】

【The person who abandoned him is already coming to find you!】

And then I heard the sound of another car stopping behind us.

A long black limousine.

The rear door opened.

An elegant elderly woman stepped out, supported by two bodyguards.

The moment she saw Chen Xing—

she began to cry.