Cedric Grant.
She hadn’t seen him in two months. He had grown much taller.
Watching Cedric Grant run off, Ms. Archer sighed softly. "That boy... He’s been coming over often to play with Bun. He’s even the one who taught her how to walk."
"Why did he run off?" Sophia Shaw murmured.
"Probably afraid you’d be upset to see him."
Sophia Shaw pressed her lips together and said no more, carrying her daughter home.
She discovered many new toddler’s picture books scattered on the rug.
Bun excitedly picked one up, pointing at the pictures and babbling, "Plane... Cwarr..."
Ms. Archer handed her a towel and explained, "Cedric bought all these books. He comes every day to teach Bun her words."
"Big bwother... bookie..." Bun waved her little hands, her words full of affection for Cedric Grant.
That evening, Sophia Shaw waited until Bun was asleep before starting on her work.
When she finished, she finally saw a message from Leah Evans: "Check the news!"
Sophia Shaw opened the link. She saw that Chad Jennings’s second lawsuit had failed and, due to his involvement in financial fraud, he had been sentenced to ten years in prison.
But that wasn’t the main point of the news. The key was in a related report.
The headline was stark: *The Rise and Fall of a Phoenix Man: The Closest Kin, The Sharpest Blade.*
The entire article detailed how Chad Jennings was supposedly set up step-by-step by his daughter, ultimately racking up a four-hundred-million-dollar debt and ending up behind bars.
The author even ended the last paragraph with a seemingly aggrieved plea on Chad Jennings’s behalf: "The moment the grudges of a previous generation were deliberately twisted by his own daughter, the seeds of resentment were sown. This daughter’s superior intellect was applied to top-tier scientific research, but also to how she could stab her own father, cut by cut. Just because she is brilliant, does that mean she can ignore basic moral ethics and turn on her own flesh and blood?"
The article didn’t explicitly name Sophia Shaw, but many people knew that she and Joanna Sherman were Chad Jennings’s daughters.
With Joanna Sherman’s career having taken a nosedive, public attention naturally shifted to Sophia Shaw.
Leah Evans had initially only dared to send a text, worried about disturbing her. But she couldn’t hold back and called. "Faye, there’s no doubt that bitch Joanna Sherman was behind this report! She’s definitely jealous of your achievements and wants to ruin your reputation to stop you from applying to jump the queue for the Hubble!"
The news that Old Master Sloan was contacting scientists to endorse Sophia Shaw had already spread through their circles. Since Joanna Sherman was Elder Hawthorne’s student, it wasn’t surprising she knew.
"Faye, don’t you worry. I’ll pull together some material overnight. We need to expose the story of her three big blunders."
"If it weren’t for her screwing up those three times, her dear old dad wouldn’t have ended up in so much debt."
"Trying to make someone else take the blame for her own mess? In her dreams!"
Leah Evans cracked her knuckles, ready for action. She was determined to dig up every last bit of dirt on Joanna Sherman!
Sophia Shaw didn’t have time to chat much with her. Instead, her first move was to call Old Master Sloan.
It was eleven in the morning in Mador.
On the other end of the line, Old Master Sloan’s voice was steady. "You handle the PR battle for now. I’ll continue pushing for the endorsement. We can’t let these petty tricks delay what’s important."
"Master Sloan, thank you." Sophia Shaw’s throat tightened, knowing full well the pressure her teacher was under because of this.
"Focus on perfecting your proposal. Let your results do the talking," Old Master Sloan advised.
’She knew this would multiply the pressure he was facing.’
Sophia Shaw took a shallow breath.
Leah was holding the line against Joanna Sherman for now. Her job at the moment was to make her proposal better, more perfect.
Sophia Shaw turned back to her desk and once again immersed herself in her work.
The next day, Sophia Shaw returned to the Lead Aerospace office.
Jacobs strode in. "About last night’s news, how are we going to counterattack?"
The news had broken in the middle of the night, so many at Lead Aerospace were only just seeing it that morning.
Young Master Croft ran in after Jacobs. "Counterattack? We’ll beat them up! Master, just tell me who wrote it. I’ll take a few guys and beat him to a pulp!"
He was like a lion with its hackles raised, even starting to roll up his sleeves.
’They dared to bully his Master? They must have a death wish!’
"Alright, stop making things worse!" Jacobs pushed him away.
He was speechless at the young master’s explosive temper. "Not everything can be solved with violence! If you actually beat someone up, the situation will only get worse!"
’I really want to pry this guy’s head open and rearrange it!’
"R-really?" Like a popped balloon, Young Master Croft’s bravado instantly deflated.
Other than violence, he really didn’t know any other way.
’Will Master think I’m an idiot?’
A mix of frustration and helplessness swam in Young Master Croft’s eyes, making him look just like a large dog that had done something wrong.
Seeing Young Master Croft’s predicament, Jacobs suddenly found him both cute and pitiful.
Sophia Shaw’s gaze fell on her two vastly different subordinates. "Neither of you needs to worry about this. Leah Evans is already handling it," she said.
Just as she spoke, Leah Evans burst through the door like a whirlwind, her face showing signs of having stayed up all night.
"Boss."
At the company, Leah Evans followed everyone else in calling her President Shaw or Boss.
Sophia Shaw gestured for Jacobs and Young Master Croft to leave before asking, "How is it?"
"You... take a look."
Leah Evans handed her phone over.
Sophia Shaw took it and saw several links.
The first link was a statement from the Grant Group’s official account: "As a former employee and the former wife of our past president, Timothy Grant, Sophia Shaw’s professional capabilities and moral character can withstand any scrutiny. Anyone who dares to slander Sophia Shaw is making an enemy of the Grant Group, and the Grant Group will use its full corporate power to fight back to the very end."
The statement was personally signed by Vincent Grant.
The second link was from Lillian Forrest’s personal account. She detailed the story of how she and Sophia Shaw met and became friends, and was willing to stake her reputation on Sophia’s good character.
Lillian Forrest’s post was reposted on the official website of Jenson Forrest’s company.
Below that were statements from Levin Sawyer, Mrs. Sawyer, and other individuals who knew Sophia Shaw.
"This is all to be expected." Leah Evans’s finger swiped down, stopping on the last item. "The strangest one is this—posted by Joanna Sherman."
"What is she up to?"
Sophia Shaw’s eyes narrowed slightly as she tapped the link.
Joanna Sherman’s entire post didn’t address the article about Chad Jennings. Instead, she had come out in defense of Sophia Shaw.
"My father was too greedy and refused to change his ways, which is why he was always thinking about playing the stock market. He borrowed the money himself; it has nothing to do with Sophia Shaw."
"He was also the one who bought the stocks. Sophia Shaw didn’t offer a single piece of advice."
Leah Evans, who had been ready to drag Joanna Sherman’s name through the mud, was suddenly unable to act.
"Why is it so unsettling when a bad woman suddenly acts so nice? Is Joanna Sherman planning some big move?"
Leah Evans was very uneasy.
"I originally thought she was just doing damage control under pressure since President Grant and President Sawyer were all speaking up for you, but look at the time—"
Leah Evans pointed to the bottom of the article.
Joanna Sherman had published her statement before anyone else!
Leah Evans didn’t believe Joanna Sherman had a change of heart. She was completely baffled by her mysterious behavior.
Sophia Shaw pursed her lips. "I don’t know her full intentions, but one thing is certain: she wants to use this opportunity to repair her online image."
As she spoke, she opened the comment section.
Sure enough, there were many comments below praising Joanna Sherman.
Some praised her for upholding justice even against her own family.
Some said she was a voice of reason.
And some who knew her past said she had learned from her painful experiences and was finally willing to be a better person.
"I heard Zenith has already stopped its rocket development and switched to a support role for the Stellaron transport initiative. They don’t need to raise as much money, so her online image shouldn’t be that important to her anymore, right?"
Aerospace was too distant from the lives of ordinary people; an online image didn’t have much of an impact on her career.
Sophia Shaw said nothing more.
’But she had a sneaking suspicion.’