The Substitute Bride

The receptionist who saw Charlie up close said that she rather suspected the little boy was Mr. Lu's illegitimate child.

Her comments were strongly rebuked by Charles' fans until Coco posted the photo of the boy in the group chat. Then everybody fell silent.

'There's no denying the boy's paternity. He is the exact mirror image of Mr. Lu.' Everyone who saw the photo would be hard put denying the evidence of their own eyes.

"How could this be? How did Mr. Lu managed to conceal a son of his age?" Alice and David, who were working closely with Charles every day, had no idea that Charles was hiding a skeleton in his closet. The photo was enough proof that the boy could be nothing else but their boss' son.

Looking puzzled, David scratched his chin absent-mindedly. "That's impossible. Mrs. Lu has been dead for more than three years…"

The origin of the boy was a big mystery for both of them. Alice gasped suddenly, covering her mouth as an insane thought crossed her mind. "Could it be that the boy is Leila's son?" she asked unbelievingly.

Leila had been absent for a few days, which was unusual. Now their boss suddenly turned up at the company with a young boy who looked exactly like him. If the boy was really Leila and Charles' child, it added up.

As the next Mrs. Lu, Leila would have to resign from her job at Shining Company, so no need for her to report work anymore.

"Don't talk nonsense." Dismissing Alice's guess as bizarre, David scoffed and said,"How could Mr. Lu possibly have a child with Leila?"

In his opinion, Charles had always been a devoted husband to Mrs. Lu.

Looking at the boy in the photo, he was probably born while Autumn was still alive. David couldn't believe that his boss had an affair with Leila.

"But…" Alice knew her guess was reasonable knowing Leila had been infatuated with Charles from the beginning. She was about to argue with David, but she caught a glimpse of Charles carrying the little boy in his arms as he stepped into the office. She quickly swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Lu." They greeted Charles in unison with respect, but their eyes were glued to Charlie pointedly.

Anticipating his staff's reaction, Charles didn't bat an eye at their curious expression. "Charlie, dad's office is over there and dad is going to have a meeting in the Conference Room. You can wait for me at the office and play for a while. Is that okay?" he asked the boy softly

, Charles was besieged with more questions from his business partners.

Thanks to the convenience of modern communications, Charles' relationship with an unknown child had traveled faster than the speed of light. He had been the subject of speculations the moment he stepped in the building.

People on the board were quick to catch up on the grapevine. Most of his business partners were old men with a grudge. They believed that such a young man didn't deserve to run the company and they were just waiting for him to trip up. This breaking news gave them the exact opportunity.

Finally finding Charles' Achilles heel, the board wouldn't let him off the hook easily.

"Charles, you've managed the company well for the past two years and we are really grateful. But what you've done today was a surprise to us. If this news gets out, it's not just going to affect your reputation, it's going to affect the entire Shining Company."

The first one to air his displeasure was a board member of the former Sun Company. He used to work for Edward. He became a board member when Sun Company was absorbed by Shining Company.

He already held a grudge against Charles from the beginning. He would have been the Vice Chairman of Sun Company if the two companies didn't merge. Instead, he just became a board member.

Charles was an astute businessman. He had the knack of knowing how to make good use of people. He was an impeccable leader. A man of ability who worked for him was sure to receive recognition. On the contrary, he would never put people who had no ability in an important position, much to the chagrin of the venerable elders.