Sophia Shaw and Levin Sawyer discussed new ideas long into the night. It was after midnight when she returned to her room, buzzing with a satisfied excitement.

She kissed the soft, rosy little Bun in his bed. Sophia had never felt that life could be this wonderful.

The next day, Sophia Shaw and Levin Sawyer appeared at the annual aerospace summit.

It was the first time the summit was held in Cathan, and Sophia felt a small thrill of excitement.

Along the path to the main hall, major companies had set up displays of their signature products.

In the past, the field of rocket manufacturing and launches was completely dominated by foreign companies. This year, however, Lead Aerospace’s products reigned supreme, occupying the largest and most central booth.

"Remember? You used to say that you would make Cathan’s rocket manufacturing and launch technology the best in the world. You wanted to build rockets affordable enough for ordinary people, to make interstellar travel as simple as going on vacation to another country."

As he spoke of the past, Levin Sawyer’s face was alight with radiant excitement.

"Now, we’re miles ahead in both technology and price. Everything you talked about is becoming a reality, one step at a time!"

Sophia’s attention was also captivated by the advanced technology on display. "You guys are incredible."

"Not ’you guys.’ It’s ’us’!" Levin Sawyer looked at her ardently. "You’re the one who brought rocket construction costs down by ninety-five percent! The SASA inspection model you designed is irreplaceable. In five years, not a single rocket inspected using your model has had a launch accident!"

Launching a rocket is no small matter. The losses from a single accident could reach into the tens of billions, an amount even top corporations couldn’t afford to burn.

"Okay, okay." Seeing that Levin was about to continue singing her praises, Sophia quickly cut him off. She came here to learn, not to listen to Levin flatter her.

"Levin, you should go get busy. I want to look around by myself for a bit."

Levin Sawyer knew Sophia was looking for inspiration and that she didn’t like to be disturbed while thinking. He said considerately, "Alright. You go ahead. Call me if you need anything."

"Got it," Sophia replied, but her eyes were already glued to the new technologies, studying them intently.

Levin Sawyer watched her engrossed expression and shook his head with a resigned smile.

After looking through Lead Aerospace’s booth, Sophia wandered over to see the others. As she walked, she found herself drifting toward the Grant Interstellar booth.

She looked up and saw Vincent and Joanna Sherman surrounded by a crowd.

As the second private company in Cathan to launch a rocket, Grant Interstellar had created a considerable shockwave.

The summit hadn’t officially begun, but their booth was already packed wall-to-wall.

Joanna Sherman, as always, maintained her cool and aloof air. Her hair was tied up, and an off-white, three-quarter-sleeved blazer hugged her figure perfectly, giving her a look that was both sharp and frosty.

Standing in the crowd, she stood out, a flower blooming in proud defiance.

Grant Interstellar had just launched a rocket, and reporters were scrambling to get an interview.

But Vincent took a step back, willingly ceding the spotlight to her. He kept a hand partially extended, as if to shield her, and the tenderness in his eyes was something that made Sophia jealous of Joanna every single time she saw it.

Vincent had the natural aura of a leader. Raised with a cutthroat, "wolf-pack" mentality and hardened by years of ruthless decisions in the business world, he was not one to spare anyone’s feelings.

Joanna Sherman was the only person for whom he would willingly temper that edge.

Not wanting to torture herself, Sophia turned to leave.

Suddenly, her path was blocked.

"Shaw! Will you ever quit? You follow Vincent and Joanna everywhere they go. Don’t you realize how disgusting you are?"

Sophia looked up to see Justin Hughes glaring at her, his eyes like daggers. His jaw was clenched tight, his face a mask of disgust and spite.

"I wasn’t following them," Sophia said coolly.

Justin Hughes scoffed. "A woman with no ambition like you doesn’t know the first thing about high-tech. If you weren’t stalking them, what are you doing here? Trying to learn something?"

Sophia wanted to shove the notebook in her hand, crammed full of notes, right in his face. But it contained important concepts and confidential diagrams that she couldn’t let anyone see.

She carefully tucked the notebook back into her bag.

Seeing this, Justin became even more convinced she was hiding something shameful. "You’re not planning to write something down and go tattling to the Grant family, are you? Let me tell you, years ago, Vincent was willing to defy his family and give up politics for Joanna. No one can control him now, either!

"He only married you because he fell for your trick. If he hadn’t thought you were innocent and felt responsible for you, he never would have married a scheming woman like you!

"Heh, he was proposing to Joanna, but you ran over and pretended to be her. Vincent was so overwhelmed with excitement that he fell right into your trap."

Ever since she had married Vincent, Justin Hughes had treated her with either looks that could kill or a mouth full of vitriol.

Justin Hughes was flanked by several of his rich-boy friends. They didn’t know the full story of her and Vincent, but after Justin’s little speech, they all stared at her with contempt.

"Look at her. She doesn’t have half of Joanna’s class, yet she has the nerve to steal her man."

"Ugly people are always causing trouble!"

"I have no idea how Vincent has managed to put up with looking at that ugly freak every day for all these years."

"If it were me, I’d rather be a monk than touch her!"

"She’s as fat as a pig..."

When men decide to be nasty, they can be even more vicious than women.

This group of young masters, who usually put on such a respectable front, had all turned into vicious gossipers to attack her.

Before her marriage, Sophia’s figure had been on par with Joanna Sherman’s. She had only put on weight after giving birth to Cedric Grant.

She had a heart condition, and her doctor had advised against dieting. Even so, she was only slightly plump, nowhere near deserving of being called a fat pig.

Sophia knew these guys had been with so many models that their beauty standards were completely warped.

Jenson Forrest stood beside Justin Hughes. He didn’t join Justin in the tirade as he usually did, but he didn’t come to her defense, either.

Sophia didn’t want to waste her precious time on these morons, but Justin Hughes had already jumped to the wrong conclusion once.

In the past, she might have let it slide for Vincent’s sake, but not anymore.

Sophia fluttered her eyelashes. "Young Master Hughes, if you’re so confident in him, why are you so worried about me? You’ve turned a prestigious summit into a fishwives’ gossip circle."

"What did you say?" Justin froze for a second before it dawned on him that Sophia was insulting him. How dare she call him a gossip monger?

In Justin’s memory, no matter how he insulted her, Sophia had always just taken it meekly. This was the first time she had ever dared to fight back!

What right did she have to defy him?!

Furious, Justin lunged forward, nearly striking her. "You little bitch, you’ve got some nerve—"

Sophia stood her ground, quietly watching his furious posturing without the slightest intention of backing down.

Her gaze was calm and clear, her eyes reflecting his own flustered, pathetic image at him. He looked like a performing clown.

Justin’s fist froze, and he was left standing there, so awkward he didn’t know what to do.

Until—

"Justin Hughes!"

A cold, clear voice came from behind them.

Joanna Sherman walked down from the display platform. She passed Sophia without a glance and stopped in front of Justin. "Stop wasting time on such pointless, low-class gossip!"

Her tone seemed to blame Justin for gossiping, but it was actually a jab at Sophia for being "low-class."

Joanna looked stunning today. Head held high, her heels clicked on the floor. She had just insulted someone, yet she carried herself with an air of being completely above the fray.

If Joanna hadn’t bullied her their entire lives, even Sophia might have been fooled into thinking she was some kind of saint.

As soon as she finished speaking, Justin Hughes laughed. Afraid of upsetting Joanna, he didn’t say anything more himself, but he shot a look at one of his cronies.

The man understood and let out a loud scoff. "Joanna’s right. You speak to people in a civilized way, but it’s a waste of time to expect trash like her to understand."

"I heard that this Mrs. Grant has been at Vincent’s company for five years and is still just a level-one employee. What a joke!"

"She pretends to know what she’s talking about, using Vincent’s alt account to post about rocket science on the official website. It was full of holes, and when she couldn’t clean up her own mess, she blamed it all on a junior employee!"

At his reminder, the crowd, which had just fallen silent, erupted into chatter once more.

"That’s nothing! Didn’t you see how she acted at the Grant Group’s annual party? A level-one employee, deluded enough to think she could accept the company’s most prestigious award. I have no idea where she gets the audacity!"

"If I were her, I’d bury myself in a hole and never show my face in a place like this again!"

These people had either partnered with the Grant Group and attended that annual party or were just repeating what they’d heard.

In any case, their vicious words were like knives, stabbing into Sophia’s chest one after another.

She could ignore the other insults, but these were the two accusations where she had been most grievously wronged!

Sophia, who had been about to leave, froze in place. Her fists clenched so hard that her whole body trembled with rage.

Almost instinctively, she looked toward Vincent, who was now approaching a few paces behind the group.

Whether it was the "Most Valuable Employee" award or the subsequent incident where she was accused of blaming a subordinate, she had found irrefutable evidence and given it all to Vincent.

Vincent held the most authority among them. All he had to do was say one word, and they would all shut their mouths!