Chapter 55
From Pei Ning’s home to the Royal Dilante Hotel, the drive took about an hour.
So everyone wrapped up work early, a little after five in the afternoon, and began getting ready for tonight’s banquet.
This time, Pei Ning was attending the banquet as Jiang Ling’s companion, so she needed to go with him.
At half past six, Jiang Ling returned to the villa right on time. “A-Ning, are you ready—”
His voice stopped abruptly.
The entire production crew, all dressed up in formalwear in the living room, left him looking utterly baffled. “You all are… filming something tonight?”
Lin Zhiqiao thought to himself, [No filming task, exactly, but there is a flower-guardian mission. And maybe we’ll even get to eat some hot, fresh, on-site gossip. Of course we have to dress up—this is the proper respect a big scandal deserves!]
Everyone nodded silently.
Pei Ning said, “They also managed to get invitations. They’ll be going with us later.”
Jiang Ling visibly froze for a moment. After a long pause, he said in surprise, “Everyone got invited too?”
Everyone nodded in unison, deeply satisfied to see that the scumbag had almost failed to keep his expression steady.
Jiang Ling’s mood was terrible now.
So many people were going—and all of them were obviously on very good terms with Pei Ning. That almost directly translated into this: when he tried to carry out his plan tonight, there would very likely be variables he had not anticipated.
One of the main reasons Jiang Ling had chosen someone else’s banquet as the setting was precisely because there would not be many people there whom Pei Ning actually knew well.
But now… these people showing up out of nowhere had clearly made his plan much harder to execute.
Jiang Ling quickly adjusted his mindset.
The banquet would be large, and it would last a long time. There would definitely be a suitable opportunity.
So he nodded and said with a smile, “Perfect. Then we can all go together.” He looked around at the people present and asked with some confusion, “Where’s Ning Qiu?”
Pei Ning answered, “She went home to change. She’ll be here any minute.”
Jiang Ling looked puzzled. “Change? Don’t tell me she also—”
Before he could finish, Ning Qiu’s voice came from behind him. “Why are you all blocking the doorway?”
Jiang Ling turned around, and a flash of amazement swept through his eyes.
Ning Qiu was wearing a red dress and exquisite makeup. Her long, seaweed-like waves had been styled simply, with a few longer loose strands falling by her neck. Dark hair, pale skin, red dress—anyone who saw her would have to freeze for at least three seconds.
Pei Ning, standing inside the house, also paused slightly. Ning Qiu’s current appearance was reflected in her dark eyes, and even her breathing seemed to catch.
What she did not know was that, standing outside, Ning Qiu’s eyes were full of her as well.
Black hair, white dress, long hair cascading down her back, makeup that was not heavy but was beautifully refined, and a teardrop-shaped necklace resting at her collarbone—simple, yet impossible to ignore.
Ning Qiu could hardly tear her eyes away.
It took Jiang Ling quite a while to recover.
He gave a small cough and was just about to speak when he saw the woman he had set his heart on smiling as she walked toward him, then raising a hand.
Jiang Ling thought she was going to link arms with him. He almost instinctively started to lift his elbow—only for that hand to shove him aside without mercy.
“Move. You’re blocking the way.”
Jiang Ling stumbled a step. When he looked up again, Ning Qiu was already standing beside Pei Ning, intimately hooking an arm through hers.
Jiang Ling: “…”
That strange and eerie feeling came back again, again, and again.
‘Hahahaha, the scumbag got ahead of himself.’
‘As expected, it’s way more fun watching two beautiful women be affectionate with each other [holding face with an auntie smile.jpg]’
‘Pei the older sister and Ning the younger sister only have eyes for each other. How is this not a kind of mutual devotion, hehe.’
‘This feels like the cinnabar mark and the white moonlight getting together [hungry hungry, where’s the food.jpg]’
“Come on, older sister. Want to ride in my car?”
Ning Qiu asked with a smile, but she did not wait for Pei Ning to answer. She directly tugged Pei Ning toward the car.
“Why aren’t you wearing perfume today?” Ning Qiu suddenly asked. “You still smell like the shampoo from earlier.”
As she spoke, she pulled a perfume bottle out of her bag, sprayed some onto her own wrist, then quickly caught Pei Ning’s arm and rubbed their wrists together.
The sudden touch of skin against skin caught Pei Ning completely off guard, and she froze.
Lin Zhiqiao immediately let out a sharp inner shriek: [Ahhh so sweet, so sweet, so sweet! You can spray perfume like that too?! Who understands how happy I am right now, shipping them live on-site!!!]
Off to the side, Gong Tiantian continued clutching her giant notebook, furiously scribbling notes.
Up ahead, Pei Ning finally came back to herself. She swiftly pulled her arm back, yanked open the car door, and got in.
“Why are you still standing there?” Pei Ning asked, though she did not look toward Ning Qiu outside the window. “Come on. If we don’t leave now, we’ll be late.”
As luck would have it, Ning Qiu had come in a stretched supercar. Everyone piled in at once, filling the car completely.
Jiang Ling stood by his own car, all alone in the empty quiet.
He looked at the lively red sports car behind him, wanting to say something but hesitating again and again.
“None of you want to come with me?” Jiang Ling asked helplessly. “I’ve got a car too, you know!”
Ji Ran stuck his head out the window. “Nope. We’ve got a mission to complete on the way.”
Jiang Ling stopped trying to persuade them and got into his car alone.
‘Hahaha, the entire life story of a scumbag being excluded.’
‘Dying of laughter. If Ning Qiu’s car hadn’t fit everyone, I bet they’d rather summon the production team’s car than get into the scumbag’s again [too unlucky.jpg]’
The one-hour trip felt endlessly long and painful.
On the way, Ning Qiu focused on driving, while Pei Ning closed her eyes to rest. Lin Zhiqiao sat behind them, trying to find something sweet to ship, but the two of them did not interact at all.
That only made the trip feel even longer.
So Lin Zhiqiao poked 888. [System buddy, give me some more gossip.]
888 responded expertly, [Who are you using the target card on?]
Lin Zhiqiao thought for a moment, then looked in the rearview mirror. Jiang Ling’s car was right behind them.
[Jiang Ling.]
He wanted to try again and see if he could dig up Jiang Ling’s exact plan.
Although Pei Ning and Ning Qiu were clearly already on guard against Jiang Ling, it never hurt to know more in advance.
This time, Lin Zhiqiao got lucky. He very quickly pulled up something useful.
[Damn, damn, damn—Jiang Ling’s plan is so disgustingly vile!!!]
Lin Zhiqiao couldn’t stop himself from cursing: [If there isn’t a scandal, then he’ll manufacture one. A plan this vicious… a scumbag really has no heart at all!!!]
Pei Ning, sitting in front, was not surprised.
Seven years ago, Jiang Ling had already been capable of orchestrating a scheme where she would fall into the abyss so he could step in and “save” her, all for the sake of making her accept his confession. She had long since lost all hope in his methods.
It was Ning Qiu whose hands tightened on the steering wheel, her gaze sharpening.
[The one working with Jiang Ling is called Tao Qianran, the young master of the Tao family. The Tao family hasn’t been doing well these past few years. Jiang Ling promised Tao Qianran that if this worked out, he’d support the Tao family and help solve their crisis.]
[At the banquet, Jiang Ling will find a way to tamper with Pei Ning’s food or drink… good grief, so he knows Sister Pei wouldn’t easily eat or drink something handed to her by a stranger, which is why he plans to use her trust in him and do it personally?]
[He’s really not even human.] Lin Zhiqiao cursed. [But Sister Pei is already wary of this scumbag now, so she probably won’t casually eat anything he gives her, right?]
Lin Zhiqiao wasn’t entirely sure, and decided he had better pay close attention at the banquet and find a way to remind Pei Ning not to eat anything carelessly.
[And Tao Qianran’s mission is to find a way to strike up a conversation with Sister Pei. Once the drugged food starts affecting her and she’s no longer clear-headed, he’ll take her somewhere with surveillance cameras and leave behind evidence that it was Pei Ning who made a move on him.]
[Jiang Ling has even told Tao Qianran Pei Ning’s phone password and payment PIN. Tao Qianran will add his own account as a contact using Pei Ning’s phone, message himself, and transfer money to create fake evidence showing that Pei Ning approached him first and named the price herself.]
[Besides the main banquet floor, the host, Song Qingwen, also booked out the entire 25th and 26th floors so guests would have rooms to rest in midway through the banquet.]
[Tao Qianran has already gotten the keycard to room 2520 in advance. After he brings Sister Pei to that room, Jiang Ling will arrive with people in tow to “catch them in the act”—]
[Jiang Ling even warned Tao Qianran that for authenticity’s sake, he’d better really put his hands on Pei Ning.]
The car jolted suddenly. Ning Qiu slammed on the brakes and just barely stopped at the crosswalk in time, avoiding running the red light.
[How can people this disgusting even exist in the world—ahhhh!!!]
Lin Zhiqiao was practically losing his mind. He wished he could sic dogs on the dog of a scumbag right this second.
[There are reporters among the people Jiang Ling is bringing. The reporters were not hired by him—they were invited by Song Qingwen—but Jiang Ling made a private deal in advance with one of them and even had the article draft prepared beforehand.]
[Once they gather “evidence” of Pei Ning cheating before marriage, all the major marketing accounts across the internet will immediately mobilize, giving Pei Ning no chance to react at all.]
[And the most crucial part is that, in order not to expose the scheme, Jiang Ling is using the latest high-tech drug from overseas. It works fast, hits hard, and metabolizes out of the body extremely quickly. In just one hour, the drug will be completely gone with no trace left behind.]
[With the evidence all neatly in place, Pei Ning will have no way to defend herself. Jiang Ling, to preserve his image, will put on an act, speaking up for her and saying he believes she’s not this kind of person, saying she must have been set up. He’ll make a huge show of inviting all kinds of people to “prove her innocence.”]
[But Jiang Ling’s plan is airtight, and almost everyone he’ll invite is on his side anyway, so of course none of them will truly help Pei Ning.]
[Instead, it’ll only further “confirm” that Pei Ning cheated. Jiang Ling will go from disbelief, to pain, to despair, then finally break off the engagement in bitterness and restore his precious single status, all while soaking up comfort and sympathy from the whole internet.]
[As for young master Tao Qianran, the one who “put green horns on Jiang Ling’s head,” once everything is done, all he has to do is lie low overseas for a while. Once the scandal dies down and his family’s crisis is resolved, he can return beautifully and inherit the family business.]
[Wonderful, wonderful. So the only person who actually gets hurt this whole time is our Sister Pei, right?]
[Jiang Ling, you are seriously not human. In your next life you’d better be reborn into the animal realm!] Lin Zhiqiao gnashed his teeth. [No, what rebirth? You should just stay rotting in the eighteenth level of hell forever!!!]
Lin Zhiqiao could hardly bear to imagine it. In the original plotline, after Pei Ning was utterly ruined online, forcibly terminated by her company, saddled with breach-of-contract debt, and pregnant on top of that…
How on earth had she survived those unbearable days all alone?
Lin Zhiqiao sniffled. [Sister Pei is too miserable, Sister Pei!] Then he glanced at Ning Qiu again. [Good thing your little sister Ning has come back this time. We absolutely cannot let ourselves fall into the scumbag’s trap now, sob sob sob!]
Everyone else in the car was equally furious.
If curses could kill, the Jiang-named scumbag would already have died countless times over.
But they all knew perfectly well that the person who had truly changed Pei Ning’s fate this time was not Ning Qiu.
It was Lin Zhiqiao.
Unfortunately, none of them could tell him that.
