Chapter 59
The moment he saw the absurd scene before him—one completely different from the original plan—the bespectacled reporter’s mind went blank.
It was only when several more bursts of camera shutters clicked behind him that he finally snapped back to himself.
“Stop shooting! Stop shooting!!!”
But it was obviously too late to stop anything now. The reporters Song Qingwen had hired were all top-tier professionals. The instant the door opened, they had already captured more than enough explosive material.
Realizing this, the bespectacled reporter hurriedly reached out to shut the door, only to be “accidentally” blocked by other people.
The commotion at the entrance of Room 2520 inevitably drew the attention of those resting in the nearby rooms.
One door after another along the hallway opened. Since Song Qingwen had booked out the entire floor, the people sticking their heads out or stepping into the hall were all banquet guests—either wealthy or powerful.
The bespectacled reporter felt his head spinning in waves. Only one thought remained in his mind—
It was over.
Totally over!!!
But the thing that shattered him the most was the figure slowly approaching from the corner of the hallway.
[Huh? Why is President Song here too?]
The door to Room 2521 opened. Lin Zhiqiao had just stepped out from behind it, and when he saw that familiar figure, he froze.
He was shocked. [Could it be President Song is here to eat gossip too?]
The expressions on Ji Ran and the others standing with him turned strange.
President Song? Eating gossip?
Those two things sounded completely mismatched when put together, alright?
Lin Zhiqiao quickly corrected himself. [No, no, I’m definitely overthinking it. President Song must just be passing by!]
The others nodded in agreement.
Song Fengshi’s face did not change at all.
Fang Xinnan, who had come with Song Fengshi, only smiled without saying anything.
Song Fengshi’s appearance was an accident, but it did not affect anyone’s mood for watching the spectacle and eating the gossip.
The bespectacled reporter and his colleagues had crowded around the entrance to Room 2520, blocking the later-arriving spectators from clearly seeing what was happening inside.
That was, until Pei Ning’s voice rang out. “Why are you all gathered here?”
Someone turned back, took one look, and blurted out, “Holy shit, it’s Pei Ning!”
The crowd at the door fell silent all at once. They actually backed away on both sides, opening up a path for Pei Ning.
At that moment, the shift in expression on Pei Ning’s face was absolutely worthy of being included in an acting textbook.
At first there was blankness, as if she had not processed what she was seeing. Then shock. Then utter disbelief. Then, once she realized what had happened, fury.
With all those cameras still aimed at her, Pei Ning’s chest rose and fell sharply. Only after a long moment did she ask in a trembling voice, “Jiang Ling? What are you doing?!”
Pei Ning’s timing was perfect.
Or rather, Jiang Ling had already calculated the dosage of the “special drug” from the start. By now, the effects had almost run their course, and Jiang Ling was beginning to recover his mind.
The next second, a sharp pain exploded from below him.
Jiang Ling cried out. His body curled up violently, while Tao Qianran, who had been pinned beneath him, finally found a chance to scramble up and yank the bedsheet over himself.
“Call the police for me! Jiang Ling sexually assaulted me!!!” Tao Qianran looked utterly disheveled and made no move whatsoever to cover Jiang Ling, who was equally naked on the floor.
That kick completely jolted Jiang Ling back to full awareness.
The moment he came back to his senses, he lifted his head and immediately saw Pei Ning standing in the doorway, along with several dark camera lenses aimed right at him.
Something was very, very wrong.
His chaotic memories gradually returned, and Jiang Ling slowly remembered what he had done.
He had followed the “appointment” to the room, mistaken Tao Qianran for Ning Qiu, and then—
Jiang Ling’s face turned deathly white. His first reaction was to grab the torn clothing nearby and cover himself in humiliation before trying to get up and shut the door.
But when he saw Pei Ning—and Ning Qiu standing right beside her—his whole body seemed to lock in place. He could not move at all.
Pei Ning was already so “furious” that she could not speak. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, and her whole body was trembling.
Jiang Ling instinctively blurted out, “A-Ning! It’s not what you think!”
Pei Ning did not say a word. But Ning Qiu, standing beside her, covered Pei Ning’s eyes with one hand and pulled her into her arms, holding her tightly and pressing Pei Ning’s face against her neck.
“Don’t look,” Ning Qiu said softly. “It’s too filthy. Don’t look.”
As she said this, she shot Jiang Ling a glare filled with naked disgust and revulsion.
A fresh burst of camera shutters crackled nearby.
In the middle of the live gossip scene, after suddenly getting stuffed with a mouthful of sweetness, Lin Zhiqiao quietly popped a small handful of peanuts into his mouth.
[So good, so good!!!]
Ning Qiu’s look stabbed Jiang Ling in the chest. He wanted to explain himself, but with so many people and so many eyes on him, all he could do was explode helplessly, “Stop fucking filming! Shut the door!!!”
That last line was clearly directed at the bespectacled reporter.
Unfortunately, the bespectacled reporter had already realized that this matter had gone far, far beyond the scope of what any small reporter like him could handle. He did not even dare meet the eye of his own “employer.”
Lin Zhiqiao, utterly enjoying the chaos, thought, [Shut the door for what? Why are you suddenly afraid of people seeing now?]
The whole scene was a complete mess.
This farce finally came to an end when the police arrived. Tao Qianran accused Jiang Ling of sexually assaulting him. There were witnesses and physical evidence right there on site, so Jiang Ling was taken away on the spot.
The people who had gathered around to watch were forced to disperse, though nearly every single one of them looked back over their shoulder several times, extremely reluctant to leave.
Thankfully, with Song Fengshi present, the banquet downstairs was not affected too badly.
But Lin Zhiqiao and the others did not continue attending the banquet after that.
After something this huge had happened, as one of the central figures in the scandal, the fiancée herself—Pei Ning—obviously could not possibly still be in the mood to remain there.
So, under countless overt and covert stares, the group left the venue in a grand procession.
On the ride back, Ning Qiu was still the one driving.
Lin Zhiqiao held his phone in both hands. As expected, the trending topics had already exploded.
#JiangLingCheatingWithPhotosAsProof
#JiangPeiCPCollapsed
#JiangLingSuspectedOfSexualAssaultTakenAwayByPolice
#FeelSorryForPeiNing
‘Huh? Who cheated?? Who???’
‘No way, is another CP I shipped collapsing again and again and again?!’
‘Holy shit, is this for real? Didn’t President Jiang just propose? Why are people suddenly saying he cheated?!’
‘He got taken away by the police—how could it be fake? And with a man, no less…’
‘Damn damn damn, please someone give me a pair of eyes that never saw those photos. It burned my eyes so bad, sob sob sob.’
‘Suspected sexual assault? Could it be the price negotiation fell through?’ [deep in thought.jpg]
‘I heard Pei Ning caught him in the act herself. I feel so bad for my Sister Pei. This is going to leave such huge psychological trauma.’
‘There really is no true love in the entertainment world, huh? Every pair I ship collapses. This one even made it all the way to legal news.’ [tears blasting out.jpg]
‘I don’t believe it. I’m waiting for clarification. Based on my many years of gossip-eating experience, this definitely still has a reversal coming.’
‘Attached: photo of Jiang Ling being taken away by police.’ [ultra-HD photo.jpg]
Perhaps because they were wary of the Jiang Corporation behind Jiang Ling, the photos and videos from the scene did not spread across the entire internet on a massive scale. Only a very small number of people got the full, juicy version of the gossip.
The internet was in total chaos. Countless people were calling out across the void for Pei Ning and Jiang Ling, hoping they would appear and give an explanation.
But Pei Ning was in no hurry to make any statement.
Before netizens could get the full story, they got the notice that Our Life had suspended filming.
That announcement only made online discussion flare up even more.
The next day, Pei Ning went to the detention center.
Lin Zhiqiao and the others waited outside, while Ning Qiu went into the visitation room with Pei Ning.
After only one night apart, Jiang Ling looked as though he had aged ten years.
His hair, always kept neat, was a total mess. His face was yellowish and sallow, with deep dark circles under his eyes. His dress shirt was wrinkled and stained with some kind of grime.
He looked nothing like the president of the Jiang Corporation anymore. He looked more like a down-and-out drifter.
The moment he saw Pei Ning and Ning Qiu walking in through the door, his eyes erupted with fierce anger and hatred.
He had spent the entire night in detention.
The police had questioned him round after round. As the president of the Jiang Corporation, when had Jiang Ling ever endured treatment like this?
After one full night to think, Jiang Ling had naturally figured out exactly what had happened.
Pei Ning and Ning Qiu had known about his plan from the very beginning and had turned it around on him, using his own scheme against him and beating him thoroughly at his own game.
A man capable of sitting in the president’s seat at Jiang Corporation was obviously no brainless fool.
After Pei Ning and Ning Qiu sat down, he coldly asked, “You did this?”
Although it was phrased as a question, he sounded absolutely certain.
Pei Ning did not speak. Ning Qiu answered instead, but she did not actually reply to his question. “I didn’t want to come. But Sister insisted on it. She said she wanted an explanation from you.”
“An explanation?” Jiang Ling let out a cold laugh. “Why I’m sitting here right now—you don’t know better than anyone else?”
Ning Qiu looked surprised. “Know what? Know how you abandoned your fiancée alone at a banquet full of strangers, then ran off to do that kind of disgusting thing with another man?”
She did not give Jiang Ling a chance to respond and went on, “Jiang Ling, things don’t happen out of nowhere. Why you’re sitting here right now—the one who knows that best isn’t anyone else. It’s you.”
Jiang Ling did not want to continue talking about that subject. The look he gave her was both cold and furious. “Ning Qiu, I really never thought you’d do something like this to me.”
“And even now, you still think it’s someone else’s fault. Don’t you?”
Ning Qiu shook her head and simply stood up with Pei Ning. “Let’s go, Sister. There’s nothing worth saying to him.”
Jiang Ling stared at them icily. Only when they were about to leave the room did he finally speak again. “Do you think you’ve won?”
Ning Qiu did not stop walking and did not turn back. “President Jiang, there was never any such thing as winning or losing. Actions bring consequences. All I know is, you won’t get another chance.”
After the door to the visitation room closed, the others who had been waiting outside all crowded over.
Ji Ran could not help asking, “So? So? Did he say anything?”
“With that filthy mouth of his, what else could he possibly say?” Ning Qiu snorted.
“The police said he refuses to say anything. He only asked to see his lawyer.” Lin Zhiqiao was worried.
[There’s still the Jiang Corporation behind him. Feels like there’s still a hard battle ahead.]
“A lawyer? The Jiang Corporation legal team?” Ning Qiu laughed softly again. “Don’t worry. They’re about to be too busy trying to save themselves to have time to care about him.”
That made even Pei Ning look at Ning Qiu. “What do you mean?”
But Ning Qiu simply raised an index finger to her lips and said, “Just wait. This is only the beginning. The real show hasn’t even started yet.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s heart thumped twice, and his eyes lit up at once. [The real show? What real show?]
Ning Qiu only smiled and said nothing.
That very night, the Jiang Corporation dropped onto trending searches out of nowhere—
#JiangCorporationInvestigatedForTaxEvasion#
