Before Mingde even had a chance to take action, Crystal Clear employees were already jumping out, spreading rumors. Not only the crowd waiting to see the drama, but even the PR team of Mingde and their supporters who rushed over were confused.

However, these “Crystal Clear employees” with unclear motives failed to provide enough convincing arguments. Meanwhile, the mysterious small account targeting Jin Yao Tiao was clearly well-prepared, using various skilled techniques to spread the article quickly.

To increase credibility, they even posted a photo.

It was a picture taken a long time ago, showing Jin Yaotiao and Shen Qiming engaged.

In the photo, Jin Yaotiao was holding Shen Qiming’s arm, smiling happily and brightly.

She appeared more youthful, delicate, and inexperienced, quite different from the sharp and strong image she now projected.

Once the photo was released, it caused a huge stir—Oh my God, these two powerful CEOs were actually engaged before?!

Looking at the article again, it suddenly seemed more credible.

---

Qiao Yusi received feedback from a marketing company she had worked with, saying that the photos she provided were successfully used.

The person on the other side laughed and said, “No wonder they’re two big names with their own fanbase, unlike the small celebrities. This was so easy to push, and it’s the first time our company has made such great numbers.”

In the past, when they worked with many small stars, even working overtime, they couldn’t attract even a tenth of the attention they got this time.

Qiao Yusi was originally happy, but her face stiffened as she immediately thought of herself.

She was one of those “small stars.”

After realizing what they had said, the person quickly corrected themselves: “Well, your earlier promise was definitely correct, right? Mingde is really powerful now. If it weren’t for their group not having media resources yet, I wouldn’t have risked taking your business. If you’ve lied to me, once Crystal Clear stretches its hand out, they have connections everywhere, and both of us will be done for.”

Qiao Yusi frowned: “Stop spreading rumors about Crystal Clear. Just target Mingde, okay? I asked you to mock them, not to defend her.”

“I didn’t dare to write nonsense. I kept things vague about Mr. Shen from Crystal Clear, only saying that he dumped Chairman Jin,” the person replied, “But my assistant just reported that some employees from Crystal Clear are coming out to help Mingde’s Chairman Jin curse us. I’m worried it’s because of some old feelings or something.”

Qiao Yusi paused.

Crystal Clear’s employees were helping Mingde curse people?

Then she thought of the stories her best friend Ning Meng had told her over the years, and sneered: “Impossible, Mingde must have hired them.”

Qiao Yusi hung up the phone and fell silent.

She had spent an astronomical amount of money to get this collaborator to help her.

She didn’t expect to hurt Jin Yaotiao in any big way.

She just couldn’t stand seeing her so successful.

Look at how people outside were fawning over Jin Yaotiao—life winner, a hero sent from the heavens.

Her fans dared to hype her up, and some actually believed it, to the point that wherever her name appeared, it was full of envy and flattery.

Maybe human nature is just to admire the strong? So they willingly became attracted to the halo above Jin Yaotiao’s head.

She refused to accept it.

She was determined to show these people that those halos were fake, that Jin Yaotiao was nothing but a failed person looked down upon by others.

Of course, if she could also make Jin Yaotiao suffer from the pain of having a long-hidden wound exposed, that would be even better.

Qiao Yusi pursed her lips, and as she thought about it, even the recent sense of helplessness brought by various setbacks seemed to lessen.

She opened her social media app and searched for the article that was supposedly going viral.

She couldn’t wait to see how those fans who thought Jin Yaotiao could do no wrong would react when they saw her disgraceful past.

Clicking into the comment section, she scanned the numerous comments—

At the top, accounts with the Jin Yaotiao fan club tag were commenting:

“Ahhhh, her smile in the engagement photo is so cute! I didn’t know she had such a youthful past! Her golden curls look like a princess!!!”

“Although I wanna call you a b****, you have to post all of the princess’s old photos for me to enjoy!”

Qiao Yusi: “…”

She thought, Idiot fans!

In the car, Jin Yaotiao opened the link that Lei Qiu had sent, and saw her engagement photo.

In the picture, her golden curls and innocent smile captured a version of herself that she had long considered the one to forget and sever ties with.

Because, at that time, this photo represented some painful, humbling memories she couldn’t look back on.

She would have rather had that version of herself completely erased from anyone’s knowledge.

But now…

She looked at her smile in the photo and couldn’t help but smile, raising her finger to gently touch the screen.

It seemed that the person in the photo wasn’t as bad as she once thought.

At Shenzhen Broadcasting, she stepped into the elevator feeling in a good mood, looking down at a text message she received.

It was from the production team, asking her to head to the 17th-floor lounge after arriving at the station.

She was familiar with the lounge and told the staff to unpack the new products she brought, while she went directly there. Unexpectedly, as she turned a corner, she heard some faint arguing.

One of the voices sounded familiar.

Ning Shun was frowning, not understanding why Qiao Yusi suddenly blocked him and started blabbering: “Can you stop bothering me? I’m going to record the show.”

“Ning Shun.” Qiao Yusi stopped looking in a certain direction and said, “Tell me, did you fall for Jin Yao Tiao?”

Ning Shun, hooded in his oversized sweatshirt, had his expression hidden. After a moment of silence, he sneered: “How is that possible?”

Qiao Yusi spoke clearly: “Then it’s best if you don’t forget the original reason you got close to her.”

After a few seconds of silence, Ning Shun coldly asked: “What on earth are you trying to say?”

Qiao Yusi said, “I’m just afraid you’ll hurt Ning Meng. Ning Shun, Ning Meng is your sister, and you got close to Jin Yao Tiao to make her…”

Ning Shun interrupted her: “To make her stop trying to die every day. You don’t need to tell me this.”

Qiao Yusi lowered her head, slowly curling her lips.

Her eyes caught the shadow appearing from around the corner, and it felt like she had finally vented some frustration.

Not only did your former fiancé not love you, even Ning Shun, who got close to you, had his own motives. Surprised? Hurts, doesn’t it? Hahaha!

Jin Yaotiao: “…”

So tacky, what era is it? Why is she stuck in this old-fashioned, cheesy melodrama plot, the kind you’d see in an 8 PM drama.

Her heart was calm as she made a turn and walked toward the break room she was supposed to go to. Upon hearing footsteps, Ning Shun froze for a moment, then turned around and saw her. His whole body stiffened instantly.

The two locked eyes, and Qiao Yusi’s fingers started trembling with excitement.

Jin Yaotiao met Ning Shun’s gaze but simply turned her head in disdain and walked away without a word.

Qiao Yusi: “???”

Jin Yaotiao found the break room and pressed the doorknob, but it was locked.

Frowning, she received a phone call from a staff member: “Ms. Jin, haven’t you arrived yet?”

Jin Yaotiao was puzzled: “Didn’t you ask me to come to the break room first to rest?”

Staff member: “No, I’m waiting for you on the first floor.”

Jin Yaotiao realized something and chuckled: “Okay, I got it. Someone sent me a message telling me to go to the break room after arriving at the broadcasting station. Looks like they had other intentions.”

With that, she promptly left, not even sparing a glance at Ning Shun.

Not far away, Qiao Yusi’s face turned pale.

Jin Yaotiao’s reaction completely surprised her.

She never expected Jin Yaotiao would openly reveal the message she received like that.

This made her even too scared to look toward Ning Shun, who had undoubtedly heard everything.

At this point, Ning Shun couldn’t be oblivious to the reason Jin Yaotiao was here.

But he wasn’t concerned at all about Qiao Yusi, who was anxiously standing beside him.

He stood frozen for a long time before finally coming back to his senses. He looked up and chased after Jin Yaotiao toward the elevator.

However, the elevator doors had already closed.

His hoodie slid off his head, and he stood despondently in front of the elevator, his posture radiating despair.

Qiao Yusi was almost in tears from frustration.

Who is she even torturing like this?!

Fury welled up inside her. She rushed after her through the freight elevator, ran out of the door, and sure enough, saw Jin Yaotiao’s figure in the distance.

She quickly walked toward Jin Yaotiao, her eyes blazing with fiery anger, and her mind filled with words to say.

She wanted to tell Jin Yaotiao how much she disliked her.

She wanted to tell Jin Yaotiao that no one loved her, didn’t she see that?

She had so much to say, but as she approached, a staff member who was greeting Jin Yaotiao blocked her: “Hey, hey, hey!”

Jin Yaotiao heard the noise, turned around, and swept her gaze over the person who had been blocked.

The tail of her pretty eyes lifted slightly as she showed a hint of confusion in her pupils: “Who are you?”

Jin Yaotiao genuinely felt this person was unfamiliar.

She hadn’t looked at her closely upstairs earlier, and anyway, she assumed she was an unimportant person.

But hearing those two words made Qiao Yusi lose all strength in her body.

Jin Yaotiao doesn’t recognize her!

She doesn’t recognize her!

The group had already reached the door. A crowd had gathered outside, and when they saw them, they immediately erupted in loud cheers.

Qiao Yusi froze for a moment, then looked around but didn’t see any other celebrities besides herself.

She regained a bit of confidence, only to hear the crowd outside shouting—

“Your Highness!!”

“Ms. Jin!! Ms. Jin!!”

Jin Yaotiao withdrew her gaze, looked at the crowd outside, and smiled helplessly, waving at them.

The cheers grew even louder—

“Ahhh, it’s really the princess!!!”

“Wow, wow, wow, Ms. Jin really came to the broadcasting station today!!!”

“I’m so lucky to be able to follow the princess’s schedule!”

In an instant, Qiao Yusi heard her self-esteem shattering into pieces.

What the heck.

Am I the celebrity or is she?

Just as she was questioning life, both she and Ning Shun received a call from the hospital.

“What? Ning Meng secretly ran away?!”

The internet was still buzzing.

Jin Yaotiao found it quite amusing.

The things happening online about her and Ning Shun hadn’t affected her mood at all.

It seemed like she really didn’t care about relationships anymore, not even a little bit.

Lei Qiu appeared to be more anxious, calling to discuss countermeasures: “I checked with my contacts, many of them are overseas accounts, and we can’t trace the source immediately. Should we just block the articles for now?”

“What’s there to block?” Jin Yaotiao said, “Even if we delete them, they can just repost. Besides, it’s already been seen by people. Trying to do small actions like that would only make the rumors more credible.”

Lei Qiu was deeply worried about Jin Yaotiao’s mood.

As a media person, she had a hundred ways to shift the blame, but this incident involved someone they couldn’t afford to offend, Jing Mao: “So what should we do? Should we have Mingde deny it first?”

She couldn’t imagine what Jin Yaotiao might feel like when her past was brought up.

Jin Yaotiao, however, spoke lightly, confidently leaning back in her chair: “Deny what? Engagement or chasing after? There’s no need to act innocent. If we deny it and the other side has more proof, it’ll just be a joke. Once I’m done with this, I’ll go to the company and have the PR department draft a response. Deny what should be denied, and clarify what needs to be cleared up.”

Lei Qiu: “…You don’t mind?”

Jin Yaotiao smiled lightly: “Chasing after beauty isn’t normal? What’s there to mind?”

Whatever she had done, she would face it head-on.

Lei Qiu was left stunned by her nonchalant attitude, putting down the phone and speechless for a while.

She couldn’t help but feel that Jin Yaotiao was becoming more and more like a real princess.

But she didn’t know what Jing Mao’s attitude was, and hoped that once the rumors of her broken engagement were cleared, they wouldn’t do anything out of pride.

Jing Mao was certainly up to something.

But it wasn’t the kind of thing Lei Qiu imagined.

After a meeting ended, Jiang Sen was immediately sent a gossip by a friend.

Staring at his phone in shock, he rushed to find Shen Qiming: “Old Shen! Have you seen this?!”

Shen Qiming glanced at his phone before turning his attention back to the computer screen, typing: “My assistant just told me. They’re handling it.”

After leaving the meeting room, the assistant department had urgently informed him.

“I don’t know who’s causing trouble for Yaotiao, but dragging you into it is one thing—then they even released your engagement photos. Ridiculous.” Jiang Sen looked at the assistant department outside the door, who was busy. After feeling relieved, he asked, “Have you contacted the relevant departments? When can it be deleted completely?”

The assistant looked up with a confused expression: “Huh?”