Chapter 10 Still Have Movie King Ji

After a round of investigation and questioning, the customers who had simply come to eat were allowed to leave after giving their statements. However, Xia Xiangyang and a few others were taken to the police station for further questioning.

Xia Xiangyang was left in the interrogation room for most of the day. It was nearly dark when a policeman with a sharp gaze and a faintly bloodstained aura finally walked in with a few officers. Xia Xiangyang overheard the officers addressing him as “Boss.”

The “Boss” sat down in the chair, looked Xia Xiangyang up and down a few times, then clicked his tongue and said, “Do you know what’s going on today?”

Xia Xiangyang, dispirited and slumped for a long time, looked exhausted and lost. “I heard someone in the restaurant was organizing or accommodating prostitutes?”

He felt like his luck had been awful lately. If this had happened to an ordinary person, it would have been fine once the truth came out. But in his industry, even a rumor spreading online could ruin him—there would be no way to clear his name.

He believed he had always acted upright and had nothing to hide. This was his only concern.

Unexpectedly, the “Boss” let out a cold laugh and threw him a bombshell: “Someone has accused you of being the one who called the prostitutes.”

Xia Xiangyang’s head shot up, his face full of shock. “No, officer, I was just there to eat! This has nothing to do with me!”

He hurried to explain, “Cao Jian, who was in the same private room, had previously slandered me online. Today he invited me to dinner to apologize. Gao Xiaoming and Director Wang Youde can vouch for me!”

Actually, even Movie King Ji could testify for him, but since Ji never appeared from the start, Xia Xiangyang guessed he had left after seeing the police at the entrance.

It was already a blessing that Ji Hanzhang hadn’t gotten involved—Xia Xiangyang naturally didn’t want to mention him to the police.

The “Boss” looked at him. “Wang Youde is your friend, right? They said you two called the prostitutes together.”

Xia Xiangyang’s mind buzzed, and he asked with a trembling voice, “They?”

The “Boss” said with interest, “That’s right, them. The Cao Jian and Gao Xiaoming you mentioned accused you and Wang Youde of hiring prostitutes and even putting illegal substances in the drinks to liven things up. They said they tried hard to persuade you not to break the law, but you were determined to ignore the law.”

In an instant, Xia Xiangyang understood everything.

Why did Gao Xiaoming, who never really respected him, suddenly apologize repeatedly and insist on letting Cao Jian make amends?

Why did Cao Jian keep trying to get him to drink after entering the private room?

Why, even after giving a statement at the restaurant, was he still brought to the station?

Turns out there was something in that drink.

Turns out this was a banquet designed to destroy him.

Xia Xiangyang went cold all over, his hands resting on his knees began to tremble uncontrollably.

He didn’t know whether to be thankful that he didn’t drink that glass of wine or to fear the prison sentence that might await him.

“Officer, they framed us!” Xia Xiangyang took a deep breath, forced himself to think clearly, and tried to explain, “First of all, Director Wang Youde was my guest. He had nothing to do with this.”

“Yes, it wasn’t Director Wang. It was Gao Xiaoming. Gao Xiaoming is my assistant, but he’s always had a poor work attitude. And because his friend attacked me online, my agent already applied to the company this morning to change assistants.”

Xia Xiangyang’s eyes turned red with anger. “This was a work conflict—I didn’t expect him to retaliate like this!”

The “Boss” stared at him for a while, then let out a short laugh. “At least you’re not completely stupid.”

He pointed at the statement on the table and said, “Sign this and you can leave.”

Still immersed in his emotions, on the verge of tears from anger, Xia Xiangyang didn’t immediately react. “Huh?”

The “Boss” raised an eyebrow lazily. “What, don’t want to leave?”

“No, no!”

Xia Xiangyang hurriedly grabbed the pen and signed the papers. Still in disbelief, he asked again, “Officer, I can really leave?”

Another officer couldn’t help but say, “The restaurant owner and those women have already confessed. You’re the victim, not the suspect. Why would we detain you? You’re lucky you met our ‘Boss.’ Otherwise, getting those people to talk wouldn’t have been so easy.”

Getting the “Boss” to handle a case like this was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

They just didn’t understand why the “Boss” had deliberately scared this guy.

Xia Xiangyang’s mood instantly turned from hellish despair to heavenly relief. He quickly stood up and bowed to the two officers. “Thank you, thank you, officers. You see through everything!”

The “Boss” dodged immediately, his expression one of disgust. “What’s wrong with you? What’s next, ‘rest in peace’ and ‘farewell on your journey’?”

Xia Xiangyang said awkwardly, “N-no…”

The “Boss” stared at him, frowning. Suddenly, he asked, “Do you know Jiang Shuwan?”

Xia Xiangyang was stunned for a moment, then nodded. “Ah, yes, I know her.”

The “Boss” sneered, “You’re kind of a dimwit. Stay away from my little Shuwan. Don’t drag her into your messy business.”

Xia Xiangyang: “…”

---

Jiang Shuwan was curled up on the sofa, her book unknowingly flipped to the last page. She paused, glanced at the time, and realized it was already past nine.

There were several unread messages on WeChat.

Her big brother, who was busy as a spinning top yet still made time to check in every meal to make sure she ate.

Xin Li, who, after learning she was working on the Prince Regent drama, kept sending her pictures of Movie King Ji to tempt her into switching fandoms.

Her professor, tirelessly urging her to return to school and continue her studies.

All of these were expected.

What was unexpected was that her usually unreachable little uncle had, out of the blue, sent her a message.

She suspected he had suddenly reconnected to the internet.

Little Uncle: “That Xia Xiangyang guy is an idiot. Just got blacklisted and now nearly walked into a trap. Whether you know him or not, stay away from him.”

Jiang Shuwan: “…”

So, the prostitution incident had exploded?

Since her little uncle put it that way, Xia Xiangyang was probably cleared of the charges, and the crisis was over?

A mechanical voice chimed in:

[Not necessarily. Just because the police figured out the prostitution case doesn’t mean the public opinion crisis is over.]

A public opinion crisis.

Jiang Shuwan already had experience. She opened the Big Eye app on her phone and quickly found a trending search term slowly climbing: #Three-character male celebrity suspected of being taken away in prostitution case#

The post came from a gossip account. It was vague and didn’t name names, but phrases like “three-character male celebrity” and “recently officially praised” made it easy to associate with Xia Xiangyang.

The attached images were of very low quality—either the people were tiny like ants or their faces were so blurred they might as well be pixelated. The clearest photo was of a nanny van.

According to commenters, this was Xia Xiangyang’s vehicle.

Thanks to yesterday’s incident, fans remained rational. In the comments, many pointed out that a photo of a nanny van didn’t prove anything, and long-time fans knew it was usually driven by Xia Xiangyang’s assistant.

Others reminded the blogger that the internet isn’t a lawless place—spreading rumors could land them in jail.

There were also angry netizens annoyed with such vague insinuations, flooding the comments with crude rebuttals.

Maybe the blogger got agitated from being cursed out, because they posted two more photos.

Both were taken in front of a restaurant. In the first photo, Xia Xiangyang and Wang Youde were clearly visible. In the second, police officers and a group of scantily clad women appeared.

The timestamps in the bottom-right corners showed the photos were taken less than half an hour apart.

Even if it didn’t prove Xia Xiangyang was taken away by police, it at least confirmed there was an incident at the restaurant where he dined.

Her finger accidentally tapped the first photo, expanding it to full screen.

As Jiang Shuwan glanced at it, her gaze suddenly froze.

In the photo, Xia Xiangyang and Wang Youde were standing beside a nanny van, seemingly talking to someone inside. In the corner of the image, a blurry partial figure was visible inside the car.

Thanks to Xin Li’s relentless “barrage,” Jiang Shuwan’s phone was now full of Ji Hanzhang’s photos—front-facing, side profiles, back views, full body, close-ups—you name it.

Though she hadn’t met Ji Hanzhang in person, she was already extremely familiar with his appearance.

So even with just a blurry silhouette, her instinct told her it was Ji Hanzhang.

Almost at the same time, the comment section began updating rapidly:

“Even with that trash pixel quality, you can’t hide that beauty—that’s Movie King Ji, right?”

“Definitely him! Forget the silhouette—even if he were turned to ashes, I could still recognize his divine looks!”

“Wait, guys—the post said Xia Xiangyang was suspected of prostitution, right?! Oh my god, based on this photo, was Movie King Ji with him?!”

A few minutes later, a new trending search shot to the top:

#Movie King Ji — Three-character celebrity scandal#