Chapter 14

Even though everyone was just there to watch the spectacle, and even those few who were monitoring Gao Zhiyong as part of their job had faces full of curious amusement, no one actually expected to witness such a commotion.

Many people in the circle knew that Xia Xiangyang had a connected assistant. Quite a few had vaguely heard that this assistant was a relative of a senior executive in the company.

Having an assistant or not was basically the same; there had been two previous occasions when schedules slipped up, and being harassed by a stalker was also related to this assistant accidentally leaking schedule information… These things were known to some extent by people on the production team.

After all, Xia Xiangyang was one of the main actors in the crew. The staff had nothing better to do than gossip about their antics.

Besides, so many things happened to Xia Xiangyang as soon as he joined the crew.

Most of the onlookers already knew about yesterday’s trending topic. Those with fast internet immediately knew the incident was caused by the assistant framing Xia Xiangyang. Those with slower internet also quickly understood the whole situation when Gao Zhiyong kept insisting that Xia Xiangyang sign a letter of apology.

A celebrity being retaliated against by their assistant through illegal means was explosive enough.

Who would have thought this scandal would have such a ridiculous twist?

The so-called “company senior relative” turned out to be the senior executive’s illegitimate son!

And even more shockingly, the uncle was actually the biological father!

Everyone’s gaze towards Gao Zhiyong instantly deepened with meaning.

No one could have guessed that the old guy was playing such dirty games.

Among all these people, the most shocked was definitely Xia Xiangyang.

Compared to others who were stunned by the ridiculous plot twist of a nephew suddenly becoming a biological son, Xia Xiangyang was even more shocked. Jiang Shuwan seemed to have some uncanny foresight—she said to wait ten minutes, and ten minutes later, a truly earth-shattering turn of events happened.

This was the third time since they met!

If Xia Xiangyang weren’t an atheist, he would have suspected that Jiang Shuwan had some magical powers.

No matter how surprised the onlookers were, Liu Meifang was clearly prepared. She quickly controlled her excitement and turned to Xia Xiangyang: “Mr. Xia, something like this has happened, you must be very angry, right? If I were you, I wouldn’t just refuse to sign that letter of apology—I’d actually want the police to dig up all sorts of dirt on Gao Xiaoming, and ideally, have him rot in jail.”

Xia Xiangyang’s scattered thoughts were pulled back, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to respond.

Liu Meifang obviously didn’t need an answer. She immediately said, “Don’t worry. Although Gao Zhiyong is a shareholder, most of the company’s shares are actually under my and my two daughters’ names. No matter what terms he promises you, I can double the offer—just as long as you agree not to sign that letter of apology.”

Gao Zhiyong shouted in disbelief, “Liu Meifang, are you crazy?!”

Liu Meifang didn’t bother talking to him further. She rushed over and slapped him hard again. Gao Zhiyong didn’t know whether he didn’t expect her to come at him again or what, but this time he couldn’t dodge. However, he quickly grabbed Liu Meifang’s hand, trying to fight back, only to be restrained by a black-clad bodyguard.

Liu Meifang didn’t even glance at Gao Zhiyong. She nodded at Xia Xiangyang and said, “Mr. Xia, you can think it over for now. I still have other matters to attend to today. I’ll treat you to a meal another day. We’ll be in touch.”

With that, she waved her hand. Another bodyguard came over, and together with the one restraining Gao Zhiyong, the two grabbed him from both sides and dragged him away.

“Liu Meifang, you fucking bitch, I’ll kill you! You’re talking fucking nonsense! Don’t you dare pin this bullshit on me! Did you find yourself another man? If you want a divorce, just say it straight—stop playing these fucking dirty tricks!”

Not long ago, Gao Zhiyong was still dressed sharply in a suit, looking all respectable and proper, but now he was being dragged out of the filming location like a stray dog.

Liu Meifang said, “Who do you think is as disgusting as you?! I have your paternity test. If you have anything to say, save it for the courtroom!”

She nodded at the people present, then, flanked by several bodyguards, walked out wearing her high heels.

Even though the years had left indelible marks on her face, and her figure had become slightly plump, her head held high and chest out, she looked far more dignified than Gao Zhiyong.

“This Mrs. Gao, oh no, Ms. Liu really is impressive!”

Someone sighed this aloud, and the others immediately felt a shared sympathy.

“That Chairman Gao must really regret not bringing bodyguards today. Look at how he acted like the big boss’s second-in-command earlier, who would have thought he’d leave like this?”

“He deserved it, truly despicable! Messing around with his sister-in-law, raising an illegitimate son as his nephew right beside him — it’s disgusting.”

“No wonder when the top beam is crooked, the lower beams are askew too. No surprise he raised such a bastard.”

People murmured and gradually dispersed.

The farce ended in a way nobody expected.

Xia Xiangyang was stunned for a moment, then realized he was the only one left in the makeup room. Jiang Shuwan, who had been lurking mockingly in the crowd just now, was nowhere to be seen.

It was Jiang Shuwan’s first time witnessing such a scandal unfold live, and she felt quite strange about it.

Her life for the past twenty-plus years had been very simple, almost without complicated interpersonal relationships, so not only had she never seen such absurd things with her own eyes, she hadn’t even heard about anything this outrageous before.

Studying is interesting, but people are really interesting too.

Kindness, evil, nobility, baseness, sincerity, hypocrisy, purity, impurity… harder to control the outcome than any experiment.

Two sentences suddenly came to her mind.

What she saw today was baseness, impurity, and also the tenacity to fight hard while trapped in impurity?

She didn’t quite understand, but she vaguely felt she had learned something new.

After mingling in the crowd and leaving the makeup room, Jiang Shuwan headed toward the other large makeup room. She guessed the third scene had probably started filming already, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to go there now, so it was better to first return to the makeup room and change her clothes.

But halfway there, she was stopped.

It was Liang Hao.

The weather today was nice; the winter sunlight on her skin felt warm and gentle. At least in terms of lighting, it was very similar to the photo she had seen of Liang Hao under the gingko tree.

Liang Hao’s smile was gentle, just like in that photo.

But the phrase “kindness, evil, nobility, baseness, sincerity, hypocrisy, purity, impurity… harder to control the outcome than any experiment” circled in Jiang Shuwan’s mind.

Seeing Liang Hao, the thought that naturally popped up was: Oh, this is hypocrisy.

Liang Hao looked at her with deep affection: “Shuwan, I finish filming early today, let’s have dinner together?”

[Dinner? He obviously made dinner plans with someone else.]

The system’s mechanical voice carried a hint of confusion, then a few seconds later, the confusion turned to realization:

[Oh, he finishes filming at 4:30 PM, plans to invite you to dinner at 5:00 PM for about one hour, then at 6:30 PM he has plans with a girl surnamed Tian for an hour and a half, and at 8:30 PM he has plans with a girl surnamed Jiang for two hours.]

[You are his date with the shortest scheduled time.]

Jiang Shuwan: “……”

Better go back to school and study how to build a time machine.JPG

Jiang Shuwan rejected him flatly with no expression. Liang Hao wanted to chase after her, but she briskly walked into the large makeup room. There were quite a few people inside, and Liang Hao glanced in but didn’t dare to enter.

Turning around, he suddenly realized someone had appeared behind him without his noticing: “Emperor Ji?!”

Liang Hao’s voice cracked in surprise.

Ji Hanzhang nodded calmly, looking thoughtfully toward the large makeup room.