Chapter 149: “Brother, He Said You’re a Homewrecker”

For those who are overly confident, arrogant, and self-centered, the best way to crush them isn’t by ending them outright. It’s by making them watch as the tall towers they’ve built crumble before their eyes, plunging them into the depths of despair, with no chance of ever rising again.

Slowly torment their mind.

Let hopelessness erode their spirit.

And destroy any hope of living.

As the program’s plane slowly landed in A City, Shen Mingxuan was immediately shoved into a car by several tall men in black suits the moment he stepped out of the airport.

The assistant director, trembling, asked, “D-D-Director, should we call the police?”

The director was also a bit scared. “Those are bodyguards sent by Shen Mingxuan’s father to take him home. If, and I mean if, a father hitting his son counts as domestic violence, then even if the police get involved, it’ll just be mediation. Why trouble the police when we can let the father and son sort it out themselves?”

The assistant director was in awe. “You’re right, Director.”

Though they didn’t plan on calling the police, the director still decided to pass the information on to Gu Chuan.

In his mind, Shen Mingxuan had been too full of himself, lifted too high by his fans to the point where he had forgotten his place. Offending a true powerhouse was asking for trouble!

Meanwhile, Jiang Mi was curled up in Gu Chuan’s arms, playing on his phone.

When the message came in, she saw it immediately. Her peach blossom eyes blinked open in surprise.

“The director’s secretly sending you a message. What little secret are you two hiding from me?”

As Jiang Mi spoke, she wondered if Gu Chuan and the director were secretly planning where to shoot the next season of the show.

With curiosity, she clicked on the message and saw that Shen Mingxuan had been taken away by men in black.

It seemed a bit boring.

Still, thinking about what might happen to Shen Mingxuan, she couldn’t help but chuckle softly. Gu Chuan glanced over and, seeing that it was about Shen Mingxuan again, immediately took the phone out of her hands.

Jiang Mi remembered how Gu Chuan had been jealous of Shen Mingxuan twice before. Even though she thought there was nothing to be jealous about, she loved her boyfriend too much to care.

She gently cupped Gu Chuan’s face with her small hands, her voice playful and mischievous.

“I bet Shen Mingxuan’s dad is going to give him a good beating. What do you think, brother?”

Gu Chuan smirked. “I gave him a ‘buy one, get one free’ punishment.”

Jiang Mi’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Then I’ll add a shadow contract on top.”

At the Shen household…

Shen Mingxuan’s father, holding a thick wooden stick, glared at his son with furious eyes and roared, “Shen Mingxuan, you’ve really outdone yourself this time! Pretending to obey but cursing me behind my back? You ungrateful child!”

“Dad, let me explain!” Shen Mingxuan shouted anxiously.

But Shen’s father had been stewing in anger for two days. The more he held it in, the angrier he got. Right now, he didn’t want to hear anything—he just wanted to give his rebellious son a proper beating!

With a swing of the stick, it landed hard on Shen Mingxuan’s back, sending him stumbling forward in pain. “Dad?!”

“I told you to bow down and apologize to Gu Chuan! What the hell did you do instead?!”

“Bowing to him would’ve disgraced the Shen family!”

“How dare you talk back! Get down and admit your mistake!”

Another strike from the stick hit Shen Mingxuan behind the knees.

His legs gave way under the sharp pain and numbness, and he fell to the ground, his face full of humiliation and rage. “Dad, if you hit me again, I swear I’ll bring the Shen family down!”

Shen’s father growled, “You dare threaten me, boy?!”

Father Shen, without saying another word, started beating Shen Mingxuan again with the stick.

Shen Mingxuan, now covering his head and shouting in pain, didn’t dare keep acting tough with his father and hurriedly said, “Dad, I’ve already come up with a way to deal with Gu Chuan and Jiang Mi!”

Father Shen immediately cursed, “Gu Chuan is the president of FGH, a company with industries spread across the globe. Jiang Mi is the sole heiress of the Jiang family conglomerate. What right do you, a mere illegitimate child, have to say such things? Shen Mingxuan, this is my last warning: go apologize, or I swear I’ll beat you to death!”

Because of his background, Shen Mingxuan was both incredibly proud and deeply insecure.

At that moment, Shen Mingxuan felt an overwhelming sense of humiliation, glaring darkly at his father.

But Father Shen knew his son too well. He immediately recognized what Shen Mingxuan was thinking and continued beating him even more furiously.

In the end, if Shen Mingxuan hadn’t shouted his mother’s name in utter desperation, his father might have actually beaten him to death.

Due to lingering guilt over his late first love, Father Shen stopped and threw out one final command: “You must apologize!” before ordering the bodyguards to throw Shen Mingxuan out of the Shen family home.

As he was thrown out, Shen Mingxuan’s heart filled with hatred—not just for Jiang Mi and Gu Chuan, but for his father as well.

He no longer cared about using the arranged engagement from their childhood to restrain Jiang Mi and Gu Chuan. He was going to expose the entire affair, ruin Jiang Mi’s reputation, and make her a public disgrace. He would also turn Gu Chuan into a despised homewrecker.

He was determined to make all those who had humiliated him pay!

But then, his phone suddenly rang. When he answered, his agent’s furious voice came through.

“Mingxuan, the news about you buying the Golden Goose Award for Best Actor has been exposed!”

Shen Mingxuan was stunned, but he still clung to a sliver of hope.

“No, it’s impossible. We were very discreet. Exposing that I bought the award wouldn’t benefit the Golden Goose Awards either. They wouldn’t let this happen.”

If the bribery scandal were exposed, it would tarnish the reputation and credibility of the Golden Goose Awards. From then on, every time the awards were held, audiences would question whether the winners had bought their prizes and whether the event was rigged.

Over time, trust in the Golden Goose Awards would erode, and actors would no longer see winning the award as an honor. Slowly, the awards would lose all prestige.

This was why Shen Mingxuan had always felt so secure after successfully buying the award. He and the Golden Goose Awards were in the same boat.

However, when he opened Weibo and saw the top trending search term in glaring red: #ShenMingxuanBoughtGoldenGooseAward, his heart sank. He clicked on it and found a recording of a conversation, surveillance footage, and bank transfer details.

The evidence was irrefutable.

He felt his legs give way, and he collapsed to the ground, utterly hopeless.

With the bribery exposed, all of Shen Mingxuan’s past achievements would be wiped out. Worse, he would be blacklisted in the film industry, completely shut out!

“The company is working on removing the trending topic and minimizing the impact, but now that it’s out, the Film Association will definitely investigate…”

As his agent continued to ramble on about public relations strategies, Shen Mingxuan had only one thought: This had to be Gu Chuan’s doing. It must have been him! He was certain of it.

His chest heaved with fury as he growled, “Expose the engagement between me and Jiang Mi immediately!”

In the entertainment industry, one common crisis management tactic is to divert attention. If you can’t clear your name from one scandal, create an even bigger, juicier headline to shift the public’s focus. Over time, the original issue will fade, and you might be able to clean your slate.

And since Shen Mingxuan was the company’s biggest moneymaker, they were willing to try anything to protect him.

A large sum was spent to push a new topic to the top of the trending list: #ShenMingxuanAndJiangMiChildhoodEngagement.

The narrative spun from a sweet childhood love story between Shen Mingxuan and Jiang Mi, who grew up as close friends, to Jiang Mi abandoning her old flame for power and status, with Gu Chuan portrayed as the forceful, domineering third wheel. In the end, the story depicted a heartbroken Shen Mingxuan, oppressed and bullied by both Jiang Mi and Gu Chuan.

The story made Shen Mingxuan seem like a pitiful, helpless “male version of a white lotus,” while Gu Chuan was cast as the ruthless CEO who stole what wasn’t his, and Jiang Mi became the shallow woman who discarded her old love for wealth.

When Jiang Mi saw this completely twisted story, she simply sent a casual reply online. Then she turned to Gu Chuan with a playful, radiant smile.

“Brother, he’s saying you’re a homewrecker.”