Chapter 23.2

When she walked out of the hospital, 520 reported with mixed joy and worry:

【Sister Xing, “Le Jiaxuan tells someone all her worries, including her own secrets, receives help, and from then on becomes utterly devoted to that person” was actually the male lead’s exclusive plot later on. You stole the male lead’s scene again.】

【But your way of handling it really was good! Back then, Murong Feng wanted to give her the money directly first. Le Jiaxuan felt like she was being kept by him and was very uncomfortable, so she refused. Afterward, he loudly publicized that he had given Le Jiaxuan special treatment. Even before the two of them had completely gotten together, the rumor that Le Jiaxuan had climbed into the CEO’s bed was already treated as fact.】

He Lingxing sneered. “That’s purely because he wanted to force the rice to cook. He used rumors to build momentum so the little girl would simply smash the pot and go all in. Otherwise, how brainless would someone have to be to do things like that, rushing to hand people gossip ammunition?”

The original plot summarized Murong Feng as someone whose emotional intelligence was actually not high at certain times, and by the time he discovered the consequences, it was already too late for regret.

But the so-called “low EQ” was only a grand excuse for the bad things he did. Ninety-nine percent of the time, if he had not taken the initiative to be despicable, very few women would truly throw themselves at him.

He Lingxing had never thought terms like “green tea bitch” and “white lotus” were meant exclusively to describe women. This dog of a male lead was a complete and utter flourishing white lotus, and the kind who wanted to act innocent while benefiting from everything.

The betrayal from Le Jiaxuan in the original plot should no longer happen, and the girl group incident had temporarily come to an end. The remaining potential betrayal factor was Captain Lin Qingyan, but there was no need to catch them one by one for the time being.

He Lingxing had also received an invitation to a business gathering tonight. Thinking of how Shu Minglan had lost resources before because of the “mistress” incident, He Lingxing decided to bring her along tonight first.

**

After a full day of work, by the time He Lingxing finished handling that day’s tasks, dusk had already gathered outside the window. Heavy tree shadows were dyed beneath the soft setting sun, casting a strand of light over the papers on the office desk. He Lingxing was in quite a good mood as she revised tomorrow’s work plan, when a call came in.

The person on the other end got straight to the point. “President He, we’ve already found the cause of Le Jiaxuan’s car accident.”

He Lingxing sat upright. After hearing a familiar name, the corner of her lips could not help pulling coldly. Then she had the person on the other end hang up.

It felt as though a slug had stuck to her body, leaving behind a greasy disgust.

…

It was not until she saw that person in the banquet hall that the disgust in her heart grew even stronger. Unfortunately, the other party seemed completely unaware of He Lingxing’s dislike. She swayed the wineglass in her hand and walked over gracefully.

The person who came was Yu Fanhui.

She wore a custom women’s suit. Her newly done curls fell loosely over her shoulders, dyed a deep purple like wine, making her face lose some of its childishness and gain a bit of mature elegance. After her gaze landed without restraint on He Lingxing’s face, which had been carefully refined by makeup, a smile unlike her usual ones spilled from her lips.

He Lingxing did not think that was appreciation toward her. Ever since she had directly taken Yu Fanhui’s resource, the two of them had basically torn off all pretense.

He Lingxing hooked Shu Minglan’s pinky, signaling for her to follow.

Perhaps noticing He Lingxing’s somewhat ambiguous little movement just now, Yu Fanhui’s gaze toward Shu Minglan was not very friendly. However, He Lingxing could not be bothered to respond to her silent invitation of curling a finger. She directly brought Shu Minglan toward the table.

The woman’s soft, slightly cool hand gently clasped her wrist. Then, as they drew closer and closer to those people, He Lingxing felt Shu Minglan’s grip on her grow a little stronger.

The people sitting over there were all middle-aged men, each one greasy enough to be a runaway oilfield from an oil-producing region. Either they had fat heads and large ears, or they had beer bellies. In terms of appearance, there was hardly anyone even passable. The nature of this kind of business gathering was not ordinary. Someone who had spent so long in the entertainment industry would of course know it was very likely connected to unspoken rules.

But He Lingxing definitely would not turn her around and send her onto those greasy men’s beds.

To show her sincerity, He Lingxing used slightly more strength when holding her hand and gently patted Shu Minglan’s back, signaling that she did not need to worry.

Today, Shu Minglan was wearing an improved qipao-style formal dress. The thin, silky fabric felt excellent to the touch, but what drew even more attention was her perfectly proportioned figure.

Even though they were both women, every time He Lingxing inadvertently touched Shu Minglan’s waist, she could not help feeling moved.

Shu Minglan’s waist was not like many beauties in the entertainment industry, who pursued an extremely deliberate, boneless thinness. It was the kind of waist that had truly been trained, carrying the beauty of strength. Compared with an excessively slender, stiff figure that looked as if it would break with one bend, this was far more pleasing to look at.

She was not especially thin. Her smooth, flowing curves had a very Eastern sense of beauty. There was no excess fat on her body, but she also did not look as though the wind could blow her over. This kind of figure suited moving images more than retouched photos. Only the combination of unedited movement, light, and shadow could reveal its original beauty.

He Lingxing stopped in front of a table. The person there immediately revealed a smile when he saw her.

Although stealing resources within the industry was a very common tactic, as the provider of the resource, when one had decent relations with both sides, one would certainly find it difficult to choose. Behind the scenes, interests came first, and that was indisputable, but face-to-face was another matter.

The endorsement ad from this person last time had originally been arranged with Shu Minglan, but later, he had turned around and handed it to her rival. He Lingxing had also made an agreement with him before, and afterward, that person had personally called He Lingxing to apologize.

He Lingxing pulled Shu Minglan down and sat calmly. She did not touch the water pitcher on the table, instead asking the server for two unopened bottles of juice. Her vigilance had always been high. At a banquet, any cup that had left her sight was definitely impossible for her to touch again, let alone this sort of alcohol.

Sitting not far from Shu Minglan was a short, fat male boss. She recognized him as the vice president of Xinghua Entertainment. Entertainment gossip often said he threw money around in nightclubs to hook beautiful women, and the number of mistresses he kept outside could not be counted with both hands.

When the man’s gaze landed on the two women’s faces, there was a moment of amazement.

He Lingxing’s looks naturally carried a certain aggression. In current popular terms, she was the cool-and-hot type. However, her makeup had softened her quite a bit, concealing the naturally powerful aura of a top-tier Alpha. Shu Minglan, meanwhile, had a spring-breeze-like appearance, the sort that made people feel she was easy to approach and gave them a favorable impression.

When the two sat together, there was no sense that either one overpowered the other in appearance. Instead, they were like crabapple blossoms and pear flowers, each with their own charm.

Shu Minglan barely spoke the entire time. She only listened to He Lingxing speak confidently with the others. Only then did she realize that the woman beside her was actually quite skilled at negotiation. Several times, she smoothly pushed back the prices the other party raised, but her gentle tone did not make the other person feel angry.

“Then the next endorsement…”

That fashion brand’s overall fresh style was actually more suitable for Shu Minglan. Back then, it had mainly been because Shu Minglan’s black material had been everywhere [bailiantales.com]that the boss had painfully decided to change the spokesperson. At that time, He Lingxing had originally wanted the other party to give her some time to handle it, but he had refused with various excuses.

“Forget the endorsement. Her manager plans to arrange beauty-related work for her. Besides, we don’t like underhanded schemes behind people’s backs. You think so too, right, Shushu?”

He Lingxing’s sudden intimate form of address made Shu Minglan’s brow jump. Then she revealed a warm, proper smile, neither agreeing nor denying.

The female artist who had snatched Shu Minglan’s endorsement was named Che Lu. She followed a similar pure first-love style to Shu Minglan. Back then, the marketing accounts and paid posters in the cheating incident had been boosted by her company, with the intention of taking Shu Minglan down in one stroke. They had simply not expected her to turn things around so quickly.

As for why Che Lu, who was obviously somewhat deliberately affected, had been able to win the endorsement, only this boss knew.

The boss laughed awkwardly and raised his wineglass to conceal the embarrassment of being rejected.

After several rounds of drinking, faces heated and ears buzzed. Those people, who were not exactly decent to begin with, naturally let themselves go even more, waiting for people who were either willing or forced by company methods to come toast them.

Many people in the circle played very openly. When He Lingxing saw an unfamiliar young man with cat ears on his head, dressed in women’s clothing and wearing makeup, sitting in an old president’s lap, she figured they had discussed about enough and planned to bring Shu Minglan away first.

The Xinghua president had taken the initiative to signal Shu Minglan with his eyes several times while drinking earlier. Seeing that Shu Minglan did not come over or show any intention of responding, he lost interest and curled his stolen content lip, not knowing that his expression had been fully taken in by someone else present.

He Lingxing went to the restroom first. When she came back, she saw that old president taking the initiative to bring a glass of wine and stick himself over in a disgusting manner. Yu Fanhui was also standing beside them. Wearing seven- or eight-centimeter high heels, Yu Fanhui was more than half a head taller than that short, fat man. No matter how one looked at them standing together, they were discordant, yet they were chatting and laughing happily.

Yu Fanhui still had one hand resting on Shu Minglan’s fair wrist. It looked friendly, but in reality, she was holding down the other woman’s hand so she could not easily shake her off.

Shu Minglan was not a lamb waiting to be slaughtered either, nor someone whose legs would go weak after a few words from them. While responding to that old president’s vulgar invitation with a proper, generous smile, her gaze kept glancing toward the door.

At some unknown point, He Lingxing, who had originally seemed equally dangerous to her, had successfully become a very reliable and safe symbol on her side. While secretly waiting anxiously for He Lingxing to come, Shu Minglan had already reached into her pocket to look for the communication pen.

At banquets, unspoken rules and coercion were common. Shu Minglan never got involved in those things, but as an artist, she could not completely avoid such Hongmen banquets either. So she had long ago bought a communication electronic pen and set the police number as a shortcut. Pressing it once would make the call.

“I really don’t understand how someone so stubborn managed to climb to the second tier.”

As an Alpha, Yu Fanhui was stronger than her. After catching Shu Minglan’s small movement, she used a little force to press down her hand. The smooth touch of the woman’s skin made her somewhat distracted under the catalysis of alcohol. Skillfully bending her fingertips, she began lightly tracing the back of Shu Minglan’s hand.

“You don’t still think this is some TV screen, where you have to act like unauthorized copysome chaste martyr, do you?”

Shu Minglan could no longer endure it. She forcefully shook off her hand. “President Yu, please don’t judge others by yourself. Keep your mouth clean.”

Yu Fanhui suddenly raised her lips in a smile and leaned a little closer in her direction. When the Omega’s faint and pleasant fragrance entered her nose, she became even more intoxicated, lowering her voice until only the two of them could hear. “Then why don’t you wipe it clean for me?”

“Crash!”

Just as Shu Minglan secretly set her posture and prepared to kick the person away, the crisp sound of a glass wine cup smashing onto the floor drew many nearby people to look over.

Seeing He Lingxing stride over, Yu Fanhui immediately let go of Shu Minglan. Most of the time before, she had still been fairly respectful toward He Lingxing. But today, because she had learned certain things, she appeared even more high and mighty and dared to come bully Shu Minglan so openly.

Thinking of how she had learned so quickly about something He Lingxing still did not know, Yu Fanhui sneered inwardly. The gaze she directed toward He Lingxing was also full of certainty that she would win. Just as her red lips parted, and she was thinking about how to tell the person involved about that matter, He Lingxing walked over and raised her hand, delivering a vicious slap.

This time, the sound was even louder than the wineglass falling just now.

He Lingxing used a great deal of strength in that slap. Completely unprepared and utterly not expecting He Lingxing to hit her in public, Yu Fanhui was struck so hard that her head turned to the side, and a bloody sweetness spread through her mouth. Even the nearby Xinghua Entertainment boss was startled and silently put some distance betw​stolen content​een himself and Yu Fanhui, who had just been chatting and laughing with him in collusion.

Expressionless, He Lingxing shook out her slightly numb palm.

“If you like being a sticky insect so much, you can raise some at home yourself. Yu Fanhui, not to criticize you, but you’re already an adult. Although everyone knows you’re shameless, when you’re outside, can you at least leave your parents some face and not come out to embarrass yourself?”

She had originally thought that only those greasy male presidents with big bellies would act like such hooligans. As women, at least on the surface, people would take face into consideration and restrain themselves a little. But she had not expected Yu Fanhui to refresh her understanding of shamelessness again and again.

Before, for the sake of her parents’ friendship with Yu Fanhui’s parents, He Lingxing had barely been able to tolerate it a little. But after that phone call, she had completely given up on that.

Since they did not act like parents at all, why should she still leave them any face? Not to mention, those people were not actually her parents. Even if they were her biological parents, if they were this vile, He Lingxing was not some pedantic person. Naturally, she would choose to say goodbye to them without hesitation.

Yu Fanhui was so angry smoke was practically coming out of every orifice. “He Lingxing, aren’t you going too far?”

He Lingxing shielded her own person behind her with one hand. Imitating the way Yu Fanhui had treated Shu Minglan just now, she forcefully tapped Yu Fanhui’s gradually contorting face.

“When I hit you, do I have to pick an auspicious date?”

Author’s Note:

He Lingxing: Male lead script progress +1.