Chapter 12

Xu Ling sprayed her coffee right at Xiao Song's face.

"..."

Xiao Song silently wiped his face.

"Sorry, sorry." Xu Ling hurriedly pulled out a tissue to help him wipe his face, but her gaze remained fixed on Ning Luo. She opened her mouth, her voice trembling as she called his name, "Ning Luo..."

Ning Luo cut her off and raised a hand. "Ms. Xu, don't invite me to carpool events like this anymore. I want out."

The moment Ning Luo thought about how the world he lived in was one giant brothel, he wanted to crawl around in the dark.

[Why did you invite me to carpool? Why?! Sister Ling, how could you be so cruel? Do you know how deeply this has hurt me? You don't care, you don't mind, you can't see the tears running from the corners of my eyes. This innocent young man is practically being driven to death, and you can still call my name like nothing happened. You're so cruel. So cruel!]

Xu Ling tightened her grip, and the coffee burst out with a puff like a little fountain. Xiao Song, who had just wiped his face clean, silently moved farther away.

Forget about mind-reading for now. One of the artists under her management seemed to have gone insane.

Zhou Wenyu thought Ning Luo was scared. Crossing one leg over the other, he said, "At least you know what's good for you. If you want out, get out already. Don't waste my time."

Then he muttered under his breath, "Why shove someone into the car midway? Taking up space."

Small companies lacked resources, so it was perfectly normal for artists under the same manager to carpool. But Zhou Wenyu had been pampered by the production crew overseas for two months, only to be knocked back to reality the moment he returned. There were barely any fans at the airport to welcome him, and the gap naturally left him feeling resentful.

That resentment extended to Ning Luo, whom he found fault with no matter what.

Even Ning Luo's patience was wearing thin. Looking at his own hand, he said, "I signed up for a sign language class. Did you know that?"

Zhou Wenyu said, "What does that have to do with me?"

Ning Luo answered sincerely, "Of course it does. It means I can slap you when I don't want to talk to you."

He looked eager to try.

Zhou Wenyu covered his face and quickly moved away from him. "You dare?"

Ning Luo looked at the scarf wrapped around Zhou Wenyu like a mummy, layer upon layer, and curled his lip.

Of course he dared.

He just didn't have a habit of beating a dead horse.

"Sister Ling, I want to get out."

[Life is dull and tasteless. Watch this bug crawl around and yap.]

[Just keep living, then. Who could possibly outlive you? Once Wang Jiang's tax evasion gets exposed, you won't be hopping around for much longer either.]

Xu Ling said nothing.

Ning Luo called her again. "Sister Ling? Sister Ling!"

Xu Ling's vacant eyes regained a little focus. She immediately looked at Zhou Wenyu and asked, "Did you know Wang Jiang was evading taxes?"

Her sharp gaze stabbed straight at Zhou Wenyu, not letting even the slightest change in his expression escape her.

What was mind-reading compared to this? Her career was what mattered!

[Of course he knew. Wang Jiang even shared his tax evasion plan with him. Tsk, tsk, what a selfless man. It's so touching it could make someone cry little pearls.]

Though the thought sounded touched, its tone was dripping with sarcasm.

The last shred of Xu Ling's hope shattered when she saw Zhou Wenyu's expression turn unnatural in an instant.

Zhou Wenyu tried desperately to hide it. "Wang Jiang and I are just ordinary friends. How could I possibly know about that?"

Ning Luo's tone rose and fell theatrically. "Oh, so you're just or-di-na-ry friends."

[So this is what adults call a relationship where they can sleep together and have sex in the wild. Learned something new today. Heart gesture.]

Zhou Wenyu had already been guilty, and now he could no longer keep up appearances. He glared furiously. "Ning Luo, can you shut up?"

Xu Ling's heart sank.

She suddenly remembered certain little details she had overlooked. For example, why Zhou Wenyu would disappear for long stretches outside filming hours, and why he and Wang Jiang seemed tied together—whenever one appeared, the other would show up on camera shortly afterward.

She couldn't think too deeply about it. The more she thought, the more it felt like her bright future as a manager was about to come crashing down.

Xu Ling steadied herself before her mental defenses completely collapsed, then immediately turned to the driver. "Go to Lecheng Pictures."

Lecheng Pictures was the headquarters of the travel variety show's production team. Xu Ling wanted to watch the raw footage.

She turned back to Ning Luo and considered for a moment. "Ning Luo is coming too."

He definitely knew something, or how else could he know such private details? There was no harm in bringing him along.

Ning Luo hadn't known why he was going at first, but when the travel show's production team played the raw footage for them, he began to suspect something.

[Could Sister Ling have gotten a tip that Wang Jiang is about to fall from grace, and wants the production team to re-edit things so Zhou Wenyu can be separated from him?]

Xu Ling: She didn't have that much influence.

[But it's actually useless. Besides, the scandals about Wang Jiang and Zhou Wenyu came out one after the other.]

Xu Ling didn't want to hear any of this. If Ning Luo spoke for one more second, her mentality would explode. She focused on the footage frame by frame, hating that she had ears.

Ning Luo's eyes hurt from watching the video at triple speed, and he yawned.

Zhou Wenyu completely failed to understand how things had ended up like this. Why were they suddenly here watching the recording playback? He was deeply impatient. "Xu Ling, what are you doing? If you have nothing better to do, take me back so I can rest. I want to sleep."

He had spent the entire previous night dealing with Wang Jiang's demands before they parted ways, and he hadn't rested properly at all.

If not for getting the resources for his new drama, who would want to deal with that bearded old man? Damn it, the man even liked having people call him Dad in bed. What kind of psychological pervert was that?

"You can still sleep?" Xu Ling pointed coldly at the corner of the video, where the two men were pressed intimately together in the kitchen.

The moment Zhou Wenyu saw it, cold sweat broke out all over him. "What's wrong with that? Wang Jiang and I are close. What's wrong with meeting up for a late-night snack?"

Ning Luo was completely immersed in the gossip. Hearing that, he rolled his eyes.

[Even if the Earth exploded, your mouth would still be there. You're like someone grinding grain bare-assed—spinning in circles without a shred of shame.]

Xu Ling gave a cold laugh. "Why are you leaning that close just to eat a late-night snack? Don't you have one of your own? Did you need to press against someone else's to experience it?"

Zhou Wenyu's face flushed bright red. "Xu Ling, watch your mouth! You're just a woman—keep it clean! Believe it or not, I'll replace you as my manager tomorrow!"

Xu Ling looked at the man she had personally built up, the man for whom she had fought tooth and nail to secure even this travel variety show opportunity, and felt a chill settle in her heart.

Ning Luo wasn't paying attention to their argument. He was looking down at his phone.

Although this was his first time meeting Xu Ling, the original Ning Luo's manager had treated the original owner fairly well and worked diligently like an overworked office drone. Ning Luo planned to find that video website first and send it to Xu Ling, giving her a little shock to the soul so she would give up on Zhou Wenyu, that plummeting stock, and escape the mire sooner.

Ning Luo skillfully opened Lu Tingzhou's fan chat group.

[Crotch on Fire: Sisters, I'm getting a little tired of Haitang. Can anyone recommend some foreign sites? Preferably something more explicit.]

For porn, of course he had to ask the veterans.

[Kick the Cripple's Good Leg: More explicit? Like what?]

[Crotch on Fire: Videos.]

[Crotch on Fire: [Shy Heart Gesture]]

The moment the topic came up, everyone instantly woke up. They eagerly sent over websites they had long kept in their collections, strongly recommending them one after another.

[Watch this one! There's a bottom named Abbott in there who moans like crazy.]

[Ahhh, don't fight me over it, look at mine! My site has the most complete resources!]

[Huohuo, you absolutely have to look at the one I sent you. The front-page recommendation is that dark-skinned guy with huge tits. I'm already drooling.]

Ning Luo's hand trembled slightly.

So everyone had been eating this well all along!

And he was only finding out now.

After being bombarded by so many websites, Ning Luo barely retained a sliver of rationality and quickly found the one he wanted.

It took no effort, because Zhou Wenyu was already right there on the homepage.

Ning Luo silently forwarded the video to Xu Ling.

Xu Ling's phone, face-up on the table, vibrated. She glanced at the new friend request, and her expression went blank for a moment.

[Top Welfare Officer: Explosive news! Massive resources free to watch, thousands of videos to choose from! And popular young star Zhou Wenyu... Want a sneak peek? Click the link...]

As though in slow motion beneath a camera, Xu Ling gradually turned to look at Ning Luo sitting behind her.

Ning Luo had happened to be secretly observing her reaction. When he saw her looking at him, he seemed a little confused, but still offered a friendly smile. He rubbed his reddened, watery eyes after yawning, his brows drooping and his face full of exhaustion.

No matter how she looked at him, he didn't seem like someone who could say something like that. It had to be a coincidence. This person wasn't his alt account... right?

Xu Ling let out a breath of relief.

[Why are you looking at me? Look at the message already. Ah, this is driving me crazy. Is my title not explosive enough?]

The breath Xu Ling had only half let out caught in her throat again.

What exactly had her artist experienced during the two months she had been abroad? Why did he seem like he had just been released from a psychiatric hospital?!

Her psychological defenses were on the verge of collapse, yet years of workplace experience kept her face as steady as ever. Xu Ling asked Zhou Wenyu, "I'll give you one last chance. Do you have any other kind of relationship with Wang Jiang?"

After being questioned again and again, Zhou Wenyu snapped in humiliation. "Are you done? I said ordinary friends means ordinary friends. Why don't you ask whether Ning Luo is clean? He's been cursed out all over the internet!"

Ning Luo, who had been innocently caught in the crossfire, blinked.

"Fine. I understand your attitude now."

Xu Ling nodded and opened the video. The room instantly filled with obscene sounds, made even more graphic by the two men's heated movements.

Ning Luo covered his ears.

[No, I can't take this anymore. Am I going to get pinkeye from watching this?]

[You hateful filthy yellow material, how could you invade my brain in such a despicable way? You've utterly defiled my pure, innocent heart!]

Xu Ling dragged the progress bar and shoved the video of the two men's scientific experiment in exploring the limits of the human body in front of Zhou Wenyu. "Look at it yourself. What is this?"

Zhou Wenyu's face abruptly turned pale, all color draining from it. He tried to lunge forward, but grabbed at empty air.

Xu Ling pulled her phone back with a cold laugh. "This is what you call ordinary friends? I've really learned something new."

"Didn't you want to change managers? Fine, I agree. Starting today, go with Wang Xiao. You two can keep colluding together. We're ending our partnership."

She pulled Ning Luo to his feet and headed for the door.

Halfway there, Zhou Wenyu stopped them.

All of Zhou Wenyu's earlier arrogance had vanished. In the autumn weather, his face was covered in sweat. He kept swallowing, his lips trembling. "Xu Ling, you can't leave. Don't go! What was that thing you showed me just now? Why do you have it? Say something!"

"You should ask whoever secretly filmed it and posted it online, not me." Xu Ling shook off his hand. "Zhou Wenyu, take care of yourself."

Zhou Wenyu looked dazed, darkness washing over his vision in waves.

Once this video spread, forget his career—even his life would be over!

Watching Xu Ling truly abandon him and walk away without looking back, Zhou Wenyu felt a surge of resentment.

If she hadn't always blocked his rise, using excuses about building a solid foundation and taking things slowly, leaving him stuck in limbo and only able to play minor roles, he would have become famous long ago!

Then why would he need to please an old man like Wang Jiang?

Zhou Wenyu was like a rabid dog now, biting whoever he could catch. "Xu Ling, do you think Ning Luo beside you is any better? You look down on people who find sugar daddies and sell their asses, so why do you protect him so fiercely?"

Xu Ling froze. "Who told you he found a sugar daddy?"

Zhou Wenyu sneered. "Isn't that the case? Then how do you explain him suddenly signing onto a new drama and even getting to shoot a magazine with a Best Actor?"

The production crew barely dared to breathe as they watched the three argue at the door, eating up the gossip with a mixture of fear and secret excitement.

With his hands behind his back, Ning Luo sighed softly. "I actually didn't want to say anything, but since you asked so sincerely... fine. I'm a rich second-generation heir. The building you're in belongs to my father, and my eldest brother holds a controlling stake in Lecheng Pictures."

He smiled slightly at the stunned Zhou Wenyu. "Satisfied with what you heard?"

"No, that's impossible!" Zhou Wenyu hurriedly stepped forward. "Ning Luo, stop lying! Lecheng clearly is—"

Before he could finish, he tripped over a chair on the floor with a loud crash.

And fell to his knees before Ning Luo.

Ning Luo patted his pockets, pulled out two one-yuan coins, then crouched down. Looking at Zhou Wenyu with pity in his eyes, he held them out to him. "Those who criticize my faults to my face get slapped."

"Since you sincerely repented and performed such a grand bow, very good. Accept this reward."

Xu Ling looked at the two one-yuan coins in his pale palm and began to worry about Zhou Wenyu's mental state.

What did it mean to max out the mockery and launch an ultimate attack right in someone's face?