"Aren't you afraid the police will arrest you?! You're breaking the law! Qianqian, Qianqian, call the police!" Jiang Mingxi shouted.
Qianqian's boyfriend pinned him to the ground and grinned smugly. "She's just a dog I keep. Would she dare call the police without my say-so? Keep dreaming!"
"You're breaking the law! Let go, let go of me!" Jiang Mingxi struggled desperately. "If she won't call the police, I will!"
A vicious, sinister look flashed in Qianqian's boyfriend's eyes. "Call the police? Who can prove I r*ped you?! My girlfriend can testify that I left straight after leaving Bridgehead Village. I never saw you!"
Qianqian came after them, trembling, and reached out to pull her boyfriend away. "Please let him go!"
Her boyfriend raised his hand and slapped her to the ground. "Can't you even be a proper dog? Get lost!"
Qianqian fell to the ground and looked at Jiang Mingxi in despair.
Jiang Mingxi fought back desperately. "You weren't here to take part in the show at all. You came specifically to harass Song Lan, didn't you?! You've got some nerve, even daring to do it on a livestream!"
Riiip!
Jiang Mingxi's shirt was torn open.
Qianqian's boyfriend seethed with pent-up anger.
"I've liked Song Lan for so many years. When I found out he was guiding tourists here, of course I had to come!
"He wouldn't even let me hug him!
"Why the hell not?!
"How am I any worse than you?! You got to hug him!
"Jiang Mingxi, you have no right to criticize me.
"All I originally wanted was to get close to Song Lan and touch him a little!
"It was you!
"You hugged him, so why couldn't I?!"
At the thought of how Song Lan hadn't pushed Jiang Mingxi away when Jiang Mingxi hugged him, and had even hugged him back.
Yet when he hugged Song Lan, Song Lan had said those humiliating things to him in front of everyone.
It had been a livestream, and Song Lan hadn't spared his dignity at all!
Why?!
His anger erupted, and he reached to yank off Jiang Mingxi's trousers. "I'll ***** you!"
But the instant he reached out-
"Aaaah!!!!"
A piercing scream tore from his throat.
Before his outstretched hand could reach Jiang Mingxi's waistband, Jiang Mingxi seized his wrist and snapped it with a crack!
The excruciating pain left him trembling all over.
Jiang Mingxi seized the chance to flip him onto the ground, pressed a knee into his back, and took the phone from his pocket to call the police.
Pinned to the ground like a huge struggling turtle, the man couldn't break free, and his wrist hurt. He could only curse at Qianqian. "Bitch, are you dead? Get him off me! Hurry!"
Jiang Mingxi glanced at Qianqian, his eyes cold and disappointed.
Huddled on the ground, Qianqian felt a violent tremor in her chest. She bit her lip and didn't move.
The man went mad with rage. Amid his furious roars and curses, he spotted a large rock nearby.
Jiang Mingxi braced one hand on the ground and held the phone in the other, about to call the police.
Qianqian's boyfriend grabbed the large rock from the ground and smashed it down at Jiang Mingxi's supporting hand. "Die!"
Crack!
The watch on his wrist shattered.
Song Lan left the production team's courtyard and went straight back to his room.
The moment he entered, his already irritable expression grew heavily overcast.
There was no one in the room.
He hadn't gone to look for him.
Nor was he in the room.
Only yesterday, he had been on this very bed, holding his hand and talking to him like that.
Just a little while ago, he had hugged him on the mountain.
Irritation spread through every limb. Song Lan took out his phone to call Jiang Mingxi. He was going to ask him just where he was!
But once he had his phone out, he abruptly realized he didn't have Jiang Mingxi's contact details.
The frustration weighing on his chest and enveloping his nerves grew even heavier.
Song Lan let out a stifled breath.
In all his twenty-nine years, he had never felt as indescribably aggrieved as he did now.
"What? Jiang Mingxi's at the police station?"
The director's startled cry suddenly came from outside.
Song Lan stiffened and strode out.
In the courtyard.
The director was on his phone. "Yes, yes, all right. I'll head over right now. Thank you, thank you."
"What happened?" Song Lan asked almost the instant the director hung up.
The director stamped his foot in frustration.
"That fucking idiot attacked Jiang Mingxi behind the village."
Song Lan's irritated expression changed at once.
"Well, Director Lu just called. He wants to take tourism promotional photos of everyone and will be here in about an hour. Receive him when he arrives. I'll go into town first.
"That fucking moron..."
The director walked out, cursing.
"I'll go." Song Lan stopped him.
The director froze. "You'll go?"
Song Lan's face was dark and grim. "I'm one of the victims of Qianqian's boyfriend too. It'll be more convenient if I go. Besides, Director Lu is coming. As the show's director, you should be the one receiving him."
With that.
Song Lan strode off without giving the director a chance to object.
The director sighed.
That's true.
Like hell it is!
He's coming to take pictures of you lot. What the hell am I supposed to receive him for?!
Two out of the four guests are gone. What's he supposed to photograph?!
The director wanted to cry!
He just wanted to make a variety show. Why was there so much crap to deal with?!
Every single day!
Was he supposed to survive this?!
Aaaaaaah!
There was no police station in town.
Only a local police outpost.
The moment they entered, Qianqian's boyfriend began wailing. "Officers, you have to get justice for me! I only brought my girlfriend to take part in an activity run by their production team, and they're trying to ruin me!
"First they falsely accused me of s*xually harassing a celebrity during the livestream.
"Now they're falsely accusing me of r*pe.
"I couldn't clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River. I'm completely innocent.
"It's not like I'm some unemployed drifter. I have a proper job. Would I have to be crazy to do these illegal things?"
Qianqian's boyfriend acted utterly aggrieved.
Medical staff had already treated the wrist Jiang Mingxi had broken. It was splinted and hung in a sling against his chest.
The officer looked at Jiang Mingxi.
Jiang Mingxi leaned against the back of his chair.
"I ran into him on my way back to the village. I said I'd gone to buy flowers for Song Lan, and he attacked me like a madman. He dragged me into the bushes. If I hadn't learned some self-defense as a child and found a chance to break his wrist, he would have violated me by now.
"Also..."
Jiang Mingxi took the shattered watch off his wrist and placed it before the officer.
"This watch of mine was worth over five hundred thousand. He smashed it."
Qianqian's boyfriend's eyelid immediately twitched.
"I didn't! Don't falsely accuse an innocent man!" Before Jiang Mingxi could finish, he roared agitatedly, "Officers, you can ask my girlfriend. I didn't do anything."
The officer looked at Qianqian.
Her face was still stained with blood from the earlier beating. She trembled in terror. "I, I..."
The officer asked gently, "At the time, did your boyfriend drag Jiang Mingxi into the bushes?"
Qianqian's boyfriend immediately added, "Think carefully, and tell the police every detail. I'm innocent."
"Please be quiet!" the officer snapped at him, then looked back at Qianqian.