Chapter 56 The Real Appearance

The arrest of Zhuang Yiqing pushed the netizens' wave of gossip to a peak, with marketing accounts and social platforms working overtime and the gossip-eating crowd staying up late to surf the Internet.

Not long after, Zhang Cheng released dozens of recordings, all of which were of Zhuang Yiqing verbally suppressing Qu Man in private.

"You are disappointing me now."

"I'm doing this for your own good."

"Your poor health is your own fault, isn't it?"

"You're not even as good as a new actor."

"You still want to rest when your work ability is so poor?"

"What right do you have to rest?"

......

Soon after, the Moon Phase Studio also released the surveillance video in the studio to the public.

There was no footage of Luo Qinglin verbally humiliating Qu Man, but the video became evidence of dog-whistle-style abuse against Qu Man.

In the video, Zhuang Yiqing kept saying "rest" and "I'm not feeling well", and every time Qu Man heard these words, she would look away and shrink a little.

On the contrary, during the several hours of video recording, Luo Qinglin never said a harsh word. Instead, he was gentle and patient in guiding.

Soon, the direction of public opinion was like a balance, from "Luo Qinglin should die" to "Zhuang Yiqing should go to hell".

[It's so horrible. He seems to be well-mannered and reasonable in normal times, but he is actually this kind of person in private. 】

[Please, Old Swan, take Zhuang Yiqing away quickly!] 】

[Where is the person who just scolded Luo Qinglin? Come out and apologize! 】

[The way some people slide on their knees is really funny. [Covering mouth and laughing.jpg]]

[Brother is very busy today, and has to feed some people prison food again~]

[Zhuang Yiqing is bisexual, right? It's really disgusting to be able to take advantage of both men and women! 】

......

When the heat reached its peak, La Pluie was the first to jump out and take sides, directly issuing a statement of termination of contract.

La Beauté followed closely, with its official Weibo account reposting Qu Man’s Weibo post and captioning [@Zhuang Yiqing, you disappoint me so much [smile.jpg]].

The entry [La Pluie terminates contract with Zhuang Yiqing] rushed to the top, and taking advantage of the popularity, it gained the first wave of popularity and fame in the Chinese region.

As for other brands, due to information asymmetry, they all remained silent, standing on the sidelines and watching, ready to wait for the capital behind Zhuang Yiqing to take action and play dead until things "turn around".

-

The early morning light shines through the glass windows into the corridor of Debo Private Hospital.

"Xiaoxi, Qin Xiaoxi!"

"Um?"

Qin Xiaoxi put down her phone in panic, looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You have been absent-minded since just now. I called you several times but you didn't respond." Luo Qinglin said.

Qin Xiaoxi turned off the screen of her phone and said with an evasive look: "Maybe it's because I didn't sleep well last night."

Last night, it was already early morning when Jiang Yanyu and Qu Man signed the agreement.

Qin Xiaoxi was worried about Qu Man staying alone in the ward, so she spent the night on the sofa and chatted with her.

Jiang Yanyu had too many things to do, so he asked the driver to take Luo Qinglin home alone.

After a whole day of work, falling ill at night, and being nervous and relaxed, Luo Qinglin couldn't fall asleep even after returning home and lying on the soft bed.

He was in a daze all night and had a lot of bizarre dreams. When he opened his eyes the next day, Luo Qinglin hurriedly got in the car and rushed to the hospital.

Except for the bald man, the remaining four bodyguards were stationed at the door of Qu Man's ward, like giant stone statues, motionless.

"Good morning, Mr. Luo." The four big men made way and bent down together.

The burly man had a loud and powerful voice, which attracted the attention of passing patients and nurses.

The gazes all around were scorching. Luo Qinglin whispered "Good morning" in reply, covered his face and knocked on the ward door. After receiving a response, he rushed in to avoid the gazes of others.

But Qin Xiaoxi was the only one in the ward, and Qu Man was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is Qu Man?" Luo Qinglin asked.

Qin Xiaoxi sat on the sofa, staring at her phone in a daze, and was slow to reply.

"Qin Xiaoxi!" Luo Qinglin shouted again, "Where is Qu Man?"

"Ah?" Qin Xiaoxi woke up in shock. "She...she was just picked up by Jiang Ge's people. They said they were going to prepare for the live broadcast of the press conference."

After leaving the ward, Qin Xiaoxi was still in a daze and out of state. She kept checking her phone from time to time, as if waiting for someone's reply.

After getting in the car, Qin Xiaoxi was not like usual. She put on her headphones and ignored what was happening outside the window. Instead, she glanced at her cell phone, sighed, then looked again and sighed, feeling extremely worried.

Luo Qinglin didn't believe the excuse of "not sleeping well" and stared at Qin Xiaoxi, waiting for her to confess.

Qin Xiaoxi felt uncomfortable being looked at by Luo Qinglin. She sighed and confessed, "I seem to... be a little attracted to Qu Man."

"Only a little bit!" Qin Xiaoxi emphasized.

?

You fell in love after only meeting each other twice? !

Luo Qinglin blinked and asked cautiously: "Are you sure you are moved and not some other emotion? For example, sympathy, or friendship or something..."

"I don't know, who cares." Qin Xiaoxi grabbed her hair with both hands, "There's no chance for her and me anyway."

"Why not?" Luo Qinglin asked.

"Zhuang Yiqing is also bisexual. If Qu Man knew my sexual orientation, she would definitely hate me. Besides, who would want to date a bisexual? He's fickle, he's bisexual, disgusting and perverted."

"I don't want to be in a relationship anymore, so that's it!"

After saying this, Qin Xiaoxi leaned her head against the car window and said nothing more.

This was the first time that Luo Qinglin knew that Qin Xiaoxi actually had this opinion about her own sexual orientation.

He didn't expect that the reason Qin Xiaoxi didn't want to fall in love was because of her sexual inferiority complex.

Luo Qinglin couldn't utter any empty words of comfort, because learning to reconcile with one's sexual orientation was not something that could be solved with just a few words of comfort from others.

So until he sent Qin Xiaoxi home, Luo Qinglin did not discuss Qu Man with her again.

Having not accomplished anything serious the whole morning, Luo Qinglin got out of the car, feeling exhausted, and walked slowly towards home.

I thought there would be no one at home, but when Luo Qinglin opened the door, he saw Jiang Yanyu sitting on the sofa, taking a nap with his eyes closed.

Jiang Yanyu was still wearing the same black suit he wore yesterday, his head tilted back against the sofa, his brows slightly furrowed.

The Adam's apple on his neck was prominent due to the tension, bulging high and moving slightly with his breathing.

Luo Qinglin closed the door gently, held his breath, tiptoed over, and sat down next to Jiang Yanyu.

Having seen Jiang Yanyu pretending to sleep, Luo Qinglin became more alert this time. He did not reach out to touch his face. Instead, he stood half a meter away from him and secretly took out his cell phone.

Luo Qinglin, Luo Qinglin, you are doing such a dirty thing as secretly taking photos again!

Although he thought so in his mind, his hands did not slow down.

Luo Qinglin directly turned on the camera, turned off the flash and shutter sound, and took more than a dozen pictures of Jiang Yanyu's sleeping face and Adam's apple.

After taking the photo with satisfaction, Luo Qinglin turned his back to Jiang Yanyu and quietly admired the perfect Adam's apple curve for a while before moving the picture to his private album.

"What bad things are you doing again?"

Suddenly, an arm stretched out from behind and hugged Luo Qinglin's neck. The suit stuck tightly to his skin, and Luo Qinglin's Adam's apple was tickled by the fabric.

Luo Qinglin immediately turned off the screen of his phone, coughed lightly, and covered it up by saying, "I'm reading the news."

"Watch the news?" Jiang Yanyu leaned on Luo Qinglin's shoulder and said, "Why is the screen black when watching the news? Let me watch it too."

"I..." Luo Qinglin was too lazy to continue making up lies and changed the subject abruptly, "When did you wake up?"

"I woke up as soon as you walked in."

He knew that this vixen was pretending to sleep to trick him again!

Luo Qinglin pouted speechlessly and immediately wanted to pull Jiang Yanyu's hand away to break free.

Feeling Luo Qinglin's struggle, Jiang Yanyu hugged him tighter and said in a low voice, "Don't move. Let me lean on you for a while."

Jiang Yanyu's voice sounded tired, even a little hoarse, probably the aftereffect of working late at night.

Luo Qinglin stopped moving and sat on the sofa obediently and asked: "Have you dealt with everything? Is it difficult?"

"The Zhuang family is still struggling, thinking that exposing Qu Man's 'dirty information' can save Zhuang Yiqing," Jiang Yanyu sneered, "However, tonight, all the evidence will be sent to the police station."

"What evidence?" Luo Qinglin asked puzzledly.

"Drug abuse, illegal buying and selling of opioids, gambling, prostitution, and tax evasion." Jiang Yanyu listed them one by one, shocking Luo Qinglin so much that his eyes widened.

Zhuang Yiqing usually looks like a decent person, but unexpectedly he is a complete devout person involved in pornography, gambling and drugs.

"The dealer..."

"If the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will be crooked too. If we protect this kind of social rubbish, there is no hope for it." Jiang Yanyu said sarcastically.

Jiang Yanyu looked at the watch, turned on the projector and said, "It's time to start the live broadcast."

Qu Man’s face was reflected on the wall. She was wearing a women's elite suit, with a cold expression and sharp eyes, and she was completely different from the person she was in the ward yesterday.

"I'm sorry to take up your energy and time..."

As the live broadcast progressed, the smile on Jiang Yanyu's face grew wider.

The more Luo Qinglin listened, the more confused he became. Qu Man did not mention Zhuang Yiqing at all. Instead, she calmly described her feelings and called on everyone to be vigilant and pay attention to the gaslight effect①.

"Do you know why the word 'suicide' became a hot search as soon as she was admitted to the hospital yesterday?" Jiang Yanyu turned to look at Luo Qinglin.

In the background, Qu Man was still giving a passionate speech, and Jiang Yanyu's eyes were like a whirlpool, deep and bottomless.

"She hired paparazzi to stake out the hospital. She bought the initial trending searches and secretly recorded Zhang Chengfa's recording."

Jiang Yanyu released his arms around Luo Qinglin and turned him around to face her.

"Everything that happened yesterday was just a show she planned." Jiang Yanyu said.

"But..." Luo Qinglin asked, "How can she be sure that you will help her?"

"I didn't help her," Jiang Yanyu brushed up Luo Qinglin's hair, "She already knew that I was a director of the Mayfield Group, and the purpose of signing the La Pluie double contract was just to make a deal with me."

"If Zhuang Yiqing hadn't posted that Weibo post accusing you yesterday, she wouldn't have had the chance to choose the second path. I would have let her choose the first path."

Luo Qinglin stared into those beautiful amber eyes, staring at Jiang Yanyu as if he had just met her for the first time.

He finally realized that Jiang Yanyu was not the same as he had imagined.

During his seven-year secret love, Jiang Yanyu in his heart has always been the pure, aloof, but cold and kind boy in high school.

After the reunion, because of the filter of love, he repeatedly made excuses for Jiang Yanyu's indifference and turned a blind eye to the fact that Jiang Yanyu had long become a capitalist who only cared about profits.

"S-sorry."

Luo Qinglin didn't know whether he was apologizing for disrupting Jiang Yanyu's plan or for his blind love-sickness.

"Luo Qinglin, I'm not saying this to hear an apology."

"I just want you to know that I am this kind of person - I don't care about the suffering of others, I lack empathy, and I only care about my own interests."

"Now, do you see clearly what kind of person I am?" Jiang Yanyu looked at Luo Qinglin steadily and asked.

Strangely, Luo Qinglin did not feel scared, but his heart beat faster, "I see it clearly."

"Are you still panicking?" Jiang Yanyu asked again.

Luo Qinglin suppressed his pounding heart, looked directly into Jiang Yanyu's eyes, and replied, "You still dare."

Hearing the answer, Jiang Yanyu finally smiled, his eyes as bright as if sprinkled with starlight, and he hugged Luo Qinglin into his arms.

"Luo Qinglin, I was wrong just now. I have more than just interests in my eyes."

Jiang Yanyu lowered his voice and said, "And you."

The author has something to say:

A few seconds ago:

Luo Qinglin: I am the one who is in love? ! (shock)

A few seconds later:

Luo Qinglin: Okay, okay, I’m just in love (playing bad)

annotation:

Gaslighting refers to the emotional abuse and manipulation inflicted on the victim, causing the victim to gradually lose self-esteem, develop self-doubt, and become unable to escape. Gaslighting describes a form of psychological manipulation in which the victim is so controlled by the perpetrator that they question their own memory, perception, or sanity. (Excerpt from Baidu)