Chapter 86 The Chokehold Dilemma 1

The next morning, Lu Yao hitched a ride on an old truck carrying mountain goods at the entrance of Qixia Village and went into town with it.

The carriage was filled with bamboo baskets, exuding the fresh scent of matsutake mushrooms.

After the truck unloaded its cargo on the outskirts of the city, she followed the trail of the fluorescent lights that had fallen the previous night and arrived at an upscale residential area surrounded by green trees.

In front of the European-style wrought iron gate, the water droplets splashed by the fountain refracted rainbows in the sunlight.

Lu Yao took out Youqing's peach wood compass from the cloth bag and set up her divination stall in the blind spot of the gatekeeper.

On the table covered with blue cloth, copper coins, tortoise shells, and divination sticks were all laid out.

They were all taken from Youqing.

People come and go, and residents entering and leaving the community frequently glance at them, but no one stops to look.

Lu Yao was patient and waited quietly.

"Wow, this is something new!" Three men carrying cameras strolled over, looking Lu Yao up and down with curiosity in their eyes. "Are fortune tellers this shrewd now? The fortune tellers I usually see are either old men with white beards or blind men wearing sunglasses. This is the first time I've seen such a pretty young girl setting up a fortune teller's stall."

Lu Yao lifted her eyelids and glanced at them indifferently, "Want to calculate?"

"What a coincidence, we were just thinking of having someone do the divination." Several men had grinning faces, their camera lenses almost shoved into Lu Yao's face. "You tell us when Wang Ziying will come out? We'll set up our cameras in advance."

Lu Yao frowned. "Spying on other people's whereabouts? That's stalking."

The three men burst into laughter, their laughter tinged with frivolity.

"Hey, you don't know Wang Ziying? She's the hottest young actress right now, a big star! Didn't you see that super popular drama from last year, 'Red Beans Grow in the South'?"

Seeing Lu Yao shake her head, the group gestured exaggeratedly: "You're really ignorant. Shouldn't a girl your age love watching historical romance dramas?"

"There's no such thing as 'should' or 'shouldn't' a girl my age," Lu Yao said calmly.

"Oh dear, it seems you really don't know anything about the internet. Wang Ziying has been a regular on the internet headlines lately, with scandals flying everywhere. Even if you haven't seen any of her dramas, you should have seen related trending topics by now."

"This Wang Ziying, she tried to use her son to rise in status, but in the end, she chose the wrong target in her honey trap."

As the men talked, they winked at each other, their faces displaying malicious smiles that made one feel disgusted.

"..."

These gossipy men.

Lu Yao's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"Look, Wang Ziying herself is too ashamed to go out, and she locks herself in her room every day. We reporters are all eagerly waiting for her to come out so we can do an interview. Girl, if you really have the ability to tell fortunes, then help us with a divination. The price will definitely not be too low."

Lu Yao refused expressionlessly, "It's only my own business, not someone else's privacy."

The three men looked sullen and muttered, "A fortune teller at a street stall, and he's so high and mighty."

The tall, thin man spat, and the three of them turned and left, cursing.

Lu Yao smiled slightly and flicked her fingers lightly.

Three beams of golden light, barely perceptible to the naked eye, silently entered the hearts of the three men.

From then on, whenever they tried to spread rumors and cause trouble, their tongues would uncontrollably swell up like a balloon, so much so that their mouths couldn't hold it all.

After the group had walked away, she took out her phone and began searching for information about Wang Ziying.

What comes into view is a girl who is only twenty-four years old. Even in the entertainment industry where beauties abound, Wang Ziying's beauty is still outstanding.

However, the trending topics were all negative news about her.

A week ago, Wang Ziying was photographed by paparazzi going to the obstetrics and gynecology department of a hospital for a prenatal check-up.

For her, who was at the peak of her career, this was undoubtedly a bombshell, instantly causing a huge uproar online.

The entire internet is focused on her, and everyone is waiting to see how she responds and clarifies this scandal.

Surprisingly, Wang Ziying subsequently held a press conference and admitted to being pregnant.

At the press conference, Wang Ziying spoke with great emotion, saying that she was drugged by a director at a dinner party, taken back to a hotel and humiliated, but unexpectedly became pregnant.

This child is a symbol of her shame, but also evidence that can bring the perpetrator to justice.

This statement immediately caused an uproar.

There are many different opinions online.

Some sympathized with Wang Ziying's plight, some condemned her for not being careful enough, and some even insulted the director.

The various voices mingled together, creating a chaotic mess.

After receiving the report, the police acted swiftly and arrested the director involved.

However, things took a dramatic turn.

The director presented compelling evidence that he had undergone tubal ligation three years prior, proving that the child in Wang Ziying's womb could not possibly be his.

Upon hearing the news, Wang Ziying was struck dumb. "Impossible! It's him! It's him!"

The initial sympathy for her quickly turned into skepticism, and the internet was filled with mockery of Wang Ziying.

"Looking for someone to take over his burden."

"Turns out we've run into a tough nut to crack, tsk tsk tsk."

"This plot twist is absolutely hilarious."

"Wang Ziying is really shameless."

Under overwhelming public pressure, Wang Ziying's reputation plummeted, and she locked herself in her home, unwilling to face the outside world's abuse.

Lu Yao felt uneasy.

She reached out and picked up the copper coin, muttering incantations as she tossed it away.

Is Wang Ziying related to me?

The copper coin gave an affirmative answer.

"Wang Ziying is in danger."

The moment the copper coin hit the ground, Lu Yao's expression changed drastically.

"Oh no!" she exclaimed in a low voice.

Wang Ziying is going to commit suicide!

Lu Yao suddenly looked towards the floor-to-ceiling window of a high-rise building—there, a slender figure was lifting a corner of the curtain, and then quickly closing it again.

She quickly made hand seals and chanted incantations, her figure flashing past the gate like a gentle breeze.

The elevator numbers were slowly ticking, but Lu Yao couldn't wait and dashed into the emergency exit.

She took three steps at a time, her clothes fluttering as she reached the doorway on the eighteen-story staircase.

She knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Lu Yao closed her eyes, formed hand seals, and calculated Wang Ziying's past. Scenes flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.

Lu Yao suddenly leaned close to the cat's eye and said in a calm voice, "Zi Ying, I'm your fan. Do you remember the day you auditioned for your first film, 'Reunion'? It was raining heavily, and you waited outside the set for six hours wearing fifty-yuan canvas shoes. The assistant director said that this girl was as stubborn as a donkey."

There was no sound coming from inside the door.

She had to reveal details that only true fans knew—those stories hidden outside of trending topics, the ones Wang Ziying choked up while recounting in interviews—to truly move Wang Ziying.

"Later, you got the role of the third female lead in 'Reunion'. On set, you were slapped seventeen times. After the director yelled 'cut,' your first question was to ask your co-star if his hand hurt."

“When you first received the script for the female lead, you cried all night in your dorm because you were afraid of being replaced if you didn’t perform well.” Lu Yao’s voice was filled with heartache. “Later, you only slept three hours a day and printed the lines on your phone’s lock screen and chat background.”

A soft sob came from inside the door.

"You actually fell into the icy water during that lake-jumping scene. When you were pulled out, your lips were purple, but you still insisted on reshooting close-ups. The bruises on your knees took three months to disappear."

The door clicked open a crack, revealing Wang Ziying's pale face.

“How did you know…” Wang Ziying’s voice trembled violently, “Even my agent didn’t know about the injury during the lake scene.”

Lu Yao looked into her eyes and smiled, knowing that she was the person she was looking for.

"You're afraid of the criticism that comes with admitting you're pregnant, but you're even more afraid that keeping the truth will let the bad guys get away with it. Zi Ying, you're the bravest girl I've ever met."

The door was wide open, revealing Wang Ziying inside. Her long hair was a tangled mess, her eyes were dark, and she looked extremely haggard.

Lu Yao's gaze suddenly fixed on her right hand, where a fruit knife gleaming coldly was being held stiffly by her fingers.

Wang Ziying followed her gaze and looked down. Her fingertips suddenly twitched, and the knife clattered to the ground, echoing crisply in the quiet corridor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't scare you, did I... I was just trying to peel an apple."

Wang Ziying was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to pick it up or not, and stood there awkwardly, not knowing how to explain herself.

Lu Yao didn't expose her lie. "It's okay."

Lu Yao calmly took half a step forward, and with a light flick of her toe, kicked the fruit knife into the shadows of the corridor.