No. 89 Melon

The agent was stunned for a long moment, his CPU almost short-circuiting. "Your child? How come I didn't know when you gave birth? Where's that man in the live broadcast? Is he really your husband?"

Cui Yali buried her head in her arms in pain, "He is not..."

"No? Then what's going on?" The agent was even more confused. He scratched the back of his head, making his hair a mess, and paced back and forth in front of Cui Yali. "I'm not forcing you, but you should also explain it to me clearly! The child is yours... Then who is the child's father? We must at least find the child's father..."

Cui Yali shook her head, her voice trembling, "I can't say."

The agent choked and glared at Cui Yali, his breathing becoming difficult. He angrily poured himself a cup of tea, drank it in one gulp, then patted his chest and took a deep breath. "So what do you want to do? You have to give me a response, you have to give the public a response, right? You don't say anything, you want to quit the industry?"

Cui Yali paused, hesitating for a moment. Finally, she pulled out her phone, flipped to the mailbox, and handed it to her agent. "That man had been sending me harassing text messages, but I was too busy to respond. I only just saw these messages."

The agent took the phone and checked it. There was a series of text messages in the spam box, and the caller ID showed the same number.

All the text messages conveyed the same message: "Cui Yali, I already know your secret! Your child is so cute! I wonder how your fans will react when they find out about her existence?"

The messages continued for many days, until today, when the other party's text message became: "You stinky bitch, you are shameless. Since that's the case, I will destroy you! Unless you give me 100 million, otherwise, you are dead!"

The agent looked serious and returned the phone to Cui Yali. "So now, you plan to solve it with money? But the key is, where do you have 100 million?"

Cui Yali suddenly grabbed her agent's hand and looked at him eagerly, "Can the company lend me this money?"

"Are you crazy?" The agent's eyes widened. "One hundred million, what are you thinking?"

When Cui Yali heard this, the light in her eyes gradually disappeared and her hand fell down dejectedly.

She laughed at herself, "This blackmailer thought I was rich, but who would have thought that I couldn't even come up with 10 million now."

The agent sighed helplessly and muttered, "If you tell me what's going on, I can still find a way to solve it. If you don't say anything, what can I do?"

The cell phone suddenly rang, and the agent hung up the call impatiently. A moment later, the screen lit up again, and it was still the same unfamiliar number.

The agent was very annoyed and walked aside to answer the phone, "Why are you rushing me? We will issue a statement on Yali's matter within 24 hours. Stop rushing me!"

He yelled fiercely and was about to hang up when the man on the other end of the phone suddenly said, "How much money do you need? I can help you."

"How much?" the agent sneered, "One hundred million! Can you afford it?"

"One hundred million? Okay."

"Just say you can't afford it. Why are the media so annoying..."

“Wait…wait!”

The agent froze, his eyes fixed on the number on his phone, but the unfamiliar number didn't bring back any memories. After a moment, the agent put the phone to his ear again and asked respectfully, "Sir, what's your name? What's your name?"

The calm male voice still came from the other side, "My surname is Jiang, Jiang Jianye."

Jiang Jianye is actually going to pay Cui Yali 100 million? This stingy guy is really plucking all the feathers out of himself!

In the living room of the manor villa, Jiang Mingkai turned on the TV and projected the "Cui Yali abandoning husband and child incident" exposed by major marketing accounts. Lin Cha was not interested in these information and videos of the marketing accounts. She opened her melon-eating system and indeed got a big melon.

[He only paid 250 yuan for his son's ransom, yet he's willing to spend 100 million yuan on his wife! If this isn't love, then what is love?!]

Jiang Mingkai's hand froze as he was casting the screen on the TV, and he felt a pang of pain in his heart.

So he was indeed picked up from the trash can, right? The poor kid who was picked up from the trash together with Jiang Mingrui!

Chen Xianzhi noticed Jiang Mingkai's lost eyes and frowned.

Regardless of how Jiang Jianye treated his wife and children, this whole thing… didn't it look like a scam? Chen Xianzhi even suspected that Cui Yali and the whistleblower had set up a scheme to defraud Jiang Jianye!

Chen Xianzhi wondered, "Could it be that Director Jiang really met a scammer?"

Jiang Mingkai was stunned.

If he really was a liar... wouldn't that mean Jiang Mingrui was right? Didn't Jiang Mingrui go home yesterday with the intention of taking away his father's working capital?

【This is not a scam! 】

Lin Cha's inner voice suddenly rang out.

Cui Yali is also a victim! But the person who leaked the information is a liar!

Jiang Jianye has already arranged for someone to go to the company to transfer the money. Sigh... one hundred million! That's one hundred million!

Although Lin Cha had never seen 100 million, it didn't stop her from feeling distressed.

Jiang Mingkai immediately stood up and said, "I'm going to stop my dad! The Jiang family's money didn't come from the wind, how can we just give it to others just like that?"

Lin Cha also agreed with Jiang Mingkai's statement, except that -

"Brother Kai, if you want to stop me, just go ahead and stop me! Why are you pulling me?! I don't want to go! I don't want to go!!"

Jiang Mingkai dragged Lin Cha and the "Leisure" guests to the conference room on the 37th floor of Jiangjia Group.

——He just learned from Jiang Mingrui's special assistant that Jiang Jianye would sign a contract with the whistleblower here and transfer 100 million yuan. After the deal was done, the whistleblower would admit that the child had nothing to do with Cui Yali. It was only because Cui Yali was a celebrity and he had taken a photo with the celebrity when they met in the past, so there was a photo of Cui Yali holding the child.

"The whistleblower's name is Zhang Qiang. He's a scoundrel with a gambling addiction. He's in debt." Special Assistant Chen whispered in Jiang Mingkai's ear, introducing the whistleblower's identity and the relationship between Cui Yali and Zhang Qiang. "Zhang Qiang has an ex-wife, and they're divorced. His ex-wife was the child's nanny. The child is indeed Cui Yali's, but we haven't found the father yet."

Zhang Qiang sat in the middle of the conference table, crossed his legs, and had a smug smile on his face.

His teeth had turned yellow from years of smoking. After sitting down, he took out his cigarette case, but was held down by Special Assistant Chen. Zhang Qiang could only shout angrily, "Cui Yali, sign the transfer contract quickly! It won't be good for you if you delay any longer!"

Cui Yali looked anxiously at Jiang Jianye, helplessly. But Jianye was calm and composed, showing none of the awkwardness or stage fright he had shown on previous dates with her. He sat across from Zhang Qiang, dressed in a neat black suit, looking imposing and commanding, like the master of the house.

Jiang Jianye pushed a document in front of Zhang Qiang and said, "Take a closer look. If there's no problem, we'll sign the contract."

Zhang Qiang couldn't hide his joy. He opened the document. There were long paragraphs of clauses in front of him, which he couldn't understand. But for the sake of 100 million, he gritted his teeth and read them one by one.

At the end, the document stipulates, "Party B needs to admit that it slandered Ms. Cui Yali and publicly apologize to Cui Yali on public platforms such as Douyin Live, Weibo, Tencent and other social platforms, admitting that it slandered Ms. Cui Yali out of jealousy."

Zhang Qiang smiled coldly.

It’s just an apology. People like him don’t care about being scolded by netizens after apologizing!

If I can get 100 million, this loss is worth it!

Lin Cha, Lu Yanyan and others were in the tea room next to the meeting room. The two rooms were separated by only a wall.

Even though they couldn't see or hear what was happening in the conference room, Lu Yanyan and others could still find out what was happening in the conference room through Lin Cha.

[The contract is very complete. It seems Jiang Jianye is really going to pay!]

Lin Cha stared at the "Eating Melon System" with a sharp gaze, her eyes slightly reflecting. Then she sighed, her voice filled with regret.

What a shame! Zhang Qiang is such a liar. He has no idea about Cui Yali's situation. He even used to seduce her in front of her photo album!

If he knew Cui Yali was actually a man, he probably wouldn't be able to get an erection, so how could he possibly pretend to be her husband?

“Cough cough cough…”

Several guests who were drinking tea choked on the tea and almost spit out the tea in their mouths.

man?

Cui Yali is a man?

In the office just across the wall from the tea room, Jiang Mingkai stumbled, but it was Special Assistant Chen who quickly caught him.

"Second Young Master, are you okay?"

“No, no…”

Jiang Mingkai wiped a cold sweat from his forehead, his eyes unconsciously falling on the sexy and elegant Cui Yali sitting at the conference table.

His eyes moved down, then quickly moved away.

Men? Was Lin Cha really not mistaken?!

Lin Cha, immersed in a sea of melons, looked up suspiciously at the sound of Lu Yanyan and the others spitting tea and coughing. She simply assumed the Jiang Group's tea wasn't good enough, that the wealthy young lady wasn't used to it, and didn't think anything more of it.

It’s more important to eat melon!

[Alas, no wonder Cui Yali didn't dare to clarify everything with her agent~ This sex change rumor is much more shocking than a popular actress abandoning her husband and children!]

[But I can't blame her. Some people are like this. Even if their biological sex is male, they identify as female. Fortunately, sex reassignment surgery is now well developed, and male-to-female transformation is not impossible!]

[Oh, so Cui Yali donated her sperm before her sex change surgery! That child was born after the surgery, using her sperm from Lily and Lily! They were twins! Lily took the older sister away, leaving the younger sister with Cui Yali!]

[I can only say that Cui Yali is unlucky! ]

[Zhang Qiang is also lucky. If Cui Yali was the child's mother, she really wouldn't worry about this matter being exposed!]

Cui Yali is 39 years old after all, and it is normal for an actress of this age to be exposed to have a child. Even though Cui Yali became popular because of her figure and sexiness, she also relies on her acting skills.

However, labels like transgender are different.

This kind of scandal hasn't been exposed in the domestic entertainment industry yet. Sexuality, by its very nature, doesn't touch on moral or legal issues, and won't ruin Cui Yali's reputation. But she will eventually be talked about, and she might even lose all future roles because of it.

If it weren't for these considerations, Cui Yali would have admitted it.

Zhou Zexu suddenly became curious, "Isn't Zhang Qiang afraid that Cui Yali will ask him and the child to take a DNA test? Since Brother Kai and the others have found out that Zhang Qiang is not the child's father, wouldn't a DNA test prove that he's lying?"

"Zhang Qiang could say Cui Yali betrayed him and cheated on him, which would earn him more sympathy from netizens," Chen Xianzhi explained. "However, Zhang Qiang is a thug who just wanted to scam Cui Yali out of her money. When Cui Yali didn't reply to his messages, he was desperate and decided to expose her. How could he consider the logical reasoning behind the matter?"

"Most netizens just eat melons for the novelty of it, and don't bother to examine the logical causal relationships between all the events."

In fact, most of the revelations and slanders from peers or rivals in the entertainment industry may not have rigorous logical basis and usually cannot stand up to scrutiny.

But do most people really delve into the logical and causal relationships involved? Forget social news; entertainment news is just gossip for most people. How many people, upon hearing a piece of gossip, actually investigate the truth behind it?

Jiang Mingkai leaned against the glass curtain wall of the conference room, his expression dazed, his mind still digesting Lin Cha's melon.

So, his father didn’t find him a stepmother… but a stepfather?

And he will have a sister?

Jiang Mingkai rubbed his solar plexus in pain. This was too much information and he needed to digest it!

In front of him, Zhang Qiang and Jiang Jianye had already completed the contract. Zhang Qiang's eyes flashed, and he kept urging Jiang Jianye to complete the transfer.

Jiang Jianye nodded to Special Assistant Chen, who had no choice but to take out his computer.

"Is this the account on file? Just to confirm, is it ok?"

Zhang Qiang nodded to confirm that it was correct, and Assistant Chen entered the numbers into the computer and prepared to transfer the money.

But before he pressed the confirm button, suddenly, the door of the conference room was pushed open!

A strong wind blew in, and Zhang Qiang shivered. When he turned around, he saw Lu Yanyan and other guests standing at the door of the conference room.

Zhang Qiang cursed, "What's going on? Old man Jiang, you're relying on your numbers, aren't you planning to go back on your word?"

Lu Yanyan's lips curled up into a smile.

It would be fine if you didn’t know the truth before, but now that you know the truth, how can you still let a gangster deceive you?

Lu Yanyan: "Mr. Jiang, my dad used to say you were the overlord of the Jiang Group. How come you haven't been in the business world for so long that the mountain tiger has become a paper tiger?"

Jiang Jianye frowned and said nothing.

Lu Yanyan sneered, looked at Zhang Qiang, and raised her chin. "Didn't you say you were husband and wife? Do you have a marriage certificate? Wedding photos? Or anything else that can prove your relationship? Do you have it?"

"Yali is a celebrity," Zhang Qiang said nonchalantly with a cheeky grin on his face. "She said that for her career, we can't get married or have our photos taken, otherwise our relationship would be discovered by the paparazzi! For her sake, I can only do this! But the child has always been raised in my home, and I have plenty of evidence to prove it!"

——The nanny Cui Yali hired to take care of her child had just divorced Zhang Qiang last month, so the child was actually fostered in Zhang Qiang's home.

Lu Yanyan asked again, "What about the proof of your relationship with the child? Are you both on the same household registration? Is there a DNA test?"

"Household registration... the child is registered with Yali, but we can do a DNA test!" Zhang Qiang didn't care. "I believe the child is definitely mine!" Then he looked at Cui Yali with a proud look in his eyes. "Yali, I believe you won't betray me about the child, right?"

Cui Yali bit her lips and her face turned pale.

Lu Yanyan: "So, you have Cui Yali's child, but you don't have a marriage certificate with Cui Yali, nor do you have proof of your blood relationship with the child?"

Zhang Qiang: "So what!"

"What's going on?" Lu Yanyan laughed. "What do you mean by 'what's going on'? This is clearly a case of human traffickers kidnapping babies! Director Jiang, why are you giving us money? Just call the police!"

Zhang Qiang: ???

Jiang Jianye: ???

Everyone at the scene: ???

Everyone was stunned, and the scene was silent for a moment. Only the guests of "Leisure" heard Lin Cha's thoughts.

Ah, this...

[It seems... this is actually possible! ]

Lin Cha's eyes flickered.

[The child is registered with Cui Yali, but Zhang Qiang doesn't have any documentation proving their relationship. Doesn't that mean they're not related? If you round it up, isn't this child trafficking?]

"Oh no, he's a child trafficker! He stole the child from his ex-wife! He even threatened Cui Yali, which is illegal!"

Most celebrities' first reaction when faced with something is to clarify or explain. But Lu Yanyan is different. Her first reaction is to get rid of the person who broke the news and slandered her!

Everyone at the scene looked stunned.

Jiang Jianye was the first to come to his senses. He turned to look at Special Assistant Chen beside him and said, "Call the police!"

"Huh? Oooohhhh!"

Special Assistant Chen immediately took out his cell phone, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and was about to make a call.

Zhang Qiang was stunned when he saw this.

You are about to get one hundred million, why are you calling the police?

If he calls the police, won't he go to jail?!

"Don't call the police! Don't call the police!"

Zhang Qiang exclaimed, turning to look at Cui Yali, "Are you crazy? You want them to call the police? Expose that you have a child? Then you'll be ruined too!"

“I, I…”

Cui Yali didn't react either and was a little confused.

"Yes, she will indeed be ruined as a popular female star."

Lu Yanyan pulled a chair and sat down, smiling leisurely, "But what does that matter? Mr. Jiang likes her so much, he's willing to spend 100 million for her. Will he treat her badly in the future? It doesn't matter if my reputation is ruined. After all, I won't have to work in the entertainment industry after marrying into a wealthy family!"

"But you're different." Lu Yanyan looked into Zhang Qiang's eyes, her expression suddenly turning cold. "Kidnapped children, spread rumors and slander, intimidated and threatened... Cha Cha, how many years will you be sentenced to for these crimes combined?"

Lin Cha who was suddenly cue:?

[Miss, you don't know how many years you'll be sentenced to... so you're asking me?]

Lu Yanyan: Bingo!

Lu Yanyan smiled. Lin Cha had a system, so she would definitely know. The two of them were working together more and more tacitly.

[But how do I know? ]

Lu Yanyan staggered and almost fell off the chair.

She looked up and saw Lin Cha looking at her with a smile.

[Don't look at me! I really don't know! I'm not a law student! Shouldn't I ask Teacher Chen about this?!]

Lu Yanyan: “…”

Chen Xianzhi sighed.

Lu Yanyan thought the melon-eating system was too powerful. This thing could find information, but it took time. At this time, there was no time for Lin Cha to check.

He took a step forward and was about to tell the real answer, but Lin Cha had already straightened his chest and raised his head, "Twenty years!"

Chen Xianzhi:?

That's not right. The sentence wasn't that severe. Lin Cha was talking nonsense... But before he could say anything, he heard Lin Cha's smug inner voice—

[Even though I'm just making this up, there won't be anyone so blind as to expose me, right?]

【No way, no way? 】

Chen Xianzhi: “…”

Everyone at the scene: “…”

Zhang Qiang's face was pale.

The special assistant pretended to make another call, but Zhang Qiang begged for mercy, "Don't call the police! Don't call the police! I just wanted to make some money. I didn't mean to kidnap the child! I really didn't!"

Zhang Qiang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his special assistant stop a little.

His back was soaked with cold sweat, and Zhang Qiang's legs went limp and he fell to the ground.

"I just owed a lot of money from gambling. I knew you celebrities could make money, so I took the risk and did this. Don't call the police! I, I will clear up everything! As long as you don't call the police, I'll do anything for you!"

An hour later, the Jiang Group's public relations department set up a live broadcast room, where Zhang Qiang personally admitted that he had framed Cui Yali out of jealousy and lack of money.

At the same time, Zhang Qiang's ex-wife, Cui Yali's nanny, also rushed to Jiang's Group to prove that the child was abducted by Zhang Qiang.

In front of thousands of netizens, Cui Yali admitted that she has a child, but this child has no father and is hers alone.

[If there is no father, then the child was born through sperm donation?]

[No wonder the child's biological father hasn't come out even after so long.]

[It’s not surprising for a 39-year-old female star to have a child!]

[Yeah, and it's not like she's cheating on her husband or anything like that. And Director Jiang has a child, right? So there's nothing wrong with Cui Yali!]

[That nanny's ex-husband is going too far! He's really trying to push Cui Yali into trouble! If he doesn't clarify, Cui Yali will definitely be scolded to death this time!]

[I really like Cui Yali and the characters she plays! Come on Cui Yali!]

[The rubbish man who framed me must be punished! Support Cui Yali!]

After the livestream clarification, Cui Yali's reputation reversed. Even though she never mentioned "borrowing sperm to have a child," netizens had already drawn that conclusion.

Some netizens also expressed, "I don't believe in sperm donation. Cui Yali definitely has a man, but he's just hiding his identity!"

Someone immediately refuted, "It's really cheap to spread rumors. Besides, even if Cui Yali had another man, they broke up. If you can't prove she really had another man, don't try to frame her with accusations of having an extramarital affair or something like that!"

As for Zhang Qiang, there is no need for Cui Yali and Jiang Jianye to deal with him specifically. Zhang Qiang owes a lot of debts. If he cannot get money from Cui Yali, the loan sharks will never let him go.

After the live broadcast ended, Jiang Jianye immediately stayed by Cui Yali's side.

"Yali, I finally understand why you refused to be with me!" Jiang Jianye held Cui Yali's hand, his expression moved. "I also have children! I don't mind you having children!"

Cui Yali was stunned.

She was silent for a while, and finally broke free from Jiang Jianye's hand.

"It's not because of the child..."

"It doesn't matter what the reason is!"

Jiang Jianye insisted, "Yali, I really want to be with you! No matter what difficulties we face, we can overcome them together!"

Cui Yali hesitated for a moment, then said, "What if I was a man in the past?"

"Um?"

A question mark popped up in Jiang Jianye's head.

"I mean..." Cui Yali took a deep breath, "I had a sex change operation. I used to be a man."

"Um?"

Jiang Jianye looked at Cui Yali with a smile.

But his smile slowly faded as Cui Yali fell silent.