Chapter 53

During the evening rush hour, agent Sister Ling hurried out of an office building with a serious expression on her face. She looked impatiently at the row of cars beside the circular flower bed in front of her, and soon her eyes fixed on a black MPV.

Because it was a private visit that Sister Ling had temporarily established connections for, the other party was a senior executive of the media platform. The assistant was young and inexperienced, so it was inconvenient for him to go with them. He had been sitting in the back seat of the car waiting. When he saw the boss coming out, he quickly asked the driver to start the car and drive to Sister Ling. Almost at the same time as the driver stepped on the brakes, he quickly opened the back door from the inside.

Sister Ling ducked her head and got into the car. Having just been humiliated, she couldn't hold it back any longer and vented her anger at the assistant, "Oh, they all turn on each other so easily. Who wants to be on the next season? The format will be completely different next season! They don't even think about who brought them so much popularity this season!" As she spoke, she kicked off her pointed leather shoes as if to vent her anger. She couldn't help but curse, "If she had listened to me and changed into those sneakers the business team sent her earlier, she wouldn't have ended up like this! Hey, she didn't listen to me earlier, and now she's counting on me!"

The young assistant bent sideways and tried to give her a look.

Sister Ling glanced back at the last row and saw a bearded man wearing a baseball cap with his hands on his knees, looking down and bending his crossed thumbs. She couldn't recognize him at first, but then she saw the assistant's exaggerated lip movements and thought it was probably "Zheng".

There was a moment of silence in the carriage, and Zheng Juyong took off his hat.

Sister Ling finally saw his entire face and was shocked: "Mr. Zheng? Why... did you become like this? No, why are you back?"

When she turned to glare at the assistant, the assistant became nervous and shook her head in a low voice, explaining, "Sister Ling, it really wasn't me. Mr. Zheng knew our car. Brother Wang and I didn't realize he was there... and he, he knew everything. I don't know who let it slip..."

The "Brother Wang" the assistant was referring to was the driver in the front seat. When Zheng Juyong showed up, they didn't check and thought it was a staff member asking for something. They opened the car door without realizing it, and when they recognized him, they couldn't push it open again. The assistant even sent a text message to Sister Ling to tip her off, but Sister Ling was so angry she didn't see the message.

"As Qiao Qi's fiancé, shouldn't I come back?" Zheng Juyong bent his two knuckles, his bones protruding, and his expression was different from usual, looking quite resentful.

Sister Ling had seen all sorts of expressions before. Seeing him like this, she knew the truth. No matter how gentle a man was, he would be upset if he suffered such a loss. Therefore, she did not blame him for his sudden change of attitude towards her. Instead, she sighed as if relieved. "Alas, you came to me to accuse me? To be honest, I don't know much more than you..."

Zheng Juyong got straight to the point: "You said she just fell and it's nothing serious."

"Think about it carefully. It's nothing serious. Why would I need to inform you? I've always felt this was unreliable..." Sister Ling paused, then turned to the assistant and the driver, Brother Wang, and said, "Park the car and turn on the air conditioning. Go have some dinner across the street first, and bring back two sandwiches for me and Mr. Zheng."

"I've eaten." Zheng Juyong looked unhappy.

The young assistant and the driver, Brother Wang, didn't say much and got out of the car to go and do some free time.

Sister Ling moved to the seat next to him, looking across at him diagonally, and forced a smile: "Did Miss Guan ask you to come back? Qiao Qi has always been concerned about her. I see that she has a close relationship with your mother..."

Zheng Juyong didn't want to implicate Guan Ying, so he changed the subject: "Sister Ling, if you want me to come back, why don't you just say so?"

He complained several times, and Sister Ling dropped her smile. "Why should I tell you directly? After all, I'm Qiao Qi's manager. She naturally has her reasons for not wanting to tell you, and I can't say much. Some things are better for you to come back and discuss with her in private. I didn't expect you to suddenly care so much about the family business. You asked your mother to come visit on your behalf. I can't go against my conscience in front of the old lady... I've been feeling really uncomfortable these past two days. Miss Guan really did a good thing."

Sister Ling's words and actions seemed to be inconsistent with Qiao Qi's attitude towards this matter, and she seemed to be intending to inform him without telling Qiao Qi, which made Zheng Juyong a little confused.

"Don't look at me like that. I raised Qiao Qi up by my own hands. I love her more than you do. I can see that you treat her well, so I dared to inform you to come back without telling her. Who is Qian Shaowei? Qiao Qi wants to take this shortcut with him, which is simply courting disaster. I advised her to be cautious a long time ago, but she still refuses to let go even now... Alas, I'm afraid you, Mr. Zheng, are the only one who can help her now! She feels guilty about you. If you are still willing to treat her well, she may come to her senses..." Sister Ling's expression at this moment seemed more conflicted than his.

Zheng Juyong knew Qiao Qi wouldn't want to see him after what had happened, so he came to confront Sister Ling. Firstly, he mistakenly believed Sister Ling was behind or instigating Qiao Qi's actions, making her the culprit, and he felt compelled to confront her. Secondly, after carefully considering Guan Ying's words, he felt there were many hidden dangers, and he needed to confirm the truth with Sister Ling. If she was truly framed, they would need to work together to find evidence of Zhang Rong's guilt, or at least to discover who else was behind Qiao Qi's actions.

But after listening to it, the result seemed to be the opposite of what he had expected. Sister Ling not only disagreed with Qiao Qi's approach, but also implied that this was all Qiao Qi's own fault, as Guan Ying said. It was really as unbearable as he wanted to accept, and this was something he absolutely refused to accept.

Zheng Juyong couldn't stand it any longer and said, "Sister Ling, what's going on? You're her manager, don't you have a lot of options? How could you just let her get to this point? Don't you think it's too late for you to tell me this now?"

Sister Ling had already been frustrated in the office, and now her kindness was being choked by him, making her even more upset. But she also regretted her impatience, saying things he didn't like or didn't want to admit. Annoyed for a moment, she bent down to the space under the front seat and fumbled for two bottles of drinks.

Handing a bottle to Zheng Juyong, he said, "Mr. Zheng, let's calm down. It's useless for us to talk until midnight with our emotions."

Zheng Juyong took it, opened the lid and drank half of the bottle, suppressing his anger.

Sister Ling took a few sips, smoothed her throat, leaned back against the car door, and slumped her waist. "Qiao Qi is no longer the ignorant girl she was when she first started. Sometimes I don't understand what went wrong. I always told her to be patient. There are too many temptations in this industry, and too many short-lived successes. I hope she can go a long way, but she has seen a lot and said that you should become famous as early as possible. She not only said so, but also did it. When she told me, I had no better choice but to keep it secret for her. Should I force her to abort the child? It's a life, too."

Speaking of this, Sister Ling pressed her stomach. She had been running around for Qiao Qi for several days and hadn't eaten well. Her stomach problems probably came back again.

Zheng Juyong knew she had this chronic health problem and felt sorry for her. Reflecting on his previous poor attitude, he whispered, "You should drink less carbonated drinks." He stopped dwelling on Qiao Qi's change of heart and decided to listen to her story first, so they wouldn't end up talking until midnight without reaching a conclusion. "Is this really all Qiao Qi's own idea?"

Sister Ling held her stomach, straightened her back, and stood up, saying, "You didn't think it was me? I've brought so many artists with me, and I treat every one of them sincerely. I'm not that wicked!"

Zheng Juyong remained silent.

"Forget it. I was thinking of letting you two talk on your own, but now I might as well tell you everything I know first, so you don't think I led her astray! She showed me the medical report the other day, saying she was pregnant with Qian Shaowei's child. She was terrified and wanted to secretly get an abortion, but Qian Shaowei suddenly told her to give birth to the child and that he could satisfy her with anything she wanted, except that she couldn't divorce him. Qiao Qi couldn't make up her mind, so she came to ask me. I used my connections to find out and found out that Qian Shaowei's wife had undergone uterine surgery when she was young, and the couple hadn't had children for many years. People in the industry only knew that they were DINKs, but they didn't know it was a forced DINK. There are also cases in the entertainment industry where men agree to be DINKs when they are young, but when they get older, they dump their older wives and marry younger ones. Just look at the public opinion and you'll know it's not a good thing. Qiao Qi's career has just started to pick up a little, so of course I don't agree. I advised her to get an abortion as soon as possible."

Having said that, Sister Ling looked at Zheng Juyong, who was quite listening.

Then he said, "She didn't mention it again. I thought she had dealt with it herself. After all, it wasn't glorious, so I could understand. After a while, she suddenly said she accepted your proposal. I was speechless. She was so young, why was she in such a hurry to get married? To be honest, Mr. Zheng, your family has some foundation, but you are idle. You have time to hang around her every day, but what's the use of a man who only hangs around her? I thought she agreed to you because she was stimulated by Qian Shaowei. She has already listened to me once about the child, so I think it's up to her. She will get married sooner or later. At least you are really doing it for her own good. As long as you two agree to a secret marriage for the time being, that's fine."

Zheng Juyong felt a little depressed at this time, because something had happened before he proposed.

Sister Ling: "Who knew that not long after, she suddenly said she wanted to participate in this year's rap variety show. I already knew about that show, and it wasn't suitable. She already had a certain degree of fame, so why would she participate in a talent show with ordinary people? She said this year was different. The production team specially invited some famous contestants from overseas to return to China. She would definitely not lose her value, and she was sure to make it to the end! I felt something was wrong. That was a show produced by Qian Shaowei! I forced her to tell the truth. She didn't abort the child. She and Qian Shaowei signed an agreement. She gave birth to his child, and he made her famous."

Zheng Juyong stared with his eyes wide open, as if he was there at the time, with a look of surprise on his face, surprised that Qiao Qi actually chose to take such a shortcut.

Sister Ling looked at me with sympathy: "I asked her why she agreed to marry you. She said it was also an agreement with Qian Shaowei, and you are the best choice."

Zheng Juyong finally lowered his head, Guan Ying's speculations were actually correct.

Sister Ling added, "But she also said that she just wanted to go through the motions. She planned to find a reason to divorce you before she became pregnant. It's only going to happen in three or four months. You might not even have time to react, or even know anything about it. Even if someone finds out later, as long as she keeps it a secret, no one will be able to guess whose child it is. She'll give the child her surname, Qiao..."

"Hehe...hehe..." Zheng Juyong smiled bitterly. No wonder she was suddenly so impatient to urge him to speed up and was eager to marry him.

Sister Ling: "It's ridiculous, isn't it? She's just so naive... She was brainwashed by Qian Shaowei and told to become famous as early as possible. Which young girl can resist that temptation? I scolded her at that time. I hated her... For a while, I even left her alone. I couldn't control her... Until she slipped away to Dubai before the show started filming, and the production team urged me to find her to join the studio... Then it was very strange. Not long after the show was recorded, she was kicked off the platform! I said it was her own fault, and Qian Shaowei was lying to her, but she insisted that it was not Qian Shaowei's fault, and she said she had a way to solve it. I don't know what she's done. I just mobilized the company's resources to build momentum for her, and her fans were outraged. Finally, she had a comeback match... but then, unfortunately, she fell again! Now the baby's gone, and Qian Shaowei waited until the evening to see her in the hospital, then broke the agreement right in front of her! It's all in vain! I just met with the platform's executives, and they were playing Tai Chi with me. Their only message was: withdraw from the competition! The online hype can slowly die down, but if a bad artist is uncovered, it will directly affect the show's broadcast. How dare they take that gamble?

Zheng Juyong said indignantly, "But Qian Shaowei is the producer of the show, so he has no influence?!"

Sister Ling: "Haha, Qian Shaowei is involved in more than just this one program, and there are too many people who want to protect him... If we act impulsively with Qian Shaowei now, both of us will suffer. Fortunately, if this gets leaked, it won't do him any good, so he will naturally try to suppress the news. The military hospital where Qiao Qi had surgery seems to have some connection to him... What I can do now is minimize the damage this incident does to Qiao Qi. As long as she can keep her composure, she can still make a comeback in the future."

Zheng Juyong frowned: "You asked me to come back, what can I do?"

Sister Ling sighed, "Alas, I've wronged you. Qiao Qi is at her most vulnerable right now. I hope you, Mr. Zheng, can be tolerant and generous. Perhaps she'll discover your good qualities and be willing to listen to you. Please help me persuade her to withdraw from the competition. If you're still willing to marry her, I'll be even more grateful. When the topic turns around, the company can use the wedding as a distraction. Netizens will at most scold her for being love-brained and persuade her to return to her career. After the show is over and the heat has died down, I'll slowly let her make a comeback. Maybe she can even regain some fans. Of course, by then, you can divorce me if you want. I'll ask her to make it up to you as much as she can..."

Sister Ling had just said he was a lazy bum and not a good match for marriage, but now she was saying this again. It seemed like there was really no better way. Zheng Juyong couldn't help but sneer.

How ridiculous! What he thought was his luck, everything he had gained, was ridiculous!