Chapter 248 The Storm Before the Storm
Su Youling looked at Li Tingxi's hand, which was clasped tightly with hers, and her heart skipped a beat.
She then bit her lower lip, telling herself to wake up. Li Tingxi's actions were wishful thinking on his part, and it would be truly foolish of her to fall for him.
So the slight ripple in her heart quickly subsided.
At this moment, Li Tingxi's bodyguards arrived and escorted Li Tingxi and Su Youling back to their hotel room while driving away the reporters.
It was only then that Su Youling saw the trending topic online. She scrolled through the vicious comments from netizens for a while with a blank expression. There was no fluctuation in her eyes, as if the insults were directed at her.
In fact, these negative comments from netizens didn't bother her at all. She only knew that she would be leaving soon, and she would never be with Li Tingxi, so why would she be affected by the opinions of these insignificant people?
All of this happening outside the hotel was widely reported by the media and posted online. Li Tingxi's actions in defending Su Youling did not calm the online uproar; instead, they triggered another surge in controversy.
Netizens maliciously interpreted Li Tingxi's words and actions, directly labeling Su Youling as a mistress.
Just as the topic was gaining traction, a short video suddenly began circulating online, featuring the Shen Cong couple who had already appeared in the video.
In the video, the two tearfully accused Su Youling of being a treacherous and ungrateful wretch who disregarded her family. They claimed that she would stop at nothing to steal her own sister's man and even cruelly harmed her own parents. They vividly described the details of how Su Youling tormented them on the cliff.
The video was posted by a well-known domestic media outlet, which claimed to have received an email submission from the Shen couple from abroad.
The video caused a sensation across the entire internet as soon as it was released.
Netizens went directly to the official Weibo account of Li's Group to send private messages to denounce Su Youling.
"Being a mistress is shameless enough, but to steal your own sister's man is despicable! How could you be so cruel as to abuse your own parents? You don't deserve to be born a human being!"
"How can someone like you deserve to live in this world? Li Tingxi was blind to choose a viper like you over the goddess Shen. It seems he's no better than you. You two are despicable scumbags, tie yourselves up and don't let yourselves harm others!"
"..."
Soon, the hashtag "Su Youling is a modern-day ingrate" appeared at the end of the trending searches, and it was steadily rising at a visible speed.
Li Tingxi was instantly enraged upon seeing this, especially by the vicious comments from some netizens who cursed him and Su Youling so that they would never be able to have children.
The hidden pain he had been deliberately ignoring surfaced in his heart. Li Tingxi arranged for people to immediately remove the trending topic and find out the netizen's IP address. He also asked Qin He to check the location of Shen Cong and his wife through video.
At the same time, he also increased the number of people protecting Su Youling.
Li Fengmin called Li Tingxi several times to urge him to return to City A because of the escalating online controversy, but Li Tingxi refused every time.
Su Youling was aware of what was happening online, but unlike Li Tingxi's overreaction, she remained calm throughout.
So when Shi Yan came to comfort her, she felt somewhat speechless.
Su Youling even suspected that Shi Yan had secretly had someone monitor her as soon as she landed in City C.
After all, in b
#Please do not use incognito mode whenever verification is required!
During the days in the city, Li Tingxi was basically inseparable from her. How come Shi Yan just happened to find her as soon as he left?
However, Su Youling didn't think she would get the truth out of the questions, so she simply pretended not to know.
Shi Yan didn't beat around the bush and directly stated his purpose: "Lingling, Li Tingxi has pushed you into the eye of the storm, and he has no way to protect you. Why don't you leave with me and go live abroad? At that time, no one will be able to use these things to hurt you anymore, and I will do my best to make you happy. You can trust me."
His attitude was sincere, but Su Youling remained unmoved.
Putting aside the fact that she and Old Master Yin were already planning to leave, she really couldn't feel the slightest bit of attraction towards Shi Yan.
"Shi Yan, feelings can't be forced, I don't..." Su Youling was about to refuse when she suddenly looked up and saw Li Tingxi, who had already entered the room behind him.
She changed her mind instantly, even managing a smile, "I know you're doing this for my sake, and of course I want to go with you, but..."
She was interrupted halfway through her sentence by Li Tingxi's stern voice: "Su Youling!"
Shi Yan was initially delighted by Su Youling's sudden change in tone, but now that he realized she was deliberately provoking Li Tingxi, his expression became complicated.
Su Youling pretended to have just noticed Li Tingxi, her smile vanished instantly, and her eyes turned cold.
The stark contrast between before and after made Li Tingxi feel suffocated and short of breath.
He couldn't even remember the last time Su Youling had smiled at him, and the gentle smile she had just given was directed at that beast, Shi Yan!
Li Tingxi's expression suddenly darkened, and a storm brewed in his dark eyes.
Su Youling wasn't afraid; she was actually hoping he would get angrier, ideally abandoning her and returning to City A in a fit of rage.
However, to her utter surprise, Li Tingxi rushed directly to Shi Yan, without saying a word, and slammed his head hard onto the coffee table. Then, with his other hand, he grabbed the crystal ashtray from the coffee table, raised it, and slammed it down hard on Shi Yan's right hand.
Everything happened in just a few dozen seconds.
When Su Youling came to her senses, she heard Shi Yan's heart-wrenching screams.
"Li Tingxi... are you crazy?" Her voice trembled as she spoke.
Li Tingxi glanced at her indifferently before slowly releasing Shi Yan, who was sweating profusely from the pain and whose face was contorted with veins.
Shi Yan immediately grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, stared at his obviously severed fingers, gritted his teeth, and glared fiercely at Li Tingxi, "Li Tingxi, how dare you?!"
Li Tingxi gave a sarcastic smirk, looking at him as if he were an ant. "This is what you deserve."
After saying that, he turned to Su Youling, who was still in shock, and scoffed: "Do you really think he's as innocent as you think? When I found the hospital, you weren't awake yet. He deliberately misled me into thinking that the child in your belly was his. Otherwise, how could I be so heartless as to force you to have an abortion?"
By the end, he was practically gritting his teeth, his hands clenched so tightly at his sides that they cracked, as if he wished he could just disable the time delay altogether.
Su Youling looked at Shi Yan in disbelief, catching the guilty look in his eyes, and her gaze instantly turned cold. "Shi Yan, did you tell Li Tingxi that the child in my belly is yours?"
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