Chapter 6, paragraph 6: "I wish I were stupid enough to be fooled by this kind of trashy news."
The input status on the other end remained unchanged. Three seconds later, the phone rang.
To be honest, it was a bit too fast. When the ringtone sounded in the empty room, Gu Lai actually flinched, a little startled.
"Hello, A-Lai," Jiang Yi's voice came through the receiver, "What's wrong?"
Jiang Yi has another problem: sometimes she can easily get angry with just a single sentence.
They both knew this fact, and they both refused to change their ways despite repeated arguments; their nature was hard to alter.
Jiang Yi couldn't change the words she blurted out, and Gu Lai couldn't change the rich associations she made in an instant.
At this moment, Gu Lai was thinking, "Can't I make a phone call if there's nothing wrong?"
But Gu Lai couldn't bring herself to ask, "Can't I make a phone call if there's nothing wrong?" After a long pause, she took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and started by addressing the earliest issue: "Half of the cigarettes in the house are gone. How many have you actually smoked?"
They could vaguely hear footsteps from across the street, as if Jiang Yi was getting up and moving around. After a while, Jiang Yi gave an excuse: "I've been too busy lately, so I brought some with me when I came."
Gu Lai: "And then?"
Jiang Yiqing's barely audible breathing paused slightly: "What, and then?"
Gu Lai felt that she had already vented her anger over the past two weeks, and now she actually found it a little funny: "Shouldn't you have promised not to smoke anymore? Jiang Yi, if you keep doing this, we won't be able to find any health management specialists."
Jiang Yi chose to evade the shame of her mother tongue in her promises and denials.
“Fine,” she said.
Gu Lai was in a terrible mood before she made the call, but now all she wanted to do was laugh, and once she started laughing, she couldn't stop.
Jiang Yi was probably really angry. Amidst Gu Lai's laughter, she spoke in a deep voice, her tone sharp and piercing: "A-Lai!"
Gu Lai coughed twice while laughing.
Jiang Yi asked sensitively, "Are you sick?" Before Gu Lai could answer, he pressed on, "So you called?"
Gu Lai's smile froze on her face.
The effects of the alcohol he had just consumed surged back into his brain after Jiang Yi's two consecutive questions.
Gu Lai blurted out, "Do we only contact each other when there's something important? Since when did we reach the point where we can only call each other when there's something important?"
Two seconds later, Jiang Yi's cold, flat voice came through: "Wasn't it you who had a long face and refused to answer the phone before you left?"
Gu Lai: "When did I refuse to answer the phone?"
"Why don't you take a look? The last call was from me, right? I was so busy I missed two calls in a row, I'm so sorry, A-Lai, did you give me a chance to explain?"
Gu Lai's head was buzzing.
She didn't have Jiang Yi's brains to remember exactly who last made a phone call half a month ago. In fact, this wasn't the first time the two of them had argued. As long as Jiang Yi adopted an attitude of "presenting facts and reasoning" when arguing, Gu Lai simply couldn't win against this sharp-tongued, quick-witted, and eloquent woman who was unbeatable in the business world.
After waiting for a reply for a while, Jiang Yi added, "I've been working non-stop for the past month, I really don't know what you're angry about. Don't make me guess, please be understanding, okay?"
Gu Lai felt a familiar sense of fatigue and weariness surge up, like the sea washing over her.
It turns out she was the one who stirred up trouble out of nothing, and she was the one who refused to be understanding.
Gu Lai couldn't remember how they started arguing, nor could she explain what she was thinking at that moment. There was even a fleeting thought that "Jiang Yi's voice sounds a bit hoarse, he must have been smoking too much."
"Never mind," she said.
"What—" Jiang Yi's voice suddenly stopped, and a few seconds later she suddenly chuckled.
“Oh,” she said softly, “no wonder you were annoyed by my question. You've come back to your old flame after embracing your new love. Has your new love finally made you happy?”
After Jiang Yi finished speaking, he slammed down the phone, leaving Gu Lai with a series of rapid beeping sounds.
Gu Lai was stunned. She looked down at her phone, but before she could call back and continue the argument, a notification popped up.
Gu Lai suspected of cheating
Thousands of miles away in Milan, on the other end of the phone, Jiang Yi was scrolling through his tablet on his phone. Web pages were jumping around on the screen at lightning speed, only slowing down slightly in the comments section.
It was just a little bit. Ge Li, the high-level, well-paid secretary standing behind Jiang Yi and peeking, couldn't see anything clearly.
The tablet was given to her by Ge Li, so she naturally listened to the whole thing and now felt both regret and helplessness. Of course, she knew the timing was wrong, but she dared not delay even for a moment after discovering the public opinion.
In reality, Jiang Yi had ended the video conference and the phone call with Gu Lai. Her phone was right next to her; as soon as a message came in and the screen lit up, Jiang Yi pointed to the computer, indicating that Ge Li should explain and wrap things up, while she got up to make the call herself.
The trending news was posted by a famous paparazzi blogger. The original post didn't dare to explicitly mention infidelity, but only included a few pictures with the caption, "Photos taken today. I remember @General Manager Jiang seems to be in I country."
The photo is a candid shot of Gu Lai chatting happily with a short-haired woman. Fans immediately clarified that the woman is director Kong Kang'an, and the background is a private restaurant, suggesting that the two are likely working together.
There's nothing inherently wrong with this. If this restaurant didn't resemble a Suzhou-style private mansion so much, with rumors of only one table booked per day, or if the camera angles weren't so suggestive, like whispering sweet nothings or kissing in the ear, it might not have garnered such enthusiastic sharing and trending status online.
Even Ge Li had to admit that the technique was indeed impressive. Gu Lai in the picture had a gentle smile, and Director Kong was dashing and heroic, a beauty completely different from the charming yet sharp Jiang Yi.
Overall, the atmosphere was much better than when we were bickering on the phone as a couple.
After a moment of this outrageous mental contemplation, Ge Li quickly cut it off and looked at her boss with a very serious and professional gaze.
Jiang Yi, the boss, showed absolutely no emotion.
The comments section on the supertopic and the original post was chaotic. Jiang Yi doesn't have any social media accounts, and the top comments were from netizens @FengluOfficial and Gu Lai. However, the majority of the comments were from Gu Lai's fans and the couple's fans refuting and defending him, as well as the inevitable attacks on the incompetent studio.
"She doesn't deserve it."
Ge Li paused for a moment, then reflexively said, "What?" Jiang Yi looked up, saying nothing, and Ge Li instantly regained her composure.
She immediately added the second half of the sentence: "--Well, these days the media just jumps on the bandwagon."
Jiang Yi withdrew his gaze and said, "Call and ask Manager Tan if the studio's public relations needs to be outsourced to a more professional team. Also, have Fenglu PR and the studio work together to release a statement with hashtags to clarify the situation, thank netizens for their concern, and add product promotion copy at the end. Let them decide whose content to promote. I want to see it in three minutes. Also, have the legal department work together to release a legal education statement."
He paused for a moment and then said, "Contact that beautiful Director Kong and 'ask' her to forward the promotional text when she explains. Oh, and you don't need to reply to Agent Tan if you ask her."
Greta relayed the message quickly.
Three minutes later, the official account of Fenglu Group, which had been the subject of much attention, posted a new Weibo post, which was then reposted by Daline, Gu Lai Studio, and Tan Junming.
Fans left comments under the Weibo posts reposted by the studio and Tan Junming, urging them to learn from Feng Lu's PR skills. Meanwhile, netizens were shocked by the long, full-text post in the comments section of Daline's repost, beginning with "Limited Autumn/Winter Makeup Series," as if it had been waiting for this moment.
Ten minutes later, Gu Lai's own account forwarded two of Feng Lu's Weibo posts in succession, and then posted an original post.
Thank you for your concern, and we look forward to cooperating with you.
The attached photos include three selfies, one of which is a group photo of Kong Kang'an, his assistant Zhou Shanshan (who is familiar to fans), and himself.
Fans spontaneously took photos and praised the team-building activity on Weibo, creating a harmonious atmosphere.
Jiang Yi had already returned to his desk, pressed the Enter key on his computer to upload a file, and picked up his phone to refresh the trending topics.
[Dailan PR has been waiting for this moment]
[Dailan's insistence on getting involved]
[National Day Holiday Adjustment]
Gu Lai issues clarification.
[Time off in lieu of holidays for working people]
Is Dailan cosmetics not selling?
...
In the original Weibo post from Fenglu's official account a few minutes ago, the promotional text for Dailan Cosmetics was longer than the clarification text, showing an attitude of "why not take advantage of the free traffic?" The trending topic "Gu Lai suspected of cheating" has dropped to thirty-three.
When Ge Li was refilling the tea, she saw Jiang Yi silently staring at those six words.
“This news is definitely fake. I contacted Agent Tan, and she said that they did meet to discuss cooperation,” Ge Li said. “At the time, Madam also brought her executive agent, assistant Zhou, and several other people. They were too far away when the photos were taken, so we didn’t notice. When I contacted her just now, the studio had already started preparing a clarification.”
Ge Li was prepared for Jiang Yi to ignore her, but to her surprise, Jiang Yi actually spoke up: "I know."
Ge Li looked over and saw Jiang Yi pull a cigarette out of the pack with one hand, pick up a lighter from the table, light it, and stop just before the flame touched the cigarette.
Ge Li recalled the conversation she had overheard between the two about cigarettes.
Jiang Yi tossed the lighter onto his desk, the camel bone cigarette case making a dull thud as it hit the surface.
She crumpled the soft cigarette holder between her fingers, her gaze falling on the still-lit phone screen. She said with a hint of sarcasm, "But those unreasonable comments did get one thing right. I really don't dare say I don't understand my lover anymore."
"Since when did she say that she needed to be polite and show concern before getting down to business? If I don't bring it up, can all the conflicts just be pretended not to have happened? Can the two-week gap be glossed over?"
Ge Ligong guessed, "Mr. Jiang, perhaps Madam saw the surveillance footage or Xiaokang's health report, and she just misses him."
Therefore, they unilaterally decided to end the Cold War.
“Perhaps, perhaps that’s why she called.” Jiang Yi’s long, thick eyelashes drooped, obscuring her expression. “Perhaps I really misheard. Nothing happened, everything was peaceful. Why don’t you call and ask if her meeting with Kong Kang’an went smoothly today, and if nothing happened—nothing that has anything to do with me.”
After a moment of silence, Ge Li said professionally, "It's normal to encounter setbacks at work. That's why you're trying to put yourself in my shoes and don't want to bring up unpleasant things again."
Jiang Yi suddenly laughed, tilted his head back and closed his eyes as if he had been staring at an electronic screen for too long, and leaned back in his chair.
“If only it were that simple,” Jiang Yi said softly with a smile. “If only I were stupid enough to be fooled by this kind of trashy news, there wouldn’t be so many ‘whys’ and ‘what’s wrong.’”
Ge Li couldn't see her expression, only her beautiful, rose-curved red lips. She raised a hand to cover her eyes, as if using the usual coolness of her hand to relieve eye fatigue.
"You've had a long day, Ge Li. Take a rest. Just tell the driver to wait for me," Jiang Yi said. "Let's talk about it tomorrow."
Ge Li agreed and turned to leave. As she turned to close the door, she heard Jiang Yi add, "Don't ask anymore."
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Thanks to Chishongzi for the landmine, and thanks to Xiao i for the nutrient solution [starry eyes]
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