Chapter Thirty-Six: This script... something's not right!
Lu Xingyao's first performance after returning to China was a great success.
Next to it was a gift box containing a gift card from a high-end audio equipment store and a note: "I apologize for being unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances."
Lu Xingyao picked up the card, glanced at it, and casually put it aside. She wasn't surprised at all; this was Jiang Sui's consistent style: polite, considerate, with clear boundaries, and never overstepping his bounds.
"Xingyao, the commander said there's a victory celebration banquet, are you planning to run away?"
Another dancer, while removing her makeup, looked at Lu Xingyao, who was already dressed and ready, and teased her with a smile, "In such a hurry to see your boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend? Did you introduce him to me?"
Lu Xingyao smiled and answered, fixing her hair one last time in front of the mirror, "Please tell the team leader that I'm going back to the hotel first."
"You're really not going to the victory celebration banquet?"
"No, I'm too tired. I have a performance tomorrow night, so I need to get some sleep."
Lu Xingyao waved her hand, slung her bag over her shoulder, and left.
As the early winter night grew colder, Lu Xingyao noticed a popular milk tea shop across from the theater. She was immediately drawn in by the warm yellow lights and sweet aroma wafting from the shop and decided to buy a hot drink to warm herself up.
She waited in line, scrolling through her phone idly as she did so.
She glanced up unintentionally and saw a slovenly-looking man in front of her acting suspiciously. He kept getting close to the girl in front of him and kept his phone very low.
Lu Xingyao frowned and took a closer look. Just as she had expected, the lewd man was secretly taking pictures under the skirt of the girl in front of him!
Without thinking, she immediately stepped forward and grabbed the man's wrist, shouting, "What are you doing?!"
The lewd man was startled, a hint of panic flashing across his face. He then preemptively accused the other man, yelling, "Are you crazy? Why are you grabbing my hand? Is my phone bothering you?"
The girl in front of her was also startled, turning around blankly, completely unaware of what was going on.
People around noticed the commotion and looked over.
"You're pointing your phone camera up under someone's skirt, taking pictures secretly?" Lu Xingyao stared at him sharply without backing down.
"You're talking nonsense! You're making baseless accusations! You say I took photos without your consent, where's the evidence?" the man shouted, his neck stiff, trying to stuff his phone into his pocket as he slowly moved towards the door.
Lu Xingyao spread her arms to block the man and said seriously, "Whether you took photos or not, just open your phone's photo album and let everyone know, or just call the police and let them investigate!"
At this moment, Luo Yan, who was passing by, squeezed into the crowd of onlookers.
She recognized Lu Xingyao at a glance, and then immediately looked at the furious man.
Lu Xingyao put her hands on her hips and said, "If you want to prove your innocence, take out your phone. If I've wronged you, I'll apologize in public. Otherwise, you'll have to wait here for the police!"
"I didn't! You're framing me!" the man stubbornly insisted.
Luo Yan looked the man up and down, then suddenly said, "That gray hoodie you're wearing, is it from 'Peak Esports'? Their fan club shirts have a special logo on the cuffs, and the light reflected from your phone just now happened to shine on that logo. Who would hold their phone that low? There are security cameras in the store, can you pull them out and reconstruct what happened?"
When the man saw another person appear, his arrogance immediately diminished, but he still stubbornly insisted, "You've all teamed up to slander me!"
"Whether it's slander or not, the police will find out when they check your phone!" Luo Yan took out her phone, dialed a number, and said to the girl who had been secretly filmed, "Don't be afraid, sister, we'll be your witnesses!"
The girl realized what was happening and nodded repeatedly, "Yes! I sensed something was wrong just now, so I checked his phone!"
The people queuing around them started pointing and whispering, and some even took out their phones to record videos.
Seeing that things were going badly, the lewd man tried to snatch back his phone and run away, but was stopped by the mall security guards who rushed over after hearing the commotion.
When the police arrived, they immediately checked the phone and found multiple photos taken from different angles in the album, as well as some that had been deleted in the heat of the moment. With the evidence conclusive, the perverted man finally stopped struggling and was taken away by the police, dejected.
Lu Xingyao breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Luo Yan: "Thank you, it's all thanks to you just now."
Luo Yan waved her hand, a little embarrassed: "It's my duty. I can't stand this kind of scum."
"Let me treat you to milk tea!" Lu Xingyao said with a smile, pointing to the signboard, "It's new and very good."
"No need..." Luo Yan quickly refused, feeling inexplicably guilty in front of Lu Xingyao.
"Don't be shy, it's cold, have something hot to warm you up." Lu Xingyao insisted, her tone sincere.
The two stood awkwardly at the shop entrance, each holding their own milk tea.
"You were so brave just now," Luo Yan said, trying to make conversation.
"You too, that dash out was so cool." Lu Xingyao smiled, her eyes crinkling, very approachable, completely unlike her aloof stage persona. "Thinking about it now, it's still a little scary. That guy was so big and burly, what if he'd gotten desperate and attacked..."
"He wouldn't dare! If he makes a move, it proves he's guilty!" Luo Yan snorted, then added softly, "Actually, I'm scared too..."
"You know about esports?" Lu Xingyao asked curiously.
“When I was selling cars before, I had a customer who was a die-hard fan of this team. He wore the cars every day, and he remembered them after seeing them so many times,” Luo Yan explained dryly.
"I see." Lu Xingyao smiled gently. "You're so thoughtful. I'm always so careless. I even left my phone and wallet on the plane the day I came back. My friend who picked me up didn't even bother to complain about me."
And so, the two began to chat idly.
Luo Yan originally thought that a beauty of Lu Xingyao's caliber would be aloof, but she didn't expect that Lu Xingyao's words and actions would be like a spring breeze, sincere and witty, and she would take the initiative to find topics to avoid awkward silences.
"I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Lu Xingyao, and I'm a dancer. What about you?" Lu Xingyao casually chewed on her pearls.
"Luo Yan, from the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism." Luo Yan took a sip of milk tea, the sweetness unable to mask the bitterness in her heart.
"We hit it off really well, let's add each other on WeChat. I'll be staying in Yu'an for a few more days, let's hang out sometime!"
Luo Yan: "..."
Wait, isn't this plot development wrong?
Looking into Lu Xingyao's sincere and expectant eyes, he simply couldn't bring himself to refuse.
What can I say? That I have a crush on your ex-boyfriend? There's no need to be so frank; Lu Xingyao might think I'm declaring war.
"good……"
Luo Yan reluctantly took out her phone and added the friend.
“It looks like it’s going to snow. I didn’t expect it to snow for my first performance back in China. What a good omen!” Lu Xingyao stared at the dark sky, pressed her milk tea cup against her face to warm it, and smiled even more brightly. “My hotel is over there. You should go home quickly and don’t get cold.”
Luo Yan tried her best to make her smile look natural and waved to Lu Xingyao.
In the car, she scrolled through Lu Xingyao's WeChat Moments. Most of the posts were about dancing, followed by some simple photos of her life, mostly landscape photos, with the occasional funny selfie accompanied by a few witty and humorous captions, creating an unexpectedly cute contrast.
She's good-looking, has a great personality, and is successful in her career. Compared to her, Luo Yan feels like a clueless blockhead.
A true white moonlight, an overwhelming advantage, so much so that even jealousy is impossible.
Luo Yan looked at the snowflakes falling outside and felt very melancholy.
That evening, Jiang Sui, who was working overtime at the company, was summoned to a private tea room by a phone call from Jiang Qiming.
"Mr. Hua's daughter, the one you met last time... her education, looks, and family background are all impeccable, and she's also interested in you. She's having her birthday party next week, you'll be coming with me." Jiang Qiming's tone was like issuing a business order.
Jiang Sui coldly replied, "I've said it before, my private affairs are none of your business."
“This isn’t just a private matter.” Jiang Qiming emphasized, “Maintaining a good relationship with Huayuan is crucial for Mingsheng’s future plans. You’re at the age where you should be settling down, so don’t be willful!”
"Is your method of maintaining business relationships selling your son?"
"This is the best option. If your mother were still alive, she would agree."
“You always use your mother as an excuse to force me to give in time and time again…” Jiang Sui’s eyes welled up with barely suppressed anger and pain. “I don’t care what you and Hua Yuan are doing, and I can turn a blind eye to your conflict with President Luo, but this is the one thing I will not agree to even if my mother were still alive!”
"Jiang Sui!" Jiang Qiming roared in fury, slamming his fist on the table. "Don't forget how your mother died! You owe her a life! Do you still want to continue messing around with Luo Muyang's daughter? Do you want your mother to be restless in the afterlife..." He stopped abruptly, his chest heaving, and finally waved his hand wearily. "Anyway, you have to go to the birthday party!"
Jiang Sui stood up, his eyes chillingly cold: "I won't go. Forget about it." With that, he turned and strode away.
Fine snowflakes began to fall on the street at some unknown time, and there were very few pedestrians.
Jiang Sui wandered aimlessly down the street, the cold snowflakes falling on his face and drifting down his neck, yet he seemed not to feel the cold.
Jiang Qiming's words were like a blunt knife, reopening the wound in my heart that had never healed.
One evening when he was ten years old, the car headlights pierced the dark rain curtain, and the windshield wipers monotonously swung back and forth, clearing streams of water from the windshield. Then, there was a screeching sound of brakes and a violent impact. In the midst of the chaos, his mother grabbed him and held him tightly in her arms... The shocking sight of blood flowed down the ground with the rain.
The father rushed over, holding the mother's cold body, heartbroken, his eyes filled with resentment as he looked at him.
Then he was sent to a boarding school, and apart from the monthly allowance and the tuition fees paid on time each semester, his father never came to see him again.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, covering him like goose feathers.
The next day, Jiang Sui did not appear at the company, and her phone went unanswered.
When the assistant, Xiao Huang, had no choice but to use the spare key to open the apartment door, he was shocked by what he saw.
Jiang Sui collapsed onto the living room carpet, her phone lying beside her, the screen cracked in several places, as if it had been smashed hard.
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