Chapter 22 "She's my wife."
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Today 9:00
It's known that Sun's wife has denied the rumors, indicating that the story is probably false. However, now that Zaiying has also been mentioned, I think this one might be believable. Previously, someone in the group questioned the photos of Xiangzi and Jiang pulling at each other, after which they denied knowing each other, but quickly deleted their accounts. At the time, I felt something was off, but no one said anything. Now, can someone explain their relationship?
1L
I also found it strange before, but Zaiying's appearance, family background and ability are not comparable to ordinary rich second generation. It seems like every hair on his body has a girlfriend. At that time, I guess he was afraid that his girlfriend would misunderstand.
Reply: I haven't heard that he has a girlfriend. I'm even going to pick up this son-in-law on behalf of my daughter.
2L
That's hilarious! If [The Box] had a thing with Chiang, would he have needed to be so stingy with his first film that he had to go to the school film club to promote it with Cao Lengyu? Zaiying Distribution is so powerful, they would have used it long ago. Besides, Zaiying Cinemas didn't show any favoritism in the screenings back then. They only gave him 10% at first, and later, when the word-of-mouth got better, it reached a peak of 50%, which are all normal figures.
Reply: But I heard that the theaters that were profitable gave the money quite early and decisively (I can vouch for this, based on the box office figures from that year's Spring Festival season).
3L
Actually, all the guessing is useless. You can see from this incident that they have absolutely no relationship, and you could even say their relationship is not very good. Zaiying's move to amplify her voice by stepping on the box is quite despicable. She's directly exploiting the box's popularity to leech off its traffic. The box's fans can have a good laugh. Who knows what even more disgusting methods she'll use to attract viewers when her new movie comes out.
Reply: That seems to make sense. If she were truly a sugar daddy, she wouldn't hate her so much. Giving someone so many negative trending topics during the Lunar New Year.
4L
Seriously, don't you guys find it strange? Why is Jiang going to such lengths to smear [Xiangzi]? If it's really just to promote the movie, it's a huge waste of time. That movie this year was originally a franchise; there's no need for such a fuss. I feel like someone else is behind it, maybe they just want to sow discord between Xiangzi and the investors. Seriously, if I were on Xiangzi's side, I'd start hating Jiang right now. No matter how Jiang explains it, I don't believe him. He's the beneficiary. I just saw their box office predictions for today are ridiculously high; how could that be fake?
Reply: Indeed, it's understandable that capitalists would do this. Their methods are certainly despicable, but as long as it translates to high box office returns, it's a good thing. They'd probably rather stage it 800 times a day.
...
Today 11:00
1x8L
What did the box do to deserve this? Another wave of negative trending topics has emerged... [The box] is in danger.
Reply: I'll go check it out.
Reply: Holy crap, why are they dragging in non-celebrity people this time?!
*
"Where are you?" Jiang Jiaoming asked on the phone. He had just left the company and was about to drive to the film set when he remembered that Liang Kongxiang didn't have any scenes scheduled for this morning, so she was probably in a meeting at the company right now. He had seen what happened online. "I had someone check the IP address. The person who sent the email is a middle-aged man with a mental illness."
"At the company." Liang Kongxiang answered selectively. Chen Yun couldn't hear Jiang Jiaoming's words clearly, so she could only guess what Jiang Jiaoming had said based on Liang Kongxiang's words.
"I'm coming to find you now?" He pressed the car key, the car flashed, he opened the door and got in, connected his phone via Bluetooth and tossed it into the center console, saying as he reversed the car, "Wait for me at the company."
“Okay.” Over the phone, Liang Kongxiang didn’t ask anything. After hanging up, she said to Chen Yun, “President Jiang is coming over. I’ll take him to my lounge.”
Chen Yun's face clearly showed distrust, suspecting that Liang Kongxiang was still caught up in the past and couldn't judge people clearly. "Don't be confused. You haven't seen each other for so many years. Don't think too highly of men. Jiang Jiaoming is ruthless. He'll do anything for box office success. Do you think he could have established himself so quickly all these years just by having good judgment?"
Liang Kongxiang didn't know how to explain that Jiang Jiaoming wouldn't harm her, because it sounded quite unbelievable, and it seemed like she was having a love-struck moment, so she didn't argue with Chen Yun much. She just smiled and told her to relax, "I know. He has information about the person who sent the email. I'll go and find out. I also have something to ask him."
"Be wary that he might be staging this himself; similar things have happened before." Chen Yun was still worried that Liang Kongxiang trusted Jiang Jiaoming too much. There are countless couples in this industry who have broken up because of interests, let alone a pair of ex-lovers who have been separated for so long.
She instructed Liang Kongxiang: "Record the entire conversation with him. Don't let him lead you by the nose. He's good at not saying things outright, and he always offers solutions that seem to be for your own good and from your perspective, but in reality, he's the one who benefits. Don't fall into his trap. Let me hear the recording later."
The way they treated Jiang Jiaoming like a monstrous threat... Liang Kongxiang found it amusing. Just how many people had Jiang Jiaoming offended over the years?
"Okay." She tried her best to go along with Chen Yun's wishes to reassure her. But in reality, she never doubted Jiang Jiaoming. That seemingly confident "nothing will happen" would seem like a self-directed act if it came from anyone else, but not from Jiang Jiaoming.
At least Liang Kongxiang was certain that Jiang Jiaoming would never use such methods against her.
This time, online discussions are mostly speculating about her relationship with Jiang Jiaoming, but since there's no substantial evidence, it's mostly just fans and haters dragging the conflict back into fandom issues. Liang Kongxiang's fans suspect this is a topic created by Geng or Zhuang's team, and that Zhuang and Geng's fans are hoping something bad will happen to Liang Kongxiang, so they're enthusiastically stirring up trouble.
Liang Kongxiang didn't care much about fandom affairs. It was a self-contained circle, and most of the time it had nothing to do with the artists. Some people enjoyed the thrill of leading their fandom to dominance, while others made money from the account. Chen Yun advised her not to get involved in any fan wars; they could be ruthless and even insult the artists, so there was no need to get involved.
Liang Kongxiang texted Jiang Jiaoming, telling him to go directly to the fourth floor and she would wait for him at the elevator.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, Jiang Jiaoming, dressed in a suit and carrying two boxes, stepped out. Seeing no one else around, he asked, "Where's your agent?"
“Let’s talk privately.” Liang Kongxiang led him into the office.
He opened the lid and pushed it towards Liang Kongxiang.
"There's no use in worrying, it's already happened." Liang Kongxiang hadn't eaten breakfast. The dumplings were steaming, and their aroma wafted through the break room. She took apart her chopsticks, poked at the filling, blew on it, and said something seemingly random but that both of them understood perfectly: "I know it wasn't you."
Jiang Jiaoming didn't say anything. Seeing that she started eating, he also took apart his chopsticks, took a bite, and chuckled calmly as he chewed. Then he looked at her and said, "You guessed wrong. It really is me."
"What is the purpose?" Liang Kongxiang asked, poking open the dumpling skin and pushing the filling aside.
He stared at her, as if he had turned himself into a lie detector, his eyes scanning Liang Kongxiang's changing expressions.
"Belief or disbelief won't solve the problem," Liang Kongxiang poured himself a glass of water and concluded, "There's definitely a lot of criticism online right now."
"How can this not solve the problem? The other side just wants to see us fight amongst ourselves and become suspicious of each other, haven't you realized that?"
"How so?" Liang Kongxiang put down her cup, took a tissue to wipe her mouth, leaned back on the sofa, and waited for Jiang Jiaoming to continue.
“At first, I wasn’t sure who orchestrated this rumor-mongering. Even if that mentally ill person was caught, they wouldn’t be convicted of anything,” Jiang Jiaoming said. “When I saw Sun Hanwei’s name in the morning, I knew this matter wasn’t so simple, otherwise you wouldn’t have resolved it so quickly. So I knew there would be another wave, and it wasn’t until the second wave came that I could vaguely determine what the other party was trying to do.”
"What do you want to do?" Liang Kongxiang asked.
"First, they dislike you; second, they're trying to sow discord between us," Jiang Jiaoming calmly assessed. "They probably know about our relationship."
"...What is his purpose in sowing discord among us?" Liang Kongxiang frowned. Why go to such lengths just to drive a wedge between them? Is it business competition for resources, or a personal grudge?
Or perhaps both?
The chat screenshots sent by Zhuo Qiyun flashed through Liang Kongxiang's mind again, making her suspect once more that Geng Jiali had...
“It might be Zhuang Yexue,” Jiang Jiaoming said, tidying up the lunchboxes, stacking them together and putting them in a bag. “She’s involved in this year’s movie.”
"Zhuang Yexue..." Liang Kongxiang hadn't finished speaking when there was a knock on the door of the lounge.
Chen Yun opened the door and came in, ignoring Jiang Jiaoming's presence. She walked over in a few steps and said in a strange tone, "This time, the tag 'Liang Kongxiang plagiarized photography blogger Guiling' was bought."
With a thud, Jiang Jiaoming accurately tossed the trash into the bin.
Chen Yun and Liang Kongxiang subconsciously looked at Jiang Jiaoming. Jiang Jiaoming sat on the sofa with his arms outstretched, looking up at Liang Kongxiang with a confident tone and a hint of smugness: "She actually ran into me herself. It seems my suspicions earlier were correct."
"What suspicion?" Chen Yun was completely confused. She glanced at Liang Kongxiang, implying that the recording should be sent to her.
Liang Kongxiang looked away, pretending not to understand. Chen Yun was furious, knowing that Liang Kongxiang was ignoring her words, and her eyes filled with hatred as she looked at Jiang Jiaoming.
"Sister Chen," Jiang Jiaoming called out, following Liang Kongxiang's address. Chen Yun was stunned and dared not respond. She waited for Jiang Jiaoming to finish speaking, "Don't worry about this trending topic for now. Don't clarify it, and don't arrange for the company's marketing accounts to clean it up. If possible, have your company's marketing accounts post the same things as other posts that spread rumors about Liang Kongxiang and Guiling."
"What?" Chen Yun suspected that Jiang Jiaoming was there to cause trouble, and her expression turned sour. "Mr. Jiang, you're putting me in a difficult position."
“Give me and Kong Xiang a few minutes, I have something to say to her,” Jiang Jiaoming said firmly, as if he had full confidence: “Don’t worry, I’ll make him lose more than he gains.”
After Chen Yun left, Jiang Jiaoming overturned his previous guess and said again, "It's not certain who did the first thing, but I'm sure Zhuang Yexue did the second and third things."
“Moreover,” Jiang Jiaoming said, “my judgment just now was wrong.”
"Zhuang Yexue is unaware of our past relationship."
"Then why did she specifically target me with the account 'Zero'?" Liang Kongxiang couldn't figure it out.
“Oh. Because I told her,” Jiang Jiaoming stared straight at Liang Kongxiang, his tone flippant.
"Reset is my wife."
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