Ying Chan immediately pulled the computer over to herself.
Her slender, fair fingers scrolled down the mouse pad, and when she spotted a video, she tapped it and pressed play.
The video was a phone recording of hotel surveillance footage. Cheng Xu was supporting a middle-aged man with a large belly as they walked down the corridor. Judging by the man’s gait, he was clearly drunk.
When they reached the hotel room door, Cheng Xu took out the room card to open it, and the middle-aged man actually reached out and groped his butt!
Ying Chan’s eyes went wide!
Cheng Xu’s body language showed some resistance, but he didn’t actually push the man away. As soon as the door opened, the two of them went inside.
The camera shook slightly, and then the timestamp on the surveillance footage jumped to noon the next day. Cheng Xu walked out of the room, limping.
The video ended there, but no one was stupid—how could anyone not understand what that meant?
Ying Chan could barely suppress the grin tugging at her lips. Damn… that’s spicy. The domestic entertainment industry actually has gossip like this!
At this moment, Ying Chan’s mindset was far more focused on enjoying the drama than on dealing with her own scandal. She quickly clicked on the comments below, and the sight made her even more amused—the top comments were all vomiting emojis.
There were also plenty of particularly vicious comments:
“No wonder Cheng Xu’s fans always say their ‘brother’ works the hardest~ He’s endured hardships others haven’t~ He really is quite exhausted—waiting for big shots to favor him at night, trying to leech off the nation’s top actress during the day, and still finding time to dance girl-group choreography to please his fans. His desperation to be famous could rocket past the solar system.”
“People really do laugh out loud when they’re speechless. Ying Chan’s scandal partners are all people of President Shang’s caliber. Only an idiot would think she’d stoop to some nobody selling his ass. Just putting their names together feels like an insult to Ying Chan.”
“But I saw the trending topic jump straight to number one with my own eyes. If that wasn’t manually manipulated, I don’t believe it.”
“Do you even need to ask? It must be President Shang. I seriously wonder if Cheng Xu’s team has any brains at all. Why pick a fight with anyone else when you could pick one with Ying Chan? They got their whole dirty past exposed—serves them right!”
Ying Chan looked up at Shang Lübai. “President Shang, did you do this?”
Shang Lübai glanced at it, then said, “No.”
“Then who? It can’t just be a coincidence, right?” Ying Chan scrolled through more comments. There were many guesses, but no one could definitively say who had leaked the video.
But regardless, the fact that this had come out now was like a timely rain, completely solving her problem of being pestered by that fly.
Ying Chan was in a great mood, while Shang Lübai sensed something unusual. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over Sister Wei.
Sister Wei caught his meaning, packed up the computer, and left the office to investigate what was going on.
The room was once again left with only Ying Chan and Shang Lübai.
Shang Lübai asked, “Do you have anything to do this afternoon? If not, come home with me to pick up the things I bought you on my business trip.”
Ying Chan avoided his gaze somewhat awkwardly. “President Shang, you don’t need to go to so much trouble in the future. I don’t lack anything.”
Shang Lübai: “So you don’t call me ‘brother’ anymore?”
“…” Ying Chan laughed it off. “It’s just that we’re at the company, isn’t it? Calling you ‘President’ feels more fitting for the setting.”
“There’s only the two of us here.”
Shang Lübai’s gaze was deep and dark, fixed on her without letting go. “Say ‘brother’ now—I’m listening.”
Shang Lübai had a strikingly handsome face—cool, refined, and carrying an air of looking down on the world, with that kind of “dominant figure” vibe that netizens loved to talk about.
Ying Chan pretended to look down at her phone nonchalantly, but Shang Lübai suddenly reached out and pinched her chin. “Are you avoiding me?”
The crisp, pleasant scent of his men’s cologne drifted from his cuff into Ying Chan’s nose.
Ying Chan suddenly recalled half a year ago, when she had finished work and returned to Shanghai, only to receive a sudden call from Mrs. Shang, telling her to go to Shang Lübai’s house right away to pick something up.
She knew the code to his door and let herself in.
That was how it had always been—they were brother and sister in name, no need for formalities.
But she never expected that this time, she would walk in on him bringing a woman home…
She stood on the staircase, watching him kiss a woman.
In that moment, Ying Chan felt like a crack had split open in her heart—aching, hollow, wanting to cry but unable to shed a tear.
After fleeing Shang Lübai’s house, she received another call from Mrs. Shang. The elegant lady’s voice on the other end was as flat as still water.
“Ah Chan, your brother is already twenty-eight. After two more years of playing around, he’ll need to settle down and marry a suitable wife. You can keep him company for two more years. After that, give him back to the Shang family.”
“…”
Suddenly, the office door was knocked twice, and before the people inside could say “come in,” it was pushed open directly.
Shang Lübai’s gaze snapped toward the door.
Jin Si leaned against the doorframe, a black mask covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of eyes—sharp as blades.
Shang Lübai narrowed his eyes, the gaze behind his glasses turning to ice inch by inch. “Who are you?”
Jin Si didn’t answer him, only speaking to Ying Chan: “Boss, you have your next work commitment in half an hour. If we don’t leave now, we won’t make it.”
The two men’s gazes met only briefly, but like male beasts in the jungle, a single look was enough to judge what the other was made of.
Shang Lübai asked again: “Who is he?”
This time, he was asking Ying Chan.
Ying Chan was immensely grateful that Jin Si had arrived just in time. “My bodyguard!”
Jin Si raised an eyebrow. “That’s right, hers.”
So he was the true owner of that photo. Shang Lübai was always stern with outsiders. “Why the mask?”
Jin Si couldn’t be bothered to answer, so Ying Chan replied for him: “He’s allergic to willow catkins.”
Shang Lübai could tell this man was no ordinary person. He said to Ying Chan, “Send me his file.”
“No need. He’s someone I requested from Ye Han.” Ying Chan stood up as she spoke. “President Shang, you’re a busy man—this kind of trivial matter isn’t worth your time. I’ll get to work now.”
Shang Lübai asked again, “How should I give you the gift?”
“Have Sister Wei pick it up.”
With that, Ying Chan quickly left the office, closed the door behind her, and let out a huge sigh of relief.
She gestured for Jin Si to hurry, hurry.
The two entered the elevator together. Jin Si stood beside her with his hands in his pockets, then asked out of nowhere, “Who was that?”
“My boss.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” Jin Si’s tone was hard to read. “The way he looked at you—like he wanted to get you in bed.”
Ying Chan immediately glared at him. “Will you stop running your mouth like that!”
The mask covered most of Jin Si’s face, making his expression hard to read, but his tone was clearly not as light as usual: “Hit a nerve, did I? Getting all flustered?”
“Who’s flustered? I’m telling you to watch your mouth! You know who I am—if people hear you talking nonsense like this, it’ll cause me trouble.”
Only then did Jin Si lazily reply, “Got it.”
The elevator reached the first floor, and Ying Chan stepped out, muttering, “I’ve had way too much on my plate lately. That trending topic with Cheng Xu that came out of nowhere—I still don’t know what that was about.”
Jin Si hooked his finger under his mask and pulled it up slightly, saying calmly, “You got lucky—ran into someone doing justice on your behalf.”
Ying Chan was about to say something, but a female voice interrupted her.
“Sister Chan, are you leaving already? I bought the coffee—take it with you for the road.”
It was the junior who had offered to get her a hazelnut latte, and also the lead actress of a web drama that had recently gained some traction—Laine.
Ying Chan immediately broke into a smile and accepted her thoughtful gesture without refusing. “Thanks. I’ll treat you next time.”
Laine quickly said, “I’ll be on the variety show Come On, Push It! soon too—I’ll need Sister Chan’s guidance then.”
Ying Chan naturally said she’d be happy to.
Coffee in hand, she walked out of the company with Jin Si.
Jin Si suddenly took the coffee from her hand. Ying Chan thought he was helping her carry it, but instead he opened the packaging, pulled down his mask, and took a sip directly.
Ying Chan was both annoyed and amused. “Did I give that to you?”
Jin Si’s lips curved slightly. “I’m taste-testing it for you.”
“I think you’re just addicted to taking advantage of your boss!”
They walked side by side, Jin Si sipping the coffee with a leisurely stride. Suddenly, as if sensing something, he turned to look up at the building.
Shang Lübai stood behind the glass curtain wall, looking down.
From the sixth floor, neither of them could really make out the other’s face, but both could feel the hostility in the other’s gaze.
Shang Lübai took out his phone and made a call. “Help me look into someone.”