This was Jiang Ning’s previous answer to Xi Yue.
She never expected this boomerang to come back and hit her instead.
Jiang Ning had just finished bandaging his wound, her hand still resting on Xi Yue’s arm, when he lowered his gaze and looked at her kneeling beside him.
The warmth from his arm slowly seeped into Jiang Ning’s fingertips.
If one ignored the content of their conversation, the scene was actually quite harmonious, even carrying a hint of ambiguity.
Xi Yue said, “Jiang Ning, don’t ask such questions again until you’ve figured out how to answer me.”
He didn’t bother to see Jiang Ning’s reaction, turning instead to tend to the fire, flipping his clothes over to dry.
His questions weren’t even particularly sharp.
He was afraid of Jiang Ning’s illness.
Xi Yue wasn’t as good-tempered as Jiang Ning thought.
If possible, he would have used even harsher methods.
Jiang Ning should just be locked in bed—only then would she be slightly more obedient.
Xi Yue took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
But that was just a thought.
…
The rescue team from the program arrived quickly.
The director, who had already prepared for the worst, nearly burst into tears of relief upon seeing Jiang Ning and Xi Yue relatively unscathed.
He immediately ushered them onto stretchers, rushing them down the mountain and into a car headed straight for the hospital.
Fortunately, neither of them was seriously injured.
The most severe issues were Jiang Ning’s fever and cold, along with the wound on Xi Yue’s arm.
However, the perilous situation had been witnessed clearly by the audience during the live stream.
While the program team was conducting the search and rescue, the incident had already skyrocketed to the top of the trending searches.
#Huang Wanqing, Jiang Ning, Xi Yue, Fall into Water, Fate Unknown#
The last four words made netizens who saw the trending topic feel a pang of anxiety.
With “???” hovering over their heads, they quickly clicked into the topic.
After learning the full story, Huang Wanqing was nearly driven out of the industry by the barrage of criticism from netizens.
Even Huang Wanqing’s usually arrogant fans could only stand and take the blame in this situation.
After all, it was undeniably Huang Wanqing’s fault.
Jiang Ning’s decisive leap into the water to save Huang Wanqing, along with giving her the first lifebuoy, instantly won her a wave of new fans.
【I’m almost crying. Huang Wanqing was clearly antagonizing Jiang Ning from the moment she appeared in yesterday’s live stream, yet Jiang Ning still jumped into the river to save her under such circumstances.】
【She’s genuinely kind and pure-hearted. I really don’t understand why some people insist on calling her a white lotus and accusing her of putting on an act.】
【Exactly. And she rarely fights for screen time. In the live stream, most of the time when no one cues her, she just sits alone in a corner, lost in thought or focusing on her tasks.】
…
Huang Wanqing wanted to visit Jiang Ning at the hospital immediately.
But the doctor said Jiang Ning was already asleep and asked her to come back the next day.
The next day, Huang Wanqing still didn’t get to see Jiang Ning, as she returned directly to the live stream after recovering.
Due to this unexpected incident, even the program itself was implicated and criticized by netizens.
The program team had no choice but to urgently suspend the wilderness survival team-building activity.
When Jiang Ning returned to the program, the audience breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her in relatively good condition.
Jiang Ning didn’t play the victim either. Aside from a few guests asking concerned questions about related topics, she herself never brought up the matter again.
This made many viewers feel even more favorably toward her.
[Being able to stan Jiang Ning is the luckiest thing in my three lifetimes!]
[She speaks little, has stable emotions, a kind nature, and is always observant. It’s hard to imagine how many girls would fall for Jiang Ning if she were a guy.]
[That’s why girls should date girls! (A lesbian straightens her tie and confidently steps up to speak)]
Huang Wanqing also arrived at the live-streaming villa and finally met Jiang Ning.
Her eyes were red, and she looked pitiful.
She opened her mouth to say “I’m sorry,” then started crying.
Jiang Ning glanced at her and only said one thing: “Young lady, grow some sense.”
Huang Wanqing choked back a sob: “I… I have grown some.”
Huang Wanqing’s words left Jiang Ning with no temper at all.
She even laughed in exasperation.
Even viewers in the livestream who were full of hostility toward Huang Wanqing were left speechless.
[Don’t know what to say. She’s truly foolish, but she definitely didn’t mean any harm. A few scoldings are enough—let’s not resort to online bullying.]
[Though I hate to admit it, it’s well-known in the industry that our Huang Wanqing isn’t the brightest…]
[So having a wealthy family is another kind of compensation for her, I guess…]
It’s hard to imagine that in a wealthy family with as many schemes as a honeycomb, they could still spoil such a senseless young lady.
Jiang Ning: “Come closer, I have something to say to you.”
Huang Wanqing sniffled and moved closer to Jiang Ning.
To prevent Huang Wanqing from causing trouble for her on the show again, Jiang Ning said, “You’re a young lady who grew up being pampered by your parents. Why are you so obsessed with that idiot Jiang Yanjing? If you just looked into him a bit more, you wouldn’t have any expectations of him.”
Huang Wanqing didn’t expect to hear Jiang Ning speak about her brother like that.
For a moment, Huang Wanqing looked bewildered and let out a confused “Huh?”
But Jiang Ning didn’t want to say more.
If Huang Wanqing could truly be persuaded, just this little hint should make her go and find out what kind of person Jiang Yanjing really is.
…
On Jiang Ning’s second day back on the show, the hotel front desk suddenly called.
Jiang Ning went to the small dark room without cameras to take the call.
This was originally a place for guests to hide from the cameras and whisper, but it hadn’t been used until now.
The front desk lady said, “Miss Jiang, someone came looking for you yesterday, claiming to be your brother.”
“Did they say what they wanted?”
“No,” the front desk lady replied. “They only said it was urgent.”
Recalling the man’s appearance and gentle demeanor, the front desk lady grew somewhat excited.
He was really handsome. He stepped out of a Cayenne with an assistant—clearly a wealthy man.
With a brother like that, how could Jiang Ning possibly be the kind of person from a poor mountain village, as speculated online?
Jiang Ning: “Did you give him my phone number and room number?”
The front desk lady: “No, Miss Jiang. Our hotel is professional and would never make such a low-level mistake.”
Jiang Ning gave a faint “Hmm” and said calmly, “Good. If he comes looking for me again, just tell him I don’t live here anymore.”
The receptionist was taken aback by Jiang Ning’s words, pausing for a moment before responding. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, “Isn’t he your brother?”
Jiang Ning replied with a cold, indifferent expression, “He’s my father’s loan shark.”
The receptionist: “…”
Little did she know that, thanks to the receptionist’s testimony, her online persona as “a girl from a poverty-stricken mountainous area” would inexplicably gain another layer of tragic backstory: “her family is in debt, forcing her to return to work to earn money.”
After hanging up the call with the receptionist, Jiang Ning searched through her phone for a long time before finally finding Jiang Yanjing’s contact information.
She removed Jiang Yanjing from her blacklist and called him.
The call connected quickly, and Jiang Yanjing’s gentle voice came through the phone.
“Ningning.”
Xi Yue, who happened to be passing by outside, paused in his steps upon faintly hearing this affectionate address from the phone.
Hearing Jiang Yanjing call her that, Jiang Ning frowned with displeasure.
But she couldn’t be bothered to correct him anymore and simply asked, “What is it?”
Jiang Yanjing replied, “Your granduncle is on his last legs. Do you want to go back and see him one last time?”