IMPGS Chapter 109

After that little episode, Xiao Cheng’s mood seemed to improve slightly.

Still holding Luo Jingshu’s hand, he suddenly leaned in closer, his warm breath brushing against Luo Jingshu’s ear, sending a tingling sensation through him.

“You kept looking at me just now—was it only because of this?”

Luo Jingshu froze for a moment and suddenly realized that Xiao Cheng’s gaze had been fixed on his phone the entire time.

Although Xiao Cheng had been looking tired from start to finish, he had definitely noticed Luo Jingshu’s unusual behavior. He simply hadn’t had the energy to ask earlier and had pretended not to notice.

Now that he was feeling a little more awake, he decided to bring it up.

To him, his alternate Weibo account being exposed wasn’t a big deal.

He had already turned off private messages and comments, so even if people wanted to insult him, as long as he didn’t look, their words couldn’t hurt him.

As long as his address wasn’t leaked, his real life wouldn’t be affected.

Luo Jingshu wouldn’t allow that to happen anyway.

Though he had felt a little embarrassed earlier when recalling those cringeworthy posts, Xiao Cheng quickly adjusted his mindset.

After all, Luo Jingshu had always known he was a lovesick fool. Back in their previous life, he had chased after Luo Jingshu just the same. There was no way Luo Jingshu didn’t already know what kind of person he was.

This was just a more public form of humiliation. As long as Xiao Cheng didn’t feel embarrassed, it was as if nothing had happened.

However, Luo Jingshu’s expression darkened. “Brother Cheng, stop looking.”

He was afraid Xiao Cheng would check the reposts. Without even looking, Luo Jingshu knew those people must have been saying terrible things.

Xiao Cheng found it amusing. He was the one being insulted, yet Luo Jingshu was angrier than him—like he wanted to track down every single person and beat them until they begged for mercy.

“Alright, I won’t look.” Xiao Cheng raised his hand and gently rubbed Luo Jingshu’s furrowed brows. His fingertips brushed against the corner of Luo Jingshu’s eyes, trying to soothe his emotions.

“You shouldn’t be angry either. It’s not worth it.”

There were too many unreasonable people in this world. If he got worked up over every single one of them, he’d never find peace.

There was no point in getting angry over them.

Luo Jingshu felt comforted by his words, but at the same time, he felt even more aggrieved—more upset than if he had been insulted himself. He threw his phone aside, wrapped his arms around Xiao Cheng, and buried himself in his embrace.

“Brother Cheng is the best!”

His eyes were even turning red.

Seeing him like this, Xiao Cheng couldn’t feel angry anymore.

If he had read those nasty comments alone, he might have been so pissed off that he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight. But with Luo Jingshu acting like this, his anger disappeared instead.

His little puppy was so upset for him that his eyes were turning red. Xiao Cheng felt nothing but heartache for him—how could he spare any attention for those irrelevant people?

Neither of them checked their phones anymore. Xiao Cheng was too busy comforting Luo Jingshu and ended up missing Bai Yiheng and Xie Zhao’s messages of concern.

–

Within half an hour of Xiao Cheng’s Weibo account being exposed, it was already banned.

However, plenty of people had already taken screenshots. While Jiang Ying was still in the mood to mock Xiao Cheng, others were marveling at how even a privileged young master from a wealthy family had to work so hard to pursue the person he loved.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Cheng even gained a few new fans from this.

Previously, Jiang Ying had tried to shift the blame onto someone else, hinting that he was being falsely accused. Some people had even started suspecting the Xiao family, with a few extremists trying to pin the blame on Xiao Cheng, claiming that he must have done something terrible himself to come up with such a scheme.

But now, this whole incident has actually made some people start questioning things.

“To be fair, if Xiao Cheng had really done something like that, would he have needed to act like such a desperate simp while chasing after ‘Nian Nian’?”

If he had really wanted to get “Nian Nian,” he could have simply used his power and influence to pressure them.

After all, based on what was revealed in Xiao Cheng’s Weibo posts, “Nian Nian” was a pitiful soul—someone with no parental love, struggling through life.

As more and more doubts surfaced, Jiang Ying started to panic.

He kept urging his people to find that girl—whether it was her family, her friends, or anyone connected to her.

But to his shock, all of them had disappeared.

And if they hadn’t, the Xiao family had stationed people to guard them, making it impossible for Jiang Ying to take them away.

In a fit of rage, Jiang Ying smashed an expensive porcelain vase in his study, leaving shards scattered across the floor.

His chest heaved as he panted heavily, his bloodshot eyes filled with frustration. His usually well-groomed hair was now disheveled, and even his clothes were wrinkled.

After venting, Jiang Ying managed to calm himself down slightly.

He had actually been forced into such a corner by the Xiao family.

What a humiliation!

Jiang Ying repeatedly reminded himself to stay calm.

Just then, his phone on the desk suddenly started ringing.

At first, he had no intention of answering, but the sound was relentless, buzzing non-stop as if summoning him to his doom.

The anger he had just suppressed flared up again, and he nearly smashed his phone as well.

Which bastard was this?!

He snatched up his phone, and when he saw the caller ID on the screen, his heart clenched, and cold sweat immediately formed on his face.

Jiang Ying quickly cleared his throat, swallowed his anxiety, forced himself to stay composed, and then finally answered the call.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Zhao.”

A deep male voice came through the receiver, carrying an unmistakable undertone of meaning. “It seems that Mr. Jiang is busy. Did I disturb you?”

Jiang Ying quickly put on a fawning smile. “Mr. Zhao, you must be joking.”

“I was just in a meeting.”

This Mr. Zhao was a major client of his and also a key partner in one of his most important projects. Jiang Ying could not afford to offend him.

He could only curse silently in his heart. That old fox must have seen the trending news and deliberately called to pressure him.

Sure enough, after exchanging a few pleasantries, Mr. Zhao got straight to the point. “Mr. Jiang, have you seen the trending topics recently?”

At the mention of this, Jiang Ying was already fuming.

Feigning indifference, he sighed and complained to Mr. Zhao, “Ah, doing business, you’re bound to run into these kinds of things.”

“The methods may not be honorable, but they sure are effective.”

Mr. Zhao wasn’t a fool. He knew exactly what Jiang Ying had done. But he didn’t expose him outright, merely offering a reminder: “At a critical time like this, it’s best not to blow things up any further, don’t you think, Mr. Jiang?”

Jiang Ying felt even more stifled—this was a clear warning for him to deal with the matter as soon as possible.

But what could he do?

He couldn’t find the girl, and the longer this dragged on, the worse it would be for him.

Jiang Ying had no choice but to agree for now.

After hanging up, he sat with a dark expression, thinking for a while before calling his secretary.

That afternoon, Jiang Ying responded to the issue through his company’s official Weibo account.

[I sincerely apologize for taking up public resources. Due to my personal affairs, I have caused inconvenience to everyone.]

[At the time, I was intoxicated and blacked out, so I have no recollection of what happened. I also deeply regret any distress caused to @Salted Fish Doesn’t Eat Dumplings]

[Afterward, I actively reached out to the other party and proposed a compensation plan, but for various reasons, we couldn’t reach an agreement. Without my knowledge, my secretary had a conflict with the other party, for which I also apologize.]

[I am still actively trying to contact the other party and have offered to compensate, but so far, they have not responded to me.]

Jiang Ying desperately tried to exonerate himself—if asked, he would just say he was drunk, didn’t know anything, and that his secretary handled everything without his awareness.

He shifted all the blame onto alcohol and his secretary, making himself appear completely innocent.

His statement, however, redirected public anger toward the girl.

If Jiang Ying was telling the truth, then was it possible that the girl had set him up? Was she trying to extort an exorbitant amount of money from him afterward?

Netizens have never been shy about assuming the worst, especially in gender-related disputes, where women often face more skepticism and scrutiny.

Jiang Ying exploited this mentality, knowing full well that the other party had no direct evidence. He deliberately led the online discourse to clear his own name.

As expected, the number of people insulting the girl increased dramatically. The comments grew even nastier, labeling her a prostitute and attacking her with all sorts of vile, degrading language.

But Luo Jingshu had been waiting for this.

Jiang Ying thought they had no evidence, but in reality, Luo Jingshu had the most crucial proof—he just hadn’t revealed it yet.

In his previous life, Luo Jingshu had uncovered this evidence after extensive investigation.

It was a video.

After the incident, Jiang Ying had immediately destroyed all hotel surveillance footage from that night. But what he never expected was that one of the security guards on duty had recognized him and secretly recorded the surveillance footage, uploading it to the cloud.

That man originally intended to use the video to blackmail Jiang Ying for a large sum of money.

However, upon seeing how ruthless Jiang Ying was—how he had pushed the girl to the brink of despair—the man got scared.

He didn’t dare to release the footage, but he couldn’t bring himself to delete it either. So he simply pretended nothing had happened and never spoke of it to anyone.

After his rebirth, Luo Jingshu bought the video, waiting for the perfect moment to catch Jiang Ying off guard.

Jiang Ying claimed he was drunk?

Luo Jingshu would make sure everyone saw the truth—that Jiang Ying had entered the room completely sober.

The one who was truly powerless to resist was the deceived girl.

One hour after Jiang Ying’s statement, [Salted Fish Doesn’t Eat Dumplings] finally responded.

[If it weren’t for a kind-hearted person leaving behind evidence, I would never have been able to prove my innocence. Mr. Jiang, you lie through your teeth. Aren’t your business partners afraid of working with someone like you?]

It’s impossible to prove that you didn’t do something.

Once the mud is thrown at you, even a hundred mouths wouldn’t be enough to explain yourself.

Then, [Salted Fish Doesn’t Eat Dumplings] posted a video.

In the footage, a tall man could be seen supporting an unconscious girl into a hotel room.

A few minutes later, Jiang Ying walked into the room, looking composed and fully conscious. Shortly after, the tall man—likely his bodyguard—exited the room.

About half an hour later, the hotel room door was suddenly pulled open from the inside, and the girl, disheveled, tried to run out. But the man at the door grabbed her and forcefully pushed her back in.

The video cut off there.

But it was clear—Jiang Ying had lied.

He was never drunk.

And the girl was not willing—she had been forcibly taken inside.

The internet erupted.

The more people had believed in Jiang Ying before, the harsher their backlash was now.

Some refused to admit their mistake, questioning the authenticity of the video.

But most turned their anger toward Jiang Ying. His so-called clarification post was now flooded with hate comments.

The same way he had guided netizens to attack the Xiao family and the girl, he was now being attacked.

[So you’ve mastered the art of playing the victim, huh?]

[…]

[You, I—]

[Jiang Ying, why don’t you just drop dead?!]

—

Luo Jingshu turned off his phone screen.

His darkened reflection on the screen revealed a faint smirk at the corner of his lips.

Jiang Ying had made a fatal mistake—he should never have set his sights on Xiao Cheng.

Luo Jingshu would make sure to slowly strip Jiang Ying of everything he had.

He lowered his gaze to Xiao Cheng, who was dozing off on his shoulder.

A genuine smile appeared on Luo Jingshu’s face. He gently brushed Xiao Cheng’s cheek and said, “Brother Cheng, we’re almost home.”

Xiao Cheng sleepily opened his eyes, still groggy, and yawned. “Oh, almost—”

Mid-sentence, he suddenly jolted awake, eyes widening in alarm.

“Which home are you taking me to?”

Luo Jingshu looked at him innocently, his gaze sweeping over Xiao Cheng’s slightly flushed eyes.

Like a cat that had just stolen a fish, he smiled mischievously.

“Of course, your home.”

His voice was as sweet as a soft cake—the kind of tone Xiao Cheng loved most, tinged with a hint of endearing playfulness.

But at this moment, Xiao Cheng had no time to appreciate it.

He snapped his head up and saw a familiar figure approaching the car window—He An.

He An was just a few steps away from reaching the car door.

Xiao Cheng: ???

Luo Jingshu, you bastard!