“Suicide?” Chu Feiliang raised an eyebrow, seeming to find it amusing to associate those words with Jiang Ruyi.
For someone who would meticulously plot to harm others, even uttering those two words felt like a stain on the very meaning of suicide.
Rong Guang frowned, took the phone, and looked at it closely. She said in a low voice, “It says Jiang Ruyi suddenly posted on Weibo around noon today. The post only had three words—‘Goodbye, everyone.’ Nothing else. Her comment section is now… well, completely one-sided.”
Rong Guang didn’t even need to search her own Weibo to know that it probably wouldn’t end well.
Jiang Ruyi had posted early, at a time when they were all at the temple with their phones turned off.
Wang Lujie glanced at Rong Guang but said nothing.
Chu Feiliang said flatly, “No need to rush. As long as it’s a situation, there’s no predicament that absolutely can’t be turned around. This isn’t the first time Big Dipper has dealt with someone using suicide as a gimmick. Big Dipper is very familiar with it; it’s a common tactic for many people.”
Wang Lujie didn’t doubt the one-in-ten-thousand chance that might occur. “What if she’s really threatening suicide?”
“Even if she did commit suicide, what does that have to do with us?” Chu Feiliang’s face turned cold as she said, “You all need to remember this clearly: no perpetrator is innocent. If every perpetrator in the world could gain sympathy and have their past misdeeds wiped clean just by using suicide as a gimmick after doing bad things, then what about the real victims? Are they supposed to be driven to their deaths for real?”
Rong Guang pursed her lips.
Wang Lujie was taken aback for a moment, then slapped her forehead. She had been drawn into that line of thinking just now.
However, recalling the sympathy she herself had unconsciously felt for the ‘weaker’ party, Wang Lujie cursed under her breath, “This move is truly despicable.”
“Tell me about it.” Chu Feiliang sneered and handed the phone back to Wang Lujie. “Using this trick to threaten people, she must be out of options.”
By the time they returned to the hotel, the sky had already darkened.
A cool evening breeze blew, making Rong Guang feel a bit cold. She couldn’t help but rub her arms, which were icy to the touch.
“Let’s go in,” Chu Feiliang said.
Rong Guang nodded and entered the lobby to wait for Chacha and Ye Zi to return the car.
However, as soon as they walked in, they heard two receptionists at the front desk whispering to each other.
“How can someone be so evil? She’s lived here for so long, and I never noticed… She even greeted us when she went out. She put on such a good front, who knew she was so venomous.” “Yeah, just how far does she want to push someone? Does she have to drive them to their death to be satisfied?”
Rong Guang’s steps faltered.
Chu Feiliang glanced expressionlessly at the two heads barely visible behind the counter, stuck her hands in her jacket pockets, and slowly walked over.
The two receptionists, not noticing anyone had entered, were still speaking in low voices.
“It’s just incredible. She posted on Weibo at noon saying she was going to commit suicide, and by the afternoon, she was caught drinking at a bar, partying harder than anyone.” A female voice muttered, accompanied by the sound of a Weibo feed constantly refreshing.
Rong Guang tilted her head—the script seemed to be different from what she and Chu Feiliang had imagined?
Chu Feiliang also stopped, turned back to look at Rong Guang with an equally innocent expression, took her hands out of her pockets, and made a silent shrugging gesture, mouthing, “What’s going on?”
Rong Guang shook her head in confusion—she had just walked in too, she had no idea what was happening either.
“What on earth did our Guangguang do to offend this Jiang Ruyi?!” One of the girls slammed the desk in anger and stood up. “When poisoning fails, she resorts to a self-pity ploy. Who doesn’t know how to play the victim… uh…”
The girl’s voice trailed off.
The other girl, not hearing the rest of the sentence, nudged her without looking up. “Who doesn’t know how to what? Look quickly, something new just broke. It says Jiang Ruyi’s assistant voluntarily exposed Jiang Ruyi’s collusion with Mao Xiaosong, and even the evidence was released. This time, Jiang Ruyi is going to be completely crushed! She might even be sentenced… Wow… Hey, why are you poking me, you…”
The girl looked up, and in that instant, the world fell silent.
The two girls stood behind the reception desk. Although they hadn’t done anything wrong, now, standing before Chu Feiliang, they were so flustered that neither dared to raise her head.
After intimidating them enough with her cold expression, Chu Feiliang finally said, “Can I see the iPad?”
“Y-Yes.” The receptionist on the left immediately grabbed the tablet and placed it in front of Chu Feiliang, then quickly lowered her head again, pretending she didn’t exist.
Chu Feiliang leaned against the counter and slowly tapped open the video to watch.
The video was extremely blurry, clearly filmed secretly.
But in the comment section, there were many high-definition photos taken by enthusiastic netizens. Strictly speaking, Jiang Ruyi’s face wasn’t that severely damaged; it was just that some areas of her skin had ulcerated, which looked frightening during the initial examination.
And especially after it healed, with makeup on and under the chaotic, mesmerizing lights of the bar, she looked completely fine.
But when combined with what she had posted earlier, it didn’t seem like the same story at all.
Everyone now believed that even Jiang Ruyi’s disfigurement was faked.
Chu Feiliang quickly browsed through it, then waved to the person behind her. “Guangguang, come here.”
When Rong Guang heard Chu Feiliang call her name, her eyes instantly lit up. She trotted over and said, “Coming.”
Hearing this form of address, the two receptionists secretly exchanged a glance, both taking a deep breath, their eyes shining with excitement.
Rong Guang took a quick look.
Including the comments under her own Weibo post, the situation had once again reversed in a very short time. And on the Weibo hot search list, a row of headlines was prominently displayed.
#No one forced you to become an executioner, it was all your own choice.#
Rong Guang’s finger paused on this headline.
Then she froze for a moment and said, “Strange, why does this sentence look so familiar…?”
“You don’t remember?” Chu Feiliang leaned in beside her, tilting her head. “It’s a line from a scene we’re about to film soon. The line Jiang Wenmou says to Ji Zheng.”
It dawned on Rong Guang.
She remembered.
It was after Ji Zheng had lost all his imperial sons, princesses, and even all the concubines he had ever loved in the harem. On his deathbed, Jiang Wenmou looked at him and spoke that sentence.
—That was also the only sentence that made Ji Zheng, a man of iron and blood his entire life, shed tears as he heard his final words.
“Your Majesty, no one forced you to become an executioner. This was all your own choice.”
This was the original line Jiang Wenmou says to Ji Zheng in The Eldest Princess.
In order to win over the nomadic tribes, he married his youngest daughter to an old Mongol khan who was already over sixty. She eventually died of depression at the age of only fourteen.
He suspected his favorite concubine had ties to the former court, so he simply poisoned the concubine and their son, who was only eight years old but had been branded as having a corrupt mind.
After that, everyone, inside and outside the palace, lived in constant fear.
And there were many other incidents like these.
Rong Guang clicked on it.
Sure enough, the sentence was posted by Zhang Nanchuan himself.
Even the accompanying picture was a previously unreleased still of Teacher Zhao Xiuqi. It seemed to say everything, yet at the same time, it said nothing at all. No one could find any fault with him.
But to say such a thing at this particular moment was in itself thought-provoking.
Not only that, but Teacher Zhao Xiuqi himself had also reposted that Weibo and commented: “It is time, it is fate.”
Rong Guang blinked, feeling a warmth spread through her heart, a sense of being acknowledged.
It was no exaggeration to say that Zhang Nanchuan and Zhao Xiuqi were both titans in their respective fields.
For people who had reached their level, what they pursued were the two words ‘happiness’ and a greater focus on legacy and the younger generation’s attitude toward acting.
You could be bad at acting, but you couldn’t refuse to act, or even try to be lazy and slick.
Rong Guang had been with them almost day and night recently. They knew her character better than anyone.
And being in this circle, they naturally knew that sometimes, a single sentence from one person could be the final straw that turned the tide of the entire battle.
So this time, they did not hold back their words.
The hot search also exploded because of the sentence Zhang Nanchuan had said.
The netizens who had previously been led by Jiang Ruyi’s narrative, now guided by the intentional actions of Big Dipper and Zhang Nanchuan, all came to their senses, feeling an even greater anger at being fooled.
Riding my beloved little donkey: What kind of international joke is this? Who forced Jiang Ruyi to poison someone? Who forced her to commit suicide? Who forced her to go clubbing and headbang after posting her suicide note?
Heavy-flavored little fresh: So murderers can all be forgiven as long as they say they want to commit suicide, and they all have their reasons, huh?
Old Godmother shook Penguin’s claw: Waiting for Auntie Jiang to follow up her disfigurement diagnosis with a depression diagnosis.
The moon was bent by my grinding: Thanks for the invite. I was Jiang Ruyi’s colleague for three years, just resigned. Not only did I resign, I’m going to step on her on my way out. She doesn’t have depression. Her team is trying to fabricate a depression story for her.
Chu Feiliang’s hand was the first to click into the blogger’s account with the ID “The moon was bent by my grinding.” She stroked her chin and said, “This account looks a bit familiar. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere.”
Rong Guang was stunned. “What?”
“This ID…” Chu Feiliang tapped her chin, lost in thought. “Where have I seen it before…”
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