Chapter (xxxiii)
Edited: 06.21.2023
The film festival’s interview session was heading to its fan question segment. Dozens of fans who were lucky enough to enter the stage rushed to raise their hands, and some jumped up from their seats, the staff had to maintain order.
A girl, who was close, was chosen by the host and she immediately held the microphone tightly, as if she was afraid of it being snatched away. Her face flushed with nervousness: “B-Brother Shen, when will your next movie be filmed?”
Jiang Liushen sat on the high chair, his long legs crossed, and he looked completely dashing. He smiled handsomely at his fans as his eyes curved up: “Whenever you want to see it, I will start filming it.”
The girl almost fainted with excitement: “Ahhhhh!!!!! I-I-I can do whenever!!!”
Another fan shouted: “If she can, then I can too!!”
The stage was filled with laughter and Jiang Liushen couldn’t help but laugh: “Stop it, this is a serious occasion.”
The topic was handed over to another fan, who was much more aggressive: “Brother Shen! What kind of girls do you like? Is there anything else you want besides big breasts?”
Jiang Liushen smiled: “If I say anything too specific, you guys will be sad.”
“No, no, no!” The girl busily said, “We all look forward to you falling in love! The children who watched your movies growing up are already independent yet you are still a bachelor. It’s too sad! Tell us clearly, and maybe we can help you find a partner!”
The audience burst into laughter, fans echoed, and even the host began to gossip: “Liushen, if you don’t make it clear today, I’m afraid the fans won’t let you leave.”
“All right, let me think about it.” Jiang Liushen held his chin and thought for a few seconds, “First of all, they must be good-looking, otherwise, they’ll develop an inferiority complex.”
“Ehhhh——” The fans trailed off, seemingly cringing internally.
“I’m not finished yet. Second, they shouldn’t be too talkative. I tend to talk a lot, if my partner was just like me, we’d drive each other crazy.”
“Hahahaha, so you do know that you banter a lot?”
“How can you call it bantering? They are priceless words of wisdom.” Jiang Liushen wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed: “Finally, I hope my partner would be able to attract me with their own charisma and make me admire them. I won’t be moved by mere appearances.”
As he finished, he threw a smug look at Xu Yang, who was standing in the corner: How about it, this answer is pretty good, right?
Xu Yang was sweating, fearing that his Young Master would say something as explosive as he did at the coming-of-age ceremony, but Jiang Liushen still knew how to behave.
Just as Xu Yang breathed a sigh of relief, the phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. He started to panic as he hastily took it out. But it wasn’t his phone that was ringing, it was Jiang Liushen’s. Before the interview, he had given it to him for safekeeping.
The caller was Xia Xi’ai, although the nickname was set to “little brat.”
It was probably when they were still at odds with each other and had to save each other’s number due to work, after all, all netizens now knew what Jiang Liushen called Xia Xi’ai……
Xu Yang hesitated and didn’t know if he should pick it up. After hesitating for a while, the ringing stopped.
Could it be that he called the wrong person? Or did he accidentally dial the call button?
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He couldn’t figure it out. He held the phone for a few minutes and waited, but instead of waiting for a call, he got a new message:
[I’m not signing with you anymore, I’m sorry. Please don’t get involved with me anymore.]
Xu Yang was shocked; what was this? Did these two secretly quarrel without him knowing? Signing an artist was a big deal, he couldn’t just back out willy-nilly like this!
He looked up at Jiang Liushen, who was still interacting with his fans, and placed the phone away first. He ended up taking out his own phone and planned to search for clues on Xia Xi’ai’s Weibo. When he turned on the screen, a Weibo news feed happened to pop up. Xu Yang casually glanced at it and immediately felt as if a basin of ice water had been poured on his head, freezing his head to the soles of his feet.
Jiang Liushen was chatting and laughing on stage. When he glanced out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw his assistant’s face turn pale with an extremely frightened expression. He opened and closed his mouth, as if he was eager to tell him something, but because he was still in an interview, he finally chose to remain silent.
What was wrong? Jiang Liushen was puzzled.
“Oh my God, take a look at Weibo……” He didn’t know which fan exclaimed offstage, but within seconds, the crowd stirred up.
Jiang Liushen’s keen ears caught the word “Xia Xi’ai” and he had an inexplicable premonition. He completely forgot that the show was still being recorded and blurted out: “What’s wrong with Xia Xi’ai?”
A fan in the front row looked at their phone screen and slowly read out the content of the post:
“Singer Xia Xi’ai is suspected of drug trafficking and has been arrested by the police for interrogation……”
–
In the small and cold interrogation room, the police officer in charge of this case was flipping through the test results. When he saw the person across from him put down his phone, turned it off, and took out the SIM card, he asked curiously:
“Did you finish sending the message? Why didn’t you call?”
Xia Xi’ai looked indifferent: “I don’t want to involve others in this.”
After he was escorted into the police station for testing, he was finally able to contact the outside world. Just as he finished calling Xu Tong, he couldn’t help but want to call Jiang Liushen. However, as soon as the phone rang, he suddenly woke up. This matter was probably already all over the place and if Jiang Liushen got involved, it would only drag him down……
Forget it, at worst, he would quit the entertainment industry and start over from scratch. Anyway, it wasn’t his first time, he should be able to bear it.
Even if he couldn’t bear it, he would still have to bear it.
“The test report was negative, you didn’t take drugs so why are you afraid to involve others?” The officer eyed him, “Or……did you do something else?”
Xia Xi’ai was fearless, “I didn’t, feel free to check all you want.”
“We received a report that you were engaged in illegal drug dealing.” The officer pulled a photo out of the file bag and slapped it in front of him: “Recognize this person?”
Xia Xi’ai looked at it and answered truthfully: “Yes, I used to work at his bar.”
“Yes, he is the bar owner. Just a while ago, he was arrested for drug trafficking.”
“None of my business, I’ve been out of contact with him for a long time.”
“But according to our investigation, in the room you were in today, the goods they were using came from him. Since he was arrested, wouldn’t it be possible to find someone to take over these transactions?”
Xia Xi’ai understood his words: “You suspect that I’m helping him sell drugs? I earn tens of millions a month as an honorable singer, why would I take this risk?”
“You also have a point, which is why we are still in the suspicion stage. We will continue to check the evidence, but I just want to remind you that the outcome of confessing now and being found out later is completely different. If you really did something wrong, I advise you to come clean now so that you might get a lighter punishment.”
“I won’t admit to something that I didn’t do and I’m not afraid of your investigation. If there’s nothing else, can I leave?”
“According to the law, yes, but you may be contacted again afterward. You are free to leave now.” The officer gestured toward the door.
After Xia Xi’ai left the interrogation room, he didn’t leave the police station in a hurry but went to the place where Long Jing and others were detained. It was an undoubted fact that several of them took drugs and they would be detained for fifteen days as a punishment according to law.
Long Jing was now a little more clear-minded as she leaned dejectedly against the iron pole in the detention room. Her eyes which used to be as beautiful as the Autumn waves were now gray and empty. She stared blankly into the distance and when she noticed him, she let out a long sigh.
“Xi’ai, this was all my fault……”
Xia Xi’ai pulled up a stool, sat outside the iron fence, and said calmly: “Sister Long, I can probably guess who wants to do this to me. If you really feel sorry for me, can you tell me everything?”
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Long Jing gave him a look but didn’t say anything.
“If you tell me, I might be able to avenge you.” Xia Xi’ai added.
This was actually just a random remark used in order to clarify the facts. Where would he get that much power to retaliate against Zhao Jianhua when he could hardly protect himself? Even if the police could prove that he didn’t take drugs, the public opinion attack wouldn’t stop. No matter how popular he was, he was still just an artist without a backing. And with Zhao Jianhua’s power in the industry, it would be easy to smear and bring him down.
But Long Jing was now in a trance and her judgment was blinded by hatred so she was really fooled. She gritted her teeth and said: “Okay, I’ll tell you.”
“Zhao Jianhua, that bastard. In the beginning, he agreed to give me 80% of Dragon Soar’s shares, but ended up selling it without discussing it with me! He simply forgot who owns the word ‘Dragon’ in ‘Dragon Soar!”
“When I partnered with him to start the company, the loan was even in my name. I was naive at the time and thought he really loved me, but he only had eyes for money!”
“He made me help him with his shady dealings while he enjoyed the success. The moment he gets rich, he wants to wash his hands. He is afraid that I will let the cat out of the bag so he tampered with my cigarettes, making it so that I come into contact with drugs. He wants me to become degenerate so that he can control me and find a new mistress, haha! He got his hands on all the good things!”
Xia Xi’ai wasn’t expecting this much drama: “Sister Long, you and President Zhao…… turned out to be married?”
Long Jing let out a cold snort: “He has a wife and son in his hometown. His son is already twenty-something, he even brought him into the city to live with him.”
“……President Zhao already has a wife? Then Sister Long, you……”
“His wife is someone from the countryside. She is uneducated and has no experience, plus her looks are dull, which man could stand looking at her? Zhao Jianhua sends a few thousand back every month and she was moved to tears. She thought that her husband was working hard in the city and that the money he sent back was money left over. Pfft, Zhao Jianhua, that bastard, earns so much money, does he care about that chump change?”
Xia Xi’ai expression and eyes gradually became cold.
“Sister Long, if he is a bastard, then you are too.”
Sister Long’s eyes widened: “How am I a bastard? Yes, I was a mistress, but being a mistress is also hard! I worked so hard to develop Dragon Soar and you all were brought up by me, but all of you betrayed me, and my youth was fed to you white-eyed wolves!”
Xia Xi’ai was unwilling to explain to an obsessed person so he stood up, “Sister Long, I’ve always been very grateful to you for discovering me, so I will ask someone to help you with rehab and I will try my best to gather evidence to bring Zhao Jianhua down. But from now on……..we no longer owe anything to each other.”
Long Jing called out to him as he was about to leave: “Wait! Zhao Jianhua thought you wanted to go with me which is why he involved you in this mess. He doesn’t want me to have the power to make a comeback. He might still be watching you so hurry up and sign on to a new company, otherwise, without the safety net, you won’t be able to fight him let alone avenge me!”
Xia Xi’ai stopped in his tracks: “I’m not signing with anyone.”
“Ah? Was it because of this scandal that they don’t want you anymore?”
“I’m the one who said no first.” Xia Xi’ai didn’t turn around, his back was as strong as a tough sapling. And as if he was saying it to himself, he repeated again:
“I brought it up first, it’s not that he didn’t want me.”
Perhaps Jiang Liushen also regretted after seeing the news and decided to not sign with him. But that no longer mattered. He already turned off his phone and took out the SIM card, he won’t be able to receive any of his messages or calls.
Even if it was self-deception, there was nothing left to lose.
He wanted to at least keep one last spark of hope for himself.
☽ ⋆ℍalf 𝕄oon 𝕋ranslations⋆ ☾ 
What an unprofessional cop! Doesn’t he know it’s illegal to force a confession into a detainee’s mouth? =.=
Thank You for the new chapter ♡〜٩( ╹▿╹ )۶〜♡
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“I brought it up first, it’s not that he didn’t want me.”
OH HES JUST LIKE ME HES JUST LIKE ME FRRRR
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