At noon, Jiang Corporation.
Jiang Mengxin sat in her office, discussing future company development plans with her sister Jiang Lan when the secretary rushed in.
Jiang Mengxin glared at her. "What's going on? Don't you know to knock before entering? You have no manners."
"I'm so sorry, President Jiang," the secretary said anxiously, "but the matter is extremely urgent, and I needed to report it to you immediately."
"What could be so urgent?"
"It's about your fiancé, our company's security captain – Lu Ming."
"Lu Ming? What could have happened to him?" Jiang Mengxin was very curious. Hadn't Lu Ming gone to deliver the crown to the Dragon Warlord? What trouble could he possibly stir up?
Subsequently.
The secretary placed a MacBook on the desk, opened the news and images, and presented them one by one for Jiang Mengxin to review.
Jiang Mengxin was stunned at first.
As she read on, her shock turned to anger.
"Unbelievable."
"Lu Ming, you scoundrel!"
Jiang Mengxin slammed the table, sweeping a cup to the floor.
Jiang Lan frowned slightly, wondering what 'heinous' act Lu Ming had committed to displease Jiang Mengxin so much.
She tried to pacify her. "Sister, don't be so angry. Although Lu Ming often does strange things we don't understand, haven't they always benefited us?"
"Benefited us? Heh, is him seeing other women beneficial to me?"
"Ah?"
Jiang Lan was utterly shocked.
She quickly moved closer to see. One photo clearly showed Lu Ming arm-in-arm with a woman, laughing and talking happily.
Clicking to the next photo revealed even more.
In it, Lu Ming stuck his tongue out at the woman, his expression utterly lewd.
Subsequent photos were even more scandalous, leaving the viewers stunned.
And then there was the news.
Television, radio, news apps, pop-up ads – all were relentlessly reporting Lu Ming's misconduct from every angle.
[Jiang Corporation's son-in-law Lu Ming caught cheating on his wife, ugly and promiscuous]
[Jiang Mengxin tragically cuckolded, becomes the joke of Jinling]
[Lu Ming plays with women, scandalous photos leaked]
In an instant, negative news about Lu Ming spread like wildfire. Within an hour, Lu Ming had become the nation's notorious unfaithful man.
Jiang Mengxin was furious.
Jiang Lan's expression was also grim.
One was Lu Ming's fiancée, the other quietly harbored feelings for him. Upon seeing such news about Lu Ming, both were enraged.
Even Jiang Lan, who usually liked and trusted Lu Ming, could not suppress her anger.
Deep love breeds deep blame.
No woman could remain calm after seeing such news about the man she loved. If one could remain unmoved, it would only mean their love was insufficient.
Jiang Mengxin was also furious. She was angry that Lu Ming had cuckolded her, and angry that he had made her the joke of Jinling.
"You dog!"
"He always acted so honest, so harmless. Turns out he's this wild in private."
"I should have known. At the auction, he was flirting with Qiao Ling and Yuan Keying. I should have seen this coming!"
"I haven't wronged him, yet he goes and wrongs me."
"What, does he think I, Jiang Mengxin, am not good enough? Not worthy of being his fiancée?"
"You dog, you bastard, you filthy man!"
But it wasn't over.
The secretary opened a series of other news articles.
It turned out that with the Lu Ming scandal festering, various media outlets had also turned their attention to Jiang Corporation, digging into its alleged secrets.
Although it was all malicious slander, the sheer volume of negative information made Jiang Mengxin fume.
She said to the secretary, "Contact Lu Ming immediately and tell him to get his backside back here!"
An hour later.
Lu Ming slowly walked into the office. The grease stains on his clothes indicated he had just enjoyed a hearty meal.
Jiang Mengxin asked sarcastically, "Oh, you ate well, didn't you? Your clothes are all greasy."
Lu Ming smiled. "I just passed by Fuzi Street and had a beggar's chicken."
"Oh, just chicken? Didn't you have anything else?"
"Anything... else?"
"Still pretending?" Jiang Mengxin said coldly, "Lu Ming, I thought you were honest and upright, but you're full of lechery! I asked you to deliver the crown to the Dragon Warlord, but you went out playing with women behind my back. Heh, you're quite the time management master!"
Huh?
Playing with women?
Lu Ming frowned slightly. "What do you mean? I don't understand."
"Keep pretending." Jiang Mengxin flipped the MacBook around to face Lu Ming. "The whole world is full of news about you playing around, and it's also tarnishing Jiang Corporation's name! Lu Ming, have you no shame?"
Jiang Lan looked at Lu Ming with tears in her eyes. She desperately wanted a reasonable explanation from him.
She truly couldn't accept this.
She couldn't accept Lu Ming playing with women; it was more painful than dying.
If Lu Ming had been out with a woman like Qiao Ling, Jiang Lan might have felt better, she would have reflected on her own shortcomings.
But Lu Ming was out womanizing, 'eating chicken' – this was something Jiang Lan could not accept.
She said loudly, "Lu Ming, you owe me an explanation!"
Faced with the barrage of accusations from the Jiang sisters, Lu Ming didn't rush to respond.
He calmly scrolled through the photos and news first.
A moment later.
Lu Ming chuckled instead of getting angry. "This is truly tiresome."
Huh?
Jiang Mengxin scolded, "Lu Ming, can you have any more shame? At a time like this, you can still laugh?"
Lu Ming replied casually, "These news reports and photos are all fake."
Jiang Mengxin scoffed, "I knew you'd say that. At this point, is denial still meaningful? Don't you find it pathetic and weak?"
Lu Ming said, "The news is all fabricated, and these photos are all photoshopped. This is the television station maliciously slandering me and damaging my reputation."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Mengxin burst into laughter.
She shook her head and said, "The television station maliciously slandering you? Lu Ming, aren't you overestimating yourself? What kind of person are you that they would have nothing better to do than to maliciously slander you? For clicks? Wouldn't a TV station gain more by slandering a big star, or a well-known entrepreneur, than by slandering a nobody like you? Lu Ming, you really take yourself seriously!"
Lu Ming shook his head with a wry smile.
He pointed to the reporter's name at the bottom of the news article. "The reporter who wrote this news, the reporter who 'took' these photos, and the vice president of the TV station who published this content, Guo Jianrong – I had a dispute with them this morning. They hate me, so they are slandering me."