MY - 42

Lu Nandu asked her if she found him too talkative.

Jiang Xi said, “Is there a time when you’re not talkative?”

Lu Nandu thought for a moment and said, “There is.”

Jiang Xi: “I don’t believe it.”

Lu Nandu had an answer for everything. “You don’t believe it because I’m only talkative with you.”

He was getting bolder and bolder.

Jiang Xi asked, “Did you just wake up?”

Lu Nandu seemed to stretch. “No, I just arrived at the hotel.”

Jiang Xi was taken aback. “Hotel?”

Lu Nandu hummed through his nose. “I’m on a business trip.”

Jiang Xi had already arrived at the parking lot and asked, “Are you very busy?”

Lu Nandu had originally wanted to say that it was okay, as this was normal ever since he entered the Lu family.

But he thought it would be a loss to say that, so he changed his words to try to get some sympathy. “I’m really busy, big sister, you should feel sorry for me.”

Jiang Xi knew his character and laughed. “If you’re so busy, why are you still on the phone? Why don’t you hang up?”

Lu Nandu wasn’t angry that she snapped at him. “Chasing someone is a serious matter. Why can’t I be on the phone?”

Jiang Xi opened the car door and got in. “Alright, stop being a chatterbox. I’m about to drive.”

Knowing that he shouldn’t disturb her while she was driving, Lu Nandu didn’t pester her any longer. “Then I’ll go get busy too.”

Jiang Xi: “Okay.”

________________________________________

Having been in the industry for two years, Jiang Xi was already used to a life on the go. After she returned home, she casually packed a few clothes and threw them into her suitcase.

She went to the airport that evening and her flight arrived in another city in the early hours of the morning.

The city lights were dim, and people were sound asleep in their homes.

But the airport was still brightly lit, bustling with people. The airport parking lot was noisy with car horns blaring.

Jiang Xi hailed a taxi and went to her hotel.

The city’s buildings were rich with a sense of history, with upturned eaves, wooden windows, dark tiles, and multi-story buildings.

The streetlights were a faint yellow, and the car swayed as it drove along.

Half an hour later, Jiang Xi arrived at the hotel, which was brightly lit. She dragged her suitcase inside and handed her ID to the front desk.

The front desk clerk quickly gave her the key and politely gestured with her hand. “The elevator is over here.”

Jiang Xi: “Thank you.”

Jiang Xi couldn’t sleep well on the plane and felt a bit tired, but she forced herself to take a shower despite her sleepiness.

After she came out, she set an alarm and burrowed into bed to sleep.

She fell asleep at three in the morning and was woken up by a phone call three hours later.

The phone vibrated silently, making a buzzing sound on the nightstand. Jiang Xi covered her head with the blanket and didn’t move for a while.

A few seconds later, her hand reached out from under the blanket and fumbled for the phone on the nightstand. She answered it and put it to her ear.

She said, “Hello?”

To her surprise, it was Ji Yuanzhou’s voice. “Still sleeping?”

Jiang Xi didn’t need to open her eyes to know that it wasn’t dawn yet. She said, “What else would I be doing at this hour?”

Ji Yuanzhou chuckled softly and said, “Like me, I’m looking at the clarification. Isn’t that more interesting than sleeping?”

Jiang Xi was still half asleep. “What clarification?”

Ji Yuanzhou laughed. “What other clarification could I be looking at? Do you think I’d be interested in anything else?”

Jiang Xi slowly opened her eyes.

For a moment, she didn’t speak until she slowly reacted.

Her voice was filled with disbelief. “It’s been clarified?”

Ji Yuanzhou hummed. She seemed to be smoking and coughed softly. “Would I lie to you?”

Jiang Xi asked her, “You’re not sleeping in the middle of the night to watch this?”

Ji Yuanzhou: “No, I just happened to be looking at it. I happened to see it, didn’t I?”

Jiang Xi found it inexplicably funny. “You’re quite a coincidence.”

“Alright,” Ji Yuanzhou said. “Go take a look. After you’ve seen it, you can get a good night’s sleep.”

Jiang Xi’s face was half buried in the blanket, and she mumbled, “Okay.”

She was no longer sleepy. She had been looking forward to the day of the clarification, but now that it was here, she suddenly felt a sense of timidity.

How long had she been waiting for this moment?

She didn’t speak, and Ji Yuanzhou hadn’t hung up the phone yet.

She wasn’t sure how long it had been. Jiang Xi heard Ji Yuanzhou light another cigarette on her end, and the lighter made a soft click.

She told her, “You’re not a bad person. All of this belongs to you.”

The pride of the heavens, praise, a bright future, and a natural gift for painting.

Ji Yuanzhou took a puff of her cigarette and said, “Go look.”

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xi took the phone away from her ear and sat up in bed.

The only light in the room was from the screen, illuminating the lower half of Jiang Xi’s face.

She rarely went online to look at anything and never turned on notifications. Her phone was exceptionally quiet.

Tong Yun was probably busy with public relations and hadn’t contacted her yet.

Jiang Xi opened her phone. Perhaps due to the attention, the company finally spent some money on her, and the clarification message appeared in the trending topics.

It was an article.

The narrator was a woman surnamed Su, and the content was written by her husband.

The Su family was a highly educated family. Su’s father was a well-known university professor, and Su’s mother also came from a family that valued knowledge and etiquette.

The clarification was in black and white, several thousand words long.

It started with the fire that took two lives, a fire that had happened over twenty years ago and had long since been lost in the river of time.

Twenty years ago, the internet wasn’t as developed, and print media was popular.

But at that time, the fire was just a tragic event that happened in a small, unknown town in a certain province and city.

It was tragic, but not many people would have seen it.

People are emotional yet heartless creatures. It’s inevitable that they would sigh when they saw such news, but since it didn’t concern them, they would forget about it in the blink of an eye. The fire would be forgotten in less than four or five days.

This was the case. But when Su’s mother mentioned the fire, some netizens who hadn’t finished the entire article began to question it.

They questioned whether the fire was a fabricated fact for the sake of the clarification.

They never questioned the source of the rumors, thinking they were standing on the side of justice, but in the end, they were carrying “justice” to question justice.

This was the norm for online discourse.

Jiang Xi didn’t pay attention to these comments, or rather, she had no interest in them at all.

Her long hair fell behind her ears, blocking half of her face and revealing a section of her fair and slender neck.

Jiang Xi looked at the article on her phone very seriously.

She read it slowly, word by word.

The fire, the lives lost, the firefighters, and finally, the family that was left with only a father and two children.

Those two children had lost their mother in the fire. Their mother had used her body to shield her two children, extending their lives with her own.

In the end, the two children were miraculously and luckily saved.

Jiang Xi had thought that after all these years, she would be able to look at these things calmly. But after reading these words, she felt unexpectedly emotional.

These words described a tragic event that had happened in her life.

The terrifying heat of the fire, like a demon, had swept her mother away. They say that children can’t remember much, but even today, both she and Jiang Chi still remember the scene.

She remembered clearly that her mother hadn’t made a single cry of pain as she held them until she stopped breathing.

She also remembered that after the rescue ended, a mother was crying her heart out next to a stretcher covered with a white sheet. A white-haired person had said goodbye to a black-haired person.

Her child was great, but had disappointed her family.

The article was not short but not long either, but Jiang Xi only finished it half an hour later.

Su’s mother finally proved that the family that had the fire back then was surnamed Jiang. She didn’t mention the names of the two children, because Su’s mother truly didn’t know their names, from back then to now.

She only proved that Jiang Xi’s painting was indeed of the fire that happened back then and that she had witnessed the scene herself.

And so much time had passed, so her memory of the two children’s appearance might be mistaken.

But one thing could not be fabricated: she remembered that the little girl among the two children had a burn on her back and was taken to the hospital together.

It seemed that it didn’t directly mention that the little girl in the fire was Jiang Xi from beginning to end, but it was more powerful than directly admitting it was Jiang Xi.

Su’s mother didn’t say much more after that.

And after this article was published, many netizens had already dug up a photo of Jiang Xi with her back slightly exposed from her countless past photos.

Scars on the back are generally not easy to see, and Jiang Xi indeed rarely wore backless dresses.

However, her injuries back then were not serious, and the burn scar was not large.

The photo that was dug up was of a long dress with a cut-out back.

It was black, creating a great contrast with the woman’s fair and delicate skin, and the visual impact was extremely strong.

It was a photo from two years ago, when Jiang Xi had just entered the entertainment industry.

It was also not long after she had walked out of the shadows and re-entered the world.

Her long hair was draped over her shoulders, her lips were a deep red, and her aura was cold and distant, with a touch of extreme beauty.

And a small corner of a tattoo was exposed in the cut-out part of her back.

She was very fair, and the tattoo stood out prominently. The pattern seemed to be a butterfly.

With broken wings.

Someone noticed that there were subtle bumps under the tattoo. So many coincidences basically proved that the little girl in the fire mentioned in the article was Jiang Xi.

Public opinion began to turn dramatically. Some people started to scold the news accounts that had published the false information.

And the attacks on Ren Shenghai became a major trend, saying that he was unworthy of being a teacher, a beast in human clothing, and that his words were vicious and harsh, just as many people had scolded Jiang Xi back then.

Ren Shenghai’s plagiarized painting was trampled underfoot, maliciously altered, and mocked.

But even so, among the many voices, there was still a group of people who didn’t believe the clarification, thinking that the evidence was not strong enough.

They questioned whether this was just a fabrication by Jiang Xi to clear her name. After all, how could a person in the entertainment industry not be familiar with these tricks? It wouldn’t be difficult for them to put on a show, as long as they were paid.

Jiang Xi didn’t look at any of these comments.

At this point, those who believed would always believe, and those who didn’t would never believe. Everyone had their own judgment, but Jiang Xi had already reclaimed her innocence.

It was half an hour later when Jiang Xi closed the article, but it seemed that there was another message on the internet.

When Jiang Xi was about to exit, she found that the account that posted the article had posted a photo.

At first glance, the photo was a bit dim.

The old newspaper was yellow and a bit old. It had probably been looked at many times, and the paper was a little wrinkled with curled edges.

And on the newspaper was a report of the fire from over twenty years ago.

The print media at that time, like the many media outlets today, focused on a more eye-catching angle. The headlines and content were all sensational and easily grabbed people’s attention.

The angle was that the mother had used her body to protect her two children.

Throughout history, any historical disaster has always had records of family affection, which are the most touching and moving.

On the other hand, the sacrificed firefighter was only mentioned briefly, but even so, his mother had cherished this newspaper and repeatedly taken it out to look at it. This was the last evidence of her son’s existence in this world.

At that time, not only was communication not developed, but electronic devices were also very different from what they are today.

In that era, there were no touch screens, only candy bar phones and flip phones. The photos taken were of very low quality and were blurry and hard to distinguish.

The article’s accompanying photo was a blurry image that was almost just a silhouette of the fire.

But if you looked closely, you could still make out the figures. It was a photo taken of a window.

The fire was raging and spreading out of the window like a monster. The window’s protective bars were scorched black, and under the flames, there were three blurry figures.

The larger figure seemed to be bent down, saying something to the two children.

Jiang Xi looked at this photo for a long time without moving. She hadn’t known that someone had taken this picture at the time.

She knew very well that when this photo was taken, the fire had not yet burned her mother, and she also remembered what her mother had said to them at that time.

She didn’t tell them to study hard or to become successful people in the future. She only told the two of them to grow up healthy and happy.

“Mommy wants to see you grow up,” was the last thing her mother said.

She told them to grow up healthy and happy. Jiang Chi had listened, but she didn’t seem to have.

Jiang Xi’s emotions were very calm, but her nose felt a little sore. For so many years, she and Jiang Chi had always missed their mother. They had.

Jiang Xi finally looked up. She hadn’t noticed that her back was a little sore from not moving for a long time. She turned off her phone.

Ji Yuanzhou had said, “After you’ve seen it, you can get a good night’s sleep.”

Yes, it was time for a good night’s sleep.

After three years, a truly good night’s sleep.

Jiang Xi didn’t know where she had thrown her phone, but she didn’t care. She burrowed back into the blanket.

Before closing her eyes, she thought that if her mother could see this, she would probably be happy.

And also Xia Xinyan and her other family members, Jiang Chi.

Of course, she also thought of Lu Nandu. This boy watched her news every day, so he had probably seen it by now.

Perhaps because her mind was at ease, Jiang Xi fell asleep quickly this time. Her consciousness soon scattered, and she fell asleep.

The day had already dawned.

Online public opinion was pushed to the peak by this newspaper.

Before this, those who claimed it was a fabrication and a stunt were all silenced after the newspaper appeared. The truth of what happened back then was revealed.

Some of Ren Shenghai’s former students even came forward and said that their ideas had also been plagiarized by Ren Shenghai and that he was not a first-time offender.

But before today, she had never dared to speak up. Whether it was Jiang Xi or her, they were the vulnerable party, and no one would have believed them without proof.

Ren Shenghai used to have a respected quality of cherishing talent. As long as someone had talent or perseverance, he would make them work for him.

Many people said that his original motive for recruiting talent was not pure, and they couldn’t help but feel a chill. The teacher who had the upper hand was now a target for attack.

The truth was finally revealed.

Ren Shenghai’s behavior of plagiarizing as a teacher and then slandering the victim caused a lot of attention.

Jiang Xi, who was once attacked by a group, was naturally seen by more people, including her works that were once slandered as worthless.

Everyone was waiting for her to come out and say something. But the protagonist, who was being waited on by millions of people to speak out, slept until noon.

She had work in two hours.

For once, Jiang Xi didn’t feel sleepy when she opened her eyes. She got up and went to wash up.

If she had an event, she would usually stay at a nearby hotel, and this time was no exception. So the event venue was not far from the hotel she was staying in.

After washing up and putting on her makeup, she went downstairs. It was still early.

The event was at a media building.

Jiang Xi glanced at the time. She didn’t take a taxi. She put on a mask and walked slowly, following the navigation.

The event was not long and ended quickly. It had only been a little over an hour when Jiang Xi returned to the hotel.

She went upstairs to pack her luggage and prepare to check out.

Other than packing her toiletries, there wasn’t much else to pack. When Jiang Xi came out of the bathroom, her phone was lit up on the bed. Someone was calling.

She suddenly remembered that Lu Nandu hadn’t called her since the clarification was released in the early hours of the morning.

In contrast, Jiang Chi, who worked in the programming industry and slept until noon, had called her.

The few people who cared about her had all called and texted her. Even Xia Xinyan’s daughter and Jiang Chi’s girlfriend had called her.

Only Lu Nandu hadn’t.

Jiang Xi didn’t feel anything. She walked over and picked up her phone.

It was a call from Tong Yun. Jiang Xi knew that she would call her once she had dealt with things, so she wasn’t surprised.

She answered the call.

As soon as she answered, Tong Yun said, “You handled this well.”

Perhaps remembering that she hadn’t answered her previous calls, she asked Jiang Xi, “Have you been busy with these things recently?”

Jiang Xi didn’t know what to say and just hummed.

Tong Yun hadn’t thought that there would be a day when the situation would be clarified.

She said sincerely, “The painting is indeed very good.”

Before this, there were countless people who had slandered Jiang Xi, defaming her work and questioning her character. But Tong Yun, who was usually sharp-tongued and sarcastic, hadn’t said anything bad about her during that time.

She hadn’t said that she plagiarized, nor had she said that her paintings were bad.

She had only informed her of work.

And when she praised Jiang Xi, it was usually because she genuinely meant it, and she had naturally believed her paintings were good from the beginning.

Jiang Xi smiled. “Thank you.”

But Tong Yun’s good temper usually didn’t last long, as she was used to being assertive.

She quickly returned to business and asked her, “Where are you now?”

Jiang Xi: “Hotel.”

Tong Yun said, “There are probably media outlets waiting for you outside. I don’t know where they got the address from.”

Jiang Xi had almost never experienced something like this. She had only gained some fame from a drama she did a while ago after entering the entertainment industry, and this morning’s event had pushed her to the peak of her popularity.

For someone so beautiful, low-key, and outstanding in her field, not only does luck favor her, but people are also easily drawn to her.

Furthermore, such a person was previously slandered, doubted, and cursed by everyone.

This would create a sense of pity, which would then lead to a feeling of goodwill.

With social commentary and public figures intertwined, Jiang Xi’s popularity was only getting higher. All the media outlets would definitely not let go of such an opportunity. Everyone wanted to get a scoop.

This was a problem for Jiang Xi. She asked Tong Yun, “Where are they?”

Tong Yun: “Probably downstairs at the hotel.”

Without waiting for Jiang Xi to speak, she said, “It’s not a bad thing for you to accept an interview. Many people are waiting for you to speak out. It’s just a matter of moving your lips a few times, and you’ll get another wave of popularity.”

Jiang Xi didn’t want to.

Tong Yun said, “The media will basically be asking about Ren Shenghai’s plagiarism of your work. It’s no loss for you to go out and make a statement.”

Jiang Xi: “There’s no need.”

Now that everyone knew the ins and outs of the matter, her attitude had nothing to do with the matter itself.

Tong Yun: “Don’t think about not cooperating. The entertainment industry thrives on popularity. Who would dislike trouble when there’s popularity to be gained?”

Halfway through the conversation, a call came in. Tong Yun said, “Alright, I’m taking a call. You should be careful later. Don’t say anything extra, just talk about what happened this morning.”

After she finished speaking, she quickly hung up.

Jiang Xi’s expression was blank. She threw her phone back on the bed and then walked to the window.

The window faced the entrance. Jiang Xi leaned against the wall and gently parted the curtains with her fingers.

She hadn’t noticed when she came in, or maybe no one had arrived yet, but now there were a few cars and a few people with cameras talking together.

Jiang Xi let go of the curtains.

Her luggage was almost packed. She changed her clothes and went downstairs to check out.

The front desk was in a blind spot from where the people outside were standing.

Jiang Xi leaned against the counter, her gaze returning from the outside.

The front desk clerk was a young woman. Jiang Xi watched her handle some information and asked, “Do you have a back door?”

The young woman looked up. “Yes, we do.”

“Where is it?”

The young woman pointed in a direction. “Go down this hallway and then turn right at the end. The back door is there.” After saying that, she handed her ID back to her.

Jiang Xi took it. “Thank you.”

After saying that, she pulled her suitcase and walked towards the hallway, leaving through the back door.

________________________________________

Lu Nandu’s business trip was only for one day and one night, and he returned to the capital in the early hours of the morning.

Of course, he had seen the news about Jiang Xi online.

Having barely slept for two consecutive days, Lu Nandu went straight home to sleep after getting off the plane.

He hadn’t been back to the Lu family mansion for a while, so he went back this time. Last time he slept until noon, this time he slept until two in the afternoon.

Grandpa Lu and Liang Sirong had already eaten two meals.

Lu Nandu was sleeping shirtless in bed. When he woke up, he turned over, stretched out his arm, and grabbed his phone.

He turned on the screen. There was nothing. Not a single missed call or text message.

This was Lu Nandu’s private number, and he only had one contact: Jiang Xi.

He looked at the empty screen with a blank expression. After a few seconds, he turned off his phone and threw it to the side.

She didn’t even share such a happy thing with him.

He got up and out of bed, casually put on a T-shirt, and went downstairs.

He stopped at the door and looked back at the phone he had just thrown on the bed.

He stared at it for a few seconds before turning around, going back to the bed, grabbing the phone, and putting it in his pocket. Only then did he leave the room.

The architecture of the Lu family mansion was a typical style of graceful nobility, with crystal chandeliers and a spiral staircase.

Before Lu Nandu went downstairs, he heard a woman’s voice coming from downstairs.

The mansion was spacious, and the woman’s voice was quite loud, with a bit of an echo.

Lu Nandu immediately recognized that it was one of Liang Sirong’s friends, a woman named Ding. Madam Ding also came from a wealthy family.

Liang Sirong had been very relaxed ever since she married into the Lu family. She would often have tea and chat with friends, and if the weather was nice, she would go shopping.

Today, she was probably having tea with a friend at home.

Lu Nandu was about to go downstairs when Madam Ding’s words reached his ears.

“Sirong,” Madam Ding said earnestly, “You don’t need to be so good to that boy. He’s clearly an ingrate. Back then, En Di was also because of him...”

Liang Sirong, who was usually very gentle, interrupted her. “Don’t say that.”

Madam Ding probably thought Liang Sirong was too soft-spoken, and she was a talkative person, so she said, “En Di was harmed by him back then, and you’re still saying ‘don’t say that’? That child was so lovely. As his aunt, I saw...”

She didn’t continue, perhaps feeling that Liang Sirong was weak, and said, “You’re still so good to this boy, treating him like your own son. I think one day you’ll be sold out and won’t even know it.”

Liang Sirong had lost her son at a young age. How could she feel good hearing these words?

She was about to say something when an unfriendly voice suddenly came from upstairs, from Lu Nandu.

He came down the stairs, hands in his pockets, looking very calm.

“Which eye did you use to see me kill someone?”

Madam Ding downstairs was startled by his sudden appearance. Liang Sirong turned to look at him.

Lu Nandu slowly walked downstairs, his hands in his pockets, and looked at Madam Ding.

He usually had a smiling face, but now he was serious and cold.

Madam Ding, who was usually sharp-tongued, suddenly fell silent when she saw Lu Nandu’s expression. However, she still looked a bit defiant.

Liang Sirong got up from the sofa, not wanting the two of them to argue, and also felt sorry for Lu Nandu. “A-Du, don’t take it to heart. Your aunt didn’t mean it that way.”

Lu Nandu was usually playful with Liang Sirong, but now he just let out a cold laugh.

“Who said she was my aunt?”

Madam Ding seemed to want to say something, but Liang Sirong quickly stopped her.

Lu Nandu stared at her intensely.

Seeing that she couldn’t do anything, Liang Sirong walked around the low table towards Lu Nandu. She went to hold Lu Nandu’s hand.

“A-Du, you haven’t eaten yet. Auntie will go and cook for you, okay?”

Liang Sirong knew that Lu Nandu was in a bad mood right now.

But perhaps not wanting to cause her trouble, he coldly took his eyes off Madam Ding and walked towards the dining hall.

Liang Sirong breathed a sigh of relief. After Lu Nandu had walked away, she said to Madam Ding, “He’s very sensitive about En Di’s death. You shouldn’t keep bringing it up to provoke him.”

Madam Ding saw her like this and was furious.

“I see you’re treating him like your own son now.”

Liang Sirong said, “Both hands are flesh and blood.”

Madam Ding was completely at a loss for words. In the end, she only said, “No matter how good your relationship is with him, he’s not your biological son. He won’t be devoted to you as a mother. You’ll suffer when you get old.”

Liang Sirong just smiled when she heard that.

Whenever Lu Nandu came home, Liang Sirong would cook and make desserts.

After eating a little, Lu Nandu played a game in the living room.

Madam Ding had already left. Liang Sirong brought over some fruit. “Have some fruit.”

Lu Nandu was playing the game seriously with the controller in his hand.

“You eat first.”

Liang Sirong hadn’t had a proper conversation with him since he came back. She asked him, “You don’t have to go to the company today?”

Lu Nandu: “No.”

Liang Sirong knew that Lu Nandu hadn’t adjusted his mood yet. “A-Du—”

She was interrupted by Lu Nandu’s phone ringing halfway through her sentence.

Usually, when Lu Nandu was playing a game, he would never be interrupted, even if the sky was falling. He would be annoyed if anyone interrupted him.

However, Liang Sirong saw that the moment the phone rang, Lu Nandu’s eyes lit up. The next second, he threw the game controller down without hesitation.

And the irritable mood he had just a moment ago vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye.

This was the first time Liang Sirong had seen him like this, and she was a little surprised.

Lu Nandu answered the phone. “Hello.”

Jiang Xi hadn’t expected Lu Nandu to answer so quickly. “Do you keep your phone with you 24/7?”

Lu Nandu was originally annoyed that Jiang Xi hadn’t told him anything, but with just a phone call from Jiang Xi, he instantly forgot everything.

He was still leaning on the sofa, his long legs stretched out lazily, and he said very directly, “I’m afraid of missing your call.”

There was a moment of silence from Jiang Xi’s end.

Lu Nandu’s heart ached every moment he didn’t see her. It had been more than a day.

He asked her, “Big sister, when are you going to pay me back for the favor?”

Jiang Xi: “Are you afraid I won’t?”

“Oh, you got me.”

Jiang Xi was amused by him. “Alright, let’s go out for dinner.”

Lu Nandu hadn’t expected her to agree so readily and instinctively cursed.

Jiang Xi: “What? Don’t want to? Okay, I’m hanging up then.”

“Shit, no,” Lu Nandu jumped up from the sofa in a hurry. “Wait, I’ll be right out.”