"Second Young Master."
Xue Guangxi walked Kang Sola home towards the university dormitory where she was staying before he rejoined Butler Lee in the car.
Butler Lee who had been in the school premises all along reported to Xue Guangxi about the latest happenings that afternoon. "The security team found a suspicious strange man hiding in the bushes. His attention was focused on you and Miss Kang Sola. We studied him for a while, but then the security team caught him taking pictures of you and Miss Kang Sola together. Our men beat him up and they took him in our custody for questioning."
"We"ve confiscated this. We found it in his possession." Butler Lee handed him an SLR camera of the latest model, the one that paparazzi usually use to capture sneak peeks.
With a queer questioning look on his face, he reached for the camera and browsed the contents. His hands were trembling with antic.i.p.ation.
The camera contained pictures of them – Xue Guangxi and Kang Sola - joking and playing around that same afternoon. The pictures were of malicious content – easily misinterpreted when people see it due to the way the photos were taken. In one of the photos, they were standing close next to each other, and Guangxi"s arm was hooked on the nape of the girl while the girl"s one hand rested on the small of his back. They were smiling, but the quality of the photo only captured their backs and half of their faces which added to the "scandalous" nature of the photo. There were several versions of that photo as if every second of that moment was captured.
Another photo showed both of them while they were chasing one another – completely candid and laughing and in full motion. The third one was a still shot of the two – Guangxi was holding both of Kang Sola"s wrists tenderly.
Anyone who would see it would surely raise an eyebrow at it or gasp in surprise or scrunch their faces and think dirty thoughts.
Xue Guangxi clenched his hand that was holding the camera. Consequently, he tightened his grip around it, and in the process, the tips of his fingers paled.
"Who"s behind this, Butler Lee?"
It was an understatement to say that Xue Guangxi was angry. He was beyond angry.
"The man who captured it is still under interrogation. I"ll get back to you soonest once we have the results, Second Young Master."
"Yes, please, Butler Lee. And please torture the man without killing him."
"Will do. Shall we?" Butler Lee asked if he was ready to leave the university.
Xue Guangxi nodded curtly. Butler Lee revved the engine.
He was still fuming with rage. "Who dared to smear our reputation? Especially Sola"s?"
Still red on the face, he thought angrily, "It"s even slightly acceptable if they only attack me. But to drag Sola into this? They have to pay for this."
He clenched his already balled up fists tighter, then released them. He closed his eyes. He must have slept because the next thing he knew, Butler Lee was tapping his shoulder. "We"re at the Xue Mansion, Second Young Master.""En."
***
Meanwhile, in the heart of a labyrinth-like alleyway, inside a scanty room with a blue door, two men were discussing.
"The paparazzi I hired is captured by the men that the Xue"s employed to protect the Second Young Master. But no worries, there"s no information to tell, as he does not know me personally." w.a.n.g Xi Fu beamed brightly. "Hehehe. Brilliant, isn"t it? We"re still safe."
"Hmph. What did the paparazzi get to collect? Do you know?" The lanky authoritative man whose ident.i.ty was unclear yet probed. "Is there worth something in this conversation we"re having now?"
"He called me this afternoon to let me know that Xue Guangxi, the Second Young Master, has been fooling around with a girl. He has been constantly spotted with that same girl for almost always."
"He sent me a sample of the photo he had taken before his camera and phone were confiscated. Here it is. The girl is a renowned vlogger in the online community. We can use her reputation to make a big scandal to pull the Second Young Master down."
He handed his phone over to the other man with a higher influence.
Almost instantly, the man"s countenance paled when he saw the picture. As quickly as his initial reaction, he recovered his facial expression as if nothing extraordinary happened. In actuality, the change in his facial features was infinitesimal that it wouldn"t even be noticeable by a person who had not been paying enough attention, especially inside the room where they were, under dim illumination.
In effect, w.a.n.g Xi Fu did not see the change in the reaction of the lanky man.
But his own face contorted upon hearing the man"s response to the photo. "Delete it."
"Spare the girl."
"Choose another girl to victimize and use to pull down the Second Young Master."
"HUH??!!" w.a.n.g Xi Fu nearly puked blood. It was even considered quite an outcome of luck that they were able to save and acquire such a precious photo. It was enough to destroy the Second Young Master when the issue is magnified accordingly. With the girl"s ident.i.ty as a public figure, the task could be considered done.
"B-B-But!! But!!!"
"This photo is everything we"ve got!"
"This photo is a gem! It"s rare!"
"It"s all we need to support the previous rumors about the Second Young Master!"
w.a.n.g Xi Fu was quite fl.u.s.tered by what he heard. He couldn"t believe his ears.
"Didn"t you hear me?"
"Do you dare to disobey me? I can discard you with just a flick of my fingers. The big boss will not flinch at all."
The former Marketing Director of Xue s.h.i.+pping gasped in extreme horror. He felt as if he was blanched with hot and cold water in that specific order.
"But why?"
"You don"t need to know. But if you care for your life, stay away from that girl." The lanky man stood up, preparing to leave. Before he exited the door, he turned around to give one last instruction – a redundancy of his previous one. "I believe we are clear here, Mister w.a.n.g Xi Fu."
"If anything bad happens to the girl with your own doing, the boss himself would make sure to deliver you to h.e.l.l."
w.a.n.g Xi Fu fell on all fours when his knees gave in from wobbling too much upon hearing the frightful words of the mysterious man, with the realization that that horrific future wouldn"t be only an empty threat if he failed to comply.