The world outside was in a rare state of unrest as the whole country was plunged into a frenzy which was no lesser than when the matter about an actress being a victim of domestic violence.

Liu De was so bothered by it. He just got a call from Director Su"s a.s.sistant that the filming site for today somehow got leaked to the reporters and they couldn"t head there due to the countless people camping nearby.

Two days pa.s.sed since his alb.u.m was released. It was reported that its performance in the market was not looking good despite the hype and the number of records sold both digital and physical was lesser than the newcomer called Jiang Li.

"F*ck! F*ck!" Liu De angrily threw down his phone after reading the message.

"Why am I the one they"re pointing fingers at? Just because I was newer in the industry than that Andrew? I should have just produced my own songs!"

Regret welled up in his eyes and he began to look hostilely at Mo Fang who was hugging her knees on the couch before him.

The woman"s eyes were a bit vacant, as if the body was just merely a sh.e.l.l now with her mind elsewhere, wandering. She was so absent-minded that she didn"t even flinch at the continuous unpleasant noises created by the phone which broke into numerous pieces and scattered on the floor.

Alright. In reality, she was done being surprised each time the man threw something on the tiled flooring.

"Mo Fang! Aren"t you going to say anything?! This is your fault!!!" angrily, the male lead shouted.

There were others present and all of them alternately looked at the two, especially at Mo Fang. The latter did not respond and seemingly did not even notice how the man"s way of addressing her became too distant and cold.

Disgruntled for her boss" sake, the actress" a.s.sistant jumped to her defense. "It"s not necessarily Miss Mo"s fault! Maybe the other party is the one who stole from us and that there"s a spy! We should patiently wait for the investigation!"

Hearing the last word said by her personal a.s.sistant, the light in the actress" eyes returned. Investigation… d.a.m.n, investigation. She was the one guilty of stealing!

Mo Fang stood up and took a deep breath. Her gaze only went up for a second before she looked down again. The eyes of everyone present were too painful for the skin.

"I need time to think. Sorry, I"ll be leaving." Heaven knows how hard she tried not to make her voice tremble.

"Who says you can leave?" coldly, the male lead spat out.

However, the woman"s mind was too on edge lately so the words of the man who used to flatter her and shower her with love only made her hasten her steps.

Her high heels made loud sounds since she was almost running away from there. Both the angry Liu De and her wary PA caught up with her. The man grabbed her by the arm and tried to stop her from leaving, but her personal a.s.sistant slapped the male lead"s hand away. Mo fang used that chance to open the door of the manager"s office and entered the hallway. As she half-ran, half-jogged towards the elevator, her shaky hands clumsily put on her dark shades to hide her puffy eyes and the dark circles underneath.


Once she arrived home, the first thing she did after closing all the doors, the curtains, the windows, was to open Zheng Xiang"s Weibo account.

Her eyes widened in shock after triple-checking the whole page.

"S-so it"s really my fault? Because I forgot to delete the videos hereafter recording my own rough version?"

"Mo Fang! You"re so stupid!" The woman kept chastising herself, unaware that it wouldn"t matter if she deleted the videos or not.

For almost a minute, she forgot how to properly breathe. She painfully closed her eyes as numerous possibilities on how the scores ended up in the Starlight management"s hands.

Nonetheless, no matter the reason or the process of how somebody from the opposing record label managed to acquire the songs, it was a fact that Liu De was already embroiled in a huge scandal that stemmed from her negligence.

Even though both sides had yet to provide evidence on their innocence, the man she chose was the one receiving more suspicions just because the other had a greater reputation in the music industry.

"This can"t continue!" The woman gritted her teeth as a sense of danger and crisis struck her heart.

"I have to do something about this!"

It was laughable but the solution which the reborn woman thought of was to see her ex-husband and, regardless of his schedule as a busy artist and actor, force him to have a serious talk with her. 

Yet since Jiang Li was in a good mood due to the chaos happening these days, he humored the woman and led her to a secluded area in the shooting location, an ancient compound in the outskirts of the capital.

Mo Fang was in a disguise so he was not worried about her being recognized or her ident.i.ty being guessed by those who were unaware of their history. Behind the entrance where a lush acacia tree stood tall, he concernedly asked. "Miss Mo, is something the matter? Why did you rush here?"

"Please help me!" With teary eyes, she looked up at him. Mo Fang would have removed her scarf and all to reveal her pitiful face to garner the man"s sympathy. However, with the danger of being seen, she didn"t dare do so. She could only cry out, "Xiang! I beg you! Please remember our old feelings and help me! T-those songs, can you please give me the full copyright of those?"

Her own cheeks burned from embarra.s.sment. Thankfully, her scarves and huge shades and her long hair helped her s.h.i.+eld his sight from seeing it.

Jiang Li was amused and purposely remained quiet for a fairly long time. Since the actress" line of sight was below, with a slight turn upwards she saw that his hands trembled slowly balled into fists. She held her breath and looked at his face, only to see him looking at her with a complicated gaze.

He quietly said, "Do you know that those songs are dedicated to you?"

Mo Fang heard the helplessness and bitterness in his voice and her heart shook a bit. Unaware the man was feeling bitter for saying such disgusting things, she thought it was because he was suppressing the pain from within.

"It"s a chance!" A soft glimmer flashed through her eyes.

"So it is supposed to be mine, right?" she said in a hopeful voice.

Jiang Li nodded, "Yeah…" And the woman"s eyes almost became as bright as a diamond until he suddenly added in a dry tone, "However, since I saw you are happy with Liu De, I didn"t have the courage to bring those songs to light…"

"Only after a few months did I endorse the music scores to Starlight, because I was really tight on budget…"

There was embarra.s.sment on his expression when he said that, and one of his arms rose in the air a bit. The man must have wanted to scratch the back of his neck but then remembered that Mo Fang once said that he looked stupid doing that.

At that moment, the woman couldn"t find the words to say.

In the end, due to guilt, she turned around and started heading towards the exit. Jiang Li"s voice sounded behind her though, which made her tremble.

"The copyrights for those songs are solely owned by Starlight now. But I will try my best to appeal to them as the original creator… Once I get a positive result, I will then contact you…"

It took Mo Fang a few couple of seconds to digest what he said and recovered from the daze.

"Okay…"

...

That day, Qin Tai happened to be on an ongoing call with Jiang Li so he heard everything.

There was a long moment of silence from his end as he was too speechless.

"… So you"re really into acting now?" he asked.

The question sounded amusing to Jiang Li so he was laughing while pressing a finger on the blue wireless Bluetooth earpiece on his left ear. "It"s actually fun. You should try. Maybe like me, you"ll fall in love with the feeling."

"Who will I use as a practice target then? Do I have to do something like that too? Act pitiful and hopeless in front of someone?"

The young CEO couldn"t contain the revulsion he was feeling so it showed on his face. Regrettably, Jiang Li wouldn"t be able to see it and make fun of it.

"I"ll pa.s.s on that. It sounds disgusting. By the way, I heard what you said to her. Are you really going to do that? I don"t think you still need to interfere since it is already chaotic enough. Gao Jing is busy these days because the one he liked, Ms. Li Xia is quite depressed for the terrible ratings of her drama"s pilot episode. Liu De"s mess is, of course, to be blamed."

"I am somebody who never goes back on my word. If I said it, I"ll do it unless it will cost me my life. Or something dear to me."

He wouldn"t renege on his promise unless it will cost him his life or something with great worth to him?

Qin Tai only sensed malicious intent from the supposed to be honorable words.

"You"re losing your sense of shame though. So shame is not important to you? Oh. I get it. Because you"re shameless."

Laughter came from Jiang Li and he pressed the red icon displayed on his phone"s screen. He also pressed its power b.u.t.ton, causing it to be put on sleep mode.

But he didn"t immediately put it inside his pocket.

Because on its darkened mirror-like surface, he saw somebody four or five meters behind him, with crossed arms as she leisurely leaned on the brick walls to her right. She didn"t bother hiding so if he would turn around, he would immediately find her standing there. Was that her intention? Or was she confident that he wouldn"t look back?

No matter which, it wouldn"t change the surprising fact that she was actually not glaring at him today. It was the reason why his sight lingered a bit longer on the reflection.

"h.e.l.lo, Miss Tang."

To his greetings, Selena Tang only responded with a silent stare. She put her hands down and started walking towards his direction. It was not a surprise to Jiang Li that she walked past him. What she said in pa.s.sing was not new to him too.

"Liars go to h.e.l.l," a popular saying to scare children from being a liar, or hiding truths to their parents.

Perhaps she was there from the start and heard her brief exchanges with Mo Fang and Qin Tai.

He was only a bit taken aback by the woman"s milder tone. "If only that means she"s no longer hostile to me." He wryly thought.

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