There was no cliché part where the lady tells them that there was only one couple room available. This fact made Jiang Li realize that those things really happen only to protagonists.It was sad but while there were many tourists visiting, there were also many hotels and inns available and convenient from the center of the city. If the visitors preferred quieter residences, they could check out the houses a few kilometers away from the center as there were also locals renting out their properties. The house owners who were stationed in other cities but wanted to get some side income were in this business.
Anyways, the two were given separate solo rooms that were opposite each other. He had no idea where the bodyguards protecting her from the shadows would stay the night.
After leaving their stuff behind, Jiang Li and Selena Tang headed down, having no plans to settle their dinner with the hotel"s food. Since they were already there, it would be stupidity not to try out the specialty dishes of the places.
Jiang Li consulted a forum for this. Selena satirically commended the other for not taking her to a fast-food restaurant. She thought he would bring her to one in an attempt to show her the common people"s lives.
Time pa.s.sed and they arrived at the recommended restaurant. It was not far away from the hotel, approximately four to five minutes away on foot. Once again, the girl who had yet to forget the grudges incurred today showed how much she wanted to thin down his wallet.
Jiang Li merely smiled and then pretended he didn"t hear her ordering each of everything.
"What time should we leave?" he asked to break the silence between them.
She thought for a moment, her eyes were still on the dishes placed neatly before her. "Probably around 6 am. You should try to book seats in advance, so you won"t have to line up for tickets tomorrow," she said.
Her reply garnered a smirk from him. "This is new. I thought you"d strive to make me suffer from lining up instead. Afraid of being late to work?"
Selena quietly stared at Jiang Li for some time before she nodded, "You"re right. I am. So you should line up and I"ll book my own ticket and perhaps, leave on my own."
His jaw almost fell to the ground. His expression was still a bit too wonderful in her eyes so she sneered before laughing softly.
That was simply a real stunner for Jiang Li since it was quite hard to make Selena laugh.
"You look stupid," she commented with a rare playful glint in her eyes.
"..." "... I think I have just successfully sacrificed my image." The thought made him smile helplessly.
There was a time when Jiang Li had to excuse himself because of a call he received. The man was reluctant to leave at first. However, since it was from the CEO, he reckoned it was important.
Selena did not say anything and merely nodded. She then watched as he sauntered towards the open balcony of the second floor where they were currently located. A couple of moments later, he vanished from sight due to a tinted gla.s.s wall decorated with some peach blossom patterns separating the balcony and the dining area.
It did not take long for her to feel weirded out by herself. Her gaze just momentarily lingered on the chair opposite hers and the one sitting there earlier had not even been gone for a minute, yet she was already feeling like it was wrong for it to be empty.
Was she... perhaps missing him?
For a while, her eyes glazed over. Her face turned solemn.
"Two thoughts play in my mind for no reason…"
"First, I can"t let him get together with someone else… and I don"t know why."
"Second, I must make his life hard… although this time, I know it"s because he"s annoying and our first meeting is not pleasant."
She was a bit absent-minded as she stuffed a piece of meat in her mouth.
Her wandering mind only returned to her body when a figure appeared before her, casting shadows on the table.
It automatically made her raise her head, something that caused a frown to surface on her countenance.
"Miss Mo." Her voice was extremely cold when she uttered the name of the person.
"Selena Tang…"
Mo Fang had arrived, her efforts in locating her ex-husband finally bore fruit.
Right now, on her face that was being half-concealed by a facemask was barely restrained anger and desire to kill.
Selena noticed that the other woman"s eyes moved around too fast and she inferred that it was to search for Jiang Li. Her eyes involuntarily narrowed. This little actress should have a plan in mind. Was it something that should not involve or be witnessed by Jiang Li?
Her eyes also briefly scanned the other tables and customers and she felt awful after realizing that without her knowledge she got surrounded by people discreetly looking their way with odd expressions on their faces.
Are they paparazzi and reporters Mo Fang tipped off in advance for a drama?
While she was pondering over this, something out of her expectation happened and made her eyes widened.
Mo Fang kneeled!
That very self-centered and annoying "famous" actress bent her knees in front of her!
Selena was temporarily deafened by the crisp sound of knees loudly hitting the marble tiles. She didn"t know how to react.
Mo Fang, who bowed her head to hide the uncanny look in her eyes, started making sobbing noises. The ones nearby gasped, letting all sorts of guesses play in their minds as they took in the situation.
The woman who looked as if she was gathering her courage even as she cried slowly looked up and cast Selena a pleading look.
At that moment, even the scriptwriter felt that the miserably crying person before her was too pitiful. It made her fall into a daze again.
"Miss Tang… What …do I have to do… to make you stop disturbing me… and my husband?"
"I beg you… Please stop seeing and confusing him… He"s already somebody tied to me by marriage… Miss Tang, I beg you. I beg you…."
The sobs echoed again, loudly. But it was a lot softer than the words that rang just now.
Selena felt like she was thrown in an icy pond after she understood what was happening.
The other woman was really staging a drama with the two of them as the main characters. It seemed she was being made into a villainess...
After sweeping a glance at the people whispering madly about her, she looked coldly at Mo Fang.
"I think I was hearing things earlier. What did you say again, Miss Mo?"
Without rising, bent on painting Selena Tang as a homewrecker to the unknowing people, Mo Fang met the woman"s gaze with a bit of fear, trembling in place. This gave the onlookers the idea that she was really pitiful, scared off by the cold beauty"s gaze and words. Not few began to wonder if the third party was somebody from a very good background that fell for a married man of humble status and origins. The man had a wife and they were in a loving relations.h.i.+p but she was still determined to get him for herself.
Selena was truly p.i.s.sed off by the whispers she was hearing and the kind of looks she was getting. Her shoulders trembled.
Mo Fang balled her fist and swallowed her misgivings as she cried her heart out… Shaking her head, she said in between her sobs, "Selena Tang… I, I know... You love him just as much as I do... But please... Y-you"re someone with elite background… and there where many guys out there who would fall for you. You don"t have to be a mistress… Please… I beg you, just stop… "
The tears rolling down the actress" face were real. And since people could see this from the eyes that were not concealed by the ma.s.s, their hearts began to feel heavy on her behalf. Since there were individuals mixed within them that kept incessantly saying words of sympathies for Mo Fang, the majority subconsciously started to side with her.
"Mistress?"
The Tang heiress was dumbfounded again. It was just hard to believe that one day the word would be a.s.sociated with her name. She felt like she just heard something very funny. Holding her breath and with her face darkening, she fell into contemplation.
"So she really wanted to paint me black to people."
"Does she plan to use the audience here and later, the unsuspecting and clueless people online to make my reputation suffer?"
Thoughts started to churn in her brain. She was suspecting the actress was also not worried about being called out by her real name since her name was quite common in the country. Mo Fang wouldn"t probably mention the name of the man and show her real appearance.
"As expected of a real b*tch, until the end, she is showing everyone how stupid and evil she is."
Selena stood up slowly. Her face had returned to normal. No, she openly began to look down at the other woman accusing her of breaking her marriage.
Mo Fang forgot her warning days ago? The infamous actress was somebody who only learned by experience and not by hearing? No problem!
With her arms crossed and phone raised a bit high, Selena said in a flat tone to no one in particular. "Remove her mask."
Not few were confused by what she said. Amongst them, only one person stilled, finally remembering the scriptwriter"s ident.i.ty.
Mo Fang panicked, guessing who the man swiftly heading towards her was. A bodyguard?
A moment later, the man seated two tables away with a long-haired pretty lady in a violet dress, stood up and marched towards the kneeling woman.
"D-don"t come near me!" She stood up and backed away, still s.h.i.+vering. "R-remove my mask? Then what? Make them beat me up again, l-like you did before?!!!"
The lies registered in everyone"s ears. One lady sympathized with her and left her seat to pull Mo Fang away. "Miss, what you"re doing is not nice!" Some other ladies chorused with her.
It was simply a scene where the ma.s.ses side with the one who looked more pitiful and weak. This was probably why many green tea women like donning a white lotus" mask...
Selena threw the bodyguard a glance. The latter was formerly from the military so he viewed a superior"s order seriously. In just a second, he crossed the distance between him and Mo Fang and without letting the "protectors" react, he grabbed the target and pinned her hands on her back.
"Y-you, l-let go of me! This is hara.s.sment! I, I"ll sue you!"
To the actress" horror, the man who apprehended her disregarded her threat and tightened the grip on her wrists to the point that the pain was becoming unbearable. Then in one fell swoop, he made her face the panicking noisy crowd and removed her mask!
"No!!!" Mo Fang screamed and turned her face away. But it was already too late.
"M-Mo Fang? Actress Mo Fang?"
"Wait... That actress linked with singer-actor Liu De?"
Gasps kept coming from the surprised audience who recognized her. This time, her body s.h.i.+vered for real due to the statements coming from their mouths. The stares were also painful to her skin.
Selena raised one of her brows and scoffed. "Miss Lady in Violet. Yes, you… I"m sure you recognized this person. May you please introduce her to everyone and share with us the recent news about her?"
The "dumbfounded" woman sitting at the same table as the male bodyguard took some time to process what she just said.
Not long after, the lady in violet looked around and then nodded, "Okay."
Mo Fang, whose heart began to get cold, started screaming, "Shut up! Shut up! You are not allowed! You have no right to speak! Selena Tang! You"re so shameless, you not only wanted to destroy my career! You are stealing Ah Xiang from me! You should die! Die! Why can"t you just steal another woman"s husband, huh?!!!"
"You"re a third party no matter what you say! It won"t change the fact that you did something to steal him away!!! Aarrrrrggggghhhh!"
Selena indifferently looked away from the madwoman screaming and trying to struggle from the male bodyguard. She said to the girl in violet. "Miss, can you start now? Everyone"s waiting."
Her words sounded so vicious and malicious to the actress.
The eyes of the lady in violet were seemingly asking if it was still necessary now that Mo Fang"s face was shown to those present. There should be very few people in the country who had yet to know about the adultery and s*x scandal of the infamous actress.
Still, urged by Selena"s eyes, the female bodyguards began to narrate everything she knew in a clear voice. The whole floor then became silent, apart from the beautiful woman with a warped face rampaging and crying.
"Lies! Lies! That b*tch is lying! Don"t believe her!!! She"s in cahoots with that shameless woman! They"re working together to ruin me!"
No one was convinced by her act anymore. Not when in people"s minds, her face was closely a.s.sociated with some blush-inducing pictures and videos.
Selena Tang quietly ended the video recording and sent the file to the woman in violet, Miss Mei. After giving Mo Fang one last glance, she messaged Jiang Li that she had to head back to the hotel due to something important. She then grabbed her furry jacket from the back of her chair.
Before walking out of the restaurant, she instructed the bodyguard to take Mo Fang away and ensured Jiang Li would not see the woman once he returned to the table.
The temperature of the mountain city at night was really low. But at that moment, it paled in comparison to the mood of the scriptwriter who had boarded the elevator alone.