"Let go!" Lin Yuwen pushed w.a.n.g Jinglin away, causing her to lose her balance as she tripped backward and fell to the ground.
"Your son cheated on me. He married me with the intention of cheating me out of my money. I don"t care if you try to embarra.s.s me. Sooner or later, people will find out that he tried to do me wrong, and when that happens, I will not let him off that easily. Don"t come looking for me anymore, otherwise, you will be that one that will end up losing face. Your family has gained enough from me. Go home, live your life and take good care of your son! I have evidence of his a.d.u.l.tery and I"ll willingly play along if you want us to file for divorce. Remember, there are many ways I can bankrupt him!"
w.a.n.g Jinglin was stunned as she sat on the floor clutching her chest. The tears streamed down her face as she mumbled, "You"re too much… How could you bully me like this? Lin Yuwen, where"s your conscience? How can you be so shameless? You"ve turned your back on Ziming, you…"
Lin Chu slowly lost interest as w.a.n.g Jinglin wailed on. She even lost her appet.i.te after seeing all the waterworks.
Thus, she turned to Yan Beicheng. "Let"s go."
"Don"t you want to see what happens next?" Yan Beicheng asked with a laugh.
Lin Chu shook her head. "There"s nothing left to see. It"s quite a waste of time."
They got up to leave as w.a.n.g Jinglin continued arguing with Lin Yuwen behind them.
That night, Zhu Hexuan walked into a five-star hotel while clutching her handbag. The old princ.i.p.al refused to help her out and did not even want to see Zhu Hexuan at all.
Zhu Hexuan could not get help from anyone. Her only option left was to contact an old acquaintance of hers. It was a businessman who was on bad terms with Lin Mao and owned a rival company. He had previously used Lin Chu, Cheng Ziming and Lin Yuwen"s love triangle to attack Lin Mao.
His company was the one that had initially contacted Zhu Hexuan. They had paid her to generate fake news or promote their company. There were times when the company"s products did not meet the required standards, so they had gotten her to write favorable reviews to help promote the said products.
She got to know the company well as they had often worked together.
The boss of the company that Zhu Hexuan was meeting was a man named Zhao Zhide. Zhao Zhide had a large network of a.s.sociates, and if he was willing, he could help her get a job.
However, she did not expect Zhao Zhide to hint at her that it would come at a price. She had to spend the night with him.
Zhao Zhide was a middle-aged man who was in his mid-forties and looked very respectable. He had a decent-looking face was of very average appearance-wise. Nevertheless, Zhu Hexuan had nowhere else to turn to as Lu Zhenghang was ignoring her.
He had long gotten tired of her after enjoying her body so many times.
Zhao Zhide was not really an ugly man, so Zhu Hexuan gritted her teeth and agreed to his terms. If she could gain his favor from this, then it would not be a total loss.
She tried her best to console herself with thoughts of starlets who often married into rich families. The men they married had probably married and divorced a few times prior to that, and most likely also had grown-up stepchildren. Many of these men were not the best-looking people, but if these starlets could tolerate it, so could she.
Her experience with Lu Zhenghang had taught her that tall, rich, good-looking men of status were not people she could depend on. It would be pointless for her to feel disappointed about this simple fact of life.
With that, she decided to set her sights on Zhao Zhide.
This night was the night she had agreed to meet with Zhao Zhide in the hotel room.
Zhu Hexuan soon went to the room number that she was told to and pressed the doorbell, but the person that opened the door was a man that she did not recognize. This man was not Zhao Zhide as he looked vicious and rough. It was obvious this was someone that should not be crossed.
Zhu Hexuan was shocked and immediately apologized, "I"m sorry, I got the wrong room."
The man grabbed her arm and did not let her leave. His grip was so tight that Zhu Hexuan wanted to cry out in pain but quickly stifled it. She started to tremble with fear and regretted coming here.
She was not at the wrong room but also had no idea why Zhao Zhide was not the one who had opened the door. The man in front of her did not look like someone who worked a regular office job, nor did he give off the impression that he might be one of Zhao Zhide"s a.s.sistants.
Zhu Hexuan was terrified and had a bad feeling about this. The only thing to do was to force herself to stay calm and not show that she was afraid. She had to think on her feet and pretend that she was at the wrong door in the hopes of tricking them.
She did not expect that the vicious-looking man to refuse to let her go. "You have an appointment with Zhao Zhide, right?"
Zhu Hexuan was stunned but immediately denied it, "No, I don"t know any Zhao Zhide. I"m at the wrong room."
She was about to leave when the man suddenly smiled. The smile on his face made him look crueler as it changed his entire aura.
"You"re Zhu Hexuan, am I right? President Zhao is waiting inside. Why are you claiming not to know him since you"re here?" The man said with that cruel smile on his face.
"I don"t…" Zhu Hexuan finally revealed a look of fear on her face as she got the feeling that something terribly wrong was going on.
"Miss Zhu," a man"s voice called out to her.
Zhu Hexuan recognized the voice and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhao Zhide appeared from behind the man with the vicious face. He smiled when he saw Zhu Hexuan. "Why don"t you come in?"
Zhu Hexuan relaxed when she saw Zhao Zhide.
It might just be her imagination; this man might look scary, but he was not necessarily a bad person. One should not judge a book by its cover.
"President Zhao." Zhu Hexuan gave a relaxed smile.
Zhu Zhide nodded as he waved her in. "Come on in."
Zhu Hexuan did not expect another man to be in the room when she entered.
Zhu Hexuan was 1.6 meters tall. Even with high heels, at about 1.67 meters, she was still a good deal shy of 1.7 meters tall. Nevertheless, this man was even shorter than she was.
There were three men in the room. Zhu Hexuan looked inquisitively at Zhao Zhide and asked, "President Zhao, what is going on…"
Zhao Zhide was no longer looking at her. He turned to say to the man with the vicious-looking face, "You can take it from here."
The vicious-looking man wore a terrible smile that harbored bad intentions. He grinned at Zhao Zhide. "Not bad. We"ll take care of everything, President Zhao, don"t worry."
Zhao Zhide nodded and ignored the look of fear on Zhu Hexuan"s face. However, he paused momentarily when he saw the look in her eyes pleading for help.
Zhu Hexuan felt a glimmer of hope, but almost immediately, Zhao Zhide said, "Miss Zhu, please satisfy these two gentlemen. I promise you will be properly compensated."
With that, he closed the door and left.
"President Zhao!" Zhu Hexuan screamed as she tried to chase after him, but somebody immediately pulled her long hair back.
Zhu Hexuan screamed in pain as tears welled up in her eyes.
She fell backward before tumbling onto the carpet, her long hair falling all over her face.
After this, someone sat on her legs before she could get up. Zhu Hexuan pushed her hair back and saw the vicious-looking man giving her a sinister look.
Zhu Hexuan tried her best to struggle whilst the other man, who she had almost forgotten because he had stayed silent all this while, walked over and squatted in front of her head. He pushed both hands down and reached out to give her a tight slap across the face.
Zhu Hexuan was instantly dazed as she saw stars. For a moment, she could not see anything except darkness sprinkled with white specks.
It took a while for her to regain her vision. She saw something above her and quickly realized that it was the dark, wrinkled face of that little man. "Stay still! Did you think you were here to spend the night with Zhao Zhide? I know who you are. You"re that reporter who was in the news, right? Zhao Zhide sent you to us because you are pretty and decent. We"re quite happy with his choice."
Zhu Hexuan was so frightened that she began crying and shouting at the same time, "What are you trying to do?! Let me go, what you are you doing?! Ah!"
Zhu Hexuan was immediately slapped again.
"What are we trying to do? Zhao Zhide needs our help with his business, so he gave you to us. All you need to do is let us fool around with you. If we have a good time, we"ll agree to help Zhao Zhide - it"s that simple. We"re already at this stage and you"re still asking us what we want? Aren"t you a reporter? How naïve can you be?" The vicious-looking man sneered as he grabbed a hold of her clothes.
"You… you"re rapists! This is a crime! Let me go, let me go! I"ll sue you! Even Zhao Zhide can"t escape! I"ve helped him so many times that I"m holding his company"s dirty linen. He"ll be finished once I expose them, his company will be destroyed! Let go of me!" Zhu Hexuan screamed as she cried. She was becoming hoa.r.s.e from all the screaming.
The vicious-looking man laughed and took out his phone from behind him. Then, he turned toward the little man and said, "Strip her. I"ll take pictures!"
"Stop! Let me go!" Zhu Hexuan could see that they were serious about this.
One look and it was clear that these two were not good people. She was so scared that she immediately screamed for mercy, "I beg of you, let me go! Please, I beg you! I… I have money!"
She had gained quite a bit from her time with Lu Zhenghang and would be able to gather quite a bit of money by selling off some stuff.
"Let go of me and I"ll pay you. Don"t worry, I won"t say a word about this! I won"t reveal what you are planning to a secret, and I"ll keep everything Zhao Zhide did a secret too. We"ll pretend none of this ever happened. I beg of you, let me go! I"m begging you!" Zhu Hexuan cried as she said.
The two men did not listen to her at all. The vicious-looking man began taking pictures but felt that the process was slow. Thus, he started recording a video instead.
"Mmmf!" Zhu Hexuan"s voice was something stifled as something was shoved into her mouth.
The disgusting taste of something sour and salty made her nauseous. She tried to shake her head to get rid of it, but her face was being held down so that she was not able to move. It was a terrible feeling that made her want to die as her despair grew by the minute. She struggled for a long time but eventually got weaker and weaker. Finally, she lost all her strength and simply lay there like a dead fish. No matter what the men did, she could no longer react or retaliate. She just lay there as the tears in her eyes continued to flow throughout the ordeal.
She cried until she completely lost her voice and all that was left was her silent cries and sniffles. Her mucous dripped unimpeded from her nose, but she could not care less about her image at the moment. The two men probably found it disgusting as they quickly took a handkerchief embalmed with the hotel"s logo and covered Zhu Hexuan"s face with it.
The next day, it was already past 10 am when Zhu Hexuan woke up in the hotel room.
The two men had tortured her all night long and did not even treat her like a human being. The little man had even referred to her as "b*tch" throughout the ordeal.
Her body had been violently ravaged by then and her tear ducts were all dried up. Whenever she thought of the word, she would begin to cry again, causing the tears to pour down her face. However, by then her tear ducts were so irritated that it felt like something was rubbing against her eyeb.a.l.l.s whenever she sobbed.
The two men had ravaged her in whatever shameless position one could think of, both from the front and from the back. They exploited her in any way possible to satisfy themselves.
Eventually, she collapsed on the bed out of fatigue. There was not an ounce of strength left in her when the two men finally left her alone.
During the last bit of her consciousness, she heard the little man say, "We"ve taken lots of pictures and recorded every video possible. If you dare tell anyone about this or try to sue us, just remember what we have. Consider your future before you act."
The vicious-looking man put on his belt as he said, "Let"s just put it this way: Even if you decide to risk it all and sue us, we may end up going to jail but we do still have our subordinates. If you expose us and have the gall to sue us, our subordinates will torture you in a million different ways. You"ll wish you were dead, so don"t even think about living comfortably for the rest of your life. By then, you"ll probably be desperate to kill yourself. Understand?"
Zhu Hexuan trembled despite having no energy when she heard him say this. She closed her eyes as she tried her best to dispel the memories of what had just happened to her.
After this, she heard the sound of footsteps moving further and further away from her, and then, the door to the hotel room was shut.
Zhu Hexuan wanted to leave immediately but was too tired to do so. In the end, she simply blacked out on the spot.
When she opened her eyes, the smell of the previous night"s devious acts was still wafting through the room. The smell grew increasingly pungent with every pa.s.sing minute.
Zhu Hexuan felt nauseous and suddenly threw up on the bed. The odor of her vomit fused with the pungent smell of s.e.x made Zhu Hexuan want to get as far away from that place as possible.
With great difficulty, she got up from the bed. She felt every inch of her body ache as she struggled to close her legs. As she began to hobble away, she felt an intense pain in her backside, like she had been constipated for a few days before violently sh*tting out stones. Her rear end felt completely destroyed.
She steadied herself against the wall and picked up her scattered clothes from the floor before walking into the bathroom to stand under the hot shower. As she washed herself, the image of the two men raping her kept replaying in her mind. She felt extremely cold as she trembled profusely despite standing under the hot water.
She hugged herself with her hands as her tears flowed once more. She cried as she squatted on the floor before rolling herself into a ball.
She was dirty, so dirty. There was no turning back from here.
Her sobs got louder, first from a silent cry, to sniffling, and subsequently, a loud wail.
It took a long time before Zhu Hexuan was finally able to pick up her purse and walk out of the hotel whilst limping awkwardly. She walked away looking very frail; her face was pale and there were dark rings under her eyes. Moreover, her eyes look dead and devoid of spirit.
She walked lethargically all the way to Zhao Zhide"s company but was stopped at the reception.
The thought of what had happened made Zhu Hexuan furious. "Get Zhao Zhide to see me!"
The receptionist could see that she was bad news and immediately rang up Zhao Zhide"s a.s.sistant. She then turned to Zhu Hexuan to inform her that Zhao Zhide was ready to meet her.
Zhu Hexuan clenched her fists so hard that her fingernails dug deep into her palms. She did not even wait for the receptionist to show her the way and immediately walked up to Zhao Zhide"s office.
The moment Zhu Hexuan walked in and saw the look on his face, she lifted her hand to give Zhao Zhide a tight slap. However, Zhao Zhide immediately caught her blow.
Zhu Hexuan was too weak to do anything as she was thrown aside and forced backward before falling to the ground.
She no longer cared about how her appearance as she lifted her head to spit out hatefully, "Why?!"
Zhao Zhide gave her a cold look. Zhu Hexuan cried as she questioned him, "All I did was come to you for help. We could have continued to help each other out. You could have just told me that you were not willing to help me. Why did you do this to me?! Zhao Zhide, what did I do to you to deserve this? When we were working together, I carried out all the tasks you paid me to professionally. What did I do wrong for me to deserve this?!"
Not willing to help her?
Zhao Zhide sneered. If he had said he could not help her, Zhu Hexuan would have threatened him with records of their past communications referencing the dirty work he had commissioned her to do. This was the kind of woman Zhu Hexuan was.
Did she really think that he would not have a contingency plan when working with a reporter?
Zhao Zhide was not in a hurry to explain anything as he took out a stack of pictures and threw them at Zhu Hexuan. "Just look at how dirty you are now. How dare you still touch me?"
After saying this, he pulled out a piece of wet tissue from his table and wiped the hand he had used to grab hold of Zhu Hexuan.
Zhu Hexuan was in a daze as she watched him. She turned to glance at the pictures on the floor and saw that they were the pictures the two men had taken the previous night.
"It"s your own fault for being greedy. You really overestimated yourself by coming to me for help. The reality is, you were trying to threaten me, am I right? Just because you have a bit of dirt on me, you think you can take advantage of me. Do you really think you are that much smarter than every else in the world?" Zhao Zhide sneered as he walked toward her. He lowered his head to look down at her coldly.
"There"s plenty more where these came from, and rest a.s.sured, you"ll have plenty of opportunities to help me in the future. All you need to do is be a good girl, and these pictures won"t be distributed. If not…" Zhao Zhide smiled coldly and did not finish his threat.
Zhu Hexuan felt a chill run down her spine.
Did Zhao Zhide mean for her to become a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e?
He had given her to his partners as a plaything. The thought of experiencing last night"s ordeal again or going through something worse would prevent her from ever landing herself a rich man. She would not even be able to have a normal relations.h.i.+p. Every man she "serviced" would be the polar opposite of decent. The mere thought of it revolted her.
Zhu Hexuan already had a sickly look on her face, but she suddenly turned paler as she got up and crawled toward Zhao Zhide on all fours before grabbing a hold of his leg.
"President Zhao, I was wrong, I know that now. Please let me off! I won"t do it again. Please don"t sink yourself to my level. I"m brainless, I"m not smart, I"m stupid. I"m so stupid to even think that I could manipulate others. I"m a joke. President Zhao, I"m nothing compared to you. I know now how wrong I was, and I promise that I"ll never do it again. President Zhao, please… Please don"t turn me into someone"s plaything. I beg of you. Let bygones be bygones. I"ll keep quiet about last night. I won"t tell anyone! Just let me off," Zhu Hexuan cried as she clung onto Zhao Zhide"s leg.
"I promise I won"t remember a thing. I won"t know anything and won"t come looking for you again. I won"t cause you any trouble, President Zhao. I beg of you. Please don"t… don"t do this to me," Zhu Hexuan trembled.
She had cried throughout the night and her eyes were dry and in pain. Even the muscles on her face ached terribly from the constant sobbing. When she woke up this morning, her eyes were crimson red and, even now, had yet to recover.
If she continued crying, she just might go blind.
Nevertheless, at the moment, Zhu Hexuan could not care less now about her eyes as she was consumed with fear. "President Zhao, I beg you. I"m begging you. I know it"s my fault. I won"t… I really won"t repeat my mistake! President Zhao, please forgive me. I can"t… can"t do this anymore."
Zhu Hexuan trembled at the memory of the previous night. She wished she could die right there and then, but unfortunately, lacked the courage to kill herself. She felt like she was trapped in a living h.e.l.l.
Zhao Zhide kicked her away in annoyance. He was expressionless as he lowered his gaze to look at his pants, as if they had been dirtied because of Zhu Hexuan.
"Get out and only come back when you"re summoned. Remember, if I can"t find you, then you can wait for the world to discover how much of a b.i.t.c.h you can be!" Zhao Zhide said coldly.
His company had always had a hand in illegal businesses, which was why his products were always faulty. He had contacted Zhu Hexuan and paid her to write wonderful reviews about his company"s products, but even with all the knowledge at her disposal, she did not know how to utilize the love triangle between Lin Chu, Lin Yuwen and Cheng Ziming to bring down Lin Mao. Not only was she incompetent, but she also did not even care how much trouble she brought onto others.