Chapter 37: Slander and Defamation

At the mention of Lin Ping, the smiles vanished from the faces of Lin Xingfan and Lin Lin.

"After my mother and I left, we never heard from my sister again. Later, we entrusted people back in the village to ask around, only to find out that she had run away."

"My mother is getting on in years. I often see her sitting alone on the sofa, shedding tears. She says her memory is failing her, and she’s starting to forget what my sister even looks like."

Lin Lin’s eyes shimmered with tears. Realizing I had said the wrong thing and touched upon a painful memory, I quickly added, "Sister Pingping was the smartest and most capable person in our village. She must be taking good care of herself. Perhaps she’s been trying to find a way to contact you all these years, who knows?"

"Yes, my sister and I are born of the same mother; I have a feeling in my heart that she is still alive and well."

The mandarin duck hot pot on the table bubbled away. A waiter pushed a cart over to add our side dishes. While eating, I felt eyes on me. I followed the sensation and found a few people at the next table staring at me intermittently and whispering to each other. I didn’t know them, so I frowned and stared back suspiciously. I thought it was just my imagination, but they kept it up, which made me furious.

I stood up and walked straight over to them. "Do you have a problem with me?"

The few exchanged glances, and the one closest to me shook his head, pulled out his phone, and said, "We just noticed you look a lot like the person in this video and wanted to confirm if it was you."

I looked at the phone screen. It was a short video. The first half showed me and Ji Leqing sitting on a bench in the hospital corridor, with her feeding me water. The second half captured me arguing with the blond guy, with Ji Leqing trying to mediate; it even recorded the conversation between the blond guy and me. However, the audio had been edited to remove the part where I called him a gigolo. The end of the video was from the blond guy’s perspective, filmed almost directly into my face. In the video, my face was covered by a perfunctory, poorly applied pixelated bar, while Ji Leqing’s features were not clearly captured due to a coincidence.

The video’s title was: "Living off a woman while acting tough, and he can’t even stay faithful! The secret husband of Xu Zhixia, heiress of the Xu Group, is cheating, and the mistress is suspected to be pregnant!"

If I hadn't remembered it wasn't my phone, I would have smashed it on the ground. I checked the media account that posted the video and found it was a third-rate marketing account with only a few thousand followers. It was clearly a repost, but they hadn't tagged the original source. Damn it, this was pure libel and defamation!

I searched for the relevant keywords and found that busybody netizens had already dug up some of my public information. I returned the phone to the table and openly admitted I was the man in the video. "This video is fabricated. I will find a lawyer to sue these unscrupulous marketing accounts that are trying to profit from human misery."

The group nodded. After I sat back down, I heard them whispering again. "I knew it felt fake. That’s the heiress of the Xu Group; even if she were secretly married, how could she pick someone like that?"

"Exactly. Maybe this video was posted by the guy himself, trying to latch onto the Xu Group for fame. He must be crazy for money."

"I searched for his company; it’s called Jianxia. A small firm that I heard is on the verge of bankruptcy."

"No wonder he’s using these tactics. It’s pathetic."

I didn't expect that being smeared online wasn't enough; these gossiping onlookers were actually speculating about me like this! My veins bulged on the back of my hands, and I nearly snapped my chopsticks in two. Lin Xingfan heard them too, but he didn't know the specifics. I pulled up the most trending video on my phone and showed it to him.

"Who the hell posted this? Sue them!"

"I definitely will. But these videos will likely be taken down soon anyway; since it involves the Xu Group, they won't just sit by and watch."

I saved the videos one by one, taking screenshots of those I couldn't save, keeping evidence of their defamation and malicious dissemination. Searching online was too much of a hassle. Since the person who posted the video had obtained it from the blond guy, it meant they must have met in private. I was going to find him directly.

Lin Lin sat there, looking at us in confusion. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing, just some personal business."

Having lost my appetite, we waited for Lin Lin to finish, then packed up the leftovers and took her home. Stepping into Lin Lin’s place again, perhaps because I had grown accustomed to the fresh air outside, the scent that had seemed pleasant before now felt somewhat pungent. Before I could speak, Lin Xingfan spoke up first.

"Lin Lin, you don't even know if these scented candles are cheap, low-quality stuff from some back-alley workshop. You should stop burning them; it’s bad for your health."

"But I think they smell quite nice..."

"Your second brother is a doctor; you should listen to him."

Before leaving, I helped Lin Xingfan toss the nearly exhausted candles from the corner of the room into the trash. Although the air quality in Tianhai was average, the room needed ventilation. The evening breeze flowed through, carrying away the scent that made one’s head spin after a while.

"I put the leftovers in the fridge. I saw a rice cooker and rice in your kitchen; you can steam some rice to go with them tomorrow."

"I'm really sorry to have troubled you both today. Brother Jiang Jian, you came to visit me, and yet you ended up treating me to dinner."

"Don't mention it."

Just as I was about to leave, Lin Lin called out to me. "Brother Jiang Jian, let’s add each other on WeChat so it’s easier to stay in touch."

I initially wanted to refuse and tell her to contact Lin Xingfan if she needed anything, but in the end, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I took out my phone and opened my QR code. A friend request popped up with a cute kitten avatar.

"Alright. Message me when you get home, Brother Jiang Jian. Be safe on the road."

Lin Xingfan, feeling ignored, spoke up, "How come you only talk to Brother Jiang Jian and don't show any concern for your second brother?"

"Oh, shut up, Lin Xingfan! Why are you nitpicking over such details? You're so petty!"

"Ha! So your true colors are showing. Your temper is still as fiery as ever—all that 'gentle and sweet' act was just a facade!"

"You… you’re talking nonsense!"

Seeing the siblings about to start fighting, I quickly pulled Lin Xingfan toward the door. "You two are still like children! Come on, let's go!"

Back in the car, I finally let out a sigh of relief and rubbed my stomach, which had been aching for a while.

"Stomach hurting again?"

"Yeah, it's nothing serious. It just acts up whenever I get anxious or angry."

Once the pain subsided, I fastened my seatbelt. "Let's go. Back to Tianhe Garden first; we'll park the car and take the subway."

"Can't you just take a taxi? What if your stomach gets really bad on the subway?"

"Don't worry, I know my own body."

"You don't know a damn thing."

In the end, under Lin Xingfan's constant nagging, I chose to be extravagant and took a taxi back to Bijiang Mansion.

"You're the one who suggested the taxi, so you're paying."

"Fine, I'll pay! You stingy miser, Jiang Xiaosi!"