Fighting Fire with Fire
Li WangJin was having lunch with another CEO. They discussed projects the two companies would work on together during the remainder of the year.
When they started wrapping up their discussion, Li WangJin relaxed his shoulders – so many awful things had happened recently, and now he had something good to look forward to. If they could seal this deal, he would be able to come across a sizable amount of cash. He was getting tired of life on a shoestring budget.
Boss Zhou smiled and said, "A new club has opened up recently. Let's go check it out." He winked at Li WangJin. "You don't have anyone telling you what you can or cannot do anymore. Might as well go enjoy yourself, eh?"
A fleeting look of embarrassment crossed Li WangJin's face. Alteration of the stock ownership structure was no small feat, so everyone in their circle knew about his divorce. As Fang JunRong had dirt on him, Li WangJin didn't dare to create an image of himself as a great husband. He only said that there were irreconcilable differences.
He cleared his throat and said, "Okay. Let's go take a look then."
Previously, he worried about Fang JunRong, so he never did more than drink and watch a show when he visited clubs and nothing else. Now Li WangJin could finally fully enjoy himself.
However, as soon as he stood up, a call came in. Jiang YaGe's names flashed nonstop on the screen. Li WangJin would not have picked up were it anyone else, but Jiang YaGe was not the same.
"What? SiXian was hurt? What happened?" His volume went up uncontrollably. He only lowered his voice when he noticed those around him looking over at him. Comforting Jiang YaGe on the other end of the call, he said, "Don't cry. I will be right over."
After he had hung up the phone, he gave Boss Zhang an apologetic look and said, "I'm sorry, something came up. I will join you another time." Then he added, "My treat next time!"
Boss Zhang waved his hand. "That's no problem." Then he couldn't help but get curious. "Something happened to your little lover?"
Li WangJin's body froze, and he looked embarrassed. "No, no such thing. I don't have a lover."
"Everybody knows about it. You divorced your ex-wife for that Wang SiXian," said Boss Zhang. "You know that Wang SiXian is not that young anymore. And she looks just okay, kind of plain if you ask me. It wasn't worth it to divorce your wonderful wife for her." What Boss Zhang didn't want to tell him was that everybody thought he had lost his mind for doing that. "Even her body is just alright in the video. It's not like she has a big chest or big bottom."
Li WangJin almost coughed out a mouthful of blood. His hands shook. "Who told you that? Was it Fang JunRong?"
How dare she do that? He had given her so much when it came to splitting their assets. She had promised him that she would not show the video to anyone else, so he told others that they had split over irreconcilable differences. And now, all the reputation he had built over the years was gone.
Li WangJin's mind went blank as he thought about everyone gossiping about him, and he started to sweat.
Boss Zhang shook his head. "No, it wasn't her. Your ex-wife is truly a good person. She's never said one bad word about you. I heard it from Sun Mei."
He saw that Li WangJin looked like he could pass out any minute. Not wanting to take the blame, he told Li WangJin everything that he knew. He assumed Li WangJIn knew since everybody in their circle had heard about it.
"Sun Mei even said that she was the one who gave the video to your ex-wife. Nobody knew how she got hold of it in the first place."
Li WangJin's face twisted. If Sun Mei stood in front of him right now, he would jump and beat her up. He never respected Sun Mei; she was a narrow-minded shit-stirrer. He never thought that she would be the one who ruined him.
Had he known, he would never have offended her in the first place.
Too many little things had taken his attention, so he had no idea about this. Under normal circumstances, not many people would have said it out loud in front of him like Boss Zhang.
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When he arrived at the hospital, Li WangJin was still dazed and focused on salvaging his reputation. He was startled by those thoughts when he saw Wang SiXian's horrifically destroyed face.
Her face was ferocious, like a beast waving its claws and baring its fangs at him.
He quickly turned away and couldn't look at Wang SiXian, who was still unconscious, anymore. He asked Jiang YaGe in a low voice, "What happened to your aunt? Why would someone splash her with acid for no reason?"
Jiang YaGe had been crying for a while now. Sobbing, she recounted the incident at the parking garage to him. Looking at Li WangJin through her teary eyes, she said, "Dad, Aunty has been away from this country for dozens of years. Why would this happen to her right after she had returned? Was someone targeting us intentionally? We have no enemies! We have always been nice to everyone." As though she had thought of something, she said. "Unless it was Mom…no, that can't be. I trust that she isn't that kind of person." Jiang YaGe immediately tried to save herself. Except her look didn't reflect what she had said. She was clearly suspicious of Fang JunRong.
Li WangJin knew very well in his mind. He shook his head. "It won't be JunRong. She's prideful and would never do such a thing. She wouldn't stoop that low."
He did, after all, know his ex-wife quite well. He suspected that the one who splashed Wang SiXian with acid was the same person as the one who had been causing him trouble lately. The thought of someone hiding in the dark trying to hurt him made his hair stand on end.
Li WangJin stayed for a bit at the hospital. According to the doctor, Wang SiXian's injury was not life-threatening. However, the damage to her skin reached 5% and was relatively deep. Even after a few surgeries, she would not fully recover. She would never look the same again.
Thinking about what the face that once resembled Wang SiEr looked like after the accident, Li WangJin felt that it was like bugs crawling all over a beautiful flower. His stomach roiled and his mood was dreadful. He could only ask the doctor to do everything within his ability to treat Wang SiXian, regardless of cost.
After some time, Wang SiXian finally woke up and cried when she saw her appearance in the mirror.
Grabbing onto Li WangJin's hand, she could no longer retain her usual tenderness. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she begged, "WangJin, help me! I don't want to live with this appearance!"
Her damaged face made Li WangJin's stomach turn. He looked away and tried to free his hand from her grip. "I had the doctor arrange surgeries for you already."
His look of disgust did not escape Wang SiXian. She was close to breaking down. The only thing that she has to rely on is her resemblance to her sister. But now that was all ruined. She had planned to touch Li WangJin with her tenderness so she could, one day, become the wife of the CEO of Ayron. Now it's all over!
Li WangJin's attitude was the last straw on the camel's back. "Was it Fang JunRong? How could she do that to me? That was so ruthless of her!"
Wang SiXian was, after all, related to Jiang YaGe.
Li WangJin sighed and said, "No, I don't think it was JunRong. Why don't you get some rest first? I promise I will find out who the culprit was."
He wasn't doing that just for them but also for himself. Today, it was Wang SiXian. It could be him on another day. But Wang SiXian's words had given him an idea.
"Let me go talk to JunRong first."
Even though Fang JunRong might not be the one behind this, if he talked to her nicely, she might offer to help him look into this. He didn't like it, but he must admit that he needed Fang JunRong's network.
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Looking at Li WangJin standing in front of her righteously, Fang JunRong was amazed. What made him think it was okay to come to her for that?
"…SiXian was badly injured. The doctor said she'll never fully recover. If words got out, many would think that you were the one behind it," said Li WangJin in the most caring way. "Even though we are already divorced, our relationship has been amicable. I still think of you as a friend, so I'd hate to see others spreading untruthful rumors about you. So what do you say if we look into this together?"
Fang JunRong almost busted out laughing. "You don't need to goad me. Whoever dares spread untruthful rumors about me will receive letters from my lawyer."
The thought of Wang Xiao getting revenge had crossed Fang JunRong's mind in the past, but she hadn't expected him to resort to acid right away. And this time, it was Wang SiXian who was the victim instead of Jiang YaGe.
Looking back on her previous life, after Jiang YaGe started dating her BBQ-pork son, she became good friends with the film emperor, Fang JueMing. That enraged many of his fans and led to one of them trying to splash acid onto her. Previously, XinYun ended up being the victim.
Because that girl was an acquaintance of XinYun, everybody took Jiang YaGe's side and expressed that XinYun
Now that Wang SiXian had become the victim instead, she felt somewhat better.
Li WangJin was still working on trying to convince her. "Well, you don't want to offend everyone. That would be bad for your reputation."
"Why do I need a good reputation with those people?" asked Fang JunRong nonchalantly.
Li WangJin's original confidence fled at her not caring. He resorted to reverse psychology. "Are you so reluctant to help me with this because you are the one who did it?" He then suddenly remembered another issue. "How come Sun Mei has that video clip? Did she get it from you?"
"How should I know how Sun Mei came across the video? She and I are not that close. But I owe her one on this. If it were not for her, I'd never know the truth about you."
Li WangJin was fresh out of ideas. He was left feeling angry and gritting his teeth.
Fang JunRong's lips curved up sarcastically. "I thought you came to look for me because of XinYun's birthday. It looks like you had already forgotten about it completely. Since you don't care about XinYun, I don't want you or your son at her birthday banquet."
The two of them being there would only upset XinYun.
Li WangJin was going to say something else, but Fang JunRong cut him off. "If you and Li ShiZe stay away from the birthday banquet, I might be able to point you in the right direction."
Li WangJin hesitated for a while and finally made up his mind. "Okay, tell me."
Fang JunRong snickered. Sure enough. His daughter meant nothing to him.
Her look turned cold, and she said, "You can start by looking into Wang Xiao. I looked into the incident when you got splashed with feces, and that eventually led me to him."
She went on to give him a brief introduction of Wang Xiao. However, even if Li WangJin hadn't shown up, she would have found a way to get this clue to him anyway. She didn't exactly want to see Wang Xiao getting away scot-free either; it's best to let the two of them duke it out.
Li WangJin was dumbfounded. "Wang Xiao? What had I ever done to him?" He had met Wang Xiao maybe once at the most. And he was amicable with him when they met.
"You'll have to ask YaGe. Your precious daughter has done something awful to him."
"That's impossible!" Li WangJin was stunned.