Xia Qianyu furiously demanded justice for her bosom friend, saying, "How could they do this, these people are too evil. Luoshen you have to sue them for slander."
Beside them, Chu Feng was sitting with a guilty conscience. He was Angel Ox after all.
At the same time, he was cursing Zhou Tianyi in his mind for dragging him into this mess. Just how would he clear this all up? He truly wanted to beat up the man.
"Why are you grinding your teeth for?" Xia Qianyu stared at him.
Chu Feng answered with a laugh, saying, "I… isn’t this incredibly unfair for Miss Jiang here? Who was the culprit behind this? I say this is too evil, do they even know moral values?"
"Are you really that kind?" Xia Qianyu said, she was rather suspicious.
"Naturally!" Chu Feng proclaimed, full of righteousness.
Jiang Luoshen had rarely been slandered like this before. What did it mean by "the story that had to be told?" Many people would immediately remember the article reported by Wang De Newspaper.
As expected, she casually glanced at him for a few seconds, then shifted the topic of the conversation. Furthermore, Wang De Newspaper had also appeared at this point, continuing its defamatory reports.
"Jiang Luoshen is receiving maternity care!" This time Wang De Newspaper’s statements were even more terrifying, shocking the whole society.
At this time, within the restaurant’s private dining room.
Even the intelligent and powerful Jiang Luoshen could not keep her calm. She was furious to the point of wanting to smash the communicator. Between her straight nose and her cherry red lips, there was a rapidly circulating turbulence.
Naturally, she was greatly infuriated — even her breathing had become coarse.
She quickly opened her communicator and contacted a person, saying: "Uncle Li, why can’t we lock down Wang De newspaper?!"
The whole internet was seething with excitement, no small amount of people were cursing at Wang De newspaper for the lack of morals. But others were analyzing the situation — most believed that even though it may not be to the point of receiving maternity care, there certainly must have been something going on between her and Angel Ox.
Jiang Luoshen sat there, fuming with endless hatred.
Suddenly, the a ring echoed out. Glancing down at the communicator in his hand, Chu Feng almost dropped his knife and fork as he saw three large words: Zhou Yitian.
How would he dare to pick up the phone? He naturally rejected the call with due haste.
Additionally, he nonchalantly saidm "These days, harassing phone calls are truly on the rise, either it’s for selling insurance or for selling beauties."
"What did you say?!" Xia Qianyu said with an angry tone.
"Do you ladies not receive such harassment calls?" Looking back at her, Chu Feng calmly replied.
Xia Qianyu was so angry that she wanted to hit someone. Staring at him with innocent eyes, she said, "You… really are a pervert!"
Jiang Luo Shen was fuming by herself, so she couldn’t care less about the bickering duo. It took quite some time for her to calm down.
Chu Feng sighed in admiration. "As expected of the national goddess, your magnanimity is truly vast. If it was me in your shoes, I would’ve wrecked Wang De Newspaper by now." Then he added, "Just what origins does that newspaper have? Why are they always focused on you? Don’t tell me it’s owned by a man called Wang De, could it be that he once proposed marriage to you and was rejected?"
Chu Feng’s passion for gossip was burning brightly at this moment as he inquired about the roots of the problem.
"Just eat your food and speak less!" Xia Qianyu wasn’t willing to see her best friend further angered. The amount of troublesome issues at hand were already enough for her.
Jiang Luoshen’s impeccable upbringing and social skills were truly impressive. She was able to calm down rather quickly. She regained her gentle, smiling demeanor, and while glancing sideways at Chu Feng, she asked, "I heard you have good relations with Lin Naoi?"
"Yeah, very good in fact." Chu Feng nodded.
He knew that the other side had thoroughly investigated him, and that it was useless to hide anything.
Xia Qianyu was shocked. Her little mouth formed an "O", then she said, "You really do know Lin Naoi, then the person who contacted you during our previous meeting was truly her?"
Chu Feng did not deny, he said, "I spoke the truth back then, but you were just too biased."
"This… how is this possible?!" Xia Qianyu mumbled to herself. The fact that Lin Naoi actually had a "history" with this pervert truly astonished her.
Jiang Luoshen stared at Chu Feng. With her fair and radiant countenance and her half glancing eyes, she was truly charming.
But deep down, she was not as calm as she appeared on the surface. She was rather suspicious of this man—there were simply too many doubtful points.
Up till now, from the vague clues she had, she knew that this Chu Feng was not simple. Could it be that he was the famed Angel Ox?
Suddenly, such a thought appeared in her mind, shocking even herself.
Mainly because the recent incidences were all explosive news, the investigation into Chu Feng’s background was temporarily paused. Otherwise, she was certain she could have come to a more concrete conclusion by now.
"Forward all the new findings to me and continue investigating Chu Feng!" While eating, Jiang Luoshen sent a message to relevant personnel.
The more she looked at Chu Feng, the more suspicious she became. Until near the end of the meal, it even started to show on her face, albeit slightly.
That was because there were people on the internet slandering her, claiming that she had a relationship with Angel Ox. Things like three days and two nights together, and news of her receiving maternity care—it truly infuriated her to no end.
"Luoshen!" Xia Qianyu called out and quickly sent her a message, "You better not play with fire. Don’t tell me you’re freshly interested in him due to his history with your rival Lin Naoi? Don’t be smitten by him!"
After reading her message, Jiang Luoshen wanted to give her a good beating. She was about to cough blood. How was she smitten with this person? When was she ever playing with fire?
Xia Qianyu was unconvinced and retorted, "You’re still trying to deny, you were just staring at his face for like forever. Even if he can be said to be somewhat handsome, he’s such an evil person. Would you go so far as to consider him? Don’t forget, you’re the Jiang Luoshen!"
Jiang Luoshen came to realize that she was previously distracted while guessing his identity, so it couldn’t be helped that she had glanced at Chu Feng more than once. But to say she had "designs" on him, it was truly a joke.
In truth, she truly was a bit agitated. She wanted nothing more than to capture him and interrogate him thoroughly. If he really was Angel Ox, she absolutely needed to give him a good beating.
Recently, she was continuously being slandered as having a relationship with Angel Ox, and yet he had never come out to explain or deny this accusation, truly hateful.
At the same time, she also realized that if Chu Feng was Angel Ox, then it was completely possible that he was the one who had killed the Ash Wolf—everything would fall into place.
Thinking up to this point, Jiang Luoshen was amazed!
Now, she was really looking forward to the results of her investigation. She just couldn’t wait to reveal his identity.
However, at the table, Jiang Luoshen acted naturally—laughing gently as she said to Xia Qianyu, ""Doomsday Emergence"is soon to be screened, this is your maiden work, let me congratulate you in advance for your imminent spread of fame throughout China."
Chu Feng also said with a laugh, "I saw a lot of posters on my way here, it seems many celebrities were involved in the making of this film. I also saw you on the posters, congratulations to the rising star."
Xia Qianyu was delighted. She was also looking forward to the screening of this film. At the same time, she still remembered to attack Chu Feng. "Didn’t you say you’re also the male lead of a movie, when is it going to start screening?"
Chu Feng was listless after hearing this. He wasn’t afraid even during his fight against the Ash Wolf, but he wholeheartedly dreaded the day his film would start screening. It was certain to invite a whole lot of troublesome consequences.
Jiang Luoshen laughed with a tender radiance as she said, "Hopefully, it won’t clash with Qianyu’s movie. If it does, then it would be quite unfortunate. "Doomsday Emergence"has an impressive lineup of celebrity actors and actresses, with a momentum like that ‘if gods block the way, then kill the gods, if Buddha blocks the way, then kill Buddha’ [1]!"
In truth, how could she believe that Chu Feng would star in a proper movie. She was simply mocking him.
As it happened, Chu Feng nodded seriously and sighed before saying, "Unfortunately, I was fated not meet with the the virtuous and got stuck with an extremely lousy director."
Because he felt that hiding things wouldn’t do any good, once the film was out, the two ladies would surely see him acting.
The two ladies laughed heartily without any restraint, no longer caring for their image. They were like flowers blossoming in the wind, extremely amused.
"Can’t you two have some sympathy?" Chu Feng felt wronged.
"You’re speaking as if you had starred in some big movie that’s about to be screened." Xia Qianyu couldn’t be convinced in any way that this pervert had really starred in a movie.
"Why is it that you two never believe me? Let it be. In any case, you’ll know when the time comes," Chu Feng could be said to have thrown caution to the wind.
Chuckling, Jiang Luoshen asked, "What is the name of your movie?"
"This… I can’t tell you just yet!" Chu Feng felt that if he told them he would not be able to leave here tonight. With Jiang Luoshen’s sharpness, she’s sure to guess a lot more. At that time, she would definitely duke it out with him.
The two ladies laughed; they truly didn’t believe him.
However, very quickly, they couldn’t laugh anymore. Xia Qianyu cried out, "Luoshen, that bastard is slandering you again. Oh god, the ‘to be continued’ he talked about was actually so quick to arrive. He’s totally trying to incite explosive news!"
After hearing this, Jiang Luoshen’s face lost color. She was indeed intimidated by this immoral Wang De Newspaper.
She quickly searched for the news and discovered it was not from Wang De Newspaper, but from the person who had exposed her earlier. The news, however, was shocking all the same.
This article’s title was: "Jiang Luoshen and her Prince Charming!"
Although the title wasn’t as nauseating and the publisher wasn’t as immoral as Wang De Newspaper, it still caused Jiang Luoshen no end of distress.
Especially, after seeing the photo inside, she wanted to smash the communicator, but what she wanted even more was to beat up Chu Feng.
The background of the photo was the 88th floor of Clear Sky Tower, the exact place where the three ate.
In the photo, a young man was looking rather cool, wearing sunglasses and a mask, sitting together with two ladies.
As for the ladies, their faces were revealed. Apparently, they had no intention to conceal their identities.
The young man was naturally Chu Feng, and the other two beautiful ladies were Jiang Luoshen and Xia Qianyu—the former was wearing a mask like a hero, so people were unable to recognize him, but the latter two were both clearly visible.
The article was guiding the tempo, claiming that the national goddess, for this young man, had come without concealing her identity, so her love for him was indeed that great.
After reading this part, despite her intelligence, Jiang Luoshen could no longer keep her calm. She was on the verge of going berserk.
Her sunglasses and mask were robbed for god's sake! Of course, that wasn’t the important point here. The article was clearly leading the people on with this nonsense.
At the end of the article, the author asked: who could this mysterious man be? This man who could cause the national goddess to be infatuated and proactively pursue him must be incredibly extraordinary. His identity must be thoroughly investigated!
As for the the users’ comments, they were even more terrifying.
"Oh god, it’s the opposite. Jiang Luoshen wasn’t even hiding herself, but instead the man was! This is too surprising!"
"Oh my goddess, how could you be like this? That is too unreserved!"
"This is Goddess Jiang’s prince charming? I don’t see anything special about him, you’re better off choosing me! Goddess Jiang, your tastes are truly disappointing!"
...
Now, Jiang Luoshen was in the mood to kill. There was fire burning in her eyes as she glared at Chu Feng, almost throwing the tableware at him.
"Hey, it’s not my fault! I’m also one of the victims here!" Chu Feng protested, cleanly pushing away all responsibility. At least for now, he had to avoid trouble as much as he could.
At this moment, he had a strong urge to go and fight it out with Zhou Yitian. That bastard didn’t even discuss things with him and directly exposed everything, truly hateful.
"It's all because of you, you’re too evil! By the way, you couldn’t be the one doing all this, right?" cried Xia Qianyu.
"That would be impossible, I’ve been sitting here all this time. Moreover, do you take me for a fool? I’m not even married yet. With this scandal, my reputation is ruined. How am I going to find a good lady to marry? I’m also a victim here, alright?" Chu Feng complained once more.
After hearing this, Xia Qianyu was instantly furious, but she quickly calmed down because her communicator had started ringing.
"This is bad, it's the director. No doubt he’s calling about this incident." Xia Qianyu started palpitating. She was very nervous as she picked up the phone and greeted the caller.
As expected, an angry voice was transmitted from the other side, saying, "Little Xia, what’s this all about? In"Doomsday Emergence", you’re supposed to act the part of an extremely innocent girl, this is your greatest highlight, you… you're dragging the whole film down."
Xia Qianyu was scared stiff, and only Jiang Luoshen remained calm. She took over the communicator and told Director Zhao that this was nothing big. With a few words, she had suppressed the director.
Jiang Luoshen moved swiftly. She contacted her people to delete the circulating photos, but this time, it wasn’t effective since the posters were able to work around them.
"Luoshen, this is bad! The enemy is too strong [2]!" Xia Qianyu pondered, saying, "They’re releasing all these pieces of news in succession, this is intentionally defaming you in order to create explosive news."
Chu Feng sat there quietly while calming his mind [3], not daring to express any opinions. He was planning to remove himself from the scene at all costs.
Jiang Luoshen was currently glaring at him, and her beautiful eyes were shining with a murderous light. Although she had been dubbed the national goddess, the current her only wanted to beat him up like a violent woman.
Suddenly, on the table, Chu Feng’s communicator rang again.
When he saw it was from Zhou Yitian, his face almost turned green. Quickly rejecting the call, he said, "These harassments are totally getting out of hand."
Meanwhile, within a certain residence.
Zhou Yitian was muttering to himself, "Brother, I just wanted to share the good news with you, what are you so busy with? Why are you not picking up my calls? Right now, my propaganda is becoming quite explosive!"
To Chu Feng, this was not a joyous thing but rather a horror—his cover was about to be blown.
Jiang Luoshen stared at him suspiciously, saying, "Why do you keep rejecting the call so quickly? Why not take the call?"
...
[1] 神擋殺神佛擋弒佛 — literally meaning "if gods block the way kill the gods, if Buddha blocks the way kill Buddha". The origins of this popular saying can be traced back to Zen Buddhism where they were taught that their preconception of Buddha was incorrect and that they had to kill this "preconceived Buddha" if they met him on the path of cultivation.
The orginal teaching was 「佛來佛斬,魔來魔斬」 meaning if buddha comes behead buddha, if demons come behead demons — the essence was that Zen Buddhists had to ultimately pursue nothingness. They had to cut off all things good and bad — no matter if it was Buddha, the embodiment of all things good or the Demon, the embodiment of all things evil.
The popular usage in contemporary literature is to represent an unstoppable momentum that could conquer everything in its path.
Links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan#Killing_the_Buddha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen
[2] 點子扎手 — literal translation is "a spot pricks the hand" and it doesn’t really make sense. Because these are code words used specifically by bandits where the spot = the enemy, pricks hand = hard to deal with/ too strong. The words appear in several of Jing Yong’s novels.
[3] 眼觀鼻,鼻觀口,口觀心 — the eyes see the nose, the nose looks towards the mouth, and the mouth observes the heart — this is the procedure to calm the mind and enter meditation and self awareness.
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