Su Yanxi remained calm and unperturbed, patted the pocket of her windproof jacket, and pulled out something.
"Since you're powerless to turn things around and have no chance of making a comeback, come here, I'll tell you a secret—I'll show you something."
"You said it yourself, that you were a 'long-term meal ticket,' and that you were holding hands with your sugar daddy and going to a hotel with him. These are all facts that I can't possibly be accusing you of wrongdoing, right?"
"You want me to change my story, but the facts prove that we are just as despicable people."
Xiang Mingyue, growing impatient, snatched the item from Su Yanxi's hand in the dimly lit stairwell and frowned as he opened it.
"A secret? What a terrifying secret to hide like this—"
The sudden appearance of the photo of the two people made Xiang Mingyue freeze in place and stop talking.
"What...what is this?"
He flipped back in disbelief, eventually returning to the cover, where the words "Marriage Certificate" embossed in gold on the red cover made his hands and feet go weak with fright.
"A...a marriage certificate?" Xiang Mingyue's hands trembled as he looked back at the inside pages and carefully examined the person and words on it. He looked up in shock, "You're actually...already married?"
"Um."
Su Yanxi smiled slightly and answered calmly.
"I've been married for almost a year."
Author's Note:
Hehehe~ I'm here~
The dog went offline for a short while to shut itself away, but quickly returned!
Don't ask, the answer is he's crying while hugging his wife's clothes.
(Dog: ? I didn't, I'm really angry)
Are you sure Yun Zong really went back to Beicheng after #27 went missing?
"You..." Xiang Mingyue's eyes widened, his voice trembling, "You've actually been married for almost a year?"
"Yeah, it hasn't been that long, has it?"
Su Yanxi brushed a stray hair behind her ear, seemingly casual and natural, but in reality, it revealed a strong sense of superiority and disdain.
"The legal marriage age for men is 22, and Yunzong happens to be two years younger than me. If you include the time we've been dating, then Yunzong and I have been in love for seven years."
"Seven years—!?" Xiang Mingyue was so surprised he didn't know how to react. "My God, it's been seven years! No wonder you..."
“I’m married now. If there’s a typhoon outside, it’s perfectly reasonable for me to stay in a hotel room with my husband for one night, right?” Su Yanxi didn’t give Xiang Mingyue a chance to express his surprise and innocently winked, “Similarly, it’s not a big problem for my husband to give me a luxury car and for me to use his credit card, right?”
"My husband isn't worried at all, so why are you so anxious?"
"I..." Xiang Mingyue handed back the marriage certificate, his eyes darting around in a panic, not daring to look Su Yanxi in the eye. "I didn't know... If I had known you were married to another family's second young master, I would never have targeted you like this!"
"If you knew?"
Su Yanxi dropped her affected innocent smile and resumed her cold expression.
"What if there were no 'what ifs'? If I didn't get married and didn't have that solid backing from another family, how cruelly would you treat me?"
Xiang Mingyue didn't dare to answer, and took a step back in fear, bumping into the trash can behind him.
"On the first day of school, when you spread rumors in class that my father had accepted bribes, did you ever think about what might happen?"
"When you caused me to mistakenly enter the VIP room and get caught red-handed by the teacher, and punished for misconduct, did you ever think about what would have happened?"
Su Yanxi settled both old and new scores. She didn't have the means or the resources before, and later she endured it for a while out of politeness and good manners. Now she had enough reason to settle scores with Mingyue, so Su Yanxi was naturally going to unleash all her pent-up anger.
"You didn't, you never thought about 'what if'! If you had thought about it carefully, you wouldn't have provoked me again and again, jumping around on the edge of my tolerance!"
Chapter 54
"Xiang Mingyue, I have shown you more than enough friendship as a classmate. Your current miserable state is the reward for all the evil you have done over the years!"
"But I really didn't cause the disciplinary action!" Xiang Mingyue seized the opportunity to defend himself amidst his panic, "I didn't know your father was framed. Someone gave me this information, so I just told everyone that!"
Su Yanxi frowned: "Are you still going to argue? We're from neighboring towns, you should know about my father's affairs, why do you need someone else to provide the information?"
"I don't know!" Xiang Mingyue cried out, "Neighboring towns aren't the same as fellow townsmen! We people of Donghu City don't care about the grudges of your Nanxiang City at all!"
"Besides, my mother took me to Guancheng to study when I was eleven or twelve years old. I am more familiar with Guangcheng and Guancheng than with Donghu City—let alone Nanxiang City!"
Su Yanxi looked at Ming Yue's expression, which didn't seem like he was lying, and felt even more puzzled: "Is that really true?"
"If you don't believe me, I can give you my family's phone number so you can call and ask them yourself! You'll see that I know nothing about those grudges and disputes back home!"
With his death imminent, Xiang Mingyue finally realized he needed to confess. He recounted all the schemes he had used against Su Yanxi behind her back, most of which matched Su Yanxi's suspicions; however, he consistently denied being the "mastermind" behind it all.
"The information about your father's embezzlement and bribery was slipped under my pillow by someone. Before seeing the information, I really, really didn't know your father."
"I knew nothing about the incident where you mistakenly entered the patron's private room. I only notified the teacher after receiving a report text message from an unknown number!"
"So, you're saying these things weren't things you did spontaneously, but rather things you were guided to do?" Su Yanxi felt a sense of foreboding, but she remained skeptical and threatened Xiang Mingyue even more, "Are you trying to say you were used as a pawn? Don't try to deny it, I won't believe you."
"Everything I said is true!"
Xiang Mingyue repeatedly emphasized this, his tone becoming increasingly pleading and humble, his anxious words echoing in the empty, narrow stairwell.
"I might be able to find the original information if I go back!"
"And another thing, in the videos that went viral yesterday, apart from the receipts for your room check-in and credit card transactions at the Four Seasons Hotel, which I already had, the other two videos were sent to me by someone else via email—I can show you the emails!"
"You weren't the one who secretly filmed me chatting with my roommate...? Then you weren't the one who instructed the thugs to come to the flagship store to secretly film me picking up my car either?"
Xiang Mingyue shook his head frantically, trying to distance himself: "It was absolutely not me. I had no idea you bought such an expensive car, or when you were going to pick it up!"
Things became increasingly complicated; only after wading into the water did we realize how deep it truly was.
Su Yanxi stopped arguing with Xiang Mingyue and simply asked, "How much evidence can you find to prove that what you said is true and credible?"
Xiang Mingyue displayed an unprecedented level of obedience and frankness: "Should it be half and half? I'll have to look for the specifics when I get home... As for the account information online, I can give it to you right away!"
"Okay, sort it out and send it to me." Su Yanxi put away the marriage certificate, turned around and left. "Since you confessed honestly, I won't put you to death."
"Does that mean you'll help me turn public opinion around?" Xiang Mingyue earnestly grabbed Su Yanxi's clothes. "I'll honestly tell you everything, so please help me clarify things, okay?"
"Since you are the young mistress of another family, helping me regain my reputation should be a piece of cake!"
"Easy as pie?" Su Yanxi turned around and sneered, ruthlessly slapping away Xiang Mingyue's hand.
He used so much force that it even produced a crisp "smack" sound.
"Wake up! Are you still worried about your reputation? You ruined me, so you should be honest with me—this isn't about atoning for your sins, it's something you should do!"
"You've done enough bad things in the entertainment industry. If I were to help you, it would be unfair to the other artists! I advise you to leave the industry as soon as possible and find a proper, ordinary job."
There was not a trace of pity in Su Yanxi's eyes as he looked at Mingyue. Just as he had said, he had done enough for his classmates over the years, and Xiang Mingyue was not someone who deserved pity.
"You have never earned a single needle or thread through your own efforts, so you have no idea of the pain of not getting what you put in."
With this, the feud between Su Yanxi and Xiang Mingyue was finally settled.
That evening, accompanied by Zhou Tong, Su Yanxi went to Director He's room for tea and apologized to him for the huge chaos she had caused in the past two days.
Director He didn't mind at all, waving his hand magnanimously and saying, "It's alright, it's alright. You've rid our crew of a menace! Xiang Mingyue is just a minor supporting character who was forced into the production. The scriptwriting team has disliked him for a long time, but they haven't dared to touch him because of the investors' influence."
"Now it's great, we can openly and legitimately fire Xiang Mingyue and sever ties with the capital of Xiang Mingyue's side!"
“But even so, with our production crew trending on social media for two consecutive days, it’s inevitable that it will attract inappropriate comments.” Su Yanxi looked guilty, her head bowing lower as she spoke. “I don’t care about being criticized, but it’s not good if the production crew gets involved…”
"Oh, Brother He said it's all fine, so don't worry!" Zhou Tong patted Su Yanxi on the shoulder and chimed in, "As long as the final product is of high quality and has a good effect, these inappropriate remarks will fall apart on their own."
"Yes. Besides, you're someone else's daughter-in-law, so I can't blame you!" Director He teased. "Su Su, your mother-in-law, Cheng Xiaohui, was my class advisor back in the day! How could I not give her that face?"
That's the logic, but Su Yanxi was still terrified to hear similar words.
Chapter 55
He was so frightened that he stood up from the sofa and bowed ninety degrees to the director to apologize.
"Director He, that's really not how it is! You can take good care of me because of my mother-in-law, but please don't treat me with special treatment just because I'm 'someone else's daughter-in-law'."
“I don’t like being treated specially. The assets I have now are my weapons against unfair rules—but definitely not the sense of superiority and privilege I give to ordinary people in the workplace!”
"You're really perceptive." Director He gave a thumbs up in admiration. "Teacher Cheng really has good taste! Okay, Uncle He will be more careful in the future and won't make similar teasing remarks again!"
Su Yanxi smiled gratefully and sat back down: "Before becoming someone else's daughter-in-law, I was also an ordinary person. I also suffered from the oppression of privilege, so I never want to become the kind of person I hate and despise."
"I'm truly sorry for the chaos I caused on set these past two days. I will work hard to film every scene well and repay that trust with my actions!"
"Good, good, good, Uncle He is relieved to hear that!" Director He patted Su Yanxi's thigh heavily, as if entrusting her with an important task.
But the next second, Director He changed his tone.
"The screenwriter needs to revise the script these days, and all of Xiang Mingyue's scenes need to be changed. After that, we need to catch up with the editing team. I estimate it will take four or five days." Director He said, winking and hinting to Su Yanxi, "The crew is taking this opportunity to give you a break. You should also hurry up and resolve your personal relationship issues!"
Su Yanxi paused for a second before realizing what Director He meant.
"I...I will. Since I have a few days off, I'll go back to Beicheng and stay for a few days?"
"Stop, stop, you have to stay!" Zhou Tong said anxiously. "This morning you said he left because you made him angry, so I told you to go after him!"
"Then I'll call him again later...?" Su Yanxi asked, her voice lacking confidence.
He had known and loved Bie Yunzong for seven years. Didn't he know Bie Yunzong's habits and quirks? He didn't understand why he felt so guilty and had to ask his two elders for instructions.
Director He and Sister Tong naturally agreed repeatedly. They didn't even give her a chance to finish her tea; after only a few words, they "kicked" Su Yanxi out of the room, urging her to "go back and make a call!"
On her way back to her room, Su Yanxi walked along the corridor, holding her phone in both hands and lost in thought the whole way.
He struggled with his conscience for a while before dialing, but in the end he couldn't muster the courage to dial Bie Yunzong's number. Instead, he sent a video call invitation to his brother and sister-in-law, preparing to take a roundabout route.
The call was quickly answered, and her brother and sister-in-law, Cai Yuyan, appeared holding the soft, chubby little baby, greeting her with a smile: "Yanxi, have you had dinner yet? Is the crew busy today?"
Su Yanxi quickly closed the door, went inside, and sat down: "I just finished eating and came down from apologizing to the director. Hi Nuonuo~ Have you eaten with your mom?"
"We finished eating a long time ago. I took Nuonuo for a walk and came back." Cai Yuyan grabbed the little dumpling's chubby paw and waved it at the camera. "You don't look too good. What's wrong?"
Su Yanxi shook her head and smiled, "It's nothing, I'm just exhausted from what's happened these past two days. Sister-in-law, thank you for helping me with the manuscript, I was really too busy last night."
"Oh, it's nothing~ We're all family, why thank me?" Cai Yuyan waved her hand cheerfully, "It's just reading a manuscript, how much effort can it take?"
"The main problem is that I had a fight with Yunzong, and I really didn't have the energy to deal with it."
Su Yanxi sighed softly, and after going around in circles, finally got to the point.