Chapter 54 – Fans Are Revolting (3)
"First of all, I'd like to clarify that there are no conflicts between Shen Wei'an and I. Before, I'd improvised on the spot because I felt that acting that way would more adequately project the distinct personality of the character. Afterwards, Shen Wei'an slapped me for no reason, so I felt discontented and decided to add a little salt to her drink! I don't feel any malice towards her, and today I've come forth to clarify all of this because someone is taking advantage of the situation to fan the flames!"
Xu Hao, who was waiting backstage, suddenly clenched his hands into fists. It was evident that he was slightly nervous.
Li Qi, who was watching over Xu Hao, couldn’t help but sneer when he saw Xu Hao acting like this. He secretly thought: You only know how to be nervous now? When you made that malicious post, didn't you think about the consequences? You didn't even check to see who was protecting Chen Meimei!
Lan Jinyao looked around and continued, "This issue has had a great impact on me and my career, so I'm standing here, stressing once more: if it's something that I've done, I'll certainly confess my deeds, but I'll never admit to something that I haven't done! If you still have doubts, you can go and make a report to the police; let them investigate the truth behind all this."
"Today, I've also invited popular star Xu Hao to join me, and he'll clarify a few things in front of everyone."
Xu Hao, who was sitting backstage, stared at Lan Jinyao with mixed feelings. He'd initially thought that Lan Jinyao had asked him over to ruin his reputation, but to his surprise, this woman had given him the right to speak freely.
"Go! She’s calling for you!" Li Qi lightly kicked his foot.
Lan Jinyao waited for quite a long time before Xu Hao dilly-dallied his way onto the stage. She then quickly stepped aside to make way for him.
"Previously, I'd forwarded the news before I'd confirmed the truth, which in the end brought trouble to everyone. I’m really sorry about that. As a matter of fact, our stage crew has already asked a specialist to investigate this matter. Wei'an's fall from the elevated platform was completely accidental; there wasn't anyone behind this at all. Everyone knows that Wei'an and I are very good friends, so when an accident like this befell her, I became beyond worried. I didn't expect for the news forwarded by me to bring such damage to Chen Meimei. I sincerely apologise, I'm truly sorry about this."
Lan Jinyao looked at Xu Hao with a smile plastered on her face, but she was inwardly sneering at him. This man was, unexpectedly, quite impressive. He'd just used a few words to cleanly cast away all of his mistakes. Moreover, he even explained them so clearly. He must have done that to protect the real culprit.
Lan Jinyao had initially thought that Xu Hao and Shen Wei'an were good friends, but now she wasn't so sure about that.
Someone had clearly tampered with the wire, yet Xu Hao had said that Shen Wei'an's fall was an accident, and not man-made. In addition, when she was at Xu Hao’s place, she'd said that she wanted to call the police to investigate the truth, but she was just trying to scare him back then as she'd thought that the video was fake. However, to her surprise, Xu Hao had immediately agreed to go with her after that threat. Hence, this made her increasingly suspect that someone was behind Shen Wei'an's incident and that Xu Hao was definitely an accomplice!
Then, all of a sudden, something flew towards them as they sat at the table and hit Lan Jinyao on the head. Lan Jinyao felt dizzy and her vision blurred for a moment. When she finally saw what it was, she almost cursed out loud.
They were currently explaining things, yet someone in the audience couldn't wait any longer and had thrown a water bottle.
Lan Jinyao stared at the half-filled water bottle lying by her feet, and the veins on her forehead throbbed.
Sometimes, a slow-witted person would be misled by a facade, and then firmly believe in it. Once someone had thrown a water bottle, a second and third one would always follow. When another object flew towards Lan Jinyao, she was abruptly shielded by a pair of muscular arms that had tightly embraced her.
The scene instantly devolved into chaos.
"Come with me!" a very familiar male voice said in her ear.
Lan Jinyao’s head was spinning, so she let that person take her hand and lead her out of the commotion. Soon after, a large group of security guards rushed over to calm the crowd. A group of reporters squeezed all the way to the front to question Xu Hao. Upon seeing that Lan Jinyao had left, Xu Hao followed along and left as well, ignoring the reporters' questions.
"Xu Hao! Did the top management of Blue Hall Entertainment pressure you to come forth with an explanation? If that's the case, then what's the truth behind all of this?"
A reporter trotted behind him, seemingly chasing after him in hot pursuit.
Xu Hao glanced at the reporter behind him, then stopped in his tracks and said to her, "The fact is that Wei'an's fall was an accident, so I hope that everyone can correctly guide the public's opinion, and not let public hurt someone innocent."
When the reporter met his sharp gaze, she let out an 'oh' and no longer followed him.
The black Land Rover they'd retreated to was parked on the roadside, and once inside, Lan Jinyao stared at Fu Bainian as he lightly massaged her head. Neither of them spoke, so the mood was somewhat awkward.
After a long while, Fu Bainian withdrew his hand and asked her, "This was how you wanted to handle things? If I didn't make it in time, were you planning to be crushed to death by those water bottles?"
Lan Jinyao shrugged and replied, "I think that was quite good! Besides, I've at least managed to put a stop to those rumours, and as long as that issue no longer impacts my life, then all's good."
Anyway, she'd never dealt with this kind of issue before, all right?! Lan Jinyao felt that she'd handled things quite well since Xu Hao was willing to step forth and explain things. However, what made her unhappy was that Shen Wei'an's scandal had also been suppressed. Initially, she'd been gloating over Shen Wei'an's troubles.
"You call this handled properly?" Fu Bainian expression sank as he continued, "If you'd have let me handle it, things wouldn't have turned out like this!"
In the past, he'd secretly protected her rain or shine. Therefore, she didn't know how cruel the entertainment industry could be, and now that she was facing all of this alone, she'd only be hurt more.
Fu Bainian's tone was cold as he spoke, so Lan Jinyao poked herself before telling him, "Thank you for helping me today. In the past, I'd never encountered so many things. Even if I did, Shen Yu would've helped me solve everything. But, I don’t want to go on like that anymore. I can't just hide behind someone forever. From now on, I'll step forth and stand up for myself!"
It was precisely because she'd had Shen Yu taking care of everything for her in the past that she'd lacked a sense of crisis, and, in the end, allowed things to end up so badly. This time, she wanted to become stronger; strong enough to not be beaten so easily by others.
Fu Bainian held Lan Jinyao’s hand and gently said, "I know! But, you ought to understand my standpoint. I've already lost you once. Since then I've vowed that if Heaven could return you to me, then I would undoubtedly treasure you. At the very least, I don't want to be looking at you from far away; I want to be close to you and take part in everything you do! And, to protect you!"
It was not known how many times Lan Jinyao had heard similar words from Fu Bainian’s mouth, and it wasn't until this very moment that she finally understood him.
He was feeling like this because of his love for her.
Lan Jinyao’s eyes were a little red as she spoke in a muffled voice, "Fu Bainian, my heart has been moved by you. What should I do?"
Fu Bainian embraced her and gently smiled.