Chapter 62: An Invisible Hand

The murkier these waters became, the better—after all, it was only in muddied waters that one could catch fish.

Due to Du Xingyuan’s Weibo post, Ning Lan had become the target of public scorn. So it turns out you’re not just a homewrecker, but also unfaithful. Not only that, but some netizens revealed that she had only managed to get together with Du Xingyuan by coming between him and Yun Fu.

Yun Fu’s fans erupted in outrage.

“So she’s a repeat offender! No wonder—there are some things only people like her would do!”

“Ning Lan, get out of the entertainment industry! And Du Xingyuan isn’t any better. Those two garbage let Yun Fu take the blame for so long!”

“I always thought it was strange that Yun Fu, who’s such a talented actress, was smeared as a brainless, useless vase. Turns out, it was these two behind it all!”

“Scumbag man and shameless woman! They’re both trash!”

“Ning Lan is so despicable! If I ever see her, I’ll throw rotten eggs right at her face!”

Whoever was manipulating things from the shadows, Ning Lan’s scandals not only failed to die down—they intensified rapidly. There was no way for her to remain in the circle now; her reputation was utterly ruined.

Unable to restrain herself, Ning Lan checked Weibo again and, in a rage, smashed her phone. Her features twisted with anger.

“Damn it! Didn’t I tell you all to suppress this? Why is it not working at all?”

Her assistant no longer feared her—after all, Ning Lan was finished. Facing her fury, the assistant replied lightly, “We tried to suppress it, but someone must have reignited the story.”

Ning Lan’s expression froze.

It couldn’t be Liu Jue behind this. Then was it his wife? Only she would benefit from these revelations.

“Go check if Fang Min’er is the one pulling strings behind the scenes.”

But the assistant returned to tell her it wasn’t Fang Min’er—Fang Min’er was busy with her divorce proceedings with Liu Jue.

If it wasn’t Fang Min’er, then… it had to be Du Xingyuan! Only he, like Fang Min’er, would want her destroyed.

The more Ning Lan thought about it, the more convinced she became.

She immediately called Du Xingyuan, but the response came back: the number could not be reached at this time.

“Du Xingyuan! Do you really think that just because I’m finished, you’ll get away clean?”

Having completely lost her senses, Ning Lan handed over all the evidence she had against Du Xingyuan to the media.

Starting from the trending topic “Ning Lan’s Affair with a Married Man,” the news never once left the hot search list.

Suddenly, one headline detonated like a bomb: “The Scandalous Truth Between Du Xingyuan and Several Male Directors in the Industry!!!” The “boiling” tag beside it said all that needed to be said about the shock it caused.

Beneath the post were indecent photos and videos, even more revolting than the video of Ning Lan and Liu Jue. The footage was entirely of men, the words spoken unbearable to hear; Du Xingyuan lay like a rag doll beneath the corpulent bodies of those men.

“I have no words for how shocked I am—this is just too damn shocking!”

“When it comes to playing around, you two really cover all bases.”

“So Du Xingyuan is gay? Then what about Yun Fu and Ning Lan?”

“Have you heard of ‘tongqi’—wives of gay men? But those are all top directors, and Du Xingyuan isn’t even an actor. Why would he stoop so low?”

“So all the business at Starshine Entertainment was built in Du’s bed?”

“This industry is a mess.”

Fang Junming had come back for two reasons: to steady his mother’s nerves and to handle the situation with Liu Jue and Ning Lan. The worse Liu Jue’s reputation became, the better it would be for his mother. In the end, Liu Jue would leave with nothing.

He’d only added fuel to the fire in this affair—he never imagined so much would come to light.

Staring at the trending topics, Fang Junming swirled his wine glass and frowned slightly. A friend beside him clapped him on the shoulder, “Liu Jue is finished now. With your mother divorcing him, he won’t get a dime. Why aren’t you happier? Are you reluctant?”

Fang Junming shook his head. He’d long since been disappointed in this father; there was nothing left to be reluctant about.

Yet he suddenly sensed that behind all this, an invisible hand was orchestrating events, pushing things along from the very start—his mother’s tip-off, the exposure of the affair, her return to the country, the subsequent revelations…

But if that were true, what kind of cunning would it take for someone to achieve their goal from the beginning without lifting a finger, simply by manipulating them all?

Then again, he thought, it was impossible.

His own return wasn’t certain; it wasn’t certain that Ning Lan would blame everything on Du Xingyuan. If someone really had orchestrated all this from the shadows, unless they were a deity, it would be impossible to be so precise.

And at that moment, the “deity” in question was sipping milk tea through a straw, the drink brought back by Qiao An, and finding it quite to her taste.

Qiao An looked at her, eyes rimmed with red. “They got what they deserved. They targeted you, drove you out of the company—and now, look at them. But this Du Xingyuan… when you were with him, was he… like that?”

Yun Fu glanced up at her, smiled faintly, and said nothing.

What did it matter what he was? All that mattered now was that Du Xingyuan and Ning Lan were completely ruined.

But to Qiao An, that smile looked weary and sorrowful, and her heart ached all the more for Yun Fu.

Yun Fu herself: happily sipping her milk tea.

Meanwhile, Du Xingyuan felt as if he’d been struck by lightning. His worst fears had come true—those photos, those videos, pierced his body like a thousand needles.

Du Yong and Mrs. Du aged overnight—how could they believe that their always-exemplary son could have…

“Scoundrel! Scoundrel!” Old Mr. Du was so incensed by the news that he was hospitalized on the spot.

Du Xingyuan’s cousin gave him a deep, disappointed look and walked away. “Get out! You wretch, I should have strangled you at birth. You’ve ruined the entire Du family!”

“Get out! From now on, I have no son like you!” Du Yong slapped Du Xingyuan hard across the face, his eyes ablaze with fury.

The son he’d once been so proud of now disgusted him more than anything.

His mother felt pity, but as a woman in the Du household, she was powerless—she could only watch helplessly as her son was cast out.

Du Xingyuan watched the door slowly close, saw the sneers on the servants’ faces, his mother’s tears of disappointment—he could no longer maintain his composure.

He got into his car and headed straight for where Ning Lan was.