Chapter 186: Lan Xi is Really Closing in
Lu Che's information came through: the paparazzi that were following Tangning was from South Korea and were an extremely professional team.
Lu Che also found out they were in action because they had met with Cheng Tian's Artists Director, Luo Hao.
The answer was obvious.
An Zihao's expression was abnormally upset; he suddenly realized a lot of things. Back during his incident with Yun Xin, although the incident was exposed by Yang Jing and Luo Hao, the substantive evidence came from the hidden flashes that followed them around. In other words, was that Lan Xi's doing?
Now that Yun Xin's incident was well in the past, did Lan Xi want to play the same trick again?
She had already taken Yun Xin's life, did she also want Tangning's?
"I'm not sure what those people managed to capture."
"I really liked President Lan at one stage, I felt she was competent and strong like a heroine. Who would have thought she'd turn out to be as cruel as a wolf," Long Jie couldn't help but sigh.
Tangning sat on the hotel bed, she was immensely calm. No matter how ruthless Lan Xi was, it would never stop her determination to become an international supermodel.
Although Lan Xi was ruthless…Tangning could be even more ruthless.
Seeing Tangning remain silent, An Zihao was slightly terrified. After being around her for quite some time, he had developed a certain level of understanding towards her. Even though she was quiet like usual, one could decipher her mood through slight variations in her silence.
For example, when she was with Mo Ting, her silence carried with it a relaxed and comfortable mood.
When with outsiders, her silence made her feel unapproachable.
And at this moment, Tangning's silence had reached a stage where one should be terrified. The more she didn't speak, the more it meant she was thinking of a way to strike back at Lan Xi.
Lan Xi had already pushed things this far; Tangning's future would definitely not be at Cheng Tian.
"What do you plan to do?"
"What else could I do? I'm just going to let her take as many photos as she wants…" Tangning smiled slightly like she didn't care. But An Zihao knew, if Lan Xi was a mantis, then Tangning was an Oriole.*[1]
"All you need to focus on right now is to walk the JK show to the best of your ability. Everything else, is not as important as this."
"But, I don't think Lan Xi will let me appear on the runway. Right now she is tossing up between using me and destroying me," Tangning's mind was clear as she lifted her head and looked into An Zihao's eyes, "If you were Lan Xi, which would you choose?"
"The thing is, I don't think she's captured anything yet…"
"Not necessarily…" Tangning was referring to the incident with the male model. As long as Lan Xi wanted to, she could even use such a small encounter to destroy Tangning after careful planning.
"Just focus on preparing for the show. Everything else…I will handle it," An Zihao reassured.
Tangning smiled; she trusted An Zihao, but not 100%. In this entire world, the only person she could trust entirely was Mo Ting.
"Tangning, I didn't know you were in such a difficult situation. Do you think the reason why Lan Xi is stalking you, is partly because she thinks Lu Che and I are just covering up for you and you are the actual one that is related to Hai Rui?"
After hearing Long Jie's question, Tangning shook her head, "No way. If Lan Xi was suspicious of my relationship with Hai Rui, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to guess what my relationship with Mo Ting is. From the start, she has never expected that Mo Ting would be interested in me at all."
"Why?"
"Because Mo Ting has no interest in her. In her eyes, if Mo Ting has no interest in her, then how could he possibly waste his time on a small model like myself."
Deep inside…Lan Xi was an extremely self-centered person.
She never allowed others to be better than her and didn't allow others to jump out of her control.
"How arrogant!" Although Long Jie felt a little better after hearing Tangning's words, she knew Tangning had worked hard to cover up her relationship with Mo Ting and wasn't at the stage to reveal it yet. So, after returning to her room, she decided to send a message to Lu Che.
After sending the message, she felt she was out of her mind as her face reddened and she lay on the bed.
"How about we live together?"
Lu Che was in the middle of dealing with some documents. Upon seeing Long Jie's message, he received a huge shock. He immediately replied to Long Jie with a whole heap of question marks; this low EQ man actually thought Long Jie had sent her message to the wrong person!
"Aren't we engaged? Let's pretend to cohabit…you already have my keys after all. How about you drop by every now and then?"
"Are you out of your mind?"
Long Jie: "…"
Having a low EQ was practically an illness!
After Long Jie and An Zihao returned to their respective rooms, Tangning pulled open the curtains in her room and savored the view of London at night.
She thought to herself, whatever way Lan Xi decided to challenge her, she would throw the same method back.
But, what if Lan Xi wanted to take her life…
…
The next morning. Tangning was awoken by a knock on the door. She expected it to be either Long Jie or An Zihao. However, after she got changed and opened the door, standing in front of her was the young male model from the previous day.
"I finally found you…beautiful Asian long legs…" the man reached out his hands for a hug. But, Tangning quickly dodged to the side.
"My name is Gaby, I really want to get to know you my goddess; you are so sexy."
Tangning did not bother to respond to him as she closed her door in his face and called An Zihao.
At this time, for a man like this to appear in front of her, Tangning couldn't help but tie it back to the people at Cheng Tian…
An Zihao easily sent the male model away before entering Tangning's room, "You are currently being followed. For an indecent person like this to cling to you out of nowhere, it's definitely suspicious."
Even An Zihao had noticed something was off, how could Tangning not know?
"Lan Xi is really closing in!"
Not only this, Luo Hao, who was even more sinister than Lan Xi, knew deep down that Tangning was not easy to deal with. If things were to continue to drag on, she would definitely retaliate sooner or later, so…
…Luo Hao did not ask for Lan Xi's permission and placed the photos in his possession directly online.
The headline read, [Tangning's 'High Moral' Mask Teared Down; Caught Flirting With a Male Model].
At the same time, the article suggested that the writer was an insider; it hinted that he knew Tangning had a boyfriend but was flirting with the 'back-view dream man' and seducing a male model overseas. Seeing her three-timing, he couldn't continue to stand idly by.
Tangning was famous for being aloof from the world. So, with this 'lustful' claim, the netizens were quickly fired up and throwing in their insults.
Female celebrities were always treated differently to male celebrities. Even if a male celebrity had rumors like this, it would easily be overlooked, but…when it came to female celebrities, even if they were innocent, people would still latch on and refuse to let go. On top of everything, the rumors would easily be turned into a scandal and be brought up time and time again.
Lust!
Everyone was caught by surprise; Luo Hao threw his attack too quick and too ruthlessly.
Especially because his attack was related to a lustful topic…
…and this was something men often searched online, the popularity of the article, quickly flew to the top of search rankings.
At this time, Mo Ting's flight had just landed…
[1] This is a reference to the idiom 螳螂捕蝉,黄雀在后 (The mantis stalks the cicada, but behind them, lurks the oriole) which was used in an earlier chapter. The idiom refers to those that are only focused on the gains before them, without noticing the danger behind them.