Chapter 179：The Pieces (2)

To be fair, Ming Tian wanted to tell Sylvia about this when he found out her mother was the famous Joann Fong. However, starting things off with, "Hi, I'm the reporter who wrote all those slanderous articles on your mother. Nice to meet you," didn't seem like a very good idea, considering the fact that the young man wanted to get to know her better.

Then, days dragged into weeks and weeks into months. Ming Tian found himself garnering less and less courage to reveal the truth. Things with Sylvia were going not as smooth as he had hoped but at least there was progress. He did not want to screw up everything with the grand reveal so he simply kept it to himself. Furthermore, there was not really an occasion for him to bring it up. One could not expect him to say, "Hey, want to know something? I'm the culprit behind those articles defaming your mother's name. Surprised?" when they were at the cafeteria having lunch now, could he?

However, standing there in the quiet office, surrounded by darkness and solitary table lights, he felt like confessing. Ming Tian could not really explain it but he felt like the timing was ripe, it was going to be now or never, and he chose to be honest with Sylvia.

Ming Tian pulled over the chair from Sylvia's adjacent cubicle and told her everything. His every past interaction with the girl and the deals they had made together. The last help he lent her was when Sylvia joined the company, he didn't think it was wise to continue doing so. Even if he wasn't interested in Sylvia, he would consider it a horrible thing to do to a colleague.

Then again, the girl seemed to have survived just fine without him. With a gain in star power, there were other reporters just waiting to do her bidding. She had more options compared to when she first sought him out.

Therefore, she did not ask him to stay in the deal, if anything, the girl seemed glad that he had brought up the possibility of ending the deal when he did. She probably did not want others to trace the evil deeds that she had done through him but more than that, Ming Tian knew it was because she did not want to continue this relationship where she did not have the upper hand.

As mentioned above, when she first came to him, she was still an unknown starlet while he was a reporter at an influential publishing paper. She would feed him news and in turn, he would occasionally publish some questionable articles for her, they would normally have the intention of harming other people's career or elevating her own.

Make no mistake, this was not a relationship of equals. The girl knew if something was to go sour between them, there was no guarantee that her hide would be saved. After all, Ming Tian had all the dirt on her but she had nothing to hang over his head. In other words, for their relationship, she needed him but he did not technically need her. What he obtained from her was convenience, without the "news" that she fed him, he would have survived just fine on his own.

Therefore, she welcomed the end to their contract. With her options opening up, she would go and find someone where she could more easily manipulate. They parted peacefully and silently, with the promise that their dealings would forever only stay between them.

However, the reason the girl approached Ming Tian in the first place was because he was open to dealings that were under the table. She should have expected that when he had a bigger fish to catch, the young man would readily sell her out. That was exactly what Ming Tian did.

"I'm sorry." Ming Tian lowered his head with remorse. He waited for Sylvia to deliver her judgment.

Instead of anger, disappointment or sadness, Sylvia's brows were creased heavily with thought. To be honest, the issue with Ming Tian had already left her mind. When her colleague came to her with the revelation, things started to connect in her mind, the dots were starting to line up.

'I need to share this with mom!' was the first thought that came into her mind.

"Ming Tian, thank you for sharing that with me!" Sylvia grabbed her purse and coat before running towards the exit. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Ming Tian looked at her a dumbfounded expression. "But... wait, what about me?!"

Sylvia halted and turned to look at him with a frown. "What do you mean? You're going to stay to finish the story for tomorrow, aren't you? Or you're going to go home? Either way, good luck. I have to go!"

Sylvia fled the scene, leaving behind a Ming Tian that honestly did not know how he should respond. While he was glad that Sylvia wasn't angry at him but Ming Tian did not appreciate the fact that he held such little importance in her heart that his betrayal didn't even warrant a consideration.

The young man slumped in his seat and sighed. He would need to work harder.

...

Xiu Ling was in her bedroom, winding down for the night. The plushy that Lin Kang won for her sat on the bedside table. She turned to look at it and her face lit up with an involuntarily smile. Yes, they did have plenty of fun that day.

Someone knocked on her door and Xiu Ling called for the person to come in. Lin Kang walked in with a file in his hands. "Good evening, Lin Kang. Is something wrong?" Xiu Ling said.

Based on the stern expression on the man's face, Xiu Ling believed he was there to talk about something serious. She was proven right when the man sat down and said, "Xiu Ling, do you still remember the blackmail incident that happened to Lee Mu and Zao Ming?"

Xiu Ling nodded wordlessly.

With a grim face, Lin Kang continued, "Headway had been made on the envelope that the blackmail letter came in. We have found the culprit."