Chapter 192：The Pieces (15)

It would fit the public's perception of the veteran actor made bitter by time bullying the up and coming actor because she was threatened and envious of her youth and talent. Granted there was no reporter there, the one that was there was not going to help Qing Qing but in today's age where everyone had a smartphone that could take videos as well as pictures and send them to the internet, everyone was in everyone's business.

The picture basically spoke for themselves and Joann would have a hard time explaining herself. She had truly underestimated Qing Qing, she had almost fallen into the young woman's trap again. If not for her daughter stopping her at the last minute, the consequence would have been disastrous.

After she calmed down, Joann realized Qing Qing probably had been egging her on before. The young woman was purposely saying those things to get her to lose her cool. Qing Qing was not only cunning but also clever, it was a real lethal combination.

Joann sat back down and whispered to her daughter, "Thank you, Sylvia."

Qing Qing glared at Sylvia, annoyed that the young woman had ruined her plan. If Joann had slapped her earlier, she would be able to turn everything to her favor. In today's age where sensationalism ran rampant, people were not going to waste time to investigate the authenticity of the news. They judged based on the image that was presented to them and human nature had the tendency to favor the weaker party. Qing Qing was confident she would be able to spin the readers to her favor. After all, she had done that plenty of times already.

Nevertheless, this did not mean that she had already given up. As she glared at Sylvia, Qing Qing's mind was already churning, trying to come up with a different plan.

However, Sylvia was not going to give her the time or opportunity to do so. Sylvia patted her mother on the back of her hand, showing her support. "Mom, don't worry. I won't let you take those insults lying down. The girl might have you shackled in your seat but..."

Sylvia sprung up from her seat and finished the job her mother had started. "She had nothing on me!"

SLAP!

A resounding slap echoed through the room. Sylvia felt greatly satisfied, she had been wanting to do that since her Auntie Xiu Ling told her about her father's infidelity. "That was because you're a shameless homewrecker!" Sylvia spat.

Qing Qing's body was shaking from a combination of disbelief and anger. No one had dared to lay a finger on her before. Everyone cherished her like she was the treasure of the world but today she had suffered such humiliation on the hands of a nobody. She could not believe it!

Like in television drama, Qing Qing's hand went to the spot where Sylvia had slapped her. As her hand made contact with the skin that had started to burn, Qing Qing winced.

Qing Qing whipped her head around to look at Sylvia straight in her eyes. "How dare you!! I'm going to sue!"

"Oh yea?!" Sylvia challenged with a smirk of her own. "Then I'll give you more thing to take to court!"

Before Qing Qing understood what she meant, Sylvia's palm came flying and it left a hand print on the other side of Qing Qing's face, balancing out the first slap that she gave. "That was for my mother! Perhaps it'll teach you a lesson to watch your mouth in the future!"

Sylvia knew she might get into trouble for doing this but she would not allow the young woman to get away scot-free after saying all those horrible things about her mother. She might be knee-deep in hot waters but Sylvia felt it was worth it.

Furthermore, Sylvia could utilize this incident in the court of public opinion herself. If Joann assaulted Qing Qing, people were going to naturally side with Qing Qing because they were both public figures and Qing Qing would be seen as the weaker party due to her shorter years in the business.

However, if it was Sylvia, a relative unknown who slapped Qing Qing, then things would be a lot more ambiguous.

Yes, the public would still come to Qing Qing's defense, especially those who were her fans. They might even be out demanding for Sylvia's blood. However, people would also be interested in why this had happened, what Qing Qing could possibly have done to provoke a physical assault?

People would not have cared in Joann's case because there was already a well-accepted trope of senior bullying junior in the public consensus but if the assaulter was Sylvia, then it would be a mystery. The public would want to know, this was the natural result of our idol culture. We would want to find out everything about the celebrities, especially if it involved some nasty and depraved details, and Qing Qing, a famed celebrity being slapped by a relative unknown member of the public would fit that bill perfectly well. This was the kind of celebrity gossip the public pounce upon.

As a reporter, Sylvia would make sure the news got out. She had turned Qing Qing's plan upon itself and used it back against her.

Qing Qing was clever enough to know that she had lost the upper hand. Instead of staying longer to suffer more humiliation, she chose to retreat when she still had much of her dignity intact.

"This is not the last you're going to hear from me!" Qing Qing grabbed her stuff and stormed out of the place before leveling one last glare at Sylvia.

Sylvia glared back at her. After Qing Qing left, Sylvia sat back down to comfort her mother. Joann was in an absent-minded state. Sylvia thought her mother was in shock but actually Joann was observing something in the room. She had found an anomaly.

When Sylvia slapped Qing Qing, none of the customers around them seemed to show any response.