Page 135 of He Is My Bride

“They’re going to talk anyway. I did what I did, so at least let them say I owned up to it.”

Li Ying took a blanket, wrapped himself in it against the cold wind blowing over the river, and snuggled against Hanjun.

“Don’t worry, we will sort this out,” Hanjun said, rubbing Li Ying’s shoulder and kissing his hair. “But Li Ying, you shouldn’t have done that.”

“Yeah. I saw the video. I see why some of them are calling me crazy. I should have held back, maybe, but I just… I lost my temper, okay?”

Maybe Li Ying thought his vengeance justified, but he still had to admit he had brought upon himself and the Wus another PR disaster. Anne would be justthrilledto hear about this, Li Ying thought. Nevermind what Wu Yiheng and the rest of the Wus would think.

“It’s okay,” Hanjun said. “Were you scared?”

“No. Just angry.” Li Ying took another blanket and put it around Hanjun. “You stay warm, too.”

“Thank you.” Hanjun pressed another kiss on Li Ying’s temple and his boyfriend snuggled against him.

They lay down on the seat, huddled against each other, and watched the many colors of the Pudong skyline glitter and dance on the water until it was time to head ashore. Hanjun took out his phone while they boated towards the wharf.

“Who are you calling?” Li Ying asked.

“Uncle Yiheng. We’re going to need the PR management to step in this time. And possibly a lawyer.”

Chapter29: Red Dog Day

By the next morning, the videos had all been taken down ‘for violent content.’ Of course the rumor mill was going all the stronger for it, and not just among the Shanghai elite circles, but the common folk took great delight in gossiping about all the petty rich-people drama as well. Especially when it had been something so dramatic.

One of the videos still rotated outside of the official channels, gathering views, but the story had been set straight by the time the evening news made it out of the press:

‘Woman attacks another by throwing blood during a New Year’s party

An attempted attack was made by a young woman against another by throwing animal blood and body parts towards her at a private New Year’s party held at the Peninsula hotel last night.

The attack landed on a bystanding man, who had come to the victim's aid.

Afterwards, a fight broke out as the victim sought to perform a citizen’s arrest on the assailant when she tried to flee the scene. Neither partysuffered any injuries. The hotel security captured and handed the perpetrator over to the police.

The assailant was released from custody early this morning. No charges have been pressed at this time, but legal experts say that the assailant could face charges for vandalism or even attempted assault. We have not reached the victim for comment.’

Li Ying and Hanjun were sitting at Hanjun’s kitchen, eating a late lunch, and Li Ying read the article aloud for Hanjun and Anne, who was on call with them.

“Well,” Li Ying said in conclusion, “Tang Xiuxiu could suemefor assault too, or at least using excessive force for self-defense, since I definitely wasn’t going for a ‘citizen’s arrest’ as much as… fucking her up a little.” Li Ying folded the newspaper away and sipped his coffee. “But that’s what the Wus’ lawyer needed me to say to the police this morning, so there.”

Li Ying still had no regrets though, the bitch had it coming. He only regretted having caused such a scene and trouble for the Wus. Again.

“By the heavens Li Ying,whydid you have to do it?” Anne’s exhausted voice asked through the speaker.

“I didn’t think it through, okay? I was angry, I just wanted her to know she had really fucked up this time.”

“Turns outyoufucked up, just look at the mess you made!”

“Imade a mess, huh?”

“Ugh. Anyway, you mentioned you met with the Wu lawyer this morning?”

“Yep. The meeting was between the lawyer, myself, Hanjun, and Wu Yiheng at the law firm office. You can imagine how happy Uncle Yiheng was about the whole thing, haha!”

“Oh no…”

“Heh, he was actually pretty calm through the entire meeting, said nothing to me. Suppose he had already pulled some strings and wasn’ttoo worried. With the papers having spun the story in our favor, I’d imagine the Wus have some real sway over the press.” Li Ying looked at Hanjun and winked, but the man was unreadable, not admitting to anything if he knew—which he did, and it was true.