Page 58 of He Is My Bride

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 party suffered 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 sue me for 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, why did 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 out you fucked up, just look at the mess you made!”

“ I made 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’t too 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.

“Like with your previous stunt at the club?” Anne said. “It was pretty well contained, except what those present had put forth in rumors.”

“Excuse me, ‘my’ stunt? I wasn’t the first one to throw hands there either.” Li Ying said, looking poignantly at Hanjun, who simply sipped his tea, unfazed.

Seemed like Hanjun had zero regrets about that although he might also have had zero memories of punching Wang Hao in the face.

“But you’re right,” Li Ying continued, “the club fight may have stayed under wraps thanks to the Wus’ influence over the Shanghai press, but last night was a bigger incident. I mean, you said it yourself, Anne.”

“I said what?”

“‘This is the biggest one yet.’” Li Ying snickered.

“I’m going to kill you when you come back.”

“Scary!”

“Tch. So, the article said no charges had been pressed yet? Will you sue Tang Xiuxiu?”

“No.” Li Ying leaned back on his chair and finished his black coffee. “Together with the lawyer and the Wus’ PR manager on call, Wu Yiheng deemed it best if this whole matter was swept under the rug as soon as possible, to avoid more bad publicity, so we decided not to press any charges.”

“But it was you who were assaulted, not Wu Yiheng! Are you really okay with just letting it go?”

“I don’t care. I feel like I managed to deliver Xiuxiu enough justice on my own.

Nice and personal, you know. At this point I’ll just cooperate with whatever Uncle Yiheng and his team ask of me, so if they suggest I don’t press charges, I don’t press charges, and if they need me to tell the police it was a citizen’s arrest, I say that’s exactly what it was.

All the rumors aside, this is the official story now.

” Li Ying tapped the newspaper against the table.

“The team did a good job of covering up my fuckup, I just hope I can live it down with the entire Shanghai society having witnessed my ‘crazy.’ Man, I hope they start believing the press more than their own eyes with enough Wu propaganda.”

“Alright, Wu Yiheng has the press in his pocket, but what about the justice system?” Anne asked. “Can your uncle-in-law protect you if Tang Xiuxiu sues you? ”

Li Ying bit his nail. Yeah, that could be a problem, he thought.

Anne went on, “Like you said, she would have the grounds for it. She might even get support for her case, since a lot of people witnessed the incident and saw that what you did couldn’t be called a ‘citizen’s arrest’ in good conscience.

Not many of those witnesses could be said to be your allies.

Some would have a reason to want you out of the way, too. ”

“She won’t sue,” Hanjun said with confidence, pouring himself more tea.

Li Ying looked at him hopefully, and Hanjun explained, “She would face the entire Wu legal team, and as Tang Xiuxiu has now outlived her usefulness to him, Wang Guosheng wouldn’t back her up.

He doesn’t want his family to be associated with her or this case in any way.

Even if Tang Xiuxiu does sue, the outcome is obvious. ”

“You’re ruthless,” Li Ying said.

“Hm. Whatever Wang Guosheng had bribed or threatened Tang Xiuxiu with, it seems to have been enough to keep her quiet about the Wangs’ part in this, even at her own risk.

I’d wager she will only be relieved to get out of this without us pressing charges, or Wangs’ men at her back.

If she’s smart, she will leave us alone and leave Shanghai. ”

“How do you know it was Wang Guosheng who had her do it, by the way?” Anne asked. “What would he have to gain from that? ”

Li Ying and Hanjun looked at each other. Hanjun shook his head subtly and Li Ying understood: Anne didn’t need to know the full story, with Wang Guosheng’s harassment of Li Ying and his ominous words at the reunion dinner, and Hanjun’s threat, so Li Ying just said:

“He wanted to threaten me and Hanjun over company politics, that’s all.

You know, matters of inheritance: he’s after Hanjun’s shares, so that he would gain a position at the board of directors and a chance to take over Wu Pharma.

His litter won’t get a crumb more if there is to be a new Wu in the line.

Me coming along must have been a blow to his hopes that both the Wu cousins might die bachelors and have no heirs to compete with his. ”

“Still, it seems like such a petty thing to do,” Anne said.

“To Wang Guosheng it is just a petty game,” Hanjun said, “using a woman like Tang Xiuxiu and potentially ruining more than just her reputation, just to scare a rival. That’s the kind of man he is.”

“It really is unfortunate you have to call a man like that family,” Anne said.

“I don’t.”

“… Word .” Like Li Ying, Anne had a distinct Brooklyn accent when she spoke English.

“Well, he can threaten me all he wants and send the whole slaughterhouse to my door for all I care.” Li Ying stood up and put his hands on his hips. “I will marry Hanjun and have my child-bearing hips spit out so many heirs for the company that they will take over the entire Shanghai stock market!”

Li Ying rolled his hips while Hanjun rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“You don’t know how the stock market works,” Anne said.

“Damn right I don’t!” Li Ying declared proudly. “All I need to worry about is being pregnant for my husband and raising an army of little Wus to fight the Wangs! ”

Anne’s groan on the line was like an audible facepalm. “I’m happy you and the dress are safe. Just… lay low for now, okay? I’m sure Wu Yiheng and his PR team have told you.”

“I’m basically under house arrest by Uncle Yiheng, so yeah. Well, talk to you later, Anne. Bye bye!”

“Bye, Li Ying.”

—

It was the third day of the new year, and traditionally people avoided house visiting on this day as it was believed to bring discord. Instead, visiting the dead was something the Wus had usually done on the third day.

Due to the entire PR hassle in the morning, then dealing with the lawyer and the police all noon, Hanjun hadn’t been able to join the visitations with the rest of the family, so later that afternoon, he was getting ready to visit the graves on his own.

Hanrong called him. Li Ying didn’t hear what they discussed as he was distracting himself with his phone, but afterwards Hanjun told him that Hanrong would come pick him up and join him.

“Huh, didn’t he visit the graves with the others already?” Li Ying asked.

“He did, but we have always gone together before, so he asked if I wanted him to come with me regardless.”

“Oh, alright then. By the way, we didn’t talk about this, but it’s alright if I come with you, right?”

Li Ying could read even less from Hanjun’s expression as usual. The man considered before speaking:

“You should avoid going out in public for a while.”

“Hanjun,” Li Ying spoke gently, “is it really about that, or would you rather not have me there? Just say what you want, it’s okay if it feels too… I don’t know, intimate or something? I understand.”