novelraw Chapter 377 - 371: Jing Jihan Presses Her Down
Chapter 377 - 371: Jing Jihan Presses Her Down
Before dining upstairs at the Zijin Flower Hotel, Shi Su never expected that the wealthy businessmen in Hong Kong were so gossip-prone. As they ate, they began discussing the family secrets of the jeweler holding a centenarian birthday party in the banquet hall on the first floor.The old lady celebrating her hundredth birthday today has three sons and two daughters, with the eldest son already in his seventies and the youngest in his fifties. There are quite a few grandchildren, all raised to be talents by the family, but each is clever and bold. These grandchildren rarely gather together, but today, with the old lady’s birthday, even those studying abroad have returned.
This jeweler has a history of several hundred years in Hong Kong, with a large family and business. On the surface, the longevity of the old folks and the abundance of descendants seem enviable. But in reality, the family’s internal conflicts and disputes have never ceased.
It’s said that today’s birthday party was contested by two grandsons, and it’s also rumored that the old lady’s eldest grandson was involved in a vendetta shooting abroad, with the mastermind potentially linked to their other relatives. Since Hong Kong has frequent interactions with foreign countries, and most of the grandchildren were born and raised abroad, they are quite used to seeing people around them with guns. So internal family conflicts could escalate into life-threatening situations at any time.
There’s a premonition that today’s birthday party wouldn’t go peacefully. But with many celebrities from domestic and international scenes attending, each with distinguished status, it’s unlikely they’d want to be involved lightly. Thus, it’s uncertain whether the family will stay quiet today, though it feels as if the facade of harmony won’t last the whole night before the arguments start again.
Who would have thought that as they chatted, someone downstairs in the banquet hall would bump into a familiar face through a trip to the restroom. This old acquaintance insisted on dragging them to the first floor to celebrate the old lady’s birthday. The film team had reasons not to go down for now; however, learning that the film’s entire promotional crew was upstairs, they were cordially invited to come down and join the festivities.
They didn’t initially want to mingle on the first floor. Wasn’t it better to stay in the private room upstairs, gossiping as they ate?
Unable to decline further without losing face, they finally headed downstairs, planning to wish the old lady well and find an excuse to leave quickly, avoiding entanglement.
Shi Su had no choice but to follow them down.
Today wasn’t a formal event, so she didn’t wear a gown, opting instead for comfortable yet slightly formal summer attire. Around them, many local and international socialites and ladies of Hong Kong passed by in evening dresses. Occasionally, she heard local dialect mixed with half-and-half conversations in Chinese and English, revealing that these ladies mostly used such gatherings to compete in beauty and exchange barbed words, not unlike the actresses in the entertainment industry.
...
In the brightly lit banquet hall, as the massive crystal chandelier, weighing several hundred pounds, fell straight down from the third-floor ceiling, shrieks and panicked scurrying erupted instantaneously. The gigantic chandelier crashed downwards, heading directly for the main lobby. The marble floor reflected a blinding light, radiant yet filled with peril, as the grand chandelier appeared like a gaping maw lined with teeth, ready to devour anyone standing beneath it in an instant.
Shi Su wasn’t standing right under the chandelier, but she had just gone over with the film team’s leader to say some birthday wishes to the old lady standing beneath it.
Just as they finished speaking and were about to step back, she noticed two of the old lady’s grandchildren also moving toward her.
It was precisely at this moment that a strange sound came from the gigantic chandelier overhead, followed by the screams of people around them.
"Ah——"
Shi Su instinctively tilted her head upward, seeing the massive object plummeting straight down, too fast for any reaction or evasion. In a fraction of a second, a chilling sensation spread through her limbs. Instinctively, she managed to step aside just a bit, but the chandelier was already descending rapidly overhead!
A figure suddenly flashed before her eyes, and before the massive object could hit her in half a second, a surge of force struck her aside. In the next moment, she heard the crash of the chandelier hitting the ground and felt herself being heavily slammed to the floor amidst the sound of shattering.
"Mr. Jing!"
"My God——"
Her head hit the ground, the pain reverberating throughout her body, leaving her momentarily unable to react. Struggling to open her eyes amidst the debris, she saw the face of the man pressing her down securely. Just as she recognized him, her eyes were suddenly clouded by dripping blood, forcing her to blink rapidly. Attempting to open them again, blood obscured her vision. The familiar yet astonishing scent, mixed with the overpowering smell of blood, left her brain momentarily blank. With icy hands trembling, she tried to lift them but realized she was completely shielded by the man’s weight.
It was only in that split second that she abruptly came back to her senses from the brief turmoil of two or three seconds.
What happened...
What’s going on?!
How could such a large chandelier suddenly fall?
Her eyes were obscured by blood, leaving her unable to see clearly, but who was shouting?
Who is Mr. Jing?
Where did Mr. Jing come from?!
Shi Su desperately tried to wipe away the warm blood dripping onto her eyes, but her hands were pinned down, preventing her from doing so. She squinted her eyes, struggling to see the man on top of her clearly.
Jing Jihan was pressing down on her.
The massive crystal chandelier, which could illuminate the entire first, second, and third floors of the hotel with its brilliant radiance, was shattered into pieces, scattering around their bodies.
Whether there were others trapped beneath it, Shi Su didn’t know. She only knew that it felt like there was blood flowing down beside her hand, especially from the man above her. The decoration under the fallen chandelier seemed to have very sharp metal hooks for holding the lamps, and in that instant, those layered metal hooks transformed into slivers of blades in her eyes, piercing painfully in the bloody dimness.
She trembled, the scent of blood in her nose growing stronger. Struggling to clearly see the person above her, she could only see the eyes of the man pinning her down. He looked at her, his gaze fixed on her, with blood spreading behind his neck, yet it didn’t affect the dark and vivid light in his eyes like thick ink. She couldn’t understand it, nor did she have a way to.
"There are shards on the ground; don’t get cut."
His voice was hoarse, as if fatigued to the extreme. The few simple words were slowly and laboriously spoken, yet they sounded like a relief.
Jing Jihan’s voice fell into her ears as Shi Su’s eyes gradually widened. Blood dripped into her eyes, flowed down her body, and pooled around her amid the chaotic debris. Footsteps rang out around them, the floor covered with blood—a terrifying amount of it, so shocking.