The Scheming Ex-Husband's Courtship

Chapter 500 - 446 You’ve Been Acting Too Much

Facing Tang Tianyou’s interrogation, Bai Chengxi calmly said, "I have now found out who is scheming behind this.""Is it your ex-girlfriend?" Tang Tianyou, ever so clever, originally thought that Bai Chengxi had rekindled an old romance with his ex. After meeting Bai Chengxi, however, his attitude made him change his initial perspective. Although he didn’t know Bai Chengxi very well, the sincerity and determination in his eyes when he spoke those words earlier were unmistakable.

Bai Chengxi did not deny it.

"Huh." Tang Tianyou sneered, "If it really is your ex-girlfriend, would you have the heart to deal with her?"

Bai Chengxi smiled lightly: "I don’t have an ex-girlfriend, I only have Yuqing."

Tang Tianyou quietly stared at him for a while. The two men of similar height, equally handsome, shared a fierce clash in their eyes. It seemed as if Tang Tianyou was scrutinizing him. Now, in his eyes, Bai Chengxi, the stellar Mr. Bai, was just an ordinary man, and all he cared about was whether he could bring happiness to his sister.

The sharpness in Tang Tianyou’s gaze finally softened, but it still carried a heavy warning: "I’ll trust you for now, but if you don’t handle this matter properly and Qingzi gets even the slightest hurt, I won’t hesitate to use everything at my disposal to make you pay."

"I want even less to see her get hurt."

～

By the time Zhuo Yuqing hurried over, Bai Chengxi had already left. Her car just missed crossing paths with Tang Tianyou’s. Zhuo Yuqing, with her keen eyes, spotted him and quickly rolled down the window, waving her hand: "Brother."

Tang Tianyou stopped the car, and Zhuo Yuqing swiftly jumped out of the taxi and climbed into his car.

"Why are you here?" Tang Tianyou saw her little face red from the cold, wearing only a coat, without a hat or scarf, rubbing her hands from the chill.

"Where’s Bai Chengxi, did you see him?" Zhuo Yuqing, barely settled, eagerly asked, simultaneously looking out through the car windows.

"You..." Tang Tianyou tapped her forehead in exasperation, "Your boyfriend is nearly running off with someone else, and you’re still taking your time."

"He won’t run off with anyone," Zhuo Yuqing said with conviction. "I trust him."

"Does he really deserve your trust?"

Zhuo Yuqing nodded firmly, suddenly leaning forward suspiciously and asking, "Brother, did you know all along? About his ex-girlfriend?"

The last time he had hesitated to speak, ending up saying something completely irrelevant. She had believed him then, without thinking further.

Tang Tianyou did not deny it: "This time, based on how he handles this, if I’m not satisfied, I’ll take you back to A City, and you’ll cut all ties with him forever."

Zhuo Yuqing couldn’t help but laugh, "Brother, you’re acting too much like dad now. If you ever have a daughter, you’ll be just like Zhuo Yao, I worry for your future daughter indeed."

Tang Tianyou ruffled her hair a bit exasperatedly: "Heartless girl."

Zhuo Yuqing huffed: "Brother, tell me quickly, where did Bai Chengxi go?"

"I only saw him return to the company briefly, seemed like he went to pick something up, then he drove off," Tang Tianyou answered truthfully.

Zhuo Yuqing couldn’t think of where Bai Chengxi might have gone, probably to deal with the Weibo incident. This news was blowing up, not something that could be settled in a short while.

～

The perimeter of Su Yingluo’s apartment was crowded with reporters, all craning their necks waiting for her to appear.

At this moment, Su Yingluo was sitting leisurely in her living room, sipping red wine while blocking the curtains.

She was browsing news on her tablet, and as she expected, public opinion was overwhelmingly on her side, everyone cursing the immoral "other woman" and supporting her to reclaim her rights.

Meanwhile, many were attempting to dox the "Z" surname other woman, but any credible replies were instantly deleted.

Su Yingluo was not in a hurry, believing that the speed of the others deleting posts could never match the spread by netizens. It wouldn’t be long before Zhuo Yuqing’s identity would be exposed to the world, and by then, she would be reviled by everyone, and even Bai Chengxi couldn’t protect her.

Su Yingluo turned off her tablet, the phone by her side suddenly rang, the ringtone specifically set for Bai Chengxi, and she had been waiting for this call for a long time.

She believed that Bai Chengxi would definitely call her, but she was not in a hurry. Instead, she calmly painted her nails before picking up the phone.

"The usual place, I’ll wait for you." Bai Chengxi only said these brief six words before hanging up.

Su Yingluo wanted to say something more, but all she got in reply was the beeping of the disconnected call. Bai Chengxi’s tone was neither happy nor angry, very neutral. She couldn’t tell whether he was pleased or upset, but whichever it was, his agreement to meet her was the first step of her victory.

Su Yingluo quickly got ready. The doorway was full of reporters, and her stepping outside would surely cause a frenzy. However, this was exactly her intention. How could a meeting with Bai Chengxi lack media coverage? Only in this way could Zhuo Yuqing back off. Just a minor journalist, what chance did she have against her? Eventually, she would realize that Bai Chengxi has always liked her, Su Yingluo.

Su Yingluo put on her sunglasses and under the escort of several assistants and agents, she walked out of the apartment. Her appearance immediately drew a wave of media encirclement, with various cameras, microphones, and mobile phones thrust towards her.

"Miss Su, could you answer, do you and President Bai still have contact? Is it an unreconciled old affection, or is there a third party involved?"

"Miss Su, it’s rumored that President Bai is married, is that true?"

"Miss Su, can you reveal something about the identity of that journalist whose last name starts with Z?"

The voices around her buzzed like flies, but Su Yingluo kept her head down and walked forward, paying no attention to what these people asked. Her assistants diligently shielded her from the frenzied reporters.

Xiaolan opened the door of the minivan, and Su Yingluo quickly bent over and sat inside. The door then closed behind her, leaving a crowd of reporters isolated outside the window. Some even knocked on the windows, trying to pry some valuable clues from Su Yingluo’s lips. Any news on Su Yingluo could make headlines, therefore, these people almost desperately pushed forward; among these people was Zhuo Yuqing’s acquaintance—Liu Lian.

Liu Lian’s coming to interview Su Yingluo was a pretense; her real aim was to mingle with the journalists to gather information for Zhuo Yuqing. She was Zhuo Yuqing’s best friend; her friend’s husband was rumored to be having an affair with another woman, and her friend was even labeled as the other woman in this scenario. Liu Lian could not stand such injustice.

Seeing Su Yingluo drive away, Liu Lian also hurriedly jumped into her own small car and followed.

Su Yingluo hoped to be followed by a few more people, so she did not drive very fast nor take a detour.

The "usual place" Bai Chengxi mentioned was a cafe named "Bainian." In the past, he loved to sit there waiting for her after work. The two of them would listen to music, chat, and leisurely have dinner. It felt like those times were just yesterday, wonderfully pleasant.

Ten years have passed, and instead of closing down, "Bainian" Cafe has thrived even more by renting the second-floor building as private rooms, with business booming every day.

After getting out of the car, Su Yingluo went directly into the cafe. As soon as she entered, several security guards quickly ran out from inside, then stealthily followed the reporters who were subsequently all chased away, Liu Lian included.

The security guards strongly guarded the vicinity of the cafe, aggressively approaching anyone with a camera to snatch their photography equipment, showing a very rude and fierce attitude.

Unable to do otherwise, Liu Lian had to put away her equipment and ran to the corner to call Zhuo Yuqing.

"Yuqing, I’m at Bainian Cafe right now. Su Yingluo is here meeting someone, I suspect it might be your husband, but I don’t know what they’re going to talk about. The area is secured by guards, and I can’t get in."

"I understand," Zhuo Yuqing initially planned to go home but upon hearing Liu Lian, she instructed her driver to turn around and head directly to Bainian Cafe.

Bai Chengxi had anticipated Su Yingluo purposely attracting the reporters, so he had prepared accordingly. His arrival did not catch anyone’s attention, and naturally, it was not captured, thus, whoever Su Yingluo was meeting would remain speculation to the outside world.

Su Yingluo followed the waiter to the innermost private room, and it was only as she walked that she realized that Bai Chengxi had booked the entire cafe.

"Chengxi." Su Yingluo pushed open the door and immediately saw the man smoking by the window. His tall figure was shrouded in a light haze of smoke, his handsome face half-hidden in the dim light. He still looked the same as she remembered; she often said he was more handsome than any male actor she had worked with. It was a pity he did not act.

Hearing her voice, Bai Chengxi glanced over indifferently, not uttering a word.

"Chengxi." Su Yingluo sat down opposite him, looking at him with a hint of apology: "I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused you."

"What do you mean?" Bai Chengxi lifted his thin eyelids, his eyes deep and intense.

With an anxious sigh, Su Yingluo said, "I lost my phone a while ago, and the photos posted online were stolen from my phone."

As Su Yingluo spoke, she shyly stared at his face: "I don’t have many photos in my phone, and I have kept those photos for ten years, transferring them every time I changed phones. On many lonely nights, it was these photos that lulled me to sleep. Chengxi, these ten years, while I might appear successful, I haven’t been happy at all. I regret my decisions back then when I was young and impetuous, and I hope you..."

"Have you played too many roles and can’t distinguish between reality and drama anymore?" Bai Chengxi suddenly interrupted her, tossing a paper bag in front of her: "It seems you’ve taken my warning as nothing."

Su Yingluo, who was immersed in expressing her grievances, did not expect to be interrupted by Bai Chengxi just as she was getting emotional. She looked at him with a bit of shock on her face, noticing his cold and merciless expression, then glanced at the paper bag in front of her.