Chapter 51: Marriage First, Love Later, and a Side of Scumbag Crushing 29
Truly, how times have changed. When had Ning Qingqing ever seen these two treat her so respectfully?
But before she could speak, a voice came from behind her: “Why are you two here?”
Ning Qingqing turned sideways slightly to clear the doorway. “Vice President Si, please come in.”
The man addressed as ‘Vice President Si’ was Kenny’s older half-brother, Si Kai.
He nodded to Ning Qingqing, then walked up to Kenny, his eyes filled with disgust. “Kenny, President Si has already made it clear that I am responsible for the cooperation with Ning Chuang. Are you ignoring the rules by doing this?”
With that, he turned to Ning Qingqing. “Miss Ning, I apologize for letting you see this joke. Kenny has nothing to do with the project. Starting last week, he no longer holds any position in any company under the Si family. Please do not receive him in the future.”
Ning Qingqing pretended to understand, nodding as if enlightened. “No wonder. I thought your company changed the contact person again…”
Si Kai explained, “He has nothing to do with any Si family projects and cannot represent the Si family or any level of company decision-making.”
Ning Qingqing responded, “Okay, then for any future issues, I will communicate with you, Vice President Si.”
At this point, how could Kenny not understand?
He had come here with Si Luoqing specifically to seek reconciliation with Ning Qingqing, but she had deliberately left him hanging for half an hour!
He originally thought Ning Qingqing was just getting revenge for the time he made her wait. He hadn’t expected that she used that half-hour to call Si Kai over!
She didn’t even need to do anything herself; she used Si Kai to slap him in the face!
Who didn’t know that Si Kai hated him the most? Today, Si Kai criticized him mercilessly in front of outsiders. Who knew how he would slander him in front of his father and uncle when he got back!
Kenny clenched his fingers under the table, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
Usually impulsive, he couldn’t force a single word out right now.
Yes, he had been kicked out of the Si family.
He had worked hard for so many years, going from an illegitimate child to trying to gain recognition and enter the family genealogy. But because his plan for Si Yunli failed a few days ago, he was kicked out!
With no hope of returning to the family, the only thing he could rely on now was Si Luoqing making a comeback.
So, facing Ning Qingqing’s display of dominance, he had to swallow it!
He stood up, his cheeks somewhat flushed from holding back his anger, and said to Si Kai, “Brother, I came here to discuss some private matters with Miss Ning—”
Si Kai interrupted him directly. “I only have one cousin. Kenny, don’t climb relations randomly.”
Kenny: “…”
He could only turn to Ning Qingqing. “Miss Ning, could I take up a little of your private time?”
Ning Qingqing gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I have an appointment with Vice President Si to discuss our upcoming cooperation. I also plan to treat Vice President Si to lunch at noon. You know, we will discuss some projects over the meal. It might not be convenient to have outsiders present. If you need to find me, maybe wait until after work in the afternoon?”
Ning Qingqing’s words pierced his heart. Kenny felt his dignity being rubbed into the dirt.
However, while he could endure it, Si Luoqing beside him finally couldn’t.
She stood up. “Miss Ning, just because of that little thing in the past, do you have to hold on to it so tightly?”
Kenny grabbed her arm, trying to stop her, but Si Luoqing was emotional. “You’re already married to Gu Youchen. You have everything. Is it necessary to target me because of my past with Shen Zhiqian?”
As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, as if she were the victim. “After I returned to China, you targeted me again and again, just because I dated Zhiqian!”
Beside her, Kenny looked at Si Luoqing, signaling her with his eyes, silently asking: Are you crazy?
But Si Luoqing ignored him completely and continued, weeping bitterly, “You’re married to someone else now. You have a husband. Can’t you consider your husband’s feelings? Why do you always hold on to your ex-boyfriend? Why do you always treat me as a love rival and use your family’s power to ban me? I’ve already stepped back. I stayed far away from you guys. Why won’t you let me go? I worked so hard as a trainee, worked so hard to debut, sang seriously. Do you know how much I sacrificed? But because of one sentence from you, I have to say goodbye to the stage forever…”
She was heartbroken, acting as if she were the most pitiful person in the world.
And Ning Qingqing—portrayed as a married woman who couldn’t let go of her ex-boyfriend, targeting her ex’s ‘love rival’, petty and ruthless!
Beside her, Kenny seemed to realize something and joined the act, persuading Si Luoqing, “Alright, Luoqing, stop talking. Do you still want to sing in the future? Don’t you know Miss Ning’s family—”
He stopped abruptly mid-sentence, seemingly afraid of something, then immediately bowed humbly to Ning Qingqing:
“Miss Ning, I’m sorry. Luoqing is ignorant. Please don’t hold it against her! It’s our fault. We promise we won’t disturb you again in the future! Don’t be angry with her. She was spoiled growing up and loves singing, which is why she argued with you. I’m sorry! I apologize on her behalf. We were wrong. I’m bowing to you!”
With that, he really bowed to Ning Qingqing.
He carried the humble act to the extreme.
Ning Qingqing looked at the two of them, not saying a word throughout the entire performance.
It was her first time encountering such a setup. She hadn’t done anything yet, and these malicious accusations were already planted on her head!
As if she were a vicious woman bullying people with her power, driving them to desperation!
Beside her, Si Kai also watched the two perform the whole time, scoffing coldly without speaking.
Only Si Luoqing’s crying echoed in the conference room.
After a while, she stopped crying, took a tissue from her bag, wiped her tears, and stood up. “Kenny, let’s go.”
With that, she gave Ning Qingqing a deep look with red eyes and walked out of the conference room.
Even after they got outside the building, Si Luoqing seemed to still be sobbing.
Just then, reporters swarmed over. “Miss Si, I heard you were shelved because of discord with other members of the company that was exposed earlier?”
“Miss Si, after being shelved, what are your plans? Will you quit the entertainment industry?”
…
Si Luoqing didn’t respond. She just coughed lowly with red eyes and waved her hand, signaling to everyone that she wanted to leave.
Thus, the reporters captured photos of her having cried.
At the same time, a shaky video began to quietly gain traction online.
The video was filmed in a small conference room. A woman’s voice could be heard. The first sentence wasn’t clear, but Si Luoqing and Kenny’s voices later were crystal clear.
After all, Si Luoqing still had popularity. Even if she was shelved, it would take some time for her heat to die down.
So once the video was released and the identities of the people in it were confirmed, the popularity skyrocketed.
Consequently, a topic gradually climbed the trending list—
[The Real Reason Si Luoqing Was Shelved]
Marketing accounts analyzed it logically: from the video recording, it could be heard that Si Luoqing was once Shen Zhiqian’s girlfriend. Shen Zhiqian’s current girlfriend, out of jealousy, had her family ban Si Luoqing.
But soon everyone realized that Shen Zhiqian’s powerful girlfriend had already married someone else.
So, this was a case of marrying someone else but still being angry at the ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend, and using power to block her!
What kind of grudge is this?
And this woman’s morals are a bit lacking, right? She’s married but can’t let go of her ex, fighting out of jealousy!
The scariest part is, just because of jealousy, she denied someone’s years of hard work and completely ruined their future!
It’s terrifying!
Look at Kenny’s humble voice and posture; it was truly low into the dust!
Thus, Si Luoqing’s fans began to heartache for their idol, while passersby mostly felt disgust for this vicious ‘Miss Ning’!
In just a few hours, from water armies (paid trolls) entering the fray to passersby being led by the rhythm, the topic brewed to unprecedented heat!
This was classic bullying! Only this time, the victim was a starlet in the entertainment industry!
Ning Qingqing knew nothing about this.
She spent the morning in a meeting with Si Kai, indeed had lunch with him, and in the afternoon had an appointment with Zhou Linghang’s team to discuss the specific plans for the new company.
Others in the company were usually busy too and rarely paid attention to entertainment gossip, unaware that the fire had reached their boss’s daughter.
Gu Youchen learned the news from his special assistant. After reading the posts, Gu Youchen almost laughed out of anger.
He suddenly understood that Kenny must have taken Si Luoqing to find Ning Qingqing to ‘apologize’ again today.
Guessing that Ning Qingqing’s attitude was tough, the two saw no hope and conspired to act out this scene.
It was indeed a good move. Si Luoqing was shelved, so naturally, she wouldn’t receive any work or have any exposure.
But what if she was a victim?
Then at least during the ban, she could use this to sell misery from time to time.
Until her contract expired and she could make a comeback, she could still use this topic to gain sympathy points.
The internet has a memory. Four years later, people would dig up the past. She could buy some trending searches, add her singing skills, and perhaps become popular again.
That was what she was betting on.
Besides that, there was another effect—
If Ning Qingqing was afraid of public opinion, she might compromise.
Once Ning Qingqing was willing to compromise, Si Luoqing would have bargaining chips. She could take the opportunity to demand the cancellation of the ban. In that case, it would be an action showing everyone that she and Ning Qingqing had become ‘good sisters.’
No bad blood, and no using power to ban her.
Everyone would be happy.
Gu Youchen called Ning Qingqing.
Ning Qingqing was in a meeting with Zhou Linghang. Seeing it was Gu Youchen, she didn’t avoid Zhou Linghang and answered directly in the conference room. “Youchen?”
Gu Youchen asked, “Qingqing, are you busy right now?”
Ning Qingqing said, “Meeting with Young Master Zhou and the others. Is something wrong?”
Gu Youchen said, “Are your phone’s photo, recording, and video backups uploaded to the cloud?”
Ning Qingqing replied, “Mm.”
Gu Youchen said, “Can you tell me the password? I need to find something.”
Ning Qingqing had no secrets in those files, so she took the phone from her ear, opened WeChat, and sent the account password directly to Gu Youchen.
Curious, she put the phone back to her ear and asked the man on the other end, “What are you looking for?”
Gu Youchen chuckled low. “Looking for my wife. Missed her.”
Ning Qingqing’s face flushed a little. She quickly glanced at Zhou Linghang and the others, confirming her phone wasn’t leaking sound, before giving a soft “Mm.”
Gu Youchen knew she was shy, so he whispered, “Qingqing, continue your meeting. I’ll pick you up after work.”
“Okay.” Ning Qingqing agreed and hung up.
Zhou Linghang teased, “Oho, Brother Chen checking up on you?”
Ning Qingqing laughed. “No, he just wanted something from me. Let’s continue the meeting.”
Everyone went back to discussing business.
Meanwhile, the heat online was still fermenting. More and more people began to scold Ning Qingqing.
Someone even found Gu Youchen’s Weibo. A bunch of people commented under the account, which had only posted a single registration message:
“Brother, you’ve been cuckolded!”
“President Gu, your wife is eating from the bowl while looking at the pot!”
“President Gu, you can’t keep this kind of wife!”
However, a few minutes later, Gu Youchen’s Weibo posted its first self-edited content, just one sentence—
“I believe in my wife. I reserve the right to take legal action against those who maliciously slander her reputation.”
After he posted, he was quickly bombarded again. Some even mocked him for not being a man.
Gu Youchen ignored them. He simply logged into Ning Qingqing’s cloud account and found a recording.
It was a recording from a month ago. The content was simple, just dialogue, but the voices were exceptionally clear. It was precisely Si Luoqing, who was currently the hot topic—
“Our contract went so smoothly; you should know the reason, right?”
“Miss Ning, just do your own job in the future. What isn’t yours, no matter how hard you guard it, you can’t keep it!”
Then came Ning Qingqing’s voice: “Whether you want to get him is your business, but don’t provoke me!”
There were sounds of cars in the background, clearly outdoors. The recording time showed a month ago, right when the Shen Corporation decided to sign Si Luoqing.
Gu Youchen took a screenshot of the audio timestamp, then uploaded the audio to the internet.
Next, he found a video recording in his own folder.
This recording was something he had deliberately obtained from someone at the Shen Corporation after learning that Ning Qingqing had been pushed by Kenny and injured her lower back.
Fortunately, their surveillance was kept for a month, so even though some time had passed since the incident, the video still existed.
Gu Youchen forwarded the surveillance video link along with the previous audio using his own Weibo account.
He didn’t add any text.
Public opinion didn’t need his text. The facts were the best voice!
Thus, an hour after Gu Youchen posted the links, the internet exploded—
“Oh my god, Si Luoqing was a mistress back then? How did she have the nerve to speak so arrogantly to Ning Qingqing? What was she implying? Running to the rightful girlfriend to imply her past relationship with President Shen?”
“Listen to that tone, that arrogance. Is this even the same person as the one selling misery earlier?”
“Did you guys watch the video? I watched it and almost died of anger! Clearly, Si Luoqing rushed out and bumped into Ning Qingqing herself. As a result, she got scalded herself, then started playing the victim, crying about being injured. Heh, does she have no shame?”
“And that Kenny, actually getting physical with a girl! Thanks to Shen Corporation’s HD video, I saw Ning Qingqing’s expression. Look at the 15-second mark; she was shoved against the railing, looking in pain. She must have been injured!”
“Ahhh, I’m exploding with rage! What kind of unparalleled scumbag is Kenny? When his master is in power, he bites like a watchdog! When his master loses power, he distorts facts and sells misery! God, I’m going to vomit up last night’s dinner!”
“I finished the video. Ahhh, the two culprits singing a duet, pinning the blame on Ning Qingqing! And in the end, they made Ning Qingqing apologize!”
“Did you notice? President Shen is a failing boyfriend. His girlfriend got shoved and hit, and he said he’d apologize for her to the culprits! Damn, could this be why Ning Qingqing broke up with President Shen and married President Gu?”
“Comment above is sharp. It’s possible! Anyway, if it were me and my boyfriend did that, my heart would go cold too!”
“Don’t go off-topic, guys. The truth is out. Si Luoqing ran to provoke Ning Qingqing herself, bullied her repeatedly thinking she was easy to bully, but ended up kicking an iron plate!”
“Suddenly feel Si Luoqing and Kenny are a perfect match. They are simply the ‘Porcelain-Bumping Duet’! In the video Si Luoqing released this morning, Ning Qingqing didn’t even speak, right? So the whole thing was Si Luoqing and Kenny acting! If this isn’t porcelain-bumping (fraud/framing), what is?”
“Shelving Si Luoqing is too pitiful. Look at that white lotus acting skills; it’s simply perfection! Calling on President Tan to find some trash from the dump to recycle. It’s eco-friendly, hahaha…”
…
Almost instantly, the topic reversed drastically. Even if Si Luoqing hired more water armies to control the comments, she couldn’t pull public opinion back.
She clutched her phone, her face completely grey.
Beside her, Kenny finally made some sound after a long time. “Luoqing, the money for the water armies and buying the heat… was swiped from your credit card, right?”
Clang.
The cup in Si Luoqing’s hand fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.
Her voice was dry. “The credit card was charged 4 million.”
She thought it was a sure-win last stand, but it pushed her completely into the abyss! She knew she could never return to her glory days.
At the same time, Ning Qingqing and Zhou Linghang finished their meeting. After sending everyone off, she immersed herself in work again until she finally finished the detailed project plan.
She was completely unaware of the storm that had raged online for six or seven hours today.
She rubbed her sore neck and checked the time.
Just then, Gu Youchen called. “Qingqing, are you done? I’ll be at your company in ten minutes. I bought a Musang King durian at the import supermarket opposite the company today. Durian sago soup tonight?”
Hearing this, Ning Qingqing’s neck instantly stopped hurting. “Okay! I’ll pack up and get off work now. See you soon!”
Recommended Reads
![[Esports] I Started an Online Romance with a Big Shot After Retiring](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/esports.jpg)