Chapter 1391 722: Tang Jierui's Dark Past

Wu Mengting managed to explain things to him just in time and was quite obedient, which Chen Feng found rather satisfactory.

Thus, this matter was settled on his end.

Originally, Chen Feng knew that she was innocent, merely getting caught in the crossfire.

Therefore, from the beginning, Chen Feng didn't take it to heart. His initial discontent dissipated once Wu Mengting took the initiative to explain to him and promised not to give Tang Jierui the role in the new drama.

On the other side, Tang Jierui wasn't as fortunate as Wu Mengting.

Even though the paparazzo publicly apologized to him and deleted the scandalous report, the aftermath continued. A cosmetic endorsement worth over five million, which was supposed to sign him, was suddenly canceled due to the scandal, and another popular celebrity was chosen instead. Moreover, the twenty thousand fans who unfollowed him due to the scandal did not immediately return.

You should know these were all true fans. His Weibo followers amount to over eleven million, but the actual number of true fans was only two to three million. Losing a tenth of them certainly stings.

Additionally, stories about his past, such as freeloading, escorting, failing classes, and arriving late or leaving early from classes, started circulating online, which made him quite anxious.

He didn't have a romantic relationship with Wu Mengting, but those freeloading rumors were true.

Hence, he started feeling uneasy, fearing that some of the women he was involved with in the past might suddenly come forward with revelations.

And things developed just as he feared; Murphy's Law, you might call it.

Just a day later, he received a call from an unfamiliar number at noon.

The call was from a senior schoolmate, but not Wu Mengting, rather another who was six years his senior and had graduated years ago.

This senior knew him during his freshman year when he worked off-campus part-time. At first, he genuinely did the job, working as a waiter in a bar on Friday and Saturday nights, from seven in the evening until two in the morning, with a base pay of just one hundred per night, but with tips and commissions.

Because of his looks, he received tips from female customers almost every night, and he could also earn a bit from drink commissions.

Thus, he earned about three to four hundred each night.

Despite staying up late every weekend, those days were truly fulfilling.

But such working days didn't last long, around a month or so, before a woman in her thirties, a white-collar worker, noticed him and began to repeatedly ask for him personally to serve her.

A memorable client among them was this senior, Yang Silong, who called him.

Yang Silong, a graduate of East Sea University, first took up a position at a multinational corporation where the pay and benefits were quite good. Later, she partnered with others to start a business in the internet sector, though he didn't quite understand it nor pay much attention, as it sounded rather prestigious.

When Tang Jierui met her, Yang Silong was in the startup phase and had just secured her first venture capital, she was in high spirits.

They met in the bar, and upon learning they were both alumni of East Sea University, they hit it off well. After a bottle of wine, they soon went to a hotel to further their connection.

Yang Silong was quite ordinary in appearance, but she was young enough with a great figure and charisma. Her conversation was eloquent, but Tang Jierui mostly thought she had wealth.

When things were good, Yang Silong was indeed generous to him. Each time she would give at least two to three thousand.

Their intimate relationship lasted intermittently for over half a year, until Yang Silong stopped giving him pocket money for more than a month, after which he began to distance himself from her.

Yang Silong didn't want to break off and often contacted him. Later, when Tang Jierui heard she had failed in her startup, her company went bankrupt, and she was left in debt, he directly blocked her.

It's been nearly two years since he blocked her, and the phone number he used then is long discarded. Now, his private number, only a few months old since he became a celebrity, was unexpectedly known by her.

Initially, upon realizing the call was from Yang Silong, he immediately wanted to hang up and block her.

However, one sentence from her made him too afraid to hang up the call.

"I have intimate photos and videos of us. If you hang up, I'll post them online right away."

Tang Jierui was instantly stunned, and quickly recalled the moments with her. They were together intermittently for over half a year, even staying at her place several times; hotel rooms were even more abundant.

In his memory, they had taken photos, but they were all on streets and shopping malls, seemingly none in her place or hotel rooms.

He relaxed a bit, then said with a stern face, "What do you mean by this?"

Yang Silong answered lightly, "Nothing much, just want to remind you not to hang up, I've got something to tell you."

Tang Jierui coldly retorted, "Is there anything left for us to discuss?"

Yang Silong sighed and said, "Jierui, after all, we were once together. I treated you well back then. It's heartbreaking for you to say such things."

"Alright, I don't want to hear your nonsense," Tang Jierui interrupted her. "There's nothing left for us to talk about. That's it."

Saying that, Tang Jierui was about to hang up again, when Yang Silong raised her voice, "Tang Jierui, aren't you afraid I'll expose your past?"

Tang Jierui paused, still hesitant to gamble on her not having those intimate photos and videos, and replied coldly, "I don't believe you've got any such photos or videos."

"You don't believe me? Fine, I'll add you on WeChat and send them right away."

Saying so, Yang Silong sent him a friend request, and after some hesitation, Tang Jierui accepted, while also blocking her from his Moments.

Yang Silong acted swiftly, soon sending over several photos, all of them lying side by side on a bed.

In the photos, he was asleep with his eyes closed, shirtless, while she was beside him, cheek-to-cheek, pouting kisses on his cheek, doing intimate gestures as they took selfies.

Seeing these photos, Tang Jierui felt a chill down his spine.

The photos were undoubtedly real, not technically manipulated. Even claiming they were fake would hardly work now, given the technology-savvy netizens could easily verify their authenticity.

And it didn't end there; after sending these photos, a short video followed, roughly ten seconds long, shot from a first-person perspective from above, capturing his expression changes and shirtless body quite clearly.

Tang Jierui was dumbfounded by the solid evidence in the video.

He was fully conscious in the video, yet had no memory of her filming it.