Chapter 437

Chapter 437: Chapter 437

The reporters who had shown up weren’t just from the entertainment tabloids. There were also official media reporters from major online platforms, as well as some from the country’s more authoritative state media outlets.

Most of these reporters had been contacted by Fifth Brother, a media company owner. After receiving some evidence that Fifth Brother had gotten from Liu Yue, they immediately pulled people from surrounding cities and rushed over without a moment’s delay.

As for the rest, some had rushed over after seeing the exposé online, while others had been privately contacted by Liu Yue.

On their way, they had all received concrete evidence to varying degrees. Therefore, upon seeing Lin Jiji, they didn’t bother with subtle inquiries. Instead, they launched right into a brutal, point-blank interrogation.

So many sharp and explicit questions were suddenly hurled at Lin Jiji, leaving him completely stunned.

He just stood there, dazed, as if his very soul had been scared out of his body.

Seeing this, Chenyang smiled wryly at Lin Xiaoyue and said, "Maybe your uncle and I could afford to hire an army of online trolls, but I don’t think we have enough influence to summon this many reputable, official reporters from your industry, do we?"

Lin Xiaoyue’s expression froze. "So, all those online exposés about Lin Jiji... they were all true?"

Lin Yongkun snorted coldly. "The exposés about him are all true. The ones about Chenyang yesterday were all fabricated by Lin Jiji. You were fooled by him—completely and utterly fooled!"

Hearing this, the color drained from Lin Xiaoyue’s face. She had always thought Lin Yongkun was the clown being played by Chenyang, but in that instant, she realized the truth: she was the real clown. In fact, she was the only clown on the stage!

The feeling of being played for a fool filled her with shame and fury. She snapped her head up to look at Lin Jiji, and then slapped him hard across the face.

The crisp, loud slap left the already dazed Lin Jiji even more bewildered.

But the stinging pain on his cheek also snapped him out of his soul-drifting stupor.

He quickly shook his head. "Xiaoyue, don’t listen to his nonsense. I didn’t lie to you."

"Didn’t lie to me?" Lin Xiaoyue scoffed angrily. "Fine. Then why don’t you start by explaining all your dirty laundry to these reporters."

"I..." Lin Jiji was at a loss for words. If Young Master Yu online was a great mountain weighing on his spirit, then this pack of reporters was the sharp blade poised to destroy both his mind and body.

Having been in the industry for so many years, he knew better than anyone that entertainment reporters loved to spin stories out of thin air, daring to publish wild reports based on the flimsiest of rumors. But these official reporters were different; they almost never confronted a person without concrete evidence in hand.

If it were just one or two official reporters, he might have been able to find a way to deal with them.

But with so many of them appearing at once... forget him, even his veteran agent, Sister Rose, would have a hard time fending them off if she were here.

"Please answer our questions."

"Lin Jiji, running away won’t solve anything. A brave confession is your only chance to salvage a last shred of dignity."

The reporters’ urgent calls rang out again.

Lin Jiji was at a total loss, racking his brain for some excuse. But even if he scratched his head raw, he couldn’t come up with a single confident thing to say.

His gaze darted about evasively until he inadvertently spotted Liu Yue. As if grasping at a final straw, he cried out, "Liu Yue, help me!"

Liu Yue put on a troubled expression. "With everything blowing up like this, how am I supposed to help? I’ve told you before: you’re a public figure. There are some things you can do, and some lines you can never cross."

Her words sounded like she was trying to console Lin Jiji, but in reality, they were an indirect admission of everything he had done.

The moment she finished speaking, the reporters’ questions grew even harsher, and the look Lin Xiaoyue gave Lin Jiji turned colder still. "Even your assistant is saying this. What other excuses could you possibly have?"

Lin Jiji had run out of options.

As if all his strength had been drained away, he staggered back two steps dejectedly.

Chenyang was standing right behind him. Normally, when he staggered, all Chenyang would have needed to do was raise a hand to steady him.

But Chenyang didn’t do that.

Instead, just as he stumbled, Chenyang sidestepped, causing Lin Jiji to lose his balance completely and collapse onto the ground with a THUD.