She remembered how he had tried to hit on her because she was flat-chested.
He had essentially treated her like a man—and that was even more insulting to her than calling her flat-chested.
She floored the gas pedal. The car roared past Ding Ming and sped away. Ding Ming, who was still being molested, had not even had the time or presence of mind to see who was inside the car. If it weren’t for the knife against his stomach, he would have puked his guts out by now.
The molester had removed Ding Ming’s belt, and was now caressing the skin on his hips. Ding Ming felt his throat close up. He wished the man would go away soon. He wanted only to put as much distance between himself and this man molesting him.
At the same time, he vowed he would never forgive this man for humiliating him in such a manner. I’m going to kill this man, he thought to himself, if it’s the last thing I do.
Suddenly, a bright light shone into his eyes.
He instinctively closed his eyes as his heart skipped a beat. The cold sweat upon his forehead rolled down his temples in large beads.
He knew what had happened. “Stop that! You can’t take a photo!” he yelled at the man with the camera, standing a short distance away. Meanwhile, his molester had hastily slid the knife back into his sleeve and ran off. Ding Ming was left standing alone, his clothes torn and disheveled. His lower lip was swollen because he had bit it, and his hair was drenched in cold sweat. He was actually in a state of shock, but to everyone else who did not know better, he looked like he had just been in an intense make-out session…
He sat heavily on the floor, on the verge of tears. The man who had taken the photo had long since vanished.
The next day, all the news websites ran the same headlines. The news was so shocking it was on par with news of the stock markets crashing—in this case, Ding Ming’s stocks had crashed all the way to the bottom.
This was the first time he had ever made it onto the headlines. Given the choice, however, he would rather live his entire life without ever getting on the headlines, especially when the headlines went:
“Out Of The Closet: Male Artist From Yuelun Entertainment Makes Out With Boyfriend In Public!”
The articles were accompanied by several photos that had not censored the subjects’ faces with mosaic filters. The other man’s face was difficult to make out as it was in the shadows, but Ding Ming’s features were clear and easy to recognize. In the photos, Ding Ming’s features were twisted in a sort of grimace, and his hair was wet with cold sweat. Ding Ming knew that this was an expression of pain and misery, but to everyone else it looked like an expression of sexual arousal and bliss.
Ding Ming was never going to be able to clear his name now. The CEO of Yuelun Entertainment began to pressure Li Changqing to deal with the scandal quickly, before it affected Yuelun’s reputation. The CEO could not understand why Ding Ming had done something so utterly stupid—why couldn’t he have made out with his boyfriend at home, instead of out on the streets, in public? Now there was photo evidence of it, and Ding Ming’s career was completely and utterly ruined. There would be no coming back from this.
Yuelun’s CEO wanted to fire Ding Ming right away and throw him out the building doors. This was the absolute worst scandal possible. Ding Ming was a total nobody in showbiz, but it did not change the fact that no one would ever accept a gay celebrity.
Li Changqing threw the newspaper in Ding Ming’s face. He was furious. Ding Ming’s misconduct had embarrassed Li Changqing as well—everyone in Yuelun knew that Li Changqing had previously tried his best to turn Ding Ming into a star. And this was how Ding Ming had repaid him! Li Changqing wished he could punch Ding Ming in the face and break his nose.
“Uncle, it isn’t my fault.” Ding Ming grabbed his hair and pulled it in frustration. “I’m innocent! That man was threatening me with a knife!” As soon as he recalled what had happened the day before, he felt his stomach churn and his hair stand on end. “It really wasn’t my fault! What did I do wrong? My life was in danger. He was threatening me. And then someone took a photo of me and posted it online.”
The internet was proof that bad news and scandalous gossip always traveled faster than good news. Within a few hours, Ding Ming’s scandal had spread all over the country. It had even been picked up by the some of the news sites overseas.
Yuelun Entertainment had eventually killed the news and stamped out the fire, but Ding Ming was now a massive liability to them. Any further mention of Yuelun Entertainment in the scandal would be a huge blow to the agency’s reputation.
The orders had come directly from the CEO. Ding Ming had to scram.
There was no longer anything Li Changqing could do to help Ding Ming. Ding Ming’s career in showbiz was effectively over: with such a huge scandal attached to his name, none of the movie directors would ever consider hiring him.
Li Changqing shook his head as he placed a contract on the table.
Ding Ming opened the contract with trembling fingers. The color drained from his face. He sat in his chair stupidly, struck dumb.
He had been let go. Full stop. His original contract with the company had clearly stipulated that none of the artists signed with the company were allowed to damage the company’s reputation in any way. As soon as there was a breach of contract resulting in irreparable damage, the artist would have to bear full responsibility for his or her actions.
And so Ding Ming had been fired. He had signed a contract for five years, but that contract was no more than a worthless piece of paper now. He had been shown the exit. He was no longer welcome.
He exited the building in a daze, unable to believe what was happening to him. He saw a woman wearing sunglasses walked towards him, with two other women in tow—one of them had short hair and a no-nonsense expression on her face, while the other looked highly competent and world-wise.
He could not bear to look at them. They were the winners in life, stars who would continue to climb the sky, while he was nothing more than a loser.
Yi Ling spotted Ding Ming. Her lip curled in distaste as she pointedly looked away. He had defiled her eyes. She had seen many disgusting people, but none had been anywhere near as disgusting as him. What a sick pervert! He made her want to puke.
Ding Ming bowed his head as he slinked away with his tail tucked between his legs. He did not notice that the woman in sunglasses had stopped to watch him walk away. She removed her sunglasses—it was Yan Huan.
Her cherry red lips curved into a small smile.
Ding Ming, she thought to herself, let’s see if you can remain in showbiz after this. If you manage to do it, I’ll gladly change my surname to yours. In my previous life, this was the punishment I gave you for what you did to Yi Ling, and you deserve it again this time around.
In her previous life, this was in fact the exact same method she used to run Ding Ming out of showbiz. She had ruined his career forever. But his previous punishment had come after Yi Ling’s death. This time around, she would make sure he never appeared before Yi Ling again.
From that day on, Ding Ming disappeared from Yuelun Entertainment and Yi Ling’s life. In Yi Ling’s previous life, Ding Ming had been the parasite that had eventually taken her life. This time around, he was merely a source of lifelong disgust.
Yi Ling was now conditioned to feel nauseated upon hearing his name.
The moment his name came up in a conversation, Yi Ling instantly felt nauseated.
When his name came up a second time, Yi Ling was so nauseated she felt like gagging.
When his name came up a third time, she puked her guts out.
