Black Materials? Let Me Drop One

The peaceful days didn’t last long. On January 23, Xi Zhen arrived on time for a dinner she’d agreed to long ago, only to see someone she never wanted to face.

Xi Zhen wanted to treat her like air, but it was obvious the visitor meant no good. Only then did she realize she’d walked straight into Zhou Ping’s trap. So, while keeping a flawless smile on her face, she called someone else and asked for help.

But no matter how carefully she’d prepared a backup plan, she still couldn’t avoid the drinks she was supposed to drink. Under the group’s setup, Xi Zhen downed glass after glass of white liquor until her consciousness slowly drifted away. The next afternoon, she was vaguely roused by a ringing phone. She reached out and answered it; her assistant’s anxious voice came through.

“Sister Zhen, have you seen the trending topics?”

“What?” Xi Zhen’s voice was a little hoarse. Her throat was so dry it felt like it was about to catch fire. Too much alcohol had left her head aching faintly, as if she’d lost the ability to think.

“Sis, something happened over at Seal the Heart. Take a look first.”

It turned out that last night, while countless netizens were at home for the Spring Festival with nothing to do, scrolling mindlessly on their phones, the Seal the Heart crew had once again shot to the top of the trending list. Unfortunately, this time it wasn’t for anything good.

#Seal the Heart and Under-the-Table Deals#

#Years of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Only to Sew Clothes for Someone Else#

#Let’s Talk About the Internal Dirt in the Seal the Heart Crew#

This time, the bored netizens finally had something to do. Like weasels in a melon field, they all dove into the trending tags, eager to see what was going on.

Even more white-moon fans thought the “under-the-table deals” were about their own star and rushed in furiously, ready to demand justice for their idol, only to swallow an enormous bite of gossip instead.

It turned out that someone claiming to be a former screenwriter for Seal the Heart had accused the production crew’s producer and director of taking the script she had painstakingly revised over and over, using it to make such a breakout hit, and then never giving her credit in the end; they hadn’t even settled her pay.

What a classic workers-versus-heartless-capitalists drama. Since the leaker had produced quite a bit of evidence—revision records, script drafts, even so-called audio recordings—many netizens believed it without question and started digging into who the investors and director of Seal the Heart actually were, then repeatedly checking who the editor listed at the start of the episodes was.

As a low-budget drama, Seal the Heart’s funding sources were fairly obvious. As for the director, Ke Wei, although she hadn’t been well known before, ever since Seal the Heart blew up she’d often appeared in behind-the-scenes clips from the show.

Netizens dug and dug, and actually found some supposed clues. For example, the main source of investment was the company behind Bai Mo, and the actual controlling shareholder—Xi Zhen—really did show up on set often.

As for the editor, Li Xingqing, there wasn’t much specific information online, but she was, after all, a student, which made her even easier to investigate.

A finance major suddenly going to work as a crew screenwriter, and for this year’s biggest hit drama at that. No matter how you looked at it, it was ridiculous; if there really were no problems behind it, even the immortals wouldn’t believe it.

So the netizens grew even more fired up, determined to stand with the workers and bring down the unscrupulous capitalists. As for the CP fans who had originally been preparing to jump in, although the fire hadn’t reached their own idol, they were terrified the capitalists would hurt the actors and were practically itching to have the idol cut ties with the company immediately.

Xi Zhen knew all of this was nonsense. Although she was also puzzled about why Li Xingqing had suddenly come over, the baseless rumors flying all over the internet still made her fear that Li Xingqing might be hurt.

In this age of information, could Li Xingqing run into some extreme fan? The more Xi Zhen thought about it, the more frightened she became. But when she called, she only got an unreachable message every time. That was when Xi Zhen realized that all her contact methods seemed to have been blocked by Li Xingqing.

What on earth was going on? Before she could figure it out, Song Xunqing had already come knocking.

“Sister Zhen, were you okay yesterday?” Song Xunqing stood at the door, slowly taking off her hat and mask to reveal that beautiful face.

“What are you doing here?” Xi Zhen knew something was wrong. It had only been one night; how could public opinion online have blown up that much? But everything had happened too suddenly, and if the other party was only coming for her, Xi Zhen wouldn’t have been this anxious. Yet now the rumors, though they seemed to be spreading through Seal the Heart, were clearly aimed at Li Xingqing as far as Xi Zhen could tell.

“Nothing, I just came to see how you were,” Song Xunqing said, not caring whether Xi Zhen had invited her in, and walked in on her own. “The internet’s in an uproar. I was worried about you, Sister Zhen.” Song Xunqing sat down on the sofa. Seeing the photo of the two of them on the small table beside her, she suddenly felt a surge of anger.

“I don’t need you to worry about me.” Xi Zhen’s intention to show her out was obvious, but Song Xunqing acted as if she couldn’t tell at all.

“Sister Zhen, don’t be so cold. Don’t you want to know who exactly put all that stuff online?”

That sentence hit Xi Zhen right in her weak spot. She knew Zhou Ping had definitely had a hand in it, but why had the other side pointed the spearhead straight at Li Xingqing? Was it just because Xi Zhen and Li Xingqing were dating? Xi Zhen didn’t think Zhou Ping would go to such lengths for Song Xunqing.

“Song Xunqing, what exactly do you want?” Xi Zhen asked through gritted teeth, forcing down her anger. After what had happened before, she and Song Xunqing had gone their separate ways, but the other woman still kept clinging to her, and Xi Zhen was utterly fed up.

“Sister Zhen, you never used to be this fierce with me.” Song Xunqing began to look pitiful, wearing the face of a victim.

Xi Zhen: “......” Back then, Song Xunqing had relied on this perfectly natural acting to fool her completely and make her willingly hand over everything.

But now, looking at that fake-as-hell expression, Xi Zhen couldn’t help clenching her fists, cursing herself inwardly for how badly she’d been tricked before.

Song Xunqing said, “Fine, I originally wanted to catch up with Sister Zhen, but it seems like you really don’t want to talk to me. Still, out of our past feelings, I’ll remind you of one thing: stay away from that little girlfriend of yours.”

“Get out.”

“Don’t be so heartless. I’m sure you still don’t know, do you? She’s Li Taihong’s daughter.” Song Xunqing had already started to rise, but when she saw the flash of shock in Xi Zhen’s eyes, she stopped. “You really didn’t know? Let me guess how she introduced herself to you: a poor student? A humble background, but chasing her dream?”

“Haha,” Song Xunqing’s voice was full of mockery. “Sister Zhen really is still so easy to fool. Back then, didn’t I tell you the same thing?” Her tone grew more and more smug as she looked at the photo of the two of them on the little table and continued, “Li Taihong made his fortune through his wife, and he only had that one daughter with his legal wife. Who would’ve thought she’d be so low-key?”

“If Sister Zhen doesn’t believe me, you can check. Once you do, you’ll know whether I’m lying or not. Li Taihong’s legal wife fell ill many years ago and is still being treated in the U.S. This youngest daughter probably left this time to go back and see her mother.”

---

“My mother is sick. I need to go back and take care of her.”

The words Li Xingqing had once said to Xi Zhen echoed in Xi Zhen’s head. Could it really be such a coincidence?

An ill mother, a finance major, and even the fixed nightly chat time, plus her rare refusal to do video calls—everything had already left traces.

---

“Since Sister Zhen doesn’t welcome me, I won’t disturb you either.” Like a peacock that had won a fight, Song Xunqing left Xi Zhen’s home with her neck held high.

Xi Zhen never made the call she had originally intended to make. She didn’t have much time left; this was not the moment to figure out Li Xingqing’s identity. Song Xunqing had come here now, aside from showing off, there might have been a more important reason. What exactly was it?

Xi Zhen tossed her phone aside and began to think through the entire matter from the beginning.

On the surface, these people seemed to be targeting the Seal the Heart crew, and the things they were talking about were mostly related to Seal the Heart. But after Xi Zhen carefully pulled at every thread, it started with some screenwriter who came out of nowhere and, under the banner of exposing industry secrets, claimed that the Seal the Heart crew had stolen her labor.

Then it smoothly shifted everything into a conflict over the producer deliberately stealing someone else’s work in order to promote a new editor.

Sure enough, under the barrage of these messages, the netizens actually didn’t have much of an issue with Seal the Heart itself anymore; all the spearheads were pointed at her and Li Xingqing.

What’s more, Li Xingqing kept such a low profile, yet Song Xunqing actually knew her real identity. That meant this matter itself was no longer a secret. And exposing the young lady of the Li family to the public at this time, leaving her to be attacked with no hired trolls to help; there was only one possibility. This was an internal problem within the Li family itself, and Li Xingqing was in even greater danger than before.

The unanswered calls seemed to have an explanation now. Xi Zhen understood that she couldn’t make any reckless moves at a time like this. After all, the people behind the two of them had probably already investigated their relationship down to the last detail. Whether Li Xingqing was in the so-called Huizhou or in the U.S., being outside was always safer than coming back, and safer than getting in touch with her.

After thinking it over again and again, Xi Zhen finally chose to contact someone else: Shi Fengyu.

Suddenly receiving Xi Zhen’s call, Shi Fengyu thought she’d dialed the wrong number. She had just about finished the case in her hands and was planning to take advantage of the moment to relax, but unexpectedly Xi Zhen had come rushing to her.

Shi Fengyu said, “What is it? Why are you in such a hurry?”

Xi Zhen didn’t have time for pleasantries and got straight to the point. “How much do you know about Li Taihong? Or to put it another way, how much do you know about the Li Group?”

Shi Fengyu was a well-known lawyer in the industry; her law firm always handled cases for these major corporations. When it came to internal secrets like this, Xi Zhen couldn’t think of anyone else to ask besides her.

“Li Taihong?” Shi Fengyu paused, not expecting Xi Zhen to ask about him, and could only sound surprised.

“Yes, Li Taihong, chairman of the Li Group.”

“To be honest, I can’t say I know that much. But my partner once handled a case for their company. Supposedly, this man made his fortune through his wife. After he became successful, while he didn’t exactly abandon his wife and children, he did keep his illegitimate son by his side all the time.”

“Illegitimate son?”

“Mm. That’s not really a secret. Everyone in the Li Group knows their chairman favors that illegitimate son; he started taking over company matters very early on. I heard that when he turned eighteen, Li Taihong specially gave him a branch company to cut his teeth on. Anyone could tell he was being groomed as the heir.”

“No mention of any other children? For example, a daughter?”

“A daughter? I’ve rarely heard anyone mention one. Either Li Taihong didn’t want her out in public, or he simply didn’t care about her. In families like that, the one thing they never lack is children, right?” Shi Fengyu didn’t know about Xi Zhen’s worry and told her everything she knew.

“Thank you. But Fengyu, can you do me a favor?”

Author’s Note:

The lie has been exposed.