Half an hour later, Cheng Xiangyun arrived at the hotel to pick Ning Ran up.
Even though she was mad at Ning Ran, she was also the one who cared most about the woman, and was extremely worried about her.
Cheng Xiangyun had put in a lot of effort in order for Ning Ran to achieve her current status. She could not just stand by and watch Ning Ran fall from grace.
“Cheng, I’m sorry about tonight, but please don’t blame me anymore. I don’t know anything!” Ning Ran said pitifully.
“What do you know?” Cheng Xiangyun was boiling with anger.
“OK OK, do you still want to hear my explanation?” Ning Ran asked helplessly.
“Spit it out!” Cheng Xiangyun roared in an uncouth manner.
“Tsk-tsk. Aunt, although you are not highly educated, you can’t be acting like such a boor. Please mind your manners, thank you.”
“We are dealing with a crisis and you’re still in the mood to joke around? We got over the previous PR crisis because of the Nan family’s intervention. They did so much to whitewash those negative reports of you. It hasn’t even been a few days, and you got yourself into another scandal again? Do you think the Nan family will help you again after you made their Young Master a cuckold? What if Sir Chen strips you of your role out of anger? Didn’t you learn from Luo Fei’s incident? Even though she was Sir Chen’s girlfriend, she still met her downfall and got shut out. I’ve poured my heart into building you up, now that we are just about to see some success, you just had to stir up such trouble! Don’t you feel that you’ve let me down?”
Ning Ran felt really bad after hearing Cheng Xiangyun’s grievances.
She let out a long sigh.
“Why are you sighing? Did I wrong you?”
“Today is my mom’s birthday. I’ve never had a proper birthday celebration with her when she was still around, and I’ve always regretted it. So today, I left work early to spend some time with my mom.”
“That’s understandable. But how did that BMW guy come into the picture?” Cheng Xiangyun said angrily.
“Aunt, listen to me. I met Feng Minsheng at the cemetery. He appeared with a bouquet of flowers to pay respects to my mom.”
“How did that b*stard know it’s your mom’s birthday? Are you that close to him?” Cheng Xiangyun immediately detected that something wasn’t right.
“That was exactly what I thought! But he insisted that we had celebrated my mom’s birthday together before, and that’s why he remembered. Although I don’t have any recollection of that, I was naturally touched that he came to pay respects to my mom. After all, there are not many people left in this world who even remembers my mom.”
Cheng Xiangyun just listened quietly as she could empathize with Ning Ran.
“After that, we went for dinner together. He wanted to make a toast to my mom and I felt obligated to play along. But I never expected that I would get drunk over two tiny glasses of wine. When I woke up, the pictures were already circulating on the internet.”
“Sounds like this whole episode was premeditated.”
“That’s my guess too, but he kept denying it.”
Cheng Xiangyun got agitated again. “Of course he would deny it. Who would readily admit to a wrongdoing?”
“That’s right. But aunt, what do you think his motives are?” Ning Ran looked towards Cheng Xiangyun.
“How would I know? I think you should know it better.”
“If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked you. Please try to think from an outsider’s point of view – why would he be doing all of this?”
Cheng Xiangyun gave it a thought and said, “Perhaps he doesn’t want you to succeed as a celebrity so that he still stands a chance with you in the future?”
“I don’t think so. If you truly like someone, you wouldn’t use such methods to hurt them in order to be with them, right?” Ning Ran shook her head.
“Well, not everyone is the same. There are so many different kinds of people in this world. We all have different personalities and working styles, who knows which category that BMW guy belongs to.”
“I need to get together with him in order to get to the bottom of this matter,” Ning Ran announced.
“What did you say?” That was a jaw-dropping piece of information for Cheng Xiangyun.
“To find out the truth, I need to get close to him. Only then will I be able to know his true objectives,” Ning Ran said resolutely.
Meanwhile, Nan Chen was playing with the two kids at the Nan residence.
Actually, he wasn’t the best company, as he was not someone who knew how to have fun in the first place.
His idea of playing was him and Dabao reading a book each while Erbao played games on a tablet.
Even though Nan Chen looked calm on the surface, a storm was brewing inside him.
He had already seen the photos of Ning Ran which had exploded on the internet, and he was utterly disappointed with the woman.
At the same time, he also pitied the two kids for having a mom who led such a fast life.
He had also made a decision to keep Ning Ran away from the kids, so that she would not have the chance to be a negative influence to them.
A woman with such a poor character and loose morals was not fit to be the children’s mom.
Erbao was bored after a while and asked, “Uncle, why is Mommy not here yet?”
Nan Chen put down his book and gazed tenderly at the little girl. “Mommy won’t be coming today,” he replied.
“Why?” Erbao pouted her lips in disappointment.
“She’s busy.”
“Is she busy filming again?”
“Yes.”
Nan Chen knew it was wrong to lie to a child, but he had no other choice.
He could not possibly tell the girl that her mom was busy being a tramp and did not have time for her.
The more the kids missed their mother, the more Nan Chen felt that the woman had committed a serious crime that even death could not atone for. She did not deserve the love from her kids.
Erbao puffed up her cheeks in displeasure. She shifted to one side and turned her face away from Nan Chen in protest.
“Do you want to watch some cartoons?” The man tried to get back into the girl’s good books.
“No!” Erbao was not buying it.
“Then, do you want to continue playing games on the tablet?”
“No!”
“What do you want then?”
“I want Mommy!”
Nan Chen creased his brows; he could feel anger simmering in him.
However, he kept his anger in check as he felt that it was not right to vent his frustration on the kid.
“Erbao, be a good girl, OK? Third Uncle will buy you some delicious food tomorrow,” Nan Chen tried to pacify her.
Erbao let out a snort, but it was obvious that she was already wavering.
Nan Chen knew that the only way to please Erbao was to feed her tasty food.
To deal with Erbao, that was definitely the best method. It had never failed him.
“Is Erbao still angry? Don’t you want to eat?” Nan Chen asked the little girl as he furrowed his brows.
“Hmph! Eat… what are we eating?” Erbao was trying her best to maintain her position, but was barely holding it up.
Dabao, who was watching them by the side, could not help but shake his head.
This sister of his was so weak-willed. He had expected that she could make a stand against their uncle too, just like himself. Who knew that it would be so easy to buy her off only with food.
“I’ll buy you anything you want to eat. As long as it’s available, I will buy anything Erbao likes,” Nan Chen continued bribing her.
“Really?” Erbao was finally willing to look at Nan Chen again.
“Of course.”
Nan Chen’s heart melted slowly when he saw Erbao’s large, dark eyes staring at him expectantly.
His crabby mood which was caused by Ning Ran’s scandal instantly improved.
As long as the kids were around, the woman’s presence wouldn’t matter.
The problem now was, how would he ease the two kids into a life without Ning Ran?
Ultimately, the children were innocent parties. Would it be detrimental for them to be separated from their mother?
If so, Nan Chen had to think of a way to decrease the heartbreak to a minimum.
