Jiang Jiusheng stared at the bottle of yogurt drink and at Shi Jin’s hand that was holding it.

All her fans knew that Sheng Ye could hold her own when drinking and that her other love was milk. She was crazy in love with all dairy products, especially yellow peach-flavored.

What her fans didn’t know was the other reason for her love for yogurt drinks—she smoked too many cigarettes.

Even the best cigarettes carried residual odors, so Mo Bing had decided to disguise these odors with the smell of milk. That was why Jiang Jiusheng had declared her “love” for yogurt drinks ever since she’d started smoking. What a life-saver. She had just run out of yogurt drinks, so she accepted graciously.

“Thank you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Shi Jin noticed that Jiang Jiusheng liked to bite her straw when drinking. Licking her lips awkwardly, she asked, “Do you live alone, Doctor Shi?”

Stunned for a second, Shi Jin laughed. “I am single.”

Jiang Jiusheng was horrified. She had not asked intending to find out about his marital status. “I didn’t mean that,” she explained, then added, “These are duplex apartments. Do you live here with your family members?”

At the Silver Royal Manor, blocks seven and eight housed duplex apartments intended for multi-membered families. If she hadn’t needed her own recording studio, she would not have opted for this huge and expensive apartment.

The elevator doors opened, and they stepped in. Since it was an off-peak time, they were the only ones in the elevator going down.

Having pressed the button for level one, Shi Jin replied, “I don’t have a family. I live alone.”

It was stated as a matter of fact in a voice devoid of emotion. No family. A few simple words masking many suppressed and unspoken feelings. Jiang Jiusheng could not even begin to imagine the type of life experiences that had brought about such detached loneliness. She finally understood why this exceedingly good-looking man always appeared slightly standoffish. It was because he was lonely and sad.

After a long silence, failing to find the appropriate words, she simply said, “Sorry.”

Seemingly unaffected, Shi Jin replied, “It’s okay.”

The air was suddenly filled with pleasant piano music—Jiang Jiusheng’s ringtone. The caller ID displayed was Mo Bing. She turned around to take the call.

“I’m nearly there,” she said.

Over the phone, Mo Bing sounded mild, although she spoke quickly. “Have Qiao take you straight to the office. The ad shoot has been postponed.”

Lowering her voice, Jiang Jiusheng asked, “What’s happened?”

“Photos of you smoking in the ladies’ bathroom on the night of your after-concert party have been posted online. You are currently trending as the most-searched celebrity online.”

Although Jiang Jiusheng had always been low-keyed—and even though singers generally didn’t get as much exposure as actors—she did garner a lot of attention online as a frequently searched celebrity and somehow managed to get into the headlines quite often. She rarely participated in variety shows, and apart from the obligatory major music award ceremonies, she was almost never in the limelight. The 30 million fans milestone was also a first in the industry’s history.

Calmly and methodically, Jiang Jiusheng asked, “So what’s the situation now?”

“There were some derogatory remarks, as expected, but generally, the fans have been upbeat.” Mo Bing laughed—an unusual occurrence. “In fact, your smoking pose was so provocative that even I was tempted.”

Truth be told, no female artist in the industry could have looked as earth-shatteringly beautiful. Mo Bing had once seen Jiang Jiusheng playing the guitar with a cigarette in her mouth, and her whole being had exuded such wild abandonment that had she not been grounded in her core values, she would have been tempted to change sides.

“Just as well,” Jiang Jiusheng said lazily, as though nothing had happened. “I don’t have to hide the habit anymore.”

The die-hard smoking addict!

“Can’t you just quit?” Mo Bing asked angrily.

“Too tough,” Jiang Jiusheng replied honestly.

She was especially dependant on cigarettes, practically as a stimulant during her music creation process. She had first learned how to smoke four years ago from her teacher and mentor Master Xie. She had started with hand-rolled cigarettes, but that brat Xie Dang had burned all her cigarette papers and threatened to burn down her house if she continued. So, she’d stopped smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and moved on to imported cigarettes. Of course, Xie Dang hadn’t carried out his threat. He was all bark and no bite—a kind and innocent person, very girly.

“Do you know who’s behind this?” Mo Bing asked.

Jiang Jiusheng reached for her bag, dying for a smoke, only to realize that she had forgotten her cigarettes. Subconsciously, she bit her straw repeatedly, saying, “I can hazard a guess.”

“Let’s talk in the office.”

“K.” As she hung up, the elevator reached level one. Stepping out of the elevator ahead of him, Jiang Jiusheng said to Shi Jin, “See you later, Doctor Shi.”

“Yep.”

Shi Jin waited at the elevator until Jiang Jiusheng had walked some distance away. Lowering his thick-lashed eyes, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

“Sir.” The man at the other end of the phone sounded very polite and respectful.

Reflected on the shiny elevator door, Shi Jin’s chiseled profile was tense. His lips were pursed, and his eyes were half-shut.

Since the entrance to the office was teeming with the media, Jiang Jiusheng was driven directly to the basement carpark where she took the indoor elevator to the office that Tian Yu had assigned for her use only. Mo Bing was already waiting for her there, a tablet in one hand and a frown on her face.

Jiang Jiusheng pushed the door to enter.

Lifting her head, Mo Bing asked immediately, “Was it Liu Xu?” It was a question and also a confirmation.

Surprised, Jiang Jiusheng asked, “How did you know?”

The after-concert celebration party, a closed-door affair with no access given to the media, had been held at an upscale club owned by the Qins and patronized by the uber-rich. Jiang Jiusheng had always remained under the radar and rarely got into scrapes with anyone, so the probability of anyone being present that night with an ax to grind was extremely low. Moreover, the people who had seen her smoking could be counted on one hand, so it was not hard to guess who had ill intentions.

Mo Bing passed her the tablet. Jiang Jiusheng read through a couple of pages and was amused to find that, in the 30 minutes it had taken for her to travel from her home to the office, the netizens’ sentiments had been completely transformed.

“Firstly, a lot of trolls were paid to overcome the original dissidents. Then there were references made to building a case against Liu Xu, eventually smearing her with as much dirt as she had dished out. And all seemingly supported by facts.” Mo Bing summarized her analysis, swirling around in the boss’ swivel chair. “It is no mean feat—and would be very expensive—to turn the situation around in a mere 20 minutes. You could count on one hand those in the industry would have the ability to pull this off: the Wens from Yuncheng, the Qins from Zhongnan, the Yuwens from Jiangbei. Oh, and let’s not forget the stealth player, SJ’s Electronics.”

The dark horse known as SJ’s had broken into the industry three years before. They had started in the electronic products business, quickly becoming the leader in the domestic electronics market within a mere three years. The international rock groups under their label had directly affected the power base of three which had, up until then, dominated the industry. Their immense wealth and capabilities were also competing directly with the Wen, Qin, and Yuwen families.

When the photos of Jiang Jiusheng smoking were circulated, a staggering number of trolls backing Liu Xu had suddenly come crawling out of the woodwork to diss her. There were so many that even Jiang Jiusheng’s 30 million fans were caught off-guard. There were insinuations about how she’d really gotten her big break and veiled comments about a sugar daddy backing her. In a flash, the internet was abuzz with news that was unfavorable to Jiang Jiusheng.

However, within a mere 30 minutes, the tables had turned, with a fresh batch of trolls uploading photos of Jiang Jiusheng’s numerous international music awards and statistics of her album sales, crushing the dissidents in their tracks. This was immediately followed by comments and facts about Liu Xu uploading Jiang Jiusheng’s photos and backing trolls to discredit her. Within seconds, the netizens’ ire targeted Liu Xu’s Weibo account, their white-hot fury bringing down the servers.

This was a truly awesome PR coup, and Mo Bing was beyond impressed. Within three years of her debut, Jiang Jiusheng had made it to the top of the Chinese music industry, partly due to the tremendous support from Tian Yu Media and partly due to her own unique talent. Mo Bing knew that the rumor of a sugar daddy was unfounded and spread by people who were envious of her success and her talent. She strongly believed that Jiang Jiusheng deserved everything she’d achieved and would be capable of taking on the burden of all the accolades that she’d been given. However, this was yet another incident of the manifestation of the curse described as “cross Jiang Jiusheng and pay the price.”

This had her thinking. Only a handful of parties with that kind of power and wealth.

Rousing from her thoughts, Mo Bing rationalized, “Of course, there are other wealthy bosses with this kind of money, but they wouldn’t have the connections within the industry to pull this off so rapidly. Also, they would have no reason to want to help you.” Pausing, she looked at Jiang Jiusheng and asked, “Sheng, what do you think?”