Chapter 65

Seeing this situation, Pei Kuang naturally had to step aside out of respect for the people involved.

He turned his feet and hid behind a nearby parasol tree.

This parasol tree was quite old with a very thick trunk, enough to hide a person without any issues.

The two parties were not too close or too far from each other, but were just at the right distance where normal conversation could be heard.

As one of the parties involved, Song Anan was actually also in a very confused state at this moment.

Just earlier in the car, Jing Fan had messaged saying he was waiting for her downstairs at the dormitory building, so she thought there was something urgent. But when she came down, it was this kind of scene instead.

Song Anan still held some hope and tentatively said, "Senior brother, what is this about?"

Maybe it's not what she thought.

Jing Fan was obviously very nervous. His hands holding the bouquet tightened again and again. "Junior sister, I have something to tell you."

A hint of unease flashed across Song Anan's face.

Jing Fan didn't give her a chance to reject him. Stuttering, he said, "Anan, I... I like you. Since I first saw you, I've had a good impression of you, but you were too young then, so..."

He paused here, as if stuck.

"So, would you... would you be my girlfriend?"

At this moment, Song Anan was completely dumbfounded.

Over the past two years, she had also been confessed to many times. She couldn't say she was adept at firmly yet politely rejecting suitors, but she did have some experience.

However, facing Jing Fan now, those impromptu rejections she usually gave somehow completely escaped her mind, leaving her head completely blank.

Li Sirui had jokingly said before that Jing Fan liked her, but she hadn't taken it seriously at all.

Song Anan had never imagined Jing Fan would actually like her.

Counting back, the two had known each other for over five years, having first met in the student union. At that time, because they were in the same major, Jing Fan was a few grades above her and had given her a lot of academic advice.

Later, she was taken in as a teacher's student. Jing Fan happened to be the teacher's nephew, so their relationship was a little closer than her other senior schoolmates, and they interacted more.

But it was just a little more. Especially in the past two years, Jing Fan had gone abroad, and they only occasionally exchanged greetings on WeChat during holidays.

Song Anan's impression of Jing Fan had always been very simple - a closer senior schoolmate.

She had always thought it was the same for him.

How could it turn into...

Song Anan looked at Jing Fan apologetically, "Senior brother, I'm sorry..."

She didn't know how to continue.

But this "I'm sorry" was already enough to explain everything.

"No need to apologize," Jing Fan pulled his mouth into a smile, looking a little forced, "I had already guessed this would be the outcome before coming here."

If before he was apprehensive because Song Anan was too young, but after she became an adult, the reason he still didn't make a move was because he knew Song Anan didn't harbor any other feelings towards him.

He sighed slightly dejectedly, "But I still couldn't let it go. I held some hope against hope. I couldn't do nothing, after all."

Song Anan opened her mouth but didn't say anything.

The two just stood there silently for a while.

Jing Fan suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of expectation, "Can I court you?"

Song Anan froze for a moment, immediately grasping Jing Fan's meaning.

She shook her head at him.

Jing Fan let out a self-deprecating laugh, "Alright, I understand."

"Don't feel burdened. Liking you is my own business. In the future, we'll still be like before." When leaving, he tried to give the flowers to Song Anan, but she didn't accept them. Since she rejected him, she shouldn't give anyone false hope anymore - this was her consistent principle.

Watching Jing Fan's departing back, Song Anan stood there in a daze, lost in thought.

How could it possibly be like before anymore.

Knowing each other's feelings now, they would have to avoid each other no matter what.

This was better for both parties.

"What, regretting rejecting him just now?"

Pei Kuang walked over from the side and came in front of Song Anan. Seeing this sudden appearance, Song Anan's eyes widened. She turned her head back to look behind him, "You... Where did you come from?"

Pei Kuang laughed very frankly, pointing to the not too far parasol tree, "Over there."

Song Anan was still a little slow to react. She stared blankly at Pei Kuang.

How did he suddenly come over and coincidentally encounter such a scene?

"When did you get here?"

How much had he heard?

Pei Kuang shrugged and answered truthfully, "From beginning to end."

Witnessed the whole thing.

Song Anan: "..."

This guy, couldn't he pretend a little? Why be so honest.

She was a little annoyed. "Didn't you leave already? What are you doing back here?"

Pei Kuang raised his eyebrows, "Unhappy now?"

After speaking, he handed over his phone, "You left your phone in the car. I came to return it."

Song Anan was a little confused. She reflexively patted her coat pocket and found nothing. Only then did she react.

She reached out to take the phone, thanked him, then answered Pei Kuang's first question, "Not unhappy, just feel a little embarrassed."

Just earlier she had adamantly said her relationship with Jing Fan was just that of normal alumni. Didn't expect to be caught red-handed on the spot like this.

Pei Kuang was taken aback for a moment, clearly not quite understanding her thought process.

She had rejected someone's confession, not been rejected herself, so what was there to be embarrassed about?

"Seeing how adeptly you handled this kind of thing just now," Pei Kuang asked seemingly casually, "Do you get chased by a lot of people at school?"

Song Anan pressed her lips for a moment and replied absentmindedly, "It's ok."

"Just ok?" Pei Kuang laughed softly. "Shouldn't be like that."

"Our Anan is so outstanding, so pretty, there should be many who like you."

Our Anan?

Song Anan's heart involuntarily tightened.

Although she knew he didn't mean anything else by this form of address, she still couldn't help overthinking.

"It's getting late. Go on up," Pei Kuang nodded his chin towards the dorm building. "I'll head back too."

Song Anan blinked and lightly hmmed, not forgetting to remind, "Drive safely then."

After watching Song Anan enter the dorm building, Pei Kuang stood silently for a while more before leaving.

-

Returning to the residential area, Pei Kuang walked out of the elevator to see Li Dong standing outside his home.

"How long have you been here?" he asked.

Li Dong replied, "Just arrived, not long."

Pei Kuang lightly hmmed and opened the door for both to enter.

After changing into slippers in the foyer, Li Dong came to the living room to see Qiuqiu sitting there, tilting his head looking at him.

That expression and action seemed to say, who are you?

Li Dong was instantly amused. He went forward and ruffled its head, "Ungrateful thing, don't recognize me anymore?"

The past two years, Pei Kuang had been busy with filming, bringing Qiuqiu along the whole time. They were able to see each other often, but every time, this little guy treated him like a stranger. How bizarre.

Pei Kuang brought over two bottles of mineral water, handing one to Li Dong before sitting on the other side of the sofa.

Qiuqiu meowed and struggled free from Li Dong's hand, jumping onto the nearby cabinet instead.

Li Dong tsked twice, looking at Pei Kuang and said, "Your son's memory is too poor. Should we take him to the hospital and get him checked out? How does he keep forgetting people?"

Pei Kuang smiled and said, "Nothing wrong with his memory. He's picky with people."

After all, he had been able to recognize Song Anan right away even after not seeing her for two years.

Li Dong oh'd and pointed at Qiuqiu, laughing and cursing, "Opportunistic cat."

A little kitten actually playing favoritism!

"How is it?" Pei Kuang asked in his normal tone.

Li Dong nodded slightly and replied, "Almost ready. I had someone make inquiries at the local police station where you're registered. The documents they provided are sufficient to explain everything."

"Also, I contacted that number you gave me. Basically no issues." Zhang Man's explosive revelations to the media had two main points. One was that Pei Kuang had a history of drug abuse. Two was that he had killed his own father with his own hands.

She didn't provide any evidence, simply relying on her identity as Pei Kuang's mother to make many online deeply believe those two points.

After all, in the public's perception, a mother would never falsely accuse her own child, much less with such fatal accusations.

For a time, the online world was thrown into turmoil.

Leaving aside the second point for now, for an artist, having a history of drug abuse directly meant a death sentence - aside from being boycotted, there was no second path available.

No matter how popular he was or whether he was a movie star who had achieved great success, those things didn't matter to Pei Kuang. As long as there was nothing wrong with Pei Kuang himself, this matter wouldn't be too difficult to handle. Whether someone has a history of drug use can't just be claimed with empty words. They can check with the relevant authorities and exonerate themselves.

"To shut some people up, it would be best if you go to the relevant authorities for a hair test tomorrow," Li Dong said.

Documentation from the relevant authorities certifying his lack of prior drug use history, along with doing a real-time hair test, would prove his present situation. This would also completely shut up those trying to take advantage of the situation to cause trouble.

Pei Kuang lightly nodded his head, "You arrange it, I'll cooperate."

Li Dong acknowledged, "Regarding your father's matter, could you tell me about it in more detail?"

For the second point of self-exoneration, Pei Kuang had only given him the phone number of the local police chief, saying he could contact him for his relevant criminal records.

But he hadn't said much else, which was clearly not enough for Li Dong. The claim that 'he caused his own father's death' was too ambiguous, and didn't necessarily have to involve criminality.

"Of course, I don't mean to pry into your privacy, but in the current situation, I need to understand more comprehensively in order to know how to respond," Li Dong explained.

Pei Kuang lightly hmm'd, he knew that once this incident came out, he wouldn't be able to conceal those family matters.

Zhang Man still didn't understand him. She thought she had grasped his soft spot.

But over the years, he just didn't want to bring up those matters, not because he was afraid of anything.

Pei Kuang casually recounted, "When I was 12 years old, I discovered my dad was using and dealing drugs. I called the police, and during the police crackdown, he was hit by a speeding truck and died instantly."

Li Dong was stunned.

He expected there to be hidden circumstances, but didn't think it would be like this.

"Because of this matter, my relationship with her immediately reached freezing point. She always felt that I was responsible for my dad's death."

Of course, he and Zhang Man were never that close to begin with. As for the reason, it was also somewhat laughable. After giving birth, Zhang Man's figure had changed tremendously.

On top of that, their marital relationship wasn't great during that time, so Zhang Man stubbornly attributed it all to Pei Kuang.

Li Dong pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Can these matters be disclosed to the public?"

Pei Kuang nodded, "Do as you see fit. If needed, you can ask the person I gave you the number for, for help. He handled the case that year."

Li Dong understood his intent. "What do you plan to do next?"

This matter had already been fermenting online for half a day. They had been looking for evidence to exonerate themselves the whole time. Now that the evidence was ironclad, it was time to release a statement.

But because of the specificity of the source of the leaks, it was still rather sensitive. They had to carefully consider which angle to start publicizing from.

Pei Kuang picked up his phone and played a recording for Li Dong to listen to first before discussing.

The content recorded was the entire process from two years ago when Zhang Man went to find Pei Kuang and used the Xie family's kindness as leverage to make him fake a relationship with Xie Yin.

After listening, Li Dong quietly looked at Pei Kuang for several seconds.

He wanted to detect something from Pei Kuang's expression, but didn't notice any abnormality at all. It was as if he had no relation to it whatsoever.

Li Dong didn't know how Pei Kuang could remain so calm. He must have become numb to it.

However, after cooperating for so many years, they still had a basic tacit understanding. Li Dong immediately grasped Pei Kuang's intent.

He wanted to start from the matter of his fake relationship with Xie Yin from two years ago, exposing the connections between Zhang Man, the Xie family, and Pei Kuang.

It had to be said, this was indeed a very good breakthrough point. As long as it was proven that Zhang Man was not a qualified mother, the credibility of anything else she revealed afterwards would be much lower in the public eye.

Moreover, with the evidence already in their possession, the outcome of this matter was already determined.

Pei Kuang would definitely emerge from this unscathed this time. He had done nothing wrong.

Before leaving, Li Dong still couldn't resist asking, "Your insomnia these past two years, it's related to this matter too, right?"

Pei Kuang didn't evade the question, lightly laughing as he replied, "It's related to some extent, but not completely."

He didn't have any expectations of Zhang Man anymore, and nothing she did could really hurt him.

But it couldn't be denied that those messages she sent out did make him overthink things a bit.

-

After Li Dong left, Pei Kuang went to take a shower.

Too much had happened today, and he wasn't sleepy at all. He went to the kitchen to grab a bottle of red wine and headed out to the balcony.

Pei Kuang rarely drank, but his mind was so messy right now that he just wanted to use the alcohol to stimulate some clarity.

After a few glasses of wine and a gust of night wind, his tangled thoughts finally found some direction.

Pei Kuang put down his wine glass and picked up his phone. He thought for a moment, then still sent Song Linchuan a message.

There were some matters that he had to ascertain clearly.