Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Jia Xianyi received a death sentence.

Attempted intentional homicide, [redacted], insulting women, and other crimes combined. On the same day the trial concluded, He Mingshuang posted a lengthy article that set off a firestorm.

"Thank you all for your concern during this time. Now that the matter is settled, in all fairness, I owe everyone, especially my fans who care about me, an explanation."

"I do have a child. Several years ago, when I had just entered the entertainment industry, my then-trusted agent drugged me with a drink and handed me over to a wealthy businessman. He took many explicit photos and used them to threaten me, forcing me to have a child with him without obtaining a marriage certificate. He beat me, terrorized me, and I was powerless to resist. I thought about ending it all by suicide many times, but a feeling I couldn't put into words forced me to abandon that thought again and again. Perhaps it was due to unwillingness, or perhaps it was cowardice."

"I know I have betrayed the trust everyone has placed in me all along, and I am very sorry. For a long time, the image I projected to the outside world was always a scandal-free one of personal integrity. That was because I was afraid. If I had even the slightest bit of close contact with any man—even accidentally—I would face his endless beatings and abuse."

"I know many friends might consider this behavior a form of domestic violence, but I don't see it that way. The relationship between him and me was not recognized by law, nor was it acknowledged by my own emotions. It was sustained solely by threats, intimidation, fear, and cowardice."

"I am very grateful to Chu Heng. When I needed help the most, he extended a helping hand. By chance, he learned about my long-standing predicament. At first, I was terrified, so I kept trying to please him, hoping he would keep this matter a secret for me. He agreed, comforted me, encouraged me, and did not look down on me or treat me with contempt. He was the only person in the industry who knew my situation, so I couldn't help but turn to him for help."

"I never imagined he would suffer such an unjust calamity because of this. I also never thought that man would go so mad as to try to kill him. To this friend and benefactor of mine, I am truly sorry. Later, I will visit him in the hospital to thank and apologize to him in person, and then I will take some time off with my child. Due to various reasons, my physical condition no longer allows me to continue working."

"Finally, thank you all for your patience and tolerance in reading this. I hope that when you encounter injustice and unfairness, you all have the courage to take up the tools of morality and the law to protect yourselves and bravely resist."

The post included many images: hospital-issued diagnosis certificates for depression and phobia, medical records for hospitalizations due to external injuries, chat records of Jia Xianyi threatening He Mingshuang, and so on.

Chu Heng wanted to continue reading the comments below, but after scrolling for a while, only a little buffering spinner appeared.

He put down his phone just as Chen Jinsheng entered with a meal box.

The props used on set were always indistinguishable from the real thing. The prop dagger that had been swapped for a real one was stabbed into his waist, injuring his left kidney, which was not a fatal wound. However, Jia Xianyi's stab was aimed directly at his heart. Although Chu Heng dodged in time, he still had another dagger stuck in him, which slowed his movements, and he was stabbed in the lung.

The scene was chaotic at the time. The actor he was performing with froze on the spot. Chu Heng only remembered feeling cold all over and having difficulty breathing. As he lost consciousness, he didn't know what he was babbling. When he woke up again, it was to a hand tightly gripping his in the darkness and a silent figure by the bedside.

Chen Jinsheng scooped a spoonful of chicken soup and brought it to Chu Heng's lips. Chu Heng obediently opened his mouth and drank it, then warily looked up at him.

Chen Jinsheng paused. "What's wrong? Does the wound hurt?"

He had already shaved and groomed himself very neatly. Even without wearing a suit, he looked every bit the elite, as if he were about to attend an important meeting the next second. His expression was normal, and he wasn't being cold or harsh. On the contrary, he was extremely attentive. But Chu Heng just felt that he was angry.

Chu Heng shook his head. "No."

According to the doctor's advice, a nap after eating helps wounds heal better, but Chu Heng had slept enough these past few days and wasn't sleepy at the moment. After washing the meal box, Chen Jinsheng moved a stool to the head of the bed, opened his laptop to review documents. He was very quiet, only occasionally scrolling on the touchpad and taking notes with pen and paper when he saw something important.

Chu Heng turned his head to look at him and after a moment said, "I didn't get hurt on purpose."

Chen Jinsheng said, "I know."

He put down the pen and paper, leaned over, and gently kissed Chu Heng's temple, then tucked in the blanket. "Sleep. Don't overthink it."

Chu Heng never did get to sleep.

He Mingshuang still appeared beaming. She knocked on the door with a fruit basket and asked with a smile when Chen Jinsheng opened it, "Mind if I come in?"

Compared to the grievance and feigned strength revealed in that text, the actual her looked much more radiant, carrying a lightness and relaxation from having shed a heavy burden. Chen Jinsheng didn't speak, but he didn't close the door either. He just returned to his seat and continued reading documents.

He Mingshuang was mostly curious about him. Her gaze lingered on him for quite a while before she closed the door behind her and came in.

She looked at Chu Heng and was momentarily stunned before she could speak.

The reason was simple: the ruby on Chu Heng's left ring finger was simply too eye-catching. He Mingshuang belatedly shifted her gaze back to Chen Jinsheng's hand.

An identical ruby, gleaming in the room's light.

After her initial surprise, He Mingshuang couldn't help but chuckle wryly.

This person, Chu Heng, even in declaring love, was so bold and high-profile, as if completely unafraid of being sensationalized and slandered by those entertainment reporters.

She put down the fruit basket and sat down on the other side of the hospital bed.

This scene was very similar to the previous one, except the people on and off the bed had switched places.

"Are you okay?" He Mingshuang asked.

"I'm okay," Chu Heng replied.

There wasn't actually much to say between the two of them. They were more like allies in a mutually beneficial arrangement than friends.

However, the words He Mingshuang posted had saved Chu Heng a lot of trouble later on. Not only did they clarify all the previous incidents, but they also earned him a wave of goodwill. Therefore, Chu Heng still expressed his thanks.

"What's there to thank? I'm the one who should be thanking you, and I'm the one who should be apologizing. You lying here is entirely because you were dragged into this because of me," He Mingshuang said. "If it weren't for you, I don't know when I would have been freed."

He Mingshuang's original plan wasn't actually to cooperate with Chu Heng.

She believed Chu Heng was a good person, but she didn't believe this unrelated good person would help her.

According to the original plan, she would deliberately get close to Chu Heng, become intimate with him, and thereby provoke Jia Xianyi's anger and jealousy. She knew Jia Xianyi was monitoring her phone and didn't mind adding fuel to the fire by hiring paparazzi to actively leak "information" about her and Chu Heng.

Jia Xianyi easily lost his temper. He would beat and scold her and would also seek revenge on Chu Heng because of it. And once he tried to harm Chu Heng, the man by Chu Heng's side would never let him go.

The moment He Mingshuang saw Chen Jinsheng, she knew this man was dangerous. Chu Heng was prey kept within this man's territory, not to be coveted or touched by others.

Chu Heng had helped her, so He Mingshuang initially hesitated about whether to carry out this plan. But when she learned Chen Jinsheng's true identity and past from Jia Xianyi, she solidified her idea.

A murderer from a prominent family, just released from prison—would he, like he had given up everything for Chu Heng many years ago, kill again to protect him?

He Mingshuang firmly believed the answer was yes.

If everything had gone according to her plan, He Mingshuang believed the outcome would have been a happy one for all. She would be rid of Jia Xianyi, and Chu Heng would be rid of Chen Jinsheng. This would also count as her repayment for Chu Heng's helping hand.

He Mingshuang had never considered another possibility. That Chu Heng, like her, was kept, played with, entangled by a sugar daddy, covered in filth.

How could Chu Heng not want to break free and seek revenge like she did?

What use was the sugar daddy's past affection? It was merely a tool to tease a plaything, to make the plaything lose itself.

But He Mingshuang soon changed her mind.

Jia Xianyi monitored her, and she monitored him by the same means. Over the years, she had been collecting those photos and videos that tightly bound her. That night, Jia Xianyi wanted her to cooperate with another person to target Chu Heng at the "Blue Mane" premiere. She agreed. She knew this was her chance.

On the way there, she saw the video of Chu Heng buying roses. Perhaps even Chu Heng himself didn't realize how moving the tenderness inadvertently revealed on his face was. He Mingshuang's heart sank at that moment.

The result of her probing was not satisfactory. The flowers were indeed meant for Chen Jinsheng. Even so, when that person charged forward, she still tightly held onto Chu Heng's arm and didn't let go.

The later result once again took He Mingshuang by surprise. Chen Jinsheng rushed forward and took the stab meant for Chu Heng, and Chu Heng panicked and raged because he was injured.

He Mingshuang remembered Chu Heng hitting Jia Xianyi on the restaurant terrace in the film and television city. She carefully recalled the entire incident from beginning to end and suddenly realized Chu Heng had acted not because he was called a "sissy" or accused of using connections, but because Jia Xianyi said Chen Jinsheng was a murderer.

Chu Heng was not like her.

She had long since detached herself from past affections, but perhaps Chu Heng had not.

Who's to say the prey isn't willingly kept?

She visited Chen Jinsheng in the hospital and saw Chu Heng's subtle unease at the man's cold expression, finally confirming her suspicions.

When leaving the hospital, Chu Heng walked her out. He Mingshuang couldn't be sure whether Chu Heng had realized she had intentionally grabbed him at the time, so he couldn't pull away. Chu Heng wasn't a fool, yet he gave nothing away.

Perhaps in Chu Heng's eyes, she was too pitiful to be worth blaming.

What a good person, He Mingshuang thought.

A good person probably loves with everything they have.

Not long after leaving the hospital, she called Chu Heng.

"I know who Chen Jinsheng is," she said over the phone. "Let's work together."

Chu Heng's voice was hoarse, like he'd been chain-smoking. He replied, "Alright."

She used Chu Heng to deal with Jia Xianyi, while Chu Heng used her to shift public attention away from Chen Jinsheng. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

The fact that Jia Xianyi would actually kill someone himself took both of them by surprise. He Mingshuang had assumed he would at most hire someone to harm Chu Heng like last time, but he ended up making such an insane move, catching them completely off guard.

No, perhaps the true madman was someone else.

He Mingshuang knew there had always been someone egging Jia Xianyi on to target Chu Heng—hiring people to smear him, leaking Chu Heng's schedule to stalker fans through Jia Xianyi—but she was genuinely shocked to discover this person had been right by Chu Heng's side all along.

She told Chu Heng about this and asked who this person was and what deep-seated grudge existed between them. At that moment, Chu Heng's expression turned icy and chilling, yet he smiled and said it was nothing, just a friend of someone he used to know.

He Mingshuang handed Chu Heng a USB drive containing all the communication records between Meng Hui and Jia Xianyi, then said, "I'm leaving. I'll take my son abroad for a year or so."

Nowadays, whether others viewed her as pitiful or hypocritical, praised or criticized her, it didn't matter. In their line of work, they were often showered with both admiration and contempt. He Mingshuang had always thought these things were trivial, and she still did. But she needed to lay low for a while and, in the process, win some sympathy.

Her gaze swept over the rings on their fingers once more, a flicker of envy in her eyes.

She truly envied them.

She envied Chen Jinsheng for coming from an extraordinary family background—even with a tarnished reputation, he would never fall into destitution. If Jia Xianyi had been like Chen Jinsheng, perhaps things wouldn't have come to this, and her relationship with Jia Xianyi might have been different.

She also envied Chen Jinsheng for doing nothing, even knowing nothing, while Chu Heng cleared away all obstacles for him. If Jia Xianyi had loved her the way Chu Heng loved Chen Jinsheng or Chen Jinsheng loved Chu Heng, she might not have had to be so ruthless.

Unfortunately, Jia Xianyi was neither Chen Jinsheng nor Chu Heng.

With a sense of relief in her eyes, He Mingshuang smiled at Chu Heng one last time and said:

"Thank you, Chu Heng. I wish you and Mr. Chen happiness."