C3 Chapter 3

The car arrived at the police station without a hitch.

But the moment the well-dressed Mrs. Li stepped out, she was instantly swarmed by a crowd of reporters.

Who tipped them off? Could it have been the café manager?

Then again, with her status, people were always eager to curry favor.

Mrs. Li narrowed her eyes, then let out a cold laugh. If she could use the media to spread Wang Lingxiao’s scandal and blow it up into a full-on frenzy, then her precious son would definitely break with that little “sweet innocent” act—maybe even go to war with her.

Lingxiao followed behind the officers. As soon as she reached the entrance, she snapped her fingers.

Officer: “Hey, kid! You seem pretty happy?”

Lingxiao: ...

System: Ding! Truth-Telling Skill activated! Oh yeah!

Escorted by the café manager and the servers—those so-called eyewitnesses—Mrs. Li walked up to the station entrance.

“Ma’am! Careful—there’s a step here!”

“Huh? Ma’am... what are you—?”

All of a sudden, Mrs. Li’s expression hardened. She shook her head at the café manager, then turned around in a strangely deliberate way and flashed the reporters an unsettling smile.

The café manager felt something was off. He’d never seen Mrs. Li smile like that.

It looked more genuine, sure—but it was downright creepy.

With a grave face, Mrs. Li said, “Three years ago, I found out my son was dating a girl from a poor family. I looked down on her background, so I did everything I could to get in their way. Today, my son’s fiancée returned from overseas, so I asked that girl to meet me at the café, hoping she’d take the hint and back off. I even planned to throw money at her—humiliate her!”

The reporters’ eyes lit up. This was straight out of a Cinderella-versus-the-rich-family drama.

Looks like the tipster’s information was solid after all!

“Mrs. Li, how much severance are you planning to give that girl?” Sure enough, what everyone cared about most was the money.

Usually, when someone breaks up with a rich heir, even if they don’t walk away rolling in cash, they at least don’t have to worry about basic living expenses.

“Not much—about five grand.” Li Qiong’s face held a hint of contempt.

Five grand… The reporters froze, stunned.

“Mrs. Li, your son is one of the city’s top ten public figures. How can the Li family be so…”

Cheap!!!

Li Qiong lifted her chin and sneered. “She’s not worth anything to me.”

The reporters excitedly raised their recorders. “Mrs. Li, have you accomplished your goal today?”

Li Qiong shot back at once, “Pretty much! First I threw a cup of coffee on her, then I framed her—said she meant me harm, that she was trying to do something to me. I even got the café manager to back me up with a fake statement. I’m going to ruin her!”

For a moment, the reporters fell silent.

Was this Mrs. Li off her meds? Losing it with a straight face?

The café manager hurriedly covered his face: I don’t know her. Seriously!

But the real bombshell was still coming. Li Qiong suddenly laughed, smug as could be. “Li Yifeng is my son. My husband married into my family—around here, he has no standing. Even when he cheats, he has to sneak around, terrified I’ll find out. My son and my husband have to do whatever I say.”

A reporter latched onto the key word and fired back fast. “Your husband is cheating? But aren’t you two known for being a loving couple?”

“That’s just for show. I go to private clubs all the time. Over the years, I’ve had plenty of boy toys…”

“Mom! Are you done yet?!”

A tall, broad-shouldered figure suddenly forced his way through the noisy crowd. He signaled the bodyguards to clear the area and buy up every last audio and video recording the reporters had… and destroy it.

Too bad he was one step too late.

These days, social media and viral videos are everywhere—once something hits a livestream, it’s basically being broadcast to the whole internet.

Lingxiao quietly ducked behind the police officer.

Lingxiao: “Xiaoqiang, this skill isn’t bad. The effect seems even better than I expected.”

System-kun chuckled smugly. “Of course! Want to try it again, bestie?”

Lingxiao’s eyes sharpened as she locked onto the young man rushing over to stop Li Qiong.

It was Li Yifeng—one of the city’s most notorious corporate big shots. Handsome, broad-shouldered, and carrying the kind of presence that filled the room.

If you ignored the bad blood between him and the original owner of this body, he was almost… charming.

Too bad...

Lingxiao snapped her fingers without hesitation.

“Ding! Truth-Telling Skill Activated!”

Li Yifeng was checking Li Qiong over, especially her head... like he was trying to figure out whether she’d taken something she shouldn’t have.

But Li Qiong kept shouting that she wasn’t sick and hadn’t taken anything—she was fit as a fiddle.

“A-Qing! Get a car here. Take Madam to the hospital.” Li Yifeng’s face was dark, his anger barely held in.

Having your family’s dirty laundry aired in broad daylight—who wouldn’t feel sick about that?

Just as the bodyguards were hauling Li Qiong into the car, something went wrong on Li Yifeng’s side too.

He’d planned to stay and control the scene, to make the reporters shut up.

“I’m really sorry! My mom is insanely controlling. When I was a kid, she even tried to dictate what kind of underwear I wore—she never let me make my own choices.”

“Luckily, once I grew up and took over the Li Group, she didn’t dare push me too far. Now my fiancée is back from studying abroad. Three years ago, when she left, I slept with her. I felt guilty because I had a girlfriend at the time... Even though I’ve slept with a lot of women, I have to admit—Zhu Linger is the one who satisfied me the most in bed.”

The reporters fell silent again for a split second, then, practically vibrating with excitement, whipped out their backup phones to record the video.

Their audio recorders and cameras had already been snatched away by the company’s security team—gone, just like that.

A corporate CEO—usually untouchable, icy, and ruthless—was now openly sharing his… bedroom business with complete strangers?

Ling Xiao couldn’t help thinking: Everyone says the heroine, Zhu Linger, loves hard and lives loud, totally uninhibited no matter where she is. But the original owner of this body dated the big-shot CEO for three or four years and all she ever got was holding hands. She’d even managed to keep her first kiss.

And was that two-faced girl really in love with him? If she wasn’t, then why did she end up taking her own life?

By the time Ling Xiao arrived, the original owner had already been tangled up with the CEO for more than three years. He’d already slept with Zhu Linger, and he couldn’t get the memory of it out of his head. Zhu Linger’s shadow had been living in his heart for a long time.

And now that Zhu Linger was back in the country, she’d racked up award after award, rising fast into the spotlight as a star designer everyone was talking about.