The Tricks of a Player

Over three years of dating, my boyfriend had been incredibly attentive—he even hand-washed every piece of my intimate clothing one by one.

Everyone around me envied me without exception. Whenever they teased him about it, he would just lower his head and smile gently.

But the night before our wedding, I accidentally saw his chat history. The boyfriend I’d always seen as honest and down-to-earth, along with his entire family, had actually been plotting to get their hands on my pre-marital property.

His younger sister wasn’t the sweet, innocent girl I’d thought she was either—she’d been stealing my scripts and plagiarizing my videos.

After a heated argument, I made up my mind to break up with him. He probably didn’t want to let go of a "cash cow" like me, so he begged and pleaded relentlessly, but there was no way I’d ever look back.

To my surprise, his pleading quickly turned to rage. He turned around and started spreading malicious rumors about my sex life.

Later, once the matter was resolved, I put the past behind me and let him keep riding my popularity and traffic to livestream and sell products.

But how did he end up landing himself in jail while selling goods?

Chapter 1

My boyfriend was in the shower, and I was lounging on the sofa when his phone suddenly kept pinging. It turned out his sister was asking us to go to their place for dinner after getting our marriage certificate the next day.

I swiped up a couple of times casually and stumbled upon their chat from earlier that day.

"Sis, once you’re married, we’ll be one family. That house of hers in the southern part of the city is just sitting empty anyway—why not give it to me? It’ll be easier for me to get to school," his sister messaged.

"Don’t worry, little sis. Once we’re married, everything will be easy to sort out. She also owns a small villa. After the wedding, I’ll talk her into transferring the ownership to me," he replied.

I froze the second I read those two messages, and then a surge of uncontrollable anger welled up inside me.

In my mind, my boyfriend’s family had always been honest and easygoing. His mom and sister seemed so pleasant to get along with, and they’d never mentioned anything about houses in front of me. I never would’ve guessed they’d been hatching such a scheme.

I’d truly treated them like family too. Since I work as an influencer, I’d been giving his sister new batches of bags and clothes almost every month.

And as for his mom? The first time I went to their house, I gave her a classic Louis Vuitton bag. I didn’t ask for a single cent of betrothal money, and I never even brought up basic demands like a house or a car.

I thought I’d been more than kind to them, always making concessions. But all it got me was them thinking I was easy to push around, that they could scheme to take my pre-marital property?

I paced back and forth in the living room, several times wanting to rush into the bathroom to demand an explanation, but I held myself back.

The timing and place were all wrong—arguing in the bathroom would feel more like... foreplay?

Just as I was hesitating, Sherry called me several times in a row. As soon as I picked up, I heard her urgent voice on the other end:

"Dongrui, do you remember that video you did in collaboration with the XX brand?"

"Of course I do. What’s wrong?" I asked.

"Some marketing accounts are accusing you of plagiarizing an influencer named Yara. They even laid out the timeline. Now the brand is telling us to fix this quickly—if we don’t respond soon, they’ll issue a clarification themselves," she explained.

"How is that possible?" I exclaimed.

It seemed ridiculous to me. Ever since I posted my first video, I’d never once thought about plagiarizing. Even when I was just a small, unknown influencer, I never did anything like that. Now that I’m a big-name influencer, I’d be even less likely to.

"I know it sounds crazy, but the problem is this video involves the brand. I saw those marketing accounts also dug up a lot of other videos where you two have similarities—and the key thing is, she posted all of hers before you did," Sherry said.

It was noisy on Sherry’s end, with the sound of car horns in the background.

"I’m on my way to the studio right now. Is it convenient for you to come over too?" she asked.

"I have some things to take care of tomorrow..." But then I thought about how Henry Lin’s whole family had been scheming against me. Why even go through with the wedding? It was better to break up as soon as possible.

With that thought, I quickly changed my mind: "Sure, I’ll be right there."

Chapter 2

Once I got in the car, I opened my social media account. My private messages were flooded—many fans were asking me to explain soon, and there were also several messages from the brand. I replied to the most important ones first, then started searching for the influencer Yara.

However, the second I saw the influencer’s face, I even wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

Wait a minute... Isn’t that Henry Lin’s sister, Yara Lin?!

In an instant, my anger flared up again, rekindling the fury I’d tried to suppress earlier. I quickly called Yara Lin.

"Sis-in-law, what’s up?" Yara Lin’s sweet voice came through the phone.

"Get over to my studio right now. I have something to talk to you about," I said sharply.

"Okay, okay!" Yara Lin sounded like she had no idea what was going on, her tone as casual as usual.

After hanging up on her, I was still too angry to calm down, so I called Henry Lin next.

"I was just about to call you, baby. Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me?" He must have just gotten out of the shower—his voice sounded lazy.

"Does Yara Lin make short videos too?" I asked, cutting straight to the chase without beating around the bush.

There was a pause on the other end for a few seconds. "I don’t know. What’s wrong, honey? Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?" Henry Lin’s voice was filled with forced casualness, even a hint of laughter.

"I hope you’re telling the truth," I said with a cold laugh, then quickly changed the subject.

"While you were in the shower just now, I saw the messages your sister sent you," I said, trailing off. I could hear his breathing become noticeably faster on the other end, and I felt a mix of absurdity and sadness.

"What’s the deal? You’re already scheming to take my house and car before we’re even married, and now you’re even trying to get your hands on my social media account? Do you really think everyone else is an idiot?!" I snapped.

"Honey, listen to me. This is all a misunderstanding..." he tried to explain.

"I don’t care if it’s a misunderstanding or not," I interrupted him.

"Right now, get over to my studio immediately. Come see what your wonderful sister has been up to," I said.

With that, I hung up the phone and ignored the screen that kept lighting up with his calls.

Chapter 3

By the time I arrived at the studio, Sherry was already there, looking for information on her computer.

"Dongrui, I found the script for that video, and I also have the chat records with the brand. The timestamps are all before that influencer Yara posted hers. Should we organize this stuff and release it, or..." Sherry said.

"Wait, don’t rush," I told her.

When Sherry first told me about this, I’d been a bit anxious, but now I was surprisingly calm. It was just an inside thief—we’d just have to get rid of her.

I quickly filled Sherry in on my suspicions. It was most likely Yara Lin who’d stolen my scripts and posted them before me. But no matter how much I thought about it on the way over, I couldn’t figure out what her motive was.

Was she trying to copy my style and start her own account? Or was she just doing it to annoy me?

Sherry was equally frustrated. "You’ve been so good to that sister-in-law of yours, haven’t you? You buy her everything—food, clothes, whatever you can think of. I’d say you treat her better than most people treat their own sisters."

"You really have the worst luck, dealing with such a shameless family. They’re already scheming to take your stuff before you’re even married. I can only imagine what they’d do if you actually married Henry—they’d probably empty out all your belongings," she added.

Just as we were talking, the brother and sister arrived. Sherry didn’t hold back at all, her tone dripping with sarcasm:

"Yara Lin, that Yara account can’t be yours, right? After all, you’re about to be family. How could you do something so shameless? Am I right, Henry Lin?"

"Sherry Cheng, watch your mouth. Don’t think I won’t hit you just because you’re a woman," Henry Lin snapped.

Sherry rolled her eyes. "Oh, real tough—hitting a woman. If you’re so capable, why don’t you stop scheming to take a woman’s money? You don’t even earn as much as Dongrui, but you’ve got a bigger temper than her. Pathetic."

I didn’t want to argue about personal issues in the studio, so I waved at Sherry, signaling her to drop the subject for now.

Then I tapped the table and asked Yara Lin directly: "That account is yours, isn’t it?"

Yara Lin glanced 怯 ly at her brother, then at me, but said nothing.

Her fake innocent act made me sick. I pulled out my phone, found that account, and randomly played one of the videos.

"Don’t just stay silent. That face of yours is definitely in the video, and the background is your house too. How can you still deny it?" I pressed.

"Dora Wan!" Henry Lin suddenly pulled Yara Lin behind him to shield her.

"She’s just a young girl. What’s the big deal if she plays around with social media? Why are you getting so angry about it?" he said defensively.

I let out a cold laugh. "Why don’t you ask your precious sister if she made that video content herself?"

Henry Lin argued confidently, "Even if she didn’t make the content herself, she’s not using those videos to make money. She’s just filming them for fun. What’s wrong with that?"

I looked at him in disbelief. I work in the social media industry—how many times have I talked about how important originality is? He couldn’t possibly not know that.

I’m always so careful when filming videos, scared that my ideas might overlap with someone else’s. But when it comes to his sister, it’s just "she’s not making money, she’s just having fun"?

The double standard was ridiculous.

At that thought, I suddenly calmed down. "Do you even know whose content she plagiarized?" I asked.

I stared straight into his eyes, but there wasn’t a hint of remorse or confusion in his gaze.

I nodded slowly. "So you did know," I said.

Chapter 4

Henry Lin didn’t say a word, but Yara Lin suddenly burst into tears.

"Sis-in-law, please don’t be mad at my brother... It’s all my fault... I saw you filming videos and thought it looked fun, so I just posted a few myself. I never thought it would turn out like this, wuwuwu..." she sobbed.

I was almost amused by her act. "You ‘just posted a few’? How come it’s such a coincidence that all the ones you posted were content I hadn’t even released yet? Some of them were even direct copies of my scripts. Come on, tell me—how did you get your hands on this stuff?" I asked.

Even though I was talking to Yara Lin, my eyes were fixed firmly on Henry Lin the entire time.

Of course I knew how she’d gotten the scripts. I always back up my video scripts on my computer. Because of the nature of my work, I’m logged into my account on both my home computer and the one at the studio. There’s no way I would’ve shown this stuff to Yara Lin myself, which only left one other person who could’ve done it.

"Yueyue came over to our place once and needed to use a computer. I’d left mine at the office, so I let her use yours," Henry Lin admitted, sounding guilty at first, but quickly growing defensive.

"You do know that computer is mine, not yours, right? Besides, it’s for work—there’s even a password on it. How could you just let someone outside our family use it like that?" I asked, my voice rising.

"Yueyue isn’t an outsider—she’s my biological sister..." he protested.

"That’s enough!" Sherry, who’d clearly had enough of listening to this, rolled her eyes and cut Henry Lin off.

"Right now, it doesn’t matter how ‘innocent’ Yara Lin is, or whether she did this on purpose or not—this has already involved the brand. So there’s only one way to fix this: Yara Lin has to apologize, and then we’ll issue a statement..." Sherry said firmly.

"No, absolutely not! My sister is still in school. If this blows up, what will her teachers and classmates think of her? Besides, she’s studying social media too—this will ruin her future career!" Henry Lin interrupted Sherry before she could finish, jumping to object.

I felt a deep sense of disappointment. I even found myself thinking: How could I have dated this man for over three years and never realized he was such a selfish person?

He schemed to take my house, and he let his sister plagiarize my videos. I’d almost married someone like this.

What had I even seen in him?

Sherry let out a series of cold laughs, her tone mocking. "Then what do you suggest we do? Should we make Dongrui say she’s the one who plagiarized? Don’t be ridiculous—Dongrui has over 5 million followers on her platform. Why would she plagiarize an account with less than 50,000 followers? Does that even make sense to you?"

Looking at the Lin siblings, Sherry softened her tone slightly, using both kindness and firmness to reason with them.

"Honestly, this wouldn’t have been a big deal if it hadn’t involved the brand and those marketing accounts. Yara Lin could’ve just deleted the videos and that would’ve been the end of it. But the problem is, one of the videos she plagiarized from Dongrui is tied to the brand—we have to show we’re taking this seriously," she explained.

I knew Sherry was holding back because of me, not wanting to go too far. But I never would’ve guessed Henry Lin would be so unrepentant and self-righteous.

"We’re practically family already—why are you quibbling over such small things? Dongrui has so many followers. Once the hype dies down, this will all be forgotten. It’s not as big a deal as you’re making it out to be," Henry Lin muttered, sounding completely unconcerned.

Seeing how stubborn he was even after Sherry had spelled everything out clearly, I finally gave up all hope. I sat down slowly, opened my computer, and said:

"Henry Lin, I’m formally telling you—we’re breaking up, effective immediately. I’ll calculate my share of the expenses we incurred while planning the wedding and send it to you via Alipay."

"Now, get out of my studio right now. Don’t dirty my space with your presence," I said coldly.

Chapter 5

The next day, I woke up almost at noon. After kicking the Lin siblings out the night before, I hadn’t had much time to sort through my emotions—the brand was pressing us for a solution, so I’d stayed up half the night organizing all the materials, explaining the situation to them, and sending everything over.

When I first woke up, I was confused by the unfamiliar surroundings.

It wasn’t until I fully came to my senses that I realized I’d come to stay at my house in the southern part of the city the night before.

I rubbed my shoulders, picked up my phone, and was shocked to see that my mom had called me thirteen times that morning. I quickly called her back, panicking a little.

"Mom, what’s wrong?" I asked.

"Sweetie, what’s going on between you and Xiao Lin? He called me early this morning saying he’d done something wrong and that you wanted to break up with him. Are you two just having a fight?" she asked worriedly.

I was standing in the kitchen pouring water while holding the phone. Her question made me feel both sad and amused, but I didn’t want to worry her with my problems, so I briefly explained what had happened, then made my stance clear.

"There’s no way we’ll get back together. Honestly, the script-stealing thing is trivial. I’m not the same person I was when I first started my account—back then I had no experience and no skills, but now something like this won’t take me down," I said.

"The real issue is that his whole family was already scheming to take my property before we were even married. And he treats his family and me like two completely different people. It’s just so disheartening," I added.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line before my mom said, "It’s okay, sweetie. Our family might not be super wealthy, but we’d never let you suffer this kind of wrong. If the wedding’s off, then it’s off—breaking up is for the best. Mom supports you."

I’d known all along that my parents would stand by me, but hearing her say those words still warmed my heart. No matter what happens, they’ll always be firmly by my side.

"Okay, Mom! Once I finish dealing with all this stuff, I’ll come home. I really want to eat your braised pork ribs and sweet and sour mandarin fish," I said, changing the subject to a happier note.

After chatting happily with my mom for a while, I hung up the phone—only to see that Henry Lin was calling me via video chat.

Oh no, I thought to myself. I’d been so busy last night that I’d forgotten to block him.

I rejected the video call without hesitation and added all his contact info to my blacklist. But then I remembered I still had some things at his place, so I took his WeChat off the blacklist temporarily.

"Either send my things to the studio, or if you don’t want to deal with it, I’ll have my assistant come pick them up later," I messaged him.

"Dongrui, are you really going to break up with me?" He replied instantly as soon as I sent the message.

I found it ridiculous. Did he expect us to rehearse the breakup first or something?

Before I could reply, he sent another message:

"I was wrong last night—I let my emotions get the better of me. Yueyue did make a mistake too, and I’m apologizing on her behalf."

"But our relationship has nothing to do with any of this. Don’t let other people’s mistakes ruin what we have," he added.

"I hope you’ll take this seriously and stop throwing around the word ‘breakup’ so casually."

I thought I’d made myself clear, but did he really think I was just throwing a fit?

And did he really think I still didn’t know about his family’s schemes against me? Was he expecting me to keep him around like he was some kind of holiday decoration?

"I am being serious. If you didn’t hear me clearly last night, I’ll say it again," I replied.

"We’re breaking up."

After sending that, I blocked him again without hesitation. Out of sight, out of mind.

Over the next few days, Henry Lin kept calling me from different phone numbers, but I hung up on every single one.

I also posted a video clarifying the plagiarism incident. Since I had plenty of evidence—including the original scripts and chat records with the brand to back me up—Yara Lin was forced to publicly apologize to me due to the pressure of public opinion. Henry Lin also seemed to gradually accept the fact that we’d broken up and stopped pestering me.

Slowly, my life returned to its usual calm—except for one strange thing: my WeChat kept logging me out and showing distant logins. I had no choice but to change my password.

But what I didn’t expect was that a few months later, an incident would completely shatter this peace.

One day, my name suddenly appeared at the top of the entertainment news trending list.

And right next to it was the headline: "Million-follower influencer Dora’s ex-boyfriend exposes her promiscuous private life, claims she had sexual relations with multiple men."

Chapter 6

As soon as my name hit the trending list, my phone started ringing nonstop. Countless messages poured in—some were insults, some were curses, and there were even a few that were sarcastic and mocking.

I never would’ve guessed that as a small-time influencer, I’d attract so much attention. In an instant, it felt like the whole world was against me. Numerous media outlets and marketing accounts were scrambling to report on the story. Haters and onlookers alike looked down on me, as if I’d committed some unforgivable crime.

Sherry and my assistant kept sending me messages, and even my parents—who never read entertainment news—called me several times. I had no idea who had told them about what was happening.

But I just sat on the sofa with my legs crossed, holding my phone. I didn’t reply to any of the messages; I just scrolled through one news report after another, staring at the so-called "evidence" of my infidelity that was plastered all over the screen.

The only "proof" Henry Lin had provided was screenshots of chat records supposedly showing me hooking up with different men, along with messages where I’d supposedly cursed and insulted him. As I watched my ex-boyfriend sobbing and complaining bitterly on camera, I was so angry that my whole body was shaking.

I’d dated this man for three years—did I ever really know him?

The man on the screen kept opening and closing his mouth, spouting lies about things I’d never done. He cried so bitterly, so convincingly.

I had to admit: he’d found the most effective way to hurt me.

How ridiculous it was—even in this day and age, a woman’s reputation could still be her Achilles’ heel.

As long as one person stands up and claims a woman has a promiscuous private life, almost everyone will believe it. This trick works even better when the woman is a public figure.

He was so vicious, as if I weren’t his ex-girlfriend, but a sworn enemy who’d murdered his father.

I put down my phone and wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes. There was so much I needed to do next—I couldn’t let myself get stuck in my emotions. It wasn’t worth it for someone like him.

After calming myself down a little, I called Sherry. I wanted to explain what was going on first—after all, I hadn’t answered her calls for so long, and she must have been frantic with worry.

"Dongrui, are you okay? Has anyone gone to your place to harass you? I saw that bastard Henry Lin even posted your phone number online," Sherry said, her voice filled with anger. I could practically hear her grinding her teeth through the phone.

I’d thought I’d calmed down already, but when I heard Sherry’s concerned tone, I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore.

"I... Sherry, those things... I never did any of them..." I sobbed.

"I know, I know. How could I not believe you?" Sherry comforted me when she heard me crying uncontrollably. "Don’t cry, baby. If you cry until your pretty face gets swollen, how are we going to make money? Remember, you make a living off your looks," she joked gently to cheer me up.

"I’ve consulted a lawyer. In this case, as long as we can prove you didn’t do those things, we can sue him for defamation and hold him legally responsible," she added, her tone turning serious again.

"So we can send him a lawyer’s letter right away," she said.

Chapter 7

A few days later, I filed a lawsuit against Henry Lin. I didn’t say a single word online until the court date, letting public opinion continue to simmer.

In the days leading up to the trial, I spent a lot of money hiring media outlets to wait outside the courthouse. At this point, I was actually worried there wouldn’t be enough hype.

On the day of the trial, I got up early, put on a makeup look that made me look extremely haggard, then put on my small leather shoes and arrived at the courthouse on time.

Henry Lin seemed to have been living quite comfortably these past few days. He’d abandoned his usual "honest and down-to-earth" act and was looking at me with a provocative gaze.

"You probably haven’t been sleeping well these days, huh? Look at those dark circles under your eyes. Tsk tsk... I must have been blind to ever like you..." he sneered.

"Defendant, refrain from personal attacks!" the judge said sharply, slamming his gavel.

Henry Lin’s mom couldn’t wait to chime in. "Your Honor, what’s the punishment for this little slut cheating on our son? Back in the old days, she’d be drowned in a pig cage! We demand she compensate us for our mental suffering—at least one million yuan!" she shouted.

The judge slammed his gavel again. "Defendant, please present evidence first. Your words carry legal weight here!"

My lawyer immediately pulled out the prepared materials. "Defendant Henry Lin, dissatisfied with my client’s decision to break up with him, spread false rumors online about my client having a promiscuous private life. This has severely disrupted my client’s normal life," he stated clearly.

Next, my lawyer played the video of Henry Lin sobbing and making accusations online, checking each claim one by one.

"You stated in this video that my client hooked up with multiple men. Do you have any evidence to support this? Videos? Photos?" the lawyer asked.

Henry Lin pulled out the "chat records" he’d posted online earlier. "I don’t have photos—she always covered her tracks well. But these are the chat records. I took them secretly while she was in the shower," he lied.

I couldn’t hold back anymore. "Stop framing me! After we broke up, my WeChat kept logging me out. I remember it happened twice. You were the one who did that, weren’t you?" I exclaimed.

"You logged into my account and faked these chat records. You deliberately spread malicious rumors about my sex life—you just wanted to ruin me!" I said angrily.

I turned to the judge, enunciating each word clearly:

"Your Honor, since I work as an influencer, I have multiple accounts on different platforms. To avoid forgetting my passwords, I use the same one for all of them. Henry Lin dated me for three years—how could he not know that!"

"Furthermore, I can provide proof of the times my account was logged out and the devices used to log in," I added.

Henry Lin stood up and pointed at me. "Don’t listen to her lies! Even if her account was logged out, that doesn’t prove she didn’t send those messages herself!" he argued.

My lawyer quickly pulled up another set of chat screenshots—this time, Henry Lin’s. "So you confirm that these chat records are authentic, correct?" he asked.

"Of course," Henry Lin replied without hesitation.

"Then according to these records, on September 7th, a man named Zayn Xu asked my client to meet him at XX Hotel for a room. But on that day, my client was busy shooting a magazine. She was at work the entire day, and her colleagues can testify to this," the lawyer said, presenting the evidence.

"Well... maybe they snuck out to have an affair at night," Henry Lin insisted, grasping at straws.

"That night, my client stayed at a hotel arranged by the brand. We have also obtained the hotel’s surveillance footage to prove this," the lawyer countered.

"Maybe they changed the time—you can’t rule that out," Henry Lin said, still trying to defend himself.

But by this point, some members of the jury were already looking at him with disgust, and someone in the audience couldn’t hold back anymore and said, "This is just pure slander!"

My lawyer then pointed out several other men mentioned in the chat records. In every case, the timeline didn’t add up—either I was at work, the man was working overtime or spending time with his wife and kids, or in one case, the man and I hadn’t spoken since we graduated from high school. He was just a name gathering dust in my contacts list.

"In conclusion, the defendant has insufficient evidence to prove that my client cheated. In fact, this so-called ‘evidence’ can’t even be considered valid evidence—all of it falls apart upon closer inspection. We have reason to suspect that the defendant fabricated evidence," the lawyer stated firmly.

"And there’s another crucial point: my client had already broken up with the defendant on August 3rd. So even if she had started dating someone else after that, there would be nothing wrong with it," he added.

My lawyer pulled up the chat records where I’d told Henry Lin we were breaking up. Thank goodness I’d found his endless rambling annoying back then—who would’ve thought those messages would end up being key evidence!

Chapter 8

The trial went extremely smoothly for us, and the verdict was announced that same afternoon. Henry Lin was sentenced to eight days of administrative detention and a fine of 500 yuan. He was also ordered to publicly apologize to me.

When I walked out of the courthouse, I saw the media waiting with microphones. I wiped my eyes and immediately started crying.

"Ms. Wan, are the online rumors true? Did you cheat on Mr. Lin multiple times while you were dating him?" a reporter asked.

I sobbed, my eyes red and puffy. "Those were all lies—he made them up to slander me. I never did any of those things. The verdict has already been announced, and I’ll organize all the details and release them later to give my fans and everyone who supports me an explanation," I said between sobs.

"I also want to thank everyone for their concern..." I added.

Just as I was speaking, Henry Lin’s mom walked out of the courthouse. She grabbed my microphone out of my hand and tried to pounce on me to hit me.

Sherry reacted quickly, throwing her arms around me to protect my head and giving a familiar reporter a subtle look.

The reporter was quick-witted—he immediately turned the camera toward Henry Lin’s mom and said loudly:

"This auntie seems to be in great shape... Attacking someone right outside the courthouse? That’s a huge scoop! Get a clear shot of her face—this’ll make front-page news!"

Henry Lin’s mom hesitated for a second, then immediately pointed her finger at me and started yelling:

"Don’t be fooled by this little slut’s fancy clothes and nice act! Who knows how she got all this stuff!"

"Earlier, our Haohao told me this little slut bought a house and a car before getting married, and I even praised her for being capable. Bah! She probably slept with countless men to get all these things..." she screamed.

"Auntie!" I wiped the non-existent tears from the corners of my eyes, my voice trembling as I cried.

"If you’re not satisfied with the verdict, you can file an appeal. There’s no need to hate me so much. You have a daughter too—why do women have to make things harder for other women?" I asked, my tone full of 委屈.

"And wasn’t it just because Henry Lin asked me to transfer the ownership of my house to him before we got married, and I refused? Is that why you’ve been holding a grudge against me and deliberately trying to get revenge?" I added, dropping the bombshell.

"Ms. Wan, what’s this about a house?" the reporters immediately latched onto this new detail. I silently gave the reporter a thumbs-up in my mind—he was definitely a great ally, just like I’d hoped.

"Before we got married, Henry Lin asked me to transfer my house to him and his sister, but I refused. And that’s actually why we broke up," I explained.

The reporter let out a long "Oh," and the way he looked at Henry Lin’s mom immediately turned to disdain.

I ignored Henry Lin’s mom yelling insults at me and continued to "confide" in the familiar reporter about how wronged I’d been over the past few weeks.

After a while, when I thought the timing was right, I got in the car first.

A few minutes later, Sherry got in too. "Did they get all the footage?" I asked her.

Sherry nodded, then looked at me in confusion. "Dongrui, we already won the lawsuit. Why did you let the Lin family humiliate you like that?" she asked.

I casually pulled out a tissue and wiped my hands. "He thought it would be so easy to slander me with just a few lies—like I couldn’t do anything about his despicable tricks," I said.

Then I sighed. "Sherry, it’s so easy to spread rumors about a woman. A few baseless words, a couple of chat screenshots—even if there’s not a single witness, everyone will believe it," I said sadly.

"They don’t care how hard you work at your job or how good your character is. As long as words like ‘promiscuous,’ ‘abortion,’ or ‘hookups’ get attached to you, that woman will probably never be able to turn her life around," I added.

"Even though we got so many media outlets to help us clear your name today, once this is over, there will definitely still be people saying, ‘Who knows how she bought her way out of this?’" Sherry said, rubbing her forehead in frustration.

"That’s just how things are... There’s nothing we can do about it," she added.

I clenched my fists tightly, my knuckles turning white. "So Henry Lin knew exactly what would happen to me when he said those things—but he still said them without a second thought. He was determined to destroy me," I said angrily.

"Earlier, his whole family was already scheming to take my things before we even got married. I originally thought that once we broke up, I’d just let it go. But they don’t think that way—maybe they even think I was in the wrong for not letting them walk all over me," I said.

I threw the tissue into the trash can. "Just wait and see. I’m going to make sure their family can never show their faces in this city again," I vowed.

Chapter 9

When I got home, I quickly organized all the materials—including screenshots from the trial and the surveillance footage—and posted them online. I even included the video of Henry Lin’s mom yelling insults at me outside the courthouse.

At the same time, the media outlets I’d contacted earlier began reporting on the story extensively. The story was already generating a lot of buzz, and with this reversal, it blew up even more, staying at the top of the trending lists for four straight days.

My fans and ordinary netizens all started bashing Henry Lin’s family—after all, everyone could see how malicious their intentions were.

Of course, there were still a few holdouts who remained skeptical. Some thought the quick reversal was just a well-planned publicity stunt to gain more followers and traffic. But others immediately pushed back, asking: What woman would be willing to risk her reputation just to get more followers?

There were also some people who stubbornly believed Henry Lin’s chat screenshots couldn’t be fake and were convinced I had a promiscuous private life.

But these people were in the minority—the majority still supported me. And as the story unfolded, many other women came forward to share their own experiences of being targeted by malicious rumors and slander, only to have their cases fizzle out without justice. My story sparked widespread outrage.

The real reason behind our breakup was also reported by the media—once people found out about Henry Lin’s family’s scheming, they hated him even more. Some even called him a typical "phoenix man" (a derogatory term for a man from a poor background who tries to leech off his partner’s wealth)—someone who would destroy you if he couldn’t have you.

With official media outlets joining in the coverage, the whole fiasco reached its peak, and public opinion quickly turned completely against Henry Lin.

Thanks to the marketing accounts spreading the story, I was painted as the poor, innocent "little white flower" who’d been through so much hardship. The more people sympathized with me, the more they hated Henry Lin’s family.

Of course, I’d played a big role in shaping this narrative. I’d hired a large number of online commentators to push the story forward, and I’d contacted almost every major media outlet and marketing account to help clear my name.

I only showed my face publicly when I posted the clarification and the lawyer’s letter—most of the time, I stuck to my "innocent victim" persona.

After Henry Lin was released from detention, he went through the motions of posting a half-hearted apology essay online. But the whole thing was filled with evasions, and in some parts, he even subtly took digs at me.

A few days later, he went back to playing the victim online, accusing me of using my status as a public figure to manipulate public opinion and incite netizens to cyberbully him. But by then, no one believed him anymore. After all, when he was slandering me, he’d never once thought about the fact that I was a public figure.

As public outrage against Henry Lin’s family grew, Sherry told me that their home address had been dug up online, and Henry Lin had been fired from his job because of the scandal.

Maybe it was because he couldn’t find a job, but Henry Lin and his terrible family kept calling me every few days to curse at me. They thought all of this was my fault.

Their logic was that I should just let them slander me and not fight back.

Where in the world would you find such a good deal? I’m not a masochist—I won’t just let people hit me without fighting back or insult me without saying a word.

They thought the best way to control a woman was to attack her reputation and future—especially since I’m an influencer.

After all, these days, people subconsciously think that the worlds of influencers and celebrities are messy places, since they’re so close to power and money.

But the truth is, many ordinary people also can’t resist temptation.

Don’t believe me? Just wait and see.

Chapter 10

Because of this high-profile scandal, Henry Lin couldn’t find a decent job for months. Then, a few months later, someone suggested he try a different approach.

With all this traffic and hype around him, he could start livestreaming to sell products. He could even take subtle jabs at me during his streams—after all, even "infamous" attention is still attention.

There will always be people curious enough to watch, so he’d never be short on traffic or topics.

The same went for me—Henry Lin staying active on public platforms brought me a huge amount of traffic.

In a way, you could say this was a "win-win" situation—if you ignored the harm I’d suffered and the bad blood between us.

I’d checked out his livestreams a few times. The number of viewers was actually quite high—there were a lot of people cursing him, but there were also quite a few who sent him gifts and placed orders.

Henry Lin didn’t look the least bit upset. He even seemed cheerful when he saw all the insults in the comments—after all, those insults were just money to him.

Sherry told me secretly that, based on her estimates, Henry Lin could make at least 200,000 yuan per livestream.

I just smiled and didn’t care. As the saying goes:

Every gift from fate has already been priced in secret.

So when, a year later, the media reported that Henry Lin had been caught engaging in group sex and even taking drugs at a high-end club, I wasn’t the least bit surprised.

When making money becomes effortless, that’s usually when most people start to fall apart.

Human nature is just that fragile.

Sherry had always been confused by how calm I’d been about everything. Ever since I found out Henry Lin was going to start livestreaming, I hadn’t tried to stop him at all. At first, she even advised me to play the victim for my fans and put a little pressure on the brands.

After all, with my current number of followers and influence in product promotion, asking the brands for this small favor wouldn’t have been a big deal. But I’d never interfered—if anything, I’d just let things happen.

Because after breaking up with Henry Lin, I suddenly felt like I understood him perfectly. He was selfish and greedy. When a huge amount of money suddenly fell into his hands, he had no idea how to manage it or how to use this wealth that he hadn’t earned.

Then one day, he saw how people from the upper class lived—oh, so this is how rich people live? Eating, drinking, playing, and having fun without a care in the world.

But if you walk by the river often enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet. At that point, all I had to do was give him a little nudge, and he’d open the door to a whole new world.

I even secretly helped him clear some of the initial hurdles when he first entered the livestreaming industry, worried that anything might delay him from making money.

Slowly, I started having people pretend to be from a talent agency contact him, pretending they wanted to sign him and offering him very generous terms. They even promised to help him "rehabilitate his image."

The people I’d sent gradually gained his trust. They started introducing him to so-called "company executives"—and without exception, all of these executives acted like they thought very highly of him.

He started going on frequent business trips with these "executives," and under their influence, he began frequenting seedy places.

I’d originally planned to wait until Henry Lin was completely immersed in this decadent lifestyle, then call the police and report him. But Henry Lin surprised me—he actually had the guts to get involved with drugs.

Maybe it was because he was living so recklessly and flaunting his money that he caught the attention of drug dealers. And he, being curious, had wanted to try it out. But that one try ended up ruining the rest of his life.

You see, destroying someone is so easy—just like how he slandered and attacked me endlessly, or how he got rich without putting in any effort.

The only thing that slightly surprised me was that Yara Lin was involved too. At first, the police thought she was a prostitute, but later they realized she’d just gotten high on drugs. She looked completely defeated and listless.

Looking at the two of them in the media photos—sunken eye sockets, eyes filled with fear—I couldn’t help but wonder: When they were making up lies about the thing women care about most—their reputation—did they feel even the slightest bit of guilt?

But I quickly let go of that thought. It didn’t matter anymore. This was the perfect ending.

Coming back to my senses, I looked at the photos my mom had sent me—braised pork ribs and sweet and sour mandarin fish. I smiled and quickly told the driver to turn around.

You see, the people who truly love you will always be right by your side.