"I'll go tell the producer to stop this guy! This has nothing to do with the show anyway."
Ye Shu was about to step forward.
Little did she know, Xu Yanxia, who was on stage, had already picked up the microphone again to address the man asking the questions.
"First of all, I don't have an ex-boyfriend. I've only ever had one boyfriend in my entire life, and our relationship is currently very stable."
"Secondly, the person you mentioned, Lin Hengnan, is actually an alumnus who was three years ahead of me."
"As for your other questions, how do you think I, as a victim, would feel?"
Facing countless cameras and staring eyes, she looked at him calmly, her face open and honest without a trace of panic.
"I am certainly grateful for the strict impartiality of the law, thankful that justice has been served, and I also want to thank my boyfriend for risking his life to protect me. Otherwise, I would either be severely injured right now or no longer in this world. And you wouldn't be able to question me like this."
As her voice faded, everyone at the scene was shocked.
Although they hadn't yet figured out exactly what had happened, they could tell from her words that the situation at the time must have been incredibly dire.
However, the bespectacled male reporter spoke up again. "But you weren't harmed in this case. I heard that you discovered his plan early on but didn't stop him in time. Instead, you deliberately swapped his things and then constantly showed off your affection to provoke him, which caused him to lose his mind from the stimulation and ultimately commit an attempted crime."
His tone became increasingly aggressive. "May I ask if this was a deliberate setup, an attempt to lure him into committing a crime?"
It should be noted that after the incident occurred, Xu Yanxia didn't make a big deal out of it, and the article today that completely distorted the truth had only stayed on the social news trending list for a short while before being taken down.
Therefore, up until this moment, many people didn't actually know the true circumstances of the case.
But his remarks clearly steered the narrative of the case in a completely different direction.
For a moment, whether it was the millions of netizens in the online live stream or the media and fans at the scene, everyone once again looked at Xu Yanxia with eyes full of doubt.
It was as if she really were someone who had framed her ex-boyfriend just to be with her wealthy new lover.
So much so that at this very moment, Sister Hua, the manager waiting for her flight in the VIP lounge of the distant Jingbei Airport, couldn't help but ask Lu Jingxi beside her, "Xiao Xia wouldn't be that kind of person, right? This sounds way too outrageous!"
Although she hadn't met Xu Yanxia in person yet, she could tell from the online feedback and the accounts from Lu Jingxi and her assistant that she must be a very upright and kind-hearted girl.
"Of course not!"
Lu Jingxi, who was watching the live stream, immediately denied it. "We saw the guy he's talking about last time at Huanong. He's just a regular senior schoolmate of Xiao Xia, not an ex-boyfriend at all! These words are completely twisting the facts!!!"
"Then it looks like he came prepared, trying to attract traffic by throwing dirty water on Xiao Xia,"
Sister Hua immediately said. "With so many people in the live stream, this is no joke. The facts need to be clarified right away."
"Exactly,"
Lu Jingxi had already picked up her phone and started making a call. "I don't know if my brother saw the live stream. Xiao Xia doesn't have an agency, so we need to step in quickly and guide the narrative."
However, she quickly put down her phone and said, "My brother is on a call. He must already be contacting people."
As she spoke, her gaze returned to the live stream on her manager's phone, only to see Xu Yanxia's assistant, Ye Shu, furiously stepping forward to confront the malicious reporter.
"What do you mean by 'luring him into committing a crime'? Did our Director Xu pay him to commit a crime? Or did she write up a proposal and tell him to follow it? Wasn't this whole thing planned and executed by him from start to finish?!!"
"Do you have some kind of malice towards women? Why are you asking such fact-twisting questions to a victim who was almost severely harmed, instead of questioning the person who actually committed the crime?!!"
Forgive Ye Shu; she had only learned the truth of the matter earlier today after seeing that fake news article that distorted the facts.
And precisely because she knew the truth, she was even more unable to tolerate such a sinister person using rhetoric to smear Xu Yanxia here!
However, the other party was unexpectedly thick-skinned.
After being questioned by her like this, not only did he not show the slightest bit of guilt, but he actually smiled again and said, "I'm just doing a normal interview. I understand you're a staff member of the Lu Group, so there's no need to be in such a hurry to label me."
"It's not me rushing to label you, it's you constantly trying to label our Director Xu!"
Ye Shu grew even angrier. "Since you are a reporter, you should abide by the most basic professional bottom line, and everything should be based on facts! Right off the bat, you said that the suspect was our Director Xu's ex-boyfriend. What are your intentions?!!"
[Yeah!]
Thanks to her forceful questioning, the netizens in the live stream finally began to sense something was wrong and left comments on the public screen one after another. [It's clearly this reporter who started labeling others right from the start. You can tell at a glance he's up to no good!]
[That's right. Listening to the things he's asking, it's obvious he's digging a hole for her. Disgusting!]
[Is this someone hired by the suspect's family? Causing trouble on purpose at an occasion like this? His moral compass seems totally off!!!]
...
Seeing the show's security guards walking towards him, the reporter had no choice but to pretend to apologize to Xu Yanxia, saying, "Sorry, Miss Xu. I have no intention of provoking conflicts. I just wanted to speak up for them from the perspective of vulnerable groups."
As he spoke, he took out his phone and showed pictures to the cameras of other media outlets. Among them were photos of Lin Hengnan's parents, their hair having turned white overnight after their son's arrest, crying and complaining to anyone they could find.
There were also pictures of their simple, old residence, with various certificates and awards Lin Hengnan had received since childhood hanging on the wall.
"Miss Xu now has a wonderful career and a boyfriend who is one of the top billionaires in the country. I heard that you've even won the favor of his parents through your superb cooking skills, and that he even invested a large sponsorship fee in this show specifically for you."
The man continued to aggressively ask Xu Yanxia on stage, "Since you already have everything, why are you pressing such an ordinary family so hard? I heard you also come from an ordinary family, so why do you have no sympathy?"
What???
What kind of messed-up moral values were these?!!
As soon as these words came out, whether it was Ye Shu at the scene or Lu Jingxi watching the live stream, both couldn't help but want to slam the table and stand up in anger.
However, Xu Yanxia on stage calmly picked up the microphone again and said to the man, "First of all, many of your concepts are incorrect, and I need to correct you."
"Your so-called 'vulnerable group' is actually a perpetrator who disregarded the law and premeditated a malicious attack on someone else. By taking the perpetrator's side to distort the facts and interrogate the victim, you are completely turning right and wrong upside down. Furthermore, the perpetrator's family background has absolutely nothing to do with me. As for his parents' current situation, he brought that upon himself."
"If his mind hadn't been so twisted that he felt the need to destroy what he couldn't have, leading him to commit a crime, his family wouldn't be in this state. But if I hadn't been lucky enough to dodge his cruel attack, my family's current situation would be far more tragic than theirs."
"Finally, respecting the law and upholding judicial fairness is the bottom line every citizen should maintain, because society ultimately requires the law to keep it in order. The moment Lin Hengnan threw what he thought was concentrated hydrochloric acid at me, he had already made his choice."
"Since he showed not a single shred of sympathy for others nor the basic decency of a human being at that time, he should now pay the price for his choices."
"Well said!!!"
As her words fell, whether it was Ye Shu and Xiaozhen at the scene, or Lu Jingxi on the other side of the screen, they all couldn't help but applaud her.
Sister Hua, who had seen her fair share of storms in the entertainment industry, also couldn't help but nod and say, "Xiao Xia's psychological resilience and eloquence are beyond question. She will definitely win over a lot of fans with this. It's in the bag!"
Looking at the live audience, many people, including several judges and guests, had already started clapping for her.
Among them, Brother Song clapped the loudest.
While clapping, he echoed her words, "She is absolutely right, everyone should respect the law!"
"This society needs the law to maintain order!!!"
His enthusiasm prompted his fans to join in the applause, shouting one after another, "This beautiful lady spoke so well!"
"Yeah! I've totally become a fan!!!"
...
Right amidst the roaring applause, someone hurried into the venue, took large strides onto the stage, and walked right up to Xu Yanxia's side.
It was none other than Lu Jingming, who had just rushed over.
