It was already May.
The weather was gradually warming up, and people on the streets had already started wearing light, thin clothing. Su Ning, however, cherished her life and was afraid of the cold. Even indoors, she wore a coat over her everyday clothes.
She wore no makeup, and her black hair hung loose and untied.
Ye Tang was led in after nervously passing through multiple checkpoints. The first thing she saw was this relaxed, even somewhat gentle Su Ning.
Her heart settled a little.
Hearing this, her heart settled a bit more, and she hastily lowered her head to hide her slightly warm, teary eyes.
Seeing this, Su Ning already had an idea of what was going on.
She must have been forced by the newspaper agency to come and plead for mercy. The methods they used were probably quite drastic. How should she put it? Although she had expected this—
It was killing two birds with one stone. The dignified female lead was unwillingly forced to come and beg for mercy. Her feelings toward a local tyrant like Su Ning definitely wouldn't be good, which meant the rewards were about to roll in, right?
But now that she had actually achieved her goal, why did she feel a little displeased?
After thinking about it, Su Ning came to a conclusion: she was such a good person, inherently kind and sincere. Even if she was forced to play the role of a wicked, heartless rich villain, seeing Ye Tang's pitiful state still evoked her sympathy.
System: ...Is that so? Why does it find that hard to believe?
It didn't matter if the system believed it or not. As long as Su Ning believed it, that was enough. However, pity was just pity; the task still had to be done. Best to get it over with quickly.
"Reporter Ye, my time is very precious." Su Ning leaned back on the sofa, toying with a jade ring. Her voice was drawn out and teasing: "So, if you want to beg for mercy, please make it quick."
"Careful, or I might lose my patience."
Ye Tang was startled.
She quickly pulled herself out of her complex emotions. The words sounded like a joke, but to this day, who would dare treat a single word out of Su Ning's mouth as a joke?
She certainly couldn't.
So she spilled everything. Just as Su Ning expected, she was pleading on behalf of the newspaper agency she worked for. The more Su Ning listened, the more she admired the person in front of her. Ye Tang's eloquence almost made Su Ning feel like she should be forgiving and let them off the hook.
And she didn't even feel annoyed listening to her.
As expected of the most talented arc heroine in the original novel, the one beloved by the most readers.
It was a pity that her ending wasn't good either.
Su Ning sighed inwardly. The Republican era... it was simply a place that destroyed all hope and beauty. The torrent of the times came rolling in, and an individual could hardly resist it.
Meanwhile.
For some reason, the gaze resting on Ye Tang became increasingly impossible to ignore. It was clearly light and indifferent, yet it felt as heavy as a mountain. She couldn't speak anymore.
Her voice gradually trailed off.
"Many people have come to me to plead for mercy. Some of them are well-known figures frequently mentioned in the newspapers, but I only agreed to see you." Su Ning paused and said meaningfully:
"Do you know why?"
Ye Tang shook her head hesitantly.
From the very beginning, Miss Su seemed to view her differently. Being forced by the newspaper to come this time, neither she nor the agency had harbored much hope.
It was just a desperate attempt to save a hopeless situation.
And yet, it actually worked...
"You should thank someone. Without him, I wouldn't even know of you, Reporter Ye." Saying this, Su Ning leaned forward on the sofa.
She gazed at Ye Tang and said softly:
"Reporter Ye is so smart, you should be able to guess who it is, right?"
"Ding! Detected that the host is acting as a wicked rich villain, intimidating the primary plot character Ye Tang and causing severe emotional fluctuations. Reward: one million, and one lottery draw."
Su Ning almost laughed out loud.
What a bumper harvest.
To think she actually managed to squeeze out a lottery draw.
Beside her, Ye Tang's mind trembled. She completely failed to notice the odd expression on Su Ning's face. Her heart kept sinking; who else could this person be but Fang Lin?
She explained without holding onto much hope:
"Whether Miss Su believes it or not, Fang Lin and I were merely classmates abroad. We had no romantic entanglement, let alone interfered with Miss Zhenzhu's engagement."
This was the truth.
Studying abroad required money, and her family couldn't provide much financial assistance. Ye Tang was busy with various part-time jobs and simply had no time to socialize.
Fang Lin had feelings for her.
She knew that.
Girls aren't fools; of course she could tell when someone liked her. But it ended there—Fang Lin never confessed, and she was even less likely to take the initiative to get closer to him.
However, would Miss Su believe her?
The next second.
"I know," Su Ning nodded. She lightly tapped her index finger in the air toward Ye Tang, who was stunned by these words, and said with interest:
"Otherwise, do you think you would still be standing here perfectly fine?"
The unspoken implication hung in the air.
Along with her fear, Ye Tang also felt the relief of having narrowly escaped a disaster.
She thanked those exploitative bosses abroad who left her with no energy for a romantic relationship, thanked her poverty, thanked Fang Lin for never confessing, and thanked Miss Su for clearly distinguishing right from wrong.
"Ding..."
Su Ning took a look. Although the lottery draw was gone, the rewards were quite substantial. Suddenly, she looked at Ye Tang as if she were looking at a treasure, and an idea sparked in her mind.
"No matter what, I still want to thank you."
Ye Tang said sincerely:
"Good fortune lies within bad, and bad fortune lurks within good. Without you looking at me differently, I wouldn't have made a name for myself in the newspaper industry." Although the root cause traced back to Fang Lin... she still wanted to walk out of this door alive.
"Good temperament. I am starting to appreciate you a little."
Su Ning clapped perfunctorily, then suddenly said to the bewildered Ye Tang:
"I can let the newspaper agency off the hook."
"But, I have one condition."
............
Ye Tang walked out the door like a wandering spirit.
Not far away, the anxiously waiting newspaper boss and editor-in-chief saw her and hurriedly gathered around, asking urgently, "How is the situation? What did Miss Su say?"
"As long as she is willing to show mercy, our newspaper will follow Miss Su's lead from now on and absolutely never turn to anyone else."
"Hurry up and tell us!"
Ye Tang gently shook her head.
This action made the two look as if they had lost their parents. The editor-in-chief slapped his thigh and said to the boss in frustration, "I told you earlier that we needed to bring gifts when asking for a favor. How could Miss Su calm her anger with just empty words?"
"Weren't we just in too much of a hurry?"
The boss was also filled with regret.
He had only sent Ye Tang over as a pawn to test the waters, never expecting her to actually get inside. If he had known, he would have had Ye Tang bring his most prized possessions.
What a waste of a great opportunity!
"I mean, Miss Su agreed." She paused, then added, "Although the ban hasn't been completely lifted, she will gradually send people to review the various newspapers. As long as there is no forbidden sensitive content, we can publish."
It was an earth-shattering sentence.
The plea for mercy succeeded?
The two questioned Ye Tang in disbelief. After confirming she wasn't lying, the boss threw his head back and laughed loudly.
"Little Ye is truly excellent! Like this, you are promoted to deputy editor-in-chief. From now on, you will be specifically in charge of dealing with Miss Su. You must seize this opportunity well."
The editor-in-chief was a bit disgruntled.
A little girl was about to have a position almost equal to his?
After thinking about it, he decided to endure it.
It was just a nice-sounding title with no real power. Once Miss Su decided to stop giving her face, she could be removed at any time. Thus, acting like a condescending elder, the person said to Ye Tang, "If there is anything you don't understand, you can always come and ask me."
"No need."
Thinking about what she was going to say next, Ye Tang suddenly felt a wave of profound satisfaction. She spoke very quickly but clearly, "First of all, censorship happens in a certain order and takes time. The newspaper agency won't return to normal immediately."
In other words.
It was just that Su Ning had slightly opened a window while closing the door.
"Secondly, I failed to fulfill the heavy responsibility you two entrusted to me, and I feel deeply ashamed. Just as you said, someone who hasn't made any contributions doesn't deserve to keep working at the newspaper agency. Therefore, I am resigning."
After saying this, Ye Tang tossed her head, turned around, and walked away.
She left the people behind her to yell and scream in exasperation... She wasn't afraid at all. No one dared to cause trouble on Miss Su's turf, not to mention she could probably be considered Miss Su's person now, right?
Ye Tang thought to herself.
She would pack her things and start working at another newspaper agency tomorrow. It was the very agency that was bitterly cursed and deeply hated by its peers in the industry. She was actually a bit curious about what it was like over there.
...
What was it like?
Everyone looked like they were about to drop dead from exhaustion.
The entire newspaper industry in Beiping was going all out. Even if they did not dare to openly publish newspapers out of fear of the government, they had a thousand other ways to stir up a war of public opinion: literary salons, teahouse storytelling, privately printed tabloids... If all else failed, they could always publish in out-of-town newspapers.
In short.
The fact that Su Ning's reputation was not completely ruined in the streets was all thanks to the newspaper agency where Editor-in-Chief Li worked.
