To Love You Again

The servants were very busy this late evening as they continuously brought food, clothing, and other necessities that the girls would need.

The three girls were currently in the East Wing of the Xiong Mansion. 

Song Xuantin had already changed to a comfortable gown. She was on the phone with Gu Zhen.

"Can you please do us a favor?" She pleaded with Gu Zhen.

"Why? What happened?" Gu Zhen asked from the other line. The event in the garden was not given any live coverage as that was the private time given to these big figures to form connections and talk about business.

"If you hack the CCTV in the hotel, you will know. So please, can you hack into the garden footage for me? I am afraid they will erase it. It's good to have a backup in case they fabricate the story."

Sensing how worried Song Xuantin was, Gu Zhen did not ask anymore and promised that he would get a copy of the footage.

Song Xuantin put down her phone and stared at Xiong Zhi who was being attended by a doctor inside her room.

Xiong Zhi had scratches all over her arms. And her scalp also felt numb. The doctor gave some medicine to her and was finally dismissed after the medication.

Song Xuantin sighed heavily and sat down beside her.

"What do you plan now? I asked Gu Zhen to get a copy of the footage in case they mess up the story. Based on the look of your cousin, she would surely not let you go. Gosh, Xiong Zhi, you must have hated her so much to ruin her birthday party, and do all that," Song Xuantin began running her mouth again.

Xiong Gaiyu, who chose to come here together with them and was lazing around in one corner of the bed, listened intently to Song Xuantin's words with her ears perked up again quietly like a cat. She did not bother asking anything and simply listened well, trying to connect the dots. She, too, had already changed into a comfortable night gown provided by the mansion.

Xiong Zhi fell back on the huge bed. She looked up on the ceiling. No one knew what was behind those deep eyes.

After a while, she began to speak.

"That's what I'm aiming for. If they fabricate stories and pin everything to me, they would have to be prepared to face grandfather. Their relationship with the main branch will deteriorate, and the support of the main branch would be cut off from them." 

If that happened, Xiong Zhi would celebrate.

"But if Xiong De sees that and felt unwilling to lose the support from the main branch... There could only be one result from this event. They will choose to be silent, blaming everything to an accident." 

If it was the first scenario, it might affect her reputation a bit, but her goal would be achieved. If it's the latter, then Xiong Wuyue could only suffer in silence.

Not too bad of a gamble for Xiong Zhi.

The two were quiet as they listened.

"Anyway, no matter what the choice is, Wuyue's reputation was surely ruined." Xiong Zhi's voice sounded very soft and gentle, as if speaking to her lover, a total irony to her words. "She would be remembered as a girl who was wrecked in her own party, right in front of the powerhouses she wanted to flatter. The second branch would also lose a lot of face in front of the guests. Their credibility and dignity have been damaged." 

She yawned a bit as she felt sleepy with the 'physical exercise' she had earlier. 

She had a very satisfying day overall.

Song Xuantin was stunned. She thought at first that Xiong Zhi had engaged in that shrewish catfight impulsively, taunted by Xiong Wuyue.

Yet her friend seemed to have planned it all. She also seemed to have some plans to counter attack, as she did not look worried. 

She, too, began to relax. She dropped her body beside Xiong Zhi. She gazed up at the ceiling, too.

Xiong Gaiyu was the most taken aback. She did not know what Xiong Zhi had done to Xiong Wuyue, but based on this talk, it would be quite a huge one that would be all over the news, and might even create a huge rift that could drive away Xiong De from getting the main branch's support, which was the lifeblood of anyone surnamed Xiong.

Xiong Gaiyu thought of her father who had been fighting with Xiong De for a long time. No matter what her father did, Xiong De was like an immovable mountain. He never fell to a disadvantage. Yet now, with just a single episode from Xiong Zhi, Xiong De actually lost his momentum and was at a disadvantage no matter what move he made.

Xiong Gaiyu felt chills on her neck while she looked at Xiong Zhi who had her eyes shut, lying on the bed. 

Her cousin was still young. She always had the look like she did not care about the various battles within the Xiong family. 

However, it turned out, she was slowly scraping off those weeds that was had to get rid of. If this girl could fight in equal strength with Xiong De, perhaps...

Perhaps, siding with her right now was the perfect opportunity. Not only for her, but for her cheap father as well.

Her eyes slowly firmed up with determination. Then, as if a huge burden was lifted off her shoulders, she closed her eyes and finally fell asleep.

This night, Xiong Gaiyu decided to be an ally to Xiong Zhi in the upcoming battles within the Xiong family.

****

As the three girls slept peacefully, the media was in uproar.

This was bound to be a long night for the netizens.

As Xiong De had predicted, the powerhouses who needed not to fear him did not waste any time and featured this scandalous news. After all, this was definitely bound to circulate, given such high exposure Xiong De had attracted, so why not take a big bite of the pie then?

It was all over the media, and in every news company. The media gave a bit of face to Xiong De as they did not exaggerate the situation too much. There was no harsh articles to at least avoid completely offending the surname Xiong. 

They only just gave the details on how the birthday party went and that in the end of it all, Xiong Wuyue, the birthday celebrant, fell inside the water fountain. 

The rest was all the 'haha' and schadenfreude remarks from the netizens, which made it quite a highlight.

It was a bit offending but still bearable for Xiong De, but to Xiong Wuyue, it might not be. However, Xiong De was thankful that these media companies still gave them face. 

However, it did not last long. A third party article was posted by the newly famous media agency and made it their headlines. The most shocking was that the third party article actually included a high definition picture of his daughter, all drenched, messy with a torn dress, and struggling to get out of the fountain. Xiong Wuyue's twisted and murderous face was clearly captured in the image. That ugly and obviously furious face subverted the public's perception of her saintly image.

And this article was not polite at all.

It had the headliner title: 'Xiong Wuyue's birthday party got wrecked, the celebrant dove into the fountain!'

This article was all about criticism. It totally attacked Xiong Wuyue. It implied how the celebrant portrayed a kind and saintly image, but appeared not be the case at all. Anyone who could read between the lines could see how the article accused Xiong Wuyue of being a witch in princess' clothing. Every paragraph targeted Xiong Wuyue maliciously. 

At the end of the article, the media agency put a disclaimer in bold letters. 

[This picture and everything written above were sent to us anonymously, and was not written by the agency.] 

Then, the latter half of the headline post was the article from the agency. The latter part was written in polite wording, but it did not dismiss anything from the prior. It was discussing who might this person who wrote the article be and what Xiong Wuyue could have done for someone to hate her to such a degree. 

In fact, it was just adding more wood to the fire.

For Xiong De who read this the next morning, this media company was obviously just cleaning their hands off the matter, strategically posting this to get more readers.

Xiong De hurled the tablet hard, crashing it to the wall. He shouted at his assistant.

"Which company is this?! How dare them to act so fearless against us!"

"T-they are the Shi Hua Media Company. They have recently gained popularity due to the CJ's corruption and fraud case." The assistant answered while he looked at his tablet with regret. He should have brought his oldest tablet not this newly purchased one. He learned that next time if he was going to deliver bad news, he would be prepared to lose one gadget.

Xiong De took a heavy breath while controlling his anger.

"Contact them immediately and make sure they delete this article. As soon as possible!"