Love is Sweet – Chapter 22

Photo Fiasco 照片风波 (2/4)

Author: Qi Zi

Translated by: lovexsweet

Translator’s Note: Hi everyone, I’m trying not to have such long waits between updates but I’ve just been so busy! Please note that I didn’t have time to really proofread this, so there may still be a lot of typos for now, but I’ll eventually clean it up. If you do notice any obvious mistakes, please point them out in a comment, that’ll help and I do appreciate it! Also the formatting might not be the best, but my laptop has really been struggling with loading WordPress so I didn’t want to waste too much time trying to fix everything, I’ll make it look nice later.

~ ~ ~

During the meeting, Du said, “You all worked in collaboration with Sally on the acquisition project of SLK Company. Now that there is a problem with this case, Sally has already resigned.”

No one spoke and even their breathing was careful.

“As the main members of the project team, Sally and Johny can’t distance themselves from this. I hope that I will see the resignation reports of both within this month. If there is nothing more to discuss, everyone please leave.”

Jiang Jun was satisfied to see the expressions that should be seen. Of course, this was just the beginning.

That afternoon, Jiang Jun asked Yin Zhe to tea at Outside the City Gates. Without bothering to talk in circles with her, Yin Zhe asked directly, “What do you want me to do? Find evidence that Johny framed Sally and leaked information?”

“I want you to wait!” Jiang Jun calmly took a sip of her tea. “Wait patiently, wait for Johny to make his move. He’s not that capable himself, what I’m interested in is the person behind him.”

“Just wait?” Yin Zhe was a little confused.

“Yes. He wants to stay in MH, but I’ll insist on firing him, so he can only go seek help from his master.  By the way, you should keep the reports that Sally asked you to do before, the ones on the merger and acquisition of Rongda Technology.”

Yin Zhe was stunned for a moment, and then nodded knowingly. “Got it, I’ll be careful.”

“Very good.” Jiang Jun pulled up the notepad on her phone and held it up in front of Yin Zhe. “I’ve read the report and there are some minor flaws. I hope you can further revise it.”

Yin Zhe didn’t answer and quickly read the data on the notepad silently, then nodded after confirming that he had memorized it.

“Don’t let your brother down, he’s put a lot of thought into this for you.”

“I know how he thinks, I just don’t want you to be disappointed. Tell me the truth, are you doing this for him?”

Jiang Jun shook her head.

“Then I’ll leave first and I’ll email you at nine o’clock.”

Jiang Jun gestured for Yin Zhe to sit down, took out her laptop from under the table and pushed it to him. “Just stay here, one hour should be enough.”

After Yin Zhe finished tampering with the documents as she instructed, Jiang Jun handed him a ticket. “The flight is the day after tomorrow. The request for leave has already been handed over to HR. Have a good break for the rest of the day.”

Yin Zhe raised his head to look at her. “I won’t leave. Even if something happens, it’s my own fault, I won’t drag you into it.”

Jiang Jun didn’t want to get any more involved with him and said indifferently, “Whatever you want.”

She got up to leave and when her fingers touched the doorknob, Yin Zhe said softly, “I’ve been looking for you for a long time and have always been waiting for you to come back.”

Jiang Jun felt that this was funny and looked back at him. “Yin Zhe, I haven’t been a fool for many years now.”

After leaving the room, Jiang Jun turned to go into the private room reserved for her and Yuan Shuai.

“You haven’t ordered food yet?” Jiang Jun frowned when she looked at the full tray of cigarette butts. “You want to self-immolate, eh.”

“Isn’t it all because of you?” Yuan Shuai put out the cigarette and pulled her into his arms. “You little heartless thing, you openly meet with your old lover, but still dare to ask your husband for the strategy?”

Jiang Jun kissed him. “Then I won’t tell you next time.”

“As if you dare. I give you sunshine, so you shine. I give you freedom, and you still want to start a revolution!” He lowered his head and kissed her. Jiang Jun struggled to ring the service bell, “I’m still ready to topple the regime.”

Yuan Shuai smiled like a thief. “Little one, let me go tell your grandpa and he’ll put some flower patterns on that butt.”

“Hey, it’s well known in the world that Young Master Yuan is good at snitching.” Jiang Jun gave him a sidelong glance. “I want to drink Coke.”

“Don’t drink Coke, be careful or you’ll have stomach pain.” Yuan Shuai turned his head and told the waiter at the door, “Bring the usual dishes and make a pot of Pu’er tea.”

When the waiter left, Yuan Shuai closed the door and pointed at Jiang Jun with a serious expression. “This comrade of yours is too cunning, I have to rely on the party and the army to mobilize the power of the passes to suppress you.” He narrowed his eyes, looked her up and down, and added, “Unless you try to honey trap me, otherwise I’ll never spare you.”

Jiang Jun was so amused by his teasing that her appetite was very good. After eating a full meal, Yuan Shuai carried her home and their minds immediately turned to lust.

After their tumble between the sheets, the two of them lay naked on the bed as they discussed how to take down other people.

“Du’s ability is strong, but his seniority is a matter of fact, and besides, his backers are now finding it difficult to protect themselves.  Looking at the situation, it seems that someone is out to eliminate Du this time. As the one that Du relies on the most, you have to be careful yourself.” Yuan Shuai kissed Jiang Jun’s hand, “Poor little thing, you’re going to be bullied again.”

“Quit being so gross. What’s the matter? At most I’ll stay home and you’ll have to take care of me.” Jiang Jun yawned nonchalantly.

Yuan Shuai acted as if he was going to grab the phone beside the bed. “Oh no, I regret helping you now, I should hurry up and report you.”

“Shut up!” Jiang Jun pounced on him and tickled his armpits.

“You’re abusing your husband, I’ll have to go sue the Women’s Federation.”

Jiang Jun lay down and covered herself with the blanket. “You should go to the Wildlife Conservation Society instead. Turn off the lights and go sleep.”

Yuan Shuai squeezed in, and his wolf claws reached for her again.

Jiang Jun adjusted herself to a comfortable posture and pouted pitifully, “Yuanyuan-gege, go sleep, I have no more energy.”

“Soon.”

“Why do you still have so much energy?”

Yuan Shuai looked up at her from her chest, his white teeth flashing. “Animals are fierce and the two of us are still wild, aren’t we?”

~ ~ ~

Investment bankers always appear incomparably elegant and loyal in front of their clients, but the tactics they use behind the scenes are so low as to be unimaginable. Yuan Shuai was right, the gun was soon aimed at Jiang Jun, and all kinds of openly aimed spears, secret arrows, and traps greeted her. One of the things that drove her mad was a surveillance video of her kissing Yuan Shuai at the college alumni gathering, which was sent to the email inbox of every employee in the company. Jiang Jun studied it carefully for a long time. At that time, the lights for the second floor were not turned on, so the picture was dark and blurry. She could only see her own white skirt and the dark shadow with the suspected hands on her waist. As for a clear picture of the kiss, it was absolutely not recorded. No matter what was said, it was fine.

Du asked her about it angrily, and Jiang Jun explained that she had some family problems at that time, and Yuan Shuai had just been comforting her. Du must have studied the video carefully himself, and believed Jiang Jun without any doubt.

They all knew in their hearts who had sent out the video. Du laughed at Jiang Jun for lifting up the rock only to smash her own feet, but Jiang Jun just shrugged in resignation. There was always going to be payback, it was just a matter of whether it’s sooner or later. After all, she almost made the Ding family go bankrupt.

Back in the day, Jiang Jun had used this same trick of secretly filming to deal with Linda, but her standards were not so bad. It was also a kiss, but her secret photos were much stronger than this, both in terms of the composition and expressions, and in the resulting effects.  Otherwise, how else would the wives of the bigwigs have gotten so angry? In front of so many colleagues from the company, Linda’s face had twisted almost into a pretzel.

As the male protagonist of the video, Yuan Shuai was also very dissatisfied, feeling that he was portrayed in a lecherous way. Jiang Jun had to wonder, his face couldn’t even be seen, so how could he feel that it was lecherous? She pressed his lustful claws against her chest, quickly recalled the hands that Yuan Shuai had put on her waist in the video, and commented, “I think it was filmed quite objectively.”

“Not at all.” Yuan Shuai looked back at the computer again, “With this kind of level, they still dared to show this?”

“But it’s fortunate that the business that you’re managing doesn’t conflict with mine. Otherwise, you could definitely be accused of going through a foreign country. This punch is weak and can’t do me any harm at all.”

“Not necessarily.” Yuan Shuai made a pistol gesture and said coolly, “It’s the strategy of sowing discord.”

“Huh?” Jiang Jun was puzzled for a moment, followed his words and thought for a while, “They’re trying to start with the relationship between me and Du?”

“Who told you to get so close to Du.” Yuan Shuai stroked her hair, “My guess is that they will use even more ruthless methods, this is just the beginning.”

“Whatever, Du won’t believe it anyway.”

“Don’t be so casual about it, this is a good opportunity to divert the fire from you.” Yuan Shuai beckoned to her. “Come here and listen.”

Within a few days, a new round of photos came out, but this time the male lead changed to A-Xiang. He had one arm around Jiang Jun and his other hand was about to stroke her hair. When this photo came out, it failed to drive a wedge between Jiang Jun and Du’s relationship. However, Yuan Shuai flew into a rage and with a dark face, cruelly forced a confession from her.

Jiang Jun also thought it was strange. This shouldn’t be possible after all. When had she ever had this encounter with A-Xiang? She gave the photos to Xu Na, who had returned from Paris, and asked her to find a few experienced photographers to help analyze them. She finally came to this conclusion: it was Photoshopped, and the pose, design, lighting, and photographer were quite professional. Xu Na wondered, “This young master has always wanted to make movies, could this be to stir up interest and hype? But why involve you? You have nothing to do with fashion, film, or television. If anything he should come find me. You two don’t actually have something going on, do you?”

Jiang Jun’s head hurt from all her clamor. Xu Na was upright, enthusiastic, and a good girl, but her mouth was too quick and gossipy, which was why Jiang Jun hadn’t dared to tell her the truth before. But this time it wouldn’t hurt to talk to her.

“He is trying to get revenge on me.”

“Get revenge on you?” Xu Na was surprised. “His father’s downfall really was because of you?”

Jiang Jun shook her head. “It’s not all just because of that, this photo was taken a long time ago. Do you know Zhang Suyun?”

“Mrs. Du? Your boss’s ex-wife? Of course I know her, that woman is very powerful.”

“Are she and A-Xiang very close?”

Xu Na thought for a moment before her eyes rounded in surprise. “No way, the two of them are very close and often hang out together, but isn’t it said that she’s like his god-sister? Oh my goodness, no way!”

Jiang Jun smiled slightly. “Nothing is impossible in this world, and they aren’t related by blood after all. There are plenty of older sisters with young brothers, and older brothers with little sisters, who have become couples.”

Xu Na clenched both hands into fists and smashed them hard onto the table. “No way, I’m going to go find a ‘younger brother.’ If this continues, all the men who are five years apart from me in age will be taken.”

After Xu Na left, Jiang Jun gathered up the photos lying on the table, which showed A-Xiang with a bright smile and clear eyes. Jiang Jun sighed, she had really thought of him as a friend. It was fine whether A-Xiang held a grudge against her or if he wanted revenge; Jiang Jun could understand either way, but she didn’t feel that she had done anything wrong. In the business world, there is no good or evil, business is business.

The topic of the relationship between Young Master Ding and Juno only circulated for a few days before no one mentioned it again. This kind of scandal was really nothing to the investment banking circle. As long as it didn’t offend the clients or cause losses to the company, no one cared who you slept with, how many people you slept with, or even what species you slept with. On top of that, A-Xiang was an unmarried man and Jiang Jun was an unmarried woman, so there was nothing surprising even if they really were together.

Du seemed to have taken care of his ex-wife and there hadn’t been any new moves from the other side for quite some time. Jiang Jun thought this was the end of the matter, but then A-Xiang took the initiative to show up at her door. After a few months of not seeing him, it was like the young master was a completely different person, not in terms of dress, but in terms of mental decay. He was no longer spirited; his whole person was gray and totally lifeless.

It wasn’t awkward at all for Jiang Jun and she spoke to him as usual. “You’re back to return the car?”

A-Xiang shook his head slightly and smiled bitterly. “I sold the car, but in the future I’ll give you back a better one.”

Jiang Jun nodded. “Okay, I’ll wait.”

A-Xiang asked, “My aunt didn’t bother you, did she?”

Jiang Jun smiled. “I signed a new contract with Director Jin a few days ago.”

A-Xiang confessed, “The photo thing was me. I was mad that you and Du made my family bankrupt.”

“Almost bankrupt,” Jiang Jun corrected. “Anyway, flies don’t attack an intact egg.* It was only a matter of time before your group would have had a crisis. If we hadn’t done it, someone else would have taken you down.”  [T/N idiom that means that the enemy attacks only if there’s a weakness]

A-Xiang looked down, kicked a pebble aside, and said softly, “I know, they all said that according to your usual style, you would never have left us any room to maneuver.”

“So you feel that you’ve wronged me, and plus since Du is looking into the source of the photos, you’re ready to take the blame.”

A-Xiang didn’t say anything and just lowered his head, looking up from time to time to peek at her.

“’You are so young.’” Jiang Jun copied the line from The Rebound, imitating the voice and tone of the actors in the movie. [T/N A 2009 movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones, about a divorced woman named Sandy who starts a relationship with Aram, a much younger man. The movie reviews are terrible but it’s where the characters Sandy and Aram are from, which were mentioned in earlier chapters]

“You…” A Xiang suddenly raised his head and looked at her in shock.

“You’re Aram, but she is definitely not your Sandy.”

“How is that so, how do you know?”

Jiang Jun smiled helplessly. “You’re making it too obvious and I’m not narcissistic enough to believe that your aunt really wants us to be together. Unless there’s a very compelling reason, an aristocratic family like yours would never try to have a woman like me join your family. A-Xiang, you don’t worship Du, you hate him and are jealous of him because he’s the husband of the woman that you love—the ex-husband, to be exact.”

“I believe that you and Du aren’t in that kind of relationship. You’re not like all of the others that came before you, but she refuses to believe it, she says that Du divorced her for you.” A-Xiang lowered his head, his facial muscles twisting slightly. “I really want to be friends with you.”

~ ~ ~

T/N: So this part actually ended in the middle of the scene while Jiang Jun is still having a conversation with A-Xiang, but since the chapter was split up that way on the website with the raws and the scene continues for a bit, I figured I’ll just stick to the same divisions. I’ll try to have the next part up ASAP though since it’s all part of the same chapter.