"Aren't you going to pick it up?" Xue Ning asked, panting slightly. "It could be important."
"Nonsense," Jingwei exclaimed, looking at Xue Ning's flushed cheeks and fluttering eyelashes. Her chest heaved as she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
It was such an enticing sight that he couldn't help but give her another kiss. "It cannot be as important as you."
Whoever called him disagreed with his words. Just when his phone stopped ringing and Jingwei thought he could go back to focusing on Xue Ning, it started up again.
Xue Ning glared at him and gestured to his phone. Clearly she disagreed too. He still found it enticing, but the fist she held out did not bode well for his physical well-being. He reluctantly sat back up and picked up his phone.
It was his father.
That immediately killed the mood and his boner.
"Hi Father, what's up?" Jingwei asked casually, trying to sound like he was composed and not frantically making out with his bodyguard just mere seconds ago.
"You idiotic son!" His father yelled. "Look at what trouble you caused!" His voice was loud enough that Xue Ning could hear him even without using the speaker function. Jingwei then put his phone on speaker, so Xue Ning could also enjoy the dulcet sounds of his father screaming into his ear. Marriage is all about sharing ups and downs.
(More importantly, he had a feeling Xue Ning needed to hear this, because there was trouble on the horizon that could implicate her.
Xue Ning also got the hint, she sat up and began paying more attention.)
"Huh?" Jingwei racked his head. He didn't think he caused any trouble recently - sure there were the fanatics at Xue Ning's place, but that was handled already by Shengli and his long-suffering interns.
Then he paused. Did one of her neighbours post any scandalous photos? Was Xue Ning implicated?
"Father, you need to specify what trouble you're referring to!" Jingwei replied, half-panicked. "I don't think I did anything wrong?"
"Just watch that video of you tearing up the roads! You still dare to tell me you didn't do anything wrong?"
"I did what?" Jingwei asked, confused.
"Just go and take a look!" His father barked at him in anger and disappointment. Xue Ning slowly crept to where her own phone was and searched online. "Think about how you're going to fix this!"
To her trepidation, the number one thing on the hot search when she typed in Sun Jingwei's name was Sun Jingwei reckless driving.
She made her way back to the couch and clicked on that post. Jingwei peered over her shoulder to take a look.
The video was an overhead view of the roads, and there wasn't anything special, until she saw Jingwei's blindingly red Ferrari cut through the lanes like a hot knife through butter.
Oh god. This video was from back when they were still making their way to dinner at the Crystal Palace Garden and they realised they've been followed!
Of course, the crowd of netizens lamblasting his reckless driving in the comments did not realise this. Even if they were observant enough to spot a black car trying to trace his actions, they wouldn't realise that it was because it aimed to hurt him.
It wouldn't fit the narrative they build up in their head, that Sun Jingwei was a wastrel with hedonistic hobbies.
She had a similar narrative back then, and felt slightly guilty for it now.
+8294897 Must be nice to have a rich dad to wipe his ass every time he does something wrong… watch this video be taken down in 5 mins guys
+356266 Don't worry brothers! I saved this video, I'll never let this die! Curse rich kids!
+43215 Doing the Lord's work right here!
+763231 Can't believe he's trying to be an F1 driver on such a crowded road! Does he have no sense?
+ 34256 Hey at least we now have an F1 driver…
+ 32553 We've been losing all these years! Lets just use Sun Jingwei in future!
+ 2512 Good plan, and if he crashes and dies, it's no real loss!
+194 Vicious, I approve
+43 You guys will get bad karma for this
+3561 Shut up fangirls, Sun Jingwei isn't going to fuck you - he's married!
+752124 Crazy of him to race now! Even if he doesn't want to live, other people do!
+ 82560 He's a selfish bastard! This isn't the first time he broke the law.
+ 3425 Speak for yourself. I'm not too hung up on living.
+ 214 Bro get some help
Ouch. The top comments certainly didn't pull any punches. Xue Ning hurriedly shielded her phone screen so Jingwei couldn't read the comments.
He didn't need to read them; there was no point in willingly offering to get lynched alive by the internet mob. Those commenters behind the screens wouldn't care.
"See it now, my idiot son? Read what the people are saying about you!" Sun Haowei barked from the other end, clearly disagreeing with Xue Ning's thoughts.
Both of them jumped, nearly forgetting he was on the other end of the line. "Our company's reputation is back in the gutter. The company's stocks are falling because of you!"
That was his concern? Xue Ning raised an eyebrow, incredulous. His son was getting dragged over hot coals on the Internet, getting called all sorts of names and death threats, and his father was more worried about his company's reputation and stocks.
Jingwei took one look at the screen, sighed and gave Xue Ning a comforting look.
"Father, why are you so worried? This isn't the first time something like this happened." Jingwei pointed out. "I can deny that's me in the vehicle. Just get the traffic police to cover it up or something. We have lawyers and money."
Next to him, Xue Ning rolled her eyes at his sheer gall. Hurrah for corruption. Reasons why she would never marry him for real.
"That's not possible this time around," his father said gravely. "You have brazenly flouted the agreement your brother and I had with them to keep your racing habits a secret. They're putting out their own fires now! They're not going to have the time to clean up your mess!"
"This time, you'll handle this yourself!"
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