Back at his apartment, Jingwei could only stare blankly at his phone for the second time today. His brother just told him in no uncertain terms to keep his head down and ignore the mess that was happening.
While that was his original plan to begin with, the thought of clarifying the accusations levied towards him and taking some form of responsibility remained an incredibly attractive thought.
"I'm guessing your brother said no," Xue Ning guessed, after seeing the crestfallen look on his face.
"You're right," Jingwei said, leaning against the sofa as he looked at her curious face. "He told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't allowed to hold press conferences, and if I did hold one - he wasn't going to help me at all."
"That sucks," was Xue Ning's sympathetic reply. "Guess we should just wait it out then."
Before Jingwei could reply, his phone began ringing again.
"Hello Lao Wen, is something the matter?" Jingwei asked warily. His security guard usually did not call him unless there was an emergency.
"Mr Sun, I'm sorry to bother you - but there's a crowd of reporters threatening to enter the apartment complex. So far, I've closed the gates, but that also means any residents who wish to enter and exit are also unable to do so." Lao Wen's voice took on a vaguely pleading tone.
"Can you do something about it? Residents are unhappy, and the reporters don't look like they are leaving anytime soon."
"I see, don't worry Lao Wen, I'll handle it," Jingwei said with confidence he did not feel. He then hung up and went to his windows, and true enough, there was a crowd of reporters that were camping outside the entrance of the residential building, their huge DSLR cameras peeping through the iron gates of the estate.
If one looked carefully, some individuals were holding hand-held mics, clearly hoping to get a scoop.
Behind them, there was a string of cars waiting to enter the estate. He could just imagine the angry honks of his fellow neighbours as they tried to stop themselves from running over all the reporters.
Xue Ning followed him to the window and she took a double-take at the size of the crowd waiting outside. It was almost like Sun Jingwei was a singer holding a concert, and these were his fans clamouring for a glimpse of their idol!
"Wow, has this happened before?" Xue Ning asked.
"Nope, not since I moved here." Jingwei said, a little shamefacedly.
"So this is the first time your neighbours ever had to deal with this sort of mess." Xue Ning guessed accurately. "I know you were planning on letting it blow over, but even if you can't hold a press conference, you should do something about that crowd waiting there."
Xue Ning could see parents grabbing their young children by the hand to lead them away from their own home, shielding them from the bright camera flashes. There was no way to open the gate without letting the locusts in, so they were stuck outside, forced to linger by the gate with them or leave in the hopes that they could return later!
These reporters were behaving more like unruly paparazzi, taking pictures of anyone that approached the building instead of focusing on Jingwei.
Somehow, they reminded her of flesh-eating zombies, with the fixation on one person's flesh in particular. She took a quick glance at Jingwei, who was gripping his window grills tight enough that his knuckles went white, staring down at the crowd of reporters with unconcealed hatred.
She blinked.
"I'll call Shengli and his team to settle it," Jingwei promised, his heart aching at the way his own tenants, his neighbours, were turned away from their residences due to his actions, hating the way these vultures were making life difficult for innocent people.
It was one thing to target him - because he had, with his actions, made himself newsworthy, but why were they harassing young families?
In the past, he could afford to keep his head buried in the sand because he was living at his family's mansion, and no paparazzi would dare to make the dangerous trek to the inner grounds to sneak a scoop, so he was relatively insulated from their irritating behaviour.
But this time, they were camped right outside his doorstep, with only one iron gate keeping them away!
He turned away from the window resolutely, a muscle twitching in his jaw as he dialled Shengli's number.
"Shengli, I need your help." Jingwei said curtly, with none of his customary cheerfulness that he usually greeted Shengli with. On the other end, Shengli frowned. Clearly things were dire.
"Judging by the tone of your voice, this has nothing to do with Miss Li's employment contract," he said.
"You're right. There's a horde of brainless reporters camped outside my apartment, and they are inconveniencing my tenants. I need them gone."
"I can threaten to sue them for trespassing private property, but you and I both know that that's only a temporary solution," Shengli replied. "You need to give them a reason to leave you alone. If not they'll just be camping there for the slightest hint of news."
"I'm thinking of holding a press conference," Jingwei confessed. Shengli paused, as though he couldn't believe his ears. "Shengli, are you still there?"
"Yes, I just can't believe that you're willing to hold one. Since when have you bothered to take responsibility? Since I've known you, you've always been more of a coward when it came to things like this," Shengli replied frankly. Jingwei winced, because he was right.
There was a reason why the both of them were strangely friends despite being employer and employee; Shengli never shied away from letting Jingwei know how ridiculous he found him sometimes, and Jingwei needed people like that.
He stared at Xue Ning's back as she looked down at the crowd. Brilliant, honest Xue Ning who never failed to call him out on his behaviour while still protecting him from injustice, who believed he could be more than what the world thought of him.
Jingwei steeled his spine; he didn't want to be a coward hiding behind his family any longer.
"You're right, but it's time I changed," Jingwei declared quietly. "My brother said he wasn't going to help me if I held one, but I believe that's still the right course of action."
"Huh, guess you're finally growing up," Shengli said, with a faint hint of pride.
"In that case, I'll be happy to help you".
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