Jingwei smiled sheepishly, looking every inch like a man in love. Shengli would have applauded him for his acting abilities, if not for the fact that he knew Jingwei was just being himself.
"You have a fiancee?" More than one reporter exclaimed in surprise.
"Excuse me, Mr Sun. Who is she?"
"Did Miss Zhou Yu accept your proposal?"
"How long have you been engaged?"
Jingwei blinked in fake surprise. Of course, he guessed that he would be getting more questions about his fiancee than his reckless driving. Nothing distracted people better than gossip about celebrity relationships!
"Ah for a start, I'm not involved with Miss Zhou." Jingwei started, internally shuddering at the thought. Back when he was still drifting along aimlessly through life, he thought that she would be the right woman for him. She was beautiful and bright, and if he said his heart didn't beat faster at the thought of having her as his wife, he would be lying.
It was like she had cast a spell on him, and every time he spoke to her he grew to want her more.
His father and brother watched approvingly as Jingwei wooed her. They claimed they would suit each other, that she would ground him and make him want to be a better man. Her parents would also make great allies in the business world.
Zhou Yu had drive and ambition, they claimed. She would straighten you out.
So Jingwei eagerly went on tons of dates with her, hoping to learn more about the woman he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. Months passed, and Jingwei had a ring prepared to propose. It would make both families happy, and Zhou Yu was... adequate, for a wife.
She was terrible to anyone she deemed below her, but then again, she was also terrible to Jingwei. She didn't approve of any of his hobbies and never stopped insulting his every move, but he could still deal with that. The overall benefits for his family outweighed the cost of his own happiness - and after causing so much trouble for his family, he felt a sense of responsibility to fix things for good.
Perhaps they would grow to love each other in time.
But it turned out that Zhou Yu's ambition was just to milk Jingwei for publicity, and make Wang Kuan, the man she was truly interested in jealous!
To add insult to injury, he caught her fucking a waiter in the restaurant toilet. When confronted by him, she wasn't even apologetic for her infidelity!
"Sun Jingwei, you're such a trainwreck! So immature and a nuisance. If not for your father's money, I would never have given you a second glance. Why would I want to spend the rest of my life with you? You're not even worth Wang Kuan's pinky toe."
Needless to say, the engagement was broken.
Zhou Yu went around telling everyone that he didn't match his standards. Jingwei took up boxing classes and imagined her face on every sandbag.
He thought he would never be over it, but now when he thought about it, him getting rejected by her was probably the best thing to happen in his very short life!
If she had accepted the proposal years ago, they'd probably be divorced now because she would be cheating on him, and yet still be chasing after Wang Kuan, another rich tycoon's son. He would never have met Xue Ning.
At the thought of her, a peaceful, loving smile formed on his face. The reporters were stunned at the sight. Was this because of the mysterious woman?
"My wife is not a public figure, so kindly refrain from harassing her." Jingwei added, even though he knew it was futile. "And we've been engaged for a while."
Less than a week in fact, but he wasn't going to tell the reporters that. Even a pregnancy would take more time to show!
Reporters continued to fire questions.
"Where did you two meet?"
"How long were you engaged?"
"Does your father approve?"
Jingwei smiled, happy that all the questions he had predicted had been asked.
"I met her at work."
Technically he did meet Xue Ning at her workplace, he just didn't specify that her workplace was at a club. Let the reporters think that it was an employee - Sun Enterprises had thousands of employees, and they were all protected by the law to prevent people from digging too deeply into their personal lives.
"Our engagement felt like a long time coming," he continued smiling. It certainly felt like that to him, he felt he waited his whole life for her to enter it. "I've never wanted anything more."
"And my father and brother have both given their support towards my relationship, and I hope the same can be said for all of you." Jingwei finished proudly.
This whole fake wife scheme was cooked up by both of them after all. Jingwei was only making sure he committed to the plan! If not, he would also be wasting their efforts.
How could a filial son like him bear such an accusation?
Yi Ting raised her eyebrows in surprise as she heard Jingwei wax poetic about his bodyguard, half-impressed at the way he had managed to reveal a whole lot of nothing to the press.
Her boss had really levelled up! He was no longer spouting bullshit at the cameras like he used to, creating PR disasters with every word that came out of his mouth. He was the epitome of a man in clear control, even with his easy smile and friendly nature.
She quickly monitored the live responses to his words on social media - initially, there was a lot of anger, and calling out on his cagey responses, but now, all of it was forgotten when Jingwei revealed he was engaged!
Now the comments section was rife with speculation about who this mysterious woman was.
"You drove recklessly for a woman?" A reporter scolded. "That's not responsible."
"Perhaps so, but I really wanted to celebrate our anniversary with a good dinner," Jingwei said, shrugging sheepishly. If anyone asked, they'd been dating for at least a year.
"I thought I could simply lose the car following me and nothing would happen," he continued. "After all, who wants to believe they have people trying to kill you and your loved ones? It's easier to think you're overreacting. I wanted to believe I was overreacting."
Jingwei saw a few sympathetic reactions in the audience.
Time for him to bring out the big guns.
"As you all know, I have not lived the most peaceful life. My issues might have paid for your bonuses!"
There was the sound of hastily stifled snorting from the crowd. And from Shengli. Such a great friend.
"I have always attracted the persistent attention from specific individuals, hence I suspected that it could have been them trying to harm my fiancee on our date. My goal was to lose them so we could have a nice evening, and not make her worry."
Hopefully Xue Ning wouldn't kill him for taking some creative liberties with her character. Xue Ning did worry about him, but she was more worried that Jingwei would kill them both via his driving.
"But it cannot be denied that I caused a lot of trouble and inconvenience for everyone around me, and I am willing to take responsibility for that." Jingwei pauses for dramatic effect.
"I'm willing to complete community service to make up for my mistake."
Everyone's mouths dropped open. Whoever heard of a billionaire's son volunteering for community service?!
Usually, people like him only showed up to cut fancy ribbons at opening ceremonies, and shake hands with other important people for press photos.
Surely Sun Jingwei wasn't going to pick up garbage on the roadside… was he? Who was this woman that could inspire such a big change in his behaviour?
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