"You... And that Li Han..."
"What's with Li Han?"
Hearing that question, Lu Qingling really wanted to strangle Nie Zhen to death. But she calmed herself down. Inner peace... Inner peace...
"That Li Han, how can you not know about him?"
"Why should I know about him?" Nie Zhen asked with a genuine dumbfounded face.
Lu Qingling raised her hand and slapped Nie Zhen's back hard. The hardest she could muster. Okay, she lied. She was a violent person. Screw inner peace!
Nie Zhen grimaced from the pain. "Why did you hit me again?" She asked while inching backward, keeping a safe distance from her friend. She swore her friend's hands were made of steel. Those slaps were so painful!
"It's for your ignorance!" Lu Qingling retorted.
"I'm a firm believer of ignorance is a bliss." Nie Zhen quipped in a slow voice, but still enough to be heard by Lu Qingling.
"Bliss, your uncle!" Lu Qingling hollered. "Do you realize who Li Han is? You should be grateful you come back alive last night!"
Nie Zhen blinked. "Why? What's wrong with Li Han? He is such a gentleman last night. He can't be someone bad."
Nie Zhen reminisced of the event last night. She really couldn't find any fault in Li Han's behaviors. He was the poster boy for kind and gentle person.
"If he is a gentleman, then everyone else is an angel!" Lu Qingling stated.
"He is that bad?"
"He is not only bad, he is a tyrant, a devil incarnate, a villain, I told you!"
Then Lu Qingling typed something in her phone and shoved the phone to Nie Zhen. "Look, every news about him is of him acquiring every company in cold and ruthless manners. He doesn't care about chivalry and would lead anyone who opposed him to ruin."
Nie Zhen squinted her eyes to look at the screen. She could see the search results associated with the name Li Han. It was not anything good. It was bad news. She also saw the familiar mask in every article.
"Why is it that there is no picture of him? What's with the mask?" Nie Zhen asked doubtfully.
Every article she clicked, there was only the picture of the black and gold mask. There was not even a photo of his self.
"That's the proof of his atrocities. Every media company has been warned not to publish his picture in the news. They are only allowed to put the picture of the mask he's wearing on the news. I've heard that his mask is one of a kind. No one's allowed to copy the design."
Lu Qingling continued, "Once, there was a company who went against the warning and put his picture in the net. That company went bankrupt overnight. That's just how savage he is."
Ah, that's explained why there was a picture of her but only the picture of his mask in the first article!
Then she remembered the stares she received when she entered the hall.
Did it mean people were staring because they recognized Li Han from the mask, and not because of her?
She remembered telling Li Han that she was famous.
Ah, the shame!
The question was, why did Li Han not expose her out?
Nie Zhen was deep in thought after she remembered that. She really couldn't associate Li Han of last night to the Li Han as told by Lu Qingling.
"Is there any chance that's just a misunderstanding? Perhaps, he is actually a good person..." Nie Zhen stil refused to believe someone who helped her last night was a bad person.
"Think about it! He could ruin a company who published his picture, can you imagine what he would do to company who published false news about him?" Lu Qingling was exasperated. "I haven't heard any of the company who published about his deeds went bankrupt. There was not even any article to deny or refute the bad news about him."
Nie Zhen remembered the reaction of the guard last night. Now, she understood why he seemed frightened. It must have been because of Li Han. That also explained why she was permitted to enter the hotel when the guard was adamant not to allow her to enter at first.
"So, he is really not a good person..." Nie Zhen tried to come to term to the fact.
"Of course! Haven't you read the news this past year? His name has been synonymous with the word villain!"
"You know I've been avoiding reading any news this past year. I don't want to read anything bad about me. Why should I read about people cursing at me?" Nie Zhen reasoned out.
She truly hadn't read any news since last year. She had been avoiding reading any article about her. After her acts, she doubted the media would have anything good to say about her. She just knew that she had been described as a fallen young miss who fell from grace by people around her.
And that was some of the most polite wordings to describe her. She was sure there were ruder words but she didn't want to know about them. She reckoned she would be angered to death if she read about them.
Lu Qingling sighed. "Then, why did you do those ridiculous things? Serves you right to be cursed out then."
"Either way, I would be cursed out anyway." Nie Zhen smiled indifferently.
Lu Qingling scrutinized Nie Zhen's face to detect any sadness from her. As usual, Nie Zhen gave off the devil may care attitude.
"Do you know, this past year, the news about you and Li Han would top the search results everytime there's something happened to anyone of you. By the way, he came off first and yours would be second," Lu Qingling recounted.
Nie Zhen: "Why am I not the first?"
Lu Qingling: "..."
Nie Zhen cleared her throat and backtracked, "Really? I am that popular?"
"Yeah, you are the popular villainess of the century." Lu Qingling snorted. "You are even more popular than me, a celebrity. Somehow, I'm confused, am I the celebrity or you are the celebrity?"
Nie Zhen widened her eyes, "Right, I forgot you are an actress!"
Where's the knife when you need it? Lu Qingling really wanted to kill this so-called friend of her.
Nie Zhen chuckled nervously at Lu Qingling's murderous stare. "Of course, you are my goddess! I am your number one fan!" She proceeded to hug Lu Qingling.
"Go away! I don't need a fan like you!" Lu Qingling shrugged her off.