After an Alluring Alpha Provokes an Unhinged Omega 78

Chapter 78: Extreme

Jiang Mi’s crying gradually subsided, and then, in the long silence, she lost her voice completely.

The only sound in the room was the faint city noise from outside the window, and their intertwined, still-unsettled breathing.

Yan Wei’s arms were still tightly wrapped around her, so tight that it was almost as if she were trying to crush her bones, as if if she let go for a moment, the person in her arms would dissipate into smoke.

After a long time, Jiang Mi finally moved.

She didn’t break free from the embrace, but just tilted her head back slightly, trying to see Yan Wei’s face clearly in the dim light.

Her vision was blurred by tears, but she still saw Yan Wei’s red-rimmed eyes, and in them, a kind of almost-desperate fragility. It was the first time she had seen such an expression on Yan Wei’s face.

A dull ache filled her heart, more painful than any fierce argument.

Her voice was extremely hoarse, “On the evening of the incident, at the entrance of the mall, I saw one of your fans crying as she picked up a picture of you that had been thrown in the trash. Yan Wei, in your so-painful life, have you never been moved, and happy, because of filming, because of the glory after all your hard work, because of the fans who have firmly chosen to support you? Not even once?”

Yan Wei’s fingertips felt the violent beating in her chest, but her heart shrank a little.

“If there was even one time, then you are personally shattering what you once cherished, and what they cherish most, for everyone to see. This is more cruel than any harm caused by an outsider…”

Yan Wei closed her eyes, and her long eyelashes were wet and stuck together.

She couldn’t refute. When she had planned all of this, she had not been without an idea of the fans’ reaction, but that imagination was distant to her.

She didn’t even care about herself, let alone others.

But when Jiang Mi hammered these words into her heart, word by word, like nails, she actually felt a hint of sadness.

She remembered the first time she had received the Movie Queen award, and the fans below the stage had cheered like a tsunami.

She remembered a late night when she had received a handwritten letter. The fan had written in a childish hand how the character she had played had given her courage… those warm shouts that had supported her through countless difficult moments seemed to have gradually dimmed in the torment of her life.

A huge, belated shock washed over her like a tide.

Such a long-overdue regret, not even for Jiang Mi, but for others.

At this moment.

The pain and strange guilt that had arisen from Jiang Mi’s sadness finally began to spread.

It seemed she had been wrong.

Yan Wei thought.

A long silence.

“I’m sorry.”

Her voice was very low, but in her heart, it was so piercing.

Jiang Mi said, “The person you should be most sorry to is yourself.”

Yan Wei heard something. She stared at Jiang Mi’s expression, wanting to catch, to confirm something.

Jiang Mi had already said too much today.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her emotions. “You said you don’t know how to keep me… but I think before that, what you need to learn is how to love yourself. I just hope that, no matter what happens again, you don’t hurt yourself anymore. Mo Yun is not worthy, no one is worthy. Teacher Yan, you have to love yourself.”

The repetition of the last sentence, and the form of address, was not just what the current Jiang Mi was saying to Yan Wei, but also what the past Jiang Mi had wanted to say to Yan Wei.

“Mimi…” Yan Wei’s voice, when she spoke, was almost broken, so light it was almost inaudible.

So, in the end, am I going to be abandoned?

Yan Wei’s fingertips pierced her skin, but she was hidden in the shadows. She just stared at Jiang Mi’s movements.

Jiang Mi had already stood up. She glanced at the time and said, “It’s almost too late. I have to go.”

She met Yan Wei’s eyes, was silent for a moment, took a step forward, and gently tucked a strand of hair by Yan Wei’s cheek behind her ear. Her gaze did not waver, and her voice was more gentle and firm than ever before.

“Don’t overthink it. I won’t leave you. At least when I love you, I won’t leave you.”

“But Yan Wei, this time, it’s your turn to run forward with all your might.”

**

Outside the window at the end of the corridor, the light of day was dim, and the orange-yellow sky was a hazy halo.

Jiang Mi stood outside the door, her back lightly leaning against it. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the heavy emotion in her chest. She recalled Yan Wei’s expression before she had left. She desperately reminded herself that she couldn’t delay any longer and suppressed the thought of wanting to turn back and hug Yan Wei again.

Only after her heartbeat was no longer pounding against her eardrums did Jiang Mi straighten up and press the elevator button.

The elevator mirror reflected a pale face, with obvious red marks around her eyes. She looked away, staring at the changing floor numbers, until “1” lit up.

On the side of the bustling street, the nanny van was parked quietly.

Jiang Mi opened the car door and got in. The warmth of the car rushed towards her, but it made her shiver.

She was in a state of unease.

“Are you okay?”

Zhao Jia’s voice sounded from the side, with an imperceptible caution. She saw Jiang Mi’s red and swollen eyes in the rearview mirror and handed her a bottle of mineral water with the cap unscrewed.

Jiang Mi shook her head and took the water but didn’t drink it.

She took out her phone, and the light from the unlocked screen was a little glaring in the dim car.

The number of unread messages was astonishing. Most of them still had keywords like “Yan Wei,” “exposure,” and “collapse.” The difference was that it was not the same content as last time.

She swiped the screen, and a new video notification that had just popped up caught her eye—[Exclusive Exposure: Yan Wei’s Campus Bullying].

Jiang Mi’s fingers paused, her breath hitched. Her thumb swiped the screen and she clicked on it.

The content was a long Weibo post from a girl accusing Yan Wei of always looking down on her in middle school. After a disagreement, Yan Wei had tricked her into the school’s equipment room and locked her in for a whole day. Although the police had been called in the end, the matter was left unresolved. The reason was simple: someone had come to her house with money and “persuaded” her mother. When she had questioned her mother, her mother had just cried and told her that Yan Wei had a backer, and they couldn’t fight against power.

Later, when she saw Yan Wei on the screen, she had understood her mother’s meaning.

This matter had been her nightmare until now. Just seeing Yan Wei, or even Yan Wei’s name, would make her feel psychologically uncomfortable. She had been seeing a doctor and taking medicine all these years.

But it was still of no use.

She had finally waited for this day. With the support of her friends, she had mustered the courage to speak out.

The whistleblower claimed to be just one of the victims of the incident back then, and even provided a partial photo of the so-called “little black room” and a processed audio clip.

There was one sentence in it—”Then I’ll kill you,” which almost overlapped with Yan Wei’s voice.

The comment section had already exploded, and all kinds of speculation and abuse had become even more intense.

Jiang Mi’s temples throbbed. Was this also Yan Wei’s own doing? She wasn’t sure. If it wasn’t Yan Wei’s doing, then had Yan Wei thought that this would happen?

Her already-uneasy mood instantly became even heavier.

She thought of Yan Wei’s words, and the dissipated anger rose again.

Zhao Jia glanced at Jiang Mi’s phone screen and let out a heavy sigh. “Before Mo Yun’s videos, this matter might not have caused a stir. Now, everyone thinks that the bullying is real, and the recording is also real.”

Some people even thought that the sentence “Then I’ll kill you” was said by Yan Wei herself. After all, Yan Wei had once “pushed her own mother onto the road to be hit by a car.”

Jiang Mi said, “My head is a mess right now.”

And she still had so much work to do, so much that she couldn’t even calm down and think about these things.

“If… and I mean if, Mo Yun’s matter might not be true, but what this woman said is true? Do you think there’s a little bit of a possibility? After all, Teacher Yan was also young at that time.”

Actually, Zhao Jia had already put it very tactfully. At a dozen or so years old, one’s thoughts and values were not yet formed. Even she had done a few things she regretted when she was young.

“She wouldn’t.”

“Why?”

Jiang Mi shook her head and just said again, “She wouldn’t.”

Since she had asked Yan Wei to believe her, then no matter when, she would believe Yan Wei. The human instinct was to question, but she also had to believe Yan Wei.

At least at this moment, she had to believe.

Zhao Jia didn’t want to say more, but her current position was not just Jiang Mi’s manager. She was also responsible for the entire team. There were some things she had an obligation and responsibility to remind her of.

“Do you remember the DK red carpet event before?” Zhao Jia said. “The time when Qin Yao induced her fans to pour cold water on you in the restroom.”

Of course, Jiang Mi remembered.

After Zhao Jia finished speaking, her eyelashes lowered a little. She had a premonition of what kind of answer she would hear.

“Qin Yao deliberately found a minor to do this, just so that even if it was exposed, you couldn’t do anything to that little girl. But she didn’t expect that after the matter was exposed, not only was she herself shelved and hasn’t come out yet, but even that minor was persuaded to drop out of school, and the matter even affected her family. Her two mothers were also successively dismissed from their jobs, and in the end, she attempted suicide and failed, and it was on the news… the news was smoothed over, and not even a single splash was made. Of course, that family had a part in the acting. It wasn’t the first time that little girl had done such a thing.”

Zhao Jia said, “But at that time, I felt that this matter was very strange. The person who handled this matter behind the scenes had methods that were simply chilling. I told you, I had guessed that it might be Yan Wei, but I saw that you didn’t want to say more at that time, so I didn’t say anything more. Recently, because of Mo Yun’s matter, someone has done something to this matter, and the direct evidence points to Tan Zhaoxin as the person who did it.”

There was no need to say the rest.

At that time, Tan Zhaoxin had nothing to do with her. How could she have meddled in her affairs?

“I just wanted to tell you again, Yan Wei may have many advantages, but her temperament is too gloomy and hard to understand. You’ve also seen her methods. You must, must think clearly, whether you will regret your decision in the future, and then think about what you plan to do, whether you should do it or not. I don’t want, after knowing each other for so long, to see a good life be ruined by love.”

After Zhao Jia finished speaking, she took a deep breath and finally said seriously, “Mimi, this is the last, last time I’ll say these words to you. I swear, from now on, I will never persuade you again. Whether you win or lose, you have to bear the consequences yourself.”

After listening, Jiang Mi wiped her hot eyes with her fingertips. She looked out the window and adjusted her emotions a little.

She said, “Apart from you, no one will ever say these words to me again.”

“After all, you’re my cash cow,” Zhao Jia said deliberately, seeing that her emotions were a little high.

Jiang Mi laughed, and then restrained herself a little. She was quiet for a moment, then said, “You might be angry if I say this. When you were telling me these things, do you know what I was thinking?”

“What?” Zhao Jia asked.

Jiang Mi was thinking that on that day in the restroom, she was actually so helpless—just as she was about to step onto the hard-won red carpet, a basin of cold water had soaked her, her makeup was a mess, the door was locked, she was so cold she was shivering, her phone was waterlogged and she couldn’t contact anyone, and she was still in heat.

It was at a time like this.

Yan Wei had found her.

Although she was very calm on the surface and told herself that it didn’t matter, it was just a scolding, and she would never have such a good opportunity in the future. It was just that her reputation would be ruined, and she would get fewer roles in the future, and it was even possible that no director would dare to use her again.

She had thought of the worst-case scenario, which was to start over from scratch and sleep in a coffin again.

But, Yan Wei had appeared.

She had solved all the crises she was facing at that moment with a light touch.

Yan Wei was standing by her side.

She had said to her in such a steady voice.

“Walk out with your back straight. Crush her, then come back.”

Her courage, her confidence, her aggressiveness, her vitality in this environment, everything, had started from this moment.

She had to win.

She had to win!

As long as she was on this track, she would always remember this sentence.

She would “also” always remember this sentence.

This sentence was like a rope handed to her in the darkness, giving her the strength to pull herself out of that pathetic situation. From then on, no matter how many difficulties and setbacks she encountered, she would always remember that sentence, and then force herself to look up.

What that basin of water meant to Jiang Mi, how much helplessness and loss Jiang Mi felt in her heart at that time, only Jiang Mi herself knew. If it hadn’t been for Yan Wei at that time, no one could have predicted what her situation would be now. What if? What if she was fragile and, after being hit, she would never be able to stand up again in her life?

Had Qin Yao thought about it when she had harmed her? Had that girl thought about it when she had harmed her?

They wouldn’t have.

So Jiang Mi didn’t think that little girl was that innocent. Being young and ignorant was never a reason to trample on others at will.

Of course, she hadn’t expected the suicide. Later, when she knew that the hype was greater than the truth, and that the girl’s family had also moved to another city, she was also glad.

Jiang Mi looked at Zhao Jia with a calm gaze. “It’s not that I’m in the middle of it and so I’m deluded by her. It’s not like that. It’s that I’ve really seen that Yan Wei is not what they say she is. She’s very good.”

Her voice was very light, but it carried an unquestionable weight. The warm light in the car fell on her eyelashes, casting a fine shadow on her eyelids.

“I know better than anyone what extreme methods she used,” Jiang Mi’s fingertips unconsciously drew circles on her phone. “She hurt herself, hurt me, and also hurt all the people who were sincere to her. I’m really angry. But, I don’t know how to tell you. Yan Wei is actually a very good person.”

She was cold and indifferent, with a withdrawn personality, and she didn’t consider the consequences.

But she was also the one who had personally helped the staff contact a surgery professor. She was the one who set up supply stations at every fan support event, distributing travel subsidies. She was the one who, upon learning that a fan was in trouble, had silently sent help through a lottery.

She was also the one who donated large sums of money to more than a dozen places such as welfare homes, orphanages, and women’s foundations every year.

She also never forgot the people who had helped her.

The reason Yan Wei had starred in Jiang Qu’s Spring was also just because of a promise and a favor.

Yan Wei just didn’t say it, but she did a lot.

But these were things that many people didn’t know.

Even if they did, no one would remember.

At a time like this, even fewer people would remember.

Zhao Jia nodded.

“What do you mean by nodding?” Jiang Mi asked with a smile.

Zhao Jia dragged out her tone and shrugged with a feigned ease. “Since you’ve said so, I’ll try to understand her when I have a chance. But next time, can she be a little more polite to me? Just not look at me with such a fierce face?”

She was joking on the surface, but her heart was heavy. Because she was not optimistic about this relationship, but she didn’t want to spoil Jiang Mi’s mood. In the entertainment industry, there were too few people who could make a comeback after their image had collapsed.

“But what about this mess?” Zhao Jia switched back to her manager mode, her fingers anxiously tapping the hot search hashtags that were constantly popping up on the tablet screen. “The internet is in an uproar. You stayed with her for a day and a night. You should have some countermeasures, right? We’re still in the same boat now!”

Jiang Mi remembered Yan Wei saying “it will be resolved” when she had left, her tone as calm as if she were talking about eating and drinking. But at this moment, through the clamor of public opinion on the internet, that certainty seemed so light.

But she still said, “It will be resolved.”

Jiang Mi had no confidence in her heart. She could only believe in Yan Wei now. Zhao Jia was right about one thing. Yan Wei’s personality was very dangerous, gloomy, extreme, and hard to understand.

When she had gone downstairs just now, she had carefully thought about what Yan Wei had said to her—”To completely cut off all ties between me and the Mo family, to make her disappear forever from my world and yours. And also to…”

Such a person, in order to achieve her goal, would definitely only do this on the premise that she had a chance of winning. Yan Wei was just reckless, but not stupid.

On the contrary, Yan Wei was simply too smart.

It was just that the matter had blown up too much now. No matter how it ended, Yan Wei’s white wings would be stained.

Jiang Mi’s expression couldn’t help but sink a little. Just as she finished speaking.

Her phone suddenly vibrated. A new message came from that familiar number.

[Go back and rest early. Don’t look at the news online. I’ll handle it cleanly.]

The words revealed a calmness that was trying to control the overall situation, but there was also a hint of comfort.

This was not like the usual Yan Wei. Jiang Mi stared at the line of text, as if she could see through the screen Yan Wei’s tense jawline and cool gaze at this moment.

Her fingertips hovered over the screen for a moment.

[You too.]

Jiang Mi put away her phone and rested her forehead against the cold car window. The city outside was rapidly receding, and the lights were stretched into long lines, just like her thoughts at this moment.

The car became quiet.

And so she began to recall those words again.

“To completely cut off all ties between me and the Mo family, to make her disappear forever from my world and yours. And also to…”

And also to…

For what?

Jiang Mi looked at the rapidly departing street scene. The unresolved ending was really bothering her. She frowned slightly. Just as she was about to give up on this question, her expression froze slightly, and then she had a realization.

She laughed in disbelief.

How crazy.

For what? Wasn’t the purpose very obvious?

Before this incident, she and Yan Wei were in a cold war. But where had she come out from now? Yan Wei’s room.

She had thought that she was using the “CP” matter to plot against Yan Wei, to force Yan Wei to take the initiative to appear. But in fact, the other party had long since set up this trap for her.

And in such an extreme way.

No wonder Yan Wei hadn’t dared to tell her today.

Wow, what a guy. With this kind of planning ability, why be a movie queen? Isn’t it good to join the army? Isn’t it good to go into business? Isn’t it good to publish a book on Yanzi’s Art of War?

A sharp car horn from outside the window passed by. She was annoyed and frowned. At the same time, the phone screen in her palm lit up, and a faint vibration came. She looked down.

Yan Wei: [Will you miss me?]

Jiang Mi bit her lower lip. She could almost imagine the other party’s seemingly calm but secretly anxious expression when she had sent this sentence. She pulled out a forced smile, and her fingertips forcefully typed out two words with a clear emotion:

[No!]