"Urggh - Why would I watch Sun Jingwei's sex tape?" Xue Ning wrinkles her nose in disgust at the mental picture formed by Xiumin's words. "That's just gross. No offence."
"None taken," Jingwei shrugs, moving further away from Xiumin in case Xiumin decides to spit in his face.
"The whole country saw it!" Xiumin screams. "My life was over from that day onwards!"
"How is that his fault?" Xue Ning asks, half-curious. "Isn't he a victim too?"
"VICTIM?!" Xiumin shrieks, nearly bucking Xue Ning off with anger. "He orchestrated it - I know it!"
"Hey, I definitely didn't," Jingwei solemnly swears with his hand upright. "I wouldn't do that to someone who didn't agree to be filmed, and especially not leak such a private tape!"
"Don't try to look good in front of your new squeeze!" Xiumin yells. "You're just a useless perverted man!"
"Hey!" Xue Ning cuts in, shoving her head back down onto the floor. All her screaming was giving her a headache. "Do you have any proof that he did this?"
"... I just know it's him!" Xiumin declares after a pause.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"So you have no proof," Xue Ning says, trying not to roll her eyes. "And you blame him, the other party in the video - the other victim?"
"He's not a victim!" Xiumin spits out. "He's perfectly fine after that incident!"
"No I was not!" Jingwei suddenly yells, furious. "Do you think I want my bedroom activities leaked to the whole world?!"
Xiumin quiets down in surprise, but Sun Jingwei isn't done. Xue Ning listens with interest.
"Everyone just goes oh look, it's Sun Jingwei, he's so rich he can do whatever he wants but that's not the point! No one should be filming me, or you to begin with! And come on, the first video leak didn't even show you clearly - I was the one in clear view!"
Xiumin hisses, but she seems less angry. Only slightly.
"Really?" Xue Ning asks, surprised. She looks down at Xiumin. "Then how did you get ruined in this mess?"
Jingwei stares at her, deflated. "Wait, you really didn't hear about this scandal?"
"Why would I care about two people I don't know having sex?" Xue Ning asks, nonplussed. "Besides, the one filming the both of you should be the one you're both angry at."
Xiumin lets out a broken laugh from the floor. "Ha… right… The first video wasn't clear, but then someone managed to clean up the second video! Who else could it be, if not you?!"
"Look, just because I could do it doesn't mean I would do it," Jingwei explains, nearly tearing out his hair in frustration. "What would be the point in making it HD? To give perverts more ammunition?"
"How should I know?!" Xiumin screams with tears in her eyes. "All I know is that you ruined my life! I wish I never met you!"
Jingwei barely flinches at her words, but Xue Ning catches the briefest look of pain that flashed in his eyes.
"Enough from you," Xue Ning says, shoving Xiumin's head on the floor, mind whirling with the new information. "Aren't you both victims? How is hurting Sun Jingwei going to help you? You should be working together to catch the filming bastard!"
Xiumin lets out an angry hissing sound, much like a boiling kettle.
"Listen, I know you want to hurt him in revenge" Xue Ning says to Xiumin, "but he's also a victim. You should at least confirm that he's the culprit. What if you're just being used to hurt him?"
Oh my god. Xue Ning's casual words have suddenly made things clearer. She and Jingwei shoot each other with the same look of realisation.
"If you don't wish to spend the rest of your days rotting in the prison cell, you better tell me the mastermind behind you," Jingwei demands cooly.
Xiumin gives him a venomous glare and just hisses like a snake. Or a particularly angry kettle.
"Sorry, I don't speak boiling kettle or Parseltongue," Jingwei says apologetically, before turning to Xue Ning. "Did you hit her too hard just now? I think you may have caused some brain damage."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"How about I hit you the same way I hit her later, then you can tell me if I'm doing it too hard or not?" Xue Ning retorts, raises an eyebrow.
"Why, you always say the sweetest things." Jingwei replies with a slight grin. Xue Ning knows about the video, and she doesn't blame him for it. "I should be jealous that this woman here got your thighs around her before I did."
"I'll never tell you about my Boss, so you can just kill me!" Xiumin sullenly declares from the floor. "I can't bear to listen to the both of you anymore. I'd rather be locked up for good."
"Since when are you given a choice?" Xue Ning retorts. "Now hand over the name!"
Jingwei adds, "But if you do insist on being locked up for good, who are we to deny you? We are good Samaritans aren't we?"
Xue Ning and Xiumin give him identical looks of incredulity. Xue Ning then slams Xiumin's head on the floor again. Just because she could. That lost ginseng chicken she could have had for breakfast was not a small loss. More importantly, even if Xiumin was also a victim, it doesn't give her the right to go around hurting other people!
"Ouch," Jingwei winces in sympathy. "Are you out to cause brain damage?"
"What brain is there to damage? It's not obvious like her nose," Xue Ning replies flatly. Jingwei snorts. "And honestly, if she hasn't realised that she's just being made used off by now, there's no point in her having a brain."
"How dare you!" Xiumin screeches. "Boss will never use me! He cares for me!"
"Oh he definitely doesn't," Jingwei says with a scoff. "If this Boss of yours cared for you, he would have helped you regain a normal life and treated you well to make up for the injustice you suffered. Instead he allowed you to come here, to dirty your precious hands by trying to kill me."
"Killing you will make up for the injustice!"
"Funny that you would say that," Jingwei casually says, "because for the past few years, I've been labouring under the impression that YOU leaked the video!"
Everyone stills in surprise.