"Sister, do you think that illegitimate daughter will go?"
Lai Shengxia: "Do you hope she goes?"
"I definitely want her to attend." Circling Lai Shengxia’s arm, Lai Yuanyuan sneered, "IMG is protecting a drug addict, that illegitimate daughter is desperate to become famous. If she gets taken away by the police at the press conference, it would be quite the show.
But I’m afraid she might not dare to come, she’s very cunning now, seeing the news she might flee out of town to avoid trouble."
"Ah Li is your sister, it’s fine in private, but you can’t be so disrespectful in public, lest it gives people something to gossip about."
Lai Yuanyuan curled her lips.
"However..." Lai Shengxia put the water cup back on the coffee table and spoke slowly, "If Ah Li really is taking drugs, sending her to the Detox Center is the wisest choice. She’s still young and shouldn’t ruin her life with drugs."
"What if she keeps hiding?"
Lai Shengxia smiled slightly: "She won’t, Ah Li will definitely appear at the press conference today."
Tang Li prepared to leave her house and received a text message.
[Your mother’s HIV infection years ago was no accident. If you want to know the reason, come to the Phoenix Concubine press conference this afternoon, I’ll be waiting for you backstage.]
It was from an unknown number.
Tang Li replied: "Who are you?"
"An old acquaintance of your mother."
Tang Yin’s death from AIDS was a knot in Tang Li’s heart.
Perhaps because she didn’t respond, the other party sent another message: "Your mother accidentally got infected with AIDS 11 years ago, I was there at the scene. It was actually someone who intentionally hurt her. I heard she has passed away, I just arrived in the Capital recently and knew you were acting, so I wanted to meet you."
The timing of this "old acquaintance" seemed too coincidental.
Tang Li ignored it further.
The nanny van was already waiting outside the dormitory building.
After going downstairs, Tang Li saw the bodyguard mentioned by Feng Qi.
He stood next to the car, tall and thin, looking to be in his late twenties, with a very ordinary appearance, the kind that you can’t find once lost in a crowd, yet he seemed very composed.
Sitting in the car, Tang Li learned his name was Yuan Qin.
Tang Li observed Yuan Qin’s standing and sitting postures, confirming that he was indeed a military veteran, possibly from a formidable military background.
Tang Li soon also realized that Yuan Qin had a very faint presence.
It wasn’t known if he was intentionally concealing it, making it easy to forget his presence.
On the way, Tang Li received another message.
The sender sent a photo.
In the photo was a tattered stone necklace.
Rather than a necklace, it was actually a small agate stone strung on a red cord.
Upon seeing the agate necklace, Tang Li involuntarily gripped her cellphone tighter.
She had made this for Tang Yin when she was a child.
It wasn’t valuable, but Tang Yin always wore it around her neck.
After Tang Yin contracted AIDS, she took Tang Li to live in the countryside, and the necklace never appeared again.
Back then, Tang Yin explained it got lost accidentally at the hospital.
[When your mother was jabbed, this necklace fell onto the ground. I wanted to return it to her, but she moved away with you. I’ve kept it for many years, it’s time to return it to you.]
Tang Li looked at the message, her expression unreadable.
Injection of drugs, paparazzi leaks, now "forcing" her to go to the press conference.
Even though Tang Yin had passed away, she was still the family member Tang Li cared about most in this world. The other party clearly knew of the mother-daughter bond between her and Tang Yin, hence they still brazenly used such crude tactics.
If she had been injected with drugs, as she stood at the press conference today, Tang Li was well aware of what awaited her.