Rebirth as the Richest Woman in the World
Chapter 584 - 585, Heartbroken

Chapter 584: 585, Heartbroken

In that instant, Song Shiqin didn’t know why he had acted that way.

He just felt, suddenly, unable to control himself.

His mind went blank, wanting nothing more than to hold her tightly.

There was a sudden reluctance.

Unwilling to let each other slip away like this.

He thought he could be open-minded enough to wish her well.

Turns out, all of that was just what he thought.

Those past memories played out in his mind like a movie, scene by scene presenting themselves before him, and he realized he couldn’t let go at all—only she could soothe the pain in his heart.

Does it hurt?

Of course, it hurt.

A pain beyond words.

Pain that made it hard to breathe.

This feeling, no one can understand.

Like a fish out of water.

Song Shiqin hugged her tightly, his arms trembling slightly, fearing that in the next second, she would leave him.

Since when did even a simple hug between them become such a luxury?

The faint scent of medicine lingered at the tip of his nose, making Chu Jin feel a momentary daze, the embrace strange yet familiar, even though she didn’t know where that familiarity came from.

Soon, Chu Jin regained her composure, reached out to push him away, and her tone was somewhat cold, "Instructor Song, please have some self-respect."

His clear face showed not a trace of emotion, terrifyingly calm.

A stark contrast to his usual indifferent demeanor.

Song Shiqin hadn’t expected her to react this way, staggering back a few steps before stabilizing his body.

Only then did Song Shiqin believe that she truly didn’t remember him.

Bitterness filled his eyes.

Her voice echoed over and over in his ears.

So be it.

This was the bitter fruit of his own making, no one else to blame.

It’s a pity that time can’t be rewound.

Song Shiqin looked at her with a deep expression in his eyes, his presence exuding a melancholic aura, "I, I..." The rest of the words caught in his throat, and he couldn’t utter a single one.

How to explain all of this to her?

"Please leave." Chu Jin pursed her lips, pointing to the door with a cool tone.

Song Shiqin just stood looking at her, silent, without any other action, remaining on the spot as if turned to stone.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Their eyes met.

The air fell into silence.

Chu Jin didn’t have Jun Huang’s memories, but as she locked eyes with Song Shiqin, she suddenly saw the figure of a young man in black robes flash in front of her, and the young man with his back to her slowly began to turn around.

But in that moment, a sudden wave of inexplicable hatred surged through her limbs, nearly causing her to lose her balance.

Just as she was about to see the face of the young man in black robes.

A wave of unfamiliar pain struck her mind, overwhelming, leaving her unable to breathe.

A headache, as if it would burst.

Just like the day she was reborn, it hurt to the point of questioning life itself.

The figure of Song Shiqin in front of her also seemed to overlap. Chu Jin reached up to massage her temples, gently shaking her head, striving to regain some clarity. Beads of sweat appeared on her pale forehead, and she looked extremely weak.

Song Shiqin controlled the emotion in his eyes and tried to look up nonchalantly. But on seeing her that moment, his heart clenched, and he took large strides towards her, asking anxiously, "Are you okay?"

Chu Jin, with one hand on her temple and the other gently raised in front of her, took a few steps back, saying coldly, "Don’t come any closer."

Song Shiqin halted his steps.

Standing opposite her, just watching her, his deep eyes betraying no emotion. After a moment, he finally spoke slowly, "I’m sorry, I was out of line just now." His apology was heartfelt, but his heart was filled with bitterness.

Chu Jin, enduring a headache, opened with an extremely faint tone, repeating once more, "If there’s nothing else, Instructor Song, please leave."

Song Shiqin’s mouth opened, and then he said, "You... resemble an old friend of mine greatly, just now... I’m very sorry, it won’t happen again, goodbye." His voice was somewhat hoarse, as if choked with emotion.

With those words, he turned and left.

In the moment he turned around, where Chu Jin couldn’t see, tears streamed down like rain.

The tears blurred his vision, and also drenched his heart.

Every step he took was incredibly difficult, as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Watching Song Shiqin leave the room, Chu Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground as though all strength had left him, his face deathly pale.

His heart was pounding violently.

He even felt a wild joy of having narrowly escaped death!

"Brother Jin, are you alright?" Zi asked anxiously, this being the first time she had seen Chu Jin like this.

"I’m fine." Chu Jin’s voice sounded weak and feeble. She didn’t know what was wrong with her; ever since her rebirth, this was the first time she felt so fragile, so insignificant, with death seemingly at her feet.

This feeling was very uncomfortable, very frightening.

Zi did not say much more but was somewhat worried; Brother Jin’s condition didn’t seem very optimistic.

Currently, there was no Soul Resurrection Grass.

Unable to complete their long-term mission, they were at risk of scattering like ashes at any moment.

Zi sighed, sitting on a stone bench, resting her chin on her small hand, her face full of melancholy.

What would the path ahead look like?

A moment later, Chu Jin wiped the sweat from her forehead and then said, "Zi, send me the video you’ve organized."

"Alright." Zi nodded, then picked up the tablet computer.

As the headache began to subside, Chu Jin sat cross-legged in front of the desk, sipping tea lightly before turning on her phone to view the video Zi had sent over, a slight smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

The show was about to start.

Chu Jin first opened Weibo.

It was still bustling on Weibo.

The latest comment count on Chu Jin’s newest Weibo post had exceeded nine million, half of which were people seeking justice for Lu Yan.

The top comments also included several prominent Weibo users—big V’s who were riding the trend for attention, simply looking to make a name for themselves through trampling others.

There was one particularly interesting entry on the trending search list: "Blue Smoke’s 8th day of illness."

In the past few days, Lu Yan had been playing the sympathy card, winning the pity of many netizens, all very distressed over her plight.

The term "’The Return of the Past’ plagiarism" also topped the list.

While many days had passed, the topic of plagiarism was still hot.

This showed the influence of "Blooms like Brocade."

A world-shattering masterpiece, indeed.

In her previous life, it was Lu Yan who reaped the unearned reward.

Chu Jin leisurely scrolled through her Weibo comments and private messages, occasionally sipping her tea, calm and composed.

"’The Return of the Past’ shameless! @OriginalLiteratureWebsite, @Editor Linglong, @TheReturnofthePast."

"@OriginalLiteratureWebsite, @Editor Linglong, when will your site take down plagiarized works?"

"Plagiarism for life, disgrace! Due to this incident, Blue Smoke’s health is worsening by the day. Plagiarizing Gui, do you have no conscience? Can’t you leave Blue Smoke alone? Give her a peaceful life back."

Shui Mu Yuan V: "Looks like our Original Literature Website is going to become famous, although the way we’re becoming known is somewhat astonishing to me. But fame is fame, right? Some people are simply a disgrace to the community of literary authors!"

Shui Mu Yuan was a gold-medal author of Original Literature Website who had become famous early on.

Unfortunately, her recent works had been somewhat disappointing.

Although Shui Mu Yuan did not openly name the person, her words insinuated that The Return of the Past was the shame of authorship.

Shui Mu Yuan’s action was just to ride the wave of attention. After all, people always want to give themselves a chance, don’t they?

She had been irked by The Return of the Past for a long time; why should a rookie author snatch away all her glory?

Sure enough, after Shui Mu Yuan posted that Weibo, her followers increased by more than a hundred, and she received far more comments than usual.

Chu Jin, expression serene, sat cross-legged in front of the computer, her fingers rapidly tapping on the keyboard—

Ten minutes later, an astonishingly informative Weibo appeared before everyone.

Qin Jie proclaimed, "Feels good to sleep with your bestie’s man, huh? @Lu Yan V, @Shen Lingtian V[Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture]."

All of these photos were intimate shots of Shen Lingtian and Lu Yan.

Some of them hugging each other, kissing, feeding each other, incredibly close, clearly things only a couple would do.

Each photo was extremely clear, even giving close-ups of their faces.

Shen Lingtian and Lu Yan both have super high popularity on Weibo.

As soon as it was posted, the whole internet was shaken, attracting herds of onlookers. This news was really too sensational!

With these photos coming out, Shen Lingtian’s reputation as a devoted lover completely crumbled!

"Damn! This smear campaign is so hardcore 666666!"

"Well, this is the so-called devoted lover!"

"These photos must be fake, right?"

"’The Return of the Past’ has no shame!"

"Shit, shit! I’m going blind! Never thought Shen Lingtian could be such a person! Disgusting! He doesn’t even spare his wife’s bestie! Scum!"

"The mistress has no shame!"

"Aren’t you afraid Qin Jie will come knocking at your door in the middle of the night?"

"Qin Jie’s not even cold in her grave, and Shen Trash is already doing such despicable, pig-and-dog acts! A pair of dogs, shameless!"

"If I remember correctly, Lu Yan and Qin Jie were supposed to be besties, right? Gotta guard against fire, theft, and best friends!"

"A man loses his wife, a woman’s single, nothing’s wrong with them being together."

"That’s right, it’s consensual between both parties, and they’re both single. So, how come they can’t be together?"

"Never expected that the pure-looking Lu Yan is actually so slutty and cheap beneath the surface!"

"Aren’t we making a mountain out of a molehill? They’re both single; the woman can’t be called a mistress."

"You say we’re making a big deal out of it? To the person above, what if you died, and within less than a year, your husband got together with your best friend, how would you feel?"

"’The Return of the Past’ plagiarism!"

"This must be photoshopped, right? Lu Yan was Qin Jie’s best sister while she was alive, I believe Lu Yan wouldn’t do such a thing."

"Is the blogger a high-level troll hired by ’The Return of the Past’? Must have spent a lot of money on these photos, right?"

"Lu Yan’s values are indeed questionable."

"No trace of Photoshop."

"Well-spent money on Photoshopping these pics, huh?"

When Lu Yan saw these photos, she was so scared her face turned pale, and she was nearly breathless. She knew very well that these photos were real and that they were all taken in the Shen family villa.

Who on earth was this person? Where did they take these pictures? And they were so clear...

Just the thought that there were eyes on her, watching her every move at all times, made Lu Yan freak out completely!

She hasn’t got over the plagiarism issue yet, and now a scandal involving explicit photos had broken out...

No, she couldn’t just compromise that easily, while everyone was still questioning the authenticity of the photos, she needed to act quickly to turn the situation around.

Otherwise, in the Capital City, she would really have nowhere left to stand.

Lu Yan’s PR team also discovered the problem immediately and called an emergency meeting to discuss solutions.

After ten minutes of deliberation by the PR team, Lu Yan retweeted the Weibo post.

Lu Yan V: "The Photoshop work isn’t bad, noses look like noses, and eyes like eyes. Brother-in-law, what do you think? @Shen Lingtian V, Also, I’m giving the original poster one hour to delete this post, or see you in court. @Qin Jie: Feels good to sleep with your bestie’s man, huh? @Shen Lingtian V, @Lu Yan V[Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture]."

You must admit, the PR team’s strategy was very clever, manipulating people’s psychology perfectly.

Usually, mistresses are not welcomed into the light.

Seldom can a mistress appear so boldly before the public eye.

But Lu Yan, not only did she retweet the post, but she also tagged the scandal’s male lead and the original blogger.

This move indirectly expressed that all of this was nonsense. Lu Yan was definitely not a mistress; if she were, she couldn’t have been so calm and collected.

A few short words, far more effective than a long-winded explanation of thousands of words.

"Yan Yan, don’t mind these trolls, we believe in you."

"Yan, are you feeling better now?"

"Feeling for my Yan."

"Yan Yan, are you still at the hospital?"

"I just knew it was Photoshopped, how could Yan Yan do such a thing! Besides, Shen Lingtian isn’t that kind of person either."

"Yan Yan, such people are simply too despicable. We should sue her to death! Lock her in prison for life and never let her out!"

"This must be the doing of ’The Return of the Past’!"

"Don’t let the plagiarist go!"

"The impact of this incident is really too vile! ’Blue Smoke’, please don’t be soft-hearted, show them some real power!"

"Homewrecker!"

"Shameless! Seducing your good sister’s man!"

"My Yan is not a mistress! Please don’t throw around accusations here, alright?"

"To tell the truth, Lu Yan’s features are not those of a decent married woman. Saying she’s a mistress isn’t surprising to me at all."

"Mistress, go die!"

"Yan Yan, don’t be afraid, we all believe in you."

"Yan Yan, love you."

"It must be the water army hired by the plagiarist!"

"Plagiarist, if you have the guts, face Yan Yan head-on! What skill is there in launching sneak attacks from behind?"

Netizens almost all believed in Lu Yan.

Those big-name verified bloggers also retweeted the post, expressing their trust in Lu Yan’s character.

They believed that Lu Yan would definitely be able to resolve this troublesome matter!

Moreover, they also believed that Shen Lingtian, such a lovelorn person, would never betray his recently deceased wife.

So all of this was just gossip after all.

Shen Lingtian then issued a statement, in which every line expressed his yearning for his late wife, and their deep affection for each other. He even hypocritically wrote that if it were possible, he would be willing to exchange his life for hers, to trade his life for Qin Jie’s.

Subsequently, he angrily accused those who edited the photos, imploring them to give the deceased some peace.

His words were straightforward and vigorously cleared up his relationship with Lu Yan, as though these photos were really Photoshopped.

In fact, Shen Lingtian was very scared. When he issued this statement, his hands were trembling. He had never felt as panicked as he did now.

Ever since that incident occurred, he had bodyguards following him 24 hours a day, so it was impossible for anyone to take those pictures.

Especially when he saw the four characters for "The Return of the Past."

He immediately thought of Qin Jie.

This matter was truly too bizarre!

Could it really be Qin Jie coming back for revenge? Sweat bead upon sweat bead formed on Shen Lingtian’s face.

Thinking it over, Shen Lingtian picked up his phone again and sent out another Weibo post.

Shen Lingtian V: I have reported this to the police, please delete these photos immediately! Otherwise, bear the consequences! @TheReturnofthePast.

Just three minutes after Shen Lingtian posted this Weibo.

The intimate photos of Lu Yan and Shen Lingtian on The Return of the Past’s Weibo were gone.

It looked like they had been deleted.

The netizens were in an uproar.

After all that, it turns out they really were Photoshopped! Otherwise, why would the blogger panic and delete the pictures?

Shen Lingtian and Lu Yan also quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Many people flocked to The Return of the Past’s Weibo to hurl abuse.

"The troll chickened out, right?"

"Fool! If you dare, then don’t delete it!"

"Trash! You and The Return of the Past are both garbage."

"Blogger, which photo editing company did you use? Can you introduce me to it?"

"Blogger, does your face hurt?"

Just when everyone thought The Return of the Past had backed down, an even more explosive Weibo post flashed across her homepage.

The Return of the Past: How does it feel, bro-in-law? Exhilarating, right? Despicable couple! [Video][Video][Video][Video][Video] @Lu Yan V, @Shen Lingtian V.