"This is tiring and inconvenient. Do I always have to go there or call personally just to blackmail these executives?" Jiang Li complained in her head after hanging up on the latest call.
Her impatient eyes roamed around, piercing through the transparent walls of the convenient store where passing cars and walking honorable looking people laid beyond. She saw a few ladies in black cardigan and pencil skirts holding umbrellas on their hands. Jiang Li blinked as she cupped her face with her hands, elbows against the surface of the table.
It started raining outside. The night was very dark and gloomy, even if the place outside was lit up by so many neon lighting, lamp posts, and car headlights. It was still the same day, the day Jiang Li fainted, woke up as a host, and went to one of the companies owned by the Chengs to sell information.
When she recalled how she walked into the building yet backed out at the last minute, she suddenly wanted to pull her out of frustration.
"I almost committed a great mistake. Damn it. Which information broker with no credibility whatsoever will show their face before a client? What stupidity is that, huh? Jiang Li? Still so dumb even after you experienced all those sh*ts in your past life?"
Jiang Li stared at her screen as she waited for the call to connect. Meanwhile, she scolded herself for charging towards the battlefield without considering whether she's doing things right or not. She questioned if this was another aftereffect of the soul transfer, but concluded that it was just her not being smart enough. Growth in mentality is really not the same as growth in experience. She still has a long way to go.
"This damnable life. Yeah, when did things become convenient for a villainess?"
Fortunately, she remembered not to show her face at the last minute, or else, people will know that a brainless nameless student is doing something shady.
She sighed, then went back to inquire about the next target from the system.
"So far, five people answered my calls even though it's already past 10 pm. Two of them are initially angry. Maybe due to being disturbed from their sexy time. But later, each of them turned wary after they realized how weird it is for me to know their private numbers." A wide smile appeared on her face like she was so happy for a great deed she just committed against those hateful big personalities.
Jiang Li remembered. All of them promised to contact her tomorrow if her news turns out correct. It annoyed her a bit since she's really expecting fast money. But not long after, she realized that it's an unholy timing, and she had no one else to blame for this another blunder.
"Maybe I'm still too green at it. But whatever," Jiang Li's dark eyes lit up as she saw the icon on the screen changing colors from red to green. As she reached out to bring the phone on her ears, she thought, "Good that it's at night though, none of them are in the middle of a conference or meeting, it will heighten the suspense, and it will become a much livelier discussion. System, you see, most blackmailers or info sellers love to do business at nights for a reason. Hehe."
With a smirk on her face as she sat in a deserted corner facing the glass wall, she opened her mouth and let her sweet voice rang.
"Good evening. Is this Mr. Su?"
....
A woman's wailing echoed out after a loud slapping noise in a huge room decorated with many luxurious items. A king size bed laid in the middle of the blue motif room. On that water bed, a woman with long wavy hair whose age seemed to be in the mid-thirties or early forties was ruthlessly thrown.
"D-dear?" cried the woman in a manner evoking pity and love. The confusion and hurt from her tone would usually serve to amplify those emotions. Unluckily, it wouldn't work against a man whose fury was past the boiling point.
One side of the woman's face was swollen and red, her two teary eyes started to get red from crying. That was the sight that appeared before Su Delan. But the anger in his heart couldn't calm down, and all he could think of was how this same lovely appearance managed to fool him for so many years.
"You love me, no?" He asked.
Dong Min noticed the unnatural redness from both her husband's eyes and face. His glare scared her through and through, and she couldn't wait to answer in hope that she could disperse his anger through that. "Y-yes! Of course, you're my only love! I love you! And even though we've been married for fifteen years, my love didn't diminish one bit!"
For some reason, Su Delan's face turned uglier and the heavy feeling in his heart worsened. The woman was oblivious to this though, and all she could think was why her husband suddenly slap her after he got home from work. She didn't see his hands trembling and balling into fists.
While crying with a hand on her aching cheek, she yelled, "D-Dear, why are you even asking that? What's wrong? Why did you have to hit me? I-If there's some problems weighing on your mind, we can talk it out. Ahhhhh!"
Su Delan ignored his wife's cry of fear and threw his body forward, his hands stretch out like he all he wanted to do right now was strangle the dirty woman in front of him. In fact, he did. His angry, trembling voice ringing throughout the room, triumphing even against the woman's shrill shriek.
"You slut dare! You dare! I will kill you! I will kill you!"
"N-no! I beg you, s-stop! I-I can't breathe! Please stop! Y-you're going out of your mind!"
"Haha, I am going crazy because of you, slut! How could you!"
"A-ack, r-release me!" Dong Min struggled for air as she cried. "S-Su Delan, w-why?"
"Why, you ask? Cry! I want you to die crying! What? You never thought this day would come? Where after your days of crying in delight under Lu Zedong's body in his bed, you'll suddenly find your husband making you cry in fear of your dear life?"
For a moment, the enchanting young looking middle-aged woman stilled, and let the iron hands circling her neck with naked desire to kill her tighten on it. Su Delan saw it and basically confirmed that everything he heard from the anonymous information broker was true.
The redness in his eyes deepened, just like the darkness devouring his heart. His chest tightened in pain. It was hard for him to believe that his wife who had been with him for so many years actually betrayed him and his love. But now that he could see the fear and guilt swimming in her eyes, he had no choice but believe. Even though, he couldn't accept it. His heart suddenly couldn't handle the pain as he asked himself just where he fell short.
Why? Was it that he had been busy with work? Because he was now almost fifty years old, quite fat, and was no longer active in bed? Are those enough reasons for her to betray the husband who fed her and her children, and loved her for so many years? His devotion was taken for granted? Su Delan began to laugh crazily as he contested with Dong Min's hands over her neck.
"You actually put a green hat on me! Huh, Dong Min?"
In the master's bedroom of the Su mansion, a mad husband pinned his wife down by the neck due to the extreme anger that clouded his heart and reasoning. All he could think of was how he was made into a cuckolded husband by the woman he vowed to love for an entire lifetime. The woman did her best to plea for mercy, for him to spare her life while she spewed out words of repent, but it was to no avail when she saw how hurt and angry her adultery made him be. Hot tears started to make contact with her skin, and then she started to realize how grave of a mistake she had just committed. Regret washed over her after. She began to regret because it was already too late.
When Dong Min stopped her futile struggle, the tears that ran down her now lifeless eyes began to dry up. The emotionally hurt man was crying as he laughed. He sat back on the floor and buried his tear-stained face on his hands. The darkness in his heart was actually not erased.
Not long after, he raised his head and groped for the vibrating phone in his trouser's left pocket. His dull eyes read the number showing on the screen. It was the same string of numbers owned by the person who informed him about his wife's adulterous actions, that his wife had been having an affair with his secretary Lu Zedong for more than five years. It was the person who allowed him to break through from blindness, simply to push him to another abyss.
"Mr. Su?" A sweet voice probably belonging to a teenage girl registered on his ears after he pressed the 'answer' icon.
"I suppose you have now confirmed my information." It continued, the voice now reminding him of a she-devil as she laughed and said, "How about you send now the money to me? You can't be ungrateful, can you? Remember, without my warning, you won't even know that you've been donning a green hat for so many years, and for more years to come. Hehe."
Su Delan didn't know how the girl knew about his wife adultery when he had been kept in the dark for so long. He didn't want to continue thinking about it, honestly. But it doesn't mean that he didn't realize the efficiency of the information broker. The situation might be weird, as normally, it was the woman asking for somebody to tail her husband to know if he's being unfaithful. Not the other way around. He didn't really ask for the information, but the girl dared him, and she turned out correct, painfully nailing the hateful truth into his heart.
He closed his eyes, "I'll wire the money over. Don't worry. Even though I hate you for letting me know about this, I'm still grateful. Expect it a few minutes after our call."
"Oh my, that's the greatest news I received just before this day officially ends. Thank you, Mr. Su."
"Don't thank me. Now, bitch. Tell me, do you have every information about Lu Zedong?"
A playful laugh resounded from the other line, "I like what you call me, but how about you add crazy before the word? Haha. And, why ask for Lu Zedong's information when he's just right next to you whenever you go to your office? You also have his number, it's easy for you to call him. You can personally ask."
He felt like he had been mocked by that answer. It was like the girl was reminding him that the hateful bastard he used to trust so much was always near him, yet he failed to see how the bastard was snaking his way into his wife's embrace, invading a place that should have only belonged to him.
"Shut up! Crazy bitch! If I find you I'll kill you! Now, just tell me if you have it or not!"
"Oh, so angry. Why are you like that?" The voice laughed again, so much that Su Delan's eyes were once again red in anger. Thankfully, it resumed speaking before he even managed to erupt. Infuriatingly though, she did after another wave of laughter.
"Don't explode, please? I'm just buying time to pull up the information, okay? Jeez, so impatient. No worries, I'll begin now. Listen up, okay? Lu Zedong, your right-hand man is secretly acquiring the shares of your company. Maybe close to twenty-five percent is now in his hands? And oh, he's also having affairs with the other wives of your company's major shareholders. What a courageous manwhore," then he heard the girl clicking her tongue.
As Su Delan's free hand clutched his chest, he gritted his teeth, but then his eyes widened when another piece of information was thrown to him by the cheerful, sweet but irritating voice.
"By the way," she paused as if to bring their not so pleasant conversation a bit of suspense. "He's a mole planted in your company by the Chengs. I guess you can infer what they're planning against you, Mr. CEO."
....