The Traitor (9)

"Joann Fong exposed: A Real Witch at Work." was the headline of the particular newspaper that was left behind on his table. The article went on to describe the debacle that happened during the press conference.

Joann's co-star, Lee Mu exposed the woman's horrid working attitude and swore to not work with her again. Lin Kang found the reporting to be quite weird overall because Lee Mu's expose came very much out of the blue. There was no recorded falling out or the article would have included that information. Regardless, the negative reporting still did quite a number on Joann's reputation.

Unlike the earlier scandal which was limited to a local, pretty much unknown tabloid, Lee Mu's so-called confession was reported by the nation's major press. Lin Kang went online and he managed to confirm this fact.

Many major news sites were all reporting on this. It was a veritable viral news.

Lin Kang realized this scandal was something that could ruin Joann's career. Such was the fate of a public figure, one's public opinion could be overturned in a matter of seconds and there was nothing one could do but to surrender to it.

While Lin Kang scrolled through the internet, he had already come across online petitions asking to remove Joann from the upcoming sequel to Bringing the Nation's Husband Home. Some of them had gained a rather big amount of support. It is a sad truth but the public often acts as a blind flock, just there to follow the opinion leaders. Either people really hated Joann that much or some online "keyboard warriors" had been bought to sway the public support against the female actor.

They did this by releasing statements or so-called proofs that were damaging to Joann's name. Some even provided testimonies, saying they were direct victim of Joann's horrendous behavior.

In today's age of sensational news, very little few online users had the luxury or desire to follow through on the authenticity of these claims. They bought them easily.

Even though Lin Kang only had the pleasure of meeting Joann in person once, she did not give him the impression that she was such a difficult person to work with. A little headstrong and feisty perhaps but never unprofessional or rude.

Furthermore, Lin Kang had faith in his wife's judgement of character. In other words, if Joann was as horrible as the person described in the article, then Lin Kang believed Xiu Ling would not have stayed friends with her throughout the years.

Ultimately, Lin Kang did not feel that bad for what happened to Joann. After all, the man saw this as the perfect opportunity for him to get back into his wife's good graces. If he managed to set the facts straight and clear Joann's name, Xiu Ling should be willing to forgive him, at least that was what Lin Kang hoped.

The next question thus became, how was he going to help save Joann from this situation. This was not something that he was used to dealing with, he dealt with business, trades and contracts, not celebrity drama.

However, for the sake of his wife, Lin Kang channeled every single brain cell that he had and in the end, he came up with a bare-bone plan that he believed could work. The key to the whole situation was Lee Mu. He was the one who supposedly exposed Joann. Whether he was being serious or not, Lin Kang knew Lee Mu held the key to solving this issue. Lin Kang needed to talk to Lee Mu but he knew the man would not agree to a meeting so easily, especially when the whole world was hounding him to get more information due to his recent explosion with regards to his co-star.

However, at the end of the day, celebrities themselves represented a business so Lin Kang only needed to offer Lee Mu a contract that he could not refuse, and he would gain the chance to have a little chat with the man. Based on the kind of information he could squeeze out of Lee Mu, Lin Kang would decide what he was going to do next.

With an initial plan set in place, Lin Kang approached Xiu Ling.

His wife was hesitant to see him and Lin Kang could not help but beat himself over the stupid decision that he had done.

When Lin Kang updated Xiu Ling on the recent development regarding Joann, Lin Kang was surprised that Xiu Ling had not heard about this before. Just how distracted his wife must be that she had not been following the biggest scandal that had happened in her best friend's career?

Xiu Ling was shocked beyond belief that one of Joann's close friend would turn on her like this. When she wanted to do something to help her friend, Lin Kang arrived like a knight in shining armour with a plan in tow.

Lin Kang explained the plan that he had come up with Xiu Ling. Xiu Ling nodded along as her husband went over the details. Like a true businessman, the plan that Lin Kang came up with was much too straightforward and forceful. Lin Kang was used to doing things that way because in the world of business, competition for the man was rare. He could practically demand anything he wanted during negotiation.

However, they were not doing a business contract this time. The plan could not be obvious with its purpose to entrap Lee Mu. In other words, Lin Kang's plan needed a little more finesse and tact, which incidentally was what Xiu Ling was good at.

Xiu Ling offered a few changes to Lin Kang's plan and the man was surprised how good his wife was at drafting a business deal. Perhaps Xiu Ling had untapped business potential that she herself did not know about.

In any case, with the combined forces of both Xiu Ling and Lin Kang, an updated plan was soon created and put into motion.