Chapter 99: Holding Another Press Conference

Qian Lili was now regretting her initial actions.

If she hadn't listened to Li Qiang's nonsense at the beginning, she wouldn't have ended up in this situation today.

"If I had known, I should have stopped you. Now you've brought this on yourself and dragged me and our daughter down with you. Everyone knows it was our family that splashed dirty water on Shang Yiran. How will our daughter face people in the future?"

The more Qian Lili spoke, the more she regretted it, and in the end, she covered her face and cried out loud.

"I was truly blind to have married you. Besides playing cards and asking me for money, have you ever contributed anything to this family?"

"The thing I regret most in my life, Qian Lili, is marrying you. If I could choose again, I would rather be alone for the rest of my life than be with you, and I certainly wouldn't let my daughter suffer like this!"

The little girl stood beside Qian Lili, at a loss, and could only keep patting her shoulder to comfort her: "Mom, don't cry..."

Listening to her daughter's comfort, Qian Lili's tears fell even more heavily.

As she cried, she suddenly seemed to realize something, widened her eyes, and looked at Li Qiang, her voice rising an octave: "Li Qiang, tell me the truth. What that reporter said, it couldn't be true, could it?"

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"

Li Qiang almost fainted from anger when he heard Qian Lili's questioning.

"It's one thing for others to splash dirty water on me, but even you don't believe me? Mo Mo is our own biological daughter. Although I sometimes have a quick temper and have disciplined her, I only hit her twice and scolded her a few times. How could I possibly do such a beastly thing? Those are all frame-ups!"

However, the suspicion in Qian Lili's eyes did not dissipate much.

"Hmph! How can I be sure you aren't lying to me? You could even do such a shameless thing as framing the benefactor who funded our daughter's schooling. I should have known long ago that you have absolutely no bottom line!"

"You bitch!"

"Didn't you also agree with my approach when you heard we could get money? Now that something has happened, you push all the responsibility onto me. Do you have any conscience left?"

"You have the nerve to ask me if I have a conscience? If I really didn't have a conscience, I would have run away with our daughter long ago. Who would be here suffering and tired with you..."

However, Qian Lili seemed unable to hear his words, just wailing and beating her chest, her shrill voice making Li Qiang's head spin.

"Ring, ring..."

Just as Li Qiang wanted to go to the balcony to smoke a cigarette and get some air, the phone on the sofa suddenly rang.

He had been refusing to answer calls for the past few days, but now, with a belly full of anger and nowhere to vent, he walked a few steps to the sofa, grabbed the phone, pressed the answer button, and started cursing without asking who it was.

"I was framed by those beasts! Stop harassing me! I'm warning you, if you dare to call again, I'll kill you @#～/..."

Just as Li Qiang was crazily cursing the other party with all sorts of vicious profanities, a calm voice suddenly came from the phone receiver:

"Mr. Li, don't be anxious. I have a way to help you get out of your current situation."

Li Qiang was stunned, then nervously asked: "What way do you have? Who are you? Why do you want to help me?"

If someone had come to him a few days ago saying they wanted to help, he would definitely have accepted it gladly. But now, those reporters and media were eager to kick him while he was down and dig out more stains to make a big deal out of them. How could they possibly be kind enough to help him?

"You don't need to know who I am. You only need to know that I can help you get out of this predicament so that those reporters will never bother you and your family again."

"Really?" Li Qiang's tone was skeptical.

"You have utility value to them right now, so of course they will keep a close eye on you, wanting to dig out more explosive news from you."

The youth on the other end of the phone smiled faintly, then continued: "As long as you immediately withdraw your lawsuit from the court now, and then tell everyone the truth, admitting that you framed Shang Yiran for profit, once the truth comes out, the heat will die down in a few days. Since the media won't be able to get anything more valuable from you, they naturally won't pester you anymore."

Li Qiang roared with full anger upon hearing this: "What kind of bullshit method is this? Asking me to take the initiative to admit to framing Shang Yiran? Isn't this forcing me into a dead end? Are you from Shang Yiran's agency?"

If he were to admit to framing Shang Yiran now, not only would he not get any benefits, but he would also be adding to his crimes.

Unless his brain was flooded with water, he wouldn't take the initiative to hand over the handle.

"Li Qiang, you aren't still naively thinking that you can get hush money from Shang Yiran after that press conference the other day, are you?"

"Tian Feng Entertainment did indeed want to use money to settle the matter and reach a private settlement with you before. That was because they didn't want to damage the company's reputation, so they were unwilling to go through formal procedures and drag things out with you for a long time."

"But today is no longer what it used to be. Public opinion no longer believes your words and has determined that you are framing Shang Yiran and splashing dirty water on him. Tian Feng Entertainment naturally doesn't need to spend money to avert disaster, and you have no strong evidence to point to Shang Yiran. Even if it really goes to court, you will lose."

"Before, you could rely on the advantage of public opinion to pressure Shang Yiran and Tian Feng Entertainment, but now that only advantage is gone. Do you think you can still get the money?"

"Since you can't get the money no matter what you do, it's better to confess now, apologize to the media and the general public, and end this as quickly as possible."

"The heat of any news is limited. Within a week, those reporters and paparazzi surrounding you will be attracted by other hot topics and won't keep chasing you."

"However, if you remain stubborn and refuse to withdraw the lawsuit, those reporters will try to dig out more gossip from you, and your whole family will have no peace."

Li Qiang fell silent upon hearing this.

A moment later, he hung up the phone with a sunken face.

The youth's words put him in a dilemma.

If he withdrew the lawsuit now, he would end up with nothing.

But as the youth said, now neither Shang Yiran nor Tian Feng Entertainment would give him hush money again.

If he didn't withdraw the lawsuit, those reporters would keep pestering him, and no matter where he went, people would point fingers at him.

The reporters' harassment over the past few days had already exhausted Li Qiang.

If it continued for a while longer, he would go crazy.

Although Li Qiang didn't know the identity of this strange youth, nor did he know his purpose, it was certain that the other party was right.

The reason he was so sure he could get money a few days ago was that public opinion regarded him as a victim, and those netizens who didn't know the truth spontaneously stood up for him against Shang Yiran.

But ever since the press conference, his reputation had plummeted, and no one believed him anymore.

"Damn it!"

Li Qiang kicked the trash can beside him in anger, grabbed his hair, and sat on the sofa, "I just wanted some money. Is that too much to ask?"

"Why do you all have to force me!"

Li Qiang couldn't figure out why his flawless plan had turned out like this.

The media slandered him as a pervert who threatened his own biological daughter, and even his wife wanted to run away from home with their daughter.

But the reason he went to frame Shang Yiran was also for this family!

Isolated and helpless, Li Qiang's emotions gradually collapsed. Now, he finally understood Shang Yiran's situation and feelings from a few days ago.

But Shang Yiran still had an agent who supported and believed in him, while Li Qiang had now become a rat crossing the street, shouted at by everyone.

Three days later.

The insults toward Li Qiang on the internet not only didn't stop, but more and more netizens were denouncing him.

Some netizens even human-fleshed out Li Qiang's home address and sent him express packages containing razor blades, dead mice, and the like.

Eventually, Li Qiang couldn't withstand the pressure and posted a statement on his Weibo, indicating that he was willing to hold another press conference. ===== CHAPTER 100 =====