The Mafia King's First Love

A few days passed by but the wave against Jiang Li refused to calm down. In fact, it became stronger and more humiliating as time passed by. Jiang Weiyuan wanted to delete the posts as soon as possible but Jiang Li rejected the idea.

"Dad. No need to remove anything. I don't care what anybody says about me."

Wei calmly rested his head on his hand. "Then what?"

He shrugged. "It will die down in a few days anyway. Lai Chang can try all he wants but people will forget it soon. It's not going to stay forever."

Jiang Weizhe said, "Old Madam is insisting on a statement as soon as possible."

His gaze darkened. "Lanying won't give any statement. I have already talked to her."

Jiang Weiyuan narrowed his eyes. "I hope you are behaving nicely with her, Li. I understand why you are frustrated but I also understand where she is coming from. Don't be harsh on her."

"...Hm," he silently clenched his fist.

Back at Jiang villa, Jiang Lanying was getting increasingly worried about Jiang Li. The harsh comments were becoming more and more humiliating. If it had been someone else, he would have completely broken down. But Jiang Li was unaffected.

She thought for a moment and picked her phone. The phone rang a few times.

"Lanying? What a surprise. I never thought you would call me," Lai Chang said from the other end."

"Lai Chang, will you please stop this already? What are you getting by taking Li down like this?"

"Lanying, why are you still defending that liar?" He gritted his teeth. "He was fooling you for two years!"

"He did that because he was afraid of losing me! I don't blame him at all. You only care that he kept this a secret but you don't care how much he is suffering until now? Do you understand how hard it is for him?"

"And isn't it hard for you? God damn it. Leave him already. He is not good enough for you!"

Jiang Lanying chuckled. "Not good enough for me only because he cannot give me a child? If it was me, then would you have said otherwise?"

"Of course not Lanying!"

"It's okay, Lai Chang. I already got your answer. If you think that a partner should be so shallow to leave the other in his difficult time, then there is no meaning to talk to you anymore. I called you, hoping to ask you to please stop defaming Li. He is already in pain. He doesn't need the outside world to hate him and add to his problems. But I think you wouldn't listen to me anyway. You can do what you want. I will support Li until the end."

"You...you are only going to suffer with him, Lanying. I am telling you to leave him already!"

She smiled. "I won't. I don't know how I can help him. But the only thing I am sure of is that I would never suffer living my life with Li."

She cut the call and wiped her tears.

"I cannot do anything…" she trembled. "Everytime, it's the same. I cannot help anybody. Not even Li this time…"

"You can help him."

She slightly jolted in surprise. She saw Lihua standing near her room's door, smiling at her.

Lihua sat down beside her and said, "Wei just called me. He said that Jiang Li doesn't want to take the posts down."

She stiffened. "W-why not? I cannot see Li suffer like this…But I don't know what to do...Lixue...I am useless," she broke down. "I want to help Li. I want to ease his burden, but I don't know how. Everything is really complicated…"

"It's not."

She blinked her eyes. "Huh?"

Lihua smiled and held her hand. "Jiang Lanying. If you want to help Jiang Li, you will have to first think about what is the core problem here."

"Core problem?"

"En. What is the question that is affecting you the most? Why are you so uncomfortable with society humiliating Jiang Li? He doesn't care what the others think. You are willing to support him despite what he has faced. So, why is society so important to you? What is the one thing in your heart that you really want everyone to know? It's something that you have to figure out."

She kept quiet.

"You understand that if you take the blame, Jiang Li will be really hurt by that. He loves you so, of course, he will not be able to see people bashing you. But then again there arises the same problem here. Why does Jiang Li also doesn't want society to hate you?"

Lihua smiled and patted her hand. "Just look into your heart. You already have the answer. You have conveyed the same to Jiang Li too. But you have forgotten it because the Weibo comments have overwhelmed you. But I am sure that you will find it once again."

---

The next day, there was only one huge headline in all the online social media and newspapers.

'The Jiang's are holding a press conference!'

As soon as Jiang Li heard this, he immediately stormed into the Old Madam's room. "What is this? Who arranged for the press conference without my knowledge? I already declared that I don't want any action on this!"

The Old Madam was furious. "Jiang Li! You have surely forgotten your ways of talking to me! Don't forget that I am the Matriarch here!"

"I don't care! If you are thinking of bringing Lanying into this press conference then-"

"Lanying asked me to arrange for this press conference herself. She said that she was ready to give her statement."

He froze.

"Lanying told you this…"

She smirked. "So you don't have to worry about anything now. Once she gives her statement, you will be finally free of all the claims. As for how I will handle Lanying's situation after this, I have already thought about this."