After the divorce, I started to transfer

Not long after, Chen Feng's phone vibrated; it was a message from Lu Sijia calling Li Qingmei's phone number.

Without thinking twice, Chen Feng made the call.

At this moment, Li Meiqing was standing outside the entrance of the China World Trade Center, pacing back and forth with a somewhat anxious expression, her gaze occasionally falling on the screen of her tightly gripped phone.

After waiting for about ten minutes, the phone finally rang. She saw an unfamiliar number on the screen, took a deep breath, and forced herself to remain calm as she pressed the answer button.

"Hello, I am Li Meiqing."

Li Meiqing introduced herself first, her voice carrying a hint of barely perceptible nervousness, and quietly awaited the other party's response.

"Hello, I'm Chen Feng, the boss of Fengmang Film & Television. What can I do for you?"

Although Chen Feng had a vague idea of ​​the other party's intentions, he still wanted to ask before getting a definite answer.

"Hello, Mr. Chen. It's like this, I'm contacting you specifically to sincerely apologize. Yesterday, I happened to see you and that lady sitting by the lake in Lakeside Park. The affection and beauty of your scene deeply moved me, so I impulsively asked my cameraman, Mr. Luo, to film it. Later, as you know, I went up to you hoping to have a brief interview with you both, but you declined."

“I respected your personal wishes very much, so I didn’t bother you any further at the time. Later, I also strictly followed your request and asked the cameraman to delete all the footage that was shot. Who knew that the cameraman, Mr. Luo, did not do it completely, but secretly made a backup. I only found out about this when I was called in for a talk with my supervisor not long ago. I am really sorry to have caused you so much trouble.”

Chen Feng listened quietly to her statement, which was indeed similar to his previous guess.

However, Chen Feng naturally wouldn't easily believe her attempts to distance herself from the situation.

"Did the leader speak with that cameraman?" Chen Feng asked calmly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Yes, the leader called me and Master Luo over together. At first, I was completely dumbfounded. Master Luo was quite frightened at the time and repeatedly assured the leader that there would definitely be no backup of that video."

After a period of calm and repeated reflection, Li Meiqing has become wiser. Instead of rushing to protest her innocence or desperately explaining herself to Chen Feng, she has chosen this gradual approach.

Chen Feng, being as perceptive as he was, naturally discerned the deeper meaning hidden in her words. With a slight twitch of his lips, he asked directly, "So, the video leak has nothing to do with you?"

Li Meiqing immediately replied, "The video leak really has nothing to do with me, but after all, it was my suggestion to film and interview you and that lady. So, I believe I also bear some joint responsibility. That's why I mustered up the courage to make this call and sincerely apologize to you."

Chen Feng understood her little scheme, of course. In the end, she was just scared and wanted to get rid of herself completely from any potential extortion attempts.

However, Chen Feng did not believe that she had nothing to do with the extortion.

The reason is simple: she was an insider who witnessed and filmed him with Zhang Jingwen.

As long as Master Luo isn't out of his mind, he won't abandon her to work alone. Otherwise, if Li Meiqing were to report him, Master Luo would be in deep trouble.

Actually, Chen Feng didn't really care whether she was involved or not. The only thing he cared about was that the video couldn't be leaked and couldn't cause trouble for Zhang Jingwen and him.

“I don’t care whether you were involved or not, I only care whether the video was leaked. If it was leaked, I will hold you and that Master Luo accountable. Don’t blame me for taking my revenge on you then.”

Chen Feng's tone was naturally not polite to those who attempted to extort money.

If it weren't for the previous conversations between the two leaders, Chen Feng's threatening words wouldn't have had much of a impact on Li Meiqing.

But now, these words made Li Meiqing panic. She could no longer maintain her composure and blurted out in fright, "President Chen, I really didn't participate in this. It was entirely Luo Liang's own idea. He has four people in his family who depend on him to support them, so he's under a lot of financial pressure and that's why he had such a crooked idea. I really didn't participate in it at all."

Chen Feng sneered and retorted, "Did your boss just tell you outright that someone is blackmailing you with videos?"

Li Meiqing was taken aback upon hearing this, then realized that she had almost let something slip in her haste, and quickly tried to cover it up: "Not long ago, Director Zhang from the Broadcasting Bureau and Director Li from our TV station spoke with Luo Liang and me. Although they didn't say it explicitly, the implication was quite clear. And yesterday, Luo Liang jokingly mentioned to me that the lady you were with looked a lot like a female celebrity. So, after the leaders spoke with me, I immediately thought that he might have secretly backed up the video of you and that lady, and wanted to ask you for hush money. President Chen, I really wasn't involved in this."

"Alright, I understand what you mean. You think you're innocent, right? But that won't work unless Luo Liang tells me this himself and takes all the blame. Otherwise, I'll assume you two are in cahoots. If anything goes wrong, I'll come after you two."

Chen Feng's words were logically clear and flawless, leaving Li Meiqing with no way to refute them. However, deep down, she truly felt she had been terribly wronged. She genuinely hadn't participated in the extortion; at most, she was just an insider. What wrong could that be? The one at fault was Luo Liang; he was the real culprit.

Li Meiqing could only grit her teeth and say, "Okay, I understand. I'll make him tell you himself."

"Actually, as long as you can guarantee that the videos have been completely destroyed without any backups, and promise that they will never be leaked, we will not pursue this matter any further."

After pondering for a moment, Li Meiqing said with some helplessness, "I can only guarantee that I really don't have any videos or backups of any kind. But Luo Liang... he probably does. He mentioned to me before that he gave the backup videos to his wife for safekeeping."

“Okay, I understand. Have him call me now, and I’ll talk to him personally. As long as he can assure me that the videos have been completely destroyed, there are no backups, and they will absolutely not be leaked, I won’t bother arguing with small fry like you.”

"Thank you, thank you for your magnanimity. Actually, I feel quite sorry for him. He has two children, the youngest of whom is still breastfeeding, and his wife is a full-time stay-at-home mom. The entire family's livelihood rests on his shoulders. If something really happens to him, his family will be completely ruined."

Li Meiqing was doing her best to gain sympathy for Luo Liang, but of course, she was mainly doing this to protect herself. Otherwise, if Chen Feng really took drastic measures to retaliate against Luo Liang, she, as his "accomplice," could very well be implicated innocently.

Unfortunately, Chen Feng wasn't particularly impressed by her words. There are countless people in this world who struggle to make ends meet, and many are single-handedly supporting their entire families.

But this obviously cannot be a reason to break the law and commit crimes.

"Alright, stop with the nonsense. Tell him to contact me right now, that's all."

After Chen Feng finished speaking, he hung up the phone immediately.

Li Meiqing held her phone, stunned for a long while, before finally letting out a long sigh.

It's clear from this brief phone call that while Chen Feng's style is somewhat domineering, he's also a fairly reasonable person. Otherwise, the other party could have simply stopped arguing and called the police to arrest them both.

Of course, she also understood that the other party might not have done so out of kindness, but rather out of concern that the video would be leaked, and was therefore hesitant to act for fear of causing harm.

After her mind wandered for a while, she finally calmed down and dialed Luo Liang's number.

At this moment, Luo Liang and his wife were sitting facing each other at home, looking gloomy and unable to even eat dinner.

When Luo Liang saw that it was Li Meiqing calling, his first instinct was to reject the call, but then he thought that something might be going on at work, so he answered it anyway.

"What is it?" Luo Liang asked, his tone impatient.

Li Meiqing didn't waste any words with him and went straight to the point: "I just spoke with Chen Feng on the phone."

"Chen Feng?" Luo Liang didn't react for a moment, but soon he remembered who Chen Feng was and quickly asked, "What did you say to him? What was his attitude?"

Li Meiqing stated truthfully, "His attitude was somewhat domineering, but overall, he was reasonable. He made it clear that as long as the video wasn't leaked, he wouldn't cause you any trouble. But once the video was leaked, he would definitely retaliate against you severely."

Upon hearing this, Luo Liang shuddered and eagerly asked, "Did he really say that?"

"Yes, that's what he said. I have no reason to lie to you about something like this."

"That's good, that's good. I definitely won't let this video leak out." Luo Liang breathed a sigh of relief.

"Do you still have backups? Take my advice and delete them all, delete them completely. Otherwise, if they are accidentally leaked, with his power, it would be very easy for him to ruin your family."

"No...nothing. I deleted everything as soon as I got home, so there's definitely no backup. A big shot like him is someone we ordinary folks can't afford to mess with. I definitely wouldn't dare to have any more crooked thoughts."

Li Meiqing frowned slightly and said pointedly, "I know you must have a backup. You want to keep this as a bargaining chip to make the other party hesitate to act, right?"

"Of course not! You're overthinking it. The other party is that capable. Even if I really had a backup, if they really wanted to harm me, I would be powerless to fight back."

"It's good that you understand this principle. Listen to me, whatever you do, don't keep any backups. Actually, you should also know that even if this video is really exposed, it won't cause much harm to Chen Feng himself. For someone of his level, even if he were married, a little affair wouldn't be a big deal. He's neither a public official nor a public figure, so what substantial harm could it cause him? As for Zhang Jingwen, she's covered her face the whole time in the video, wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a mask, even her ears are completely covered by her hair. As long as she insists it wasn't her, it won't cause her any harm. So, what's the point of keeping a backup of this video?"

Her advice, at first glance, seemed quite reasonable. Of course, her main reason for saying this was for her own sake. If Luo Liang kept a backup, and it were accidentally leaked in the future, she would inevitably be implicated and suffer ruthless retaliation from Chen Feng's side. For safety's sake, it was best to destroy it completely, leaving no future trouble.

“That makes sense…” Luo Liang instinctively wanted to refute, but he stopped himself in time. He instead said, “You’re right, that’s what I thought too. So as soon as I got back, I immediately destroyed both the copy my wife had and my own copy of the video. However, my wife sent a copy to the email address Zhang Jingwen provided, so there should still be a backup in that email. Also, Zhang Jingwen herself should have one too. I can’t guarantee what’s going on with her.”

Li Meiqing hadn't really considered Zhang Jingwen's side before, but now that Luo Liang reminded her, her heart skipped a beat.

According to what Chen Feng said on the phone, if the video is leaked, he will hold both himself and Luo Liang accountable.

She thought it made sense just now, but now that Zhang Jingwen has the video, it means the risk of the video being leaked has increased significantly.

If Zhang Jingwen accidentally leaks the video in the future, wouldn't she be even more wronged than Dou E?
Li Meiqing immediately became furious and angrily rebuked, "You're really going to get me killed! You know perfectly well what kind of people he and Zhang Jingwen are, yet you still dared to send them videos to blackmail them. You're so stupid! Utterly stupid!"

Being harshly criticized by Li Meiqing, Luo Liang was naturally very unhappy and immediately retorted, "You're fucking clever, trying to distance yourself from the situation from the beginning, but have you managed to do so now?"

Upon hearing this, Li Meiqing became even more furious. Just then, she noticed several passersby casting curious glances in her direction. Clearly, her loud voice had attracted their attention.

She could only forcefully suppress her anger, stepping back a little before lowering her voice and continuing into the phone, "You know very well that I had absolutely no involvement in this extortion scheme you orchestrated. So, you must help me clarify this to Chen Feng. If you do, we'll be even, and we can still be friends and colleagues at work. Otherwise... you should understand what I mean."

Luo Liang instinctively wanted to continue mocking her, but his wife quietly tugged at him and gave him a series of winks, signaling him to agree first.

Luo Liang then said somewhat reluctantly, "I can help you clarify things, but you must first apologize to me for your attitude just now. Also, give me Chen Feng's contact information."

Li Meiqing really wanted to yell back: What the hell should I apologize to you for?

But she managed to hold back, took a deep breath, and tried to speak calmly: "I'm sorry, I was just angry and that's why I said those hurtful things. I apologize."

Luo Liang felt a little better and quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic: "Then give me Chen Feng's contact information now, and I'll contact him right away to help you clarify this matter."

"Okay, I'll send it to you right away."

As she spoke, Li Meiqing immediately copied Chen Feng's phone number and sent it to Luo Liang. Then she instructed him, "When you call him later, don't talk too much about what happened between us, and don't go into too much detail about your blackmail. Just help me clarify that I have nothing to do with this, and also assure him that the video will never be leaked again. At the same time, you should also remind him that Zhang Jingwen also has a backup of the video. For safety's sake, it would be best to have all of Zhang Jingwen's videos destroyed, especially the ones in that email address."

"Okay, I understand. I hope he really means what he said and won't pursue the matter any further."

"A man of his stature wouldn't lie to you about something like this. Okay, contact him quickly; he just mentioned on the phone that he wanted you to contact him too. I'll wait for your news."

"Okay, I understand. That's all for now."

After hanging up the phone, Luo Liang looked at his wife with some confusion and asked, "Why did you insist that I agree to help her clarify things?"

His wife shook her head with a wry smile and said, "She wasn't really involved in this matter to begin with, so why should we drag her into it? Besides, she's your colleague, and she's a reporter. She could very well become a host at the station in the future, and might even get in touch with some leader. If you completely offend her this time, it will be too late for regrets if she wants to retaliate. Also, think about it carefully. Even if you clear her name now, she will definitely be implicated once the video is leaked. So, you might as well do her a favor."

Luo Liang thought about it carefully and realized it made perfect sense, so he nodded in agreement. (End of Chapter)