Chapter 61: A Slap Across the Face!

In the darkness, Chen Yu’s gaze was freezing cold.

He was awake.

The woman beside him seemed to sense the rigidity in his body and the change in his breathing.

Gu Ningning slowly "opened" her eyes, a trace of perfectly feigned daze and sleepiness lingering in them.

She propped herself up slightly, and her cicada-wing-thin silk nightgown slipped a bit down her smooth shoulders.

A patch of delicate skin was revealed, glowing blindingly white in the dim light.

"Mr. Chen... are you awake?"

She inched closer to Chen Yu with absolute confidence, her body almost pressing completely against his.

In her view, no man in this world could resist a delicacy delivered right to his lips, especially in such the dead of night, isolated with just the two of them.

Chen Yu said nothing, only watching her quietly.

Gu Ningning’s heart skipped a beat under his gaze, but she quickly suppressed that trace of unease.

She assumed this was just the man playing hard to get.

She reached out, her slender fingers trembling slightly as they tentatively brushed against Chen Yu’s sturdy arm.

"I... I was a little cold and couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd come over..."

"Your tent is... so warm."

This excuse was full of loopholes, but as far as she was concerned, men wouldn't care about logic at a time like this.

They would only care about the temptations right in front of them.

However, the heavy breathing and eager movements she expected from the man never came.

Instead, what greeted her was a fierce gale tearing through the air!

"Slap—!"

A crisp, resounding sound of a blow exploded within the silent tent, extraordinarily harsh to the ear.

Gu Ningning's head was jerked violently to one side by the immense force, her cheek turning red and swelling at a visible rate, burning with pain.

She was completely stunned, her ears ringing, her mind blank.

She... she had just been hit?

This man actually hit her?

Before she could recover from this earth-shattering turn of events, an icy voice sounded right beside her ear.

"I usually don't hit women and children."

"But you don't count as a child."

As these words fell, Gu Ningning was dumbfounded.

She snapped her head around, wanting to scream, wanting to interrogate him, wanting to curse this unromantic bastard with the most vicious language.

Before she could make a sound, however, a heart-rending, agonizing pain tore through her scalp!

"Ah—!"

Chen Yu grabbed a handful of her long, dark hair and dragged her ruthlessly out of the sleeping bag, showing no mercy whatsoever.

Gu Ningning’s pain made tears burst from her eyes, and she instinctively opened her mouth to shriek.

Yet, a broad, powerful hand instantly clamped over her mouth.

"Mmm-mmm..."

"I don't want to wake the children, so shut your mouth."

Gu Ningning shuddered all over, and terror instantly overwhelmed her anger.

She could see in Chen Yu’s eyes that he meant it.

If she dared to make another peep, she had no idea what even more terrifying things this man might do.

She could only nod frantically, tears and snot smudged all over her face in utter humiliation.

Chen Yu dragged her by the hair, keeping his hand clamped over her mouth, half-dragging and half-pulling her out of the tent.

The night breeze was slightly chilly, blowing against Gu Ningning’s thin nightgown and making her shiver involuntarily.

All of this was faithfully recorded by a night-vision camera hidden in the bushes not far away.

The live-streaming room instantly exploded into chaos.

At this hour, although most viewers had already fallen asleep, hundreds of thousands of the most hardcore night-owl fans were still hanging in the stream, idly watching their idols' sleeping faces.

When the zipper of Chen Yu’s tent was pulled open and a figure was brutally dragged out, everyone was dumbfounded.

[What the hell??? What's going on? Am I hallucinating?]

[Is... is that Chen Yu? Who is he dragging out?]

[Wait! That woman's hairstyle and pajamas... look like... Gu Ningning?!]

[Holy crap! Major news! Chen Yu dragged Gu Ningning out of his tent in the middle of the night? And he's pulling her by the hair?]

[An abusive man? This is way too far! How can he treat a woman like this? Won't the production team do something?]

[Hitting a woman? And on a live broadcast? Has Chen Yu lost his mind? Even if Gu Ningning did something, he shouldn't resort to violence!]

[Wait, bros, the logic doesn't add up! Why was Gu Ningning in Chen Yu's tent? Wearing pajamas? This... has a lot of implications!]

Chen Yu dragged the nearly limp Gu Ningning straight to Jiang Zhiyun's tent.

Without the slightest hesitation, he used his free hand to slap against the tent.

"Jiang Zhiyun, come out for a second."

There was silence in the tent for a few seconds, followed by rustling sounds.

Soon, the tent zipper was pulled open, and Jiang Zhiyun poked her head out.

She was clearly woken up as well, a hint of sleepiness still lingering on her face, her eyes somewhat dazed.

But the moment she saw the scene before her, all sleepiness instantly vanished into thin air.

Jiang Zhiyun's pupils constricted sharply.

She wasn't a fool; almost instantly, she connected all the dots together.

The probing during the day, the pillow talk late at night, Gu Ningning's pointed remarks, plus her attire and location at this very moment...

Her face turned even colder than Chen Yu's in a split second.

"She..." Jiang Zhiyun's voice sounded somewhat dry.

Chen Yu released his hand from Gu Ningning’s mouth, but his grip on her hair didn't slacken at all.

As if tossing away a piece of trash, he pushed Gu Ningning forward a step and said coldly to Jiang Zhiyun:

"Keep your people under control. Dressed like this in the middle of the night, running into my tent and claiming she was cold."

Chen Yu's description was simple and direct, devoid of any embellishment, yet overwhelmingly vivid.

"She's your friend. Figure out what to do with her."

With that, he let go of her hair and patted his palms in disgust.

Freed from his grip, Gu Ningning collapsed limply onto the ground and burst into loud sobs, crying out accusations as she wept:

"Zhiyun, don't listen to his lies! It was him... it was him who called me over! He said he couldn't sleep alone and asked me to keep him company... sob... I never thought he was this kind of person, he hit me, and he..."

Her crying was loud enough for everyone in the surrounding tents to hear.

However, Jiang Zhiyun merely looked down at her coldly.

"Gu Ningning," Jiang Zhiyun slowly began, "starting today, all industries under the Jiang Group will terminate any and all cooperation with the Gu Group. Immediately, right now."

Gu Ningning’s crying cut off abruptly.

She raised her head in disbelief, staring at Jiang Zhiyun.

She had thought Jiang Zhiyun would at most lecture her a bit, or sweep the matter under the rug to save face.

Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined Jiang Zhiyun would be this ruthless!

Terminate all cooperation?

Although the Gu Group could be considered a medium-sized enterprise, nearly forty percent of its business relied on the giant tree of the Jiang family!

If the Jiang Group unilaterally terminated cooperation, it would be an absolute, devastating blow to the Gu Group!

"Zhiyun... you... you can't do this to me!"