As soon as Xu Tang left the venue, he gave instructions to Han. "Help me investigate the power behind Annie Lan. I will not believe for a second that she did this on her own."

Han took the car keys that Xu Tang had just flung to him. "Right away CEO."

There was something more important Xu Tang needed to do. He had to check on Lu Meili. After Annie Lan did that to her, she was probably very sad. He needed to cheer her up.

The live broadcast had already ended, so he went right to the backstage. "Meili, do you have a minute?"

Lu Meili's manager was more shocked than she was when she saw Lu Meili cursing at Xu Tang's image on the screen earlier. Just what was the relationship between Lu Meili and the CEO of Xu Corporation?

She took the costume that Lu Meili had just changed out of. "Meili, I have something to say to CEO Lin."

Lu Meili grunted in agreement but glared at the man who had just appeared. "What do you want? Are you disappointed that your girlfriend didn't win even after you helped her steal my routine? What were you trying to do, humiliate me in public? You didn't have enough the last time because it was only the two of us?"

Xu Tang ran his long fingers through his hair. Who would have thought that Lu Meili would misunderstand him this much? But come to think of it, her thoughts were logical. He was the only one who could have helped Annie Lan and indeed he had.

It was only that it was not intentional. He was careless.

On Thursday when Annie Lan caused a ruckus in his company, she had hugged him in tears, pleading with him to listen to her explanation.

At the moment, he had thought that it was something a clingy woman like her was fond of doing. But logically, it was the only time she could have done something fishy. Who knows what she could have dropped in his breast pocket or some other place that he couldn't have found strange?

He only thought about this when he was certain that there was no other way Annie Lan could have seen Lu Meili's routine. As for the costume, just how did she find out?

What was important right now was to explain. "Meili, actually… I did not deliberately betray you. This happened because I was too careless and put my guard down in Annie Lan's presence. I didn't think she could do something so despicable."

Without needing to explain, Lu Meili understood what he was implying. Annie Lan bugged him.

"How did she know we were going to meet up? What about the costume? Small Xixi is the only one who saw it. You didn't even see it before."

Xu Tang frowned. "She couldn't have done anything mischievous. Although she is quite naughty, she loves you more than anyone else. She would never do anything that would hurt your feelings."

Lu Meili turned her face away from him. "I know. However, she would listen to anything her brother says, which in this case is you."

She didn't believe him just yet. People did crazy things for love. She even knew of someone who pretended to be handicapped just to win their love's heart.

Forget about that. Her own father… had done crazy things for her mother. Betraying a friend was nothing in comparison.

"How will I make you believe me?" Xu Tang was helpless.

"If you do not show me a video of Annie Lan bugging you, I will not believe you."

Before he responded, she continued. "Not just any video. It has to be a surveillance video with the date and time as proof. Don't think I don't know what kind of tricks you might play." She had acted in enough movies to know that if he was colluding with Annie Lan to use her, they could act it out.

Xu Tang felt his heart shatter. The woman who had believed everything he said before was now doubting him?

In the past, he could as well point at a star and call it a flashlight but she wouldn't question him. How did it get to this point? Could it be that she only believed him in the past because she loved him and now she was falling out of love?

Why did that thought make his heart hurt even more?

He tapped her armrest. "I will find evidence sooner than you imagine."

___

Actually, perhaps he didn't need to find it. Someone had already found out everything that was going on.

After leaving the venue, she went straight home and sat in the living room, drinking a cup of terribly bitter coffee that only she herself could stomach.

Could it be that her heart was so bitter that she couldn't feel the bitterness of whatever she was drinking?

She took out a tiny camera that had been retrieved from the second dance studio on the tenth floor of HL Entertainment's building.

"If there was no surveillance camera in that dance studio for safety, and if I didn't retrieve Xu Corporation's surveillance footage, I would think that Xu Tang deliberately planted this in that room."

"Who then planted it, mother?"

Lin Lihua looked at the young woman and took another sip. "Annie Lan. She put it on Xu Tang's clothes but it accidentally fell when he was dancing with Meili."

She took out a stack of photos. "This woman's looks are only at most 20 percent similar to Lu Meili. However, she changed her style and started dressing and styling her hair like Meili does… coincidentally one month before her debut."

"Mother, are you thinking that she is deliberately using Meili to make herself popular?"

"Yes and No. Someone put her up to this. Even using a photo, I know that she currently uses makeup from GX brand, just like Meili. From her background, she cannot afford a single lipstick from GX even with her lifetime savings. Don't you find it strange, Ruoxi?"