The agent said, "If it weren't for the interference four years ago, you two might have been together already. Why keep deceiving yourself?"

A flicker of panic crossed Sheng Wenyue's eyes. "I never thought about cheating or doing anything to hurt Ruan Jia."

"But that's not how netizens see it now. We absolutely cannot let this leaked information be labeled as infidelity during marriage. Otherwise, both you and Wang Jiani will be finished."

Seeing that Sheng Wenyue still wouldn't budge, the agent continued his agitated analysis:

"Even if we make Wang Jiani the villain and you and Ruan Jia play it up, saying you were just helping a junior from the same agency and didn't expect it to cause misunderstandings. But that's not enough to prove your innocence. People will say your behavior was improper, that you didn't avoid suspicion..."

Sheng Wenyue angrily interrupted, "My conscience is clear. I'm innocent."

"But your endorsements, the company's stock price, have all been affected. It's not something you can change just by saying your conscience is clear," the agent said. "You can't be the one at fault. You can only be the victim to preserve everything you have now. As long as you listen to me, divorce could..."

"Enough, stop talking. I won't get divorced," Sheng Wenyue said firmly.

"Then how do you propose to solve this? With that video out there, Wang Jiani can't be cleared. If we try to let it blow over, the result will be the same as if she took all the blame. But can you bear that? Wang Jiani is a talented actress. If we really choose this path, she'll be completely ruined. She's already been destroyed once before. Aren't you afraid she'll attempt suicide again? Didn't you always say that you and Ruan Jia owed her?"

Sheng Wenyue's body stiffened, his eyes becoming vacant. His lips trembled, "I can't do this to Ruan Jia! She hasn't done anything wrong."

The agent's expression changed as he said, "That may not be true."

Sheng Wenyue looked at the agent in shock. "What do you mean?"

The agent calmly analyzed, "What about those photos of her being sick?"

Sheng Wenyue swayed as if just remembering this detail, a flash of worry crossing his mind: Could she really be sick?

"Didn't you say before that she pretended to be sick to stop you from helping Wang Jiani? How can there be such a coincidence in this world?" the agent said. "And after this happened, why isn't she answering her phone? Isn't it because she feels guilty?"

Sheng Wenyue froze, frowning as he said, "You mean she deliberately staged those photos to add fuel to the fire?"

"Isn't it just that she saw an opportunity to get revenge on you, gain sympathy from netizens, stand on the moral high ground, and force you to abandon Wang Jiani and have a change of heart?" the agent said dismissively.

Sheng Wenyue's expression changed. That's right, Ruan Jia couldn't have suddenly fallen ill, yet there were these fake photos. It was clearly intentional.

"She's so inconsiderate of the big picture, causing us so much trouble. Wenyue, you really should teach her a lesson. Not only can't she help your career, but she's trying to hinder it."

The agent knew that with Sheng Wenyue's acting skills, he was currently at the peak of his popularity. At his age, it was time to change direction and seek greater development. So his blueprint was for the leading actor and actress to advance hand in hand towards a mid-life career trajectory, rather than an ordinary wife who could only hide in the background and worry about exposure risks at any time.

But Sheng Wenyue had always adhered to his principles, making it impossible for the agent to realize his vision. However, he also felt that Sheng Wenyue would eventually follow his own heart and choose true love.

Perhaps this was the opportunity.

Seeing Sheng Wenyue's face darken, he began to angrily try to call Ruan Jia again. But still, no one answered.

The agent wanted to encourage him further, but Sheng Wenyue still wasn't willing to give in.

The agent sighed, only addressing the current situation, "Actually, you could pacify Ruan Jia and get the divorce papers done first. You can treat it as a fake divorce, just wait for this storm to blow over before deciding what to do next."

Whether they would remarry or marry someone else later, the agent didn't care.

Sheng Wenyue obviously paused for a moment. A fake divorce and a sincere divorce, even if both were 'de facto divorces', seemed to represent completely different meanings in his eyes.

The agent sensed an opportunity and said directly, "Explain the pros and cons clearly to Ruan Jia. I'm not targeting your wife, it's just that if we let Ruan Jia be the villain, the losses would be minimized. She's an ordinary person, even if she's hated by everyone online, she can go abroad to avoid it for a while. After some time, there won't be any more attention on her. She won't suffer any losses at all, which is better than ruining you, Wang Jiani, and the whole company, right? At worst, you can compensate her more afterwards. If she truly loves you, she definitely wouldn't want to really ruin you, she'll definitely cooperate with you."

Sheng Wenyue's eyes flickered slightly. Just then, the phone connected.

Sheng Wenyue felt a panic in his heart, but reflexively asked in his coldest tone, "Where are you? Why didn't you answer the phone for so long? I have something to tell you. Let's meet."0

"...I'm in the hospital."

Sheng Wenyue was stunned, feeling a surge of anger rise suddenly. He was already annoyed and dizzy, yet Ruan Jia was still full of lies.

"Enough! When will this end? Ruan Jia, the video incident was indeed unfair to you, it's my fault, but did you have to add fuel to the fire? I've already told you, there's nothing between me and Jiani, I won't betray our marriage. Why do you still have to use the trick of pretending to be sick to manipulate me?" Sheng Wenyue instinctively retorted, as if firmly believing that Ruan Jia couldn't possibly be sick.

There was silence on Ruan Jia's end. Sheng Wenyue felt inexplicably suffocated for a moment, but still angrily ignored all the abnormalities.

"Forget it, I won't argue with you, and I won't hold it against you for posting those photos. You must know the situation online now, it's too serious, Jiani almost died just now. We've thought of a solution here."

As he spoke, Sheng Wenyue quickly explained the pros and cons of who should take the blame, but when it came to mentioning the fake divorce, he seemed unable to say it, feeling strangely anxious. As the agent kept urging him, Ruan Jia suddenly exploded on the other end.

"Sheng Wenyue, did I hear wrong? You want me to admit that I provoked her in the video, you want me to admit I'm faking illness? You want me to apologize to everyone online, are you crazy? You clearly know your wife has been bullied and wronged, yet you still want to protect Wang Jiani and make me admit to those false accusations. Is this what you mean by not betraying our marriage? Then what would count as betrayal, only after you sleep with her?"

Ruan Jia was now sprawled awkwardly on the bed, her body drenched in sweat from pain and trembling with anger, almost shouting herself hoarse, as if on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

Sheng Wenyue was stunned by the shouting, feeling stung when he heard the words "sleep with her", as if his integrity had been insulted. He angrily said, "What nonsense are you talking about! Stop arguing, Ruan Jia. You've been wronged this time, I will definitely make it up to you, listen to me..."

"No way! You want me to clear things up for her, pave the way for your future, no way! She loves to commit suicide so much, why can't she just die? Just die already!"

Why wouldn't someone like that die, but instead let her...

Sheng Wenyue didn't expect Ruan Jia to say such vicious words. He was so angry that he couldn't hear Ruan Jia's crying, and said coldly in irritation, "If you don't cooperate, then divorce!"

As always, he felt this was enough to threaten Ruan Jia who had loved him for many years. After saying this, he hung up the phone, giving her time to reconsider.

But he only heard Ruan Jia say coldly, having lost all emotion, "I would rather die than cooperate, don't dream! If it's divorce, then divorce."

It was Ruan Jia who hung up the phone first.

Sheng Wenyue stared at his phone, his expression extremely ugly. The company had already pushed the deadline to the last minute, leaving no more time for them to consider.

At the Qin family's side.

The family members, hearing Ji Fei's thoughts, were all a bit nervous, constantly refreshing the hot search on their phones, very doubtful whether Sheng Wenyue would really sacrifice his innocent wife.

They all felt that since they were childhood sweethearts who loved each other enough to get married, he wouldn't be so muddleheaded as to humiliate his original wife to this extent for the sake of a mistress.

However, thinking of the black card and supplementary card incident, the Qin family members all felt it was unlikely.

Soon, the first explosive news came out.

A medical examination report of Ruan Jia was posted on the lead actor's studio's homepage, with the word "Healthy" printed in large green letters.

Public opinion exploded instantly.

"Where did this medical report come from? Do they dare to fake even this?" Qin Yan had the most say on this, after all, the person was still receiving treatment in their hospital.

Ji Fei also saw the post and exclaimed, "This is... utterly shameless!"

"This report doesn't look fake, but... the timing is off," Qin Xian said as he leaned in to look at Ji Fei's phone, immediately spotting the issue.

[I'll check it out. Sure enough, it's Ruan Jia's medical report from a year ago, but they've cropped out the date. They're deliberately misleading netizens, making them question those photos of her in hospital gowns. They might as well directly accuse Ruan Jia of being a fraud who staged the whole thing.]