During this period, Melinda felt very relaxed, simply by not paying attention to an annoying creature like
Yulia.
Melinda shared dinner with the Gu family in the main villa. Yulia used to not show up during mealtime.
However, she started eating on a regular schedule every day since Melinda’s return just to annoy her.
These days, Nelson took Melinda to attend various events, many of which she also wanted to make an
appearance at, but she hadn't been invited, so she gave up.
Therefore, Nelson unknowingly pushed Yulia to hate Melinda more.
Jonas usually had lunch at the office, and today was no exception. Nelson had an appointment with an
old friend, so Melinda, Yulia and Queena were left at the table.
The trio of women looked like they were at play taking on different roles. They positioned themselves in
a triangle-shaped formation. Yulia's expression was as scornful as ever. Queena behaved as if she had
no involvement, and Melinda remained indifferent.
"Aunt Yao, why are you letting her sit here for lunch? Aren’t you afraid she’ll spoil your appetite?"
Yulia regarded Melinda with disgust. The entire Gu family knew that they were not getting along well.
Queena disliked them both, so she said nothing and watched them in silence.
However, what surprised her was Melinda. Back then, she was nothing but a dummy who lacked
critical thinking. Although she tried to withhold her anger, she was a natural in taking opportunity in bad
situations to gain an advantage.
"Let's eat. We are one family, so we should sit together, shouldn't we?"
Queena said. The dishes were served on the table in succession. The household had no extravagant
style, but there were ten courses prepared for the three of them. Each platter was an explosion of
colors, aromas and taste, making them feel a fleeting moment of hunger.
"She is not my family!"
Yulia refused to believe that Melinda got to become her sister-in-law once again. Particularly Melinda
stole all the attention from Nelson as soon as she arrived home.
"Yulia, don't let your brother hear what you just said, or he will feel sad,"
Melinda said with a smile, as though she just put up with a childish teenager. By this time, she had
done a lot of role-playing with Jonas. What she said made Yulia feel some pangs of concern.
"Melinda, are you threatening me with my brother?"
Exasperated, Yulia sprang up from the table. She had been very cranky these past few days. As she
straightened up from her seat, the chair hit the servant standing behind.
"Mother, I'd better go back and have dinner at my place."
Instead of responding to Yulia's question, Melinda just got up quietly and said to Queena in a low voice.
Compared to Yulia's immature demeanor, she was more sensible.
Queena nodded, and shot Yulia a warning look. She was someone who paid much attention to dignity.
At home, it seemed normal for Yulia to act in this manner. In the public eye, she would bring disgrace to
the whole Gu family's name.
Being petite with a well-shaped body, Melinda put on a white dress today. The way she stepped out
looked very pitiful. Yulia's beautiful brown eyes were full of hatred as she thought on how brilliant
Melinda was in pretending to be pathetic.
With this in mind, Yulia tarried at home so she could vent her frustration on the housemaid. At the same
time, one close friend invited her to meet up. She poured out the details of what occurred, and
stretched the truth.
"Yulia, you're too impulsive,"
her friend remarked in line with the topic. Yulia was not only unrestrained, but also unreasonable. All
that she has done was bully people who had no ally like Melinda. If Melinda had some reputable family
background, Yulia would unquestionably suffer a great loss.
"How could you speak for her? What's wrong with you?"
Her words pissed Yulia off. Yulia turned around for a moment, and then slapped her hard in the face.
Smack! The air seemed to be frozen. The girl's delicate and tender cheek quickly turned bright red and
swollen, and she couldn’t hold back the tears.
"I just hit you once. Why are you crying? Bitches always get off on feigning to be pitiful and weak."
Seeing the grief-stricken look on her friend's face, Yulia thought of how Nelson defended Melinda
before her very eyes, and how she was often scolded and criticized in the process.
"Yulia," her friend called out apprehensively. She held her face where Yulia had hit her. Although she
looked resentful, it was well masked.
Yulia didn't have a good temper, so she didn't have much friends. Most of them were after favors and
worthless benefits, and she was also the same. Being beaten by Yulia like this, how could she not be
infuriated? Although her family was not as affluent as the Gu family, they ran their own business and
enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.
"Don't get so upset. I feel sick when I see such looks."
Yulia was impatient. She grabbed her friend's hair and said ruthlessly, "I told you not to act upset under
my nose. Crazy bitch."
Her friend had anxieties whenever Yulia acted so neurotic. She tried her best to break off from Yulia’s
grasp and fled when she had the chance.
'Creep! All of them are insane!' she thought.
Yulia felt much better after she released her rage on her friend. And she didn't care much when her
friend left, so she continued to hang around.
Holley slept with the director and took the seat of the female lead actor. But when she imagined his
large beer belly and thinning hair, she felt disgusted and completely despised Jonas.
If it hadn't been for Jonas, she wouldn't have taken the title role in such a drastic measure. The
entertainment circle was a big hotpot with a few innocent people.
There were many hidden rules and shady deals. She had already made preparations ahead of time, so
she had been trying to hook up with Jonas. If she had a bit of a brain, she wouldn't go to the director.
After all, Jonas had money, power and a handsome face. She had once desired to become his next
wife after he got rid of Melinda.
Thinking it was Melinda's influence that made Jonas change from the day she came back, Holley
blamed all the faults to her.
Since Jonas couldn't pay back for all her grudges, she would get even with Melinda. Holley would
never forget the embarrassment that day at the mall.
Being on the news about their love, there were even harsh insults from the public towards her.
Rubbing her nails, Holley took out her phone from inside the drawer and dialed an unregistered
number, which was directly answered.
"Find some posers and make them bash Melinda nonstop on Weibo," Holley snapped with a sinister
grin. She wanted Melinda to suffer the same pain that she went through.
Now that Melinda worked as a writer, she had her personal account. Everyone surfing online played as
Internet detectives, and her Weibo ID had been exposed.
"How much do you want?"
The person other end of the line did not require any explanation. As a professional, provided that
people paid up, people similar to him could become harsh critics on Weibo.
Countless individuals had battled depression or totally gave up the entertainment circle because of
these so-called keyboard warriors. Sometimes, cyber bullying could be very ugly.
"It's enough to be a hot issue. I will transfer the payment to you later, as usual."
Holley hired the posers coupled with the spreading of nasty gossips. She accidentally met this person,
and he did a great deal of things for her. The social media world was really chaotic, and she knew well
how to deal with others. Every time she found someone harassing her, she would get rid of them in a
flash.
She used the same phone number from way back. The other end hung up the phone, and soon sent a
message of an account number. Holley found herself running out of money.
The director did nothing else except to give her a role.
Things didn't go well as expected, and Holley was almost as irritable as Yulia. However, Yulia could let
out her annoyance on others because of her identity, while Holley could smash things at the most. If,
one day, she would become famous, she would make them all regret for treating her wrong.
The day after, Melinda's Weibo was full of negative comments, and Jonas's account wasn’t looking
good as well. Even the page of Soaring Group had been overtaken by posers.
Holley asked the public to post composite images of Melinda and Kent, showing their intimacy.
Together with the bashers, those netizens who had no inkling of the truth lambasted Melinda online.
These days, cheating on one's partner was unacceptable to society. Because Jonas was known as the
public’s prince charming with countless female followers, his fans felt sorry for him and blamed
everything on Melinda.
Things developed so fast that the Gu family had no time to react. Following this news, Yulia felt
euphoric and sneered at Melinda coldly.
All of these transpired in front of Nelson. At this point, he was unable to protect Melinda, but Melinda
was calm about this matter. She just logged off from her Weibo account, as if nothing had happened.
"Grandpa, I've warned you before that Melinda is not a good woman. Now you must believe me! She
dated that Kent guy ages ago!"
Yulia didn't pass off the chance. She even besmirched Melinda’s name in the presence of Nelson.
Melinda perceived that someone was behind this. She wondered who was so impatient for them to
launch a sudden attack.
It couldn’t be Yulia, or she wouldn't have waited until things went ugly, and provoke her. She would
have said something baffling up front.
"Grandpa, I'm sorry for what happened. It's not the truth."
Unwilling to disappoint Nelson, Melinda decided to explain. As for the photos, they must be edited
using an image-editing program. That person got serious skills since it was hard to tell the difference.
But if the experts would analyze the pictures, they could easily find out.
Melinda recounted the whole story about Kent helping her, along with his parents. She included the fact
that they pretended to be lovers in order to deceive Kent's parents.
Upon hearing this, Yulia lost her temper and spoke a plethora of offensive remarks. But Nelson heaved
a sigh of relief. He sensed that Melinda wasn't that type of person. For one thing, he feared that Jonas
might hurt her. However, Kent was kind to Melinda.
With this in mind, he believed it was reasonable why Melinda did it. Intellectually, she should act similar
to this.
"I trust you. You suffered a lot this time."
Nelson was more satisfied with Melinda's character. He would never allow her to experience any
grievances.
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