Zhang Wei's eyes were glued to Owen as he watched him methodically search the car, inching closer to where the hidden camera was stashed. His heart pounded in his chest as he silently prayed, "Please don't find it, please don't find it."
But it seemed the heavens weren't on his side. Owen soon discovered the camera hidden under the seat, and Zhang Wei's face fell, displaying a grin more pained than a grimace.
Owen examined the camera and flipped through its contents, finding numerous photos of him and Zuri dining together. If these pictures were ever leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Owen deleted all the photos and removed the memory card. Zhang Wei watched, his heart breaking—these photos were his hard work, and now, in an instant, they were all gone. He cursed his own greed for following them, thinking if he hadn't, the photos could have been safely stored.
Now, his chance to make it big was lost!
As Zhang Wei wallowed in regret, it was already too late to change anything.
After destroying the memory card, Owen wasn't satisfied. He conducted a thorough search of the car, inside and out, and only when he was sure there wasn't a third camera did he finally let Zhang Wei go.
"Your phone," Owen demanded, extending his hand.
Zhang Wei's eyes widened in alarm. "Mr. Owen, I don't have any photos on my phone."
"Let's take a look and see."
"This is my private phone; it's full of personal stuff. I can't just hand it over," Zhang Wei protested, hiding the phone under his leg.
Owen's voice turned icy. "You can hand it over voluntarily, or I can take it myself."
Zhang Wei remembered a certain predecessor who had sneaked into a hotel and snapped private photos of Owen, refusing to give up the phone when caught. Owen had taken it by force, and the guy ended up spending a long time in the hospital.
That same predecessor had tried to rally other paparazzi to ruin Owen's reputation, but the attempt backfired spectacularly, leaving him nearly bankrupt from medical bills and without a job.
Recalling that incident, Zhang Wei meekly handed over his phone.
"Don't worry, I won't look at anything I shouldn't," Owen reassured him. True to his word, he didn't pry into Zhang Wei's private data, only checking the photo album to ensure there were no compromising pictures before returning the phone.
"Keep what you saw today to yourself," Owen warned, his tone deadly serious. "If this gets out, I will find you. And trust me, you don't want to know what happens then."
It was the first time Owen had ever threatened a paparazzo. In the past, even when his privacy was invaded, he'd never resorted to intimidation, believing that their professions could coexist as long as his boundaries weren't crossed.
But Zuri and his family were his absolute boundaries. Anyone who crossed them would not be spared.
Zhang Wei nodded fervently. "Don't worry, I'll take this to the grave."
Owen left.
Zhang Wei watched the Maybach drive out of the parking garage and didn't dare to follow. After the car was gone, he let out a long breath and bent down to remove his shoe. Inside the smelly sock, he pulled out a hidden memory card.
This card had slipped into his shoe when he was swapping them earlier, and he hadn't been able to retrieve it because it was stuck in his sock.
Looking at the memory card, Zhang Wei's face broke into a sly grin.
Where there's a will, there's a way!
Ha ha ha, Zhang Wei was destined to become the king of paparazzi in the entertainment industry.
Zhang Wei carefully tucked the memory card back into the stinky sock, feeling it was the safest place to keep it.
He was practically giddy as he started his car and drove away. Owen's threats were already fading from his memory.
In their line of work, dealing with threats and harsh words was just part of the job, nothing out of the ordinary.
To Zhang Wei, exposing a scandal was nothing compared to what his predecessor had done.
After all, that guy had snapped nude photos.
In comparison, Zhang Wei's work was much less severe.
Zhang Wei was still riding high on his excitement when he got home. But just as he was about to turn on his computer, his phone rang. The editor-in-chief's furious voice blasted through the line, "Zhang Wei, I told you to tail Huang Qiming! Where the hell were you? Did you know someone else caught him, and it's already out?"
"You idiot! How could you screw up an assignment I personally gave you??"
Zhang Wei was taken aback by the shouting and cautiously moved his phone away from his ear. Only when the tirade calmed down did he bring it back.
"Boss, listen to me. Today, I caught a huge scoop, a massive one! This is going to make our magazine sell out!" Zhang Wei said excitedly.
The editor-in-chief scoffed, "What kind of crap did you shoot? Or did you catch some D-list celebrity cheating?"
Zhang Wei didn't mind the sarcasm. "You'll never guess who I caught this time," he teased.
Hearing the smugness in Zhang Wei's voice, the editor-in-chief shot back, "Are you about to tell me you caught Owen with a woman?"
Everyone in the country knew that Owen was the cleanest actor in the entertainment industry. If someone managed to get a photo of him with a woman, it would be explosive.
"Boss, how did you know?" Zhang Wei was genuinely surprised.
The editor-in-chief almost rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap! Don't use that as an excuse."
"But I really did catch him. Don't believe me? I'll send the photos to your email right now. You can see for yourself."
Realizing that this might be serious, the editor-in-chief leaped out of his chair. "You're not joking?"
"I'm not."
"Then why the hell are you still on the phone? Send it over now!" The editor-in-chief yelled, dropping all pretense of civility.
Zhang Wei hung up the phone and quickly inserted the card into his computer. But as he reviewed the photos, his heart sank.
Crap!
Why are they all blurry?
He frantically clicked through each one until he finally found one that wasn't too out of focus. When he saw it, he nearly cried with relief.
Oh, thank goodness the heavens were still looking out for him.
The picture showed Owen tenderly draping a coat over the woman's shoulders, looking every bit the gentleman.
Owen's fans were going to lose their minds when they saw this!
The only downside was that the woman's face was mostly obscured by Owen's raised hand, showing only her bright, clear eyes.
But something was better than nothing.
Zhang Wei carefully saved the photo and sent it to his boss's email.
The editor-in-chief, who had been impatiently waiting, nearly had a heart attack when he saw there was only one photo.
"Zhang Wei, where are the other photos?" the editor-in-chief roared.
Zhang Wei meekly replied, "They… they came out blurry."
Editor-in-Chief: …
He wanted to strangle this idiot!
"How did you not mess this up completely? Oh, wait, you've never been clear-headed. You fool."
Zhang Wei wanted to defend himself, thinking about whether to tell the Editor-in-Chief that he had taken many more photos, but Owen had taken them.
If he said that, the boss would probably storm into his house with a knife!
Zhang Wei decided to keep this to himself.
After a solid fifteen minutes of scolding, he finally heard the Editor-in-Chief's voice soften, "Even though we only have one photo, we still need to push this to the front page and make it tomorrow's hot topic."
The two then enthusiastically discussed how to plan the story and what headline to use.
Late at night, the magazine's official social media account released a big entertainment story. Within just half an hour, it had been shared over 300,000 times, spreading at a terrifying speed.
Meanwhile, Owen came out of the bathroom, turned off his phone, and happily went to sleep.
While Owen slept soundly, his agent Isaac was jolted awake.
Assistant Rhett, upon seeing the news online, immediately tried to contact Owen but found his phone turned off. He then called Isaac.
"Zhou, we have a big problem. A paparazzo caught Jing and Zuri having dinner and posted the photos online. Now everyone thinks Zuri is Owen's girlfriend. Even the fan club president is asking about it," Rhett said anxiously.
Isaac had just lain down, but after hearing the news, he quickly turned on his computer. Seeing the content and the comments, he immediately tried to call Owen.
His phone was off!
"Zhou, should we pay to have the news taken down?" Rhett asked.
"No. Taking it down now would only make the public think it's true."
Isaac knew how much Owen cared about Zuri. If the media or paparazzi dug deeper and found out more about Zuri, that would be the last thing Owen would want.
"I'll discuss it with him first."
This matter involved Zuri, and her identity was sensitive. If they were just normal siblings, they could simply explain it away online.
But Owen's sister was unique—she didn't want to return to the Feng family.
The Feng family treated her with utmost caution.
If he handled this poorly and angered that little princess, he'd be in big trouble.
Since this involved Zuri, Isaac dared not make any decisions on his own.
Isaac got dressed and rushed to Owen's apartment complex.
Owen was awakened by the incessant ringing of the doorbell. He opened his eyes, heard the doorbell ringing nonstop outside, and angrily threw off the covers, getting out of bed.
Damn it! Who the hell was it?
He had been having a great dream, where Zuri was making a cake for him and feeding it to him. Just as the cake was about to reach his mouth, he was jolted awake.
His sweet dream was shattered!
Owen opened the door with a dark expression. Seeing Isaac, he restrained his anger, "You'd better have a good reason, or I'll end you."
Isaac ignored his threat and rolled his eyes at him, "Bro, this is urgent. A paparazzo took photos of you and Zuri having dinner and posted them online. Now social media is blowing up."
"What?!" Owen jumped up. "Damn it! That paparazzo held back some photos!"
A hunter is eventually hunted.
Owen immediately opened his computer and logged into social media. Upon seeing the initial report's photo, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
That was close, very close. Zuri's face wasn't clear in the photo.
Isaac looked at him, "What should we do now?"
"First, find out how many more photos they have. As for the online news, have someone monitor it. As long as it doesn't involve Zuri, leave it alone."
The more you explain, the messier it gets.
"Alright. I'll go check things out." Isaac began making calls and, through connections, reached the magazine's editor-in-chief.
Half an hour later, Isaac hung up with a smile on his face.
"Don't worry. They only have that one photo."
Isaac was, after all, a top agent. Getting someone to talk was his forte. It didn't take long to get the information out of that foolish editor-in-chief.
"Now you can relax. There's only that one photo on the internet, no clear shot of Zuri, so fans and the media won't be able to find her."
Owen let out a breath of relief but was still furious.
He wanted to teach that paparazzo a lesson!
That guy had ignored his warning—outrageous.
"I want to punch someone," Owen said with a dark expression.
This time, it was a close call.
Isaac quickly stopped his dangerous thoughts, "Bro, my dear bro, don't do anything rash. That paparazzo has seen Zuri. If you push him too hard, he might really spill everything."
Owen knew this was true, so he could only fume silently.
Isaac suddenly had an idea, "Actually, if Zuri were exposed, it might be the perfect opportunity to bring her back into the family."
Owen had thought about that possibility, but what he feared more was pushing Zuri further away.
In the first twenty years of her life, she had suffered so much.
For her to have reached this point, what right did they have to demand anything of her?
Whether it was him, his brothers, or their parents, they all wanted her to return willingly, not because of external pressure or other factors.
As long as she hadn't accepted them, they would never resort to underhanded means to bring her back.
The next morning, Zuri was brushing her teeth in the bathroom when Shen Menglai suddenly let out a piercing scream.
"Ahhhhh!"
"No way, absolutely no way."
"How could my Jing like such a flashy skank?"
"This picture must be photoshopped, it must be!"
"These unethical media outlets just love using fake news to get clicks and traffic."
Shen Menglai was jumping around the dorm room, cursing incessantly.
When Zuri came out, she saw a frenzied Shen Menglai.
Zuri grabbed her textbooks and left the dorm, but on her way out, she noticed small groups of girls whispering and looking indignant, their faces full of frustration.
It wasn't until Zuri received a call from Azura that she learned what had happened.
"Got caught?"
Azura nearly jumped when she realized Zuri knew nothing about it.
Oh my goodness!
The whole internet was buzzing, yet the person involved was clueless.
How could she be so calm?
Did she not understand her brother's charm, or was she completely unaware of how attractive her brother was?
"Social media has crashed. Fans overloaded it," Azura said, enunciating each word.
Zuri was so shocked she couldn't even think of the right words.
"They didn't catch me in the photo, did they?" Zuri couldn't help but ask.
"If they had, do you think you'd still be alive?"
You'd have been torn to pieces by now.
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