The production team of "City Secret" doesn’t do malicious hype, and they’ve worked with Nora Scott before, so they count as having so rapport. Now that an incident has happened that affects Nora Scott’s reputation, they halted filming midway, took the initiative to inform her, and discussed seeking a solution.
They showed complete sincerity.
They ca up with several plans.
Nora Scott thought it over briefly, didn’t pursue responsibility, didn’t get angry, and said offhandedly, "What’s done is done, you handle it as you see fit."
This matter is actually fairly easy to clarify.
The variety show shoot is fild the whole way through, and she has a caraman following her, observing her every move.
At the ti she smashed the Wooden New Year Painting, it was because she’d made it herself and wasn’t satisfied, so she threw it away. Clent Winter thought it was a pity and picked it up, heart aching over it.
The entire cause and effect is on record. Once they edit it a bit, it can be cleared up.
It’s just that—
The people currently kicking up a fuss online won’t necessarily all go watch that video.
Besides, after things are clarified, the one whose reputation has been boosted by the comparison—Annabelle Pinto... might not suffer any losses at all.
"All right then." Director Sullivan nodded. "We’ll resolve it as soon as possible."
...
The episode hadn’t even finished recording yet when the show’s official account released the clarification video, and Fernwood also helped Nora Scott buy a trending topic and pinned it at number one as a response.
However, the reaction was pretty diocre.
The mastermind behind this isn’t aiming to drag Nora Scott down, but to lift Annabelle Pinto up. So the ones steering the narrative aren’t focused on saring Nora Scott; they’re using Annabelle Pinto to grab attention.
[Top-tier traffic really is different. Look how fast the production team jumped out to clarify.]
[So what if she threw away sothing she made herself? In my eyes, it’s the sa lack of manners.]
[Turning "no manners" into "personality" has always been Heavenly Immortal fans’ go-to move.]
[By comparison, I still like Annabelle Pinto more.]
[Thanks to this round of hype from Nora Scott, I got to know Annabelle Pinto. By the way, this jiejie’s resu is amazing, and her edited acting clips killed .]
[Heh, just waiting for the "Twelve" voting to go live in March. You can try to mix in showbiz, sure, but if certain people don’t have any acting skills, they really shouldn’t co ruin a good script. One rat dropping ruins the whole pot of porridge.]
[With acting like Nora Scott’s, Annabelle Pinto can totally crush her.]
...
After the recording wrapped, the attacks against Nora Scott online still persisted.
Nora Scott didn’t care.
With a large fanbase, correspondingly, the number of haters will increase as well. On top of that, there are people whose livelihoods depend on blackening her.
Given her current level of heat, Pedro Langley’s PR team would have to spend even more effort and money dealing with all kinds of sar campaigns, and Nora Scott had already told Pedro to go easy on the spending.
"Nora, we’re done!" Clent Winter called to her. "Want to grab dinner together?"
"No."
Pedro was still waiting for her at the hotel.
"..."
Clent Winter let out a heavy sigh in his heart.
It was the sa during the last "City Secret" recording—no matter how many tis he invited Nora Scott, she never once agreed.
Since it was his idol’s decision, Clent Winter didn’t press further. After nodding, he reminded her, "Then be careful on the way."
"Mm." Nora Scott instructed, "When you’re back at the hotel after the dinner, send a ssage."
This was for Clent Winter’s safety.
"Okay."
Clent Winter agreed.
After saying goodbye to Clent Winter, Nora Scott put on a cap and sunglasses, preparing to leave from the back door.
—The last recording location was indoors. Even though there were security guards inside and out, and fans were barred from entering, there could still be people staking out the front entrance. Nora Scott didn’t want unnecessary trouble, so going out the back was simply more convenient.
"...Yeah, I just finished recording."
Walking along the ergency exit toward the stairs, Nora Scott suddenly heard a familiar voice and instinctively paused.
The door to the stairwell was ajar, open just a crack. Peering through it, she could see the outline of a woman’s figure. The person was holding a phone, in the middle of a call; half her shadow fell on the wall, clearly outlining the shape of a bracelet on her wrist. Nora Scott narrowed her eyes and recognized it as Annabelle Pinto’s.
"Is it in Stone Village? If I rush over now, I can still make it."
"Don’t worry. With my skills, I won’t be discovered."
"You only want the drawings? What about the person?"
"Okay. I’ll make sure no one ever knows."
...
The woman’s voice rang out word by word in the empty stairwell, stirring a faint echo. The words she spoke were cold and rciless, completely devoid of emotion.
Nora Scott narrowed her eyes slightly.
*
A quarter of an hour later.
Parking by the roadside, Pedro Langley pulled out a cigarette. He saw Nora Scott walking over, face hidden under the brim of her cap, as she opened the door and got in.
"Here."
Nora Scott opened her bag and tossed a piece of bread to Pedro Langley.
Pedro picked up the bread, baffled. "What’s this?"
"I passed a convenience store on the way out and bought it in passing," Nora Scott said leisurely. "Your dinner."
Then she took out another piece of bread. "This one’s mine."
Holding the two-yuan bread in his hand, Pedro Langley thought for a mont and asked with sincere seriousness, "Did I go bankrupt?"
"..." Nora Scott, who had just ripped open the wrapper and taken a bite, glanced sideways at him at the sound. After thinking about it, she did feel it was a bit abrupt, so she explained, "No ti to eat anything else, just make do with this for now."
As she said that, a figure hurried past in front. Just then a car drove over and stopped; that person quickly got in, and the vehicle sped away.
Nora said, "Follow them."
"..."
Without even getting a bite of bread, Pedro beca the chauffeur under his wife’s command, obediently stepping on the gas and tailing the car in a not-so-obvious way.
Without rushing to explain to Pedro, Nora made a phone call, got two groups of people to follow separately, and made sure nothing could go wrong. After hanging up, she told Pedro not to follow so closely, to relax the distance a bit—the person in front was very alert.
"Mm."
Pedro slowed down.
He opened his jacket, turned his head to look at Nora, and said, "Alright, what’s going on?"
Nora was succinct. "Annabelle Pinto is going to steal the blueprints."
Pedro was stunned for a mont, then processed it. "The chanism City blueprints?"
You couldn’t really bla him for not reacting imdiately.
The entire day’s news about Nora and Annabelle had all been online marketing and hype—scheming and infighting in the entertainnt industry. Now suddenly tossing in ’chanism City blueprints’ felt like a huge leap to Pedro.
"Mm."
Nora recounted to Pedro what had just happened.
She’d unexpectedly eavesdropped and gotten quite a bit of information.
The big shot backing Annabelle from behind was in a partnership with her. He helped her make a na in the entertainnt circle, and in return she did work for him. Usually, with Annabelle’s skills, she handled the dangerous jobs.
—Kind of like the bodyguard gigs Nora took.
But Annabelle only worked for that big shot, and almost all of it was pretty dangerous.
While eavesdropping, Nora hadn’t been super careful and almost got discovered by Annabelle. Fortunately, Biel Hall’s people were everywhere—a security guard happened by and helped her out of it, so she wasn’t exposed.
However—
As soon as the security guard left, Annabelle noted his na and ordered people to dig up everything on his family back eighteen generations.
Fortunately Nora heard that and had Biel Hall create a fake file for the security guard, to prevent Annabelle’s crew from finding any loose ends.
"Also, from the way they were talking," Nora crossed her legs and finished the last bite of bread, "it seems to have sothing to do with Alexander Vaughn, more or less."
Pedro’s brows furrowed slightly.
"Who is that big shot?" Nora asked.
"Surna Rong, given na Bo," Pedro said. "His family runs entertainnt businesses. Their industrial chain is big, but in the field he’s not exactly soone who can block out the sky with one hand."
In terms of status and background, neither Pedro nor Henry Chapman had ever really taken him seriously.
But how could such a seemingly pure businessman be involved with the Martial World, Alexander Vaughn, and chanism City?
After pondering for a mont, Nora twisted her phone in her hand, then said, "I’ll have Biel Hall look into him."
"Mm."
Pedro’s eyes darkened.
"Oh right, I finished drawing the chanical Box blueprints you wanted," Nora said, ssaging Boss Alex while bringing up another topic with Pedro. "I’ll give them to you when we get ho."
"Okay."
"But what do you want those blueprints for?"
Half a month ago, Pedro had asked Nora to design a chanical Box. He’d given the general length, width, and height, and left the inner chanisms to Nora’s imagination. For her, making a chanical Box was like making a toy—she found a spare mont and got the drawings done.
But she had never asked Pedro what he wanted it for.
"Rember the chanical drone?" Pedro asked, the corners of his mouth slightly lifted.
"Mm."
"I want to make a chanical Box that can be controlled remotely."
"What for?"
"To play with."
"..."
Nora gave him a look of astonishnt and had no idea what to say for quite a while, then finally just let it go.
*
With help from multiple sides and relying on his decent driving skills, Pedro smoothly tailed Annabelle’s car all the way to Stone Village.
They didn’t drive their own car in, keeping a certain distance before stopping. After that, Annabelle got out alone.
Pedro parked behind, and as he turned his head, he saw Nora tying up her hair—entering combat mode—and couldn’t help a helpless sigh. "Again?"
"Why else did we follow her here?" Nora retorted matter-of-factly.
"What’s the plan?"
Nora quickly laid out a plan. "Once she gets her hands on the blueprints, I’ll fight her. You grab the blueprints and run."
"..." Pedro’s mouth twitched. "Run?"
"You might not be her match," Nora said bluntly.
Pedro could handle one or two people just fine, but up against soone with real combat experience, it’d be hard for him to get away clean.
Pedro gave her a sideways look, reached a hand back, and pulled out the bamboo flute Nora hadn’t brought along.
He hooked his lips. "Why fight? We’ve got hidden weapons."
Nora: "..."
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