Until—
A Streamer pointed their camera at Jiang Cheng's face, zooming in and focusing.
The next second.
The livestream frame froze for a moment.
Then, a line of text popped up on the screen:
[This livestream room has been permanently banned due to illegal content.]
"???"
The Streamer was stunned.
Before he could react, a series of wails suddenly came from nearby:
"Holy shit, my livestream got banned!"
"Mine too!"
"What's going on?! I was just filming an airport arrival, how is that a violation?!"
"Wait, look at this—"
Someone pointed at their phone screen, their voice trembling.
It wasn't just the livestreams being banned.
"Fuck, did my phone get a virus?!"
"No, look at the work groups—"
Those groups specifically for paparazzi and Streamers stalking celebrities all showed the same message:
[This group has been disbanded.]
The scene fell into a dead silence.
Everyone looked up, watching the back of the figure that had already walked far away.
He held the hand of that foreign beauty, followed by two Flight Attendants, as he unhurriedly walked toward the convoy parked by the roadside.
From beginning to end, he didn't look back once.
It was as if everything happening behind him had absolutely nothing to do with him.
In the crowd, someone was the first to react; they put away their phone and ran toward the parking lot without looking back.
"Stop filming, let's go."
The rest of the people snapped out of it and scattered like startled birds and beasts.
The exit, which had been bustling just a moment ago, was instantly half-empty.
Wang Sicong, Qin Fen, and Wang Zheng looked back at the fleeing paparazzi, then at the tall, slender silhouette ahead.
The three of them exchanged glances, their throats bobbing as they swallowed, but they said nothing.
All three remembered Jiang Cheng's words from earlier: "If they film, they film. It's not like I'm hiding something."
It turned out it wasn't that he didn't care; it was that he didn't need to care at all.
Fuck, how is this even possible?
In their understanding, this was treatment reserved only for a very specific class of people...
Just how strictly were Jiang Cheng's portrait rights protected?
The crowd hadn't completely dispersed.
The paparazzi retreated about a dozen meters, hiding far away behind a pillar, huddling in groups of two or three as they checked their phones in a state of shock.
"Mine is still banned, I can't unlock it."
"No way... I've built this account for three years and have fifty thousand followers. It's just gone like that..."
A young Streamer wearing a baseball cap squatted on the ground, clutching his phone, completely dazed.
Someone nearby leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Who was the last person you filmed?"
"Just... just that guy, the one walking at the very front, holding the foreign chick's hand."
"Did you catch his face?"
"I did. I even specifically zoomed in for a close-up, thinking his charm would definitely make the video go viral..."
The person's voice grew quieter and quieter as he spoke.
Because he suddenly realized that it was exactly because he wanted to go viral that he pointed the camera at that man.
And then his account was gone.
"Do you think..." another Streamer swallowed hard and spoke cautiously, "could it be because we filmed him that we got banned?"
No one answered.
But everyone's expressions silently confirmed this suspicion.
"But filming Principal Wang is fine? I've filmed Principal Wang for several years and never got banned."
"Exactly. I just replayed my footage; the livestream was fine when we were filming Principal Wang. It only... it only started getting banned after that man entered the frame."
"Fuck, now that you mention it, I remember. My livestream froze the exact second the camera swept over his face. After the freeze, it was banned immediately."
...
Just as the group was heading toward their pick-up vehicles, a cold and dazzling figure emerged from the exit, leading a Little Girl dressed in a Lolita outfit.
Originally, the two groups wouldn't have interfered with each other.
But Jiang Cheng's group was simply too high-profile.
Four stretched rolls-royces were parked at the entrance.
Jiang Cheng spoke to Qin Fen and Wang Zheng, "Well? I had these arranged overnight. Pretty good, right?"
"Brother Cheng, your arrangements are top-tier. Not like some hotel shuttle cars that plaster hotel logos all over, as if they're afraid people won't know it's a hotel car..."
Qin Fen picked up where Wang Zheng left off: "Exactly... thanks, Brother Cheng..."
Wang Congcong then spoke up: "Brother Cheng arranged the cars and hotel for you, so I'll arrange the people. Once we get to the hotel, you can relax properly. I'm being a good friend too, right?"
"Haha, definitely..."
"With the arrangements from Brother Cheng and Brother Wang, this trip to Chengdu is set..."
"Then tonight we'll go..."
Before he could finish, a Little Girl not far away started jogging toward them.
"Daddy Jiang Cheng!"
With that shout, the group's attention was instantly captured.
The Little Girl was wearing a milky-white Dior puff skirt, with her hair tied in two little buns.
As she ran, her skirt floated like a cloud, making her look incredibly soft and cute.
A female Bodyguard followed behind her.
Annie soon threw herself onto Jiang Cheng.
"Annie, why are you here?"
After a glance, the eyes of Chloe, Chen Jiaxue, and Zhao Yihan automatically landed on the woman walking unhurriedly toward them from not far away.
Upon seeing her, the expressions on their faces couldn't help but turn somewhat heavy.
The woman wore a black tight-fitting dress with a high-quality coat draped over her shoulders.
The black hem of her dress swayed slightly with her steps, revealing slender ankles and a pair of high heels that had no logo but were made of leather so fine it reflected the light.
Her lustrous long hair was simply draped over her shoulders without any unnecessary accessories.
Only two small diamond studs on her earlobes occasionally reflected a cold light under the somewhat harsh airport lighting.
She didn't walk fast.
But every step seemed to fall on a silent rhythm, making it impossible for people to look away.
Aura is a mysterious thing, but on her, it clearly spelled out four words: This woman is very rich, do not approach.
Seeing that it was Annie and An Xin, no expression of surprise appeared on Jiang Cheng's face.
"Annie."
Seeing Jiang Cheng notice her, Annie ran even faster.
Annie was like a small cannonball, diving straight into Jiang Cheng's arms.
"Daddy Jiang Cheng!"
Her two little arms tightly circled Jiang Cheng's neck as she hung off him, her little legs swinging happily.
Jiang Cheng caught her steadily and looked down at the little face smiling so hard her eyes curved into crescents, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly:
"Annie, why are you here?"
"Mommy brought me to Chengdu!" Annie said matter-of-factly, turning to point behind her. "Mommy said you were coming back, so I said I had to be the first to see you! I didn't expect to actually see you right after getting off the plane..."
Jiang Cheng followed her gaze and saw An Xin walking toward them unhurriedly.
The moment they saw An Xin, Chloe, Chen Jiaxue, and Zhao Yihan almost simultaneously took half a step back.
That woman walking over unhurriedly.
Her steps were steady, her expression was calm, and she clearly hadn't done anything.
But her aura was so strong it made people instinctively want to retreat.
Chloe's hand around Jiang Cheng's arm tightened secretly, her knuckles turning a bit white.
She had been in the fashion industry for so many years and had seen countless so-called high-aura women.
Supermodels, movie queens, wealthy socialites...
Though Chloe often envied them,
none of them had ever made her feel this kind of instinctive pressure.
There was something about this woman.
It wasn't fierceness.
Nor was it coldness.
It was... making you feel unqualified.
Unqualified to even stand in the same frame as her.