The Supporting Male Characters Who Died Alone All Those Years Later

The audience’s reaction surprised He Dongchen. After a moment, he smiled and refocused his gaze on Sima Yongqing.

The two exchanged distant glances across the stage and audience.

Sima Yongqing didn’t avoid or flinch; he continued to lean against his chair, slightly nodding, his expression cold and clear.

Beside him, Sima Peiting was restless.

Before recording the program, Sima Peiting felt there was no issue. He Sijia was innocent. But after He Dongchen’s actions, Sima Peiting began to waver. If He Sijia was innocent, then was He Juan also innocent?

How could He Juan, who was so malicious, be innocent?

“Uncle, what should we do? Maybe we should stop filming.” Sima Peiting lowered her head and tugged at Sima Yongqing’s arm, not daring to look at He Dongchen on stage.

“Don’t panic.” Sima Yongqing patted his niece’s hand.

Sima Peiting sighed and suddenly…

He Dongchen on stage called her name.

“Sima Peiting, you and He Sijia are good friends. Was this program arranged by you?” He Dongchen asked, looking at Sima Yongqing.

In an instant, all eyes turned toward Sima Peiting. Seeing such a young girl, they wondered how she could have managed to bribe the production team.

Sima Peiting’s face turned red as she hurried to explain, “I just wanted to give Sijia a chance to prove herself. I didn’t know the production team would handle it like this.”

He Dongchen nodded, “You indeed wouldn’t know, but what about your uncle, Sima Yongqing?”

“Uncle just came with me! This matter has nothing to do with him!” Sima Peiting immediately distanced Sima Yongqing from the situation. Originally, she had just asked her uncle for help, but now that trouble had arisen, she couldn’t let her uncle take the responsibility.

Sima Peiting’s eagerness to clear her uncle’s name was almost naive.

He Dongchen shattered her innocence.

“Your uncle is He Sijia’s boyfriend. How could he not be involved?”

“What? What boyfriend?” Sima Peiting was stunned, her face full of disbelief, as she turned to Sima Yongqing for confirmation.

The audience was shocked once again!

Goodness, He Sijia had just graduated from high school, right? How could she be dating her best friend’s uncle?

It seemed that even the best friend was kept in the dark!

Sima Yongqing didn’t make a statement. He stood up, gave He Dongchen a deep look, and left the recording studio. Two assistants helped clear the way, and perhaps due to their formal attire and strong presence, the audience was momentarily stunned, watching as Sima Yongqing left with wide eyes.

The next moment, the hall suddenly darkened, and the audience was in an uproar.

When the lights came back on, He Sijia had already disappeared from the stage.

The system fumed, [They shut off the building’s power directly. How ruthless.]

He Dongchen didn’t expect this to be the final blow to Sima Yongqing, so he accepted it calmly.

At this point, the program could no longer continue.

The staff began to disperse the audience, fearing that He Dongchen’s reckless comments might incite public outrage, and detained them for a while.

He Dongchen had achieved his goal for the day. Without resistance, he was escorted into a conference room by two staff members, where He Zhenglan, Lin Xiumei, and He Juan were already present.

***

With a click, the staff closed the door and left.

The four of them were in the conference room, with clear divisions.

He Zhenglan and Lin Xiumei sat on one side, He Dongchen on the other, and He Juan, trembling, stood in the corner, clutching her clothes.

Lin Xiumei scolded He Juan harshly for a while. Seeing that He Juan remained silent, she gradually lowered her voice and held her chest to calm herself.

He Zhenglan poured a glass of water for his wife and cast a cold, disdainful glance at He Juan. He spoke in a cold voice, “As long as you’re here, I won’t give Sijia a single penny.”

He Juan, who had intended to play dead, shuddered all over, suddenly looked up, and screamed at He Zhenglan with a wild expression, “She is your daughter! How can you ignore her!”

He Zhenglan snorted coldly, “Without you, she is my daughter. With you, she is the daughter of an enemy.”

He Zhenglan’s words plainly and directly pressured He Juan to the point of death. As long as He Juan was alive, He Sijia couldn’t take anything from the He family. Previously, He Sijia had privately helped He Juan, with the family turning a blind eye. But now, knowing He Juan’s malicious intent, the He family would never be the sucker in this situation!

He Juan cried and pleaded, even crawling over to kneel and kowtow. Yet He Zhenglan remained unmoved.

Desperate, He Juan glanced at He Dongchen, who was watching coldly, and crawled over to grasp his leg, continuing to plead, “Son, son, persuade them. What will become of Sijia, a girl, in the future?”

He Dongchen brushed her off and smiled, “Isn’t there still you, a great mother here? You should take care of her just as you did with me.”

He Juan shook her head, tears in her eyes. “No, Sijia has never suffered any hardship.”

“So her life is more precious? Am I destined to suffer?”

He Dongchen let out a breath of frustration, deciding not to waste any more words with such a person. He stood up, glanced at He Zhenglan with a half-smile, and said, “Mr. He has already spoken. Since you love your daughter so much, I believe you would be willing to do something for her. Whether He Sijia’s future is bright or filled with suffering depends on your choice. You love her so much, surely you wouldn’t be selfish.”

With that, He Dongchen opened the door and left the conference room.

The audience outside had already dispersed, so no one stopped him.

***

He Dongchen walked towards the elevator under various gazes. As he passed the stairwell, he noticed a sliver of light coming from a partially open door and some faint sounds, which were quickly shut off.

He Dongchen thought the sounds seemed familiar; wasn’t that what I said on stage? He paused, pushed open the stairwell door.

Creeeak, the motion-sensor light in the stairwell turned on.

The person inside was startled and quickly hid her phone, looking like a kitten caught in the act of stealing.

“It’s you, you scared me to death,” Zheng Dongdong said, finally recognizing him and letting out a long sigh of relief as she patted her chest.

He Dongchen entered and closed the door.

The stairwell was usually deserted and very quiet, a silence that made Zheng Dongdong uneasy. She was about to say something to ease the tension.

He Dongchen suddenly took a step forward.

“What are you doing?” Zheng Dongdong was startled and quickly backed up, her back against the wall, her heart racing.

In her anxious gaze, He Dongchen raised his hand and swiftly pulled her phone from her jacket pocket.

The screen was still on. He Dongchen quickly skimmed through Zheng Dongdong’s secretly taken videos and deleted them one by one.

“What are you doing?” Zheng Dongdong couldn’t help raising her voice, rushing forward to stop him. “These are the evidence! When the program distorts the truth, these are the only things that can prove your innocence!”

The videos Zheng Dongdong had painstakingly recorded were all deleted! And it was He Dongchen, the victim, who deleted them. She was instantly furious, tears welling up.

It felt like witnessing a man hitting a woman on the street, rushing over to scold the man, only for the woman to turn around and accuse her of meddling.

Zheng Dongdong now felt that her passionate efforts had been in vain.

She snatched her phone back, glared fiercely at the ungrateful He Dongchen, and opened the door to leave.

“Your methods of secretly recording aren’t clever at all. A little investigation could easily expose you.”

Zheng Dongdong paused and looked back at him.

So, deleting the videos was to protect me?

He Dongchen continued, “I heard the staff say that you are Zheng Qiuyue’s daughter, here for an internship after the college entrance exams.”

Zheng Qiuyue was a top-tier host, a leading figure in the broadcasting industry.

If the videos Zheng Dongdong had were exposed, Zheng Qiuyue would inevitably be implicated, and Zheng Dongdong would end up in an awkward position.

Helping others is good, but not at the expense of implicating one’s family.

Hearing that, Zheng Dongdong fell silent, her hand trembling slightly as she held her phone.

In her earlier fervor, she had disregarded everything, but now that He Dongchen had pointed it out, she realized she had done something reckless.

“But what about you?” Zheng Dongdong, now worried, started to fret.

He Dongchen was too kind. Even in this situation, he was considering whether she might face trouble. Thinking this over, Zheng Dongdong took a deep breath and quickly said, “Actually, my Mother was notified earlier to host your episode, but she declined after reviewing the material. I heard a bit about it, so I know some things about your situation.”

The production team was so unscrupulous, distorting the truth to please the investor. Zheng Qiuyue didn’t want to be involved in such unethical practices and avoided the program altogether.

“Now that the show is messed up by you, I don’t know if it will still be aired. If it is, who knows how they’ll distort the facts.”

Zheng Dongdong sighed. With the videos gone, how could he seek justice?

Seeing her worried expression, He Dongchen smiled slightly. “Don’t worry about me. You know about the recordings. Do you think I wouldn’t know?”

Zheng Dongdong stared at him, then her face brightened with a smile, her eyes curving with suppressed laughter. “I knew you were so smart on stage, taking charge and making a big impact. How could you not have a backup plan!”

He Dongchen didn’t specify his backup plan, and Zheng Dongdong tactfully did not press further.

To avoid drawing attention, the two of them left separately. Zheng Dongdong went back to work, her lips curved in anticipation of the day when she could vindicate herself. The media should pursue the truth, not distort it to please the investor!

***

He Dongchen took the elevator down and was preparing to take the subway when he was suddenly stopped by two well-dressed men.

“Our boss wants to see you.”

He Dongchen put his hands in his pockets and glanced at the black car parked not far away.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Without waiting for them to speak, he took charge and walked towards the car. The two burly men quickly followed, while bystanders watched with curiosity, wondering about the important figure accompanied by two large bodyguards.

Inside the black car, Sima Peiting sat in the passenger seat in a daze, while He Sijia huddled in the back seat, her eyes red and unfocused.

Sima Yongqing, emanating a cold aura, rolled down the car window and said to the approaching He Dongchen with a cold demeanor, “This matter ends here.”

The implication was clear, the show wouldn’t air, but He Dongchen should remain silent.

He Dongchen stood outside, hands in his pockets, looking down at him from above. “What makes you think everyone has to follow your orders?”

“The Qing Dynasty has long been gone.”

(T/N: The Qing Dynasty has long been gone = phrase; in English is similar to “that’s ancient history”)