Chapter 560: That’s Just Too, Too, Too Much!

Chapter 560: That’s Just Too, Too, Too Much!

This presidential suite was on the sixty-seventh floor, a full two hundred meters above the ground!

Buildings that tall were rare anywhere. Skyscrapers tended to cluster only in commercial centers or central business districts. In most places, a building more than sixty stories tall would stand out all by itself.

And this hotel was exactly that kind of building.

The tallest buildings nearby were only a little over forty stories high.

When An Menglan had dined with Wu Chen the previous night and admired the city lights, she’d felt as though she were looking down on the whole city. The view had been beautiful. She had considered the possibility of being photographed through the window—such things were common in the entertainment industry—but at this height, with no other building of comparable height opposite them, it should have been impossible under normal circumstances.

A drone?!

Hundreds of reporters had surrounded the Menghua Music building the day before. They had come from all kinds of paparazzi studios, yet none of them had used a drone.

Had paparazzi really become this crazy? They could fly one up to this height now?!

For the first time, An Menglan had the distinct feeling that the times had changed.

She had been a celebrity for nearly ten years. Ever since she had entered the top tier, she had always stayed on very high floors whenever she checked into a hotel. Reporters often found out where she was staying, and most of the time she didn’t even hide her whereabouts. The paparazzi would block the entrance downstairs, lie in wait in the landscaping, or stake out the other side of the street to photograph her when she came out. They had never used drones to take pictures of her.

Drones had only become increasingly common in the past few years, hadn’t they?

This had to be illegal, right?!

An Menglan wasn’t entirely sure, but logically, using a drone to photograph the inside of a hotel room ought to be illegal—an especially egregious violation. It was all too easy to capture people’s private moments that way. Clearly, the paparazzi no longer cared whether what they were doing was illegal.

They might even have been prepared to spend a few days in jail afterward!

Their studio’s reputation?

They could retire as soon as they got this one big scoop. Who the hell cared about their reputation?!

In the instant she locked eyes with the drone, An Menglan’s mind exploded with possibilities. A great many thoughts flashed through her head, but she made no panicked move. Her expression froze, not changing in the slightest…

That was the professional discipline of a superstar.

Celebrities were darlings beneath the spotlight, admired by countless people and surrounded by glamour. But they were also watched under a magnifying glass. The more famous a star became, the more composed she had to look on camera. Even an unflattering expression was rarely caught in a candid shot. It was almost a kind of reflex.

So An Menglan did not lose her composure.

They had already photographed her, so there was no point in hiding now. If she panicked, they would capture that, too, creating an even bigger story. An Menglan was wearing a bathrobe.

It was the hotel’s oversized, pure-white robe, with long sleeves and a hem reaching her ankles. Once she tied the belt, she looked more conservatively dressed than she usually did when going out. Nothing was exposed, though her hair was still damp, making it clear she had only recently showered.

But she was staying in a hotel. That was perfectly normal.

An Menglan slowly turned her head and lowered her phone. She glanced at the coffee table, picked up the remote, and pointed it at the floor-to-ceiling windows. She remained perfectly calm throughout. With a faint mechanical whir, the electric curtains slowly closed all the way.

The living-room lights automatically came on at full brightness.

“Phew…” An Menglan seemed to let out a breath of relief. She tossed the remote onto the sofa and clenched her small fists tightly.

She was furious!

A smooth life could leave a person even-tempered and slow to anger. An Menglan rarely flew into a rage over anything. She might be unhappy, but she didn’t usually get angry.

This time, she really was angry.

Using a drone to film into a hotel room… An Menglan might not have a habit of walking around a hotel living room without clothes on, but what about other celebrities? If these paparazzi kept doing this, sooner or later someone’s private moments would be captured.

“Fortunately…” An Menglan felt relieved once more.

Wu Chen wasn’t in the living room.

Otherwise, they would have photographed him!

An Menglan glanced at the closed bedroom door. She knew she should tell Wu Chen, but there was no need to rush. The pictures had already been taken, and nothing had been arranged yet. They couldn’t simply leave right this minute anyway.

She looked at her phone again, then got up and walked to the window.

Through the curtains, she could no longer hear the drone. Apparently, it had left once it could no longer get a shot.

An Menglan pulled out a chair and sat down, looking at the table. It still clearly showed the remains of a candlelit dinner, which the drone must have captured as well. She could already imagine the paparazzi’s headlines: “An Menglan Shares Hotel with Mysterious Man,” or something even more sensational, like “An Menglan Confesses Her Love, Then Spends the Night with Him.”

That was just too, too, too much!

The angrier An Menglan became, the harder it was to hold back. At last, she stood and walked toward the closed bedroom door.

She reached it and gently turned the handle…

It wasn’t locked!

An Menglan opened the door quietly and peered inside. A man and a woman lay in bed under a blanket. Li Ruobing was still asleep, while Wu Chen was playing on his phone. As soon as the door opened, Wu Chen looked up.

Their eyes met.

An Menglan pointed outside, hoping Wu Chen would come out.

Instead, Wu Chen crooked a finger, beckoning her over.

An Menglan went to him and quietly explained what had happened. As she spoke, she instinctively glanced at Li Ruobing several times, apparently afraid of waking her.

“…They’ve gone too far! This is outrageous!” An Menglan concluded, expressing her fury at the paparazzi’s drone.

“Want to get even? That’s easy.” Wu Chen smiled. “Do as I say. First…” He quietly coached An Menglan through a plan.

A few minutes later, An Menglan left the room and gently closed the door.

Then she hurried back to the sofa, picked up her phone, and tapped away.

“Take all the pictures you want. Go to hell,” she muttered as she typed quickly.

Following Wu Chen’s advice, An Menglan posted another Weibo message: Even staying in a hotel means being secretly filmed by a drone. Isn’t this illegal?

Seven minutes later, Weibo crashed.

“An Menglan Photographed Without Her Consent,” “Paparazzi Use Drone to Secretly Film Female Celebrity,” “Paparazzi Have No Bottom Line,” and “Call for Illegal Reporters to Be Banned” quickly climbed the trending lists.

Over the next half hour, An Menglan made several phone calls and replied to messages from people on WeChat who were concerned about her.

Friends in the industry came forward one after another to condemn what had happened.

Some female friends also publicly confirmed that An Menglan had been photographed in the living room and had suffered no wardrobe malfunction. But the drone surveillance was still an outrageous violation!

Public opinion quickly turned overwhelmingly against the paparazzi.

Her fans were furious!

The general public was furious, too!

An Menglan wanted to see which media outlet would now dare to buy the drone photos or video from the paparazzi. Anyone who bought them would be finished. They could keep the material and let it rot!

As time passed, more and more female celebrities spoke out and reposted An Menglan’s message. Some barely knew her; others didn’t know her at all. Even veteran figures in the industry reposted it in support.

Clearly, after this move, anyone who dared to release the photos or video—whether they had taken the footage themselves, bought it from someone else, or merely reposted it—could be “destroyed.”

For the moment, the matter had been dealt with.

But An Menglan was worried again. This had been only a little “interlude,” and Wu Chen had solved it with a few pointers. But what about the problem of being followed and investigated for years to come? How could she deal with that?

Once more, An Menglan found herself looking toward the closed bedroom door.

Wu Chen really was incredibly capable, but this was a long-term problem. How could he possibly solve it…?