Zhang Lian crawled to Jiang Ling's side, hugged her leg tightly, and cried, "Daughter, your father and I are the ones who owe you. Your brother is innocent. How can you be so heartless? As long as you agree to save him, you can have anything you want."
As she spoke with a runny nose and tears streaming down her face, the surrounding people felt even more sympathetic and began to criticize Jiang Ling.
Several reporters relentlessly questioned her.
"Miss Jiang, as a public figure, you should set an example. Don't you think this is going too far?"
"After all, Jiang Tianbao is your own brother. Isn't it reasonable for a sister to donate bone marrow to her brother?"
"As a child, if you can't share your parents' worries, it's one thing. But to watch your brother die without moving a muscle, how can you be so heartless?"
Jiang Ling listened to these accusations, her face as cold as ice, and said indifferently, "I solemnly state that I have no brother, and my parents are long dead. I have no responsibility or obligation to help others. If you continue to harass me, I will call the police and report you for disturbance and obstruction of my personal freedom."
Upon hearing this, the reporters were not angered but delighted.
If Jiang Ling had quibbled, they would have had to rack their brains to fabricate news.
Now that Jiang Ling had voluntarily admitted she wouldn't help, the articles would be even better.
In an instant, several reporters' minds flashed with sensational headlines.
#Top Actress Abandons Parents#
#Sister, a Star, Refuses to Save Seriously Ill Brother#
#Superstar Denies Parents and Siblings: Is This a Distortion of Kinship or a Moral Decay?#
As a top-tier celebrity, Jiang Ling's popularity and attention were immense.
Even the smallest incident could trend on hot search, let alone disowning biological parents and refusing to save a dying brother – topics that touched upon the sensitive nerves of ethics and morality for the audience.
It was foreseeable how much traffic and discussion this report would generate once it was published.
Hahaha, this year's year-end bonus was definitely going to be a big one.
Zhang Lian clung to Jiang Ling's leg, desperately begging her to donate bone marrow to save Jiang Tianbao in front of the reporters' cameras.
Jiang Ling remained unmoved, her face showing nothing but coldness.
The surrounding crowd, seeing this, launched a new round of moral blackmail and preaching.
They either accused Jiang Ling of being cold-blooded or called her heartless, claiming that beneath her beautiful appearance lay a wicked heart, and so on, they hurled a torrent of abuse.
Jiang Ling, however, dismissed these accusations as the barking of dogs and the braying of donkeys, not even frowning. She smiled and said, "I'll say it again, my parents are dead, and I have no relatives in this world. Those who want to call me heartless can invite the souls of my parents from the underworld. Then, you can scold me however you please."
Hearing this, the reporters and Zhang Lian were stunned.
They had considered various possibilities before coming.
They never expected that amidst the endless accusations, Jiang Ling would neither yield nor break down, displaying such a level of indifference as if the events unfolding had nothing to do with her.
Jiang Ling lightly flicked her hair and said with a casual smile, "Alright, have you all said what you needed to say? I'm going to eat. Everyone go home and find your own mothers!"
Her words were so lighthearted, one might have thought they were at a public dance and Jiang Ling, as the leader, was telling everyone to go home for dinner and reconvene later.
Indifference was the best weapon against the double-barreled assault of kinship and moral coercion.