Chapter 7

Mingxu hadn't been to the store for a week, and the employees had long been accustomed to it. Yan Qing contacted the driver they had arranged at the door. Yan's mother sat on the sofa, her eyes swept across the hall and fixed on Zhang Wenxin at the front desk.

Seeing a guest coming, Zhang Wenxin immediately greeted the guest with a smile.

"Young man, why haven't you seen your boss these days?"

This question came as a bit of a surprise.

No one in the store knew where Ming Xu had gone. Even Liu Yuan, the deputy store manager, hadn't received any notification. He shook his head and said, "Auntie, I don't know either. I guess something happened."

"Is that so?" As she spoke, Yan's mother looked at her daughter who was making a phone call at the door and lowered her voice: "Does your boss have a girlfriend? She doesn't look to be more than 30 years old, right?"

Although she had been urging Yan Qing to find a boyfriend, she still had many requirements, such as the most important one: the age difference between the two could not be more than three years.

There is a generation gap after the age of three, and speaking is like playing the lute to a cow. She looked at her husband who was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed and in a daze. She understood this very well.

Seeing his wife chatting happily with the staff, Yan's father walked over to join in the fun: "What are you talking about?"

Yan's mother glanced at him and said, "Don't you have anything to do? Go check when the car will arrive so you don't miss your flight."

"Isn't Xixi watching?"

As soon as the words fell, Yan's mother glared at him, and Yan's father immediately dodged to avoid danger.

Zhang Wenxin remained silent until Yan's mother called him, then he came to his senses: "The boss is 26 years old, young and promising, and a local of Haicheng. I don't know if he has a girlfriend, but I have never seen the boss bring a girl to the B&B."

Seeing that he was talking more and more, Liu Yuan, who was sorting out documents on the side, coughed lightly. Zhang Wenxin heard it, looked vaguely, and found a lame excuse to walk away.

"Mom, the car is here."

After seeing his parents off, Yan Qing breathed a sigh of relief. The two big Buddhas had finally left, and he finally felt relieved.

Back in the hall, she answered a call. While talking, she met the eyes of Zhang Wenxin who appeared out of nowhere. Zhang Wenxin looked at Yan Qing with a cold look, and his hands were unsteady as he was holding something.

After hanging up the phone, Yan Qing returned to the room and opened the contract sent by the publishing house.

As I was watching, a hurried phone call rang.

When I picked up the phone, I heard Zhou Mingshu breaking down and crying on the other end.

Yan Qing was a little anxious: "What happened?"

The voice on the other end was intermittent, mixed with crying and shouting, and Yan Qing only caught a few key words.

Spreading rumors, cheating, and being a book boy.

Book boy?

Zhou Mingshu no longer collapsed as he did at the beginning. Although he was still sobbing while speaking, at least one could hear clearly what he was saying.

"I just found out today that there was a girl in the gang who had been monitoring us. She told another girl everything he said in the gang group, what he did in the game, and even our chats in the group."

Yan Qing thought for a moment and asked, "So now they say Fan Zhuoyi is cheating on you, and you're the third party?"

The matter was summed up in one sentence. Zhou Mingshu nodded heavily into the phone, then realized that Yan Qing couldn't see him, so he said "hmm" heavily.

Then he sent Yan Qing another link: "Look at that link. That evil person started the rumor first and posted it online. She made it sound very plausible. If I wasn't the person involved, I would have believed it too."

There were even screenshots of the chats, and some of them made Yan Qing blush.

She and Zhou Mingshu have known each other since childhood, and she is clear about Zhou Mingshu's character, but what about Fan Zhuoyi?

"How does Fan Zhuoyi plan to solve this problem?"

As soon as Yan Qinghua started to speak, he heard Zhou Mingshu swearing.

"What's wrong?"

After a while, the voice on the other end of the phone came again: "I'm sorry, I got you into trouble."

Refreshing the post, Yan Qing saw his game name appear on the screen.

Now it was her turn to swear.

The guild group had already exploded, and many old people who had been playing the game for many years also showed up. [Shu Tong] and [Desk] (Fan Zhuoyi) were famous model couples in the guild. They had been in love for so many years and had never been seen quarreling. They were also enthusiastic and contributed money and effort to the guild.

I didn't expect this kind of thing to happen today.

[Arrogant: When will the gang leader find love] was changed to [Arrogant: Something big happened]

As soon as the group name was changed, the gang leader spoke out.

[Eat porridge first when something happens] (Yang Mingzhou) Who's so rude? Change my name back.

[Gang Member 1]: Gang leader, even if you change back you won’t be able to find a partner.

[Drink porridge first when something happens]: Metaphysics! Do you understand?

The group name still had not been changed. Yang Mingzhou said a few words in the group. Seeing that no one mentioned the post again, he planned to find Ming Xu to ask about it. After all, he heard the name of the third party involved every day.

"That's not my concern."

Mingxu sat on Yang Mingzhou's chair, crossed his legs, and looked as if it had nothing to do with him.

"They've started spreading rumors about your girlfriend." His eyes almost penetrated the screen.

After hanging up the phone with Zhou Mingshu, Yan Qing carefully flipped through the screenshots in the post: "It's completely impossible to tell that they're photoshopped."

The timeline above dates back to when Yan Qing had not yet started playing the game. Looking at the familiar avatars in the screenshots, Yan Qing wondered: Is he watching too?

The post was extremely popular. It was lunchtime and many people were playing with their phones while eating. Although this was a sudden event, it still attracted a large number of people to watch.

Many people feel sorry for the person who posted the message, while others say they need to wait and see, waiting for the other side to come out and confront the issue, and that they cannot make a conclusion based on one-sided statements alone.

This statement also attracted the approval of some people.

[Melon Eater No. 1]: Yes, there have been many posts like this that confuse right and wrong in the past. Let's just wait and see.

[Melon Eater No. 2]: The screenshots are out, how can it be faked? Only people of the same kind can empathize with each other.

As soon as this statement was made, it was quickly refuted by a large number of onlookers.

Mingxu watched as the post received more and more replies. Yang Mingzhou took his phone and showed it to him to see the comments in the group. Most people still felt that there was something wrong with this matter and kept calling on the poster to speak out.

Yang Mingzhou: "That person dumped all the screenshots out in one go. After telling the story, he never said a word again, not even in the group."

A few minutes later, the post was updated again.

At 8pm, we'll talk about everything on the voice chat platform. Even though my friends asked me to stop, I can't just stand by and watch her suffer. They'll definitely get their comeuppance.

The room number of a voice platform is also attached below.

Yan Qing re-downloaded the voice platform on his computer and wrote down the room number.

Ming Xu looked at the post, then glanced at Yang Mingzhou. Yang Mingzhou sighed, "I have two computers at home. I'll lend you one. But don't let me ignore you."

Time passed minute by minute. Yan Qing finished updating a new chapter and looked at the time. It was already seven o'clock.

She opened the food delivery platform and ordered a cup of milk tea for herself for the first time. She sat quietly on the sofa and looked at the voice platform page on the computer screen.

Before eight o'clock, the number of people in the voice room exceeded a thousand, but the main person had not arrived yet.

Yan Qing opened a new account and mingled with the crowd, watching the various messages scrolling on the public screen. She took a sip of milk tea but then spat it out. She didn't like pearls, but Zhou Mingshu liked them very much and often drank two cups at a time.

Looking at the message sent by Yan Qing, Zhou Mingshu was a little surprised. Usually when they met, he always asked him to drink less milk tea, but today he took the initiative to order two cups for himself.

I sent the question and the other party replied immediately: "Two cups or more for free, just be happy."

The milk tea arrived quickly, two cups filled with pearls. Zhou Mingshu took a spoon from the kitchen, put the three things together, took a photo and sent it over.

"It just so happens that neither of us has eaten yet tonight."

It wasn't until 8:10 that the poster entered the voice chat room and said straight to the point: "Sorry, we're sorting through the evidence and are late."

Some people didn't want to hear her talk and urged her to get down to business.

The poster left the microphone on, and soft sobs could be heard. "All the screenshots are in the post, for everyone to see. Zhuzi and my friend Lingling met during her freshman year. Zhuzi confessed his feelings to Lingling three months into their relationship, and they had always been close. Zhuzi proposed meeting up, but Lingling rejected him, saying it was too soon. Since then, Zhuzi has been much colder towards Lingling."

Fan Zhuoyi and Zhou Mingshu were snuggling on the sofa. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up and said, "I don't even know who this Lingling is!"

He was almost mad with rage. After this incident, many people came to him to ask questions openly and secretly. Fortunately, Zhou Ming wrote to him, otherwise he would really have jumped into the river.

After saying that, the poster paused for a while, and enthusiastic people immediately translated it on the public screen: What you mean is that the desk wanted to meet Lingling but was rejected, and happened to meet the book boy, so he immediately used cold violence on Lingling and forced her to leave?

Yan Qing also saw this, but was quickly brushed off.

A few seconds later, the poster continued, "Yes, I've confirmed this with Lingling, and I've also asked someone from [Arrogant]. Shutong probably joined the gang around that time. Maybe he was introduced by the desk. I'm not sure about that either."

Then he added: "Maybe not. After all, Shutong has a good relationship with the people in the guild. Everyone likes her. We all envy girls with this kind of personality. If it weren't for this, I would also like to be good friends with Shutong."

"What a shitty friend," Zhou Mingshu said, turning up the heat on the air conditioner. "I joined the gang because Coal Ball Brother persuaded me to join him in private chat for two days. Whenever I came online, he would ask me if I wanted to join his gang. I only joined because I was tired of being told so."

Thinking of this, Zhou Mingshu was a little confused. He stared at Fan Zhuoyi who was still sulking: "Brother Coal Ball? That's not right. I have never spoken a word to Brother Coal Ball since I joined the gang."

Yang Mingzhou, who had been watching the fun, received a message.

[Shu Tong]: [Screenshot], Gang leader, is this you?

Ming Xu saw that Yang Mingzhou, who had been scrolling through the public screen, was stunned and asked, "What did you see?" As he spoke, he leaned over.

He looked at Yang Mingzhou and sneered, "No wonder so many people thanked me in the group."

"Brother Xu, let's talk about this later." Yang Mingzhou quickly turned off his phone. The more he said now, the more mistakes he would make. Ming Xu might just kill him.

Seeing that the gang leader had not replied to the message, Zhou Mingshu did not ask any further questions. This matter was a foregone conclusion. What if he released the screenshot himself?

Just as I was thinking about it, I heard the poster accusing me in a panic: "What nonsense are you talking about?"

The two parties on the sofa came to the screen and saw that the public screen kept posting a repeated screenshot, which was the one Zhou Mingshu used to question the gang leader.

The two looked at each other and said, "It was sent by the gang leader."

Seeing that public opinion had shifted, the poster began to play the victim: "Can you clear yourself of suspicion just by taking a screenshot?"

[Melon-eating crowd number one]: Isn’t the post you posted also a bunch of screenshots?

[Onlooker No. 2]: Just let your friend speak. She is the person involved. Let the other three come out as well. Let the four of them confront each other together. I'm feeling sleepy listening to what you're saying.

As soon as this message was sent out, another female voice was heard.

A weak voice said, "Hello everyone, I'm Lingling. If you have any problems, come to me. I'll take responsibility for everything. Please don't blame my friends."

The people in front of the computer sneered when they heard this.

The protagonist took the stage.