Chapter Twenty-Eight

In the coffee shop, Chu Lian and Long Jiu Mo sat facing each other.

"Ninth Brother, the phone call last time was completely unreliable," Chu Lian complained, sipping her coffee.

"I'm only responsible for providing the phone number; I can't help with anything else," Long Jiu Mo said with a smile.

"Is there really no way at all?" Chu Lian frowned.

"Maybe yes, maybe no," Long Jiu Mo said ambiguously. Outside the large glass window, Yu Mu Feng stood outside the shop, confirming their location. Long Jiu Mo waved to him.

As soon as Yu Mufeng entered the store, he went straight to the two of them. "Ninth Brother."

Long Jiu Mo patted the seat, and Yu Mu Feng obediently sat down next to him. Chu Lian, sitting opposite him, noticed that he didn't even greet her and said unhappily, "Yu Mu Feng, is Ninth Brother the only one you care about?"

"Hmph! You took it upon yourself to inform on the Cheng and Lu families without telling me," Yu Mufeng said discontentedly. "If Ninth Brother hadn't given me the information, how would I have known you did such a stupid thing?"

"You think you're so smart!" Chu Lian retorted angrily. "Besides, what I did wasn't stupid either; Lu Nan's mother is already suspicious!"

"Oh? Suspicious?" Yu Mufeng sneered. "Then why hasn't there been any movement at all?" Lu Nan and Cheng Xiangbei were still the same as before; it seemed that Chu Lian's tip-off call had not affected their lives in the slightest.

"I...I..." Chu Lian was speechless.

"If you fail, you should admit it. Don't keep putting on airs like you're the prettiest girl in your department."

"You!" Chu Lian was about to stand up in a fit of anger. Seeing this, Long Jiu Mo patted her hand and comforted her, "Don't be angry, don't be angry, Xiao Yu was just joking with you."

"How can you talk like that?" Chu Lian gritted her teeth in anger. "No wonder I couldn't get it in."

Hearing her words, Yu Mufeng chuckled. "So what if I can't get in? It's better than someone not even giving me a second glance."

"You!" Chu Lian finally couldn't hold back any longer. She picked up her small handbag and walked away in her high heels.

Long Jiu Mo shook his head and chuckled. He was indeed still a bit green.

Despite their arguments, Chu Lian and Yu Mufeng had no choice but to temporarily form an alliance.

After their attempt to tip them off by phone failed, the two turned to surveillance. Their initial goal in following Lu Nan and Cheng Xiangbei was to obtain evidence of their intimacy, thus giving them leverage to blackmail them. However, after nearly a month of this, they hadn't captured anything. Although their eyes clearly showed affection for each other, they never engaged in any intimate behavior in public.

At most once, Cheng Xiangbei squatted down halfway and carried Lu Nan home. Although it's not common for a boy to carry another boy, there are many excuses: he's not feeling well, he's drunk, etc. That doesn't prove they're a couple, right? In the dim light of the night, the two of them gazed intently at Cheng Xiangbei's back as he carried Lu Nan home. Chu Lian sighed, "How happy I would be if he could carry me down a street like this."

Yu Mufeng concealed the envy in his eyes and sneered, "Carry him down a street? You want to exhaust him to death?"

Chu Lian glared at him, but didn't argue with him. She just turned around and continued to look at the disappearing figure with adoring eyes.

After following them for a while, the two naturally learned the location of Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan's hideout. However, getting deep into the neighborhood proved difficult. The neighborhood's exterior was quite old-fashioned and seemed unremarkable, but once inside, something felt off. It turned out that most of the residents were retired workers. Right inside the entrance was a chess table where several elderly men were playing chess. Nearby, several middle-aged women were crocheting and playing mahjong.

As soon as the two entered the residential compound, someone looked up and scrutinized them through reading glasses. Chu Lian and Yu Mufeng felt as if that gaze could see right through them.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" an old man asked.

"We're looking for someone," Chu Lian forced a smile.

"Oh, who are you looking for? Which building and which apartment?" The elderly folks spend their time at the door every day, but they are still quite "wary" of strangers.

"Looking for... apartment 101 in building 7," Yu Mufeng replied. Although the community wasn't big, surely they didn't know every single household?

"Oh, looking for Xiaocheng and Xiaolu!" A middle-aged woman immediately chimed in, smiling, "Are you Xiaolu's classmates? Oh dear, that child is so kind; he even helped me carry my rice upstairs yesterday!"

“Xiao Cheng is not bad either! He helped us dismantle the grape trellis the day before yesterday!” Another aunt chimed in, “This boy is really good-looking. If he hadn’t not graduated yet, I would definitely introduce him to my niece.”

"Oh dear, don't get your hopes up. Xiao Cheng is still young. He was saying the other day that his family won't let him have a girlfriend!" She then changed the subject, giving Chu Lian a suggestive look from head to toe. "Miss, do you need to see Xiao Cheng? Do you know his family? I'll take you there?"

"Ah, no need, no need," Chu Lian quickly shook her head. After hurriedly saying goodbye to everyone, she pulled Yu Mufeng into the residential area.

The neighborhood isn't that big, and it's only a few hundred meters from Building 7, yet they ran into three elderly people asking them who they were looking for. The two men exchanged bewildered glances. Could their actions, under the watchful eyes of everyone, really be called stalking?

"Tiger, what are those two rascals doing?" Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan peered out from the corner of the wall under the thick curtains.

"They probably want to come over?" Cheng Xiangbei chuckled as he watched the two people hesitating in front of the building.

Lu Nan pinched him and said unhappily, "You're still laughing? They're about to come to the door!" She usually found these two annoying when she saw them at school, and now that she saw them loitering in front of her house, Lu Nan wished she could shove them into the trash can in front of the building.

"Shh, just pretend you're not home."

"You can hide for a while, but you can't hide forever!" Lu Nan pouted.

The doorbell rang just as they finished speaking. The two looked at each other, then crouched down, pretending not to hear it.

The doorbell rang three times, and a few more minutes passed before Chu Lian and Yu Mufeng finally left, glancing back several times as they went. Watching them walk away, Cheng Xiangbei and Lu Nan breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally gone."

"What are they doing here?" Lu Nan climbed onto the sofa and sat down, complaining, "They know all the despicable things they've done, yet they still have the nerve to come here!"

Cheng Xiangbei chuckled dryly, nuzzling Lu Nan ingratiatingly. He was truly ashamed that he had attracted these two unwanted suitors himself!

"This can't go on forever, we need to think of something," Lu Nan grumbled. They weren't unaware they were being followed, but the other person was only spying from the shadows, so there was nothing they could do. But being watched from behind every day was unbearable! Luckily, the phone incident had put them both on guard; otherwise, a careless kiss could have caused a huge mess.

"Hmm, since they have so much free time, then... let's give them something to do?" Cheng Xiangbei sat on the carpet, leaning his head against the sofa in thought. The purpose of those two following them was obvious: they wanted to find fault with him and Nannan. With the internet so developed now, a single photo could attract countless eyes.

Perhaps they can fight fire with fire?

A week later, two major news stories broke on the Ocean University's campus BBS.

Firstly, a female student in a certain department was sexually harassed by her professor.

Secondly, the revelation that a campus beauty was having an affair with her elite cousin and was also entangled with another boy caused a major uproar on campus, giving the entire school new fodder for gossip during breaks and after meals. Because the first news story occurred at a branch campus in the suburbs, it didn't attract enough attention from students in our department. However, the second news story was relevant to our department, as the post blatantly included clear photos of the beautiful woman.

To be honest, this post is actually quite innocent. Hey, don't throw bricks at me, it really is innocent! For example, its title: Love at its deepest point knows no regrets…

Isn't it beautiful? Looking at the photos posted in the post, a man and a woman are leaning against each other on a bench covered in fallen leaves, seemingly talking about something. The man is handsome, the woman is pretty, and the background is picturesque... If only there wasn't a resentful-looking boy behind the left side of the bench, but this handsome boy just happened to appear in the shot, and his presence was unusually strong.

Another photo shows a snowy night where a boy has his arm around a girl's waist as they walk towards a warm, spacious house. This photo is unremarkable, but the one following is the key image: behind them, a boy sits in a car watching them drive away. And this boy is the same one from the "Fallen Leaves" photo.

Finally, here are two bonus images. One shows a handsome young man and the female lead smiling at each other, their smiles revealing unspoken understanding. The other is a picture of the handsome young man and the male lead holding hands from behind, exuding a gentle tenderness.

This set of photos, seemingly insignificant, somehow became a hot topic. The sentimental title, in particular, sparked countless speculations. One theory suggested the male and female leads were deeply in love, and the man in the background could only silently gaze at his goddess. However, this theory was quickly refuted: the man in the background had a good relationship with both the male and female leads; how could you be sure he wasn't in love with the male lead?

The discussion escalated, the atmosphere growing increasingly heated, and the lives of those in the photos were thrown into chaos. Because, while the photos were aesthetically pleasing, the people in the photos were still quite clear. Chu Lian from the School of Foreign Languages, Meng Tianze from the School of Business, and Yu Mufeng from the School of Engineering. A glamorous love triangle, sibling romance, homosexuality…

What is love? It's just loving randomly and haphazardly!

Just when Chu Mengyu and the other two were so bothered that they vowed to find out who was spreading the rumors.

Cheng Xiangbei was sitting in the study chatting with Shen Yunzhao, all smiles. "Hey, Teacher Shen, Brother Yunzhao, are you sure everything's going perfectly?"

Shen Yunzhao gave him a disdainful look. "When have I ever made a mistake?"

“As the old saying goes, even a horse can stumble…” Before she could finish, Shen Yunzhao interrupted her. “Stop spouting classical Chinese! I was educated in gibberish!”

"Sigh, sigh, you only realize how little you know when you need it!" Cheng Xiangbei said, shaking his head. "What will you do if Yun Shao goes to study Chinese?"

Shen Yunzhao smiled smugly. "Baby? His Chinese isn't even as good as mine!"

"No way?" Cheng Xiangbei didn't believe it, but he waited and waited and still didn't receive a reply from Shen Yunzhao.

"Brother Yun Zhao?"

"Teacher Shen?" Ten minutes later, Cheng Xiangbei's coffee had gone cold, and Shen Yunzhao slowly replied with a grinning emoji.

"Oh, still alive," Cheng Xiangbei teased.

The other party retaliated with a blow, and Cheng Xiangbei laughed heartily: "Brother Chen, where have you been?"

The input box showed the other person typing and deleting, going through this process several times, which deepened Cheng Xiangbei's confusion. "??"

"He is receiving further Chinese language education, 88."

Cheng Xiangbei raised an eyebrow. Him? Talking big is definitely not a good habit, huh? Hahaha!

"Tiger, what are you laughing at?" Lu Nan asked curiously as she pushed open the door.

"It's nothing, it's nothing," Cheng Xiangbei said with a smile, pulling Lu Nan onto his lap. "Your brother is giving Teacher Shen a Chinese lesson."

"Oh? Yun Shao? Where is he?" He looked left and right.

Cheng Xiangbei cupped his face and gave him a kiss. "Stop looking, I said I'm going to class."

Author's Note: Um, there will be a two-day break... Updates will resume on Friday.