【19】The gears of life cannot be misaligned, or they will become completely stuck.
In any friendship, Liang Zhiyao often spends more time listening than talking. Besides her shyness about self-disclosure, she rarely gets involved in disputes and doesn't often need help. However, this time, whether it was because the matter was beyond her usual understanding and ability model, or because Tan Xu's calm and nonchalant tone was so convincing, she surprisingly didn't resist the idea despite a day of negative emotions. To explain this matter, she had to start with the family incident a few months ago and the roles Han Xingzhou and Lin Jiayue played in it. She hesitated at first, but finally recounted the whole story. Unexpectedly, after listening, Tan Xu remained silent for a long time, first saying, "You're amazing." "What's amazing?" She didn't understand. "When something like this happened at home, you didn't collapse or become depressed, and you kept spinning like a top. Isn't that amazing?" he said. "I thought about it, and I probably couldn't do it." "How do you know I didn't collapse?" she asked back. "At that time, I went to the gym and ran for two hours. One time I over-exercised, and it took me a long time to recover. Later, I didn't dare to run anymore." Tan Xu raised his eyebrows: "If running is your way to solve the collapse, then it's also... amazing." Liang Zhiyao laughed dumbly: "I also want to travel and get drunk, but that costs money." When the reason for a person's distress is related to material things, most of the methods of relieving emotions are like entering a vicious circle. A momentary indulgence can only make the situation worse. It is very cruel and realistic. "Let's get back to this," he said. "I'm not very knowledgeable about rumor debunking or crisis PR, but the sooner the better, it's definitely true. This submission was posted this morning, almost 12 hours ago. If you want to take action, do it as soon as possible." "Actually, Ye Xin and I tried to post a debunking comment here at noon," she said, a little discouraged. "But it was quickly drowned out, and no one paid attention." "So a simple debunking might not be enough," Tan Xu said. "Do you know what people love most about this kind of gossip?" "What is it?" She thought back to the celebrity scandals she'd seen on trending searches. "Anyway... I probably love to see a reversal and a hammer being hammered." "Then let's do a reversal," he said. "Since you know who the instigator is, let's bring them out from behind the scenes and make them the more interesting 'explosive tidbit'. This isn't purely for revenge; the key is to draw more attention to the debunking itself." ...
In any friendship, Liang Zhiyao often spends more time listening than talking. This is not only due to her shyness about self-disclosure, but also because she rarely gets involved in disputes and doesn't often need help.
However, this time, whether it was because the matter was beyond her usual scope of understanding and ability model, or because Tan Xu's calm and indifferent tone was so convincing, she did not resist it despite the negative emotions of the whole day.
To explain this matter clearly, she had to start from the family incident a few months ago, and the roles played by Han Xingzhou and Lin Jiayue. She was hesitant at first, but in the end she recounted the whole story in full.
Unexpectedly, after listening to it, Tan Xu was silent for a long time, and then said: "You are very good."
"What's so great?" She didn't understand.
"When something like this happened at home, he didn't collapse or become depressed, but kept spinning like a top. Isn't that amazing?" he said. "I imagined it, and I probably couldn't do it."
"How do you know I didn't collapse?" she asked. "Back then, I used to run for two hours at the gym. One time, I overdid it and it took me a long time to recover. After that, I didn't dare to run anymore."
Tan Xu raised an eyebrow: "If running is your way of dealing with collapse, then that's pretty... impressive."
Liang Zhiyao laughed dumbly: "I also want to travel and get drunk, but that costs money."
When the reason for a person's distress is related to material things, most methods of relieving emotions seem to be entering a vicious circle. Temporary indulgence can only make the situation worse. It is very cruel and realistic.
"Let's get back to this," he said. "I'm not very knowledgeable about rumor refutation or crisis PR, but the sooner the better. This submission was posted this morning, almost 12 hours ago. If you want to take action, do it sooner rather than later."
"Actually, Ye Xin and I tried to post a comment below to refute the rumor at noon," she said a little disappointedly, "but it was quickly drowned out and no one cared."
"So simply refuting the rumor might not be enough," Tan Xu said. "Do you know what people love most about this kind of gossip?"
"What is it?" She thought back to the celebrity scandals she'd seen on trending searches. "Anyway... I probably love seeing twists and turns the best."
"Then let's reverse the situation," he said. "Since you know who started it, let's move them from behind the scenes to the front, making them the more interesting 'explosive material.' This isn't purely for revenge; the key is to draw more attention to the rumor-busting itself."
"...Is this possible?" She was stunned.
This kind of thing is not quite the same as exposing Jeffrey's free-riding in group work. It requires her to actively release malice towards others. Although it is just tit-for-tat, it is also hesitant.
"As you said, refuting the rumor hasn't made any waves. Right now, the other party has the final say, and it can't get any worse than it already is," Tan Xu asked. "So, why not try something completely different?"
He deliberately guided the conversation, but still felt that Liang Zhiyao was very likely to reject the proposal.
Unexpectedly, she only thought for a moment and said, "Okay, let's try it."
Then, following the ideas provided by Tan Xu, she refuted the loopholes in the submission one by one with evidence, including the emails between her and the school regarding her family's financial situation, the Dean's List of outstanding students published on the official website, and some miscellaneous supporting materials.
This section is the real rumor-busting part, but it was relegated to the latter half. The first half covered Han Xingzhou's overtures and sudden withdrawal last semester, as well as his relationship with Lin Jiayue and his motives for spreading the rumor.
With this part, the simple rumor-refuting post becomes a new "melon", which somewhat means that the parties involved are taking the initiative to join the melee.
They sat on the sofa outside the gym, and before they knew it, it was eight o'clock. Liang Zhiyao realized it belatedly after he posted the new rumor-busting message: "Sorry, I wasted your time."
"You don't have to be so polite," Tan Xu stood up, "If you really want to reciprocate, you can come to the first floor later."
"What are you doing here?"
"Teach me the questions," he laughed. "I kind of regret choosing this double major in computer science. Your algorithms class is really difficult."
>>
After returning home from the gym and taking a shower, Liang Zhiyao went downstairs with his computer.
She had never been one to readily accept kindness from others, and apart from her parents, she was always too shy to bother even her closest friends. The fact that the other party had so directly given her the opportunity to return the favor made her feel relieved.
Tan Xu didn't ask many questions, and he understood quickly, finishing his talk in less than an hour. Afterward, he put away his computer but didn't leave. He asked her in a cryptic tone, "It's been so long, haven't you checked your phone?"
Liang Zhiyao was slightly stunned.
"Afraid of the outcome or disappointment?" he guessed.
"...A little bit." She felt embarrassed as if her heart had been touched.
After posting the new rumor-busting post, she didn't check her phone again, even turning off the notifications. She didn't know why, but at the time, she was so confident thanks to Tan Xu's advice, but later, she was so worried about her expectations being dashed that she didn't dare open the app, as if it were too hot.
She didn't know that this was a fear of secondary harm, she just instinctively resisted a little.
"You're a really interesting person," he laughed. "But I've seen it, and it seems to work OK. Do you dare to watch it like this?"
Liang Zhiyao then opened the notification center in front of him. The phone vibrated continuously and many messages popped up in an instant.
I don’t know if Tan Xuzhi’s trick is really effective, but this time the rumor-busting finally made some waves. Nearly two hours after it was posted, the number of likes and replies was considerable.
They studied for a while on the first floor of the apartment, and around ten o'clock in the evening, the rumor-busting post finally became a hot topic.
Even Liang Zhiyao's private message, which had fallen on deaf ears at the time, finally changed from "unread" to "read". "North American International Students' Complaints" also seemed to have noticed the strange reversal of public opinion in the comment section and stated that it had contacted the contributor. If the other party could not produce evidence, considering the reputation of the person involved, the post would be deleted after 24 hours.
"Thank you. I think this is probably the best possible outcome," she sighed. "But it suddenly struck me as a bit ironic. Even as a victim trying to debunk rumors, I still have to go to great lengths to research what people like to see."
"It's just to achieve my goal, but I'm quite surprised you're willing to do this," Tan Xu said. "I was worried that your personality would resist this kind of thing. After all, it's a bit like lowering yourself and actively joining in the verbal battle."
"How should I put it... maybe this is what they call 'repaying evil with kindness, but how can you repay kindness?' I'm not the kind of person who's so magnanimous as to think that suffering a loss is a blessing, otherwise I wouldn't have thought of emailing Jeffrey to criticize him about the group project." She laughed. "It's just that I was really irritated by some of the negative comments during the day. At that time, I didn't dare to do anything. All I wanted to do was hide and act like a turtle. I was quite cowardly, wasn't I?"
Tan Xu was silent for a few seconds and then shook his head: "There's no need to say that about yourself. In this kind of situation, people involved are confused and it's normal to retreat. Besides, you don't seem to realize one thing-" He paused.
"What's up?"
"You encounter things yourself, but you don't have to solve them all by yourself," he said. "Family, friends, classmates, whatever relationships you have, aren't they meant to be relied upon in times like this?"
"You make me sound like someone who loves to show off," she laughed. "It's not that bad."
Liang Zhiyao really wouldn't tell his parents about this sort of thing, because it wouldn't do anything except vent his emotions, and would only make them anxious. But even if Ye Xin hadn't seen the post immediately, she would have probably consulted with her if she had learned about it from somewhere else.
Tan Xu looked into her eyes and asked noncommittally, "Really? We've been meeting in the library every day lately. If I hadn't brought it up, would you have told me about this?"
Liang Zhiyao hesitated for a moment, and finally said honestly, "...probably not."
"I guess so," he raised an eyebrow. "If you're not being stubborn, then at most you don't consider me a friend."
Normally, she would have just laughed it off, but today, she felt like she was being favored, so she couldn't help but feel guilty about the disparity in trust and investment. So, she said, laughing and crying, "Well... next time, when I run into something really bad, I'll tell you."
I just didn’t expect that this “next time” would come so soon.
The rumor-refuting post fermented overnight, and the post was finally deleted by the blogger on the morning of the next day, which made Ye Xin feel very happy.
But in Liang Zhiyao's heart, suffering from online violence for such a ridiculous reason was an unprovoked disaster. It was easy to spread rumors, but it took a lot of effort to refute them. Faced with the result that everything was barely fair after trying his best, it was still difficult for him to be happy.
The most tiring thing is that after a sleepless night, she has no chance to rest or indulge herself, and has to show up at the coffee shop on time at 8 o'clock in the morning to start a new day of work.
It was raining outside the window, and a howling wind was blowing, which was quite consistent with her mental state of the past few days. However, she didn't expect that this would also become an ominous omen of "when it rains, it pours."
"Aria, there's something I need to let you know."
Around noon, she finished her four-hour part-time job at the coffee shop as usual. When she was about to leave, she was stopped by the boss who rarely appeared in the store.
"I know you've only been working here for a little over a month, but I'm a little disappointed. I'm about to move to another city, and this store will be closing in two weeks."
"Closing?" She took a long time to digest the question. "Won't there be a new owner to continue the business?"
"I'm sorry, but all employees can only continue working for another two weeks before their contracts are terminated."
Compared with the inexplicable rumors and online violence, this news was like a bolt from the blue for Liang Zhiyao.
The hourly wage at the coffee shop is not high, but it adds up to more than $1,200 a month. It is an essential source of income for her and should be the most stable one.
Perhaps the old saying is true: misfortunes never come singly. After the rumors fermented into a heated online violence, I learned that I was about to lose my job. All these unexpected events pieced together into a tragic plot with climaxes one after another. I was so sad that I wanted to laugh.
Seeing her distraught look, the boss couldn't help but advise her not to be too sad. He heard that the school was negotiating cooperation with a coffee shop chain, and perhaps a new store would be operational soon.
However, they all knew that renovations at chain coffee shops were particularly rigorous and complex, and that reopening would be at least several months away. Even if they did reopen, the newly posted part-time jobs would require careful consideration of shift schedules, and Liang Zhiyao might not be offered a turn.
After the disappointment, frustration washed over her like a tide. At the beginning of this semester, she'd spent a long day at her computer calculating. Because the school had agreed to installment payments, Liang Zhiyao planned that with a steady income from the coffee shop and teaching assistantships, along with occasional other sources of income, she should be able to save enough for at least her junior year's tuition.
At that time, she was still quite optimistic. When she video-called her parents, she couldn't help but excitedly share her calculation results, asking them to just live their own lives and not worry about her.
Until a week ago, Liang Zhiyao felt that, apart from having to spend a lot of time working to earn money, his life didn't seem to be that much different from before.
She still lived in the same apartment, having moved from her bedroom to the living room. She still had friends to chat with and share her worries with, and even enjoyed the occasional inexpensive social event on the weekends. While life was harder than before, it wasn't without its joys.
Only now did she realize that all her efforts during this period had been like walking a tightrope. Not only did her own steps need to be perfectly timed, but the gears of life couldn't shift even slightly out of sync, or else her machine would completely seize up and cease to function.
Does life have to be this difficult when you're not even old enough to walk independently? Or is it just her life that's difficult?
Emotions welled up, tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back, telling herself she should be content. At least she had grown up smoothly, never having to worry about food and clothing. The life pitfalls she encountered before the age of 21 weren't too bad.
There were lightning and thunder outside the window, and many students who didn't bring umbrellas ran into the coffee shop to shelter from the rain.
In fact, it often rains in this city every few days in October, but it is mostly minor rain that comes and goes quickly. It is rare to have such continuous heavy rain accompanied by a terrifying hurricane.
When you are in a very bad mood, even the capriciousness of nature makes you feel particularly targeted, as if you are the tragic protagonist in a TV drama who has to encounter extreme weather when he is unlucky.
Liang Zhiyao stood at the door for a moment, unsure whether to leave or not. She had an umbrella in her bag, but the rain was so heavy that even if she just wanted to walk to the school bus stop a few minutes away, she would definitely be soaked.
The phone rang, and it was Tan Xu asking her, "It's raining so hard, are you still going to the library today?"
The chat bubbles on WeChat kept popping up, making her want to pour out her broken heart, but she knew Tan Xu wasn't the right person. She'd promised yesterday that she'd tell him if anything bad happened again, but when it did, she still didn't want to speak.
So she replied: "It's raining too hard, let's talk later."
The other party quickly asked, "Are you in the coffee shop?"
"right."
After thinking for a moment, she added, "You go by yourself. I won't be going to study today."
Then Tan Xu didn't reply again, and the phone fell silent again.
Liang Zhiyao was a little annoyed. She carried her backpack on one shoulder and unconsciously scratched the broken and worn parts on the other side with her fingers.
Maybe it's because I've been bringing my own lunch every day, going out early and coming back late, so my backpack suddenly needs to adapt to the increased weight. It's like a poor man who suddenly suffered a heavy blow in middle age and became very old in just a few months. This morning, I finally reached the critical point and one of the straps broke.
This is a trivial matter, but when it happens at this time, it is inevitable that people will feel that their luck is bad and everything is going wrong. There is a sense of being targeted everywhere, which is like a straw that is light but can crush the mood.
She hesitated, wanting to run into the rain and go home quickly, but also afraid that getting wet would make her mood even worse. In the end, she stopped where she was and did nothing, and the heavy rain showed no sign of letting up.
But Liang Zhiyao didn't dwell on it for too long.
In the strong wind and rain, the familiar black SUV drove from a distance and stopped in front of the coffee shop.
Tan Xu rolled down the window, craned his neck from the driver's seat to the right, and asked her, "It's raining so hard. No matter where you're going, why don't you get in the car first?"
The psychological change was hard to describe. Although it was only a momentary surge of emotions, when she saw him, she actually had a rare feeling of being saved.
Author's Note
Reversible light path
author
07-14
A new chapter with more words qwq
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