Chapter 28
Yu Miaomiao didn't want to watch it again, so she paused it.
The statements made in Zhang Mingxuan's video can be described as utter nonsense from beginning to end.
She had already self-studied all the high school knowledge in her first year of high school and always ranked first in the school in every exam. The teacher gave her special permission to use the computer in class. She spent 24 hours a day, sometimes up to 20 hours, in front of the computer. Zhang Mingxuan actually questioned her about where she learned the knowledge.
That mental journey was even more baffling. This game, meant for practice, had no profound meaning whatsoever, from its name to its content. The reason the dialogue in the early stages of the game used gibberish was simply because they were too lazy to come up with words. But in Zhang Mingxuan's case, it somehow became something like "how a person with depression sees the world," which was utterly ridiculous.
Moreover, Yu Miaomiao chose to take senior courses in order to get more credits, but Zhang Mingxuan made it sound like he was specifically targeting him, and even fabricated a dubious video.
She clicked into the video's comment section, and in just a few hours, there were already nearly 10,000 comments.
The support was almost unanimous. Some admired Zhang Mingxuan; some were concerned about his health; some were indignant about his plight; some insulted Yu Miaomiao; some praised the game for being fun. Occasionally, some rational netizens said that the CAE judgment results were not yet out and that people should not take sides easily. They were immediately labeled as neutral or accused of having leg hair, and then, like Yu Miaomiao, their entire families were insulted.
Yu Miaomiao opened her overflowing private message inbox. On this unofficial communication channel, netizens' comments were even more unrestrained. Even though Yu Miaomiao didn't care about other people's opinions, she couldn't help but frown at these foul words and refused to read them anymore.
The internet is really strange.
Yu Miaomiao thought that public opinion was like a giant wave, manipulated by a gale, crashing down on one place and then surging in the exact opposite direction in an instant.
"Knock knock knock"
A knock suddenly sounded at the door. Yu Miaomiao snapped out of her daze, walked to the door, and looked through the peephole. It was Jiang Chengyi, looking serious and wearing a white lab coat, as if he had just come out of the laboratory.
This was the first time the other party had come to see her, so she didn't think much of it and opened the door.
Upon entering, Jiang Chengyi explained his purpose: Xu Lan had tried calling Yu Miaomiao but couldn't get through. Seeing that their addresses were close, he asked Jiang Chengyi to come and find her.
Upon hearing that it was Xu Lan who had come to see her, Yu Miaomiao immediately understood what it was about.
"Did something I did affect the promotional video?"
Those netizens who followed her to her Weibo account and hurled insults also left a lot of malicious comments in the promotional video's comment section. Some even threatened that if Yu Miaomiao wasn't replaced, they would never buy any of Maomaole's products again.
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Sister Xu said the situation is quite bad right now."
She found her phone, only to discover it was switched off. No wonder she hadn't received any calls. After turning it on, a series of messages popped up. She found Xu Lan's number and dialed it back.
The phone rang once and was answered; Xu Lan's anxious voice came through.
"Miaomiao, did you see the video Zhang Mingxuan posted?"
"Yes, I just looked at it."
The other party reassured him: "Don't take what netizens say to heart. I've already asked someone to handle it for me."
Clearly, Xu Lan also saw the thousands of malicious comments under the video.
"And you..."
Xu Lan hesitated in her words, but Yu Miaomiao immediately understood what she meant.
Her voice was firm and cold: "I can guarantee that every single character of the code was typed by me."
"Okay, okay," Xu Lan breathed a sigh of relief, "I knew it, Miao Miao, you're not that kind of person."
She arranged to meet Yu Miaomiao and Jiang Cheng at the Cat Paradise headquarters one afternoon to discuss specific public relations strategies.
Jiang Cheng said, "I'll drive you there."
After a moment's thought, Yu Miaomiao realized that the school was located in a rather remote area, about 20 kilometers away from the city center's Maomaole (a popular local eatery), making it difficult to hail a taxi. So she agreed.
She took her laptop, and the two of them went downstairs side by side, heading towards the school's parking lot.
People in City A have a habit of taking a nap at noon. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the neighborhood was quiet. Yu Miaomiao walked while brainstorming code for a project that was almost finished.
Amid the rustling of the wind through the camphor trees, Jiang Cheng spoke up: "I watched Zhang Mingxuan's video."
"What do you think of what he said?" Yu Miaomiao asked casually, snapping out of her reverie.
"It is very empty, lacks any solid evidence, and is suspected of being fabricated."
As a medical student, Jiang Cheng's analysis was as clear and distinct as cutting through flesh.
"He spent a lot of time recounting his thought process, but things like thought processes are the easiest to fabricate and cannot be used as evidence; and the code commit time, I've searched it, can also be tampered with; as for the game assets..."
"Most importantly, our school just purchased a new batch of surveillance cameras six months ago, so they definitely couldn't have produced such a blurry video."
Yu Miaomiao looked at the other person with slight surprise. As someone who was not a computer science major, he knew so much programming knowledge, which meant he must have studied hard.
Jiang Cheng paused for a moment, then said, "Those comments... you don't need to take them to heart. They don't understand you, nor do they want to understand the whole story. They just want to vent their malice."
Yu Miaomiao continued walking, casually saying, "My time is limited, and I won't waste my energy on these boring comments."
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Jiang Cheng looking down at her, his brows slightly furrowed, revealing a rare hint of unease and worry.
She paused slightly, suddenly remembering how Jiang Cheng had reported each and every comment last night. A jolt went through her, and she blurted out without thinking, "You're worried about me?"
Jiang Cheng was taken aback for a moment, a hint of surprise in his expression, but he readily admitted, "Yes, I am concerned about you."
Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Yu Miaomiao felt inexplicably agitated. She pursed her lips, a hint of resistance she herself didn't realize in her brows. "I don't need it. These comments won't affect me at all."
She strode forward, leaving the others behind.
Jiang Cheng, tall and long-legged, caught up with her in a few steps. "Of course I know. Yu Miaomiao is a very capable person. You probably don't even bother to read those rumors, let alone let them affect or hurt you."
"It's my problem."
His voice lowered, like the clinking of metal against metal, and his originally nonchalant tone now carried a hint of amusement, sounding very close to Yu Miaomiao's ear.
“I know your personality, but I can’t help worrying. I wonder if you’ll be unhappy or angry if you see these comments. I’ve thought about these thoughts over and over again, and in the end, I think it will be more comfortable to say them out loud.”
Yu Miaomiao could almost feel the breath of air from her words brushing against her ear, making her right ear go numb.
Her words were tinged with a slight stutter that she herself was unaware of: "Then, now that you know, you don't have to worry anymore."
He added, "Let's hurry up, Sister Xu is getting impatient."
The two fell silent again, but this time, listening to the footsteps beside her, Yu Miaomiao could no longer clear her mind and work on her code.
-
The two arrived at the parking lot near the school gate, parked their car closer to the inside, and walked inside.
After taking only a few steps, Yu Miaomiao suddenly felt a resonance in her bloodline. She frowned slightly, looked around, and saw no one. She thought it was just her imagination.
But then a BMW suddenly flashed twice beside them, and a man in a suit got out of the passenger seat.
The man looked like he was wearing a suit for the first time, shrugging and stretching uncomfortably. His medium-length blond hair was swept back, giving him a rather dashing appearance.
The man's eyes lit up when he saw Yu Miaomiao. He ran over in his leather shoes, looking very surprised. "Miaomiao, what are you doing here?"
Yu Miaomiao pretended not to hear and walked past the man, continuing forward. But the man followed her, saying as he walked, "Miaomiao, where are you going? I was just about to look for you. I've remembered everything. Don't get in this human's car... I can take you there."
"Hurry up."
She told Jiang Chengyi to move even faster, and for a moment she didn't pay attention to her footing and tripped on the hollowed-out floor tiles. Fortunately, Jiang Chengyi reacted quickly and caught Yu Miaomiao in an instant.
"What are you doing? Let go of Miaomiao!"
Because Jiang Chengyi was moving very fast, Lu Ye did not notice Yu Miaomiao's slight stagger. He only saw that the human man inexplicably put his arm around his daughter's waist.
He stared intently at Jiang Chengyi, his eyes filled with disgust, then looked at Yu Miaomiao with a worried expression, "Miaomiao, don't be fooled by him!"
Yu Miaomiao stood up straight, but didn't look at Lu Ye opposite her. Her tone was indifferent. "I'm sorry, I don't know you. You've mistaken me for someone else."
Lu Ye's imposing manner suddenly weakened, and his tone became very humble, "Miao Miao, can you give me a little time? Ten minutes, just ten minutes will do. It's about... the matter of when I left back then."
His eyes held pleading and expectation. Though dressed in a suit and tie, looking like a successful man, his expression was that of a beggar, pleading not for money, but for his daughter's gaze.
Yu Miaomiao remained silent for a long time. During this silence, Lu Ye didn't dare to breathe loudly, holding his breath and waiting for the verdict hanging over his head.
final,
"I'll only give you three minutes."
Lu Ye felt as if he had been granted a pardon, as if he had come back to life in an instant, and nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay, three minutes is fine too."
Yu Miaomiao said to Jiang Chengyi, "Wait for me a moment, I'll be back as soon as I'm done."
Jiang Cheng nodded, watching Yu Miaomiao and the man leave together.
The man was very tall, a head taller than Yu Miaomiao, but he was slightly bent over to keep at the same height as her, taking small steps to match her pace. Even without seeing his face, one could imagine the joy and caution on his face.
The two arrived at a secluded corner of the parking lot, about thirty meters away from Jiang Chengyi.
After stopping, Lu Ye said eagerly, "Miao Miao, thank you, thank you for being willing to listen to my explanation. I'm sorry to Xiao Qing, and—"
"Stop talking nonsense," Yu Miaomiao interrupted impatiently.
"Okay, okay." Lu Ye nodded awkwardly and began to recount what happened back then.
"Back then, Xiaoqing and I had planned to get married. My public identity was that of an orphan. Because of this, Xiaoqing had a huge fight with her mother and they broke up completely."
Speaking of his lover, his eyes were filled with longing. "After learning about this, I felt very guilty. I told Xiaoqing that I still had some money saved up, and I wanted to give it to her mother so that she could accept me."
Xiaoqing laughed and called me stupid, saying I didn't understand her plan. She said she was just using this as an excuse to deliberately quarrel with her mother and sever ties. She said, "If she finds out you have money, you won't have a peaceful life for the rest of your life!"
"Indeed, Xiaoqing has always been very smart and hardworking. Although she is human, she is much more capable than me, a monster who has lived for three hundred years. She earned her tuition fees, got into A University, found a good job, and even bought a house."
"For the wedding, I invited many old friends. One of them lives on Lingshan Mountain in S City, living in seclusion. I had to go there in person. When I arrived at the foot of Lingshan Mountain, I met people from the Enforcement Division. They said that there was a wolf demon who had gone mad and was extremely dangerous. They told me to wait half a month before going up."
"But I disagreed and insisted on going into the mountains."
At this point, Lu Ye fell silent for a moment, his eyes turning red.
"This is the thing I regret most in my life."
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