Chapter 37 Understanding "Seeking Justice for My Feelings"
37
Although she never intended to escalate the conflict with Fang Huaixu, an invisible low pressure permeated the room for several days after that unpleasant conversation.
They seemed to have truly become two strangers living under the same roof, deliberately keeping their distance, no longer having any conversations or sharing. At home, there was often only Meng Yao busy with her own tasks, while Fang Huaixu seemed even busier, often returning home late at night, or simply staying at the company all night.
Meng Yao, who had been suffering from insomnia for several nights in a row, was clearly well aware of how frequently he had been coming home these past few days.
She eventually opened the document left by Fang Huaixu. It was a detailed plan for a public awareness campaign at a key local university, with the theme of caring for the mental health and online safety of teenagers.
The proposal was extremely detailed; even her speech as a special guest was prepared. The writing was fluent, the intention was positive, and it incorporated her own experiences, making the words sincere.
She couldn't understand why Fang Huaixu needed her to attend this event, but when she saw that familiar name, her heart skipped a beat, and she found the only possibility: this was the best school she could choose locally after weighing the pros and cons last time.
It's hard to call it a coincidence. She didn't know if Fang Huaixu had arranged it intentionally, but a voice in her heart told her that it was most likely intentional.
He always does this, revealing an astonishing thoughtfulness unintentionally, but in the current cold relationship, this thoughtfulness only makes her feel more irritable and lost.
She couldn't quite describe how she felt about him. Was it anger? Disappointment? But strangely, she didn't want to completely break off relations and become estranged. She felt a strange tightness in her chest, as if she had a breath stuck in her throat, unable to go up or down.
A few days later, the live broadcast took place as scheduled.
Meng Yao mustered her spirits and, following the previously agreed-upon plan, began her first official live stream. On screen, she no longer needed to deliberately make herself look ugly to attract attention. Dressed neatly and elegantly, she shared her recent experiences accompanying her grandmother to medical appointments and her recent life. As arranged, she also announced her upcoming trip to a university for public service promotion.
The live stream's popularity dropped significantly compared to the last one, but public opinion was shifting in a positive direction. However, without Fang Huaixu's team controlling the comments, many unpleasant comments still emerged amidst the encouraging and self-restrained voices.
After watching the videos for several days, Meng Yao realized that when public opinion improves to its peak, one must be prepared to face more backlash and ridicule.
A persona that remains popular online must have flaws. Most people have a rebellious streak and will not tolerate the existence of perfect people or things.
Even if she only shows cowardice, greed, or lust in a normal way, she can bridge the gap between the audience and the viewers and not make people feel that she is fake. However, the persona she established after her previous live broadcasts was too perfect, and her previous live broadcasts were very controversial. Once the hype dies down, a backlash is inevitable.
Since we haven't yet come up with a foolproof strategy, we should be even more prepared to deal with every situation we encounter in public from now on.
On the day of the promotional event, the weather was a bit gloomy. Fang Huaixu's car was parked at the company gate as promised when she got off work to pick her up and take her to the event.
Throughout the journey, the carriage was quiet. Fang Huaixu sat quietly by the window, flipping through documents, as if no one else was around.
He didn't speak, and Meng Yao didn't want to pay attention to him either. She leaned against the window, repeatedly memorizing her speech, constantly adjusting her state and emotions.
The two of them continued with their own tasks, as if the other did not exist at all.
Driving, Chen Jie unconsciously broke out in a cold sweat: Heaven knows what happened between these two bastards.
He couldn't understand what had happened to the two of them these past few days. They were inseparable last week, but this week they were like ice frozen in a refrigerator.
They arrived at the school gate in silence. Meng Yao got out of the car first, and Fang Huaixu followed behind. He stumbled almost imperceptibly, but fortunately Chen Jie, who was standing next to him, caught him quickly.
"President Fang? Are you alright?" Chen Jie asked with concern. Fang Huaixu was never such a careless person. "You don't look well. You've been spending several days in a row in the lab. Are you too tired?"
Fang Huaixu quickly regained his balance, waved his hand, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "It's nothing, I just haven't slept enough and I was looking at the screen for too long, so I feel a little dizzy."
Standing on the other side, Meng Yao heard the entire conversation between the two and had a million complaints in her mind.
How could she not be sleeping enough? These past few days, when Fang Huaixu rarely came home, she would get up in the middle of the night pretending to want to drink water, and the light under the study door was never off. Before dawn, she would hear the door being slammed shut again: this workaholic hadn't slept much at all.
But when she saw that his originally fair skin had become noticeably paler and sickly, and that there were dark circles under his eyes, she felt inexplicably uneasy, both itchy and painful, as if she were being scratched by a cat.
But she quickly suppressed this feeling and continued to enter the room with a calm expression.
The publicity event was held in the school's auditorium, which was packed with students and media. The event proceeded smoothly, and Meng Yao had already memorized her speech perfectly.
When she stood under the spotlight, she had completely shed her former naivety and shyness. She frankly and sincerely shared her experiences and how she groped her way through confusion, faced the problems head-on, without deliberately trying to gain sympathy. Her calm tone carried a genuine strength.
Finally, drawing on her own experience, she shared some reliable ways to seek help with everyone present, as well as her experience in distinguishing the authenticity of online information and protecting one's own rights. She also represented Tianmu Group in establishing a formal channel to accept applications.
Her presentation was met with applause from the audience, and the atmosphere remained relatively calm during the intermission.
Then, after the break, when the Q&A session began, the atmosphere gradually became awkward. Some people started to bring up, or even imitate her past ugly behavior, under the pretext of needing help or being curious, with their words full of mockery and disrespect.
As a public figure, one must be able to take a joke. Meng Yao herself didn't care about these harmless taunts. What she cared more about was that she saw a familiar face in the crowd of jeering people. It was the reporter who had deliberately made things difficult for her at the charity gala before.
However, the staff maintaining order at the scene arrived quickly and politely asked those people to leave. The situation was quickly brought under control, and the event ended without incident.
When Meng Yao stepped off the stage, she breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the seat in the first row that originally belonged to Fang Huaixu. It had become empty at some point, and for some reason, she felt a strange sense of loneliness, as if something was missing.
On the way back to the backstage area, Chen Jie suddenly followed, explaining to Meng Yao in a low voice as they walked: "President Meng, please don't mind, the online sentiment about you has been a bit off these past few days. It seems like someone is deliberately trying to stir up trouble and guide negative comments, which is why President Fang planned this offline event."
Meng Yao's eyes widened slightly. Chen Jie, thinking she was surprised, smiled, seemingly trying to take credit for Fang Huaixu: "President Fang did this partly to guide positive public opinion, to bind you and Tianmu together, and to transform in a more positive direction; on the other hand, it's also to lure the snake out of its hole. We've already identified several faces and sent people to follow up."
Meng Yao was indeed surprised for a moment, but not because of the plan, since it was originally her idea.
However, this was before she and Fang Huaixu had a falling out.
At that time, she was just imagining a scenario. Instead of passively dealing with haters and online trolls online, it would be better to go offline and distinguish between truth and falsehood in real interactions, so as to seize more substantial evidence. Choosing a school as the location would also avoid more uncontrollable situations.
But she only said it casually at the time, and she didn't expect Fang Huaixu to keep it in mind and put it into practice so quickly.
She was overwhelmed with emotions again, and that complicated and bittersweet feeling disturbed her once more. She really didn't understand what kind of person he was. How could he maintain physical contact with someone else while taking such good care of her emotional needs?
The choice of this school for the event was definitely not accidental. Back when she and Fang Huaixu had a fairly good relationship, they had looked at the school's brochure together. She had jokingly and dreamily told him that if she got into the school, she would definitely take him to see the school's famous musical fountain.
What was his answer back then?
Meng Yao couldn't remember clearly, because it was just a joke she would never have taken to heart. But even if she didn't remember, she believed that at that time he must have listened to her calmly, then smiled and agreed with "okay".
Her already suppressed emotions worsened, and she closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
"President Meng?" Chen Jie, who was standing to the side, asked, not quite understanding, as he looked at her reaction.
Realizing that Chen Jie was still around, Meng Yao remembered the important matter at hand. She pulled out the interview clips from the last event and found that familiar figure: "I think I saw him in the crowd again just now. He seemed very familiar. If you're checking later, could you look for this person in detail?"
Chen Jie quickly became alert, and while taking out his phone, he confirmed, "Okay."
He left quickly, and Meng Yao had her own space. She had no further plans; she should probably go straight home, but walking on campus, she suddenly stopped for some reason.
The fountain... it's obviously impossible for me to go see it with Fang Huaixu again.
It's a rare opportunity to come here, so why should she be unable to visit without Fang Huaixu? Since she's already here, why leave herself with regrets?
She made a quick decision and turned back to the school to look for it.
Using her memory and the signs, she quickly found the musical fountain located by the lake in the center of the campus.
The streetlights had just come on, and the sky was overcast.
It was already evening class time, and even students who didn't have evening classes were mostly gathered on the south playground, where there were hardly any other people around.
The fountain looks much like the one in the promotional pictures; it's quite large, with a unique design, and it's especially beautiful at night.
But for some reason, looking at the scene she had once looked forward to, she didn't feel the surprise she had expected. The evening breeze blowing from the lake was even chillingly cold, and when it brushed against her cheeks, she involuntarily hugged her arms tightly.
The melancholy in her heart never subsided.
After careful consideration over the past few days, she had to admit that she had been secretly hoping that Fang Huaixu would take the initiative to explain the whole story to her, even if it was just a few coincidences, clumsy reasons, or even reasons that were obviously obvious, to explain that those ambiguous actions were not intentional, no matter how lame or outrageous the reasons were.
She found herself... wanting at least to hear his explanation.
She has never been such an indecisive person. She likes what she likes and dislikes what she dislikes. She is decisive in relationships and should never drag things out or waste any emotion on people who are obviously not worth it.
But now, she is so distraught because of a man's silence and a betrayal that can't even be called official, and she's even starting to doubt herself.
She finally realized that she had no right to question Fang Huaixu. It was clearly her attitude towards this relationship that had changed, which was why she was heartbroken and angry.
She hoped he was the noble and gentle person she envisioned in her heart.
She hoped he would be just as eager to argue as she was.
She wanted him to prove to her that he valued their relationship just as much as she did, and that he shared the same feelings for her.
The ever-changing fountain seemed to surge forth like her thoughts. She took a deep breath and first sorted out her feelings: she liked Fang Huaixu.
The emotions that had been suppressed for so long were finally released, as if she had finally walked out of a crossroads where she could not make a decision, and she was finally facing a second choice.
If the other person might be a bad person, should you let go of the relationship or continue it?
A clear voice rang in her ears: She wanted to see him.
She was more clear-headed than ever: no matter how this relationship ended, even if she overestimated herself and ended up heartbroken, she wanted a clear explanation for her feelings.
She took a deep breath, preparing to wait for the fountain to stop before going to find Fang Huaixu, when suddenly a hand landed on the back of her head with considerable force.
Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't know if it was because of her recent thoughts, but the familiar movements and warmth made the first person she thought of was Fang Huaixu.
But the thought only lasted for less than a second.
The next second, the hand suddenly exerted force, an irresistible force pressed down on her head, and shoved her straight down into the pool water!
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