Chapter 19 Love Letter "Oh, Judge Zhou is here."...
Zhou Yu clicked on the link in the comments section. It was a news article from almost six years ago, with a screenshot of an essay in her old, immature handwriting.
This incident back then caused her great harm because she was inexperienced and sensitive. The title of "daughter of a corrupt official" is a shadow that she has been haunting for years, and the aftereffects of the psychological trauma still affect her in every aspect of life today.
So many years have passed, and in a different environment, no one mentions it anymore, and the frequency of nightmares has decreased significantly. Zhou Yu thought he had let go of it.
But when she saw the essay she had written, she realized that it wasn't about letting go, but rather that time had faded the memory. The wound had healed, but the scar remained on her skin, reminding her that the pain she had experienced was not an easy hurdle to overcome.
She read the entire news article from beginning to end. Although the headline used exaggerated language, the content was not fabricated. Those past events that she thought she had long forgotten were still fresh in her memory after reading the news.
The number of times this comment has been forwarded is increasing rapidly, already exceeding one hundred. Many netizens are still in a skeptical stage, unsure whether it is true or false.
To protect minors, all press releases at the time only mentioned Zhou Jinglong's name, and only those close to her knew that she was the author. The "Tsukino Momo" in the comments section is most likely someone Zhou Yu knows, narrowed down to elementary or middle school classmates, but the evidence is conclusive, and she has no way to refute it.
She assumed everyone's attention was on Chen Jingchi, and no one would notice an unknown lyricist. Clearly, she underestimated the fans' curiosity.
After logging out of Weibo, the phone screen automatically turned off due to prolonged inactivity, revealing a seemingly calm face on the black screen.
Currently, the discussion on Weibo is limited to her alone, and Zhou Yu doesn't know if it will involve him. She unlocked her phone again, opened WeChat, went to her chat with Chen Jingchi, typed a lot of words in the input box, but hesitated to send them.
During his withdrawal from the competition, Chen Jingchi also suffered similar cyberbullying, far more severe than what happened to her at that time. Perhaps to him, this old incident is insignificant.
After agonizing for a long time, Zhou Yu finally deleted all the text and put down her phone, her emotions still unsettled. She knew she would eventually have to face this matter again, even if not now, but whenever she encountered a situation requiring a background check, she would once again have to endure the strange looks from the public.
The most troublesome thing was having to come out and explain in person. However, Zhou Yu never felt that she had done anything wrong, nor did she think there was anything wrong with the essay. What she couldn't get over was her disappointment in her father and the guilt she felt from the emotional turmoil.
She decided to leave it alone and got up to wash up. Just as she came out of the bathroom, An Kejia and Fan Xin returned to their dorm. They chatted about An Kejia's crush on a male guest, and upon seeing Zhou Yu, they couldn't wait to share their stories with her.
“I just walked her to her dorm,” Fan Xin said. “She couldn’t stand seeing Jiajia getting even slightly close to other boys, she couldn’t keep up the act anymore.”
“I knew it. Boys are all like that. They get restless when they can’t have something, and they take the favored ones for granted.” An Kejia had a knowing look on her face. “I now know exactly how to manipulate them.”
Zhou Yu seemed absent-minded, only offering a few words of agreement.
Noticing that she was in a bad mood, An Kejia leaned over to look at her face and asked, "What's wrong? You don't seem very happy."
"It's nothing." Zhou Yu shook her head and offered advice, "This male guest doesn't seem very good. He's the type who doesn't appreciate what he has. Keep an eye on him."
Fan Xin nodded: "I think so too, let's keep him hanging on."
The dormitory lights went out at 11 p.m., and Zhou Yu was just about to go to sleep when An Kejia suddenly called out to her, "Zhou Zhou, do you know Li Yushi, who majors in journalism?"
Zhou Yu had never heard of this name before: "I don't know it."
"Then how did she spread rumors about you? Is she sick?" An Kejia cursed.
"What? How did she spread rumors?" Fan Xin asked.
“I’ll send it to the group chat for you guys to see,” An Kejia said.
She took a screenshot of the post she saw on social media and uploaded it to the group chat, noting that she was Li Yushi from the Student Union Publicity Department.
@Li Yushi from the Publicity Department: I've met her in person before; she's incredibly aloof. She wouldn't even let me ask her for Chen Jingchi's autograph! [smile]
[picture]
The image in the feed was a screenshot of a news article, with the title bolded and enlarged. Zhou Yu immediately recognized it as a news link from a comment by "月野氿桃" on Weibo.
In such a short time, some students from the same school have already seen it.
As for this Li Yushi, judging from the text she posted, Zhou Yu vaguely remembered her. She should be the girl he met when he got sick from being caught in the rain and went to the school clinic for an IV drip.
She wanted Zhou Yu to help her get an autograph, but after being refused, they never communicated again. Zhou Yu knew that this must have upset her, but she didn't expect him to turn around and bite her.
"Who is she? Why would someone I don't know ask for her autograph?" Fan Xin asked, puzzled. "What does this have to do with being noble or not?"
“Look at the pictures she posted, I’m really impressed.” An Kejia also sent the news screenshots to the group.
Fan Xin clicked on it and read it for a few seconds before bursting out laughing: "She's too funny. Is Zhou Yu the only person in the world with the surname Zhou? What a load of rubbish!"
“Exactly, just watch how I criticize her in the comments section,” An Kejia said.
Upon hearing this, Zhou stopped her, saying, "Wait a minute."
An Kejia: "What's wrong?"
She turned off the image and after a long pause admitted, "The news is true."
After the incident, all her former friends cut ties with her and lost contact. After transferring to Xianhai University, due to her personality, she didn't dare to open up to anyone. It wasn't until university, when Zhou Yu experienced dormitory life for the first time, that she gradually let down her guard and slowly accepted her two roommates. Although they only spent less than two months together, she truly considered them friends.
There was no way to hide this, and Zhou Yu didn't want to pretend to be aloof in front of them.
There was silence in the dormitory. After a long while, An Kejia finally spoke up: "It happened so long ago, why is it being dug up again?"
Fan Xin chimed in, "It must be because Chen Jingchi is too popular now, and those fans can't stand you."
“That’s not right. Zhou Zhou wrote a song for Chen Jingchi. The fans should be thanking us.” An Kejia questioned, “Who else could dislike Zhou Zhou? I guess it’s those whose lyrics weren’t selected. They’re just too jealous.”
Listening to their analysis, Zhou Yu felt a lump in her throat for the first time because she realized that someone was unconditionally supporting her. She blinked hard to suppress the emotions surging up inside her.
“I just commented on her,” An Kejia said. “Zhou Zhou, don’t pay attention to them. These people are just jealous that you’re making money.”
Zhou Yu responded with a muffled "Mmm".
The next morning, while having breakfast in the cafeteria, Zhou Yu hesitated for a moment before opening Weibo, wanting to see how far the matter from yesterday would have spread overnight.
The message page even lagged for a few seconds because there were too many messages. The Weibo post that mentioned her yesterday had nearly two thousand comments, and the top comments were different from what I had seen before.
No wonder he named his daughter Yu (欲), it's the Yu of greed!
[I just found out he was sentenced to eight years; he deserves it.]
Does anyone have the original essay? Was it intentional or accidental?
How could it be intentional? Can you honestly say she didn't enjoy the 2.2 million?
That's terrifying! Who would dare be friends with someone like that?
What if CJC does something bad and she writes it into her lyrics? [laughing and crying emoji]
【What's there to worry about? Don't they know who 'By My Own' is actually criticizing? CJC is essentially the same kind of person as her.】
[What are you thinking? Zhou Yu's poems are worth ten thousand each. As long as you give enough, it's not a problem.]
Are those who mock her out of sympathy for corrupt officials? If your father were to embezzle, would you dare send him to prison?
Zhou glanced at the messages a few times and then exited. The private messages from people she didn't follow were even more offensive, and she didn't open a single one.
Just like six years ago, when this incident was exposed, Zhou Yu saw many similar comments, some even more outrageous and hurling insults. Back then, her approach was to avoid it; as time passed, people lost interest in discussing it, and the noise naturally faded away.
She's no longer a 13-year-old girl. The multi-layered defense mechanism she's built up over the years has kicked in, allowing her to face ridicule and insults without flinching. But to say she's completely unaffected would be a lie.
An Kejia, sitting opposite her, saw her looking at Weibo and felt a mix of emotions, unsure how to comfort her.
The news screenshots had already spread throughout the school last night, and Li Yushi was just one of the people in them. She was in many group chats, and seeing them discussing this matter, she wanted to help but felt powerless to do so.
After all, even Zhou Yu has admitted that it's true.
She could only talk about other things in the group to temporarily divert everyone's attention.
Upon arriving at the classroom for the first class, An Kejia deliberately pulled the two of them to the back: "Let's sit in the back, this class is boring anyway."
The first class was a large lecture with several majors together. The classroom was crowded, and Zhou Yu could feel that he had become the focus of attention as soon as he appeared. Many people cast their gazes at him openly or furtively, and then whispered among themselves, the content of their conversations being self-evident.
Similar to the scene when she returned to the classroom to pack her things after the incident in the first year of junior high school, everyone had heard about her back then, and no one dared to go up and talk to her. Even her best friend's deskmate kept her head down the whole time, treating her like she was invisible.
The whole class breathed a sigh of relief only when she took everything and left the classroom.
The three of them sat down in the back row. Fan Xin was furious and said through gritted teeth in a low voice, "That's so outrageous. I want to gouge their eyes out."
A boy in front of them turned around with a cryptic smile on his face: "Oh, Judge Zhou is here."
As soon as he finished speaking, scattered laughter rang out from the surroundings.
Fan Xin said angrily, "Xuan Bin, are you looking for trouble?"
The boy named Xuanbin raised his hands in a pose resembling a portrait, revealing an annoying smile: "Sorry, Your Honor, I'll shut up."
"..."
Not wanting them to be implicated, Zhou Yu said in a low voice, "I'll change seats."
An Kejia grabbed her arm and said, "No, just sit here, why bother with him?"
Zhou Yu listened attentively to the lectures all morning and didn't get distracted by anyone. As she expected, the initial attention gradually decreased as time went by, and after half a day, not many people noticed her anymore.
During the second period in the afternoon, just before class was about to end, Zhou Yu clicked on Chen Jingchi's profile picture and sent him a message asking where they should meet later.
But after waiting for several minutes, there was still no reply.
Zhou Yu vaguely wondered, this matter has spread throughout the academy, and Chen Jingchi probably already knows about it. What will he think of her?
She had heard of cases where collaborations were terminated due to artists' bad behavior and breach of contract. She thought her situation would also be considered negative news. Would Chen Jingchi stop the meeting and refuse royalties because of this?
After calming down, I realized I was overthinking things and wondered why I was suddenly so sensitive. He had only not replied to my message for a few minutes, yet I had already thought of the worst possible outcome.
She doesn't resemble her at all.
When the bell rang, Zhou Yu, who was sitting by the back door of the classroom, stood up. An Kejia asked her, "Which cafeteria should we eat at?"
Zhou Yu thought for two seconds and said, "I have something to do, so I won't be with you guys."
“Okay.” An Kejia pulled Fan Xin away from her seat.
There was a long line of people waiting to leave through the back door. Zhou Yu stood there, waiting for everyone to leave before he went out himself.
Just as Zhou Yu was about to leave after there were only a few people left, Xuan Bin suddenly poked his head in through the back door and called out to her in a cheeky tone, "Your Honor, Chen Jingchi is looking for you!"
Zhou Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she pulled her foot back after taking the first step. Looking at his smiling face, she felt a little angry.
Before she could speak, a familiar voice came from outside the door.
Did she tell you that being foul-mouthed is a crime?
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Author's Note: Happy Qixi Festival, everyone! Updates will resume daily at 6 PM starting today!
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