DLRAS Chapter 87

Chapter 87: This was Huo Niansheng’s idea, wasn’t it?

Right before going to bed, Zheng Baoqiu knocked on Chen Wengang’s door: “Are you going back to our alma mater to attend that graduation prep rally?”

Chen Wengang leaned against the doorframe, chatting with her. “I just received the message. How do you already know about it?”

“Because you haven’t replied, and the teachers actually called the house! Why didn’t you agree?”

“It’s not that I didn’t agree, I just haven’t decided yet.”

“It’s such a simple thing. If you have the time, you go; if you don’t, you don’t. What, do you have some other concerns?”

“You forget, I’m still walking on thin ice,” Chen Wengang said, gently mocking himself. “I need to keep my head down and lay low for a while.”

“Listen to you, as if my oldest and second-oldest brothers haven’t gotten into fights before. Uncle He will give Dad face. If he says he won’t pursue it, then he won’t pursue it,” Zheng Baoqiu said. “Our alma mater holds this rally every year to teach everyone how to choose their majors—isn’t this a good deed? The teacher said those invited are all top-tier students who graduated within the last five years. See, even I wouldn’t be qualified to go if I wanted to.”

“Alright, I’ll think about it a bit more.” Chen Wengang smiled and bid her goodnight.

At that same moment, Qi Tongzhou lay in bed, entirely stripped of sleep. He was holding his phone, endlessly scrolling through a local forum.

He repeatedly refreshed the thread about He Jiajun. Around the thirty-fifth comment, a user popped up claiming to be a waiter at a five-star hotel. They stated that they had seen a fight in the smoking area from a distance that night and wondered if it matched the rumors.

Jincheng had no shortage of wealthy playboys, but He Jiajun’s chubby face was frequently plastered in the tabloids, making it easy for the general public to recognize him.

The user on the thirty-fifth floor had secretly recorded a video and uploaded a blurry screenshot. After comparing it for half the day, the internet sleuths concluded it was undoubtedly Young Master He.

Naturally, people continued to press for details, and more and more information began to leak.

When it came to the question of who actually hit him—that commenter suddenly donned the aura of an elite paparazzi, claiming that a certain young master who was always at odds with Young Master He had also been present at the scene. However, it wasn’t these two sworn rivals directly trading blows; a third person had been caught in the middle.

Just like that, the thread’s popularity surged.

By the time it crossed two hundred comments, another “insider” suddenly appeared, beginning to further unravel the ins and outs of the drama.

That user revealed that the person who threw the punches was a “canary” kept by this certain young master, who, for some unknown reason, got agitated that night and lashed out.

He Jiajun was notorious, and topics regarding his private life always invited wild speculation, immediately inciting a wave of impassioned guesses in the comments below.

It was no wonder Qi Tongzhou couldn’t sleep. Following the breadcrumbs, it wasn’t hard to guess that the “certain young master” was actually surnamed Huo.

Given that this particular individual’s reputation was equally infamous, the onlookers—who never minded how big the drama got—quickly shifted their focus to that canary.

What kind of innocent, vegetarian saint could he possibly be keeping?

From Qi Tongzhou’s perspective, the user at the two-hundredth comment clearly harbored ill intent, every word laced with targeted malice.

This person knew of Chen Wengang’s existence but deliberately twisted the facts to smear him, describing him as a college student kept by Huo Niansheng, naming the school he attended, and even hinting that they possessed photos of him. The replies below were a unified wall of people egging them on, urging them to post the pictures.

Qi Tongzhou was furious. He left a comment urging respect for privacy, only to be attacked by the mob and told to mind his own business.

As if demonstrating his power, the commenter taunted him, threatening to post the photos once the thread reached one thousand comments.

Qi Tongzhou had already privately messaged the admins requesting the thread be deleted, but he hadn’t received a response.

In a panic, besides sending the link to Chen Wengang, Qi Tongzhou had actually forwarded it to Li Hongqiong to ask what he should do.

Bringing this sort of thing to his own older siblings felt incredibly awkward, but it was much easier to open up to his somewhat street-smart god-sister.

Li Hongqiong had weathered many storms and didn’t take it seriously at all. “It can be deleted. But you know as well as I do that the more you try to silence people, the bigger the backlash will be.”

“Then what should I do?” Qi Tongzhou felt she wasn’t anxious at all. “Would sending a lawyer’s letter help?”

“Are you planning to send it on behalf of He Jiajun or Huo Niansheng?” she laughed through the receiver.

“I’m sending it for—”

“They haven’t even mentioned Xiao Chen by name yet, so you can’t send it for him either. You can have the lawyer prepare the letter first.”

“What’s the difference between waiting for them to infringe before sending it, and mending the pen after the sheep have already been eaten?” He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Isn’t there a way to solve this in advance?”

“If you’re asking for my PR experience, when one scandal breaks, you just use the heat of another scandal to cover it up,” Li Hongqiong said lightly. “Netizens have the memory of goldfish. If there’s a juicier spectacle, of course they won’t care about the old one anymore.”

The conversation ended there. Qi Tongzhou found no comfort in her words. Tossing and turning like a pancake on a griddle, he spent half the night restless before finally falling asleep.

The next day, everything was completely calm.

Whether it was Li Hongqiong’s doing or not, the thread had been deleted.

But this didn’t completely put Qi Tongzhou at ease. Li Hongqiong was right; the busybodies, their appetite for gossip unsatisfied, quickly opened new threads asking where yesterday’s hot post went and why the admins were deleting things arbitrarily. The cycle repeated, endlessly.

While he paced like an ant on a hot pan, Chen Wengang wasn’t anxious in the slightest.

He asked Uncle Lin for a few cardboard boxes and began packing his things in his bedroom.

Zheng Baoqiu sat on his bed, pouting as she watched him walk back and forth, letting out exaggerated sighs.

Chen Wengang laughed, “Either help me pack, or just go out and play. Isn’t it boring to just stand by and watch?”

Zheng Baoqiu crossed her arms. “I wasn’t happy about you moving out in the first place, and you expect me to generously lift a finger to help?”

Chen Wengang patted the top of her head. “Sorry, I didn’t plan for it to be this fast either.”

But he had been caught by Zheng Bingyi making out with Huo Niansheng at the front door.

In reality, Chen Wengang had never tried to hide it; he had anticipated that there might be a moment they would be caught. But he loved Huo Niansheng, and he didn’t want to sneak around. However, Zheng Bingyi was a man in his fifties, and in his eyes, such behavior was undeniably frivolous.

Fooling around was one thing, but you shouldn’t let people see it, much less make a public spectacle of yourself on the street. Back when Chen Wengang and Zheng Yucheng had their photos plastered by a scumbag, he had clearly stated he would act cautiously in the future. So why was he making the same mistake again?

Tripping over the same stone twice meant he hadn’t matured at all.

Zheng Bingyi didn’t say anything harsh to his face, but passing by the study, Chen Wengang had heard him privately tell Uncle Lin that he was very disappointed in him.

Zheng Baoqiu reluctantly stood up, dragged a box to her feet, and like a little ant moving house, tossed items inside one by one.

“Do you still want this piece?”

“Anything is fine.”

“What about this one?”

“Pass that one to me.”

She found a photo album and flipped it open. “Hey, honestly, were you happy living in our house all these years?”

Chen Wengang felt her tone carried a heavy, weathered weight. “Of course I was happy.”

Zheng Baoqiu turned a page. “A few days ago during the Mid-Autumn Festival—you weren’t here this year—Second Aunt kept chasing people down asking where you went. You remember her, she loves comparing people. She bragged all night about how great Xiaojie’s grades are; she wants to outdo you every single year. And Fifth Uncle’s son, saying you hid away just to avoid doing any chores. I suddenly realized, maybe you really are more comfortable living your own life outside.”

Chen Wengang didn’t really care about those trivialities. “In a little while, I’ll invite you over to warm the house and celebrate the move.”

She asked mischievously, “Warming your house, or Huo Niansheng’s house?”

Chen Wengang was completely candid. “Either one, whichever you prefer.”

She decided to ask clearly before he left: “What exactly do you like about him?”

Chen Wengang smiled. “Probably because he liked me first. As for the why, you’d have to ask your cousin.”

Having lived there for over ten years, his clothes alone took up an entire walk-in closet; five or six boxes were far from enough.

So he only packed a portion for now, planning to move the frequently used items to Huo Niansheng’s place, and the less frequently used ones back to Jiangchao Street.

When the sky was just turning a hazy gray, he suddenly heard a knock on his door through his sleep.

Wearing pajamas, his hair messy, Chen Wengang only had time to hastily comb it back with his fingers before Uncle Lin led him to Zheng Bingyi’s study.

Zheng Bingyi’s expression made the atmosphere extremely grave. Chen Wengang snapped fully awake, noticing the older man was also wearing a bathrobe, clearly having just been woken up as well.

Baffled, he listened as Zheng Bingyi asked about his relationship with Mu Qing: “When you two interact at home, it’s normal to have some friction and conflicts. Has he offended you in any way recently, or have you offended him?”

Chen Wengang was stunned for a long moment. “As far as I know, no.”

Zheng Bingyi’s gaze was deep and dark, staring at him strictly for a long time.

Uncle Lin knocked on the door, stepped in, and whispered a few words into the chairman’s ear, after which Chen Wengang was promptly shooed out again.

Zheng Bingyi frowned. “That’s enough, you can go back and rest some more.”

But any trace of sleepiness had vanished. Mystified, Chen Wengang closed the study door and stood still at the end of the corridor. At this hour, the massive estate was entirely empty, as if the building itself were still deep in slumber. Overlapping footsteps approached; trailing behind Uncle Lin toward the study was Mu Qing.

Chen Wengang returned to his room and grabbed his phone.

It was still that local forum, the very same section. Last night, someone had posted a thread completely unrelated to him, titled “Did anyone see that modern art exhibition? Let’s discuss.”

Such threads usually didn’t generate much heat. But after casually critiquing a few people, the original poster suddenly aimed their crosshairs at a fledgling painter named Mu Qing. They first claimed his basic skills were weak and his linework was poor, then accused him of plagiarism, stating his rise to fame relied entirely on hype and maliciously squeezing out his competitors.

Below, it followed the exact same routine of “insiders” coming out to drop gossip: “Doesn’t he always use his graduation from a prestigious school as a marketing gimmick? I was actually in the same major as him. His track record in school was terrible. He just throws on a new skin and suddenly transforms into a cutting-edge painter. Isn’t it laughable?”

They also began digging into his background—the nephew of a shipping magnate, boasting aristocratic blood; no wonder he had the capital to manufacture such hype.

But what really caused the thread to explode was a commenter claiming to run a repair shop in a digital electronics mall.

He stated that a few months ago, this person came to his shop to get his phone fixed, and then directly posted evidence extracted straight from the phone’s memory.

After looking at it, one could almost understand the commenter’s actions; you couldn’t blame them for taking the risk. Sitting on explosive material like that without saying a word would simply be too difficult.

At the very least, the evidence proved Mu Qing operated multiple burner accounts across various platforms, and he had frequently used these accounts behind the scenes to viciously slander the Zheng family.

This even included Zheng Bingyi himself.

With enough luck, some paparazzi would absolutely be willing to pay top dollar for more evidence.

This series of abnormal developments bore heavy traces of public opinion manipulation. The methods were simple and utterly ruthless, but more than enough to strip a person completely bare.

When Mu Qing came out of the study, his face was deathly pale, heavy dark circles bruising his under-eyes. It was impossible to say whether he looked like he had just seen a ghost, or if he himself was the ghost.

Chen Wengang was waiting in the corridor. Mu Qing walked over and suddenly took a few rapid steps forward, backing him into a corner: “Did you do this?”

Chen Wengang looked at him calmly. “I don’t know what happened.”

While the conversation in the study was taking place, he had just called Lawyer Zhu. When the other man answered, Chen Wengang finally realized how inconsiderate he had been.

Lawyer Zhu’s voice was groggy, having been dragged from a sweet dream, but his mind remained sharply analytical: “Mr. Chen, I am a lawyer. If you commit a crime, I can promise to bail you out, but I will not personally do things that cross the legal bottom line. I am not the mastermind behind this.”

Chen Wengang smiled and apologized to him: “Sorry to disturb you, hurry back to sleep.”

Mu Qing glared at him with pure resentment. “Are you happy now? Feeling smug?”

Chen Wengang replied, “No, I’m actually very shocked. I knew you didn’t like me. But today is the first time I’ve learned that I wasn’t the only one you resented.”

After daybreak, another guest arrived at the house. It was the director of the Zheng Group’s Public Relations department.

Zheng Bingyi loathed airing dirty laundry and never expected to stumble over his own nephew. The impact of the incident could be catastrophic or minimal. Zheng Bingyi called the PR director to seek professional advice. However, in an old-school enterprise like the Zheng Group, the PR department primarily maintained the official website and handled corporate promotion; their crisis management skills and awareness were practically nonexistent. Facing a situation that essentially belonged to the chairman’s private family affairs, the director was equally dumbfounded.

The sun was high in the sky when Qi Tongzhou finally woke up. By the time he checked his university class group chat, there were over 999+ messages fiercely discussing the scandal.

Qi Tongzhou was completely stunned. For ten full minutes, he couldn’t muster a single reaction.

He called Mu Qing, but the other party’s phone was turned off. Suddenly remembering something, Qi Tongzhou dialed another number.

On the other end of the line, Li Hongqiong sounded perfectly calm: “It’s not easy to explain over the phone. Come to my office and we’ll talk.”

Half an hour later, Qi Tongzhou sat down, his brows furrowed deeply as he looked at her: “Tell me you didn’t do this.”

Li Hongqiong simply asked back, “Didn’t you want to help Xiao Chen solve his problem?” She stood up nonchalantly, pouring a cup of tea for her god-brother. “I told you, the absolute best way to bury a trending topic is to manufacture a new one.”

Qi Tongzhou slammed his hand on the table. “You’re just making excuses! I want to ask you, why did you have to use such extreme methods?”

Li Hongqiong didn’t take offense. She gracefully lit a slim cigarette.

Holding the cigarette between her fingers, she leaned back against her desk, her demeanor entirely composed. “Little brother, I know you look a bit naive, but you’re actually very righteous in your bones. However, out of all these allegations… is there a single one that this Mu Qing didn’t actually do? Was he wronged?”

Qi Tongzhou’s mind was in absolute chaos, but amidst the swirling confusion, a sudden, piercing ray of clarity struck him.

“This was Huo Niansheng’s idea, wasn’t it?”

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