Some people cleaned up the photos, so naturally, others secretly kept them and spread them around privately.
The day after the online cleanup, Wang Zhi, holding a complete set of inappropriate photos, proudly presented them to Yu Shulin on QQ.
Yu Shulin declined Wang Zhi's file transfer with a facepalm, typing rapidly.
Shulin: The monthly exam is in half a month. Have you reviewed?
I Am Da Zhi I Fear No One: ...Alright, alright, I know you don't want to see these, but there are a few photos you must take a look at. [Image][Image]
The images were large and took a moment to load. After seeing them clearly, Yu Shulin was stunned—the people in the photos were actually Liu Fen and Liang Zixiu, disheveled and in disarray!
This is really... He opened his mouth, then held his forehead. No wonder Liu Fen reacted so strongly after her chance at being a star was ruined. So she had already "sacrificed" for her career path. His fingers paused on the keyboard, and finally, he sighed and typed.
Shulin: Besides me, who else have you shown these photos to? Don't spread them anymore. After all, she's a girl.
I Am Da Zhi I Fear No One: I know my limits. I just wanted to show you. Sigh, she was too foolish. But she was wearing makeup when the photos were taken, so you can't really recognize her unless you look closely. I hope no other students from City No.2 High School see the photos and recognize her.
Yu Shulin clicked the mouse and closed the chat window.
What more could be said? The entertainment industry... is truly messy.
Just as the photo incident had calmed down a bit, Liang Jian was back in the news—his wife, Liu Yu, wanted a divorce!
Liang Jian's wife, Liu Yu, had a cold personality and only cared about money. She had always turned a blind eye to her husband's philandering, pretending not to see it. The bosses who fooled around with Liang Jian even envied him, praising his good judgment in marrying such an "understanding" wife. But now, it was this very "understanding" wife who, while Liang Jian was entangled in scandals and his company was struggling, firmly demanded a divorce.
Ronghua was their marital property. Now that Liu Yu wanted a divorce and a division of assets, she was essentially forcing Liang Jian into bankruptcy faster!
Public opinion was in an uproar for a while.
Top floor, Chairman's office, Rongguang.
After reading the newspaper, Yu Shulin tugged at Liang Zhou beside him, puzzled, and asked, "Brother, this Liu Yu is demanding a divorce but only asks to take their daughter Liang Keke, not mentioning Liang Zixiu at all. Why?"
"Because Liang Zixiu isn't her child. He's the result of Liang Jian's fooling around outside." Liang Zhou turned a page of the document, explaining calmly.
"Ah?" He was surprised. After digesting the news, he shook his head and sighed, "Liang Jian's private life is so messy... It feels like there are no good people in the Liang family." Liang Jian, Liang Zixiu... and even Liang Chi... when it came to matters of the heart, these few people all seemed to...
Liang Zhou's hand holding the pen paused. He turned his head, pulled Yu Shulin close, kissed him on the cheek, nuzzled the soft hair behind his ear, and said in a low voice, "I'm not messy."
Yu Shulin felt his hairs stand on end from the nuzzling, his body trembling as if electrified. He quickly pushed him away, vigorously rubbed behind his ear, and said uncomfortably, "Don't nuzzle, it feels so weird..."
Seeing this series of actions, Liang Zhou's mind stirred. Glancing at Yu Shulin's slowly reddening ears, he discarded the document and pen, pounced without hesitation, pulled the person over to hug him, and nuzzled again: "So it's the hair behind the ear..." This sensitive spot was hidden quite secretly.
"Stop, stop..." Yu Shulin struggled, his voice changing pitch from the nuzzling. Weak-limbed, he collapsed onto the sofa, turned over with difficulty, and crawled toward the other side of the sofa, his face flushed red.
The smile in Liang Zhou's eyes deepened. He deliberately followed him, fingers tickling behind his ear, then bent down, wanting to turn him over and kiss that flushed face.
Zhang Qian, in quite a good mood, approached the office door holding files, pushed it open vigorously, and said cheerfully, "Zhou, the first online promotion for [the film] has gotten great feedback. We should... shouldn't we..."
Yu Shulin, being pressed and tickled on the sofa, froze.
Liang Zhou glanced sideways at Zhang Qian, who was dumbfounded in the doorway, his face darkening as he got up from Yu Shulin. He looked at Zhang Qian coldly, "Knock before entering, understand?"
Yu Shulin tried hard to catch his breath, raised his hand to touch his warm face, peeked sideways at Zhang Qian, then silently picked up a cushion from the sofa and buried his face in it—so embarrassing.
"You... you two..." Zhang Qian stared, dumbstruck, looking from one to the other, his hand trembling until he couldn't hold the files, and they fell to the floor.
Liang Zhou glanced at the files on the floor and raised an eyebrow, "We what?"
Zhang Qian swallowed hard. Seeing his nonchalant expression, his own expression changed dramatically. He turned, closed and locked the door, then rushed into the office, strode over, and grabbed Liang Zhou's collar: "Liang Zhou! You actually really... that... with a minor? You, you, how could you be so reckless! You could go to jail! Shulin is your brother, have you lost your mind?"
Liang Zhou was utterly calm: "Shulin isn't my biological brother. You didn't know?"
"...What?"
Lunchtime, a private room in a restaurant.
Liang Zhou picked up a piece of spare rib and placed it in Yu Shulin's bowl, then took a small bowl beside him to serve him some soup.
Guan Bowen buried his head in his phone, scrolling, sometimes frowning, sometimes laughing, acting crazy.
Zhao Zhi, on the other hand, was eating properly, very composed.
"So you knew too?!" Zhang Qian roared into his phone, wanting to use sonic waves to kill Ling Chun, who was far away in City S: "You scum! Such important gossip and you didn't tell me, are we even friends?!"
"Friends? You sure?" Ling Chun's tone was low, full of dark aura. After saying that, he started a cold "heh heh" laugh: "Do you know how long it's been since I slept? Do you know how long this case that was decided today dragged on? Do you know how useless the newbies under me are? Do you know how annoying the old fogies at the company are? Do you know how long it's been since I had a vacation?"
"N-no, I don't..." Zhang Qian's volume instantly dropped, answering weakly.
"You don't know any of that, and you call yourself a friend? Heh..."
Zhang Qian was frightened by that cold laugh, shivered, and with a "biu~" threw his phone out. It landed with perfect accuracy right in the soup tureen in the middle of the table. Then he patted his chest, scared: "Ling Chun without sleep is terrifying... ah, so scary, so scary..."
The phone made a "plop" sound as it hit the soup, splashing it. Liang Zhou paused while ladling soup, put down the ladle and bowl, stood up, grabbed Zhang Qian by the back of his collar, opened the private room door, and threw him out. "Come back in after you've calmed down. Also, order another serving of soup."
Thud—
The door closed. Zhang Qian looked at the brightly lit corridor, then at the elegant, sturdy private room door, got angry, then deflated. He walked a little further out, listlessly grabbed a passing waiter: "Um... another serving of soup, please..." Wrongly befriended a bunch of scoundrels, a pack of beasts.
An hour later, everyone was full and satisfied.
Zhang Qian timidly raised his hand and looked at Yu Shulin: "Um, Little Yu, you and Liang Zhou..."
"We're together." Yu Shulin nodded somewhat sheepishly, then earnestly assured him: "Brother Zhang, don't worry. If I don't agree, my brother wouldn't dare touch me."
"No, that's not..." Zhang Qian waved his hands, glancing at Liang Zhou and lowering his voice, "You two are brothers..." Isn't that... morally wrong... How terrible it would be if the media exposed it later...
"Once Shu Lin turns eighteen, I will move my household registration out of the Liang family." Liang Zhou crossed his arms, perfectly calm. "Besides, Shu Lin and I are not related by blood. My biological father is scum, not worth considering."
"Move your household registration?" Yu Shu Lin frowned, turning to look at him. "You never mentioned that before."
"It's better to move it out. I don't want you to face any difficulties in the future." Liang Zhou patted his head. "Are you full? Would you like some more dessert?"
Yu Shu Lin nuzzled his hand, smiling and shaking his head. "No need, I'm full. The food at this restaurant is quite good."
"Then we'll come here more often to eat."
"Okay."
Zhang Qian was stunned by Liang Zhou's words. He had just regained his senses when the two of them nearly blinded him with their display—their tone and words weren't particularly mushy, but knowing their relationship now, it all sounded so disgustingly sweet!
"Alright, now that you know, stop thinking about setting Liang Zhou up on dates. Pull yourself together and focus on work. Ronghua is about to collapse; we can take advantage and get a piece of the pie." Zhao Zhi steered the conversation back to business in a few words, pondering, "Liang Zhou, is acquiring Ronghua worth it?"
Liang Zhou thought for a moment and nodded. "There are profits to be made, but Ronghua is too much of a mess. I don't want it."
Zhao Zhi nodded. "I understand. Honestly, I look down on it too."
Zhang Qian pounced on Zhao Zhi, trying to choke him. "You knew Liang Zhou and Xiao Yu were together?! And you didn't tell me!"
"Let go." Zhao Zhi tried to peel him off, his face darkening. "I didn't know much earlier than you. I just forgot to mention it. Calm down, we have a pile of work."
"You all kept it from me! I won't let go, I'll strangle you!"
The two of them tussled into a heap.
"Really interesting." Guan Bowen, who had been playing on his phone all afternoon, finally deigned to put it down, smiling. "The news about Liang Jian and his wife has hit the biggest domestic forum. The netizens are powerful; they've dug everything up clean."
"Including Liang Zixiu's origins?" Liang Zhou raised an eyebrow.
Guan Bowen nodded. "Including Liang Zixiu's origins."
After news spread of Liang Jian and Liu Yu's divorce proceedings, netizens sensed there was dirt to be found and enthusiastically dug online. And dig they did, uncovering quite a lot.
Turns out, over twenty years ago, Liang Jian managed to marry Liu Yu entirely by deceiving the young woman.
At that time, Liang Chi was already a somewhat famous director, while Liang Jian was still selling shoes near the university district in B City. Seeing Liang Jian struggle, Liang Chi helped him buy a shop, transforming him from a laborer into a boss. Once he became a boss, Liang Jian started neglecting his business, loafing around the university district all day, trying to find himself a pretty girlfriend.
Liu Yu, then a sophomore in college, unfortunately caught his eye.
He wanted to pursue her but was afraid she'd look down on him. He thought it over and came up with a terrible idea—to impersonate Liang Chi to get close to her. People were more naive back then. Liang Jian claimed that, and Liu Yu actually believed him. Their relationship heated up quickly, with Liang Jian even promising Liu Yu the female lead in his next film.
Later, Liang Jian somehow got exposed. Liu Yu was furious, but by then she was already pregnant. Liang Jian cried and begged, and she gritted her teeth. Seeing that he was at least Liang Chi's brother and owned a shop, she closed her eyes and married him.
Married life was naturally unhappy. Liu Yu's parents, angry at her lack of ambition, cut off contact. Liang Jian wasn't wealthy and refused to continue funding her education, so her studies were ruined. Unhappy events piled up one after another; she became depressed and ultimately lost the baby. Even after losing the child, life went on. But as time passed and Liu Yu failed to get pregnant again, Liang Jian gradually treated her less well. Later, Liang Jian brought home Liang Zixiu, saying that since Liu Yu hadn't gotten pregnant, he adopted a child for her. Liu Yu believed him. With this soft little thing by her side, her mood gradually improved.
But as time went on, Liu Yu noticed Liang Zixiu looked more and more like Liang Jian. Suspicion arose in her heart, and she secretly got a paternity test for the father and son. The results, of course... were not what she had hoped.
Deceived, her education ruined, her child lost, and now her husband cheating, even making her raise his illegitimate son... The hatred in Liu Fen's heart began to swell. Amid this chaos, her long-dormant belly actually started to swell. Panicked and angry, remembering the child she lost years ago due to depression, and considering her own income, she weighed her options, gritted her teeth, pretended ignorance, and continued living with Liang Jian, deciding to confront him after giving birth.
Time flew by.
After Liang Chi returned from studying abroad and preparing his film, Liang Jian had spare money again and started openly carousing outside. Liu Yu ignored it all, focusing on her pregnancy, using the shop's profits to indulge in nourishing herself.
Later, Liang Keke was born. Liang Chi got married, his wife died, and he gave a branch company to his brother. Liang Jian became truly prosperous. For the sake of her daughter's superior life, Liu Yu gave up on divorce, gritted her teeth, and continued being Mrs. Liang.
This went on for over a decade. Now Liang Keke had grown up, and Ronghua was on the verge of collapse. To minimize losses, she finally broke her silence, demanding a divorce from Liang Jian!
The thread digging up Liang Jian and Liu Yu's past grew very tall. The thread starter was silver-tongued, narrating the events of those years convincingly. Netizens ate it up.
Female netizens were especially sympathetic—this Liu Yu is also a pitiful soul, enduring humiliation for her daughter all these years, not easy, really not easy.
While gossip flew online, in reality, the divorce was quickly settled. Liang Jian was clearly the guilty party, with most of the assets awarded to Liu Yu and Liang Keke. And until the lawsuit concluded, Liang Zixiu never reappeared.
Liang Jian's Ronghua shares were split, half going to Liu Yu. Most of his real estate and deposits were also taken. The moment Liu Yu received these, she sold the shares, house, and cars, and disappeared from B City with Liang Keke. Before leaving, she had Liang Keke publish a notice in the newspaper severing her father-daughter relationship with Liang Jian.
The newspaper coverage of this divorce case ended, but the online discussion continued.
A netizen popped up, claiming to have seen a plain-faced Liu Yu, stripped of her former glamour, taking Liang Keke to kneel and cry for an entire day in front of a retired teachers' residential building at a university, before being taken in by an elderly couple wiping their tears.
No need to guess, that elderly couple were surely Liu Yu's parents. How pitiful the hearts of parents are! Netizens sighed with emotion.
Some curious netizens followed the clues to that old residential building, but after asking around, they only found out that some time ago, an elderly retired teacher couple living there had been taken abroad by their daughter, who had been overseas for many years, to enjoy their later years.
Liu Yu's fire sale of Ronghua stocks dealt a significant blow to Liang Jian. Ronghua, which had once fiercely competed with Rongguang, finally faded into complete obscurity.
Laid-off Ronghua employees, holding cardboard boxes, gazed wistfully at the nearby Rongguang building adorned with banners proclaiming "Celebrating the opening of our new branch office" and "Celebrating the official opening of the cinema in [Location] on [Date]." Their hearts sank with a sigh.
Both companies had "Rong" in their names, so why was the gap so vast? Both were led by bosses surnamed Liang, so why were their trajectories so completely different? They had been so ambitious when they branched out to start their own venture. How long had it been? Two years? Three? And now, to end in such a dismal state... One wrong move, and the entire game was lost.
Yu Shulin closed the webpage. Recalling Liang Jian's outcome—his family scattered and lost—he shook his head. "No wonder Mrs. Liang and his sister weren't at Liang Zixiu's engagement party. So that's the truth." He shut down the computer and turned to look at Liang Zhou. "Brother, is that Yan Kaiwen bothering you again?"
"Not exactly. He wants to collaborate with Rongguang." Liang Zhou also had a laptop in front of him, his fingers tapping the keyboard, his brow not furrowed. "Uncle mentioned that Yan Kaiwen approached him too. It seems the Yan family is trying to soften us up through cooperation."
"Will we collaborate?"
"Yes." Liang Zhou finished replying to Yan Kaiwen's email, pushed the laptop away, closed it directly, and rubbed his eyes. "I have no qualms about taking the Yan family's money. Ideally, we'd drain them dry."
"Don't rub." Yu Shulin quickly grabbed his hand, pulled out his own bottle of eye drops from his backpack, steadied Liang Zhou's head, and said softly, "Let me put the drops in for you. Don't blink."
"Mm." Liang Zhou obediently kept his eyes open, staring straight at him.
The drops felt cool as they entered the eye, a sensation that usually triggers a reflexive blink. But Liang Zhou seemed to have lost that instinct, continuing to gaze directly at Yu Shulin even after the drops were in.
"Alright, you can blink slowly now. No need to stare so hard."
Liang Zhou kept looking at him, reaching out to touch the area below his nose, a smile curling his lips. "You're growing a mustache."
"Huh?" Yu Shulin also raised a hand to feel, then laughed. "Well, I am growing up."
"You certainly are." A smile appeared in Liang Zhou's eyes. He suddenly stood up and turned off the living room lights.
"What's going on?" Yu Shulin also stood, somewhat confused by his actions. "Brother, why did you turn off the lights?"
Liang Zhou didn't speak.
In the sudden darkness, a glow of candlelight appeared. Auntie Liu walked out beaming, holding a cake, and announced loudly, "Happy birthday, Young Master Shulin!"
Yu Shulin turned to look, his gaze falling on the cake in her hands, momentarily stunned. After his mother's death, it had been many years since anyone celebrated his birthday. He lowered his head, pulled out his phone, and stared blankly at the date displayed.
September 18th...
So much had happened recently, yet it was only September 18th...
Liang Zhou walked to his side, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and said in a low voice, "You have class tomorrow, so we can't throw a big party today. We'll make it up properly this weekend, okay?"
"Yes, yes, we must make it up! Just cutting a cake for a birthday is too plain," Auntie Liu chimed in with a smile, carefully placing the cake on the coffee table and beckoning to Yu Shulin. "Come here, Young Master Shulin. We'll sing the birthday song, make a wish, blow out the candles, and cut the cake. We can't skip a single step!"
"Alright!" He gave Liang Zhou's hand a squeeze and walked over with a smile.
Liang Zhou followed behind him and, surprisingly, started leading the birthday song.
The sight of this tall, long-legged man with an aura of noble, cool, elite sophistication standing there singing "Happy Birthday"... Yu Shulin couldn't help but laugh. Then he closed his eyes, made a sincere wish, and blew out the candles.
The next second, the living room lights blazed on. Uncle He stood by the light switch, pulling the string on a party popper. "Happy birthday."
Pop! Colored paper flew everywhere.
"Quick, quick, cut the cake," Auntie Liu urged promptly.
The cake was exquisite, giving off the sweet, distinctive aroma of fruit and cream that made one's mouth water. He cut the cake, served slices to everyone, then held the largest piece for himself, eating it and unconsciously breaking into a silly grin.
Such warm, happy days felt like a dream.
Liang Zhou wasn't fond of overly sweet things. He took one bite and stopped, leaning over to pull a bag from under the coffee table and start taking out gifts.
"These are from Zhao Zhi and Zhang Qian. This one was mailed back by Ling Chun. These few are from our cousins and Xiao He. And this one..." He pulled out an elegant box, his face suddenly darkening. "From Yan Kaiwen. See if you like it. If not, we'll send it back."
Yu Shulin looked at the pile of gifts, then at his expression, and laughed. He reached out to pinch Liang Zhou's stern face. "Thank them for me. Now, where's your gift? Hand it over."
Auntie Liu sat to the side, covering her mouth with a chuckle. No one else dared to pinch the young master's face like that. It was really amusing to see.
Liang Zhou pulled his hand down, avoiding Auntie Liu's gaze, and took a box from his pants pocket, pushing it over. "Mine. See if you like it." As he said this, he lightly scratched Yu Shulin's palm.
His attitude was somewhat suspicious. Yu Shulin withdrew his hand, toyed with the box a couple of times, smiled, and opened it with great anticipation. His expression changed instantly. He snapped the lid shut, looked nervously at Auntie Liu and Uncle He sitting on the sofa eating cake, saw they hadn't noticed, let out a relieved sigh, and shot Liang Zhou a glare.
"Do you like it?" Liang Zhou asked with a perfectly straight face.
Yu Shulin's grip on the box tightened. He tucked it into his own pocket, pursed his lips, a bit shy. "I like it."
Liang Zhou smiled, secretly took his hand, gave it a squeeze, then quickly let go—this feeling of having to sneak around in his own home was utterly terrible.
Auntie Liu gathered all the gifts she had prepared, piled them on the coffee table, arranged them one by one, and began chattering introductions. "These are cookies I made last week. Don't worry, they're not expired. I put raisins in them, they're delicious... These I made yesterday, the shapes aren't perfect, but they're still alright... This, this here, was recommended by a salesperson at the supermarket. They said it's some kind of imported candy, all the kids love it... And this, it's jam I made. You're still growing, and your evening self-study sessions have been extended. I was afraid you'd get hungry, so I made this. Keep some bread in your desk and spread this on it, it'll be perfect!"
An assortment of various snacks and treats covered the coffee table. Listening to Auntie Liu's chatter, Yu Shulin's heart swelled with warmth. For each item Auntie Liu mentioned, he unwrapped it and tasted a bit, then carefully put it away. "Thank you, Auntie Liu. I'll definitely hide these away and enjoy them slowly."
"But don't hide them all, your classmates will think you're stingy," Auntie Liu said, delighted that he liked them. She pulled out a large bag, her eyes crinkling into smiles. "No need to hide them. I've prepared this for you to take to school tomorrow and share with your classmates. That way they won't try to snatch the good stuff from you."
Yu Shulin looked at the bag so heavy that Auntie Liu had to drag it, and was dumbfounded. Just how much candy and snacks had she stockpiled...
After Aunt Liu finished her rambling, Uncle He also came out with a bag and handed it to Yu Shulin: "Happy birthday. I wasn't sure what you young folks like, so I just picked out a little something. Xiaolong's gift for you is in there too. He's very busy out of town, so he asked me to pass it along."
"Thank you, Uncle He." He took it with a smile, then turned to look at Liang Zhou, mouthing a silent "thank you" to him.
Liang Zhou smiled back, his gaze gentle.
