Li Xingda shook his head. "Xiang Lan, this won't do. No one will admit their mistake on their own. So, if you've identified the suspect, I suggest you ask your family to help you call the police."
"OK, I'll consider it." Xiang Lan's impression of Li Xingda improved even more. "So, what's your statement?"
"I will post this in this thread before noon today, and I will also make a separate statement. Don't worry."
Xiang Lan was in a great mood, having resolved half of the rumor issue. Returning the favor, she said to him, "President, thank you for your help. I will definitely do my best with the display board; you can rest assured—"
Li Xingda smiled. Under the spring sunshine, it was indeed a magnificent scene, like flowers in full bloom.
Xiang Lan's phone number was deactivated, and leaving it idle wasn't a good idea. Most importantly, she couldn't contact Fang Zi, which made her feel incredibly uneasy. She went to the convenience store and got a new phone number, thinking Liu Nanyang might have a spare phone. Carrying her laptop, she strolled to the office building.
He was indeed still working hard in his office to prepare for the art exhibition. When Xiang Lan arrived, he was looking at the schedule.
"Uncle."
Liu Nanyang glanced up at her, then turned back to look at his things, looking disgusted. "Why are you looking for me? Any progress on your graduation project?"
"I've got it, I've got it." Xiang Lan nodded vigorously.
"Well then, tell me!"
She dropped her schoolbag, grinned, and leaned closer, "Uncle, I remember you changed your phone last month, do you still have the old one?"
Where's your phone?
"broken."
"Just buy a new one," Liu Nanyang said nonchalantly.
"Will you sponsor me?" Xiang Lan grabbed his sleeve and shook it.
"The Xiang family went bankrupt, and they even cut off your allowance?"
"How could that be?" Xiang Lan dragged her stool and pressed herself against him. "Uncle, I'm doing this mainly for my graduation project. Otherwise, I would never have bothered you."
This idea was novel and immediately caught his attention. He abandoned his schedule and looked at Xiang Lan, who was beaming with obsequiousness, "What's going on?"
“These past few days, I’ve felt full of energy, and my inspiration is overflowing.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the main design for the exhibition panel. “Look, this is just a random drawing I made. Isn’t it different from the previous ones?”
Liu Nanyang took it and looked at it. It seemed to have more imposing presence than his previous paintings, but he remained silent.
"This is all thanks to my boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Liu Nanyang was startled. "Your progress is too fast! Your uncle can't keep up. Weren't you the other day?"
"Hehe, it's mainly because I'm so charming that I can get things done with just a few words."
"You already have a boyfriend, it wouldn't be a problem for me to give you a phone, would it? Why bother asking your brother-in-law?"
“He went back to the United States.” Xiang Lan sighed deeply. “His health is not good. The air here is not very good, and he is always coughing and sick.”
Liu Nanyang put down the drawing. "So, your phone broke and you don't have money to buy a new one, so you asked your uncle for an old one to continue dating him. What are you planning to do with the money you saved?"
"Phone bills," Xiang Lan said shamelessly. "Also, I'm planning a trip to the United States."
He looked at her from head to toe, and the more he looked, the worse his expression became.
"Uncle, how is it?" Xiang Lan sensed the prelude to a storm and asked cautiously.
"Did you want to go, or did he make you go?"
"I wanted to go myself." Xiang Lan said dejectedly, "We were supposed to contact each other last night, but my phone broke and I ran into some unpleasant things, so I couldn't get in touch."
When a girl grows up and wants to be a man, her family can't stop her.
"Why did you come to me?" Liu Nanyang wanted to confirm his place in her heart once again.
Xiang Lan immediately understood. "Uncle, you're different from my parents and brother. They're all old-fashioned and don't understand the true meaning of free love at all. You're different. You have a forward-thinking perspective and a youthful mindset. Besides, we're friends. Only you understand me and support me, right? Uncle, I only told you about this, so I didn't ask my brother for money—"
Liu Nanyang was satisfied; this flattery was very well done. But he still wanted to delve deeper: "What does your going to find a boyfriend have to do with your graduation project?"
"Uncle, you're just pretending not to understand, aren't you?" Xiang Lan nudged him with her shoulder. "Inspiration, the inspiration that comes from love, the surging inspiration."
"Go ahead and pursue it, your uncle supports you. Just don't get yourself into trouble. If you have any problems, remember to come to me." Liu Nanyang opened the drawer and took out a cell phone. "You came at the right time. I was just about to lose it."
"Thank you so much, Uncle. I'll bring the person over to show you once I get them."
"If he's just an ordinary person, then forget it." He continued to rummage through his bag, glancing left and right to make sure no one was outside, before quickly stuffing a small package into Lan's backpack.
Xiang Lan looked confused and tried to take it out to look, but Liu Nanyang held her hand down and cleared his throat, "Take a look when you get back, and be careful to protect yourself."
She left the office, found a quiet spot, and took out the small box to look at it. Three little Durex figures were smiling at her on the packaging.
Xiang Lan inwardly grumbled about her uncle's unreliability, put the thing in a hidden compartment of her bag, and then strolled off to the logistics office. On the way, she put the SIM card into her phone, downloaded her entire contact list from QQ Sync, and after thinking for a moment, sent a text message to everyone in her contact list announcing she was changing her number.
After sending the text message, I quickly received a reply from Li Xingda, who said, "I have posted a clarification and also explained it in your picture thread. Please check."
After replying with a thank you, she immediately picked up Fang Zidu's number and dialed it. The short, dial tone left her confused. Was the number disconnected or canceled?
Anxiety urged her on, and she immediately ran back to her dorm, pulled out the contact information and email address that Fang had given her, turned on her computer, and tried calling them one by one. No one answered the phone, and although she received emails, she didn't reply promptly. She bit her lip, wondering what had happened. She began to blame herself; why had she slammed the phone down last night? She had completely lost the chance to contact him immediately.
Xiang Lan was agitated. She rummaged through the trash can for her old, discarded SIM card, thought for a moment, and then inserted it into her phone. As soon as she did, her inbox was flooded with messages. She patiently waited for a full ten minutes before the notification sounds for incoming text messages stopped. When she opened her inbox, she found it filled with thousands of unread messages from various unknown numbers.
"They're just a bunch of idle people who have nothing better to do than be idle."
Xiang Lan complained and had no choice but to swipe through the messages one by one, trying to find the text messages that Fang Zi had sent her. She searched for more than half an hour before finally finding two.
The first message is, "I'm home now, I need to rest."
The second question is, "Why didn't you answer the phone?"
Xiang Lan felt relieved. It turned out he hadn't forgotten her; he was probably just unable to answer the phone. She happily removed the old SIM card, inserted the new one, and turned on her computer to read Li Xingda's statement. She clicked directly to the last page of the online forum, only to find a group of people queuing up in surprise—
"A male god's unconventional confession to Xiang Lan?"
What the heck?
Chapter Seventeen
"I am Li Xingda. I am very sorry that my actions have affected a girl's life."
Getting to know Xiang Lan was a long process for me. Initially, she reluctantly joined the student council with her friend's help, and wasn't actively involved in the work or activities. I wasn't entirely satisfied with her lazy attitude and hoped she could dedicate all her extracurricular energy to the work like the other students, which led to some arguments between us. Therefore, we didn't leave a very good impression on each other.
My impression of her changed with a small incident. In my sophomore year, I took over the student union. Like a new broom sweeping clean, I needed an opportunity to introduce myself. So, together with everyone, we planned a Mid-Autumn Festival cultural event themed around the meaning of the festival. We meticulously prepared for three months, from the text to the images. We selected suitable content on the computer, everyone was enthusiastic, and we thought the work was perfect, until two nights before the event. A torrential downpour destroyed half of our display boards and theme paintings. Everyone was helpless; some even cried. But Xiang Lan said, "Don't we still have plenty of paper and paint? We can finish it tonight; we should be able to make it in time."
She and her friends took on all the writing and drawing work, working through the night and a whole day to finally complete all the display boards. At that moment, she was our angel. I believe some of you still remember that event. More than twenty display boards lined up in a row filled the entire Xueyou Road walkway. I still have photos here of many students watching at the time.
After the event, we received a lot of praise and recognition from teachers and students, but Xiang Lan didn't think it was anything special. She has always liked to help others.
After that, I reflected on myself and realized that my understanding of people shouldn't be so superficial. I discovered more of her strengths: she was a little lazy, but she would complete her promises on time and in full; she was very easy to communicate with, and as long as it was a reasonable matter and she had the ability to accomplish it, she would never be stingy with her efforts.
I had no idea she was updating her work online, nor did I know any connection between those works and me. When she contacted me, she was only discussing some inconveniences. Her cell phone had to be abandoned due to thousands of text messages from strangers, and the landline in the dormitory rang 24/7, forcing her to unplug it. She didn't understand why, and frankly, I didn't quite understand either.
There are many people on the internet who claim to be my fans, but in the name of protecting me, they infringe on a girl's normal life; there are also many people who claim to be righteous, representing the law or morality to punish her.
What should I punish her for? For drawing too well? Or for liking me?
When I opened this drawing, I felt a little smug. Look, a lovely girl had been drawing for me silently for three or four years. But reason immediately pulled me back. It told me that Xiang Lan's personality had always been direct and straightforward. If she really liked me, she would probably have made her move on me immediately, but she didn't.
She didn't. Do you know what that means? The answer might not be what I'm looking for, so I don't want to write it out directly.
If there are truly people in this thread who like me, please stop attacking Xiang Lan, because she is a female friend I admire, and I hope you can extend that affection to her as well; if there are truly righteous people in this thread, please also stop attacking her, because apart from sharing her paintings with everyone, she hasn't caused any harm to anyone's life; and to all the little angels in this thread who have always liked Xiang Lan, please don't be disappointed, Xiang Lan is indeed, as you all think, a beautiful and innocent girl.
P.S.: I want to be honest with everyone. If this were truly a thread where someone were confessing their feelings to me, my answer would only be three words: I'm willing.
Xiang Lan's eyes fell on the line of text in the Photoshop file, and she sensed her impending doom. That Li Xingda guy was clearly stirring up trouble. No, she couldn't let herself be burned at the stake by the jealous crowd. She immediately logged in and posted a message using her own ID.
"Thank you for clarifying things, President. I will do my best to complete this task." He typed half a word, gritted his teeth, and continued, "Also, my boyfriend might have a different opinion from you."
After finishing typing, she closed her eyes and pressed send.
The sooner you die, the sooner you'll be reborn; there's nothing to be nostalgic about.
Li Xingda was clearly paying attention to Xiang Lan's reply. He received a reply immediately after she sent it, saying, "What a pity. I thought the boyfriend you were talking about was me."
Xiang Lan waited for this line of text, her eyes bloodshot. She grabbed her hair, thinking, "Damn it, why didn't anyone tell me that Li Xingda was so unrestrained online?"
The interaction between the two attracted a large number of onlookers. Their real-life interaction greatly aroused their enthusiasm and excitement. Streams of comments and jokes about the president liking Xiang Lan emerged one after another, and there were also those who blindly urged the two to be together. Before long, a large number of cursing comments were scrolled down.
Xiang Lan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the first wave of crisis had passed. If the person who attacked her was sensible, they would stop there. But if that person was not satisfied, they would probably start an even more vicious second wave.
She immediately sent a private message to the administrator to confirm that her personal information had been completely deleted, and then requested the administrator's cooperation in tracing the whistleblower's IP address. The administrator supported her reasonable request, but refused her second request, which was simply outrageous.
Before Xiang Lan and the administrator could finish their argument, a new alt account appeared in the thread, this time completely discrediting Xiang Lan and Li Xingda.
"Do you know why Li Xingda wanted to clarify things for Xiang Lan? There's a reason behind it all."
“I believe Li Xingda felt very ashamed, but he also succumbed to power.”
"Xiang Lan's family has a very powerful background."
"When she couldn't win Li Xingda's heart herself, she enlisted the help of her elders to pressure him, but that still didn't work. The photo of the three of them confronting each other in Taoyuan took place after that—"
"So do you know what this story is about? A rich and beautiful woman uses her family's influence to forcibly take away a male god, and the male god defends her despite being humiliated."
This person's remarks triggered another wave of criticism in the online forum, with Xiang Lan and Li Xingda both being criticized this time.
"My idol, you've disappointed me so much."
"Disgusting, you two scoundrels."
"The male god is innocent, it's all Xiang Lan's fault—"
"Looking back at the male god's statement now, it's all so pretentious."
"They seem to be putting on quite a show."
The alternate account is releasing more information, stirring up public sentiment.
"Do you know about the student council's summer field trip? It's sponsored by Xiang Lan's family."
"Back then, Li Xingda practically groveled before the Xiang family to secure this sponsorship—"
Xiang Lan felt like she was vomiting blood, so she took out her phone, found Li Xingda, and dialed his number.
"Xiang Lan?"
"President, I feel like asking you for help was a huge mistake. Good heavens, now even my family has been dragged into this—"
"Yes, that's pretty obvious." Li Xingda smiled. "It's probably not targeting you, it's targeting me."
"What kind of melodrama have I gotten myself into? This whole series of events is more thrilling and exciting than a movie."