"Don't order anymore, I've already packed some spicy crayfish from Jianghu Ji," Wu Yun said, his voice louder than usual, as the conversation on the other end was a bit noisy. "I'll bring it to you now, it'll only take about twenty minutes to drive here."
"What, do you need something from me?" Yan Shenyu leaned against the window on the third floor of the villa, looked out, and smiled. "Why are you suddenly being so considerate?"
"Well, I just saw how hard you've been working," Wu Yun said somewhat awkwardly. "I just wanted to thank you for designing the necklace for me..."
“Okay then,” Yan Shenyu didn’t stand on ceremony and started ordering directly: “Then come over and bring me another cup of Duck Shit Fragrance hand-beaten lemon tea.”
"okok".
Half an hour later, Wu Yun knocked on the villa door, carrying crayfish and lemon tea.
The Yan family has a regular cook, and their meals are mostly light and healthy, which is a dietary disaster for Yan Shenyu, who loves strong flavors.
Not wanting to be criticized for ordering takeout, Yan Shenyu took Wu Yun to a small restaurant on the second floor.
About an hour later, when Yan Shenyu slowed down his eating, Wu Yun asked, "Are you full?"
Yan Shenyu: "Half full."
Wu Yun plopped back down and started peeling crayfish for him.
Yan Shenyu was genuinely surprised and asked suspiciously, "Is this also to thank me for designing the necklace for you?"
Wu Yun opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just shook his head: "Eat first, we'll talk after we finish eating."
Twenty minutes later, Yan Shenyu pulled off his greasy disposable gloves, wiped his hands with a wet wipe, and then spoke up: "Speak, what's the matter?"
Wu Yun was unsure: "Are you full?"
Yan Shenyu threw a wad of wet paper at him: "If you don't tell me, I'm leaving."
"I was just worried that you'd lose your appetite if you saw this," Wu Yun said hesitantly, pulling off the tissue covering her face. "Are you ready? I'm going to show you something disgusting."
Yan Shenyu raised an eyebrow.
Wu Yun took out his phone, opened a video, and handed it to Yan Shenyu. Only then did Yan Shenyu realize that it was a maliciously edited video of his wedding day in the groom's room. The video made no mention of the fact that they had been drugged, but only showed him disheveled, intending to create the illusion that he had seduced the two workers. The subtle manipulation of the narrative was quite skillful.
The video was edited into small pieces and various strange filters were added, which fooled quite a few people for a time.
[Am I seeing things? Is this Yan Shenyu?? He looked like this even before he got married, having affairs with two random men?]
[This is really disgusting. Are they really that sexually frustrated?]
[Fun fact: In reality, gay people are considered dirty.]
[Even before marriage, he could seize every opportunity to seduce others; who knows how promiscuous he was in private, and how many men he'd been with.]
[How despicable! Compared to him now, Xiao Zhenliang is practically a good person.]
Yes, I suddenly feel a little sorry for Hsiao Chen-liang.
[My heart aches for Hsiao Chen-liang +1]
[My heart aches for Hsiao Chen-liang +10086]
Thankfully, he ran away from the wedding.
...
Yan Shenyu continued scrolling through the videos, finding that most netizens were criticizing him, while the rest were expressing sympathy for Xiao Zhenliang. Some pointed out that the video lacked sufficient information to determine what had actually happened between them, but these comments were quickly buried by online trolls.
As the rumors spread, they eventually became the story that he was a scheming man who deliberately plotted to embarrass Xiao Zhenliang so he wouldn't attend the wedding, while Xie Xiaoling, who had originally interfered in their relationship, had suddenly become the one who saved Xiao Zhenliang.
"It's infuriating, isn't it? What's even more outrageous is that I've already clarified that Xie Shiba drugged you, and I was the one who got aphrodisiacs, but nobody believes me!" Wu Yun's angry voice rang out. "Those people say we're birds of a feather, and even that we're having a foursome?!"
"Fuck him!" Wu Yun became angrier and angrier, cursing, "If I could play this sophisticatedly, would I still be a virgin?"
Yan Shenyu was too lazy to complain. He scrolled through the comments one by one, and suddenly laughed when he saw the last one.
Wu Yun felt a chill run down her spine from his laughter, and her heart pounded: "What...what are you thinking?"
Yan Shenyu did not answer, a captivating smile appearing on her delicate face, which looked eerie no matter how you looked at it.
Oh no, has he gone crazy with anger? Is he thinking of doing something drastic?
Wu Yun broke out in a cold sweat and quickly comforted him, "Don't overthink it. It's not worth it for scum like that! If I wasn't afraid you'd see this kind of thing alone and get stuck in a rut, I wouldn't have given you the video!"
Yan Shenyu: "No, I..."
Wu Yun: "Let me tell you, don't be fooled by netizens criticizing you. Most of them are just mindlessly following the trend and being led astray by the haters."
Yan Shenyu: "I was just thinking..."
Wu Yun: "Don't overthink those things. Deal with what needs to be dealt with, get some sleep, and tomorrow will be a new day."
Interrupted several times, Yan Shenyu looked up, somewhat speechless: "Are you trying to stop me from speaking?"
Wu Yun's eyes darted around, and he said somewhat reluctantly, "Then you go ahead and say it."
Yan Shenyu put down her phone and said calmly, "I'm not having any suicidal thoughts, and I don't intend to give up on myself."
Wu Yun: "Then why did you suddenly laugh just now?"
“Because I suddenly realized that this matter solved a problem that had been bothering me for a long time,” Yan Shenyu said with a serious expression. “Although the academic community now criticizes the views in ‘The Crowd’ for lacking data support and being merely personal conclusions, we cannot deny that some of its conclusions still have universal applicability today.”
"What the heck?" Wu Yun asked, looking completely bewildered.
Yan Shenyu: "Crowds are not good at reasoning, but they are eager to take action."
"When people gather in a group, a mechanism that lowers their intellectual level comes into play."①
However, the more he explained, the more bewildered Wu Yun looked.
“Okay,” Yan Shenyu compromised, “you can take that as me calling them idiots.”
"Okay, I got it!" Wu Yun obediently sat back down, then said with a smug look, "I'll let you in on a secret, I've already cursed them countless times."
However, after only two seconds of silence, Wu Yun sighed again: "But it's no use cursing them. There are so many netizens, we can't possibly win an argument. Besides, Xie Shiba hired marketing accounts this time. Even if we sue the marketing accounts, it'll only scratch the surface."
“I won’t go to those marketing accounts,” Yan Shenyu stood up. “I’ll go directly to Xie Xiaoling.”
"What??" Wu Yun was completely stunned.
Yan Shenyu explained, his voice cold but tinged with impatience: "He keeps jumping around, and I'm getting a little annoyed too."
A note from the author:
①: This comes from "The Crowd," and we should examine it dialectically.
Chapter 17: Pulling Hair at Each Other.
Is Yan Shenyu going to find Xie Xiaoling?
Wu Yun's eyes widened in excitement: Good heavens, are we going to go from online sniping to offline head-pulling?
No wonder Yan Shenyu started working out recently; it turns out he was doing it so he could win this battle!
How could he be absent from such a lively event as hair-pulling?
Wu Yun jumped up, his face beaming with excitement, and said, "I'll go with you!!"
But before he could take two steps, Wu Yun hesitated again: "Do you know where he is?"
“I don’t know,” Yan Shenyu shook her head and naturally picked up her phone. “I’ll ask him first.”
Wu Yun was even more surprised. He hadn't expected Yan Shenyu to be so well-prepared, having planted spies around Xie Xiaoling so early on! What a meticulous and shrewd person she must be!
However, the next moment, Yan Shenyu dialed the phone, and an unexpected voice came out.
"Yan Shenyu?" It was Xie Xiaoling's voice.
"Where are you?" Yan Shenyu asked bluntly. "Let's meet."
After a moment of silence, someone announced the name of a bar.
Yan Shenyu looked up at the time and nodded: "Okay, see you at ten o'clock tonight."
After saying that, he hung up the phone and turned to Wu Yun, saying, "Let's go, Xie Xiaoling is waiting for me at the bar."
Wu Yun was still in shock and couldn't believe it: "That's Xie Xiaoling over there? You...you contacted him directly?"
Yan Shenyu nodded, saying matter-of-factly, "Isn't contacting him directly the fastest way?"
Wu Yun: "..."
What's going on? Aren't they mortal enemies who're tearing each other apart? How come they've gotten in touch?!
And even if you two are in contact, why are you so nonchalant about it? It's like two friends made plans to hang out!
Want to hang out?
In an instant, a terrifying thought flashed through Wu Yun's mind.
"You..." Wu Yun swallowed hard, then tentatively asked, "You wouldn't be thinking of making peace with him, would you?"
At first, he thought it was a bit far-fetched, but the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. After all, the maliciously edited video had a huge impact, and it seemed almost undeniable. Could it be that Yan Shenyu felt the pressure and was starting to try to make peace with Xie Xiaoling?
"Reconciliation?" Yan Shenyu laughed dismissively. "Most so-called reconciliations are based on one party being wronged. But I'm sorry, I don't want to be wronged like that. Of course, if Xie Xiaoling is willing to take the initiative to apologize and admit her mistakes, then I can also choose reconciliation."
"Then why can you still maintain such a peaceful attitude..." Wu Yun paused, feeling that he couldn't quite understand Yan Shenyu anymore.
"I'm not angry, it's just that he didn't touch on anything I care about," Yan Shenyu said calmly.
The main reason he wasn't angry was because he was a transmigrator in a book. He didn't love Xiao Zhenliang, so he could watch Xie Xiaoling's antics as if she were a clown.
However, jumping around for too long can also be annoying.
What he needs to do now is deal with this problem.
So that's how it is! Wu Yun felt a surge of unease, yet couldn't help feeling a bit excited.
He volunteered to drive Yan Shenyu to the bar, but when he entered the bar's address into the navigation, Yan Shenyu said, "It's still early. Before going to the bar, let's go somewhere else first."
...
At 10 p.m., Yan Shenyu entered the bar led by a waiter. A considerable number of people had already gathered inside, and under the dim lighting, men and women swayed to the loud music.
Yan Shenyu pushed through the noisy crowd and walked inside. His long hair, fair skin, tall figure, and aloof temperament... these characteristics combined to give him a mysterious aura, instantly attracting a lot of attention.
A wealthy man next door was celebrating his birthday with a huge banquet, inviting a bunch of girls to squeeze into a booth, chattering and making a ruckus.
"How's it going? How's it going? Is your incredibly handsome older brother coming?"
The birthday boy glanced at his phone and beamed, "He's working and can't come, but he's paying for the drinks tonight, so you can all drink as much as you want!"