"Oh? Then let me guess, what would make you give up everything here and go back? Is it a beautiful woman?" Lin Li said with a smile.
"She is my wife."
"What did you say?" Lin Li retorted.
"I got married during my recent trip back to China. The wedding is in June, and I'll send you an invitation then—"
"Why so suddenly?"
“Just like you said before, meeting the right person is a feeling that happens in an instant. It’s the most accurate reminder that comes from all the factors that a person has grown up with, including their environment, knowledge, and personal interests. It’s telling you that this is the right person for you.” Fang Zidu said earnestly, “Sister Lin, I think what you said is very true.”
Lin Li smiled wryly and said, "Fang Zidu, you have truly exceeded my expectations. To me, you are like a machine."
"I only act like that at work, and I sometimes try to comfort you, especially when you're heartbroken—"
"That's because you don't understand love yet. That's the only area where I can surpass you," Lin Li said, somewhat unconvinced. "Being completely outclassed by you academically is already disheartening enough. Sometimes I even think you're the kind of strange scientist who dedicates everything to science—"
"No, I know I'm not." Fang Zidu never thought of himself as a strange person; he just knew what he wanted.
"Zidu, you are truly amazing. If you had given the signal of courtship earlier, countless women would have flocked to you. Can you tell me how your wife won you over?"
"Can't."
"You are indeed the passive one. My judgment of you was correct. You are not the kind of person who will take the initiative to make sacrifices."
Fang raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm selfish?"
"No, it's just that your wife will have a hard time. Because she has to give first before she can get anything in return from you."
Fang Zidu hung up the phone, stood there for a while, and walked back to his room. Xiang Lan was already awake, sitting on the bed rubbing her eyes. When she saw him come in, she said, "Zidu, where did you go?"
"I received a phone call."
"Yifan called me and woke me up."
"What's wrong?"
"Let's go now. She invited Li Xingda to Taoyuan to play cards with us." Xiang Lan got out of bed groggily.
Seeing that she was walking unsteadily, Fangzi took her to the bathroom, wrung out a towel, and helped her wash her face.
Xiang Lan smiled and looked up, saying, "Yifan wants to see you again."
"Is she your best friend?"
"Yeah. We're from different departments, but we ended up in the same dorm by chance. It was just the two of us in the dorm, so we always hung out together. All the classmates were boys, and it wasn't fun, so I basically didn't interact with them. Most of the people I knew at school were from the student council and Yifan's classmates."
"Was it Li Xingda and Yifan who helped with this?"
Xiang Lan nodded and held out her hand for him to wipe it clean. "Yes."
Fang Zi pursed her lips, somewhat unwilling, and said, "This is what I should do. Fine, I'll have a lawyer arrange the rest—"
When the two arrived at Taoyuan, a mahjong table had already been set up in the private room. The room was filled with the sounds of Deng Yifan shouting and throwing mahjong tiles.
"Hey—" Xiang Lan jumped in, "I'm here!"
Deng Yifan immediately called out, "Hey girl, are you alone? Is there someone else?"
Li Xingda looked up, "Who else?"
Deng Yifan said, "Hehe, you'll see when you see it."
Xiang Lan turned around and pulled Fang Zi into the house. Instantly, both pairs of eyes focused on them, and no one spoke. Li Xingda's face was a little pale, and a mahjong tile fell to the ground with a crisp sound.
Deng Yifan broke the silence, saying, "Damn, looking at it this way, it really is exactly the same as the painting, and it even looks more handsome."
Fang Zi smiled and looked at Li Xingda, who was sitting next to Deng Yifan. Their eyes met, and then they looked away. He said, "Hello!"
Deng Yifan smashed a mahjong tile. "Xiang Lan, tonight I'm going to order a big meal to soothe my wounded heart."
"Zidu is treating, please make yourself at home." Xiang Lan sat down to Deng Yifan's left, and Fang Zidu naturally sat down to Li Xingda's right.
He looked at Li Xingda and said, "I am Fang Zidu, it's a pleasure to meet you. You are Li Xingda?"
"Hello," Li Xingda said, stacking up his cards. "I've never seen you before. Aren't you from our school?"
"Just returned to China."
"Hey, handsome, I've heard of you before. It's an honor to meet you for the second time." Deng Yifan extended his hand in a pretentious manner. "Let's shake hands!"
Fang Zidu reached out and gently shook her hand, but to his surprise, she immediately nestled shyly into Xiang Lan's arms, saying, "Girl, I'm not washing my hands tonight, I want to keep your fragrance!"
Li Xingda was speechless. "Deng Yifan, you've really gone too far."
Deng Yifan patted him on the shoulder, "Were you hurt when you saw the person in question? I understand you. Actually, I only understood what heartbreak felt like after seeing him too."
Li Xingda had a cold look on his face, and wanted to stuff her mouth with mahjong tiles.
Xiang Lan chuckled with delight, thinking that she had two more super explosive news items to share, and once she revealed them, Deng Yifan would definitely be blown away.
"Brother Zidu, what do you do?" Deng Yifan teased, and Xiang Lan reached out and pinched her.
"Studying biology."
Deng Yifan's eyes lit up. He looked at Li Xingda and winked at him, "What a coincidence!"
"Really?" Fang Zidu asked. "Is Li Xingda also a biology student?"
"Yeah, he's the most handsome guy in our school's life sciences department."
"You're already working?" Li Xingda asked hesitantly.
"Hmm." Fang Zi smiled at him. "The job is settled. I'll be in Old Yang's group. We might see each other often in the future."
"Old Yang?" Li Xingda asked, puzzled. "You're one of his students? But he didn't recruit any last year—"
“No, I’ll lead my own research group.” Fang Zidu looked up.
"Damn!" Deng Yifan whispered to Xiang Lan, "How old is he? How can he be so awesome?"
"Twenty-two!" Xiang Lan was a little dizzy. "I didn't know either."
"Besides being a lecher, what else do you know?"
Li Xingda looked at him with admiration and wanted to exchange ideas on professional matters, but the two girls had no desire to listen to anything boring.
"President, Yifan, we owe you a lot for helping us with this doxxing incident," Xiang Lan said with a smile, changing the subject. "Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do."
“This matter has little to do with you.” Deng Yifan picked up the cards. “Xingda and I have figured things out for now, but we still need to discuss how to handle it.”
"What do you mean? Were you targeting me from the very beginning?"
Li Xingda felt a little awkward and said, "The person who first posted my photos online and the person who later posted your personal information are the same person using different accounts. He's a boy in my class—"
"It's that Wu Haibo. He even attended one of our student union dinners. In his year, with the president in place, he was destined to be second best. He probably had been harboring resentment for years, and he couldn't hold it in any longer before graduation."
"Just for this? You're so petty!"
"How could it be just for that?" Deng Yifan shook his head. "There's also the grudge of having my wife stolen!"
"ah?"
Li Xingda said, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Am I not telling the truth?" Deng Yifan blurted out, "You reminded us that something was wrong with Xu Na, so we went to find her. At first, Xu Na wouldn't say anything, but later she had no choice but to tell us that this Wu Haibo had been bothering her for a year or two. She knows that, cough cough—" Deng Yifan cleared his throat twice, "that she has a crush on our president, which is why she doesn't accept him."
"I knew it!" Xiang Lan shook her head, looking like she was about to praise me. "The first time I clicked on that alt account and went to its QQ space, I found that it had gone to Wang Runqiu's space to take a look."
Why didn't you say so sooner?
"Hey, isn't there no empirical evidence?"
"Xu Na has always kept her distance from Wu Haibo. When she's in a bad mood, she'll vent to him about Wang Runqiu, about you and me, and about the student council. That's how Wu Haibo knows about it. He also knows that Xu Na is following your posts, and in a moment of impulsiveness, he posted the president's photo—"
"Then who tore up my painting later?" Xiang Lan asked. "I always suspected it was Xu Na, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?"
Deng Yifan nodded. "It was definitely her, but she's not stupid. She never explicitly told Wu Haibo what to do. Wu Haibo found out everything from her and then did it on his own. But arresting him isn't unfair; his initial goal was to completely destroy the chairman, right? Now Wu Haibo has agreed to write a clarification and publicly apologize to you, but we don't know what to do with Xu Na. I initially suspected Wang Runqiu—"
Li Xingda couldn't help but give Wang Runqiu a fair assessment: "She is a bit prone to crying, but she is not the kind of person who would do such a scheming thing."
Fang Zidu suddenly laughed, looked at Li Xingda, and thought to himself, even if he were given another three years, he still wouldn't be able to catch up with Xiang Lan.
"Is this the final result of your discussion?" Fang Zidu asked.
Li Xingda forced a smile and said, "We've already found Wu Haibo and shown him the evidence we have. He's very remorseful and wants to apologize in person and beg for forgiveness. I'm not Xiang Lan, and this whole thing started because of me, so I can't agree to anything on Xiang Lan's behalf—"
Fang Zidu pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and said calmly, "I contacted a lawyer and have already submitted the evidence to him. He will help Xiang Lan handle it. This is his contact information. If you have any useful evidence, you can give it to him."
Chapter 31
Li Xingda looked at Fang Zidu, wondering why he could make decisions for Xiang Lan.
Deng Yifan touched the note and said, "Alright, we'll do it your way. The chairman usually seems cold and aloof, but he can be soft-hearted when it really matters."
“He can also hire a lawyer,” Fang Zidu smiled. “Currently, the law is very vague on doxing; there are no specific regulations. If a lawyer can handle it, it won’t cause him any real harm, since he didn’t profit from it. However, he has caused some harm to Xiang Lan, and a verbal apology isn’t enough. He needs to truly realize his mistake. Li Xingda, what do you think?”
“Okay.” Li Xingda thought for a moment and nodded. “That’s good too. Maybe it really helps him. I’m being too indecisive.”
"What about Xu Na? Should we sue her?" Deng Yifan asked curiously.
Xiang Lan turned her head to look at Fang Zidu, who smiled and looked at her. "It depends on what Xiang Lan thinks. She doesn't have much evidence, and besides, I don't make things difficult for girls."
Xiang Lan felt great and turned her head to kiss him. "I won't sue Xu Na. Just apologize to me."
Deng Yifan yelled "dog abuse!" and turned on the mahjong machine, ready to start the game.
Fang Zi had only ever played mahjong online before; this was his first time playing in person. The rules were different, and he was initially clumsy and lost a few hands. However, after getting used to it, he quickly grasped the rules and gradually won back his chips. He even managed to help Xiang Lan with a few tricks, secretly feeding her cards and intercepting many good opportunities for Li Xingda.
Deng Yifan protested, "Fang Zidu, Teacher Fang, handsome Fang, don't think I don't know you just let the girl have her way again. You can't play like this!"
"I don't need this card," Fang Zi said good-naturedly. "Or, could I give you one too?"
"Come on!" Deng Yifan challenged.
Fang Zidu indeed drew another card. Deng Yifan was really conflicted and upset. If she took it, she could make a hand, but it would be broken in the middle. If she didn't take it, she felt it was such a pity. She took the card angrily and said, "I can't win later, it's all because of you."
"Count your cards carefully, don't just randomly touch them," Li Xingda said worriedly. He had been interrupted many times by the constant touching of cards, and said, "If you keep going like this, you definitely won't be able to get a winning hand."
"I'm happy, I'm willing."
Haha, people who can't count cards at all can't see the danger in a game, running blindly on the edge of a knife, with no idea how long they'll live; people who can count a little cards can see the key points, but are frightened by the dangers everywhere and become hesitant. Deng Yifan and Li Xingda perfectly represent these two types of people.
Xiang Lan naturally knew that Fang Zidu was keeping her, and happily let him feed her until she won the game, watching Fang Zidu and the other two players wipe out the rest of the team.