Chapter 49: While Ruan Jiu Jiu busied herself with the game, Cheng Jun dealt with matters in the study.

While Ruan Jiu Jiu busied herself with the game, Cheng Jun dealt with matters in the study.

He was very familiar with these composited photos. They were the same ones that Ruan Jiu Jiu’s “lover” had tried to threaten him with. Tu Nan was very worried that he would get mad and in a fit of fury do something unreasonable, but who could have known that Cheng Jun’s expression would be so calm.

His counterattack struck back aggressively.

The composited photos were spread around to every corner of the web by influencer accounts. After just a little effort, Jiacheng posted evidence that the photos were manipulated and went viral. The traces left behind by the photo manipulation software were clearly pointed out, slapping the faces of the influencer accounts.

The background of the so-called “lover” was also neatly pried out. He hung around with parades of women, his private life was also very messy, and he was at the end of his rope because his parents had cut ties with him, which made him think of trying to scam others by playing the victim. Some of the composited photos had been taken out months ago as attempted blackmail but after he was exposed he had nursed a grudge all this time. In summary, all this was all a stubborn person’s prior, botched smear attempt.

Pretty much all the influencer accounts that had posted the rumors, fanning the flames, were sent letters threatening legal action that told them to save all materials related to the rumors as evidence and to prepare to meet them in court. The language was very stern, making the recipients recall how not long ago, Jiacheng had insisted on embarking on an expensive legal battle to defend their reputation. One by one they lowered their heads in fear, deleting their posts with their tails between their legs and posting letters of apology.

Immediately following that, piles of evidence about Ruifang’s wrongdoings were exposed.

They posted a mole in Jiacheng, they wanted to obtain Jiacheng’s trade secrets, and they tried to buy Jiacheng’s original design drafts. Their many overt and under-the table, filthy transactions, were totally exposed. Jiacheng hadn’t been collecting this kind of evidence for a day or two. They waited specifically for an opportunity like this.

The comments section under an official post on Ruifang’s blog that hypocritically said “Jiacheng definitely wouldn’t have a scandal like this” was filled with netizens’ ridicule.

“Other people definitely wouldn’t have a scandal like that, the relationship was arranged by you nice folks.”

“Fuck, why’d we never find out that Ruifang was such a drama queen?”

“If you guys have the time for shit like this, why not spend it working on game development. You stole other people’s design drafts yet still made a crappy product, IMO you’re all hopeless. puke.jpg puke.jpg”

“Amazing, last time you guys acted stupid, this time you’re doing it again. Do you guys think other people are all idiots?!”

“My dude, you’re really in a tight spot this time. Jiacheng personally came to your door to face slap you guys but you’re still not going up to receive your thrashing?”

From beginning to end, Ruifang didn’t make any statements. They started pretending they were dead.

And following that, another terrifyingly huge bomb dropped—The wife of Jiacheng’s CEO was having an affair with a player in their esports club, Gu You. For a moment, opinions were divided. The whistleblower who made such dramatic allegations called herself Gu You’s childhood sweetheart. She provided proof, including chat records from the game which added that the wife of Jiacheng’s CEO had destroyed their relationship.

The tables turned once again, and the watching peanut gallery was totally dumbstruck.

The club competition was only a few weeks away from starting. If this news was true, it was unfortunately likely that Jiacheng’s club would be torn to shreds by hecklers. If they were going to be affected by public opinion, that might make it very difficult for them to let Gu You participate.

First, Gu You’s Weibo account immediately issued a statement expressing that he had no personal relationship with the wife of Jiacheng’s boss, which his colleagues could attest to.

Next, players of also stood up.

Back then, quite a lot of people had followed the in-game quarrels with interest. A few well-known players in the guild Dance of Many Moons had Weibo accounts and one by one they came out to provide their testimony. And then, everyone immediately realized something—

Hold up, Jiacheng’s CEO is Liszt? Liszt is Jiu Jiu Jiu’s husband? Jiu Jiu Jiu is the artist Fat Birds Fly First? The two of them have already been married for how many years???

Fuck!

A video of the time Liszt had gotten angry and fought a round for a woman rapidly shot up the ranks and became the top trending topic. Netizens who saw it were all flabbergasted. Wasn’t this a little too cool?!

The focus of everyone’s attention quickly shifted.

Immediately there were influencer accounts that arranged everything into a neat timeline of events, and on top of that some of the forum posts from back then had occasionally gotten onto the front page. One by one, players emerged to explain their side, and thus the entire story took shape: Actually, the childhood sweetheart that had made such huge accusations was in unrequited love with Gu You. The two of them weren’t actually together. The childhood sweetheart Light Breeze Bi Ying didn’t only start rumors on the internet, she tried to stir up trouble for the player “Jiu Jiu Jiu”, which was the same as provoking the wife of Jiacheng’s boss. And in the end, the tables were reversed and she was the one who was faceslapped.

Everything was all Light Breeze Bi Ying, aka the current so-called exposer’s, one-sided statements. Gu You had never actually committed to anything in the chat records she attached.

Immediately, Xu Bi Ying transformed in everyone’s eyes from the victim into a patient suffering delusions. Under the pressure, her side account went dark.

This turn of events made her really experience what true “Internet rage” felt like.

It was tough work for the netizens. They ran over to Jiacheng’s official company blog to eat popcorn, then to Ruifang’s. After scurrying over to Xi Bi Ying’s side account they then stopped by Gu You’s, and finally after circling back to Jiacheng’s to finish eating the popcorn they hustled over to Fat Birds Fly First’s Weibo to leave messages of consolation for her.

Who could have known that the person involved was still locked in an inescapable struggle with Anipop.

After things had finally halfway settled down, Jiacheng dropped another huge bomb.

The official blog published a statement, which could be condensed down to: Jiacheng is dropping Ruifang as a business partner and will not collaborate with them now or in the future. Their minds and consciences were clear.

Underneath the serious post was a comment pinned to the top of the discussion, that instantly changed the tone to become lighthearted: “Oh yeah, our boss also said that divorce is impossible. kekw.jpg”

That post swept everyone into an uproar. Even though Jiacheng was a massive company with a bright future, they had given up a lot of collaborations due to the conflict with Ruifang and this could be regarded as a very daring and ruthless move. Their Weibo account practically became a party for all the netizens. One influencer account immediately jumped on the hype train and listed all the companies that had partnerships with Jiacheng or Ruifang. All the companies that collaborated with Jiacheng were big, brand-name companies and one by one, their Weibo accounts wittily posted evidence of their contracts with Jiacheng, adding “We’re friendlies, don’t open fire!”

Those with an appetite for popcorn ate popcorn, those with an appetite for dog food ate dog food, and Jiacheng’s new game was forced into trending.

Ruan Jiu Jiu’s Weibo account had already totally been taken over by others.

There were comments comforting her, comments that were just there to participate in the gossip, messages of congratulations, jealous messages full of spite and admiration. There were comments begging them to get married already, to which there were people that immediately reminded the commenter that she was already the boss’s wife. The comment thread begging them to get married quickly turned into a discussion denouncing their PDA.

Tu Nan called and asked, “Boss, do you want to book a conference to show your face?”

Cheng Jun: “En?”

“Just like Ironman announced he was Ironman and Black Panther announced he was Black Panther. You wanna do it too?”

Cheng Jun: “…”

With a slam, he hung up on Tu Nan’s call. In this new year, Tu Nan sensed that his position and career was in imminent danger. Of course, if he knew that he had, only a few hours ago, personally interrupted his boss’s confession, it’s likely that he would have chosen to perish on the spot.

……

Ruan Jiu Jiu was still locked in battle with Anipop. Suddenly, the door to Cheng Jun’s study was pushed open. He placed Ruan Jiu Jiu’s phone on the coffee table.

Ruan Jiu Jiu subconsciously scooted back into the couch, hiding his phone in her lap to prevent him from seeing its screen.

Cheng Jun shot a glance at Ruan Jiu Jiu and asked, “What level are you on now?’

Ruan Jiu Jiu: “…Don’t ask!”

Cheng Jun: “?”

Ruan Jiu Jiu opted to quit the game and delete the app. Only then did she say with a straight face, “I completed too many levels, so to avoid scaring you it’s better not to let you see.”

He took back his phone and slowly said, “I had a Wechat account registered.”

Ruan Jiu Jiu: “!!!”

In that case, wouldn’t the ignominious records of her weak birdie attempting levels be accessible to Cheng Jun if he redownloaded the game?!

“You’re not allowed to redownload it!”

With a hand supporting her on the sofa, she immediately pushed herself forwards to grab back the phone. Cheng Jun’s arms were long and when he raised it up high, Ruan Jiu Jiu failed to grab it despite throwing herself forward. Instead, her head bumped into Cheng Jun’s body. Cheng Jun didn’t prepare himself and fell backwards. His whole body sunk into the soft sofa, and Ruan Jiu Jiu also fell on top of him.

Don’t just assume anything from Cheng Jun’s usual NEET lifestyle. He didn’t have a single ounce of flab on his body. Instead of fat, Ruan Jiu Jiu felt like she crashed into a wall. The bump made her eyes water and head dizzy, and she didn’t even notice the ambiguous position she landed on Cheng Jun in.

Cheng Jun, who was totally embedded in the sofa, stared at her, totally forgetting to move.

It felt like he was hugging something soft and fragrant, with the same scent as Ruan Jiu Jiu’s shower gel. Her hair smelled very nice, making Cheng Jun feel baffled that such a cheap shampoo would have such a nice scent.

Ruan Jiu Jiu’s body felt very soft, like she was practically boneless. It made him feel, for the first time, an urge to pinch and squeeze it.

“Why do you feel like a piece of concrete, it really hurts.” Ruan Jiu Jiu rubbed her nose. She suddenly remembered that Cheng Jun was still injured and said, “Ah! Is your arm okay?!”

She immediately got up, making Cheng Jun feel somewhat empty and disappointed.

He made a noise and said, “It’s okay.”

“Should we take off the bandage and take a look? I’m scared that the wound was disturbed.”

Cheng Jun: “No need.”

Ruan Jiu Jiu: “I think it’s still better to take a look!”

Cheng Jun, in a firmer tone: “No need.”

Ruan Jiu Jiu decided to regard this as a part of masculine ego. How could she have known that it was because Cheng Jun’s wounds were already scabbed over, and couldn’t possibly be in a better condition than they already were? If it was discovered that he was just putting on a show to attract her pity, wouldn’t he be screwed?

Today was again a day where husband and wife’s neural circuits operated on different tracks.

“Knock knock knock!” Suddenly, there came the sound of someone pounding on their front door.

Two pairs of eyes met, and Ruan Jiu Jiu made a guess, “Did you order takeout?”

Cheng Jun: “…No.”

“Besides takeout, who else would come to our door?” Don’t mention others, Cheng Jun didn’t even allow Tu Nan to drop by. This house was like his private territory and he strictly prohibited anyone from visiting.

Just at this time, Ruan Jiu Jiu’s phone began to ring.

Surprisingly, it was Qu Wei?!

Cheng Jun flicked a glance over at the name displayed on the screen. There was no emotion in his eyes. He was just about to go up to open the door when Ruan Jiu Jiu stopped him.

“No, you’re injured. Your fighting strength is also too weak, let me handle this.”

Ruan Jiu Jiu still was totally unaware that Boss Cheng had already ripped Ruifang to shreds online for her. At that moment, she acted like she was protecting a little chick and pushed Cheng Jun behind her. She quickly straightened her hair and clothes, and waited until Qu Wei’s second call ended to magnanimously walk up to the door.

What a joke. The stepmother wanted to come over to demand a slice of the pie, did she think the two of them had gotten drunk on their wealth and turned into idiots?

Author’s Note:

Ruan Jiu Jiu: Don’t be scared, I’m here!

Cheng Jun: En.