Lu Shiran naturally found out about the forum post. He looked at the post, which was full of malicious intent, and the replies below were filled with various nasty speculations. Of course, there were also rational people who didn’t believe the poster. They pointed out that the poster was only fabricating a story based on a single image and advised them to delete the post, as it had already caused harm to Lu Xingmian.
The small number of people who stood up for Lu Xingmian were mostly attacked by others, who claimed they were either Lu Xingmian’s alt accounts or internet trolls hired by him to clean up the mess.
Lu Shiran read the entire post from beginning to end, his gaze lingering on the user ID “Idle and Panicking” for a moment. If Lu Yu had seen him with that expression, he would have known that Lu Shiran was angry.
Lu Shiran asked Lu Xingmian, “Do you need help?”
Lu Xingmian was lying on top of him. “You’re already helping. You helped me find out who was behind that ID, didn’t you? I’ll handle the rest. Don’t worry, I can solve this.”
With Lu Xingmian saying that, Lu Shiran knew he could likely handle it himself, but if he couldn’t, Lu Shiran would also be there for him.
What made Lu Shiran happy was that when something happened, Lu Xingmian would tell him.
Lu Shiran asked him, “Is that person a classmate who confessed to you before?”
Lu Xingmian looked up in surprise. “How did you know?”
His sudden movement pulled at the wound on his waist, making him wince in pain. Lu Shiran gently pressed him back against his chest and scolded him in a doting way, “Slow down. Did you forget you have a wound on your waist again? If you’re afraid of the pain, just lie still.”
Lu Xingmian couldn’t be bothered with his waist wound now. He looked at Lu Shiran in astonishment. “Ge, how did you know?”
Lu Shiran smiled faintly. “I guessed, but it seems I was right.”
It was a sophomore student, not Lu Xingmian’s classmate, and they’re not in the same major, or even the same department—who would pay such close attention to Lu Xingmian’s every move? It was either someone who liked Lu Xingmian or someone who hated him.
The person who wrote the post had a venting tone throughout the text, with a feeling of wanting to retaliate against Lu Xingmian fiercely.
Since Lu Xingmian was so likable, Lu Shiran’s guess was that someone who had been rejected by him felt unbalanced inside and deliberately posted something like this.
Lu Shiran could see through such childish tactics at a glance.
Lu Xingmian was shocked by Lu Shiran’s guess. The person behind the “Idle and Panicking” ID was indeed one of the boys Lu Xingmian had rejected. However, Lu Xingmian remembered that after that one time, he had never spoken to that upperclassman again, nor had he offended him in any way. So, when he found out it was him, Lu Xingmian was both surprised and a little angry.
Lu Shiran told him that not everyone thinks normally.
Just like the Lu and Song families, their way of thinking and their actions were incomprehensible to most normal people.
Knowing that someone was after him and seeing how calm Lu Shiran was, Lu Xingmian’s curiosity was piqued. “Ge, so many people are chasing me, aren’t you jealous?”
Lu Shiran gently pinched his earring and asked, “Zai Zai, do the people who are after you have a voice as nice as mine?”
“No,” Lu Xingmian said. “Your voice is the most unique and the nicest.” It was also his favorite voice.
Lu Shiran smiled faintly. “Then that’s it.”
It took a while for Lu Xingmian to realize that Lu Shiran hadn’t actually answered his question.
However, Lu Xingmian was still shocked by something else: Lu Shiran had found the person so quickly, in just over ten minutes. Lu Shiran was incredibly capable.
Lu Shiran laughed. “If we couldn’t even find them, it would mean our company’s relevant departments should all collectively resign.”
Indeed, Lu Shiran’s voice was the best sound in the world. Lu Shiran was the best, most effective, side-effect-free sleeping pill. As they talked, Lu Xingmian curled up in Lu Shiran’s arms and fell asleep.
Lu Shiran looked at the person in his arms, gently pushing the hair from his forehead to reveal a refined and handsome face. He placed a kiss on his forehead, thinking how surprisingly popular Lu Xingmian was at school.
Lu Shiran naturally rested his chin on the top of Lu Xingmian’s head. Fortunately, Lu Xingmian had said his voice was unique in the world.
Lu Xingmian had a wound on his waist, so all night, Lu Shiran was careful not to let him put pressure on it. As a result, Lu Xingmian slept very soundly.
The next morning, as soon as Lu Xingmian woke up, he saw Lu Shiran looking at his left waist. His gaze was not about lust but pure concern for Lu Xingmian’s wound.
Seeing him awake, he asked, “It’s still a little swollen. Does it hurt?”
Lu Xingmian touched it. “It only hurts a little now, I think.” It was so strange; he hadn’t touched the wound at all yesterday and had slept soundly until morning.
In the morning, Lu Shiran still drove Lu Xingmian to school.
Lu Shiran said, “Zai Zai, if anything happens, you must call me.”
Lu Xingmian replied, “Don’t worry. If I can’t solve it, I still have you, don’t I?”
Walking on campus, Lu Xingmian noticed that the students around him were looking at him with even stranger expressions. He even heard their hushed whispers.
“So this is Lu Xingmian. He truly deserves to be the ‘campus heartthrob’ of your Finance Department. If I had a face like that, I’d want to find someone to be kept by too.”
“I heard a lot of people were after him but got rejected. Turns out he just looked down on them.”
“Of course he would. It’s because they don’t have money.”
…
Lu Xingmian looked toward the people who were talking about him, and they immediately fell silent. They only dared to gossip behind his back.
Jiang Ran ran over, looking worried. “Lu Xingmian, aren’t you going to say anything? It’s getting out of hand now.”
Yesterday, Lu Xingmian said he would find the person who posted the thread, but it must be incredibly difficult to do so. Even if they eventually found the person, they would just delete the post, and there would be no evidence left. Meanwhile, Lu Xingmian had already been wrongly slandered and suffered so much criticism.
Lu Xingmian told Jiang Ran not to worry and that it would be resolved today. Seeing how calm Lu Xingmian was, Jiang Ran was still concerned, especially since with this kind of thing, even if the truth came out later, the harm already done was real.
After class, Lu Xingmian was going to settle the score.
He didn’t have any classes in the afternoon, so Huo Chang was getting ready to play basketball with his roommates when he looked up and saw Lu Xingmian walking toward them.
Huo Chang’s heart fluttered with joy, and he narcissistically wondered if Lu Xingmian was coming to find him.
Lu Xingmian’s posture was tall and handsome, and even just his back was good-looking. So, when he saw Lu Xingmian walking toward him, Huo Chang’s heart started to race.
He watched Lu Xingmian get closer and closer, finally stopping in front of him.
“Senior Sun Xiang,” Lu Xingmian said, looking at the boy next to Huo Chang. “Can we talk?”
Lu Xingmian addressed him by his full name, and Sun Xiang was taken aback. Feeling guilty, he stammered, “Talk about what?”
Lu Xingmian smiled. “Senior, how about we talk about the post on the forum?”
For some reason, even though Lu Xingmian’s smile was very pleasant, Sun Xiang couldn’t help but take a half-step back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Huo Chang, let’s go play ball.”
Sun Xiang pretended to be calm. He didn’t believe for a second that Lu Xingmian, just a freshman, could possibly know anything or do anything to him.
Huo Chang, who was beside them, didn’t understand the conversation. Did Lu Xingmian know Sun Xiang? What forum? What post? What did this have to do with them? Wasn’t Lu Xingmian here to see him?
Seeing Sun Xiang’s reaction, Lu Xingmian understood that Sun Xiang didn’t want to talk it out. He had given Sun Xiang a chance, but he didn’t take it, so he couldn’t blame him for handling this matter in front of others.
He took out his phone, opened the page, and showed it to Sun Xiang. “Does the ID ‘Idle and Panicking’ look familiar to you, Senior?”
Sun Xiang replied, “I don’t know.”
Lu Xingmian said, “How could you not know, Senior? Because this person is you.”
Sun Xiang was stunned. How could Lu Xingmian possibly know that he was the one who posted it? It was impossible. He must be bluffing. “Lu Xingmian, don’t just say things without evidence. How can you say that person is me? Do you have proof?”
Lu Xingmian put his phone away and said calmly, “Senior, do you know why I waited until now to come find you?”
Sun Xiang was frozen, a sense of foreboding washing over him. “What do you mean?”
Lu Xingmian said, “Senior, you must have heard the conditions for a defamation charge, right? Clicks exceeding 5,000 or shares reaching 500. You can check for yourself; which of those two conditions has not been met by the post you made?”
Sun Xiang took out his phone, wanting to delete his post, but Lu Xingmian had already thought of that. “I’m sorry, Senior, but before I came to find you, I already went to a notary’s office to get it notarized. Deleting it now is useless.”
Lu Xingmian spoke in a light, breezy manner, with a faint smile on his face, but Sun Xiang’s back was breaking out in a cold sweat.
Huo Chang, after seeing the post on the school forum, finally understood what was going on. He had thought that Sun Xiang was just talking, but he had actually posted something like that behind his back. Even he was a little angry.
Sun Xiang’s face grew uglier and uglier. For some reason, he didn’t feel that Lu Xingmian was just bluffing. He swallowed hard. “What do you want?”
Lu Xingmian said, “I’d like for you, Senior, to publicly post an apology on the forum with your name, clarifying the full story and admitting that everything was your own fabrication. Apology to me formally and the apology post should be pinned to the forum for ten days.”
Sun Xiang clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “What if I say no?”
Lu Xingmian said, “That’s fine if you don’t want to apologize. Then just wait to be sued. If you don’t apologize, I will not let this go. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Lu Corporation’s legal team; their winning rate is still 100% to this day.”
As his roommate, Huo Chang tried to mediate. “Lu Xingmian, is a public apology on the forum really necessary? What if he just deletes the post and apologizes to you in person? There’s no need to make such a big deal out of it. Maybe he was just joking around. There’s no need to escalate it.”
“Senior Huo Chang,” Lu Xingmian said, “If you were the one involved, and someone was spreading all sorts of sexual rumors about you, would you still be able to casually say it was just a joke?”
“You’re not me. Why should you ask me to be so generous?”
Huo Chang was speechless. He had thought Lu Xingmian was a docile and obedient kind of guy, but he didn’t seem as fragile as his appearance suggested.
“And also,” Lu Xingmian looked at both Sun Xiang and Huo Chang, “The person who came to pick me up was my boyfriend. Please stop with your boring and filthy thoughts. Only those with a dirty mind see everything as dirty.”
After Lu Xingmian left, it took several minutes for Huo Chang and Sun Xiang to react.
Half an hour later, a new post on the school forum quickly became a hot topic just minutes after it was published.
Sun Xiang, a sophomore from the Management Department, formally apologized to Lu Xingmian, a freshman from the Finance Department.
In the post, Sun Xiang attached his handwritten apology, stating that his previous post was a baseless fabrication that had negatively impacted his classmate, Lu Xingmian. He formally apologized to Lu Xingmian, asked for his forgiveness, and promised never to make such a mistake again.
