Lu Yin Zhen originally accompanied Song Mianfeng lying down, resting with closed eyes, and later fell asleep as well. When he woke up, the sun had already set, the residual light casting a warm hue over the entire room.

Song Mianfeng didn’t know when he woke up. He was lying on his side in Lu Yin Zhen’s embrace, holding his phone and seemed to be in a good mood, with a smile on his lips and sparkling eyes.

Shifting his slightly numb arm, Lu Yin Zhen leaned over to take a look. Their foreheads touched intimately as he asked, “What are you looking at?”

“Watching the fun,” Song Mianfeng moved the phone a bit farther and shared the screen with him. “The scandal about Xia Chunjian has been exposed.”

On the Weibo page, behind the name #Xia Chunjian#, there was an explosion sign, followed by words like #Xia Chunjian, Lu Shi#, #Xia Chunjian’s persona#, #Lu Changhao is the biological son#, #Noble family stories will never disappoint#, and so on, all followed by boiling words. Five out of the top ten hot search topics were related to Xia Chunjian.

The internet decades ago was far less developed than it is now. The story of Xia Chunjian marrying into a noble family was only brought up as a publicity stunt after her comeback. Those from genuine aristocratic families knew that Lu Shi was just a distant relative of the Lu family and sneered at this so-called “noble family.” However, netizens equated Lu Shi with the Lu family and, combined with various rumors and hearsay, they crafted a narrative of Lu Shi as a tragic CEO who lived alone with his son after his wife’s death. In this story, Xia Chunjian quit the entertainment industry for love, treated Lu Shi’s child as her own, and even refrained from having her own children to secure the heir position for Lu Shi’s child.

Netizens weren’t fools. If Lu Changhao was Xia Chunjian’s biological son, it meant that the child was originally an illegitimate child. While many sympathized with her difficulty back then, now just as many criticized her. The trending topics were bustling with activity.

Although Song Mianfeng orchestrated this whole thing, he enthusiastically browsed through various topics and liked comments under pseudonyms.

For those fans and paid commenters still saying things like “rumors are just rumors until proven” or “wait for the lawyer’s letter,” he even felt an urge to satisfy their desire for proof, even clicked open the comments, but after a moment’s thought, he decided against it. Revealing the truth was momentarily satisfying, but facing the backlash was not worth it. He chose to quietly watch the drama unfold and wait for Li Xiaoman to continue leaking information.

Li Xiaoman’s leak was quite simple.

A marketing account posted a set of photos of Xia Chunjian with Lu Changhao, some showing them holding hands, some talking with their heads lowered, and even two clear close-ups. Since Xia Chunjian’s comeback, she had always portrayed herself as a virtuous wife and good mother, and coupled with Lu Changhao’s good looks, she often appeared in public with him. Initially, people thought it was a show, but later, guided by paid commenters, Xia Chunjian and Lu Changhao became a fresh stream in the noble family story, bringing in quite a few fans for Lu Changhao. Posting such a set of photos wasn’t particularly surprising, but what caught everyone’s attention was the caption provided by the marketing account: “Doesn’t anyone think Lu Changhao looks a lot like Xia Chunjian?”

Then Li Xiaoman retweeted with the comment “Can biological children not resemble their parents?” along with an eating popcorn emoji.

Lu Yin Zhen scrolled through the comments and paused when he saw a top-rated comment.

Zhaoxi Bujuan: “Finally, someone leaked this. Noble family? Is Lu Shi even qualified? The current successor of the Lu family is named Lu Changting. Lu Shi, umm, can be considered a distant relative of the Lu family. Not long ago, Lu Changhao caused the company to collapse due to stock speculation, owing a bunch of debts. He even had Lu Changting clean up the mess for him. But the Lu family didn’t intervene in the end. It’s said that it was Lu Shi’s son who took action. I’m talking about the son of his original wife, not that waste Lu Changhao.”

Lu Yin Zhen furrowed his brows. “This person…”

“Probably someone from the Lu family,” Song Mianfeng clicked open the page of ‘Zhaoxi Bujuan,’ browsed through it, saw that they followed many accounts but had only a few followers themselves, and their Weibo included both daily complaints and retweets, with the most retweets being movie promotions. As he scrolled down, he saw a photo of a back view in their daily blog, and his expression turned somewhat subtle.

After a moment of thought, he switched back to the WeChat window and sent a message to Lu Changyin.

[Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: Zhaoxi Bujuan?]

[Lu Changyin: ?]

[Lu Changyin: !]

[Lu Changyin: You’re also watching Xia Chunjian’s scandal!!!]

[Lu Changyin: Wait, how did you know it was me…]

Song Mianfeng chuckled and sent her a screenshot of that Weibo post, then said to Lu Yin Zhen, “I knew it was her.”

Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: But isn’t it a bit inappropriate for you to expose the Lu family’s secrets using a secondary account?

Lu Changyin: Lu Shi and Lu Family are different entities. And whatever I said, it’s all the truth.

Lu Changyin: Xia Chunjian has been riding on my family’s fame for quite some time. She even wants to bring Lu Changhao into the circle. One is a mistress and the other is an illegitimate child. How shameless.

Lu Changyin: Xia Chunjian responded!

Lu Changyin: (Image)

Song Mianfeng opened the screenshot and saw Xia Chunjian retweeting Li Xiaoman’s Weibo with the two words response, “Groundless rumors.”

Lu Changyin was probably browsing Weibo while chatting and sent several more images.

[Lu Changyín: All the comments are from water armies, fervently whitewashing.]

Lu Changyin: I hope the paparazzi can continue to expose them. I’m so impatient; I want to use this secondary account to bash her.

Leisurely listening to the wind sleep: Huh? You seem to know a lot.

Lu Changyin: I asked Brother Changting. Want to know more? 

Song Mianfeng hesitated before typing out three words slowly: “I’m not interested.”

After all, he knew much more than Lu Changyin did.

After a while, Lu Changyin sent several voice messages.

“Let me tell you, Lu San Ye, the former head of the Lu family, used to quite like Lu Shi, so he took care of him a lot. It wasn’t until the family business was passed to Brother Changting that Lu Changhao gambled away all the family’s assets. Lu Shi went to plead with San Ye, and Brother Changting investigated the matter and found out about the absurd things Lu Shi did back then. He let the illegitimate child take the place of the legitimate son, and even married a mistress. And San Ye surprisingly knew about this back then!”

“But Lu Shi lied to San Ye, saying that the son of his first wife was already dead, and he had no choice. So he publicly announced that Lu Changhao was the son left behind by his wife. San Ye turned a blind eye to this matter. After knowing that Lu Shi’s first wife’s son was still alive, San Ye realized that he had been deceived for many years, fell ill in anger, and told Brother Changting not to bother with this matter anymore.”

“Now the Lu family is no longer a refuge for Lu Shi and Xia Chunjian, so the paparazzi dare to expose the matter. But I’m a bit curious, whether this is karma or a plot by Lu Shi’s first son. Changting said it’s mostly a plot by Lu Shi’s first son, especially since he bought Lu Shi’s company. Dealing with Xia Chunjian WAS just a matter of time.”

Lu Yin Zhen listened quietly to Lu Changyin’s voice messages, like a bystander watching a drama, surprisingly calm. When he saw Song Mianfeng’s reply, “I think it’s just karma, justice prevails,” he chuckled lightly, lowered his head, and kissed the top of his head, “How does it feel to be a righteous avenger?”

“Huh?” Song Mianfeng set his phone aside and reached out to hug Lu Yin Zhen’s shoulder, blinking innocently, “What?”

Lu Yin Zhen looked at him and smiled, “Don’t lie to me.”

Song Mianfeng didn’t want to admit it, but he also didn’t want to lie, so he remained silent, just leaned back to kiss him, with a hint of pleasing in his actions.

Lu Yin Zhen tapped his forehead, “Do you know how Fu Qingshan got the paternity test results of Xia Chunjian and Lu Changhao and got the recorded testimonies of the informed people?”

Song Mianfeng was stunned for a moment before realizing, “It was you who handed it to him?”

He had found it strange before, but he never thought that the evidence was provided by Lu Yin Zhen. Thinking about it now, after more than twenty years, these things weren’t something one could easily obtain. Only Lu Yin Zhen, with his long-term planning, could have access to these things.

“Then who asked Fu Qingshan to investigate these matters and leak them to the media?”

Song Mianfeng cleared his throat softly, whispering, “It was me.”

“Why didn’t you say it?” Lu Yin Zhen asked, “Trying to be modest?”

Song Mianfeng mumbled, “I acted on my own, afraid you wouldn’t be happy. Besides, speaking out would seem like seeking credit…”

“I didn’t do this for any particular reason, just wanted to help you vent, and also wanted you to feel that, although justice may be delayed, there will always be someone to uphold it for you. This person can be me or not. What’s important is that you can completely settle the grievances of the previous generation and start a new life.”

Since returning from City S to City B, Lu Yin Zhen had been ill, with his condition fluctuating. It wasn’t just because of his poor health since childhood, but also because his heartache was too heavy. The long-standing resentment he had piled up in his heart made him unwilling to let go of himself, hence his prolonged illness.

“I’m glad,” Lu Yin Zhen kissed him again, this time on the lips, “I’m glad it’s you.”

“So, are you ready to let go of the past and start a new life?” Song Mianfeng looked into his eyes, with a gentle, slightly pleading tone, “The medicine is too bitter; please get better soon.”

Seeing his reflection in the clear, dark eyes, Lu Yin Zhen smiled softly, and said slowly, “Okay.”