Chapter 7

You are already suspected of defamation

Thirty-year-old Cheng Yanran definitely knew more about boundaries and distance than his 18-year-old self.

He still remembered that after the New Year, he messaged Zhou Zhou again, asking if she wanted to go to the Xinhua Bookstore to read books; he and Chen Jing would also be going.

But Zhou Zhou said she was busy studying English at home and wouldn’t go.

Now, the older Cheng Yanran wouldn’t ask her to visit his family’s shop anymore.

He clearly understood that some things are better left unsaid.

Zhou Zhou mentioned a certain car model, but Cheng Yanran didn’t know much about it. His family had professional sales managers handling the car business. He asked Cheng Anzhi for the contact number of a manager named He, which surprised his father.

“You already have a car, right? Are you asking for a friend?” His father wondered what kind of friend Cheng Yanran cared about so much.

Cheng Yanran vaguely said it was a friend looking at cars.

Cheng Anzhi had been in business for many years and knew his son was trying to avoid the truth. But since his son was grown up and unwilling to talk, he didn’t push further.

Manager He was confused at first and didn’t understand what Cheng Yanran meant by “cheaper than others, but not too cheap, not losing money, and not too obvious.”

Later, he realized Cheng Yanran was trying to find a price that would attract him but wouldn’t make his friend feel like they were getting a big favor.

Manager He then said, “Just say this: Our dealership is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The car she’s looking at has a discounted price — 140,000 yuan for the base model, 150,000 for the mid-level, and 160,000 for the high-end.”

This promotion was real.

After getting this information, Cheng Yanran passed it exactly to Zhou Zhou.

This was a big discount — about 10,000 yuan off any model.

But Zhou Zhou knew it was because of Cheng Yanran; only his family’s dealership offered this price.

They hadn’t met in years, and she thought it was too much help right away. After thinking a moment, she replied, “Okay, thanks. I’ll ask my dad. If he finds a dealership already, that’s fine. Thanks~”

Cheng Yanran looked at his phone and smiled bitterly, replying with a simple “Okay.”

After a while, he softened again, thinking to himself that she was good this way — having clear principles, not giving people reasons to criticize her. In the adult world today, Zhou Zhou’s way was right.

His thoughts drifted back to when Chen Jing told him Zhou Zhou had returned. He checked the WeChat group chat for their high school class.

The Class 2 group chat didn’t have all classmates, and Zhou Zhou was not in it, so Cheng Yanran set it to “mute notifications.”

He was afraid of missing any related news and scrolled through chats back to March in spring before finding the first message about her.

A girl he remembered as mean posted first.

“Hey, do you know who’s back? A famous person from No. 9 Middle School.”

No one replied, so she sent a photo next.

“Guys, your goddess is back.”

The photo was taken on the subway — Zhou Zhou wearing a black coat and white scarf, looking down at her phone, only her face visible.

The message caused a lot of replies.

“Zhou Zhou!”

“Zhou Zhou?”

“Top student Zhou?”

“Goddess Zhou?”

…

The mean girl added, “I saw her on the subway today, is that really her? People said she worked abroad; was that a lie?”

Another girl said, “I saw her too in the pedestrian street. Thought I was mistaken, but she’s back early!”

“When did you see her?”

“Around before the New Year.”

“Yeah, if she was really abroad, how could she be back so long?”

“Maybe things didn’t go well outside? Even in big cities, it’s hard to make money.”

“I heard even top students from C9 universities work day and night at big companies. They only look glamorous.”

“So, is she back to find a job? H City isn’t like Beijing, must be hard to find work.”

“Good grades don’t matter much; still have to work hard.”

…

A few girls decided everything about her with a few words, as if they had special powers to see her past and future.

Cheng Yanran was furious, feeling a fire burning inside.

Whether she worked abroad or came back, what business was it of theirs?

Then a boy spoke up — Qian Zhishen, a fairly normal classmate. His parents worked for the government, and he himself became a civil servant after college.

“Don’t say nonsense. I’ve seen Zhou Zhou; she is the secretary to Mayor Xu.”

This caused a big stir!

Some asked, “Really?”

Qian Zhishen said, “Of course. You can check H City’s official releases; there are photos of her.”

That was solid proof; no one argued after that.

But the chat split into two groups.

The supporters were led by Chen Jing.

“Top student is still on top!”

Another supporter was Du Qi, who admired Zhou Zhou in high school and often gave her chocolates and milk tea during holidays.

Du Qi said, “Goddess is still a goddess, untouchable!”

They even rhymed.

The mean girl was still the main opponent; Cheng Yanran couldn’t remember her name.

“Being a secretary to a leader is no big deal — just serving tea and water.”

“Yeah, haven’t you seen dramas? Many secretaries end up as the leader’s mistress.”

The tone became darker and more suggestive. Cheng Yanran went from wanting to yell at them through the screen to wanting to beat them up. Friendship feelings? Ha.

Qian Zhishen said, “Stop talking nonsense. Mayor Xu is a woman. And Zhou Zhou is very capable and outstanding.”

Someone else said, “Qian Zhishen, aren’t you married? Why praise Zhou Zhou so much? Got a crush?”

Others added, “Let’s not insult the goddess, or people will be upset.”

“Ah! The ones who can’t have her always talk the most,”

“They definitely haven’t gotten her; don’t know who has.”

“We’re all bad people; Zhou Zhou is their perfect girl.”

“Perfect girl? More like a fake sweet girl! Haha!”

…

There was more arguing, then people started leaving the group one by one.

Cheng Yanran didn’t know what “fake sweet girl” meant, so he looked it up online.

After that, he felt angry and calm again, over and over, tortured by his emotions.

Finally, he boldly tagged each of the mean girls and wrote, “I have screenshots of the chat. You are suspected of defamation. If Zhou Zhou wants to sue, I can testify and provide evidence.”