Jiao Yushi also smiled a bit cheerfully, no longer pushy.

Chacha didn’t say anything more.

The two of them fell into a pleasant silence.

After that, Chacha went about her business.

No one from Chen Guosheng’s side came to find her. He hadn’t looked for Chen Cha since the last time they had a chat. Perhaps he thought it was a good thing that Chen Cha didn’t come to him to ask for money.

And Wei Siyun, who threatened to do something to Chen Cha if she didn’t give her money, also hadn’t show up for a long time.

Chacha reckon that Wei Siyun wouldn’t let it go just like that and would cause her trouble sooner or later.

But she didn’t particularly care, she was never afraid of anyone.

On New Year’s Eve, Chacha was reading a book while lying on the sofa.

She was no evil person to ask Jiao Yushi to read to her on this day.

The room was well heated, so it was very comfortable to lie down and read.

When one read, one could think more effectively, and when one listen, one could feel more comfortable.

At least, that’s the case for Chacha.

Both reading and listening have their advantages. However, Chacha still likes to let Jiao Yushi recite, because his voice was especially to her liking.

Jiao Yushi sat on a single sofa by the window quietly gazing outside. It was unknown what he was looking at.

He was like that all morning. Chacha would glance at him occasionally, wondering how he could sit still without moving. After all, the scenery outside was the same no matter how one looked at it.

After eating frozen pizza for lunch, Jiao Yushi drank a glass of water and left without preamble.

For Chacha, it didn’t matter if she doesn’t celebrate the New Year.

New Year’s Eve was no different than usual, it was just one day out of 365 days.

She wouldn’t celebrate any festivities such as Mid-Autumn Festival, National Day, Arbor Day, her own birthday, Laba Festival and so on, if there’s no need.

These meant nothing to her.

However, if one wanted to get along well with others, it was essential to send greetings during the holidays.

Even if there was no sense of celebration in her heart, she’d still go through the motions.

In the afternoon, Chacha sent messages to the people in her phone book before going to the supermarket. She thought that if Jiao Yushi did come in the evening, it would be rude if she didn’t have anything prepared.

Although she and Jiao Yushi knew each other well and had a bit of a strange relationship, it was still best to follow a bit of etiquette.

——Even if he came uninvited.

After Chacha went home from buying groceries, she received a call from Mu Qingqing.

During that time in the summer, Mu Qingqing, a girl who ran away from home, went through the arduous road of working to survive and believed that only by studying could she live the rest of her life in ease and said that she would study hard. During the usual holidays, Chacha and Mu Qinging would exchange greetings, but apart from that, Chacha didn’t have much contact with the other party, nor chatted with her or anything like that.

But Chacha didn’t think that their relationship was estranged. A hedge in between keeps the friendship green. She thought that Mu Qingqing was busy studying, so her appearances were always short.

“Hello.” Chacha answered the phone. “Qingqing, Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year, Chacha.” Mu Qingqing’s tone was the same as ever, still quite lively with a lilt on her voice, “Ai, let me tell you, I’ve been reeeally great lately. I’m studying like crazy and just have a day off today.”

Chacha asked, “You’ve been persisting since summer?”

“Yeah.” Mu Qingqing said, “There are times when I want to give up, but I always feel unwilling to do so, so I persevere. Alright, let’s not talk about this matter anymore. How about we go out to play today?”

“I can’t.” Chacha thought that Jiao Yush would come over in the evening and that time had been booked by him first. “Sorry. Are you free tomorrow? Let’s play together then.”

Hanging out with people during festivals was also a way to maintain friendships.

In fact, Chacha didn’t really agree with that sentence in her heart, probably because she had no interest in playing outside.

Moreover, she believed that friends agree best at a distance.

“That’s such a pity!” Mu Qingqing was particularly regretful. “We haven’t seen each other for half a year— ah, no, I often see you on Weibo, hahahaha.”

“Hmm? Aren’t you studying like crazy? How do you still have time to go to Weibo?”

Mu Qingqing said, “I record my leaning status on Weibo, that’s why I log in every day.”

“En, I see.”

Chacha didn’t know whether Mu Qingqing was willing to let her know her Weibo, so Chacha didn’t ask her before.

“My username is Mu Qingqing, and I’m following you!”

Chacha told the other party, “I’ll go check your feed later to see how you’re doing with your studies.”

“Hahaha, okay.” Mu Qingqing said, “I’m hanging up now. My mother is calling me to wash the vegetables.”

“Okay, bye.”

Afterwards, Ning An, Gu Fanghua, Wei Jinsheng, Shi Qian, and the like, called her one by one to ask her to hang out, and one by one, she refused them.

In her spare time, she couldn’t help but wonder if these people had arranged a time to call so they wouldn’t get busy tones. They were calling one after another in a very rhythmic manner.

After rejecting people’s invitations, Chacha logged into Weibo and found Mu Qingqing’s account. After looking around, she found that Mu Qingqing studied really hard and it wasn’t easy, but her success rate was high while her failure rate was low. Mu Qingqing had basically completed all the goals she had made.

Moreover, her plans showed that they were clearly well researched. When this kid wasn’t studying, she was idle all day, but once she does, her self-control was very strong.

It’s quite inspiring.

Consequently, Mu Qingqing also had many followers, many of whom come to drink chicken soup for the soul. A few of them would even discuss study and plan-making issues with her.

Chacha was impressed with Mu Qingqing.

When Chacha was about to exit Weibo, she saw her name appear on the hot search again.

#ChachaLovesDrinkingTea#

#ChenCha’sMother#

#ScumbagChacha#

#WhiteLotus^[1]someone who is pure in appearance, but opposite insideChenCha#

#UnfilialDaughterChenCha#

Five of these keywords occupy the top spot of the hot search.

Chacha: “……”

She swore she really hadn’t done anything recently or interacted with any big shots, as quiet as a small orchid in a deep valley, extra Buddhist.

And ‘Mother’? It seemed that Wei Siyun, who had previously threatened her, finally took action after holding back for half a month. She just didn’t know what the other person did.

She clicked into a few keywords and after spending some time looking around, she summarized the ins and outs of the matter.

In the early hours of the morning, a somewhat well-known online media outlet posted, 【Our website has the honor to interview the mother of Chen Cha (That is, Chacha Loves Drinking Tea). Let us find out how Chen Cha’s mother brought her up in order to develop such an excellent daughter~】. This caption was clearly to ride on the hype. A long picture was attached to the post, which was the content of the interview.

It was titled, 《The Birth of a Genius Girl》.

And it easily caught people’s attention.

But throughout the whole interview, Wei Siyun scolded Chen Cha and denounced her for being inhumane. Wei Siyun said Chen Cha had been killing small animals since she was a child, and when she grew up, she would even push her family members down the stairs and whatnot.

Some netizens believed it, but they were all followers of this online media outlet. As they had been following this account for a long time, they believed whatever the account said. In their minds, they didn’t think this online media outlet would forge a news article.

There were also some passersby who just wanted to gossip and didn’t care whether the matter was true or false, they must be righteous netizens and scold the said party first.

But majority of the netizens still didn’t believe it. Most of them were Chen Cha’s followers, as well as some astute passerby netizens. They believe that there was no truth without evidence. The online media outlet said that they’ve interviewed Chen Cha’s mother, but the so-called ‘mother’ could be just an editor masquerading as her. Who knows?

So the online media outlet stated that their reporter would go to Chen Cha’s home at 9 am and conduct a video interview with Chen Cha’s mother.

Netizens expressed that they would wait.

At 12 noon, the video was released. Wei Siyun’s eyes were mosaic, so netizens found a video of Wei Siyun going to Chengda to block Chen Cha, compared it with the woman in the video, and believed that it was indeed Chen Cha’s mother.

Then netizens were shocked. After all, whose mother would maliciously slander her own daughter?

Passersby turned negative and righteous netizens felt smug. It was unknown who did it, but the video had been spread even more widely. The online media outlet was happy. Not only did they earn money, they also gained a lot of popularity. It was great. Even if the matter changed in the future, they could just push the blame on Chen Cha’s mother. After all, they were only interviewers, not detectives, and her mother was the one who said it— her own mother ah— how could they not believe it?

After looking at the whole debacle, Chacha’s expression remained unchanged.

She had seen many such things and had also experienced being troubled by Wei Siyun before. In her original world, although she hadn’t seen her mother since she was very young, her father would come all the time to disturb her.

She was used to this. It just seemed more serious this time.

The name of this online media outlet was ‘Bozhi’. It often publishes all kinds of false news if it’s interesting, and if someone digs into them, their comments would be deleted quickly. It wasn’t clean from the start, and in the later stages, it gained all kinds of popularity by trying to turn black into white just for the sake of clicks.

However, it’s not mainstream media.

Inwardly, Chacha thought that even if the other party didn’t want her old face anymore and didn’t want to spend money, she should still at least find some more reputable media outlet. Heh.

Moreover, what’s the point of doing this kind of thing on New Year’s Eve and letting people know that she wasn’t doing well?

Chacha didn’t panic. She had been attending dinner parties and such a lot recently, and her drinking capacity had become stronger. She used to feel dizzy after drinking a few glasses of strong liquor, but now she could drink half a bottle without a problem.

Of course, drinking was only secondary as getting to know a lot more people was the most important thing.

She took out her phone and made several calls. After making an appointment, the last one she called was Jiao Yushi.

“Hello.” Chacha said straight away, “I’m sorry, I have a dinner meeting to attend tonight.”

The dinner was scheduled at half past eight. After the New Year’s Eve dinner, young people and adults would basically go out to have fun.

Nowadays, few people would stay at home and watch TV. The festive mood of the New Year was gradually fading, and though it’s melancholic, it was unlikely to change.

For Chacha, this made it convenient for her to ask people out for dinner.

But she still inquired about the others before making an appointment. After all, it’s not good to ask people out on New Year’s Eve.

However, this kind of slander from one’s own mother in a country where ‘filial piety comes first’, would be particularly harmful if it wasn’t dealt with quickly.

She had seen female celebrities fall rock bottom because their biological mothers had slandered them for not giving them money to spend lavishly.

So though it wasn’t good, she still had to set an appointment.