"Rumors" in the Student Forum: The Young Lady's Late-Night Call Bombardment

Hmm?

Why did it suddenly go quiet?

Ye Cheng had been multitasking: walking, searching the grass for pies falling from the sky, scrolling through brain-rotting short videos in his mind, and listening to the President on his back recount the tragic past of a hamster... True mental gymnastics.

He was listening with great relish when it suddenly went dead silent. Isn't that ridiculous? It was just like that feeling when you're one hit away from finishing, and you're forcibly interrupted... I'm talking about Whack-a-Mole, of course.

Ye Cheng tilted his head 15 degrees, using his peripheral vision to check on the President above him—the one currently embodying the ugly face of an evil capitalist exploiting him—only to see her smiling like a ghost.

Ye Cheng: ...

At a visible rate, cold sweat broke out on Ye Cheng's forehead. He silently retracted his 15-degree handsome side profile.

Yep... He didn't see anything. He saw absolutely nothing. He knew nothing.

Disaster was ten minutes behind him. Before he could get hammered, Ye Cheng had already started chanting a liability waiver in his heart. He went about his business, acting as if he knew nothing, and continued strolling on the lawn outside the villa. Well... now it was a real stroll.

He walked as slowly and leisurely as an old lady taking a stroll, terrified of making any noise that Dongfang Zhixia might seize upon as an excuse to viciously elbow him.

On Ye Cheng's back, Dongfang Zhixia stared at the incoming call on her phone. She paused for a moment, and after confirming the contact's name and note, a somewhat evil smile crept onto her face.

This was a first...

In over a decade, almost twenty years, this was the very first time. Let her guess, why on earth would she call in the middle of the night?

Oh my, what could it be? It's so hard to guess...

The smile on Dongfang Zhixia's lips grew more pronounced and arrogant. The matter with the little secretary was completely forgotten; her eyes burned only with the flames of revenge.

Dongfang Zhixia remembered very clearly the loss she suffered in the office, along with the loss of face and control. Last time, the initiative was split evenly between them, but she ended up losing because of a certain bastard.

This time... the initiative was in her hands!

As if thinking of something, the smugness in Dongfang Zhixia's eyes became even more obvious. Instead of rushing to answer the phone, she gently tapped Ye Cheng on the head and spoke in an incredibly gentle voice.

Darling, do you think I should answer this call? Dongfang Zhixia said, holding her phone screen in front of Ye Cheng so he could clearly see the contact's name and note.

Call? What call?

A scam call?

A giant question mark popped up in Ye Cheng's head. His mind was still stuck on the spine-chilling ghost smile Dongfang Zhixia had mysteriously flashed earlier. He glanced at the phone handed to him.

Pretentious Shut-in Kid?

What kind of weird note was that? Wasn't that just a problem child? He was familiar with that. There used to be plenty of problem kids like that in the orphanage, all acting like little fools who were super fun to tease... Wait a minute!

Something didn't seem right... Pretentious Shut-in Kid?

Ye Cheng: ???

Holy crap, isn't this the Eldest Miss?!

Realizing the caller was the Eldest Miss, Ye Cheng felt his legs turn into overcooked noodles, soft and mushy... This was bad. It was too terrifying. The Eldest Miss's Conqueror's Haki was already crawling through the network cables to elbow him. He couldn't let this continue!

As the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a falling wall, so...

Silently, Ye Cheng freed one of the hands supporting the President, extended his fate-deciding index finger, and gently tapped Decline on the phone screen.

Beep!

Disconnected.

Ah... that felt good.

Dongfang Zhixia: ???

Staring at the darkened screen, Dongfang Zhixia froze. A massive question mark appeared above her head. After a moment of silence.

Put me down. Dongfang Zhixia's voice was terrifyingly cold.

Huh? Are we resting already? How about we walk a bit more? Tell you what, President, you go back and sleep first. I'll stroll around outside a bit longer to digest... Ye Cheng blinked his big, doe-like eyes, looking the picture of innocence.

3, 2... Dongfang Zhixia remained completely expressionless and started counting down.

Ye Cheng: ...

Fine, fine, fine! Seriously, do you know how to do anything besides count all day? Always putting on this stinky face. I quit!

Of course... that was all just Ye Cheng grumbling in his head. In reality, he plastered on a bright smile, squatted down, very obediently let Dongfang Zhixia off his back, stood to the side, and began performing the classic fly rubbing its hands routine.

President, shall we... Ah!

Bastard, who told you to hang up?! Who told you to hang up!!! Dongfang Zhixia lunged at Ye Cheng, pinned him to the ground, and began frantically engaging in an activity known as beating him up.

It looked like she wanted to plant Ye Cheng into the soil and treat him like a ginseng root.

Ah, stop hitting me, boohoo... I didn't know! I thought it was a spam call... Ye Cheng cried out pitifully while still trying to explain.

Dongfang Zhixia: ???

Ahhh, bastard, shut your mouth!!!

Spam call, huh? Didn't know, huh? Ah? I'll show you what you don't know! I'll show you!!!

Dongfang Zhixia and Ye Cheng tangled into a lump. Well... that was the polite way of putting it. In reality, Ye Cheng became the lump, and Dongfang Zhixia was responsible for the tangling and hitting.

Clearly, compared to the Eldest Miss, the President was far more violent. If she could use her fists, she absolutely wouldn't waste time arguing.

Bzz, bzz...

When Dongfang Zhixia lunged at him, her phone fell out and landed to the side, lying face down on the grass, vibrating incessantly.

The caller ID read... Pretentious Shut-in Kid.

Unfortunately, both Ye Cheng and Dongfang Zhixia were busy right now. Neither of them heard the commotion. One was busy beating someone up, and the other was busy getting beaten up. The phone's vibration wasn't even a tenth as loud as Ye Cheng's fake screams.

It would be a miracle if they could hear it.

...

The Shen Family Mansion.

In a certain smoke-filled room.

Du Wanyi stared at her Doudou, who was dressed rather scantily, rolling around on the floor and claiming to be a caterpillar. She fell into silence.

This shouldn't be happening. Why is it having this effect? Shouldn't he be pouncing on me? Du Wanyi rubbed her smooth chin, putting on a thoughtful expression, her eyes glinting with inexplicable wisdom.

Rewind to a few minutes ago.

Brother Doudou had been ambushed and forced to swallow the key item that had just been created to defeat the naturally evil brat of the Dongfang family.

The result... the result was the current situation.

Was this drug hallucinogenic?

I wonder if it was because of the white rhino horn powder inside that caused some deviation in the drug's effects?

To study the key item she had painstakingly created, Du Wanyi walked toward Shen Ming with great excitement... oh wait, with great reluctance.

"Doudou, for the sake of our Little Hanhan, just bear with it."

Du Wanyi muttered to herself and continued her research, but this time she used a bottle of spice as a base, mixing it with other things.

Bubble, bubble...

Before long, the sound of boiling water and a large amount of smoke filled the room again. This time, the white smoke turned red, while the powder turned blue...

Meanwhile.

Down the long stretching corridor of the mansion, inside the eldest miss's room.

Shen Qinghan looked at the disconnected call on her phone screen in silence. A trace of emotion flickered in her calm eyes; simply put... the eldest miss's anger level increased by one.

Her intuition told her that there was definitely something going on with a certain untrustworthy and despicable woman.

Silently, Shen Qinghan dialed the number again, continuing her phone bombardment.

One minute passed, no answer.

Two minutes passed, no answer.

Three minutes passed...

In just a few minutes, she had made more calls than she normally would in an entire year combined!

Her small hands, which originally hung naturally by her sides, had clenched into fists at some point. A hint of unease appeared in her calm eyes... It felt as if something bad was about to happen.

Again and again, the frequency and speed of her calls grew faster. The only sounds in the room were the continuous dialing of the phone and Shen Qinghan's own somewhat erratic heartbeat.

...

At the President's villa, on the lawn.

The thrilling offline octagon had finally ended. Without a doubt, the winner was the President. Ye Cheng had been knocked out; his tongue was hanging out, his eyes had turned into Xs, and he couldn't be any more dead.

Dongfang Zhixia sat on Ye Cheng's chest, her breathing slightly heavy.

Damn it, why is this guy's skin so thick!

Dongfang Zhixia gritted her teeth. She was quite sure that her flurry of wild punches had dealt almost zero damage to Ye Cheng. Only the two kicks she landed had any real stopping power, but... she didn't dare to keep kicking.

After all... people on the forums were saying that a certain bastard had a special fetish, hoping to be looked at like trash and preferably kicked a couple of times, or something along those lines.

Dongfang Zhixia had seen it, memorized it, and had just secretly observed him...

And finally concluded that it might actually be true.

Dongfang Zhixia's face flushed slightly, the tips of her ears growing hot. She glared at Ye Cheng, who was lying there playing dead, and ultimately just gave a soft snort, ending her session of teaching this shameless, thick-skinned bastard a lesson.

What else could she do? It wasn't like she could actually hire someone to beat him up, right?

What if he got broken? It might even affect their future children's genes...

Retracting her thoughts, Dongfang Zhixia pinched Ye Cheng's cheeks twice, successfully making his face turn rosy again. Only then did she pull her hands back in satisfaction and climb off Ye Cheng's chest.

"Hmm?" Dongfang Zhixia intended to go back and rest. She reached for her phone to check the time, only to find it missing. She grasped at thin air.

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

Where is my phone?

Soon, Dongfang Zhixia spotted her phone lying on the ground not far away, vibrating continuously.

"Hmm?"

Someone else is calling?

It's exceptionally lively tonight, isn't it?

Dongfang Zhixia raised an eyebrow, brushed the grass off her clothes, picked up the phone, and took a look.

The caller ID displayed... Pretentious Shut-in Kid.

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

Again?

Dongfang Zhixia stared blankly, not understanding what kind of crazy fit the eldest miss was having tonight. She glanced at the missed calls on the phone... 99+!!!

"Is she... getting anxious?" Dongfang Zhixia's tone carried a hint of baffled amusement, and a smile curled on her lips.

She tapped to answer!

...