The situation online continued to ferment.
Mu Xiaoxiao clicked into Yang Xiaoliang’s live streaming room. Today’s viewer count was three times higher than usual, and even the viewer counts of other streamers present had increased by the same proportion. Seizing this opportunity, the streamers collaborated, and their like and reward rates multiplied several times over.
Yang Xiaoliang deliberately avoided mentioning today’s events, claiming that he didn’t want to bring up private matters in his live stream.
He even feigned virtue, urging everyone to stop discussing it. He expressed deep regret, saying he had been too impulsive and had posted the video in a moment of haste. He added that the video had already been deleted and insisted that men shouldn’t resolve problems this way, let alone colleagues.
He had indeed deleted it, but only after several hours had passed. Since countless people had saved and shared it, the video was still flying everywhere. This act of being both a hypocrite and playing the victim was played to perfection.
The netizens had strong empathy; each one acted as if they had been wronged personally. They swarmed in and followed a link from a certain comment to Qin Zhen’s account, only to find that Qin Zhen’s account had lost its avatar, the name had been changed to a string of characters, all past videos had been deleted, and comments were restricted.
This entire sequence of events confirmed Qin Zhen’s guilt. Those who wanted to scold him but couldn’t find a place to do so followed the internet cables to the company’s official account.
The comment section was in total chaos.
The apartment was small, and having two people in the living room made it feel very crowded.
“Keep the watch,” Qin Zhen said, handing the watch to Shen Jin’an.
He hadn’t expected the watch to be so expensive. If it had been worth a few thousand yuan, he would have accepted it, but how could he dare to accept something worth millions? If Shen Jin’an found his family later, wouldn’t he be poked full of even more tragic holes?
Just like he had seen in his past life, he had no interest in it. Besides, he couldn’t use millions of yuan anyway.
Shen Jin’an sat on the sofa fidgeting with that basic phone. The sunset outside the window cast a glow on his profile, lending a few soft hues to his cool, sharp eyes and casting a shadow of his long eyelashes beneath them. When he wasn’t speaking, he was as quiet and beautiful as a painting.
He didn’t look up, his thin lips parted slightly, “You are truly hypocritical.”
He was indeed beautiful, but unfortunately, he was a headache as soon as he opened his mouth.
Qin Zhen clicked his tongue. In the end, he didn’t argue with Shen Jin’an and only asked, “You’ve got the phone now, so when will you contact your family and leave?”
The air was silent for a few seconds. Shen Jin’an’s voice was so soft it didn’t sound like he was speaking at all.
“I have no family.”
There was no emotion in his words. Qin Zhen tilted his head to look at Shen Jin’an, stunned for a moment, and then blurted out, “We aren’t close, so you can’t just keep staying here, right?”
It wasn’t that they weren’t close.
They didn’t know each other at all.
Or rather, the reborn Qin Zhen knew who the other party was, but the other party didn’t even know who he was, yet he had the audacity to demand to live there. It was simply too absurd.
999 observed in secret from Qin Zhen’s mental world, shocked to its core.
It felt that Qin Zhen was constantly making dangerous remarks and even thought he might be the first host to court his own death at the hands of the villain.
Thus, it reminded him tactfully, [Host, this won’t work.]
Qin Zhen ignored it, thinking that this system was too useless. It didn’t offer any useful suggestions and just kept chattering nonsense.
After he spoke, he saw Shen Jin’an’s beautiful eyes staring straight at him. The silence made him look exceptionally gloomy, staring so intensely that it gave him the creeps. He could only touch the tip of his nose to change the subject and walk toward the kitchen.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll cook for you.”
Shen Jin’an finally put down the phone, followed him to the kitchen door, crossed his arms, raised an eyebrow, and tested him, “Qin Zhen?”
“Hmm?” Qin Zhen was beating an egg, the chopsticks stirring the egg liquid nimbly. He took two labeled tomatoes out of the refrigerator.
Shen Jin’an just called his name like that and didn’t continue.
Qin Zhen didn’t ask how Shen Jin’an knew his name either.
He tilted his head and glanced at the person leaning against the door frame. Shen Jin’an’s outer eye corners were lifted, his hair hanging down soft and fluffy. He was wearing his white T-shirt and black shorts; if one ignored his gaze, he could be considered somewhat well-behaved and soft.
If he was like this, it was completely unrelated to the decisive and ruthless Shen Corporation President he had searched for on his phone that afternoon.
Qin Zhen rummaged through the refrigerator but couldn’t find any fruit or snacks, so he casually picked up a piece of freshly cut tomato and stuffed it into Shen Jin’an’s mouth.
The range hood roared loudly. Shen Jin’an hadn’t reacted yet when a sudden burst of sourness exploded in his mouth. That sourness gradually faded, leaving a lingering fruit sweetness, along with the person standing before him watching him with composure.
Shen Jin’an had never eaten raw tomatoes. He wouldn’t eat anything that wasn’t cooked, and he even had people specifically tasked with testing for poison by his side.
But at this moment, the vast, brilliant sunset outside the kitchen window and Qin Zhen inexplicably merged into a painting, complementing each other.
He forgot to object, and the tomato had already been swallowed completely.
“You?” When he reacted, his expression changed drastically, his brow furrowing as if it were locked.
“What about me? If you didn’t eat it, you didn’t eat it. Why insist you ate it? If you’re hungry, that’s your problem, not anyone else’s,” Qin Zhen said nonchalantly, tossing a piece of tomato into his own mouth as well.
Damn it, it was sour as hell.
His handsome face twisted for a moment, and he quickly swallowed it whole.
Shen Jin’an moved his mouth. Perhaps he was amused by his comical look, but he didn’t say anything more.
One meal, three dishes, and two bowls of rice. Everything was home-style cooking: one meat dish and two vegetable dishes.
Shen Jin’an ate in a slow and orderly manner, waiting for Qin Zhen to eat from every dish before he picked up his chopsticks. Moreover, while eating, his eyes were fixed on the tabletop, never once looking up.
Qin Zhen glanced over several times, barely managed to shift his gaze back, and finally touched the tip of his nose with the back of his hand in a nonchalant manner.
“What’s your name? Where are you from? Do you need to report what happened last night to the police?”
Shen Jin’an, from Huai City, didn’t need to report it to the police, although the other party probably needed the police more.
Qin Zhen knew all of this in his heart, but beyond that, he knew nothing. To save someone, one must first understand them.
Shen Jin’an stopped chewing, watched him quietly for a few seconds, and introduced himself.
“Shen An, a local from Lian City. No need to report to the police because I was bullied, but I have no evidence.”
3:00 AM.
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. In the room, only the humming of the air conditioner sounded, the old, yellowing air conditioner making people feel irritated.
Qin Zhen’s sleep quality was average, and his mind kept ruminating on what Shen Jin’an had said that afternoon.
He sat up from the sofa, where he couldn’t stretch his legs, and drank half a glass of water. After using the bathroom, he passed the bedroom. Not knowing what he was thinking, he went back, picked up a glass of water, and entered the bedroom.
The curtains in the bedroom didn’t block the light; they were still the old-fashioned printed kind. Through the moonlight outside the window, he could see Shen Jin’an lying flat, looking elegant. His nose was high and straight, his thin lips were slightly pursed, his skin was fair, and there wasn’t a single blemish on his face.
The only slight imperfection was a strand of hair blocking his eyes. Qin Zhen, having a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder, reached out to push it behind his eyebrow. Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, his wrist was suddenly gripped by Shen Jin’an, and the cold glint of a dagger appeared right before his eyes.