CH 22

That night, the rumor post exploded.

A certain melon-eating crowd uploaded a photo of Tian Lin hugging Cheng Suran with the quilt in the afternoon, and the white car was also in the photo.

[What I saw in Building 7 in the afternoon was the car posted by the OP right? I saw this aunt getting out of the car.]

[This is the benefactor? Then my parents are also my benefactors. What a shock! The young girl has been kept for twenty years without knowing it!]

[I have long felt that the poster's photos are unreliable...]

Less than two hours after the photo came out, the post turned three pages in a row, and the wind of public opinion reversed with overwhelming momentum. A few ids managed to set the rhythm, and turned their attention to the host.

[We're not in the same class, are we? I really want to avoid that kind of person]

[Enough of this, I just don't like this. What's wrong with going to a nightclub? Can't it be to go to a party and drink? You look down on all nightclubs, your eyes are covered with shit, of course everything you see will be dirty!]

Some people spontaneously spoke for Cheng Suran, and most of them could be seen as girls.

And the boy who made lewd jokes before seemed invisible.

When Cheng Suran got the news from Ding Yuan, she was doing translation exercises. These days, she is exhausted by gossip and has a bit of PTSD. When she sees any topic being discussed together, it seems to be about her, so she can only use learning to divert her attention.

She struggled to read through the counter post, and found out that someone had opened a new post - crusade against "Little Shrimp".

Title: Is Malicious Rumor So Rampant Now?

The new OP posted the photo on the homepage, and those who spontaneously spoke for Cheng Suran followed up one after another. After careful observation, it can be found that several ids spoke sharply, and their tone don't not sound like someone in their twenties.

Cheng Suran scrolled down slowly, and suddenly saw a message:

[I am Ding Yuan, Cheng Suran's roommate. I dare to bring my name here to prove that the person in the photo is Cheng Suran's aunt. She came to the dormitory this afternoon. She has a pretty face and a good temperament, and her financial conditions should not be bad. Ranran is a very good person. During her freshman and sophomore year, she won national scholarships. Although she usually doesn’t like to talk, she is honest and kind. However, in the eyes of some dark people, being out of gregariousness is the original sin. I don’t know who the original poster is. Why do you maliciously spread rumors about her? Guess it’s probably because of jealousy. This kind of person is really pathetic, and she will always be a stinky rat in the gutter]

Ding Yuan has many friends at school, so she blurted out her words and echoed them all.

More people began to sympathize with Cheng Suran, praises followed one after another, and many school girls who silently admired her emerged.

Cheng Suran watched silently, as if the softest part of her heart had been poked, and she felt ashamed.

Ding Yuan stepped forward to help her speak, but not long ago she had maliciously speculated about the other party, now looking at these words, she only finds it ironic. She is not an upright and kind person at all, she is the smelly mouse in the gutter...

Cheng Suran quit the post and sent Ding Yuan a "Thank you".

This matter is not over yet. On one hand, the reversal of public opinion has subsided. On the other hand, she must beat the instigator behind it, otherwise similar things are likely to happen again in the next two years.

She is not an easy persimmon.

During the next Mid-Autumn Festival, Jiang Yu had filming work in the morning, and entered the studio with the team early in the morning.

Today the studio was relocated, and everyone gathered for dinner at noon to celebrate. She gave everyone red envelopes and mooncake gift boxes. After the afternoon holiday, everyone went back to their homes. The originally lively studio became desolate.

The new address was chosen by Jiang Yu personally. It covers an area of more than 900 square meters. Two independent flat floors are connected in the middle. A large area of glass curtain wall is used for decoration, so that the whole room is full of light no matter if it is cloudy or sunny.

At this moment, everyone is gone, even the cleaning lady has gone home.

Jiang Yu was sitting on a rocking chair in the courtyard while reading a book and basking in the sun. When she is on vacation, she likes to be alone most, and time would slip through her fingers quickly.

The book is "The Garden of the Forking Paths" by Borges.

The surrounding area was calm and quiet, with occasional bird calls, and one or two sparrows fluttered across the wall and landed on a short branch. The sun, falling at her feet.

Tian Lin came for a while, stood by the French window and watched the figure without disturbing her.

After a long time, she sighed softly and walked over lightly, "Sister Yu——

Jiang Yu turned her head.

"D&M's new products for this season are here." Tian Lin put the box she was holding on the table, "I took a look, and it matches your snake-print dress very well."

She sat sideways on the edge of the table.

Jiang Yu put down the book and raised her brow at her, "Aren't you going home for the holidays?"

She opened the box and inside is a necklace.

Silver narrow eyes, emerald pupils, majestic in the cold, gemstone color shining brightly in the sun - the Eye of Horus.

At the beginning of this year, Jiang Yu signed a two-year endorsement contract with D&M, becoming the global ambassador of this ancient top luxury jewelry brand. They send a copy of tens of millions of new products every quarter. She usually only wears it when attending events, and usually keeps it in her wardrobe at home.

She closed the box after looking at it.

"If I go back, won't you be the only one?" Tian Lin smiled and put away the necklace for her.

Jiang Yu smiled lightly and shook her head: "How old am I, that you still need to accompany me?

"You can't live alone every year."

"Being alone is fine."

Tian Lin pursed her lips and remained silent, looking at her as if she was looking at a stubborn old lady. After a while, she mentioned another matter: "The rumors about Ms. Cheng have been reversed after this night, faster than we thought."

"Um."

"There are a lot of people speaking up for her, and it wasn't that bad."

"Um."

"So don't you worry."

"How am I worried?" Jiang Yu turned her face away, her eyes calm.

Tian Lin paused and said, "Nevermind." She seemed to have mistaken what the boss was thinking, so she changed the subject, "Why didn't you go to the hotel last night?"

Jiang Yu picked up the book again, and said casually, "Let her take it easy."

Tian Lin suddenly felt that she guessed right.

"Keep watch for another two days. After the rumors are dispelled, the heat will go down.The passers-by will soon disperse, and a group of children will not be able to make a fuss."

"Okay."

There was another silence.

Jiang Yu read a few pages, then suddenly raised her head: "Go home, I don't need anyone to accompany me, you are busy with me every day, and you don't have time to spend with your family."

"..."

"Do you want me to throw you out?"

"Okay." Tian Lin stood up helplessly, "Then I'm leaving, remember to eat mooncakes, don't be too strict on yourself, it's the festival today."

"Um."

Before taking two steps, Jiang Yu called her to stop: "Wait——

Tian Lin turned around again.

"Isn't aunt's waist not feeling well recently? I bought a robot vacuum cleaner and put it in the office. Take it home."

"This…"

"Be good"

"Are you coaxing a child, Ms. Jiang?"

"Go." Jiang Yu smiled, lowered her head and continued to read.

Tian Lin left.

Jiang Yu is the only one in the vast and empty courtyard. The sunlight slowly crept westward by her feet, and she read half of the book in her hand unconsciously. When she put it down again, the setting sun had already filled the sky.

She stood up and flexed her muscles, answering messages with her mobile phone.

There are thousands of people on her WeChat friend list, and she can not read hundreds of messages at every turn, which is also a headache. Jiang Yu first selected a few close friends to reply to, and left the rest temporarily.

At half past five, she drove away.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the urban area is extremely lively, with lanterns and festoons everywhere, large moon cake dolls are erected on the central square, and some businesses are doing events, offering free taste of creative mooncakes.

In about ten minutes, she arrived at the basement of her complex.

There are a total of five buildings in the complex, all of which are mansions along the river, where various "stars" live. For example, an Olympic champion lives upstairs from Jiang Yu, and the president of a listed company lives downstairs. Everyone knows each other and occasionally meets and says hello.

Her unit is empty.

The nanny aunt also went home for the holidays.

Jiang Yu pressed the remote control to turn on all the lights, and walked straight into the kitchen. There was a note from the aunt on the refrigerator door, probably because she had just bought a batch of ingredients this morning, and they were still fresh.

She has no appetite, so she cooked half a bowl of broccoli and a small piece of salmon, and ate a dinner slowly with plain water.

The sky is completely dark.

But both sides of the riverside are brightly lit.

The front hall was filled with all kinds of gifts, some from friends, some from brands. Jiang Yu tidied them up, left a box of mooncakes, and stuffed the rest into the warehouse.

The packaging of the mooncakes is a bit excessive. After peeling off the layers of the big gift box, there are only six pieces, which are filled with custard.

She picked up one and hesitated a little.

If she eats it, she will have to step on the elliptical machine for at least an hour tomorrow.

Never mind.

She's not into sweets.

Jiang Yu put it back, grabbed the phone, and continued to reply to WeChat messages. Tian Lin asked her if she had eaten mooncakes, and she lied without changing her face: Yes.

Moments is very lively, everyone is posting moon cakes, reunion dinners, and various selfies.

She...has nothing to show for it.

Tian Lin: [The public opinion of the post is trending well.]

Jiang Yu was slightly taken aback, thinking of her canary.

The kid went home, right?

Before she could reply to Tian Lin, she switched the account, and her phone vibrated for a moment, and she received a message from Cheng Suran a few hours ago.

[Sister, Happy Mooncake Festival]

[Cats are cute.jpg]

Jiang Yu couldn't help smiling.

The kid changed her profile picture to a "good baby"* emoji. She clicked on it, and there was a photo posted in Moments. Look carefully, it was a post from this evening.

*not sure which "good baby"  but it's one of these <<--

[Finished the task ahead of time!]

In the photo are laptop and books, densely packed with letters, as if in a library.

There is half an uneaten piece of bread looming next to it.

She didn't go home?

Jiang Yu narrowed her eyes slightly, backed out, and was about to reply when a call came in - Bai Lu.

"Hello?"

A young girl's charming voice came from the phone: "Sister Yu, where are you?"

"At home, what's the matter?"

"I'll go find you."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Isn't it the Mid-Autumn Festival today? I just finished my work, and I'm bored and have no place to go. Can you spend the holiday with me?" Bai Lu's side was a bit noisy, and her voice had to be raised a little.

Jiang Yu was silent for a moment, and Su Ran's face flashed in her mind, saying, "I'm going out now."

"Take me with you."

"It's inconvenient."

"...Okay." Bai Lu lowered her voice and said nothing more.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yu got up immediately, picked up a few gifts from the storeroom, packed them up together with the box of mooncakes, and went out the door. Cheng Suran spent a day in the library.

It's a holiday, teachers and students went home, or went playing. There are fewer people and more vacant places in the library. She has no place to go anyway, so she might as well do more exercises and read books.

Cheng Su Ran finished the task ahead of schedule today, and it’s Mid-Autumn Festival again, so she can reward herself by watching one more episode of the drama tonight.

Yes.

Mid-Autumn Festival…

She took out her phone and unlocked it expectantly.

It was as quiet as if the net had been disconnected.

From morning until now, no one called her, no one sent her a message, this is normal, she has long been used to it, but...even the message sent to her sister has not been answered.

For some reason, seeing the messages she sent lying alone in the chat box made her sadder than thinking of herself wandering outside.

Is she really that busy?

Even...a reply of "um" is fine.

Cheng Suran bit her lip, then let go, endured her frustration, turned off the computer silently, stuffed things into her bag, got up and left.

The whole city is very lively tonight.

But the excitement has nothing to do with her.

When she arrived at the hotel, the elevator slowly stopped on the 27th floor. Cheng Suran walked to the door, and the moment she swiped her card, she couldn't help but think, maybe her sister is inside?

She opened the door—

Sweeping her eyes over the sofa and the window, she imagined Jiang Yu sitting or standing in these two places, holding a goblet filled with red or white wine, as usual, looking at her and waving at her, saying: "Come here."

But no.

She isn't on the sofa, not by the window, not in the entire suite.

Cheng Suran's heart sank, standing at the door for a long time, sighed, and walked in mechanically.

It was very quiet in the room.

It's so quiet that her ears hurt.

She put down her bag, picked up the tablet computer, held her breath as if she wanted to vent, and ordered seven or eight items of very expensive food that she hadn't eaten yet.

Snort--

Ignore me and I'll make you bleed.

She thought angrily.

In less than ten seconds, Cheng Suran regretted it again. Looking at the four-figure total price on the menu, she began to feel sorry for the money—it was so expensive, it was enough for her one-month part-time salary.

Her sister's money is also money, it's hard-earned, it's not blown by the wind, she's obviously not hungry, so why waste it?

She puffed up her face and hurriedly withdrew the order.

— beep

The door opened.

A slender figure of a woman stepped in.

Cheng Suran raised her head, and her eyes lit up: "Sister?"

"Didn't you go home for vacation?" Jiang Yu walked slowly in front of the girl with a smile on her lips.

She was wearing a very loose lavender suit and straight-leg trousers of the same color. The silk shirt collar inside is open up to the second button. Her long curly hair hung down her shoulders, casual and lazy.

Cheng Suran was surprised and delighted, couldn't look away, and was a little incoherent for a while: "I didn't... no, I, my home is too far away."

Jiang Yu nodded lightly, and put the things on her hand on the table, "A gift for you."

"Happy Mooncake Day."

"Sister, why did you come...I thought you...hey, no..." Cheng Suran's tongue got so tied, she hated herself.

"Of course I'm coming."

"Why?"

"Because--"

Jiang Yu raised her brows, with narrow and cold eyes staring at her like snakes. Her red lips slowly moved closer to her ears, and said in a low voice, "Sister is worried about you being alone, shall we watch the moon together tonight?"