Chapter 87: I Will Handle It
The lounge was eerily quiet. A place with Shen Yao was usually never quiet, but now he didn’t dare say a word.
Wen Yan didn’t look up, but he seemed to let out a light laugh. “Pei Zhouye. You’re sick.”
Wen Yan’s head was lowered, his expression hidden. Shen Yao couldn’t guess what mood Wen Yan was in as he replied. Logically, getting engaged to Pei Zhouye was a massive stroke of luck. The Pei family was powerful and wealthy; just the engagement alone would bring a lifetime of staggering fortune. Furthermore, since the current rumor was that Wen Yan was being “kept,” an engagement announcement would shatter the rumors instantly, and no one would dare gossip anymore.
“I’m serious, Wen Yan,” Pei Zhouye enticed him in a low voice. “It’s just an engagement. If you don’t want to marry me later, you don’t have to.”
If Wen Yan didn’t want to marry him, he would spend a lifetime tethered to the engagement contract. Of course, there were other ways too.
Wen Yan finally looked up. He ignored Pei Zhouye’s words and fixed his gaze on the man’s face. “I will bear the consequences of my own mistakes. Coming here today, I just wanted a safe place.”
He spoke each word clearly: “Pei Zhouye, I don’t want to get engaged to you. Don’t you understand what I mean?”
The atmosphere was at a stalemate. Under the lights, Pei Zhouye’s skin looked somewhat pale against the contrast of his black suit. Finally, he smiled. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Shen Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Fearing that things would get serious again, and not wanting to be caught in the middle of their strange atmosphere, Shen Yao spoke up in time:
“Brother, the heat is too high. My second brother’s side can’t suppress it either.”
Shen Yao’s second brother’s company was considered top-tier in the entertainment industry and had close ties with PR firms. Since they said it couldn’t be suppressed, the current heat was unimaginable.
“Where did the rumors start?” Pei Zhouye’s temples ached.
Shen Yao glanced at him and then at Wen Yan, not daring to speak.
“Lin Seran?”
Shen Yao nodded.
Lin Seran’s PR firm was part of the network and resources Pei Zhouye had given him. He had used them without reservation against Wen Yan, stirring up a phenomenal, earth-shattering wave.
Wen Yan understood the connections. Pei Zhouye could be considered the one who handed over the knife, and even now, he was still willing to stand by the perpetrator’s side. And just now, this man was proposing to him.
Wen Yan felt a chill through his entire body. He stood up abruptly. Before he could take more than a few steps, his wrist was tightly gripped.
“I will handle it.”
The low voice sounded so ridiculous. Wen Yan couldn’t shake him off and was trembling with rage, his fair wrist shaking.
“What will you handle?” He looked back at the seated man, his gaze filled with suspicion and coldness that pierced like a blade. Wen Yan felt that standing here was absurd. He was being played like a fool; among the three childhood friends, he was the only targeted outsider. He was even starting to hate Shen Yao by association.
“Will you ‘handle’ me out of the way?” Wen Yan didn’t know what his own tone sounded like; he only saw the two of them wanting to explain. He continued: “If you truly hate me that much, I can stay far, far away from you. I never wanted your help. If you just brought me a little less suffering, I would already be deeply grateful.”
“I didn’t know he was doing this.” Pei Zhouye’s explanation felt weak. No matter how sincere he looked, he had turned into a demonic beast in Wen Yan’s eyes. “Wen Yan, I truly didn’t know about these things. If I had known, I wouldn’t have allowed it to happen.”
He truly hadn’t known Lin Seran was doing this. He had never interfered in Lin Seran’s career; he had simply paved the way for him to reach the summit. He hadn’t even imagined Lin Seran would do something like this.
Pei Zhouye’s expression was gloomy, his eyes dark. “Wen Yan, believe me.”
Regardless of whether Wen Yan believed him or not, he was forcibly kept in the President’s lounge. The room inside the office was decorated in Pei Zhouye’s style—simple and cold.
On the nightstand sat a photo of a back profile—a thin back wearing what looked like the uniform of Nanshi Second Middle School. Wen Yan glanced at it and froze. It looked like his own back. He didn’t dare look closer, but it lingered in his mind. Finally, he simply flipped the photo frame face down; out of sight, out of mind.
He contacted a lawyer, who was guiding him on how to collect evidence of the slander.
At 8:00 PM, Wen Yan’s scheduled Weibo post went out on time.
[ Normal relationship, already broken up. Please distinguish rationally. ]
There were chat screenshots and the promissory note from back then. Wen Yan had personally organized the timeline into a clear long-form image, proving the entire process from the start of the relationship to the breakup.
It began with thanking Gu Yulan for taking him home to see his father, then the bank loan, the hospital medical bills, and the promissory note. Then, there was the hesitation on his phone about whether to agree to Gu Yulan, and later, the sunflowers. Finally, there were the dwindling chat logs and the breakup text from Wen Yan.
Wen Yan wasn’t someone who liked to record things, but he couldn’t remain indifferent to all his memories. Every time he found a picture or evidence of having once trusted the other person, he felt a mix of emotions. Most of all, it was hate. He hated that Gu Yulan had been such a perfect hypocrite, and he hated himself even more for his poor judgment.
Within a few days, Wen Yan’s name once again topped the hot search rankings. From a newly registered Weibo account, his follower count grew by tens of thousands. It was as if all the netizens suddenly gained an eye for the truth, and their attitudes flipped completely.
[ I said it! Wen Yan Xuechang has always been a good person. ] [ What’s wrong with a young couple dating and breaking up normally? If he hadn’t been desperate and unable to get a bank loan, why would he take that much money? And those two million yuan were backed by a written note. ] [ Can we talk about a rich second gen driving ten hours across C country to take me home to see a sick relative? Who wouldn’t be moved? Why is this a bit sweet? ]
- [ ? ]
- [ Sweet where? ]
- [ Can’t you see the other guy isn’t a good person? ]
Pei Zhouye lowered his head and typed on his phone, replying to that one comment three times in a row. Within a minute, his notifications exploded as many people argued back, trying to prove to Pei Zhouye just what an earth-shattering “great lover” Gu Yulan was.
Shen Yao watched as Pei Zhouye’s face grew darker and darker. He tugged on Pei Zhouye’s sleeve. “Brother, we’re here. Should we get out?”
At the Pei family ancestral home, Lin Seran and Pei Zhouye’s father were currently inside. Pei Zhouye had come home to settle accounts. Lin Seran had run back to the Pei house early, and his father’s attitude was predictable—he was firmly protecting Lin Seran.
“Mhm.” Pei Zhouye pushed open the car door and stepped out.
Seeing that Shen Yao was about to follow, Pei Zhouye stopped. “You don’t need to get involved in this mess.”
Shen Yao was stunned, watching the back of the man walking toward the main entrance. Lin Seran was a friend to both of them, and Pei’s father was not a man with a gentle temper. Pei Zhouye didn’t intend to let him be put in a difficult or awkward position.
Shen Yao took a deep breath and dialed a number. “Wen Yan, don’t hang up yet…”
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