New Times, New Hell

Chapter 78 - Confirming Rumors

As soon as Shang Que spoke, not only did Yu Zhengdu freeze in shock, but Auntie too. She stared at Shang Que for a long time before stuttering out, “This…… What does ‘it might be you’ mean?”

Shang Que slightly straightened his back and tugged at Yu Zhengdu’s arm. His expression was proud. “In a few more weeks, he’s planning to get together with me.”

Auntie: “……”

Auntie looked at Shang Que in shock before turning to look at Yu Zhengdu again. her lips slightly trembled, “Ah, so you guys are……are……”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

He wasn’t!

He was almost about to start three consecutive denials, but in public, he didn’t dare to say anything that would directly embarrass Shang Que. If he did, his classmate’s wedding reception might suddenly end in disaster.

Yu Zhengdu stressed out for a long time, finally swallowing all the words he had intended to say. He could only smile fakely at Auntie without saying anything.

The opportunity for denial passed in the blink of an eye. Auntie turned around and stumbled away.

As soon as Auntie left, Shang Que gently patted the back of Yu Zhengdu’s hand and lowly said, “If you encounter such occasions again in the future, just bravely say that you already have a significant other.”

Yu Zhengdu stared at him with dead fish eyes, completely hopeless.

Shang Que blinked and lamented, “Though we haven’t confirmed our relationship yet, under necessary conditions, I don’t mind you using me as your shield.”

Yu Zhengdu’s entire being felt weak. “……Thanks.”

That night, Yu Zhengdu had just turned on his phone after landing in Fu City when he discovered that their class group chat had exploded.

Jia Yihua:【Holy shit, Zhengdu and his boss really are a couple!!!】

Classmates:【?????】

Zhang Qingqing:【What’s the situation? Hurry, relay in detail】

Jia Yihua:【Fuck, and Zhengdu kept pretending in this chat. He got outed on the spot at my wedding reception today!】

Zhu Yan:【Outed on the spot? So exhilarating?】

Jia Yihua:【So one of my aunties thought that Zhengdu was single and wanted to introduce her niece to him. Turns out Zhengdu’s boss became so angry that he decided to give it all up for love and came out of the closet on the spot】

Jia Yihua:【Scared my auntie so much! She told my mom before we even finished the wedding dinner!】

Zhang Qingqing:【Holy fuck!!!】

Zhu Yan:【Exciting! Shocked applause.jpg】

Classmate A:【Yu Zhengdu, you dared to hide your romance. Come out to get beat up】

When Yu Zhengdu opened his class group chat, his classmates had already sent 999+ messages discussing his love story with Shang Que.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Yu Zhengdu didn’t dare to make his presence known in the group chat at this time. He could only heave out a long sigh and turn around to look at Shang Que, who was next to him. Only to see Shang Que very naturally grab his luggage and smile at him. “I’ll get it for you.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

He really wanted to ask, Boss, haven’t you not agreed yet? Can you stop acting like you’re already my boyfriend?

Yu Zhengdu facepalmed. He once again felt a strong urge to tell Boss the truth. But as soon as he felt this urge, he saw Shang Que lift his gaze up from his phone screen and furrow his brows. “Your school’s forum is truly so gossipy. Our situation has been uploaded so quickly!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……Huh?”

He hurriedly used his phone to check their school forum. Well. Probably some blabbermouth in his class had revealed the contents of their group chat. This wasn’t strange, though. In the past, a lot of people had asked his classmates about his relationship status. Only, these other people wouldn’t think of him like his classmates would. They immediately posted this news onto the forum.

Because of his popularity, that post became a “hot post” very quickly. The comments were full of little shimeis crying and wailing.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Alright. Right now, his rumored relationship with Shang Que had technically been confirmed.

Yu Zhengdu refreshed the post again. In the comments, aside from the people who were shocked that the ten thousand year single dog who had been single since the womb would actually start dating, others were confused by his sexual orientation. After all, all of Yu Zhengdu’s rumored partners at school had been girls. Though none of them had ended up working out, because of this, it was reasonable to assume that Yu Zhengdu was probably as straight as an arrow.

After reading these confused comments, Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help thinking of what Shang Que had said previously. He had never been in a relationship before – who knew if he was straight or not?

There was also an ID, that temporarily couldn’t be determined to be a fan or antifan, that swore in the post that this was fake news. The reason was because Yu Zhengdu had previously rejected a certain school flower. Shang Que wasn’t even on par with the school flower. How could Yu Zhengdu be dating him?

There were actually people agreeing with this comment.

Yu Zhengdu’s entire being felt very “emmmm.” He couldn’t help but say: though Shang Que was very silly, to be completely fair, he wasn’t not on par with anyone!

Back and forth, the post argued uselessly. Yu Zhengdu himself didn’t find this a big deal. After flipping through a few pages of comments, he closed the post. But Shang Que seemed to not feel the same way. He read the entire post from start to finish, following which his expression darkened. Tone slightly displeased, he asked, “Why is this person telling everyone that you pursued me?”

Yu Zhengdu glanced at the ID Shang Que was talking about and said, “Oh.” He explained, “This guy is in my year, but was in the law school. Apparently his girlfriend used to like me?”

This ID had started frequently criticizing Yu Zhengdu during the first year of university. It was a common name, especially under Yu Zhengdu’s various CP posts. Normally, it posted posts that mocked Yu Zhengdu for selling his face and other similar topics. Later on, Yu Zhengdu had been bored during class one day and offhandedly checked this person’s IP through his posts. Only then did he discover that the other was a student at the law school.

Even so, Yu Zhengdu had always been someone who was too lazy to spend his time on such meaningless matters. He had never even looked at the other. Also, Yu Zhengdu had been obsessed with technical skill during university, somehow managing to remain single for all four years. Everyone knew that this ID was a long-time Yu Zhengdu antifan as well. Normally, everybody ignored him.

It was unexpected that someone had finally confirmed Yu Zhengdu’s relationship status. Additionally, his significant other was his company’s boss. That person had dirt on him at long last. He took this opportunity to start spreading a strange tale of how Yu Zhengdu had disregarded his morals to shamelessly stick to his boss in order to get promoted.

However, the students of Fu City University weren’t idiots either. Everyone could bear witness to Yu Zhengdu’s prowess. Previously, he had also gotten on the trending topics list with Jiao Shanlan and Zhao Ruola. Additionally, that ID was from a long-time antifan. Because of this, not many people paid attention to him.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t consider it a big deal either. “Just ignore him.”

“No,” Shang Que hrmph’d. “He’s annoying.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Boss was truly very reluctant to admit defeat.

However, he did feel a bit mystified. Though this antifan’s actions were quite annoying, wasn’t this made-up account of him pursuing Shang Que the exact story Shang Que had envisioned in his head?

Technically speaking, Shang Que should be extremely pleased. Why was he suddenly angry?

While furiously typing away at his phone, Shang Que said, “The two of us are……hrmph. Who does that monster think he is to be criticizing us?!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” Though Boss had automatically silenced himself, this line was honestly too popular. He could automatically fill in the blanks.

——The two of us are a talented and handsome couple. Who does that monster think he is to be criticizing us?

It had to be said that Boss had truly learned too many phrases online that he shouldn’t have learned.

Yu Zhengdu weakly massaged his temples. “Boss, you don’t need to listen to a monster’s words……”

Only to see Shang Que tap his phone one final time. He looked up and said with satisfaction, “Done.”

The alarm bells started ringing in Yu Zhengdu’s head. He instantly felt an impending sense of doom, so hurriedly asked, “What did you do?”

Shang Que waved his phone. “I registered for an account and replied to that monster.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

When he reopened the post to check, the post had gotten bumped up to the top again, as expected. A newly registered ID, “From Today On I Will Be A European God,” replied to the antifan: Bullshit. I’m Zhengdu’s boss. I’m the one pursuing him!

Yu Zhengdu became momentarily shocked out of his mind, but not because Shang Que had specially made an account to argue with someone. For Shang Que, this could only be considered normal behavior. It wasn’t enough to elicit a reaction from Yu Zhengdu.

The true reason Yu Zhengdu was surprised was because of the contents of Shang Que’s reply. He froze for a moment before asking, “Boss, why did you reply to him like that?”

Shang Que hummed. “What happens between us is solely between us. However, to the rest of the world, we should still say I’m pursuing you.”

He scanned Yu Zhengdu out of his periphery and added, “Even if I don’t agree later on, I won’t let you become a subject of ridicule.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

To be honest, he had felt quite touched by the first half of Shang Que’s response. Shang Que was someone who couldn’t bear being shamed at all; he even needed to win every argument online. At such a time, he unexpectedly managed to consider Yu Zhengdu’s perspective.

Though the people on the forum would probably only think that this was a fake account created to pretend to be Shang Que, consequently not taking his words seriously, Yu Zhengdu knew that Shang Que’s reply was from the bottom of his heart.

Only, after hearing the second half of Shang Que’s response, Yu Zhengdu became weak once more.

Based on Shang Que’s extremely diligent attitude, he was currently very, very suspicious if he would have the opportunity to wait for Shang Que to “not agree.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Shang Que waved his hands, then pulled back his phone and continued typing away. “This monster actually dared to reply to me. I’m determined to cuss him out until he deletes his account.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

He watched as the rumors spread faster and faster. Yu Zhengdu thought about it the whole night and believed that he definitely needed to make things clear.

Only, every time he thought of how Boss had looked while bragging, he surprisingly didn’t feel angry. Instead, he felt……reluctant.

Ey, this time, he really was going to be a scumbag.

The next day, Yu Zhengdu received a warm welcome from his coworkers after he returned to work at the company. This business trip, he had visited several cities. It had already been over half a month since he had been at the company. His coworkers missed him quite a lot.

Especially Kang Jin, Lu Lingxi, and the other ones who had a good relationship with him. As soon as they saw him walk in, they urgently dragged him into a conference room.

“Xiao Yu, you’ve worked hard this business trip.” Lu Lingxi poured a cup of water for him.

Yu Zhengdu: “It was alright. Just doing my job.”

“Not even. Didn’t you also get turned into a spirit to take a trip to the Hungry Ghost Path? Too dangerous.” Kang Jin walked over to help massage his shoulders. “How fortunate that there was only danger, but no actual harm. Otherwise, we truly wouldn’t know what to do.”

Though they were telling the truth, their behavior seemed a bit too fawning and attentive. Yu Zhengdu very quickly noticed that something was wrong. He fell silent for a moment before asking, “Is there something you guys want to tell me?”

Kang Jin stopped talking and looked at Lu Lingxi. Lu Lingxi looked back at Kang Jin. The two of them stared at each other.

Yu Zhengdu: ??

A while later, Kang Jin became the first to muster up the courage to hand a small box over to Yu Zhengdu. He said, “This is the situation: we’ve specially prepared a gift for you now that you’re back.”

“Is there such a need……” Yu Zhengdu was momentarily speechless. He accepted the box and said while opening it, “What a trivial matter. I thought someone was stealing eggs……”

When he opened the box, there was an egg laying in it.

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

The box was very intricate. There was also a thick layer of cotton at the bottom of it. Atop the cotton, a pure white egg quietly rested. The egg was quite large, about two or three times the size of a regular chicken egg.

Yu Zhengdu temporarily couldn’t determine if such a gift was thoughtful or not.

If you said it wasn’t thoughtful, this box and design were so intricate. The size of the egg was also extraordinary.

If you said it was thoughtful, though…… This was only an egg.

Yu Zhengdu was silent for a long time. Finally, he calmly put the box away and solemnly stated, “Thank you, I like it very much.”

Kang Jin heaved out a long sigh of relief. “As long as you like it.”

Lu Lingxi hesitated for a moment, then added, “So do you need us to take care of the stuff after?”

Yu Zhengdu thought about it before nodding. “Sure. Then I’ll have to trouble you to make it into a salted egg for me, please.”

“……” Upon hearing this, Kang Jin became extremely panicked. “You can’t!”

Yu Zhengdu was bewildered, only to hear Kang Jin stutter out, “Xiao Yu, this, this is Peppa ah.”

Yu Zhengdu: “????”

The author has something to say:

Peppa: Ga!