New Times, New Hell

Chapter 95 - I Agree!

As soon as Shang Que said this, everyone present instantly fell into a suffocating silence.

Originally, after he had entered the private room, no one had been able to keep themselves from stopping their own conversations to sneak glances at him. Unknowingly, the room had quieted.

Additionally, Shang Que had spoken with an all or nothing kind of impulsivity. His voice had been rather loud. Everyone became completely astounded.

Some people even seemed to be hearing echos. A soft voice echoed in their ears——But I want to be his significant other! Is that not okay?!

Everybody froze in place.

Even Yu Zhengdu was shocked.

After an unknown amount of time, someone finally regained their wits. Zhu Yan stuttered out first, “Okay. Of course it’s okay.”

The other classmates came back to their senses too. Someone subconsciously wanted to applaud, but quickly got stopped by a keen classmate. Zhang Qingqing, who was often worried for her classmates, hurriedly gestured to everyone: Keep calm! Keep calm!

Everybody exchanged glances. Finally, they reached a tacit understanding and, by using a great amount of self control, they managed to successfully stop themselves from causing an uproar. Instead, they pretended like nothing had happened…… Of course, they still couldn’t prevent themselves from occasionally sneaking glances in Yu Zhengdu’s direction.

This conscientious behavior allowed Shang Que’s tense nerves to slightly relax.

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help laughing out loud. He stood up and held onto Shang Que’s wrist. “Sit down first.”

Shang Que had originally finally managed to relax a bit. Upon seeing Yu Zhengdu stand up, he instantly stiffened up again. He abruptly took a step forward, standing close to Yu Zhengdu and whispering, “You’re not allowed to reject me in front of so many people!”

“If you have anything to say, you have to wait till we get back!”

“Save me some dignity!”

Yu Zhengdu glanced at him, completely amused. “I never said I was going to reject you.”

His eyes curved into crescents. His lips were quirked up in a smile that couldn’t be hidden. “I’m very happy that you could come.”

Shang Que momentarily paused.

The two of them sat down. At this time, the other classmates around the table had already finished adjusting their own moods and emotions.

Wu Shuojian was still feeling anxious because of the fact that Yu Zhengdu had mentioned finding his IP. However, because of Shang Que’s sudden appearance, Yu Zhengdu had gotten interrupted too. He couldn’t know at all what Yu Zhengdu’s words had meant.

He pondered a bit and elbowed his girlfriend. Lowly, he asked, “I think I made Classmate Yu angry just now. Can you help me ask him what he meant?”

His girlfriend had originally been a bit unhappy because of how mean he had been to her classmate. Upon seeing that he now seemed regretful, her mood finally recovered a bit. She told Yu Zhengdu, “Zhengdu, sorry. Just now, Shuojian didn’t say all those things on purpose. You’re not angry, right?”

“No.” Yu Zhengdu glanced at his female classmate. One reason was because Shang Que’s unannounced appearance truly made him not want to bother with Wu Shuojian anymore. Another was that they were in front of so many people, after all. He still needed to be respectful towards women. Thus, he smiled and said, “I was joking too.”

His words allowed Wu Shuojian to relax. He thought to himself, as expected. Yu Zhengdu had only been faking it previously. If he really knew who had been spreading rumors about him, would he be able to resist not saying anything for four years?

Besides, even if Yu Zhengdu had really traced his IP before, he wasn’t scared.

Now that he was no longer worried, Wu Shuojian instantly became unimpressed again. He had finally found an opportunity, after much difficulty, to criticize Yu Zhengdu. How could he have known that Shang Que would suddenly appear? And he had publicly revealed the fact that he wanted to be Yu Zhengdu’s significant other. It made all of Wu Shuojian’s previous attacks seem both ill-intended and comical.

Shang Que was also honestly too exemplary. Since his appearance, almost everyone’s gazes had been glued to him.

Wu Shuojian heard some classmates next to him softly whisper to each other, “Wow, CEO is really too handsome in person.”

“I saw him once at our graduation ceremony, but not this close. He’s really so devastatingly handsome. I’m jealous of Zhengdu!”

“Wake up. Is CEO only good looking? He’s a big antique collector, a domineering boss!”

“The people on the forum are really so funny. They even said Zhengdu got dumped by CEO!”

“Those antifans are like rats in dark sewers. Why bother paying attention to them?”

Wu Shuojian was extremely displeased in his heart. He honestly couldn’t stop himself from revealing a fake smile and asking, “Is CEO really pursuing Classmate Yu?”

Shang Que had finally made the tough decision to come. He was terrified that Yu Zhengdu would reject him. Thus, he couldn’t help acting a bit like an ostrich after expressing his feelings. Naturally, he wasn’t willing to hear anyone bring up this topic again. However, there was someone who very untactfully was mentioning this tabooed topic.

Shang Que wasn’t as patient with others as he was with Yu Zhengdu. Additionally, he had heard Wu Shuojian mocking Yu Zhengdu when he had walked in. He had a terrible impression of this person. As such, when Wu Shuojian spoke up, Shang Que gazed coldly at him. He revealed his usual arrogant, apathetic expression. “What? I need your approval?”

He wasn’t hiding his aura at all. He also wasn’t bothering to be polite in his speech. As soon as he said this, the scene suddenly quieted. Everyone couldn’t help shrinking in on themselves a bit. The same thought popped up in their minds——

As expected from a domineering boss. His aura is too strong.

Wu Shuojian’s heart vigorously trembled. He started feeling uncontrollably guilty. Instinctively, he wanted to back away. Only to feel his girlfriend’s foot kicking him under the table. She awkwardly whispered to him, “Stop bringing this topic up.”

Wu Shuojian looked up and discovered that not only his girlfriend, but everyone else at the table was looking at him, speechless. They obviously didn’t agree with his actions. He momentarily felt impossibly embarrassed. This caused him to feel rebellious. With a tone full of implication, he said, “CEO, you’ve misunderstood. I’m just jealous of the fact that Classmate Yu is so charismatic, you know. No wonder there are so many rumors that say Classmate Yu has been able to reach his current position and earn his current salary at such a young age solely because of his ‘good relationship’ with CEO.”

He had originally wanted to say “special relationship”, but halfway through, Shang Que had given him a death glare. He couldn’t help the fear in his heart, which was why he had changed the phrase to “good relationship.” However, he was also reluctant to admit defeat, so had emphasized these two words on purpose.

All the classmates present had seen the post on the school forum before. They naturally knew what Wu Shuojian was alluding to. Zhu Yan and Yu Zhengdu were very close friends. Zhu Yan instantly became displeased. “Why are you talking about the stuff people make up online?”

Yu Zhengdu had originally wanted to save Wu Shuojian some dignity because of his girlfriend. He hadn’t thought that the other would be so insensible. He quickly furrowed his brows. Just as he was about to act, he heard Shang Que say, “Those things are truly because he has a good relationship with me.”

Everyone looked over in shock. Even Wu Shuojian hadn’t thought that he would actually admit this himself. Uncontrollably, satisfaction appeared on his face.

Shang Que looked over at Yu Zhengdu slightly reluctantly. “You only stayed because you have a good relationship with me, right?”

What else could Yu Zhengdu say? Obviously, he could only smile and answer, “Yes.”

Shang Que finally gently hummed. He continued, “If not for his good relationship with me, given his current salary and position, he absolutely would’ve already left.”

Yu Zhengdu felt very wronged, “I wasn’t! I didn’t! Don’t wrong me!”

Shang Que was normally obsessed with his own dignity, except regarding these situations. Resentfully, he said, “Don’t think I don’t know. That Laboratory still hasn’t given up on you. He secretly gave you an offer with an even higher salary!”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” It was definitely Zhao Ruola who had betrayed him!

Zhu Yan couldn’t help making a sound of realization. He asked, “So……you’ve given him such a high position not because you and Zhengdu have a good relationship, but actually because other people gave Zhengdu a higher salary offer?”

Shang Que gave him a death stare. “Are you mocking me?”

Zhu Yan was so scared he kept waving his hands in denial. “No.”

CEO’s aura was too terrifying.

Yu Zhengdu instantly knew that Shang Que was still hung up over the situation with Jiao Shanlan. He placated the other, amused, “I’ve already rejected lan……”

But Shang Que still couldn’t rest at ease. “There are also other companies who’ve found headhunters to try and steal you……”

Yu Zhengdu was shocked. “How do you know?” He had never mentioned this to Boss before.

Shang Que slightly rolled his eyes. “A headhunter called the wrong number and ended up calling me.”

Yu Zhengdu quieted for a moment. “So why didn’t you transfer the call to me?”

Shang Que immediately placed the blame on the other party. “It’s not my fault. He was the one who lost our argument and hung up first.”

Yu Zhengdu: “……” As long as arguments weren’t face to face, CEO Shang’s argument skills were always undefeatable. Only elementary schoolers could put up a fight.

Their conversation caused the classmates to become continuously surprised. One classmate exclaimed, “So there are actually so many outside companies trying to steal Zhengdu……”

Shang Que revealed a slightly pleased expression. “So what if they are? Their bosses don’t have as good of a relationship with Zhengdu as I do.”

Classmates: = = Wait a moment. Is this really something worth bragging about?

Shang Que’s words managed to clear up the rumors on the forum in a roundabout way. Not only so, but Yu Zhengdu’s classmates gained a brand new understanding about Yu Zhengdu’s status in the industry.

In this moment, his classmates all lamented, “We clearly all graduated from the same class. How come the difference is so huge?”

Someone said with a slight smile, “The difference already existed in college, okay?!”

“Exactly. When Zhengdu used the singer account to become famous on starflicker, I was still making up algebra exams……”

“I remember that prior to graduation, landry had already planned to recruit Zhengdu to his laboratory, right?”

Because of Shang Que, Yu Zhengdu practically had Jiao Shanlan PTSD these days. As soon as he heard his classmates cuing landry, he hurriedly interrupted, “Those were all things of the past. Don’t mention them anymore. Don’t.”

Upon noticing that Yu Zhengdu had once again become everyone’s subject of admiration, Wu Shuojian almost chipped his teeth from how hard he was clenching them together. While Yu Zhengdu interrupted everyone, he scoffed and stated in a pointed tone, “Classmate Yu is valued by his boss so much. No wonder why there were media reports online about how CEO gave Classmate Yu a famous painting worth one hundred million as overtime pay.”

Because of Yu Zhengdu, these classmates were all pretty interested in Shang Que’s gossip news. A lot of people present had also read that “overtime pay” report. They naturally knew about the netizen’s denial of the rumors.

Because that news article had honestly been too outrageous, nobody had taken it seriously at all. How could Wu Shuojian not know that the news in the report had only been made up to garner attention? He was suddenly bringing it up purely to disgust Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que.

However, before Yu Zhengdu could speak, Zhu Yan couldn’t take it anymore first. He asked, “What’s wrong with you? Why do you keep mentioning the rumors online? Anyone with a brain knows that nobody would use a famous painting worth over a hundred million as overtime pay!”

At this time, Wu Shuojian was already on the brink of going crazy because of how much he had to control himself. He was determined to insult Yu Zhengdu a few times. He chuckled coldly and said, “Well I just thought that someone as badass as Classmate Yu maybe really would deserve such impressive overtime pay!”

“You thought what?!” Zhu Yan could finally tell that Wu Shuojian was saying all this on purpose. His tone became rather rude too. “CEO refuted the rumors long ago. Seems to me like you’re just being intentional!”

Wu Shuojian still wanted to say more. Shang Que suddenly asked, bewildered, “What did I refute rumors about?”

Zhu Yan: “About how you gave that famous painting to Zhengdu as overtime pay.”

Shang Que: “Those aren’t rumors. That was real.”

Their classmates instantly turned their gazes over. Zhu Yan sputtered, “Didn’t you tell a netizen that you didn’t give the painting to Zhengdu? Could it be that the screenshot of the private message the netizen posted was photoshopped?”

Shang Que thought about it before suddenly reaching a realization. “Oh, that. That’s real.”

Their classmates heaved out a sigh of relief. They knew that nobody could possibly give overtime pay valuing over one hundred million.

Only to hear Shang Que continue, “Unfortunately, he refused to accept it.”

Zhu Yan: “What does that mean?”

Shang Que furrowed his brows. “Is that very hard to understand?”

Yes!

A classmate asked Shang Que, voice shaking, “Could it be that you mean you really gave the famous painting worth over a hundred million to Zhengdu as overtime pay?”

Shang Que made a soft sound of acknowledgment and nodded.

“Only, Zhengdu didn’t accept it?”

Shang Que nodded again. His tone even sounded a bit reluctant. “He thought that the reason ‘overtime pay’ wasn’t reasonable. But it’s clearly very reasonable!”

Reasonable how?!!!

These classmates all spat out a mouthful of blood in their hearts. They had known that there were differences between people, but they hadn’t known that these differences could be so extreme.

Everyone had all graduated from the same school. Many of them were still tirelessly working on the front lines. Someone, however, was already a CTO; being pursued by a tall, rich, handsome man; and owned over one hundred million in overtime pay——and he had rejected it!

One classmate glanced over at Yu Zhengdu in despair. He very truthfully said, “Zhengdu, during future class gatherings, if there’s no absolute need, maybe don’t attend?”

Everyone instantly nodded. “Please allow the rest of us to have some life goals!”

Yu Zhengdu said after brief thought, “I can pay.”

His classmates immediately changed their minds. “Then you should come!”

“You need to come. If anyone doesn’t let you come, I’m going to get angry at them.”

Everyone started lamenting once more. After, Zhu Yan angrily said, “I really feel more outraged the more I think about this. Clearly Zhengdu earned all of this because of his own hard work, but people on the school forum are still making up a bunch of random shit! And their words are so demeaning!”

Everyone else nodded in agreement. “They’re too much. We need to refute those rumors when we get back.”

“Who made up all those rumors? They must have an enmity with Zhengdu!”

“What kind of person are they? So ignoble.”

Yu Zhengdu said, “I know who it is.”

Everyone looked over. “Huh?”

Yu Zhengdu’s gaze overlooked everyone else and landed directly on Wu Shuojian. While smiling, he asked, “Classmate Wu, have you come up with a way to admit your mistakes and apologize yet?”

Originally, because of the other’s girlfriend, Yu Zhengdu hadn’t actually wanted to embarrass Wu Shuojian in front of so many people. However, Wu Shuojian didn’t appear to be feeling regretful at all. He had even gotten increasingly worse, breaching Yu Zhengdu’s bottom line.

As soon as Yu Zhengdu said this, everyone was bewildered. Wu Shuojian’s girlfriend thought that he was angry because of the fact that Wu Shuojian had continuously brought up the rumors from online. She hurriedly said, “Zhengdu, Shuojian isn’t that good at saying the right thing. He’s not being intentional. Don’t take things to heart……”

How could Wu Shuojian not be shocked too? He had incessantly said bad things about Yu Zhengdu on the forum for so many years, yet had never been exposed by anyone. This was the reason he had become more and more fearless. Earlier, though Yu Zhengdu had warned him prior to Shang Que’s arrival, because of his later change in attitude, Wu Shuojian had only thought that Yu Zhengdu was scaring him.

He had never expected that Yu Zhengdu would use this chance to attack him.

Yu Zhengdu glanced at Wu Shuojian’s girlfriend. He stated, “He is being intentional.”

“This person is of terrible moral character. It’d be better for you to break up with him sooner.”

Wu Shuojian’s shame turned into anger. “What do you mean?”

Yu Zhengdu: “I already told you. I tracked your IP during university.”

Wu Shuojian’s heart was on a roller coaster ride, but he still forced himself to sound calm. “Why were you tracking my IP?”

Zhu Yan thought of something. “Could it be that he also said bad things about you on the forum?”

“Un,” Yu Zhengdu nodded. Then, he named an ID. He stared straight at Wu Shuojian. “Your username isn’t that great, just like your person.”

There was a sudden uproar in the private room. Their entire class recognized this ID: this wasn’t your usual Yu Zhengdu antifan. Instead, it was Yu Zhengdu’s most famous antifan during college.

Wu Shuojian’s girlfriend looked at Wu Shuojian in disbelief. “It was actually you?”

Shang Que’s brows furrowed. He revealed a meaningful expression. “So he’s the demon ah.”

“Quit pouring the blame on me.” Wu Shuojian was already completely panicked. He was astounded because he had never thought that Yu Zhengdu had really known that he was the one behind the ID. The other had never said anything, but this hadn’t been because of fear. Wu Shuojian forced himself to confidently say, “If you’re so capable, bring out the proof.”

At this time, Zhu Yan asked, confused, “Could it be a mistake? Though he’s very annoying, I checked that antifan’s IP address too. I don’t think it was his?”

Everyone in Yu Zhengdu’s class had learned computer science before. Tracing an IP address wasn’t very difficult. Zhu Yan had checked it before too.

“Un, he often uses proxy IPs,” Yu Zhengdu said.

Wu Shuojian laughed coldly. “Right now, you’re saying all this without proof.”

Yu Zhengdu scoffed as well. “You can’t honestly believe that tracking IPs is the only thing I know how to do?”

Wu Shuojian’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He had originally thought that because he had made up bad rumors about Yu Zhengdu for four years but the other had never said anything, Yu Zhengdu either didn’t care or couldn’t find out.

But what if it was only because Yu Zhengdu had been too lazy to speak up?

Given Yu Zhengdu’s skills……

Yu Zhengdu truly hadn’t wanted to bother saying anything in the past. Only a few things could possibly happen on campus. Additionally, he had many fans, which made things difficult for antifans. Occasionally, Wu Shuojian even provided some comedic relief, so Yu Zhengdu had allowed him to do as he wished.

But Wu Shuojian was still harassing him to this day. He had also gotten increasingly bolder, creating disgusting rumors out of the blue. Yu Zhengdu could no longer keep ignoring him.

Coincidentally, after Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que’s rumored relationship got uploaded to the forum, Wu Shuojian took this opportunity to say bad things about him again. However, he just so happened to get seen by Shang Que. While displeased, Shang Que had made an account and started arguing back and forth with him.

Shang Que was the type of person who absolutely needed to win during online arguments. Unfortunately, Wu Shuojian was an enduring opponent. In the end, Shang Que told Yu Zhengdu to write a tracking software specially designed to track Wu Shuojian’s activity. This would make things easier for him to immediately log on and argue with Wu Shuojian……

These tracking records were the best evidence.

Yu Zhengdu naturally wouldn’t reveal the truth behind the reason he had designed the tracking software. Thus, his classmates all believed that he had specially created it to track his antifans. As such, everything seemed more credible.

Wu Shuojian’s girlfriend was speechless. After a long pause, she shot up and lunged away from him. “Holy motherfucking shit!!”

In the face of evidence, Wu Shuojian had nothing to deny. He observed all the unfriendly gazes in the room and felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Zhu Yan suddenly exploded. He charged to the doorway of the private room and slammed the door shut. Then, he started cackling. “The doors are closed! Time to beat the dog!”

Wu Shuojian was trembling. He made his last attempt to fight back. “I did say bad things about Yu Zhengdu in the past. So what? I’m not the only one who said bad things about him on the forum. Is there a need to be like this?”

“Quit dragging other people into this,” Zhu Yan spat out. “If you can find someone who’s said more bad things about him than you, we’ll spare you this time.”

Wu Shuojian tensed.

Among Yu Zhengdu’s various antifans, he was absolutely the brightest and most enduring star. At least, nobody on the Fu City University Forum could be compared to him.

“You can’t, right?!” Zhu Yan cracked his wrists. “Then don’t blame us for being so impolite!”

“Wait a moment!” At this critical moment, an ID flashed through Wu Shuojian’s mind. “Someone might have posted more characters than me.”

Zhu Yan: “Who?”

Wu Shuojian glanced at Shang Que. “The ID that’s pretending to be CEO. From Today On I Will Be A European God.”

As soon as he said this ID, the entire scene suddenly fell silent.

Speaking of, this ID was very infamous too. Though it had only been created for a very short time, the person behind it had a strange overabundance of energy. Since the account had been created, it had claimed to be CEO as it chased Wu Shuojian’s ID around and argued with him. Not only so, but it had dug out all the posts Wu Shuojian had made in the past and cussed them out.

Because of him, Wu Shuojian’s previous posts had all gotten continuously bumped up to the top.

Thus, though he was helping Yu Zhengdu speak up, everyone all believed that he was even worse than the antifans. In addition to the fact that he was using the same ID as CEO, and also occasionally seemed like an elementary schooler during arguments, everyone all believed that this was both CEO and Senior’s antifan: one fan who was equivalent to ten other antifans.

If they were getting technical, because this ID was really reluctant to admit defeat and was determined to vanquish Wu Shuojian, it was honestly quite likely that the number of characters he had posted in total was more than Wu Shuojian’s total count.

As such, everyone’s feelings were a bit conflicted when speaking about this ID.

How could Wu Shuojian not feel like lamenting either? Thinking back, he had been undefeated on the forum for so many years. This had been the first time that he had deleted an account on the forum because of arguing——this was also one of the reasons he had switched to a new account later.

“There was a period of time when that ID kept pretending to be CEO and pursuing you,” Zhu Yan couldn’t resist telling Yu Zhengdu. “Zhengdu, how about you find him too? Warn him to stop saying so much random stuff. It’s a bad influence.”

Yu Zhengdu gave Zhu Yan a deadpan look.

Zhu Yan was bewildered, “What?”

“What do you mean ‘pretending’?” Only to hear Shang Que speak up, voice ice cold and tone extremely displeased. “That’s really me.”

Zhu Yan: “……”

Everyone else: “……”

Wu Shuojian: “……”

The image of a cold, domineering boss, slowly being ruined……

Because such an occurrence had happened halfway through the gathering, all of Yu Zhengdu’s classmates couldn’t help reminiscing memories from many years ago. This meal lasted a long time. By the time they all went their separate ways, it was already late at night.

After learning that Yu Zhengdu and Shang Que were still in that ambiguous stage of their relationship, Yu Zhengdu’s classmates very conscientiously left them some space. Nobody dared to head in the same direction as them.

The two of them weren’t in a rush to head back either. They slowly strolled along the sidewalk.

Things had been fine when there had been a lot of people present, but now that they were interacting in private, Shang Que couldn’t help feeling nervous again. He had held himself back for half the day. Now, he suddenly pulled out a painting scroll from who knows where and handed it to Yu Zhengdu. “For you.”

Yu Zhengdu’s eyes were tinted with faint amusement. “Have you come up with a reason this time?”

Shang Que slightly tightened his grip on the painting. “Un.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Un?”

Shang Que suddenly turned his head away. He didn’t dare to look at Yu Zhengdu. “You want to reject me, right?”

“No.” Yu Zhengdu had consumed a bit of alcohol. He was in a good mood, but his mind wasn’t very clear. He used one hand to caress Shang Que’s face. “I like you too.”

Shang Que’s entire being froze.

A long time later, he finally turned his head back. His expression was indescribably ecstatic.

“I agree!” Shang Que said.

Yu Zhengdu: ??????

Boss’s “agree” had been used so intelligently!

The author has something to say:

Xiaokui: At the end of the day, it was still I who agreed to him!! (sunglasses)

Zhengdu: Truly unexpected