Chà Chà Novel

As long as the matter stayed hidden, things would be manageable. Once exposed, Imperial Capital News’s credibility with the public would plummet.

And as an official news outlet, where would it go from there?

Su Ke took two bottles of mineral water from the refrigerator.

“Anyway, how did you end up going along with Shang Jianli? Couldn’t you just have him bring the gift box here?”

Ji Shileng shook his head and mumbled, “If he brought it over, we’d have to go through another round of back-and-forth. Too much trouble”

Better to collect it outright, so there would be no need to keep arguing over the Outstanding Graduate Certificate.

Su Ke could only marvel at his reasoning.

“But going to get it yourself is still back-and-forth, isn’t it? And you had to make the trip”

“If I deal with it all on the same day, he won’t spoil my mood the next day. Besides, the driver drove”

He had not driven. It had taken no effort on his part.

Su Ke fell silent.

For the sake of precision, Ji Shileng added, “And his place is on the way to our hotel”

“You even know where he lives?”

“I went there a few times before. The security guard stopped me every single time. Of course I remember”

Even thinking about it left Ji Shileng speechless.

He had forgotten to ask Shang Jianli whether the guard had actually been fired.

He had already made his threats. If the man kept his job, Ji Shileng would look like a clown.

Su Ke frowned, speaking much faster.

“He stopped you? Which security guard? What’s his name? Do you have a photo?”

“A guard at Lannian Gardens. Zhang Qiang, I think. No photo”

“I’ll look into it. You should wash up and sleep”

“I’m only staying up to talk to you”

Ji Shileng yawned several more times. Otherwise, he would have been getting ready for bed as soon as he reached the room.

Su Ke hurried him off to wash, then contacted a few “old friends” in the Federation to investigate.

The reply came quickly. They even refunded ninety percent of his deposit.

[Hacker Bro 1]: Boss, well… I was just about to look into it when it started trending in the Empire.

[Hacker Bro 1]: #Why Is the Owner of Lannian Gardens Crying on Livestream?#, #The Years of Misconduct Behind a “Grassroots” Security Guard#

[Hacker Bro 1]: I’ll only charge ten percent for this one. I found a few clips of Mr. Ji being stopped at Lannian Gardens. What do you want me to do with them?

[Little Grass Has No Answers]: It’s fine. Keep the money.

[Little Grass Has No Answers]: Add fuel to the fire. Make it a little livelier.

Crossing his legs, Su Ke opened the two trending topics the hacker had sent and could not help swearing.

Ji Shileng emerged with his toothbrush in his mouth and found Su Ke glaring at his communicator as though it were his mortal enemy.

“What’s wrong? Did something else happen?”

“No. I read a few articles that were complete bullshit”

Ji Shileng gave him several suspicious looks.

“Weren’t you investigating the security guard? How did you end up reading articles?”

Su Ke shook his head.

“It’s still being investigated. Go to sleep. We’ll talk tomorrow”

He was afraid Ji Shileng would lose sleep over it, so he did not dare tell him.

Besides, Hacker Bro One really did have a talent for editing.

The video was so absurdly funny that the topic began gaining traction on its own before Su Ke could even pay for a higher trending position.

In the old stellar calendar, Liu Bei had visited the thatched cottage three times. In the new one, Ji Shileng had visited Lannian Gardens three times and been stopped every time.

“All right”

Toothbrush still in his mouth, Ji Shileng sauntered back into the bathroom.

Before long, the communicator on the coffee table rang. Su Ke glanced at the name “Second Brother” and called toward the bathroom.

“Brother Shi, Second Brother’s calling!”

Ji Shileng spat out the toothpaste and came out with a towel. Before answering, he first considered whether he had caused any trouble recently.

Having concluded that he had not, he accepted the call with an easy mind.

“Second Brother?”

As always, Ji Shifeng went straight to the point.

“Xiaoshi, do you know what’s going on with the trending topics?”

“Huh?”

Ji Shileng froze.

“What trending topics?”

“Never mind, then”

“I was about to go to sleep… I’ll take a look now”

Ji Shifeng fell silent.

After a moment, he said, “Go to bed. Don’t look”

Their eldest sister had said their little brother had been sleeping early at home lately. He had not expected it to be this early.

“I’m not sleepy anymore”

Ji Shileng sat on the sofa and opened the interstellar network.

“Let me see what happened”

#Why Is the Owner of Lannian Gardens Crying on Livestream?#

#The Years of Misconduct Behind a “Grassroots” Security Guard#

#Stopped Three Times at Lannian Gardens: Ji Shileng Is the New Liu Bei#

Ji Shileng had no words.

Ji Shifeng, who had just left the trending page himself, heard the silence and asked, “Seen it?”

“No, seriously, can someone explain?”

Ji Shileng opened the third topic, briefly speechless.

“Which brainless idiot has put me on the trending list again?”

“Brother, maybe I should just become an influencer. I don’t care about the attention. I mainly want to yell at people”

There were plenty of reasonable commenters below, but he noticed only the unreasonable ones.

If he became an influencer, he could tear into them one by one during a livestream.

They could see who was more unhinged.

Ji Shifeng laughed.

“Mom just told you to cultivate some inner peace. Why do you want to start cursing people out again?”

“Cursing people out can bring inner peace, too”

Ji Shileng opened the first topic, baffled.

“I really don’t understand who has so much free time that they put me on the trending list every day”

He only wanted to keep a low profile.

“We’ll handle it here. We happen to be meeting with the publicity department”

Ji Shifeng told him and Su Ke to get some rest.

After hanging up, Ji Shileng had lost most of his sleepiness.

“Those articles you were reading—were they about these trending topics?”

“More or less”

“Forget it. Bedtime”

Ji Shileng could not be bothered to dwell on it. Knowing that the guard had been fired and even barred from finding work was enough.

As for who was behind it, he was not unaware.

But this was something Shang Jianli owed him.

Besides, there was no need to keep picking everything apart. It was exhausting.

“Brother Shi, if even a security guard was making life difficult for you back then, why didn’t you come home?”

Su Ke’s heart ached for him.

Ji Shileng thought for a moment and offered a new answer.

“Let’s call it experiencing this wretched thing called life”

“Besides, a gentleman can wait ten years for revenge. Hasn’t his retribution arrived?”

Su Ke sighed.

“True. It was just far too hard on you”

“Honestly, it’s good that there’s a solution. I don’t have to run around dealing with it myself”

Ji Shileng smiled.

“Stop thinking about all that. Go to sleep”

“Okay”

Once he was actually in bed, however, Ji Shileng tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

Earlier, drowsiness had nearly swallowed him whole. Now his mind was painfully clear.

Of course he could tell Shang Jianli had deliberately fired the guard for him to see.

What difference did knowing make?

And what difference would not knowing make?

He told himself it was time to sleep.

His sister and brother would handle everything else.

Whatever Shang Jianli wanted to do was his own business.