Zong Cheng shot his head up abruptly.
Yin Chen tilted his head, smiling with soft eyes. If you looked closely, there was even a trace of indulgent affection in them.
“I want to go with you.”
Zong Cheng scraped together another shred of courage.
The stiffness that had wrapped around him before visibly melted away, replaced by barely contained delight.
Yin Chen noticed it, and the smile in his eyes deepened.
Luckily, he had happened to check Weibo earlier and seen the announcement on the website.
Otherwise, would he not have missed it?
With Yin Chen’s confirmation, Zong Cheng immediately called his editor back.
“I’ll go.”
“Really? That’s wonderful!”
The editor nearly burst into tears of joy.
It had not been easy. Not easy at all. Finally, there was something this guy was willing to agree to!
And Zong Cheng was willing to attend the authors’ conference!
Rounding up, that meant there would be plenty of chances to pester him into loosening up about the copyright issue!
If nothing else, the publishing deal had to be secured, no matter what!
Once the matter of the authors’ conference was settled, the Spring Festival arrived in the blink of an eye.
Early on Lunar New Year’s Eve, Madam Tang dragged everyone out of bed. Anyone who could be crammed into the kitchen was shoved into the kitchen to help.
Anyone who could not fit into the kitchen was assigned miscellaneous chores outside.
As for who was not allowed in the kitchen?
Tang Chen was shocked to discover that this year, he and Zong Cheng were the ones banned from entering!
He protested while peeling garlic in the kitchen.
“I feel like there is nothing here for me to do except eat! Why can I not switch tasks with Brother Zong?”
He would even be fine sweeping the floor!
In the kitchen, he could only look but not touch!
He grumbled loudly.
Madam Tang was at the stove. Hearing him, she tapped him with the ladle.
“Your brother has a partner now. How can he stay cooped up in the kitchen? What if his partner misses him and comes looking for him? Would that not be inconvenient? Do you understand? Learn from him!”
…Damn.
What my mother says makes far too much sense.
I am actually speechless.
Tang Chen stared in stunned silence for two seconds before obediently returning to peeling garlic.
At that moment, however, Zong Cheng was not messaging Yin Chen.
Not for any complicated reason.
Simply because Yin Chen was busy.
And the reason he was busy was even simpler.
He had recently infiltrated one of Zong Cheng’s anti-fan groups.
He had become addicted to lurking in the chat.
Yes.
An anti-fan group.
A couple of days ago, during the forum incident, Yin Chen had been lurking in the thread.
And he really had managed to spot something interesting.
There was an ID called Baiyun123. It looked utterly unremarkable, but every time it spoke, it hit just the right pressure points. The way it fanned the flames could not have been more obvious.
Yin Chen had taken note of that ID at the time.
Although Zong Cheng’s readers had calmed things down with the page-flipping meme, that did not mean the matter was over.
Yin Chen sneered.
Let it go just like that?
Absolutely not.
That was his boyfriend. Did they think he would just let someone target his boyfriend without consequence?
Not a chance.
He had memorized that ID on the spot.
While Zong Cheng had been away these past few days, Yin Chen followed the trail and found a group created by that account.
On the surface, it was an ordinary writing group. In reality, there was an inconspicuous code.
Every new member would be casually asked by the group owner what they thought about the forum thread where the author had been exposed.
If they had no opinion, they were kicked.
If they felt there was no solid evidence to condemn the author, they were kicked.
Those who remained were all people who believed Zong Cheng had problems.
In other words, anti-fans.
That said—
Watching himself thrive in the group chat, Yin Chen began to reflect.
Was the group owner incompetent?
Or was he simply too capable?
He had been in the group for five full days.
Five days! And the group owner had not noticed anything off about him!
He had even earned the top contributor badge for the day.
Well then.
Yin Chen looked at the harmonious chatter in the group and felt that even the newly hired chef’s fried stinky tofu tasted bland.
After lurking a bit longer, however, he finally got something substantial.
The group owner was awake.
And planning to make a move.
[The more I think about it, the angrier I get. That author clearly has character issues. Why did everyone just laugh it off? And I honestly think those people were paid commenters.]
The group owner began stirring the pot.
Yin Chen raised an eyebrow.
Calling a loyal reader like him a paid commenter?
He slowly typed a line.
[You are right.]
Other members chimed in to echo the sentiment.
Baiyun123 felt a surge of satisfaction seeing the agreement.
There was no way the author of Abyssal Eye could have that many real readers.
They must have been bought!
Definitely hired commenters!
Grinding his teeth, he uploaded the opening of another chapter he had written to the website.
Then he slowly clicked “Apply for Contract.”
That author of Abyssal Eye must have paid for those results!
Otherwise, why had his own work never been approved for contract?
He had studied for so long how to write romance between two men. That guy did not even include a romantic pairing, and yet he could sell big on a female-oriented platform?
That had to be it!
He would expose him!
[Since it is the holidays, I bet the people on the forum right now are real readers. Those paid commenters probably will not be working today. I will open another thread this afternoon. You all help bump it. I want everyone to see that author’s true colors!]
[Go for it, group owner! I will bump it immediately!]
[Same here, I will bump it as soon as it is up!]
[Group owner is awesome. We will follow your lead!]
At least some of them had brains.
Baiyun123 nodded to himself and began typing up the thread.
Yin Chen forced himself to type “Group owner is awesome,” then turned around and sent Lawyer Gao a red envelope.
Lawyer Gao blinked in surprise when he received it.
He glanced at his gentle wife sitting across from him and leaned over to kiss her.
“Looks like you will have to wrap the dumplings alone. President Yin just sent me a bonus.”
His wife waved him off immediately.
“I told you I could handle it. Go on. Did you not say you wanted to buy the house next door for your parents? Go make that money.”
“I do not think that will be a problem.”
Judging by how frequently President Yin had been contacting him lately, it would not be long.
Lawyer Gao washed the flour from his hands and began working overtime on New Year’s Day.
Three in the afternoon.
After enjoying a blissful holiday nap, many people wandered onto the forum out of habit.
They stumbled upon a fresh, piping-hot thread.
“Let’s Talk About the One Who Tried to Cover Up Their Scandal with Paid Commenters…”
Oh ho?
The melon-eating crowd’s eyes lit up.
New gossip!
They clicked in eagerly.
Ah… this was a bit dry.
The quality of this gossip seemed somewhat lacking.
Silently criticizing the writing, and with nothing better to chew on recently, they forced themselves to swallow it.
After struggling through it, they smacked their lips.
Wait.
Was this melon… spoiled?
Looking closer—
Damn it! Was this not the same old gossip from five days ago?
Serving leftovers?
Before the crowd could erupt, the thread took a divine turn.
Baiyun123 posted the link in the group.
[I have opened the thread. Everyone go bump it! If we work together, we can definitely expose him this time!]
The moment he finished typing, the group responded in unison.
[Coming!]
[On it!]
[One second from the battlefield!]
Yin Chen glanced at the group number, sent screenshots of the chat history to Lawyer Gao, and calmly pressed the report button.
[Sorry, this group has already been reported. Please do not repeat the action.]
Yin Chen slowly typed a question mark.
What was going on?
Someone had already reported it?
Who?
As he was wondering, Lawyer Gao called.
On the other end, Lawyer Gao sounded oddly impressed.
“President Yin, it seems someone else has resolved this matter even faster than we could.”
As he spoke, he sent over a screenshot of the thread.
Below several meaningless comments mocking the original poster’s poor writing, and complaints that the gossip was stale, came—
[13L: Pfft! I have been lurking in that group for five whole days waiting for you to say something stupid. No need to read this melon. It is just jealousy. All day long he complains about paid commenters and marketing. Marketing my foot! I have read every single one of that author’s works. I am not even a fan, just a loyal reader, okay? The author writes well. Even without a romantic pairing, I still love reading it. I am sick of hearing that a no-CP story cannot have readers without marketing. Please!]
[14L: Everyone disperse. I wasted five days lurking in that group. The group owner is hopeless. His smear tactics are elementary school level. I should have spent that time hovering around my mother to sneak some snacks instead.]
[16L: The idiot group owner finally showed up. I have already reported the group. He asks everyone their opinion about the author being slandered as soon as they join, and kicks anyone who thought it was just a writing group. The first time I got kicked, I laughed. What kind of person is he? I switched accounts, joined again, and reported it on the spot. Let your trash group sink with you. What nonsense!]
[17L: Wait, what? I thought I had eaten spoiled gossip, but the sisters in this thread just gave me a surprise! So what was going on in the earlier floors? Are they all undercover agents? Is this basically a distillery? Poor Gin!]
The thread was bumped to the top in no time. The melon-eaters tossed aside the spoiled gossip and took a bite of the fresh one.
Holy—
This one tasted amazing.
So fragrant!
Newcomers were stunned.
[277L: Wait… everyone was undercover? More than a dozen have come forward already. How many people were even in that group? I am so curious right now, hahahaha. Was it actually just a distillery? I have to add one too. Poor Gin!]
[288L: I am dying laughing at this thread! I counted the people who came forward and compared them to the censored avatars in the screenshots. Apart from the group owner, who was genuinely hating, everyone else was an undercover agent? Hahahahaha. The distillery is confirmed!]
[300L: Snatching 300L! By the way, what is the proper procedure here? Do we just laugh like this? Hahahahaha!]
Baiyun123 stared at the notification that the group had been reported, then at the forum thread that had already flipped pages—yet achieved none of the effect he wanted, in fact producing the opposite.
He spat out a mouthful of blood.