IROAWTMTFL Chapter 55

When Yan Yan returned to the dorm that night, his lips were still red. Hu Cong glanced at him and also blushed. Normally, he would have asked what happened. Did Yan Yan secretly eat spicy hot pot without him? But today… Yan Yan went out with his husband, and when he came back, his mouth looked like this, it must be…

Tsk tsk tsk, even a straight and honest guy couldn’t help but have dirty thoughts.

“The post got deleted, did you see it? The administrator also made an announcement, telling everyone not to post unverified comments on the forum and not to discuss teachers’ and classmates’ privacy. It was said that the school investigated and confirmed that Professor Zhuang has no improper relationship with students.”

“I saw it,” Yan Yan replied mechanically. He wasn’t aware of the administrator’s announcement, all he knew was that Zhuang Yiyun pinched his waist and kissed him just now. This man could be really fierce; he left his heart in turmoil, and he was now wondering if his heart was going to give out at such a young age.

As they separated, Zhuang Yiyun whispered in his ear, “The invitation for tomorrow still stands, right?”

In the quiet stairwell, only his deep breaths echoed. His legs were already weak from the kiss. He couldn’t stand anymore and almost fell into Zhuang Yiyun’s arms.

“Yan Yan?” Hu Cong waved his hand in front of Yan Yan’s eyes, trying to snap him out of his daze.

“Ah?”

“I asked if you’re going to the library at the usual time tomorrow. What’s going on? Can’t you hear me when I talk to you in person?”

Yan Yan felt guilty. His mind was filled with thoughts of Professor Zhuang, and he genuinely hadn’t heard him. And tomorrow…

“I won’t go to the library tomorrow, I have something to do.”

Hu Cong responded, muttering, “What’s happening tomorrow,” and watched Yan Yan take his clothes and go into the bathroom to shower. He took out his phone, intending to check the forum again, and saw a series of push notifications on the lock screen.

[What gifts to give on Valentine’s Day, click to see]

[It is reported that the hotel industry will be bustling on Valentine’s Day this year]

[Valentine’s Day will usher in another peak of weddings. The city’s marriage registration office claims to be ready to welcome new couples.]

“Fuck, I’m such an idiot…”

Single straight guy Hu Cong locked the screen angrily and decided to solve another hundred problems before going to bed!

By the time Yan Yan finished showering, Hu Cong was still immersed in his problems and didn’t even look up. He climbed into bed and played on his phone for half an hour. The lights were about to go out but Hu Cong was still engrossed in solving problems. Yan Yan called him to brush his teeth, but Hu Cong replied stiffly, “I don’t deserve it. I’ll finish this before the lights go out.”

Perhaps solving these math problems could increase IQ? Anyway, Hu Cong, who felt insulted, thought it might work.

Yan Yan didn’t bother to call him again and just let him be. He changed his position and continued playing on his phone.

As he was turning onto his stomach, his phone vibrated. Looking at it, it was a video invitation from Zhuang Yiyun. Yan Yan glanced at himself; from this angle, you could see his chest and abdomen through his neckline. He decisively declined the invitation, not wanting to turn over or let Zhuang Yiyun see him like this, it would look like he was intentionally seducing someone.

[Yan Yan: ?]

[Zhuang Yiyun: Location]

Yan Yan clicked on the location Zhuang Yiyun sent—a church.

[Zhuang Yiyun: See you tomorrow at 6 PM]

Yan Yan’s hand holding the phone trembled. He looked at the location, closed and reopened it, but it was still a church. Don’t blame him for thinking so much, why would someone arrange a date at a church? He couldn’t help but wonder if Zhuang Yiyun would force him to attend a wedding tomorrow??

No, It can’t be, right? Can a normal person do such a thing? After thinking about it, Yan Yan hesitated. Zhuang Yiyun didn’t seem like a normal person.

He tried to boost himself up. It’s just a church, what’s there to be afraid of? He dared to go to a couple’s suite.

[Yan Yan: Okay]

He replied casually, trying to hide his nervousness.

Zhuang Yiyun locked his phone, took off his coat, and began working. He had taken on the task of teaching at the Polytechnic University but couldn’t neglect his main job. He worked over fourteen hours every day. Every now and then, he squeezed in time to see Yan Yan, resulting in him not having a single day off in the past half month.

But he enjoyed it. He wouldn’t mind staying up all night just for a kiss. He rubbed his fingertips together, still feeling the touch of Yan Yan’s tears.

Yan Yan got tired from playing on his phone and soon fell asleep. Zhuang Yiyun was still busy in his office, working until late at night.

Yan Yan woke up late the next day, having had a night of bizarre dreams. His head throbbed as if someone had hit him. He reached for his phone beside the pillow to check the time. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw twelve missed calls, all from Cheng Cheng. The number was in parentheses, indicating it was from the Orange account.

Twelve missed calls, all from Orange. After meeting on Fenjiezhou Island, Orange said not to contact him temporarily. Since then, he hadn’t disturbed him, and Orange hadn’t reached out to him either. Last weekend, he watched his livestream on his trump account and felt he was doing okay, so he put his worries aside.

Now, what could make him make twelve missed calls?

Yan Yan sat up and rubbed his face to clear his head a little. He immediately called back, and the call was answered almost instantly.

“Orange, what’s wrong?”

Cheng Cheng remained silent. Brother Yan’s voice the same as before, it was pleasant to listen to, but Brother Yan was no longer someone he could get close to. After crying for a few days, he felt like he had let go. Hearing Brother Yan’s voice no longer stirred the same feelings as before.

“Orange?”

“Something happened.” Cheng Cheng got out of his daze, his 18-year-old face showing seriousness, “Today is Cool Cat’s anniversary, and there’s a tournament for anchors. Didn’t you know?”

“Well, I’ve been studying and off the internet these days. What’s wrong? Do you need me to assist?”” Yan Yan said casually. The atmosphere between them suddenly became a bit awkward. They weren’t the same as before. Even if Orange needed a guest for the stream, he wouldn’t come to him.

“No… it’s just because of this event, something happened. Brother Yan, I’m sorry. My fans might have implicated you.”

“What?” Yan Yan was puzzled.

“These past few days, fans in my Livestream have been asking if you will participate in the anniversary anchor competition. I didn’t respond, thinking that if I didn’t reply them, they would stop. But more and more people asked, and since you haven’t been livestreaming, your fans had nowhere to ask, so they came to me.”

“Did it escalate into an argument?”

“Yes, some of my fans told them not to mention you in my livestream, and that’s how the argument started.” Cheng Cheng paused; the rest was difficult to say.

There was silence on the phone, then Yan Yan asked, “What happened?”

He had a guess. With his recent luck, it wasn’t surprising that anything he did or any rumor about him would surface.

“Go ahead, whatever the situation, I can handle it. Who found new evidence to claim that I hired actors?”

Anchors in the emotional zone all faced similar criticism—those telling stories were accused of fabricating, and those who shared secrets were accused of hiring actors. He was used to it. He wondered what new method they used this time.

“It’s… my fault.”

“Speak your mind. You know my temperament, I’m not afraid of criticism.” From Cheng Cheng’s attitude, Yan Yan guessed that the matter was serious, but he had never done anything harmful to the world. He was not afraid of being trolled when someone trolled him.

“It’s really my fault. When I went to see you, I had put up a notice of stopping the broadcast. The reason I gave was that I was going to see you. Many fans left encouraging messages, wishing me success.”

“Wishing you success in your confession?” Cheng Cheng was embarrassed to say these words, but Yan Yan didn’t mind.

“Ahem, well, it was something like that. But when I resumed the livestream, we didn’t play together. Some fans speculated that we had fallen out, and I felt uncomfortable about it, so I never responded. But after the fans argued yesterday, someone brought up this incident, saying all sorts of things in the chat. The moderators couldn’t control the situation, and then a fan said they had a video on Weibo.”

“What video?” Yan Yan propped one leg against the wall.

“It’s… it’s the video where you took me back to where I stayed. I was crying all the way and shouting your name, asking you to wait for me,” Cheng Cheng said remorsefully, “If I hadn’t called your name, it would have been better, since you never showed your face anyway.”

Yan Yan was dumbfounded, he recalled Cheng Cheng’s pleading eyes that day. If Little Orange’s mother fans had seen them, they would undoubtedly want to tear him apart.

“That fan recognized me at that time, but didn’t dare to approach us, just secretly recorded the video. They posted it on the fan forum, and it gained a lot of attention. By the time I saw it, it had spread across multiple forums.”

“I’ll go take a look, hang on.”

“Don’t hang up, I haven’t finished.”

“There’s more?!” Yan Yan checked the date on his phone in disbelief. “I only slept for one night, how did the world turn upside down? I didn’t time travel, did I?”

Cheng Cheng: “…” I didn’t wish for this either!

Cheng Cheng continued reluctantly, “After someone posted our video, another fan released a new video, the one with you and Mr. Zhuang. It’s a short clip of you two making a wish by the sea on the island. Some fans reviewed it overnight and found that the timelines match.”

“Me and Zhuang Yiyun…” Yan Yan remembered. “I vaguely know about that video you mentioned. Didn’t the owner delete it?”

“Yeah, you know about it?”

“Yes, I contacted the owner back then and asked him to delete it.”

“It might have been downloaded or copied by someone. Anyway, it’s back online now. I’ve sent you the Weibo link. The fans are saying nasty things, and it’s a hot search. I clarified it on Weibo, but it didn’t help much.”

“Alright, I’ll go check.” Yan Yan’s face lost its last trace of playfulness and ease. Hot search? Was he, a small anchor in the emotional zone and with less than a million fans, worthy of that?

Yan Yan switched to WeChat, where Cheng Cheng had sent him a flurry of messages, showing his anxiety. Yan Yan felt the seriousness of the situation even more as he read Cheng Cheng’s urgent tone.

He opened the Weibo links Cheng Cheng had sent him one by one. The situation was as Cheng Cheng described. The phrase “nasty things” was an understatement; these people were slandering him as if he were some kind of scoundrel. They accused him of playing both sides, deceiving Orange, and even suggested he had engaged in a threesome with Orange. Others scolded him, wondering if he had been a prostitute in his past life, and now he couldn’t clean up his act and wanted to drag others down with him.

Some beauty shouted how handsome he was, but the next moment, they were sprayed so much they didn’t dare speak up again.

The trending hot searches were ruthless, with one reading: “Cool Cat Brother Yan, are you the mistress today?”

Public opinion was heavily against him. Yan Yan remembered the incident from yesterday and felt a strange sensation. Even though it was confirmed that Zhuang Yiyun was married, the voices criticizing him hadn’t completely drowned out those defending him. Moreover, the incident escalated too quickly; he suspected it was organized and planned.

While contemplating, he stumbled upon Orange’s clarification post.

[Cool Cat Orange v: Everyone, please stay rational, don’t make baseless speculations. I was not deceived by Brother Yan.]

Top Comment: [So the person in the video is indeed Brother Yan.]

It had 10,000+ likes.

Yan Yan wanted to give this post a like; it got straight to the point. The direction of the top comments in the comment section was set; they were all criticizing him, questioning what he did to make Orange cry.

Among them, one top comment emerged, setting a strong tone for the discussion. While others were just venting their anger, this person pointed out the direction clearly: Strongly resist the anchor Brother Yan, Brother Yan should leave Cool Cat platform!!!

Others chimed in, voicing their agreement, leading to a wave of similar sentiments.

[Brother Yan’s popularity mostly came from Orange. What a stab in the back.]

Heh, they were clearly from different zones, and Orange didn’t squat in his livestream. Every time he duo queued with Orange, he tried to create topics and cooperated with him.

[Exactly, just the gifts Orange sent him could make anyone a star.]

And when did he not do the same?

[Climbing to the top using Orange and deceiving him at the same time, this kind of unscrupulous streamer should leave Cool Cat ASAP.]

[He used to be so vicious when attacking others, turns out he’s a snake himself.]

Forget it, nothing he says would change anything. No one would listen.

Yan Yan sighed; speaking out now was futile. He clicked into the profile of the person setting the t it was a typical fan account mostly reposting Orange’s content and providing data about Orange. While browsing, he dialed Orange’s number.

“You mentioned a competition, what are the rewards this year?”

“Huh?” Cheng Cheng was momentarily confused, not understanding how the topic suddenly shifted to the live stream competition. Nevertheless, he answered, “It’s the tenth anniversary of Cool Cat this year, so the rewards for the live stream competition are quite good. Tonight, there’s a popularity PK in each category, and the champions from each category will share a prize pool of five million yuan. Plus, there’s a fifteen-day recommendation spot on the homepage.”

While listening, Yan Yan scrolled to the bottom of this person’s profile page, finding nothing unusual. Then he checked this person’s likes and favorites records.

Cheng Cheng asked him what was going on, but Yan Yan didn’t share his suspicions. He simply told Orange not to worry.

As he scrolled, he found what he was looking for. He stumbled upon this user’s likes from six months ago. At that time, the user had liked posts from another Cool Cat streamer, Long Fei.

Different from him, who casually streamed and often played around, Long Fei was a professional streamer with a managed career and a brokerage company. Despite having fewer fans than him, Long Fei consistently stole his viewers whenever they were both live. He knew that Long Fei didn’t like him; he had joined a Cool Cat anchor group, and Long Fei never responded to him in the group chat, sometimes even being arrogant.

One piece of evidence wasn’t enough. Yan Yan took a screenshot and sent it to Orange before opening the profile of the user who had posted the video where Orange was crying.

“What’s this…?” Cheng Cheng looked puzzled for a moment. “Are you suspecting Long Fei is behind this?”

“Cool Cat has only four zones: gaming, emotional, singing, and lifestyle. The champions from each section share a five million prize pool, which is quite substantial. Not to mention there’s also a fifteen-day homepage recommendation spot. I blocked his path for a year or two. If it’s him, it makes sense.”

Yan Yan continued reading, and the two of them stayed connected via phone. Cheng Cheng also started paying more attention to the situation.

As the popularity of the topic rose, new voices emerged among the accusations of Yan Yan being two-faced. People began suspecting that Yan Yan’s previous live broadcasts were staged with hired actors. Can one believe that anchor that has bad character and who deceives others can mediating others’ emotional conflicts and stand up for justice? Of course not!

At around ten in the morning, the real fans got up and Yan Yan’s fan base gradually joined the battle. There were voices clarifying for him, supporting him, praising him with rainbow-farts about his face. There were also fans retracting their support. In short, a variety of voices.

At this point, Yan Yan also found content related to Long Fei under the instigator’s Weibo. The super topic he followed, the Weibo posts he had liked before, all had connections with Long Fei. One could be a coincidence, but both crucial accounts were involved, and this incident hadn’t stirred any waves for almost a month. However, it suddenly surfaced at this delicate moment. He didn’t believe it was a coincidence.

“If you want to earn this money, at least spend some to hire a better navy…” Yan Yan sneered, his gaze icy. Long Fei somehow obtained that video and wanted to tarnish his reputation, aiming to shut down his broadcast permanently.

His hot search had been flooded by angry fans and netizens, filled with profanity and accusations against him. Some people even edited stills from the video, photoshopped his image, and posted them. What was even worse, someone edited his and Zhuang Yiyun’s heads onto dog bodies, dressed the dogs in underwear, and added three bright red words above – “Dog Lovers.”

However, that edited image was truly crossing the line and it aroused public outrage. Some advised to delete it, and when he refreshed the page, it was gone.

Yan Yan was furious, and the consequences would be severe.

“Can I still sign up for the Anchor competition?”

“Deadline is at noon, there’s still an hour.”

“Good.” Yan Yan hung up the phone, put his mobile aside, and got out of bed to freshen up and change clothes.

After being disconnected, Cheng Cheng messaged him on WeChat: [Brother Yan, what are you planning? Don’t act rashly!]

Yan Yan replied: [I want him to pay. Can I speak the truth about what happened when you came to see me? ]

Cheng Cheng: [Yes! Whatever you want to say, I’ll say it for you. I was the one chasing after you in the first place, and a real man dares to do anything.]

Yan Yan chuckled and sent a voice message.

“An 18-year-old brat, pretending to be a real man.”

Cheng Cheng immediately replied, “Don’t think I don’t know, you’re only 21.”

Yan Yan: “Tch, that’s three years older than you.”

Cheng Cheng’s chuunibyou spirit burned brightly. He asked, “Brother Yan, what’s your plan? Tell me first so I won’t disturb your plan when I open my mic.”

“I don’t have a specific plan, just want to rub his face in the ground tonight. He wants the championship, right? I’ll crush him to pieces.”

“What if it’s not him? These can’t be considered concrete evidence.”

“I’m not the judge; why do I need crucial evidence? The Anchor Competition is voluntary. If he can’t beat me, it’s simply a matter of skill. What else is there to say?” Yan Yan retorted.

There were certain things he currently couldn’t gather sufficient evidence for, but so what? He had his ways; it’s not like he was going to court.

“Alright! I’ll join your live stream tonight!” Cheng Cheng was filled with fighting spirit.

“You do your broadcast, it will cause a fuss if you join me. Your fans are sympathizing and speaking for you. They’ll definitely shower you with gifts tonight, and then you come to me, a scum male? Is that appropriate?” Yan Yan teased.

“Why wouldn’t it be? I’m doing this to uphold justice and cleanse impurities,” Cheng Cheng said earnestly.

Yan Yan raised his hand to take off his pajamas but stopped abruptly. But, he was just talking to Orange on the phone; there wasn’t a video call. Orange couldn’t see him. What did changing clothes matter? Perhaps it was because he thought of Zhuang Yiyun; he didn’t take off his pajamas in the end.

“You also know how to use such high-sounding words?”

“I’m not a blind fish.”

“Fine.” Yan Yan laughed.

They hung up the phone, and Yan Yan went to freshen up. Afterward, he turned on his computer, visited the CoolCat’s anniversary page, and clicked on the registration button. Then, on the Anchor Competition interface, an additional participant icon appeared.

A black background with irregular white lines drawn on it— a fan made this for him, representing continuity. Clicking on the full image, one would find the black background wasn’t pure black; there were golden patterns on it, a magnificent winged longsword. This was the fans’ praise for him: Angel’s Sword, the Sword of Judgement.

He didn’t deserve it in the past because he was just talking nonsense, but he would be worthy of it in the future.

Yan Yan entered his live broadcast room. Although he wasn’t live yet, countless comments were flooding in. Hateful comments were cursing him, while trusting fans were calling for him, asking him to come out and clarify, to give them the truth.

Yan Yan skimmed through the comments section, taking in all kinds of opinions. Then, he modified the broadcast title and published a live broadcast preview.

New comments from fans appeared, and the live broadcast room refreshed automatically. The title changed to: “Face and Truth, Everything You Want to See.”

The top comment was the live broadcast preview: Tonight at 8 PM, don’t miss it.

A stone stirred a thousand layers of waves. Brother Yan showed up among countless rumors, creating plenty of topics. His live broadcast room was already popular even before he started streaming, and the popularity even surpassed the live streams of other anchors.

Indeed, anchor Long Fei was involved in this. He had seen the video of Orange and Yan Yan in his WeChat Moments. He had added some fans on WeChat, and it was one of these fans who sent him the video. Anyone who watched the live broadcasts on Cool Cat knew Orange.

Without delay, he had saved the video and left a comment with feigned politeness: “I politely request that you delete the video. Anchors care about their image, after all, this is detrimental to one’s reputation.”

At that time, he wasn’t sure if the “Brother Yan” Orange mentioned in the video was the same Brother Yan from the live broadcast. It was only the next day when he stumbled upon another video on Douyin. It was the same location, Brother Yan was with another man, and Orange crying so bitterly was easily explained.

From that day on, he had been looking for an opportunity to expose this matter. However, Yan Yan hadn’t been streaming, so he waited and knew the perfect time to expose him was during the Anchor Competition. He was afraid Yan Yan might suddenly appear and affect his chance to win. Hence, he took advantage of the momentum in Orange’s live broadcast room to reveal the incident.

In his view, Yan Yan was indeed a scum, untrustworthy, and double-dealing. How could he clear his name now? After seeing Orange’s later silence about him, they must have parted ways unhappily. There was no way Orange would help him. To his surprise, Orange actually spoke up for him. Luckily, he was clever and knew how to steer the situation.

He originally thought that tarnishing Yan Yan’s reputation would prevent him from going live. But unexpectedly, Yan Yan decided to confront the situation head-on. Seeing the increasing popularity of Yan Yan’s livestream, he started to panic. He had indeed bought the navy, and he quickly halted their activities. He realized that the more heated the topic became, whether negative or positive, it threatened his chances of winning the Anchor Competition tonight.

However, popularity was a fickle thing. You couldn’t raise it just by wanting to, and you couldn’t suppress it if it decided to rise. An unexpected incident occurred.

#CoolCat’s Brother Yan, is he the mistress today?#

This trending topic naturally caught more attention after making its way to the entertainment hot search list. In the afternoon, even students from Yan Yan’s university saw it and the news spread like wildfire. There was video evidence, so there was no mistaking the people involved. The number of students gathering to watch increased rapidly.

Last night, the forum deleted posts, and the clarification lacked specific details, leaving many onlookers dissatisfied. Now, it was trending again… The video in the trending topic showed Yan Yan and Professor Zhuang going out together. It couldn’t be denied, and it reignited the students’ sense of justice.

The photos could be argued to be edited, but this video couldn’t possibly be face-swapped by AI, right? Goodness, upon a closer look, Yan Yan seemed to be a popular anchor. But he was double-dealing, a disgrace to the university. So, the students joined in by posting comments, mentioning the university’s official Weibo account in their comments, demanding justice.

When Zhong Lu went to the pantry to pour coffee, he habitually checked Weibo. He was taken aback when he clicked on a post. Wasn’t this their team leader and Yan Yan. What were they talking about? The team leader was cheating with Yan Yan; could he also cheat on his own husband?

“What the hell?”

Luan Qing, who was also in the pantry to pour coffee, heard Zhong Lu’s exclamation and turned to look at him.

Zhong Lu saw him and immediately rushed over to share, “Brother Luan, look, this is our team leader and Yan Yan, right?”

After watching the video, Luan Qing nodded and asked, “Does the team leader know about this?”

“He probably doesn’t know yet; I just found out.” Zhong Lu scrolled through the comments, and the more he read, the more he frowned. “They’re being too much, what are these people talking about? I’m getting really angry. Although I’m also Orange’s fan, he’s a grown man. Does he really need netizens to defend him? These netizens are acting like they’re his fathers…”

“Yan Yan is being severely criticized, damn, the team leader is also being harshly criticized. I wonder if the team leader knows…Brother Luan, should I report this?”

Before Luan Qing could answer, Zhong Lu continued, “If the team leader knows about this, my report might backfire on me. But if he doesn’t know… Yan Yan is in deep trouble. How can one person be criticized like this? I don’t believe he’s double-dealing; he treats the team leader so well. How could he like someone else?”

The image of Yan Yan, which had gradually blurred in Luan Qing’s mind, became clearer again with this video. After thinking for a moment, he made up his mind.

“Then send me the link, I’ll report it to the team leader.”

“But what if you get scolded, Brother Luan?”

“It won’t happen. The team leader wouldn’t do that.”

Five minutes later, Luan Qing stood outside Zhuang Yiyun’s office, hesitating.

Ever since he confessed to the team leader last time, the team leader has completely adopted a business-like attitude towards him, avoiding any personal interactions. Although he heard the team leader say that he and Yan Yan only had a marriage agreement, Luan Qing had sensed the team leader’s changing attitude. There was no hope and no future. Only then did he realize that he didn’t want to lose his trusting partner.

This was a chance. Luan Qing wondered if he could use this incident to make his stance clear to the team leader, and whether they could go back to how they used to be, forgetting everything that had happened.