CH 42

This hot search came too suddenly. In the short span of an hour, it successfully grabbed the attention of many netizens, and since it was also peak hour when people went to work, many workers watched this spectacle.

By the time Qu Ran arrived at the office, she had finished reading the comments on Weibo.

The hot search could now be described as a large-scale confession site. In just half an hour, Ji Ran’s classmates, neighbors, and friends all appeared. After talking for a long time, they concluded it was all Ji Ran’s fault.

School violence, picking fights, drugs…

She couldn’t help but glance at the tightly shut office door.

It was deathly silent inside. Through the slightly ajar blinds, she could vaguely make out the black suits of the people inside.

Was the new boss really such a person? She had interacted with Ji Ran for a while and felt that he had no other shortcomings apart from his bad temper and laziness…

Even last time when Ji Ran heard his colleagues gossiping about his affairs with other team members, he only gave them a warning. There was no punishment and neither did he do anything behind their backs.

“Eh, did you see Weibo?” The two people next to her started again.

“Of course! What a heavenly piece of melon!”

“I knew he wasn’t a good person, but I didn’t expect him to be so bad… won’t he need to go to jail?”

“Look, Qu Ran. You even spoke up for him before.”

Qu Ran paused. “The Internet may not necessarily be true…”

“So many witnesses have stepped out, how could it be wrong?”

Qu Ran wanted to say something else.

“Don’t speculate about other people’s matters so casually.” They didn’t know when Xu Lin came behind them. “Have you finished your work? The weekly report is almost due, send it to my mailbox when you’re done.”

He successfully silenced the two men.

Compared to the outside, the inside of the office was quiet.

Ji Ran’s mobile phone kept vibrating, all of which were messages from Yue Wen Wen. He didn’t click on any of them, allowing the notification to appear at the top.

He sat on the chair with his legs crossed and slowly scrolled down to the comment section. His posture was casual and his expression indifferent, as if the foul language on the screen wasn’t about him.

He knew it from a long time ago. No matter how many pies dropped from the sky and into his lap, things like lucking out was never his. It was impossible for him to shoot to fame overnight.

Recognising this, he didn’t struggle to accept such a messy thing when it fell onto his head.

From the moment he was born, he knew that he was never a lucky person.

Temporary fortune was just like back then. He had received a lollipop from Mrs. Ji when he was a child but before he could finish eating the candy, he and Zhao Qing Tong were thrown out of the house.

Netizens dug up news about Zhao Qing Tong from back then and brought up the deceased’s words. They finally turned all their attention to Ji Ran.

He didn’t know who tagged his Weibo account with only 700 fans under the comments. At this time, his post from two years ago already neared 10,000 comments.

The top comment was: When I think of children who grew up being bullied in school, families that were broken apart, and policemen who sacrificed themselves because of drug dealers, I feel that people like you deserve to die.

Ji Ran didn’t even tap on the reply button. He stared at the thousands of likes in the lower right corner of the comment and suddenly felt it was ridiculously hilarious.

The office phone suddenly rang. It was the first time this phone made a sound.

He put down his mobile phone and silently picked it up.

Ji Wei’s serious and low voice came through. “Come to my office now.”

Ji Ran didn’t respond, he just hung up the phone, and threw it onto the table. Then, he left without taking his suit jacket.

Qin Man looked away from the file and asked with raised eyebrows, “Where are you going?”

The only response he got was the sound of a door slamming.

Qin Man looked at the closed door, feeling uneasy. He picked up a cup and was prepared to go catch up with him when the office door opened again.

Xu Lin walked in with a solemn expression. After a moment of silence, he asked, “Assistant Qin, are you aware of what’s going on online… don’t blame me for speaking out of turn, I’m just a little worried.”

Qin Man gradually released his grip and the pen fell straight from his palm.

He said, “Tell me.”

When Ji Ran walked into his office, there were still employees reporting to Ji Wei.

Hearing his entrance, the employees’ eyes couldn’t help but linger on him for a few seconds.

Ji Wei frowned and threw the file aside, his face full of irritability. “Leave us first.”

After everyone left, Ji Ran asked, “What’s the matter?”

When Ji Wei saw his cold and indifferent appearance, the obscure rage in his heart grew stronger. “Aren’t you ashamed to ask me that?!”

“Since you want to learn from your mother and go be an actor, why did you join the company?! Is our Ji family something a bastard like you can use for hype?!”

Ji Ran sneered, “You said I’m using your Ji family for hype? Aren’t you overestimating yourself?”

“Then what’s going on with these reports? Do you think the media will promote you for free?!” Ji Wei said, “Early in the morning, I already received phone calls from Father and Grandmother!”

Ji Ran faintly said, “So it wasn’t you who released those?”

It made sense too, no matter how much Ji Wei hated him, he wouldn’t compromise the Ji family.

“You don’t need to bother about this.”

Right now, Ji Ran felt physically and mentally exhausted. He was too lazy to argue with Ji Wei. “I will deal with it myself.”

Ji Wei was irritated by his “indifference”.

“Deal with it? How do you plan to deal with it? From young, you only know how to cause trouble for us and others!”

“Look at your current self! We allowed you to come work at the company, but you don’t do anything. You just know how to be idle and lazy! It’s fine if you’re just freeloading off of us, but you’re even embarrassing us! Do you remember what you promised Father? You said that you wouldn’t continue racing! What about now? Great, all your videos are online!”

Ji Ran was not one to obediently stand there and be scolded. “That’s something between me and Ji Guo Zheng. It has nothing to do with you. What are you mad about? If it wasn’t you who told him about me racing, would I be prohibited?”

“Are you trying to justify your actions? I shouldn’t have told Father, I should have called the police back then!”

“How could you call the police?” Ji Ran chuckled, his tone full of mockery, “Wouldn’t it affect your Ji family’s reputation?”

“It’s better than your shamelessness.” Ji Wei snorted coldly, refusing to be outdone. “Ten years ago, It was your mother who brought the Ji family into the limelight and made my mother lose face while thinking about how to avoid the media everyday! Now it’s your turn, selling yourself like a woman for this bit of attention.”

Speaking of this, Ji Wei sneered, “For the sake of fame, you even dragged your mother into this. If she knew about this from her grave…”

Ji Wei couldn’t finish his next words.

Ji Ran was like a bomb that suddenly exploded. He immediately rushed over and grabbed Ji Wei’s collar, raising his fist.

Ji Wei was immersed in study and work all year round. Therefore, he was much thinner than Ji Ran and was effortlessly lifted from his seat.

Seeing that he was about to be beaten, Ji Wei didn’t cower. Instead, his grin grew even wider.

“Did I hit your sore spot?” Ji Wei said, “Do you have anything to refute me? Of course not. Because you know that is the truth. You are just a reckless and savage person who only knows how to solve things with violence.”

Ji Ran’s fist was held high, but it never fell.

The door was suddenly pushed open. Qin Man and Xu Lin rushed into the room.

When Xu Lin saw this scene, he immediately panicked. “Ji Ran, don’t—”

Ji Ran didn’t seem to hear it. “Say that again? What did you say is the truth?”

“I said your mother destroyed other people’s families for money!” Ji Wei was also on the verge of exploding, “for fame, you didn’t hesitate to drag out your mother, who has been dead for more than ten years. You even want to destroy the reputation our family has maintained for decades!”

“Bullshit!”

Ji Ran gripped his collar tighter, his eyes bloodshot. “Aren’t you clear in your heart what her relationship with the Ji family is?! Who are you to insult her?! Your Ji family are the cannibals. A wolf that doesn’t even spit out the bones of those you’ve swallowed!”

He sneered, “Ji Wei, your greatest regret in life must be that you didn’t kill me before.”

Ji Ran’s voice was hoarse.

After saying this, his patience seemed to disappear. His fist fell, but it was into a warm palm.

Qin Man held his waist and stopped his fist.

“Don’t worry.” Qin Man said, “We haven’t investigated yet, let’s go back and go over this slowly, alright?”

Ji Ran panted and ignored him. “Don’t butt in.”

“There are people outside watching. If someone calls the police, it’ll be harder to deal with things.” Qin Man comforted him while raising his head to look out of the office. His cold gaze frightened the employees who were peeking.

Xu Lin immediately closed all doors and windows.

“What… kill you? Qin Man, let him go.” Ji Wei recovered from his shock, “Let him finish speaking, I want to see what else he can come up with!”

Just as Ji Ran was about to say something, the other man stood in front of him.

He even felt that the light in front of him had grown darker.

He heard Qin Man’s voice. It was low and deep, and his tone couldn’t be described as kind as he emphasised each word, “Don’t misunderstand, I just don’t want him to go to the police station because of you. It’s not worth it. We won’t use violence to resolve this matter, but we also won’t let it go. You’d best control yourself.”

After speaking, he reached out his hand to hold Ji Ran, who was like a wilted balloon. It was as if all his energy had been used up just now, and he allowed himself to be taken away.

Walking out of the office, Qin Man turned a little sideways to block unfriendly gazes on him and led the person to the elevator with a calm face.

Seeing him press the B1 button, Ji Ran said numbly, “My phone is still in the office.”

“I brought it.”

Ji Ran glanced at their intertwined hands.

Did they walk out like this? Did anyone see it? Will anyone notice something?

Isn’t this fool afraid that their relationship might be discovered?

He wanted to tell Qin Man to let go; his lips moved, but in the end, he didn’t say a word.

Qin Man’s palm was very warm and with a little effort, he could feel the other party’s heartbeat. Each beat was calm and powerful.

In the car, neither of them spoke. The car window was slightly lowered, allowing Ji Ran to feel the cool breeze coming in. The anger that had piled up on his chest was fading and his eyes were empty; it was hard to see what he was thinking.

Qin Man rarely sped.

When he got home, Ji Ran got out of the car without a word. He walked to the refrigerator and took out the beer that had been stored for several months. The bottles made a crisp sound as they collided against each other in the bag.

“Don’t knock on my door and don’t bother me.”

Leaving this sentence behind, he turned and entered the room.

Qin Man didn’t follow him.

He unbuttoned his suit jacket with one hand and sat on the sofa to make a call.

“Go and withdraw all the hot searches about Ji Ran and Zhao Qing Tong, and tell the people at Weibo clearly that the next time this happens, we will file a lawsuit.”

With the experience from the last two days, Liu Chen replied quickly, “Okay, I will do it right away.”

“Investigate the team that bought Zhao Qing Tong onto Weibo’s hot search today.”

Qin Man never cared about marketing and entertainment, so Liu Chen was also not familiar with this kind of business. “It may take some time…”

“How long?”

“Before tomorrow night.”

“Alright.”

There was a box of cigarettes, forgotten by its owner, on the table. Qin Man picked one out from the inside and squeezed it between his fingertips. He played with it for a while before it broke.

Throwing the cigarette into the ashtray, he continued in a light tone that couldn’t conceal an imperceptible ferocity.

“Investigate thoroughly who was the one who requested this. I want to know who the client is as well as those who left comments about knowing Ji Ran and maliciously discredited his private life. Check their IP and prosecute.”

Liu Chen wiped his sweat. “There are too many comments, It’s hard to discern the truth…”

Qin Man stared at the wooden door and said lightly, “As long as it’s anything bad, it is all false. Sue them all.”

T/N: Qin Man taking revenge for his man. Let’s go!

PR: meowmiao will curl up under a blanket now. This chapter was just too hard on my heart.