Most of the residential buildings in the old city did not have elevators, and there was some junk piled in the corridors. The corners of the cement steps had become smooth, exposing the steel bars inside.

The intermediary leading the way explained enthusiastically: “Mr. Lu, although the environment of this community is a bit old, the property management here is quite responsible. The greenery downstairs is good and there is no peculiar smell in the corridors. It’s only a fifteen-minute walk from Hengjin Secondary School. If you like this apartment, you must book it as soon as possible. It is quite popular for students who don’t live on campus to rent an apartment here.”

After saying this, he reached up to wipe his sweat and looked back at the young man following him.

This young man had a clean and delicate appearance, and his round eyes made him look a bit boyish. He had an easy-to-handle appearance, but once you got to know him, you would find that he was not the sort of character who could be coaxed with just a few nice words.

Sure enough, when he turned around, he saw the boy frowning.

Lu Qi was not dissatisfied with the conditions of the apartment, but he was a little disgusted when he heard the word “Hengjin.” This private secondary school was probably the property of Lin Yuan and his family, but he would not give up an apartment with suitable conditions just because of this.

He was very satisfied with the apartment. It was small, with one bedroom and a living room, recently renovated and with good orientation. The midday sun shined directly from the balcony and fell directly onto the light-colored floor, warming the small living room.

Because it had been renovated, the price was a bit more expensive than other apartments in the community, but it was still within an acceptable range. It was the most satisfactory apartment he had seen in the past two days.

Lu Qi encountered some trouble when he was signing the contract and preparing to transfer the money. He found that his WeChat account had been hacked. He had been looking at apartments all morning and didn’t know how long ago his account had been stolen. Fortunately, there was no loss after the account was recovered.

He went to the hotel to grab his luggage and then went to the supermarket. When he returned with his things, he found that the door to the opposite room was open and a worker was installing lamps.

Lu Qi couldn’t help but take a second look, because the neighbor opposite was really installing a lot of lamps. There was an uninstalled parchment wall lamp at the door, and further inside was the unassembled main lamp, as well as various small lamp shades set in foam, which looked like small cups if not looked at carefully.

The worker was still changing the circuits in the apartment, which was a bit noisy. When the worker saw him standing at the opposite door, he immediately raised his head and gave an honest smile. “Don’t worry, the boss said there is to be no construction after six o’clock in order to let children concentrate on their homework and do more practice questions.”

Lu Qi: ……

Yes, the boss was quite considerate. All the children in the building thanked him.

The layout of the other room wasn’t good, and there was insufficient lighting. Although the room was dark, there wasn’t a need to install so many lights. It was like a small lighting exhibition.

But it was someone else’s business, after all. Perhaps the other person sold lamps?

Lu Qi only hoped that the lamp owner would be a quiet neighbor.

He was too tired after cleaning the apartment, so he ordered takeout for dinner. He sat on the sofa in the living room and turned on the projector to watch a movie.

In the meantime, he also hung up several calls from Lin Yuan and dragged the scumbag’s number to the blacklist.

He didn’t know what Young Master Lin was thinking. He didn’t want a room full of professional substitutes, but had to pester him, an amateur.

In two days, Young Master Lin would no longer remember who he was, just like he himself finally threw that painting into the trash can and resolved never to pick up anything from the trash again.

. . . . . . .

The next day was a nice, sunny day.

Lu Qi slept in and took out his tablet at noon, preparing to make a small amount of money.

His current main source of income was accepting some drawing requests on a “commission” platform, and occasionally accepting commercial drafts. The doctor’s advice was for him to recuperate for a year and avoid overworking himself, so Lu Qi decided to join the postgraduate entrance examination next year.

Fortunately, he started making money by accepting commissions in his second year of university. He still had a small amount of savings and regular Party A daddies.^[1]

Most of these Party A daddies were cute and eccentric young ladies. He had done a painting that stood out before. It was a warrior with half his body modified by cybernetics, lying on his back among rose bushes. The unmodified right half of his body was wearing a tight-fitting black combat uniform that wrapped up to his neck. The half-closed mechanical prosthetic eye revealed a light blue halo, and there was a bright rose petal between his lips.

Not long after this image appeared in the circle, a young lady poked him and expressed that she wanted an image in a similar style, but the other half did not require clothing.

Lu Qi: ……

She’s paying so much. It’s okay if I don’t draw these clothes.

The young lady must have had a group of like-minded people, because soon, Lu Qi got all kinds of requests for similar aesthetics.

There were nearly twenty commission messages piled up on the platform, and a small part had expired and turned gray. Lu Qi chose a thoughtful one, and after negotiating with the other party, he began to do line drawings in the afternoon.

Fans had asked him about his tablet-drawing skills on Weibo before. He answered them seriously one by one in the comment area, and later even started a live broadcast.

It was initially just to answer everyone’s questions, and he didn’t show his face. The image on the tablet was synchronized — at least, the part of the erotic image that could be broadcasted.

But it still caused his ex-boyfriend to be dissatisfied. The reason was that during one of Lu Qi’s live broadcasts, a fan joked: Wife, your voice sounds nice.

Lin Yuan was angry and told Lu Qi not to live broadcast in the future.

Lu Qi didn’t understand, but in consideration of his feelings, he reduced the number of live broadcasts. It had been more than a month since he had done any.

Today was a working day, and not many people entered the live broadcast room. The barrage was all, “Wife, you finally remembered the password.” Lu Qi greeted everyone and started his line drawing.

Several familiar IDs appeared, and the barrage suddenly became very lively.

[The level of my wife’s skills in one sentence: this line drawing took away my pants.]

[Sister, it’s cold, please wear some clothes.]

[It is disrespectful to my wife to walk out of the live broadcast room wearing pants.]

Lu Qi: ……

He pursed his lower lip and whispered hello: “Long time no see. Everyone is still so…..so lively.”

The barrage cleared for a moment, and a string of “haha” popped up in the next second.

[I want to change my name to lively erotica.]

[What we’re saying is that we don’t know how to portray erotica, and you don’t have to portray it.]

[For such a good wife to post dirty images, is it Party A’s perversion or a lack of money?]

The toes hidden in his slippers couldn’t help but curl up. Lu Qi was a little embarrassed, but indeed felt that everyone was very lively, like a group of chirping little sparrows. As soon as those flowing words appeared, his depressed mood immediately lifted. 

In the morning, he planned to draw the first version of the line drawing and show it to the Party A daddy.

The barrage in the live broadcast was still growing. Lu Qi glanced at it and suddenly saw a few strange messages. 

[Hehe your wife is a loser outside, did you know that?]

[@90° Right Angle Bend, turn the corner and come hammer him quickly, this guy who volunteered to be a third party still has the nerve to broadcast live.]

[Do you dare to say what you said to Right Angle to your friends in the live broadcast room?]

[Shameless, shameless, shameless.]

[Mistress, mistress, mistress]

There were more and more barrages like this, and others began to ask questions. Lu Qi stopped drawing and frowned for a moment: “90° Right Angle? He did make an appointment with me, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about?”

Lu Qi’s fans didn’t understand, but they automatically protected him. They began to fight back aggressively, and the entire communication area suddenly became a mess, with a series of red account ban warnings jumping out.

He had never witnessed such a scene before. The hand holding the pen paused for a long time, then he adjusted the headset’s microphone and asked in a low voice: “Can someone explain? Even if I get scolded, I have to understand it clearly, right?”

The tone of his inquiry was neither urgent nor slow, still gentle and polite, like the breeze of early autumn soothing the heat of summer. The barrage even cleared for a moment.

[Wife, you don’t have to be so polite.]

[Baby, you’re so good, you’re at a disadvantage.]

[Vomit~ He’s really good at pretending. Providing directions to the comment area, fans should also go see what your “good baby” is like behind the scenes.]

Lu Qi told his fans that he would see them in the next live broadcast, then exited and found a video link in the comment area.

90° Right Angle Bend was originally the host of a game channel, broadcasting some horror decryption games. It was lukewarm at first, with some fans who just liked him for his good looks, and it wasn’t until later that he came out as gay and appeared on a live broadcast with his boyfriend. Both of them had clean and delicate eye-catching looks. They interacted with each other and sprinkled sugar during live broadcasts, and the number of fans increased explosively.

Right Angle rarely posted game broadcasts these days. The videos uploaded were of the two people traveling to visit stores and some daily vlogs.

Some time ago, he made an appointment with Lu Qi to design an anime image of him and his boyfriend based on a horror game from a few years ago. Right Angle said that they would be printed into posters and distributed to fans as raffle prizes.

The drafting process went smoothly, and Right Angle was very satisfied with the finished product. After that, he and Lu Qi had no interaction.

So, was there any misunderstanding here?

However, when he saw the title of the video posted by 90° Right Angle Bend, Lu Qi was stunned.

[Check out the outrageous harassment I’ve received as a gay over the years]

Lu Qi: ? ? ?

The title seemed to have nothing to do with him. Was there some misunderstanding?

At the beginning of the video, Right Angle talked about some strange things he encountered while studying in university, including socks given to him by an athlete and a taxi driver who touched his thigh and praised him for being durable…..

Lu Qi hadn’t heard the important points, so he turned up the volume and went to the refrigerator to get a piece of watermelon to eat. Once he had eaten half of it, the handsome boy in the video talked about the fourth thing.

“A few days ago, I made an appointment for a drawing of me and Honey Bear. I had also heard some messy things about the painting circle, so I thought to find a well-known wife, ba. Then I found a wife with a million fans…..”

Lu Qi: ……

That sounded like him.

“Guess what happened, babes? Ai! Let me show you the chat history.”

Next was a screenshot of the chat history.

[Gege, you know so much? Do you usually like this position?]

. . .

[Do you want your waist to be so soft? It’s hard to find in the real world, Gege. [shy]]

. . .

[Are you kidding me, Gege? It’s fun to chat with you during your live broadcast. Are you usually such a prude?”]

This painter’s words were not only unprofessional, but also very vulgar. Even reading the screenshots made people feel extremely uncomfortable. The barrage was full of curses, and Lu Qi also felt that this person really spoiled the atmosphere.

At the end of the screenshot, either intentionally or unintentionally, most of the other party’s WeChat profile picture was exposed. In that small square was a purple-blue sea of stars.

The melon in Lu Qi’s hand fell with a plop.

Without even knowing it, he had harassed a different boy?!

After much deliberation, this kind of accident could have only happened when his WeChat account was attacked yesterday. He took out his mobile phone and searched through his contacts, but couldn’t find Right Angle, so Lu Qi sent a private message on Bilibili to explain that his account had been stolen.

Right Angle did not reply.

The number of comments on his video had doubled, and the comment with the most likes was at the top. Someone had figured out from Right Angle flashing that avatar that it was Lu Qi’s original work.

[@LUDeer,^[2] is that you? You should come out and say it since you were brave enough to harass others, ah]

Someone replied below:

[Hehe, of course this kind of person only dares to do such a thing secretly. Like a rat in the gutter, of course he doesn’t dare come out to fight]

There were also fans of Lu Qi who heard the news and fiercely retorted: 

[Want to Trade a Moon: Just based on a sea of stars avatar, how can he be identified as Deer God? Anyone can use it, ah]

[Ethereal: I made an appointment for an adult work and wife Xiao Lu was very patient and polite.]

[Yes It’s Meat Meat Eh: Right, ah. And he’s experienced and knowledgeable, what request hasn’t he seen before? Why would he suddenly be attracted by such a mediocre aesthetic? That’s not to say that this behavior shouldn’t be condemned, it absolutely should be! But we should figure out if it’s him, ba]

[Serendipity replied @Yes It’s Meat Meat Eh: Fuck, what you said makes sense]

[Nine Centimeters of Fog: I can’t help but laugh. What does this have to do with knowledge? Is there a possibility that he’s a male bitch and has no feelings for you women? Of course he won’t flirt with you, but can’t control himself when he sees someone who’s bent]

Later in the comments, someone scolded Lu Qi’s fans for being shameless.

Someone was obviously setting the pace in the comment area, saying it was just a joke, while others attacked Right Angle’s sexual orientation. These comments seemed to be speaking for Lu Qi, but in fact only amplified the contradiction and made Right Angle’s fans even angrier.

Lu Qi waited for an hour, but there was still no reply from Right Angle. On the contrary, his number of private messages seemed to soar. He clicked on them and took a quick look. The words “pervert” and “depraved” took up more than half the screen.

Some fans were also asking him to explain this matter.

Lu Qi still hoped to communicate with Right Angle privately, so that both parties could explain that this was a misunderstanding. Although Right Angle had the wrong person, he was indeed being harassed. It was possible that he did not calmly verify due to his anger.

He waited until night, and Right Angle didn’t reply to his private message.

At this time, Lu Qi’s Weibo and the comment section of Bilibili had fallen into enemy hands, and he couldn’t even read his private messages.

Then, the issue of sexual harassment suddenly appeared on the hot search list, ranking in ninth place, neither high nor low.

Lu Qi: ……

It was strange. Really a bit strange.

It should be known that eighth place was a popular youth whose relationship was exposed. How could he be in the hot search shoulder to shoulder with this youth?

If he couldn’t figure out who was causing this trouble, his university entrance examination results would be in vain.

Lu Qi frowned, picked Lin Yuan’s phone number out of the blacklist like picking up trash, and dialed the number.

There was only one ring before the call was quickly picked up.

“Xiao Qi…..”

“What do you want to do?” Lu Qi took a deep breath. “You stole my account? You created the hot search?”

There was a rustling sound. Lin Yuan seemed to have gone to a quieter place. He said: “I wanted to make you take the initiative to call me.”

This person was not in front of Lu Qi, otherwise he would really want to smack him on the head.

“Lin Yuan, I regret it,” Lu Qi said while grinding his teeth.

Lin Yuan perked up: “You regret breaking up? It doesn’t matter, it’s just good that you figured it out. Where are you? I’ll go now…..”

“I regret not kicking you in the head!” Lu Qi quickly searched the internet for how to curse people, and chose the shortest sentence. He read it word by word very earnestly: “Fuck your uncle! You dog!”

Lin Yuan: ……

Lu Qi heard Lin Yuan laugh, and suddenly felt that he must be mentally ill. He also thought of a joke often used in the comment area: why are you rewarding him? 

Lu Qi: ……

This guy was really abnormal.

He hung up the phone and directly called the police.

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[1] Party A daddies = a joking way to refer to his commission sponsors. ⮐

[2] This is written as LU鹿, where 鹿 means ‘deer,’ pronounced ‘lù.’ Which makes his screenname “Deer deer or LU Deer.” ⮐

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Chapter Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter Five