The police station issued an investigation statement, proving that Lu Qi’s account had indeed been stolen and that the harassing messages had not been sent by Lu Qi. However, it was difficult to further prove that all of this was ordered by Lin Yuan, because the other party did it very cleanly and left no evidence.

Along the way, Lu Qi walked back slowly and thought about what he should do next.

The first thing to do was to go back and post the investigation results on Weibo, then demand an apology from 90° Right Angle Bend and those who had insulted and threatened him. There were a few particularly bad ones, and Lu Qi planned to sue them.

But the fundamental cause was Lin Yuan, that garbage human being. What was annoying was that he really didn’t have the ability to shake a behemoth like Hengjin Entertainment. If he rashly made accusations, he would only be slaughtered.

Maybe he should find a lawyer. Whether it was prosecuting cybercriminals or collecting evidence that Lin Yuan instigated the cyberbullying, he really needed help from knowledgeable people.

But Lu Qi didn’t expect that help to come so quickly. When he received a call from Haicheng Law Firm, he was completely confused. The young lady on the other side asked him in a gentle tone whether he had done any consultation online.

“Yes, ah.” Lu Qi turned on the speakerphone, flipped through the webpage with his phone in hand and asked uncertainly: “But the one I consulted shouldn’t have been Haicheng Law Firm…..”

The other party’s dazzling litigation success rate was there, and what matched it was the dazzling price.

His small wallet couldn’t afford it.

“It’s like this, Mr. Lu……” The other party’s tone was calm and unhurried. “Our law firm has some special legal aid projects each year. A case like yours is relatively typical and meets our assistance standards. If you are willing to let our law firm be responsible, the cost can be discussed.”

She spoke the number.

Lu Qi: ……

You are not doing assistance, you are doing charity.

He asked seriously: “When did your project start?”

The other party paused and said: “Uh…..this year.”

Lu Qi: “I can’t be the first, right?”

The young lady: “……There is always the first person to try something new.”

. . . . . . .

“So, Boss. Why don’t you just tell your neighbor?” The assistant’s voice was full of confusion. “This was really difficult to do, but fortunately your neighbor accepted the ‘aid’ in the end.”

The boss didn’t answer him. There was only a muffled bang, bang, bang coming from the microphone. It sounded like something was being hit violently.

Just when the assistant thought his boss was being beaten in a sack, he finally spoke.

Mu Nanqiao’s breathing was uneven. His lazy voice was still panting as he said: “I’ve been bitten by a dog before.”

The assistant: “Ha ? ?”

“I was bitten by a dog, and now I see that same dog biting a little friend, so I picked up a stone to hit the dog. This is very normal.” Mu Nanqiao thought of the way Lu Qi held the little cabbage the night before, and gave a low-pitched laugh. “That little friend is rather cute.”

The assistant: ……

Workers hated bosses who didn’t speak directly when they had something to say.

However, his boss’s usual style was to be decisive and avoid talking nonsense, unless he didn’t want to answer. Then he would ramble. This was indeed a personal question to the boss. The assistant immediately stopped asking and hung up the phone after reporting the work progress.

Putting the phone on the table, Mu Nanqiao casually took off his sweaty short-sleeved shirt.

The TV hanging on the wall emitted a dim light, the news from a few years ago playing on loop. Due to the orientation problem, this small room that was supposed to be a bedroom had no windows. When the lights weren’t turned on, the room was as dark as late night. The light source didn’t fill the entire room, and a swaying sandbag was placed at the intersection of light and dark.

Those were all the furnishings in this bedroom.

Mu Nanqiao didn’t wear gloves on his hands, just bandages. The abrasions on his knuckles were not healed yet. They were so tightly wrapped and soaked with sweat that they stung.

After all these years, he still had a stress reaction to dark environments.

But he would not allow himself to be a useless person who trembled after dark.

He slowly unwrapped the bandages on his hands. 

The addict the day before was probably a surprise given to him by his second uncle. In the eyes of his second uncle, he was still the child who could only cry his eyes out when he was locked in a small, dark room. He thought that when the switch was flipped and the power went out, he would be at the mercy of others.

Even if there was no little neighbor, that humanoid piece of garbage would only have ended up with a broken head and a bloody end, or perhaps even worse.

Close relatives seeked wealth and tried to kill him for profit, but a person he had only met once was genuinely worried about his situation.

Lu Qi’s earnest and worried face appeared before his eyes again, and the corners of Mu Nanqiao’s lips couldn’t help but curl up. He accepted the kindness of this little neighbor and was willing to give the same kindness back to him.

It was just that the little neighbor didn’t have to know.

Mu Nanqiao looked around this strange bedroom. His handsome face looked a bit gloomy in the flickering light.

Such a room was not suitable for sunshine to visit, so they didn’t need to have a deep friendship.

. . . . . . .

With the help of a professional, many problems were easily solved. Clearly Lu Qi was dealing with one lawyer, but he felt like he was being served by a team, and his efficiency was frighteningly high.

Lin Yuan was untouchable for the time being, but he could sue Hengjin Entertainment to get information about the cyberbullying, and then sue the bed bugs hiding behind the network cables…..

The first cyberbully involved was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. Lu Qi posted the result on Weibo, and there was a line of people apologizing below. Lu Qi’s little fans were elated, and began to comment sarcastically in the comments section. They also helped Lu Qi filter out apologies that were less than 3,000 words long—anything less was unqualified and insincere!

But more people still spoke harshly, or simply canceled their accounts and ran away, but it was no use. The second person who was sued didn’t escape even though their account was canceled.

Even though there was a professional team around, Lu Qi had been busy for a long time. During this period, he didn’t know if the neighbor next door had found a job. He always came back in the middle of the night or early in the morning, and closed the door so softly that Lu Qi sometimes couldn’t hear it at all when he fell asleep.

He just wanted to ask how Mu Nanqiao’s hand was doing, but never caught his neighbor.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the old building had another power outage.

Everyone in the group scolded the property manager, who was unconvinced, and asked if someone had flipped the switch again. There was a burst of cheering upstairs of Lu Qi. It was probably some family’s naughty kid who was celebrating that he didn’t have to do homework.

Lu Qi had just finished cooking a pot of wontons. Standing there in the dark, smelling the scent of wontons and momentarily speechless, he suddenly heard “Dance of the Reed Flutes” next door.

Thinking that Mu Nanqiao was afraid of the dark, Lu Qi had reason to suspect that the other party was playing music to build up his courage. He hesitated for a moment, then knocked on the next door anyway.

Mu Nanqiao had just finished taking a shower, and the tips of his hair were dripping wet. When he heard a knock on the door, he raised his eyebrows playfully.

During this time, the father and son had given their second uncle a lot of surprises, and it was not impossible for him to make a desperate move again. After all, although his second uncle had brains when doing things, they didn’t amount to much.

He thought it was an uninvited guest, but saw the little neighbor on the small screen of the video doorbell.

He didn’t know what Lu Qi was holding in his hands, but the steam blurred half of his face. It was obvious that he was in much better spirits. Holding the glowing little cabbage under his arm, he waited eagerly at the door.

Like a little deer waiting to be fed.

However, when he opened the door, Mu Nanqiao realized that he might be the one who was going to be fed.

Lu Qi was actually carrying a small pot, and the aroma of steaming food penetrated into the room. “The power went out during mealtime, and I was wondering if you might not have eaten.” Lu Qi blinked his eyes. “I cooked some homemade wontons. Do you want to try them?”

He didn’t say that he was worried Mu Nanqiao would be afraid of the dark. After all, Mu Nanqiao was an adult and wanted to save face.

But as soon as Mu Nanqiao opened the door, Lu Qi knew that he was worrying too much.

There was light coming out of the room, and Mu Nanqiao’s tall, straight figure was shrouded in the bright illumination. It seemed that he had just taken a shower, and the ferocity and wariness in his eyes had not completely subsided, but his hair hung down wetly, covering his straight eyebrows and softening the contours of his face. He actually looked a little nice?

Hm, both fierce and nice.

Also, there was no power outage in 502?

Seeing his doubts, Mu Nanqiao leaned against the door frame and looked at him with lowered eyelashes. A faint smile emerged in his eyes: “There’s emergency power in my apartment. You know I’m afraid of the dark.”

He exposed Lu Qi’s little thoughts calmly and leisurely. Having quickly brought over the pot, this made Lu Qi a little embarrassed, and he gave a light cough. “Then do you want to eat…..”

The tips of his ears hidden under soft black hair were slightly red. Mu Nanjiao glanced at them under the light in the room, and his Adam’s apple moved unconsciously.

“……Eat.”

He took the small pot from Lu Qi’s hands and led this person into the apartment.

The layout of the living room was actually very strange. There was obviously a bedroom, but the bed was under the living room window. There were lights everywhere. Lu Qi looked up at the beautiful hollow parchment wall lamp at the door.

For Mu Nanqiao, this was just a place to sleep. His clothes weren’t even here, but in a property in the city center. After all, there wasn’t enough room for a cloakroom here.

He usually didn’t think much of it. At the last family dinner the third uncle asked him, why did he always go back to live in a kennel after the father and son had snatched so many of the Mu family’s shares? Was it because wild pigs can’t appreciate fine grain?

How did Mu Nanqiao retort at that time?

“I can at least sleep soundly in a good kennel.” He gave a proper smile, cultured like a true gentleman, but his narrow eyes were full of biting coldness. “Unlike Third Uncle’s house, which was used by Third Aunt to mortgage gambling debts. It hasn’t been redeemed yet, right?”

His third uncle was the old man’s favored youngest son. Before entering the nursing home to recuperate, the old man had handed over his ancestral home in Jiangnan to his third uncle, and when he heard Mu Nanqiao’s words, he almost fainted on the spot.

In the midst of the chaos, Mu Nanqiao just shrugged unapologetically. “Aiya, I spilled the beans.”

It was an issue he didn’t mind at the time, but he didn’t know why he felt embarrassed now. Mu Nanqiao intentionally or unintentionally blocked the password-locked door of the bedroom and explained casually: “The bedroom…..is too humid…..”

“Hm, it’s true that this apartment faces a bad direction.” Lu Qi nodded in agreement. “It’s wise to sleep in the living room, ah, the lights in this room are very nice.”

Lu Qi smiled with sparkling eyes. “Like this, it’s like you’re sleeping in a sea of stars.”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Ten