Lai Xixi was straightforward and spoke her mind without hesitations, as this was already agreed upon, and she figured that Mei Mengzhen wouldn’t go back on her word.
Mei Mengzhen smiled and said, "You’ve come at the perfect time." She checked the time, hmm, it was still early, they could chat until lights out; and so, she began to talk with Lai Xixi.
And when it was time for lights out, it really was lights out. If it were just about the Hot Pot Restaurant incident, it definitely wouldn’t have taken this long, but since Luo Yingying had agreed, they could start from the very beginning.
That is, from the military training.
The rumors about Mei Mengzhen’s confrontational behavior during military training had spread far and wide; everyone in the freshman year who had participated in the military training had heard about it, let alone Lai Xixi.
"I know about this incident, but it’s been some time, and I’ve really forgotten the details. So, you mean to say that Jiang Cheng was already causing you trouble and, uh, confessed to you back then."
"Right, he did find me back then, and I rejected him on the spot. Not only were there five of us from the Computer Department present, but there were also two people from the Mathematics Department who can bear witness. If you need the information, I can provide the names of these two people; you can directly ask them." Lai Xixi nodded, took out her pen and paper seriously, and began taking notes with earnest.
After the military training incident, the two of them didn’t really intersect much.
But who knew that the topic would suddenly shift and land on Luo Yingying. The following plot was naturally better narrated by Luo Yingying herself. The protagonist switched so casually that Lai Xixi didn’t quite understand at first, but she was truly shocked by the content that followed, her jaw nearly dropping.
The key point was that Luo Yingying didn’t just rely on her words; she had pictorial evidence. Chat records on a phone could be deleted, and although she might not have recorded their casual conversations, the chat records on the computer were still preserved, "I haven’t had the time to clean up my computer yet. The phone and computer can synchronize, so you can screenshot chat records and post them online. I also have screenshots of my texts with Jiang Cheng saved on my computer; I haven’t had the chance to delete them yet. You can use all of these."
Lai Xixi’s eyes widened in shock at the images and text files on the computer, and she was also stunned by how well Luo Yingying was prepared.
Reading Lai Xixi’s reaction, Luo Yingying simply said, "I had a crush on him throughout high school, but back then I really couldn’t tell he was this kind of person, so I treasured these at the beginning and saved them on the computer as memories. But now..." Luo Yingying’s whole body shuddered, disgusted, very much disgusted, but also thankful she didn’t delete them, as now they came in handy.
Lai Xixi, after looking through the chat records, said, "This Jiang Cheng really has no shame, on one hand liking Mei Mengzhen and on the other using you to pursue Mei Mengzhen. A person like him, I must make sure to spread the word to the girls at our university."
As for Luo Yingying and these chat records, she would pixelate them to protect privacy, "But, once this information is out, he’ll definitely guess it was you. What if he causes you trouble?"
Personal chat records, generally, can only belong to the people involved.
Luo Yingying wasn’t scared at all, "As if by not posting these, he wouldn’t trouble me."
Mei Mengzhen said, "You should post these matters later; first post about our incident at the Hot Pot Restaurant."
Lai Xixi understood in a second, "You’re right; we have to let everyone know about Jiang Cheng causing you continuous harm to generate more public outrage. Only then, when we post these, will everyone be convinced he is scum beyond sympathy. Otherwise, he will definitely post something to argue his case."
"Yes, I remember there are surveillance videos at the hot pot restaurant; the ones from half a month ago should not have been deleted yet. We also have the legal documents, the compensation documents are all there." As soon as Mei Mengzhen mentioned this, He Yiran pulled out the documents. Lai Xixi glanced at the invoice and thought there was a mistake, "Are there a few extra zeros written here?"
"No, that’s the price. I suggest we hold off on publishing the pricing and these documents for a bit, maybe make two posts, first the video. If they try to refute it, then we can post the pricing and invoices. If they don’t say anything, then we can let this issue rest. But I think they will definitely argue back, so we are prepared either way." Mei Mengzhen continued, "Once the dust settles, we can start another post, sifting through a couple of things involving Jiang someone from the Economics Department and then write about Yingying’s matters. We could run several episodes with this. Qianqian, I think you’ve got enough buzz to last you the entire semester."
Of course, there wasn’t much time left in the semester.
Lai Xixi certainly understood; not only was it enough, but as long as there was consistent material to discuss and people were interested, this could maintain her popularity. It might even give her a strong chance in the selections next year.
But Mei Mengzhen still wanted to offer an explanation on their behalf, "Actually, we’re not that bad, forcing someone to be infamously well-known. It’s just that he seems brainless, always pestering us. We were pushed to do this out of necessity; we hope that this person learns a lesson and knows to keep his tail between his legs, to stop bothering us. It’s better for everyone."
Mei Mengzhen’s words made sense, but still, Lai Xixi couldn’t help but twist her mouth.
The story was finished, and the timing was just right, wrapping up before lights out. Then, Lai Xixi brought her USB drive over, transferred all the files from Luo Yingying’s computer into the USB, and with that, the matter was officially concluded, and the lights in the dormitory were officially turned out.
Yet none of them, not one, had prepared for bed, which was quite something.
...
December in the south was not as cold as He Yiran had imagined, of course, apart from the two days when the weather changed. The rest of the temperature was within her tolerable range.
He Yiran was having breakfast while talking about the weather in Beijing, "At this time, Beijing has already started heating. Here it’s still over ten degrees Celsius. This isn’t going to be the extent of winter here, is it?"
Luo Yingying explained, "The winter in the south doesn’t have heating because it’s short. In truth, it won’t really start to get cold until late December or January, and it will go straight down to February. That period is genuinely cold." After speaking, Luo Yingying couldn’t help but shrink her neck as if it was already cold.
However, this didn’t evoke much sensation in He Yiran, "I can’t feel it now, by late December we’ll almost be in exams, and then I’ll go back to Beijing where there’s heating; I won’t experience much of the cold. By the time February comes around, I’ll be back for the new semester, and it should be warming up, won’t it? It seems like I won’t be able to feel the cold of the south."
"No," Luo Yingying only spoke generally, "but for Jiangcheng’s temperature, you never know what it might be like. Just believe in the phrase ’overnight descent into winter,’ and that should suffice."
No matter how the southern people among them explained, He Yiran didn’t understand, simply because she had never experienced it, so no explanation could make her feel it. But it didn’t matter, when the cold arrived, she’d understand it all too well.
Along with Mei Mengzhen’s heightened exposure, Liang Xiao’s Forum post about her novel was bumped up once again. These past few days, as Liang Xiao reported to her the daily readership of her novel, she almost went mad.