E-Ladies: Navigating the Wired World-Chapter 48 - Episode 48 Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism 10
Chapter 48: Episode 48 Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism 10
Chapter 48: Episode 48 Zero Tolerance for Plagiarism 10
Zhou Xueyin and Li Jiniang found a long queue when they arrived at the Haidian Police Station.
There was no need to ask, they could guess that everyone was probably here to collect money…
“Yinyin! Yinyin!” Someone in the queue was waving at them, and sure enough, it was Kang Siyin and Yao Shanshan.
And not far from them was another familiar figure, wasn’t that Wei Jingzhu? Why was he here too?
“KK, Shanshan, it must be tough waiting in line!” Zhou Xueyin and Li Jiniang hurried over to them.
“It’s alright, we were told to queue, so we’ve just been queuing. They said they won’t start giving out money until 4:30 PM.” Yao Shanshan quickly explained the situation.
“I think I saw Xiaojing, but since we’re not close, I didn’t say hello…” Kang Siyin glanced towards the back of the queue.
“Well, you guys stay here, I’m going to say hello!” Now that they had run into someone they knew, how could they not greet him?
Zhou Xueyin followed the queue and didn’t walk far before she saw Wei Jingzhu, who looked like he had lost his soul, leaning against the wall and staring into space, and beside him, a bespectacled guy with a goatee and a slight hunch, who was talking to him.
“Yo, Xiaojing! Are you guys here to collect money too?” Zhou Xueyin intentionally walked in front of Wei Jingzhu and shook her hand in front of his face.
But he really did seem to have lost his soul, staring blankly, with no response at all.
“Are you… Zhou Xueyin?” The goateed man asked cautiously.
“That’s me… And who might you be?” Zhou Xueyin eyed the man warily.
“I am the legendary Brother Yang, heh heh…” The man pushed up his glasses and smiled.
“Wow, you’re the legendary Brother Yang!” Zhou Xueyin was shocked, “Wait a moment, I need to call KK over!”
“Hold on, you stay with Xiaojing, I’ll go up front to find them.” Brother Yang took the initiative to give them some space.
“Walk forward five people where there are three girls, and one of them has a particularly large chest, that’s them…” Zhou Xueyin said, gesturing as she spoke.
“Okay! You comfort Xiaojing then.” Brother Yang winked at Zhou Xueyin.
Zhou Xueyin had no idea what Brother Yang’s intentions were, but since he had asked her to comfort him, she decided to do so.
“Xiaojing? Wei Jingzhu? Are you okay?” Zhou Xueyin looked at Wei Jingzhu, who was leaning against the wall with his head down, not knowing what to do.
Wei Jingzhu looked up and upon seeing Zhou Xueyin in front of him, was startled, “Where’s Brother Yang?”
“He went to find KK and the others. You… are you okay?” Wei Jingzhu’s face was unkempt, a stubbly beard, oily hair lifelessly plastered on his forehead, which was a far cry from his usual meticulous appearance. Whatever had upset him must have been serious.
“…” Wei Jingzhu took a deep breath, “I’m fine…”
He looked anything but fine. The moment he looked up, Zhou Xueyin saw that his eyes were still red-rimmed.
What on earth could have happened to make a usually refined young man look so disheveled and neglected…
A breakup? Yes! It must be a breakup!
“Could it be that you…” Before she could blurt out “had a breakup,” Zhou Xueyin immediately realized that it wasn’t the right thing to ask, as that would be like rubbing salt into the wound…
“By the way, Xiaojing, do you know where we’re coming from?” Zhou Xueyin tried to sound cheerful.
But seeing that he had no reaction, she had no choice but to continue speaking on her own: “This morning, Jixiang and I went to the magazine that copied our website content. Then, the person in charge invited us to have a luxurious Japanese meal! And I stupidly read ‘oyakodon’ as ‘oyako well’, which was so embarrassing…”
Zhou Xueyin had hoped to cheer Wei Jingzhu up with her own embarrassing story. Little did she know, mentioning that Japanese meal had hit another sore spot for him.
“Japanese cuisine… hehe… sigh… I can never go have Japanese food with Xiang Yue again…” Wei Jingzhu said wistfully.
“Uh… sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to bring it up.” Zhou Xueyin kept apologizing, fetching a tissue from her bag and handing it over.
“No need, I’m not crying…” Wei Jingzhu pushed the tissue back, forcing a smile, “You don’t need to blame yourself, I’ll be alright after some time.”
“Really? I don’t believe it… Breaking up is tough…” Zhou Xueyin rambled on, talking at length about her own past experience with a breakup, how she had overcome that period.
Wei Jingzhu didn’t resist, just listening quietly without interrupting. It was hard to tell if he was actually taking it in…
At that moment, the line moved—it seemed they were starting to distribute the money.
Zhou Xueyin, worried that Wei Jingzhu wouldn’t keep up with the group, grabbed his arm. He didn’t resist and let himself be pulled forward.
The payout was quick, and soon, Brother Yang and Zhou Xueyin received the money they had been scammed out of. Though it wasn’t the full amount, it was still a partial recovery of their losses.
With 3800 yuan in hand, Zhou Xueyin was so excited she almost cried.
She had really thought she’d have to spend 5000 yuan to learn a lesson, but losing only 1200 yuan was a stroke of unexpected luck.
“Alright, I need to go back and get ready for my trip to the United States! See you another time! Take care of Xiaojing! Cheer him up!” Brother Yang said with a mischievous smile, pushing Wei Jingzhu toward Zhou Xueyin and the others.
The four girls couldn’t well refuse and so they took in the guy who had just experienced his first breakup.
After some discussion, they decided to go for barbecue.
And so they headed to the barbecue buffet in Wudaokou…
“Should I call Old Li and the others over?” Li Jiniang suggested.
“Why call them over? To pick up the tab?” Zhou Xueyin countered, “If you invite guys, they’ll definitely fight to pay. This was supposed to be us celebrating getting our scammed money back…”
“But look at Xiaojing, would you feel at ease letting him go back alone?” Li Jiniang pointed to Wei Jingzhu, who was still lost in thought.
“Then just call your Old Li over…” Zhou Xueyin frowned.
“Yinyin is the best!” Li Jiniang gave Zhou Xueyin a mock kiss.
At the dinner table, Kang Siyin couldn’t calm her excitement from seeing Brother Yang, incessantly talking to Zhou Xueyin about the conversation she had just had with him.
Li Ranxu simultaneously took care of Li Jiniang and Wei Jingzhu, so busy he didn’t have a moment to himself.
After Yao Shanshan’s interrogation, they found out that the two had officially started dating just days after the fake boyfriend incident. However, Li Jiniang hadn’t had the chance to share the truth due to helping Zhou Xueyin with the forum, and only today did she get the opportunity to come clean.
Wei Jingzhu, seeing everyone else so jovially engaged, realized he shouldn’t continue to dampen the mood with a gloomy face.
He shared with everyone the news of his breakup with his first love.
It was regrettable, but it was something that couldn’t be helped.
With no hope of reconciliation, he decided to let go and look ahead.
“By the way, Yinyin, Brother Yang’s name is Yang Ye! He said he’d help us investigate the troublemakers on the forum before he leaves the country, and trace Luo Haojun’s background,” Kang Siyin mentioned after her initial excitement had settled.
“That would be great! If he could uncover Luo Haojun’s dirty past…” Zhou Xueyin said with anticipation.
“But he said the chances are slim because it’s not his field of expertise, and he may not be able to find anything…” Kang Siyin dampened Zhou Xueyin’s enthusiasm before it could rise.
“Hey, no worries, let’s just see… Maybe we’ll get lucky, right…” Zhou Xueyin said, still clinging to hope.
