After Liu Chen finished speaking, Ren Yu showed no reaction. Liu Chen thought it was due to the noise of the mall, so he hadn't heard him.
And so, Liu Chen followed Ren Yu to the underground parking lot and found the spot where they had parked their car.
Just as Liu Chen was about to bend down to pick up the plastic bag from the shopping cart, he felt a tightening around his waist.
A pair of arms, as strong as iron clamps, wrapped around Liu Chen's waist, which was as slender as a sheet of paper.
A hand then caressed Liu Chen's cheek. Liu Chen lifted his eyelids slightly and saw Ren Yu, unlike his usual calm demeanor or his recent grandmotherly tendencies.
Ren Yu's pupils, in the dim underground parking lot, appeared even closer to pure black, making his eyes seem like they were falling into an endless vortex.
Liu Chen only saw these eyes drawing closer to him, then he closed his own eyes.
Immediately after, Liu Chen felt something cool and soft on his lips. Liu Chen's eyes widened, he dared not move, his eyelashes trembling against Ren Yu's cheek.
Ren Yu's slightly hoarse voice echoed in his ears:
"Close your eyes and focus."
-
Xia Tian grabbed Dong Tian, who was about to get into the car.
"Wait a moment."
Dong Tian looked confused but still chose to obey his captain and obediently stood with Xia Tian behind a nearby pillar, pretending to be waiting for someone.
As a result, before Xia Tian could even say they could leave, a flash of light shot towards Ren Yu.
"Someone's using a flash to take photos!"
Xia Tian realized this and immediately rushed out from behind the pillar, memorizing the license plate of the car carrying the paparazzi.
Then, he signaled for Dong Tian to go ahead and unload the items and drive the car.
While Dong Tian was diligently placing the plastic bags into the trunk, Liu Chen's face was flushed red as if he had a fever. He sat obediently in the back seat by the window, showing no trace of the arrogant manner in which he had just teased Ren Yu.
Ren Yu took the piece of paper with the license plate of the person who had photographed their passionate kiss from Xia Tian, which Liu Chen had then handed over to him.
"Do you want to delete this photo?"
Ren Yu looked at the license plate on the paper and asked the docile Liu Chen sitting beside him.
Upon hearing this, Liu Chen knew what Ren Yu was planning and immediately cautioned:
"If my mom sees it."
That was enough. Liu Chen wanted to remind Ren Yu that the story they had told their families was that they were pretending to be a couple, and it was obvious that a fake couple wouldn't be kissing in a parking lot.
Ren Yu nodded, and after a moment of serious thought, said:
"Then I'll buy the photo. I'll release it after we get married."
Huh?
Marriage?
Liu Chen immediately stopped playing the obedient girl and turned to look at Ren Yu, who was sending a message on his phone.
He moved his lips, but in the end, he didn't dare to say:
'I don't want to get married.' or 'I haven't considered marriage.'
Perhaps it was a woman's intuition, but Liu Chen felt that if he said that, something terrible would happen, including but not limited to Ren Yu mobilizing his entire family to force a marriage.
Thinking of such a scene, Liu Chen quickly shook his head, shaking the terrifying image out of his mind, and then picked up his phone to comfort his startled heart.
Normally, Liu Chen didn't check Weibo much unless something significant happened. The main reason was that compared to ten years later, the performance of mobile phones wasn't as good. When the number of people who @-ed him and commented on his Weibo increased, Liu Chen would often find his phone freezing and exiting the app. What's more, sometimes it would even cause the phone to restart.
He first opened QQ, and Mi Zhuzhu's chat box instantly appeared before Liu Chen.
'Chen Chen, I think I was impulsive...'
'Chen Chen, don't worry, I'll deal with them. These little brats, I'll curse them to death.'
'...'
Liu Chen glanced at the messages, from the earliest to the latest. Mi Zhuzhu had been sending messages since he started his lunch.
He clicked on Weibo, and after waiting for a minute, the phone finally opened Weibo. Liu Chen searched for @Mi Zhuzhu in the search bar.
Soon, messages about Mi Zhuzhu appeared on the homepage, sorted by time.
Liu Chen scrolled through his phone for five minutes and roughly understood why Mi Zhuzhu said she was impulsive.
Liu Chen had long noticed that whenever his news appeared on Weibo, there would be a fixed group of people smearing him.
And they were professional.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why a group of accounts would post the same rumor about him at three in the morning.
Liu Chen figured that Mi Zhuzhu probably realized later that these people were professional mud-slingers, hired to do the dirty work. The more she argued with them, the more excited they would become, as their bosses might give them bonuses for it.
Just as Liu Chen was thinking of a way to solve this problem, a dull ache in the back of his head warned him.
But he couldn't bear to just watch Mi Zhuzhu argue with those haters on Weibo over rumors about him.
He couldn't stand it, so he turned to look at Ren Yu, who had just gotten the upper hand and was radiating a cheerful aura.
Accustomed to solving problems himself, Liu Chen spoke a bit shyly: "Ahem, Brother Ren Yu, I have something I'd like to ask your advice on."
Hearing the address "Brother Ren Yu," Ren Yu looked at Liu Chen with a suspicious gaze, as if asking with his eyes.
Why would she suddenly call me Brother Ren Yu? Is it something difficult?
"It's like this..."
Liu Chen calmly explained the situation on Weibo to Ren Yu. Then, he leaned towards Ren Yu's position, blinking his innocent eyes and asking earnestly:
"Look, Zhuzhu is being heavily criticized on Weibo right now. And you know, it's easy to spread rumors, but hard to debunk them. Zhuzhu's account is already a top blogger on Weibo. Given Weibo's current growth rate, Zhuzhu's account is expected to reach tens of millions of followers.
If her account's commercial value is damaged because of my issues, I will feel guilty for the rest of my life. Can you think of a way to prevent this from happening?"
Ren Yu looked at Liu Chen's round eyes, which blinked like the Persian cats he had seen as a child, and sighed slightly. He then reached out and ruffled the knit hat on Liu Chen's head.
"The solution is simple. Let your friend continue to argue with them, and then we will hire lawyers to directly sue the netizens for defamation and send them lawyer's letters."
"Ah? Isn't that a bit too strict? After all, it's just some online rumors..."
No matter what, in his past life, Liu Chen often read gossip from some unofficial entertainment news outlets. Putting himself in their shoes, it seemed a bit like making a mountain out of a molehill.
"However, I suspect that the Weibo accounts that have been smearing you are in cahoots with those who are spreading false information. Have your friend stall for a while longer. Once they reach a certain amount, we'll take them down with a two-pronged approach, suing them for both defamation and fraud."
Double pronged...
Liu Chen knew in his heart that Ren Yu's solution was correct, but...
Looking at the words on Weibo that called Zhuzhu a eunuch beside the emperor, and that Zhuzhu was his guard dog, Liu Chen felt...
Unbearable!