16: Chapter 16 Rumors Spread, a Despicable Man's Revelry

A bomb was dropped in the Blue Whale Games employee group chat today.

The photo Li Wei posted was being frenziedly forwarded in the group. The pixels were so blurry you could see the mosaic, but that didn't stop everyone from imagining a scenario of a 'rags-to-riches man clinging to a rich woman.'

In the photo, Zhang Fan was helping Tang Wanqing walk into the hotel elevator, the woman's head leaning slightly on his shoulder. Busybody onlookers paired it with all sorts of vulgar headlines—

[Shocking! Former colleague gets fired and then clings to a rich woman, entering a hotel late at night!]

[No wonder he dared to break up with Gu Feifei, he had a backup plan all along! This rich woman looks older than his mother!]

[Wearing an old suit issued by the company to go to a hotel, he really has that poverty-stricken stench engraved in his bones!]

Messages were scrolling faster than system announcements. Li Wei added fuel to the fire in the group: 'I saw it with my own eyes! That woman was head-to-toe in designer brands, the watch on her wrist is worth ten years of Zhang Fan's salary! He followed behind her like a pug, the look in his eyes, tsk tsk, he couldn't wait to pounce on her right there...'

'Isn't that disgusting?'

'I used to think he was quite honest; I didn't expect him to have no bottom line.'

'Gu Feifei was really blind; luckily, they broke up.'

Echoes of agreement came in like a tidal wave, drowning the screen.

Chang Yuan's message appeared at the perfect moment, accompanied by a 'sigh' emoji: 'Sigh, I really didn't expect Zhang to be this kind of person. When he said he wanted to appeal, I even advised him to stay calm. Now it seems firing him was truly a timely stop-loss; otherwise, if he had ruined the company's atmosphere, I, as the Director, would be hard-pressed to absolve myself of the blame.'

These words seemed regretful, but in reality, they cleared himself completely and implicitly mocked Zhang Fan for having 'character issues.' Below, people immediately chimed in: 'Director Chang is wise! A person like this doesn't deserve to be in Blue Whale!' 'You really see things clearly!'

Gu Feifei's message popped up right after, a voice note with a sobbing tone: 'Thank you all for your concern... I just found out, and I feel terrible. I always thought that even though he was poor, he was reliable, but I didn't expect... Luckily, I saw his true colors early; I don't know how long I would have been kept in the dark...'

The sobbing in the voice note was perfectly pitched, and paired with her usual 'gentle and kind' persona, it instantly drew a wave of sympathy—

'Feifei, don't cry! This kind of scumbag isn't worth it!'

'Leaving him is a good thing! Director Chang is so good to you!'

'I feel for you; you must have been deceived by him so badly back then!'

Gu Feifei didn't reply again, but she sent a message to Zhang Fan in a private chat window, the words dripping with venom: 'Congratulations, found yourself a rich woman? Looking at her age, she probably needs medication, right? But that's fine, at least someone is finally willing to take a spineless wretch like you.'

Gu Feifei's fingertips hovered over the send button, staring at those venomous words on the screen, her mouth already curled into a smug smile in anticipation.

She imagined Zhang Fan flying into a rage when he saw the message, perhaps frantically calling back, or perhaps sending a long string of excuses—no matter which it was, both would let her feel the thrill of control.

The moment the 'send' button was pressed, she even leaned in close to the receiver, waiting to hear the soft sound indicating 'delivered.'

But what popped up on the screen was a cold, gray prompt: 'The other party has enabled friend verification; please add the other party as a friend first.'

The air seemed to freeze.

Gu Feifei's smile stiffened on her face, her pupils contracting sharply, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. She repeatedly clicked send several times, but those words were like a carved curse, nailed firmly to the center of the screen.

'Ah—!!!'

A scream pierced the quiet of the office. She slammed her phone onto the desk, the tempered glass screen protector shattering, and the cracks on the screen spread out like a spiderweb.

'Zhang Fan! How dare you!' She grabbed the file folder on the desk and slammed it onto the floor, A4 papers scattering everywhere, 'Who do you think you are? Daring to delete me?!'

The colleagues nearby were startled by her and looked over one after another. Li Wei leaned in and asked hypocritically: 'What's wrong, Feifei? Who made you angry?'

'Zhang Fan! He deleted me!' Gu Feifei's voice was filled with sobs, half anger, half humiliation, 'I was kind enough to send him a message to 'congratulate' him, and he actually dared to delete me from his friends list?!'

'So he deleted you, so what,' Li Wei pouted, though schadenfreude hid in the depths of her eyes, 'You should have blocked a scumbag like that long ago.'

'He deleted me!' Gu Feifei raised her voice, as if trying to emphasize her dominant position, 'I originally wanted to properly 'congratulate' him on clinging to a rich woman, but then...'

'There's such a thing?' Li Wei feigned surprise, opening her mouth wide, 'Wasn't he always obedient to you? How did he suddenly grow some guts?'

She picked up her own phone and patted Gu Feifei on the shoulder, 'It's okay, I'll send it for you! I don't believe he would dare not give me face either.'

Li Wei quickly edited a message, even more vicious than Gu Feifei's wording:

'Zhang Fan, you coward! You dare to delete people just because you're being kept by a rich woman? When you were chasing Feifei, you were like a dog; now that you've climbed the social ladder, you're acting like a big shot? Let me tell you, the whole company knows you're a gigolo who got ahead by relying on a woman; don't even think about holding your head up for the rest of your life!'

The message was sent, and almost immediately, the same prompt popped up on the screen: 'The other party has enabled friend verification; please add the other party as a friend first.'

Li Wei's face went pale in an instant.

'Fei, Feifei...' she stammered, 'He, he deleted me too.'

The office was deathly silent, and the colleagues who were just echoing the mockery now sensibly shut their mouths.

Gu Feifei looked at the prompt on Li Wei's phone and suddenly felt like she had been slapped hard across the face—the 'control' she was so proud of had turned into a joke when it came to Zhang Fan.

'Impossible...' Gu Feifei gritted her teeth, as if refusing to admit defeat, 'I'll send him a text message! He can't delete text messages, right!'

She grabbed her phone, her fingers turning white from the exertion, and quickly typed text in the SMS interface. But when her fingertip landed on the send button, she felt inexplicably insecure—the Zhang Fan who used to be easily manipulated by them seemed to have really changed.

On the screen of the phone she had smashed, her twisted face was reflected in the cracks, like a clown.

At this moment, Zhang Fan was sitting opposite Tang Wanqing, with the investment agreement that Tang Wanqing had asked her secretary to send over displayed on his phone. Sunlight shone through the hotel's floor-to-ceiling windows onto the cracked screen, but the words 'Tang Group Strategic Investment Agreement' were exceptionally clear.

The phone vibrated with a 'buzz,' he glanced at the screen, and when he saw Gu Feifei's name, there was no expression on his face.

Opening the message, those vicious words slammed into his eyes like flies.

Tang Wanqing noticed his gaze and asked casually: 'What's wrong?'

'It's nothing.' Zhang Fan smiled, his fingertip pausing on the screen—it wasn't anger, nor was it grievance, but a kind of almost indifferent contempt. He didn't reply; he simply long-pressed the message and clicked delete.

Just like crushing a buzzing mosquito.

These people were still jumping around for petty gains and false dignity, while he was already standing at a new starting point. Their abuse was nothing more than a cover for their own incompetence; they didn't even qualify to make him angry.

'If there are no issues with the agreement, I'll have Lawyer Zhang contact you this afternoon.' Tang Wanqing picked up a glass of warm water and took a sip, 'I've pre-selected three options for office space: a CBD office building, a loft in the cultural and creative park, and an incubator near the university town. I'll have my assistant send you the details later; see which one you like.'

Zhang Fan felt a bit lightheaded at this moment, not out of excitement, but because it all felt too unreal—yesterday morning he only had 16.4 yuan, hesitating even over breakfast, and now he was holding a million-dollar investment contract, standing at a new starting point in his life.

'Thank you, Aunt Tang.' He tucked his phone into his pocket, the sense of security in his heart stronger than ever.

Just then, his phone rang again, and the name 'Gu Jingshen' flashed on the screen.