81: Chapter 81 I'm really not a scumbag.

The morning at Yujing Garden was still immersed in a thin mist. Zhou Yurou stood in front of Zhang Fan's apartment, carrying the soy milk and fried dough sticks she had just bought.

Ever since Yang Lei from across the hall moved out, she would arrive ten minutes early, as per her usual habit, to wait for Zhang Fan to get ready so they could go to the company together. Recently, with the operations of "star path: reboot" being busy, the two could chat more about work on the way, and occasionally talk about some trivial matters, which was a rare moment of relaxation.

She went upstairs, pressed the doorbell twice, and the door opened from the inside.

The next second, Zhou Yurou's smile froze on her face, and the breakfast bag in her hand almost dropped to the ground. Standing behind the door was not Zhang Fan, but a girl wearing beige silk pajamas. Her long hair was draped loosely over her shoulders, looking bleary-eyed, and the collar was slightly open, revealing a bit of fair shoulder.

It was Song Zhiwei.

Zhou Yurou naturally recognized her—the only daughter of the Song family in Jiangcheng. She still remembered the scene at the last industry summit where Song Zhiwei publicly offered Zhang Fan a five-million bodyguard fee.

When Zhang Fan was hesitating about whether to let Song Zhiwei rent the room, it was she who persuaded him: "The Song family has wide connections in Jiangcheng, so don't offend them. If we can establish a connection, it will be a good thing for Singularity."

But logic is logic. Seeing a wealthy heiress in pajamas suddenly pop up in the home of the person she liked, the resentment rising from the bottom of her heart could not be suppressed no matter what.

Song Zhiwei was also stunned. Looking at the woman with exquisite makeup and a capable temperament in front of her, she had absolutely no impression of her.

At the last summit, her mind was full of how to get Zhang Fan to agree to rent the room. Except for Zhang Fan, she hadn't even seen the faces of others clearly.

Until she realized that the other party might have misunderstood, she hurriedly waved her hand, her voice still a bit hoarse from just waking up: "Hello, I am a tenant renting here, not... not the kind of relationship you are thinking of."

"A tenant?" Zhou Yurou's voice was a bit tight, and her eyes scanned the apartment involuntarily.

Song Zhiwei's lady's handbag was still on the sofa, and there was an unwashed coffee cup on the coffee table. It looked like she was living there permanently.

She forced a smile and handed the breakfast over: "I am Zhou Yurou, the COO of Singularity Technology, here to pick up President Zhang for work."

"Oh, President Zhou." Song Zhiwei then remembered that Zhang Fan had mentioned there was a very capable female COO in the company, so she quickly stepped aside to let her in, "Zhang Fan is washing up, he'll be ready soon."

Zhang Fan had just come out wiping his hair when he saw the awkward scene of the two women standing opposite each other in the living room. His heart skipped a beat—oh no, the misunderstanding was huge.

Just as he was about to explain, Song Zhiwei suddenly leaned over and tugged at his sleeve: "Zhang Fan, I have nothing to do today, can I go to the company with you to take a look? I haven't seen what a game company is like."

Zhou Yurou's expression darkened further. She lowered her head to organize her documents and couldn't help but mutter in a low voice: "Scumbag."

The voice was not loud, but it drifted right into Zhang Fan's ears.

He was instantly anxious and hurriedly waved his hand: "It's not what you think! Song Zhiwei is just a tenant, she..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Song Zhiwei: "What's wrong with being a tenant? Can't a tenant go to the company to take a look with the landlord?"

Zhang Fan almost wanted to cry—some time ago, because of Liu Ruyan's matter, Zhou Yurou already had some knots in her heart, and he had finally coaxed her, but now another incident like this happened.

He looked at Zhou Yurou's cold side profile, and then at Song Zhiwei's "I did nothing wrong" look, and only felt his head growing larger.

"Let's go to work first, we're late." Zhou Yurou was the first to pick up her bag and walk towards the door, her tone devoid of her usual gentleness.

The atmosphere in the car was like it had frozen.

Zhou Yurou leaned in the passenger seat, staring out the window without saying a word; Song Zhiwei sat in the back, curiously flipping through the "star path" merchandise Zhang Fan had placed on the seat, completely unaware of the low air pressure in the front row; Zhang Fan gripped the steering wheel, wanting to explain but not knowing where to start, and could only sneak a glance at Zhou Yurou from time to time, his heart full of grievances—he really was not a scumbag!

As soon as the car arrived downstairs at Singularity Technology, it was surrounded by employees.

"Isn't that the Eldest Miss of the Song Family? Why did she come over with President Zhang?"

"I heard that President Zhang has a female tenant living at his home, could it be her?"

"Oh my god, is President Zhang going to marry into the Song family?"

The buzz of discussion drifted into the car. Zhou Yurou pushed open the car door and walked into the office building without looking back. Zhang Fan hurriedly followed, while Song Zhiwei followed behind, like a curious little child, looking around.

The news spread faster than the elevator.

Gu Jingshen was originally carrying breakfast for Qin Xue and was preparing to go to the Police Station, but when he heard that "the Eldest Miss of the Song Family has come to the company," he immediately turned around and ran towards the company.

How could he miss such big gossip?

When he rushed into the office area, he happened to see Song Zhiwei following Zhang Fan into the office, so he hurriedly leaned over to Wang Chengsi: "Old Wang, what is going on? Did President Zhang really abduct the Eldest Miss of the Song Family home?"

Wang Chengsi held the code in his hand without raising his head: "What do you mean abducted home, she is a tenant. However... looking at President Zhou's expression, she seems to have misunderstood."

On the other side, Liu Ruyan sat at her workstation, her fingers tapping on the keyboard for a long time, but the code on the screen was still wrong.

She caught a glimpse of Song Zhiwei coming out of the office, saying something to Zhang Fan with a smile on her lips. Her heart felt as if it was blocked by something, and she couldn't even perform the most basic bug testing.

"Ruyan, you are missing a semicolon in this code, it reported an error during the test just now." Wang Chengsi walked over and pointed at the screen to remind her.

Liu Ruyan snapped back to reality, hurriedly corrected it, and her cheeks turned red instantly: "Thank you, Brother Wang, I... I was distracted just now."

She looked at the designer dress on Song Zhiwei, then at her own faded T-shirt, and felt inexplicably inferior.

Song Zhiwei was beautiful and rich, and was also the Eldest Miss of the Song Family. Would Zhang Fan like her more?

Just at this moment, Zhang Fan walked out with his phone, his expression a bit gloomy. He found Gu Jingshen and handed the phone over: "Old Gu, look at the forum, Pei Yunxiao's internet trolls have started moving. Didn't you say you were watching them? Why is there no movement?"

Gu Jingshen took the phone. On the screen was a post on the "Jiangcheng Game Circle" forum, with the title clearly stating "Singularity Technology relies on Song family capital for money laundering, 'star path: reboot' is actually a money laundering tool." Below, there were already dozens of troll comments, all like "No wonder it became popular so fast, it turns out there is dirty money supporting it" and "Zhang Fan is just a soft-rice man who relies on women."

"Damn it!" Gu Jingshen slapped his thigh, only then remembering that he had been busy eating gossip early this morning and had forgotten about watching the trolls. "I'll go find Qin Xue right now! She said yesterday she would help me contact the cyber police, and I guarantee the post won't last more than five minutes!"

He ran out as he spoke, even forgetting to take the breakfast for Qin Xue, leaving only Zhang Fan shaking his head helplessly.

Zhou Yurou walked over, looked at the phone in Zhang Fan's hand, and her expression softened slightly: "About the trolls? Do you need me to contact the media to clarify?"

"No need, let's wait for Old Gu and Qin Xue to handle it first." Zhang Fan shook his head, looked at Zhou Yurou, hesitated for a moment, but still explained, "Sister Zhou, the relationship between me and Song Zhiwei is really just that of a tenant. She... she has some special circumstances and needs to stay by my side to stay clear-headed. I also agreed to let her rent the room because I was afraid of offending the Song family."

Zhou Yurou was silent for a few seconds, looked up at him, the resentment in her eyes lessened a bit, and there was more understanding: "I know you have a sense of propriety, but... next time something like this happens, can you tell me in advance? I don't want to hear it from other people's mouths."

"Definitely!" Zhang Fan nodded quickly, and the stone in his heart finally settled a bit.