NOVEL WEB Ch. 76
Chapter 76
Zhong Ning chuckled twice, revealing an expression that looked a bit embarrassed yet somewhat righteous. “Hurry up and teach me.”
Fu Nanshuang: …
Fu Nanshuang took a deep breath. “The day before yesterday, that pair of love-struck idiots borrowed my yacht to go have fun. Yesterday, Zheng Xuan came to me, insisting I help her plan how to spend her anniversary, pestering me for most of the day. And today you show up, immediately assigning me a tutoring job. Just how big a debt did I owe all of you in my past life?”
Zhong Ning looked at her pitifully. “I read the book myself but didn’t really understand it.”
Fu Nanshuang muttered about why she kept finding herself a bunch of ancestors to serve when she clearly had nothing better to do, yet still dutifully opened the math book, explained the key points to her, and even solved the homework as example problems.
Zhong Ning said, “Teacher, your lesson started from the basics and gradually deepened. It truly felt like a sudden revelation to me.”
Fu Nanshuang replied, “Thank you so much.”
No matter what, her guidance did have some effect.
Zhong Ning no longer felt as tense. She truly had been worrying for nothing. But if she didn’t worry, what else could she do?
Her fantasies about love never included the painful parts. In Zhong Ning’s imagination, love was sweet, warm, like a cream cake.
Now that the cream cake had turned into bitter almonds, she didn’t feel any discomfort. This emotion was novel and wondrous. While savoring it, Zhong Ning also began to accept everything she had never experienced before.
The good environment she grew up in had given her the courage not to fear making mistakes and to embrace unfamiliar things. Whether they were good or bad didn’t matter—she had the confidence to face them.
To Zhong Ning, because it came attached to love, even anxiety turned into a kind of joyful feeling, a fresh novelty she had never tasted.
However, in her focus on experiencing the unknown, she didn’t realize that negative perceptions were like the sea. At first contact, tasting just a little, perhaps she could feel some of its wonders, then retreat in time to enjoy the sand and sunshine on the shore. But the deeper she ventured, the more the sea’s true power would show itself, revealing its capricious, surging waves.
By then, when she was already deep within it, facing the roiling waves and the upheaval, how would she rescue herself?
One week later.
This grand commotion over the leaked film source, whose heat had subsided slightly, once again surged up.
Someone had cracked the film’s protection, but what they released wasn’t the final cut. Instead, it was several previews spliced together with all the officially released behind-the-scenes footage so far, plus a virus link that triggered an automatic alarm.
The speed of information spreading online was so fast that within a few hours, everyone across the country had seen it.
The much-discussed leaked final cut was simply a decoy—a complete fake!
At that time, Zhong Ning still didn’t know this news. She was attending class. After Fu Nanshuang’s advice and her own repeated efforts to console herself, she had more or less let go of her useless anxiety.
No matter what, she couldn’t let it delay her studies. That was something she absolutely had to do—a task.
Fortunately, she wasn’t stupid. She learned quickly, had a good memory, and soon caught up on everything she had fallen behind on. So far, she hadn’t felt anything too difficult.
When class ended, Zhong Ning finally took out her phone. As soon as she lit up the screen, she saw the notification.
“The ‘Lunar Rescue’ film source leak turned out to be fake!”
Zhong Ning’s heart gave a heavy thump. Her hand hovered over the message for a long time without tapping it, as if there was a deadly poison hidden inside, cursed golden jewels—if she looked, it would claim her life and kill her on the spot.
Clutching her phone tightly, she slowly walked to sit on a bench in the little grove. Not far away was the music classroom, where students’ singing and laughter mixed with piano sounds, drifting faintly to her ears, unclear.
During the break, people were coming and going on the path. Zhong Ning lowered her head, paused with her fingertip, then finally tapped the notification.
[According to reports, a hacker had cracked the encryption of “Lunar Rescue” only to discover that it contained nothing but the officially released behind-the-scenes footage and preview clips. Apart from those, everything else was blank. The final cut also contained an automatic alarm program. At present, the police had arrested the hacker and were conducting further investigation.]
At the same time, several more notifications popped up.
“Xie Corporation’s shareholders undergo major reshuffle, suspected of tax evasion and corporate espionage.”
“Xie Corporation employee who leaked the film source has been arrested.”
…
Zhong Ning stared blankly, reading through all the trending topics one by one. She seemed to understand something, yet wished she hadn’t seen any of it.
If the final cut was fake, then this entire leak incident was also fake.
Xie Shiqing couldn’t possibly have been unaware that what was stolen was just an empty shell. She could have clarified everything—but she hadn’t.
She had simply allowed the matter to escalate, allowed everyone to debate it heatedly, allowed Xie Corporation’s stock price to fluctuate, allowed all those speculations and attacks to run rampant.
What was it that she wanted…
Zhong Ning’s gaze slowly fell onto that trending topic about the major shareholder reshuffle. All of a sudden, she recalled that day when Xie Shiqing came home and told her about those shareholders ostracizing her, speaking ill of her behind her back.
At that time, while Xie Shiqing was venting her grievances to her, and while she, knowing nothing, was indignantly defending her, what had been going through her mind?
Had she been thinking about how to use this matter to eliminate her opponents? When she knew Zhong Ning was tossing and turning in anxiety, even getting a small blister on her lip, what thoughts flashed through her mind?
When she complained about how exhausted she was, when she asked for a kiss, when she watched Zhong Ning racking her brain trying to coax her into a better mood, had she ever felt even a trace of guilt for her deception?
I really don’t understand her. Zhong Ning stared blankly, thinking, I don’t know anything about her at all.
The sunlight was mostly blocked by the thick canopy overhead, with only scattered golden rays luckily slipping through the gaps, falling onto Zhong Ning’s face. But she felt as if she couldn’t bear the warmth, as though it was scorching her until her vision went dizzy and she couldn’t catch her breath.
What a beautiful day it was—wisps of drifting clouds spread thin across the sky, birds chirped noisily, and a plump ginger cat leapt onto another bench, licking its fur without caring about anyone else. A few students called it “senior” with giggling voices, taking out a can of food from their bags to feed it.