Reborn to Stew Soup (GL) 167

Chapter 167: “Dada” (Older Sister/Master)

That night, Qiao Rubai and Mi Hongdou’s conversation ended with their recollections of the Wan Nan Group from ten years later.

Even though they were both reborn, they hadn’t paid much attention to the real estate giant in their past lives, their memories vague.

Dong Yuannan had suffered a serious illness, and Dongshi had almost collapsed. Although Jiang Lingling had saved the company, and Dong Yuannan, after recovering, had regained control, Dongshi had been severely weakened, no longer a match for Wan Nan, which seemed to have thrived… but they couldn’t remember the details.

In this life, so many things had changed, perhaps Wan Nan’s fate would also be different.

Persuaded by Qiao Rubai, Mi Hongdou agreed to continue as usual, not to distance herself from Ji Junxin, but the carefree happiness she had felt before the call was gone.

Qiao Rubai, hanging up the phone, her hand numb, returned from the balcony to the living room, where Yang Lianyi and Yang Miemie were sitting at the table, each holding a coconut bun, the discarded, uneaten crusts piled on their plates.

“So picky and wasteful, what a bad influence on a child,” Qiao Rubai said, placing her phone on the table.

“Then you eat them,” Yang Lianyi said, pushing the plate of crusts towards Qiao Rubai.

Yang Miemie, her face covered in lotus seed paste, grinned and also pushed her plate towards Qiao Rubai.

Qiao Rubai: …From business partner to babysitter, and now… bottom of the food chain! Life is hard… She reached for a crust, but Yang Lianyi snatched the plate away.

“You’re actually going to eat them? Are you an idiot?” Yang Lianyi leaned closer, a seductive smile on her face. “Here, let me feed you something delicious.”

Qiao Rubai blushed, and before she could retreat, Yang Lianyi stuffed a large piece of coconut filling into her mouth.

The filling was sweet and soft, but why did her finger brush against her lips? The earlier chill on the balcony was replaced by a burning warmth.

“Eat… eat…” Yang Miemie, imitating Yang Lianyi, held out a handful of coconut filling. But the table was between them, and her arms were too short, so she climbed onto the table.

Qiao Rubai, afraid she would fall, quickly picked her up. And Yang Lianyi… just glanced at them and continued eating.

So easily… wrapped around her finger…

But Qiao Rubai felt a sense of… peace.

The person she loved, so vibrant, so alive… I have to… try harder, live longer…

After that night, both Qiong Yu and Mengguan gave Ji Junxin and Mi Hongdou a break, no work until after the New Year.

This break lasted for a month.

A bittersweet month for Mi Hongdou. Qiao Rubai’s story had created a sense of urgency, a ticking clock. But this sense of impending doom also intensified her love for Ji Junxin.

Every day could be our last.

Every day, she wanted to push her culinary skills to the limit, to please Ji Junxin’s palate. Every day, she wanted to keep Ji Junxin within sight, memorizing her every expression. Every day, she wanted to shower her with affection, with tenderness and love.

She had never cherished each moment so deeply.

She was grateful to Qiao Rubai, for persuading her to stay with Ji Junxin. Otherwise, these past few days would have been a torment, not a joy.

She couldn’t imagine the despair of facing death, unable to see Ji Junxin, to touch her, to do anything for her.

But during this month, Mi Hongdou had also wondered, if she had known about her murder from the start, would she still have pursued Ji Junxin? The answer, of course, was yes.

She would have gotten close, eliminated Lu Gaoshi, Jiang Duo, and Zhang Zijing… then left.

If she had known, she wouldn’t have become romantically involved with Ji Junxin, wouldn’t have put her in this dangerous position, wouldn’t have risked breaking her heart…

But she understood Qiao Rubai’s initial secrecy. Qiao Rubai had also wanted her help in dealing with Jiang Duo. But they hadn’t expected things to become so… complicated.

While Mi Hongdou spent the month in fear and anxiety, Ji Junxin was blissfully unaware.

Finally together, living together, no work, just… being together. And Mi’s mother was so easy to get along with. Ignoring her own family problems, Ji Junxin felt like she was living in a dream.

Every day, Mi Hongdou cooked delicious meals, three meals a day plus snacks and desserts, and they spent every moment together, always having something to talk about. And at night… Mi Hongdou, with her boundless energy and creativity, constantly pushed Ji Junxin to the edge of… surrender.

After their first time, Ji Junxin had wanted to take the lead, and Mi Hongdou, not only agreed, but also let Ji Junxin… have her way. And now, if Ji Junxin wanted to be the dominant one, Mi Hongdou would always comply. But if Ji Junxin didn’t initiate… Mi Hongdou would have her way until Ji Junxin cried and begged for mercy… Although Ji Junxin was sometimes annoyed, she also… enjoyed it…

Life was good, filled with food and pleasure.

During this month, Mi Hongdou also had a few phone calls with Qiao Rubai.

Investigations, the superficial details were always easy to find, but digging deeper became more difficult. It was the same with Wan Nan. Uncovering the relationship between Xue Yi and Ke Minglang had already been a significant breakthrough, further investigation would require more time and money. And Qiao Rubai wasn’t even sure which direction to take, so she could only continue investigating them both, casting a wide net.

Days passed, but there wasn’t much progress. And with such a large-scale investigation, Wan Nan might become suspicious…

But the smear campaign against Mi Hongdou’s cooking seemed to be connected to Wan Nan, which meant that even if she didn’t investigate, the problem would eventually find her. Fight or flight, both lead to… danger.

Both Qiao Rubai and Mi Hongdou were waiting for a breakthrough.

But the big news came not from Wan Nan, but from… Jiang Lingling.

It had been over a month since “Reality Online” ended, and with Jiang Lingling busy writing and fighting trolls, they hadn’t seen each other.

But Jiang Lingling’s and Pan Xiang’s… unwitting connection was quite amusing, and Jiang Lingling’s story was strangely entertaining. So, Mi Hongdou and Ji Junxin had been checking for updates on Jinjiang.

And today, they found something big.

Early in the morning, Mi Hongdou was woken up by Ji Junxin, who, having been… taken advantage of last night, was now being criticized by Mi Hongdou for her inconsiderate “tachi” behavior.

But when Ji Junxin said, “Jiang Lingling posted a video announcement!”, Mi Hongdou was instantly awake. Did she make a video about coming out again? Then she realized… Jiang Lingling didn’t even have a girlfriend yet…

After watching Jiang Lingling’s selfie video twice and then checking Jinjiang, they finally understood what was going on.

Jiang Lingling, in just a month, had written even more than Pan Xiang, whose story had been ongoing for months. Initially just amplifying the negative traits of the protagonist, she had then expanded her exaggeration to every aspect of the story. If Pan Xiang’s protagonist ate a plate of meat buns, Jiang Lingling’s would devour a plate of buns made with thousand-year-old mythical beast meat and ten-thousand-year-old immortal plant flour. If Pan Xiang’s protagonist refined a single Qi-boosting pill, Jiang Lingling’s would refine a houseful of instant ascension pills. If Pan Xiang’s protagonist found a rare spirit beast, Jiang Lingling’s would casually stumble upon a whole parade of them.

Her imagination was boundless.

The readers had never seen such shamelessness… and the trolls attacking Pan Xiang’s story finally found a new target.

People had limited attention spans, and Jiang Lingling’s story, every sentence a potential target for mockery, successfully diverted the trolls’ attention. Those who had been criticizing Pan Xiang were now too busy with Jiang Lingling’s story, especially since she was also actively participating in the comment war with her author account.

Initially, this tactic of diverting trouble had worked. Pan Xiang’s comments section had returned to its usual peace and quiet.

Then Jinjiang updated its system.

Readers now had profiles, linked to their comments and… also to their author profiles…

The readers attacking Jiang Lingling’s story easily found her reader profile…

And then they found out that this author, writing this ridiculous parody, was actually… a top fan of Pan Xiang… that she had other accounts besides the one she used for self-promotion in Pan Xiang’s comments… that she was the one who always got the first comment on Pan Xiang’s chapters…

If it were just that, it would have been fine. After all, everyone had already guessed that the author of the parody was probably Pan Xiang’s fan.

But then, someone dug up her IP addresses from her earlier comments and compared them to Pan Xiang’s IP addresses from around the same time… many were identical, others very close.

So, a new rumor spread: the parody account was Pan Xiang’s alternate account. She had not only been manipulating her own popularity, writing comments and inflating her score, even using a fake account to get the first comment on her own chapters, but she had also written a parody, exaggerating her own story, to distract from the criticisms! How despicable!

Of course, after the rumor spread, some loyal fans argued that although the IP addresses were both from Jiang City, they were different…

But this argument was easily refuted, perhaps Pan Xiang was being careful, using different locations to access her accounts, perhaps one at home, one at the office… The identical and close IP addresses were more convincing.

Some were from Shudian, some from Wenlong, but now, they were all from Jiang City. And the identical IPs were enough to prove it was the same person.

And in the online world, rumors spread like wildfire… Pan Xiang’s account was quite popular on Jinjiang, and this IP address scandal quickly spread from the comment sections to the forums, then to Weibo, reposted by marketing accounts.

This had all happened last night, while Mi Hongdou and Ji Junxin, having gone to bed early, were asleep. And this morning, after her attempts to defend Pan Xiang failed, Jiang Lingling posted a video on Weibo, linking it in the comments of her parody story.

In the video, she declared herself a loyal fan of the original author, then proceeded to criticize the trolls. Then she explained that she was making this video to clear up the misunderstanding, that a “noob” like her could never be the same as the original author.

Jiang Lingling, after Imperial Secrets and Reality Online, now had millions of followers on Weibo. This video caused an uproar. If she had an agent or an agency, they would have been furious at this self-sabotaging act. Fortunately, she didn’t.

Seeing her favorite author being accused of creating a fake account, manipulating reviews, and writing a parody to deflect criticism… Jiang Lingling had no other choice but to reveal herself. But those identical IP addresses… she couldn’t explain them. Should I just say there was a glitch on Jinjiang? No one would believe that.

Mi Hongdou and Ji Junxin, watching the video, were speechless.

Jiang Lingling… what are you even doing with those IP addresses, this is just making things worse…

As expected, the video confused both her fans and the readers on Jinjiang. And then a new theory emerged: both the original author and the parody author were Jiang Lingling! Unable to refute the IP evidence, and now this video… she was so… adorably clueless! They couldn’t even bring themselves to criticize her.

When the person you like is in trouble, you become irrational. Jiang Lingling had wanted to take responsibility, thinking that a video statement would be more convincing than a comment, clearing Pan Xiang’s name. But the IP evidence was undeniable… and the internet’s imagination, boundless…

Seeing the comments on her parody story, from those who had been active on Pan Xiang’s page: “Dada, you’re amazing, writing two stories at the same time!” “I’ve been your fan for years, I never would have guessed you were also my favorite author!” “Don’t cry, Dada, it’s not your fault, you’re just a little clueless, the IP addresses are undeniable, just admit it, we still love you!” … Jiang Lingling’s feelings were… complicated.

But if anyone’s feelings were more complicated, it would be the original author, Pan Xiang!