A Promise in a Thought 81

Chapter 81

Jiang Chenyin and Su Man’s arrangements were carried out simultaneously. Two days after the incident, the screenwriters, directors, and web novelists invited by Su Man first announced the comparison results of the novel and the script. Immediately after, the two chairmen of the writers’ associations and the general director of Qinzhou Television Station on Jiang Chenyin’s side published their comparison conclusions.

The conclusion reached by everyone was that Bo Muyu’s script had not plagiarized. The two chairmen of the writers’ associations and the general director of Qinzhou Television Station simultaneously expressed their views on this incident on Weibo, strongly condemning the other party for unjustly accusing someone without any evidence.

The official Weibo of Hongsheng and the official Weibo of the movie God of War reposted the Weibo posts of the seniors. Even the official Weibo of Hongsheng’s competitor, Jiayi, reposted the Weibo posts under Jiang Chenyin’s instruction to express their stance.

The topic of a famous web novelist slandering others based on the one-sided story of her fans was pushed to the top of Weibo’s trending list, causing a huge uproar for a time.

A large number of netizens went to the Weibo post where the other party had accused the plot of God of War of plagiarism two days ago, demanding an apology. The other party’s loyal fans were not to be outdone and fought for every inch, saying that the matter was already over and there was no need to apologize, especially since the post did not explicitly state plagiarism.

In the end, the battle became more and more intense. The other party’s fans even belittled Bo Muyu’s status, believing that she was not worthy of an apology from the author.

However, not long after these comments appeared, the relevant accounts were permanently banned. In the end, the other party still did not apologize, only deleting that Weibo post and closing the comments.

From beginning to end, Bo Muyu did not participate in these Weibo disputes. She didn’t even go on Weibo to take a look. All the progress was told to her by Jiang Chenyin. And the subsequent conflicts were what she had heard from Ye Xialan after she had gone back to her parents’ place with Jiang Chenyin.

With three women present, Bo Muyu could be considered a little woman… Bo Mingliang touched his nose and tactfully slipped back to his room early in the morning.

“That’s so satisfying!” Ye Xialan slapped the coffee table, her body sitting up straight. “What kind of author is this person? She has no character at all. She believes whatever her fans say. If her fans think everything looks like a novel she wrote, does she just come out and say that others are plagiarizing every time?”

Bo Muyu sat on the single sofa, her legs crossed, holding a glass of water and taking a sip from time to time, quietly listening to Ye Xialan’s complaints.

“Calm down,” Jiang Chenyin said, sitting beside Ye Xialan and looking at the hand she had just slapped on the coffee table with amusement.

“No, I’m still a little uncomfortable…” Ye Xialan grabbed Jiang Chenyin’s hand, her face full of dissatisfaction. “Why won’t she apologize? So many teachers have criticized her, and she still doesn’t know how to repent? Are the three words ‘I’m sorry’ so hard to say? It’s not even asking her to say it, just a matter of posting on Weibo.”

Bo Muyu looked up indifferently, her voice equally placid. “She won’t apologize.”

“That’s right,” Jiang Chenyin agreed and said to Ye Xialan, “Although she did not explicitly state that Muyu had plagiarized, the meaning expressed between the lines of that Weibo post was plagiarism. After that, her fans crazily supported her, and even now, there are still people who blindly follow her, as if they’ve been brainwashed. At this time, if she comes out and apologizes, it’s equivalent to slapping those loyal fans who have no independent consciousness in the face. In this way, she’s in a lose-lose situation in this matter, so she can only show a little weakness and delete that Weibo post.”

“Of course I know!” Ye Xialan shook Jiang Chenyin’s hand and said angrily, “But I just can’t stand it. Why should she get away with it after she made my daughter be scolded?”

“How is she getting away with it?” Jiang Chenyin smiled faintly, her meaning deep.

Ye Xialan was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Jiang Chenyin said leisurely, “The three seniors I invited are all very experienced. If it were just for comparing the novel and the script, there would be no need to use them. The few teachers Miss Su invited were enough. She has been writing for so many years. She must be able to see that the purpose of those three seniors was not just to compare.

Besides, Jiayi was not involved in this matter, but I had someone use Jiayi’s official Weibo account to repost the Weibo posts of those three teachers. As long as she puts a little thought into it, she can basically guess what consequences she will face.”

Bo Muyu couldn’t help but clench her fists, her grip on the sofa armrest tightening.

Ye Xialan narrowed her eyes, stared at Jiang Chenyin’s smiling eyes, and suddenly shivered. “Are you saying that your Jiayi has blacklisted her?”

“What do you think?” Jiang Chenyin raised an eyebrow.

“Oh my god, Teacher Jiang! You’re amazing!” Ye Xialan shook Jiang Chenyin’s body a few times and said excitedly, “You’ve expressed your attitude. If others want to cooperate with you in the future, then she can’t be there! This is even more exciting than making her apologize!”

“Alright, alright, it’s exciting…” Jiang Chenyin quickly supported Ye Xialan, feeling as if she were about to be shaken dizzy, and said with a laugh, “Stop shaking me. If you’re so happy, then let me stay for dinner tonight as a reward.”

Ye Xialan waved her hand generously. “It’s a small matter. You can stay for a month… no, a year is fine.”

Jiang Chenyin pressed her lips together and smiled. “Then I can’t come every day. Your words are in vain.”

The two women chatted back and forth, and soon the topic shifted. Ye Xialan, as usual, complained in a plaintive tone that Jiang Chenyin wouldn’t let her touch her abs.

Bo Muyu’s gaze gradually became focused, resting on Jiang Chenyin’s side profile. The sunlight from outside the window made her smile even brighter and more dazzling.

Ye Xialan had not felt anything wrong with Jiang Chenyin’s arrangements, because the friendship between the two families had been maintained for more than a decade. Just as Ye Xialan had once said, Jiang Chenyin was like a daughter to her, caring for and loving her without reservation.

No matter how she changed, as long as she was by Jiang Chenyin’s side, in her subconscious, she would always be a child.

And a child could not be a lover.

This was the part that Bo Muyu was most unwilling to think about. Her vision suddenly blurred, and the laughter of Ye Xialan and Jiang Chenyin gradually faded away. She unconsciously bit her lip, burying her pain and expectations in the deepest part of her heart.

On the day she returned to work at the company, no one greeted her from the moment she walked in. Everyone hurried past her, some with blank expressions, and more with a hint of embarrassment in their eyes.

Especially Yang Qian. A man of over 1.8 meters, he didn’t even dare to breathe when he faced her, his eyes darting away.

Unfortunately, Yang Qian was in the same elevator as Bo Muyu again this time. The others were almost squeezed together, and there was a circle around Bo Muyu as if she had a glass cover, creating a distance that no one approached.

When they reached their floor, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Just then, Bo Muyu’s briefcase lifted slightly, blocking Yang Qian.

The scene was so quiet that you could almost hear a heartbeat.

“Screenwriter Bo…”

Bo Muyu’s eyes were calm as she said to him in a placid tone, “I told you, you will pay the price for that mouth of yours sooner or later.”

Just as the elevator doors opened, she strode out. Yang Qian, behind her, looked timid and didn’t even dare to look at her retreating back again.

After resuming her work, Bo Muyu went to her office to put down her bag and then went to Su Man’s office. From the time she entered her own office to the time she came out, only the female colleague who had spoken up for her gave her a thumbs-up. Other than that, no one dared to meet her gaze.

“Xiaoyu, welcome back,” Su Man said, standing in the middle of her office and smiling at her.

Bo Muyu’s face was calm, a slight smile on her lips. “President Su, you’ve worked hard during this time.”

“You’re being too formal,” Su Man sighed with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go and sit and chat.”

They went to the sofa and sat down. Su Man sat on the single sofa and instructed her assistant to get Bo Muyu a coffee.

“This incident was really a close call,” Su Man couldn’t help but sigh. “The other party’s groundless slander has put you and the actors of the God of War crew under a lot of public pressure. You’ve been wronged.”

Bo Muyu shook her head gently. “It’s nothing. Many unexpected things happen in life. Since I’ve entered this society and chosen this job, I have to accept all the returns it brings me. Besides, this incident is also a gain.”

Su Man asked with a smile, “You’re not angry?”

Bo Muyu let out a low laugh. “There’s nothing to be angry about. Just as you said, there are all sorts of people in this world. You don’t have to care.”

After she finished, she reached for her coffee cup, lowered her head slightly, and took a sip. Her calm aura became more and more mature, and her clear eyes were somewhat bottomless. She was as quiet as before, but not as childish and weak.

Su Man was in a daze for a moment. The Bo Muyu in a suit before her overlapped with the introverted and scholarly Bo Muyu from before, and she couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.

She quickly shook her head, sighed with a mixture of joy and sorrow, and changed the subject. “But I really didn’t expect President Jiang to use those senior seniors. When I was making my plans, I was thinking of making a comparison to let everyone see what the truth was. But I never thought of counterattacking, because the top priority at that time was to get a result.”

Hearing this, Bo Muyu frowned, her eyes deep, her fingers gripping the coffee cup.

“President Jiang’s move was really killing two birds with one stone,” Su Man praised. “The bad habits in the industry have been repeatedly banned but not stopped. Those three seniors have publicly expressed their views before, but they have never come forward for anyone. They are very hard to invite.”

“I know,” Bo Muyu said in a low voice.

Su Man smiled and ended her thoughts on Jiang Chenyin’s arrangements with one sentence, “President Jiang really spoils you.”

No one knew better than Bo Muyu how much Jiang Chenyin spoiled her, and no one understood that she was bound by this affection. She could not truly grow into an adult in Jiang Chenyin’s heart, could not express her feelings, and could not be chosen as a lover.

She couldn’t go on like this. She didn’t know what the future would hold, but she was unwilling to give up when there was still hope.

In the afternoon, Jiang Chenyin came to pick her up from work. She sat in the car and watched her walk out with a female colleague.

The female colleague’s expression was very sincere, and she was smiling as she spoke to Bo Muyu, even raising her fist and shaking it. Bo Muyu’s expression was placid, but it was obvious that she was listening attentively to the other person, a faint smile on her face.

It seemed they were colleagues from the same department. Jiang Chenyin watched with some interest.

“I knew you wouldn’t plagiarize. Those people are so mean!” the female colleague said happily as she walked side-by-side with Bo Muyu. “They were so sarcastic to you that day. Why can’t they even say a word today? A bunch of fence-sitters!”

“There’s no need to take it to heart,” Bo Muyu said with a soft laugh. “Thank you for speaking up for me that day. I didn’t cause you any trouble, did I?”

The female colleague smiled and said, “No, no. It was what I should have done. I’ve been working next to you for so long. I know how serious you are. And that author was talking nonsense without any evidence. I just felt that you definitely wouldn’t do that kind of thing.”

“That’s good.”

“Now that it’s over, don’t take it to heart. Let’s have dinner together another day.”

The two of them chatted as they walked. Bo Muyu spoke little but was very polite. She agreed to meet another day, and then got into Jiang Chenyin’s car.

Jiang Chenyin asked, “That female colleague seems to have a good relationship with you.”

Bo Muyu fastened her seatbelt and replied, “Mmm, she used to work next to me. She has a good personality.”

“Is that so? That’s good,” Jiang Chenyin said with a relieved smile. “It’s a good thing for you to make more friends.”

Bo Muyu looked up. In the dim car, Jiang Chenyin’s face was not clear. But even so, Bo Muyu could still feel the gentleness on her face, and the warmth in her eyes. These were all clearly engraved in her heart, so familiar that it made her happy and also sour.

“By the way, let’s go and see a movie after dinner tonight,” Jiang Chenyin suddenly turned her head and asked. “What do you think? Do you have any other plans?”

Hesitation flickered in Bo Muyu’s eyes. She gazed at Jiang Chenyin’s face through those emotions. Although they were very close, that one step could not be crossed no matter what. She longed for it, missed it, and the wish in her heart was so heavy that she could hardly breathe.

Jiang Chenyin reached out and pinched her nose. “Hmm? Why are you ignoring me?”

“Auntie Yin…” Bo Muyu finally said in a hoarse voice, her fingers as if to crush the seatbelt, “I want to move out.”