After several all-nighters, Star Pirate Wars finally began to take shape.

In front of the computer screen, Yan Su smiled with satisfaction and sent a small portion of it via email to Hou Jun.

Once done, he stretched.

As his shirt slightly lifted, the faint outline of his lean waist was revealed.

Suddenly, an inappropriate sound broke the silence.

“Grumble—”

His stomach, after being empty for days, was now protesting.

Yan Su rubbed his flat stomach, then pushed off the bed with his hands, his long body gracefully landing on the floor in one swift motion.

After quickly washing his face and brushing his teeth, he stood in front of the mirror, smoothing out the creases in his sleeves before grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

It was late May, and the humid and scorching air was somewhat uncomfortable. Cicadas chirped loudly from the sycamore trees lining the streets. Yan Su hailed a cab in front of Yun University and headed straight for Cloud Plaza in the city center.

After eating vegetarian food for so long, he figured he deserved to reward his stomach.

He ordered enough food for two people at a restaurant on the top floor, ate until he was full, and then leisurely strolled around the mall.

With electronics advancing rapidly these days, he noticed the release of a new laptop model from the brand that the original Yan Jia Le loved, and he didn’t hesitate to buy one.

He couldn’t abandon the original’s hobbies.

After the purchase, the compensation money he had swindled out of Shi Zhuowen a few days ago was already halved.

Money really flies, he thought to himself. I need to start earning again soon.

Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard a familiar name.

“Jiaoyue, this is the latest phone from XX. Look at how beautiful the design is! The rest of our dorm already has it; I can’t be left behind. But I don’t have enough allowance. Can you lend me some?”

Hearing the familiar name, Yan Su paused and glanced to the side.

The girl in a light green T-shirt had eyes brimming with excitement, staring at a rose-colored phone behind the counter with such longing that it was about to overflow.

Standing awkwardly behind her was none other than Yan Jiaoyue.

Yan Jiaoyue felt deeply uncomfortable at that moment.

She hadn’t expected her stepsister, Gong Nanxi, to ask her out shopping only to try and get her to buy such an expensive phone.

She glanced at the familiar phone model, and a wave of pain gripped her heart.

That very phone was the one Yan Jia Le had once given her as a birthday gift, only to later take it back.

She gripped her old phone in frustration, biting her lower lip as a trace of resentment flickered in her eyes—

That stingy jerk.

Gong Nanxi continued, pestering her while clinging to her arm and whining, “Jiaoyue, my dear sister, please lend me a little money, okay? I’ll pay you back as soon as I get my allowance next month…”

Yan Jiaoyue frowned, her gaze landing on the price tag, almost blinded by the string of glaring 9s.

She swallowed hard, her face filled with embarrassment, stammering, “Nanxi, my allowance is almost gone too… I don’t have the money to lend you…”

She felt her cheeks flush with heat as she noticed the contemptuous look from the sales clerk.

Gong Nanxi’s face darkened, and her sweet tone immediately turned sharp.

“Yan Jiaoyue, don’t act ungrateful. You and your mother are both living off my dad now. Do you dare not lend me money? Believe me, I’ll go straight to my dad and tell him you bullied me!”

Yan Jiaoyue came from a single-parent family. Years ago, after her mother divorced, she moved from a small town to Yun City, where she remarried the owner of a furniture factory, Gong Xiang.

Until she started college, Yan Jiaoyue lived with her father and only reconnected with her mother in the same city after starting school.

Gong Nanxi was the daughter of Gong Xiang and his ex-wife.

She was vain, extravagant, and spent money recklessly, which led her father to cut down her allowance.

As a result, she frequently extorted money from Yan Jiaoyue, threatening her when she refused.

“You’re just a burden from the countryside, yet you dare refuse me? Watch how I teach you a lesson…”

The more Gong Nanxi spoke, the nastier her words became. Yan Jiaoyue looked around in a panic, hastily covering Gong Nanxi’s mouth.

“Stop talking, I’ll figure something out.”

Her slender fingers tightened, the veins showing as she hesitated, until she spotted a familiar figure in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat.

“Jia Le—”

The girl’s soft voice clearly reached Yan Su’s ears.

Without looking back, Yan Su quickened his pace, intending to leave.

But in the next second, his arm was unexpectedly grabbed.

“Jia Le, can you lend me some money? My sister has an urgent need.” Yan Jiaoyue looked at him pitifully.

Doubt flashed in Yan Su’s eyes. If he remembered correctly, she still hadn’t returned the gift she owed him. Who gave her the courage to ask him for money now?

“No.”

He coldly spat out the words.

Then, effortlessly, he pried off the icy, slippery hand Jiaoyue had wrapped around his arm.

Yan Jiaoyue’s face instantly turned pale, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Jiale, why? I thought we still had something between us. Have you forgotten the past three years…”

“For the past three years, I’ve given you many gifts, but you ended up with Su Ye. When do you plan to return what doesn’t belong to you?”

Yan Su looked at her, expressionless, like a cold and unfeeling debt collector.

He pulled out his phone, tapped the screen, and suddenly, a payment code appeared in front of Yan Jiaoyue.

“I’m short on money recently. You can just pay me back in cash.”

In the plot, Yan Jiaoyue had been blackmailed by Gong Nanxi, losing all her living expenses and unable to afford food, which led her to take up a job at a club where she ended up having a relationship with a drunken Su Yi.

When Su Yi sobered up, he felt guilty and instructed his assistant to send her some money as compensation.

However, Yan Jiaoyue, being fiercely proud, firmly refused. She didn’t want to turn into someone like Yan Jing, who only knew how to spend men’s money, and she certainly didn’t want to entangle herself financially with her ideal man.

So when she was fired by her supervisor and had no source of income, she chose to borrow money from her devoted admirer, Yan Jiale.

And Yan Jiale really did lend it to her.

After all, she was the girl he had secretly loved for three years. He couldn’t just watch her starve.

Of course, when he later found out that Yan Jiaoyue was the one who ruined his eldest sister’s marriage, he almost regretted it to death.

That night, when he returned to the dormitory, Duan Hui, the dorm leader, threw a link at him with a cold expression.

Yan Su raised an eyebrow, puzzled, and clicked into the campus forum.

At the very top of the screen, glaring red letters immediately caught his eye:

“Expose: The Computer Science Genius Is Actually a Stingy and Heartless Lowlife”

After a moment of thought, he quickly realized that the “computer science genius” mentioned in the title referred to him.

“Everyone knows that our school’s computer science genius, someone named Yan, is a true prodigy. Not long after entering his freshman year, he landed an internship at a prestigious company thanks to his exceptional programming skills. Over the past three years, his grades have consistently ranked first, and he’s been raking in scholarships year after year.”

“According to some sources, although Yan comes from humble beginnings, his sister graduated from a top university and married into a wealthy family. Her husband is the CEO of a publicly traded company, a powerhouse in the business world.”

“Yan has both talent and connections. Not only does he outshine us mere mortals in intelligence, but he’s surely not short on cash either.”

“However, his behavior is seriously low-class. He dated a girl from his class for three years, and she was head over heels for him. But just before graduation, Yan broke up with her after being introduced to the wealthy daughter of some magnate by his sister. He immediately started pursuing the rich girl.”

“If that wasn’t bad enough, after the breakup, this lowlife demanded that his ex-girlfriend return all the gifts he gave her during their relationship in cash, or else he’d send a lawyer’s letter to sue her.”

“The poor girl, still heartbroken from the breakup, now has to deal with Yan’s ruthless demands. She’s been crying in her dorm for several nights.”

…

“This is a deliberate smear campaign against me?”

Yan Su scrolled through the post quickly, scanning its contents.

“The love life of the computer science genius,” “a poor boy who despises the poor and fawns over the rich,” “cheating and then demanding his ex-girlfriend return gifts”—these hot topics were all mixed together, and the post’s popularity soared rapidly.

Not only did it shock the university’s students, but more and more vile comments began flooding the forum.

Almost all of them were directed at insulting Yan Jiale.

Hidden behind the anonymity of the internet, these people acted like rats crawling out of the sewers, leaping at the chance to drag Yan Jiale down from his pedestal.

Duan Hui, watching from his desk as his roommate was cursed out online, grew more and more furious, his presence becoming increasingly oppressive.

Unable to hold back, he began typing on the keyboard, getting into heated arguments with others.

“Jiale, should I delete the post?” His voice trembled with anger.

“No need.”

Yan Su shook his head, quickly forming a plan in his mind.

“Let them curse. Leave the post up. There might be a surprise in a few days.”

Duan Hui looked up in shock, his mouth agape, staring at Yan Su in confusion.

“You’re not mad?”

Yan Su smirked, the corners of his lips curling: “What’s there to be mad about? Most of the content in the post is fake. I’ve never dated Yan Jiaoyue for three years, nor do I know any rich heiress named Gui. But the person behind this post seems to know a lot about my situation, fabricating a plausible-sounding story out of thin air. This is definitely the work of someone familiar with me.”

Duan Hui slapped his thigh in sudden realization.

“Su Ye!”

Yan Su narrowed his eyes: “For him to resort to such petty tricks, he must be desperate, going all in. Getting worked up over this would be like playing a lute to a cow.”

“But the comments are really harsh,” Duan Hui muttered, glancing at the screen, where the insults were overwhelming.

He nearly exploded with anger.

Yan Su, on the other hand, remained unfazed: “Don’t worry. I can resolve this. We just need to wait a few days. The harsher they insult me now, the more sincere their apologies will be later.”

With that, he headed into the bathroom.

Duan Hui sat at the computer, bewildered, a question mark slowly forming over his head.

Was he too slow? Why couldn’t he understand what Yan Su was saying?

A week later, Yan Jing invited Yan Su out to meet at the same café as last time.

It was drizzling outside when Yan Su walked in, and Yan Jing was already seated in her usual spot, having been waiting for a while.

Her head was bowed, sunglasses covering half her face, her back slightly hunched, like a wounded mother beast, helpless.

Seeing her state, Yan Su immediately had a hunch.

“Sis, did you find out about Su Yi cheating?”

According to the plot, Yan Jiaoyue had taken up a job at a club, where she encountered a heavily drunk Su Yi.

Su Yi, in his intoxicated state, dragged her into a room with the intent of doing something inappropriate. Yan Jiaoyue, infatuated with him, certainly wouldn’t let such an opportunity slip by and went along with it.

Thanks to his foresight of the storyline, Yan Su had secretly installed a camera in that room.

Now, he held a clear video of Yan Jiaoyue and Su Yi.

“I’m going to divorce him.”

Yan Jing’s hoarse voice broke the silence.

Yan Su was momentarily taken aback, but quickly understood, giving her a look of empathy.

She slowly raised her head, her slender fingers gently pulling off her sunglasses, revealing a pair of swollen, red eyes. Despite the makeup covering them, they were still strikingly obvious.

Yan Su sighed softly, handing her a tissue: “Don’t worry. You still have me, our second sister, and our parents. We’re your family, your strongest support.”

Yan Jing sniffled, suddenly burying her face in her arms and crying.

Her sobs, growing louder, mingled with the soft patter of the rain outside, forming a sorrowful symphony.

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