I was criticized on a dating reality show, but I retaliated and became an internet sensation.

As soon as I hung up, my phone started vibrating incessantly again.

It was Lan Manwen's phone call.

Shu Zi answered the phone, but before she could even speak, Sister Wen's urgent voice bombarded her:

"Shuzi! Shuzi, where are you?! Are you alright?! Are you hurt?! Speak up! Speak up!!"

"Sister Wen, I'm fine..." Her voice was still a little hoarse. "I'm not hurt, really."

"You're alright? You're really alright? Are you sure? That pervert didn't touch you? Didn't hurt you?"

Lan Manwen spoke rapidly, each word tinged with lingering fear, "I just saw it trending, I was terrified! Why didn't you answer your phone?! Were you trying to worry me to death?!"

"I...I was just taking a shower and didn't check my phone. I'm really fine, Sister Wen, don't worry." Shu Zi tried her best to make her voice sound calm.

"It's alright, it's alright..."

Lan Manwen visibly relaxed, but then his voice rose again.

"Where are you right now? You definitely can't go home! Are you at a hotel? Which hotel? How's the security? Send me your address, I'll be right there! Never mind, don't send it, tell me over the phone, I'm afraid your phone is being monitored!"

"I'm not at the hotel," Shu Zi whispered.

Lan Manwen pressed, "Then where are you? At a friend's house? Is it safe enough? If it's not safe enough, I..."

"Sister Wen," Shu Zi interrupted her, giving the name of a residential complex, "I'm in... Yunqi Platinum Yue."

On the other end of the phone, Lan Manwen's anxious voice suddenly disappeared, followed by a near-vacuum silence that lasted for five seconds.

Then, her voice rose, filled with disbelief and utter shock, even a slight stutter:

"W-Where are you? Yun-Yunqi Platinum Yue? How did you get there?! How did you get in there? You own property there? How come I didn't know?!"

Yunqi Platinum Yue is a name that resonates both inside and outside the industry.

Shu Zi pursed her lips and honestly confessed, "It's not mine, it's... Gu Yan's. He brought me here; it's safer here."

"Gu Yan's?! Yunqi Platinum Mansion is his property?!" Lan Manwen gasped, her voice trembling.

Immediately, she keenly grasped the more crucial issue, her voice suddenly rising, carrying a sense of collapse:

"So you're... living with him now? At his house? Just the two of you?! Tonight?!"

Shu Zi could imagine Sister Wen staring wide-eyed, clutching her chest, probably still spinning in circles.

She nodded slightly to the air, then, realizing the other person couldn't see her, whispered an "Mmm."

There was an even longer silence on the other end of the phone.

It went on for so long that Shuzi thought the signal had really been cut off, or that Sister Wen needed nitroglycerin.

"...Feed? Sister Wen? Are you alright?"

Lan Manwen finally regained her voice, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth, carrying a complex emotion of "the cabbage I've nurtured for years has not only been eaten by a pig, but the pig has also taken it all, pot and all."

"Shu, Zi".

Her voice was unusually "gentle" and "calm," yet it sent chills down Shu Zi's spine.

"You'd better come to the company tomorrow, immediately, right now."

"Then, word for word, from beginning to end, clearly and distinctly—"

"Explain this to me clearly!!!"

The call was abruptly ended.

Shu Zi looked at her phone, which had reverted to its lock screen, shrank her neck, and silently tucked it under her pillow.

Just as I put it down, my phone vibrated again under my pillow. It was Fang Ran.

"Zizi! Oh my god! Are you okay?! I saw it trending on social media! Where are you now? Are you safe? Do you want me to come over and keep you company?"

Fang Ran bombarded him with questions, while in the background, Qiao Yueke could be heard anxiously saying, "Let me say a few words too."

"I'm fine, Ranran, don't worry, I was just... startled."

"As long as it's safe, as long as it's safe!"

Fang Ran breathed a sigh of relief, then gritted her teeth, "Has that pervert been caught yet? He must rot in jail! He's disgusting! Are you with Gu Yan? He's definitely with you, right?"

"Hmm...he's here," Shu Zi said softly.

"That's good."

Fang Ran paused, lowered her voice, and said with a hint of teasing, "Wow, you've already made it big so quickly? Now you're at Yunqi Platinum Yue? Gu Yan, you're something else."

"Fang Ran!" Shu Zi's face flushed.

"Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore. You should get some rest and calm down. We'll talk again tomorrow. Call me anytime if you need anything; I'm always here for you!"

After hanging up Fang Ran's call, Qiao Yueke sent her a long voice message to comfort her, and Han Jingxue also sent a message.

She read and replied to each message, but after putting down her phone, she was left alone in the room, and that lingering fear and nausea resurfaced.

She curled up in the blankets, wrapping herself up tightly, but still felt cold.

Just then, the phone screen lit up again.

It was a WeChat message from Gu Yan.

"Don't worry about the trending topics, leave it to me, the lawyers are handling it."

"If you're scared, you can come over."

Shu Zi stared at the two lines of text, her fingertips hovering over the screen for a few seconds.

"Come over?" she muttered softly, her mind wavering, to go or not to go...

"Never mind," she thought, clutching her phone as she shrank back under the covers.

but……

She turned over, staring at the soft halo of light on the ceiling. The room was so quiet that she could hear her own heartbeat and the rustling of leaves in the night wind outside the window.

The horrific images from the daytime, along with the shocking words trending on social media, kept resurfacing in my mind.

The man's crazed eyes, the things he said, the things he touched...

Shu Zi suddenly closed her eyes and buried her face in the pillow.

The pillow had the light scent of the high-end laundry detergent that Gu Yan used at home. It was different from the cedar scent on his shirt, but it was clean and pleasant, which barely dispelled the chill that had crept into his heart.

But I still... can't sleep.

Frustrated, she rolled over again, picked up her phone, and the screen was still showing her chat with Gu Yan.

Fingers tapping on the keyboard:

"Who's scared? I'm not scared at all!"

After typing it, I stared at it for two seconds and felt that it sounded particularly like "protesting too much."

She deleted it and retyped it:

"understood."

After looking at it again, I still felt something was wrong, so I typed it again:

"oh."

The word "oh" looks awkward no matter how you look at it, carrying a bit of sullenness and awkwardness.

She stared at the word "oh," her finger hovering over the send button for a long time, but in the end she didn't press it. She shoved her phone under her pillow and pretended not to see it.

Never mind, I'll just pretend I fell asleep.

She lay back down, closed her eyes, and tried to count sheep.

One sheep, two sheep, three sheep… The man's face suddenly appeared…

"Ah!" Shu Zi suddenly opened her eyes, her heart pounding.

No, I can't sleep at all.

She tossed and turned in bed like a fish in a frying pan, until finally she couldn't take it anymore. She threw off the covers, sat up, got out of bed barefoot, and walked to the door.

He put his hand on the doorknob, then stopped.

If I go there now, will he already be asleep?

But... it's really hard to be alone...

Never mind, he was the one who asked her to come over!

Just as she was struggling with this dilemma, there was a light knock on the door twice.