Standing Next To You
Chapter 140: Destroying Fei Chuan (2)

Chapter 140: Destroying Fei Chuan (2)

The entire morning passed without Bei Sangyun and her lackey returning to the classroom. Instead, it was a student from a different class who delivered Fei Chuan’s drink and snacks.

Fei Chuan stared at the note attached to the carton of milk.

[I’ll see you in the cafeteria at lunch.]

Fei Chuan: "...."

Bei Sangyun was intending to skip class? She had been lethargic in recent weeks, and now she was playing hooky. Her title of model student might be at risk of being stripped away.

"I heard Sangyun left earlier than us. Why isn’t she here yet?" Fei Chuan heard Richard asking Lin Sunji.

Lin Sunji glanced at the empty seat. "She must have cut classes. Anyway, I know a good restaurant near school--" Lin Sunji attempted to change the topic, but Richard remained fixated on Bei Sangyun.

"Is she allowed to cut class? Isn’t she a model student?" Richard questioned.

"She is only a model student in name. I am the true definition of a model student," Lin Sunji emphasized.

"She must have gone somewhere to take care of something," Richard said meaningfully, casting a glance at Fei Chuan.

"If people find out she skipped some classes, won’t it affect her reputation?" Richard asked with feigned concern, turning to Fei Chuan, "Don’t you think so?"

Fei Chuan ignored him and continued to scroll through his phone. He didn’t need Richard to point out that Bei Sangyun had left to address the current rumors circulating online.

It was part of their deal to have Bei Sangyun take care of any kind of bullying on his behalf. She had promised to shield him using her name and influence. She was just fulfilling her part of the agreement.

Still, it irked him that this guy, who knew nothing about him and Bei Sangyun, talked as if he had them all figured out.

Richard must be thinking that he was relying solely on Bei Sangyun and was mocking him for it. Fei Chuan scoffed. He was not that helpless to depend only on Bei Sangyun.

He accessed his online account and logged into the school forum. There, he found the post about him. Judging by the post and the leading comments, it was obvious that they were targeting him maliciously.

Fei Chuan wasn’t a fool. For someone to figure out his identity meant that the other party had influence and money to dig around. And since it happened at this time, it was obvious who the culprit was.

As he was about to hack the school forum to delete it, the post suddenly disappeared.

Fei Chuan refreshed it, but the post had vanished in a flash.

His lips slowly curved upward. There was only one person who would delete the post for him.

Bei Sangyun must have started her move.

Well, since she was working hard, he should also do his best.

He messaged Grandma Pei.

[Grandma, please send my laptop through Driver Wang.]

.....

"You can’t trace back who bought the accounts?" Bei Sangyun, who had not returned to the classroom the entire morning, was personally handling Fei Chuan’s rumors.

The lackey sweated at Bei Sangyun’s question.

"The hacker I found said that the anonymous person who bought the dummy accounts left a virus. They weren’t able to trace it back because their own account got hacked too by the virus. They had to work for a long time before they could delete the virus and break through the firewall. However, the other party must have changed his IP address by then. After all, when they got in contact with the virus, the anonymous party must have been alerted."

Bei Sangyun frowned. It meant that the hacker that bastard hired was at least at a higher grade than an expert level, perhaps one of those ’godly’ classes when it comes to hacking.

The hacker that the lackey found was only able to delete the posts and trace the accounts that made the post and the most liked comments. But all of them were accounts from either alumni or those who transferred. In other words, they were either bought or hacked as well.

"Alright. Go and take a break."

Bei Sangyun knew that this was not enough to track down the anonymous party. She made a call to Butler Xin.

"Find the best hacker. Someone who can navigate firewalls and break through the virus quickly. I’ll send you the dummy accounts and trace it back to the person who bought them."

Butler Xin was already accustomed to Bei Sangyun’s straightforward instructions. He checked the emails and found the accounts were from school forums.

Butler Xin: "...."

He thought it was a very important request, perhaps involving transactions worth millions. But it was just a simple online skirmish between high schoolers?

"Do you know how much a godly class hacker costs? They are very expensive. Do you really want to waste money on this?"

"Just do it."

Butler Xin sighed defeatedly. "...Alright. Wait for at least a day or two."

"Make it soon." Bei Sangyun urged. She guessed that this was only the first wave.

That bastard wouldn’t just stop with circulating rumors online. They needed to find the person he hired and stop that person from spreading more information about Fei Chuan before this matter got out of hand.

Afterward, she would personally handle Richard on her own.

"Also, have the spy in the Fei family directly report to me. I have a mission for him."

Butler Xin: "...."

The Fei family again? Was all of this related to that boy?

"...Understood." Butler Xin could only sigh and follow Bei Sangyun’s orders.

*****

Fei Chuan arrived at the cafeteria with his laptop in his arms, scanning the room for his usual seat, only to find it empty. Bei Sangyun said to meet him at the cafeteria. Yet she still wasn’t here.

He settled at his regular table, choosing not to start eating but to open his laptop instead. Despite the lively atmosphere of students coming and going, the cafeteria fell into a hushed tone whenever someone’s eyes landed on Fei Chuan. Their not-so-subtle whispers filled the air.

"I just checked the forum. The post about him is gone. Do you think he paid someone to delete it?"

"He must be afraid that everyone will find out he’s from the Fei family. He doesn’t really fit into that prestigious family."

"What’s the point of deleting the post when everyone already knows? It just makes him look more guilty."

"Tsk. Seeing him makes me lose my appetite."

Fei Chuan ignored their blatant stares and mocking words, focusing on his computer screen.

"You’re alone. Where’s your seatmate gone?" An annoying voice interrupted from above.

Fei Chuan lowered his screen, casting a cold glance at Richard. The man smiled amiably, his blonde hair creating a halo effect that drew admiring gazes from the female students.

Fei Chuan frowned. He sensed that this troublemaker had come to stir up trouble for him.

"I thought you could speak French. Why the silence now? Oh, do you only know how to say those words and nothing else?" Richard asked with a friendly smile, as if joking with a friend. "Is the post in the forum true then? That you didn’t receive a proper education at a young age."

Fei Chuan considered responding to the childish provocation a waste of breath. He continued to focus on his laptop, busy with his work.

Richard leaned forward, deliberately lowering his voice.

"Geez. People will think you didn’t have any manners. They must not have taught you basic etiquette in that small village, right? Did you pick up their rudeness from those barbarians?"

Fei Chuan’s fingers paused, and his cold eyes locked onto Richard.

Richard leaned back, offering a friendly smile. "Are you really from the Fei family? I’ve heard a lot about that family. Every member is excellent. You’re very lucky to be born into that family."

Fei Chuan returned his gaze to his laptop, continuing to type. Richard’s provocation wouldn’t work on him.

Richard narrowed his eyes. Fei Chuan seemed more rational and patient than he initially thought, and it bothered him that he didn’t get the response he wanted.

Leaning closer again, Richard deliberately lowered his voice so only Fei Chuan could hear him.

"So it must be the reason you and Bei Sangyun are close. Did she find a comrade in you? You’re abandoned while she’ll be ditched any time once she fails to fulfill her purpose. She must see her disappointing future in you—"

Fei Chuan closed his laptop loudly, cutting off Richard. He stood up and gazed at Richard coldly. "Save the provocation for yourself. Douchebag."

Fei Chuan didn’t lower his voice or curse loudly, but it was enough for people at nearby tables to hear him. He left his table without eating.

Everyone was stunned at Fei Chuan’s sudden departure.

Richard sighed sadly and turned to the nearest classmate around him, "Did I say something wrong? I must have made him mad. I just wanted to comfort him."

His hurtful expression stirred sympathy among the students, especially the female students. One of them spoke passionately,

"It’s not your fault. People like him just feel inferior to you, so they won’t accept your words of comfort. Don’t mind people like him."

"But I must have made him mad," Richard sighed sorrowfully. "I just told him that there’s no need to be bothered about the rumors since they can’t be true. But he got mad."

"He’s mad because it’s true. Don’t concern yourself with someone like him. He’s useless and trash."

"Right. He’s got the guts to get mad at you when he’s the one leeching off the Fei family’s name and sullying their reputation."

The people around Richard became passionate as they cursed Fei Chuan in chorus.

Richard was laughing inside. It was really easy to destroy someone’s reputation, especially when that person was unfavored by everyone.