Embrace That Vampire - Chapter 15

“What is going on with these users, ‘I Want Peace and Quiet’ and ‘Just Getting By’?!”

Pei Yun felt as if he had been dealt a direct, critical blow to the heart.

He hadn’t even known he was trending on the “Hot Search” list until his classmates told him after he arrived at the classroom the next day. Remembering the couple he saw peeking at them, the boy at the entrance who stopped him for a photo, and those two girls with their strange comments—it all finally clicked.

He had to admit, it was a rather speechless misunderstanding.

He knew that a clarification was only a matter of time, so he wasn’t particularly worried. However, he hadn’t expected that by joining the crowd to browse the comments, he would end up making himself feel so miserable.

“I didn’t provoke them, did I?” Pei Yun’s brows were furrowed so deeply they could have crushed a fly. He poked at the screen and muttered, “Why are they saying such nasty things about me?”

It wasn’t just nasty; it was eyesore-inducing. He didn’t even want to glance at those words a second time.

“People on the internet are like that now. Behind a screen, they feel like no one can touch them. They become reckless and say the most vicious things imaginable.”

“Pei Bao, don’t mind them. Their brains are wired wrong. Keep reading; plenty of people have already recognized you and Professor Lu.”

Pei Yun quickly swiped past those two trolls and continued scrolling down:

[Comment]: I was so confused when I clicked the Hot Search. Is there a mistake? This guy was my high school classmate and is currently studying at Ningqing University. How is he some ‘minor celebrity’???

[Comment]: Is the person above from No. 3 High School? I thought I recognized him! This is shocking enough to last my mom ten thousand years—isn’t this Little Pei? Since when did he become a starlet?

[Comment]: ??? Is the gossip wrong?

[Comment]: The person sitting across from him looks so familiar too. I feel like I’ve seen him before.

[Comment]: What ‘Sugar Daddy’ nonsense? I’m seriously fed up. I’m from Ningqing University, and that’s a Distinguished Professor from our Biology Department! He’s a national treasure-level figure, okay?!

[Comment]: Wow, is it trendy for professors to start sponsoring young boys now?

[Comment]: ‘Wow’ your ass. Professor Lu is Pei Bao’s younger uncle!

[Comment]: He’s not a minor celebrity. Get to know Ningqing University’s campus heartthrob, Pei Yun. Junior in the School of Biology. Here’s a list of his scholarships over the years. He’s a future biological scientist, thank you!

[Comment]: ‘Pressing his warm face against a cold butt’? Who doesn’t know Professor Lu is always like that? Those of you making up stories for clout better watch out, or ghosts will cut your tongues out at midnight!

[Comment]: I beg you stupid marketing accounts—can you get your facts straight before chasing engagement? I’m done. One photo and you weave a whole saga. An uncle and nephew having dinner together can be twisted into a ‘Hot Search’ by you people.

[Comment]: If you have hands, please open Baidu and search for ‘Lu Que.’ If you don’t have hands, go borrow a pair. What kind of trash are you to insult the ‘Light of Ningqing’? You couldn’t catch up to him in eight lifetimes, okay?

[Comment]: My younger brother is at Ningqing University. I just asked—the two in the photo really are nephew and uncle! I’m kneeling… what kind of genes are these? How can they both be this good-looking?

[Comment]: I was wondering why we couldn’t dig up any info on this ‘star.’ Marketing accounts, just go die /smile.

[Comment]: Biggest joke of the day: A Ningqing professor and student were mistaken for celebrities and sent to the Hot Search because they’re too handsome. This is legendary. I’m saving this to laugh at for a whole year, hahaha.

[Comment]: If that minor celebrity who wasn’t photographed actually wanted to market themselves, they’d probably be coughing up blood right now. All the traffic was stolen by two passersby.

[Comment]: I’m back from Baidu. Being a Good Samaritan and posting the results here for everyone to see.

[/Image/ /Image/]

[Comment]: Holy crap… Head Professor at the Abnormal Research Institute? This is a bona fide scientist!

[Comment]: My mom just asked what I was doing. I said I was following gossip. Now she’s asking why I’m kneeling while following gossip. How should I answer? Urgent, waiting online!

[Comment]: Oh my god! I’m going to apply to Ningqing University! Nobody stop me!!!

[Comment]: Me too, but it’s ranked top three nationally and top thirty globally… my brain doesn’t seem to allow it. Damn it.

[Comment]: Other people’s seniors, other people’s professors. Everything belongs to ‘other people’ sob sob. Can I transfer universities? I’m also urgent, waiting online!

[@I Want Peace and Quiet] [@Just Getting By] Get out here and apologize, you idiots /smile.

[Comment]: Forget it. This kind of trash only pops up when they’re throwing dirty water on people. If they actually apologize, I’ll give everyone here a thousand dollars immediately.

Pei Yun scrolled for a long time, and as expected, “I Want Peace and Quiet” and “Just Getting By” never appeared again.

“Eh? It looks like those two deleted their comments,” the class monitor suddenly said.

Those two malicious comments had been pushed to the top of the “Hot” section by helpful netizens with an extremely high number of likes. When Pei Yun returned to the top, those two figures were indeed gone.

“People like this are so revolting. The cost of verbal attacks is so low.”

“Isn’t it just because they’re behind the internet? They think no one can do anything to them.”

“There were so many likes and exposures, and the retweets exceeded a thousand. We can sue them, right?”

“The comments are deleted, so how do we sue? Besides, it’s such a hassle. Their time isn’t worth anything, but ours is precious.”

Though they said that, thinking about those extremely vicious comments still made Pei Yun feel a bit stifled. It was a real mood-killer.

After a thought, he sent a message to Lu Que:

Beat the Little Monster: [Nudges.] Beat the Little Monster: [Is Uncle there?] . : [I’m here. Something wrong?] Beat the Little Monster: [Bad news. We were secretly photographed while eating at the Movie City restaurant yesterday.] Beat the Little Monster: [Pikachu rolling around.jpg] . : [I know.] Beat the Little Monster: [You know?! Then do you know about the Hot Search too?] . : [Mhm. I will handle it. You don’t need to worry, just focus on your classes.]

Wait, hadn’t the truth already come out? What else was there to handle?

Pei Yun wanted to ask more, but after hesitating over a line of text, he ended up deleting it all. Forget it; if his uncle said he would handle it, he must have his reasons. He shouldn’t annoy him further.

After classes ended in the afternoon, a light drizzle began to fall. Lu Que was waiting for him in the campus parking lot.

As Pei Yun climbed into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt, he suddenly remembered an internet meme:

— Uncle, it’s raining so hard and you came specifically to pick me up, even letting me sit in the passenger seat. Your wife wouldn’t get jealous if she knew, would she?

Visualizing the tone of voice, he successfully amused himself.

Lu Que glanced at him through the rearview mirror: “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” Pei Yun coughed and quickly composed himself. “Just thought of a joke.”

After driving for a while, Pei Yun soon realized something was wrong. This wasn’t the way home. “Uncle, aren’t we going back?”

“Going somewhere first,” Lu Que said.

Pei Yun thought Lu Que was taking him out to eat, but the car twisted and turned through several streets until it stopped in front of the police station.

Why come here? Who committed a crime?

Pei Yun was full of questions but didn’t dare ask. He followed Lu Que nervously into the station, frantically racking his brain to see if he had accidentally done anything illegal.

Letting a classmate copy homework shouldn’t lead to this, right?

As soon as they approached the office area, he heard a loud commotion of crying and shouting.

“It was just my kid being thoughtless! She really knows she was wrong now. Please, just let her go this once!”

“That’s not for us to decide. It depends on what the victim wants.”

“Wasn’t it just a few comments? They’ve been deleted, so it’s over. Why hold onto my ‘Nannan’ and not let go?”

“Heh! That’s an interesting way to put it,” a voice replied. “I guess because it wasn’t your kid being cyber-bullied and called such nasty names for no reason. You think the other kid isn’t hurt? Isn’t it unfair?”

Moving closer, Pei Yun finally saw two middle-aged women crying and making a scene. Standing next to each of them was a boy and a girl, both with red, teary eyes. They looked quite young—likely the children of the two women.

The police officer surrounding them saw Lu Que arrive and made a gesture toward the women. “Alright, stop making a scene with us. The victims are here. If you want a settlement, go ask them yourself and see if they’re willing.”

Before Pei Yun could fully grasp the situation, the two women rushed in front of him. “Young student, look, we’ve deleted the comments. The kids know they were wrong. Could you please just stop holding it against them?”

“That’s right. Things on the internet are fake anyway. Since no names were mentioned, you can just pretend they were scolding someone else.”

“You could even take it as a joke. Isn’t it normal for students to joke around with each other?”

Pei Yun looked at them, then at the two dejected kids standing behind them. One of them he had actually seen before—the boy who had stopped him at the restaurant entrance for a photo.

A sudden realization hit him. “Are your children the ones who insulted me on Weibo yesterday? ‘I Want Peace and Quiet’ and ‘Just Getting By’?”

The two women looked at each other, pursed their lips, and didn’t answer.

“It’s them,” Lu Que spoke from behind him. “He was also the one who initiated the photo upload. Originally, I planned to send a lawyer’s letter, but after tracking their IPs to Ningqing, I reported it to the police directly.”

So it was him, Pei Yun thought. He had originally suspected it was the two girls he met in the elevator.

“A lawyer’s letter?!” One woman’s eyes filled with terror. “How did it get to a lawyer’s letter? Wasn’t it just typing two lines on the internet? Do you really need to be this extreme?!”

“Exactly. Making a mountain out of a molehill. Is it really necessary?”

A young police officer nearby sneered. “Just typing two lines? You say it so lightly. Look at the screenshots. Are those things your son and daughter said even human? Once the retweets and exposure reach a certain amount, this is cyber-bullying, do you understand? It. Is. A. Crime.”

“Furthermore, posting someone’s photo online without the party’s permission—if we really pursue this, your children’s responsibility won’t be small.”

The woman muttered something under her breath in distress, then looked up with a flattering smile, trying again to seek a settlement. “Fine, fine. Even if it’s our children’s fault, they’re still young! They aren’t even adults yet. It’s normal for them to be thoughtless, right?”

“Yes, my kid isn’t eighteen yet. He has the college entrance exams next year. He can’t have a criminal record at a time like this!”

“My kid is even younger, only sixteen this year!”

The two teenagers began to sob and wail, wiping their eyes.

Pei Yun thought of those comments from earlier today and remembered how arrogant the boy had been the day he stopped him. He rubbed his nose, finding it impossible to feel any sympathy.

Seeing no reaction from Pei Yun, the two women simply grabbed their children and pulled them in front of him, shouting sharply, “Alright, alright! What are you crying for? Hurry up and apologize to this older brother!”

“Nannan, hurry and apologize! Say you didn’t mean it, say you know you’re wrong and won’t do it again! Hurry up!”

The more they yelled, the harder the children cried. Their shoulders shook so much they couldn’t speak, and as they were shoved forward, they almost bumped into Pei Yun.

Pei Yun instinctively tried to back away, but Lu Que stepped forward first, pulling Pei Yun behind him and shielding him protectively.

Without even looking at the chaotic group, Lu Que spoke in a deep voice to the officer: “We do not accept a settlement.”

The officer signaled his understanding. Before he could speak, the two women started screaming again. “Why won’t you settle? Aren’t you a professor? Aren’t you supposed to educate people? How can you have the heart to do this to two minors!”

“One of you is a college student and the other a professor. You’ve received so much education—can’t you be a bit more broad-minded? Why do you have to cling to such a small matter and not let our children go?”

“My apologies. I am a professor at Ningqing University, but your children are not my students. And judging by your methods of upbringing, they are unlikely to ever be my students in the future.”

Lu Que looked down at them, his tone cold and indifferent. “And here today, I am just like you—I am a guardian.”

“Your children are minors, but my ‘kid’ only turned eighteen two years ago. He has no obligation to pay the price for your children’s so-called ‘thoughtlessness.'”

“We do not accept a settlement. There must be an apology, but it doesn’t need to be oral. They can apologize exactly where they insulted him. For the rest, we will follow legal procedures. There will be compensation where required, and records will be filed where necessary.”

“No one’s child is born to suffer grievances, and do not expect others to be magnanimous toward your children.”