Chapter 221: No Zhou Xinran Here, Zhou Yi Next Door Never Knew

Clang! Zhou Yi looked at his phone; Zhou Xinran had replied to his message.

"Actually, I really am not that good-looking..."

Zhou Cainiao was quite humble, but then again, when a girl says she isn't good-looking, he certainly cannot say: "Yeah, you really aren't that good-looking."

It's just like when a girl says "I'm not angry," do you really think she isn't angry?

If a girl says "Oh my, I'm going to get angry now," then would you say she is angry or not?

After thinking it over, Zhou Yi planned to take a screenshot of the chat history to reply to that Mengnan Zhou, but upon looking, he discovered something was wrong.

Eh, where is the comment? Where is that long comment?

Zhou Yi, thinking his eyes had deceived him, scrolled through the comment section for a long time; it was truly gone. Did they delete it?

This comment definitely didn't violate any rules, so did they delete it themselves?

What is that Mengnan Zhou afraid of...

Zhou Mouren felt there was a problem here, a very big problem!

From a generally rational perspective, even if he told Zhou Xinran about this comment, so what?

The other party wouldn't be scared enough to delete the comment, would they?

Or could it be that the identity of this "Mengnan Zhou" is a bit special?

Honestly, that "Zhou" character really makes Zhou Yi think a lot, and nowadays many people often use alt accounts to pretend to be passersby.

For example, a certain basketball star who likes to drink bathwater is extremely skilled at using alt accounts to pretend to be a passerby.

So, could this be Zhou Cainiao's account... Mengnan Zhou?

Zhou Yi felt he had discovered a blind spot; he believed there was a fifty percent chance this was Zhou Xinran's alt account.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be such a coincidence!

With this matter on his mind, he had originally prepared to set off back to Lincheng, but at this moment, he opened his computer directly.

Mengnan Zhou, is it? The internet leaves behind many traces.

This is actually a form of Human Flesh Search, using the various traces you leave online to find out who you are.

Of course, there is also purely technical Human Flesh Search, but that is another matter entirely.

Zhou Yi began to search for Mengnan Zhou, and then he discovered that this matter was much simpler than he had imagined...

The Mengnan Zhou account on the small video site had all its updates and such deleted clean; this was normal.

But on other websites, Zhou Yi quickly found relevant information!

Renren Network, a social networking site that many have already forgotten; for many young adults, this place was once their youth.

Of course, Renren Network has long since become a thing of the past, but that doesn't stop many people from having left their dark history here.

At the same time, this was also the origin of many Human Flesh Searches back in the day.

The reason is simple: many people used Real-name Registration here.

Here, many people found out about their boyfriend's/girlfriend's past, and even followed the network to dig up their boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, or even ex-ex-girlfriend.

In short, it was bizarre and strange, and it was so exciting!

It's just that Zhou Yi never expected that Zhou Xinran actually used the name "Mengnan Zhou"!

Zhou Yi looked at the information he found, looking at the still-naive Zhou Cainiao in that Photo with a slightly non-mainstream vibe, and laughed until he was about to burst.

Sure enough, those guys in suits and leather shoes you see today all have an unknown past.

Who could have imagined that Zhou Xinran, who is called a goddess every day now, had such a history...

Although there was only one Photo, the content inside was quite substantial; Zhou Cainiao's updates were full of all sorts of emotional expressions.

Actually, in terms of age, Zhou Xinran should have used QQ more, but perhaps she had a wider range of exposure...

For the specific situation, one can refer to the QQ Space of various young adults, and look at those pretentious, angst-filled things from back then.

Yet, at the time, many people thought those words were very cool...

However, when we look back after growing up, really, it's enough to trigger a cringe attack; that is a dark history that absolutely cannot be seen by outsiders.

Some people even stayed up all night to delete all their old updates!

Interesting, it couldn't be more interesting; to be honest, Zhou Yi's current behavior is exactly the initial behavior of many Human Flesh Searches.

Prying into others' dark history, especially this type of dark history, really gives one an inexplicable sense of excitement.

Of course, speaking of privacy, these actually cannot be counted as privacy, because they were published by the person themselves on the internet, and the internet space is an open platform by nature.

After browsing through it roughly, Zhou Yi stopped looking; he felt he should remind Zhou Xinran to delete this information as soon as possible.

Knowing that Mengnan Zhou was Zhou Xinran, Zhou Yi was very excited now, but he didn't intend to tell the other party.

What would be the point of telling her? It's better to be sneaky like this; that's much more stimulating.

Just as he was about to close the webpage, a thought suddenly popped into Zhou Yi's mind: he wanted to search for Lawyer Fang!

Lawyer Fang should have been the main user of Renren; this thing was originally aimed at the college student demographic.

In daily life, Lawyer Fang is just Lawyer Fang, but Lawyer Fang's past has always been like a fog.

Of course, when eating, Lawyer Fang would occasionally talk about things from the past, but they never connected, which made people very curious.

And now, once this thought popped up, it could not be suppressed.

Zhou Yi's brain was telling him not to search, not to search, that is Lawyer Fang, he would get in trouble!

But his hands had ideas of their own; he typed out the three characters Fang Xujing and clicked search.

Eh, there really is something; holy crap, is it this exciting!

In Zhou Yi's imagination, Lawyer Fang's college life should have been that of a top student who buried their head in books and focused solely on the law.

But looking at the updates here, Lawyer Fang was also a big shot in college, a true big shot!

Whether it was legal Debate, mock trials, or combat Sanda, basketball, or soccer, they had actually dabbled in all of them.

They were even the president of the college Sanda association.

It made even Zhou Yi's scalp tingle; a person in the legal profession actually went to play Sanda!

Should one say it's worthy of Lawyer Fang? Looking at the Photo of Lawyer Fang in his youth, that hairstyle, those muscles—honestly, Zhou Yi was worried that in court, he would "convince people with reason."

"If I beat up every lawyer who can talk better than me, am I the strongest lawyer?"

Having come through university himself, Zhou Yi knew very well how attractive such a prominent figure in university would be.

The little fangirls around him certainly wouldn't be few.

The key was that despite participating in so many extracurricular activities, his grades were still so good.

Not daring to take any more Photos, Zhou Yi closed the webpage directly; as for Lawyer Fang's affairs, he would let him tell them himself whenever he had the time.

It was just that Zhou Yi found it strange now; given Lawyer Fang's situation, he shouldn't be without a family at this point.

Yes, at the very least, Lawyer Fang was currently in a single state.

This was also something the few people around them slowly came to know; not even many colleagues at the law firm knew.

To summarize, Lawyer Fang was a strange person, an odd person, and a good person.

Shaking his head, Zhou Yi closed the computer; having peeked at the dark history of two lawyers today gave Zhou Mouren a great sense of satisfaction.

He opened Bilibili on his phone again and flipped through his previous videos; unsurprisingly, the account Mengnan Zhou had appeared many times.

On the video about the upstairs neighbor disturbing the peace, Mengnan Zhou commented: "That Lawyer Zhou is so pitiful, encountering such a client."

On the Ling Jie defamation case, Mengnan Zhou commented: "Just a passerby, sending hugs to Lawyer Zhou; as for his looks and such, they're actually alright."

There were quite a few comments similar to these, it was just that Zhou Yi hadn't noticed them himself in the past.

This comment wasn't conspicuous; it had fallen way down to the bottom almost immediately after being posted.

Zhou Yi wouldn't scroll all the way to the bottom to look at comments either.

So it was only until today that he discovered this secret!

How did that saying go? Behind every serious exterior, there is a repressed, quirky soul.

Looking purely at the surface, one really couldn't tell; that Zhou Xinran would actually have another side, Zhou Yi felt this matter was just too interesting.

He felt he could let Zhou Cainiao appear on camera more often in the future, and then incidentally see what kind of comments she would post.

Just thinking about it felt exciting...

But after the excitement, he still had to go; he packed his things, went downstairs, and Zhou Yi drove home.

He didn't encounter any weird trouble on the road this time, and because it wasn't a holiday, there was no traffic at all.

By the time it was late, Zhou Yi finally got off the Lincheng expressway.

It was already late today, and Zhou Yi didn't plan to go to the house today; it couldn't be lived in yet anyway.

He drove straight to the hotel he had booked long ago.

This hotel wasn't one of those star-rated ones; the reason he stayed here was purely to be closer to home.

He checked in at the front desk, and Zhou Yi quickly went upstairs to put his luggage away.

Having driven for a whole day and eaten instant noodles at a service area for lunch, he was already famished by now.

After thinking for a moment, he sent a message to Guan Yan.

"I've arrived in Lincheng, dinner tonight?"

After about a minute, a reply came from the other side: "Back? Great! Let's eat, I still have to get off work in a bit!"

"Alright, then I'll pick the place, and I'll notify you when I arrive. Do you need me to pick you up?"

"No need, no need! I'm meeting an idol here!"

Zhou Yi was relatively clear about what good food there was in Lincheng; the key was that he wanted something with strong flavors today.

There was a Chuan Province old-style hot pot restaurant outside his middle school back then; the spicy pot there was authentic—just thinking about it made him crave it. That was the place!

He drove straight there; there were already quite a few people by now, so he quickly grabbed a spot. He didn't even think about a private room; with two people, they would just sit in the main hall.

Then he sent the address to Guan Yan and started playing on his phone.

On the other side, Guan Yan, who had finally finished her work at the hospital, saw the address on her phone and saw the name of the restaurant.

"Chuan Province, old-style hot pot?"

Subconsciously swallowing her saliva, Guan Yan instantly felt a certain part of her body start to ache.

Of course she wanted to eat spicy food too, but...

Forget it, she would just order a yin-yang pot when the time came; who stipulated that Chuan Province hot pot couldn't have a yin-yang pot?

Not long after, Zhou Yi met Guan Yan; the two sides weren't actually that familiar with each other, but after one meal, their relationship had become much closer.

It was just that Zhou Yi found it strange that this girl came to a Chuan Province hot pot place and then didn't eat the spicy pot, choosing to eat the clear broth instead.

It even made the proprietress come out to take a peek.

"By the way, how is that Extortion case of yours going? The neighbor upstairs hasn't come to bother you?" Zhou Yi asked casually.

"They bothered me, but after a Warning from the police officer, they didn't dare to come again. I'm also preparing to move."

Zhou Yi nodded and didn't say anything else; Guan Yan wasn't someone who used cheats like him, so being able to reach this step was actually really good.

It was just a simple meal to express gratitude; after finishing the meal, Zhou Yi sent her home, while he returned to the hotel to sleep.

At nine o'clock the next morning, Zhou Yi left the hotel; he didn't drive, but instead just took a stroll to his Small Residential District.

Changing houses wasn't just a simple move; it involved the transfer of property rights, and the procedures involved were very complicated.

Previously, that Guo Hongtu had said the procedures were complicated and suggested not to change it, but Zhou Yi had directly hired a professional agency to handle it.

As long as you have the money, these so-called complicated procedures are not complicated at all, because no matter how complicated they are, there will be professionals to handle them for you.

It had already been completed some time ago.

Walking in the Small Residential District, it was different from before; there were quite a few neighbors greeting him.

"Hey Zhou Yi, you're back? Where are your parents?"

"Auntie Wang, my parents went out traveling. Yes, to Hannan Province; they just want to have a good time."

Greeting people along the way, he arrived downstairs at his building and first looked at the Elevator outside; it had already been installed.

The cost wasn't high, and the installation speed was fast, but it did indeed have an impact on the first floor.

Fortunately, the compensation was adequate, so no one had anything to say.

Taking the Elevator up to the sixth floor, Zhou Yi arrived at his door; before he even went in, he heard sounds coming from inside.

It seemed they were already at work.

Pushing the door open to enter, sure enough, there were a few craftsmen inside busy at work, and he could see that the progress was fast.

The floor tiles were being relaid, the walls had been redone, and they were working on things like the bed and wardrobes.

Seeing Zhou Yi enter, an old craftsman quickly said, "Young man, what are you doing? This place is under renovation, don't come in."

Zhou Yi had already pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed one over, and then smiled, "Old master, I'm a resident here too, just here to take a look at your renovation."

The old craftsman took the cigarette, and Zhou Yi immediately lit it for him, then lit one for everyone else in turn.

After this little gesture, everyone soon opened up.

It just so happened that the workers were also about to take a break.

"Let me tell you, young man, if you also want to renovate, then finding our Manager Du is definitely the right choice; the quality of the work is never a problem."

Huh? Zhou Yi was stunned upon hearing this: "Old master, aren't you working for Tian Zong?"

Tian Zong was that distant relative of his family; heaven knows how that relationship was even connected, something like your parents' cousin's cousin or other...

Anyway, Zhou Yi only knew he called the other party "Uncle," but as for what the actual relationship was, he didn't know.

He only knew before that the other party worked in home renovation, but as for what specifically he did, he didn't know.

He only heard that he seemed to be a contractor with a construction team under him.

And because of the relative connection, he had just handed the whole thing over to him.

"What Tian Zong? We just work for Manager Du."

The old craftsman took a deep drag of his cigarette and then said, "I remember now, the Tian Zong you mentioned must be the one who gave the project to our Manager Du."

Oh, Zhou Yi suddenly realized: "So he subcontracted it out, I see."

Subcontracting didn't seem like a big deal, as long as the work was done properly.

At his previous Company, Zhou Yi had seen too many things like this.

He thought for a moment and asked, "Then how much does this whole package cost?"

"Well, I live on the second floor below, and seeing you guys doing such a booming business, I was thinking about whether I should renovate too."

"This? This doesn't cost much. It's just a re-decoration; the water and electricity lines don't need to be moved. For this house, including labor and materials, it's about one hundred thousand."

"One hundred thousand? Does that include furniture and everything?"

"It's all included. We take on full-package jobs. The money is only so much, so it's impossible to use top-tier materials for you, right?"

"If your family wants it done better, you can spend a bit more money to use solid wood or those better types of wood; the quality will be no problem."

"Okay, I understand. Thanks, master. I'll contact you if there's anything else."

Zhou Yi turned and left his home, but he sighed in his heart.

He had originally thought that even if his "Uncle" was a bit of a scammer, it couldn't be too excessive, but he hadn't expected that this was even worse than just finding a random renovation company.

At the very least, a renovation company wouldn't directly slash a two-hundred-thousand project down to one hundred thousand!

It had been agreed upon at the beginning that the materials should be a bit better, and if the money wasn't enough, he could add more, but the materials had to be decent.

It didn't have to be the best; there's no such thing as "the best" in renovation.

Anyone who knows a little bit knows that in renovation, you can spend one hundred thousand, or you can spend one million!

And with a relative, because of that relationship, it's hard to handle.

If it were a stranger, he would have torn off the mask and had a falling out with them long ago, but a relative—even if the connection is terrifyingly distant—is still a relative.

He had to consider his parents' reputation; after all, he had moved to Jingzhou, and his parents still had to live here in the future.

So he couldn't just have a direct falling out.

It was worrying. Zhou Yi thought he should first talk to his parents and see what their plans were. He might have money, but he couldn't let people scam him like this.

Good morning, everyone. Here is a throat-soothing chapter. Thanks to Fubo, Desirseyo, Cappuccino, Yangzhimao, Book Friend 2017, A Barren Planet, Liufeng Canjian, Another Newbie, Feimaowuyu, Kelaidi. Thanks to the brothers for the tips, thank you.

Renovation by relatives has its pros and cons, and this is, of course, the worst-case scenario.

(End of chapter)