Chapter 1163: Because I love you, I am willing to take a step back

It was said to be "just a moment," yet it took over ten minutes.

Shi Ran typed the final line of code, closed her laptop, and said in a relaxed and cheerful tone, "Done!"

She turned around, saw the thermal food jar Qi Heng had placed on the table, and exclaimed happily, "Oh, did you bring me something good? Let me see what it is."

Recent events did not seem to have affected her, and Qi Heng breathed a sigh of relief.

He did not tell Shi Ran about his phone call with his mother; such things could not be spoken of, and they had to be kept hidden—hidden for as long as possible, preferably until the end of time.

"Guess. You only get to eat it if you guess right."

"Fish maw chicken soup."

"You guessed right. I'll serve it for you."

This was a little bit of fun between the two of them; the soup Qi Heng was best at was fish maw chicken soup—not just best at, it was the only soup he knew how to make.

The lid of the thermal jar was lifted, and the fragrance of the chicken soup wafted out.

The broth was rich, the chicken was tender, the fish maw was wobbly, and there wasn't a single drop of oil on the surface of the soup—it was all nutrition and not easy to gain weight from!

"Delicious!"

Shi Ran took a sip of the soup and did not skimp on her praise: "It's so delicious. How are you so amazing? You can do everything, and your soup-making skills are even better than my Xi Fu's."

That was an exaggeration.

Although Gu Zhihao was petty and had a whole basket of flaws, his cooking skills were extraordinary, and Qi Heng hadn't even learned the basics from him.

But that didn't matter; what mattered was that Qi Heng liked to hear such things!

Men from L Country were more or less chauvinistic; if their girlfriend was more capable than them, even if they didn't say it, they would feel pressure.

Shi Ran was far more capable than him.

To look after Qi Heng's emotions, she would praise her boyfriend for many details and small things to satisfy him psychologically.

"If you like drinking it, I'll make more tomorrow. By the way, what were you working on just now? It didn't look like homework."

If he hadn't asked, she wouldn't have brought it up on her own.

But now that he asked, she told him: "I've sealed all of that person's accounts so he can't stir up trouble everywhere."

"That person" referred to Wu Hao.

The rumors spreading wildly online were all instigated by Wu Hao.

His attainments in computer science were not bad either; although he wasn't as skilled as Shi Ran, he was still a computer expert.

Wu Hao used several alternate accounts to expose videos of himself pursuing Shi Ran on several well-known domestic and foreign websites, but he didn't mention much about being beaten up.

He was a paranoid person; once he set his mind on something, he would definitely go down that path to the end, never turning back even if he hit a wall.

No, that's wrong—he wouldn't turn back even after hitting the wall.

He would keep hitting it until either the wall collapsed or he did!

Hearing that all of this was caused by Wu Hao, Qi Heng felt his teeth itch with anger: "It really is this bastard. It seems I didn't hit him hard enough last time; he hasn't learned his lesson."

A flash of ruthlessness crossed Qi Heng's eyes, vanishing in an instant, but it was caught by Shi Ran.

"What are you planning to do? I'm telling you not to do anything reckless. This is Jiangzhou, not your L Country. This is a place that values the rule of law; you can't just do whatever you want."

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle it very cleanly."

"No, I object. If anything happens to Wu Hao, I'm breaking up with you."

Qi Heng was astonished: "Ranran, how could you be like this? You'd actually break up with me for someone like that?"

Shi Ran: "I'm doing it for him? I'm doing it for you."

In Jiangzhou, one should not harbor any delusions; illegal things cannot be done, and doing them will not lead to a good outcome.

He was angry at first, but after being stopped by his girlfriend and thinking about it, he realized this was the truth.

But he was still filled with indignation: "Are we just going to let him off so easily?"

Shi Ran held his hand, looked into his eyes, and said with a firm gaze: "Leave this matter to me. Rest assured, I will handle it very well."

"Hmm."

He nodded; it wasn't that he didn't trust her, he just wasn't reconciled.

The next day.

Early in the morning, Wu Hao received an expulsion notice from the academy.

He refused to accept it and found the Dean of Academic Affairs: "On what grounds are you expelling me? You people are all petty, kneeling and licking the boots of the Qi Family just because they are rich and powerful, looking down on us commoners..."

The Dean of Academic Affairs directly took out a stack of A4 paper and slapped it in front of him: "Take a look, is this what you did?"

He picked it up and looked, flipping through the pages rapidly.

His face was like an overturned palette, turning bright red one moment and deathly pale the next.

On it were all the comments he had posted online.

Including all his alternate accounts—not a single one escaped.

As a hacker, being exposed and having all his actions laid bare in broad daylight...

It was like a very shy person walking naked through a crowd in public!

He was so ashamed he didn't know where to hide.

He roared temperately: "This is too much! What you're doing is too much! You've violated my privacy rights; I'm going to sue you in court!"

The Dean of Academic Affairs...

The work he did was inherently a job that offended people, and everyone he dealt with was difficult.

Students who were expelled displayed all kinds of behavior.

There were plenty of hysterical ones.

But for someone to violate others' privacy and then loudly and indignantly clamor to sue others for violating their privacy—Wu Hao was the first person in history to do so!

"Go ahead and sue, be off with you, I won't see you out."

"Bang!"

Wu Hao left in a rage.

He went to find a Lüshi, preparing to go to court to file a complaint, suing both Qi Heng and the school, suing them all together!

These people were going too far, they were all bullying him.

He didn't feel that prying away someone else's girlfriend, or even a fiancée, was wrong at all, because love is free!

Even if he was rejected, continuing to harass them wasn't wrong either, because there is no right or wrong in love.

But Qi Heng hitting him was wrong!

It was simply bullying others by relying on one's power; he was poor and he was a vulnerable group, so he should be sympathized with and protected.

But since the country didn't support him, he climbed over the firewall to post on foreign website forums, where he received enthusiastic support from foreign netizens.

He really enjoyed this feeling of being approved of and worshipped.

As a result, before he had enjoyed it for long, such a private matter was exposed; this was an invasion of his privacy!

All of his logic revolved entirely around himself.

He believed he was absolutely correct; those who agreed with him were his followers, and those who didn't agree with him were "evil forces" or people kneeling and licking the "evil forces."

To put it plainly, Wu Hao was a typical selfish, thorough egoist.

Plus paranoid and arrogant.

The Lüshi Wu Hao found was an upright person who hated evil as much as he hated a personal enemy.

Having practiced for decades, he would never do anything against his conscience for the sake of money.

After listening to his lawsuit, the Lüshi took this matter very seriously!

If it were truly as he said himself, that it was "evil forces" bullying others by relying on their power.

Then the Lüshi would be a warrior upholding justice, absolutely refusing to bow to evil forces!

However, everything must be based on evidence; one cannot just say whatever one wants with empty words.

The Lüshi went to the school in the afternoon to investigate, found the Dean's office, and explained his purpose.

Originally, the Dean didn't want to blow this matter out of proportion; Wu Hao's family was ordinary, and it wasn't easy to raise a university student.