Chapter 23: The Conspiracy Begins to Emerge (Part 2)

Wang Shifu Xiaochao is a Shandong-style stir-fry restaurant on the snack street near Nandu University of Technology. The dishes are very authentic, and since three people in Sun Cheng's dormitory are from the north, they often come here to eat.

Because the internet speed was truly too slow, Sun Cheng ran out of the dormitory without even turning off his computer.

By the time he arrived, it was peak dining hour. After walking around the shop and seeing that the fourth-eldest hadn't arrived yet, he picked a table in a conspicuous spot and sat down.

There was no helping it; his mobile phone was still in the world of the Decepticons, and in this modern society, it is truly too difficult to find someone when you go out without a phone.

"Ordering?"

Sun Cheng had just sat down when a staff member walked over with a menu.

Since he didn't have much money left on him, he only ordered four dishes—one cold, two vegetable, and one meat—and then stopped.

Not long after the cold appetizer was served, Sun Cheng, who had been keeping his eyes on the entrance, suddenly brightened. When he saw a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses and looking slightly chubby walk in, he quickly stood up to greet him: "Fourth-eldest, over here..."

The slightly chubby man in glasses was named Li Meng, and he was also one of the good friends who had originally been in the same dormitory as Sun Cheng.

Li Meng nodded at him as a greeting and walked over in a few steps to sit opposite him. "Why is your phone turned off again?"

"I was in a bad mood last night, got stifled in the dorm with two bottles of Xiao Su, and smashed my phone!" Sun Cheng had no choice but to bring out this excuse again.

Li Meng glanced at him but didn't press for more details; after all, they had been roommates for years, and he knew how much Sun Cheng could drink.

After they sat down and chatted for a few moments, the dishes were all served quickly. Li Meng had a rather impatient temperament; after picking at a few dishes, he lost his patience and asked him directly: "You asked me out at this hour, it wouldn't be because you want to earn some money from me to fix your phone, right? It's already the middle of the month; I can scrape together three or five hundred for you, but I really don't have any more!"

It turned out he had taken this invitation as a request to borrow money!

Sun Cheng wanted to tease him like in the past, but since it really is easy to hurt feelings when an acquaintance owes money, he shook his head and denied it directly: "Nothing like that, I'm not fixing my phone for the time being; I'll fix it in a few days!"

Although he spoke subtly, Li Meng seemed to understand. After calling the waiter to order two bottles of beer, he wore an expression of sudden realization: "Your birthday is in a few days, I know, it's your older sister coming, right!"

At the mention of Sun Cheng's older sister, he had an unconcealed look of envy on his face.

"Sigh, it really is different fates for different people. Look, you have an older sister in your family; my family not only has an older sister, but two. But Third-eldest, the older sister in your family has a good personality and dotes on you; she comes to see you every few days, and never misses a single birthday. Look at those two in my family, sigh, don't even mention it!"

After complaining, he looked up at Sun Cheng, only to unexpectedly discover that he could only see a very forced smile on his face.

Li Meng, feeling somewhat surprised, was just about to press for more when he didn't expect Sun Cheng to ask first: "Let's not talk about this. By the way, Fourth-eldest, you didn't tell the eldest and second-eldest that you were coming, right?"

"Why, we're just having a meal together, are you afraid they'll find out?" Li Meng replied, somewhat displeased.

Finally, seeing him staring at himself with a serious face, he frowned and replied: "The eldest has class this afternoon; he hadn't returned when I left. Kun-ge did ask me a question, but I just said I had an appointment with a friend! Why? Did you two have a falling out?"

"It doesn't count as a falling out, just a bit of suspicion!"

Sun Cheng had also considered things before preparing to reveal a little something to Li Meng. After all, they had spent years together, and he understood Li Meng's temperament well enough to know that he was tight-lipped and loyal. Back when the four of them lived together, he and Li Meng were the ones who stuck together every day.

The beer was delivered, and the waiter helped open the bottles. Li Meng poured a glass and handed it to him, looking at him with some skepticism while waiting for what he had to say next.

Sun Cheng took it, drank a mouthful, and then continued: "Remember my computer crashing frequently? I asked an expert to help me look at it the day before yesterday, and someone installed a Trojan horse in my computer..."

"Huh?" Li Meng clearly hadn't reacted yet.

He had no choice but to continue: "The Trojan horse came with the operating system, yes, the XP system that the second-eldest gave me..."

Li Meng was in the middle of pouring himself a drink; upon hearing this, his hand couldn't help but tremble, and he immediately spilled some out.

He hurriedly pulled a few tissues to wipe the table. After finishing, he threw the paper into the trash can to the side without caring if it made it or not, then leaned his head toward him: "What do you mean? You suspect Kun-ge installed a Trojan on your computer?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he was already full of anger. His eyes looked even more like they were spitting fire as he stared fixedly at Sun Cheng, and even his earlier enthusiasm had faded quite a bit: "Third-eldest, I know your business venture failed and you lost a lot, but even so, you can't vent your anger on others. Kun-ge doesn't owe you anything, and who among us doesn't know the situation in his family? But back then, when you said you had no money and were borrowing everywhere, didn't Kun-ge also scrape together money from everywhere to give to you without a second word?"

After speaking, he kept a sullen face and couldn't even be bothered to offer a greeting; he tilted his head back and finished all the beer in the glass in front of him.

Sun Cheng knew it would be like this. He shook his head without rushing to speak, accompanied him in finishing a glass of beer, and then explained: "I trust the second-eldest, but the person who helped me check the computer this time also has a very good relationship with me, and he reminded me, so I have to listen to one more perspective."

"I know you might not like hearing this, but this time, brother, I have to play the villain. I want to ask you, after you all moved out, has the second-eldest had any unusual behavior recently?"

This explanation clearly couldn't resolve the anger in Li Meng's heart. After all, he, Sun Cheng, and Liu Kun were all good friends who had lived in the same dormitory for years. In the heart of this loyal young man, perhaps he really did view everyone as brothers.

But now, Sun Cheng had laid his cards on the table and told him that he suspected another brother of doing things behind his back; these words nearly made him explode with anger.

He drank another cup of beer in silence, ignored him, and just picked at a few dishes and ate them furiously, looking as if he had no intention of speaking.

Sun Cheng knew he was angry, so he had no choice but to use soft words to persuade him for a while before saying disappointedly: "I knew you would definitely be angry if I said it, but many things I've encountered recently have been full of suspicious points, forcing me to investigate and seek an explanation for myself. If you don't want to answer, then forget it. I will continue to investigate this matter. If it really turns out that my own brain was fried and I overthought it, then I will kneel before the second-eldest myself and apologize to him!"

After speaking, he also buried his head and started eating.

With Sun Cheng silent, Li Meng, after picking at his food for a while, gradually slowed down, his face changing to an expression of wanting to speak but hesitating.

After hesitating for a long while, he finally put down his chopsticks and looked at Sun Cheng: "I also hope you're just overthinking it, but once you asked, I actually did remember something—Kun-ge has indeed been a bit unusual recently!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Cheng felt his spirits lift. He hurriedly stopped his chopsticks and looked at him, pressing for more: "How is he unusual?"

"He's been spending quite a lot lately, buying several sets of clothes and shoes, and he even changed to a new Apple 6s phone. If you add it up, I'm afraid he's spent nearly ten thousand in half a month!" Li Meng hesitated for a while before answering: "But he said he had just received a scholarship, so we didn't think much of it!"

"The school is giving out scholarships at this time?"

Sun Cheng frowned and looked at him: "The second-eldest's grades aren't bad, but there's still a gap between him and getting a scholarship. This is a lie..."

Li Meng was silent; he had also felt it was strange before, but he just hadn't thought much about it.

Now that Sun Cheng had pointed it out, the more he thought about it, the more he felt there must be something fishy. He couldn't help but take the initiative to provide another clue: "... Speaking of which, people often call him recently, and every time he answers the phone, Kun-ge always hides from us to go outside... Oh right, the eldest mentioned before that he saw Kun-ge eating with those people you applied for loans from outside the school, saying that he might have taken out a loan when he changed to a new laptop before..."

"What?"

Sun Cheng's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and he hurriedly pressed: "When did the eldest see this? Why didn't you mention this to me?"

Back when he was in a capital chain crisis during his startup, he had initially tried every possible way to pull in sponsorships and negotiate cooperation; at that time, he only wanted to attract investment for his startup project and really hadn't considered borrowing money.

Now that he thought back, the first time he borrowed money, it was supported by the second-eldest and several roommates in the dorm, and the proposer was exactly Liu Kun.

Even the later Campus Loan—if Liu Kun hadn't brought it up, he really wouldn't have thought of it.

Now, putting everything together, Sun Cheng suddenly realized that he had very likely fallen into a trap specifically designed for him from the very beginning.

PS:

The drama of the shift in reality-based mindset is about to conclude; the next chapter returns to the Transformers.