Chapter 441 : The First Song of Qin (14)

s.h.i.+ Sheng leisurely meandered over to the activities room. Along the way, Chen Xi called several times to rush her.

The atmosphere in the room was very tense. The moment s.h.i.+ Sheng entered, everyone’s gazes turned to her.

Suspicion, anger, indignation…were the various looks that she received.

s.h.i.+ Sheng blinked and turned to look at Chen Xi, who was standing to the side.

He immediately stepped forward and spoke to the others, “Don’t be like this. We don’t know the truth yet. I trust in Chu-Chu’s character.”

Chen Xiao frowned. “Chen Xi, you can’t just rely on your feelings. The truth is already in front of us.”

Chen Xi immediately grew angry. “Chu-Chu didn’t say anything yet! Making judgements based on just the footage is too ras.h.!.+”

“Let Junior speak.” Someone tried to smooth things out.

“What’re you guys talking about?”

s.h.i.+ Sheng had a confused expression. ‘I don’t even know what happened; how am I supposed to explain anything?’

Noticing s.h.i.+ Sheng’s confusion, Chen Xi explained what had happened to her.

Someone had sold their compet.i.tion project to a company, who was now suing them. Their qualifications for partic.i.p.ating in the compet.i.tion had been rescinded, and now they were facing a legal case with a hefty sum attached.

But they didn’t know who sold them out, and the company wasn’t willing to tell them.

They had decided to do some last minute checking on their entry before submission, so whoever took it had to have entered the room then.

When they came back to check the surveillance cameras, they found that during those few days, s.h.i.+ Sheng was the only one to enter and exit the room.

So they suspected s.h.i.+ Sheng had done it.

s.h.i.+ Sheng checked the footage. Cameras were placed in the corridors of every floor. However, none were located inside the room itself.

The camera only showed her entering and leaving the room during those few days.

“How come you guys only suspect me?” s.h.i.+ Sheng raised a brow and looked at them. “So many people have access to this room—it could be anyone.”

“I believe them.” Chen Xiao spoke.

s.h.i.+ Sheng blinked. She was an outsider, and it was normal for people to believe their own team more. But…

“Why would I wanna sell your stuff?” ‘That d.a.m.n program is full of flaws. I wonder which idiot would want it.’

“Why else? For money!”

Thinking back on that 200k now, they kept feeling like they should have been suspicious of it.

“Money? How much could that thing possibly sell for?”

Chen Xiao seemed to firmly believe that s.h.i.+ Sheng had done it. “Aren’t you clear how much it sold for?”

‘Their designs were pretty good—but honestly, still too inexperienced. It only just started taking shape—stuff like that wouldn’t sell for much. Of course, there’s the possibility someone bought it for its potential so they could develop it further on their own.’

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Chen Xiao pressed her, nearly losing control and shouting, “I only allowed you to enter and leave this place as you wished because you were Chen Xi’s friend! I’m going to graduate soon, but it got dragged out because of the project! And now it’s gone!”

“Is that my fault?” s.h.i.+ Sheng shrugged. “I didn’t sell it, believe it or not.”

“Junior, do you have any evidence to prove that you didn’t sell it?”

“Then do you have any evidence that I did it? Did you see me signing a contract with them? Or having a secret discussion?” s.h.i.+ Sheng retorted without a hint of politeness.

“Chu-Chu, I believe you. Don’t get agitated.” Chen Xi was on s.h.i.+ Sheng’s side the whole time.

“Look at her att.i.tude! She’s so bold, even after stealing our stuff and selling it off!” Chen Xiao flew into a rage.

“If you have evidence, just sue me—why waste words?” s.h.i.+ Sheng turned around and stretched out a hand to wave lazily.

Chen Xi didn’t hesitate as he followed her out.

Once she’d made her way downstairs, s.h.i.+ Sheng let out a breath of turbid air. “Why did you follow me?”

“You’re my bro. Of course I’d follow you.” Chen Xi spoke with a matter-of-fact expression.

s.h.i.+ Sheng gave him a glance. “Luckily you’re not blind.”

“I’ve known you for so long, so of course I trust you.” Chen Xi patted his chest, though he soon appeared down. “But just who was the culprit?”

“You want to know?” s.h.i.+ Sheng raised a brow.

“Of course I do! I’ve spent a lot of effort on this project too…” Chen Xi’s expression was a bit downcast. He’d spent most of his time outside of cla.s.ses on this.

And now that it was suddenly taken away from him… How could he not be angry?

“C’mon.”

“Where?”

“To get on the internet.”

“Ah? I don’t really feel like it right now. Chu-Chu, you’re really going? Aren’t you angry about them slandering you? After such a long period of interaction… Chu-Chu, slow down! What’ve you been eating lately? You’re walking so fast! Even my legs can’t catch up with you.”

s.h.i.+ Sheng rented a booth at an internet café, the type with two seats.

“What’s the name of that company?” s.h.i.+ Sheng asked as she turned on the computer.

“Chenfeng Science Pte Ltd.”

The internet at the café was pretty good; the computer turned on quickly. s.h.i.+ Sheng searched for the company Chen Xi mentioned.

It wasn’t a small business, and it didn’t have a good reputation either.

“You’re sure you wanna know who did it?” s.h.i.+ Sheng asked Chen Xi a final time.

He nodded without hesitation.

……

When s.h.i.+ Sheng and Chen Xi left the internet café, she patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Chen Xi’s expression was very downcast and contained a faint hint of anger.

“Why would he do this?” Chen Xi didn’t understand. ‘He’s clearly the one leading the project, why would he do such a thing at this time?’

“For money, duh.”

Men’s goals were money, power, and pretty women.

Women’s goals were money, beauty, and men.

There wasn’t really much difference.

“Is all that time and effort we spent just going into wedding clothes for someone else[1]?” Chen Xi was still a bit unwilling to accept it.

“Wedding clothes?” s.h.i.+ Sheng snorted. “You’re overestimating your little team. That company’s going to land itself in hot soup, just you wait.”

“Chu-Chu…” ‘What does she mean by that?’

s.h.i.+ Sheng smiled and didn’t answer.

Chen Xi wasn’t feeling happy, so s.h.i.+ Sheng didn’t ask him to walk her home, instead heading back to her dorm alone.

“…Just a little kiss.”

“There are people around.”

“Who would be out here at this hour? I’m not leaving if you don’t kiss me.”

“…Just a short one?”

As s.h.i.+ Sheng watched the couple acting lovey-dovey at the foot of a dorm building, she wished she could poke her eyes out. ‘Dog abuse again! d.a.m.n, I gotta go find beas—Pei!—Prof Qin to comfort my hurt feelings.’

s.h.i.+ Sheng turned away, but her foot kicked a can that some idiot had littered. The resulting noise was loud enough to cause the couple to immediately turn around.

When Qiao Qian’qian saw who it was, she clearly blanked out for a moment. The awkward feeling of embarra.s.sing herself in front of someone she knew took over her.

She pushed Tang Jinchen aside and walked towards s.h.i.+ Sheng. “Xiaochu, can you not tell mum about this for now?”

Qiao Qian’qian was very afraid of Qiao-mu finding out about her relations.h.i.+p with Tang Jinchen.

Qiao-mu had always hoped for Qiao Qian’qian to find a boy older than her; there was no way she would agree to her being with someone four years her junior.

“How’s it any of my business?”

s.h.i.+ Sheng paused, before taking two condoms out from her s.h.i.+rt pocket. “Be safe.”

The Qiao Qian’qian who received condoms, “…” ‘There’s something a bit off with my little sister…’

[1] I believe I’ve explained it before, but I’ll explain it again: this means to expend a lot of effort into something but see no benefits while another party gets to reap all the benefits. Usually, I’d contextualise it but since the following reply hinges on this, I left it alone.

[2] This is a sort of wordplay where the raws are “錢途”/“qian2tu2”. The actual phrase is “前途”/“qian2tu2”. It means future. The former switches out the first character for the character for money, so s.h.i.+ Sheng is saying idiots got no money in their future. I think she’s trying to say Author-sama should’ve asked for more lol