The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 191 Behind a Scene of Peace

Zhou Yanruo gently pushed open the door, her face showing a hint of urgency and helplessness. In one hand she was carrying a heavy shopping bag, and in the other she was holding a phone and talking to someone. Her voice was gentle but carried an undeniable determination. "I've arrived. Don't rush. I need to find out the situation on Shang Yibo's end first." Her words conveyed reassurance to the person on the other end of the phone, but more so, they reflected her calmness regarding the current situation.

The person on the other end of the phone seemed still persistent. Zhou Yanruo frowned slightly, then her tone became even more firm: "He hasn't publicly responded to anything, has he? These unfounded rumors really shouldn't have caused such a big fuss. How about this, I'll have him go offline first, lay low for a while, and we'll see how things develop. We'll contact each other again then." After saying that, she ended the call cleanly and neatly, put her phone back in her pocket, and turned her gaze to Shang Yibo standing in the entryway.

Shang Yibo was deep in thought, trying to pull himself out of the jumble of thoughts and figure out who the person who left the comment was and what their motives were.

Suddenly, a noise at the door interrupted his thoughts. He paused for two seconds, then quickly came to his senses and subconsciously closed the computer screen in front of him.

He stood up and walked to the entrance, where he saw Zhou Yanruo enter. A smile instantly bloomed on his face, as if the gloom from before had never existed. "You're back."

He stood on his injured toes, crossed his arms, and tried to strike a cool pose. He gestured with his chin toward the shopping bag in Zhou Yanruo's hand. "What delicious food are you going to make for me? My stomach has been growling for ages."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanruo smiled helplessly yet indulgently, shook her head gently, and teased, "I think you must be hungry. You must have been quite busy this morning."

Shang Yibo, not understanding what was going on, chimed in, "I've been busy all morning. I've reviewed all the company's documents from the past year and made notes on the recent project progress. I'm just waiting for you to come back so I can work with you this afternoon."

As she spoke, she took a step forward and took the shopping bag from Zhou Yanruo's hand. "Why is it takeout? Didn't you say you were going to cook for me?"

Zhou Yanruo changed into slippers and said casually, "I can't cook, and I bet you're even less good at it. I got some dishes from the restaurant downstairs. Go plate them, and I'll go wash my hands and come right back."

Shang Yibo quickly set the table, and Zhou Yanruo also came over after tidying up. On the table, there were three dishes and a soup with two bowls of rice. It looked plentiful, but all the dishes were vegetarian with a greenish hue.

Looking at the table full of leafy greens, Shang Yibo joked, "Are you planning to feed us both like rabbits? It's all vegetarian food."

Zhou Yanruo noticed that there were no cutlery on the table, so she turned around and went to the kitchen to get chopsticks and a spoon. "You have injuries, and the doctor said you should eat a light diet."

She glanced at the coffee cup in the sink and frowned slightly. "You drank coffee? Didn't I tell Zihang to put it away? You shouldn't eat things with artificial coloring. The wound on your arm was stitched up; it's easy for it to leave a scar."

Shang Yibo responded with feigned grievance: "I'm just wondering, how come there's not even a trace of coffee in the home of a PhD who returned from studying abroad? I should be eating meat because I'm injured. They say you are what you eat to replenish your body, so I need to replenish myself."

Zhou Yanruo handed the chopsticks to Shang Yibo, "Just make do with this. Aren't you hungry? Eat up. I have something important to ask you after you finish eating."

Shang Yibo took the chopsticks and asked curiously, "What's the rush? Let's eat and talk, otherwise I'll lose my appetite."

Zhou Yanruo looked at him seriously: "I'm talking about serious topics, not something you can just talk about."

Shang Yibo laughed and said, "Hurry up and tell me, this table full of green vegetables is enough to test my appetite."

Zhou Yanruo looked up and asked, "Do you enjoy posting on Weibo, replying to comments, and surfing the internet?"

Shang Yibo blinked. "I posted on Weibo, replied to comments, and surfed the internet, but this isn't just for fun. I'm fighting back against the negative publicity; I'm dealing with public opinion."

Zhou Yanruo raised an eyebrow, "..." and felt that what he said seemed to make sense, so she was speechless for a moment.

Shang Yibo pursed his lips. "Didn't you say you didn't have enough manpower to handle online public opinion? You didn't do your job properly, and my help only resulted in complaints."

Zhou Yanruo pouted, "You're making things worse."

Shang Yibo asked dismissively, "What do you mean?"

Zhou Yanruo put down her chopsticks. "You responded online, argued with fans, and even made some inappropriate remarks, which made all the work we had done in the past go to waste and even made the situation worse. I don't know how much effort we will have to put in to turn things around."

"Don't scare me." Shang Yibo laughed, picked up a piece of bok choy in soup with his chopsticks, held it up to his eyes and waved it, then put it in his mouth and ate it slowly. "Hey, you know what, the food at this restaurant is really good. It's not easy to stir-fry vegetables well."

Zhou Yanruo stared at Shang Yibo, waiting for him to continue, but unexpectedly, he started tasting the food.

She said, "I thought you would feel sorry."

Shang Yibo said seriously, "Why should I apologize? Go online now and see that the atmosphere on my homepage is harmonious. You know, behind every account on social media platforms are real people. Whether what people say online is genuine or fake, sincere or hypocritical, self-serving or self-defeating, it's no different from real society. It's just easier to pretend. The essence is the same. You agree with that, right?"

Zhou Yanruo sat up straight. "Are you trying to discuss human nature with me?"

Shang Yibo retorted, "Didn't you say you wanted to talk about serious topics? This is serious enough, isn't it?"

Zhou Yanruo retorted, "You're getting a bit off-topic. Let's get to the present."

He thought to himself, "This kid Shang Yibo wants to discuss human nature with me. How ridiculous. What kind of life experience can a twenty-year-old rich kid have? And he's already sighing in front of me."

She thought this to herself, but kept a straight face as she waited for Shang Yibo to speak.

“I want to be a ‘real person’ online too.” Shang Yibo’s tone became serious. “The persona that the company and team create isn’t me. I don’t like being designed. Rather than that, I’d rather close my account on the platform.”

Zhou Yanruo also became serious, "That's part of the job too. There are investors and staff behind you. Now, besides being yourself, you also have to be responsible for these things."

Seeing that Shang Yibo did not respond, Zhou Yanruo continued, "You just said that everything online is peaceful. That's the result of your team and the company's public relations staff working all night. If you act willfully, you'll be back to square one, or even worse. If you don't believe me, go online and see for yourself."

Shang Yibo was skeptical, but he picked up his phone and logged onto Weibo.

Zhou Yanruo also picked up her phone and opened Weibo.

The two of them saw the trending topic almost simultaneously: "[The woman next to Shang Yibo has a powerful background]".