Chapter 533: Chapter 197: Blowing up the Internet, Attention from School Leaders (Requesting Monthly Votes)_3

"Hee hee, Pingping, you must have heard the news about ’Zhihu’ today, right?"

"I did. What about it?" Xie Ping nodded. During lunch at the canteen, she had heard many people talking about ’Zhihu’ and ’Kan Yi Dao’, but she hadn’t paid much attention.

Zhang Ruoxue chuckled mischievously. "This ’Zhihu’ website is connected to your secret crush. He’s the one who developed it. Surprise, surprise!"

Xie Ping was startled, her eyes widening. She blurted out, "This was... Li...? He developed it? How is that possible?"

Hearing Xie Ping say the name "Li," Zhang Ruoxue knew she had guessed correctly. She teased, "Hee hee, Pingping, you little liar. You said you didn’t have a crush, but you’ve been exposed, huh?"

Xie Ping’s face flushed red, but she didn’t retort. It’s only natural for young men to be drawn to beauty and for young women to be drawn to strength.

"Li Yuan is so incredible! He developed the Zhihu website, and it’s already blown up. It’s all over the trending searches! The entire internet is talking about ’Zhihu’ and ’Kan Yi Dao’... Even Modu Financial News ran a special breaking report on it. You can just imagine how popular it is... Pingping, do you think Li Yuan could become a business tycoon one day?"

Xie Ping shook her head, looking lost. How would I know? As a student of the Chinese Literature department, what she admired most were Li Yuan’s literary and musical talents; she found herself irresistibly fascinated and filled with admiration for them.

"I don’t know either, but Li Yuan definitely has vision. His previous talk about the relationship between online and traditional literature was praised by a big shot in our College of Arts. It’s very likely the future direction for the development of literature in this country..."

Zhang Ruoxue sighed deeply, muttering to herself, "Putting his womanizing aside, Li Yuan really is incredible. Among all the university students in the country, there are probably very few who can compare to him.

"Sometimes I even wonder if he’s like a character in a web novel, someone with a cheat system enabled. Otherwise, how could he be so amazing?

"His very first novel went viral across the internet, earning millions a month and becoming the undisputed number one web novel. I even heard a rumor online that the adaptation rights for his book were sold to a game company for tens of millions...

"And every song he writes is a classic. That song ’Anhe Bridge’ from yesterday afternoon had me in tears. Now he’s developed the Zhihu website, and it’s also on track to become massively popular. In the future, it might even become a forum as popular as Qiandu Tieba..."

Xie Ping deeply agreed. The most crucial part was that Li Yuan was only a freshman. Forget just Modu—even across the entire country, there were very few people his age who were more impressive.

"By the way, Ruoxue, have you contacted Zhiyu today? I called and messaged her, but she hasn’t replied."

Zhang Ruoxue shook her head, her expression also confused. "Zhiyu hasn’t replied to my messages either. You don’t think she’s still with Li Yuan, do you?"

"That doesn’t seem right. The Zhihu website just launched, so Li Yuan should be at the company, right?"

"Ruoxue, I have a weird feeling. Do you think something happened that we don’t know about?"

Just as Xie Ping was speaking, her phone vibrated. She picked it up and saw she had received a text message.

*Pingping, I’ve already arrived in Beijing. I’m sorry I left without saying goodbye... If we have the chance, I hope we can meet again!*

Seeing the text from Jiang Zhiyu was like a bolt from the blue. Xie Ping’s body began to tremble, and the phone nearly slipped from her grasp. Crystal-clear tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Her gaze went vacant as she muttered, "Ruoxue... Zhiyu... she’s gone!"

"What did you say?" Zhang Ruoxue frowned. Just as she was about to ask why, her own phone vibrated.

She quickly looked at her phone and saw that she had also received a text from Jiang Zhiyu.

After reading the message, Zhang Ruoxue’s eyes flew open, her mind going blank. Their best friend, their roommate for over a year, had left without saying goodbye? She’d left Modu? Why would she suddenly leave Modu? There could only be one reason.

At this thought, Zhang Ruoxue couldn’t hold back any longer. She exploded with rage and cursed, "Damn it! Li Yuan, that bastard, what the hell did you do?! Why did Zhiyu leave?"

"That damned scumbag! Weren’t they kissing and laughing together just yesterday? How could she be in Beijing after just one night? She left us..." Zhang Ruoxue began to sob. "We’re never going to see Zhiyu again...

"You fucking scumbag! From now on, I’m your number one anti-fan! I’ll flame you every chance I get!" she screamed through her tears. "You damned scumbag, give me back my Little Fish!"

...

As hundreds of people completed the ’Kan Yi Dao’ promotion, claimed cash rewards, and won grand prizes like digital cameras, the news spread. Once the internet shills Li Yuan had hired posted exaggerated accounts of these winnings online, the Zhihu website’s reputation exploded once more. Its registered user count grew rapidly by the moment, truly achieving viral popularity.

「The administrative building of Daxia University.」

The beautiful instructor, Qi Siyu, was in the university’s entrepreneurship office. She sat alone, holding a guitar. Her slender fingers strummed the strings as her tempting red lips hummed a fragment of a song.

*"And after that, I never again saw a sunset so beautiful..."*