Chapter 11: Pursuing Wealth

Ma Jun and the others heard the sound of the door opening, but the battle was so fierce that no one turned their head. Only Ma Jun glanced back; it was Dong Tianhai, accompanied by four or five other male students.

"Ma Jun, having fun?" Dong Tianhai walked over with a cheerful smile. "We wanted to ask you something. Rumor has it you broke up with Yan Rong?"

"Anything else?" Ma Jun shot him a look, his fingers still moving swiftly across the keyboard.

"Could you show a little respect when someone’s talking to you?" Dong Tianhai lifted his chin, clearly displeased.

"Dong Tianhai, what’s your problem? What business is it of yours what happened between Old Ma and Yan Rong?" Gu Xinghua turned and shouted.

Dong Tianhai’s expression soured even further. Ma Jun picked up a cigarette from the table, lit it, and calmly asked, "What do you want, a fight?"

"What are you so arrogant about?" Dong Tianhai barked. "So you can write songs and fool girls—scum, that’s all you are!"

Ma Jun frowned. "Come on, even Yan Rong herself hasn’t said anything. Why do you care? If you want a fight, wait till I finish this round!"

"How can you talk like that?"

"Are you even a man?"

Dong Tianhai’s companions began to berate Ma Jun, displaying a surprising sense of justice. But Liu Lemin and Feng Deye started to defend Ma Jun, firing back. After all, they were all from the same dormitory, and their relationships were pretty solid.

"Hmph, just some outsider—what else do you know besides fighting?" Dong Tianhai shouted. "Ma Jun, I’m telling you, this isn’t over! Scum like you, you haven't even entered the entertainment industry and you're already tricking girls. Just wait!"

With a few harsh words, Dong Tianhai and his group turned and left, slamming the door loudly behind them.

"That guy’s got a screw loose!"

"I bet he’s got a thing for Yan Rong!"

A few roommates chimed in, then shifted their attention back to the game.

"Heh, finally a righteous avenger sent by the moon to destroy the uncle!" Xiaohua popped out to join the fun, gloating.

"Enough already!" Ma Jun grumbled inwardly. "Go watch TV or something!"

That night, everyone played until late, and the next morning they all woke up late, rushing out for military training.

On the training grounds, the atmosphere was strange. Dong Tianhai and his crowd kept glancing smugly at Ma Jun with looks of schadenfreude. Ma Jun was baffled, wondering if they’d taken the wrong medicine.

After the morning session, they ate lunch and returned to the dorm to rest. Gu Xinghua and the others lay exhausted on their beds, motionless, while Liu Lemin, ever obsessed with games, booted up his computer for a quick round over lunch.

"Hey, Jun, someone’s slandering you on the forum!" Liu Lemin suddenly exclaimed.

Ma Jun had just lit a cigarette and was playing with his phone. At those words, he jumped out of bed and bent over Liu Lemin’s computer. On the Yan Ying forum and several film and television boards, he saw headlines like:

"Yan Ying freshman, utter scum—seduces girls then abandons them."

All the titles were similar.

Most shocking of all, two videos had been uploaded to YouTu Video Network. One showed Ma Jun singing "Unwilling Love," the other captured Yan Rong tearfully confronting Ma Jun in the cafeteria.

Yan Rong’s face had been pixelated, but Ma Jun’s was clear as day.

"It’s got to be that bastard Dong Tianhai!" Ma Jun’s face darkened; he knew instantly.

On the forums, several people had taken the lead, all targeting Ma Jun. But on the video site, many comments discussed the song "Unwilling Love," and plenty were just bystanders with no idea what was going on.

Feng Deye and Gu Xinghua crowded around.

"Damn, Jun, I think you’d better sit down and have a serious talk with Yan Rong!" Feng Deye patted Ma Jun’s shoulder.

"Never imagined someone would record that!" Gu Xinghua said. "Old Ma, this isn’t the biggest deal, but it isn’t trivial either. We’d rather not get involved, but if there’s a fight, just give us a heads-up!"

"Yeah, I’ll handle it myself. Don’t worry," Ma Jun sighed helplessly, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

"Uncle’s famous now! Your reputation points just went up by a fraction—excited?" Xiaohua jumped in again, gleeful.

"Brat!" Ma Jun muttered, ignoring the unlucky kid. He grabbed his phone and called Yan Rong, asking to meet.

Walking down the road, Ma Jun pondered how to deal with the situation.

To be honest, he no longer felt either hatred or love for Yan Rong; at most, she was just an ordinary friend now.

But Yan Rong, he was sure, harbored resentment against him. From her perspective, Ma Jun was a heartless cad, who had seduced her and, without a hint of nostalgia, dumped her.

They met soon in a small grove behind the teaching building.

"What do you want?" Yan Rong asked, her face expressionless.

Ma Jun gathered his thoughts. "Let me ask you something. If I hadn’t made a big splash at school, hadn’t pursued you so openly, would you still have liked me?"

"What are you getting at?" Yan Rong frowned.

"If I’d been discreet, chased you quietly with no one in the school knowing, would you still have accepted me?"

Yan Rong didn’t reply, her frown deepening.

Ma Jun continued, "We’ve only been together for these twenty days of military training. What really bothers you is that I abandoned you, not that you liked me so much. At least, I used to like your smile, your cheerful spirit."

"You’ve seen the forum posts, haven’t you!" Yan Rong sneered. "Saying all this now, just trying to clear your name."

Ma Jun couldn’t help laughing. Forum posts were trivial, even the videos were nothing. There were exposés online every day, but no one really became famous from them unless there was a professional team or the exposed person was a celebrity.

Besides, "Unwilling Love" was a nice song, but a single song wouldn’t make anyone famous overnight.

What annoyed Ma Jun was that bastard Dong Tianhai causing trouble, stirring up chaos. But in the real world, he couldn’t just assassinate the guy. He wasn’t an idiot. For petty grudges, it wasn’t worth committing crimes. If he beat him up, Dong Tianhai would guess who did it and stir up even more trouble.

"I’ll give you two hundred thousand. Go to Dong Tianhai and tell him to stop causing me trouble. Then make a public statement confirming we broke up amicably," Ma Jun said decisively.

Now, with his access to the Undercover World, two hundred thousand was like a pile of worthless paper.

"You’re that heartless?" Yan Rong’s eyes brimmed with tears.

Ma Jun was silent for a moment. "If I weren’t, I’d be wearing a green hat before long. Enough talk—I don’t believe Dong Tianhai isn’t acting on your orders!"

Yan Rong thought, How could I ever cheat on you? Are you paranoid? Full of words, she looked at Ma Jun’s cold face and didn’t know how to respond.

After a long silence, Yan Rong’s expression hardened. "Five hundred thousand."

"Fine," Ma Jun answered without hesitation. "At the latest, I’ll have the money to you by the day after tomorrow."

"I’ll text you my card number. Once you transfer it, I’ll clear your name," Yan Rong said, then turned and walked away.

Ma Jun stood there, head tilted, half-smiling as he watched Yan Rong’s retreating figure. He lit another cigarette and sauntered back to the dormitory.