Chapter 73

Chapter 73

◎ Smooth Resolution ◎

Xiao Ye was someone who could take charge. Xiao Xiao and Lin Yi both felt that Xiao Ye seemed more reliable than Ji Nanxing. Compared to Xiao Ye, Ji Nanxing gave off an impression that made people want to protect him instead of being protected by him.

Xiao Ye had witnessed the situation, and since he was always by Ji Nanxing's side, if they wanted to ask Ji Nanxing's family for help to resolve this issue, they probably couldn’t hide it from Xiao Ye.

Seeing Xiao Ye’s confused look, Lin Yi explained the whole story of the secret filming to him as well.

Xiao Ye stared at his phone for a while. Although the blinds blocked most of the view in the video, it was still a video of her bathing. Although Xiao Xiao was usually strong-willed, she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed seeing them staring at the video.

She gave Lin Yi a tug, hoping she’d say something, when Xiao Ye passed the phone back to her. "I looked into the drone blogger's account. The platform where the video was posted is Chengguo, which has a certification mark for real-name verification. I know the boss of that platform. I'll have someone get the blogger's details first, and then we'll discuss the next step. We need to handle this quickly. What are you guys doing after school? Going home?"

Xiao Xiao said, "I can not go home."

Lin Yi also said, "I'll call my place and can come back later."

Chen Shiyi raised his hand. "I can also return later," he said.

Xiao Ye nodded and put his arm around Ji Nanxing. "Alright, I'll make a call to see if we can get the blogger's details from the platform boss. You guys finish the cleaning quickly. It's so cold, I've booked a private room at Xiao Yulin."

After saying that, he pulled Ji Nanxing away. The old building didn’t have any windows, and the cold wind was blowing from all sides. It wasn’t an ideal place to talk.

Xiao Xiao let out a sigh of relief. Lin Yi gently held her hand and smiled at her. "See, two heads are better than one. A solution will always be found. This isn't something catastrophic. It will definitely be resolved smoothly."

Xiao Xiao nodded, looking at Lin Yi sincerely. "Thanks again."

If Lin Yi hadn’t been looking out for her these past two days and even come to find her when she didn’t see her today, she would still be like a headless fly, not knowing how to resolve this issue.

Although the worst-case scenario was that she’d have to tell her family, her family... never mind, better not to think about it.

Lin Yi smiled and said, "What are you thanking me for? We're all classmates."

Xiao Yulin was a hotpot restaurant not far from the school. A little further ahead was a night market street, so this area was always bustling at night, and the restaurant was almost full. Fortunately, Xiao Ye had called ahead to reserve a table; otherwise, they might have had to wait outside for a seat.

Since there was a school cleaning, classes ended at 5 PM, and after finishing the cleaning, it was almost 6 PM. By the time they strolled to the restaurant, it was nearly 7 PM. At their age, they were all growing and had been hungry for a while.

As soon as they entered the private room, Xiao Ye ordered a yuan-yang hotpot and then ordered almost everything on the menu except beef. He even said to Xiao Xiao and Lin Yi, who were having dinner with them for the first time, "Ji Nanxing can't eat beef. If you guys want to eat beef, I can order grilled beef skewers separately. We won't put beef in the pot."

Xiao Xiao and Lin Yi shook their heads. "No need, you've ordered enough food. There's not much difference between lamb and beef."

The hotpot dishes were mostly ready-made, and once the pot was set, the ordered dishes arrived quickly, covering the entire table. They even had to bring in two additional dish racks.

Looking at the fully loaded table, Lin Yi couldn't help but say, "Can we finish all this?"

Chen Shiyi laughed. "Today, we're going to open your eyes!"

They thought Chen Shiyi was talking about himself, but it turned out that it was Ji Nanxing who opened their eyes. Despite being slim, he could eat so much, and his stomach remained flat. Where did all the food go?

Ji Nanxing was a carnivore, so Xiao Ye ordered a lot of meat, and while grilling it, he said, "Next week, let's go for mutton hotpot. The large pieces of meat are really satisfying to eat."

Chen Shiyi tried to make himself stand out. "I want to go too!"

Xiao Ye looked at him discontentedly. "You want everything. You're everywhere."

Chen Shiyi snorted lightly and turned to Ji Nanxing. "Invite me next time for mutton hotpot."

Ji Nanxing smiled and nodded. "Okay."

While Xiao Ye grumbled in dissatisfaction, his phone vibrated—he had gotten a reply regarding the inquiry he made.

Given his family background, he naturally would know some rich second-generation kids. Even if he didn’t usually interact with them, he would encounter them at certain events, such as big birthday celebrations, weddings, or baby's one-month celebrations for families with similar backgrounds.

Though he had little contact with them, there were occasional social obligations that were hard to decline. The boss of the Orange Fruit platform was someone he had encountered before. At that time, to secure investment, he was sucking up to a rich kid at a horse racing field.

That was a few years ago, when he was still in middle school. The group of rich kids, barely older and in high school or college, tried to invest like adults, throwing around business jargon. On the surface, they were flattered, but behind their backs, people mocked them for being rich and brainless.

But no matter how foolish, some people just had the luck. Some short video platforms that weren’t popular at the time got invested in, and now they’re making money.

The reason he still remembered this incident from years ago was that the platform boss originally wanted to name the platform something else. However, the second-generation investor thought the name wasn’t appealing. Holding an orange on the table, the investor said, "Apple has become so big. You're also a fruit, so let's call it Orange Fruit. Orange Fruit, achievements—hey, I'm a genius at naming." Xiao Ye could still remember the silly grin of that fool as he proudly came up with the name.

Looking at the message on his phone, Xiao Ye passed the phone to Xiao Xiao. "The person is found. He lives in Huasheng Community. Is it your neighborhood?"

"No," Xiao Xiao shook her head. "It's not my neighborhood, but it's not far from my house. It's very close."

Xiao Ye looked at Ji Nanxing. "Ask your family's lawyer what the sentence is for secretly filming and posting the video online without the subject's knowledge."

Ji Nanxing replied, "I've asked. It's an invasion of privacy. If the video is posted online for profit, the maximum sentence could be up to three years. However, such cases can take a long time. A lawsuit can take months at the fastest, or up to half a year to a year at the slowest. It's not a case where you can file a lawsuit with evidence and get an immediate judgment."

Lin Yi, chewing on her chopsticks, asked, "So what should we do now?"

Ji Nanxing said, "Go for financial compensation. First, report to the police and file a case. Then I'll have the legal team go to negotiate, delete all videos related to the class monitor, and demand a large sum of money for a private settlement. This way, it will be quick and serve as a warning to others. If the person commits the offense again, we can file another lawsuit, and with a prior record, the sentence will be heavier."

Xiao Xiao's main concern was to quickly resolve the issue without affecting her life too much. Her fundamental demand was that the person who filmed her delete all the secretly taken videos and promise not to film her again. Hearing Ji Nanxing's plan, she felt relieved.

She looked at Ji Nanxing and asked, "Will the legal fees be expensive? I have about 3,000 yuan on hand. Is that enough?"

Ji Nanxing replied, "Although the legal team is from my family, this is considered an external case, so fees will be charged. Depending on the compensation amount, they’ll take about a ten percent fee. So don't worry about the money. With my family's legal team, you won't end up paying more in legal fees than you receive in compensation."

Xiao Xiao raised her drink and looked at the three boys. "Thank you all. I was really overwhelmed and had nightmares night after night, not knowing what to do. But you helped me come up with ideas and solutions. I suddenly realized I was too worked up and anxious. It wasn't such a difficult issue. Thank you for helping me."

Xiao Ye smiled and said, "It's not such a big deal. No need to get so emotional. After this is resolved, you can treat us to a big meal as thanks."

Xiao Xiao nodded repeatedly. "Okay, I'll treat you all to a big meal!"

While Xiao Ye looked up the voyeur, Ji Nanxing directly contacted his elder brother's assistant. It wasn’t necessary to bother his elder brother for such a small matter; the assistant could handle it.

By the time they were finishing their hotpot, the lawyer arranged by the assistant had already arrived, and the rest was out of their hands.

The lawyer first confirmed the evidence Xiao Xiao had, took screenshots, including the number of likes, favorites, and shares under the voyeur video, as well as the follower count of the blogger named Wakaka, all as evidence. Then, the lawyer took Xiao Xiao from the hotpot restaurant to report to the police and file a case.

Lin Yi, worried that Xiao Xiao might be scared, had already called home to say she’d be home late, so she accompanied Xiao Xiao.

Chen Shiyi sighed, "If it weren't for my mom setting a time for me to be home, I would have gone to see what's happening."

Ji Nanxing said, "There should be results in a couple of days. No need to get involved in the hassle."

Chen Shiyi said, "I hope it's a good outcome—no, it's definitely going to be a good outcome."

He knew that Ji Nanxing's family was in the pharmaceutical business, and their legal team was top-notch. He hoped the young lawyer could get a hefty compensation for the class monitor, making the guy who filmed her pay big time and never dare to do such a thing again.

Sure enough, the situation was resolved soon after. The outcome was exceptionally smooth. The lawyer and the police went to the blogger's house together, temporarily suspended the blogger's account, reached a private settlement, with compensation of about 100,000 yuan. Because the blogger had some followers and the video had traffic, and the video involved a minor, the circumstances were serious, leading to a high settlement amount.

The outcome was satisfactory for Xiao Xiao, as all the secretly filmed videos were confirmed to be deleted, the blogger was taken to the police station for education and warning, and the platform had also suspended his account due to this incident.

The lawyer said, "The blogger's name is Wang Kai. When we went to his place, he seemed preoccupied or troubled. As soon as he heard our demands to delete the videos and pay compensation, he agreed without hesitation."

Compensation-wise, you never start low; you aim high and negotiate down. Therefore, we initially asked for 100,000 yuan, with 50,000 yuan being the lowest we were willing to accept.

However, Wang Kai seemed anxious to quickly resolve the matter. He agreed to every demand without hesitation. Whether it was deleting the videos or accepting the compensation amount, he even offered a very sincere apology.

The lawyer felt like he hadn't done anything particularly skilled; he just went to the police, made the demands, and the other party agreed immediately, wrapping everything up smoothly while earning a quick bonus.

Ji Nanxing said, "Glad the matter is resolved. Thanks for handling it."

The lawyer then received an additional red envelope from Ji Naonao.

Xiao Ye waited until Ji Nanxing hung up the phone before walking over with a plate of freshly washed fruit. "Is the matter resolved?"

Ji Nanxing nodded. "You could say it's a satisfactory resolution."

Xiao Ye speared a strawberry and offered it to Ji Nanxing's mouth. "Ah."

Ji Nanxing gave him a sideways glance, and Xiao Ye silently passed the fork over. His expression fell for a second before he broke into a smile again. "I've sold my talismans! Ten of them!"

Ji Nanxing, cheek puffed out with a strawberry in his mouth, looked at him. "On the Human Realm Network?"

Xiao Ye nodded. "Yeah, the buyer was quite straightforward. Maybe because only Taoists can register accounts, they purchased without any private chat, just directly checked out. I shipped them, and the payment was made instantly once they were received. I donated a tenth of it; I think it should be okay, right?"

Ji Nanxing said, "If you're selling at Taoist prices, you don't need to donate."

Xiao Ye chuckled. "Think of it as a good deed."

He wasn't short on money. Although buying that paper effigy had shrunk his small treasury and made him think about saving for the future, he wasn't really lacking money. After all, his grandfather and mother had quickly refilled his bank account.

For Xiao Ye, earning money by simply drawing a few talismans felt a bit too easy and unsettling, so donating a bit was like giving back to society.

Seeing him looking at the strawberries, Ji Nanxing picked one and fed it to his mouth.

Xiao Ye was startled for a second before opening his mouth to savor the sweet strawberry. Unable to resist, he reached out and rubbed Ji Nanxing's head. "Why are you so good, Naonao?"

Ji Nanxing smiled. "Feeding you a strawberry means I'm good?"

Xiao Ye exaggerated his expression. "Of course! Ji Naonao is the best in the world."

Ji Nanxing immediately grabbed two more strawberries and stuffed them into his mouth. "Just eat."

Having resolved the major worry, Xiao Xiao returned home to an empty house. The cold and quiet atmosphere was a familiar part of her life.

Her mother was a career-oriented woman, capable and dominant, loving her work far more than her daughter.

Her father, though not a workaholic, was also busy with work, often traveling for short periods of a few months or long stretches of one to two years.

Her parents had married out of free love, but marriage was marriage, and love was love. After marriage, everything changed, especially after she was born.

When her mother was confined to the house because of her, the center of life shrank from the whole world to the roof over their heads. The suppression would eventually erupt.

When her father left on a business trip just two days after she was born, her mother endured month after month until she finally exploded, sending her to her grandparents' house. Sometimes, in the midst of her busy schedule, she would forget she even had a daughter.

What followed was endless arguments, about why she had to stay home and take care of the child while he could continue his work life unchanged. Why was it that after marriage, it was the woman whose life turned upside down, while he could so easily be an absentee husband and continue his beloved career?

Later, her mother also hardened her heart and left her to pursue her own life.

At first, there might have been some mom's hesitation, but slowly, as the pregnancy hormones wore off, the mother-daughter bond that hadn't had time to develop made Xiao Xiao feel unwanted in the family, with her father not caring and her mother not loving her.

Xiao Xiao often wanted to ask, since both of them cared more about their own lives, why did they even have her? She didn’t ask to be born, but as adults who did have a choice, why couldn't they make more responsible decisions for themselves and for her?

If she could choose, she would rather not have been born.

Because then she wouldn't have heard her mom say, when she was being bullied at school, "Why are they picking on you and not someone else?"

She wouldn't have been told by her dad, when she was afraid to walk home in the dark down a poorly lit path, "You managed fine when we weren’t around. How come you're suddenly afraid now that we’re back? What’s there to be scared of?"

There was no favoring boys over girls in her family, nor was there an expectation that she’d become successful, but there was the same cold neglect.

If she were to tell her family about the secret recordings, she could already picture her mom brushing off the video, with its faceless and vague figure, and telling her not to waste her time with something so minor.

Two days ago, she was still stressing over this, but now, Xiao Xiao realized that even though there was no one at home, life wasn’t so bad anymore. You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends.

Her phone vibrated with a WeChat message—it was Lin Yi inviting her for breakfast tomorrow morning. Xiao Xiao smiled and replied with a yes, then walked to the heavily covered windows and pulled open the thick curtains.

Some people make new friends through something that happens, while others get into big trouble because of something they did.

Wang Kai loved flying drones. He enjoyed it even when he was in school, but as time went on after graduation and he faced job dissatisfaction, he slowly couldn't afford these expensive hobbies anymore. The saying "jobless after graduation" was indeed true, and only after entering society did he realize how hard it was to earn a living.

Until one night, after working late overtime, feeling frustrated and stressed, he took out his old drone, hoping to relive his carefree college days. Unexpectedly, he accidentally captured two middle-aged men kissing in a small park. Kissing wasn’t a big deal, but the fact that they were also touching each other's thighs was a little too much to watch.

So, he edited the video and casually posted it online, turning the leg-touching scene into a short GIF, adding the caption "eye-burning."

At the time, he didn’t realize that this was an invasion of their privacy. He just found the two men disgusting and wanted to share it with more people. To his surprise, the video blew up.

It wasn’t just the kiss between the two men that went viral; because of this video, the wives of the two men discovered that their husbands were actually gay. They had unknowingly become part of a tragic situation.

It was the first time Wang Kai felt the power of internet traffic and tasted the rewards it brought.

However, he didn’t quit his job to become a drone video blogger at that time. After all, it was an unstable career. But the unexpected viral video opened a new path to wealth for him.

Later, Wang Kai would often take his drone out to film, but interesting events weren’t so easy to come by. It wasn’t staged, after all.

For a long time, he couldn’t capture anything that would go viral again, which led him to explore other methods. He started filming inside apartment buildings, shooting into people's homes through high-floor windows and balconies.

He did capture some interesting things, such as parents driven mad by their children's studies, quarreling couples, and even couples who couldn’t wait until they got to the bedroom.

Of course, some things couldn’t be posted directly; leaking too much of someone's privacy could lead to lawsuits, so he was selective with what he posted.

Although it wasn’t as explosive as the first video, over time, he gained a significant amount of traffic and even received some commercial ads, starting to make money.

As for videos that were too invasive of people's privacy, Wang Kai found other channels to sell them. There were some perverts who had this voyeuristic desire and were willing to pay a lot of money for it.

Once he had a stable income, Wang Kai quit his job and started filming with his drone full-time. On platforms where his identity was verified, he would post drone-related educational videos or some interesting footage—nothing too invasive since it was his main account, and he did have some legal knowledge.

He would occasionally upload content that was on the edge, like the bathing video. It was on the edge because you could vaguely see the person bathing, but it wasn’t clear if it was a man or a woman, and the footage didn’t linger as the drone ascended.

Wang Kai needed these hidden glimpses to attract real paying perverts who were willing to spend more money on more explicit content. His stable customers were either gained through 'word of mouth' or hooked through these bait videos.

Making this kind of money was much more interesting than working a regular job. He was able to upgrade his drone equipment one after another. Wang Kai knew this kind of work couldn’t go on forever; the longer it went, the higher the chance of getting caught.

But for now, he was in the money-making phase and wasn’t ready to stop. He planned to continue for another year or two, and once he had enough money to buy a house, he would settle down and turn his account into a professional review blog.

However, before that day came, he started feeling like something was wrong with him. It was as if he had encountered a ghost.