Chapter 57

Chapter 57 Privacy Exposed

Sure enough, the first entry was about her deskmate Chen Ciyi—a photo of the two of them watching the commotion at the sports field today. She had no idea when it was taken and hadn’t noticed at all. In the photo, Chen Ciyi was lazily sitting on the last concrete step, his hands propping him up from behind as he leaned back slightly, exuding a casual demeanor. Though the distance made his face unclear, his silhouette alone was so striking it was hard to look away.

Xu Yannuo immediately turned her gaze to herself next to Chen Ciyi, curious about how she might have been captured. And then she saw… Huh?

A dotted outline of a human figure appeared in her mind’s eye, but the frame was empty—only the background steps and air inside!

Damn it, who the hell took this photo and actually photoshopped her out! Xu Yannuo’s face darkened instantly. She could fully understand liking Chen Ciyi, but there was no need to erase her from the picture.

She immediately scrolled down to check the comments under the photo, hoping to see if anyone had noticed the missing person and raised objections. But after flipping through several pages, not a single soul had pointed it out. All the comments were fixated on Chen Ciyi—some squealing like gophers, calling him “boyfriend,” while others gushed about how unbelievably handsome he was. “I wandered past Class 8 so many times and never saw him—he was sitting right there all along? How did I miss him? Feels like I’ve lost out on a fortune…”

Speechless, Xu Yannuo closed the comments and moved on to other posts.

After flipping through a few more of Chen Ciyi’s posts, Xu Yannuo opened and examined the enlarged photos with a contented smile. Some were exceptionally well-captured in terms of angles and composition. Although her deskmate—the living subject of these photos—sat right beside her, allowing her unlimited daily viewing opportunities (and even the option to poke him at will), she still saved a few pictures to her phone. However, as she scrolled further, she encountered several unsettling gossip threads sandwiched between the posts. Frowning, Xu Yannuo clicked into one. Though there weren’t many such posts, their high view counts indicated widespread circulation among the student body.

The content of the post was straightforward—it exposed the private life of a freshman girl. The first photo showed the girl returning home in their school uniform, her residence a dilapidated old building. The next photo captured her mother, dressed in shabby clothes, mopping the floor in a low-end public bathhouse with a crude environment. The third image depicted her father, a weathered man with blackened hands, hunched over repairing shoes in a small, outdated cobbler shop near the local market, its walls still made of red brick. Xu Yannuo felt an immediate pang of discomfort. While such images might evoke poignant symbolism in magazines, their presence in a school forum carried a wholly different, malicious tone. The caption at the bottom was particularly cruel: *”Zhao Zihan likes you—how dare you respond?! This is your family: your mom’s a cleaner, your dad’s a shoe mender.”* Xu Yannuo’s frown deepened as a bitter taste rose in her throat. She recalled her own past, when her family’s struggles had been similarly exposed by neighbors, leaving her feeling stripped bare and humiliated in public. Back then, however, few owned phones; there were no photos or written taunts preserved online. Gossip had faded with time. Now, these images and words lingered indefinitely, spreading further and wider with no way to erase them.

Moreover, this also involves the girl and another boy—that Zhao Zihan guy Xu Yannuo had heard of. He was the school heartthrob of the freshman year, second only to Chen Ciyi in popularity. What if the girl also had a crush on Zhao Zihan? She would definitely be even more unwilling to have her privacy so blatantly exposed in front of him. She might have told Zhao Zihan about her family background privately, but certainly not in this manner.

Xu Yannuo immediately scrolled down, wanting to see the comments below, hoping to find someone who would defend the girl.

But the comments below showed no sympathy for the vulnerable girl whose privacy had been exposed. Instead, they almost unanimously piled on, enjoying the spectacle and joining in the collective condemnation.

What’s more, there was blatant, overwhelming jealousy, with vicious words hurled out of sheer envy!

First floor

Night Star: Just relying on good looks to flirt around everywhere, never expected such a family background. If it were me, I wouldn’t even have the nerve to go out, let alone come to school.

Second floor

Flying Little Sheep: Isn’t this the person from Class 4, Grade 10? I’ve always thought this person wasn’t great, turns out it’s this kind of family background. Good thing the school requires uniforms, otherwise they probably wouldn’t even have decent clothes to wear.

…..

…..

28th Floor

Call me Darling: I know her, I know her! We went to the same middle school. Back then, she was always flirting with this guy and that guy, strutting around like she owned the place, driving all the boys crazy. The boys in our class used to say she was so pretty, but honestly, she was just average. I really don’t know what’s wrong with guys’ taste these days.

Twenty-ninth Floor

I’m Kakashi: I advised Zhao Zihan not to be fooled by her. With her family background like that, she probably hooked up with those boys in junior high just to get them to spend money on her. I’ve seen it before—she had a boyfriend who was really ugly, but his family was quite wealthy. I even heard someone saw them going out to stay together. With so many boyfriends, who knows how many people she’s slept with!

…..

Seeing this, Xu Yannuo couldn’t bear to read any further and immediately clicked to exit. There were a few more posts about this girl, but she didn’t even need to open them—just the titles alone made it clear the content wouldn’t be anything nice. Xu Yannuo was so angry her hands were shaking!

These people were just too much. Unable to hold back, she slammed her phone down on the desk with a sharp crack. Although not many people in the class were actually studying, since Hua Jie was supervising self-study, the classroom was relatively quiet. The sudden noise immediately drew curious glances from those around her. Xu Yannuo quickly softened her expression, smiled, and waved her hand dismissively at everyone. She then picked up her phone from the desk and pretended to lower her head to read.

Beside her, Chen Ciyi, who had just finished a set of math problems, also glanced her way. He noticed the barely contained anger on her face, seemingly on the verge of erupting at any moment. He wondered what could have happened in such a short time—just before he started the test, his deskmate had been perfectly fine, but now she appeared thoroughly provoked by someone.