Chapter 101: Ren Qian Under Immense Pressure [First Update]

Ren Qian headed straight to Jiangnan University with Yan Yu, making his way to the small diner owned by Jia Ya’er’s family. It had been quite a while since he last visited, and he found himself missing the home-style stir-fried pork. The heat from the chilies infused every sliver of meat, making each bite crispy, chewy, and increasingly addictive.

Jia Ya’er was still wearing her apron, moving timidly through the room with a serene smile. When she saw Ren Qian, her large eyes crinkled into crescent moons.

She had feared that after becoming a big celebrity, he would look down on her family’s humble eatery. Plagued by this thought, her naturally shy self had become even quieter, her smiles growing infrequent.

She often stood by the doorway, gazing out, waiting for that tall, slender figure who used to frequent the intersection at mealtime. Yet, for a long time, he had not appeared. If she counted on her fingers, it had been thirty-three days.

"Ya’er, long time no see. You’ve become even prettier. Is there a table inside?"

Hearing this, Ya’er pursed her lips and nodded, then turned to head inside. *Brother Qian complimented me,* she thought, her heart blossoming with joy. She spun on her heels, light and cheerful as a ballerina performing Swan Lake.

In truth, Ren Qian had only offered a casual compliment without any romantic undertones. But while the speaker was indifferent, the listener was not. Moreover, a girl at her age could easily weave a whole heartwarming romance drama out of the slightest gesture of care.

"Bring a bit of everything on the menu. He’ll probably eat quite a lot. And put a trash can under his seat," Ren Qian said.

"Why a trash can?" Yan Yu asked, puzzled. Surely he could just spit the bones onto the table?

Ren Qian smiled without answering. He sat down, poured himself a glass of warm water, downed it in one gulp, and cleared his throat. He hadn't touched a drop of water for several hours, from registering at the driving school that morning to rescuing Yan Yu later on; his throat was parched, and even speaking felt like a chore.

The small diner was tucked away in a deep alley, so there weren't many customers. Even though Ren Qian ordered many dishes, the food arrived quickly.

First to arrive were a plate of cabbage and a plate of bok choy, both steaming and looking quite appetizing. Since it was mealtime, Yan Yu picked up his chopsticks and began to wolf down the food, grabbing large portions as if he were a starving ghost reincarnated.

"Have you eaten, Ya’er? If not, come join your brother Yu," Yan Yu said, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth.

Ya’er shook her head quickly, wiped her small hands on her apron, and hurried back to the kitchen. Soon, she returned with a plate of stir-fried pork.

"What kind of meat is this? Is it wild boar? Looks good. I love gamey meat from the mountains; the texture is so chewy and flavorful..."

Yan Yu licked his lips, his mouth watering, and let out a loud burp. "My diet has been so monotonous these past few days that I’ve been bored to death. I need to make up for it; otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth the suffering I’ve endured this past month."

He picked up a piece of meat, tossed it into his mouth, shoveled in some white rice, and chewed with relish.

"What the hell? It’s beef."

In the next second, Yan Yu’s face turned green. He spat everything out. This wasn't just any beef—it was the beef he knew all too well, the kind he swore he never wanted to eat again in his life!

Why, in just a month, had this small diner upgraded its menu to serve him beef?

Yan Yu’s face went deathly pale. His chopsticks slipped from his hand, and he instantly burst into tears.

Over the past month, he had developed a new conditioned reflex: the moment he saw a cow or tasted beef, he couldn't help but think of beef kidneys. And thinking of beef kidneys brought to mind thousands of round, robust "bull balls" and the salacious image of "bull... whips." This triggered a deep, humiliating sense of being violated.

A month wasn't long, but Yan Yu had been driven insane by these all-natural aphrodisiacs. He had eaten them every day, at every meal. During the nightly bonfire gatherings, while others toasted with wine, Luoluo’s family would toast him with sheep kidneys, beef kidneys, sheep whips, and bull whips!

"Oh, my dear grandson-in-law, come, eat this sheep whip, it makes for a more harmonious family!"

"Brother-in-law, you’re so handsome! Come, let me toast you with a bull whip! It’s important for a man to be handsome, but it’s even more important that he can perform!"

"This aged, vintage whip was cut by Luoluo’s sixth grandfather the day she was born, soaked in medicinal wine in an old jar, and saved specifically for her husband. It’s been twenty years. Eat it; it’s our blessing to you..."

Watching the young Master Yan sobbing uncontrollably, Ren Qian was bewildered. "Why are you crying?"

"I was thinking about those all-natural aphrodisiacs I had to eat. If you haven't tried them, you have no idea how insane the process is. You take a bite, and it’s all slimy, salty, and thick, stuck in your throat—you can’t cough it up, and you can’t swallow it down."

"You ate them raw?"

"Exactly! At most, they’d dip them in boiling water to get rid of the gamey smell, then shove them into my mouth. I had to eat nine at a time. They called it an 'ancestral secret recipe'—a course of treatment to restore a man’s vigor, guaranteed to keep you 'standing tall,' keeping men awake and women unable to sleep..."

Ren Qian: "..."

"So, are you 'standing tall' now?"

"Who knows? No one’s run a clinical trial on me! Am I supposed to test it on a cow?"

The two left without eating much. Yan Yu was in a hurry to find a psychiatrist, while Ren Qian offered a three-minute silence for Yan Yu, followed by ten minutes of schadenfreude. *What a guy, failing to appreciate such good fortune; others would kill for such ancestral remedies, yet he complains.* That was what he thought.

At 2:00 PM, Ren Qian returned home and immediately copied the footage from the dashcam onto his computer. He didn't think he could avoid this disaster, so he carefully preserved the evidence.

However, the internet was already in an uproar. Ren Qian opened his phone and saw that all the entertainment news windows—Tencent, Baidu, Sohu—were popping up with the same headline: [Shocking! Ren Qian drives a luxury car and runs over a migrant worker, sparking outrage among netizens!]

Ren Qian clicked on the video—which had been subtly tampered with—and watched it patiently...

He felt utterly exhausted.

In matters like these, the public lacked the intelligence to analyze which frame of the video had been doctored; they believed whatever they saw. If a knowledgeable person tried to explain, they would immediately accuse them of taking Ren Qian’s money and acting as his shill. Therefore, aside from his hardcore fans, no one was willing to do the thankless work of defending him.

Fortunately, Ren Qian had been sharp; the moment the migrant worker ran up to smash his car, he had instructed his private driver to turn on the dashcam—a skill he had learned in his previous life. If you encounter a suspected "professional scammer" while driving, turn on the dashcam immediately, or you’ll end up losing your entire fortune.

"That clip was edited so well that even I believed it... I really want to beat these media outlets to a pulp. They’ve smeared me twice in just a few days! And each time is more ruthless than the last. Can’t they focus on something useful for once?"

Ren Qian knew that turning the situation around wouldn't be easy... because that video carried much more credibility than mere photos! And given the nature of netizens, they would certainly be more inclined to believe the video!