Ch17 - Mocking Openly

Heh heh

Editor: MinMin 

Ryan and Chu Yuwen exchanged personal terminal numbers.

[You have successfully added “Chu Yuwen” as a friend.]

A short notification, both strange and familiar.

Chu Yuwen’s terminal avatar was a picture of a dark night sky. He was being generous with the description. It was actually a pure black picture of nothing. It was boring and reserved, just like the Marshal’s rumored character from outsiders. 

However, Yan Weiliang knew that Chu Yuwen’s last profile picture was a bright river of stars with the moon hanging in the sky. It was artistic and beautifully captured, making the person look like a poet.

That was the starry sky he saw when he and Chu Yuwen were flying a spacecraft through the sea of stars when they were young. He captured the moment, and Chu Yuwen said, “Weiliang, send it to me.” Once he received it, he immediately changed it into his profile picture.

Before he knew it, the other changed his avatar into this.

Ryan looked at the pitch-black image before casually scrolling through Chu Yuwen’s Moments.

Yan Weiliang actually added Chu Yuwen’s personal terminal as a friend as early as ten years ago. At that time, they often chatted and played games together. Chu Yuwen often shared his game achievement in his Moments, and Yan Weiliang would always like the post without commenting, and then silently post an even more outstanding achievement in his Moments.

They were friends as well as rivals, from childhood to adulthood. No matter the time or the subject.

Later…they just stopped.

He never paid attention to this person again. Nor did they deliberately delete or blacklist each other. The two sides never contacted each other again after the final tacit response of [Let’s chat next time]. 

Many things were like this. There was no need for an emotional goodbye, nor was there sadness from parting. It was on a sunny afternoon that he sent a short message of [Let’s chat next time] followed by a reply of [Okay] from the other party, before never contacting each other again. They distanced themselves from each other without batting an eyelid, like they should always have.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Teenagers have the spirit of young people, and adults also have the tacit understanding of a grownup.

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He was now the Marshal who could lead the soldiers of the Empire to win a real war without showing his emotions. 

Yan Weiliang was also in a similar situation. He loved photography and liked to take many wonderful photos of life and scenery during his interstellar travels and share them. However, in recent years, he has stopped sharing. With the amount of responsibilities, there was no time for him to indulge in a trivial hobby like photography.

Looking at these two people’s Moments, they were really monotonous.

But Ryan’s Moments were different.

Yan Weiliang had played his persona thoroughly, and Ryan’s Moments were lively from the student era to the recent days. Nothing was amiss. 

The environment of the Fourth District was incomparable to the prosperity of the upper three districts, but it had its own beautiful natural landscapes. A lush green meadow, a wild flower growing on the side of the road, a bird flying across the vast sky… These were the common things that Ryan took pictures of and posted online after some beautification filters. With the picture, he would add passionate messages with literary style, such as [Life is wonderful], creating an exquisite and positive image of an optimistic, sunny boy.

There were also photos of Ryan wearing school uniforms during his years as a student, whether he was playing sports or reading—most of them were photoshopped.

Even the number of likes came from Ryan’s neighbors and classmates.

Yan Weiliang did not miss a single detail. 

In the past few days, he has also posted his life on Moments without fail. For example, he shared screenshots from the dress-up game, expressed his thoughts when reading the Achievements History of the Marshal like [Light reading before bed, I admire someone like Lord Marshal so much], and gave sincere praise like [Today’s dinner was so tasty]…

He was the embodiment of Ryan.

If the Third Prince really wanted to deceive a person by playing pretend, it would be really difficult to unravel.

– 

Chu Yuwen quietly gave a thumbs up to each of Ryan’s moments.

Halfway through the process, he received a notification on his screen with: [You have a new message.] He clicked on it to find it was sent by Ryan.

Ryan: [Slight_smile.jpg]

This emoji was meant to be a taunt among the people in the upper three districts, like a dagger hidden in their smiles, but in Ryan’s mind, it might be just a simple friendly smile. 

Chu Yuwen assumed that Ryan wanted to chat with him in this way since they recently added each other as friends, so he did not care that Ryan was just right beside him. He typed and replied in a similar way to Ryan.

Chu Yuwen: [Heart.jpg]

When Ryan received the reply, his face showed joy and shyness.

Ryan: [Slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg] 

Chu Yuwen looked at the three big smiling faces and felt that he was being mocked to the extreme.

He could not stop himself from turning his head to Ryan and saying, “Ryan, you can actually… do not use this emoji.”

Ryan turned his head as confusion appeared on his adorable face. “Ah? Am I using it wrong?”

He felt puzzled. “My mother told me when I was a child that I must smile when greeting people. It is basic courtesy.” He was a little sad. “…I do not know much about courtesy among the aristocrats, have I disgraced you?” 

Chu Yuwen did not think that Ryan’s mind was so sensitive. Looking at Ryan’s innocent face, he changed his tone and said, “No, you did nothing wrong. The smiley face is indeed the basic courtesy of greeting, it shows how friendly you are.”

It was better not to let Ryan know that this expression had been reduced to a sneer in the upper three districts. In the eyes of the simple and honest people in the middle three districts, this was indeed a friendly expression.

Ryan was so simple and kind that there was no need to let him know that the aristocrats were not the same.

Ryan obediently replied, “I understand.” 

Then he turned around and gave Chu Yuwen a row of yellow smiley face emoji.

Heh, he was really mocking Chu Yuwen.

Not only did he openly mock the other man, but he also gave a reason that Chu Yuwen was unable to refute.

In the morning court, Yan Weilaing, who mocked and ridiculed Chu Yuwen constantly, felt happy to get his revenge right now. 

Chu Yuen heard the notification sound from his optical computer, and when he turned to look, he saw a row of smiley face emoji.

Ryan: [Slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg, slight_smile.jpg…]

Chu Yuwen: “…”

Chu Yuwen tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Ryan, what is this?” 

Ryan cheered, “I am showing you my friendship. Also, I am glad to add you as a friend, so I have decided to express my joy to you again.”

Chu Yuwen: “?”

Then he checked his terminal.

Ryan: [Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh] 

Mocking power to the MAX.

The word ‘heh heh’ was more contemptuous than the smiley face in the upper three districts!

If it were not obvious that Ryan was a simple youth from the middle three districts, Chu Yuwen would think Ryan was a black lotus. (Yan Weiliang smiles: I am a black lotus.)

No one ever dared address the imperial Marshal like this. Yan Weiliang was the first, and Ryan was the second. 

As for the former, he usually could respond back mercilessly, but as for the latter…

Chu Yuwen looked at his little wife with an incoming headache.

He could only continue to pamper; how could divorce be put on the table?