The Young man in Online Romance (16): 

The person in the post by Little Lamb—honestly, if you really want to say he’s ugly, well, he’s not that bad.

His facial features are decent, his eyes are nice, and he’s tall. Although he’s a bit overweight, you couldn’t really call him ugly.

But when people look at someone, the first thing they notice is the overall impression.

In the photo, the man’s hair is long and greasy, his eyes bloodshot, dark circles under his eyes, his face covered in acne, and his expression gloomy.

His clothes are awful too—he’s wearing a yellowed, oil-stained T-shirt with curled edges at the collar that’s also too tight. Just looking at it makes you feel disgusted.

His overall vibe is just terrible.

For someone like that, it’s hard for people to feel any liking.

This person… is actually the Heavenly Emperor? Wasn’t the Heavenly Emperor supposed to be a tall, rich, and handsome guy?

So many people on the forum ship the Heavenly Emperor and Clear Sky Bright Sun as a CP precisely because the Heavenly Emperor is a tall, rich, handsome man who’s great at playing games.

Some time ago, someone even posted some of the Heavenly Emperor’s past comments on the forum, where he said he’d started his own company, owned many houses, and that he’d modeled his in-game character after his real-life appearance.

The Heavenly Emperor’s game avatar is incredibly handsome. People thought he might not be quite that good-looking in real life, but still wouldn’t look bad. And now it turns out… he looks like this?

After the shock passed, everyone started reading the post.

It was posted by Little Lamb, who said that the Heavenly Emperor had once pursued him and he had almost agreed, but after accidentally finding out the Heavenly Emperor’s true face, he turned him down.

He also claimed that the Heavenly Emperor wasn’t actually a second-generation rich kid at all, but had been spending the savings his parents left him and the compensation money he got after their accidental deaths.

Little Lamb even said that over half a year ago, the Heavenly Emperor had already spent all that money and had even wanted to borrow money from him. Later, he didn’t know what happened, but the Heavenly Emperor suddenly had money again, and no one knew where it came from.

In short, the Heavenly Emperor was a fraud, and the reason for this post was that, with the Heavenly Emperor’s current popularity, he was worried someone would be tricked by him for money or love.

According to the plan Little Lamb worked out with Zhou Lin, this post was just a lead-in.

After Little Lamb posted it, Zhou Lin would have others post follow-up threads exposing Gu Jun Tian’s identity, and then have someone pretend to be an insider at Qida Technology to reveal Clear Sky Bright Sun’s identity.

The general manager of Qida Technology being scammed out of money in an online romance by the Heavenly Emperor would definitely be big news.

Actually, before doing this, Zhou Lin had thought about threatening the Heavenly Emperor into helping him deal with Zhou Qing Hao.

But the Heavenly Emperor had blocked Little Lamb and refused friend requests from others, so for the moment, he couldn’t reach him.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qing Hao was pressing in aggressively.

His grandfather had already hinted that he was going to hand the company over to Zhou Qing Hao.

Of course, there was another reason Zhou Lin was doing this—he had accidentally discovered that Zhou Qing Hao had embezzled public funds and given the money to the Heavenly Emperor.

Zhou Lin had investigated the Heavenly Emperor and knew his information, and recently Qida Technology had transferred several large sums to him.

Zhou Qing Hao must have been bewitched by the Heavenly Emperor! Actually embezzling company money for him!

But because of this, Zhou Lin had him by the throat.

By now, people were already commenting on the post:

“Shocking!”

“Didn’t the Heavenly Emperor say his game character was modeled after his own looks? And this is what he really looks like?”

“You really can’t trust the internet. That sweet young girl might be a middle-aged auntie, and the rich, handsome heir might be poor and ugly.”

“One picture at the start, the rest is all made up. This guy might not even be the Heavenly Emperor.”

“Little Lamb’s words might not be true.”

“This person should be the Heavenly Emperor. If you look closely, you’ll see he does have some resemblance to his game character…”

“Gross. I didn’t expect the Heavenly Emperor to be this ugly. I feel kind of sick.”

…

Zhou Lin was in high spirits and sent the link to Zhou Qing Hao and Old Master Zhou.

Zhou Qing Hao had no idea what was going on in the forum.

At that moment, the two officials in front of him were saying, “President Zhou, could you ask ‘Filling Pits Diligently’ if he’s willing to cooperate with the state?”

Zhou Qing Hao’s relationship with ‘Filling Pits Diligently’ was a bit complicated, but it didn’t affect their mission.

Their task was to cooperate with someone who could produce such advanced, cutting-edge technology.

“I’ll ask right away,” Zhou Qing Hao said.

He sent a message to ‘Filling Pits Diligently’: “I’ve looked over what you sent. This kind of technology isn’t something our company can handle alone. Would you be willing to work with the state?”

Gu Jun Tian replied without hesitation: “Of course I would!”

With the officials guiding him, Zhou Qing Hao began chatting with Gu Jun Tian.

While they were talking, the Heavenly Emperor’s chat window lit up.

When Zhou Qing Hao opened it, he saw the Heavenly Emperor had sent: “Ah Qing, just now, the state approached me to cooperate!”

“…” Zhou Qing Hao fell silent.

The two officials said, “Go ahead and chat, President Zhou. Don’t mind us. We’re not in a rush.”

Zhou Qing Hao took a deep breath and replied to the Heavenly Emperor: “Brother Tian, you’re amazing!”

He even sent a “kiss” sticker.

He was actually quite happy at the moment.

This proved the Heavenly Emperor really did like him.

As for losing face in front of the officials…

He’d already been seen by the whole company hugging and kissing the Heavenly Emperor in-game—what was there to be afraid of now?

Besides, in the eyes of these officials, he might even look like a despicable capitalist seducing an innocent tech talent for profit.

Whatever.

Just then, he noticed another incoming message—it was from Zhou Lin, who sent nothing but a link.

Someone was digging into Gu Jun Tian on the forum? Zhou Qing Hao clicked without thinking and saw Gu Jun Tian’s photo.

He took a deep breath—he was almost shocked by the unattractiveness.

This guy had good features—how did he manage to turn himself into this?

Wait… he actually thought the guy had good features?

He started imagining the Heavenly Emperor really looking like this in real life…

Terrifyingly enough, he found he could accept it.

Wasn’t he supposed to be obsessed with looks? Wasn’t he only into the Heavenly Emperor’s game avatar?

Why could he accept him looking like this?

His expression froze.

The officials, having seen Gu Jun Tian’s ID photo before, recognized him immediately.

So this was his current look? Way more unkempt than in the ID photo.

Still, they comforted Zhou Qing Hao: “President Zhou, once he cleans himself up, he’s actually pretty handsome. If he loses some weight, he’ll be even more so.”

Zhou Qing Hao said “Mm” and added, “Actually, he is quite handsome.” The picture was a bit ugly, but his ID photo was fine.

The officials: “…” President Zhou really would say anything for the sake of that technology.

Just then, the Heavenly Emperor’s chat window lit up again.

Zhou Qing Hao opened it and saw a string of greasy, copy-pasted sweet talk.

This guy was brushing him off with canned lines!

And worst of all, this guy had apparently pursued Little Lamb before!

When he’d asked about it before, he’d clearly said he’d never liked Little Lamb!

Zhou Qing Hao forwarded the post to Gu Jun Tian.

Gu Jun Tian, expecting Zhou Qing Hao to call him “Brother Tian,” was startled to see the link.

Clicking it, he was shocked.

He replied quickly: “Ah Qing, I don’t look like that. Believe me!”

He then forwarded the link to President Wang: “President Wang, there’s a post on the ‘Cultivation’ forum—please delete it quickly.”

Using President Wang’s account, Zhou Qing Hao replied: “Alright, Master.”

Then he immediately called someone to delete the post and questioned the Heavenly Emperor: “Did you pursue Little Lamb?”

“Never, absolutely never! He’s making it up—he can’t possibly have any proof. It’s all nonsense!”

“You gave him so many gifts, you must’ve liked him at least a little!”

“That money was nothing to me, so I gave it to him… In the future, I’ll give you ten, a hundred times more!”

Gu Jun Tian was annoyed.

He’d never done anything wrong to Little Lamb—in fact, he’d given him so much money.

And now Little Lamb was stabbing him in the back?

Too much!

Wait—wasn’t it because of Little Lamb that, in the original story, Zhou Qing Hao’s nephew found the original protagonist?

While pondering that, he tried to explain the photo: “Ah Qing, that picture…”

Sensing his nervousness, Zhou Qing Hao reassured him: “Brother Tian, even if you look like that, it’s fine. Your features are handsome—clean yourself up and you’re a good-looking guy.”

Hearing this, Gu Jun Tian realized that Qing Tian Bai Ri’s real upset wasn’t about him being ugly, but about the Little Lamb thing.

This man really was a hopeless romantic! Scammed in an online romance and forgiving so quickly!

“Ah Qing, you’re so good. But really, I don’t look like that,” Gu Jun Tian said.

“…” Zhou Qing Hao thought. That’s a lie. Your ID photo looks the same—you’re a little chubby.

When Zhou Qing Hao got the link, Old Master Zhou got it too.

At first, the old man didn’t understand—why was his grandson showing him this post?

Luckily, Zhou Lin quickly explained: “Grandpa, this is the guy Second Brother is dating in the game. I didn’t expect him to be this ugly.”

Old Master Zhou had already heard about Zhou Qing Hao’s in-game romance several times.

He hadn’t taken it seriously, but seeing this photo made him a bit angry.

His grandson’s online boyfriend looked like this?

He decided immediately to talk to Zhou Qing Hao, tell him to hand over the game account, and told Zhou Lin: “Your second brother is busy running the company—how could he have time for games? That ‘Clear Sky Bright Sun’ account belongs to someone else, don’t link this person to your brother.”

Zhou Lin knew immediately that Old Master Zhou was trying to distance Zhou Qing Hao from the Heavenly Emperor.

He quickly added: “Grandpa, there’s something else… A friend of mine knows the Heavenly Emperor and says his real name is Gu Jun Tian. Recently I saw several large transfers from the company account to him…”

“This man’s name is Gu Jun Tian?”

“Yes!”

Now his grandfather should be ready to blame Zhou Qing Hao—embezzling public funds wouldn’t end well for him!

But just when Zhou Lin was feeling smug, Old Master Zhou said, “I may be old, but I’m still open-minded. I won’t stop your brother from online dating… I looked at the picture—his features are decent, not bad at all.”

His second grandson was really bold—courting someone online for the sake of that technology.

A man with vision!