Chapter 35: The Computer Geek
Translator: Nyoi_Bo_Studio Editor: Tennesh
"What kind of idea?" Zhao Qi did not think Shi Shi would have any good ideas but still tried to listen to her anyway.
"Be patient." Shi Shi took her cell phone, looked through her contact list, and dialed a number.
"Hello! Mr. Liu?"
When the phone connected, Shi Shi automatically changed to her falsetto voice that sounded soft and flirty.
"Yes, Mr. Liu, it’s me, Shi Shi!"
"Oh... Mr. Liu, I need your help… No, my computer isn’t broken. Did you know there is a forum called Wang Haige in our city? A few members were insulting and bullying me on that forum. Can you help me identify their IP addresses? Uh… I won’t do anything. I just want to know… Against the law?"
Shi Shi’s face immediately became long. "You mean you can’t do it, right? Then I will go and ask Mr. Aren to help me!"
A flurry of pleas could be heard through the phone.
"Yes? Ok, I will send you a few IDs later. I will give you one chance!" She hung up the phone.
Zhao Qi looked at her, speechless. "Who was he?"
Shi Shi switched to her normal voice. "Who else? Xiao Liu from the technical department."
"Oh." Zhao Qi thought for a moment, but she didn’t know him very well. "Is he interested in you?"
"A male otaku, he means nothing." Shi Shi twisted her mouth in disdain. "He didn’t even dare to ask me to be his friend in person, instead he sent an email to me, and he even used the company email."
Zhao Qi suggested, "You shouldn’t fool him. Poor guy."
"How could I fool him? I still need him to fix my computer when it breaks," Shi Shi said with a sly grin.
Not long after, Shi Shi’s cell phone rang. The corresponding IP addresses of those IDs from the forum were shown. They all came from the same address, and the location of the IP addresses was confined to one area on the electronic map, precise to the street and the neighborhood.
"Holy moly, remarkable!" Zhao Qi stuck her tongue out. "He is so amazing. You should hold him tight and stop daydreaming about getting a wealthy CEO!"
"Just this made me feel uneasy. What if this male otaku turns into a stalker, then I will be doomed," Shi Shi said with a distressed look. She picked up the phone call and called, "Thank you, Xiao Liu. You did a good job, as I expected… Hmm, okay, pick a day and invite me to dinner. Can’t be MPK… Hmm, I’m hanging up now."
Zhao Qi thought she had misheard the conversation, as it didn’t sound logical to her. "He did you a favor, and he has to invite you to dinner?"
"Of course! I gave him the chance to invite me to dinner! He should appreciate the opportunity I gave him!" Shi Shi responded proudly.
"What is MPK?"
"McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken. These male otaku always invite girls to those places for dinners." Shi Shi urged, "No more talking, hurry up! We have to go to the coffee shop soon!"
Zhao Qi had no choice but to shake her head and say, "Forget it! I don’t care anymore!"
She was searching "Stars Pet Chain Supermarket" on the electronic map. There were two results in range of the city: one, a directly managed Stars store, was located in the western region; the other, a Stars franchise store, was located in the eastern region. After comparing it with the map on Shi Shi’s phone, the spies were in the franchise store.
Now the evidence was irrefutable.
After deleting some private information, she posted the unambiguous evidence, in photo form, on the forum, including their IDs, the corresponding IP addresses, and the map locations.
Now the forum got fired up, and the number of comments grew at a crazy speed!
"Chao! The beautiful girl is unexpectedly a computer geek?"
"Plausible evidence, persuasive!"
"They are really spies. That’s crazy!"
"The Stars need to appear and clean up the floor, then!"
"China Telecom has to take the blame for it!"
Some people seemed to be more calm and careful. They commented: "This… person easily rendered others’ IP addresses and locations. Was she right?"
"You are right. Is it considered a violation of people’s privacy?"
Zhao Qi commented: "It’s a company, not an individual. I will be in trouble if it is individual. The IP address was under the company’s name and the address was under the company name too."
Many people backed up Zhao Qi. "Why couldn’t it be exposed? One had the courage to do so, but is too cowardly to let others talk about it?"
"Be a man and step out and admit his own action! Don’t be the person who refuses to face reality!"
"Stars should continue to confront the truth, why have they instead backed off?"
It seemed weird, since this blog grew hotter, all of the pet-area monitors seemed to have vanished.
"Could the monitors have also accepted money from Stars?"
"Probably!"
"Blocking others from the path of wealth is like killing their parents…"
Shi Shi had urged Zhao Qi to go to the coffee shop repeatedly. Zhao Qi closed her posts and took a glimpse at the pet-area main page. Many people had opened new interactive posts to denounce Stars. One of them was called <>
She did not even get a chance to scan through the posts. She prepared some food and water for Lan Lan. After putting on some makeup, she and Shi Shi rushed to the newly opened coffee shop.
The next day was Sunday, another fresh and cool day.
Being a shop owner, one would have no winter or summer vacations, nor beautiful weekends off. All seven days a week were business days. The weekends in particular were the busiest time of the week, because during weekdays, only elders and little kids with low consumption capacity would have the time to wander around the street. Only weekends were considered to be prime time for young people.
Zhang Zian was still young, but not even mentioning when he was at college or at a salaried job, he enjoyed sleeping in over the weekends after school or work. After coming back to Binhai City and running the pet shop, he had gotten used to waking up early in the morning. Now he wouldn’t be able to sleep after six o’clock.
He finished cleaning up and walked to the first floor. Today was one of those rare days where he didn’t have to clean up the poop and pee from those three pets, but he was feeling a little bit lonely. Nevertheless, he found more things to be done. He needed to clean up the whole store, mop the floor, and then disinfect it. After that, he had to polish the glass and hoe the soil for the lobular purple sandalwood pot.
Subsequently, he had to replenish the products in the pet supply and consumables areas. Those stocks had been purchased by his parents. There were still many supplies in the storage room, so there was no need to order new products.
Finally, he took a few display cases that were not in use out of the storage room on the second floor. At the same time, he rearranged the items around the three cleared areas.
This work was all done by himself. He worked as both an employer and an employee. Honestly, it was much harder than just being a regular employee, but on the other hand, the benefit was less stress for him, not like old times when he had to mind his boss’s temperament. In other words, his body was tired, but his mood was relaxed.
Dealing with the cute and adorable pets, the interpersonal relationship had become pure and clear. He never had to consider the intrigue against each other in the office or being anxious about the relationship between supervisor and colleagues. Every evening, as soon as his head touched the pillow, he would fall asleep immediately. No wonder so many people dreamed of opening their own pet shops.
After tidying everything up, he was sweating a bit. The feeling of sweating was not too bad because it was sweating for oneself. Was there anything more wonderful than sweating for his own good?