Leaving the police station after finishing the report, it was already ten o'clock in the night.
Because that alley frequently saw trouble, and Linhai City had recently been cracking down hard on crime, a security camera had been installed in that alley five days ago. Furthermore, this camera came equipped with a recording function, capturing both audio and video precisely, which saved a great deal of trouble.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, those two young punks would likely spend the next few years of their lives behind bars.
After all, it was attempted sexual assault, compounded by the fact that the victim was disabled, and topped off with the upcoming buff of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
A minimum sentence of three years was practically guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Ye Ge had exchanged contact numbers with the Su sisters.
When Su Mu and her sister mentioned treating him to a meal another day, Ye Ge did not refuse. After all, Ye Ge originally intended to collaborate with Su Yue.
It was just that too many things had happened tonight, and many matters were inconvenient to bring up just yet, so Ye Ge simply set them aside for the moment.
Anyway, there was still plenty of time ahead in the days to come; there was no need to rush on this particular night.
The police took turns driving the Su sisters and Ye Ge back to their respective homes.
As for his own mother, the police had already communicated with her beforehand, so Ms. Song did not make a fuss.
However, the moment the police officer left, Ms. Song pulled Ye Ge close, looking him up and down from left to right as if afraid he might be missing a piece of himself.
"Mom, don't worry, I'm fine. The ones who aren't fine are those two punks." Seeing the worried look on his mother's face, Ye Ge smiled and said, "To be honest with you, Mom, with those two bricks your son landed on them, the other guys are at least suffering from severe concussions."
"You still have the nerve to say that! What kind of physique do you even have? You haven't got the strength to truss a chicken, yet you still go playing the hero! What would I have done if something had happened to you? I..." As she spoke, Ms. Song's eyes grew red.
"Alright, alright, aren't I completely fine?" Ye Ge stepped forward and handed his mother a tissue. "If I had seen that happen and just walked away instead of doing anything, your son's conscience would be the one that couldn't take it. There now, it's all over..."
"Go on, go take a shower and get to sleep." Ms. Song also felt a bit embarrassed for crying in front of her son, so she quickly shooed him away.
"Alright, I'll go wash up and sleep. Don't forget to come with me to the hospital for my physical check-up tomorrow." Ye Ge smiled as he walked into the bathroom.
In truth, Ye Ge understood his mother's feelings very well.
As a mother, she naturally knew that her son stepping in to do a righteous deed was a good thing.
Yet at the same time, as a mother, what she wished for above all else was for her child to stay safe and sound, even if it meant playing the coward when trouble struck.
Ye Ge figured that if she herself encountered such a situation, his old lady would probably charge in with a brick too, but she would never let him do it.
It was only human nature.
After showering and returning to his room, Ye Ge logged onto QQ, intending to write a few more chapters of Daoist Priest before going to sleep.
The moment he logged in, his computer started going "ding ding ding" incessantly, and QQ was practically on the verge of crashing.
It wasn't like his phone had been out of battery for more than a single evening—why were there so many messages?
[Yan Cici: Ye Ge, I heard a new amusement park just opened in Linjiang. Do you want to go? Let's call Chen Ji and Huihui so the four of us can go together.]
[Yan Cici: Ye Ge, why aren't you replying to my messages? You never used to leave my messages unread before.]
[Yan Cici: Ye Ge, what is wrong with you? If you don't reply to me, I'm really going to get mad. I want to eat ice cream.]
[Yan Cici: Ye Ge, you promised that even if I turned you down, we'd still be friends, didn't you?]
[Yan Cici: Ye Ge, are we going to the aquarium tomorrow?]
The very last message had come in at seven o'clock in the evening.
Looking at Yan Cici's messages, Ye Ge sighed, shook his head, and replied: "Not going, busy."
Ye Ge clicked send.
Just as Ye Ge was about to close Yan Cici's chat window, Yan Cici replied instantly:
[Are you still mad because I turned you down? We grew up together since we were kids, please don't be like this...]
Ye Ge was completely at a loss for words:
[I'm really not mad, I'm going to sleep.]
Ye Ge closed the chat window and then selected "Appear Offline" to her.
Ye Ge then opened Wang Hui's chat window.
[Wang Hui: Ye Ge, Cici really does care about you a lot, you know.]
[Wang Hui: Don't give up, really. Keep pursuing her, you'll definitely succeed in college.]
Ye Ge: [Forget it, Sister Hui, I really don't plan on dating anymore, and I don't want to chase after her either.]
Ye Ge then opened Chen Ji's message.
[Chen Ji: Yezi, winning a girl's heart is like scaling a mountain, but are you really not going to keep trying for a bit longer?]
Ye Ge: [Get lost, you go chase her if you want.]
After that came various class group @everyone notifications, which Ye Ge simply ignored.
Finally, there was a friend request notification.
[Naipeng has sent you a friend request]
[Note: Teacher Gou'ai, I'm your editor! Please just accept it!]
Ye Ge: "..."
Back then, the author dashboard's internal messages did indeed list Naipeng's QQ, but Ye Ge hadn't been in a rush to add him. Adding him would mean exchanging greetings and pleasantries, which was just too troublesome; he had planned to mail the contract out first before dealing with all that.
He never expected that this editor would take the initiative to add him instead.
He had heard that Qidian editors managed thousands of people under them.
For Naipeng to proactively add a newcomer like him—wasn't this a bit too conscientious?
...
What Ye Ge didn't know was that after returning home, Zhao Naipeng checked his QQ every few minutes.
He sent a friend request every half hour; Zhao Naipeng felt as though he hadn't cared this much about a single person even when he was falling in love!
And the other party was very likely a guy!
It was ten-thirty at night. Zhao Naipeng lay in bed, tossing and turning unable to sleep, while the four words "Waiting for verification" in the friend request felt like a knot tied firmly in his heart!
"Ding-ding!"
Suddenly, a QQ message notification sounded on his phone.
Zhao Naipeng hurriedly tapped open his phone.
Heavens above! The verification had finally gone through!
"Hello, Teacher Gou'ai," Zhao Naipeng instantly fired off a message.
Ye Ge: Hello, Brother Naipeng.
Naipeng: Teacher Gou'ai, it's like this. I've read your book Daoist Priest. Even though there are only ten chapters so far, I believe this book has immense potential. Although your contract hasn't been mailed in yet, I plan to update your signing status right away so this book can be put on a recommendation slot the day after tomorrow. What do you think?
Ye Ge: Alright, no problem. Sorry to trouble you.
Naipeng: No, no, you're too polite.
Naipeng (typing): As long as you can maintain the pace and standard of the first ten chapters, I guarantee...
Ye Ge: I'm going to go to sleep now, good night, Big Brother Naipeng.
"..." Zhao Naipeng silently deleted the message he was only halfway through typing. "Alright, Teacher Gou'ai, good night..."
Zhao Naipeng had originally wanted to chat a bit more with Teacher Gou'ai, but he hadn't expected the other party to log off immediately, which left a tiny twinge of sadness in his heart.
Nevertheless, late at night as it was, Zhao Naipeng dialed the phone number of a colleague in the operations department.
"Is this Brother Sun? Hello, hello, I'm Xiao Zhao, an intern from the Fantasy Department. I'm terribly sorry to disturb you so late, but day after tomorrow is the rotation of recommendation slots, right? I happen to have a Major Recommendation slot on hand that hasn't been used yet. I have a book I'd like to send over to you—could I trouble you to help me swap it in?
Thank really much.
Sorry to put you to the trouble."
Hanging up the phone, Zhao Naipeng sent over the information for the book Daoist Priest.
As an intern, Zhao Naipeng had one and only one chance to push a work onto a Major Recommendation slot.
And as the premier recommendation position on the entire website, it was completely capable of lifting a decently written book up to the boutique tier, unleashing the absolute maximum potential of the work.
Therefore, every intern used their Major Recommendation with the utmost caution, because a Major Recommendation could cause a book to take off, boost their own performance metrics, and thus allow them to surpass their peers and successfully pass probation!
Presently, Zhao Naipeng's performance metrics were actually quite poor, ranking dead last. If things kept going this way, there would basically be no hope of him passing probation.
Now, he was going to take a gamble!