Three people looked at the time when the message was sent, just 10 minutes ago.
"Shanshan, break up with your boyfriend now, right this instant! Who needs a man like that?" Zhou Xueyin seemed even angrier than Yao Shanshan.
"Yinyin, calm down a bit." Li Jiniang pressed Zhou Xueyin down first.
"I... That's why I asked you guys to help me analyze what's going on... Yinyin, don't rush," Yao Shanshan, seeing Zhou Xueyin getting angry herself, didn't know what to do.
"What's there to analyze? It's clear he's cheating! And even flaunting it with that photo! If he dares to show up in front of me, watch me chop off his third leg!" Zhou Xueyin said through gritted teeth.
"Calm down, maybe he really was just staying overnight?" Yao Shanshan consoled herself.
"Man and woman alone, you think nothing will happen?" Zhou Xueyin retorted to Yao Shanshan.
"This... But after Mi Lu joined the group, she hasn't been particularly clinging to my boyfriend..." Yao Shanshan thought for a moment, starting to digress.
"Does she know your boyfriend is a local from Beijing?" Li Jiniang seemed to have thought of a question.
"I don't know if she knows or not..." Yao Shanshan looked innocently at Li Jiniang.
"Uh..." Li Jiniang was momentarily at a loss for words.
"Humph, from what we see now, Mi Lu knows that Old He is a local!" Zhou Xueyin stated decisively.
"Maybe... Anyway, when she first came to the group, she was always clinging to Old Guo, and when she realized Old Guo was always dodging, she started bothering Xiaoding..." Yao Shanshan recalled, "But Xiaoding and Kang Le were so close it was hard for an outsider to get between them, so she shifted to Old He..."
"Great, Mi Lu has been in your group for how long? Has she stuck herself to every guy there? Truly worthy of being Guangzhou's number one jezebel! Shameless, isn't she?" Zhou Xueyin said sarcastically.
"Alright, alright, let's not talk about that Mi Lu for now. Come look! The 51buy forum is officially online! Tada-dada-dang!" Kang Siyin turned her monitor toward the three people.
"Wow! KK, you're amazing! You finished it so quickly!" Zhou Xueyin immediately returned to her seat, opened the browser, and typed in the registered website address.
With a press of the enter key, a warm-colored page appeared before them, vastly different from the prevalent techy blue on the current internet.
It gave people a warm feeling, like coming home.
"Shanshan! You must have worked on this color scheme, right? I really love it!" Zhou Xueyin liked it more the more she looked, endlessly praising it.
"Actually, I just thought of making a website with a different color scheme, so I created a few themes..." Yao Shanshan, flattered by Zhou Xueyin's praise, smiled shyly.
"Yinyin, there's a theme selection with other color options available, like classic blue, warm pink, passionate red, and so on. Users can choose the forum's color scheme according to their preference," Kang Siyin walked up behind Zhou Xueyin, operating her computer, switching between different theme colors.
"Shanshan, I absolutely adore this color! You're so talented! Each theme is so perfect!" Li Jiniang sent a screenshot to the four-person group chat, showing the orange-yellow theme with sunflowers as a background, feeling very sunny, "And, and these avatars! They are so cute! Much better than those system-default ones, aren't they!"
"Actually, it's nothing much, I just followed those color matching principles mentioned online..." Yao Shanshan said modestly, "The avatars... I just drew them casually..."
"You truly deserve a medal! I'll remember this! Once the company is up and running, you'll get a big red envelope!" Zhou Xueyin, satisfied, changed the topic as she looked at the Q-version avatars drawn by Yao Shanshan.
"How about this? Let's go downstairs and buy some skewers? We can come back and drink to celebrate, what do you think?" Li Jiniang gleamed with excitement as she suggested to the group.
"Yes, great idea! Celebrating the forum officially going live! We really should celebrate! I'll pay for this late-night meal! Girls, change your clothes and let's go!" Zhou Xueyin was the first one to rush to the bedroom to change into a T-shirt and put on mosquito repellent.
At the skewer stall, Zhou Xueyin, Li Jiniang, and Kang Siyin were excitedly discussing the forum's future, while Yao Shanshan sighed heavily, seemingly uninvolved.
It was as if she was still wrapped up in the suspicion that her boyfriend might be cheating on her.
"Shanbao, why the long face? Still upset about that photo?" Zhou Xueyin took Yao Shanshan's arm.
"Yinyin, do you think I should call him and ask what's really going on? I really suspect that the shadow was Mi Lu!" Yao Shanshan said anxiously.
"Just call. Since you're suspicious, just call and ask. With your personality, if you don't get clarity, will you be able to sleep tonight?" Zhou Xueyin took Yao Shanshan's phone from her hands and dialed Lao He's number.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off..." However, that was the response from the speaker.
"Hey! He's switched off the phone?" Zhou Xueyin incredulously stared at the phone screen, "His phone is the one that's supposed to have a battery life of one month! And it's turned off?"
"Lao He changed his phone a while ago… but still, it shouldn't run out of battery this quickly..." Yao Shanshan sighed, "If it weren't for the last bus being gone, I would have really gone to look for him!"
"Shanshan, didn't Lao He say he was rehearsing today? Then why didn't you go?" Li Jiniang turned and asked.
"Guozi said they needed some help with painting the decorations on a few costumes, so I stayed home to work on them…" Yao Shanshan pouted, "I usually go to the rehearsals, but today I wasn't there, and Mi Lu must have clung to Lao He… Oh, what should I do..."
"Don't worry, I'll call Guozi right now!" Agitated, Zhou Xueyin dialed Guozi's number.
"Hello? Guozi, it's Zhou Xueyin... It's been forever, you ghost!" Upon getting through, Zhou Xueyin paced back and forth as she spoke, "I'm asking you, where was your group rehearsing today? When did you finish? Did you have a meal or go out for KTV afterwards..."
Zhou Xueyin bombarded Guozi with questions, like she was interrogating a suspect.
"Alright, alright, I got it, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep it up! Alright, alright. Bye, bye… Okay, fine, I'll talk to her, okay, okay, bye, bye…" After getting answers from Guozi, Zhou Xueyin hung up the phone.
"Yinyin... what's the situation?" Yao Shanshan anxiously looked at Zhou Xueyin.
"Guozi said they were rehearsing at the Central Academy of Fine Arts today. After rehearsing, they went to a buffet, but people from the next booth complained about the noise, which led to a conflict. Some guys in the group drank a bit and it escalated…" Zhou Xueyin recounted what Guozi had told her.
"They didn't actually start fighting, did they?" Li Jiniang asked worriedly.
"How could they not? Several bottles were smashed, and even the police came. Once everything was settled, they missed the last bus. So, they found an all-night KTV to sing at." Zhou Xueyin said helplessly, "Mi Lu and Lao He are also singing there, with so many people around, I guess they wouldn't dare do too much..."
"Let's hope so…" Yao Shanshan sighed with relief.