Chapter 125: Call me Elder Sister!

"Wow, Tang Fei actually has a girlfriend, and she's so pretty."
"This young lady has so much charm, intellectual and elegant, she looks just like a female teacher."
"Is there really such a pretty female teacher? If there were, I'm sure no male students would skip her class!"
"I want to know if an old uncle who graduated twenty years ago still has a chance to re-enroll? Not for the female teacher, mind you, I just love learning."
——
These posts were first published in the exclusive section of the Star River website's "Tang Fei" fan club. As more and more people joined the discussion, it eventually became a trending topic on the entire Star River website.
Once it hit the trending searches, even more people started paying attention.
At first, it was just internal discussions among the Tang Fei fans, expressing envy or playfully complaining that their idol "had landed a flower in a pile of cow dung."
However, once it hit the all-network trending list, countless ordinary netizens also joined in.
"Isn't Tang Fei dating Princess Xiuxue? How did it turn into a female teacher?"
"The princess must be a cover. Even with your eyes closed, you can guess how an aloof princess could possibly marry a refugee from the Old Soil?"
"I heard he's the princess's savior... Does that not count for anything?"
"Being born in a family like that is a combination of power and interests, it has nothing to do with love. Besides, the princess might not even like Tang Fei..."
"I think Tang Fei is pretty good, living genuinely. He matches this girlfriend very well, I hope he lives happily on New Star."
——
Tang Fei looked at the trending rankings on the Star River website and said to Sheng Xinhuai, "It's already twenty-first on the trending list."
"It will reach the top three soon," Sheng Xinhuai said, lying in the cockpit with a confident look on her face.
"Why?" Tang Fei asked.
He knew how to count and knew that twenty-first was still quite a long way from the top three.
"Because after your scandal comes out, other matters will erupt one after another..." Sheng Xinhuai said. "This is the siphon effect. Your appearance has received a massive amount of attention, so more people will publish topics related to you just to ride this wave of popularity."
"Everyone has a desire to be the center of attention and crave recognition from others. When a certain official is promoted, even distant relatives will post group photos; when a celebrity passes away, people who never had any connection will post all sorts of memorial messages, as if they were the best of friends..."
Sheng Xinhuai didn't major in journalism, but she understood communication and human nature.
Sheng Xinhuai turned around, her pretty eyes thoughtfully sizing up Tang Fei as she said, "You made quite a splash at the princess's coming-of-age banquet, there should be a lot of news about you today."
"Right, why isn't there any?" Tang Fei asked.
"Because some people don't want to see such news."
Tang Fei understood then. Neither the royal family nor the Qin family wanted to see news related to them.
After all, he had danced with the little princess of the royal family all night long; the royal family certainly didn't want the media wildly reporting on such news.
As for the Qin family, that was even easier to understand.
Their direct descendant Qin Yuyang had been beaten into a pig's head by Fatty, and their proud genius youth Qin Jianyi had suffered a complete defeat at the hands of a wasteland refugee—could news like that possibly be allowed to break out?
Therefore, the top spots on the trending list were currently occupied by topics like "Coming-of-Age Ceremony," "Her Royal Highness the Princess's Stunning Looks," "Phoenix Dances through Nine Heavens Crown," and various topics related to celebrities, while Tang Fei's name had been suppressed way past the fiftieth position.
If it weren't for the Tang Fei fan club constantly keeping track of him, he probably wouldn't have had any chance of appearing on the rankings at all.
However, once his "scandal" with Sheng Xinhuai was exposed, it naturally attracted countless people's attention.
"A distant cousin of mine attended last night's coming-of-age banquet and sent me a video. Take a look, it's hilarious."
First, a man named "Hexi Warrior" posted a video capturing the pathetic scene of Tang Fei and Fatty squatting in the octagonal pavilion eating pastries, which had been filmed by Qin Yuyang.
"Hahaha, these two bros have a great appetite, that huge plate would be enough for me to eat for a week..."
"Other people go to the banquet to see the princess, these two guys went just to eat! In their eyes, ten princesses probably aren't as good as a single pastry."
"So embarrassing, no matter how hungry you are, you should maintain some image! Weren't there any tables in the banquet hall? As expected of people from the Old Soil..."
"People eat when they're hungry, what's so embarrassing about that? I think the people who secretly film others eating and post it online are the truly shameless ones."
——
Soon, someone posted the video of Fatty beating up Qin Yuyang.
Following that was the video of Tang Fei and Qin Jianyi breaking branches to use as swords, sparring with each other, until after a single exchange, Qin Jianyi admitted defeat...
Public opinion was completely detonated, and soon the popularity of topics related to Tang Fei surged into the top three of the trending list.
Tang Fei looked at Sheng Xinhuai with utter admiration and said, "You guessed it all."
"What's so impressive about that?" Sheng Xinhuai said with a calm expression, "The Qin family cares about their reputation, so they wanted to suppress this content, but someone else wants to humiliate them completely, so naturally they are working hard behind the scenes to fan the flames."
"Because of Shen Qingping, the Shen family's reputation has hit rock bottom lately. Now that Qin Jianyi has been defeated by your hands, how could the Shen people sit idly by? No matter what, they have to drag the Qin family down with them."
Sheng Xinhuai thoughtfully sized up Tang Fei and said, "Just like that, descendants of two major families have suffered setbacks and humiliation because of you. How many days have you been on New Star, and you've already become a veritable tycoon-killer?"
"I had no choice either," Tang Fei smiled wryly. He certainly didn't want to carry a nickname like "tycoon-killer," so he said, "You know as well, every time I was forced to act—Shen Qingping intercepted me maliciously, and Qin Jianyi initiated a voluntary challenge. As a destitute Old Soil immigrant, I didn't even have the qualification to refuse. What could I do?"
"What use is it that I know? Don't you think the Qin and Shen families know? But because their people made fools of themselves, this score will still be settled on your head. Which head of a family ever thinks their own children did something wrong?"
"So I'm just destined to take the hits passively?"
"Not necessarily," Sheng Xinhuai said. "You offended the Shen family, offended the Qin family, and even offended the Datura Chamber of Commerce, yet to this day no one has come to cause trouble for you, and you're still bouncing around making trending lists... All because you are the princess's savior. With that connection, they all have to show some respect to the princess's face, more or less."
"What if even the royal family doesn't like me?"
Sheng Xinhuai looked at Tang Fei and said, "Then you're truly amazing for managing to make so many people dislike you in such a short time. How did you do that? Care to share your keys to success?"
"..."
"Let's see if your ranking on the Starry Sky Chart has gone up," Sheng Xinhuai said.
"Where do I check that?" Tang Fei asked.
"The Starry Sky Chart has its own website. Every ranked contender has a separate page showing their ranking reasons, climbing rationale, recent performance records, and even gossip scandals." Sheng Xinhuai opened the Starry Sky Chart website herself, checked it, and smiled, "You're already ranked two hundred and twenty-seventh on the Blue List."
"This is just because you just arrived on Blue Star, are penniless, have no prominent family background, and have been on the list for too short a time. If given more time, you might actually be able to break into the top ten."
The Blue List of the Starry Sky Chart is a personal charm ranking that evaluates not just your strength and realm, but also your appearance, family background, professional skills, work ratings, artistic achievements, and personal influence, among other comprehensive data factors.
Tang Fei was an Old Soil refugee with a rather poor background and no major social achievements, putting him at a natural, massive disadvantage compared to the young masters born into the Nine Great Families.
"So what if I break into the top ten? Won't I still be below Shen Xinglan?"
"But you'll be above a lot of other people," Sheng Xinhuai said. "Why don't you try experiencing what it's like to be below someone for a change? It's very comfortable, you don't have to work too hard, and you don't have to worry about someone climbing up to crush you from above at any moment."
"..."
The car stopped at the gate of the small courtyard. Tang Fei took the gift Sheng Xinhuai bought for him out of the car and said, "Thank you for the gift, Teacher Sheng."
Sheng Xinhuai gave him a charming side-glance and dominatedly said, "Call me 'Sister'."
"..."
When Tang Fei returned home, Fatty had already returned and was lying in the living room watching television.
Seeing Tang Fei walk in carrying bags of all sizes, Fatty immediately went up to him and asked, "Brother, where did you go?"
"I went shopping. Didn't I send you a message?"
Fatty stared at the bags in Tang Fei's hands and asked, "Did you go out with Sister Phoenix? Did she buy all these for you?"
"No," Tang Fei said. "Teacher Sheng bought them."
Fatty's expression shifted slightly as he looked at Tang Fei, opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to say something but held back.
"If you have something to say, just say it," Tang Fei said. "No need to hold back."
"Brother, I think you're a bit... a bit..."
"A bit what?"
"A bit like a scumbag?"
"..."
"You clearly have such a good relationship with Sister Phoenix... and now... how come you're with Teacher Sheng again? Like this... like this, I don't even know what I should do..." Fatty's face turned purplish-red. Clearly, saying these words caused him a great deal of internal distress.
He shouldn't be criticizing his older brother.
"You don't know what to do? What does this have to do with you?" Tang Fei asked curiously.
"I don't know... I don't know who I should call sister-in-law."
"..."
Tang Fei patted him on the shoulder and said, "A few sets of clothes are for you, go try them on."
"Oh," Fatty nodded.
Then he shook his head again and said, "I can't try them on."
"Why?"
"My previous clothes were bought by Sister Phoenix, I can't wear clothes bought by Teacher Sheng anymore." Fatty had much more principles than Tang Fei. He rubbed his chubby face with a painful and conflicted expression, saying, "If I wear her clothes, I'll feel even worse—I'd feel like I'm letting Sister Phoenix down..."
"..."