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"My God, in just a short time, this video has gained another 300,000 views," Ai Yin exclaimed.
Banami frowned slightly as she looked at the title.
"Wakaba Mutsumi, the daughter of Wakaba Takafumi and Mori Minami, has been cruelly abandoned by her fiancé? The fiancé, the heir of the Toyokawa family, turns around and marries his new love!"
Banami knew that he was a writer, so he was no stranger to journalism and had a particular sensitivity to words.
The title itself has a very clear bias from the beginning. It doesn't directly mention Wakaba Mutsu or the Toyokawa family, but instead uses the celebrity parents of the little cucumber to attract traffic.
Whether it's comedian Takafumi Wakaba or national-level actress Minami Mori, their influence on the internet and in public discourse far surpasses that of the Toyokawa family, a conglomerate.
Moreover, the melodramatic story of the Wakaba family's daughter being abandoned by the Toyokawa family is a natural traffic magnet.
But Banami, who had just read this far, wasn't worried at all. After all, if it was just some marketing account making baseless accusations, he could take the video down with a single phone call.
But when he watched the video, his expression subtly changed.
The video begins with a somewhat dated shot, and the original video may even have been copied from a videotape.
The background of the shot is the reception hall of a luxurious villa, which is crowded with people who all look like upper-class people in suits. It looks like a banquet held by a wealthy family.
The reception hall of this villa looked very familiar to Banami. This was the place where the Toyokawa family used to receive guests and hold banquets. Even his and Shoko's coming-of-age ceremony was held here.
The Toyokawa family instructed the media to release the video of their coming-of-age ceremony, so many people will probably recognize this place.
Not only that, but standing in front of the camera were two elderly men dressed in fine clothes.
One of the elderly men looked quite familiar, only he was younger than he is now.
He was none other than Toyokawa Sadaharu, the former head of the Toyokawa family, and the old man beside him, Hachimi, even guessed his identity.
Wakaba Mutsu's grandfather.
Beside the two elderly men were two young couples, and the bellies of the two young wives were noticeably protruding, clearly indicating that they were pregnant.
Needless to say, these two pregnant women are none other than Minami Mori and Mizuho Toyokawa from back then.
The two elderly people seemed to be in high spirits. Wakaba Mutsu's grandfather laughed and said, "I say, Sadaharu-san, when the child is born, we should let them interact more. We can't let the friendship between our two families be broken."
Toyokawa Sadaharu, who was the son-in-law, seemed more composed and said, "That's natural. I just don't know whether the child in Mizuho and Minami's bellies is a boy or a girl."
Grandpa Ruoye Mutsu said with a smile, "Boys or girls are both good, they are our family's treasures. It's a pity that Mizuho didn't like my Takafumi back then."
“Dad!” Wakaba Takafumi seemed a little embarrassed, but Toyokawa Mizuho smiled and said, “Grandpa Wakaba, you really are something. I’ve always respected Takafumi as an older brother.”
Old Man Wakaba still seemed dissatisfied and said, "Sadaharu-san, how about this: when the children are born, if they are two boys, they will be brothers; if they are two girls, they will become sworn sisters; but if it is a boy and a girl, then..."
Before Old Man Wakaba could finish speaking, Toyokawa Sadaharu calmly said, "Then naturally we'll be betrothed as children."
Banami's eyes widened slightly as she thought, "If Xiangzi were still the heir of the Toyokawa family, then what Old Deng said would be perfectly fine. The two of them are very close friends now, like sworn sisters. But now... he is the head of the Toyokawa family."
As if intentionally leading to this point, the video then played public footage of "Toyokawa Yu" and Wakaba Mutsumi during their childhood.
For example, their elementary school enrollment and junior high school sports meet were filled with snippets of their lives. "Toyokawa Yu" always took care of Wakaba Mutsu. It seemed that, just as the two elders had blessed them, the two had become very close childhood sweethearts. If things continued like this, they would definitely get married in the future, since they were already engaged.
However, the scene shifts to the modern era, to the familiar reception hall of the Toyokawa family home. Standing on the stairs are "Toyokawa Yu" and "Hanami Shoko," holding hands, as Toyokawa Sadaharu announces their engagement.
Unlike the promotional video released at the behest of the Toyokawa family, this video focuses on Wakaba Mutsu standing below, staring blankly at the young, engaged couple from the Toyokawa family who are receiving blessings from everyone.
Her doll-like, exquisite face, though expressionless, evoked a sense of sadness and sorrow.
After all, her childhood sweetheart, Toyokawa Yu, with whom she was betrothed at birth, turned around and threw herself into the arms of someone else.
It hurts, it hurts so much. Just looking at Wakaba Mutsu's profile on camera makes one feel sad.
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Wakaba Mutsumi: The Liar
The effect of a life-exchange contract is not merely a change in cognition, but a complete exchange of social identities, including changes to social records that align with one's perception.
For example, in the video footage, the person clearly accompanying Wakaba Mutsu should be Sho, and the two of them are the real childhood friends. However, because their identities have been switched, in the eyes of the public and others, it is Hachimi who is the one who accompanied Wakaba Mutsu as she grew up.
Add to that the arranged marriage between the two families' elders, and the way Wakaba Mutsu looked up at the two of them at the end, and it's clear that Banami has become a fickle and heartless scumbag who abandoned his childhood sweetheart.
If it were just a matter of his personal morality, that would be fine. But unfortunately, he has just become the head of the Toyokawa family and this scandal has already occurred, which could affect the Toyokawa family and its most steadfast ally, the Wakaba family.
This not only undermined his authority as the new head of the family, but also affected the public image of Takafumi Wakaba and Minami Mori.
More importantly, if not handled properly, it could also affect Wakaba Mutsumi's reputation.
After all, although she was pitiful, she was abandoned by her fiancé and childhood sweetheart, and she was easily ridiculed.
The most troublesome thing about this matter is that those images are "real". So even if Banami uses the power of the Toyokawa family to suppress them, the effect will not be good, and it is easy to make things worse.
After all, this matter is clearly aimed at the new head of the family, Banami, and he even has a general idea of who made this carefully prepared video.
Banai wasn't worried about those people harming him; he knew he was capable of handling it.
But he didn't want to see innocent people implicated because of his own affairs.
The image of that childlike girl appeared in Hanami's mind.
Just then, his phone rang, and sure enough, it was Old Deng calling.
After hanging up the phone, Banami said to the two of them, "I'm sorry, Anon, I need to go back to the Toyokawa family home. Could you please ask my teacher for leave for me?"
"Ah... um..." Before the cute voice could finish answering, Banami disappeared.
"Hana-chan is worried about Muko-chan," Takamatsu Akari, who was next to Aine, suddenly said casually.
Ai Yin looked at the little lamp with some surprise.
"Hana-chan has always been a gentle person. Just now, when Aine didn't come to the Astronomy Club, I asked Hanami-chan about it, and he said that he could understand Anon-chan's choice."
He respects your choices, so he won't take the initiative to get close to you.
However, he would be very happy if Anon-chan were willing to have lunch with them in the Astronomy Club.
Takamatsu Akari gently turned her head to look at Aine and said, "I...I'll be happy too."
Looking at the girl's serious face, Aine's heart seemed to clench slightly.
***
At the same time, at Tsukimori Academy, someone had already shown the video to Wakaba Mutsu.
Although Wakaba Mutsu is very cute, she usually keeps to herself because of her personality. It's not that no one has tried to befriend her, but being friends with a doll who remains silent no matter what you say can be very stressful.
In junior high, Xiangzi was still by her side, but in high school, she truly became all alone.
Looking at the video, where Xiangzi's original position had been replaced by Yana's, Wakaba Mutsu subconsciously stroked the screen gently.
"SAKI is gone."
The people next to them widened their eyes slightly. They had come to find Ruoye Mu with a strong sense of justice.
After all, they already disliked Shoko, who was studying here because she married into the Toyokawa family. Now, the young master of the Toyokawa family abandoned Wakaba Mutsu to marry Hanami Shoko, which made them, as young ladies from wealthy families, even more united in their hatred.
If you commoner bitches are all thinking about snatching a rich husband to achieve upward social mobility, what about us rich girls who were already rich?
This is a naturally hostile stance.
But when they came to Wakaba Mutsu to stand up for her, she said something cryptic.
"SAKI is missing. What does that mean? Does SAKI refer to Shoko Hachimi?"
“SAKI is Toyokawa Shoko.” Surprisingly, Wakaba Mutsumi answered her.
After all, this girl rarely says a word.
"Wakaba-kun, you...you mustn't give up! I know you still like Yu-shao, he's just bewitched by that Banami Shoko right now. You and he have been childhood sweethearts for over ten years!" The girl next to her quickly cheered her on.
Just now, when they heard Wakaba Mutsu address the other party as "Toyokawa Shoko," they thought that Mutsu had acknowledged the other party's identity and admitted her defeat.
However, at that moment, an impatient voice appeared in Wakaba Mutsu's mind.
"Are these people idiots? What Mu means is that there is no trace of Toyokawa Shoko, Mu's childhood friend."
Yes, in the eyes of everyone in this world, there is only one childhood friend of Wakaba Mutsu, and that is "Toyokawa Yu".
But Ruoye Mu seemed not to hear Metis's words, and just kept her head down.
Because Wakaba Mutsu couldn't elicit a single response from them after being hit three times, everyone was somewhat discouraged.
Although they didn't say it outright, they clearly wanted to use Wakaba Mutsu's name to cause trouble for Shoko.
Just then, everyone heard a voice.
"Um, Mu Zimi Jiang, could you come out for a moment? I have something I want to tell you."
When Wakaba Mutsu looked up, she found it was Nagasaki Motoyo.
Without saying a word, the girl stood up and walked to the door.
"Uh, wait a minute, Wakaba-san." Even when the girls called her from behind, Wakaba Mutsu seemed not to hear them.
After the two left, the young lady said with some annoyance, "What a thing, her attitude is so arrogant."
"Hmph, I even suspect that there might be something wrong with her brain."
"Otherwise, why do you think she was abandoned by Young Master Xi? If you were the head of the Fengchuan family, would you marry a woman like that and make her the mistress of the house? Could she manage the Fengchuan family well? She's not even as good as that country girl."
At this point, the elegant young lady couldn't help but laugh heartily.
However, the next moment, they saw Wakaba Mutsu walk back into the classroom, and their smiles immediately froze.
But Ye Mu simply stretched out his hand and said, "Here's your phone back."
The girl who laughed the loudest looked a little confused for a moment, and quickly said, "Um, Ruoye, we were just now..."
However, Ruo Yemu simply placed her phone on the table, turned around, and left, completely ignoring what the other person was saying.
After leaving the classroom, Su Shi's face showed a hint of worry: "Mu Zi Mi Jiang, you don't need to pay attention to what those people are saying."
“SAKI?” Wakaba Mutsu asked.
Su Shi gently shook her head and said, "We just switched back. Now Saki-chan is waiting for you on the rooftop."
Ruo Ye Mu simply nodded slightly and then walked towards the rooftop, while Su Shi behind her wore a worried expression.
Xiao Mu, what are you really thinking?
Even Su Shi no longer understands this point.
After the two arrived at the rooftop, Xiangzi immediately came forward, put his arm around Ruoye Mu, and said, "I'm sorry, Mu, we dragged you into this. I've already heard about it from Xi. He's going back to the Fengchuan family now to discuss with his grandfather how to mitigate the impact of this matter."
"It's alright, leave this to us."
Instead, after Xiangzi finished speaking, Ruoye Mu still didn't react, which made Xiangzi feel a little strange.
"Xiao Mu?" Xiangzi asked.
“SAKI.” Then, Wakaba Mutsumi gently raised her head to look at the girl.
"What's wrong? You can tell me whatever you're thinking," Xiangzi said quickly.
"SAKI, are you still my childhood friend?" Wakaba Mutsumi asked.
Xiangzi immediately hugged the girl again and said, "Of course! Even if other people's memories have changed, we still retain our original memories! I will always be Xiaomu's childhood sweetheart!"
Upon hearing Xiangzi's reply, Wakaba Mutsuko simply lowered her head slightly.
うそ (lying, liar).
Wakaba Mutsu thought to herself.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Childhood Sweethearts for a Lifetime
Pat, pat, pat.
If Ye Mu's gentle patting of the soft leather ball accidentally caused it to bounce away, it would gradually roll down to the feet of an elegant woman.
Ruoye Mu gently raised her head, seemingly expecting the woman in front of her, who resembled her but had even redder lips, to help her retrieve the ball.
"Minami, the ball..."
In the end, however, there was still no response from the other party, even though she was Wakaba Mutsu's mother.
"Xiao Mu." Then, to Ruoye Mu's surprise, she heard the woman softly call her name.
The little girl, who had just started elementary school, looked up gently and saw Minami say softly, "You'll play with Shoko today, and I'll come pick you up tonight."
After saying that, the maid beside her bowed slightly and said, "Miss Ruoye, please come with me."
After the maid finished speaking, she even picked up Wakaba Mutsu's soft little ball. However, Wakaba Mutsu's gaze turned to her mother, but the other woman had already sat in the car without turning her head.
Wakaba Mutsu gently waved to the black car.
"Miss Wakaba, please come with me," the maid repeated.
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