Chapter 28: Extreme Joy Begets Sorrow

  When it comes to this forum, it once made all the teachers and students of Dongcheng Middle School hate it to the bone. Half a year ago, Dongcheng Middle School inexplicably opened a forum, selecting some computer-savvy teachers to manage certain sections, and set indicators that required teachers to highly value them, ensuring that each section's daily click rate was over 80 and the reply rate was over 40. This indicator was also included in the performance appraisal of all teachers and as an important basis for the year-end evaluation. Those who completed more than 60% (inclusive) would receive their full performance salary, while those who failed to do so would have their performance salary deducted and their eligibility for the year-end evaluation cancelled. After the teachers gritted their teeth and read through the appraisal details, they cleverly modified the content and assigned it as homework: Tonight's homework is to log in to the school forum, leave a comment on XX post, and describe your thoughts, etc.

  Dongcheng Middle School Forum is the school's official forum, except for Dongcheng Middle School teachers and students, outsiders are not interested in it. Therefore, visitors are basically all teachers and students of Dongcheng Middle School. Even if there are occasional intruders who take a look and then close the page after reading a few lines, because the teachers and students log in to this forum purely for the purpose of completing tasks, they will not make excessive remarks, and the content of communication is limited to talking about ideals, life, occasionally catching a small lobster and frying it until it's 80% cooked before talking about ideals, life and other boring topics.

  The moderator of the "Idle Chit-Chat" section was a physical education teacher at school, who happened to be sitting next to his computer. He received a notification from the forum's backend that there was a new post, and he opened it to find another boring title, probably just an advertisement. Before he could even delete it, the system notified him of another new post, which made him a bit puzzled. The section he was in charge of was notoriously quiet throughout the school, not because he didn't try hard enough, but because of his inherent shortcomings. Other moderators were all subject teachers who could assign visiting the forum as homework, but he was just a physical education teacher, so who cared about him? For a long time, not only had he never received his full performance salary, but he also had to look down on other teachers, making him grit his teeth in anger, wishing he could gather all the relatives and friends to come and liven up the place.

  At first, the seven aunts and eight uncles were embarrassed by his face, so they posted some small poems and copied some short paragraphs from the internet to show their support. As time went on, no one paid attention anymore. The physical education teacher had no choice but to register N IDs and post some random content to make his section look less weird.

  "In the 'Idle Chatter' section, apart from himself, no one has posted a new thread for almost a month. Today, he surprisingly received two new threads in a row. The forum owner was a bit curious and decided to open the new threads to take a look. It would have been better if he hadn't looked. As soon as he saw the title, he almost choked with rage. The name of this thread is very boring: 'Tragedy, our school's last beautiful flower has become the mistress of an official's second-generation child, do you regret not taking action in time? Do you resent not acting sooner?"

  The forum owner was taken aback, the legendary title party advertisement had actually appeared on the school's forum. He shook his head with a wry smile, thinking that the section called "Idle Chatter" was aptly named, indeed... it was idle enough. Having often browsed online, he had seen many advertisements like this one, which used strange and quirky titles to attract clicks.

  Bitter smile, bitter smile, work still has to be done. The board owner opened the background post management interface and checked the boxes in front of the two posts with his mouse, preparing to delete these two title party posts with advertising nature at once. He was stunned, and the background showed that the traffic of "Idle Chatter" was mysteriously surging.

  He guessed it must be related to these two posts. So he stopped deleting, and after refreshing the background several times, the number kept rising. Every time it rose a bit, he couldn't help but tighten his buttocks once, feeling too excited, while flipping through the calendar to check today's luck, constantly refreshing the background management page.

  At last he could bear it no longer and let out a wolf-like howl.

  "This is too perverted, unprecedented! The forum owner Zhang Yawu waved his mouse: "Official second generation, I love you to death. Now who dares to gossip about me? This Jianghu is a deserted Jianghu used to raise flies."

  Two new posts on "Idle Chatter" are indeed abnormal, with over 2,000 hits in less than 5 minutes, far exceeding the total number of students and teachers on campus. It seems to have attracted attention from outsiders.

  After the forum owner's excitement had subsided a bit, he took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a few good buddies: "Hurry up and get ready, I'll be waiting for you at Moon Bay Seafood Restaurant. Tonight, we're going to have a great drink... Oh no, no, no, my birthday was long over, it's just that the section on my forum has finally shown some small results after my continuous efforts. Today is a happy day, hehe."

  "Old Zhang, long time no see! Are you free tonight? Let's meet at Moon Bay Seafood Restaurant at 7 o'clock tonight."

  "Huh? You still remember me? What's going on, did the boss give you a raise?"

  "No, no, it's just that I feel like we haven't seen each other for a long time, so let's catch up on our feelings. Also, I want to tell you some good news."

  "What's up?"

  "It's actually nothing much, just that suffocating forum, didn't I vent to you about it before? Now it's finally thriving, do you think it's worth celebrating for the guys?"

  "Alright, but I've said it already, don't rush to pay the bill, I'll treat."

  "No way, no way, nobody is allowed to fight with me tonight, otherwise we won't be brothers anymore!" The board owner said resolutely. How could such a happy thing be let others take the bill? In the past few months, because of this bird forum, not only was he deducted bonuses, but also couldn't hold his head up as a human being. Now he can finally relax and enjoy himself for a while, this treat is worth every penny.

  "Xiao Cui, tonight at Moon Bay Wine House, 7 o'clock, don't be late!"

  After calling everyone, the owner took out a suit from the closet that he had only worn once at his wedding and put it on. He seriously groomed himself in front of the mirror before leaving the dormitory for the Moon Bay Hotel. Perhaps because he was in high spirits due to the happy occasion, the owner showed off again, and unusually, he could hold a lot of liquor tonight - he drank half of the two-bottle foreign wine by himself, leading everyone else.

  Just as they were clinking glasses at the Moon Bay Winery, the click-through rate of the posts was also rising rapidly. One post had already exceeded 100,000 clicks, attracting attention from some small media outlets outside. Dozens of small websites re-posted these sensational news stories on their own sites in large font to attract traffic.

  A large amount of negative news finally caught the attention of the school authorities. The principal slammed his mouse on the monitor, and the monitor immediately cracked open a small flower with five colors: "Who is in charge of this section? Deduct all bonuses for this month, and also, never participate in the evaluation of outstanding teachers."