Chapter 181: "Shen Lang would never block me; I'm his girlfriend."

"Hey, excuse me, can you tell me what this means?"

Ye Yinan held her phone up, opening WeChat. She stopped a passing waitress, curious and a bit anxious.

"I just got back to the country, and I'm not really familiar with this app. What does 'friend verification' mean? Do I need to input some sort of code?"

It's not like Ye Yinan had never used social media before.

It's just that no one had ever deleted her as a friend. This unexpected situation left her genuinely confused.

Besides, Shen Lang had just confirmed their relationship yesterday, and they even talked for hours last night.

Ye Yinan wasn't even entertaining the idea that this might be intentional. She instinctively thought it was a glitch in the app.

"Uh, let me take a look."

The waitress, flattered by the politeness of her boss's daughter, cautiously examined the screen.

After a careful look, she confirmed, "Miss, it looks like the other person deleted and blocked you. You'll need to send them a friend request again if you want to continue chatting."

"No way. He's a close friend. Why would he block me? We were just talking last night!"

Ye Yinan was confused and dazed.

She'd rather believe it was a technical issue than accept that Shen Lang had deliberately deleted and blocked her.

"I'm not sure about that," the waitress stammered, unsure how to answer this next-level question. "But you can try re-adding them as a friend here. Maybe it was just an accident."

The waitress thought the accidental deletion theory made sense. After all, the guy's profile photo didn't seem like someone who'd just block someone like Ye Yinan—a rich, talented, and insanely gorgeous "national goddess."

Unless, of course, he was gay.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot. Thanks."

Ye Yinan left the waitress with a worried look and rushed back to her room. She immediately sent a friend request, feeling a creeping sense of unease.

"It's not possible. It was definitely an accident," she whispered to herself, clutching her phone tightly as beads of sweat formed in her palms despite the winter cold.

After waiting anxiously for what felt like an eternity, Ye Yinan couldn't hold back and reopened the WeChat chat window.

The dreaded red exclamation mark was still there, along with a polite automated message.

"No, no, Shen Lang wouldn't block me. I'm his girlfriend," she muttered, her voice trembling.

Her mind raced to figure out how to fix this bizarre problem she'd never encountered before.

"Miss, Madam and the Chairman are waiting for you downstairs," bodyguard Zhang Tao announced, knocking on her door.

The door swung open, and Ye Yinan glared straight at him. "Where's Shen Lang? Take me to him!"

Zhang Tao, startled by her sudden burst of anger, stammered, "Uh, Mr. Shen left this morning when the ship docked. He left with the other passengers."

"He left? Why didn't you tell me? Don't you know he's my friend?!"

The thought of Shen Lang leaving without a word, coupled with the WeChat block, brought Ye Yinan closer to an answer she didn't want to accept.

Her emotions boiled over, catching Zhang Tao off guard. "I-I'm sorry, Miss. That was my mistake."

"No, it's not your fault. I'm sorry," she quickly apologized, realizing it wasn't fair to blame him.

She composed herself and headed to the deck, staying silent for a long while. "Let's just go home," she finally said.

Back in the Rolls-Royce, she noticed her mother's eyes were red and her father still looked stern and irritable.

But she didn't care. All she could think about was why Shen Lang left and why he blocked her.

"Yinan, are you okay?" her mother, Zhong Meiru, asked, holding her icy hands.

Zhong Meiru already knew about the incident between Ye Hai and Shen Lang at last night's birthday party. She hated her heartless husband for driving away the boy her daughter clearly cared so much about.

"Yinan, please say something!" Zhong Meiru begged, seeing her daughter's lifeless expression.

"I'm fine," Ye Yinan mumbled, her face void of emotion as if all color had drained from her world.

"Dammit, I told you to keep your distance from him, not scare him off!" Ye Hai muttered irritably, rubbing his temples as he glanced at his daughter's pale face in the rearview mirror.

Back at the villa, Ye Yinan moved like a ghost, following her parents inside. She climbed the stairs heavily, feeling like a shell of her former self.

"Ye Hai, if anything happens to her, I swear I'm divorcing you!" Zhong Meiru snapped at her husband.

Left speechless, Ye Hai reluctantly considered calling Shen Lang back, even if he hated the idea.

In her room, Ye Yinan opened her laptop and searched for WeChat's customer service number, determined to make one last attempt.

**"Hello, my boyfriend accidentally deleted me on WeChat. How can I add him back?"**

**"Please send a new friend request. Once he accepts, you'll be friends again."**

**"I tried that. He didn't accept. What should I do?"**

**"Sorry, there's nothing else we can do."**

**"Can you give me his address so I can find him myself?"**

**"We cannot disclose users' personal information due to privacy policies."**

**"I'll pay you."**

**"Ma'am, this isn't about money."**

**"Ten million. No? Twenty million. Please, he's really important to me!"**

**Beep, beep, beep...**