Chapter 72
The contract in his hand suddenly trembled.
At that moment, not only did sweat appear on Xia Fengsheng’s face, but the man in front of him, “Zhao Yong,” instantly broke out in sweat too.
He forced himself to stay calm and said with a smile, “Shengsheng, what are you saying? I’m your Uncle Zhao, of course my name is Zhao Yong.”
At noon in the seaside city, the summer heat was stifling. The air itself seemed to ripple with warped waves of heat.
The open-air corridor was deathly quiet, the shaded side of the apartment building cloaked in a vast stretch of shadow.
Xia Fengsheng held the pen, but its tip never touched the paper.
Zhao Yong grew anxious just watching him.
“Shengsheng, hurry—”
“Who is Liu Changhao?”
Zhao Yong’s voice failed him.
Looking into Xia Fengsheng’s pitch-black eyes, his heart began to pound faster and faster.
He knew Xia Fengsheng was smart, which was exactly why he had specifically chosen Xia Fengsheng’s college entrance exam day to come over and sign the housing contract.
But he had not expected him to be this smart, smart enough to instantly sense that something was wrong even in the middle of the chaos.
Zhao Yong forced the twitching muscles on his face under control. “Liu Changhao is the buyer. It’s written in black and white on the contract, isn’t it?”
If the buyer’s signature line had been blank, Xia Fengsheng would never have signed out of sheer caution. That was why he had no choice but to sign his own name first.
What he had never expected was that Xia Fengsheng would actually know the name Liu Changhao.
He had no idea where Xia Fengsheng had learned it from. He had been extremely careful all along and had barely met him face-to-face, only used Li Ruling’s mouth to tell him that he was a good man.
That way, he could leave behind the impression of being honest and kind, so that when it came time to deal with the house, Xia Fengsheng would trust him.
“I don’t know who Liu Changhao is either. It’s my first time hearing that name.” He offered a pale explanation, then pushed the contract closer into Xia Fengsheng’s hands, using Li Ruling’s illness to pressure him. “Shengsheng, sign it quickly. Your mother is still in the ICU waiting for the money. If we don’t pay soon, the hospital will kick her out.”
Xia Fengsheng slapped the contract away.
The white pages scattered through the air.
One after another, the pages drifted down between Xia Fengsheng and “Zhao Yong.” When they were all gone, what remained was the boy’s icy, piercing gaze.
That look was like a blade aimed straight through him.
It was rare to see such hatred in the eyes of someone so young.
As if in the next second, he would push him straight off this high building.
Xia Fengsheng did not look like other children. His skin was very pale, his eyes slanted upward, his lips blood-red. The older generation always said children with looks like that carried a certain omen.
“Zhao Yong” swallowed hard and instinctively took a step back, fear creeping in.
“Shengsheng, what’s wrong with you?” He sucked in a breath, quickly crouched down, and tried to pick up the scattered contract pages. “Don’t you want to save your mother anymore?”
Xia Fengsheng looked down at him coldly.
All the evidence in his memory, all the clues he had stumbled upon by chance, clicked into place in that instant.
Why was the owner of the car with the plate number 4499 a man surnamed Liu?
Why had Li Ruling’s household registration book listed Liu Changhao as head of the household after her remarriage?
Why was the man buying the house also called Liu Changhao?
When Liu Changhao bent down to pick up the page nearest Xia Fengsheng, Xia Fengsheng pinned it to the ground with his foot.
“You’re the Mr. Liu who owns the car with plate number 4499, aren’t you?”
Still crouched there, Liu Changhao’s eyes suddenly widened. In a single instant, sweat soaked through his entire body.
Just then, the neighbor’s door suddenly opened, and a six-year-old boy ran out of the apartment happily.
Someone inside the apartment stretched out a hand, trying to grab him back, but failed and hurriedly withdrew it again.
“Dad, look! Mom folded me a paper airplane. It’s got double wings!”
Still crouching on the ground, Liu Changhao looked at the child who had suddenly run out, and for a moment forgot how to breathe.
The child had the same pale skin as Xia Fengsheng and a face that resembled Li Ruling’s.
“Dad.” The little boy ran over happily, but seeing his father drenched in sweat, hair stuck to his face, wearing an expression of terror, he was startled. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
He hurried over to Liu Changhao’s side, looking at him anxiously.
“Dad, are you feeling sick?”
The little boy was so worried about him that he forgot all about the joy of his paper airplane and instead quickly turned to ask Xia Fengsheng.
“Big brother, what’s wrong with my dad?”
Xia Fengsheng said nothing. The hair over his forehead covered his eyes.
The little boy grew so anxious that his face crumpled, and he shouted toward the apartment with the open door.
“Mom, come out quick! Dad doesn’t feel well!”
But no one came out.
There was not even the sound of footsteps moving inside.
In the open doorway sat several pairs of shoes—men’s, women’s, children’s.
Li Ruling’s…
“Mom!”
“Mom, come out!”
The little boy stamped his feet anxiously, but the room remained silent. No one answered him at all.
A gust of wind blew through, setting the wind chime inside ringing.
Xia Fengsheng’s pupils contracted sharply, as though something had pierced him. He grabbed Liu Changhao off the ground in one yank.
The little boy, who had been standing beside them, jumped in fright and stumbled backward, landing hard on the ground.
“Big brother!”
“Dad!”
The paper airplane in his hand crumpled beneath him, and his face filled with terror.
Liu Changhao, seeing Xia Fengsheng’s expression, grabbed his wrist at once, and the two of them instantly started fighting.
When had the little boy ever seen such violence before? Xia Fengsheng raised his fist and punched Liu Changhao in the mouth hard enough to draw blood.
At that hour, people had just finished their midday rest and were starting to come out of their homes to head back to work.
The commotion Xia Fengsheng caused instantly drew the attention of everyone nearby.
“Don’t hit my dad!”
“Don’t hit my dad!!!”
Seeing the child frightened into tears, Liu Changhao started throwing punches at Xia Fengsheng too. “You little bastard!”
But Xia Fengsheng seemed not to feel pain at all. For every blow Liu Changhao landed, Xia Fengsheng returned ten.
Liu Changhao was past forty; Xia Fengsheng was eighteen, in the full heat of youth. Though Liu Changhao, as an adult man, had the bigger build and more strength, he was no match for Xia Fengsheng in a fight. Very quickly, his face was beaten into a bloody mess. Xia Fengsheng was nearly hitting him with killing intent. Liu Changhao was on the verge of blacking out.
“Waaahhhhhh! Dad!”
The little boy sat on the ground and howled.
“Mom!”
“Mom, come save Dad!!!”
One corner of Xia Fengsheng’s mouth was bleeding too. One side of his face had turned dark with bruising. He looked toward that apartment, the one that still had not made a single response.
Then he hauled Liu Changhao, now half-conscious and kneeling weakly on the ground, up again.
In the next instant, the whole apartment building erupted in screams.
“Murder!!!!!!”
Everyone watched as Xia Fengsheng grabbed the bloodied Liu Changhao and shoved him over the open-air corridor railing.
There was a cold-blooded viciousness in him now. Both his hands were stained with blood.
Liu Changhao’s mind was foggy. Screams rang all around him. His limp arms flailed wildly in midair, instinctively trying to grab hold of anything at all.
Half his body was hanging over the edge. The enormous weightless panic jolted his muddled mind back into clarity. It was the raw survival instinct of being human.
He stared in horror at Xia Fengsheng’s bloodstreaked face, both hands clutching his arm like a drowning man clutching driftwood. “Don’t! Don’t let go! Don’t!!!!”
His shriek cracked sharply.
His face was naked terror, his entire body shaking like a leaf. His eyes bulged so hard they looked ready to pop out. He pleaded bitterly with Xia Fengsheng.
“Shengsheng, don’t! Uncle was wrong! Uncle doesn’t want to die! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
Xia Fengsheng looked at that silent apartment and pressed down harder on the arm holding Liu Changhao over the edge.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!”
A miserable scream ripped out of Liu Changhao’s throat. He was terrified beyond reason. Yellow liquid began running down his pant leg.
Seeing Liu Changhao on the verge of being dropped from the open-air corridor, the previously silent apartment finally burst into frantic chaos.
“Don’t!!!” Li Ruling came rushing out, drenched in sweat.
The moment Xia Fengsheng saw her, the last bit of light in his eyes died completely.
He hauled Liu Changhao back in and flung him to the ground.
Seeing Xia Fengsheng’s injured face and the chaotic housing contract pages scattered on the floor, Li Ruling did not know how to face him.
She had been hiding inside the whole time. If Liu Changhao had not really been about to fall, she never would have come out.
She had not wanted Xia Fengsheng to see her.
She had not wanted him to know she had lied to him.
Xia Fengsheng spoke in a hoarse voice. “Weren’t you supposed to be in the ICU right now?”
Li Ruling lowered her head, eyes dodging away, fingers clutching at her dress, not daring to look him in the eye.
Why was Li Ruling, who should have been in the hospital, inside the neighbor’s apartment?
Xia Fengsheng looked at her coldly.
He had already pieced together the answer in his heart, yet he still stupidly asked the question aloud.
He already knew.
His reason told him the truth, but his feelings refused to believe his mother could really do such a thing.
The mother who, when he called her Mom again, had secretly cried in her room all night.
The mother who had fought other parents when they attacked him, who had said no one was allowed to bully her son.
The mother who had picked him up after school, attended his parent-teacher meetings, celebrated his birthdays…
Reason’s prison began to crack apart bit by bit. The pain of betrayal became clearer and clearer. Xia Fengsheng could not accept it. He grabbed Liu Changhao off the floor again. “He forced you into this, didn’t he?! He manipulated you into doing it!”
Even with the evidence laid bare, Xia Fengsheng still stubbornly believed Liu Changhao was the one who had deliberately led Li Ruling into this.
“Say it! Was it you? You’re the one who tricked her into doing this, aren’t you? Say it!”
“Say it!!”
Looking at Liu Changhao on the ground, beaten into an inhuman state and barely clinging to life, and Yangyang sitting on the floor crying, Li Ruling suddenly rushed forward and threw herself over Liu Changhao, knocking Xia Fengsheng’s hand away.
Xia Fengsheng’s expression went blank. He stared at the hand that had been painfully slapped aside.
Then his eyes slowly turned back to her.
Li Ruling saw the hurt on his face and instantly panicked. “Shengsheng… Shengsheng, I’m sorry. Mom didn’t mean to. Mom was just too anxious, Shengsheng.”
She looked at Liu Changhao, sprawled on the floor and beaten nearly beyond recognition. “Mom just didn’t want you to do something wrong.”
“Something wrong.” Those two rasping words came out of Xia Fengsheng’s mouth. “Then what about the way you lied to me?”
Li Ruling’s throat tightened.
Xia Fengsheng picked up one of the fallen contract pages and held it before her. “Why did you lie to me?”
Why had her illness not relapsed?
Why had she lied to him about needing to sell the house?
And why was she selling it to her remarried husband?
He looked into her guilty eyes. “Didn’t I already tell you? If you wanted money, I would give it to you.”
He had said it from the very beginning.
If she wanted money, he would give it.
Then why do this to him?
Why? What had he done wrong? Was it simply because he had been greedy enough to want a mother? Because he had longed for that little scrap of kinship?
He had made it clear from the start. If Li Ruling wanted money, he would give it to her.
Even if she had asked for the house directly, it would have been the same.
If she had only opened her mouth and told him, he would not have refused. So why lie to him? Why lie to him together with someone else?
Xia Fengsheng pointed at Liu Changhao. “He forced you to, didn’t he?”
Li Ruling stayed silent.
“Say something!” Xia Fengsheng gripped her shoulders, finally unable to suppress himself any longer, and roared, “Say something! Say he forced you! Say he tricked you into doing this!”
If Li Ruling just said it, he would believe her.
Even if it was another lie.
But what answered him in the end were the tears flowing from Li Ruling’s eyes.
The housing contract slipped from Xia Fengsheng’s hand, and he sank weakly to the floor.
He had borrowed money everywhere for Li Ruling.
For Li Ruling, he had taken Old Master Bie’s two hundred thousand, and in doing so had forever lost Shi Ye.
And in the end, all of it had been Li Ruling’s scam.
A scheme to swindle him out of his money and his house.
Why, Mom?
Why would you do this?
Thinking of Shi Ye, Xia Fengsheng’s tears would not stop falling. The one beam of light in his life—he would never see it again.
For the past six months, he had been living in the illusion of a mother’s love, only to discover in the end that it had all been a lie—a complete fraud.
Why would you do this to him?
His bruised, bloodied face crumpled as he wept in utter collapse, finally showing the helplessness of someone his own age.
He grabbed hold of Li Ruling’s dress, crying and screaming as he asked her why.
He screamed until his voice broke. When had that cold, distant boy ever looked so wrecked?
“Why did you do this to me? Didn’t I already say I would give it to you? As long as you asked, I would have given it to you!!! Why? Why!!!”
Why would you do this to him?!
Wasn’t he her child?
He still remembered how Li Ruling had once run away with him in childhood.
“Mom!!! Mom!!!”
He clutched at Li Ruling’s dress over and over, the way three-year-old him had once stretched out his little hands asking his mother to hold him.
But three-year-old Xia Fengsheng had never gotten his parents’ embrace.
And eighteen-year-old Xia Fengsheng still did not.
Li Ruling crouched down and looked at Xia Fengsheng, broken and filthy with grief. She reached out as though to wipe his face. She could not bear to look at him crying.
But her hand froze in midair, not daring to touch him.
There were still injuries on Xia Fengsheng’s face from Liu Changhao’s fists.
His bruised cheek was swollen high. Looking at him now, Li Ruling suddenly saw the image of him as a child, crying and shouting that he wanted to go with her.
“Mom! Mommy!”
That tiny child had stretched out his hand, trying to grab hers, only to be yanked back by Xia Zhiyuan.
“Shengsheng, I’m sorry. Mom is sorry. Mom was wrong.”
Li Ruling looked at Xia Fengsheng’s collapsed face and wept bitterly.
“If I could do it over again, Mom would never betray you.”
Fifteen years later, Xia Fengsheng’s family fell apart all over again.
His father’s death.
His mother’s betrayal.
Only the silver bracelet his parents had once prayed for still stood as proof that they had once loved Xia Fengsheng.
In the video, Li Ruling’s report about uremia was fake.
During her last hospital stay, Xia Fengsheng had personally run up and down the hospital collecting every report. He had seen them all.
What Li Ruling held in her hands was a report from when she had first fallen ill years earlier—not a current one. Her hand had deliberately covered the date.
That day, after Li Ruling and Liu Changhao’s scam was exposed, Xia Fengsheng had been devastated. By the time he rushed to the examination hall, he had already missed the final cutoff time to enter the last English exam.
He stood outside the exam hall in pain and confusion, his whole life swallowed by darkness.
There was no path before him except cliffs on every side.
And yet…
Looking at the video on his phone in which Li Ruling slandered him, Xia Fengsheng did not let go of his desire to live.
From childhood until now, he had lost his way in desperate places more times than he could count. But every single time, he had still managed to find the exit on his own.
Seeing Li Ruling’s betrayal all over again, Xia Fengsheng felt no pain.
Watching article after article speaking out get deleted one after another, Qin Buming, Li Wangqing, and the others all stared helplessly at their phone screens.
“What do we do? I can’t even post my article!”
“Mine neither.”
“My account got restricted. I can’t even repost other people’s articles.”
The room fell quiet. Everyone sank into silence.
But no one stopped moving.
They all kept trying everything they could to get the truth out online.
The blade on the execution platform had not yet fallen. As long as there was still one breath left in them, that breath was not meant for giving up.
Each of them had already prepared for the worst when they chose this path.
Success. Failure.
Whatever the result, they would accept it.
A person faces many hardships in one lifetime. They believed this was just one of them. So what if they failed? It would not kill them. Was finance really the only road open to them?
There were countless roads in the world.
If they could fight their way into Jing University, the very best in finance, then their determination could also carry them to success in another field.
“If we’re going to become sacrifices, then we’ll struggle first before we die!”
There were too many people in the world, and someone had to live for what they believed in.
No regret. No bowing down.
Some even had their phones die entirely. One person simply shoved open the dorm window and shouted outside:
“I am publicly and under my real name accusing Jing University associate professor Yang Liwan of academic fraud and oppression of students!”
In an instant, a large crowd gathered downstairs outside the dormitory.
Just then, Qin Buming saw something on his phone.
“Shengsheng! Quick, look at your phone! Someone is speaking out for us!”
Xia Fengsheng opened the media app. The expose accusing Yang Liwan of academic fraud and student oppression, which had been scrubbed clean before, was now back at number one on the trending list.
The discussion count, which had started in the millions, had now exploded beyond calculation.
He clicked in.
True Love Miss Zhao:
“A dignified associate professor at Beijing University committing academic fraud, working students to the bone, and threatening their parents if they dare resist—is there any justice left in this world?! Central authorities, come take a look! He even colluded with politicians! Is there really no law anymore? Just because you have power, you think you can trample over everything? I’m speaking out for the oppressed students of Jing University, and for all students everywhere who are being oppressed! [Repost. Images/Text]”
Qi Qianwanli:
“Yang Liwan, I f**king curse your ancestors, who the hell gave this piece of garbage so much power? Damn it, Jing University actually lets a moron like this be an associate professor? Is your school out of people? Let’s see who dares protect him. Politicians? Come on out. Let me see who you are. [Repost. Pictures/Text]”
Painter Xingxing:
“I was furious when I saw the news. I never thought evil like this—people with power bullying ordinary folks—could still happen. One of the students making the joint accusation is a child named Xia Fengsheng. He used to work part-time at our family barbecue shop. Later Xingxing went abroad to paint, and we moved with him, so we never saw this child again. He has always been excellent and kind-hearted. When he was younger, he helped take care of Xingxing many times. I’m speaking out for them too, and I hope Xingxing’s fans will help repost. [Repost. Pictures/Text]”
Ding Ding Ding Dong:
“This is insane, everybody get over here! The future pillars of this country are being treated like this, and my Xia-ge, such a good person, gets silenced just for exposing an associate professor’s scandal? Great, let’s see who dares delete this now. This platform has my family’s investment behind it. Let’s see who dares censor people speaking out. [Repost. Pictures/Text]”
Lychee and Peach Again:
“Mr. Xia is a very good person—upright and steady. He doesn’t lie. Everyone, please help repost and speak out for the students! [Repost. Pictures/Text]”
Strong Mantis:
“I used to be one of that dead bastard Yang Liwan’s students. He was already like this back then. Can’t believe after all these years he’s still this rotten. Someone’s finally reported him. Hurry up and let him die!!!”
Opening an Umbrella in Your Ass:
“As a graduate school blogger, I feel I have to stand up. Academic overlords are everywhere in life, and behind them is always the blood and sweat of students. Those with power bullying those without—it’s disgusting. I’m speaking out for the students. [Repost. Pictures/Text]”
Right after that, many companies that had once worked with Dawn Studio also came out to speak.
Among them were Qi Mingyue’s medical equipment company, Li Taoli’s parents’ insurance company, and many of the people Xia Fengsheng had met before.
Xia Fengsheng looked at his phone.
Li Ruling truly had hurt him.
But this time, Mom—
I won’t cry for you anymore.
At that same moment, a media van pulled up outside the gates of Beijing University.
A man wearing a press badge stepped out with long, swift strides. The cameraman aimed the camera at him and opened the livestream.
“Today, Beijing University has been rocked by scandal—an associate professor accused of academic fraud and oppressing students.”
The man’s sharp eyes turned toward the lens.
“This is National Geographic reporter Jing Changyu, bringing you the story.”
“Holy crap, something just happened and there’s already a live news stream?”
“First-hand scene? This is intense, I’m so hyped.”
“Handsome reporter, aren’t you tired?”
“If you really can’t find him, maybe just stroll around slowly.”
“He’s got this weirdly subtle sense of humor.”
“Go go go, I want the drama!”
Meanwhile, Yang Liwan stared at the revived trending topic online, stunned.
What was going on? Hadn’t he already paid to have it deleted?
With school leaders all around him, he could not make calls, so he texted the people he had hired to manipulate online information.
“What the hell is going on online?! Why is the topic back again?”
“Are you people useless or what? If it’s not taken down again within five minutes, don’t even dream of seeing the rest of your payment.”
But the messages vanished like stones into the sea. The online manipulators did not respond at all.
Yang Liwan could steer online narratives with money. Zheng Xing had contacted several internet firms in a row, and Dawn Studio did not lack money either. Very quickly, they broke the restrictions blocking reposts of their articles.
They had simply never expected so many friends online to speak out for them.
Yang Liwan suddenly remembered that Zhou Qiong was with the people manipulating the network. The call-boy card about Xia Fengsheng soliciting sex had come from Zhou Qiong too.
He hurried to contact him.
“What’s happening on your end?!”
“Get this stuff off the internet right now!”
Zhou Qiong finally replied: “The computer suddenly froze. I’m online buying water army accounts right now.”
The online suppression had broken down. For a moment, Beijing University graduate student abandons mother with uremia and Beijing University graduate student exposes associate professor’s academic fraud were both trending.
The public’s entire attention was now fixed on Jing University. Yang Liwan’s notoriety rose even higher. Some netizens even started digging into his personal information, and into which politician he had been colluding with behind the scenes.
Colluding with politicians and exchanging money in private counted as bribery. The accusation documents had laid it out in black and white. Academic misconduct, instructing students to falsify data, taking state funding—there had to have been political interference in it too.
Very quickly, Yang Liwan got his own separate trending tag. Netizens dug him up completely, and clicking into the tag showed his personal details.
What Yang Liwan probably did not know was that the first person to doxx him online had been one of the students he had once oppressed.
After graduation, that student had been so traumatized by him that he had never gone into finance at all, instead changing fields and becoming a tech worker.
Gold shines wherever it goes. If he had been able to get into Beijing University, then he could stand back up again too.
The only thing that had never faded was the hatred buried in his heart for Yang Liwan. The moment he saw today’s news online, he threw himself into the battle.
He dug out Yang Liwan’s personal information completely. Even private chat records he could obtain were screenshotted and posted online.
The young man loathed exploitation and corruption, and his spirit of resistance drove the online backlash to new heights.
Yang Liwan’s tag was reposted more and more widely.
Not only his former students, but plenty of netizens also started digging deeper into Yang Liwan’s private data, exposing one piece of evidence after another.
Screens full of chat records showing him exploiting and threatening students became public, along with records of which hospital directors he had bribed and which police officers he had privately colluded with.
Someone even unearthed an old drunk-driving case, where he had hit someone and broken their bones. At the time, a police contact had helped smooth it over. He paid some money and never even apologized, and the matter was simply buried.
Then came photos of him soliciting prostitutes and participating in group sex, all exposed by some unknown netizen.
In the pictures, besides him, there were several other pot-bellied men, their faces shown in high resolution.
More and more dirt surfaced. Other people tied to him began to emerge as well.
“Associate professor solicits prostitutes and hits people drunk, and the school still hasn’t fired him?”
“Power and social status really make life easy. Anything can be covered up.”
“This associate professor is turning out to be more rotten the more people dig.”
“Can anyone identify if one of those men in the pictures is the politician? Come look!”
“Hold on, I’m calling my secretary. @Secretary Chen”
“I’m asking mine too.”
“Secretary, come eat melon. @Secretary Feng”
“Isn’t that the one in this meeting photo? A deputy party secretary with some minor rank?”
“Holy shit, it is him. He’s even been on TV before.”
“That bastard is spending tax money on prostitutes!”
“Bet that’s not the only thing. Keep digging!”
“Pull him down already. I’m about to turn anti-social over this!”
The power of netizens was practically supernatural. There was almost nothing they could not dig up.
Seeing more and more of his crimes surface online, Yang Liwan’s sweat poured down to the floor like rain.
He had thought this would end like all the others before—silence the people speaking out, and the problem would go away.
But instead, more and more people were stepping forward. More and more. Far beyond anything he had imagined.
Some former students who still had his number now kept texting him threats one after another.
“Bastard, so this day finally came for you. Weren’t you supposed to be able to cover the sky with one hand? What now?”
“Just wait till prison, asshole. By the way, after graduating under you, I switched to law. I’m a prosecutor now. You’d better pray I never get assigned to your case.”
“You beast are finally going down. People like you should be locked up forever. The crimes you’ve committed aren’t minor.”
“Looks like the criminal’s heading to prison. We’ll all be watching.”
“You dead thing, I still have all the evidence of you threatening me. The day you get arrested, I’ll personally go to the police and hand over every last thing I’ve got. Let’s see if I can’t get you another ten years.”
“I always knew you’d have this day. It’s karma, bastard. You deserve every bit of it. Better enjoy one last good meal while you can, because once you’re in prison, there won’t be any more pig slop for you.”
“Weren’t you real mouthy before? Weren’t you so impressive? Go on then—keep barking.”
The incoming texts flooded his phone like fish pouring endlessly out of a river. Each one drove a little more fear into Yang Liwan, gnawing away at his nerves.
School leaders were still all around him. He hid his shaking hand, still clutching the phone, behind his back.
Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Calm down.
He kept trying to steady himself.
Just then, a school leader spoke up.
“Since you and the students are each telling a different story, let’s go to the dorm where those students are being held and confront them directly.”
The leadership still had not seen how far things had exploded online. A few of them were holding the evidence pages Xia Fengsheng had scattered at the scene, their brows knitting tighter and tighter.
Everything on those pages looked horribly real. Some had already begun to doubt whether Yang Liwan’s version of the truth was actually true.
Yang Liwan’s heart hammered in his chest as he moved with the school leaders toward the dorm where Xia Fengsheng and the others were being held.
He could not stay on campus any longer. The politician behind him had already been exposed. The police would come looking very soon.
The most urgent thing now was to escape.
Yet surrounded on all sides by school leaders, Yang Liwan kept desperately searching for an opportunity to slip away.
They arrived at the dormitory just as another group was approaching from the opposite direction.
At the head of that group was a tall, broad-shouldered young man dressed in striking clothes, with bodyguards behind him and the families of the detained students following.
Among them, one of the students’ mothers stepped forward indignantly and shouted at the school leadership:
“Where have you locked up my Xiao Ran?!”
Inside the dorm, the girl who heard her mother’s voice instantly lifted her head.
She was local. After being confined, she had already texted her family that she was trapped, and now they had arrived.
She stood up excitedly.
“Senior Xia, someone’s come to save us.”
She said it with excitement.
Outside, voices rose in confrontation.
“What right do you have to detain my friend?”
“Let my baby out!”
“Are they inside or not?!”
The next second, Xia Fengsheng heard Shi Ye’s voice.
“Open the door.”
The two groups faced each other outside.
The students’ families looked at the school leaders, faces full of fury. “What right do you have to hold them here?”
The school leaders were already getting headaches from the sight of so many people. “Everyone, calm down first. The school just wanted to get to the bottom of things, that’s why we gathered the students together.”
“That sounds nice, but what you mean is you’re not letting them out!”
“Then why aren’t you locked up in there too, if it’s really just for questioning? Why are you all standing outside?!”
The finance school party secretary stepped forward to smooth things over. They had indeed handled this badly.
“Please, everyone, don’t get agitated. Don’t get agitated.”
Someone noticed Yang Liwan hiding in the corner without saying a word. Since this whole thing had started because of him, seeing him standing there like a quail made them furious, and they shoved him forward.
“You say something!”
Yang Liwan looked at the huge crowd and swallowed. “Of course there’s a reason we detained them. They took the lead in slandering me and spreading false accusations, so why shouldn’t they be detained? The one leading them is called Qin Buming—his family is poor, he wanted to extort money from me, so he teamed up with other students to smear me. His whole family background is bad. His father is a construction laborer and his mother doesn’t even work. A child raised in a low-class family like that—why can’t he be detained?”
Shi Ye looked at him coldly. “You think that because you’re an associate professor and his father is a laborer, that means he can just be locked up?”
There were plenty of officials in his family. It was the first time he had ever heard something so brazenly disgusting.
He turned to the school leaders. “None of you stopped this. Do all of you think the children of laborers can be detained however you please just because they have no backing?”
The school leaders could not answer.
“This…” The finance school secretary’s neck started sweating.
“Do you mean to say,” Shi Ye’s eyes darkened, “that you think you stand above ordinary people?”
“Or should I say that some of you have betrayed the worker-peasant class?”
The moment that sentence came out, everyone present visibly stiffened.
That was a crushing accusation to drop on all of them at once.
To betray the worker-peasant class was to openly accuse them of privilege and corruption.
The finance school secretary’s face went white in fright. “You can’t say something like that…”
All the school leaders looked from one to another, then immediately ordered someone to fetch the dorm manager and get the key to let the students out.
The finance school secretary forced a smile as he turned to Shi Ye. “That’s not what we meant. We just wanted the students to calm down first. The matter is absolutely not what you think it is.”
Shi Ye smiled at him, a bright, easy smile. “Oh really?”
But his dark pupils locked onto the man, and the secretary felt a chill crawl down his spine.
That look practically said: It had better not be.
He knew Shi Ye’s background was no ordinary one, and his whole body tensed.
He had seen Shi Ye’s father on the news before—a business magnate ranked among the world’s richest. Shi Ye’s maternal family, meanwhile, was filled with government officials.
As for privilege, no one here had a background that could compare to this young master. If he truly wanted to go after them, he would not have brought bodyguards—he would have brought something much worse.
The other leaders did not dare say much either. They were already in the wrong. If anyone recorded them or posted a video online causing the public to question their political stance, they would all be finished.
And just as the dorm door was opened, Shi Ye spotted Yang Liwan slipping away toward the elevator.
Through the opening door, he cast one hurried glance at Xia Fengsheng, then immediately turned and gave chase.
The dorm door opened, and the students were finally let out.
Some were locals. Their families had rushed to campus the moment they got the message.
The girl in the dorm who had earlier heard her boyfriend’s voice rushed straight into his arms the instant she came out.
Xia Fengsheng stepped out. Because of his height and striking presence, his gaze automatically searched the crowd for Shi Ye.
Normally Shi Ye was impossible to miss.
Yet to his surprise, Shi Ye was nowhere there.
Just as Xia Fengsheng was wondering where he had gone, he turned and saw the reunited couple so overwhelmed that they had started kissing.
Xia Fengsheng’s eyelids twitched.
He stared at the way their mouths parted, momentarily frozen, and began to feel a fresh confusion about the way he and Shi Ye had always kissed.
So this was how kissing was done?
The tongue… had to come out?
Though pornographic films did show it like that, Xia Fengsheng had always assumed it was just exaggerated dramatization.
He had never realized other couples really did kiss like this.
He watched with great concentration, full of the spirit of study, completely unaware that he had gone blank with fascination.
Then a ghostly voice drifted over from behind him:
“Xia Fengsheng, are you a pervert?”
Xia Fengsheng stiffened and turned to see Zhan Shengyao behind him. “No.”
Zhan Shengyao looked completely unconvinced. “Ohhh, still saying no? Then why were you staring at them kissing?”
Normally Xia Fengsheng always paid great attention to propriety and boundaries. He would never stare at anyone for that long, let alone a kissing couple.
Zhan Shengyao passed judgment: “Definitely pervert behavior.”
Xia Fengsheng: …
On the other side, Jing Changyu and his cameraman were combing Jing University inside and out.
They had found the swans in the lake, the famous campus cat, and even the school’s well-known stray dog.
The only one they had not found was Yang Liwan.
The cameraman carried the livestream rig as the comments drifted lazily past:
“Beijing University is huge. Looking for someone here is like fishing a needle out of the sea.”
“Still haven’t found him? I’m about to finish my chips.”
“Handsome reporter, are you tired?”
“If you really can’t find him, just slow down and stroll, I guess.”
“He’s got this funny vibe somehow.”
“Charge ahead! I’m here for the gossip!”
At last, hard work paid off. After forty minutes of sweeping the campus, Jing Changyu finally spotted Yang Liwan frantically trying to flee.
“There!”
“Reporter, I see him! Over by that teaching building!”
“Holy crap, finally!”
Suddenly, viewers felt as if they themselves had taken off running.
The second Jing Changyu saw Yang Liwan, he locked onto him and moved instantly. In the camera view, everyone watched Jing Changyu sprint toward Yang Liwan, with the cameraman hauling the equipment behind him.
Yang Liwan, meanwhile, was hurrying toward Beijing University’s parking lot, planning to drive away.
Then he heard the rapid pounding of footsteps behind him.
No—running.
He turned and saw a reporter with a work badge and a cameraman racing toward him.
A reporter!
And judging from the badge, not just any reporter either, but one from an official outlet.
Yang Liwan immediately panicked. Why was there a reporter inside the school?
He changed course at once. He had to shake the reporter first.
Soon, Beijing University students all over campus were treated to the sight of Yang Liwan sprinting through the school like a madman. It was as though the sight of the reporter had completely triggered his survival instinct—he was running far faster than anyone would have guessed.
His running posture was ridiculous, his face a total wreck, and he was currently the hottest thing on the trending list.
Plenty of students who saw him took out their phones to record his comical running pose.
Yang Liwan darted toward one of the art buildings.
Jing Changyu knew he could not lose him. If he did, finding him again might take another forty minutes. His long legs kept close behind Yang Liwan’s.
But the cameraman could not keep up.
The camera rig was too heavy. He was exhausted, falling far behind Jing Changyu almost instantly.
Seeing Jing Changyu pulling farther and farther away and knowing the shot would soon be lost, the cameraman bent over, bracing his hands on his knees, just about to gasp that he could not run any farther.
Then a pair of strong hands lifted the camera off his shoulder.
“Let me.”
“Slow down! The cameraman can’t keep up—aaaaahhh… huh? A handsome guy just flashed by.”
“I get it now, this is a relay race!”
“Holy crap, that was a handsome jump scare.”
“Go go go! You can still catch him!”
Yang Liwan had never expected reporters to arrive this quickly. He was running so hard he felt ready to collapse, glancing back repeatedly to see whether he had managed to shake them off.
He fled behind an art building, planning to cut around to the front entrance, rush inside, and hide in one of the classrooms.
Click.
Above him came the sound of a window being opened.
In the next second, Jing Changyu climbed through the window and dropped from above.
Yang Liwan’s eyes went wide in shock.
That was the third floor. A fall like that could cripple someone.
What kind of reporter was this?!
Jing Changyu—current National Geographic reporter, climber and shooter of deadly rift valleys, swamp trek explorer—landed steadily, then patted the microphone in his hand.
Good. Not broken.
The instant Yang Liwan saw him, he turned to run again.
Click.
Another window opened above.
This time, a figure carrying a camera dropped down too.
Yang Liwan: !
A… another one jumped down too?
Shi Ye—special forces background, veteran of anti-riot missions and tactical descent operations—landed in a clean, powerful stance.
His peach blossom eyes looked straight at Yang Liwan.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Caught from both sides, Yang Liwan collapsed onto the ground with a thump.
Jing Changyu smiled faintly. “Can we do the interview now?”
