Chapter 14
It felt as if the entire cafeteria had fallen silent.
The watermelon rind in Ji Ran’s hand dropped to the floor with a smack. He instinctively bent down to pick it up, but when he straightened, he slammed his forehead with a duang. It hurt so much his eyes watered, yet he did not dare make a sound.
He was afraid of interrupting Lin Zhiqiao and missing the rest of the gossip.
Cheng Li’s five teammates were utterly shocked and almost all looked at Cheng Li at the same time. One of them opened his mouth. “A-Li, you…”
Cheng Li looked at him, his expression full of confusion. “What’s wrong?”
Apparently, he could not hear that voice.
His teammate shook his head and said nothing, instinctively hiding this matter from him.
Yet that voice that had come from who knew where did not stop there—
[Cheng Qiang got into gambling when he was young, and from then until now it’s already been more than ten years… Damn, doesn’t that mean he started gambling when Cheng Li and Cheng Xia were still little kids?]
[When Cheng Qiang was younger, he did business. But his hands weren’t very clean. After his partner split with him, the business collapsed before it could really get going, and Cheng Qiang started blaming the world and sinking into despair.]
[Later, someone told him they could take him to make big money, that he could easily pay off his outside debts and even become rich. Cheng Qiang believed it, and started gambling with them…]
[At first he really did make a bit of money, but later he lost more than he won. The more he gambled, the bigger it got. Before he could even finish paying off his old debts, he took on new ones, and they just kept piling up. He used debt to pay debt and even borrowed loan shark money.]
[But Cheng Qiang only got more addicted. He became more and more unhinged, started drinking heavily, and even became violent at home. When he won, he drank. When he lost, he also drank. Once he got drunk, he started beating people—his wife and the kids too—]
Lin Zhiqiao screamed inwardly: [Gambling, alcoholism, and domestic violence?! What kind of top-tier scumbag is this with a full stack of debuffs?!]
Ji Ran nodded furiously in indignation.
The way Cheng Li’s teammates looked at him began to carry a trace of sympathy.
So Cheng Li had gone through domestic violence from his father too?
“My god, I feel bad for Lili. [teary-eyed.jpg]”
“With that kind of past, Cheng Li still managed to grow into such a sunny person. It really wasn’t easy, sob sob sob.”
[Huh? When he hit the kids, he only hit Cheng Xia and not Cheng Li? So even drunk, he still knew how to pick his target? Is this piece of trash really drunk, or is he just using alcohol as an excuse to commit violence?!]
[At first Cheng Xia’s aunt also got beaten often. After taking her anger out from Cheng Qiang, she… after getting beaten and feeling upset, she went and beat little Cheng Xia instead? And later, whenever she noticed Cheng Qiang was about to hit someone, she would leave Cheng Xia behind for him and go hide herself somewhere???]
Lin Zhiqiao’s worldview practically shattered: [Are you kidding me?! When you’re suffering domestic violence, instead of finding a way to solve the problem, you push a child out as a shield?! Is there something wrong with this aunt’s brain???]
[And during that time when Cheng Xia “collapsed,” his aunt was not hospitalized by accident—she was beaten by Cheng Qiang! And when Cheng Qiang came to Cheng Xia asking for money, it wasn’t to treat the aunt, it was to pay off the loan sharks!!]
[This is literally a whole pack of villains… If Cheng Xia was treated like that by his uncle and aunt, then when the uncle came asking him for money, the fact that Cheng Xia didn’t beat him with a mop already proves he had a good temper. How could he possibly have given him money?!]
Ji Ran beside him nodded wildly, almost crushing the watermelon rind in his hand to pieces. Clearly, he was furious to the extreme.
“Oh my god, is this real?”
“It sounds a bit outrageous, but then again, who would’ve thought Yuan Yu would collapse like that before…”
“No, why are people actually believing this? There’s not even any evidence. Isn’t this just pure baseless talk? Does spreading rumors really cost nothing?!”
“I’m suspicious too. If it’s true, then why, after Cheng Xia has been blackened like this for years, has he never once brought it up? Back then the production team wouldn’t have made him withdraw for no reason either, right?”
[Good grief, Cheng Qiang is actually still in the casino right now. He’s already buried in debt and still refuses to change—]
[Wait, if I secretly contact the police right now and report that someone’s gambling, would there be a reward if the report succeeds? I’m kind of tempted…]
Lin Zhiqiao fell into brief thought.
Ji Ran: “……”
Even if you’re obsessed with money, this is not the time to get distracted!!!
He was so anxious he almost wanted to fling his own bank card at Lin Zhiqiao and use the dark power of money to force him to keep going!
Thankfully, Lin Zhiqiao did not get sidetracked for too long.
[Whoa! The police are already there! Good, good, good—so fast, clean, and efficient, just as expected of the police! All of them! Sweep them all up in one net! Package them all and take them away! This is exactly what they deserve!!!]
Lin Zhiqiao bit down hard on his watermelon in relief, then spat it out with a ptui.
There was no flesh left. That bite had gone straight into the rind.
“Holy crap! Everyone go check xx Daily! The official account just posted a new bulletin!!!”
“They said they cracked a case of organized gambling, and it even involved overseas forces. The list of people arrested at the scene has also been released. [stunned.jpg]”
“!!! Cheng Qiang’s name is really on it!”
“There are photos too! I compared them—one of the men is indeed the same Cheng Qiang who was interviewed two years ago!”
“It’s an official public notice. There’s no way that can be fake now, right?”
“As expected of the gossip god. I apologize for doubting him just now. [kneels lightly.jpg]”
“I finally dare to speak now, sob sob sob. I’ve always believed ‘brother’ wasn’t that kind of person, but for the past two years, every time Brother Xia got mentioned, everyone just shouted abuse. I didn’t even dare say one word. I’m seriously sick of living like this, hiding here and there. It’s been so suffocating, sob sob sob.”
“I knew my eye for people couldn’t be wrong! Have us Xia fans finally waited for the day when the clouds part and the moon appears? [wailing.jpg]”
At the same time, Cheng Xia was downstairs at the dorm building, buying instant noodles at the little convenience store.
The cafeteria was no longer an option, so tonight he could only deal with things by buying a bag of instant noodles.
Cheng Xia was not in a very good financial situation. Ever since what happened two years ago, he had been sidelined by the company.
Each month, aside from the bare minimum living subsidy, he could only rely on doing odd jobs outside to earn a little extra money to cover his expenses.
And even then, he had to sneak out over the wall to do it.
Because earning extra money was something clearly forbidden in his contract with the company.
When he went to pay, Cheng Xia had the strange feeling that the convenience store owner seemed to look at him a couple more times than usual.
His right arm hurt a bit, so he could only take the instant noodles with his left hand.
When Cheng Li had grabbed him earlier, he had not held back at all. Cheng Xia’s right arm had already been injured and not yet healed; after being gripped so hard again, it would probably ache for several more days.
But pain at this level…
Honestly, Cheng Xia was already used to it.
He took the instant noodles and, as usual, lowered his head slightly as he prepared to leave.
But the store owner suddenly called out to stop him: “Cheng Xia!”
Cheng Xia paused, somewhat surprised.
The convenience store owner was a middle-aged auntie who always wore a smile, kind-browed and kind-eyed toward everyone, calling everyone “child,” warm, cheerful, and straightforward. There was not a single trainee in the entire base who did not like her.
Except Cheng Xia.
Ever since what happened two years ago, the store auntie had never once shown Cheng Xia a pleasant face again. One second she could be smiling kindly at someone else, and the next second, the moment she saw Cheng Xia, her face would drop, as if afraid people wouldn’t notice she didn’t like seeing him.
And before that incident happened, Cheng Xia had actually also been one of the “good kids” in auntie’s eyes. Sometimes she even stuffed him with leftover oden and grilled sausage that had not sold out that day.
For the past two years, Cheng Xia had not heard his own name from her mouth even once. But now—
“Xiao Xia…” The auntie paused, as if she wanted to say something, but did not know how to start.
Cheng Xia lowered his eyes and asked, “Auntie, is something the matter?”
The auntie looked at him for a long time, her expression extremely complicated.
But in the end, she did not say much. Instead, she took a clean container, filled it to the brim with oden, stuffed in two grilled sausages for good measure, then packed several hot steamed buns and handed them all to Cheng Xia.
“You can’t just eat instant noodles at night. It’s not nutritious, and it won’t fill you up,” she said.
Cheng Xia stood there frozen, but did not reach out to take it. “I don’t need…”
The auntie grew a little anxious and directly came around the register, stuffing everything in her hands into Cheng Xia’s arms.
“Hurry and take it to eat! If it’s not enough, auntie still has more here!” she said. “You can’t refuse either. I’ve already packed it, and I can’t sell it to anyone else now. Anyway, there’s extra every night, so just think of it as helping auntie out.”
Cheng Xia didn’t even know how he managed to walk back to the dorm.
It was only when his fingers accidentally touched the oden box and got burned that he came back to himself.
There were other trainees in the hallway, and Cheng Xia could feel it—their gazes, seemingly absent yet present, were all landing on him.
It was completely different from the gazes before: indifference, coldness, disgust…
Something flashed through his mind.
Cheng Xia closed the dorm door, shutting out all outside gazes and sounds, then opened his phone—
After all this time, the name Cheng Xia had once again shot onto the trending searches.
#TheTruthAboutWhatHappenedToChengXiaBackThen#
#ItSeemsWeWereAllDeceived#
#ComeBackChengXia#
…
With a soft thud, the bag of instant noodles fell to the floor.
Once the screen timed out, the phone automatically went dark. In the room with the curtains still closed, the only light source disappeared, and everything turned dim again.
On the black phone screen, Cheng Xia’s face was reflected.
At some point, tears had already covered it completely.
