Chapter 21: Chapter 21: A Righteous Netizen?

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But as soon as the thought surfaced, he dismissed it.

Han Ningzhen couldn’t even bear to keep her photo, so how could he possibly comfort her?

As soon as Su Meixi got home and pushed open the door, she was greeted by a wafting smell of delicious cooking.

Was Gu Wei making dinner?

She changed her shoes, put her bag in place, and then walked to the kitchen doorway.

Gu Wei, wearing an apron, was flipping a spatula over the stove.

He was stir-frying chili with pork, which had been fried to a golden brown and looked appetizing.

Seeing Su Meixi return, Gu Wei turned off the heat and, while transferring the food onto a dish, said, “You’re back?”

Su Meixi nodded and tried to offer him a smile, but it ended up looking worse than a cry.

Gu Wei noticed the look on her face and sensed that she had something on her mind.

He put down the spatula and approached her, asking, “What’s wrong? Did you have trouble driving?”

Su Meixi didn’t want him to worry, so she said, “The drive was smooth, I suspect I have the potential to be a racing champion—I had a really smooth ride today and even overtook a few vehicles.”

“Oh, what kind of vehicles did you overtake?”

“Motorcycles.”

Gu Wei was amused by her humor for a moment and said, “Hungry, right? Let’s eat then.”

“Sure, I’ll go serve the rice.”

The two sat quietly at the dining table, eating their meal.

Gu Wei kept feeling that Su Meixi was preoccupied, but since she mentioned nothing, each time she tasted a dish, she simply commented, “This dish is nicely done, better than what I could cook.”

The more she acted this way, the more inscrutable she became.

He felt he was losing his grasp on understanding women again.

Why are women’s concerns so difficult to guess?

When Su Meixi was nearly finished eating, she turned to Gu Wei and said, “Gu Wei, could you teach me some more advanced fighting techniques tonight, the kind that can really wear me out?”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely,” Su Meixi replied with a faint smile.

“Fine by me, whatever difficulty you like,” Gu Wei responded.

After dinner, Su Meixi insisted on washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen.

Gu Wei checked his phone and saw a message.

It was from Uncle Quan: Second Young Master, the person in this video, do you recognize them?

Gu Wei usually indulged in very simple forms of entertainment, like occasionally playing military games; he never browsed short videos nor followed gossip news.

However, seeing the video where Fang Xin was accusing Su Meixi, he was so infuriated he nearly crushed his phone.

No wonder Su Meixi had been holding something back since she got home—that she didn’t even utter a word about an issue so significant!

Doesn’t she consider him her husband?

He immediately forwarded the video to Gu Cheng.

Gu Wei knew how to deal with bad guys and criminals, but for dealing with such shameless jerks, he thought Gu Cheng would have more experience since Gu Cheng had a specialized PR team and collaborations with these short video platforms.

“Brother, I want to help Ah Xi regain her dignity and punish those who made the video,” Gu Wei expressed his needs.

Before long, Gu Cheng replied: [Don’t worry, leave it to me.]

While Su Meixi and Gu Wei were practicing their fighting techniques, the tide of online public opinion had already begun to shift.

With just one order from Gu Cheng, his team sprung into action.

To restore Su Meixi’s image, the approach wasn’t to suppress the original video, but to use evidence to change the public’s perception of her.

The first wave, the internet was flooded with videos about Li Jiekai committing crimes and playing the hooligan. Li Jiekai was involved in organized crime and the sex trade, and he had harassed numerous women. Now, there were not only videos of his brawls, but also women coming forward to accuse him of harassment.

As soon as these videos went viral, many netizens commented,

“I knew it, how could a female doctor have the power to incarcerate someone for ten years? Do you think today’s police officers are incompetent? Can you just lock someone up because you say so?”

“So Li Jiekai was a half-brother with different mothers, huh? Being such a mess, he must have bullied a lot of girls, right? It’s only right for someone like him to be in prison!”

“I just saw a video where Su Meixi’s neighbor speaks out, the guy tried to force himself on someone, go check it out!”

However, there were also contrarians online who said, “Li Jiekai may be at fault, but Dr. Su abandoned her own mother!”

…

Once public opinion had sufficiently fermented, a second wave of videos appeared online.

Su Meixi’s teachers and neighbors were interviewed by the media, saying that Su Meixi’s grandfather took care of her during her primary school days. After her parents divorced and her grandfather passed away, she started living alone since middle school with no one else in her family to take care of her.

Then there were loan documents for Su Meixi’s university scholarship and videos from her part-time jobs over summer and winter vacations. From the age of 18, she’d been supporting herself.

At this point, netizens generally leaned towards believing Su Meixi was innocent.

“You gave birth to her, but then you abandoned her. Now that she’s grown up, you come back asking for money and goods, why should she care about you?”

“If it wasn’t for these videos, wouldn’t she have been destroyed by her own mother’s accusations?”

“Dr. Su has such a beautiful daughter, if she were born in our family, we’d pamper her. You guys don’t even cherish her. Dr. Su, I live at XXXX, please come over to my place for a meal when you’re free.”

Of course, some people were concerned whether the quick reversal of public opinion was orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. It’s very likely that this person is Su Meixi’s boyfriend.

Some time later, there was a photo shared online showing Su Meixi dining with a man.

The man’s silhouette revealed that he was around 30 years old, certainly not some old geezer.

But no further news came about his identity.

The video controversy came to an end here.

…

It was now 10 PM.

Han Ningzhen was lying in bed continuously scrolling through videos.

When she saw how public opinion had shifted, she was infuriated.

These interviews with elementary and junior high school teachers, as well as the videos of working part-time jobs—digging them up after all this time surely indicated manipulation behind the scenes.

This person was most likely Su Meixi’s boyfriend!

Was this guy that influential?

Or did he have experience working with online media?

Beside her, Qi Anran was reading a book.

Being a doctor means constantly learning and advancing, especially when qualifying for professional titles, which required both exams and writing papers, something he never dared to slack off on.

While reading, he occasionally glanced over at Han Ningzhen.

Seeing her getting angrier the more she watched, he asked, “What are you watching that’s making you so mad?”

Han Ningzhen replied angrily, “That matter with Su Meixi has been reversed now; netizens are all sympathetic towards her.”

Qi Anran thought to himself: Of course, they would be, anyone who takes the time to understand Su Meixi’s upbringing would feel sympathy.

But without wanting to offend Han Ningzhen, he said, “Netizens are sympathetic towards her? It seems that society’s morals are really declining.”

“I’m so mad, I can’t watch this anymore, I’m going to sleep!” Han Ningzhen angrily put down her phone and buried herself in the blankets.

…

Fang Xin lived with her current husband in an old residential building on the west side of the city center. This building, a family inheritance spanning three floors, came without the burden of a mortgage and could sell for millions if put on the market.

Chen Jingbing was a driving school instructor, and Fang Xin worked as a quality inspector in an electronics factory. Logically speaking, the two should have had a decent life. But Fang Xin was always comparing herself to her ex-husband, whose child attended a key junior high school. She wanted her son, Xiao Zhuang, to do the same, often paying hundreds of yuan per tutoring session.

Moreover, with Chen Jingbing’s son being a wastrel, constantly taking things from the house, life was a struggle.

That afternoon, they released an accusatory video against Su Meixi, and many self-media people interviewed them. Some even brought food, clothes, and study materials for Xiao Zhuang to their home.

She was elated, continually saying to Chen Jingbing, “These short videos today are really great, just making a short video can bring justice. The netizens, ah, they truly understand righteousness, and are so noble!”