Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
9
Before Mid-Autumn, Lin Ran had known nothing about Su Huihui.
Su was only redirecting public anger toward the other two so she could walk away clean.
Lin Ran had once invented a story to frame me.
Now Su Huihui was pouring the same filth over her.
Furious, Lin Ran posted chat logs and recordings of her conversations with Zhou Yu.
Anything to prove her innocence.
“Jealous of Ruan Qiaoqiao? Trying to hurt her? Ridiculous!
“I didn’t even know the woman he was cheating with was Su Huihui.
“Zhou Yu made her end the pregnancy. It had nothing to do with me.
“I was at home that day. I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t even touch my phone!”
Nobody believed her.
“Who knows if you’re telling the truth? You can say whatever you like.”
“Maybe you had a spare phone. No cameras in your home to prove otherwise, are there?”
“One beast and one lunatic. A perfect match. Stay together and spare everyone else.”
She was exactly where I had been at the Mid-Autumn dinner.
Whatever evidence she produced, people doubted it.
Nobody believed her.
Breaking down, she threatened to kill herself again.
She posted a video, crying bitterly.
“I understand now. Ruan Qiaoqiao paid all of you to attack me!
“If my existence offends you so much, I’ll die. That’ll make you happy!”
No sympathy came.
Only more abuse.
The platform disabled comments on her account for breaking its rules.
I deliberately found a way to contact her.
[Why stop clearing things up? Think people might be right?]
[There’s no smoke without fire. Think about why so many people hate you. Could it be your fault?]
The words she had used against me, returned.
I heard her blood pressure rose so badly that she went to hospital that day.
I felt no pity.
10
Once someone falls, everyone gives another push.
Students who had suffered from Lin Ran’s favoritism came forward anonymously.
Bias.
Insults toward female students.
Abusive language.
The impact was serious.
Her teaching credentials were revoked.
Haicheng University dismissed her.
At the same time, investigators found clear evidence of her father’s bribery.
The Lin family’s assets were frozen.
In an instant, she went from a respectable family’s daughter to someone everyone despised.
Before her father was taken away for investigation, he slapped her repeatedly.
“You ungrateful girl! You already had Zhou Yu. Why go after Ruan Qiaoqiao?
“Now look! Everything’s gone!
“What rotten luck, having an idiot for a daughter!”
He beat his chest in fury.
Mum told me about it.
“If Lin Ran had kept quiet, nobody would have looked closely enough to investigate her father.
“She lost her mind and dragged the whole family down.”
After a pause, she added, “Your father’s seen to Su Huihui as well.
“She enjoyed pretending to be you for Zhou Yu, didn’t she? Even had the nerve to post those provocative messages.
“She can forget a comfortable life in this city.”
I had no objection to what my parents did.
Zhou Yu had kept Su Huihui carefully hidden.
But once she was pregnant and he still intended to marry Lin Ran, she became resentful.
That was why she kept sending suggestive messages, provoking trouble.
She had dared because she expected me to take the blame.
All three of them were alike.
What surprised me was Lin Ran coming to our house.
Her arrogance was gone.
Her eyes were swollen and red. Exhaustion covered her face.
She dropped to her knees and sobbed.
“Ruan Qiaoqiao, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have misunderstood you. Hurt you.
“Could you delete your posts?
“Everyone’s abusing me. Calling, texting threats. People attack me in the street. I’m too afraid to sleep…”
She and Zhou Yu had become targets for the internet.
He fared a little better. With the company investigating him, he rarely appeared in public.
She didn’t dare turn on her phone.
Hundreds of abusive messages waited every time.
I gave a cold laugh.
She hadn’t discovered remorse.
Only fear.
If she were genuinely sorry, she wouldn’t have used that twisted reasoning after seeing the hospital footage.
I picked up the new baseball bat by the door.
“My family can afford medical bills.
“Can you afford a beating?”
She fled.
Her troubles weren’t over.
And Zhou Yu’s reckoning was coming.
11
Over two years, he had falsified the branch’s accounts to the tune of tens of millions of yuan.
Enough for a long prison sentence.
At the last moment, Dad eased off.
“If he repays everything, plus compensation for Qiaoqiao’s emotional distress, I’ll leave him a way out.”
Zhou Yu sold his assets and scraped together everything he could.
He barely raised what Dad demanded.
He was left with nothing.
And heavy debts.
Mum didn’t understand.
“Why let him go?”
Dad smiled coldly.
“In prison, he’d have meals and a roof. Too comfortable.
“Falling from wealth into hardship hurts more.
“He lives for his image. Let him taste contempt. That’s punishment.
“I’ve told everyone in the industry not to hire him.
“No job, no money, dependent on Lin Ran. Let’s see how he likes that life.”
I silently raised a thumb.
“You really are an old hand.”
Just as Dad predicted, Zhou Yu had nowhere to go.
He clung to Lin Ran.
She couldn’t teach anymore, but she could still find odd jobs.
With her notorious face, she only dared sweep streets, hoping to avoid people she knew.
He refused to lower himself to work paying two thousand a month.
He stayed home and lived off her earnings.
Still arrogant.
“I’ll make a comeback.
“The few dozen yuan you spend on me now? I’ll repay it a hundred times. A thousand!”
At first, she believed him.
Gradually, reality reached her.
She alone worked.
Food.
Clothes.
Debts.
Eventually, she couldn’t bear it.
She shouted at him to get a job.
Called him a parasite.
He felt humiliated.
He struck her.
She seized something and fought back.
All the hatred they had stored up erupted.
In the end, she injured him so badly that he was permanently impotent.
He damaged her throat and vocal cords while strangling her.
She could no longer speak.
One unable to perform.
The other unable to talk.
When Mum heard, she gave a bitter comment.
“A perfect pair.”
Then she shuddered.
“Thank goodness we found out what he was early. I’m afraid he might have hurt Qiaoqiao one day.
“Ruan, no more softheartedness. You brought that wolf into our home!”
Dad nodded repeatedly.
There would never be another Zhou Yu.
As for me, I no longer smiled so freely at everyone.
Who knew whether a decent face concealed another filthy mind?
But I still kept my goodwill toward women.
People like Lin Ran were the exception.
People were always saying:
A gentle voice was fake.
Softness meant scheming.
Being friendly to a man meant trying to seduce him.
But those were only prejudices.
Invisible labels that taught people to misjudge us.
What I needed to do was keep my gentleness.
And never lose the blade behind my smile.
The End.
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