Chapter 4

“The truth’s right in front of you. You know perfectly well who the real culprit is.

“Some things lose their charm if you spell them out.”

The younger officer pointed at me furiously.

“What nonsense are you talking? Do you believe I could—”

“I do!”

I smiled and nodded, cutting him off.

“Oh, I believe you’d do anything.

“But…”

My expression turned cold.

“My classmates have probably posted about this and started livestreaming already. It’s a big story now.

“Oh, and I’ve been admitted to Peking University. Yesterday, after Liu Ruyan made that scene at school and accused me, I called a teacher there.

“I’m sure Peking will be following this very closely.

“Are you certain you want to go all the way down this road?”

Cold sweat broke out on the younger officer’s forehead. He sat back down awkwardly.

I kept smiling.

This time, I had to use every source of influence available to me.

I would never let anyone trample me again.

However bad things became, I couldn’t repeat the mistakes of my previous life.

My place at Peking was the strongest card I held.

Last time, I hadn’t known how to play it.

I’d even let it become the final straw that crushed me.

The younger officer scowled.

“Why would Peking go to all that trouble for a student who hasn’t even enrolled?”

“I’ve been admitted,” I replied calmly. “No university lets its reputation be smeared at someone’s whim. Especially…

“Peking.”

The older officer restrained his colleague before he could argue.

They went out together.

I sat quietly, thinking fast.

In my previous life, I hadn’t asked anyone for help.

Then negative publicity had engulfed me without warning.

I’d been formally detained almost before I knew it.

Of course the school hadn’t helped me.

Now, however, public opinion seemed to be leaning slightly my way.

Would Peking actually intervene?

I wasn’t sure.

But I could borrow its prestige to frighten them.

The two officers soon returned.

Behind them came the older man who had been chatting so warmly with Chen Dong.

I didn’t know who he was.

He clearly held a fairly senior position.

With an ingratiating smile, the older officer apologized.

“Liu Feng, we’re sorry to have wasted your time. Our investigation confirms that you’re no longer a suspect.

“Do you need to return to school? We can drive you.”

I nodded.

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

I walked out of the interrogation room with my head held high.

Chen Dong and Liu Ruyan were still in the main hall.

I gave them the middle finger.

Chen Dong looked as though he hadn’t had a bowel movement in a week, his face turning a sickly shade of green.

Liu Ruyan nearly went berserk.

“What kind of police are you? Why are you letting him go?

“He molested me! He should pay at least three hundred thousand yuan before you release him!

“Arrest him! Put him in prison!”

No one paid attention to her tantrum.

Someone snapped:

“Watch your language!”

At my insistence, the police car drove through the school gates and stopped beneath my classroom building.

I deliberately dawdled until the lesson ended before getting out.

The twenty-minute long break had just begun.

Students had already noticed the car. Groups leaned over the railings to watch.

I made a show of waving in every direction.

“Everyone! The police have investigated and cleared my name!

“Liu Feng is back!”

The spectators cheered.

I knew that if Liu Ruyan had come back instead, they would have cheered for her too.

But I was the one here.

So, in their eyes, I was innocent.

Before I reached my classroom, I was summoned to the principal’s office.

Our teacher was there. Only after looking me up and down did she breathe out.

“Thank goodness you’re all right. That Liu Ruyan has gone too far! It was all settled yesterday, and she turned around and framed you anyway.

“Are you okay? They didn’t do anything to you?”

I shook my head.

“I’m fine, Miss.”

I was fine.

But I knew the problem wasn’t over.

Liu Ruyan and Chen Dong probably wouldn’t let it end so easily.

Once they’d chosen a scapegoat, they couldn’t simply pick another whenever they liked.

After thinking it over, I called Peking University.

The teacher on the other end grew serious as I explained.

“I understand.

“If you really didn’t do it, they can’t simply frame and slander a student of our Law School however they please!

“Do they think Peking’s Law School is an easy target?”

My fears were justified.

Before long, a headline shot up the trending list:

“STUDENT WITH GUARANTEED PLACE AT PEKING MOLESTS SCHOOLMATE.”

Numerous engagement-farming accounts posted exposés across short-video platforms.

Holding up her ID, Liu Ruyan publicly accused me. She claimed an elite university was protecting her attacker and denying her justice.

The video soon had millions of views.

At first, Mom watched it as a piece of gossip and chatted to me about it.

“Xiao Feng, look! There’s a student who got guaranteed admission to Peking, just like you. He’s using his teachers’ and school’s favoritism to get away with molesting a girl. What an animal!

“Our Xiao Feng is nothing like that. Good grades and good manners.

“Luckily, a young man named Chen Dong stood up for her and chased the beast off. Now they’re in love!

“Isn’t that the old story? He saves her life, and she gives him her heart?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Mom, the animal in that video… might be me.

As for Chen Dong…

Ha.

The attacker had become a courageous young hero in the blink of an eye.

What could I say?

Money was a wonderful thing.

As the exposé reached its end, Mom stopped laughing.

Someone had anonymously posted the “pervert’s” full personal details beneath the video.

Mine, of course.

It took a lot of effort to reassure her.

Looking at the trending posts buried under tens of thousands of comments, I sneered.

Liu Ruyan wanted a spectacle?

Then we’d give her one.

Just as before, she’d dragged Peking University into it.

But last time, public opinion had been against me. Students at school had condemned me, insisting I’d assaulted her as though they’d seen it themselves.

Enough repeated rumors could destroy a reputation. Even if I’d done nothing, I became guilty in everyone’s eyes.

This time, the situation was entirely different.

Liu Ruyan’s actions only made my classmates dislike her more.

I held the ground where public opinion began. The bigger the uproar, the better it was for me.

Two days earlier, Peking had spoken to my school by phone. Teachers from its law and political-science faculty had then come to investigate and visited the police station to establish the facts.

Once everything was clear, they had assured me:

“Leave it to us.”

A university’s reputation was at stake. What were Liu Ruyan and the Chens, a bunch of petty county tyrants, compared with that?

After the story began trending, Peking called me again.

Another welcome dose of reassurance.

The Law School was buzzing.

According to the teacher, no one had dared challenge it like this in years.

The senior students were eager to get involved.

Especially since I was entirely innocent, dragged into something that had nothing to do with me and then falsely accused.

Both the facts and the advantage were on my side.

A professor had seized the moment and made my case the subject of a practical class.

How should evidence of slander and fabricated accusations be collected? What ruling should follow? Which provisions of civil and criminal law applied?

The teacher even teased me over the phone.

“Congratulations, Liu Feng. You haven’t enrolled yet, but you’re already famous here. Everyone in the Law School knows your name.”

I gave a bitter laugh.

Who wanted that kind of fame?

Still, I felt relieved.

Judging by his attitude, my admission probably wouldn’t be affected.

As for Liu Ruyan and Chen Dong…

Public opinion was a double-edged sword.

…

The next day, I went to school as usual.

As soon as I entered, I noticed people pointing.

Most still reserved judgment.

But a few had inevitably been influenced.

In Liu Ruyan’s version, I was a spoiled, well-connected rich boy who could get away with anything.

I didn’t care.

Two lifetimes had toughened me.

I crossed the school grounds. At the corner of a teaching block, Liu Ruyan stepped into my path.

“Liu Feng. We need to talk.”

I glanced at her.

“What could we possibly have to discuss?”

“If you don’t want me to keep posting about what happened…”

She looked certain she had me.

My face hardened. Discreetly, I glanced at a figure that had just slipped out of sight around a corner, then nodded.

I led her to a corner of the old, disused teachers’ dormitory.

“Say what you’ve got to say.”

Hardly anyone came here, apart from the occasional couple sneaking off together.

Liu Ruyan looked around.

Satisfied that we were alone, she grew smug.

“Turned off your private messages yet? You must have had eight or ten thousand people cursing your ancestors by now.”

I nodded noncommittally.

“You got what you wanted. Someone even threatened to burn my house down.”

“If you don’t want people to keep digging up your personal details, admit you were wrong. I’m not asking much. Five hundred thousand yuan, and this ends. I’ll agree to a settlement.”

“I didn’t do it. Why should I admit it?”

I frowned and asked before she could continue:

“There’s something I’ve always wondered. Why are you so determined to frame me? Chen Dong harassed and raped you. That was terrible. But I’m even more innocent. I didn’t know you were being assaulted. Is this just because I happened to pass that alley? Isn’t Chen Dong the criminal? Why help him?”

Liu Ruyan only sneered.

I understood what worried her and took out my phone.

“Relax. I’m not recording. I just want the truth. If I’m going down, I’d at least like to know why.”

I turned out my jacket and trouser pockets for her and flipped through the three books I held to show I wasn’t hiding anything.

She began to relax.

Dropping the pretense, she let her jealousy twist her face.

“Because I hate you!

“Why did you get into Peking so easily?

“I study so hard, and I can barely hope to get into a second-tier university!

“What gives you the right to look down on me?”

My baffled expression only enraged her further.

“Wonderful! You don’t even remember the love letter I gave you!”

That was why she resented me?

Then I really had been wronged.

I was fairly popular. Every few days, someone slipped a love letter into my desk.

Some days, there were several.