Chapter 5

But studying was all I cared about. Day and night, I thought about changing my fate and giving Mom a better life. Romance never entered my mind.

I hadn’t even opened those scented pink envelopes. I’d asked my deskmate to deal with them all.

I truly didn’t remember.

“Just because of that?”

Liu Ruyan shook her head and sneered.

“Of course not. You asked why I’m helping Chen Dong?

“Because you’re dirt-poor! Neither of us can fight his family. They’re the richest people in the county, worth hundreds of millions. If they want the police to deal with you, they can. If they want you trending, they can make it happen. What have you got to fight him with?

“My reputation’s gone. I won’t get into university. Shouldn’t I at least hang on to something?

“My biggest regret is reporting it. I didn’t know Chen Dong was the richest man in the county’s only son!

“The Chens promised that if I help get his case dropped, I can be his girlfriend.

“Maybe one day I’ll really marry into the family. Even if I’m only his second or third wife, I’ll never have to worry about food or clothes again. You’d make the same choice.”

Her contempt deepened into mockery.

“So what if you got into Peking?

“You’ll still end up working for rich people!

“Maybe you’ll work for Chen Dong one day and have to bow and call me Madam!”

11

Blinded by what she stood to gain, Liu Ruyan was already dreaming of life as a wealthy wife.

I could only shake my head at the ugliness before me.

She took a few heavy breaths, suddenly glanced behind her and played her final card.

“Now decide. Pay me five hundred thousand to end this, or shall I keep the pressure on online?”

I shook my head calmly.

“I’m innocent. I didn’t do it.”

She sneered and nodded.

“You asked for this.”

Her expression changed.

She lunged, grabbed my hand and rubbed it against her body several times.

Then she mussed her hair, smeared her face and quickly tore her uniform into disarray. Within three seconds, she’d squeezed out a few tears and begun screaming.

“Rape! Help!”

She turned and scrambled away.

At the corner, she stopped, wiped away her tears and smiled back at me.

“You’re finished.”

“That should be enough footage to edit together some evidence.”

A voice came from around the corner.

Chen Dong stepped out, holding up his phone and grinning brazenly.

“You think you’re so tough, kid? I’ve got people above me. Crushing you is as easy as crushing an ant!

“If I say you’re guilty, you’re guilty! You still dare claim you’re innocent? If I don’t put you away for life this time, my name isn’t Chen!”

So that was it.

I’d wondered why Liu Ruyan would risk approaching me again.

They’d come to frame me once more.

“No need for that. If the Liu family had a disgrace like you, my dad would be so furious he’d knock the lid off his urn and jump out.”

I was still calm.

“You—”

Chen Dong pointed at me, about to speak.

Then the principal, our homeroom teacher, the discipline teacher and a group of school staff came running, out of breath.

“You lot—”

Liu Ruyan’s expression changed instantly. She threw herself into our teacher’s arms and played the victim.

“Teacher! You have to help me! He really tried to rape me!”

I clicked my tongue.

What a quick change.

Why bother going to school?

She should go into show business.

Our teacher looked awkwardly from me to the girl pretending to sob in her arms, then to Chen Dong’s false smile and the school administrators.

Finally, she looked up and sighed.

“Then we’ll call the police.”

I shrugged.

“Then we’ll call the police.”

When the police arrived, I glanced up at the corner of the wall as though by chance.

Then I dealt the final blow to the smug pair.

“Liu Ruyan, I wasn’t lying. I really wasn’t recording.

“But perhaps you didn’t know. To stop couples sneaking off together and students hiding here to smoke…

“The principal had miniature cameras installed in several places last week. Whenever anyone lingers here, he sends the discipline teacher to catch them.

“Isn’t that right?” I asked our teacher.

She struggled to hide her smile.

“The picture quality’s good. The sound is very clear too.”

How else could the principal and the others have arrived so promptly?

Security had alerted them.

I knew about the cameras because I often stayed at school to study and was always the last to leave.

That evening, I’d happened to see the installation.

As Chen Dong and Liu Ruyan’s faces darkened, I let out a breath and laughed.

I copied the footage and sent it to Peking.

An unidentified temporary worker also happened to leak a copy online.

In an instant, the victim became the perpetrator.

And the person she was helping was the very criminal who had assaulted her.

There could hardly have been a more compelling story.

Public opinion reversed at once.

The Law School’s senior students sprang into action again, posting comments and defending me.

Many volunteered to help me sue.

While the case was still attracting attention, I appealed online for people to come forward with evidence of the original assault.

Before long, someone uploaded dashcam footage that sent the story trending again.

The images were clear.

The attacker was Chen Dong.

The person who posted it said he had already given a copy to the police.

He didn’t understand why I had still been identified as a suspect afterward.

That statement did even more damage.

The city quickly formed a special investigation team.

Chen Dong was arrested.

Liu Ruyan was a victim, but she was also implicated in spreading rumors and making false accusations. She was detained too.

Within three days, a full investigation report was published online.

It confirmed that Chen Dong was the assailant.

Several corrupt police officers suspected of accepting bribes were dismissed, and their arrests were approved.

I recognized them.

The officers who had tried to frame me and force a confession, and the man who’d been chatting so warmly with Chen Dong.

With Peking’s help, senior students from the Law School formed an ad hoc legal team and helped me file a civil claim against Liu Ruyan and Chen Dong for compensation.

The case stayed on the trending lists for a month.

On the day of judgment, it went straight to number one.

The entire hearing was livestreamed.

Spectators flooded in. Within ten minutes, more than three million people were watching.

In court, my seniors wielded their evidence and sharp arguments to expose Liu Ruyan and Chen Dong’s wrongdoing one charge at a time.

Unable to bear it, Liu Ruyan fainted in front of the entire country.

Her life was finished.

At last, judgment came.

Chen Dong was found guilty of molestation and rape and sentenced to a fixed prison term.

Liu Ruyan was also sentenced to prison for spreading rumors, making false accusations and attempted extortion.

Both were ordered to pay me substantial compensation for emotional distress.

Countless people online cheered.

After the hearing, Liu Ruyan’s parents came looking for me. Pointing in my face, they demanded to know why I had driven their daughter into a corner.

“She’s a girl! How can you be so vicious? How is she supposed to live now?”

“You’re heartless!”

“I won’t let you get away with this!”

I took out a recorder, played back the abuse they had just hurled at me and replied calmly:

“Go ahead and retaliate. I reserve the right to take legal action.”

As they fled in alarm, I smiled faintly.

Now I understood where Liu Ruyan got her extreme nature.

Like parents, like daughter.

…

But it didn’t end there.

A year later, the Chen family collapsed completely.

We had Liu Ruyan’s boastful remarks that day to thank.

Following one lead, the investigators uncovered a criminal network that was horrifying in its scope.

Chen Dong’s parents went to prison. One received a death sentence, the other life imprisonment.

A sort of “family reunion,” I supposed.

…

On the day of the university entrance exams, my classmates went into battle.

I put everything behind me and found a summer job at a law office.

When the holiday ended, I would begin the next stage of my life.

My university years were comfortable and happy.

Thanks to my notoriety from the false accusation, professors and senior students alike looked out for me and offered their help.

…

Liu Ruyan died.

Chen Dong blamed her for destroying his family. After serving his sentence, he stabbed her to death.

Then he went back to prison.

This time, he was sentenced to death.

I ended up trending again too.

At university, I acquired a new nickname.

“Mr. Trending.”

…

I gained recommendation-based admission to postgraduate study, then continued to a doctorate.

Just past thirty, I was a rising name in law and became a partner at a prestigious Beijing firm.

My career went smoothly.

I had fulfilled my wish.

I bought a home in Beijing and a car. For all practical purposes, I was financially independent.

Every year, I brought gifts to our homeroom teacher and thanked her for helping me so selflessly.

Mom retired completely. She traveled, went square dancing and seemed to grow younger every day.

This time, I had lived a full and happy life.