“Mom, why did you come upstairs? Where’s Dad?” Wang Cheng groaned inwardly. Surely Mama Wang had not followed him up to talk about Chu Yifeng again.
“Your dad is still downstairs. Mom has something to ask you. Answer me honestly. We’ll talk in your room.”
As though she had not seen his expression at all, Mama Wang walked past him into his room. Wang Cheng had no choice but to follow and close the door behind them.
Mama Wang turned to face him and asked earnestly, “Chengcheng, tell Mom the truth. Did you borrow money from Mr. Chu?” “Huh? Mom, how did you know?” Wang Cheng stared at her in surprise.
Mama Wang immediately looked as though she were furious that iron had failed to become steel. She reached out and pinched his arm hard. “How could you be so foolish? Even if you were involved with him before, how could you stretch out your hand and ask him for money? What would he think of you?”
The pinch made Wang Cheng’s arm jerk, but he had no time to care about the pain. Hearing her words, he realized she had misunderstood and hurriedly explained, “Mom, I borrowed money. I never said I wasn’t going to pay him back. I made that clear when I borrowed it. I told him I’d repay him once I had the money, and he agreed. What kind of person do you think your son is? Do I look like someone who’d do that?”
“Really?” Mama Wang paused, still suspicious.
“Of course. There’s no reason for me to lie about something like this. You still haven’t told me how you knew I borrowed money from Chu Yifeng.”
Wang Cheng was not angry. He knew Mama Wang was afraid Chu Yifeng might look down on him.
“You spent so much on the jam factory, and now you’ve spent several hundred thousand more buying a storefront. No matter how much money you had, it should be almost gone by now. Mom guessed you must have borrowed some from him.”
Mama Wang was not the kind of country woman who knew only housework and farming. She had carefully managed many of the family’s affairs. When it came to keeping accounts, Papa Wang was definitely no match for her.
The next day, Wang Cheng went to the jam shop and told Guan Jiahe and the other three about opening the new store.
Ever since deliveries had been handed over to the jam factory, they no longer needed to go out themselves, making the work much easier. But one jam shop did not require four people to run it, so the four of them were often idle. They were all used to staying busy, and having too little to do actually made them uncomfortable.
The moment they heard Wang Cheng was opening another jam shop, all four knew there would finally be more work. Sure enough, their young boss soon brought up who should be sent to oversee the new store.
The four exchanged looks. In the end, Guan Ying was the first to speak.
“I think Brother Guan would be suitable. He has more experience than we do. I only learned so much because I used to go on deliveries with him. If he’s in charge of the shop, Brother Cheng won’t need to worry at all.”
The moment Song Hai heard his girlfriend speak, he added several words of agreement. He also thought Guan Jiahe would be the best person to manage the new shop. As for himself, he knew exactly what he was capable of. Besides, the store would be in the busiest commercial district in the city, so dealing with people skillfully would matter too.
Uncle Liang frowned almost imperceptibly.
The movement did not escape Wang Cheng. In fact, Wang Cheng also favored his cousin for the position, but he still needed to ask what Guan Jiahe thought. After all, his cousin’s wife and twin sons were in Guanjia Village. If Guan Jiahe worked at the new shop, he might need to stay in the city. And there was no way Wang Cheng could send his cousin alone. He would have to choose another person as well.
“Chengcheng, I think Uncle Liang can handle it too,” Guan Jiahe said.
Wang Cheng nodded. “I know. I was already planning to have you and Uncle Liang take charge. Once the new store stabilizes, Song Hai can go over and learn too.”
“Really?” Song Hai looked delighted.
“Of course. Then it’s settled. Cousin will be responsible for the new store, with Uncle Liang helping him. It’ll still be a few days, though. The place hasn’t been renovated yet. I’ll let you know once it’s ready.”
Afterward, Wang Cheng went looking for renovation workers. There were plenty of companies in Shanhai City that renovated commercial storefronts. You could practically grab one at random. Wang Cheng chose a company with a good reputation, met with them, and submitted the relevant materials. The company worked quickly, which was only natural given its reputation. They soon produced design drawings. Wang Cheng reviewed them, suggested a few small changes, and once those revisions were made, the renovation began.
December 3 was not a good day for Yuan Xia. After the misunderstanding a few days earlier, he had stopped being constantly on edge and had silently accepted Dongzi following him. He did not want Jiang Xuan worrying about him while dealing with matters in the capital. But only two days later, something major happened that was clearly aimed at him.
Someone posted a thread on Shanhai University’s social forum and several other sites. The post had already been pinned, and its title was impossible to miss.
“Exposing the True Face of Shanhai University Lecturer Yuan Xia: A Teacher in Public, but Filthy Behind the Scenes?”
An account using the name “Lemon Feels Great” claimed it intended to expose Yuan Xia’s true nature, saying he was unfit to be a teacher and even less fit to hold the position of lecturer. The post then launched into a long attack claiming Yuan Xia was homosexual. The language was harsh and inflammatory. The general message was that the poster could not accept someone like that being allowed to teach: how could a person with such “improper conduct” serve as a role model or teach students? At the end, several photographs were attached as so-called evidence.
The day the thread went up, its view count skyrocketed, reaching several times the previous record. The university forum and campus website were both heavily trafficked, so in less than half a day the story had spread everywhere. Nearly every student was discussing it.
Yuan Xia knew nothing about any of this. The moment he arrived at the university, the administration summoned him. He left Dongzi outside because outsiders were not allowed to enter campus freely, and he could hardly let people know a man followed him around. Anyone who did not know better might think he was some pampered young master from a wealthy family.
As Yuan Xia walked toward the president’s office, far fewer students than usual greeted him warmly as “Teacher Yuan.” Instead, he received strange looks. Some deliberately avoided him, then pointed and whispered from a distance. Yuan Xia had no idea what was happening and could not help frowning.
He rarely visited forums or the campus website and did not even use QQ, so he knew nothing about the posts spreading across the university’s social forum and internal network. Confused, he arrived at the office and heard the president invite him inside. He had assumed the president would be alone, only to open the door and see his mentor, Professor Wu, as well. Yuan Xia had become Shanhai University’s youngest lecturer largely because Professor Wu strongly recommended him. Both men now wore grave expressions. The moment Yuan Xia entered, he felt the heavy atmosphere.
Yuan Xia walked up to them and nodded politely. “President. Teacher.”
“Yuan Xia, sit down.” President Cheng spoke, ending the sentence with a faint sigh.
“Thank you, President. What did you and Teacher call me here for?” Yuan Xia asked after sitting.
“Looks like you still don’t know what happened.” President Cheng was a little surprised, but remembering that Yuan Xia’s personality resembled Professor Wu’s, he quickly understood. He explained, “Today someone posted something about you on several university websites. You should read it yourself.”
There was a computer on the desk. The president gestured for him to look.
Yuan Xia walked over. The enormous headline stabbed into his eyes, and his face turned white. At last he understood why the students had been looking at him so strangely. They must be thinking that the teacher they respected was actually gay. Those looks mixed with disgust seemed to magnify inside his mind. He had imagined the possibility of being discovered before, but he had never expected it to happen so suddenly.
Forcing down his discomfort, Yuan Xia rapidly skimmed the post with trembling hands. The language was vicious, every line mocking him, even using words that called him filthy. At the bottom, he read the first few comments, all of them insulting him. It felt as though every ounce of strength had been drained from his body, and all color vanished from his lips. But Yuan Xia knew he could not collapse now. He took a deep breath, closed the post, and returned to President Cheng and Professor Wu.
“President, Teacher, I’m very sorry for causing you trouble.” As he spoke, Yuan Xia bowed in apology.
President Cheng and Professor Wu exchanged a look. “Yuan Xia, Professor Wu and I both believe you aren’t the kind of person the post describes. Someone deliberately spread this across several websites, so they probably have some grudge against you. Can you think of anyone who might have done it?”
Yuan Xia shook his head. He rarely offended anyone and could not think of a single person. If it were a teacher jealous of him, surely they would not go so far as to destroy his reputation?
Seeing his bloodless face, President Cheng knew he had suffered a tremendous shock and comforted him. “Don’t worry too much. I’ve already asked people to remove the posts as quickly as possible. Too many people have seen them, though, so the rumors may be impossible to stop completely.”
Yuan Xia was an excellent student and teacher. President Cheng and Professor Wu had watched him reach this point step by step and knew how much effort he had invested. Neither wanted to see him defeated by rumors.
“But won’t this affect the university badly?”
“A clean conscience fears no crooked shadow. As long as you know you’ve done nothing wrong, the university will handle it,” President Cheng said. “But we still need to confirm something. Professor Wu and I believe you, but others may not. So I still have to ask: is what the post says true?”
The homosexuality was true. The content of the accusation was not.
Yuan Xia could not tell them that. He felt guilty, but he could not drag Wang Cheng into this for no reason. The photographs in the post had been taken the last time Wang Cheng came to pick him up from campus. Whoever took them had followed the two from the university all the way to Yuan Xia’s apartment. Most of the images were perfectly ordinary, but one happened to catch them from an angle where their bodies overlapped, making it look as though they were embracing and kissing. That photograph was what supposedly “proved” Yuan Xia was gay.
“President, Teacher, none of what this person claims is true. The man in the photograph is my friend. He’s a few years younger than me. I met him this summer while learning to drive. That day I needed his help with something, and he happened to be nearby, so he came to pick me up.”
“Then what about that photograph?”
Yuan Xia knew which candid shot they meant. He explained, “It was the camera angle. After he drove me home, I tripped on a step. If he hadn’t caught me in time, I would have fallen badly. But I’m not most worried about myself right now. If my friend gets dragged into this and misunderstood because of me, I’ll feel responsible.”
“That really is a problem. You should find time to explain everything to your friend,” Professor Wu said. He already believed his student.
“I just hope he doesn’t know about this yet.” That was all Yuan Xia could pray for. He vaguely remembered Wang Cheng saying he would be making frequent trips into the city lately. Fortunately, their daily lives did not overlap much, so the trouble probably would not reach Wang Cheng immediately.
“You shouldn’t teach today. Take a day off. Wait a few days for things to settle down before returning to campus,” President Cheng suggested. Thinking of the students’ strange gazes, Yuan Xia did not want to face them either. Seeing former students look at him with disgust and rejection was painful, so he agreed.
After leaving the university, Dongzi saw how pale Yuan Xia looked and asked what had happened. Yuan Xia knew that if he told him, Dongzi would definitely report it to Jiang Xuan. After thinking it over, he shook his head. Jiang Xuan was busy in the capital dealing with both company matters and his family. Yuan Xia did not want to trouble him. Besides, the president and Professor Wu believed him. The matter probably would not grow too serious.
What Yuan Xia did not know was that the person behind this was determined to destroy him. This attack was only the first wave. The next morning, the matter escalated again. This time, the people in the photographs were not Wang Cheng and Yuan Xia, but Yuan Xia and Jiang Xuan. The photo showed them sitting inside a car, with Jiang Xuan leaning over to kiss Yuan Xia’s ear. Jiang Xuan’s face had been pixelated, while Yuan Xia’s was completely clear. The post’s vicious wording painted him as a slut who slept around, accusing him of moving from one man to another.
Yuan Xia nearly broke down. Who on earth was deliberately targeting him like this?
After two consecutive days of explosive posts, all of Shanhai University was in an uproar. Yesterday’s post could still be dismissed as the author twisting facts, but this time it was obvious that the man in the car really was kissing Yuan Xia. Even if it was only his ear, people still concluded that their relationship was unusual.
Just when the discussion was at its hottest and even President Cheng could no longer suppress it, someone discovered that every forum post concerning Yuan Xia had suddenly vanished. People found the original links, but opening them only produced a message saying the post no longer existed, as though the entire scandal had bloomed and disappeared in an instant.