He clicked it and had barely read for thirty seconds before his face darkened. He immediately cursed, "What the hell?"
The link led to the article that had used over ten thousand words to attack Shen Qiong. At the end of it was also the recording of their bet.
By then, the article had already received more than twenty thousand clicks, while Shen Qiong's Weibo account had only two thousand followers. Their levels of exposure were worlds apart, so it was no wonder the criticism was so overwhelming.
The article was titled "The Recording That Drove a People's Teacher Insane." It was an attention-grabbing headline, and the contents were directed at Shen Qiong at every turn.
Its plain, down-to-earth style appealed to ordinary people. It began like this:
"As the wife of a people's teacher, I was once happy. Even though our family wasn't well-off, at least I loved him—my husband, Yuan Jiancheng, an elementary school teacher who was willing to devote himself to education."
"He's been in the teaching profession for twenty years. His earliest students may already have families and careers of their own. You could say he's educated students all over the place! And yet now, someone wants to make life difficult for us!"
"My husband and I don't earn much. We're just a little above the subsistence level. We weathered many hardships together and managed to save a little. As we watched our child grow up, my husband tried his hand at the stock market on a friend's advice. He took some losses at first because he didn't know what he was doing. I'm sure everyone has had an experience like that."
"Old Yuan started trading stocks a few years ago. It's been five years now, and he's had his ups and downs, but never suffered any major losses. That is, until recently. Our child started high school, and our expenses shot up. The various tutoring classes cost a fortune, and he bore all the pressure alone. It hasn't been easy for him."
"One day, he actually went behind our backs to meet someone who called himself Master Shen. That man was the one who ruined him—and destroyed our family!!!"
"He's a demon. No! He is a demon, a demon who devours people without even spitting out their bones."
Shen Qiong felt his anger rising. The woman was playing the victim to win the public's sympathy, then pushing him step by step into the eye of the storm.
The article was long. That was only the beginning.
"From that day on, Old Yuan acted like he was losing his mind. He kept staring at his phone and watching the stock market all day, swinging wildly between joy and despair."
"Later, his coworkers came to our door demanding repayment. That was when we learned he had borrowed so much money from other people and put every bit of it into the stock market. He must have been afraid we'd worry, so he kept it all from us."
"Old Yuan isn't the impulsive sort. We've been married for over twenty years, and I know him better than anyone. If someone hadn't threatened or tempted him, he would never have done something so foolish."
"It wasn't until Old Yuan was taken to the hospital for observation, and they confirmed that he'd suffered a sudden mental breakdown after a major setback, that we found this recording on his phone. Only then did we understand how a perfectly normal person could end up like that."
"Master Shen, some swindler from who knows where, took advantage of Old Yuan's desperation to make money and led him down a path of no return—a path that plunged him into the abyss."
"I can almost hear Old Yuan reminding himself every day: It has to go up. Once it does, I'll make triple the profit, and soon I'll have a lot of money..."
"My God! Just thinking about it is terrifying. This Master Shen is so frightening. We never did anything to him, so why would he hurt us like this? Why would he hurt Old Yuan?"
"Maybe he thinks this is just a small amount of money. He doesn't understand that for ordinary people like us, those words of his—that recording—are enough to drive countless people crazy. My husband may be just one of his victims. I can't imagine how many others he's harmed."
"Maybe there are many other victims. They're afraid, or perhaps they have other concerns, so they don't dare speak up. But I have to stand up for myself. I love my husband, and that's why I wrote this article: to expose this con man who manipulates people."
That was only half the article. The rest listed many moving details about Yuan Jiancheng's diligence and dedication as a people's teacher, and how many parents had praised him. Meanwhile, Shen Qiong was painted as the ultimate villain: the man who had destroyed a respected teacher and a happy family.
Countless people left comments below, telling the author to take care of herself and wishing her husband a speedy recovery. Of course, even more people cursed Shen Qiong.
Shen Qiong gritted his teeth. All his anger was bottled up inside him. The woman's distortion of the truth and selective use of facts had completely enraged him.
Seeing how furious Shen Qiong was, she grew a little apprehensive and asked quietly, "What happened?"
Shen Qiong tossed her his phone and snorted. "See for yourself."
She was curious at first. Shen Qiong was always so calm and collected, and she hadn't expected anything could make him this angry.
But as she read through the article, Ren Tianxue's expression grew darker and darker. Finally, she shot to her feet and cursed, "Shameless! She's obviously trying to win the sympathy of ignorant people. She doesn't even know what happened, yet she's making things up!"
She still remembered clearly how Yuan Jiancheng had been deeply apologetic to Shen Qiong. He'd kept saying he regretted not listening to Shen Qiong's advice. Yet this article had turned Shen Qiong into history's greatest sinner, pinning the blame for Yuan Jiancheng's losses in the stock market and mental breakdown on him.
Ren Tianxue was furious—absolutely furious!!!
She said in agitation, "No, I'm going to confront her."
Shen Qiong grabbed her and pulled her back. "What are you doing? You're not going."
"Why not?" She shook off Shen Qiong's hand and glared at him, indignant.
"Do you know where she lives? Never mind whether you can find her—you probably couldn't get her to see you even if you did..." Shen Qiong furrowed his brow, irritated. "Besides, you're my assistant. You might come back after getting an earful of abuse."
"Then what do we do? How can she slander you like this?" Ren Tianxue said angrily.
Shen Qiong was naturally in a bad mood, but after experiencing the pain of losing a parent, he was more mature than most people his age. He said, "Calm down first. I expect the clients who booked appointments for the next couple of days will gradually cancel. You'll need to follow up on all of them."
Ren Tianxue reluctantly let out a breath and sat down in her chair, looking sulky.
Sure enough, in less than two hours, seven or eight people called to cancel their appointments. Two first-time clients even cursed Shen Qiong over the phone. Ren Tianxue was so angry she almost lost her temper and argued with them.
Shen Qiong sat in his chair, thinking over what to do as he watched the young woman. He suddenly felt like laughing. Why was she even angrier than he was when someone slandered him?
Before you continue