Finding the Source

He clicked on it, and after less than thirty seconds, his face turned dark, and he immediately cursed, "This is bullshit."

The link led to the article criticizing Shen Qiong, written in tens of thousands of words, and at the end of the article was the recording of the bet.

At this point, the article had over 20,000 clicks, while Shen Qiong's Weibo only had 2,000 followers. Their follower counts were not on the same level, so it was no wonder there were so many criticisms.

The article's title was "Recording That Drove a People's Teacher Insane," a very eye-catching title, and the content of the article was aimed squarely at Shen Qiong.

The writing style was simple and relatable to the masses, and it began like this:

"As the wife of a people's teacher, I was originally happy. Even though our family wasn't wealthy, at least I loved him. My husband, he's a primary school teacher who is willing to dedicate himself to education—Yuan Jiancheng."

"He has been in the teaching profession for twenty years. His earliest students might already be married and established, with many successful disciples! And now, someone wants to make our lives miserable!"

"My husband and I don't earn much, just a little above the poverty line. We've gone through many difficult times together, and we've managed to save some money. Seeing our child grow up, my husband, under the guidance of his friends, started dabbling in the stock market. He suffered some losses at first because he didn't understand it, but I think everyone has experienced something similar."

"Old Yuan started trading stocks a few years ago, about five years in total. He'd been winning and losing, but there weren't any major losses until recently when our child entered high school. Our expenses skyrocketed, and the various tutoring classes were expensive. He bore all the pressure alone, which was very difficult."

"One day, he secretly met someone who called himself Master Shen, and it was this person who ruined him, ruined our family!!!"

"He's a devil, no! He is the devil, and a devil who eats people without spitting out the bones."

Shen Qiong felt a surge of anger. This woman was using a very pathetic tone to gain public sympathy, and then pushing him step by step into the spotlight.

The article was long, and this was only the beginning.

"From that day on, I felt like Old Yuan was acting jumpy all day, staring at his phone and the stock market constantly, swinging between extreme joy and sorrow."

"Later, his colleagues came to our door demanding repayment. We only then realized that he had borrowed so much money from others and invested it all in the stock market. He must have been afraid of us worrying, so he kept it from everyone."

"Old Yuan isn't the impulsive type. We've been married for over twenty years; I know him better than anyone. If he hadn't been coerced and tempted, he definitely wouldn't have done something so foolish."

"It wasn't until Old Yuan was sent to the hospital for observation and confirmed to have suffered a sudden mental breakdown due to a major setback that we found this recording on his phone. That's when we understood why a perfectly fine person had become like that."

"Master Shen, a charlatan from who knows where, exploited Old Yuan's urgent desire to make money and led him down a path of no return, a path into the abyss."

"I can almost hear Old Yuan telling himself every day, 'It must go up. Once it goes up, there will be triple the profit, and I'll make a lot of money soon...'"

"Heavens! Just thinking about it is terrifying. This Master Shen is too terrifying. We have no enmity with him; why would he harm us like this, harm Old Yuan?"

"Perhaps in his eyes, this was just a small amount of money, but he doesn't know that for us common folk, his words, this recording, are enough to drive countless people mad. My husband might just be one of the victims. I can't imagine how many people he has harmed."

"There might be many other victims who are afraid or have other concerns and dare not speak out, but I must stand up. I love my husband, so I wrote this article, all to expose this deceitful swindler."

The article was only Half done at this point. The latter part listed many touching details to describe Yuan Jiancheng's hard work and dedication as a people's teacher, earning praise and admiration from many parents. As for Shen Qiong, he became the greatest sinner, the one who ruined a respected people's teacher and a happy family.

Countless people left comments below, offering condolences to the author and wishing her husband a speedy recovery. Of course, more were scolding Shen Qiong.

Shen Qiong gritted his teeth, his anger bottled up inside. The woman's distortion of facts and taking things out of context had completely enraged him.

Seeing Shen Qiong's angry expression, she felt a little scared and asked in a low voice, "What exactly happened?"

Shen Qiong threw his phone at her and snorted, "See for yourself."

At first, she was curious. Shen Qiong always appeared calm and composed, so she didn't expect anything could make him this furious.

However, as she read the article step by step, Ren Tianxue's expression grew more and more grim. Finally, she even stood up abruptly and cursed, "Shameless! She's deliberately trying to gain sympathy from the ignorant masses. She clearly doesn't know the truth of the matter but insists on fabricating lies."

She remembered very clearly that Yuan Jiancheng had expressed deep remorse to Shen Qiong in front of her, repeatedly saying he regretted not listening to Shen Qiong's advice. Now, this article directly portrayed Shen Qiong as a sinner for all time, pinning the blame for Yuan Jiancheng's stock market losses and mental breakdown on Shen Qiong.

Therefore, Ren Tianxue was extremely angry!

She said indignantly, "No, I have to go confront this person."

Shen Qiong grabbed her and pulled her back, "What are you doing! You're not allowed to."

"Why?" She shook off Shen Qiong's hand and looked at him indignantly.

"Do you even know where she lives? Let's not even talk about whether you can find her. Even if you find her, she probably won't see you..." Shen Qiong frowned, annoyed. "Besides, you're my assistant. You might get showered with abuse."

"Then what should we do? How can she slander you like this?" Ren Tianxue asked angrily.

Shen Qiong's mood was naturally bad, but ever since he experienced losing a loved one, he had become more mature than most people his age. He said, "Calm down first. I expect the clients who had appointments booked for the next couple of days will start canceling one after another. You'll need to handle these."

Ren Tianxue let out a reluctant sigh and sat down on the chair, looking sulky.

Indeed, within two hours, seven or eight calls came in, saying they wanted to cancel their appointments. Two first-time clients even cursed Shen Qiong directly over the phone, making Ren Tianxue almost lose her temper and argue back.

Shen Qiong sat in his chair, contemplating countermeasures while looking at the young woman. He suddenly felt like laughing. Why was this girl angrier than him when someone slandered him?