In the afternoon, only three customers came by. Shen Qiong hastily closed up and went home. As for Ren Tianxue, once she got home, she confidently promised to rally Shen Qiong's fans and win this "holy war."
Shen Qiong was speechless when he saw that his Weibo following had somehow increased by more than a thousand. He had finally gotten a taste of the "sweet rewards" of publicity stunts.
He glanced at his WeChat messages.
User: Shen Qiong
Level: 2 (Making Steady Progress)
Increase your Fame and Reputation to raise your level. Current Reputation: 2620
It had gone up by a few hundred since last time. Shen Qiong laughed and cursed, "Damn it, this is the first time my fame has gone up and it feels so awful."
He logged into Weibo, and sure enough, there were many more comments. As time went on, the online crowd split into three camps. One was the rational analysis camp, mostly made up of people with minds of their own. Since they had never witnessed Shen Qiong's fortune-telling abilities, they remained doubtful and neutral.
The other side was the radical condemnation camp, which attacked him relentlessly under the banner of seeking justice for a people's teacher.
The final camp consisted of Shen Qiong's supporters. They, too, fell into several groups: die-hard fans who had received Shen Qiong's help, friends drawn in by those die-hard fans, and fans who had heard about him through the grapevine and learned more about him.
Shen Qiong soon spotted a netizen with the username Domineering Cat leading a group of die-hard fans in a "heated debate" with the radicals on Weibo.
"You shills haven't even met Master Shen. What right do you have to mock him?" Many of Shen Qiong's die-hard fans spoke up in his defense.
"That's right! I was lucky enough to have Master Shen read my fortune twice. Once, he helped me escape a desperate situation; the other time, he brought me great fortune. You people don't understand Master Shen at all." A netizen named Little Red Riding Hood angrily hammered away at the keyboard.
"Master Shen only needs to see you stick your butts out to know whether you're taking a shit or farting."
The radicals' condemnations came in wave after wave. "Teacher Yuan devoted his entire life to education. Who could have imagined he'd end up falling into the hands of a charlatan like this? This Master Shen deserves to die!!!"
"He's a demon. He uses other people's desires to kill them. He must be brought to justice."
"I suggest we dox this Shen Qiong, or whatever this Master Shen calls himself. What happened to Teacher Yuan is only the beginning. I'm sure there are many more victims."
"Exactly! Plenty of people who've been scammed don't dare speak up because they're ashamed!"
"The government is cracking down hard on superstition, yet Teacher Yuan still let desire cloud his judgment. What a pity."
"My grandfather was conned by a 'master' before. He was fooled for more than ten years. I hate people like that more than anyone."
"People like him should be arrested and shot, so they can't harm anyone else."
As for the neutral crowd, there were plenty of experts among the rational analysts. They wrote lengthy essays of tens of thousands of characters, dissecting the posts as if they were reading-comprehension passages, extracting the main points and offering new interpretations.
"Based on the article's description, Teacher Yuan should have been named an outstanding teacher at his school several times, perhaps even an outstanding teacher at the district level. At the very least, he should be an experienced teacher. But when I looked into it, I found that Teacher Yuan is just an ordinary public school teacher."
"Putting Teacher Yuan aside, I carefully looked through the recent information about Shen Qiong, also known as Master Shen, online. Almost all of it is positive. Apparently, the only two people who ever questioned the accuracy of Master Shen's fortune-telling caused a scene at his shop. Both have since broken the law and been sent to prison."
"It's strange. It seems that anyone who gets into a dispute with Master Shen ends up badly."
"Maybe we should think about why a public school teacher would get involved with a fortune-telling master and even make a bet like that. I think that's the key question."
"It's a shame Teacher Yuan is mentally unwell. If he could just speak for himself, all these questions would be cleared up."
Ren Tianxue read most of the comments. When she reached this one, her eyes suddenly lit up. That was right! If Yuan Jiancheng recovered, he could surely help clear Shen Qiong's name.
With that thought, Ren Tianxue hurried out and contacted her close friend Xi'er, asking her to find out which hospital Yuan Jiancheng was being treated at.
"Did you find out?" Ren Tianxue asked urgently.
Ye Yunxi asked in puzzlement over the phone, "Why are you looking into this person? A doctor friend of mine helped me ask around. He's at the Second Municipal Hospital."
She'd found him? Ren Tianxue grabbed her keys and rushed out. "I can't explain right now. Basically, Shen Qiong's been slandered, and this is the only person who can clear things up."
"Shen Qiong? Master Shen?" As Ren Tianxue's close friend, Ye Yunxi often heard her talk about Shen Qiong.
Although her friend had already been "conquered" by Master Shen, Ye Yunxi still found it hard to believe anyone could really be that capable—that someone could predict everything accurately and never make a mistake.
As far as she was concerned, everyone made mistakes sometimes. Maybe Master Shen would have an off day and get something wrong!
But since her friend was so convinced, Ye Yunxi didn't want to argue. She laughed and said, "Good luck! Let me know if you get any good news!"
Ren Tianxue drove with brisk efficiency the whole way, nearly running a red light. She drove straight from her residential complex to the entrance of the Second Municipal Hospital and parked wherever she could find a spot.
She stopped a nurse on the way and asked, "My friend suddenly had a mental breakdown a few days ago. I heard he was admitted to this hospital for observation and treatment. Could you tell me where to find him?"
"Oh, walk straight ahead from here. There's a sign by the roadside at the corner. Follow it and you'll find the temporary observation ward. Then ask one of the nurses there. They should be able to help you."
Following the directions, she reached a corridor lined with patient rooms. Through a window, she happened to spot Yuan Jiancheng.
Ren Tianxue was delighted and wanted to go in, but just then, a man and a woman walked out of Yuan Jiancheng's room.
She sat down to the side and pretended to play with her phone.
"Brother, with the four thousand we got last night, we've received more than twenty thousand altogether so far," a woman said excitedly.
"See? I told you it would work. Old Yuan's in this state now, and you're raising a child on your own. How could you manage? It's only natural to ask people for help," said the man, whose hair was starting to turn gray.
The woman hesitated. "But wouldn't what we're doing count as slandering someone?"
"How is that slander? We're just telling it like it is. Sure, we exaggerated a little, but the situation really is like this. If it weren't for that bet, I'm sure Old Yuan would never have decided to borrow money and trade stocks." The man, who was over fifty, tried to reassure her.
"Ah, I guess we can only think of it that way now." The woman glanced at Yuan Jiancheng lying in the room, her face full of worry.
"I think that Master Shen or whatever did this to himself. I really don't understand why Old Yuan went to someone like that in the first place." The older-looking man shook his head.
Ren Tianxue gritted her teeth and lowered her head, holding her tongue. So these two were the ones who had framed Shen Qiong.
"I see a lot of people cursing him. Maybe he really is a fraud!" The woman seemed to be trying to reassure herself, too.
The gray-haired man, whom she'd called brother, patted her shoulder. "It's fine. The more people follow this story, the more will be willing to help us. Even if Old Yuan really doesn't recover, at least you and the child will have some savings."
Ren Tianxue clenched her fists. So they'd blown the whole thing up just to swindle kindhearted people out of donations.
She figured the woman must be Yuan Jiancheng's wife. If so, there was no chance she could sneak in to see Yuan Jiancheng.
Ren Tianxue memorized the room number, then left the hospital. As she walked, she chuckled softly. "Shen Qiong, Shen Qiong, guess what I found?"
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