Chapter 17

A gust of evening wind suddenly swept in from the horizon, scattering the young man's accusations to the winds. A storm was brewing; the jujube tree in the courtyard rustled in the wind. At first listen, it sounded almost like rain.

"What Weng Shao means is that you should stop dreaming." Noticing that Weng Shao was in a bad mood, Pei Xingze frowned fiercely and instinctively stepped in front of him. Without any courtesy, he confronted Weng Yingjie head-on. "You know perfectly well what shameful things you've done. You bribed reporters to harass Weng Shao at the exam site and nearly ruined his future. Now you think a few thousand yuan will solve Weng Group's PR crisis? You're dreaming."

Weng Yingjie stared fixedly at Weng Shao's face. Seeing that Weng Shao showed no unusual reaction, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a dark expression, he stressed, "Weng Shao, I'm your biological father. Are you really going to listen to an outsider's instigation?"

The smile in Weng Shao's eyes deepened. His peach-blossom eyes gleamed brightly, and even his voice carried genuine amusement. "What can I do? The father-son bond between us isn't even worth a few thousand yuan."

Weng Yingjie had not expected Weng Shao to be so sharp-tongued and difficult. Restlessly, he took a breath. "I already said—"

"Too late." At this point, Weng Shao suddenly looked at Weng Sui, who was hiding off to the side, and inexplicably changed the subject. "According to the <Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases Such as Defamation Committed Through Information Networks>, if the same defamatory information has actually been clicked or viewed more than five thousand times, or reposted more than five hundred times, it shall be deemed 'serious circumstances' of defamation and constitute the crime of defamation under Article 246 of the Criminal Law, punishable by up to three years' fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights..." [Citation]

Weng Sui was only eighteen this year, just like Weng Shao, and had only recently graduated from high school. He was nowhere near as calculating as Weng Yingjie and Weng Zhen. The moment he heard that, his face went pale with fright. "How did you kno—"

Weng Zhen immediately sensed trouble and hurriedly cut him off. "What nonsense are you spouting? Do you think finding Pei Xingze as your backer means you can swagger around in front of Dad? You're just selling out your family's interests to satisfy your own selfish desires—"

"Don't put it so harshly." Pei Xingze leisurely interrupted Weng Zhen. "The Hope Project student aid program jointly organized by Pei Group and the Youth Foundation has been running for decades. Unlike certain nouveau riche who use charity as a publicity stunt, our company sponsors underprivileged students through university every year. Weng Shao is merely one of them. There are hundreds of thousands of students like him across the country who have received funding from Pei Group. Your Weng family has always been shameless and despicable, so don't judge others by your own standards. At the very least, don't use your filthy thoughts to smear Pei Group's charitable work, or the outstanding students we sponsor."

Seizing on Weng Zhen's slip of the tongue, Pei Xingze immediately blew it out of proportion and placed himself on the moral high ground. Even so, he was not satisfied and continued pressing him relentlessly. "Actually, I'm very curious. You keep saying that Weng Shao sold out his family's interests to satisfy his own selfish desires. Whose interests did he sell out? How did he sell them out? And what exactly are these selfish desires of his? If accepting Pei Group's sponsorship means that Weng Shao sold out the Weng family's interests..."

At that point, Pei Xingze paused meaningfully. His blazing gaze bore down on the steadily retreating Weng Zhen as he smiled. "Then your Weng family's interests are pretty cheap."

"They can be sold for five thousand yuan."

Author's Note:

Chapter 17

At seven thirty that evening, Jinghai City Television Station's Evening News spent a full minute airing an emergency news segment about Pei Group's executive president, Pei Xingze, being subjected to unreasonable verbal abuse while visiting an underprivileged student's home.

The carefully edited footage not only showed Pei Xingze visiting the student's parents and taking commemorative photos with the sponsored student, but also included the classic scene of Old Master Weng furiously throwing money around while cursing, red banknotes fluttering everywhere. It even retained the part where, after Old Master Weng was left speechless by the reporter's questions, Weng Yingjie's family appeared at just the right moment and attempted to morally blackmail Weng Shao.

In just one minute, the news segment had twists and turns, reversal after reversal. It featured wealthy family business warfare and family ethics, while also encompassing the charitable spirit of spreading positive social values. It was practically the kind of melodramatic prime-time drama the entire nation loved most. As soon as it aired, Jinghai City Television Station's ratings rapidly soared to first place for that time slot.

At the same time, longer videos with even richer content sprang up across the internet like mushrooms after rain.

Weng Shao clicked through the videos one by one and found that although they were indeed more detailed than the version broadcast by Jinghai City Television Station's Evening News, they had all tacitly cut out the scenes of Weng Shao confronting his family.

Weng Shao knew perfectly well that this was Pei Xingze protecting him.

Although their confrontation that evening had been planned in advance, Pei Xingze had still noticed the small moment when Weng Shao suddenly lost control of his emotions during it.

Weng Shao did not want to say much, and Pei Xingze thoughtfully chose not to ask. During the subsequent publicity campaign, Pei Xingze even had the reporters remove every scene of Weng Shao losing control.

The teenager's hysterical accusations, like the blood-curdling cry of a lone wild goose, remained only on Pei Xingze's computer. Even so, the impact of the related videos still left the gossiping, slacking netizens across the internet stunned.

[No, why was that old man in the video cursing so viciously? Is he really Weng Shao's biological grandfather? Why does it seem like he has a grudge against his own grandson?]

[Rich people really are impossible to understand. They can spend millions every year on charity and send strangers to college, but they refuse to pay for their own son's education. Their biological son accepts Pei Group's aid and still gets cursed for it. So what, should he just skip college and spend the rest of his life farming back home to satisfy them?]

[No, if Chairman Weng can be this vicious toward his own son, do you really believe he does charity out of kindness?]

[I heard their family even bought influencer accounts to spread rumors online and bribed reporters to block him at the exam site. They were trying to ruin his future, weren't they? They're family. What kind of deep-seated grudge could they possibly have?]

[Not every parent loves their child. Besides, Weng Shao was legally adopted out.]

[This is making me physically sick.]

[I'm starting to think the entire Weng Group has issues. Didn't the media previously expose Chairman Weng for being cruel to the rich, ungrateful, and heartless? They say the upper beam is crooked, so the lower beams follow. If the chairman's character is this bad, how good can the group's products be?]

[Does anyone know what brands Weng Group owns? I need to avoid them!]

For a time, netizens across the internet were filled with righteous indignation. One after another, they announced that they would boycott Weng Group's products.

In real life, Weng Shao's situation was no quieter. His classmates in the class chat and the school-wide group all came forward to check on him. His colleagues at the Lakeside Garden sales office came over to comfort him as well. Even Zhang Chang, who had begged his parents to take him abroad after the college entrance exams, called from halfway around the world. Everyone was worried about Weng Shao.

"I knew your family was biased against you, but I never expected them to go this far. What's wrong with wanting to attend the best university? They refuse to pay for your education, and they won't even allow others to sponsor you? What gives them the right to be so overbearing?" On the other end of the call, Zhang Chang furiously cursed, "Those people are seriously sick in the head!"

After fiercely berating that inhuman bunch from the Weng family, Zhang Chang anxiously asked Weng Shao, "Are you okay?"

Of course Weng Shao was fine. Not only was he fine, he struck while the iron was hot and sued the forum admin and influencer accounts that had previously spread rumors about him online. With the evidence conclusive, those people could only pay compensation and apologize.

"I suppose I got an unexpected windfall," Weng Shao comforted Zhang Chang. "As the saying goes, an old man loses his horse—who knows whether it's a blessing or a curse?"

However, his unexpected windfall was hardly worth mentioning compared with the pocket money Pei Xingze had made.

President Pei, who had orchestrated the entire matter, had anticipated this day long ago. While having his people fan the flames online, he was also maliciously short-selling Weng Group in the financial market.

Under the dual impact of online public opinion and short-selling in the stock market, Weng Group's share price plummeted. In just a few days, the group lost over a billion yuan in market value, while Pei Xingze, as the short seller, took the opportunity to earn more than ninety million yuan.

He even sent Weng Shao a one-million-yuan bonus. Afraid Weng Shao would refuse it, he said the bonus was what Weng Shao deserved. "Do you know why I have so many loyal, capable people around me? Because I'm generous. Mistakes must be punished, and merit should naturally be rewarded."

Weng Shao was not in the habit of turning down money. He carefully put away Pei Xingze's check and thanked him softly—both for leading him to make money and for what had happened with the videos.

Pei Xingze had not released footage of him losing control to win the sympathy of netizens. Instead, he had left him a little dignity. Though Weng Shao had grown used to losing face in his previous life and did not particularly care, he was still grateful for President Pei's thoughtfulness.

"No need to thank me." Pei Xingze looked at Weng Shao intently, a trace of warmth in his gaze that even he had not noticed. "You said it yourself—you're a gun in my hand."

"A top-notch hunter naturally takes good care of his gun."

"So you don't need to thank me. It's what I should do."

Author's Note:

Chapter 18

The night before exam scores became available, Weng Shao received a call from Jinghai University.

The sudden ringtone jolted Weng Shao awake from his sleep. With his heartbeat pounding against his eardrums, Weng Shao glanced at the alarm clock on his bedside table—it was exactly three in the morning.

Outside the window, it was still pitch-black. Weng Shao turned on the bedside lamp, and the dim yellow light instantly dispelled the darkness around him. Sitting within that small square of light, Weng Shao quietly listened to the good news that would be enough to change his life.

It was also the lingering regret from his previous life that he had been unable to let go of even until his death.