Chapter 51

"I'm saying you're good-looking, so everything you say is right." Pei Xingze raised his wineglass and politely gestured to Weng Shao.

Weng Shao could not help laughing. "Not only am I good-looking, I also have great taste."

"Indeed." Pei Xingze nodded and solemnly agreed. "Our Weng Shao is the best."

"Of course." Weng Shao boastfully said, "Otherwise, how could I have spotted a partner like President Pei in a crowd at first glance—handsome, charming, generous, and so good at making people happy, right?"

Pei Xingze said, "Right."

Before the words had even faded, the two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Weng Shao said, "Even though I mean every word, why does it sound a little exaggerated?"

Pei Xingze analyzed it seriously. "Maybe because we're both too thin-skinned. We clearly know how outstanding we are, but we're embarrassed to admit it."

Weng Shao said, "..."

After joking around for a while, Pei Xingze got down to business. "When will your website go live? Is there anything I can help with?"

As he spoke, Pei Xingze was already thinking about what he could do for Weng Shao.

Just as Weng Shao was about to speak, his phone suddenly rang.

Weng Shao answered the call and heard an anxious voice from the other end. "Boss, our website has finished internal testing and can go live anytime. There's one more thing... can you get online right now?"

Weng Shao asked, "What is it?"

"The chairman of Weng Group accused you in an interview of using improper means to manipulate Weng Group's stock price, causing the company severe financial losses. He said he wants to sue you."

Weng Shao actually laughed when he heard that. "Don't panic. I'll head back to school right now."

After hanging up, Weng Shao looked at Pei Xingze and smiled even more brightly. "See? You don't have to do anything. Someone's rushing to help me out."

What did it mean when someone handed you a pillow just as you were getting sleepy?

The Weng family's actions perfectly illustrated the phrase.

Weng Shao's website had just finished internal testing and was preparing to find the right opportunity to launch when Weng Yingjie made his move.

The timing was so perfect that, if Weng Shao had not known full well that he had nothing to do with Weng Yingjie, even he might have suspected they had planned the whole thing together.

Pei Xingze chuckled. "Chairman Weng's accusations are completely baseless. I'll have the lawyers follow up on this matter."

Even if Weng Shao was willing to trade barbs with Weng Yingjie in front of the media to promote his new website, Pei Xingze still had to handle the logistics and make sure Weng Shao would not be at a disadvantage legally.

Weng Shao cut off a piece of steak and fed it to Pei Xingze. "Thank you for your hard work, President Pei."

Pei Xingze said, "It's my pleasure."

After lunch, the two hurried back to Jinghai University. Well-informed media reporters had already gathered outside the university gates.

When they saw Pei Xingze's car approaching from the far end of the street, a crowd of reporters carrying cameras and microphones surged forward.

"Student Weng Shao, Chairman Weng accused you and Pei Group's president, Mr. Pei Xingze, of maliciously manipulating Weng Group's stock price to make enormous profits. How do you respond?"

"That absolutely never happened." Weng Shao calmly defended himself. "I don't know why Chairman Weng would say such a thing. As everyone knows, Weng Group is a listed company, and its stock price can be affected by many factors—especially its decision-makers. If Chairman Weng is truly worried that falling stock prices will cause enormous losses for shareholders, he can lead by example and run his company properly, or simply take it private."

"Then how do you explain you and Mr. Pei Xingze making hundreds of millions by shorting Weng Group?"

"A normal investment decision." Weng Shao smiled.

"If it was a normal investment decision, why didn't you invest in other stocks? Why did you only short Weng Group? Wasn't that deliberate targeting?"

"Why would there be such an accusation? I believe no financial market in the world would call an investor's normal buying and selling deliberate targeting, especially when none of my investment activities violated any national laws or regulations. If Mr. Weng Yingjie is so worried that Weng Group's stock will be targeted by investors, he can choose to take it private, instead of using such absurd and malicious accusations to condemn investors for perfectly normal investment behavior."

"But you are Chairman Weng's biological son, yet you joined forces with Weng Group's competitor to short your own father's company—"

"Let me answer that question." Pei Xingze suddenly spoke up. "As everyone knows, Chairman Weng is Student Weng Shao's biological father, but he never raised Weng Shao for a single day. After abandoning him for eighteen years, when Weng Shao asked him to fulfill his duty of support, he not only failed to reflect on the harm his abandonment had caused Weng Shao, but flew into a rage out of shame and bribed reporters and online marketing accounts to slander Weng Shao... I believe a person like that is unworthy of being called a father, and has no standing to morally coerce Weng Shao in the name of family.

"As for his accusation before reporters that Weng Shao and I maliciously shorted Weng Group, I believe it has seriously damaged the reputations of Weng Shao, myself, and Pei Group. I will not tolerate this kind of slander. Pei Group's legal team will also file a lawsuit against Mr. Weng Yingjie over this matter..."

"This is serious defamation."

The reporters erupted into an uproar upon hearing Pei Xingze's public declaration of war.

"Student Weng Shao, do you really intend to sue your biological father?"

"Why not? As President Pei said, Mr. Weng Yingjie's accusations against President Pei and me constitute extremely serious defamation. Just because he bears the title of father, am I supposed to endure the Weng family's repeated bullying and humiliation?"

As he spoke, Weng Shao walked across the street and stopped in front of a storefront. When the reporters with cameras trained their lenses on him, they also clearly captured the large sign above the shop: Jianghu Net.

This was one of the two storefronts Weng Shao had bought at the start of the semester. One had already been transferred into Yu Huixin's name and turned into a real estate agency according to her wishes. The other served as Jianghu Net's headquarters. The five employees Weng Shao had hired earlier were here writing the website's code and maintaining its operations.

"I'm sure you have all looked into this. Like his family, Mr. Weng Yingjie not only likes to twist black into white and call a deer a horse, but also likes to manipulate public opinion and incite people who do not know the truth to cyberbully victims. His younger son, Weng Sui, has already been sued for defamation, and now he is making the same mistake. I don't know whether I should say the upper beam is crooked, so the lower beams are crooked too, or that they have never been punished, so they will never learn their lesson."

At this point, Weng Shao smiled slightly and pointed at the sign above the storefront. "But as the victim, I will not keep indulging them again and again. Weng Yingjie and his two sons have repeatedly bribed news reporters and online marketing accounts to slander and spread rumors about me. They even paid off the administrator of a certain forum to delete my posts and ban my account. After suffering so many losses, I decided to create a new social platform myself. A brand-new platform that will, as much as possible, not be held hostage by money.

"I named this new social platform Jianghu Net. As the name suggests, it comes from something Master Jin once said: wherever there are people, there will be grudges; wherever there are grudges, there will be jianghu. People are jianghu.

"With the development of technology, social platforms are bound to become new places where people communicate, obtain information, share their views and lives, and even shop. I believe that is a new kind of jianghu. There may still be all sorts of grudges and disputes in this jianghu, but for young people like us, I believe its greatest meaning lies in settling grudges freely, being high-spirited, and speaking our minds. Most importantly, speaking our minds."

"This is a real-name social platform. Our initial positioning is as a platform belonging to students. Here, we can share our lives and freely discuss all the interesting things we encounter in our studies and work. As long as you comply with laws and regulations, no one will delete your posts or ban your ID for no reason..."

Weng Shao spoke eloquently. After introducing Jianghu Net's functions and positioning, he suddenly changed tack. "I heard Mr. Weng Yingjie wants to sue me? As it happens, I want to sue him too. I'm sure many netizens and viewers watching from home are following this matter closely and want to know who will win this dispute between father and son.

"In that case, why not register an ID on Jianghu Net and follow me? I will regularly post updates there about my lawsuits against Weng Sui and Weng Yingjie, while also sharing my experience and thoughts on shorting Weng Group with Mr. Pei Xingze. I'm sure everyone is curious how I made more than a hundred million in just over half a year. Whether you want to get rich or follow the gossip, anyone interested can find me on Jianghu Net and keep up with the latest gossip, news, and trends..."

Watching the interview on television, Weng Yingjie's face turned even darker as he hurled the remote control away.

"That bastard is clearly using the fact that he's suing his father as bait to lure troublemakers into registering accounts on his website."

"I'm so furious! In all my life, I've never seen anyone so underhanded, despicable, and vicious!" Weng Sui was about to explode with rage. Because Weng Shao had mentioned suing him during the interview, Weng Sui, who had only just managed to calm the rumors, was instantly thrust back into the spotlight. Not only did he have to endure people pointing and whispering whenever he went out, but his companions kept asking him questions too. It was driving him insane!

"Dad, can't you think of a way to teach him a lesson?" Weng Sui stamped his feet in anger. "I really don't want to see him acting so arrogantly in front of reporters!"

Weng Yingjie's face was ashen. He had not expected that little bastard Weng Shao to be so ruthless. He had merely made a few harsh remarks to scare him in front of reporters, yet Weng Shao and Pei Xingze had actually sued him!