Chapter 7

Xu Tianyao's expression changed. After what happened to Weng Shao, many parents believed the school should not give a recommendation slot to someone of questionable character. Xu Tianyao's parents had been among the most vocal. Considering the public backlash, the school had no choice but to follow public opinion and revoke Weng Shao's recommendation slot. However, Weng Shao's homeroom teacher, Teacher Chen, believed that while the slot need not go to Weng Shao, it should be given to a student who was truly outstanding in both character and academics and came from a struggling family.

"Students at teachers' universities will become teachers in the future. Teaching and nurturing others requires leading by example, so character is extremely important."

Teacher Chen was a nationally recognized master teacher with over thirty years of teaching experience and tremendous prestige. Even the school administration had to carefully consider her opinion. And because of her remarks, Xu Tianyao, who had been excessively active in this reporting incident, was removed from the school's list of candidates for the recommendation slot.

After all his painstaking schemes, he had merely made a wedding dress for someone else. Xu Tianyao burned with rage. Rather than reflect on himself, he took it out on Weng Shao.

Just then, Xu Tianyao learned from his classmates about the disgraceful matter of Weng Shao falling out with his family. He promptly became a loudspeaker, not only spreading rumors about Weng Shao among the students, but also writing many of the exposé posts on the school forum.

Xu Tianyao had originally thought that after doing so much, he would at least have some negative impact on Weng Shao. But what he had not expected was that Weng Shao was truly a hard-hearted, ruthless man. No matter how much gossip circulated among the students, he remained utterly unmoved. His grades had dropped so much during the second mock exam, yet in just one month, they had risen again.

Meanwhile, Xu Tianyao himself had spent too much energy posting online and spreading rumors. During the third mock exam, his score was more than a hundred points below his usual level.

Zhou Mingjing gave a mocking snort and said sarcastically, "Some people are so pitifully rotten. You don't actually think that knocking down a panda makes you a national treasure, do you?"

Xu Tianyao's face flushed crimson from the ridicule. The others had also witnessed how sharp-tongued Weng Shao and his friends were, and for a while, they all fell silent.

After hearing about the disturbance in the cafeteria during lunch break, Teacher Chen specifically called Weng Shao to her office. "You handled it very well. There's only one month left before the National College Entrance Examination. You need to focus all your attention on studying and ignore the gossip outside. You have to understand that from the moment people are born, their values differ because of their environments and life experiences. You can't demand that everyone understand you. You only need to be yourself and have a clear conscience."

Teacher Chen looked wistfully at her prized student. As Weng Shao's homeroom teacher for three years of high school, she knew better than anyone how difficult his circumstances had been. She also knew how hard it had been for him to maintain first place in the entire school for three consecutive years under those family conditions. She did not want to see Weng Shao ruined by a temporary storm.

So during afternoon self-study, Teacher Chen repeatedly stressed that students were forbidden from discussing matters unrelated to studying. "There is only one month left before the National College Entrance Examination. I hope all of you will focus on your studies and give it everything you have in preparation. After ten years of hard study, don't leave yourselves with regret or remorse."

Under Teacher Chen's firm suppression and the mounting pressure of the approaching National College Entrance Examination, people soon stopped discussing Weng Shao's family affairs.

Weng Shao's ears finally had some peace. He was deeply grateful for Teacher Chen's painstaking efforts. So after self-study, he took the photocopied versions of the notes and mind maps he had reorganized for every subject and went to find Teacher Chen, who was sorting lesson plans in her office. He voluntarily offered to share his study notes with the other students.

Teacher Chen flipped through Weng Shao's subject notes with a face full of astonishment. As an experienced teacher of more than thirty years, she naturally understood the value of these notes and mind maps. She also knew that the rapid improvement in Weng Shao's three roommates' scores during the third mock exam was due to these notes and mind maps. But Teacher Chen had never expected Weng Shao to be willing to share the study notes and mind maps he had painstakingly compiled with the other students.

"You really are willing to share your study notes with the other students?" Teacher Chen's emotions churned as she confirmed once again.

Weng Shao nodded. "I know how important the National College Entrance Examination is to a student. Now that I have better study methods, of course I'm willing to share them with my classmates so we can improve together. After ten years of hard study, I hope we can all get into the schools we want."

But if one repaid resentment with kindness, what would repay kindness? They were all students about to take the National College Entrance Examination, yet even in such a harsh public atmosphere, Weng Shao still thought of sharing his study notes with his classmates. What a radiant display of human kindness.

Teacher Chen's lips trembled. She struggled internally for a long time, but in the end, she could not refuse the temptation of helping every National College Entrance Examination student at City No. 1 High School raise their scores to a higher level in a short time. Deeply moved, she patted Weng Shao on the shoulder and said with heartfelt emotion, "Teacher knew it. You're the one who excels in both character and academics."

Weng Shao said nothing, merely lowered his head and smiled calmly.

Of course he was a good student who excelled in both character and academics!

The moment she saw Weng Shao's smile, Teacher Chen made up her mind as well. Even if she had to stake her reputation and swallow her pride, she absolutely could not let her student be destroyed by a pack of petty people.

After Weng Shao left, Teacher Chen took the photocopied notes and mind maps he had compiled straight to the principal's office. No one knew what the two discussed, but from that day onward, no rumors about Weng Shao could be heard within City No. 1 High School. Even the related exposé posts on the school forum were deleted by the administrators. Every senior student's desk also gained a set of photocopied subject notes and matching mind maps.

City No. 1 High School, which had been in turmoil for over a month, returned to peace once more.

But online, the public opinion Weng Shao had deliberately ignored was slowly brewing into a storm that could not be ignored, fueled by the efforts of someone with ulterior motives.

"Did you get people to post these threads and articles from paid influencer accounts?"

Jinghai City, Weng family

Weng Yingjie slammed a stack of documents onto the desk and looked at Weng Sui with frustration and disappointment.

Weng Sui lifted his head and stared straight at Weng Yingjie, his face full of defiance. "I just wanted to teach him a lesson..."

As he spoke, Weng Sui gradually fell silent. He lowered his head, pressing his lips into a straight line with a wronged expression. He did not know what he had done wrong. He had simply been too angry. Ever since childhood, no one had ever treated him so rudely. He hated the way Weng Shao looked down on him and mocked him. He hated how their entire family had been left speechless by questioning from a country bumpkin like Weng Shao. He hated even more the strange looks the villagers gave him after Weng Shao exposed him for recording with his phone.

The more Weng Sui thought about it, the angrier he became. So he posted Weng Shao's terrible behavior online and let the netizens condemn him. He also contacted students from the village who attended City No. 1 High School and had them spread word around the school that Weng Shao had turned against his family for wealth and glory, even angering his grandfather so badly that he had been hospitalized... He wanted Weng Shao to become infamous.

"Did you ever consider that doing this would drag the company into—" Weng Yingjie could not finish the sentence. Looking into his youngest son's clear, bright eyes, he realized that Weng Sui had absolutely no sense that every one of his actions could affect the company's image.

Weng Zhen, who had been standing before the floor-to-ceiling window admiring the midsummer night view, turned around. He walked over to the desktop computer on the desk and looked at the topics being continually boosted across the major social platforms. "So you only got people to make posts. You didn't buy trending searches, right?"

Noticing the increasingly grave expressions on his father's and eldest brother's faces, even Weng Sui, naive as he was, realized that something seemed wrong. He shook his head blankly and said with slight panic, "I didn't."

Then the question was, who was lurking in the shadows, fanning the flames and continuously boosting the posts Weng Sui had arranged, trying to turn the Weng family's private affairs into a major scandal? And what was their goal?

Author's Note:

Chapter 7

Seeing the anger on Weng Yingjie's face and the wariness in both his tone and Weng Zhen's, Weng Sui, whose mind was a complete mess, gathered his courage and said, "Could you be overthinking this? Maybe the netizens who saw the exposé were simply outraged and cursed that bastard Weng Shao onto the trending searches?"

Hearing Weng Sui's naive and foolish words, Weng Yingjie and Weng Zhen exchanged a glance and could not even be bothered to speak.

"Since things have come to this," Weng Zhen said coldly after several minutes of silence as he watched the discussion around the topic grow ever more heated, "we can only make this public opinion become reality."

Weng Yingjie spoke darkly. "Are you sure?"

"I'll contact reporters to interview Weng Shao," Weng Zhen said, pausing before adding, "on the day of his National College Entrance Examination."

He would have reporters wait outside the examination center in advance to interview Weng Shao. Not only would they ruin Weng Shao's reputation, but if possible, they would also affect his state of mind during the exam. That way, no one could use Weng Shao's National College Entrance Examination results to attack the corporate image of Weng Group.

—A good-for-nothing ingrate was easier to deal with than an outstanding student. Although Weng Zhen had not attended university in the country, he had always understood the domestic climate of public opinion and how much tolerance people had for students with good grades.

Weng Sui's heart skipped a beat, and he hesitantly asked, "Does it have to be on the day of his National College Entrance Examination?"

As a fellow senior student, although Weng Sui's academic grades were poor and he had no plans to take the National College Entrance Examination, he still knew how important it was to a student. He remembered that Weng Shao's preferred choice was Jinghai University... If reporters chased after Weng Shao for interviews on the day of the exam, could he still get into Jinghai University?

Noticing Weng Sui's reluctance to be cruel, Weng Zhen gave him a deep look and said meaningfully, "If you hadn't made the family's shame public, we wouldn't have had to go this far."

As Weng Sui's twin brother, Weng Zhen understood this brother's flaws better than anyone. He loved to put on a show of innocence and kindness over trivial matters. It was as though hesitating for one or two seconds before hurting someone could offset the harm he inflicted on them.

Under ordinary circumstances, Weng Zhen would have been happy to indulge his younger brother's nasty little amusements. But at this crucial moment, when it was victory or defeat, Weng Zhen had to make Weng Sui understand that either one did not act at all, or one went all the way.