Xu Mingji's eyes were terribly red when he ran downstairs.
The servants all saw it.
Zhou Man was sitting in the living room. She immediately stood up. "Mingji, what happened?"
Xu Mingji shook his head, his voice low. "Nothing. My brother's in a bad mood. I shouldn't have bothered him."
He spoke softly, but everyone in the living room could hear him.
Zhou Man's eyes reddened too. She took Xu Mingji's hand. "You're just too considerate. Even with him acting like this, you're still always thinking of him."
Xu Mingji lowered his head without arguing.
Xu Chengyuan came out of the study and saw the scene. His expression remained grim, but he didn't reprimand Xu Mingji.
He glanced upstairs, his gaze dark.
The more Xu Zhihan refused to bow his head, the more useful the voices outside became.
He wanted to see just how long Xu Zhihan could hold out.
The situation online escalated faster than Xu Chengyuan had expected.
At ten that morning, a clickbait account released a third video.
This time, it was footage from the hospital room.
In the video, Zhou Man knelt in front of Xu Zhihan's bed, trembling as she clutched her neck. Xu Zhihan leaned against the headboard, his expression cold.
The caption pulled no punches.
[Xu Family stepmother spends years caring for her sickly stepson, only to be forced to kneel and accused of murder on his first day awake. Shouldn't there be limits to wealthy family feuds?]
The comment section exploded.
[That stepmother looks so pitiful.]
[She cared for him for years, and he calls her a murderer? Is this young master really mentally sound?]
[His brother kneels, the doctor kneels, his stepmother kneels. Why does everyone kneel in front of him?]
[That's a little scary. Someone should check his mental state.]
[Does he think everyone has to give in to him just because he's sick?]
Some cursed him, some questioned him, and others thought the timing of the videos was too convenient.
But those skeptical voices were quickly drowned out.
The paid trolls hired by the Xu Family began steering the narrative.
Their angle was clear.
Xu Zhihan had been sickly for years and had become psychologically twisted.
He was jealous of his younger brother, Xu Mingji.
He had gone crazy over the engagement.
His stepmother, Zhou Man, had cared for him for years, only to be falsely accused.
As his father, Xu Chengyuan had always tolerated him.
This series of blows came in rapid succession.
Xu Zhihan's name appeared on the trending list for the first time, but it was nothing but abuse.
The Special Investigation Bureau was affected too.
In the Seventh Team's office, a young team member scrolled through his phone, his expression growing uglier.
"Captain, isn't the Xu Family completely shameless? Why don't they mention the basement? Or Jiang Ren? They only cut together footage of Xu Zhihan making people kneel."
Lu Wenchuan sat in his chair, reading the scene report.
He didn't even look up. "They're not stupid."
The team member was furious. "So we just let them keep cursing him?"
Lu Wenchuan turned a page. "Xu Zhihan isn't worried. Why are you?"
"Maybe he hasn't seen the comments?"
Lu Wenchuan looked up. "He has."
The team member froze. "Then how did he react?"
Remembering Xu Zhihan's reply of "Too noisy," Lu Wenchuan couldn't help chuckling.
The team member was even more confused. "Captain, what are you laughing at?"
Lu Wenchuan suppressed his smile. "Nothing."
He looked at the information on his computer.
The preliminary examination results from the Xu Family's basement were in.
The Resentment-Nurturing Formation had existed for at least fifteen years.
Xu An had also died around fifteen years ago.
At that time, Xu Zhihan had been only six.
Things were getting more interesting.
Xu Chengyuan wanted to use public opinion to force Xu Zhihan to submit. He might fool ordinary internet users, but he couldn't fool the evidence.
And Xu Zhihan still had a recording.
Lu Wenchuan leaned back in his chair and tapped the desk lightly with his fingers.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the Xu Family to commit fully to their story.
At the Xu residence, Xu Zhihan was leaning against his headboard, listening to the recording.
It had been recorded yesterday, when Xu Mingji knelt in the hospital room.
It clearly captured the entire exchange in which Xu Zhihan questioned Xu Mingji about faking illness, tampering with his medicine, and stealing his engagement. It also captured Xu Mingji's final admission: "I was afraid the Gu Family wouldn't want me anymore."
If this recording went public, Xu Mingji would be exposed immediately.
But Xu Zhihan didn't post it.
He was still waiting.
The Xu Family had released plenty by now, but they hadn't gone far enough.
For a slap to really sting, he had to wait until the other person offered up their face.
He wasn't in a hurry.
It was just a little noisy.
His phone kept lighting up with all sorts of insults from unknown numbers. Some demanded that he apologize to Xu Mingji, some called him heartless and ungrateful, and others asked why he hadn't died in the hospital.
Xu Zhihan read two messages, his expression unchanged.
He blocked all messages from unknown senders.
Just as he finished changing the settings, another message arrived from Lu Wenchuan.
[Still alive?]
Xu Zhihan frowned at those words.
[Can you say something else?]
Lu Wenchuan replied quickly.
[Then, have you eaten?]
Xu Zhihan: "..."
Even more annoying.
He didn't reply.
Lu Wenchuan didn't mind and kept messaging.
[The Xu Family will probably have Xu Mingji come out and play the victim again.]
Xu Zhihan finally replied.
[I know.]
[When are you planning to post the recording?]
[When he cries.]
Lu Wenchuan went silent for a few seconds.
Then he sent a reply.
[You really hold a grudge.]
Xu Zhihan replied.
[He's noisy.]
Lu Wenchuan sent a smiley face.
Xu Zhihan stared at it for a while, then put his phone facedown on the nightstand.
At noon, Xu Mingji did indeed post a public video.
In it, he sat in his room, his eyes red and his voice hoarse.
"Please stop criticizing my brother. He's unwell and has only just woken up. His emotions might just be unstable. I knelt to ask him to come home because I wanted to. The engagement was a misunderstanding too. My brother didn't bully me."
Every sentence sounded as though he was defending Xu Zhihan.
Every sentence pushed Xu Zhihan deeper into the mire.
Less than ten minutes after the video went up, the comments were filled with sympathy for Xu Mingji.
[His little brother is so kind.]
[He's still defending his brother after all that.]
[Xu Zhihan, come out and apologize.]
[What sickly young master? He's clearly a psycho.]
[The Xu Family really has it rough.]
Xu Zhihan sat on the edge of his bed and listened to the entire video.
Xu Mingji's crying was more controlled than it had been the previous times.
He was improving.
Xu Zhihan tapped open the audio file and trimmed off the first few useless seconds.
Then he registered a new account.
The profile picture was blank.
The username consisted of only his name.
Xu Zhihan.
He uploaded the recording with a short caption.
[Stop crying. You're noisy.]
He hit send.
Three minutes later, the comments were still full of abuse.
Five minutes later, someone played the recording.
Ten minutes later, the first repost blew up.
[Wait, did Xu Mingji admit in the recording that he faked being sick to steal the engagement?]
Then came a second, a third, and a fourth.
[Holy shit, a twist?]
[Did he say, "I was afraid the Gu Family wouldn't want me anymore"?]
[So he knelt to ask his brother to come home because his scheme to fake an illness and force the engagement had fallen apart?]
[The Xu Family edited the videos?]
[The little brother had barely posted his sob story before the man himself dropped the recording. That slap in the face came fast.]
The trending list began to change.
A new term quickly appeared behind "Xu Zhihan forces younger brother to kneel," which had been near the top.
#Xu Mingji recording#
In the Xu residence's living room, Xu Mingji stared at the recording that had suddenly gone viral, his face deathly pale.
Zhou Man's phone was ringing too, with frantic calls pouring in from the management and PR team.
Xu Chengyuan stormed out of the study and shouted angrily, "Who told you to post that video?"
Xu Mingji's lips trembled. "Dad, I only wanted to help the family..."
"Help?" Xu Chengyuan was so furious his voice changed. "You handed him ammunition, and you call that helping?"
Zhou Man hurriedly shielded Xu Mingji. "Chengyuan, what good does scolding him do now? Find a way to bury this first!"
Xu Chengyuan's face was livid.
But it was already too late.
Xu Zhihan's recording was spreading too fast.
The people who had sympathized with Xu Mingji began questioning the Xu Family instead, accusing them of editing videos to manipulate public opinion.
Upstairs, Xu Zhihan listened to the chaos downstairs and finally felt that things were a little quieter.
His phone lit up again.
Lu Wenchuan sent a message.
[That was one resounding slap.]
Xu Zhihan replied.
[Not bad.]
Lu Wenchuan: [Feeling better?]
Xu Zhihan looked at the message without replying immediately.
A few seconds later, he typed.
[It is better when they're not crying.]
Lu Wenchuan laughed for a long time before finally sending just one reply.
[Young Master Xu, you really do have a temper.]
Xu Zhihan finished listening and set his phone down.
Outside the window, the sky was overcast.
The Xu Family's living room was still in chaos.
Xu Zhihan leaned back against the headboard and slowly closed his eyes.
This was only the first recording.
If the Xu Family wanted to play games with public opinion, fine.
He had plenty more.