[Oh~ You mean Hong Zhenghua, the one who looked a little stiff dancing onstage just now? He looks pretty upright, doesn't he? What's the tea on him?]
Hearing his name mentioned, Hong Zhenghua had already been thinking about which construction site he should go haul bricks at after leaving. He had never hoped anyone would remember him.
Being able to hear Shang Shujue's thoughts lately had actually surprised him quite a bit. Once the surprise passed, he felt that Shang Shujue must be a very good person for Heaven to have given him such an ability. He was a little envious, and a little afraid.
So he had never exchanged so much as half a sentence with Shang Shujue. He had been poor all his life, and as far as he knew, children from wealthy families always looked down on the poor.
Even though Shang Shujue himself had never actually thought that way or shown any disdain, and had even helped Zhang Yunchen, who was poorer than him.
But he still didn't dare say a word to Shang Shujue, because he was simply too dazzling. He was beautiful-yes, beautiful, very beautiful, even prettier than the village belle back home.
Not only was he beautiful, but he also came from a very good family and was kindhearted. That really was an exceedingly rare quality in aristocratic circles.
But perhaps it was his inferiority complex and timidity. Hong Zhenghua didn't dare speak to him, nor had he ever hoped to get anything from him the way the others did, because he couldn't repay him.
He knew very well that a favor like foreknowledge of the future was a debt he could never repay, even if he toiled like an ox or horse for his entire life. His grandfather had told him that a person must repay kindness.
*[Hiss... He's an ordinary guy, so I can understand him having a girlfriend. After all, he only came here to go through the motions. But supporting someone else's wife and kids was one thing.*
Why was he even supporting her children's biological father's entire family? Huh?! And for three whole years! (╯°Д°)╯
Let's see, he's twenty-four now, which means he got together with his current girlfriend when he was twenty-one... They've been together for three years, and she still won't agree to marry him. Why?
Because she lied about her age, of course. She's actually thirty this year. She was already married at twenty and had three kids with that gambling-addict husband of hers...
But because her gambling-addict husband wouldn't do anything, she couldn't support three kids alone, so she relied on that face of hers to scam people. She swindled quite a few people over time, then got caught and beaten by a group of them. Hong Zhenghua, that massive sucker, happened to save her...
Uh... She told Hong Zhenghua that human traffickers had abducted her and taken her to that village, and those people were trying to drag her back. She begged him to save her, and Hong Zhenghua believed her...
*Good grief, what a sucker. His downfall was being too kindhearted and having too strong a moral compass... He's even more of a dope than Zhou Zheng...]*
Shang Shujue's shocked voice rang through everyone's minds, rattling them so hard that even their brains seemed to tremble.
They desperately wanted to turn and look at Hong Zhenghua's expression, to ask what on earth he had been thinking. But on second thought, if a girl had asked them for help like that, they probably would have believed her too.
Except they wouldn't have taken her straight home, but to the police station. Wait, exactly! Why hadn't he taken her to the police? He had actually supported that whole family of scum for three years without knowing the truth? How incredibly generous!
At the mention of his name, Zhou Zheng couldn't help covering his face. Brother Jue, please stop. I've already blocked her and come to my senses. Stop bringing me up. But Hong Zhenghua really has it rough...
Hong Zhenghua's face went white. He looked up in disbelief and almost turned to look at Shang Shujue, wanting to ask exactly what he meant.
How was that possible? How could that girl whose eyes were filled with nothing but him be someone like that? The three years they had spent together had clearly been so sweet...
"Hong Zhenghua, don't look! Brother Jue isn't over here. If you really can't control yourself, just lower your head."
"We're live right now. We can't let the viewers notice anything, and we can't let Brother Jue know we can hear him... The worry is that he might suddenly watch the replay... Do you understand?"
Sitting beside Hong Zhenghua, Le Tianyu saw him raise his head as though he was about to turn toward Shang Shujue. He immediately pressed his head down with quick reflexes, putting on an act of sobbing his eyes out.
After all, he was one of those eliminated too, so there was nothing wrong with acting like this. Only after hearing him speak did Hong Zhenghua finally register their current situation.
If his actions caused trouble for anyone else, his conscience would torment him.
So he restrained the urge to turn around, and images of many details he had once found unreasonable but then ignored surfaced in his mind.
No wonder A-Yue always took so many things whenever she visited her family. No wonder he always had bruises on his body whenever he returned.
No wonder her gaze was always so complicated when she looked at him... So this was the truth...
*[So? Hong Zhenghua did do a good deed, didn't he? Was that woman never moved or won over, even for a moment? Isn't that how it always goes in TV dramas?*
Oh, reality isn't an idol drama. I know. Sigh, that poor kid actually ended up being sold to Myanmar, becoming a plaything for rich women and tycoons to defile, and finally dying of an STD.
The grandfather who had been his only family also died in a filthy ditch on a rainy day, with no one to collect his body... And that woman's whole family actually managed to latch on to that disgusting piece of shit Han Dong afterward.
The man became a manager at his family's casino?! The woman became a madam recruiting fresh faces for his family's red-light establishments?!
Their three sons not only became his family's lackeys and hired thugs, but even fucking lived out their natural lifespans?!
*Fuck! I can't take this! Sooner or later, I'm taking their luck! Especially that disgusting piece of shit Han Dong.]*
Shang Shujue's thoughts rang out again. In just a few words, he shattered every rosy illusion Hong Zhenghua had held about that woman, leaving him heartbroken and in such agony that he wished he were dead!
A-Yue! I gave you everything, and this is how you treat me! Doesn't your conscience hurt?!
Hong Zhenghua's face was deathly pale, his fists clenched so hard they creaked. Le Tianyu held his hand, putting on a comforting appearance. He said nothing, yet said everything.
Shang Shujue's next thoughts rang out again, and everyone was stunned after hearing them. Their worldview was shaken all over again. No, we always knew rich people got wild, but who knew they got this wild? Urgh~ I want to throw up too...
*[The last time I saw him, he actually tried to feel me up! What rotten luck. The moment he came close, I caught a rank, fishy stench of ** drifting over, mixed with the smell of alcohol. I nearly threw up.*
*He might well have just come from his last ** party... So fucking disgusting. Do people like him pull their pants up without even washing their **? Urgh~ I want to puke _(´ཀ`" ∠)_]*
When Shang Shujue's thoughts reached Song Yanqing's ears, he paused in the middle of scrolling through the comments and taking screenshots. He looked up at the screen, but Shang Shujue himself was nowhere to be seen. The camera crew didn't dare give him any screen time at all, terrified that he would ruin the livestream.
"Han Dong... Heh!"
Song Yanqing withdrew his gaze and suddenly curled his lips into a smile. A vein at his temple throbbed, whether from exerting too much force or being too angry...
At that moment, Han Dong, who couldn't control his lower half even while recovering from his injuries, was sitting there enjoying a certain kind of * service... He had no idea that danger aimed squarely at him was about to arrive...