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墨書 Inktalez
People are always willing to believe what they want to believe, a truth that Old Shao understood long ago. Often, after an event occurs, the first version that people see becomes ingrained in their subconscious. When they later encounter contradictory reports, even if those reports are true, they tend to doubt their authenticity. After all, even when faced with the facts, people still have the right to choose whether to believe or not.
Because of this, once it was confirmed that Wang Yedan was not being supported by anyone, Old Shao instructed Guan Deng to delete the post made by Zhao Yan. The meaning was clear: Zhao Yan should stop spreading rumors to prevent further negative impact on society. However, the damage had already been done.
But Old Shao did not understand why Teacher Zhao had not explained this to her class, leading Zhao Yan to post such baseless rumors.
On the way to Long City University, Jiang He was scrolling through the comments under the article. Jiang He noticed that someone had already uncovered Wang Yedan's name, school, phone number, and various photos. Even Wang Yedan's Weibo account had been bombarded by netizens, but it seemed she had not yet seen the posts and had not responded.
Jiang He asked, "Should we have Guan Deng delete this post?"
Old Shao sighed and replied, "Not yet. Let the rumors fly for a while. Once Zhao Yan understands Wang Yedan's situation better, we can have her issue a statement on her Weibo. That would be more effective. This Zhao Yan has really put us in a difficult position; we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If we don't delete it, we can only watch as the rumors continue to spread. If we do delete it, it might inadvertently confirm the credibility of those rumors."
"We're just a step behind," Shao the Elder said. "Or perhaps Zhao Yan is just too fast; before the truth could be revealed, she had already convinced many people that Wang Yedan was being kept as a mistress by someone who is quite influential."
The car stopped in the parking lot of Long City University. Yuan Jun called Teacher Zhao to ask her to contact Zhao Yan. Within half an hour, Teacher Zhao arrived with Zhao Yan at the staff lounge.
Zhao Yan looked somewhat fearful upon seeing everyone from the project team; she stood aside glancing nervously at Teacher Zhao and then at the police officers.
"Zhao Yan," Old Shao said kindly. "Don't be afraid; we're here just to clarify something with you. This Weibo account called 'Yan Yan Yan Yan' belongs to you, right?"
"Yes," Zhao Yan replied.
"Then you wrote this article," Old Shao continued.
Zhao Yan nodded.
Old Shao gestured for her to sit down. "Please sit; there's no need to be so tense. Your story is quite captivating—Luben is y and Wang Yedan is l; we can see that clearly. However, your claims about Wang Yedan being kept by someone are completely unfounded, and Luben's death has little to do with her. As for why Luben jumped off, we are still investigating that matter; it involves confidential information that we cannot disclose to you. Do you understand?"
Zhao Yan swallowed hard and said, "Luben's roommate saw it; our dorm girls also witnessed it. They all saw Wang Yedan get out of a luxury car with an older man. They seemed very close—hugging and kissing him on the cheek."
Xu Yiman interjected, "Seeing isn't always believing. Wang Yedan's father is Wang Kun, a well-known figure in Dragon City’s business community. While he may not run one of the top companies, he certainly has enough money to buy luxury cars and cosmetics for his daughter. That man is her father, not some benefactor keeping her."
"Teacher Zhao looked at Zhao Yan and said, 'I’m in the classroom, so this matter has nothing to do with Wang Yedan. What are you stirring up on Weibo? I can tell you, if you don’t study hard and keep spreading rumors, you can forget about your scholarship!'
Zhao Yan heard Teacher Zhao's words and tears streamed down her face. 'This is impossible! Her family is in business; they sell egg pancakes! How could she be the daughter of an entrepreneur? This must all be a lie! How could someone supporting her be so powerful as to turn white into black and black into white?'
Xu Yiman felt a bit helpless and said, 'Don’t assume things you don’t understand. We’ve already made it clear to you. The articles you posted have been shared over five hundred times online; you could be detained for spreading rumors.'
Old Shao slowly added, 'But you probably don’t understand the situation either. After deleting the articles, you need to post an apology under your name. I suspect those were all fabricated by you without any verification. Let’s consider this matter settled after that. In the future, think rationally and don’t believe everything you hear.'
'Is she really the daughter of a big boss?' Zhao Yan seemed to still be processing this information, repeatedly asking, 'Is she really the daughter of a big boss?'
'Yes,' Shao the Elder confirmed.
Zhao Yan shook her head like a rattle drum. 'This isn’t fair! It’s not fair! Why does she look so beautiful? Why is she so fair and tall? Her family is so wealthy, and so many people like her. It’s so unfair! Why does she have everything while I have nothing!'
Unable to control her emotions, Zhao Yan collapsed onto the desk and began to cry softly. She cried heartbreakingly, as if she were on the verge of breaking down.
'This isn’t fair!' Zhao Yan continued to sob.
'Enough! You’re spreading rumors and still have the nerve to cry? What’s there to cry about? Delete the posts you made online immediately and apologize,' Teacher Zhao instructed.
Zhao Yan nodded and pulled out her phone from her pocket. It was an old model smartphone worth a few hundred yuan. She unlocked it and quickly logged into Weibo. With practiced ease, she deleted the article and began editing.
'I am Yan. The articles from this morning and noon were all fabricated by me to attract attention. I sincerely apologize to classmate Y for this. I’m sorry. I will also delete any comments that have doxxed classmate Y. I made a mistake and hope I didn’t mislead anyone. That’s all.'
With that, Zhao Yan showed everyone.
'Okay,' Old Shao nodded, but he felt a lingering worry in his heart.
Sure enough, within half an hour, comments under Zhao Yan's Weibo post began to spring up like mushrooms after rain."
"How long has it been? They've really deleted it so quickly. Their hands are too fast."
"I didn't believe it before, but now I do. If there wasn't someone behind this, how could it be deleted so fast?"
"I'm a classmate of Yan. Just now, when she was in the dormitory, she was called away by the teacher. It hasn't even been ten minutes, and the article is gone. I'm scared; if I keep writing something, will I also be called away?"
"It was originally a suicide; a love-related suicide is still a suicide. But with things turning out like this, I feel like there's definitely some conspiracy behind it. Could it be that Y killed L and then disguised it as a suicide?"
"Seeing that someone killed and disguised it as a suicide, I really think it's possible. It's terrifying."
Old Shao's greatest fear has come true because no matter what Zhao Yan does, those who don't believe will never believe, and those who do will always hold on to their beliefs. However, from the current comments, most people seem to stand against Wang Yedan. If this continues, it might provoke public opposition.
Xu Yiman said, "There's a saying online: it's easy to spread rumors but hard to dispel them. No matter what you say, those people won't believe it."
Shao the Elder replied, "That's just how it is; what else can we do? As Jiang He said, after some time, everyone will forget about this incident and be attracted to other matters. By then, Wang Yedan will be able to return to her normal life. Teacher Zhao, as for Wang Yedan, I think she should wait a while before coming back to school. Right now, she's in the eye of the storm; reporters will definitely find her, and there will be angry crowds who don't understand the truth."
"Has Wang Yedan not returned to the dormitory? After the class meeting ended, I haven't seen her," Teacher Zhao said.
Zhao Yan shook his head. "No, Wang Yedan hasn't returned to the dormitory."
"Then she might have gone home with her parents," Teacher Zhao suggested.
Before Teacher Zhao could finish speaking, a phone rang.
"Hello, Director Zhang? How's the investment discussion going? I've talked with the students; Wang Yedan is kind and capable and has already become Vice Class Leader. You and Boss Wang should know that I take good care of Wang Yedan."
Director Zhang's voice was loud: "Stop with the useless talk! Is Wang Yedan with you right now? I just finished talking with Boss Wang; they want her to come over. I just called her phone, but it's turned off."
Teacher Zhao quickly responded, "No, Wang Yedan left right after the class meeting. Her roommate didn't go back to the dormitory either; could she have gone back by herself?"
"Did you go back by yourself?" Director Zhang said. "Shouldn't Wang Yedan wait for her parents to go home together?"
Upon hearing this, Old Shao and Jiang He sensed that something was off.
"When did the Class Meeting end?" Jiang He asked.
Teacher Zhao looked puzzled and thought for a moment before replying, "It must have been about three hours ago."
"Three hours." Old Shao stood up and said, "This is bad. Immediately pull up the school's surveillance footage. I want to see where Wang Yedan was last seen."
"What's wrong..." Teacher Zhao still hadn't realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Wang Yedan is missing!" Old Shao declared firmly.
"Wang Yedan is missing?" Teacher Zhao and Director Zhang both began to ask questions at the same time.
"Find the surveillance footage for me right away," Shao the Elder insisted.
Zhao Yan lightly chuckled.
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