Chapter 99 Public Opinion: Qu He Cheated?

Qu He and Zhuang Bieyan hurriedly returned to Heyuefang.

The shop was closed, with a wooden sign hanging at the entrance that read "Temporarily Closed".

She sent a message to Si Yue, and after a while, she secretly peeked out from the back door through a crack.

Si Yue was very surprised to see her. "Senior, you came back from England so quickly?"

Qu He briefly explained the situation to her and then began to ask about the store.

Si Yue also stopped joking and her expression became serious. "Since this morning, people have been leaving bad reviews for the store. I didn't pay attention at first, but I realized something was wrong when several customers asked for refunds."

As she spoke, she took out the store's phone, hesitated, and didn't hand it over immediately: "Senior, do you... really want to see this?"

Si Yue's hesitant expression made Qu He realize that it must be related to her.

Qu He gave her a reassuring smile and picked up her phone to look at it.

The screen was filled with negative reviews, and the more she looked, the deeper her brows furrowed.

User 238293718: [Can a mistress become a teacher? A chaotic private life, seducing men, using pottery as a front for shady dealings.]

A happy person commented: "What a terrible pottery shop! I never expected the manager to be like this. I want my money back! My child went there for a trial lesson just a couple of days ago; I hope he won't be corrupted!"

Protecting the Best Mianmian: [Is she the one who seduced Qian Zhaoye? She looks so innocent, but she's so promiscuous behind the scenes?]

"Eating melon seeds without spitting out the seeds": [Using pottery as a guise to do this kind of thing, how can someone like this teach students? She's completely disgraced the 13th Lane in North City!]

Scrolling up, you see similar comments all saying that her private life is messy, and every single comment is incredibly offensive!

Qu He was puzzled. She discovered that all the comments started with this user, 238293718.

Si Yue tapped twice on her phone and showed her the online post.

User 238293718 published a long article in three hours: "[The female owner of a pottery shop in Beicheng Thirteen Lane has a chaotic private life and has cheated on multiple people.]".

The eye-catching title has already garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

Clicking on the comments revealed malicious rumors spread by the original poster, who kept updating "solid evidence," including several photos posted in the comments section as proof.

User 238293718: [Is this the so-called "beautiful shop owner"? She's taken to hotels by different men every night. (Image in JPG format)]

User 238293718: [Pretending to be an innocent ceramic artist by day, meeting her sugar daddy by night. Image JPG]

User 238293718: [Breaking news: Knowing she was the other woman, she interfered in someone else's relationship. Image JPG]

User 238293718: [Shameless gold digger. Image JPG]

Qu He clicked on the photos, her hand trembling slightly.

The photo is indeed of her.

There are photos of her being led into the hotel by Fang Ganming that night.

There is a photo of Zhou Shi'an helping her up at the entrance of Wangjiang Pavilion a few days ago.

There are also photos of him and Qian Zhaoye in the mall, where he went crazy and harassed each other.

And photos of He Zhuang entering and leaving the villa.

Every photo is taken from a tricky angle, as if it was deliberately chosen. In the photos, she is always the one actively clinging to the man.

Except for the first picture where Fang Ganming's face is not clearly visible, the rest of the pictures show that they all look impatient.

This is clearly aimed at her.

Who is it?

"Oh no! Senior, you're trending!" Si Yue exclaimed.

"A prominent marketing account posted this on a video platform and then synced it to Weibo, and then... Qiao Mian responded."

Qu He frowned.

Qiao Mian?

She quickly opened Weibo and found that the hashtags #Heyuefangshopownermistress#, #ZhuangBieyan#, and #QianZhaoye# were constantly rising in popularity.

A group of netizens watched the drama unfold below.

[Are any people able to trend on social media these days? Who are these people? Their trending status is rising so fast, are they all bought? There's too much text to read, can someone summarize it?]

[Holy crap, even though I don't know any of these people, I do know Zhuang Bieyan!]

[The class representative is here! In summary, Qu He, the manager of Beicheng Heyuefang, was involved with four men simultaneously within just two months. Now, the current boyfriend of one of these men has confirmed it. See below for the current boyfriend's Weibo account.]

Is the art world really this chaotic these days? Let's just sit back and watch the drama unfold.

Qu He clicked on the Weibo account he tagged and recognized Qiao Mian from the profile picture.

Ten minutes ago, Qiao Mian posted three words, "Believe in him." The accompanying picture was a selfie, with slightly red eyes, as if she had been crying.

The comments below were unanimously "Hugs to Sister," "Rich Sister, don't be sad, that mistress deserves to die a horrible death!" and "Mianmian, don't cry, we all support you! This kind of mistress's shop should be boycotted by the entire internet and shut down completely!"

Qu He browsed through Qiao Mian's Weibo and found that she had been cultivating a rich woman persona in recent years, posting pictures of her new bags and clothes on Weibo from time to time, which gained her a wave of fans.

She recently announced her marriage to Qian Zhaoye on Weibo.

That's why netizens discovered she's Qian Zhaoye's current girlfriend.

The three words Qiao Mian just posted seemed to say nothing, but they also seemed to say everything, clearly confirming the fact that Qu He seduced Qian Zhaoye.

The comments section was filled with people criticizing Qu He for being shameless and seducing men, to which Qiao Mian responded hypocritically, "I think there must be a misunderstanding. Let's wait for their explanation."

Fans expressed their sympathy and offered words of comfort, saying things like "I feel so sorry for her" and "She's such a kind person."

Zhuang Bieyan's face darkened as soon as he saw those comments. He called Tan Cong and snatched the phone from Qu He's hand: "Don't look at it anymore, I'll handle it."

He looked at Si Yue, his usual serious expression returning. "Close the shop first. For your safety, I'll send someone to take you home. If you need anything, call Tan Cong."

Si Yue was intimidated by his stern demeanor and nodded firmly, "Okay!"

Zhuang Bieyan sent a message to Tan Cong, and then led Qu He back through the back door.

On her way home, Qu He kept thinking about who had orchestrated all of this. Zhuang Bieyan saw that she was silent and thought she was hurt by the harsh words from netizens.

He took her hand. "I'm here."

Qu He smiled gently, "I'm fine."

When Qu He got home, she opened the Weibo post again, only to find that all the related entries were gone.

She asked Zhuang Bieyan, "Did you handle this?"

"Hmm!" Zhuang Bieyan frowned.

Qu He still felt uneasy.

Sure enough, a short while later, new entries appeared, and netizens' rebellious spirit was aroused, with even more intense and harsh criticism.

[I didn't believe it at first, I just wanted to watch the show. But it suddenly stopped halfway through, and I started to have some questions. Who is this woman?]

[Capital is in the game; they're starting to remove trending topics. Everyone run!]

[Everyone! This woman is extraordinary! Do you know who those four men are?]

[Who is she? I don't think she's a celebrity or an internet celebrity, except she's pretty... well, she is pretty, especially the last one with an amazing figure. This woman has some talent!]

[Upstairs! You've missed the point!]

[I'm back from surfing! The first person is hard to see, the second is Zhou Shi'an, the youngest recipient of the Baihe Award, the third is Qian Zhaoye, representative of the innovative technology startup Xinxing, and the last one needs no introduction, the heir to the Zhuang family, Zhuang Bieyan!]

Wow, that's amazing! This woman is really powerful! These men are just willingly being manipulated by her?

No wonder he can open a shop at such a young age; he must have powerful connections! He can get whatever he wants just by climbing into someone's bed.

[These young girls nowadays have no ambition! I bet Qian Zhaoye is a married man, and he's pregnant! Breaking up someone's family like that, he'll get his comeuppance!]

After that, it was Qiao Mian's fans who came out to steer the tide, instructing everyone to criticize Qu He and demand an explanation.

[Qiao Mian's fans, gather here and protect our best sister!]

Boycott Heyuefang! Get out of Beicheng! You don't deserve to run a shop.

[If you have nothing to hide, why don't you respond? It's good to be rich; even a mistress can be whitewashed.]

Qu He found these statements, which distorted the truth, utterly ridiculous.

She was furious and was about to reply to the person who had said the worst things when Si Yue called.

"Senior! Zhou Shi'an and Professor Qi Mo responded on your behalf!"

Qu He quickly refreshed the page and found that Qi Mo had posted a Weibo post a minute earlier: "Can't these unscrupulous media outlets at least respect facts and authenticity? I was there that night too!"

The photo he posted was a group photo of the three of them having dinner in a private room.

Qi Moke is someone who recently won a gold medal representing the country in a world-class ceramics competition. His influence is extraordinary; who doesn't know him?

This Weibo post immediately caused a sensation and caused an uproar:

[Is this a misunderstanding? Master Qi Mo actually knows Qu He? Or is it really just a misunderstanding?]

One netizen commented, "Master Qi, what is your relationship with this Qu He?"

Qi Mo replied directly: "My disciple whom I've waited seven years for!"

Zhou Shi'an then reposted Qi Mo's Weibo post, adding the caption: "[She was my neighbor's little sister when I was little, she's my junior now, and she'll be my partner in the future!]"

The accompanying image consists of three photos.

The first picture is a photo of the two of them playing in the mud at the ceramics factory when they were children. The second picture is a group photo of the three of them, just like Qi Mo. The last picture is a pure and beautiful image of Qu He walking in an alley when she was in junior high school.

This Weibo post immediately shifted public opinion significantly, with netizens erupting in outrage and the tone of the comments changing dramatically.

[Oh my god! It's my childhood sweetheart! We're saved!]

[A strange urge to ship couples is stirring!]

Playing in the mud together as kids is so touching! Zhou Shi'an's gaze towards Qu He is so tender. This isn't cheating, it's clearly childhood sweethearts! Please, this is unrequited love!

[Wait! I've made a discovery! Master Qi Mo's apprentice? Qu He's pottery skills must be very high, why hasn't anyone mentioned this?]

[Blind student, you've discovered the key point!]

The winds began to shift, and soon, alumni of Quhe University started to speak out.

Pottery Enthusiast: [I went to the same university as Qu He, and the teachers all said she was an outstanding student in the college! She ranked first in her major for four years, won national awards every year, participated in national-level tableware design, and her graduation project was collected by the Beicheng Zhongxin Art Museum. You can still find her award records on their official website! Link.]

Si Yue Bu Si Yue: [Senior Qu He is nothing like what you all say! She entered with the highest score in the entire college. He Yue Fang sponsors impoverished students in mountainous areas every year; these are the records of the sponsorship. (Pictures)]

Qu He's college roommate also chimed in: "We lived in the same dorm for four years; she was outstanding. As for Qian Zhaoye? Ha! I can only say, who hasn't loved a few jerks when they were young?"

More and more people are speaking out in support of Qu He, and netizens' attitudes are beginning to change.

For a moment, no one knew who to believe.

[With so many people testifying, is it really a misunderstanding? Or is it a deliberate fabrication?]

I checked the official website of Beicheng Zhongxin Art Museum, and they really do have Qu He's works—they're absolutely gorgeous! The person whose work is collected must be a good person.

Am I the only one curious about what Qu He's roommate said? Is there some hidden story between her and Qian Zhaoye?

However, several anonymous accounts from unknown sources are still stirring up trouble: "Even if Zhou Shi'an isn't, what about the other two? How do you explain Zhuang Bieyan and Qian Zhaoye?"

[I don't believe it's possible they hired someone to deliberately whitewash the situation.]

I remain neutral; let the dust settle.

[Upstairs, your bullets can be returned. Zhuang Bieyan has posted an article.]

Upon seeing this comment, Qu He suddenly looked up at Zhuang Bieyan.

He held a phone in one hand and two bright red marriage certificates in the other, the gold lettering on the covers gleaming under the light...