86 One wave has not yet subsided, another wave rises
After that night's phone call, Jin Lang finally slept soundly for the first time in several days, his dreams finally free from the constant barrage of harassing calls and abusive text messages. The pre-launch publicity for "The Past of the Dust Lamp" was surprisingly effective. Jin Lang's in-depth interview, revealing personal stories, not only successfully diverted public attention but also skyrocketed the film's popularity. Even Zhang Yi, who had criticized his "willful" behavior, softened his stance considerably. Shen Cheng even ran to Jin Lang's house with wine, saying he wanted to celebrate the billion-yuan box office in advance. Jin Lang said, "Opening champagne at halftime is unlucky," but thinking that the online tirade had largely subsided, coupled with the inexplicable change in Liu Yuwei's voice that warmed his heart, he couldn't resist joining Shen Cheng for a few drinks. Under the influence of alcohol, he truly felt for the first time that the future was not so far away. Who could have imagined that netizens would leave Liu Yuwei alone and find a new target for gossip? A video surfaced of Lin Zijian, the director of "Dust and Light," smashing his office in anger. The other subject in the video is a young female director who has risen to fame in recent years with several outstanding works about women. Due to the similarities in their respective styles, onlookers speculated whether Lin Zijian's past success was a case of usurping power. The plight and struggles of female creators in the industry quickly became a hot topic. Numerous people took to the official film account and Jin Lang's studio to call for a change of director before filming even began. By the time Liu Yuwei saw the news, the male-female conflict had already reached its sequel: Lin Zijian was caught cheating by a female director. Photos of the "third party" were clearly posted online, uncensored, their intentions clearly misleading. Naturally, the messengers of justice quickly formed a group and swarmed the comments section of the woman's Weibo account. Liu Yuwei's fingers paused on the screen, a familiar, cold churning in her stomach. She was all too familiar with those obscene words, those "judgments" tinged with the excitement of a witch hunt. Not long ago, she, too, had found herself in the middle of this bone-chilling sea, constructed by keyboards, feeling the despair of being dragged and suffocated by invisible waves. She knew that for the stranger on the other side of the screen, the whirlpool beneath this peaceful life could be fatal. She tried to leave a message for this girl, known as "A Autumn Moon Pear," and sent her a short essay on the process and precautions for collecting evidence in cyberbullying cases. Whether or not she actually chose to call the police, at least she had passed this piece of driftwood to another sinking soul. However, the internet's clamor, like a never-ending stream...
After the phone call that night, Jin Lang slept well for the first time in several days, and his dreams were finally free of the continuous harassing phone calls and overwhelming abusive text messages.
The pre-launch publicity for "The Past" was surprisingly effective. Jin Lang's in-depth interview, revealing personal stories, not only successfully diverted public attention but also skyrocketed the film's popularity. Even Zhang Yi, who had previously criticized his "willful" behavior, softened her stance considerably.
Shen Cheng even ran to Jin Lang's house, wine in hand, saying he wanted to celebrate the billion-yuan box office in advance. Jin Lang said, "It's unlucky to open champagne at halftime," but when he thought about how the online tirade had mostly subsided, and the indescribable change Liu Yuwei had shared on the phone that had warmed his heart, he couldn't resist joining Shen Cheng for a few drinks. Under the influence of alcohol, he felt for the first time that the future was not so far away.
Who would have thought that netizens let Liu Yuwei go, but found a new target of gossip.
A video surfaced of Lin Zijian, the director of "The Past," angrily smashing his office. The other subject in the video is a young female director who has risen to fame in recent years with several outstanding works about women. Because their works are similar in style, onlookers are speculating whether Lin Zijian's past success is a case of usurping the throne. The plight and struggles of female creators in the industry quickly became a hot topic. Many people took to the official film blog and Jin Lang Studio to call for a change of director before filming even began.
By the time Liu Yuwei saw this news, the male-female conflict had already reached its next chapter: Lin Zijian had been caught cheating by a female director, and a photo of the "third party" had been posted online, uncensored, the intention to mislead her obvious. Naturally, the justice messengers quickly formed a group and flocked to the comment section of this woman's Weibo post.
Liu Yuwei's fingers paused on the screen, and a familiar, cold, churning sensation gripped her stomach. She knew all too well those unsightly words, those "judgments" tinged with the excitement of a witch hunt. Not long ago, she, too, had found herself in the middle of this bone-chilling sea of keyboards, feeling the despair of being dragged and suffocated by invisible waves. She knew that for the stranger on the other side of the screen, this whirlpool beneath her tranquil life was deadly.
She tried to leave a message for the girl named "A Autumn Moon Pear," writing a short essay about the process and precautions for collecting evidence in cyberbullying cases. Regardless of whether she actually chose to call the police, at least she was passing this piece of driftwood to another person who was sinking.
However, the noise of the Internet is like a never-ending tide, one wave after another.
…
Before Yuyao was discharged from the hospital, the doctor advised her to avoid extreme mood swings and to take her blood pressure medication regularly, which should keep her under control. When she got home, she found that the Chinese character for "Fu" (meaning "blessing"), which had been hanging under the spotlight in the hallway, had been replaced with a calligraphy scroll that read "Don't Get Angry." Seeing the vigorous and elegant regular script paired with a humorous jingle, Yuyao poked Liu Yuwei on the forehead and said, "You clever bastard!"
After spending another day at home with her, Yuyao told her to hurry back to work, arguing that Liu Yuwei had delayed her from going to bed and getting up early. That night, Liu Yuwei packed her luggage and sent a WeChat message to Jin Lang, who said he would pick her up at the station. She quickly refused and told him to deal with the online matters.
The next day, Liu Yuwei arrived at Weicheng East Station early at Yu Yao's urging. After passing the security check, he looked at the time and found that there was still more than half an hour before the ticket check. He couldn't help but regret that he should have stayed at home a little longer.
Liu Yuwei found an empty row of seats and pulled out her phone to pass the time. She scanned the trending search list, and it seemed all the posts with the "Autumn Moon Pear" photo had disappeared. Perhaps Jin Lang and Lin Zijian were pushing the issue. The Jin Lang fan group she'd joined with her fake account had a +999 number in the top right corner. Clicking on it felt like entering a livestream, with lines of text scrolling by at a rapid clip.
All fans were indignantly discussing a post published by an ID called "Xian Yang Dong Zhao". Liu Yuwei searched for a long time before finding the original link in the chat history. Seeing several consecutive Weibo posts by that person, Liu Yuwei's pupils suddenly constricted.
Jin Lang's father, Jin Junping, is a deadbeat debtor!!! Image: Results of the search for dishonest debtors.
Jin Junping was known for mistreating his drivers. He lost a lawsuit and was denied compensation for work-related injuries, leaving him with no money for medical treatment and a lifelong disability. The accompanying image shows a disability certificate with his name blurred out.
What kind of father-son affection is this? This is just blatant profiteering, making a movie in memory of a deadbeat?! Open your eyes and see the true colors of this father and son!
The recent trending searches didn't seem to involve news related to Jin Lang's father, indicating that the information hadn't spread widely. Liu Yuwei carefully reviewed the first two Weibo posts. The fact that someone's default record could be checked meant that Xieyang Dongzhao knew Jin Junping's ID number. The results looked like they were from a few years ago. After all, Jin Lang's father had been dead for many years, and the database should have been updated long ago.
The second clue is more obvious. This person is obviously a driver or family member of the freight company, and he was injured and left disabled.
The Acropolis was a small city, and with the Rule of Seven, finding this person shouldn't be too difficult. Regardless of whether what he said was true or false, understanding his intentions was crucial to determining the next step.
Thinking of this, Liu Yuwei immediately stood up and went to the manual window to refund the train ticket.
Dragging the suitcase back home, Yuyao thought she had left something behind. Liu Yuwei had already thought of an excuse, saying that she had called her boss to cancel her leave, but it turned out that there was an urgent case to deal with in Weicheng.
Yu Yao looked suspicious, but finally nodded with a half-believing look.
On the taxi on the way back, Liu Yuwei had found a new breakthrough. She carefully read the comments on Xieyang Dongzhao's Weibo and found that a netizen had been refuting and criticizing him, and his tone seemed like that of an insider.
She left a message to this netizen, saying that she was Jin Lang's high school classmate and also a lawyer. She wanted to understand the specific situation to help Jin Lang and his son out of the predicament, and now she was just waiting for the other party's reply.
Then there was that "lost lawsuit," which must have been the trigger for the subsequent series of events. She remembered Jin Lang mentioning that night in Berlin that his father had gone on a long-distance delivery trip because of company problems, which led to the car accident. If what Xie Yang Dong Zhao said was true, then the case of the defaulting executor was likely related to this lawsuit.
Although it is not difficult for lawyers to find trial records, it is not certain whether the judgments in small places ten years ago have been uploaded to the database.
Liu Yuwei tried to search using the three words "Jin Junping" and found more than a dozen results. Based on the numbering rules of the location of the trial court, she quickly locked onto the judgment document regarding the freight company.
There wasn't much content in the dozen or so pages, but the more Liu Yuwei read, the tighter her brows furrowed. When she saw that the defendant had to pay 6.3425 million yuan in compensation according to the contract, she finally understood what an astronomical figure was that weighed on Jin Lang's shoulders back then.
She leaned back in her chair, lost in thought, and didn't notice Yu Yao had entered the room. It wasn't until the bottom of the bowl made a crisp collision with the table that she realized there was a bowl of mung bean soup in front of her.
"I made it this morning, it's just right to drink, it's not hot anymore!"
"Thank you, Mom!"
Liu Yuwei hadn't had time to drink water when he came back, so he raised the white porcelain bowl to his mouth out of respect.
"Drink slowly!"
Yu Yao patted her shoulder lightly and glanced at the computer screen.
"Hey, why are you interested in this case?"
Hearing that familiar tone, Liu Yuwei put down the soup in surprise, "Mom, you know about this case?!"
"Are you crazy from the heat?" Yu Yao pointed at the computer screen. "My name is right there, and you didn't even see it?"
Liu Yuwei turned around with delight, but her mind went blank at the sight of the word "Yuyao." All thoughts and sounds vanished instantly. Her heart raced, her blood drained away, her hands and feet went numb, and she froze in her chair.
She opened her mouth, but her throat seemed to be blocked by something, and only a trace of broken breath came out.
“Mom…you…?”
How could he be the plaintiff's lawyer? How could he get involved in this matter? How could he be "aiding and abetting"...
Liu Yuwei couldn't ask a single question she wanted to say. Several thoughts flashed through her mind, but she immediately realized that without knowing the truth, she had already preset her position and labeled her mother.
She tried hard to suppress her surging emotions and reminded herself not to make rash judgments like the keyboard warriors on the Internet.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing that she hadn't finished speaking, Yu Yao continued to ask, "Is this case related to your work?"
"Yeah." Liu Yuwei pretended to be calm and made up an excuse. "It seems that the client has worked for the defendant's transportation company. I want to know some background."
Yu Yao walked around to her other side, sat on the edge of the bed, and sighed.
"Lao Zhang and I almost broke up because of this case!"
Lao Zhang is another partner of Yuyao Law Firm. He resigned from the Weicheng Court and became a lawyer. He has strong connections and abilities.
"The plaintiff was his client, and the contract and legal proceedings were all handled by his people. The night before the trial, his father fell seriously ill, so I temporarily took over the case."
"So you also think there's something wrong with the terms of the contract, right?"
Liu Yuwei hurriedly asked, eager to find a reasonable explanation for her mother.
"Some clauses in that contract were vaguely worded, with Party A's responsibilities being light and Party B's obligations being overwhelming. I told him that even if it wasn't fraudulent, it was still grossly unfair."
"Then what…?"
"We can't force the issue. We can't let the client down. There won't be a lawyer present at the trial. Then our law firm should quit!"
"But why didn't the judge raise any objections? That doesn't make sense."
Liu Yuwei immediately asked back, "Where's the defendant's lawyer? Didn't he mention it?"
Yuyao's voice was lower, with a hint of fatigue that comes from seeing through the world.
"It was only later that I realized why Lao Zhang could make such a clause for his clients. It was because he was confident that he could win in court."
She didn't say it explicitly, but what she left unsaid was a sense of powerlessness about the complicated human relationships in small places.
"Oh, I was still cooking corn, and I forgot about it because I was talking to you!"
Yuyao suddenly remembered what was happening on the stove and rushed to the kitchen in a hurry.
With a soft click, the door sealed off the outside world. The room suddenly fell silent, save for the low hum of the computer fan.
Liu Yuwei's gaze fell empty on the few boiled mung beans at the bottom of the bowl. The huge amount of information was like countless sharp fragments, spinning, colliding and cutting wildly in her mind.
She could almost see the despair in Jin Lang's father's eyes at the end of the trial, the tragic sight of him collapsing on the icy road, Li Xin collapsing in the hospital because he couldn't bear the shock, and Jin Lang singing in bars late at night to save money to fill that bottomless black hole...
And the source of all this was inextricably linked to her own mother... Her closest relative had a share of the 'contribution' to the suffering they endured...
Just yesterday, she was still overwhelmed by the feeling of rediscovering herself and the hope that had broken through on the basketball court. She even began to look forward to a future with Jin Lang. But now, she only felt that glimmer of hope was so dazzling, so ironic. Why did she have such hope?
What should she do?
Tell Jin Lang?
How would he look at Yuyao? Hatred, contempt, or utter coldness?
She was afraid to see the light in his eyes extinguished again, afraid to see him being pushed into the abyss of the past again. And this time, the one pushing him down was her.
Hiding it? Then every time she faced Jin Lang, every time she accepted his care and love, she would probably think of this trial record. His smile would become a lash to her, and his hug would suffocate her.
And…can paper cover fire? What if Jin Lang discovered it himself one day? Or worse, if he learned the truth from someone else, the anger at her for deliberately hiding it and the utter disappointment in their relationship would be a devastating blow to both of them.
Besides, Jin Lang had the right to know the truth, didn't he? About the starting point of his father's company's collapse, about the root cause that destroyed his happy family and made him bear a heavy yoke.
Hiding the truth is the greatest deception and betrayal to him. Last time, they separated because they had built walls around each other...
Almost at the moment Liu Yuwei made the decision, the mobile phone on the corner of the table suddenly lit up, and two words clearly jumped on the screen: Jin Lang.
Author's Note
Lazy Cat on the Cloud
author
08-06
For the story of an Autumn Moon Pear, please visit "The Relationship of Eating"! Friendly reminder: There are too many descriptions of food, so it is risky to watch it late at night.
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