Chapter 108 The Unlucky Guys Around the Chosen One - The Unlucky Brother is Heavy...
The speech that Si Qi and Si Ping gave in Chu Feng's class had an immediate effect.
Many things can't withstand scrutiny, especially since Li Bing's methods weren't exactly foolproof. What people are misunderstanding isn't anything too serious; it doesn't require a particularly sophisticated or ingenious scam.
With Si Qi and the other person's reminder, everyone realized what Li Bing's most common lying methods were. After class, they went directly to Chu Feng and repeated what Li Bing had told them to Chu Feng, asking Chu Feng if it was true.
Unsurprisingly, the answers they received were mostly "I didn't say that" or "That's not what I said."
The most typical example is that once, Li Bing told them that when Chu Feng had a high fever, he asked Chu Feng to accompany him out to buy things. If Chu Feng refused, Chu Feng would leave with a sour face and ignore Li Bing's life or death.
However, the actual situation was that when Chu Feng invited Li Bing to go out to buy things, he found that Li Bing had a high fever, so he looked pale and went out to find a doctor to treat him, and he has been taking care of him ever since.
Li Bing reversed the order of the three keywords—shopping, fever, and leaving—and completely changed the course of the story, turning a good person into a bad one.
Everyone was speechless after hearing this, their heads filled with "Holy crap!" and nowhere to vent their frustration. So they started asking Chu Feng more and more questions, and the plot twists and turns skyrocketed, leaving everyone wondering how Li Bing could be so outrageous.
No wonder Chu Feng was in such a bad situation before. If anyone were in Chu Feng's position, they probably wouldn't be able to withstand Li Bing's "artistic processing".
Furthermore, based on their interaction with Chu Feng today, and from his words and actions, it's clear that Chu Feng is indeed not the person rumored to suffer from bipolar disorder and prone to violence at the slightest disagreement. He speaks very little, but is always very polite, which is extremely similar to everyone's first impression of Chu Feng when they first entered the second year of junior high school: a "cool and aloof, slightly melancholic" iceberg-like handsome guy, and a "reclusive and violent" bully school thug—two completely opposite types.
Combined with Chu Feng's good looks, excellent grades, strong athletic ability, and the many circumstances she has faced over the years, such as being misunderstood and ostracized, betrayed by her best friend, and having an exceptionally tragic family background, Chu Feng is a walking embodiment of a beautiful, strong, and tragic character.
Whether the students admired strength, beauty, or were overflowing with sympathy, their favorability towards Chu Feng skyrocketed.
Everything is going in a positive direction for Chu Feng.
Of course, Li Bing is also experiencing a continuous series of misfortunes in the opposite direction.
Even without direct evidence to prove that Li Bing deliberately incited his classmates to ostracize Chu Feng, his actions of stabbing Chu Feng in the back and spreading rumors about him made many classmates shudder and distance themselves from him immediately.
After all, if this venomous snake could bite Chu Feng, it might just bite them unexpectedly too. Who knows if Li Bing, this madman, specifically targets his closest friends?
As for Zhang Min (the classmate who gave the gift), who has a fiery temper and was once made a fool of by Li Bing, there's no need to mention him. He directly overturned the table in front of Li Bing, pointed his finger at him and gave him a good scolding, warning him to avoid him in the future.
No one would have a good impression of such a scheming person after realizing they've been deceived and used as a tool.
However, despite their dislike for Li Bing, they still couldn't understand what grudge Li Bing held against Chu Feng that led him to frame Chu Feng for years on end.
Li Bing wouldn't tell anyone at school that his mother was a caregiver, that his grades weren't good and he wasn't a special admission student, and that he shouldn't be studying at this private international school, where his food, clothing, and daily necessities were on par with Chu Feng's.
To save face for his good friend, Chu Feng never told anyone that Li Bing was staying at his house, that his mother was his father's caregiver, or that the two slept in the same room. He only vaguely mentioned that they were childhood friends.
Everyone assumed that Li Bing's background was similar to Chu Feng's, and they never doubted Li Bing's motives. They simply sympathized with Chu Feng for having met the wrong person and encountering such a lunatic.
Fortunately, Si Qi was watching from the side.
Before school ended, Si Qi sent Chu Feng a text message, explaining the whole story in detail. After reading it, Chu Feng suddenly realized that he was caught in a conspiracy that had been planned for years and specifically designed around him.
Cold sweat broke out on my back.
He was only in second grade at the time, about the same age as Si Qi is now. His mother suddenly passed away, his father hated him, and his classmates watched him being bullied without caring. Only the Li family mother and son took the initiative to approach him when he most craved love, seizing the opportunity to become his closest companions and winning all his favor.
It's highly likely that his father's later attraction to Li Bing's mother wasn't because "his father was incorrigible and wanted to sleep with every woman he saw," as Chu Feng thought. Rather, it was because Li Bing's mother intentionally used their daily interactions and physical contact at work to make Chu's father, who already had low moral standards and was particularly lecherous, fall in love with her and allow her to become the mistress of the house.
In fact, during the years that Li Bing and his mother lived with his family, they did indeed live a life of comfort and abundance. Even though they were not related by blood and were not even on the same household registration, they took for granted the treatment that caregivers should not have received.
As for why they were outwardly friendly and cordial to Chu Feng, yet secretly stabbed him in the back, it was because Chu Feng's father was dying, and the Chu family's vast inheritance would only be passed on to him, the sole heir.
Of course, the Li family mother and son would target him.
The so-called kindness and friendliness, the motherly and brotherly care he received, was nothing more than a carefully crafted performance.
Li Bing deliberately transferred to his class and stood up for him in order to become his friend and take advantage of his trust to harm him.
They did indeed achieve their goal.
How could a primary school student who has never been taught by his parents or elders possibly outmaneuver an adult who is more than twenty years older and has so many cunning schemes?
This was a completely unfair battle. Chu Feng had already lost when he treated the two of them as his closest family.
Fortunately, it's not too late to realize this now.
In the original timeline, after realizing that the mother and son had plotted against him, Chu Feng tried to save them.
Unfortunately, his reputation was already damaged, and he had no relatives or friends to help him. The only person who could help him was his father, who was lying in a hospital bed and at odds with him. He was burdened with a lot of infamy, attacked by alumni and online public opinion, and had no choice but to drop out of school in a sorry state.
In his new environment, freed from the constraints of the Li family, Chu Feng sought a life that suited him through his own efforts. Subsequently, his excellent grades and his unyielding nature honed his skills.
He was, after all, Chu's father's only child. Even though his father had given most of his possessions to that mother and son in an attempt to annoy him, the portion of the property left by his mother still belonged to him.
After growing up, Chu Feng used his intelligence to quickly carve out a successful career in the business world. He trampled the mother and son, who only knew how to scheme and plot but lacked any real ability to work hard, and finally got justice for himself.
Unfortunately, he was no longer a boy then, and what he once cared about and longed for would never come back.
He became a cold and gloomy businessman in the eyes of the world, powerful and influential, yet unapproachable, trapped in the shadow of his youth for the rest of his life, unable to break free.
Now, time has turned back, and everything is starting over. With the help of the Si brothers, Chu Feng has changed how his classmates perceive him and has learned why he has suffered all of this.
For the first time, he did not go home with Li Bing.
After entering the house, Chu Feng put down his schoolbag and went to his father's room.
The room was spacious and bright, and contained several expensive medical devices.
As Li's mother gently wiped Chu's father's mouth with a handkerchief, she put down her bowl of porridge and smiled at Chu Feng, saying, "You're back."
After saying that, Li Bing, who had rushed back to discuss matters with his mother, followed Chu Feng here.
After casually greeting Chu Feng with a smile, she completely ignored Chu Feng's indifferent reaction and went over to chat and laugh with her mother and "father." The "family of three" quickly became harmonious and the atmosphere was exceptionally intimate.
This made it difficult for Chu Feng to interject and express his own thoughts.
When Chu's father saw Chu Feng staring at them with icy eyes, he deliberately pretended to be close to his other children in front of his son, in order to torment Chu Feng, who despised and hated him. While smiling and acting like a loving father to Li Bing, he cursed Chu Feng: "Standing there with a dead face, who are you trying to mourn for!"
Li's mother and Li Bing rushed forward to comfort him. Li's mother gently patted Chu's father's back to let him rest and not hurt himself, while Li Bing said that Chu Feng was just like that, and acted as a peacemaker, telling Chu Feng to go out and not to upset his father anymore.
This is a very common scene in this family. In the past, Chu Feng only thought that Li's mother was gentle and tolerant, and that Li Bing was always on his side. Now he knows that this is a scheme by the two to sow discord between them and show off their excellence and thoughtfulness in front of their sugar daddy.
He said, "I was the subject of rumors at school, and the person who spread the rumors was Li Bing."
Li Bing's expression changed slightly, while Li's mother looked on in astonishment: "Xiao Feng, what are you talking about?"
Father Chu was taken aback; he hadn't expected his son to say these things to him.
In the past, Chu Feng wouldn't have bothered to even glance at him, as if he were some kind of cockroach or bedbug that he would avoid at all costs.
After hearing what Chu Feng said, Chu's father sneered: "You've really grown some guts. You want me to back you up? Or are you going to use your cunning to drive Ahui and Xiao Bing away?"
Upon seeing his father's reaction, Chu Feng roughly understood what he was about to say. Sure enough, his father said, "With your personality, Xiao Bing only talks to you because of me. Spreading rumors? What makes you worthy of his slander? You're no good to begin with."
Chu's father never hesitated to use Li Bing to provoke Chu Feng, as if this would prove that he, Chu's father, could actually be a good father, and that it was Chu Feng's son who was too disobedient that caused the father-son relationship to be so bad.
Just like how he used to provoke Chu Feng's mother by showing affection to his mistress. He wanted everyone to know that he wasn't incapable of cherishing people, but that Chu Feng's mother was just too awful and unworthy of his affection, making Chu Feng's mother reflect on whether she had done something wrong.
Chu Feng was upset and wanted to turn around and leave, but leaving like that would be too easy on the mother and son. He patiently said to Chu's father, "They want to get money from you, so they slander and defame me and try to sow discord between you and me. At the same time, they pretend to be close to me so that even if you don't give them anything in the future and I don't suffer the misfortune they want, they can still continue to make money from me."
These were all principles that Si Qi had explained to him in detail. After listening, Chu Feng suddenly understood and couldn't wait to explain them to his father.
Unfortunately, Chu's father was a shrewd old man. He knew perfectly well that the women approached him for his money, or perhaps for his sexually transmitted disease, his bad temper, or his impending death.
He knew perfectly well that Li Bing's mother was only kind to him to get benefits from him, and that the woman didn't truly love him. But he was dying, and he had more money than he could ever spend. Rather than leaving something to a disrespectful son, he'd rather exchange it for the pleasures of life.
Therefore, when Chu Feng told him that the Li family mother and son had impure motives, he didn't react at all. Instead, when he met Chu Feng's gaze, which was just like his mother's and looked down on men who cheated, and heard him say that he should kick the mother and son out, he picked up the porridge bowl next to him and smashed it at Chu Feng: "Tell them to get out? I think you're the one who should get out!"
If Chu Feng makes him unhappy, then he will make Chu Feng even more unhappy.
Why is it that the Li family mother and son both know how to please him, while Chu Feng, as his son, keeps trying to please him and make him unhappy? Why is it that he only slept with a few women who threw themselves at him, yet his wife and son treat him as if he had committed some heinous crime, never giving him a kind look?
He was so annoyed by these hypocritical guys.
The porcelain bowl flew through the air, and Chu Feng dodged it. Seeing his father's impatient and fierce expression, the boy, still clinging to a sliver of hope, had slightly reddened eyes.
He knew this person didn't like him, but even though he had made things so clear, his father still sided with the outsider instead of him. Even though he knew how much he had suffered, his father still supported the perpetrators and joined forces against him.
A sharp pain shot through his heart, and he lost all desire to try to communicate. Before pushing open the door and leaving, Chu Feng said in a deep voice, "You'll regret this. Although I don't like you, at least I haven't done anything to you. And they'd love for you to die sooner so they wouldn't have to serve you anymore and could openly squander the money you have."
This statement hits the nail on the head and is more effective than any amount of emotional appeal.
Enraged, Li's mother and son confronted Chu Feng in front of him for the first time, accusing him of being heartless and slandering people. They hurriedly explained to Chu's father, "We didn't mean it that way at all. You will definitely live to be a hundred years old."
Chu's father didn't speak. For the first time, he seriously listened to Chu Feng's words. His gaze wandered between the mother and son, and his gloomy expression made people's hearts pound.
After a long time, so long that the Li family mother and son looked like they couldn't take it anymore, Chu's father finally said slowly, "Alright, I know you two are both good people."
The mother and son quickly put on a smile. While saying heartfelt words, they cursed Chu Feng in their hearts, thinking, "Why isn't that old man going to die already?" They fawned over the old, sinister man in front of them.
Afterwards, the mother and son hid in an empty room, their faces grim, and said, "We can't let this drag on any longer."
If Chu Feng were unaware of the situation of the mother and son, they could proceed step by step, using various methods to gradually break Chu Feng's nerves after his father's death, causing him to become depressed and commit suicide, or voluntarily hand over what he possessed to them.
That won't work now.
Now that Chu Feng was no longer under their control, Chu's father had become more cautious. Trying to exploit the discord between father and son to get Chu's father to grant them an inheritance or retaliate by reducing Chu Feng's share was no longer as easy as before.
"What should we do then?" Li Bing said resentfully, "That heartless Chu Feng! We were such good friends, and he turned on me like that. He'd rather trust those two people he'd only known for a short time than trust me. He's so cold-hearted and ungrateful..."
Li's mother had previously heard her son talk about the Si brothers on the phone, and she was equally furious. Her usually quiet and gentle face was now contorted with malice, and her round, doe-like eyes were full of calculation.
At this moment, however, they don't have the energy to deal with the two members of the Si family; they need to focus on Chu Feng's matter.
"That guy Chu Liying will be dead soon. Make some noise, and it would be best if Chu Feng never saw him again."
Li Bing exclaimed in surprise, "What do you mean? You mean you want Uncle Chu to die..."
"Or we could prevent Chu Feng from sowing discord again." Once Chu's father became wary, it wouldn't be easy for him to do anything. The family doctors he hired at great expense weren't just for show. How could a caregiver like her kill a living person without making a sound? One wrong move and she could ruin the rest of her life.
She wouldn't do such a high-risk business.
After thinking it over, Li's mother said, "While you and Chu Feng are at odds, stir up some trouble and ruin Chu Feng's reputation. It would be best if he were arrested and imprisoned."
Regardless, Chu Feng was Chu's father's only son, and he still held considerable weight in his heart. When the time came, she could tell Chu's father about Chu Feng's situation and try to provoke him, perhaps hastening his death.
Li Bing: "You mean, like last time, send someone to attack Chu Feng?"
The thugs who were arrested by the police station when Chu Feng went there were the ones that Li's mother had hired.
The reason, besides wanting to add some negative information about Chu Feng, was also because Chu Feng was going to visit an elder in the business circle to inherit his father's connections in the area.
How could they allow Chu Feng to control these things? Naturally, they would try to sabotage them.
Upon hearing Li's mother's words, Li Bing subconsciously thought: "Could Chu Feng get into a conflict with someone, and then accidentally injure or even kill someone?"
Given what happened, Chu Feng will definitely be arrested and spend some time in prison or juvenile detention center, making it impossible for him to see his seriously ill and dying father again.
They couldn't even see him in person, so of course they couldn't be by his side during his final days. All that was left was for the mother and son to keep coaxing him, hoping to get something out of him—after all, they had taken care of him for years, and they were more than family! Why should Chu's father favor his unfilial son who was locked up in prison and couldn't see him until his death?
"That's roughly the idea," said Mrs. Li. "Then I'll stir things up a bit outside. Don't netizens love watching rich kids act arrogantly and get punished by the law? Chu Feng has so many negative comments, there's no shortage of news to write about. When we show this news to that old man, he'll know that Chu Feng has been arrested and he'll never see him again. Even if he doesn't like his son, he'll still be emotionally affected."
When emotions are running high, it's not uncommon for someone to fall out of bed and die, or eat something they shouldn't and die.
Perhaps this incident can be used to provoke Chu Feng, amplify its impact, and ensure that Chu Feng can never hold his head high again under the guise of patricide...
The mother and son discussed in hushed tones how to set a trap for Chu Feng to go to jail, and they did not disperse from the house until midnight.
A few days later, during a break between classes.
"Xiao Feng".
Li Bing, looking haggard, called out to Chu Feng ahead and said in a low voice, "I want to talk to you."
Chu Feng pretended not to hear and went to the Rocket Class at the other end of the corridor, when his wrist was grabbed from behind.
“Xiao Feng,” Li Bing said in a mournful voice, “I know you blame me, I was wrong, please.”
"..."
At the bottom of the stairs, in a deserted corner, Li Bing looked down at the tips of his shoes: "I've been feeling a little down these past few days because you haven't been talking to me."
"Forget about reminiscing. Going through all that will only remind me of your malice towards me," Chu Feng said coldly. "Using other people's sincerity as a tool is your specialty. What trick are you planning to play now?"
Li Bing looked up, his eyes reddening, and stared at Chu Feng: "Do you have to talk to me like that?"
Chu Feng said with annoyance, "Don't put on that act for me. Leave the acting to my dad. That's a family secret passed down between you and your mother."
"Do you have to do this?!" Chu Feng's sharp words ignited Li Bing's emotions: "I came here to apologize to you!"
"Just because I apologize doesn't mean I have to accept it?" Chu Feng raised an eyebrow. "After you apologize, what's next? Will you continue to use me to help you clear your name? Or will you continue to trick me into getting more money from me?"
He looked at the boy, whose face still showed no remorse, and tapped his finger lightly on the boy's chest: "Prisoners who try to get away with their crimes in court love to apologize, but they only say those words when they are on the dock."
He didn't believe Li Bing's apology because he had met someone who genuinely wanted to help him, and he knew that the helping hand extended was not a spider's web, and wouldn't cut him bloody in the process of saving him.
"You know how I feel about those who have hurt me, Li Bing." When he was a child, he would raise his fists when faced with malice and didn't know how to protect himself, let alone Li Bing's scheming over so many years.
"You're staying at my house, and all your food, clothing, lodging, and school expenses are paid for by me. Your mother, who is a caregiver, is sleeping in the host's bed. Do you need me to publicize these things for you? Do you still want to stay in this school?"
His eyes were pitch black, devoid of any of the tenderness that young people once shared when they cuddled together. They were like a ferocious beast staring at its prey: "My dad is only close to you because he doesn't like me. Your value has always been based on me. Are you proud of that? Proud that you're the most pampered dog in your owner's hands?"
"When did your mouth become so venomous..." Li Bing's face turned ashen. He never expected that Chu Feng, who was always silent and docile, would turn on him like this.
His original intention was to apologize to Chu Feng and show his sincerity. Even if Chu Feng said that they could never be brothers again, he could use the excuse of looking back on the past and cutting ties completely to lead Chu Feng to a place outside the school.
As a result, Chu Feng showed no mercy whatsoever.
“When faced with a venomous snake like the one in ‘The Farmer and the Snake,’ the best course of action after being bitten is to kill it by pinching its vital spot and throwing it away,” Chu Feng said. “You’d better pray that I don’t find any more dirt on you.”
Chu Feng was going to make a move against the Li family sooner or later. Since he couldn't get rid of the caregiver and her son directly through his father's connections, he had to find another way.
Li Bing understood Chu Feng's meaning and panicked.
When Chu Feng took him seriously, he was willing to do anything for Chu Feng. But when Chu Feng became hostile towards him, many of the ways he could have harmed Chu Feng were taken away by Chu Feng, just like this time when he tricked Chu Feng into going out and getting into a conflict with someone.
—What if Chu Feng doesn't take the bait?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone walking towards them from downstairs. It happened to be a classmate he had known since the first year of junior high school. His mind worked faster than his body. As if it were instinct, Li Bing said to Chu Feng, "Do you know? Your dad said it himself when he was on my mom's bed. He said that your mom was deliberately stabbed to death by him."
Chu Feng paused, turned around abruptly, and stared intently at Li Bing.
Li Bing, with a mocking expression, continued to provoke Chu Feng: "Besides, your father actually knew my mother before she died. My mother said that if you slightly provoke a crazy woman like your mother and lead her to fight your father when she goes crazy, you can take advantage of the situation to fight back and kill her."
With an extremely smug and infuriating expression, he silently mouthed each word to Chu Feng: "You and your mother are both despicable people, go to hell!"
Chu Feng's eyes were bloodshot as he reached out and tried to grab Li Bing's collar.
But Li Bing had already anticipated Chu Feng's movements and the angles the surveillance cameras could capture. Just as the students downstairs were turning the corner and preparing to go upstairs, he exclaimed in horror, "Xiao Feng, what are you doing?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he took a step back, and before Chu Feng could even touch him, he leaned back and fell to the ground.
"ah----!!"
The two students going upstairs were nearly scared to death by the sight of the person falling straight down. They witnessed Li Bing tumble down the stairs, collapsing several times before landing with a loud bang. He fell at their feet, crying out in pain. After a few seconds of stunned silence, they rushed up, shouting, "Li Bing? Li Bing!! Li Bing, what happened to you?"
Li Bing wept bitterly, saying in disbelief, "Xiao Feng, Xiao Feng..."
Upon hearing this, the two students instinctively looked up and, sure enough, saw Chu Feng looking down at them from the stairs. A feeling of disgust welled up within them, and they roared, "Chu Feng!! Are you even human?! This is Li Bing!!"
Before Chu Feng could speak, another student, who had tried to help Li Bing up, yelled angrily, "Do you know that falling down the stairs can be fatal? Damn it, I only knew you were a fighting beast, but I never thought you'd even lay a hand on Li Bing, who was so good to you! Are you even human?!"
The two students, full of youthful vigor and with loud voices, soon attracted the attention of a group of teachers and students during the busy break time.
Li Bing, lying on the ground screaming in agony, looked terrifying. Combined with the angry curses of the two students, they quickly understood what had happened and all turned to look at the perpetrator.
Chu Feng's expression was unfriendly, his mind still preoccupied with the cause of his mother's death, and he said coldly, "It wasn't me!"
He really wanted to run downstairs and continue questioning, but judging from the reactions of the people around him, they clearly didn't intend to let him get any closer to Li Bing.
"Who else could it be but you? You're the only one standing here!" A student who had long heard of Chu Feng's various insults couldn't help but exclaim, "How could you do this!"
"Isn't Li Bing your good friend? He's such a good person, do you want to kill him?!"
"I always heard you were a troublemaker back in elementary school, and you're still doing it now in middle school. This time it was someone close to you, but who knows if it'll be us next time?"
"Teacher! Call the police immediately!!"
The students were outraged and swarmed around him, trapping Chu Feng in the center and preventing him from leaving.
Someone cautiously pulled open the trouser leg that Li Bing was groaning and trying to touch, and gasped in horror at the sight of his calf twisted in a bizarre way: "My God! It's broken!!"
Many students who were watching couldn't help but look away when they saw Li Bing's miserable state, shouting, "Go find the teacher at the infirmary!"
"Don't touch him, lest you cause further injury!"
"Li Bing is so pitiful."
“Li Bing is an incredibly kind person. I’ve seen him speak up for Chu Feng in front of others several times. He’s truly done everything he could for Chu Feng.”
"Is Chu Feng an antisocial person? He hits people at the drop of a hat. Who knows what he might do next?"
The students were buzzing with discussion, but the teachers quickly came over and brought the situation under control. While rushing Li Bing to the hospital, they said sternly to Chu Feng, "Chu Feng, we have to have a serious talk with your parents this time! If you don't change, we can't let you continue your studies here!"
Because Chu Feng often gets into conflicts with others, the school is very familiar with Chu Feng's family situation.
His mother died early, and his father was sick and didn't want to take care of him, so the school had a headache every time they called his parents. They could only repeatedly remind Chu Feng, and there was nothing else they could do.
But this situation is serious, and we really can't ignore it. The head of the teaching department found Chu Feng's father's number and picked up his phone to make a call.
Chu Feng snatched the director's phone away, angrily saying, "I didn't push him! He fell down on his own!"
He knew Li Bing was framing him again, but he wasn't popular and always got the short end of the stick in these kinds of situations. Before he could even say a word, everyone around him had already planned out the whole story for him, rehearsing it all in their heads.
Sure enough, the director couldn't help but laugh in exasperation upon hearing this: "I know Li Bing, why would he do something like this? But you—"
"Who posted the photos online?" A teacher, looking at the webpage, ran over angrily and shouted, "Didn't they tell the students that this matter couldn't be blown out of proportion? They even posted it directly on Weibo, and the school's official website is being bombarded with criticism!"
The photos were obviously taken by students to attack Chu Feng and posted in the campus group chat.
This group includes students and their parents.
The parents, who frequently exchanged information in the group chat, were already familiar with Chu Feng's reputation. Now, seeing the photos posted by the students, they were all worried about their children and started discussing it amongst themselves.
Li's mother was drawn to the constant chatter in the group chat. When she looked up, she was surprised to see that all the messages were asking her to come and see what had happened to her child, Chu Feng, who had pushed him down the stairs. She immediately realized that this was probably something her son had done.
It's certainly heartbreaking, but more important than feeling sorry for them is to capitalize on this incident for publicity.
She had already contacted those thugs, intending to trick Chu Feng into filming a fight between the two sides, with Chu Feng injuring someone, and then post the video online.
Although the situation has changed, the content is similar. The online trolls who were contacted long ago have already been paid and arranged. After the photos are sent and some instructions are given, the relevant posts immediately spread rapidly on various platforms and quickly rose to the top of the trending searches with the help of money, attracting the attention of a large number of netizens.
"Holy crap, this rich kid is really something else. He just pushed someone off the building like that. He doesn't care about his classmate's life at all!"
"Tsk tsk, you can tell just by looking at that guy. He has a gloomy face, like everyone owes him something."
"Comrades! We've dug up that rich kid's background. He's the heir of the Chu family in Jiang Province, incredibly wealthy! I heard his parents often fought at home, and his mother was beaten to death by his father. Tsk tsk tsk, that's what they teach him from a young age!"
"I heard he has a bad reputation at school. He's been fighting and causing trouble since elementary school, and his classmates don't like him! If you search his name on the school forum, all you see are people cursing him."
"Wow, the news spread so fast? Chu Feng was my classmate in elementary school. He had a terrible temper, and nobody in the class didn't hate him! Getting into fights was commonplace for him, not only in school but also outside of school! He even got into fights that ended up in the police station!"
"The person he pushed downstairs this time was his only friend. He has a good personality and is well-liked. Only someone as good-tempered as him could tolerate Chu Feng, but he still got hurt by Chu Feng this time. Sigh... So sometimes you really can't be too kind."
People online love to act as judges, using comments to decide who is right and who is wrong, especially in a case where right and wrong are so obvious.
The arrogant and domineering rich kid with a bad record, and the cheerful and friendly good student who is praised by a bunch of people—anyone with a brain knows how vicious the former is and how unlucky and pitiful the latter is.
School violence is a persistent problem that is difficult to eradicate. Every time news of it comes out, it is met with criticism. The presence of "rich second generation" students, who carry a special label, makes it even more difficult for people to stand idly by. The spirit of justice burns brightly, and everyone wants to protect the poor victim and let the juvenile offender die.
With the collaboration of online trolls and enthusiastic netizens, more and more people flocked to the topic. Some even brazenly posted Chu Feng's photos, personal information, and phone number. Many people surrounded Chu Feng's photos to hurl insults and even called and texted him to curse him.
At this time, many people in the school who had heard negative news about Chu Feng, or who had directly participated in the bullying of Chu Feng, couldn't wait to jump out and kick him while he was down, vividly recounting the things Chu Feng had done over the years.
Rumors always get more and more outrageous as they spread. What these classmates said online quickly became irrefutable evidence that Chu Feng was a wicked person who did nothing but loaf around in society, and the evidence became more and more detailed.
Fighting and brawling are minor incidents; groping female classmates, verbally abusing teachers in class, and beating up good students in private are all written down, creating a vivid and realistic portrayal of the public's perception of the perpetrators.
Netizens grew increasingly angry, leaving comments and tagging relevant departments, demanding that Chu Feng be arrested and, preferably, sentenced. Otherwise, someone who committed countless evil deeds in childhood is destined to become a murderer when he enters society.
As they continued their tirade, they turned their anger towards the school that had tolerated such students' arrogance and wrongdoing for so many years, demanding that they immediately expel Chu Feng and make him stand up and publicly apologize to the other victims.
The school responded quickly.
However, the reaction was not what the general public hoped to see.
Dropping out of school? Not a chance.
The school stated: [Do not believe or spread rumors. The online rumor that Chu Feng pushed a student, causing a fracture, is false. Please do not—]
Nobody read the rest of the content because the first line alone caused an uproar among netizens.
"What a trash school! Are you even human? Just because the Chu family is rich, you'll help them tell any lie?"
"So many students have come forward to expose these accusations, and the school is still playing dumb and covering its mouth? Sorry, in this age of the internet, the eyes of the people are discerning; we can hear and see the truth!"
"Wait, everyone upstairs, read the content before you speak." This comment was manually pinned to the top, causing many netizens who were typing passionately to pause slightly, shift their gaze upwards, and look at the additional content below the school's statement, only to discover that there was also a video.
Because the play button for the video was in the corner, and the initial page that played was a view of the school, they subconsciously thought it was a promotional image attached to the school and had no idea that it was actually a video.
As you tap to open the video, the first few minutes are filled with scenes of the campus and students laughing and playing.
It's clear that the photographer has excellent shooting skills and used a high-definition lens, resulting in extremely clear images of every scene.
The view follows the school playground all the way to the teaching building, and then slowly descends the stairs.
A clearly agitated voice suddenly came from the screen.
"Do you have to do this? I came here to apologize!"
The camera then shifted slightly, probably realizing that there was an argument going on downstairs and that it was inappropriate to continue walking and disturb them.
"Do I have to accept an apology?" another voice rang out. The downward-facing camera was aimed directly at the boy who spoke, the rich second-generation perpetrator who had just been being vilified by countless netizens.
"After apologizing, what's next? Will you continue to use me to help you clear your name? Or will you continue to trick me into getting more money from me?"
The rich kid said coldly, "Prisoners who are trying to get acquitted in court love to apologize, but they only say that when they are on the dock."
"You're staying at my house, and all your food, clothing, lodging, and education are paid for by me. Your mother, a caregiver, is sleeping in the master's bed..."
Answers that were completely different from what the public had previously guessed came out of the rich second-generation's mouth. Every word he said exceeded netizens' imagination of the "poor victim".
Through the conversation between the two sides, netizens roughly analyzed the relationship between them, and were all quite surprised.
"The injured student said he came to apologize, but the rich kid said he wouldn't accept the apology. So what exactly did the injured student do? It seems like the rich kid is the one who was wronged," one netizen commented in surprise.
"'Using money laundering to seize wealth'... You can tell what they probably did just from that," another netizen replied.
"Unbelievable! So the student who fell down the building was living off the rich kid, and his mother was even his mistress, taking care of him in bed?" Netizens exclaimed in shock. "So, the earlier claim that the injured student was so good to the rich kid was actually because he relied on him for a living, and his mother did things that betrayed him..."
"What's so hard to understand? The rich kid said that student was the snake in 'The Farmer and the Snake.' Can't you imagine what that means? He must have helped someone, but ended up being harmed behind his back."
"Holy crap?!"
The comments scrolled by rapidly. The video had already progressed to the later part, and the two sides had not reached an agreement. Chu Feng turned around and prepared to leave.
The fair-skinned and handsome young man glanced out of the corner of his eye and, as if he had seen something, his attitude changed from apologetic to malicious and sarcastic as he said, "Do you know? When your father was in my mother's bed, he said with his own mouth that your mother was deliberately stabbed to death by him."
The boy, who was about to leave, paused and suddenly turned around.
Anyone could see that something was wrong with him, yet the boy continued to provoke him, his expression so vicious that even just looking at him made one want to rush up and punch him: "And your dad knew my mom before she died. My mom said that a crazy woman like your mom, if you provoke her a little, trigger her madness, she can then retaliate in self-defense and kill someone..."
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap?!" Netizens were so shocked their jaws almost dropped, their hands leaving the keyboards, heads in disbelief: "So, what I saw before, when people said that the rich second-generation father beat the mother to death, was actually because the mistress instigated it?!"
Not content with just saying that, the mistress's son smugly mouthed to the rich kid, clearly saying, "Mom, you bitch, go to hell."
No one could remain calm after being treated like this. From the overhead view, it was clear that the provoked rich kid looked angry and tried to confront him.
But the boy, who had previously looked vicious, suddenly became terrified and shouted, "Xiao Feng, what are you doing?!"
After saying that, he leaned back and deliberately fell backward down the stairs at a distance that the other person had not even touched.
"ah----!!"
A strange, terrified voice came from below. Someone cried out in panic, "Li Bing? Li Bing!! Li Bing, what's wrong with you?"
The boy, supposedly named Li Bing, kept crying out, "Xiao Feng, Xiao Feng..."
Amidst comments like "Just as I expected" and "What a damn good actor," the two students, who had been used as tools, roared in anger: "Chu Feng!! Are you even human?!"
Then, more students flocked over, carefully protecting the villain who had framed the other student present.
Netizens were furious: "I'm speechless, I'm truly speechless. Students these days are something else!"
"I watched it several times. The guilt turned into malice, and the malice turned into a look of terror. He was even better at acting than the best actor in a movie."
"So this kid who got criticized and trended on social media, whose father cheated on his wife, whose mother was murdered, and who was deceived and used by the mistress's son, who treated him as his 'only friend' for so many years, only to be 'bitten by a viper,' and even worse, now he's being falsely accused of pushing someone, trending on social media and labeled a 'potential murderer'?"
“I can’t even imagine how miserable this child would be now if this video hadn’t captured the whole thing. The only one who would help him is his father, right? After all, his father has raised the mistress’s son as well, and he’s arranged for him to attend the same school as his biological son, with both families living together.”
"You can tell just by looking at the son of the mistress. He must have framed and slandered people a lot in his daily life. His reactions are so smooth and practiced."
"It's unusual that the news spread so quickly. Look at the time, didn't this happen just a few hours ago? How did it become a trending topic so quickly?"
"Wait a minute, I have a chilling thought. We know the rich student's father is seriously ill and dying, and we also know that this mistress and her son are plotting to seize the rich student's family's assets. At the same time, they are trying to frame the rich student and push him to prison... So, could it be that they want to take advantage of the rich student's imprisonment to swindle the assets belonging to the rich student from the sick man? That's why they're making all this fuss."
"There must be an online troll army behind this, right? Otherwise, how could someone's child's information be leaked so quickly? Photos, home address, phone number, even details of a conflict he had with someone in elementary school—this must be an insider deliberately leaking information to manipulate online public opinion and harm the child! It's a classic case of the thief crying 'stop thief!'"
"And those classmates who participated in the whistleblowing are also very strange. Did you see the later video content? The classmates of the student who was framed all stood up to explain for him. The process was outrageous. This kid is really pitiful."
"What? There's more content later?"
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