Chapter 76 Next, we'll face it together. ...
Jiang Muzhou shook his head, glanced at Su Cheng's hair that was ruffled by the wind, and quietly rolled up the car window halfway.
The traffic was relatively smooth over the weekend. As the car passed Linhai University, he noticed groups of students gathered at the school gate. He slowly slowed down, turned his head, and asked, "Want to get out and take a walk?"
Su Cheng glanced down at the flight case. The Decepticon was rummaging through the mesh, its round eyes peering out curiously.
You should know that it was originally the invincible overlord in the community garden, but since its first trip, it has hardly ever gone far away. The farthest journey it has ever taken is just a stroll from the balcony to the entrance.
Jiang Muzhou took the flight case from Su Cheng and walked into Linhai University with her.
Today, Su Cheng wore a light blue fleece jacket and pure white pencil pants that accentuated her long legs. She looked as if she had blended into the clear sky dotted with clouds in the distance, clean and soft.
The autumn sun shines just right, its rays falling softly and gently, leaving only a warm and comforting touch.
The withered yellow sycamore leaves creaked under their feet. Jiang Muzhou deliberately slowed his pace to walk beside her, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Do you still remember Miao Xiangyu?"
"Yes, I remember." Su Cheng's gaze drifted to the grassy area not far away, the place where she first livestreamed catching a cat.
At that time, she was full of enthusiasm and naively thought that as long as she taught more people how to "buy kittens for free", she could gradually change the fate of stray cats.
But now, she doesn't even dare to open that software she used to be most familiar with.
“Zhuang Liang had a wife named Chen Fang, who is now his ex-wife. Chen Fang especially loved cats and always made sure to feed them at a fixed spot in the neighborhood. Later, she even adopted a black and white cat.” Jiang Muzhou’s voice pulled her from her memories. “But not long ago, she became pregnant. Zhuang Liang and his mother, having heard some superstitious beliefs from somewhere, insisted that keeping a cat would harm the fetus in her womb and wanted to give the cat away. Chen Fang absolutely refused. In the end, Zhuang Liang’s mother lied to her, saying that a well-off relative was willing to take care of the cat so that she could focus on her pregnancy. But then…”
Su Cheng stopped and continued, "So, at the adoption event, she recognized Miao Xiangyu, whom I rescued?"
Seeing Jiang Muzhou nod, Su Cheng finally understood why the pregnant woman had lost control of her emotions. Her precious kitten had been abandoned by her so-called family, forced to live on the streets, suffering from hunger and cold. How heartbroken she must have been.
"After learning the truth, Chen Fang went home and insisted on divorcing Zhuang Liang. She even considered aborting the child." Jiang Muzhou's tone turned serious. "Instead of looking for problems within himself, Zhuang Liang vented his anger and resentment on you and the stray cat. His extremely twisted hatred became entangled with the pet insurance business he happened to be in charge of, which ultimately led him down a path of no return."
"Although current laws do not have clear penalties for animal abuse, Tiancheng Group has filed a lawsuit against Zhuang Liang on charges of embezzlement. At the same time, they have also issued a clear announcement that all of their branches and affiliated companies will never hire anyone with a prior record of animal abuse."
Su Cheng kicked a small pebble on the road with her toe, repeatedly pondering the story in her mind.
The ending seems to be a case of evil being punished. Zhuang Liang lost his job, faced a lawsuit, and his family fell apart. But how can these punishments be compared to the pain and fear suffered by those innocent kittens?
Moreover, she always felt that things were not so simple. How could someone who would risk everything for 30,000 yuan single-handedly stir up such a big storm?
Su Cheng asked the question that had been on her mind.
Jiang Muzhou was about to answer when his phone vibrated at an inopportune moment. He answered the phone and whispered, "Yes, she's with me..."
He turned his head to look at Su Cheng in front of him and replied into the microphone, "Okay, I'll ask her."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Muzhou walked to Su Cheng's side. "My brother wants to ask you, what's your opinion on the cooperation?"
A small pebble fell into the lake with a "plop," creating ripples that spread outwards.
Su Cheng's lips parted slightly, but she didn't know how to answer.
It felt like two voices were tearing me apart inside. One voice asked anxiously: Don't you want to continue helping those stray animals?
Another voice warned with concern: "These are just harassing calls now, but what if they escalate their behavior and come to your door to retaliate? You still have parents and family to take care of, and you also have Jiang Muzhou to take care of."
Noticing her hesitation and unease, Jiang Muzhou grasped her slightly cool hand, his eyes filled with concern, "Has something else happened?"
At that touch, Su Cheng's composure, which she had been maintaining, crumbled instantly. She pulled her hand away from his warm palm and hurriedly hid it in her coat pocket, her fingertips curling up tightly inside.
“I don’t know what I did wrong. I just wanted to do everything I could to help those homeless little lives.” Her voice was choked with suppressed sobs, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth. “But in the end, I have to endure these baseless rumors, slanders, and harassing phone calls. It’s one thing for them to insult me, but why do they have to insult my family too…”
When her family was mentioned, her last line of defense finally crumbled, and tears streamed down her face like beads from a broken string.
Jiang Muzhou was taken aback upon hearing this, only then realizing that the matter was far more serious than he had initially thought.
He only knew that she was being slandered and defamed by marketing accounts, but he didn't know that what was worse was that her personal information had been maliciously posted online, and she had suffered such unbearable harassment.
His heart felt as if it had been ripped out, a sharp, dull pain shooting through him.
He placed the flight case at his feet, stretched out his arms, firmly encircled her slender body, and embraced her tightly.
Su Cheng leaned into his arms, but her body still trembled slightly, like a leaf drifting in the autumn wind.
"Do you know, Zhuang Liang even sent me videos of him abusing cats." She buried her wet cheeks in his shoulder, her voice muffled by his clothes, trembling with broken sobs. "If I hadn't filmed those videos, if I hadn't spoken up for them, would these kittens have been targeted by people like him, and wouldn't they have avoided this inhuman torture?"
She lifted her tear-filled face, her eyes filled with confusion and self-reproach. "If I give up now, if I admit defeat, will they let those innocent kittens go?"
“No, that’s not it.” Jiang Muzhou tightened his arms around her, lowered his head, and breathed warmly into her ear. “It’s precisely because you stood up for those who cannot speak and did such an outstanding job that they are trying to smear you and force you to shut up.”
The sobbing in her arms gradually subsided, leaving only occasional sneezing.
“Zhuang Liang was just a pawn that was pushed out. Behind this incident, there is actually a gray organization that specializes in profiting from stray animals.” He gently stroked her back, trying to soothe her trembling. “This organization has unscrupulous veterinarians who use stray cats as ‘blood cats’ and criminals who treat stray dogs as ‘meat dogs’.”
"It is because you bravely spoke out for stray animals that more and more people have paid attention to this previously overlooked group in the city. The targets that those evil people have are becoming fewer and fewer, so they have turned their attention to you. Your persistence and efforts have frightened them. You have done a great job, Su Su."
Su Cheng raised her tearful eyes and stared blankly at him.
My vision was blurred by tears, and the figure in front of me was as hazy as an oil painting. Only those deep peach blossom eyes were particularly clear, as bright as if they had been washed by autumn water.
“The police are already investigating this matter and will not allow them to continue to act so brazenly.” A broad, warm hand gently supported her slender shoulder, and the warmth from the palm slowly warmed her cold hands and feet. “I didn’t do a good enough job before. From now on, we will face this together.”
The wind rustled through the trees behind me.
Su Cheng sniffed lightly, the reddened tip of her nose particularly noticeable in the autumn light.
She tried to raise her hand to wipe away her tears, but he gently grasped her wrist.
His dark eyes, like the brightest stars in the night sky, gazed deeply into her wet eyes. "You still want to continue speaking out for stray animals, don't you?"
The dazzling starlight illuminated the answer in Su Cheng's heart.
She nodded without hesitation.
“Actually, many short video bloggers are only responsible for content production, and the operation of social media platforms is handled by dedicated personnel.” Jiang Muzhou looked at her slightly reddened eyes. “If you feel troubled, you can just focus on shooting videos and creating copy, and I will manage your account.”
"No need." Su Cheng blinked, and the tear that was hanging in the corner of her eye slid down her cheek, leaving a small dark wet stain on her light blue collar.
She secretly clenched her fingers into a fist at her side, her fingertips sinking into the soft flesh of her palm, using the pain to support her faltering courage.
“You’re right. All they’re doing is trying to scare me, to frighten me away. If I really hide behind the scenes because of fear, they’ll just feel smug and think they’ve succeeded.” She spoke again, her voice still trembling slightly, but her tone was becoming more and more determined. “I want to take advantage of the high level of attention I’m getting now to let more people hear my voice and to encourage more people to stand up for stray animals.”
Su Cheng took a deep breath, as if to exhale all the gloom that had been building up in her chest, and her eyes became clear and firm.
Despite the tears still glistening in the corners of her eyes, she forced a smile. "Those cowards who only make harassing phone calls will get bored if they only ever hear the 'phone is off' message."
She added, hands on her hips, "Anyway, I'm just using my phone number to receive verification codes now. Once I change to a new number and make a comeback, they can only rage helplessly behind the screen."
“The dirty water that was splashed on me, and the vicious words that cursed my family…” She turned to the shimmering lake and shouted at the top of her lungs, as if to throw all the filth into the water, “Let it all bounce back!”
Jiang Muzhou saw her straighten her back again, and a relieved smile appeared on his lips.
He raised his hand and gently ruffled her hair. "We're not fighting alone anymore. I have the entire Jiang family behind me. We can utilize all their resources and power."
Su Cheng looked up into his smiling eyes and then noticed the faint bluish tinge under his eyes.
After he took her home last night, he must have stayed up all night investigating to be able to unravel the complex web of events in such a short time.
A warm feeling mixed with heartache and guilt welled up in her heart, making her almost unable to look him in the eye again.
Su Cheng quickly crouched down and reached for the flight case containing the Decepticons, but heard a shout from behind: "Put it down!"
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