When Lu Xingyan first heard the absurd rumor about his college entrance exam results being fake, he subconsciously found it amusing. Even when Li Chengfan sent him posts from school, he didn’t take it seriously.
Honestly, terms like “posting” now sound quite dated. Posting on the homepage of Mingli would go for days without a single new post, and the thread about him using his family’s wealth and power to manipulate the college entrance exam only had about ten replies.
At that time, he was still annoyed, struggling whether to shamelessly buy a ticket to Paris and chase after himself, or to cold war with Shen Xingruo for a while and not bother with these baseless rumors at all.
But unexpectedly, that evening Wang Youfu contacted him and brought up the matter.
—It turns out there are idiots, openly reporting his manipulation of the college entrance exam.
At the same time, the headline news on the social section was the jumping incident at Jinsheng International Mall, a property under Jinsheng Real Estate!
Previously, Jinsheng had invested heavily in building Jinsheng International Mall in Xingcheng. On the opening day, the place was vandalized.
A sixteen-year-old high school student caught cheating and too afraid to go to school, impulsively jumped from the atrium of the mall and died on the spot, even injuring innocent bystanders.
At that time, this incident attracted a lot of attention, especially because a popular young celebrity was invited to the opening ceremony. The fans of the celebrity’s mother and girlfriend thought their darling had been frightened, and they criticized Jinsheng for inadequate railing inspection and security measures, making it the number one trending topic.
Fortunately, Jinsheng’s PR team was on point and responded promptly.
Although foot traffic at the mall was sparse for quite sometime after the opening, it didn’t fundamentally harm the mall.
Nowadays, Jinsheng International Mall is the leader among high-end malls in Xingcheng.
But unexpectedly—
Someone jumped from the mall again!
And this time, it was a former employee of Jinsheng.
This incident happened several days ago. The person jumped on their own accord, and no one could stop them. Moreover, jumping off a building wasn’t exactly rare these days, so apart from a few local news reports in Xingcheng, the matter didn’t spread further.
For some reason, a minor incident that wasn’t taken seriously within Jinsheng suddenly received several press releases and bought multiple headlines in the social section.
Following closely behind this quietly trending news was the revelation of a second-generation rich kid manipulating the college entrance exam, transforming from a playboy to a top student, who turned out to be the son of the chairman of Jinsheng Group!
Initially, the PR department of Jinsheng thought this wave of headlines was inexplicable and suspicious. With just a little inquiry, they found out that the hand behind these press releases and headlines was the longstanding rival of Jinsheng in the real estate industry.
But just because someone jumped off a building, helped to distribute so many press releases, and bought so many headlines wouldn’t have any impact on Jinsheng.
However, after combining it with the subsequent trending news, they realized belatedly that the former incident was merely an appetizer served by the rival, setting the stage for the latter.
The son of the chairman of Jinsheng Group.
Operational manipulation in the college entrance examination.
Every word hits the public’s hot buttons.
After hitting the hot spot, this piece of news quickly spread in all directions at an astonishing speed.
In just a few hours, major portals successively reposted it, and forums and social media platforms erupted with high-frequency discussions about the news!
This was the first climax of the event.
Because as fast as the news spread, it disappeared even faster.
Late that night, the related news mysteriously disappeared without a trace. The next morning, anyone trying to discuss it would find their posts inexplicably ending up in the recycle bin as soon as they were posted.
The onlookers understood all at once.
The background of Jinsheng is truly unfathomable.
Blocking the news had nothing to do with Jinsheng; it was all the doing of Lu Xingyan’s grandfather.
Lu Xingyan’s grandfather, Lu Yanzhi, came from a military background. He retired some time ago and has been living comfortably in the imperial capital for the past few years.
Lu Yanzhi and his son, Lu Shan, have never gotten along. When they were both strong-willed, they couldn’t stand each other, but as they got older, their relationship gradually eased.
However, Lu Yanzhi never interfered in Lu Shan’s business affairs. Even if Jinsheng went bankrupt, he wouldn’t furrow his brow.
But this time, when their business rivalry dragged his beloved grandson into it, he couldn’t sit still anymore.
With his iron-fisted approach, which he had always employed in military and political matters, and being unaware of the changing times, he became furious. Without even informing Lu Shan, he issued a blanket ban.
Regardless of right or wrong, everything was banned first, and then they could sort it out later.
Once something was banned, it stayed banned.
But Lu Shan ended up in the hospital due to anger.
He argued fiercely with Lu Yanzhi over the phone from the hospital, without either of them being surprised, and the argument went on for a hundred and eighty rounds.
Finally, it ends with Lu Yanzhi’s blunt threat: “If it weren’t for the fact that your life can still earn money for my grandson, you think I’d bother with you? Let me tell you, if you mess with my grandson, I’ll mess with you.”
The lifting of the news ban was sudden, and as expected, public opinion exploded:
a. “Jinsheng is daring, even daring to censor news. This won’t hold, they must be planning an exit strategy.”
b. “This society is so corrupt now. With money and power, you can get into any school. We commoners are just like leeks, waiting to be harvested.”
c. “I used to think the college entrance exam was the only fair test in life. It’s too naive. It turns out it’s not.”
d. “People who barely scraped into a top university through endless nights of study see others playing around every day and still getting in. It’s surreal. I’m not surprised by any news anymore.”
e. “I’m just waiting for Jinsheng’s retribution. Eventually, this kind of social scum will take over and ruin the company.”
f. “You’re too young upstairs. Have you heard of a profession called a professional manager? And they make more money in a lifetime just from interest than you ever will.”
g. “The upstairs comment is too real and makes me uncomfortable. Reported.”
…And discussions like these, diverging from the event itself, were considered merciful for Lu Xingyan. But more often than not, it was direct insults directed at him and Jinsheng.
People who live in oppression and humility in real life often become invincible online with just a keyboard. After all, there are all kinds of offensive words out there.
In these past few days, Jinsheng’s stock price has plummeted, especially after the incident escalated and the Provincial Education Bureau announced its intervention, leading to a complete collapse.
Because hardly anyone believed the situation could be reversed. No one believed that Lu Xingyan’s exam scores, just barely above the cutoff line, were genuinely achieved by him, and that his admission to Xing University was solely based on his merit. Most people held a pessimistic attitude towards the matter, waiting only for the investigation results from the Education Bureau to provide a convincing punishment.
In just three or four days, what was initially an insignificant rumor suddenly spread nationwide, turning into a national spectacle of the college entrance exam. This was the first time in Lu Xingyan’s smooth-sailing decade that he felt what it truly meant to be speechless in the face of public opinion.
He found it particularly laughable. If Lu Shan wanted to pave a golden road, why bother waiting until the college entrance exam? At first, he refused to believe it, dismissing it as baseless rumors. Why should everyone easily believe them just by comparing his exam scores with his previous achievements?
As the insults piled up later on, he began to doubt himself. He wondered if it was because being wealthy was considered a sin, or if he was truly as terrible a person as no one wanted to believe, despite the efforts he had made.
During these days, Lu Shan was angered to the point of being hospitalized by Lu Yanzhi and held video conferences from the hospital. Lu Xingyan couldn’t leave either; his movements were restricted to the hospital and Fallen Star Lake, a straight line between the two points.
During sensitive times, Lu Shan didn’t allow anyone near him and even assigned a group of bodyguards to keep watch over him at all times. Pei Yue went as far as to forbid him from using his phone, fearing that he would torment himself by reading online comments.
But he had several spare phones, and even if one was confiscated, he still had another. He sifted through a basketful of online insults directed at him and Lu Shan. From initially brushing them off to becoming infuriated, and finally reaching a state of calm, it only took three or four days.
Eventually, he couldn’t be bothered to read them anymore. Most of his time was spent holed up in his room, drawing the blackout curtains tight, turning off his phone, and falling into a deep sleep.
He felt that Shen Xingruo was completely right. He was indeed a worthless, irresponsible, and extravagant second-generation rich kid who only caused trouble, produced garbage, and consumed resources. When it came down to it, he couldn’t help at all.
And he couldn’t even speak. Because he simply didn’t know what to say. Any offhand response from him could stir up countless waves, and then Lu Shan and Lu Yanzhi would have to clean up the mess behind him.
These days, he went to the hospital to see Lu Shan. He realized that the father and son were nothing alike.
Lu Shan was ambitious and highly capable. During Jinsheng’s rise, he didn’t rely on Lu Yanzhi in the slightest. Even now in the business world, he remained decisive and assertive, challenging the board of directors even while hooked up to an IV, and making them all submit.
But he was only fit to be a puppet, quietly waiting behind his parents until things calmed down. The greatest help he could offer was to not cause trouble.
Even classmates who had spent three years with him in school anonymously started threads online, describing how disgusting his behavior was in school. Among the students of Mingli, they found him and his group of second-generation rich kids especially unbearable, believing that it was not surprising at all for him to manipulate exam scores.
He was a terrible person.
Whenever he thought about these things, he felt completely incompatible with Shen Xingruo.
It’s no wonder Shen Xingruo wanted to break up with him.
In Paris, it was two in the morning, while back home it was mid-morning. Shen Xingruo was packing her bags while talking to Lu Xingyan on the phone.
But Lu Xingyan’s phone remained off and calls from Pei Yue were being handled by Lu Shan’s secretary.
Shen Xingruo hadn’t slept all night. She had booked a flight back to China at ten in the morning and, around five o’clock, she took a taxi to Charles de Gaulle Airport with her luggage. It was on her way to the airport that Pei Yue finally returned her call.
Of course, Pei Yue didn’t tell her how bad things were. He just reassured her, telling her to enjoy her vacation in Europe, have fun, and that everything would be fine. Shen Xingruo didn’t press further. After ending the call with Pei Yue, she continued contacting the school and her classmates.
During this time, she occasionally tried calling Lu Xingyan, but his phone remained unreachable. Finally, she left him a WeChat message.
It was the fifth day since everything began to unfold. The online insults had died down quite a bit, with everyone exhausted from the constant barrage, saving their energy for the investigation results from the Provincial Education Bureau.
Lu Xingyan sat in the dimly lit room and finally turned on his phone. The WeChat app was flooded with notifications, with one message from Shen Xingruo popping up at the top.
Shen Xingruo heard from Aunt Pei that you’ve been holed up in your room all day. You seem quite rebellious, Lu Xingyan. Aren’t you usually quite capable?
Lu Xingyan paused, staring at the message for a long time, but ultimately didn’t reply.
Today, Lu Shan was discharged from the hospital. After taking a shower and tidying up a bit, he and Pei Yue went to the hospital to pick up Lu Shan and bring him home. Lu Shan seemed to be in good spirits. On the way home, he received a call saying that the investigation results from the Education Bureau were out, and the announcement would be made in the afternoon.
After resting at home for a while, someone came knocking at the door. Lu Xingyan heard the commotion coming down the stairs and saw a woman in a white shirt paired with a wine-red skirt entering, followed by staff carrying briefcases.
The woman leading the group looked somewhat familiar. Her long hair was tied back in a low bun, and she had a poised demeanor. She approached Lu Shan, nodded slightly, and reached out her hand. “Mr. Lu, hello. I’m Zoe from JiaBai Public Relations. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to serve Jinsheng Group’s PR again.”