He Wenkang saw Xili treat his eldest son like this and felt somewhat distressed: “Xili, you need to have some sense of propriety. It won’t do to injure his arm.”
Zhao Wulan rushed over to kick and hit Xili, but Su Yufan grabbed her with one hand.
“Did you two—mother and son—collude to provide outsiders with videos and photos of me and my mom? How much did the other party pay to buy them from you?”
Zhao Wulan was completely baffled. She had been busy with funeral matters these past two days—where would she find the time to mess around with online nonsense?
What photos and videos? She had only mentioned it casually that day. Could it be that He Jun had actually filmed them?
“What are you talking about? Don’t open your mouth and start making false accusations against me and my son. We’re so busy all day that our feet never touch the ground. Your mother was just buried, and now you’re turning on us, right?”
Su Yufan released her, took out her phone, opened the video spreading online, and handed it to Zhao Wulan and her husband.
“The video was shot right at the front gate. That day, I saw with my own eyes that He Jun filmed it. Xili said he dreams of becoming an internet celebrity. Wasn’t it him who sent the video out? Family matters aired for the whole world to see—do you think that brings you any honor?”
Su Yufan was in the middle of a rage.
After He Wenkang and Zhao Wulan finished watching the short video, they casually scrolled through a few comments—everyone was cursing the He family, and some were cursing Su Yufan too.
In short, the video of their family’s house dispute had blown up online.
And the culprit was the He family’s eldest son, He Jun.
He Wenkang raised his hand and, with a resounding slap, struck He Jun’s face.
“You brat, how could you post everything about family matters online? You’ve caused a huge disaster, don’t you know? Look at what the comments are saying! Are you fame-crazed? All day you don’t do proper work, don’t go to school, don’t learn woodcarving, running around filming with a lousy phone—have you earned a single cent? I think you want to squander our family assets! You worthless spendthrift!”
Zhao Wulan hurriedly pulled her son to her side to shield him, her face full of anger. “Isn’t it just a video? If it weren’t for your son opening an online store, how many of your lousy wood carvings could you sell relying on tourists? Son, did it hurt?”
Su Yufan couldn’t bear to listen anymore. This wasn’t just about a video. This video had exposed her originally quiet life and most of her privacy on a public platform. Even the location of her mother’s grave was now known to people.
This meant that from now on, those haters or people who disliked her would harass her like crazy, completely disrupting her life.
“He Jun, tell me, how did this video appear online? Did you post it on your own account and someone downloaded and reposted it? Or did someone ask you to provide information about me? This matter is very serious, and the online furor is intense. If you refuse to tell the truth, I will report this to the police. If anyone goes to disturb my mother, I will take back this house, and you can move to Woodcarving Town.”
When He Wenkang heard “Woodcarving Town,” he turned his head and glared at Xili Bufa.
This disciple had been taught for nothing—he couldn’t keep a secret and told Su Yufan everything.
Zhao Wulan heard Su Yufan turn ruthless and thought, *On what basis can she take the house back?* She must be making a fuss over nothing. It was just a video—how much influence could it possibly have?
“Aren’t you celebrities always filming videos? What’s so strange about that? Besides, you don’t have the final say on this house.”
“Master, Master’s wife, you don’t go online or read internet news. He Jun is glued to the internet every day. Let him speak for himself. Right now the internet is full of exposés about Su Yufan’s private matters. For her, this is a very painful thing.”
He Jun had been hiding behind his mother this whole time. He had spent the day following the online trends and learned many things about Su Yufan. He also knew about her illness. He was actually extremely regretful. Under every malicious comment, he tried his best to explain that Su Yufan was a good person.
But the internet had already formed two opposing camps. One side supported Su Yufan and her mother, hoping she would reclaim the old house. The other side believed the unfounded dirt that had been exposed, convinced that Su Yufan was a scheming green tea bitch.
He Jun poked his head forward with some guilt and cried grievously: “There was a blogger who saw my video was from Jianchuan and asked if I knew Su Yufan was in Jianchuan, and if there was any news I could tell her. She said she was Sister Su’s fan and was very concerned about Sister Su’s condition. She promised to introduce some business to me. I didn’t think much of it. I thought she really was a fan, and I wanted to show off that I knew Sister Su, so I casually sent her that video I shot that day as proof. She placed an order at our shop for several thousand yuan worth of woodcarving crafts. Later, I saw the internet was full of matters about Sister Su and her mother. The trend felt very wrong. I felt that the person who asked for the video was a bad person, so I contacted her again and asked her to delete the video and stop talking nonsense, but she had already blocked me. After that, all sorts of inexplicable gossip appeared online, including things about our family. It’s all fabricated lies. I don’t know what to do either. I was wrong, Sister Su. I’m sorry.”
Su Yufan didn’t know how much of his words were true or false, but there was no mistake that the video had been sent out from him. She demanded to see the account of the person who had asked for the video. She could only determine that the other party was a woman. She also checked the delivery address and phone number from the order. After photographing the address, she couldn’t be bothered to argue with He Jun anymore.
“He Jun, I’ll let you off this time, but you have to cooperate with me on what comes next. Starting tomorrow, contact the phone number from that order and say the woodcarvings in the shop are sold out. It will take a few days to carve new ones. Then deliberately leak some false information about me to her. It’s best to add her on WeChat, get on good terms with her, and find out her occupation and real name. I’ll handle the rest. They want to use my mother and me as stepping stones to climb up—I won’t let them.”
The He family didn’t understand the internet, and He Jun was also frightened by the day’s heat. He quickly nodded and agreed.
After Su Yufan returned to her room, He Jun confessed to his parents that Su Yufan was being gossiped about online and scolded in very ugly terms. He also told them that Su Yufan had cancer and might be dying soon.
When the He family heard this, they sighed with emotion. Such a young, beautiful girl—how could her fate be so bitter? They lamented for a long while, and none of them slept soundly that night.
Xili lay on the bed and sent the address and phone number He Jun had provided to a friend.
“Bro, can you do me a favor? This address is in the same city as you. Can you make a trip to find out this person’s real name and occupation? My friend ran into some trouble; this person is behind it. I want to know where she’s coming from. I have to help my friend.”
“No problem. This address isn’t far from me. That area is all office buildings. I’ll go ask tomorrow. Wait for my news.”
Su Yufan hurriedly took a shower, forcibly resisting looking at the online public opinion on her phone the entire time. After blow-drying her hair, she sent a voice call to He Xu.
“He Xu, did you plan today’s trending searches online? What exactly are you trying to do?”
He Xu was very helpless. Where would he get the money to buy a whole day’s worth of trending searches? He wasn’t that bored either, but he could more or less guess that Feng Qing had done it.
“Su Su, I’m not that bored. There’s an eighty- or ninety-percent chance that Feng Qing hired a PR company to plan this. The goal is to tie herself to you and your mother so she can become famous by association. Her performance abroad didn’t go well, and yesterday she returned to the country alone, fuming with anger. I just arrived in the country and saw the news. How about this—I’ll come to Dali to meet with you, and we’ll think of a response. If you ride this wave of heat to become famous, you’ll have a foundation to do whatever you want later.”
Su Yufan let out a soft laugh. How ridiculous.
Why did they always think about fame and traffic?
“He Xu, I don’t need heat, nor do I want to become famous through this kind of method. I sent you an address and a phone number. See if you know who it is.”