Framing and False Accusations

As Damian opened his mouth, his front teeth wobbled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with a few teeth.

"Move aside," someone shouted.

Suddenly, a man rushed out from the crowd, brandishing a knife, and charged at Damian. Terrified, Damian screamed, "I'm not the Stock God! The real Stock God is someone else! She controls all the money!"

The man with the knife grabbed Damian by the collar and lifted him up. "What did you say? Speak clearly. If you're not the Stock God, then who is? Where's our money?"

The surrounding crowd was equally shocked but held onto a sliver of hope.

Damian, shrinking back in fear, carefully said, "She's the second daughter of the Lin family, the real Stock God. I'm just a puppet she pushed forward. If you want your money, find her."

He immediately shifted all the blame away from himself.

The Lin family is wealthy; they could easily pay back a billion to settle this matter. Besides, he was telling the truth—Zuri was the real Stock God.

"Why should we believe you?" someone questioned.

Damian quickly responded, "I can call her in front of you all. You'll hear it for yourselves."

"Alright, call her. If she backs you up, we'll let you go."

The investors had their own calculations.

It would be easier to recover the money from a rich family's daughter than from an ordinary person. After all, the latter might not be able to pay them back.

Everyone quieted down.

Under their watchful eyes, Damian, trembling, dialed Zuri's number. However, an automated voice message responded, "The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and try again."

The atmosphere instantly froze.

Damian's face paled, and his voice shook, becoming incoherent. "I-I might have dialed the wrong number. I'll try again."

The second call received the same cold response.

The tension grew as the investors' eyes filled with suspicion. Damian, on the verge of tears, pleaded, "Listen to me, it's true. The second daughter of the Lin family is the Stock God. She has all your money, I swear I don't have it."

He mentally repeated to himself, **This isn't my fault; it's all Zuri's fault.**

"Proof? We need proof," someone demanded.

They hoped the person behind this was indeed from the Lin family. That way, they could reclaim their money. But without evidence, they couldn't just show up demanding repayment.

In desperation, Damian said, "I am the proof! I'm the best proof. I can testify that all your money is with her."

Some investors remained silent, while a chubby middle-aged man spoke up, "I suspect our money was invested by the Lin family. It's a conspiracy between them and this fraud to cheat us out of our money."

Immediately, others chimed in agreement, "Yes, that's it. The Lin family tricked us. We need to demand our money from them."

The group quickly agreed and decided to take Damian to the Lin family.

Among the crowd, the middle-aged couple, who had been dismissed by the staff earlier, whispered to each other. The woman said, "The fraud says it's the Lin family. How can everyone believe that without proof?"

Her husband glanced at her, whispering, "You don't understand. That man has no money, but the Lin family does. As long as we insist it's them and have him as a witness, it'll be hard for them to escape."

"Will that really work?" The woman was puzzled.

"A few years ago, there was a similar case without strong evidence. But everyone made a big fuss, and the other side had to compensate to settle things."

The woman, astonished, whispered, "Is that what they're planning to do?"

Her husband nodded, "Let's just follow along and not stand out."

The couple murmured quietly to each other.

At the entrance of the Lin Corporation, a crowd suddenly gathered, shouting for repayment, startling the security guards, who immediately reported the situation to the CEO.

"What's this about? Demanding repayment?" Aaron was puzzled.

The PR manager, equally confused, explained, "They claim we scammed them out of about a billion under the guise of the 'Stock God.' They're outside demanding an explanation."

"What nonsense? Stock God? Scam a billion?" Aaron was baffled. "Find out what's going on."

Twenty minutes later, the entire company knew about the incident. Some senior executives recognized the leader of the accusers as a relative of the chairman's wife.

Aaron, now aware of the situation, was furious, "Did Damian say our Lin Corporation told him to scam these people? Go tell them that's not true."

"Mr. Lin, that's not going to work. They're accusing the second daughter of being the Stock God and Mr. Qin as her puppet," the PR manager reported.

Aaron, even if confused, understood this was a blatant frame-up. Damian caused trouble and tried to pin it on the Lin family and Zuri. It was clear why they chose Zuri—she was the legitimate daughter of the Lin family, while the other two were adopted. They wouldn't blame anyone else.

At a family gathering before the New Year, the Qin family's matriarch and uncle had boasted about their son being the Stock God. Would he have bragged if it had been his daughter instead?

Outrageous!

Aaron, seething, called his brother-in-law, "Brother-in-law, Damian's behavior is unacceptable. He loses money in stocks and wants our family to clean up his mess. He's a Qin, not a Lin."

The Qin family head, Qin Shiming, frowned, "There must be some misunderstanding. I'll ask him what's going on."

Meanwhile, Zuri was in class, focused on her lecture. Her phone vibrated under the desk, and after the bell rang, she calmly checked her messages. Upon learning that Damian had pinned all the blame on her and the Lin Corporation, she wasn't surprised. It was all within her expectations.

Zuri issued an instruction, put her phone away, and continued her class as if nothing outside concerned her.

Half an hour later, major websites and mainstream media simultaneously reported on the Lin Corporation's alleged scam of investors' money. The sudden onslaught caught the Lin Corporation off guard.