Chapter 84: Collective Embarrassment
At the school gate, Luo Xiu'en finally decided to let the four thugs off the hook. But not before making them publicly apologize to Jian Yiling in front of the large crowd of students gathered at the gate, demanding that they confess the truth aloud.
"I'm sorry! I don't even know you! Someone paid me to come here and make that confession! They told me to ruin Jian Yiling's reputation! I swear, that's all I know!" The thug, terrified, blurted everything out in one breath.
"That's too quiet! What's wrong with you? Didn't have breakfast or something? You did all that with the banners for the whole school to see, and now you mumble like this? You think you're playing games with me?" Luo Xiu'en snapped.
"N-no, no, it's not that..." The thugs weren't weak from hunger; they were simply exhausted from the beating.
"Then get on with it! You think I've got time to waste? My time's worth a hell of a lot more than yours!" Luo Xiu'en retorted, her words laced with impatience.
It wasn't an exaggeration. The value Luo Xiu'en created in one day probably surpassed what these four thugs could produce in an entire year.
Terrified, the thug immediately repeated his confession, this time with all the strength he had left. His voice was much louder now, loud enough that everyone gathered at the school gate could hear him clearly.
In truth, most of the students had already pieced together the situation by this point. The real culprit behind the incident had been exposed on the school's online forum. New posts, complete with screenshots and evidence, had revealed the orchestrator of the plan.
This revelation caused a major stir, and many people were left red-faced, especially those who had been quick to criticize Jian Yiling in the earlier popular thread. Their comments, which had been filled with harsh accusations, now seemed incredibly ironic.
The most embarrassing part for these people was that, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't delete their comments. Neither the original post nor the replies could be removed. According to a notice from the campus forum administrators, the server was undergoing maintenance, and users were temporarily unable to delete posts or comments.
As a result, the two contrasting threads were pinned to the top of the forum for everyone to see. Those who had maligned Jian Yiling now found themselves in an incredibly awkward situation.
But while most were dealing with embarrassment, Qiu Yizhen was in full-blown crisis mode. Although her identity wasn't directly exposed on the forum, part of the leaked chat logs from Ji Ming included her conversations with him. And to make matters worse, Ji Ming had saved her contact under her real name.
Anyone who clicked on the post could see her name, *Qiu Yizhen*, prominently displayed in each screenshot of the chat. Even her name came up multiple times throughout the conversation.
"Qiu Jie, what's going on? Why are Ming-ge's chat records up on the forum?" One of Qiu Yizhen's lackeys was in a complete panic.
Qiu Yizhen's lackeys were more frantic than she was—after all, she was the daughter of one of the school's board members. They didn't have that kind of protection.
"How should I know?!" Qiu Yizhen snapped, taking her frustration out on them. She was already in a foul mood, and anyone around her was likely to get shouted at.
The two girls quickly fell silent, too afraid to say another word.
Just then, Qiu Yizhen's phone rang. It was her father calling. She hesitated for a moment but eventually answered the call.
The second she picked up, Qiu Liyao's enraged voice roared through the phone, "Get to my office right now!"
Before she could respond, the line went dead.
Qiu Yizhen scoffed, feeling indignant, but she had no choice but to head toward her father's office. Her face was filled with resentment as she reluctantly made her way there.
The moment she stepped into the office, a loud *slap* echoed through the room.
Qiu Liyao, her father, had slapped her hard across the face, showing no mercy at all. The force of the blow left a bright red mark on her cheek, and her head reeled from the sudden impact.