Chapter 57: A Public Reckoning

On the other end of the phone was Sang Zhiyi.

 

Shi Qiongqiong’s phone number had long been blocked by Chen Junze.

 

The phone Sang Zhiyi used was not Shi Qiongqiong’s original phone, but a new one she bought after going out.

 

When Chen Junze proposed breaking up, he didn’t even tell Shi Qiongqiong in person.

 

He sent a message on WeChat and unilaterally declared that he was dumping Shi Qiongqiong.

 

That was during Shi Qiongqiong’s most confused, panicked, and helpless time.

 

She desperately sought out the person closest to her, her boyfriend Chen Junze, only wanting to hear a word of comfort from him.

 

But all she got was cold, emotionless text on the phone screen.

[Let’s break up.]

[I really can’t take it anymore.]

[You should reflect on yourself.]

Sang Zhiyi could still feel from Shi Qiongqiong’s memories what it was like at that time.

 

It was a numbness born of despair.

 

What was she supposed to reflect on?

 

Was it really her fault?

 

That period had been earth-shattering for Shi Qiongqiong.

 

She had been living in a daze amidst the vortex of countless injuries, and her boyfriend’s abandonment only made things worse.

 

Shi Qiongqiong didn’t even know that the culprit who had caused all her disasters was this very boyfriend.

 

However, correspondingly, during those days, Shi Qiongqiong had not sent any more money to Chen Junze.

 

Part of the wages she had earned from the bar was still with Shi Qiongqiong, giving Sang Zhiyi some startup capital.

 

The system store did sell this world’s currency, but the price was too steep: 1 mission point could only be exchanged for 100 yuan of this world’s currency.

 

Sang Zhiyi’s current account balance was only 11.2 mission points.

Even if she exchanged all of it, she would only have a little over a thousand yuan.

 

The various systems of this world were basically consistent with the real world, and the currency value was similar.

 

A thousand yuan really couldn’t do much.

 

Moreover, Sang Zhiyi needed to keep some mission points for emergencies.

 

After comprehensive consideration, Sang Zhiyi did not use those 11.2 mission points.

 

Using the money Shi Qiongqiong had left, she bought a latest-model phone, got a SIM card, and then dialed Chen Junze’s phone number, which she had obtained from Shi Qiongqiong’s phone.

“Hello, is this Mr. ‘I Also Love Beauty’?”

Sang Zhiyi deliberately added a slight nasal tone to her voice, making it sweeter and more cloying while keeping it relatively natural, her tone also exceptionally soft.

 

There were certain differences in speech habits between Sang Zhiyi and Shi Qiongqiong.

Even now that they shared the same vocal cords, their breathing and articulation habits were subtly different.

Coupled with deliberate voice modulation, it was hard to tell they were the same person.

 

The reason Sang Zhiyi did this was because this time, she did not want to use Shi Qiongqiong’s identity.

 

From the information on this world, she had learned that during this current period, some of Chen Junze’s future lovers were beginning to notice him.

These women were attractive, came from good families, and had their hearts set on Chen Junze, able to bring him tremendous help in various aspects.

 

Sang Zhiyi planned to disguise herself as such a character as well.

“I Also Love Beauty” was Chen Junze’s Weibo name.

Under this name, he had started spreading all kinds of rumors about Shi Qiongqiong.

 

Sang Zhiyi knew very well how to make her voice sound soft, cute, and seductive.

As soon as Chen Junze heard the voice on the other end of the phone, he felt his bones melting.

“That’s me, that’s me,” Chen Junze quickly responded.

 

Just as he had predicted, another beautiful woman attracted by him!

 

Holding the phone, Sang Zhiyi’s face was cold and expressionless, but her tone was shy and barely able to contain her excitement.

“I actually found you!

So I didn’t dial the wrong number!”

 

Chen Junze increasingly felt that this beautiful woman’s voice was especially intoxicatingly sweet, every word she said both coquettish and soft, full of flavor.

“I, I found out about you from an article I read online…” Sang Zhiyi continued in that tone.

“I really envy your girlfriend for having a boyfriend who loves her so much!

Someone like me, I don’t have such good luck to meet someone like you…”

Toward the end, Sang Zhiyi’s voice grew softer, sounding wronged and pitiful, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible thread of lingering affection, exceptionally endearing.

 

Chen Junze felt a bit dizzy from listening.

 

Sang Zhiyi’s tone suddenly lifted slightly, and anyone could hear the anticipation in it.

“By the way, I heard you’re finally willing to leave that girlfriend.

Is that true?”

 

After saying this, Sang Zhiyi seemed to realize that this was a bit inappropriate, suddenly flustered, and quickly explained.

“I, I don’t mean anything else!

I just feel, I feel that someone as gentle and devoted as you deserves a better girl!”

“If, I’m just saying if, if I were your girlfriend, I would definitely be more qualified than she was!”

 

This last sentence, Sang Zhiyi said softly but firmly.

 

Transmitted through the phone signal into Chen Junze’s ear, it was like a coquettish breath right against his ear.

 

Chen Junze’s ears turned red.

 

Completely consistent with Sang Zhiyi’s assessment, during this period, Chen Junze’s romantic luck was just beginning to flourish.

 

He did not yet have the experience and discernment developed from having many women in his arms in the future, and he still lacked resistance to this kind of approach.

 

Sang Zhiyi was a master among masters in this regard.

 

By putting on an act and acting cute, she established the persona of a wealthy, beautiful woman smitten with Chen Junze, easily manipulating him.

 

When Sang Zhiyi slightly hinted that she would like other contact information, Chen Junze eagerly offered up his various social media IDs.

 

When adding Chen Junze, Sang Zhiyi still did not use any of Shi Qiongqiong’s accounts.

 

Instead, she created some new accounts.

 

The problem with this was that the accounts were empty, easily recognizable as temporary alternate accounts.

 

Chen Junze might not necessarily become suspicious, but since Sang Zhiyi had decided to put on this act, she would make it perfect.

 

Faced with this small flaw, Sang Zhiyi actively brought it up to Chen Junze herself.

“These are all new accounts I specifically registered for you!”

“I want to put everything related to you in a brand new account, just like the story between the two of us—a brand new beginning…”

“This will be a secret account just for me and you, okay?”

 

This explanation naturally delighted Chen Junze, and how could he not agree?

 

Over the next few days, Sang Zhiyi used this identity of “the only daughter of a certain Z City company boss” that she had casually fabricated to communicate with Chen Junze, showing her growing infatuation with him.

 

With all the information from this world as a reference, Sang Zhiyi could easily grasp Chen Junze’s preferences and inclinations.

 

Moreover, in this world, there were already many wealthy, beautiful women who rushed to fall in love with the male lead in an extremely short time, thereafter remaining deeply attached and unwavering.

 

Sang Zhiyi was simply appearing earlier than them.

 

In the plot belonging to Shi Qiongqiong, Sang Zhiyi had indeed arrived too late.

 

But in Chen Junze’s plot, Sang Zhiyi’s arrival was only at the very beginning.

 

Buying the latest model of a big-name brand phone was also deliberate on Sang Zhiyi’s part.

 

After all, she and Chen Junze were communicating via phone, and the brand and model she used were details that could not be ignored.

 

Other areas could be economized where possible, but as the eldest daughter of the wealthy Sang family in the real world, Sang Zhiyi certainly knew how to convey her affluent family background and personal wealth through her choice of words.

 

Chen Junze took the bait.

 

Regarding this wealthy, beautiful woman whose every thought was of him, Chen Junze’s heart fluttered.

 

He was already fantasizing about how good the free ride would be once he won her over.

 

The few beautiful women who had approached Chen Junze before were relatively reserved, sending their greetings and then disappearing.

 

This was the first time Chen Junze had encountered a beautiful woman as proactive as Sang Zhiyi.

 

Although Sang Zhiyi was also somewhat shy, she had the warmth of a small animal wanting to rub against his palm.

The combination of the two formed the posture of a young girl with a unique charm, making Chen Junze’s heart burn with passion.

 

Soon, Sang Zhiyi coaxed the words she wanted out of Chen Junze’s mouth.

 

For example, Chen Junze said that Shi Qiongqiong had sold her body at the bar, all based on his subjective assumptions.

 

Sang Zhiyi first chatted with Chen Junze about “the red wine collection at home,” flaunting her family’s economic status, and then naturally asked Chen Junze if he drank.

 

To maintain a good image in front of Sang Zhiyi, Chen Junze immediately stated that he neither drank nor smoked, and had no such habits.

[Yuanyuan is not Round: I thought you artists would really like wine, but I didn’t expect you to have such self-control, not drinking at all.

That’s amazing!]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: [Pink bunny with starry eyes.gif]]

Sang Zhiyi’s fabricated identity was named “Qiao Yuanyuan,” and her WeChat name was “Yuanyuan is not Round.”

Her profile picture was a giant panda cub, very cute.

[I Also Love Beauty: [sunglasses emoji][sunglasses emoji][sunglasses emoji]]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: Junze, since you don’t drink, you probably don’t go to bars either, right?

Sigh, your ex-girlfriend was really awful, going specifically to places you wouldn’t visit to do those bad things, hiding it from you all along!]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: [angry cat head.jpg]]

[I Also Love Beauty: [patting head.gif]]

[I Also Love Beauty: Ah, I didn’t expect it either]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: Then how did you find out she was doing bad things?

You must have been so aggrieved, having to go to that kind of place to catch her…]

[I Also Love Beauty: It’s okay, it’s okay, Yuanyuan, don’t worry, I didn’t go to that kind of place to catch her!]

[I Also Love Beauty: I already knew she went to the bar!]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: Huh?

Didn’t you see what she was doing at the bar?]

[I Also Love Beauty: No, no]

[Yuanyuan is not Round: Wow, you’re so amazing, knowing what she did without even seeing it.

She must have some prior offenses!]

[I Also Love Beauty: I can’t say for sure about prior offenses, but a girl running off to a bar in the middle of the night every day—who would believe there’s nothing going on?]

Step by step, Chen Junze fell into Sang Zhiyi’s trap and spoke the truth.

 

Actually, if Sang Zhiyi had used Shi Qiongqiong’s identity to approach Chen Junze, with her skills and acting, she could have coaxed those words out of him while appearing weak.

 

But Sang Zhiyi had rejected that approach from the beginning.

 

Shi Qiongqiong had already been hurt so badly by that scumbag Chen Junze, and using her identity to pretend to cater to Chen Junze would be too cruel to Shi Qiongqiong.

 

Sang Zhiyi now knew that everything she did using the original owner’s body was something the original owner could see, so she would not let Shi Qiongqiong witness such a scene.

 

Not to mention, what right did a piece of garbage like Chen Junze have to enjoy the pleasure of seeing his victim grovel before him after harming an innocent person?

 

No way.

 

***

 

While fishing for Chen Junze, Sang Zhiyi also took other actions.

 

She had already been expelled from Shi Qiongqiong’s university, so her schedule was exceptionally free and abundant.

 

On the morning of the second day after arriving in this world, Sang Zhiyi boarded a plane to Chen Junze’s hometown.

 

Looking at Chen Junze’s path to success, it fully embodied the saying “a truly ruthless man is not a gentleman.”

 

He could use rumors to cause his first love’s death, gaining fame and favor from the powerful in return, so he could certainly do other things that benefited himself at others’ expense.

 

A single frost is not three days cold; in fact, Chen Junze was a repeat offender.

 

Sang Zhiyi’s initial goal was to make Chen Junze lose his reputation and be unable to defend himself.

 

Among Chen Junze’s past offenses, the one easiest to exploit and likely to cause the greatest public reaction was cheating on the college entrance exam.

 

That’s right, Chen Junze had used underhanded means to get into that university in Z City.

 

Chen Junze was an art student.

For the college entrance exam, besides the cultural subjects, there was also a specialized art exam, requiring candidates to paint according to the given prompt within a specified time.

 

As the male lead of this world, Chen Junze’s personal luck was indeed not bad.

 

Although he came from a small mountain city in a nationally designated poor area, Chen Junze had a classmate who was very talented and inspired in painting.

 

That classmate happened to have created a very high-level painting that perfectly matched the exam prompt.

 

That painting happened to have been seen by Chen Junze and left a deep impression on him.

 

And that classmate also happened to have voluntarily given up on taking the college entrance exam early due to his family’s financial situation.

 

Thus, Chen Junze did not hesitate to “imitate” his classmate’s painting.

 

With that painting, he made a splash and was admitted to a university in Z City.

 

His exam paper was even specially collected and exhibited by his high school alma mater.

 

Since the original creator of that painting was not taking the same exam, no one would ever discover that he had plagiarized.

 

However, how could that be called plagiarism?

Although the composition and content were identical, even the details of light and shadow copied exactly, he, Chen Junze, had painted it stroke by stroke himself—it was his original work!

 

Chen Junze, with no burden whatsoever, took his acceptance letter and set off for university, completely forgetting about that classmate.

 

In the original plot development of this world, just as Chen Junze had thought, after leaving that small place and coming to a broader world, he never needed to have any further interaction with that classmate.

Even years later, when he returned to his hometown in glory, the plot description contained no trace of that classmate.

 

He, like Shi Qiongqiong, was just a tiny tool on the male lead’s path to success, disposable once used.

 

But Sang Zhiyi still found, in the margins of those materials, that classmate’s name: “Wang Hongzhi.”

 

An ordinary surname, an ordinary name, but together they formed a living, breathing person in this world.

 

He had his own life experiences, his own joys, angers, sorrows, and happiness.

 

He could also see that painting exhibited at his high school alma mater, bearing Chen Junze’s signature, looking exactly like the one he had created before.

 

Could he really have no resentment about this?

 

***

 

There was too little information about Wang Hongzhi.

 

After arriving in Chen Junze’s hometown, Sang Zhiyi had to rely on asking around to finally learn Wang Hongzhi’s address.

 

Coming from a bustling big city to a remote mountain town, Sang Zhiyi could feel her body relaxing.

 

This was not Sang Zhiyi’s own emotion, but a residual feeling belonging to Shi Qiongqiong within this body.

 

Sang Zhiyi had not felt anything similar in Ren Xiaoqian’s body in the last world.

 

Considering the difference in difficulty between the two worlds, Sang Zhiyi estimated that this had to do with the original owner’s level of resentment and obsession.

 

Shi Qiongqiong had truly been hurt too deeply.

 

Even though most of it was online, virtual, public opinion can be powerful enough to destroy.

 

Information in this small mountain town was not as developed as in Z City.

 

In Z City, Shi Qiongqiong occasionally encountered strangers who proactively came to ask her “how much per time,” but here, even without a mask, no one recognized her.

 

In this relaxed mood, Sang Zhiyi knocked on Wang Hongzhi’s door.

 

From the locals, Sang Zhiyi had learned that Wang Hongzhi had been working in a local factory since getting his high school diploma two years ago, doing manual labor.

Today happened to be his day off.

 

Sang Zhiyi deliberately came during dinner time to increase the chances of finding Wang Hongzhi at home.

 

She didn’t have to put in much effort.

 

The person who answered the door after hearing the knock was Wang Hongzhi himself.

 

Compared to Chen Junze, who had been going to school in Z City with smooth, fair skin, his former classmate Wang Hongzhi looked considerably more weathered, even with a slight stoop, appearing to be in his thirties or forties.

 

Looking at this completely unfamiliar young woman, Wang Hongzhi’s reaction was one of confusion.

“…Who are you?”

 

The young woman was very beautiful, and her dress did not match the local style.

 

Not knowing what Wang Hongzhi looked like, Sang Zhiyi first asked, “Hello, are you Mr. Wang Hongzhi?”

 

After receiving an affirmative answer, Sang Zhiyi further explained her purpose.

“Mr. Wang Hongzhi, do you still remember a person named Chen Junze?”

 

At the mention of this name, Sang Zhiyi saw Wang Hongzhi’s expression change drastically.

 

Old classmates mentioning each other normally wouldn’t react like this.

 

Sang Zhiyi further confirmed that Wang Hongzhi likely knew about being plagiarized by Chen Junze two years ago.

“A friend of mine is a victim of Chen Junze, just like you,” Sang Zhiyi said.

“I want to seek justice for her, so I came to you, hoping to get more evidence of Chen Junze’s wrongdoing.”

 

***

 

Without too much effort, Sang Zhiyi convinced Wang Hongzhi.

 

The reason was simple: injustice always stirs indignation in people’s hearts.

 

Chen Junze’s cultural class scores in high school were only average.

 

At least Wang Hongzhi himself was not much worse than him, and even better in some areas.

 

The main reason Chen Junze was able to get into a good university in a big city was because of that painting, and that painting should have belonged to Wang Hongzhi.

 

If Wang Hongzhi had been able to take the college entrance exam, even if he hadn’t gotten into a university as good as Chen Junze’s, he would not have fared too badly.

 

You have to understand, in this impoverished mountain town, even getting into any undergraduate program was already very difficult and something to be proud of.

 

Although here, art students generally just aimed for a high school diploma, Wang Hongzhi also had a dream of going to university.

 

If he could have gotten into a good university, no matter how poor his family was, he would have gone without food or drink all summer to earn the tuition.

 

Why should Chen Junze get to go to a big city to study using his painting, while he had to stay in his hometown, doing heavy labor day after day?

 

Why?!

Wang Hongzhi was deeply resentful!

 

But Wang Hongzhi was no longer a student living in an ivory tower.

He had many concerns.

“How can I prove that painting is mine just by my own word?

He’s a university student, he’s got way more connections than I do…”

Wang Hongzhi looked at Sang Zhiyi, who didn’t even seem twenty years old, and grew even more worried.

“You’re just a young girl.

Going against a grown man like him, you’re at a disadvantage!

You said your friend was hurt badly by him; what if he hurts you too?”

 

Wang Hongzhi’s kindness was evident.

Sang Zhiyi smiled and said to him, “Thank you for your concern.

Just provide the evidence I ask for.

Leave the rest to me.”

 

Sang Zhiyi’s voice was not loud, her tone did not fluctuate much, quite calm.

 

But looking at this young girl’s composed eyes and feeling the calm, confident aura emanating from her, Wang Hongzhi ultimately chose to believe her.

 

She had a convincing energy.

“…Alright.”

Wang Hongzhi gritted his teeth and made his decision.

“Whatever you say needs to be done, I’ll cooperate!”

 

At worst, he was taking a gamble!

 

***

 

It was a full ten days before Sang Zhiyi returned from Chen Junze’s hometown.

 

That very day, Sang Zhiyi used Shi Qiongqiong’s phone to log into her social media account for the first time in a long while, posting with a trending hashtag, identifying herself as the female college student rumored to be selling her body at a bar.

 

The identity of “female college student” had generated considerable traffic when the incident first broke out.

 

After all, for some people, even if nothing else, the words “female college student” alone were enough to fill their minds with trash and attract their intense attention.

 

Shi Qiongqiong had met Chen Junze soon after starting university, only a few months ago, and had just turned eighteen.

 

Sang Zhiyi bought website promotions and directly announced to everyone that she would be doing a live face-to-face broadcast on the country’s largest live streaming platform tomorrow at 8 p.m. to clarify all the rumors and slanders she had suffered during that time.

 

The dirty water that had been poured on her, she would openly and honorably splash back.

 

Not a single drop missed.

 

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