Chapter 64

After hearing Gao Xiaojuan’s story, all the girls in the car were fuming with rage.

How could there be such a shameless man?

Oh, so back then, you lusted after a young and pretty girl, coaxed her into marrying you, had her bear your children, and even stay in the countryside to farm and serve your parents. That was you.

Now you’ve met some rich woman who could save you thirty years of struggle, and you’re hiding it from your wife, using the money she worked hard to earn to chase after that woman. Then you want a divorce and to abandon your wife and kids? That’s you again!

Why hasn’t the heavens struck you down with lightning yet?

“Are you stupid? After everything this family has done to you, you took the kids and tried to drown yourself? Wouldn’t that be just what that scumbag wanted?” Yang Junyao glared at Gao Xiaojuan, furious at her for giving up so easily.

If she were in Gao Xiaojuan’s shoes, and the in-laws made her life hell? Then no one would get to live peacefully!

If she didn’t want to live anymore, she’d set the whole damn family on fire first, then stab that bastard to death! And if she couldn’t kill him, she’d make sure he became a eunuch. If she was going down, she’d take them all with her!

By now, Gao Xiaojuan was no longer in that completely hopeless state. She had come to her senses. Looking at her two children, how could she still be willing to die for a piece of trash like that?

Just then, the local police officers arrived.

After listening to everyone’s animated and overlapping retelling, even the officer couldn’t help but glance at Gao Xiaojuan with sympathy.

But sympathy was one thing. According to current law, Gao Jiaping cheating on his wife and wanting a divorce to remarry only counted as moral failure. Since he and the mistress were only dating and not cohabiting, he couldn’t even be charged with bigamy…

“Is there really no other way to deal with scumbags like this?” Yang Junyao was absolutely livid.

No wonder she was so emotionally invested. She herself had secretly gotten involved in a “not quite lovers” fling with a young, rising male celebrity in the industry, behind her agent’s back.

She had been eagerly waiting for the guy to confess. But before he could say anything, he latched onto a rich woman from outside the entertainment circle…

And what was even more disgusting? After their relationship was exposed, the scumbag had the gall to set himself up as some kind of deep, devoted lover. Claimed the only reason he didn’t make their relationship public was to protect his girlfriend who wasn’t in the business. Had all his female fans bawling over his “true love” story, hyping him up as the most amazing man alive. Pfft!

Because of that whole mess, Yang Junyao had been nauseated by the mere sight of men for a long time. Sealed off her heart like cement, and focused on making money instead.

And honestly? Ever since she stopped dealing with men, even the air around her felt fresher~

Over on the other side, the police officer carefully questioned Gao Xiaojuan’s situation. Upon hearing she had been abandoned as a child, her adoptive mother had passed away, and she had no natal family to back her up, he sighed and offered a suggestion—one that might feel humiliating, but at least gave her and her kids a chance at a stable life:

“This kind of behavior may not be illegal, but from a moral standpoint, it’s definitely something society will condemn.”

“You said your husband’s new girlfriend comes from a wealthy family? Do they know about all this? Does his workplace know?”

“My advice: try to find some relatives or friends who can help you negotiate a divorce. If your husband wants to marry some rich lady, he definitely won’t want her family to find out he abandoned his wife and kids.”

“Miss, this man’s heart has changed. And with a rich woman dangling in front of him, he’s not coming back. Instead of trying to get him back, you should think about how to recover your losses.”

You know how the saying goes: you can lie to me about love, but don’t you dare cheat me out of money!

Gao Xiaojuan had been married into the Gao family for years, and spent a lot of money on them. She had to get that money back.

Not to mention child support—he wants a divorce? Doesn’t want the kids? Fine! But the support payments better be paid in full!

“If you really decide to go through with this, it’s best to bring a few trustworthy relatives with you to his workplace. You never know when a desperate dog might lash out… Ahem! I didn’t say anything, alright?” The police officer glanced around as he hinted.

Just then, a few villagers came running over, panting. The woman in front burst into tears the moment she saw Gao Xiaojuan.

“Juan’er! Juan’er, what were you thinking? If something’s wrong, why not come home and talk about it? Even if you don’t care about yourself, think of the children!”

The middle-aged woman pulled Gao Xiaojuan into her arms, and the two clung to each other, crying their hearts out.

A woman in her early thirties followed behind, eyes blazing with fury. She grabbed the two children and checked them over. Seeing they were fine, she pinched Gao Xiaojuan—hard—twice.

As she pinched, she cursed—

“Gao Xiaojuan, you coward! You had the guts to take Dabao and Xiaobao and jump into the river, but you didn’t have the guts to torch that heartless family?”

“If I were you, anyone who dared treat me like that—I wouldn’t let a single one of them live! I’d burn his damn parents first! Then hang myself at his workplace! If I die, I’m taking some of them with me!”

“They’ve already shut every door on you, and you’re still trying to leave them a way out? Get up! Come on! We’re going to the Gao family right now and smashing that house to bits!”

The older woman had been crying, but after her daughter-in-law shouted like that, she couldn’t even get the tears out anymore.

These were Gao Xiaojuan’s adoptive mother’s sister-in-law and her eldest daughter-in-law, Zhang Minru.

When they heard that Gao Xiaojuan had tried to drown herself with her two children and had been rescued, they rushed over immediately. Her natal home wasn’t far from the Gao family—it only took about ten minutes on foot.

Back when her adoptive mother arranged her marriage, she deliberately looked for someone close by, fearing that if her daughter married too far away, and got bullied by her in-laws, there’d be no one to stand up for her.

Thankfully, she hadn’t married too far off, or the Gao family would’ve gone even further.

When Zhang Minru said she wanted to go smash up the Gao family’s house, the older woman could only laugh through her tears and pointed at the police standing nearby: “My dear girl, calm down, will you? The officers are still here! You’re yelling about arson and murder right in front of them—aren’t you afraid they’ll arrest you?”

The officer coughed a couple of times and said solemnly, “Everyone needs to stay calm! But now that the family is here and the person in question is emotionally stable, if there’s nothing else, we’ll take our leave.”

As for whether or not they actually went and smashed up the Gao family’s house? Well… when the Gaos call to report it, the police will be back then, right?

“Pfft~” Zhang Minru chuckled and assured the officer that she’d definitely (calmly) wait until after they left to pay the Gao family a nice little visit.

And if the conversation didn’t go well and things got physical? That’s just rural life, isn’t it?

Which village doesn’t see a few brawls a year?

You want peace? Fine! Pay back every cent Gao Xiaojuan spent on that family! Not a single penny less—or her natal family wouldn’t let it slide!

The police soon left.

The director told the driver to take Gao Xiaojuan and her natal family back to the village. That very night, news came in: dozens of people from her side had shown up, some carrying, some hauling, and they’d pretty much emptied out the entire Gao household.

Even the Wuling mini truck that Gao Xiaojun bought for her father-in-law with her own money was driven away by her in-laws.

“This is killing me! I heard from people in the village that Gao Xiaojun’s mother-in-law was even chasing after them, yelling that her future daughter-in-law comes from a rich and powerful family and definitely wouldn’t let them off the hook.” Second Senior Sister Yang Junyao had little to do since her scenes were few, so she went to the village entrance to listen to gossip for a while. When she got back, she couldn’t wait to share the news.

“Oh my god! That old woman must be legally illiterate, right? How dare she? Her son cheated during the marriage, and the whole family secretly transferred marital assets behind the daughter-in-law’s back. And what they transferred was the money the daughter-in-law worked hard to earn through social media! A scandal like this is already bad enough, and she still had the audacity to rely on the mistress for support?” Wei Sheng was utterly speechless.

He really wanted to yell for Gao Xiaojun: If you’ve got the guts, go ahead and sue them now! Whoever doesn’t sue is a coward!

Might as well shout it out loud for the whole world to hear—your son cheated during marriage! That mistress knew he was taken and still did it anyway!

“Don’t worry, a netizen already filed a report for her.” Shen Yi waved his phone. The group of gossip-lovers quickly pulled up Gao Xiaojun’s social media account—and sure enough! In the latest video, accompanied by her family, Gao Xiaojun announced she would be pausing updates. She briefly explained that her husband had cheated during their marriage and had begun secretly transferring jointly owned marital property.

“Everyone knows I’ve been raising two kids on my own, and I don’t have a high level of education. That’s why I entrusted my social media operations to a company. Now that Gao Jiaping’s family is trying to transfer our jointly owned assets, I have to protect the legal rights of the company, so I’ll be pausing my livestreams and updates.”

“Next, I’ll be hiring a lawyer and formally filing for divorce from Gao Jiaping! I also hope my fans won’t be misled by public opinion. I’m doing well—my family is with me, and Gao Jiaping’s people don’t dare to bully me anymore. As for the man who cheated during marriage and abandoned me and the kids, even if the law can’t do much, he won’t escape moral judgment!”

“Well said!” Wei Sheng couldn’t help but praise her.

Then he opened his phone, found Gao Xiaojun’s personal account, and without hesitation reposted her announcement. As a celebrity, he publicly stood up for her—

“On the way to filming, I saw Sister Xiaojun jumping into the river with her two kids. Fortunately, our action director reacted quickly and saved them. I was a witness—if Sister Xiaojun needs someone to testify in court, I’m willing to do so.”

So you thought you could bully a woman with no parents and no backing?

There are plenty of good-hearted people in the world, okay?

What Wei Sheng didn’t say was that if the lawyer Gao Xiaojun hired wasn’t good enough, he could totally find her someone better. After all, there was already a legal ace living in their neighborhood—but, well, no need to play that card just yet.

“Junior Brother, did you really just speak out that directly? Don’t you need President Zhou’s permission?” Yang Junyao was startled.

Their personal social media accounts were usually managed by the company. Even if they wanted to post something themselves, it had to be reviewed in advance—especially when it came to controversial social issues. Most of the time, everyone stayed silent. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to speak out—it was that the company wouldn’t allow it.

After all, many social incidents these days come with unexpected reversals. The company prefers to play it safe, not wanting its artists to get caught in the crossfire and ruin their careers over a moment of passion. It just wasn’t worth it.

“No need. When I signed my contract, I made a special note about this—my personal social account belongs to me. As long as what I post is legal, reasonable, and compliant, why shouldn’t I post it?”

Everyone else: “…”

This guy really has zero sense of how to be a celebrity. Just wait until President Zhou blows up at you!

Sure enough, not long after Wei Sheng hit post, Zhou Mingxing’s call came in like a storm.

Everyone perked up their ears, ready to hear Zhou Mingxing unleash his signature creative insults.

But shockingly, Zhou didn’t call to scold him—instead, he warned Wei Sheng to quickly turn off his DMs. As for the comments? Whatever. The kid already had a bunch of haters anyway. A few more wouldn’t make a difference.

Wait, what? That’s… not normal!

Since when did Zhou Mingxing get so chill?

“Isn’t it obvious? President Zhou has a daughter too. Think about it—given how much he dotes on her, if one day Zhou Yinuo ended up like Gao Xiaojun, married to a cheating scumbag who secretly transferred money and bullied her for not having family support, President Zhou would probably claw his way out of his grave to fight for her!”

“Pfft—when you put it that way, you’re right. Since you posted already, I’ll post too.”

Shen Yi pulled out her phone, reposted Gao Xiaojun’s statement, and added a comment saying that, as a fellow crew member, she was also a witness and would testify in court if needed.

“Screw it! If you’re all posting, I’m posting too!” Yang Junyao grabbed her phone, switched to her private alt account, typed up a message, and quickly reposted Gao Xiaojun’s Weibo.

“If I get yelled at, so be it. I just want to say: Go, Sister Xiaojun! We’re all your family now! We’ve got your back!”

“You guys are just… never mind!” Zhang Hanxing also pulled out his phone, wrote up a quick message, and reposted Gao Xiaojun’s post using his own alt account.

“I’m a witness too. Willing to testify for Sister Xiaojun. Finally, I just want to say: stay rational, everyone, but call out what needs calling out. I’ll go first—ugh! Scumbag who abandons his wife and kids! I’ll be keeping an eye on this situation and am willing to offer legal or other help to Sister Xiaojun.”

Damn! A whole group of celebrities publicly standing up for a stranger—this immediately drew the attention of others in the industry who hadn’t even heard about the incident yet.

Normally, celebrities avoid jumping into social controversies because they’re already under the public microscope. They don’t want to stir up trouble. But this case was different. Wei Sheng and the others hadn’t just heard about the news—they were in the news. They were eyewitnesses, and their crew had saved the mother and children.

Like Wei Sheng said, they weren’t just bystanders sharing a headline. They were involved.

Other than Gao Xiaojun herself, no one had more right to speak up than they did.

Maybe it was because he’d grown up with his grandmother, always hanging out with the aunties and grannies in the neighborhood, but Wei Sheng had zero tolerance for bullying women.

People often said the older generation of women were fierce and sharp-tongued—but who would’ve guessed that, when they were young, those same grannies were once gentle and obedient girls?

If not for being ground down by marriage and life, forced to grow tough and aggressive, who would willingly become the “unlikable shrew”?

Women in that era, once married—unless they got lucky with a good husband and mother-in-law—mostly had it worse than when they were girls living at home. Especially when the in-laws were difficult, always scheming to suppress the new bride. If a woman didn’t learn to fight back, she’d be crushed.

And that’s not even counting scumbags like Gao Jiaping. Gao Xiaojun suffered through childbirth for him back in their hometown, looked after his parents, and even brought in income. And what did he do in return?

To reduce his own struggle by thirty years, he latched onto a rich woman. But to do so, he heartlessly abandoned his wife and children, and even tried to make off with the savings his wife had painstakingly accumulated over the years. Calling someone like him a beast would be an insult to actual beasts.

If he really wanted to climb the social ladder, he should’ve divorced his wife first and given her a chance to start over. Then he could go pursue his second spring fair and square.

But no—he couldn’t let go of the power and influence of his mistress’s family, nor could he give up the money in his wife’s hands. He wanted the best of both worlds. If that’s not despicable, then what is?

Several celebrities publicly spoke out in support of Gao Xiaojun, and the whole thing blew up instantly.

The social impact of the matter was seriously negative, and the evidence was ironclad. With the help of her lawyer, Gao Xiaojun released a secret recording of a heated argument with her mother-in-law.

Gao Jiaping had always been very cautious. Even when confronted by his wife over the phone, he never admitted to cheating during their marriage. He knew perfectly well that if this got out at work, his reputation would be in ruins—and even his current secret girlfriend would probably dump him. So he stuck to his denial no matter what.

After all, he hadn’t lived with the other woman, just gone out to eat a few times, given her gifts and flowers. No solid proof, right? How could it count as cheating?

But Gao Jiaping had two incredibly stupid teammates—his own parents.

Once Gao Xiaojun had arranged for her two kids to be taken care of, she went back to the Gao household with her family to retrieve what was rightfully hers. During the confrontation, Gao Jiaping’s parents accidentally spilled the beans.

One of them said, “My son’s a college graduate! He’s a leader at his workplace! And you, a country girl without even a high school diploma—how are you worthy of being our daughter-in-law? A city girl like Xiaolei is the one who deserves that title!”

The other chimed in, “Juan’er, if you really care about the kids, then let go and let Jiaping be with Xiaolei. Once he makes it big, Da Bao and Xiao Bao will have a rich and powerful father—they’ll benefit from it too!”

Good lord. They outright admitted their son had cheated.

At first, when a few celebrities started to speak up, netizens were still saying things like, “We don’t know the full story, no comment,” and tried to stay rational, not wanting to get played by celebrity hype.

But as soon as that recording came out? Screw rational. People wanted to go full savage on this story.

“As the parents, so is the son. No wonder he cheated and tried to hide assets—his parents trained him that way!”

“Who says guys from the countryside are humble and dependable? Come on, take a look at Gao Jiaping!”

“I was going to stay rational and not take it out on other innocent guys… But Gao Jiaping, you scumbag! Calling you a beast is an insult to the livestock I raise! At least livestock can be sold for money at the end of the year—Gao Xiaojun supported your whole family and this is how you repay her? Cheating and keeping a mistress on her dime? What kind of man are you?”

“I’m about to lose my mind. Gao Jiaping, how could you? Bullying a girl with no parents?”

“Unbelievable. Life is already hard enough for guys from rural backgrounds, and Gao Jiaping single-handedly made it ten times harder. I say every unmarried man from the countryside should each punch him twice!”

“Don’t spend money on men! Feeling sorry for a man will ruin your whole life. Spending money on a man will ruin three lives. Spending money on his whole family? That’s a curse for three lifetimes!”

Zhou Mingxing had a point. Wei Sheng had a lot of haters—or rather, the industry itself was cutthroat. Other rookies in his age bracket were either trying to eliminate competition or block any potential breakout stars. Wei Sheng hadn’t found his footing yet, and they were eager to stomp out his spark before it turned into a fire.

As soon as Wei Sheng spoke out, trolls flooded his comment section. Some mocked him for desperately chasing fame, even trying to ride the coattails of a D-list influencer’s divorce scandal. Others said he had no shame, daring to insert himself into even a net celeb’s cheating mess.

After all, scandals involving infidelity are unpredictable. Some foolish women still dream that the man will come back for the kids’ sake once the public turns on him. And when they reconcile later, all the people who stood up for her are left looking like fools.

The whole internet was waiting for Wei Sheng to crash and burn so they could trample him to death.

Zhou Mingxing was secretly sweating, even ready to shell out for PR teams and bots to help Wei Sheng weather the storm.

Why didn’t he immediately order Wei Sheng to delete the post when it first went up?

Heh. He’s got a daughter too, okay?

If society keeps tolerating scumbags who cheat, then who the hell would dare marry off their precious daughters in the future? And those trash men? They’re actually smug, thinking today’s marriage laws protect their interests.

Little do they know—the more the law protects men, the more girls are scared of marriage!

The end result? Girls just want to earn and spend their own money, avoid marriage, and skip the burdens of being a wife. So go ahead, wear the marriage law like a protective charm—no one’s marrying you anyway. Let the law bless you with lifelong bachelorhood!

What Zhou Mingxing didn’t expect, though, was that while he was prepping for a crisis, the trolls were already being chased down and flamed to oblivion by Wei Sheng’s fans and random justice-loving netizens.

Especially Gao Xiaojun’s fans, and the many women who sympathized with her situation—when they saw Wei Sheng getting dragged for speaking up on her behalf? They were livid.

“You’re seriously siding with the cheater? Say it! Are you one of Gao Jiaping’s paid trolls?”

No? Then why smear Wei Sheng?

What? You just don’t like him? Great! Wei Sheng is a good person. If you don’t like him, that means you’re the problem. Flame on!

In no time, trolls flooding Wei Sheng’s comment section were chased off with their tails between their legs.

It was Wei Sheng’s first time experiencing just how terrifying fan-powered traffic could be.

No wonder Sister Yi always told him to be cautious when posting. Watching his likes and comments explode, Wei Sheng silently put his phone away.

He had no scenes the following afternoon, so he decided to buy some things and visit Gao Xiaojun and her kids—see how they were doing, and also check whether that lawyer she hired was actually reliable.

If not, they needed to switch immediately. Divorce lawsuits weren’t the scary part—what was scary was that Gao Xiaojun was an influencer. Before the scandal, she only had a few hundred thousand followers. Now she had over three million.

And in today’s traffic-driven era, followers equal money.

A big account with over three million followers, if managed well, could easily make tens of millions a year.

Why else did Gao Jiaping scramble to transfer marital assets? He was clearly eyeing the nest egg Gao Xiaojun had built over the years.

If he found out she was about to earn even more going forward, he might cry crocodile tears and play the “repentant scumbag” act just to worm his way back into her life.

Hell no. Gao Xiaojun better not lose her mind and fall for his lies again!

Wei Sheng suddenly felt that, with his personality, he might actually be well-suited for working at the Women’s Federation or a neighborhood office. What a life destined to worry over others!

He hadn’t expected that after hearing he was going to visit Gao Xiaojuan, both Shen Yi and Yang Junyao wanted to go along too—even Zhang Hanxing, the aloof and cool guy, quietly tagged along.

Thinking about how Gao Xiaojuan had two kids at home, Wei Sheng decided to stop by the village convenience store to buy some practical things: milk and cereal, assorted snack packs, fruits, and pastries. Even if they couldn’t finish it all, they could share it with relatives.

“You’re going to see Xiaojuan too, aren’t you? Sigh, that poor girl has had such a hard life! That old Gao family really sinned big this time!” the store owner sighed, then gave Wei Sheng a discount and even threw in a handful of lollipops, asking him to pass them along to Gao Xiaojuan’s children.

Those two kids were really obedient and thoughtful. Back before Gao Xiaojuan started doing social media and money was tight, her eldest son would always comfort her whenever he saw other kids buying snacks after school, saying he didn’t like snacks.

But what child doesn’t like snacks? He just knew his mom couldn’t afford them, so he pretended not to like them.

Who would’ve thought—such a lovely pair of children, and that beast Gao Jiaping still didn’t know how to cherish them!

(End of this chapter)