Chapter 26
A few days later, Zhang Yang found herself sitting in the office of the human resources director.
As a grassroots employee, it was not the purview of a high-level executive to intervene in promotion and dismissal decisions. It seemed that the online backlash had frightened them. A conservative state-owned enterprise with decades of establishment suddenly had over 30,000 comments on its dormant Weibo account overnight. The customer service phone lines were inundated with calls demanding the termination of one employee.
Zhang Yang had never imagined that things would escalate to this point. Or perhaps she had considered it, but the reality was far bloodier and crueler than her imagination.
She had been doxxed, stripped naked and thrown onto the street for everyone to see. She couldn’t even remember which class she had in elementary school, but now even unrelated passersby knew. Her old photos were edited with humiliating words and materials, widely spread across the internet. People claiming to be her classmates, friends, and neighbors fabricated and exposed her dark secrets. Her past statements were magnified, dissected word by word, distorted and misinterpreted, and any slight gain she had made was heralded like a discovery of a new continent, attracting comments, shares, and likes. Her phone was bombarded with calls, and her messages were filled with various forms of insults. She had to turn off her cellular data and rely solely on Wi-Fi.
All the tactics she had used with her fans to attack her adversaries were now bouncing back at her like a fiercely hit squash ball, directly hitting her face.
Netizens had created numerous versions of the story behind her “200,000 yuan,” such as gambling debts, loans, excessive spending, or simply greed—for the sheer sake of greed.
Since Xiao He Miao was an organization, attacking an organization was not as effective as attacking an individual. But the public’s hatred for charity scandals, their disgust toward fan circles, and their hidden personal motives were all vented onto Zhang Yang. This might be the highest level of attention she had ever received in her life. Even Sheng Shi was surely paying attention to her. Being noticed by Sheng Shi had been her biggest dream, but not in this excruciatingly painful way.
After receiving numerous reports, it was impossible to conceal the incident of her misplacing 200,000 yuan a few months ago. Anyone with a brain could understand the logical connection—whether it tarnished the company’s image or involved misappropriation of funds, it provided sufficient grounds for a state-owned enterprise, even with surplus staff, to dismiss an employee.
But considering that her parents had been dedicated employees of the company for their entire lives, they decided to let her resign voluntarily. They would settle her final wages, saving her some face.
The iron rice bowl that Zhang Yang had once looked down upon but had to hold onto tightly shattered like glass, leaving shards scattered on the ground.
Zhang Yang didn’t know how she made it back home. Did her heavy and stiff body still house a soul?
In just a few months, she had lost everything—her house, savings, job, and reputation.
Why did fate treat her like this? Was she truly so irredeemable?
She wasn’t a bad person. She just had a little bit of selfishness, a little bit of impulsiveness. What did she do wrong to deserve such punishment?
Ah, she had killed someone. Yes, she had killed someone. She had killed the person she loved. She had committed the greatest evil in the world. She had escaped the clutches of the law but could never escape the condemnation of her conscience and the consequences of karma. These were her punishments.
So, she deserved it.
Since Ke Yu’s death, she hadn’t shed a single tear. She sacrificed her tear ducts to be buried alongside her loved one, forever sealed beneath the earth and within the coffin. Rotting away along with life, youth, humanity, and soul.
That’s why she didn’t cry. She accepted this blow, appearing calm on the surface but dead inside.
Since she arrived home early, Ke Yao hadn’t cooked yet. He looked at her with a mixture of surprise and expectation, as if to say, “Look, I didn’t leave the house.”
Zhang Yang sat on the couch, motionless, staring at Ke Yao. For the first time since Ke Yu’s death, she looked directly at Ke Yao. She felt that her nightmare had materialized, and the person before her was the embodiment of that nightmare—the beginning of everything, an unstoppable avalanche.
Ke Yao felt uncomfortable under Zhang Yang’s gaze. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I got fired,” Zhang Yang said.
Seeing no reaction from Ke Yao, she continued, “Now that you’re online too, you should know that I’m being heavily criticized by countless people.”
Ke Yao nodded.
“Then do you know why?” Zhang Yang asked, her eyes hollow. “It’s because of you. I wanted to buy you and bring you home, but I didn’t have enough money, so I used money that didn’t belong to me. Now that this matter has been exposed, I got fired, and I have no job.”
Ke Yao shook his head again.
“…”
“Being unemployed means no money, and we won’t have a place to live and no food to eat in the future,” Zhang Yang laughed bitterly.
“Is it my fault?” Ke Yao finally lifted his face and gazed at Zhang Yang with his incredibly beautiful, clear eyes.
This statement was extremely subtle. The Chinese language is vast and profound, and saying this sentence with different tones would give it completely different meanings. Ke Yao’s tone was smooth and calm, delivered with precision, right on the blurry boundary between questioning, questioning back, and questioning.
Zhang Yang was stunned.
Was Ke Yao mocking her? Had Ke Yao learned to be sarcastic?
Lost in her thoughts, Zhang Yang realized that Ke Yao had already walked into the kitchen. “What would you like for dinner? Stir-fried asparagus, perhaps?”
Zhang Yang jumped up from the couch and ran to the kitchen, her voice becoming sharp. “Didn’t you hear me say I got fired, have no money, and will soon have no place to live and no food to eat?”
“What should we do then?” Ke Yao took out the asparagus from the refrigerator, checking if it was fresh.
Zhang Yang trembled all over. She could interpret this nonchalant attitude as Ke Yao not understanding what unemployment meant, but her intuition told her that Ke Yao understood perfectly well and was deliberately provoking her. She sneered, “Do you think this has nothing to do with you?”
Ke Yao frowned. “I don’t know,” he asked again, “What do we do without money?”
Zhang Yang breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that she had overthought it. Although Ke Yao could now communicate with her normally, the difference was only like growing from three years old to eight years old. She shook her head, a malicious expression appearing on her face. “If we have no money, then you should sell yourself.”
Ke Yao scratched his head, neither confirming nor denying, and started washing the vegetables and cooking.
Zhang Yang didn’t think of it as a prophecy. After all, Mina hadn’t contacted them for a long time. Even if she really wanted to sell Ke Yao, she had no means to do so.
But that evening, Mina sent her a voice call.
Zhang Yang was prepared to be ridiculed. Even the fan circle sisters who had once been close to her, simply blocking her instead of exposing her, could be considered as caring for old times. Many people were involved in exposing and criticizing her, such as Er Guan and Jing Yiyi.
Not to mention Mina.
“You got fired?” As expected, that was the first sentence.
“Didn’t you see?” The official account of the company already posted an announcement.
Mina chuckled twice. “I haven’t contacted you for a while. Did you think Bai Jie would let you off the hook? She’s the kind of person who seeks revenge for the smallest grievances. How could she willingly become a scapegoat?”
Zhang Yang replied coldly, “Was it her doing?”
“The Xiao He Miao incident wasn’t her doing. She didn’t have enough power to know about your secret with Xiao He Miao. But later, she spent money to target you,” Mina said coldly, “What you said earlier makes some sense. The barefoot person isn’t afraid of those who wear shoes. Bai Jie indeed can’t pressure you too much, but that doesn’t mean she can swallow her anger.”
Zhang Yang clenched her fist, her eyes filled with a venomous light. “When did you become her lackey? What do you want to do? What does she want to do?”
“F*ck, use your pig brain and think for a moment. You’re the one I brought in. If you refuse to compensate her, do you think she will let me go? Five million, Ke Yu spent five million on her. Ke Yu is dead, she not only lost five million, but also offended Mr. Wen, which means the rule of law. Otherwise, she would have killed you long ago.”
“The fact that Ke Yu is dead,” those four words, like golden needles piercing vital points, always inflicted the deepest and most painful wounds on Zhang Yang. She burst into laughter, sounding slightly mad. “Then just kill me. There’s no meaning in living anyway. I have nothing left now, so give me a good ending.”
“Don’t f*cking pretend to be crazy or stupid.” Mina hated her as she said, “If you want to bury this matter, there’s only one way.”
“Tell me.”
“Compensate Ke Yao to her.”
“It’s impossible.” Zhang Yang laughed strangely. “I came this far because of Ke Yao. I’ve given everything for him. Now he’s the only one I have left, even in death, I will take him with me to the coffin!”
“Bai Jie is willing to pay 500,000. Ke Yao is worth six million, Ke Yu was worth five million. The difference is exactly one million. She’s offering you 500,000 less, considering it as your compensation to her.”
Zhang Yang fell silent.
“I know you need money. Don’t you still owe the landlord tens of thousands? Without a job, you probably only have a few thousand in your pocket,” Mina said disdainfully, “With this 500,000, it’s enough to provide you with a buffer for a year or two, to start over. If you leave Beijing and go to a small city, you can even afford a down payment for a house.”
Zhang Yang felt a sense of suffocation in her chest, almost unable to catch her breath. She gritted her teeth and said, “I spent six million, six million to buy Ke Yao! You want me to sell him for 500,000?!”
“That’s right, who made you go crazy and kill Ke Yu?” Mina threatened, “I haven’t let anyone know yet that you did it intentionally, but I won’t let your stupid actions drag me down. Compensate Ke Yao to Bai Jie, and this matter will be over. Otherwise, it will never end.”
Zhang Yang bit her lip heavily, feeling that even if someone stabbed her with a knife, it wouldn’t hurt more than it did now. Whether she loved Ke Yao or hated him, or a mix of both, it no longer mattered. What mattered was that Ke Yao was the only thing she had left. With Ke Yao, she could still witness what she had gained from sacrificing everything. Occasionally, she could even deceive herself into thinking it was worth it. Without Ke Yao, she would simply lose everything and the endless remorse would torture her.
That damn bitch actually wanted to take Ke Yao away with just 500,000!
But, how many choices did she have left?
Starting over, what an enticing phrase. It represented removing the festering sore, escaping the predicament, abandoning the past, and signified a future filled with infinite hope. Countless times she wanted to start over, to go back to the day she could rewrite her fate, to stop herself from making all the mistakes and start anew.
“Think about it carefully. This is your last chance. I can’t guarantee that Bai Jie won’t do anything to you,” Mina said indifferently before hanging up the phone.
Zhang Yang slumped on the sofa, her mind going blank.
She thought about running away, taking Ke Yao and fleeing. Forget about the debts, forget about Bai Jie, forget about the investigation. The few thousand yuan in her pocket would be enough for them to go to a small city, find a temporary job to make ends meet, change their identities, and then…
And then what?
Living the lowest-tier life, doing the most menial job, living in the lowest-tier housing, with a man who can never go out to work and now despises her. Is that what life is? A life without happiness, without hope, forever burdened with fear and regret. Does it have any meaning to continue living?
Perhaps, only by escaping from all this and getting a sum of money would she have a chance to truly “start over.”
During those days of endless hesitation, Zhang Yang became increasingly impatient and weary of Ke Yao. It was as if Ke Yao’s face bore the evidence of her mistakes, failures, and regrets. His existence was a testament to how she had messed up her own life, a lifelong disgrace.
But even so, she was unwilling to give him to someone else.
She was on the verge of going crazy.
After three days of idling at home after losing her job, Zhang Yang received a friend request on WeChat from an unfamiliar person. The request said: Friend of Mushroom.
Zhang Yang’s curiosity was piqued. Although Mushroom hadn’t stepped on her this time, Mushroom had deleted her. Who was this person, and why did they want to add her?
At a time when everyone was kicking her while she was down, if there was someone willing to help her or even just console her, it would be precious to her.
So she accepted the request and asked proactively: Who is this?
The other person replied: Hello, I’m Fiona from Shengshi Studio.
Zhang Yang immediately responded: Hello, do you have something to discuss with me?
She knew a few people from Shengshi Studio, but she hadn’t interacted with this person before.
Fiona: I have something very important to discuss, and I hope we can talk face to face. Can we arrange a meeting? Trust me, this matter will also benefit you. You can choose the time and place.
Zhang Yang: Alright.
Zhang Yang felt a bit excited. Why would Shengshi Studio be looking for her? Could it be that they recognized her ability in the fan circle and wanted to hire her? She scolded herself for being unrealistic, thinking that they probably wanted to help her prepare her testimony to ensure that she wouldn’t have a negative impact on Shengshi when cooperating with regulatory authorities.
Regardless, she felt guilty towards her brother, her main account had been criticized to the point of being deleted, her life was in shambles, and she no longer had the energy to chase after idols. Perhaps this was the last thing she could do for her brother. So no matter what the matter was, she would do her best.
After changing into suitable clothes, Zhang Yang left with a nervous heart.
But when she arrived at the designated location, the person she saw wasn’t the unfamiliar Fiona, but Shengshi’s agent, a well-known veteran agent in the industry—Yuan Fei.
