Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Can You Teach Me How to Retort?
The slap utterly dumbstruck Liang Shuqi.
After that slap, Xiao Fang simply covered her face and squatted on the ground, sobbing.
She and Liang Shuqi had been in love since college and had remained together until today.
After graduation, Liang Shuqi might not have been very capable, but he was ambitious. For their happy life, he delivered takeout for more than ten hours a day, from dawn till dusk. Moreover, he started an UP account in his free time, uploading videos and earning some money. His monthly income was also over 10,000.
Everything was developing in a good direction. They even started to dream about saving enough money to get married at the end of the year.
But today, when she got off work, she heard from her neighbors that her boyfriend had been taken away by the police!
"Why would you suddenly go and commit such an illegal and criminal act?"
"Don’t you think about yourself, or about our future at all?"
She sobbed quietly, her face full of confusion and incomprehension.
On her way here, she had specifically looked up the crime of poisoning. Once this crime was established, even if it didn’t result in any consequences, the sentence would be three to ten years!
And even if Liang Shuqi was released from prison, the rest of his life might be ruined. If they were to marry and have children, their child wouldn’t even be eligible to take the civil service exam!
"Xiao Fang... I... I don’t know what happened either..."
Liang Shuqi consoled his girlfriend while bitterly recounting everything he had done this year. From start to finish, he had simply spat some phlegm; he hadn’t added any poisonous or harmful substances. Yet he was charged with poisoning. He still couldn’t figure out what was happening.
"I think the root of the problem might be my cold, but..." Liang Shuqi glanced at his girlfriend and said with a wronged look on his face, "This cold, you clearly passed it to me."
His cold was indeed influenza. A few days ago, his girlfriend had caught it and then passed it to him.
"What do you mean by that?"
Xiao Fang listened, tears still not dry, and involuntarily stepped back a few paces.
If just spitting phlegm could constitute the crime of poisoning, then she, the original source... was she going to be arrested too? The key point is... she wasn’t the origin of the cold; she caught it from her company’s boss.
「At the same time,」
Mountain and Water Garden District.
Qin Mu had just finished his meal downstairs and returned home.
After this takeout incident, he was a bit like someone once bitten by a snake, now wary of a well rope for ten years; he didn’t dare order takeout anymore.
This time he was lucky to have spotted the phlegm. If he had been a bit less careful, he might have ingested it. Although takeout is convenient, no one truly knows how it’s made, its recipe, or what happens during delivery. Most unscrupulous vendors use pre-packaged meals for their set dishes. These are mass-produced in factories and then preserved in cold storage, full of artificial flavors and colors. They taste good but definitely can’t be considered healthy or fresh.
A few years ago, such dubious factories were exposed.Therefore, he now went directly to the noodle shops and restaurants downstairs for meals. At least it was somewhat more reassuring that way.
After arriving home, he also received a call from Captain Shen, who informed him that Liang Shuqi had been arrested and detained. He had confessed to the "poisoning" act without reservation; all that remained was DNA testing and identification. Once a complete chain of evidence was formed, a public prosecution could be initiated, and a trial could begin.
At the same time, once the crime of poisoning was confirmed, the eight online instigators Qin Mu had reported could also be arrested.
"Finally, some good news."
Qin Mu stretched lazily and lay down comfortably on the sofa.
Afterward, he browsed his phone for a while and opened the video that Liang Shuqi had posted last night.
The video’s views had reached 5,000,000. And it seemed to be gaining popularity, as if the platform’s algorithm was giving it a strong push.
The content of the video attracted more and more moral crusaders, who felt great pity for Liang Shuqi’s ordeal. Towards Qin Mu, however, there was nothing but abuse and condemnation, all kinds of verbal violence. Some people in the barrage comments and comment section kept cursing him, asking why someone like him was still alive.
The number of people condemning him was growing. Aside from the 21 accounts he had previously tallied, many new "top performers" had cropped up in the comments section.
He carefully counted them: there were an additional 18 whose accusations, verbal abuse, and condemnations against him had received more than 500 likes!
According to the laws on defamation and insult, if the dissemination reached 500 likes or more, it could constitute a crime, punishable by imprisonment for no more than three years. If the impact was particularly malicious and the exposure extensive, the sentence would typically be the maximum.
Looking at these comments cyberbullying him, he had moved past the stage of anger. He felt exceptionally calm. He even wished the platform would give the video more exposure.
"Huh? There are actually so many people defending me?"
While sweeping through the comment section, he also saw quite a few sporadic "rational comments."
"Forgive me for being blunt, but in the video, the customer also said the order was over an hour late. Isn’t it fair to leave a bad review in that case?"
"What you’re saying is that because life is hard for delivery guys, we shouldn’t give bad reviews when we order takeout? Isn’t this kind of moral blackmail a bit too outrageous?"
"Didn’t you all see the UP throwing the food in the video? If it were me, I absolutely couldn’t tolerate it!"
"Everyone’s just trying to make a living; who has it easy? Why should we always have to be considerate of delivery guys?"
Occasionally, a few people would argue logically, speaking on his behalf from a rational standpoint.
But it didn’t take long for them to be vehemently attacked by the moral crusaders, showered with all sorts of sarcastic "praise." These rational comments tried to present facts and reason but were quickly shouted down into silence. Facing odds of one against ten, or even a hundred, they were instantly overwhelmed in a sea of trolls.
And these trolls completely denied being trolls; they always claimed to be speaking out for justice from a righteous standpoint.
After viewing the entire comment section, Qin Mu felt his blood pressure rising again. Even having lived two lives, reading those comments, which forcefully tried to guilt-trip others into empathy, still made his blood boil.
Immediately after, he opened his account details and saw over 100 private messages. The people messaging him were his fans. Most recognized him from the video posted by "takeout Xiao Liang," pleading for him to make an appearance.
"Huh? There’s actually a live streamer among them?"
He went through these messages. Qin Mu was surprised to find that one of the accounts, named "Qing Lan," belonged to a streamer. She had several hundred thousand followers.
Her private message to him was quite extraordinary.
"UP, have you seen that video yet? I just went over there to speak up for you and got instantly flamed into silence by the trolls. Can you teach me how to flame them back?"
"I want to learn!"