After Becoming the Abused Heroine in a Campus Story - Chapter 89 Retribution

Chapter 89 Retribution

“Zhou Zhou, they don’t want you, but I will want you in the future. I will treat you very, very well, so don’t be sad,” Jiang Xianzhi said to Zhou Yining with red eyes.

“Okay, having you is enough. Let’s go home,” Zhou Yining replied to Jiang Xianzhi, and they quickly returned to the villa.

At the same time, this matter rapidly spread online. Many people discussed the harm of original families. In the company, Zhou Yuanfei felt that everyone looked at him strangely that afternoon.

Zhou Yuanfei sat at his desk. He couldn’t stand it anymore and looked up at the colleague behind him. “Why are you all looking at me?” he asked.

The colleague sneered at him disdainfully. “Check the trending topics yourself. You and your wife are famous online,” the colleague said.

“What’s going on?” Zhou Yuanfei asked.

The colleague ignored him. With no choice, Zhou Yuanfei took out his phone.

He glanced at the trending topics and saw “#TopScorerAccusedByBiologicalParents” at the top, followed by an explosion icon.

Zhou Yuanfei sweated profusely. He clicked the topic and saw Zhou Yining’s clarification videos, mixed with various recordings.

Zhou Yuanfei’s back dripped with sweat. He didn’t expect Zhou Yining to fight back. Cold sweat covered his forehead.

Before he could look further, a colleague came over. “Zhou Yuanfei, Mr. Zhang wants to see you,” the colleague said.

“Okay,” Zhou Yuanfei responded. He wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and walked to the manager’s office.

Mr. Zhang sat in his office chair, looking at Zhou Yuanfei. After a while, he spoke. “You’ve been with our company for a long time. Go to HR later to handle the procedures. You’re fired,” Mr. Zhang said.

“Why?” Zhou Yuanfei asked anxiously.

Mr. Zhang looked at him coldly. “No reason. This is the management’s decision. We can’t employ someone who harms their own daughter. Someone will handle the work handover with you. Please cooperate. Considering your years here, I’ll have HR give you an extra month’s salary,” Mr. Zhang said.

“Why? I’m not leaving! I’m not leaving! I told the truth. How is it slander?” Zhou Yuanfei shouted loudly.

Mr. Zhang frowned at him. “If you keep this attitude, I’ll call security. I’m trying to part ways amicably and give you an extra month’s salary. If security drags you out, it won’t look good for you, will it?” Mr. Zhang said.

Zhou Yuanfei’s forehead veins bulged with anger. After a while, he left the manager’s office.

Someone from HR called him to handle the procedures. Zhou Yuanfei was furious but held back for the sake of face.

At four in the afternoon, Zhou Yuanfei carried a box and returned home.

Zhao Xiuna opened the door. She was cleaning at home and hadn’t checked her phone much. She didn’t know what happened online.

Seeing Zhou Yuanfei back so early, Zhao Xiuna asked curiously, “Why are you back so early? Is today a holiday?”

Zhou Yuanfei was already full of anger. At the company, he held back to save face, but at home, he didn’t bother pretending. He threw the cardboard box in his arms to the ground.

“Holiday? Now it’s a holiday. I never have to go back,” Zhou Yuanfei shouted loudly at Zhao Xiuna.

“Old Zhou, what’s wrong? Weren’t you fine this afternoon?” Zhao Xiuna asked, standing there helplessly.

“You have the nerve to ask? It’s all because of that beast Zhou Yining. She put all those recordings online. Now everyone online is cursing our family. Check it yourself,” Zhou Yuanfei said, throwing his phone to Zhao Xiuna angrily.

Zhao Xiuna caught the phone and saw the online insults.

[What kind of people are that family? All trash.]

[Yeah, isn’t Zhou Yuanfei a super-alpha? He treats his son so well but acts like his daughter owes him.]

[And that Zhao Xiuna isn’t any better. She either plays neutral or dumps crap on her daughter.]

[Who wouldn’t say Zhou Yining is pitiful? Having such trash parents is just sad.]

[Oh, and her brother Zhou Jiaming, full of foul language. So disgusting. He’ll grow up to be a creep.]

[Exactly. Which school is her brother at? They should expel him.]

…

There were many similar comments. Zhao Xiuna could barely hold the phone. The key was that there were photos of her and Zhou Yuanfei online because they appeared in that interview. Now, many people cursed at their photos.

“Old Zhou, what do we do?” Zhao Xiuna asked, nearly crying.

Zhou Yuanfei kicked the box and cursed. “How would I know? I lost my job. Now we’ll all starve. Damn it, if I knew it’d come to this, I wouldn’t have done that interview. It’s all your son’s fault, thinking he’s so clever,” Zhou Yuanfei said.

“How can you blame Jiaming? He meant well. Besides, didn’t we earn ten thousand yuan this morning?” Zhao Xiuna said.

“It’s because you spoiled him. If I knew I’d lose my job, I wouldn’t have gone for that ten thousand. Zhou Jiaming, that brat, never learns and comes up with stupid ideas. Now our whole family is cursed online. I can’t even hold my head up outside!” Zhou Yuanfei shouted loudly.

Zhao Xiuna didn’t dare speak. She sat on the floor, sobbing.

At school, Zhou Jiaming felt his classmates looked at him strangely. Some even pointed at him.

He couldn’t take it anymore and stood up. “What are you all doing?” he asked.

It was break time. A boy smirked. “Nothing, creep. Check online to see what they say about your family,” the boy said.

“Damn it, who are you calling a creep?” Zhou Jiaming shouted, furious.

“I’m calling you. If I had a brother like you, I’d strangle you. Total trash,” the boy said.

“Exactly. Your sister worked hard to become the top scorer, and your family tried to ruin her. That’s scary,” another said.

“Don’t act like we’re close. How did our class end up with someone like you? So embarrassing,” another added.

“No, no, Zhou Yining lied. She’s a liar, a liar,” Zhou Jiaming said, tears streaming as he shouted.

But no one in the class listened. They stayed far away from him. Even students who were once friendly avoided him.

Class started soon. The teacher saw Zhou Jiaming standing there and scolded him sternly. “Zhou Jiaming, this isn’t your house. The self-study bell rang. Why are you still standing there? Sit down,” the teacher said.

As soon as the teacher finished, laughter erupted in the class.

Zhou Jiaming trembled all over. He collapsed into his seat. His desk mate, as if avoiding something cursed, quickly moved away and separated their desks.

Zhou Jiaming saw his classmates’ mocking looks. He hugged his head and cried.

The homeroom teacher watched from above but didn’t comfort him. Honestly, having such a student in her class was embarrassing. It’d be best if he transferred out to avoid ruining the whole class.

Finally, school ended. Zhou Jiaming rushed out of the classroom like a madman. He didn’t dare stop, afraid of being gossiped about.

He ran all the way home, panting, and entered the door. He saw his parents’ grim faces in the living room.

Zhou Yuanfei got angrier seeing him. When Zhou Jiaming came in, Zhou Yuanfei stood up. “You beast, you dare come back? Do you know I lost my job because of your stupid idea?” Zhou Yuanfei shouted.

Zhou Jiaming was also breaking down. He cried and shouted loudly. “It’s because you were greedy. If you weren’t greedy, why listen to me? It’s over now. Everyone in class looks down on me. I can’t stay there anymore,” Zhou Jiaming said.

“You dare talk back? I gave you too much face,” Zhou Yuanfei said, slapping Zhou Jiaming. Zhou Jiaming lost balance and fell to the floor.

“You dare hit me? Zhou Yuanfei, no wonder you’re useless. You dare treat me like this, but do you dare do this to Zhou Yining?” Zhou Jiaming said, trying to push Zhou Yuanfei.

Zhou Yuanfei was furious. “Damn it, I’ll beat you to death!” Zhou Yuanfei shouted.

Zhao Xiuna tried to intervene but was pushed away by Zhou Yuanfei. “Get lost, you cursed thing. How did I end up with a wife like you?” Zhou Yuanfei said.

Then, Zhou Yuanfei slapped Zhou Jiaming again. After that, he didn’t want to stay home and slammed the door as he left.

Zhou Jiaming’s face swelled on both sides. He squatted on the floor, wailing loudly.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yining returned home with Jiang Xianzhi that afternoon and received a call from the district’s secretariat. Zhou Yining answered the phone.

“Hello, is something up?” Zhou Yining asked.

“Student Zhou, it’s like this. You resolved today’s issue, so the district decided to give you the fifty-thousand-yuan bonus. The interview will proceed as planned. Add me on WeChat and send me your bank card number and bank name. The money will be transferred soon. The interview is rescheduled for tomorrow at nine in the morning at your school,” the person said.

“Okay, I understand,” Zhou Yining said. She added the person on WeChat, sent her card details, and soon received the transfer notification.

She checked the trending topics. By then, the online sentiment had shifted entirely in her favor. The Zhou family trio was being cursed on the trending list.

But Zhou Yining wasn’t too happy. The internet worked that way. If she didn’t have evidence, she would be the one cyberbullied now.

Jiang Xianzhi leaned in her arms, scrolling through the trending topics. Seeing everyone cursing the Zhou family, she sighed in relief. “Good thing you handled it in time. Otherwise, those crazy people online would definitely curse you,” Jiang Xianzhi said.

“Hmm, thankfully it’s resolved,” Zhou Yining said, hugging Jiang Xianzhi tightly and gently sniffing her neck.

Jiang Xianzhi felt it. Her ears turned red, and her voice softened. “What are you doing?” she asked.

Zhou Yining’s eyes curved. “Nothing, just thinking my girlfriend smells nice. It’s making me a bit hungry,” Zhou Yining said.

Jiang Xianzhi buried her face in Zhou Yining’s arms. “Zhou Zhou, you’ve gotten naughty,” Jiang Xianzhi said.

“No way. Let’s see, my little fox is about to come of age,” Zhou Yining said with smiling eyes, not continuing, but Jiang Xianzhi seemed to understand instantly.

Zhou Yining saw her girlfriend’s neck flush with shyness. Such a shy girlfriend looked even cuter.

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll go alone. I have some things to handle at the magazine agency, so you don’t need to come with me,” Zhou Yining said, patting Jiang Xianzhi’s lower back.

“Hmm,” Jiang Xianzhi nodded obediently.

The next morning, Zhou Yining went to school. There wasn’t much to do at the magazine agency. She mainly wanted to pick a gift for Jiang Xianzhi.

After arriving at school, she attended the event. First, the leaders spoke. Then, she went on stage to receive the fifty-thousand-yuan bonus. After that was the Q&A session with reporters.

Zhou Yining sat on stage, waiting for the reporters’ questions.

Soon, someone asked a question.

“Student Zhou Yining, you must know about yesterday’s events. Now the internet is full of voices supporting you. What do you want to say about this?” the reporter asked.

“I think the internet is a double-edged sword. It can help solve problems but also hurt people. Honestly, I’m not happy just because everyone is speaking for me. If I didn’t have evidence yesterday, I’d be the one cyberbullied now,” Zhou Yining said.

Another reporter continued. “How do you adjust your mindset living in such an original family? Or rather, how do you maintain good grades in such an environment?” the reporter asked.

“Because I’m stuck in a quagmire, I value studying even more. Only through studying can I change my fate. When you’re pushed to this point, it’s impossible not to work hard,” Zhou Yining replied.

“Do you have anything to say to others harmed by their original families?” the reporter asked.

“I hope everyone lives hard, becomes independent soon, and stays away from such families. Life is for yourself. If your family doesn’t care about you, you should care about yourself even more,” Zhou Yining answered.