Chapter 177: Return

The joy of internet gossip lies in seeing figures who are usually high and mighty dragged off their pedestals, left in a state of utter disarray.

Although Shi Xiaomeng was the primary target of the exposé, compared to Wang Yan, he was just a wage earner and didn't quite measure up.

The founder of products like WeChat, Pinyidao, and Douyishouyin, the true controller of the entire company, had challenged multiple internet giants single-handedly and was still thriving. In just three years, he had traveled a path that took others over a decade, and he had gone even further. People were curious about how the brain of this "Wang" idiot was wired to come up with so many awesome products. They were even more curious about what kind of background this "Wang" had to have walked so smoothly to where he was today.

The address of his mansion, his license plate number, the affairs involving Yang Zixi and Lin Xia, and Wang Yan's personal data were all leaked. This was normal; after all, his identity wasn't confidential, and anyone who looked into it carefully could find out. Omnipotent reporters and a group of "current affairs commentators" who were paid to do their jobs were frantically driving the narrative against Wang Yan. Added to the random babbling from Cheng Feng, for a time, it was hard to distinguish truth from lies.

Regardless, Wang Yan had gone viral. Driven by a group of people with ulterior motives, the internet was flooded with news about him.

If he tried to respond, it would only make things worse, and people wouldn't believe him anyway. If he didn't respond, people would assume it was a tacit admission. Either way, nothing worked.

Wang Mou was a man who took a dump in the outhouse facing outward; he didn't tolerate anyone looking for trouble with him.

With a single order, the company's bored legal department was mobilized. After all, they were collecting a salary without doing any work, which was uncomfortable after a while. Following Wang Yan's instructions, they didn't bother with useless lawyer letters. After collecting solid evidence, they directly sued over twenty media outlets, over two hundred influential current affairs commentators, and over a hundred radical, boisterous netizens in one go. Of course, most importantly, Cheng Feng didn't escape either.

The effect was immediate. Seeing Wang Yan playing for keeps, the group of people started cursing, saying Wang Yan couldn't take a joke and that it was just for entertainment. Of course, they also knew that if Wang Yan dared to sue, he must be innocent. After all, the matter had blown up so much that everyone from top to bottom was watching. Even if he really had a background, it wouldn't help; who would dare to abuse their power at a time like this? That would be like an old man eating arsenic.

Despite their resentment, they didn't dare to babble anymore. Those who had been driving the narrative basically retreated, taking advantage of the fact that they hadn't been noticed yet to quietly delete their posts and withdraw.

These tactics didn't work on the gossiping netizens. Aside from being a bit more cautious in their speech, they continued to discuss it as they pleased. But without anyone driving the narrative, it couldn't form a large-scale public opinion, and it had no impact. Once the heat died down after a while, it would be over.

A day later, as the video released by Shi Xiaomeng fermented, several media outlets that had been prepared long ago exposed matters regarding Cheng Feng.

The information was extremely detailed. Various classmates and friends stepped forward to recount Cheng Feng's rotten deeds, and in particular, quite a few of the women involved came forward to share their own experiences.

Through the mouths of these people, a scumbag image of someone who lived a life of debauchery, toyed with women, was unfilial to his elders, and didn't value his friends was restored.

With this, plus Shi Xiaomeng's self-narrated video and the full video of the incident that had leaked online, the whole matter became clear. It was simply that Cheng Feng had taken a fancy to someone else's girlfriend, and after he went bankrupt by chance, he blamed everything on Shi Xiaomeng.

The gossiping masses were furious. How could there be such a disgusting person? To do such a thing and still have the nerve to turn around and bite back? The key was that they had actually believed him and really done Cheng Feng's bidding?

Old Uncle couldn't stand it, and Old Aunt couldn't stand it even more. A storm even greater than before exploded onto Cheng Feng.

Cheng Feng, having received the subpoena, didn't care. Anyway, he didn't care about anything anymore. But seeing the voices online attacking Wang Yan and Shi Xiaomeng, and boycotting products like WeChat and Pinyidao, suddenly go silent, Cheng Feng couldn't help but be stunned.

But before he could have any thoughts, the internet was flooded with news about him, from his childhood all the way to the present, and even some clips from his time in prison.

To be honest, he didn't even remember those women. But since they had come out to testify, they probably were...

Watching Shi Xiaomeng speak with heartbreak about the events of the past, seeing all the posts discussing the matter, the unbearable and filthy language in the comments below, the words that tore at his scars one by one, and even a group of like-minded female comrades who tailored a term for him: "Scumbag."

The term "Scumbag" wouldn't become popular for another two or three years. It could be said that Cheng Feng's deeds changed the course of history, causing the term "Scumbag" to appear in China earlier and defining a whole generation of playboys sooner.

Scrolling through his phone, looking at those slanderous words that stabbed at his lungs, Cheng Feng felt neither joy, nor sorrow, nor anger.

There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart; his heart had died long ago. He had no family, no friends, and even less money. What was the point of this?

Suddenly, his phone pushed a notification.

The dazed Cheng Feng was startled awake. He picked up his phone and took a look; it was a WeChat push...

The content was that to thank the vast number of netizens and product users for their support, Pinyidao had decided to put up 100 million for a lucky draw and 800 million in subsidies. WeChat would simultaneously have a lucky draw event with a prize pool of 100 million. Douyishouyin had launched a large-scale "The You of the Past" event; participants who filmed videos and received the most likes would be ranked, with a reward of 100 million. There were also various local life service companies under their banner, all with subsidy activities of varying amounts... In total, the various companies were throwing out 2 billion.

Although Cheng Feng's ability was very poor, he had, after all, been a high-level executive at a listed company. This activity was clearly taking advantage of the heat to make a big move and once again increase product awareness. It was foreseeable that those companies would definitely welcome a peak in downloads and user registrations. The money thrown out would definitely be earned back two, three, or even four or five times over.

Cheng Feng grinned. How wonderful...

He had thrown away his dignity, let the whole country watch him make a fool of himself, and not only had he failed to affect them, but he had instead helped them reach a higher level.

Finding the cigarette pack on the nightstand, Cheng Feng picked it up, looked at it, and tossed it aside. He picked up the wine bottle again, shook it, and suddenly stood up, smashing the bottle on the ground...

"F*** your mother..."

Cheng Feng's eyes were bloodshot, filled with red veins, and his chest heaved continuously.

Standing there for a good while, Cheng Feng let out a long breath, took two steps forward, and pulled open the curtains.

It was daytime, the sun was perfect, and the sky was clear for ten thousand miles.

The sunlight shone through the window onto Cheng Feng's pale face, giving him his only warmth.

After watching for a while, Cheng Feng muttered: "It's a good day..."

He then turned around, tore a piece off the quilt cover and tucked it into his chest, picked up his phone, straightened his clothes in the mirror, and walked out without a hint of reluctance.

At the entrance of the supermarket, two girls who looked like students were looking down at their phones, pointing at Cheng Feng.

"Hey, is that Cheng Feng? The scumbag."

"Wait for me to check my phone, there are photos of him online... Hmm, it really is him..."

One of the girls thought for a moment, clenched her fist to give herself courage, walked up to Cheng Feng, took a deep breath, and said: "Scumbag..."

Then she turned around and ran away with her friend, afraid of getting beaten if they ran too slowly. It was clear they had been hurt before.

Cheng Feng was dumbfounded. It took him a while to react and remember: Oh, that was his new nickname.

Honestly, looking at that girl just now, even if she begged him to be a scumbag, he wouldn't bother. What kind of thing was that?

It was just a small episode. Cheng Feng didn't care. Carrying his things, he walked to the side of the road and waved down a taxi: "Guomao."

A while later, the car stopped at the foot of the Guomao building. Cheng Feng looked up at the high-rise, took a few deep breaths, and stepped inside.

Finding a way to the roof of Guomao, he put down the plastic bag he was carrying, took out a bottle of Erguotou, opened it, and took a fierce gulp. Then he lit a cigarette and took out the white quilt cover he had torn from the hotel.

He took out a utility knife and aimed it at his hand... He measured for a long time; he was afraid of pain...

He took another gulp of wine, Cheng Feng gritted his teeth, and fiercely slashed his finger.

He let out a pained groan, and using the blood flowing out, he hurriedly knelt on the ground to write on the white cloth. Perhaps the cut was too small; after writing only a few characters, the blood stopped flowing.

Cheng Feng hardened his heart, took another big gulp of wine, picked up the knife, and made a fierce cut on his palm. With the cigarette trembling in his mouth, his right hand dipped into the blood on his left palm, and he continued writing on the white cloth.

After finishing this, Cheng Feng sat on the ground with a cigarette in one hand and wine in the other, his eyes drifting, as if reminiscing about his life.

Unknowingly, the wine in his hand was finished. Cheng Feng shook the bottle, discovered it was empty, and tossed it aside.

The wine bottle rolled far away along the slight curve of the roof, clattering all the way.

He chose this place because he remembered that Lin Xia had wanted to jump off this building back then, causing a huge uproar. Now he was here, and he wanted to cause a huge uproar too. He wanted to die in a way that people would remember him, and even more, he wanted those who should remember him to remember him.

Guomao had become even more prosperous after two years of development. If he went down, the impact should be quite large, right...

Cheng Feng lit another cigarette, stood up, patted his butt, straightened his clothes, took the white cloth with the dried bloodstains, and walked to the edge of the roof to stand still. His eyes looked far into the distance...

After a long time, someone finally discovered Cheng Feng standing on the roof and shouted: "Someone is going to jump off the building..."

Cheng Feng was startled back to his senses by the commotion below. Looking at the open space below and the crowd that had consciously formed a large circle, the corners of his mouth lifted, and he let out a disdainful laugh.

This bunch of people below, every single one of them, were all dogs...

He raised his hand to take a puff of the cigarette that was about to burn out and flicked the butt hard, hoping someone below would win the lottery.

Cheng Feng fiercely threw the white cloth he was clutching down, then his figure swayed, and he stopped the jumping motion just in time. It was too f***ing high; he was a little scared.

As Cheng Feng made that move, the onlookers below were also startled. With a sudden movement, some women were already covering their eyes and screaming. It wasn't until they waited for a while and saw that the person was still up there that they touched their pounding little hearts to calm down.

Of course, some people's way of calming down was to shout angrily: "Jump, you f***er! It's so cold, and we're just here keeping you company..."

Cheng Feng spat in that direction, then turned and left the edge.

After walking more than ten meters, Cheng Feng took a deep breath, recalling in his mind the fleeting glimpse that haunted his dreams, wanting to draw some brave strength...

Cheng Feng grinned, accelerated, ran, and jumped, heading in the direction of that voice just now. Let you f***ers watch me for fun, I'll smash you to death...

I won't mention the movie playing in Cheng Feng's mind; anyway, he hit the bottom in an instant, splattered on the ground like a pile of mud...

And as Cheng Feng landed, the white cloth he had thrown earlier drifted down slowly.

"Shi Xiaomeng, return my life."

Zhongguancun.

"Brother, the money spent this time was worth it." Shi Xiaomeng put down his teacup, grinning happily: "In the short time after the event announcement was released, our Pinyidao's new registered users have already caught up to the volume of the previous two or three days. The situation at other companies must be just as good, right?"

Wang Yan nodded: "The situation is about the same."

Shi Xiaomeng said with no small amount of pride: "Cheng Feng would never have thought that his making a scene would actually help us."

"Just a small character, he can't stir up any big waves."

"That's true, if he really had the ability, he wouldn't have ended up like this today..."

"Why, are you feeling sorry for Cheng Feng?"

Shi Xiaomeng shook his head: "No, just lamenting the impermanence of the world. With such a large family business, he threw it all away until he had nothing. It's really..."

"Dong... dong... dong."

Before Wang Yan could speak, the office door was knocked.

"Come in."

Wang Yan's male secretary walked in and nodded at the two: "General Manager Wang, General Manager Shi."

"Hmm, what is it?" Wang Yan nodded and asked.

"Just received news, Cheng Feng jumped off a building and committed suicide at Guomao. He also left a white cloth with red characters, which read..." The secretary glanced at Shi Xiaomeng and took out his phone: "'Shi Xiaomeng, return my life.' This is a photo from the scene."

Wang Yan reached out to take it, glanced at it, raised his eyebrows, and handed it to Shi Xiaomeng.

"Xiaomeng."

Shi Xiaomeng was in a daze upon hearing the news of Cheng Feng's suicide. Hearing Wang Yan call him: "Ah? Ah... what is it, Brother?"

Wang Yan raised the phone: "Photo from the scene."

"Oh... okay."

Shi Xiaomeng reached out and took the phone. Wang Yan noticed his hand was trembling...

Staring at the photo for two glances, he couldn't help but flip back and forth twice. Shi Xiaomeng's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Watching his reaction, Wang Yan drank his tea to himself.

This was normal. He had also looked at the photo just now; the death was very ugly, and it was from various angles, plus the white cloth with dark red handwriting lying to the side. Shi Xiaomeng couldn't compare to a player like him who had countless human life lawsuits.

Shi Xiaomeng put down the phone while shivering and drank the tea in his cup in one gulp: "Brother, I... I'll take a rest."

His mood was very complex. There was the shock of that ugly death, a little sadness from suddenly knowing the death of his former friend, and a sense of guilt. Plus that blood letter, it really did stab him...

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Go ahead, take a few more days of rest, and take good care of Shen Bing."

Shi Xiaomeng nodded, stood up, and left.

The secretary also had the tact to nod at Wang Yan and left with him.

Wang Yan drank his tea leisurely by himself.

He understood Shi Xiaomeng. After all, Shi Xiaomeng didn't know what Wang Mou had done in the middle of it. He would only think that Cheng Shengen's death, plus Cheng Feng's death, should all be counted on his head. To a certain extent, Shi Xiaomeng could be considered to have wiped out Cheng Feng's family.

It was mainly that Shi Xiaomeng wasn't ruthless enough. Once Cheng Feng died, the debt was cleared, and this cheap habit of being nostalgic came up. Moreover, there were quite a few rotten things between them, and being dazed for a while was perfectly normal.

Of course, these things had nothing to do with Wang Mou. Now that Shi Xiaomeng had a successful career and a beautiful wife waiting to give birth, he really couldn't drive himself anymore...

That day, Shi Xiaomeng fell seriously ill and rested for a whole week before he was fully recovered.

Cheng Feng's death was quite sensational, and Shen Bing naturally knew about it. And she also knew that although Cheng Feng wasn't a good person, his help to Shi Xiaomeng in the past was real, and Shi Xiaomeng hadn't said few good things about Cheng Feng in front of her before. Now that the person was suddenly gone and had dragged Shi Xiaomeng down with him, it was normal to think a bit more.

After Shi Xiaomeng recovered, he worked steadily and accompanied his wife, never mentioning this or that from back then again.

As for Wu Di, ever since that time he pleaded for Cheng Feng and had a phone call with Shi Xiaomeng, the two hadn't contacted each other again. That was the tacit understanding of adults.

The following year, at the end of February, Shen Bing gave birth to a son.

Shi Xiaomeng was overjoyed and only shared it with Wang Yan over the phone...

Wang Yan remained as carefree as ever. Apart from "hmm-ing and ah-ing" with two women, he would stroll around Beijing when he had nothing to do, research artificial intelligence, and so on, feeling quite content.

After WeChat and Pinyidao were listed one after another, Wang Yan cashed out some money and once again established a pharmaceutical research lab, recruiting a group of masters of Chinese and Western medicine to continue research.

As for Shi Xiaomeng, after Pinyidao was listed and operated for another year, Wang Yan transferred him to the company headquarters and gave him two points of the parent company's shares, intending for him to take over his position.

Whether rich or poor, days are lived one by one. Wang Yan was the same. The difference was that he had a few more women around him, his consumption was a bit higher, and his life was a bit more carefree, that's all.

Overall, it was quite plain.

In 2019, Wang Yan bought another factory, specializing in the production of masks, protective clothing, and other supplies.

He would definitely have to leave when the time came, but he never knew what it would be like after he left, so he should just prepare a little bit...

As for the artificial intelligence matter, Wang Yan had started memorizing the core code four months in advance. After nearly ten years of development, the code was even more f***ing numerous. The code he had brought over originally had different degrees of additions, deletions, and modifications, which was seriously a big job.

On New Year's Eve, Wang Yan had lunch with Yang Zixi and Lin Xia's families, and in the evening, he let them all go back. Because in the morning, the message from the system "Living Daddy" arrived unexpectedly, telling him he could retreat. After finishing lunch, he came back and checked the code, as if he were about to enter the exam room immediately.

Wang Yan in the study confirmed the code once, then stood up, poured a glass of water, took a sip, and casually put the cup aside.

Wang Yan pulled out the system panel and clicked to select...

A burst of blue light flashed, and Wang Mou disappeared............ ===== CHAPTER 178 =====