Chapter 59: The Terrifying Power of Rumors
That morning, Yang Haoran did not open his convenience store for business. Instead, he slung his yellow Ghost-Hunting Bag over his shoulder, locked the door, and departed.
His destination, surprisingly, was Jiang Zhenzhen’s residential complex.
Having been unable to reach Jiang Zhenzhen, he wanted to visit her apartment to see if she had encountered any trouble recently.
Recalling the landlord he had met at the hospital that day, with his arrogant and overbearing demeanor, and remembering Jiang Zhenzhen’s personality, Yang Haoran grew increasingly convinced that she must have run into some sort of predicament.
Upon arriving at Jiang Zhenzhen’s complex, Yang Haoran, familiar with the layout, took the stairs up to her rented apartment.
The main door was tightly shut, though it was no longer the same security door as before. The original one had been cut apart that very night by the burly middle-aged man living across the hall, using an electric saw.
Yang Haoran knocked a few times on the door, the resounding thumps echoing through the stairwell, but the door remained closed, and he heard no response from within.
Frowning, Yang Haoran knocked a few more times. The result was the same: the door stayed firmly shut.
After a moment’s thought, Yang Haoran pulled out his phone and dialed Jiang Zhenzhen’s number. Just like the previous times, her phone was switched off.
Just then, however, the middle-aged man’s door across the hall suddenly opened.
"Careful, careful! These are fragile. Don't you dare break them!"
"Get these things out first. Be careful going downstairs."
"Gently, gently! Don't mess around, you'll have to pay if you break anything."
A clatter of sounds erupted from inside the apartment, as if things were being moved. Yang Haoran couldn't say he was intimately familiar with the voice, but after a moment’s thought, he recognized its owner: it was the middle-aged man.
Several people emerged from the middle-aged man's apartment, carrying items out one after another. From the looks of it, they seemed to be moving. Yang Haoran had been fretting over finding someone to ask about Jiang Zhenzhen’s situation, and seeing the middle-aged man at home, an idea immediately sparked in his mind.
The middle-aged man lived directly opposite Jiang Zhenzhen, so he might know something about her situation. Yang Haoran decided to try and get information from him.
No sooner had this thought formed than the middle-aged man stepped out of his apartment. Still directing the movers, he suddenly spotted Yang Haoran, and his face instantly contorted.
"You bastard! I haven't even settled the score with you, and you f*cking dare show your face here? !"
The middle-aged man cursed loudly, then immediately rushed back inside to retrieve an electric saw.
Yang Haoran remembered that saw vividly. That night, the middle-aged man had used this very saw to effortlessly cut through Jiang Zhenzhen’s security door—it was incredibly sharp.
The middle-aged man’s violent reaction startled the movers. Some even dropped their items and quickly scrambled away, terrified of being injured by the saw.
Yang Haoran, however, remained unfazed. He watched with a faint smile as the middle-aged man charged angrily towards him, then malevolently pulled the saw’s starter cord.
Whirr!
The saw roared to life, making the scattered workers jump. Their first thought at that moment was that someone was about to die.
"Oh no! Call the police! Hurry, call the police! Something terrible is going to happen!"
One worker screamed in panic, hastily pulling out his phone to call the police. His reaction, however, only agitated the middle-aged man.
"Call what police? ! Who dares to call the police? !"
The middle-aged man roared, his fierce, devilish expression truly startling the fellow who had pulled out his phone.
That fellow froze for a second, then plastered on a fawning smile, decisively tossed his phone away, and spread his hands submissively at the middle-aged man. The message he conveyed was clear: "My phone's gone. If you've got a grudge, settle it with him; it has nothing to do with me."
The middle-aged man ignored him, his gaze returning to Yang Haoran. He glared viciously, his eyes bloodshot from extreme agitation.
The reason Yang Haoran hadn't dodged or retreated wasn't that he wasn't afraid of electric saws, but that he wasn't afraid of *this* middle-aged man.
Having interacted with him twice, Yang Haoran couldn't claim to fully understand his personality, but he knew for certain that the man was merely putting on a show. That saw, he wouldn't dare bring it down.
Amidst the panicked cries of the movers, the middle-aged man, gripping the electric saw, brought it swinging down towards Yang Haoran's head. From his posture, it seemed he intended to cleave Yang Haoran in two.
Neatly dividing a person in half with an electric saw was a skilled operation, impossible for anyone without professional training. After all, this was reality, not a movie or a novel.
Judging by the middle-aged man's trembling hands, he clearly lacked such a skill. Not only that, he didn't even possess the courage to learn it!
For, just as the saw was about to land on Yang Haoran’s head, and seeing Yang Haoran standing there with a smile, showing no intention of dodging, the middle-aged man hastily stopped.
The middle-aged man was panicking inwardly. He had only wanted to scare Yang Haoran, but he hadn't expected Yang Haoran to be completely unfazed. He knew very well that if the saw truly landed on Yang Haoran, his life would be utterly ruined.
Yang Haoran was also panicking inwardly. Despite his calm expression, he was merely feigning composure. He was confident the middle-aged man wouldn't dare bring the saw down, but he couldn't rule out the possibility of an accident. If the man's hand slipped, or if he couldn't control the saw, Yang Haoran might very well meet his end right here.
"Damn it, I can't do this anymore. This is practically putting my life on the line just to show off; it doesn't suit my steady, pragmatic nature."
Thinking this, Yang Haoran, with the saw still whirring above his head, showed not a hint of panic. He smiled faintly and took a small step to the side, effortlessly dodging the saw.
"Big brother, what's all this hatred, all this grievance? Do you really need to be this agitated? " Yang Haoran asked with a smile.
The middle-aged man had purely intended to scare Yang Haoran. If Yang Haoran had run, he would have chased him with the saw, venting his anger. But Yang Haoran hadn't played along, ruining his plan and leaving him both furious and embarrassed.
"Get lost! I don't want to see you! If you don't get lost now, don't blame me if this saw loses its 'eyes'! " the middle-aged man roared, attempting to save face.
"I just want to ask you about something. I'll leave as soon as I'm done," Yang Haoran said, still smiling.
"Ask about something? Ask your grandpa! Are you getting lost or not? ! " The middle-aged man was uncooperative, still roaring.
Yang Haoran smiled, saying nothing, showing no intention of leaving either. The two stared at each other, the air between them taut with tension, a palpable sword-drawn, bow-bent atmosphere.
"You f*cking bully!"
The middle-aged man exploded in fury. The movers, seeing this, all assumed he was about to unleash hell. To their surprise, the middle-aged man simply slammed the electric saw to the ground with a crash!
Crack!
The electric saw shattered from the impact. With a contorted face, he glared at Yang Haoran and roared, "Ask! Ask your question and then get the hell out!"
A moment later, Yang Haoran walked out of the stairwell, his expression notably complex.
He had successfully obtained the information he sought from the middle-aged man, but it was precisely that information that had caused his expression to become so complicated.
It turned out that after the incident with the rotting old woman that night, rumors had spread throughout the complex. The middle-aged man was said to be Jiang Zhenzhen’s father, and Yang Haoran was branded a perpetrator of home invasion and violence, who had not only killed the middle-aged man but also assaulted Jiang Zhenzhen.
Although these were merely rumors, many people were like that: they preferred to believe gossip rather than facts. The rumors spread further and further, known not only to residents of that complex but also to those in nearby ones.
Both the middle-aged man and Jiang Zhenzhen subsequently returned to the complex, but their return did not stop the rumors; it merely changed their version.
This new version claimed that neither the middle-aged man nor Jiang Zhenzhen had died. The middle-aged man was no longer Jiang Zhenzhen’s father, nor was Jiang Zhenzhen his daughter. Instead, they were lovers, and Yang Haoran had become Jiang Zhenzhen’s boyfriend.
When Yang Haoran, as her boyfriend, discovered his girlfriend was having an affair with the middle-aged man across the hall, he became enraged. He then set up a trap to catch them red-handed, causing a huge scene in the rental apartment that nearly led to fatalities.
After this version spread, even more people believed it than the previous one, because some reasoned that if the first version was a rumor, then the second version was very likely true. Furthermore, in today’s society, such incidents were all too common; similar stories frequently emerged across Lecheng, naturally leading to more people believing them.
Under the influence of these rumors, both Jiang Zhenzhen and the middle-aged man were subjected to constant whispers and pointing fingers behind their backs. Jiang Zhenzhen, being a young woman, naturally couldn't endure such idle gossip, so she chose to move out of the complex.
After Jiang Zhenzhen left, others perceived it as her feeling guilty, which only reinforced their belief that the rumors were true, making them spread even more furiously.
The power of rumors was truly immense. The middle-aged man had initially had no intention of moving out of the complex, but no matter how he tried to explain to others, few believed him, convinced he was just trying to cover up. Left with no choice, he followed Jiang Zhenzhen’s path, deciding to leave the complex and start a new life.
In the middle-aged man’s view, this entire ordeal was Yang Haoran’s fault. If it weren’t for Yang Haoran, he wouldn't have gotten involved that night, nor would he have ended up in his current predicament.
Therefore, he absolutely detested Yang Haoran. Combined with the resentment from their encounter at the hospital that day, he wished he could kill Yang Haoran.
It was precisely because of this profound hatred for Yang Haoran that his reaction had been so intense upon seeing him.
Jiang Zhenzhen had moved out of the complex, and the middle-aged man had no idea where she had gone.
Yang Haoran had already visited the jewelry store, where he learned from Li Jie that Jiang Zhenzhen had resigned. At the time, he had found Li Jie’s gaze strangely peculiar, leaving him bewildered. Now, it seemed Li Jie must have also heard both versions of the rumors, explaining her odd expression when she looked at him.
It now appeared that Jiang Zhenzhen had not only resigned but also moved, possibly even leaving the city altogether.
Standing at the entrance of the complex, Yang Haoran lit a cigarette, a sigh escaping him.
Rumors were terrifying; they could easily destroy an individual, or even a group of people.
Compared to the rumors themselves, those who created them were even more terrifying and detestable. Regardless of their reasons for fabricating lies, it was unforgivable.
As for those who spread the rumors, they were merely being used as pawns, acting without thinking things through, no different from fools.
Taking a deep drag from his cigarette, Yang Haoran cast a final glance at the location of Jiang Zhenzhen’s former rental apartment, then sighed and walked away with a look of disappointment.
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