Chapter 440: Lawyer Wang of the Capital, Delivering Warmth Online (Physically) |
Eight PM.
Big Mouth Song's live stream hit over one hundred thousand views.
On the screen, Big Mouth Song's spittle was practically spraying onto the camera lens.
He held up a tablet in his hand, looping a secretly recorded video.
The video's background was in front of a floor-to-ceiling window in a high-end office building.
Jiang Ci was pushing a bank card across the table toward Lawyer Wang, their heads close together.
"Folks! See that clearly? What is this? This is a transaction!"
"A card! At least a few million, right? Jiang Ci sure is eating that soft rice deliciously!"
"Builds a persona during the day, keeps a sugar mommy at night—this is your precious Domestic Entertainment God of War?"
[Disgusting! I bought his movie ticket before, refund me!]
[You never know someone's true heart, this kind of gold digger should be kicked out of the entertainment industry!]
Inside a cheap rented room.
The keyboard warrior "Justice Avenger" was clacking away furiously at his keyboard.
He'd just lost his job and had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent. Jiang Ci, the "perfect target," had coincidentally run right into his crosshairs.
"What anti-drug ambassador? Who are you trying to fool, you fake!"
He slammed the Enter key, watching his vicious comment blend into the barrage of bullet comments, feeling a twisted sense of satisfaction.
Right at that moment, Big Mouth Song suddenly yelped, "Huh? What's going on? Why is my stream lagging?"
It wasn't just lagging.
The stream had cut out completely.
The next second, the tops of countless phones simultaneously pinged with three special notification alerts.
[Spark Media]: A solemn statement regarding recent online rumors.
[Jiang Ci]: Not being kept, not keeping a sugar mommy. Just wanted to swap out some new desks for kids in the mountains. Thank you for your hard work, Lawyer Wang. @Lawyer Wang of the Capital
[China Youth Development Foundation]: Thank you, Mr. @Jiang Ci, for initiating and establishing the "Sunflower Education Special Fund." The first batch of donations has been received.
The funds will be fully used for the renovation of school buildings and book procurement for the following 100 mountain elementary schools.
Followed by a set of high-definition images in a nine-grid layout.
The first image was a red-headed official document. The official seal was a piercing, vivid red: [Approval for the Establishment of the Sunflower Education Special Fund].
The second was an electronic bank transfer receipt. Sender: Jiang Ci. Recipient: China Youth Development Foundation.
Although the amount column was censored, that long string of asterisks made one dizzy just looking at it.
The third through ninth images were dense lists.
[Azhahe Elementary School, Honghe County, Yunnan Province]
[Hope Elementary School, Butuo County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province]
[Third Village Elementary School, Nayong County, Bijie City, Guizhou Province]
...
Big Mouth Song's stream came back, but his mouth, which had been so arrogant just moments before,
was now hanging wide open, his eyes bulging like saucers.
"Found... Foundation?"
His hands trembling, he clicked on the transfer receipt, trying to find traces of Photoshop.
But the more he looked, the colder his cold sweat became.
That was a public account! A corporate transfer! Who the hell would dare Photoshop a picture like that? That was a one-way ticket to wearing out a prison cell!
Meanwhile, the keyboard warrior named "Justice Avenger" had his finger hovering over the "Send" button, his entire body frozen stiff in his chair.
He stared intently at the seventh line of the list.
[Maying Town Central Elementary School, Tongwei County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province].
That was his hometown.
It was also where he had once studied.
"Slap."
A sharp sound.
No one had hit him.
It was the sound of him viciously slapping himself.
That slap was incredibly hard; one side of his face quickly swelled up, but he felt no pain, only a searing wave of shame.
His hands trembling, he deleted the abusive comment he had just typed.
Then, in that comment section full of nothing but insults, he typed out three words:
[I'm sorry.]
The bullet comments in Big Mouth Song's stream shifted direction.
[I'm such an asshole! I was cursing him for ten minutes just now!]
[That's an official red-headed document! What kind of kept man donates ten million to charity?]
Big Mouth Song watched the screen fill with condemnation, wanting to shut down the stream, but his hands shook uncontrollably.
Just then, Lawyer Wang, the one tagged [Lawyer Wang of the Capital], reposted Jiang Ci's Weibo post.
[Mr. Jiang, it's been a pleasure working with you. And a quick notice for a certain streamer with the surname Song: Given that your defamatory actions have caused extremely severe social impact and involved the reputation of a charity fund, our side has completed the preservation of evidence.]
[The subpoena is already on its way. I suggest you find a good lawyer, though it likely won't make much of a difference.]
"Clang!"
The tablet in Big Mouth Song's hand crashed to the floor.
He was finished.
This time, he had truly kicked a steel plate.
Three days later, at the Capital apartment.
Jiang Ci sat in a rattan chair, watching a video on his phone.
The video was very short, only about ten seconds.
The footage was a bit shaky, and the resolution was low.
The background was a dilapidated school building, its plaster peeling away to reveal red bricks beneath.
A group of children stood on a muddy playground.
They wore ill-fitting old clothes, their faces had the characteristic high-altitude flush, and some of their shoes were caked with mud.
But in front of the camera, their eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.
"Ready—Begin!"
With the young volunteer teacher's command.
Dozens of children all bowed in unison towards the camera, their young voices ringing clear across the valley:
"Thank you, big brother Jiang Ci!"
"We will study hard!"
At the end of the video, a little boy with a runny nose rushed up to the camera,
grinning wide to reveal a gap-toothed smile, holding a wildflower up to the lens.
"Big brother! A flower! For you!"
The video cut off.
Jiang Ci held the phone, staying in that position, not moving for a long time.
The screen went dark, reflecting his perpetually carefree face.
But at that moment, those eyes shimmered with a determined light.
He saved the video to his favorites, then slipped the phone back into his pocket, stood up, and stretched.
"Phew..."
Just then, the apartment door pushed open.
Lin Wan walked in, holding two plane tickets.
"Finished being moved?"
Lin Wan slapped the tickets down on the shoe cabinet with a crisp *smack*, "If you're done, hurry up and pack. We need to get going."
Jiang Ci glanced at the suitcase and raised an eyebrow. "That urgent?"
Lin Wan rolled her eyes. "Director Jiang Wen just gave me an ultimatum."
"If you're not at the Flower City film set by nine tomorrow morning, he says he'll kick you into the Pearl River to feed the fish."
"Also..." Lin Wan paused, a look of schadenfreude in her eyes,
"He also said that to help you get into character faster as 'A-Jie' the street punk, he's specially arranged a 'welcoming ceremony' for you."
Jiang Ci suddenly had a bad feeling.
"What kind of ceremony?"
"No idea." Lin Wan shrugged. "But apparently, it has something to do with the 'Cai Qing' part of a lion dance, and it's at 'Hell Difficulty.'"
Jiang Ci sighed, resigned to his fate. He picked up the potted sunflower he had just planted and handed it to Lin Wan.
"Take good care of it for me."
"Got it."
Lin Wan took the flowerpot.