Liu Hao’s parents forced stiff smiles as they saw the process server out, then turned and went back inside.
“I’ll call Haohao right now and tell him to come home immediately!”
His mother hurried into the house, looking anxious.
“What’s wrong? I just heard something happened to Haohao?”
The old man asked.
Just then, Liu Zhicheng unlocked the front door and walked in.
“Something’s happened, Dad!” Liu Zhicheng shouted anxiously as soon as he entered. “Haohao has gotten himself into trouble at school!”
Liu Zhigang’s heart sank.
The entire Liu family gathered on the sofa.
Old Master Liu asked anxiously, “Zhicheng, hurry up and tell us! What did Haohao do?”
Liu Zhicheng gave a bitter smile. “What else could he have done? Big Brother is holding the court summons, isn’t he? Ask him!”
Old Master Liu turned to Liu Zhigang. With no other choice, Liu Zhigang took the letter out of his pocket.
“This is what I just received. I don’t know exactly what happened, either. I heard them mention something about suspected rumor-mongering, but I really don’t know the details.”
Liu Zhicheng sighed and recounted everything that had happened that day.
The old lady was so furious that she nearly choked. Her face turned red as she said, “All this over that one incident? Just because my grandson casually posted something, this Ming Mei refuses to let it go?”
Liu Zhigang rubbed his temples in frustration.
Here they went again. Every time his son made a mistake, he and his wife would try to discipline him, only for his mother to react this way. It always left them caught between disciplining their son and giving in to his grandmother.
Now, Liu Hao had offended someone he absolutely should not have provoked and caused such a huge disaster, yet the old lady still acted as though everyone else was at fault!
Liu Hao’s mother sighed in distress. “Mother, Haohao really was in the wrong this time.”
The old lady grew even angrier.
“Listen to yourself! Just listen to what you’re saying as his mother! Instead of standing up for your own child, are you going to side with the person who caused our grandson to receive a court summons?”
Liu Zhicheng said helplessly, “This isn’t about taking sides anymore. They have all the evidence, from beginning to end. I’ve already consulted a lawyer, and we’re bound to lose this case.”
Old Master Liu tapped his cane against the floor.
“What if we hire a powerful lawyer? We can spend as much money as necessary!”
Liu Zhicheng felt even more helpless. “Dad, the lawyer they’ve hired is Li Mingkang, the most powerful lawyer in all of Shanghai!”
“The most powerful lawyer in all of Shanghai?” The old man frowned. “Is he really that good?”
The old lady, who was sitting nearby, chimed in, “Then we’ll hire that Zhang San fellow! That Zhang San lawyer! Isn’t he incredibly capable? Can’t he even get judges thrown in jail? Surely we can hire him!”
Liu Zhigang frowned. “Mom, Attorney Zhang San is a legal scholar who helps write the laws. He doesn’t take on court cases!”
The old lady waved this off. “We have plenty of money! If we pay him to handle a case, how could he possibly refuse to help us?”
Liu Zhigang was utterly exasperated. “This isn’t about money!”
Just then, Liu Hao returned home.
“Mom, what’s going on? Why did you call me home in such a hurry?” he asked while changing his shoes.
Seeing Liu Hao’s carefree, nonchalant manner, Liu Zhigang’s anger erupted. He stood up and slapped Liu Hao across the face, leaving him completely stunned.
The old lady let out a piercing scream and rushed in front of Liu Hao.
“You good-for-nothing brute! Why would you hit my precious grandson?”
Liu Hao finally came to his senses. Clutching his cheek, he stared at his father in disbelief.
“What are you doing, Dad? Why did you hit me out of nowhere?”
“Why did I hit you?” Liu Zhigang took a deep breath. “The court has already sent a summons to our house! Why do you think I hit you?”
Liu Hao was even more confused.
“A court summons? What summons? Why would they send one to me?”
With a dark expression, Liu Zhicheng opened a post on his phone and held it out in front of Liu Hao.
“Did you publish this post?”
When Liu Hao saw it, his expression stiffened. He was just about to say something when Liu Zhicheng let out a cold laugh.
“Don’t even think about making excuses. They traced the registered number back to your phone number!”
Liu Hao’s expression stiffened again, but he quickly returned to his indifferent attitude.
“So what if I posted it?”
“It really was you?” Liu Zhigang’s face was full of disappointment. “I worked so hard to put you through school, and this is what you’ve learned? Spreading rumors and slandering people—is this what you’ve learned in three years of university?”
Liu Hao remained unconcerned.
“I was just posting something for fun!”
Liu Zhicheng sighed and explained what had happened that day.
Liu Hao’s face paled a little.
“They’re taking this to court? We’re actually going to court over this? Is that really necessary? I only wrote a few things casually! Can’t I just apologize to her?”
The old lady nodded along.
“Exactly! Haohao is willing to apologize. Isn’t that enough?”
Liu Zhicheng looked even more speechless.
“If apologizing were enough, what would we need the police for? The only thing we can do now is hire a lawyer and wait for the trial.”
Shanghai University
Ming Mei woke up after a wonderful, restful sleep and took out her phone to check yesterday’s post.
The post had already been deleted.
Ming Mei sneered, closed the university forum, and opened WeChat.
A notice in the class group announced that military training attendance would begin at one o’clock that afternoon.
As the deputy class monitor, Ma Mingyue had naturally become the dormitory leader for Ming Mei’s room. She had gone to collect the military training uniforms for everyone and brought them back.
Li Kaina also arrived at the dormitory just in time.
She was drenched in perfume, and she had changed into another set of designer clothes.
She even hummed a tune as she walked into the room.
Seeing the others inside, Li Kaina gave a dismissive snort and deliberately shook her new handbag, showing it off.
Unfortunately for her, nobody in the dormitory paid her any attention.
Meanwhile, at the Liu Family Home
Old Madam Liu had barely slept all night. Now, she was directing her anger at her two sons.
“Just look at the two of you! One of you works as a counselor at a prestigious university, and the other trades stocks, yet neither of you can do anything to help when something happens to your child!”
Liu Zhicheng said helplessly, “Mom, the lawyer already told us that the only thing Haohao can do now is beg Ming Mei to forgive him on the day of the trial. If she agrees to forgive us, that would be good. But if she refuses, even detention would be getting off lightly!”
Old Master Liu struck the floor with his cane.
“How can he be detained? How can Haohao possibly be detained? If he gets detained, how will he ever take the civil service exams or apply for a government-funded position in the future? Zhigang, hurry up and find out where that female student named Ming Mei lives and where her parents are. I’ll personally go to her house and apologize!”
Liu Zhigang let out a cold laugh.
“Dad, get a grip. Someone who can casually spend 300 million yuan hiring a legal team and drive a car worth over 90 million yuan around as if it’s nothing—do you really think we can easily find out about a girl like that and her family?”
Old Madam Liu muttered unhappily, “What’s the big deal about a few hundred million? Our family has money too!”
Liu Zhicheng said helplessly, “It’s true that our family has that kind of money, but the problem is that we can’t possibly come up with that much all at once! Her liquid assets alone are worth more than all our family’s assets combined. The sensible thing to do now is to admit our mistake and apologize.”
Most importantly, there was also the university to consider.
The previous day, Wang Jianguo had made his position very clear: Liu Hao had to take full responsibility for everything. Under no circumstances could he reveal that he had been running the university’s Confession Wall entirely on his own. There had to be at least one other person responsible for reviewing posts on the account.
Otherwise, Wang Jianguo himself would be dragged into a huge mess.
After all, although Liu Hao was the eldest grandson of the Liu family, several younger children in the family had yet to take their university entrance exams and were still attending school.
Wang Jianguo’s meaning was obvious. Either Liu Hao would take all the blame himself, or the Liu family’s children could forget about having a smooth path through school in the future.
The Liu family had money, certainly, but they couldn’t compete with the power wielded by Wang Jianguo’s father-in-law.
When that happened, the Liu family would find themselves utterly helpless, with no one to turn to and no way to make their pleas heard.