Online, fans who had been looking forward to the century engagement banquet were wailing over the bad news.
Neutral onlookers, however, enjoyed the drama and became even more excited.
“Come to think of it, what exactly happened for the head of the Su family to publicly disown his adopted son?”
“After the severance announcement was posted, it was half an hour before Su Mingjie’s first engagement banquet photo appeared online. Back then, he was still telling everyone to look forward to more exciting photos in the evening.
We don’t know exactly why the adopted son was kicked out, but it’s very likely he held a grudge and sabotaged today’s engagement banquet because of it.”
“Su Mingjie is so unlucky!
The engagement banquet setup looked really beautiful in the photos. There wasn’t too much flashy stuff—it was mostly an ocean of flowers and plants, paired with natural green grass. It looked like a fairyland where elves would live. All those rare flowers must have cost a fortune, and now it’s all wasted.”
“No wonder Su Mingjie used to compete for favor with the adopted son. The guy is so ruthless and destructive… If Su Mingjie hadn’t fought for favor, he probably wouldn’t even survive in the Su family!”
“The adopted son is terrible! Thank goodness the Su family saw through his true nature and kicked him out. Otherwise, who knows how many more disasters would happen in the future.”
“Come to think of it, last time when the adopted son ran away from home, Mingjie even tried to persuade him to come back. Such a good person, and this is how he gets repaid. But back then, the whole Su family came out to comfort Mingjie.
Even the stepmother, who’s not blood-related, said the adopted son had gone too far and told Mingjie not to worry. No one in the family said a word in the adopted son’s defense. That really shows what kind of person he is.”
“Who exactly is the Su family’s adopted son? He must be in G Province right now…”
While the gossipmongers sympathized with Su Mingjie over his ruined engagement banquet, the fans began a wave of online bullying.
Truth be told, people weren’t exactly happy with Su Jingye for bringing the adopted son back into the family in the first place.
But as the owner of an entertainment company, he had set up a separate astroturfing firm to control the narrative. Any criticism directed at him was suppressed, and the blame was shifted onto the adopted son.
And the fans, just as the online manipulators had guided them, grew increasingly resentful of the adopted son and started digging into his real-life information.
To put it bluntly, they were hunting for his personal details to dox him.
Behind his phone screen, Su Jingye watched the online outrage with a smug expression.
“That ungrateful brat Su Zhisheng has no idea how much the Su family has done for him behind the scenes. Once those crazy fans dox him, he’ll finally understand. By then, even if he cries his eyes out, he won’t be able to change the fact that extreme netizens have dragged his real life into the mess.”
Beside him, Su Minghao wore a cold expression. “He’s just an arrogant fool who doesn’t know his place. He’s long overdue for a harsh lesson.”
The two of them thought back to the interrogation earlier, when Su Zhisheng had sat right beside the police, watching every moment of their humiliation.
The shame of that scene was still vivid in their minds.
Su Jingye stepped into the villa. “Is the hot water and pomelo leaf bath ready?”
At first, he had thought Su Zhisheng was just putting on a show of power. After all, he hadn’t committed any crime at the Zhang family’s luxury hotel. What were the police going to do, arrest him?
Then it turned out that wretched Hu Xiuchun had secretly roped the company’s bronze-tier agent into that kind of filthy business. As the company owner, he had to cooperate with the police investigation.
The young police officer even suspected that he was the real mastermind behind Hu Xiuchun. Fortunately, Hu Xiuchun had repeatedly told her confidants in WeChat messages to stay out of his sight, and only one agent—Wang Hao—had been involved. That was how his innocence was proven.
Otherwise, he might still be stuck at the police station waiting to be cleared of suspicion, unable to come home.
As for Su Minghao, the reason he was investigated was essentially the same. Unlike Hu Xiuchun, who had no real power in the company, he had been groomed as the successor. If an agent was involved in prostitution, the police would naturally investigate the company’s owner and executives.
Recalling the interrogation at the police station, both of them felt deeply humiliated and hurried into the bathroom to wash away the bad luck.
Su Jingye felt a little better knowing that Hu Xiuchun was doomed to go to prison and that Su Zhisheng would soon be doxxed and hounded by online bullies.
Right after his bath, he opened his phone to scroll through updates.
“I hope those crazy fans come through and quickly dig up Su Zhisheng’s identity as the wealthy family’s adopted son.”
Otherwise, he’d have to find a way to feed more doxxing clues into their hands.
As Su Jingye was thinking these venomous thoughts, he refreshed his feed and saw the latest announcement from the police.
[The Zhang family’s luxury hotel was the scene of a murder where the body was concealed. The killer has already been apprehended, and the police investigation is ongoing. As for the Su family’s engagement banquet being canceled, both the hosts and guests were frightened and needed to go home to rest.]
[Additionally, the victim had ties to the Su family’s entertainment company. Relevant members of the Su family participated in case statements and were unable to continue hosting the wedding banquet. Among them, Hu Xiuchun has been confirmed to have jointly organized prostitution with the Zhang family hotel. More information will be released after the case is solved.]
[Mr. Su, the adopted son of the Su family, is a special consultant to the police department and provided crucial clues for this case. Netizens are urged not to believe or spread rumors, and not to engage in illegal acts such as doxxing or online bullying.]
As soon as the police announcement came out, public opinion shifted dramatically.
“That last sentence from the police was clearly aimed at those crazy fans, right?”
“Although everyone says Su Mingjie is such a kind person, I don’t believe he’s anything good if he can raise fans this unhinged.”
“Tsk tsk… The stepmother didn’t like the adopted son, but she liked Su Mingjie. ‘That really shows what kind of person he is.’ Isn’t that what the fans were saying about their idol before? The boomerang came back fast, hahahaha.”
“Earlier, the fans were trying to dox the Su family’s adopted son, but the guy is a police consultant—he works for the government. Looks like they’ve stepped on a landmine.”
“What a shame. Now those crazy fans have chickened out and aren’t doxxing anymore. Otherwise, it would’ve been hilarious if they traced the adopted son’s G Province IP address all the way to the police station.”
“I wasn’t a fan of this so-called ‘adopted son’ suddenly joining the Su family—he’s probably an illegitimate child, after all… But now that he’s turned against his own family to expose their illegal activities, all I can say is: well done!”
“Su Mingjie was so close to his stepmother, who was doing all those bad things. Does that mean he’s done something bad too?”
“I think he’s done so many bad things that karma hit him! The engagement ceremony should have started hours ago, but then a flock of night herons flew over. They didn’t bother anyone else—they just targeted him.”
Originally, the public had little goodwill toward the adopted son. But this time, Su Zhisheng had turned misfortune into opportunity, and his reputation began to improve.
Meanwhile, the fake young master’s standing took a hit instead.
Su Jingye grew anxious and quickly had Su Mingjie go live to clarify things.
After all, Hu Xiuchun had been arrested, yet Su Mingjie was able to livestream from his own garden, lamenting his ruined engagement banquet. Clearly, he hadn’t been involved in his stepmother’s illegal activities.
But while the clarification achieved its goal, the livestream chat wasn’t just filled with comforting fans—there were also malicious “bystanders.”
“Mingjie, someone said you got ‘sh*t on’ at your engagement banquet. Is that true?”
Seeing the barrage of comments, Su Mingjie turned even paler and couldn’t utter a word.
That stench of feces still seemed to linger at the tip of his nose, impossible to shake off.
Soon, Su Mingjie ended the stream abruptly, citing discomfort, and fled in disgrace.
But in his and his family’s hearts, a huge question emerged.
The gossipmongers didn’t know Su Zhisheng’s true capabilities. They assumed the Su family had produced a young prodigy who had earned the police’s favor.
But Su Jingye and his son knew that Su Zhisheng was just an ordinary veterinary intern. Forget helping the police—he wasn’t even qualified to examine police dogs!
The police announcement hadn’t mentioned exactly what the special consultant’s job entailed. They would have to look into that carefully.
On the evening after the engagement banquet, Su Zhisheng went to the lakeside as promised, carrying a lot of food.
Truth be told, the backpack he had brought the previous night couldn’t hold much food at all.
He had asked many small animals for help along the way, and the food rewards were far from sufficient. In the end, he had racked up a debt of various foods—jerky, small fish, nuts, and more.
You could say Su Zhisheng wasn’t just a person who could understand animal language—he was also a genius at owing animals a mountain of debts.
If there were a leaderboard, he would undoubtedly rank first in both the variety of animal creditors and the sheer number of them.
“Captain Xing, I’m just here to feed some small animals. It’s not a big deal. The investigation is still ongoing, so you accompanying me to feed animals feels like a bit of a waste of your talent.”
Xing Tianwei said seriously, “Your ability is irreplaceable. Every time you go out on duty, you must be accompanied.”
“Everyone else is busy working overtime on investigations and interrogations. They can’t get away. As the lead commander, I can still handle cases without being stuck at the station.”
After all, Xing Tianwei had already assigned specific tasks to his subordinates. Unless something unexpected came up, no one would need to contact him for the time being.
“That’s true. I’ll be counting on you tonight, Captain Xing.” Su Zhisheng raised his hand and began distributing the food.
For some small animals that didn’t dare show themselves because of predators, he even delivered the food directly to them.
Waterbirds, hedgehogs, small snakes… all sorts of animals appeared around Su Zhisheng. As he handed out snacks and talked to the animals, he looked like the protagonist of a fairy tale.
Xing Tianwei stood guard, watching for any animals that might attack Su Zhisheng. He didn’t participate in the feeding—he just quietly took in the heartwarming scene.
His expression remained as aloof as ever, but a trace of warmth surfaced in his eyes.
“Quack quack…”