Under the night sky, the Su family mansion’s courtyard was lit up with twinkling fairy lights. Beneath them, flowers bloomed like clouds, while plants and blossoms had been trimmed into the cute shapes of various little animals, creating a warm and healing scene.
“Young Master, seeing this view, do you feel a little better?”
The gardener looked up at the second-floor bedroom balcony, his expression carrying a fervor as if gazing upon a deity.
“Mm.” Su Mingjie nodded. “You’ve worked hard. Go rest and let me have some time alone.”
“Okay.” The gardener packed up his tools and quickly left the courtyard.
His appearance wasn’t pleasing—his skin dark—clashing with the beauty of the garden. Staying would only offend the young master’s eyes.
Su Mingjie gazed at the lovely scenery below, but his thoughts remained stuck on the rumors swirling online.
“That damned Hu Xiuchun! She’s made my life a living hell!”
He had no idea what kind of hold she had over his father. God knows how badly he wanted to kick that scourge out of the house!
Lately, nothing had gone right for him.
First, he was attacked by birds at his engagement banquet, ending up a complete mess. Then the banquet was canceled due to a murder case, making him the laughingstock of G Province’s elite!
After such a tragedy, he should have been painted as an utterly innocent victim in the court of public opinion, wrapped in endless waves of sympathy and comfort.
But instead, after his stepmother’s misdeeds were exposed, his own character came under fire because of their “loving mother, filial son” act online…
“Thankfully, the PR team stepped in to control the narrative, saying I was so traumatized by the murder at my engagement banquet that I needed psychological treatment at home. Those questioning my character finally shut up.”
Su Mingjie pulled out his phone and scrolled. Seeing the public opinion now full of sympathy for him, with the criticism thoroughly suppressed… he felt a little better.
Because of the recent upheaval, he had applied for a temporary leave of absence from school to avoid being treated like a zoo animal by his classmates. Of course, it was also to keep up appearances—after all, poor, pitiful him was still recovering.
He wasn’t worried about falling behind in his studies. After all, the Su family ran a film and TV company, and the teachers were already used to taking side gigs training the company’s performers. With a bit of money, he could easily have them give him private lessons.
Still, being cooped up at home every day was bound to get boring.
“Gardener Xiao Fang is loyal enough, but his tongue is too clumsy. If only Xiao Tao were here…”
Xiao Tao had joined the Su household this year as one of the maids specifically assigned to take care of his daily needs. Though her work skills were average, she spoke well and was fiercely loyal.
Back when Su Zhisheng was first brought home, Xiao Tao had helped him bully Su Zhisheng plenty. Every time he engaged in passive-aggressive theatrics, having her as a partner in crime made him unstoppable—like a perfect duo, invincible together.
That said, she hadn’t approved of his plan to frame Su Zhisheng by triggering his allergies.
Though she claimed to be concerned about his health, he had been so determined to drive Su Zhisheng away that he ignored her and even gave her the cold shoulder.
As a result, Xiao Tao had gone back to her hometown to care for her elderly mother after she fell and injured herself, taking a full month’s leave.
“The new maid is a mute gourd—barely usable. Xiao Tao is so much better…” Su Mingjie opened his contacts. The last message was from before Xiao Tao left.
“Ingrate! I get that I’m not paying you while you’re on leave, but you could at least check in on me every now and then, no? What a waste of keeping your position open, what a waste of all those red packets I gave you…”
Thinking this, Su Mingjie couldn’t help but feel resentful.
He opened Weibo, intending to use a fake account to hurl insults at the Su family’s adopted son and vent his frustration.
But the top trending topic was: Su Mingjie’s Identity as Fake Young Master Exposed!
In an instant, a piercing shriek erupted from the second-floor bedroom of the villa!
Online, netizens swarmed like bees, diving headfirst into the Su family’s drama.
[So explosive! The adopted son is the real biological son. Su Mingjie isn’t even an illegitimate child—he was brought in by a maid who swapped in an outsider.]
[Su Mingjie is so shameless! A fake like him still has the nerve to cling to the Su family.]
[That “adopted son” is so tragic. His father refuses to acknowledge his true identity and lets him get bullied online by Su Mingjie’s fans. If he weren’t a police consultant, Su Mingjie’s crazy fans would have doxxed him long ago.]
[It’s one thing for Hu Xiuchun to be the stepmother, but Su Jingye ignoring his own child to protect the adopted son is peak toxicity.]
[He’s raised that fake for so many years—I guess he’s grown attached.]
[I think he’s so desperate to marry into the Wei family that he’s willing to abandon his own child for profit.]
Once Su Mingjie’s identity came to light, both he and those in the Su family who protected him faced harsh criticism from netizens.
Of course, the brunt of the backlash fell on Su Mingjie himself.
[I always thought Su Mingjie spoke in a passive-aggressive, fake-polite way. Now it makes sense.]
[Fakes love telling lies. He said he wanted his “second brother” to come home, but really he kept competing for attention and eventually drove the guy out of the house. I spit!]
Su Mingjie had launched his image as the spoiled, beloved young master of the wealthy Su family. Now that his identity was exposed, that persona had crumbled. Aside from a tiny handful of brainwashed fans, most of his followers turned on him.
The same vile language they had once used to curse his rivals and the Su family’s adopted son was now being “returned” to the man they had once adored.
[I’ve liked you for so long, and you turn out to be a liar. Go die!]
[I heard you’re having psychological issues and recovering at home. I hope the illness defeats you soon.]
Countless curses and venomous words stabbed fiercely into Su Mingjie’s retinas through the cold phone screen.
“So, so vile…”
“How can they be so malicious? Are these things even fit for human speech?”
When those same words had been aimed at Su Zhisheng, he couldn’t have smiled more brightly. But now that the target was himself, he crumbled immediately.
Though his company’s PR team sprang into action right away, their efforts seemed pathetically insignificant in the face of the surging public outcry and massive fan backlash.
Su Mingjie had been pampered his whole life. Even if he hadn’t been valued much at first, once he became playmates with the Wei family heir, Su Jingye started paying attention to him.
When he debuted, he had a team of online trolls shielding him. This was the first time he had ever faced such a major setback and received so much hatred!
Su Mingjie had often led online attacks against his rivals, but he had never developed the psychological resilience to endure cyberbullying himself.
The online assault shattered his mental defenses instantly, reducing him to tears as he called his father, his elder brother, his fiancé…
Anyone, please—help him, save him. These curses were supposed to have been his gift to Su Zhisheng…
Under the night sky of G Province, the city was still alive with noise.
Too many people couldn’t sleep and had gone out for late-night snacks. Not only that, but many convenience stores still had their doors wide open, welcoming customers.
However, the vegetable market, pet shops, and aquarium store were closed.
Fortunately, Su Zhisheng was interning at his teacher’s veterinary hospital and had a key to the back door. He let himself in and picked up some pet vegetable biscuits, dried food, meat pellets…
After restocking his supplies, Su Zhisheng returned to school and headed to the lake to feed the fish.
“Big Carp, I’m back with the corn.”
Hearing his voice, the carp flicked its tail and quickly swam over to Su Zhisheng.
It was chubby—clearly used to being fed by students and tourists alike.
The silver-white moonlight fell upon the big fat fish, making it look even more bloated. Su Zhisheng couldn’t help but frown.
“How much food have you eaten today? Take it easy. My dorm isn’t far—I can come feed you often. You should save some to eat slowly. If you gorge yourself, you might burst.”
Many new fish owners have to be careful about feeding, since fish really are stupid enough to eat themselves to death.
Hearing this, the big carp swished its tail.
“Relax, I know my limits. People come by feeding me wave after wave. Any fish that didn’t know when to stop would’ve croaked ages ago.”
“Right now, it’s late-night snack time for you humans. And as for me, this fish wants a midnight snack too.”
Su Zhisheng, who hadn’t had a late-night snack today: “…”
A fat fish on campus lived a more refined life than he did.
Unbelievable!
“Alright then, I’ll feed you bit by bit. When you’re full, I’ll put the extra away and feed you again tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
The big carp ate for a while and finally had enough.
“I’m full.” But its fishy eyes were still glued to the bag of food, as if staring at a treasure trove.
It wanted more—to fill its pantry even fuller.
“There’s something I want to trouble you with. You know how some shameless people dump their leftovers into the river. Well, a bag of meat just washed downstream, and I want you to help fish it out.”
Hearing this, Su Zhisheng’s heart gave a jolt!
Normally, when people dump leftovers into a river, they don’t put them in a tied bag. The bag is just a carrying tool. Most people pour the food directly into the water so the fish can eat it.
Meat waste sealed in a bag…
Su Zhisheng had a bad feeling about this.
“Do you know what kind of meat is inside? The bag should be a bit damaged after being washed down, right?”
“The outer layer is a bit torn, but the bag is wrapped layer upon layer. I don’t know what kind of meat is inside.” The big carp flicked its tail. “That’s why I need your help. Otherwise, I could just take a bite and eat it.”
Carp are omnivores, but pork is hard for them to digest. Typically, the meat in fish food comes from fish or shrimp.
The carp in the river didn’t care about any of that—if there was food, they’d go after it.
Su Zhisheng took a deep breath. “Where is that bag of meat? I’ll find someone to come fish it out.”
“Come back during the daytime. It’s stuck under a rock in the middle of the river. It’s dark now—if you go into the water, you’ll just stir up mud and make it hard to find,” the wise carp said.
Luo Guangsheng had really made an enemy of this witness fish. Talk about bad luck.
After all, this was a fish that proactively gave Su Zhisheng surveillance leads and actively helped solve cases…
“Alright, it’s a deal. I’ll come tomorrow morning.”
Hopefully, he was just overthinking things.
Thinking this, Su Zhisheng called Xing Tianwei and told him about the situation.
The river wasn’t shallow. Su Zhisheng could swim, but diving and retrieving something required professionals.
“I’ll assign a dive team. Be there at six tomorrow morning to direct the recovery operation. We have a lot to do tomorrow, so get some rest early.”
As Su Zhisheng’s direct superior, Xing Tianwei had long since obtained his class schedule. Su Zhisheng only had classes in the afternoon the next day, so Xing Tianwei scheduled the work task for the morning.
“Okay, Captain Xing, you get some rest too,” Su Zhisheng replied.
Their conversation wasn’t long. Xing Tianwei wasn’t a talkative person. Su Zhisheng knew the man was kind-hearted, but he couldn’t help feeling a bit of the usual tension that came with facing a superior…
If he had been on the phone with Zhang Zhengyang instead, the two of them would probably have chattered nonstop the whole time.
Now, Su Zhisheng walked alone back to his dorm. As he passed the neighboring room, Li Mengxi called out to him.
“You’re just in time. The fried chicken delivery just arrived.” Li Mengxi waved.
“Thanks to everyone’s help today, I’m treating you to a late-night snack. Zhisheng, you put in the most effort, so eat up. Gao Lijian said your favorite is spicy chicken wings, so I ordered a huge bucket full…”
“Tonight is a celebration—for solving the theft case and for Luo Guangsheng getting the hell out soon.”
Su Zhisheng caught their infectious happiness, walked in, and closed the door behind him.
“Speaking of which, where’s Luo Guangsheng? His stuff is still here.”
Sure, he had to move dorms, but it would take time to find him a new place. So Luo Guangsheng should have been coming back to spend the night. But where had he gone?
“Oh, him… When he found out his idol was a fraud, he went out to drown his sorrows,” a roommate said with a shrug. “I saw him losing it on his Moments. He wrote something like, ‘With this drink, I mourn my dead youth.'”
“How old is he? Still so cringey?” Gao Lijian couldn’t help but snicker.
Li Mengxi was also speechless. “His parents are already on their way to school. He better sober up in time and not get caught. Otherwise, he’ll get another beating on top of everything else.”
Su Zhisheng wasn’t surprised. “He argued with people online for his idol, even resorted to theft, and ended up like this. Now that Su Mingjie has fallen from grace, his whole belief system has collapsed. If he didn’t go out drinking to numb the pain, he’d probably be out setting fires or worse.”
“Let’s stop talking about that loser. It kills the mood. Raise your glasses—we’re only talking about happy things…”
With that, everyone raised their cola and clinked glasses.
Li Mengxi even took a photo and shared it on his Moments.
And so Su Zhisheng ate fried chicken while scrolling through the fake young master getting roasted online, his heart filled with joy.
All the sympathy the fake young master had gained when the wealthy family’s “adopted son” first appeared—now just as many deceived netizens had woken up and were furiously lashing out.
People stayed awake for countless reasons, but tonight was destined to be a sleepless one.
The next morning, just past 6 a.m., before class time, the sky had already brightened.
Su Zhisheng, along with Xing Tianwei in plain clothes and the recovery divers, took a boat out onto the river.
They still weren’t sure if this was a false alarm, so Xing Tianwei didn’t wear his police uniform to avoid panicking the students and tourists. Of course, coming this early was also to get the job done when fewer people were around.
Su Zhisheng took out some meat-based fish feed and tossed it to the big carp.
“We need to take that bag of meat out of the water, but I’ll give you double the amount of meat as compensation.”
“Counting my fee for guiding you underwater, this fish wants triple the meat.” The big carp’s heart was set on expanding its food stash.
“Deal.”
Having settled the terms with his guide fish, Su Zhisheng turned to the diver.
“Just follow the carp. It will lead the way.”
“If a cop hadn’t vouched for you, I’d never believe someone could understand animals,” the man remarked as he put on his oxygen mask.
Soon, he retrieved a black plastic bag from under the water.
Xing Tianwei didn’t open it. He directly placed the bag—a potential piece of evidence possibly containing human remains—into a container.
Before returning to the station, Xing Tianwei studied the dark circles under Su Zhisheng’s eyes. “Get some rest.”
Su Zhisheng nodded vigorously. “I’m going back to rest right now. I promise to sleep well, grow up big and strong, and return full of energy for studying and work…”
A whole spiel of responses tailored for dealing with elders left Xing Tianwei silent for a long moment.
As nice as Su Zhisheng’s promises sounded, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that he had just been promoted several generations.
Before he could dwell on it, Su Zhisheng had already slipped back to his dorm.
Su Zhisheng knew the fake young master wouldn’t take things lying down, and he was curious to see how he would handle the PR crisis.
The PR department, which had probably worked overtime into the early hours, must have lost all their hair by now. They could only delete comments while desperately racking their brains for a strategy…
Su Zhisheng was grateful he had no morning classes. He could sleep well and wake up to continue watching the drama unfold.
But when Su Zhisheng did wake up, the first thing he saw was a message from the police.
The plastic bag did indeed contain human remains. After DNA testing and comparison, they were identified as belonging to the Su family’s maid, Wu Xiaotao.
In that moment, goosebumps erupted all over Su Zhisheng’s body!
Even if their relationship hadn’t been good, the death of someone he knew—and dismemberment at that—was a sheer horror for him.
Everyone in the Su family was a suspect in this case and would need to give statements.
Other than that, Su Zhisheng didn’t see any more information in the text message.
Because he, too, was one of the suspects and wasn’t entitled to know more.
“Of everyone in the Su family, she got along with me the least.”
In terms of motive, he was the most suspicious.