Zhao Yuan raised an eyebrow.
He had known for a while from Wang Jiasen that the Jinling Zhao Family would come after him, but he never expected it to be so soon, or for their methods to be so vile. They had resorted to outright slander and mudslinging!
Zhao Yuan couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.
Seeing him laugh without saying a word, Pan Mei urged him, "Why are you still laughing? Hurry up and tell me, did you really impersonate the Jinling Zhao Family or not!"
Zhao Yuan answered, "Sister Pan, if I told you that I've never impersonated the Jinling Zhao Family and that I wouldn't stoop to impersonating them, would you believe me?"
Pan Mei stared into Zhao Yuan's eyes. After a moment, she nodded firmly. "I believe you!"
She knew Zhao Yuan's character well. From the moment she heard the news, she'd had her doubts. In her eyes, Zhao Yuan possessed a deep-seated pride; he would never impersonate someone else!
"Thank you for trusting me." Zhao Yuan smiled, genuinely pleased.
But Pan Mei couldn't bring herself to smile. Her face was etched with worry. "This is no time for laughter. Who did you piss off? For them to set you up like this, to launch such a vicious smear campaign! You don't know, do you? The school forums are filled with posts slandering you. And you know how popular our forums have gotten lately—doctors and med students from all over the country visit them daily. If this keeps up, it won't be long before your reputation is ruined nationwide! With enough mud thrown, some of it is bound to stick! By then, even if you didn't impersonate the Jinling Zhao Family, you'll still be the one taking the fall!"
Zhao Yuan froze, his brow furrowing. "What? That's happening too?"
He truly hadn't expected this. Not only was the Jinling Zhao Family slandering him, but they had also hired a troll army to manipulate public opinion! This wasn't just about destroying him; they wanted to tarnish his name for all time!
If Zhao Yuan's mood had previously been one of disdain, it had now curdled into fury.
'You can survive a disaster from the heavens, but not one you bring upon yourself!'
'The Jinling Zhao Family, is it? Since you've provoked me time and again, and stooped to so many dirty tricks, don't blame me for being merciless!'
Pan Mei didn't know what Zhao Yuan was thinking. Seeing his dark expression, she thought he was frightened and quickly said, "Don't worry too much. I'm going to find the forum administrators right now and have them take down the posts!"
The situation was urgent, so she didn't waste any time, turning and leaving immediately.
After Pan Mei left, Zhao Yuan pulled his phone from his pocket, opened his browser, and logged into the school forums. He had to see the situation for himself.
One look was all it took for his brow to lock into a deep frown.
Just as Pan Mei had said, the school forums were filled with posts slandering him!
These posts not only accused him of impersonating the Jinling Zhao Family to commit fraud, but they also twisted the truth, claiming he had injured the family members who had come to confront him.
'Confront me?'
'What kind of bullshit "confrontation" involves attacking someone the moment you meet?'
Aside from the troll army hired by the Jinling Zhao Family to smear him, some of Zhao Yuan's old rivals had also gotten excited. Hiding behind anonymous accounts, they jumped into the fray, gleefully slandering him on the forums and doing everything they could to drag his name through the mud.
Ye Feng was one of them.
During last Saturday's basketball game, he had planned to utterly humiliate Zhao Yuan. He never imagined that the "basketball experts" from Clinical Class 7 would not only fail to crush Zhao Yuan, but they would end up being his stepping stones, making him famous in the process.
The incident had ruined Ye Feng's entire weekend.
This morning, he had just woken up when he got a call from Lü Tian. He hadn't wanted to bother with the good-for-nothing, but Lü Tian kept calling, so he finally answered. Over the phone, he heard an incredibly excited Lü Tian recounting what was happening on the school forums.
Ye Feng was instantly overjoyed. Realizing this was the perfect opportunity to destroy Zhao Yuan's reputation, he immediately paid to hire his own group of trolls. He had them fabricate some damaging rumors and spread them all over the school forums to slander Zhao Yuan.
Lü Tian, Li Bing, and the others from the Clinical Class 7 basketball team who had been thoroughly humiliated by Zhao Yuan, all eagerly joined in. It wasn't just them, either. Cao Han, Wang Lei, Sun Ke, and others who had been forced to transfer departments or even schools because of him, felt they'd finally found their chance for revenge. They relentlessly flooded the forums with slanderous posts.
At this moment, the West Hua Medical University forums were in a state of utter pandemonium!
And their slander was having an effect.
Brainwashed by the sheer volume of smear posts, many students began to believe the fabricated lies. They either replied to existing threads to condemn Zhao Yuan or started new ones demanding that the school expel such a "bad apple."
The few posts that occasionally appeared to defend Zhao Yuan were either instantly buried under the flood of new threads or swarmed by a horde of trolls who viciously attacked the posters until they didn't dare to say another word.
Seeing these posts that twisted the truth so brazenly, a firestorm of rage erupted in Zhao Yuan. He decided he had to reveal the truth. He couldn't just sit back and passively take this abuse.
Zhao Yuan only had one account on the school forums: "The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor."
He quickly typed in his username and password and logged in.
Zhao Yuan had no idea that his account held such a high status and prestigious reputation, not just on the school forums but throughout the entire medical community. He just wanted to post a thread to clear his name. He even had a plan: after posting, he'd go back to his classroom and ask everyone to help bump the thread to keep it from sinking.
Quickly, Zhao Yuan used his phone to type out a detailed account of the entire incident.
Worried that people would say he was just posting to defend himself and that it would lack credibility, he decided to write the post from a third-person perspective, narrating the events as a "friend" of the person involved.
Once the post was written, Zhao Yuan read it over one last time to make sure there were no issues before hitting the "Post" button.
He had just posted the thread and hadn't even had a chance to see the response when his phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Yu Ke.
The moment he answered, Yu Ke's voice came through. "Zhao Yuan, who did you get on the wrong side of? How could someone be slandering you for impersonating the Jinling Zhao Family?"
In that moment, Yu Ke had completely lost her usual "Ice Mountain" demeanor. Her voice was filled with worry and urgency.
Zhao Yuan quickly explained the whole story from beginning to end.
After listening, Yu Ke said through gritted teeth, "And to think the Jinling Zhao Family calls itself a medical Noble Family with a legacy of hundreds of years! How could they be so utterly unreasonable! Don't worry, I'm going to find Principal Ma right now. I absolutely will not let them get you expelled over this!"
"Get me expelled?" Zhao Yuan was taken aback. "What are you talking about?"
Yu Ke replied, "The Jinling Zhao Family's Patriarch, Zhao Dezhu, called Principal Ma last night to lodge a complaint, demanding that he expel you! But don't worry. I'll tell Principal Ma the truth and clear your name!"