"Xiaochen."
Ma Guotao called out, and his secretary, Chen Qiang, immediately squeezed in from the outer office.
"Go and ask Zhao Yuan to come here. And be polite, understand?"
"Yes, sir." Chen Qiang nodded in agreement.
In truth, even if Ma Guotao hadn't added that last part, he would have been exceedingly polite to Zhao Yuan. 'It's no joke,' he thought. 'With so many teachers and experts willing to stick their necks out for Zhao Yuan, how could someone like me dare to offend him?'
Yu Ke reminded him, "Zhao Yuan should be in his Medical Ancient Texts class right now. You'll find him over at the academic building."
"Okay." After thanking Yu Ke for the helpful tip, Chen Qiang pushed his way out of the crowd and hurried toward the academic building to find Zhao Yuan.
Just then, a series of shocked gasps erupted from the crowd outside the president's office.
Ma Guotao's brows shot up. He demanded, "What's all that noise out there?"
A Medical Ancient Texts teacher squeezed in, holding up his phone, and said, his voice a mixture of shock and excitement, "The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor just posted on the school forum, strongly supporting Zhao Yuan!"
"What?!"
As soon as the news broke, everyone in the president's office was utterly stunned.
"Is that for real? Why would The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor speak up for Zhao Yuan? Do they know each other?"
Ma Guotao darted over to the Medical Ancient Texts teacher, snatched the phone, and looked. Sure enough, it was a post from The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor, and it detailed the entire incident with incredible precision, as if he knew everything about it.
The others also scrambled to pull out their phones and log in to the school forum.
After confirming that The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor had indeed posted in support of Zhao Yuan, they were all, like Ma Guotao, completely dumbfounded.
After a long moment, Qiu Haogu cried out excitedly, "I get it! Zhao Yuan must have learned his medical skills from The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor! No wonder he's so young yet has such profound attainments in subjects like Medical Ancient Texts, Acupuncture Technique, and Chinese Herbal Medicine!"
Qiu Haogu's speculation was met with unanimous agreement.
"That explains it! I was wondering how Zhao Yuan could be so skilled in medicine at his age. Even with incredible talent, it's impossible to be this amazing just as a freshman. So he's been studying under The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor. That makes perfect sense."
"A great master produces a brilliant student! The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor's medical skills are so high that even Elder Xiao and Elder Liu admit they are no match. It would be stranger if Zhao Yuan *wasn't* highly skilled after studying under him."
"No wonder The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor chose to solve problems and post on our school's forum. It must be because Zhao Yuan studies here."
Even Ma Guotao accepted this explanation, and his resentment toward Zhao Dezhu grew even stronger.
'Zhao Dezhu, oh, Zhao Dezhu, what did I ever do to you?' he thought. 'If I had actually expelled Zhao Yuan, not only me, but all of West Hua Medical University would have become a laughingstock in the medical world, forever branded with a mark of shame!'
Taking a deep breath, he picked up his phone, found Zhao Dezhu's number, and dialed.
The call connected quickly.
Zhao Dezhu was in a fine mood. He said with a wide smile, "Brother Guotao, are you calling to tell me you've expelled that shameless fraud, Zhao Yuan?"
Ma Guotao was already fuming. Hearing this, his anger erupted. "Shameless fraud? Zhao Dezhu, you've got some nerve saying that!"
Zhao Dezhu was taken aback. "Brother Guotao, what do you mean by that?"
Ma Guotao said coldly, "What do I mean? You know perfectly well! I'm calling to tell you that West Hua Medical University is not to be trifled with. You lied to us, and there will be a price to pay! Zhao Dezhu, for a man of your stature, aren't you ashamed of yourself for doing something like this? I'll leave you with one piece of advice: he who is unjust is doomed to destruction!"
Now Zhao Dezhu was angry too. He snapped, "Ma! What the hell do you mean?"
However, Ma Guotao didn't answer him at all. He just hung up.
Zhao Dezhu was furious. He shot to his feet, cursing Ma Guotao nonstop.
His daughter, Zhao Jingrou, who had been playing on her phone nearby, was startled by his extreme reaction. "Dad, what's wrong?" she asked quickly.
Zhao Dezhu gritted his teeth. "That bastard Ma Guotao! He clearly promised me he would expel Zhao Yuan, but now the fucker has gone back on his word! I don't know what kind of potion Zhao Yuan gave him to make him trust that kid over me!"
Then he let out a cold, sinister laugh. "Good thing I was prepared for this. So you won't expel Zhao Yuan? Fine. I'll just make you, Ma Guotao, and West Hua Medical University go down with him!"
He had just finished laughing when his phone rang again. He picked it up and saw that the call was from the head of the online troll army.
Zhao Dezhu smirked. "See? My second move is already working!"
He answered the call and spoke before the other person could get a word in. "Hey, Old Peng, how's it going? Is Zhao Yuan's name mud online by now, hated by everyone? I'm telling you, don't let up. We have to press the advantage! We need to drag his name so far through the mud it's unrecognizable! Also, have your people cook up some dirt on West Hua Medical University and their president, Ma Guotao, and smear them too! If they dare to oppose me, I'll make sure they learn their lesson!"
When he finally finished his tirade, the head of the troll army stammered, "Uh, Boss Zhao, we're very sorry..."
"Very sorry? What do you mean by that?" Zhao Dezhu asked, confused.
"Our operation failed," the man said. "Everything was going smoothly at first. We had complete control of public opinion, and everyone was condemning Zhao Yuan. But then someone made a post defending him, and the narrative completely flipped. Everyone sided with Zhao Yuan. We tried our best to salvage the situation, but it was useless..."
"What?" Zhao Dezhu was shocked and enraged. He roared, "How the fuck do you people do business?! I paid you all that money, and you screwed it up this badly?"
The head of the troll army replied, "I'm sorry, Boss Zhao. I'll refund your deposit. We can't do this job. It's impossible now."
Zhao Dezhu calmed down a little. "Who was the person who posted in support of Zhao Yuan?" he asked.
He was very curious. Who could have so much influence that a single post could completely reverse such one-sided public opinion?
"The person's username is strange. It's 'The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor'."
"What? The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor? He... why would he help Zhao Yuan?" Zhao Dezhu's jaw dropped. His legs suddenly felt weak, and he collapsed onto the sofa.
The trolls might not know who The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor was, but how could Zhao Dezhu not?
Although The Man Who Wants to Be a Witch Doctor had only emerged recently and his identity remained a mystery, his status in the medical world was supreme! Even Zhao Dezhu couldn't compare. After all, this was the person who had selflessly published the *Outer Canon of the Yellow Emperor*. On that point alone, he held an Extraordinary position in the domestic medical community!
A sense of unease suddenly flooded Zhao Dezhu's heart.
'It seems that in trying to deal with Zhao Yuan,' he thought, 'I'm going to suffer a double loss.'