Chapter 157.2: The Hit-and-Run Incident
Since Jian Jiayu had been at the scene, knew the truth, and held hostility toward Shen Xiu, the photos were, unsurprisingly, taken with his own bias.
The first image showed a traffic officer talking to a visibly nervous taxi driver. The second image showed Manager Wu, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, speaking with the officer.
Both images only captured a small part of the vehicle—none of them showed the actual details of the car that had rear-ended Shen Xiu’s.
The focus of the pictures was entirely on the traffic cop, the taxi driver, and Manager Wu—who had come to handle the situation on Shen Xiu’s behalf.
In the photo, the traffic officer could be seen saying something to the taxi driver, whose eyes—lit by the streetlamp—were noticeably red, as though he were about to cry.
Meanwhile, Manager Wu wore a broad, unbothered smile.
Seeing the message successfully sent, the corners of Ling Yuanzhen’s mouth curved upward beneath his mask.
The frustration that had been bottled up all morning was finally released in that moment. As for the actual truth—Ling Yuanzhen didn’t care at all.
After all, no one would know who sent the message. Netizens would only see that Shen Xiu caused an accident and walked away, focused solely on attending the Storm promotional tour to make money.
The account he used to register had belonged to a distant relative whose Mandarin was barely intelligible, who lived in some remote mountain village, used an old-fashioned mobile phone, and—most importantly—wasn’t very sharp and had a terrible memory.
Even if Shen Xiu somehow managed to trace it back to that relative, that fool wouldn’t be able to explain anything.
Ling Yuanzhen cleared his browsing history, went to the front desk to pay for the internet usage, and left the black-market internet café with peace of mind.
—
Online.
The phrase “Shen Xiu car accident” alone was enough to ignite the gossiping curiosity of netizens. Driven by that curiosity, they all clicked on the post and its attached images.
And once they clicked, they inevitably started commenting.
Some people stirred the pot and tagged Shen Xiu’s account. Fans, naturally unwilling to believe Shen Xiu would hit someone in a car and flee, also began tagging him.
Shen Xiu’s anti-fans were even more active. Afraid of being sued by Shen Xiu’s lawyers, they didn’t dare say it outright, so they just shared that string of clearly unmodified numbers from the dummy account with sarcastic remarks.
— So this is the reason why Shen Xiu switched cars during the tour?
— This can’t be real, right? Who’s hiding behind their internet cable spreading rumors? I don’t believe Xiu-baby would ever do something like this. Waiting for the truth. @ShenXiu
— Wuwuwu that poor taxi driver who got hit, he looks like he’s about to cry in the photo. He’s already so old, it’s heartbreaking. Reminds me of my honest old father. People in the countryside can’t bear to see this kind of thing. Does having money mean you can do whatever you want? Don’t you feel guilty? @ShenXiu
— It’s obviously a freshly registered new account. Spreading rumors has no cost at all these days. Just two photos, and not even showing the condition of the car? The attempt to stir up trouble is way too obvious. Who’s behind this account? @Lawyer @XiuXiuStudio, get to work.
— I don’t get it. (Dropping a squatting butt emoji for truth.) If the truth comes out, remember to kick me—I’m ready with my butt up.
— Don’t you really feel even a twinge of guilt? @ShenXiu
So many people commented, shared, and liked the post that not even five minutes after Ling Yuanzhen posted it, the rumor about Shen Xiu hitting someone and fleeing the scene landed on multiple trending lists.
—
Shen Xiu had just finished eating and was taking a nap.
The system that managed Shen Xiu’s two public accounts detected a flood of mentions from netizens. After hesitating for less than three seconds, it decided to wake Shen Xiu.
System: [Wake up. Someone’s saying you hit someone with your car and fled…]
Shen Xiu, eyes still closed, suddenly heard what was easily the worst sentence he could ever hear since he started driving. He instantly jolted awake and sat up, exclaiming in panic, “I didn’t!”
System: […]
Was this really the same Shen Xiu who used to drive like a maniac, almost racing into space?
Only after shouting did Shen Xiu fully wake up.
Now clear-headed, Shen Xiu looked around at the familiar surroundings. Seeing that he was still sitting obediently on his bed and hadn’t been driving at all, he let out a deep sigh of relief, raised a hand, and lightly patted his heart, which was thumping wildly.
Muttering to himself, he said, “Woke up too suddenly. Dreamt someone was falsely accusing me of a hit-and-run. Scared the hell out of me…”
System: [I was the one who said it.]
Shen Xiu: “?”
“I didn’t!” Shen Xiu reflexively repeated in a loud voice, as if traumatized.
System: […I know. But someone online is saying it. It’s already on several trending searches.]
Shen Xiu looked even more confused: “?”
After the confusion passed, Shen Xiu felt a surge of anger. He threw off the covers, set both feet on the floor into his slippers, and grabbed his phone, muttering in frustration, “Let me see who’s slandering me!”
It was fine if people said he wasn’t a good driver—he could admit that, since he hadn’t driven that often—but accusing him of a hit-and-run? That was unacceptable.
Shen Xiu wasn’t having it.
God knew that every time he drove, he stayed hyper-aware of everything around him, eyes scanning in all directions, ears on high alert. He didn’t even dare talk to the person sitting in the passenger seat.
Having scrolled through gossip on Weibo many times before, Shen Xiu was already very familiar with the go-to hub for drama.
Only, in the past, he had always been secretly watching gossip about other celebrities. Now, he was watching gossip about himself.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time Shen Xiu had eaten his own “melon.”
He logged into his social media account and skillfully tapped into the trending topics.
Seeing a large number of people tagging him under some random numbered account, asking if his conscience didn’t hurt, Shen Xiu was baffled.
Shouldn’t the person spreading rumors be the one whose conscience hurts? What did this have to do with him, Shen Xiu?
Feeling displeased, Shen Xiu casually reposted one of the comments and sincerely typed a reply.
@ShenXiu: No, it doesn’t.
// @FollowMeForStockTips: Does your conscience not hurt?
— …That familiar tone, that classic response. As expected from our Boss Xiu. Still as bold as ever!
— If Boss Xiu says no, then it means there was no hit-and-run. All you rumor-mongers, back off, back off, BACK OFF!
After sending that out in irritation, Shen Xiu realized he hadn’t actually explained what had happened. So he reposted again to clarify.
@ShenXiu: My car was rear-ended, that’s all.
// @ShenXiu: No, it doesn’t.
— So it turns out Xiu-baby’s car was rear-ended. Poor Xiu-baby, glad he’s okay. But wait… if no one had suddenly started spreading rumors, was Xiu-baby not planning to tell us about the accident at all?
— Xiu-baby didn’t even repost the most viral rumor post—probably because it included someone else’s photo. Let’s go report that post. Sharing someone’s clear, unblurred face like that is really inappropriate.
— Let’s go! Report them for spreading rumors!
— If that car really rear-ended his, then the person who did it must’ve been in terrible shape…
Jian Jiayu had only been seeing the trending negative news about Shen Xiu for less than a minute before he saw Shen Xiu’s response.
When Jian Jiayu tried to look for the trending post again about Shen Xiu hitting someone, he found that both the hashtag and the rumor post had already disappeared.
Jian Jiayu: “…”
What kind of useless gossip was that? And to think he’d gone out of his way to photograph it so carefully!
——
In the hospital.
Mr. Wang was hurrying toward his child’s hospital room with a thermal food container in hand.
When he entered and saw that there were two other families in the room, he moved quietly to Wang Qin’s bedside. Though he was clearly angry, he kept his voice low: “Isn’t this pure nonsense? When did Shen Xiu ever hit me?”
Wang Qin: “Huh?”
Wang Qin looked completely confused. “Dad, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”
Only then did Mr. Wang remember that he hadn’t shown Wang Qin the phone. He quickly placed the thermal container on the small table, pulled out his phone, opened his photo album, and showed Wang Qin the photos he had taken of someone else’s phone screen while waiting in line for food—images that matched what others had been saying.
“Look, they’re saying Shen Xiu hit me! Isn’t that total nonsense?!”
When Wang Qin saw that his father—who didn’t even have social media accounts like Weibo—had taken photos of someone else’s phone screen to show him, he frowned.
He picked up his own phone, which had been sitting on the table for hours without charging and had shut off due to low battery.
After reading Shen Xiu’s response, Wang Qin let out a sigh of relief.
He said to his father, “Dad, Shen Xiu has clarified everything.”
Upon hearing that, Mr. Wang finally relaxed his tightly furrowed brows. “That’s good, that’s good. Shen Xiu is a good person. He can’t be misunderstood.”
Wang Qin added, “Dad, I want to repost Shen Xiu’s Weibo and mention that he waived the repair costs for us. Is that okay?”
Mr. Wang nodded eagerly. “Of course, go ahead!”
With his father’s permission, Wang Qin opened his account, clicked to repost Shen Xiu’s post, and began editing the text. He hesitated several times, writing and deleting, before finally settling on a message and hitting send.
@Sunflower: My dad rear-ended Shen Xiu’s car because he hadn’t had the brakes checked in time. Shen Xiu was the actual victim in this incident. Not only did he not flee the scene, but after learning about our family’s situation through Manager Wu, he even took the initiative to waive the repair costs my dad was supposed to pay. Our whole family is extremely grateful to Shen Xiu. Thank you!
@ShenXiu: My car was rear-ended, that’s all.
— I checked the poster’s profile. Turns out he’s Xiu-baby’s schoolmate. Wishing you a speedy recovery and a smooth return to campus!
— Wuwuwu Xiu-baby is seriously… I’m crying!!
— As a certified Xiuologist, I swear—if this user hadn’t stepped up to say something, Xiu-baby definitely wouldn’t have told us about it himself!
— So… the people who spread the rumors just get away with it? I’m so fed up with people who spread lies based on a couple of pictures. They should really be held accountable!
With Shen Xiu’s firm rebuttal and the clarification from the family of the other party involved in the rear-end collision, the entire internet now knew that the so-called “Shen Xiu hit-and-run” incident was a false rumor.
Fans repeatedly questioned the account that had started the rumor, but the other party hadn’t even logged back online.
After posting his clarification, Shen Xiu didn’t continue checking Weibo. Instead, he asked the system to help track down whoever had spread the rumor.
Shen Xiu had always disliked the feeling of being secretly watched, and now that someone was lurking in the shadows, watching him from a place he couldn’t see, he felt even more on edge.
However, the system refused his request.
System: [I’m tired. The computer’s in the study—go figure it out yourself.]
Shen Xiu: “…”
Before Shen Xiu could reply, the system vanished without a trace.
The thought that someone could slander him for hit-and-run at any time, anywhere, left Shen Xiu feeling deeply unsettled. He couldn’t sleep.
Unable to rest, Shen Xiu decided on the spot to track down the culprit who might now be sleeping soundly after framing him. He walked into the study and powered on his personal laptop.
Beside the laptop was a stack of computer science books—clearly well-thumbed.
Ever since Shen Xiu had once glanced at the system’s code, he’d been terrified the system would one day make him look at it again. Even worse, he feared accidentally breaking something by clicking where he shouldn’t. So, he’d bought a whole stack of books on computer science and artificial intelligence to study.
Though he’d read them several times, this was his first time actually trying something hands-on. His palms began to sweat as they hovered over the keyboard, tapping away.
Not even a full minute later, an address appeared on the screen. Shen Xiu muttered to himself in confusion:
“So… it was really this simple?”
Still worried he might’ve made a mistake, Shen Xiu ran the check again—only to get exactly the same result.
Having learned the address, Shen Xiu picked up his phone and left the house…
