The male supporting character was actually myself.

He Lijing forwarded many video clips, in which internet celebrity Wei Jiangchen walked out of the hotel, smiled and greeted her fans, and was about to open the car door when a figure rushed out from the side.

"Oh my god!" When Hua Zaihong realized that the person wielding the knife was her husband, and recalling what he had said on the phone about "suspected attempted intentional injury," she was completely horrified.

With trembling hands, she scrolled up to read the chaotic messages in the group chat.

The clashes between the seasoned veterans centered around Liao Ya and the hardworking young people continued until she scrolled through the chat history that Liao Ya had forwarded. The more she read, the faster her heart raced.

Who did this?

Why slander yourself without reason?

Tears welled up uncontrollably and spilled over her eyes. Hua Zaihong looked at the screen full of foul language criticizing her, and felt her hands go cold and her mind go blank.

Why are there always so many malicious people?

Just because it's online, does that mean you can hurt others with impunity?

The manager quickly deleted each message in the group chat and muted her. The screen was filled with dense messages of deletion notifications, making her want to cry.

Messages can be recalled or deleted, but the damage caused cannot be erased.

It's like a nail driven into a wooden board; once it's pulled out, the hole it leaves behind can never be closed again.

"Xiao Hua, we've received a lot of customer complaints." The phone rang, and Hua Zaihong composed herself to answer the call. Before she could even speak, she heard the manager's calm and measured voice say, "I know your character and work ability, but the rumors circulating online are too widespread and have a very bad impact."

Especially now that your husband is suspected of attempted murder, it's trending on social media!

Our clients are also worried about the rumors going unchecked; if someone were to fabricate stories about you having an improper relationship with them, that would be terrible. Of course, I'll still protect you!

The company's current decision is for you to rest for a few days to calm down and clarify the rumors and the matter of your husband's intentional homicide before returning to work.

Oh, to be honest, we've worked together for three or four years, and I really didn't know your husband was so fierce.

Um... you know I'm not very good at expressing myself, so please don't take it to heart if I say anything inappropriate. Don't worry about work, the business manager will take care of everything for you.

"Take this holiday to relax and take care of things at home..."

The HR manager was still rambling on and on, but Hua Zaihong could no longer hear him clearly.

You worked your ass off to achieve results and earn your hard-earned money, but before you could even save enough for a down payment, suddenly everything was gone.

Her innocence was ruined by those who spread rumors;

The husband was taken to the police station again on suspicion of breaking the law;

Even the company was afraid of being affected and suspended him from his job. The wonderful life he had been looking forward to just minutes before had now become a pipe dream.

"Ms. Hua? I am Mr. Wei's lawyer." As soon as she got out of the car, she saw a middle-aged lawyer in a suit and leather shoes wearing gold-rimmed glasses come up to her and introduce himself: "The situation is a little complicated now. Since you are also a victim of the rumors, Mr. Wei wants you to communicate with your husband, Zhang Chengbo, first."

The other party is very agitated and uncooperative, which will not be conducive to the subsequent handling of the case. You'd better think about how to appease him first; everything will be easier to handle once you can communicate normally.

Hua Zaihong was bewildered. After thanking the lawyer profusely, she entered the room and was led to a small private room in the back.

"You slutty whore! How dare you show your face in front of me?" Zhang Chengbo was furious. He almost jumped up when he saw Hua Zaihong, who was dressed in a suit and looked very elegant. He pulled on the handcuffs and they rattled loudly. "You're living a good life with your lover, aren't you? Look at how slutty and wanton you are now. I must have been blind to have fallen for you!"

Unexpectedly, after being unjustly humiliated, Hua Zaihong was met with even more vulgar language from her husband. Her eyes reddened and her voice trembled with tears as she explained, "That's a rumor, it's not true! I... I'm your wife, don't you even have this much faith in me?"

"Confidence? You're not even willing to give me a child, what confidence do you expect me to have?"

The topic of their countless arguments came up again, and she tried her best to suppress her anger as she patiently explained, "I've told you so many times, we should at least wait until we have our own house and our own home before having children..."

"Pah! What kind of excuse are you giving me? What law says you can't have a baby in a rented house?" Zhang Chengbo wanted to tear her apart at this point, glaring at her and cursing, "Isn't my six spacious and bright brick house a home? Doesn't it deserve to support the child you gave birth to?"

“That’s your parents’ home, not our little home!” Hua Zaihong shouted, raising her voice as her temper flared up. “I want our child to be born in our own home, so the three of us can live our own lives.”

I will not leave my child in my hometown to be a left-behind child!

We agreed on everything before we got married, but you changed your mind after we got married. Every day it's either your mom or your dad saying something like, "Can they help us settle down in the city?"

I went through so much hardship to get into university in the countryside and then work in the city. I would never let the next generation have to start from the countryside and struggle to climb the social ladder!

Just because I refused to irresponsibly have a child, you accuse me of having ulterior motives? If I were truly after wealth and status, why didn't I marry a rich man instead of marrying someone as poor as you?

Zhang Chengbo turned his gaze to the policeman beside him and said coldly, "Listen to what she's saying! Shouldn't this kind of disrespectful, slutty woman who only thinks about not letting me take care of my parents after getting married, and her lover, be killed? You've arrested the wrong people! The ones who should be arrested and killed are the shameless adulterers!"

Hua Zaihong covered her face and cried in anger;

Even the police couldn't stand it anymore and said in a stern voice, "After investigation, Hua Zaihong and Wei Jiangchen do not know each other at all and have no connection whatsoever. What is being spread online is a rumor, and we have already opened a case to investigate the rumor-mongers. Stop talking about adulterers. Wei Jiangchen's lawyer is here; he can sue you for defamation."

"Hmph! I don't believe she's innocent." Faced with the reminder, Zhang Chengbo spat and cursed with red eyes, "If it wasn't Wei Jiangchen, it could have been Zhang Jiangchen or Li Jiangchen. As the saying goes, there's no smoke without fire, and flies don't land on eggs with cracks. If Hua Zaihong were a decent woman, who would spread rumors about her? Why don't they spread rumors about others?"

Jiang Chen stood outside the window with his arms crossed and his brows furrowed. "How can there be such a disgusting man? What does Hua Zaihong see in him?"

"Isn't this the so-called honest man who's always yelling online?" The fluffy little thing jumped onto its host's shoulder and lay down lazily, saying, "When he can't fool women, he accuses them of being gold diggers; when a woman doesn't want to have a baby and get tied up, this so-called single-minded honest man gets all worked up. He spends tens of thousands of yuan on a bride price to marry her, and then he thinks he's bought her life off the hook."

He believes everyone but his own wife, and he suffers from "cuckoldry fantasies," constantly feeling like he's been cheated on. If he doesn't actually have a cuckold's hat, he'd even like to steal one to wear.

It slurred and flicked its little paws, mocking, "I don't know what these people are thinking. They're anxious when they can't find a wife; once they do, they gang up with their whole family to bully her; and when she doesn't want to suffer, they'll pin a crime on her and go around cursing her. This kind of trashy gene should just die out and be extinct!"

"Wouldn't it be better to leave those good men with good women and live happily ever after?"

In the next room, the couple was still arguing. Hua Zaihong was trying to reason with Zhang Chengbo, but Zhang Chengbo was evading the main point and rambling on. Their incomprehensible conversation was infuriating to listen to.

“Ms. Hua, we are both victims of this slander. Can we talk privately?” Jiang Chen couldn’t stand it anymore and knocked on the door to signal her to come out.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Chengbo erupted in anger, cursing the two of them as a despicable couple.

"You're hopeless." After arguing for a long time, Hua Zaihong realized that in the other person's heart, she was never a wife or partner, but a beautiful breeding tool.

He even considered quitting his job and returning to his hometown to take care of his child after he had one!

She tried her best to establish herself in this city she loved, so that her child could be born in the city and enjoy a better life and education. But her partner was determined to send her back to a remote rural area to be a housewife for the rest of her life.

At this moment, Hua Zaihong finally understood the other party's thoughts amidst the intense conflict. She was very glad that she had held on and had not been deceived by sweet words into getting pregnant and having a child. Otherwise, she would really have no freedom now that she was being controlled.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wei, you must have seen this." She walked out of the room, wiped away her tears, took a deep breath, and said first, "I'm very busy with work and don't have time to follow those online gossips, so I only found out about the rumors on my way here."

I saw the video; Zhang Chengbo attacked with a knife. Are you alright?

Jiang Chen slightly turned to show his shirt, which had been slashed by the blade. "Luckily, I dodged quickly and wasn't injured. How do you plan to handle this? If it was an attempted crime, it would be more feasible under our current laws..."

"What?! Host, you've been attacked?" The fluffy little creature, who was already half asleep, jumped up immediately upon hearing the conversation. It went over and touched the wound to make sure it was just a tear in its clothes and no injury, before finally letting out a sigh of relief. Then, it got so angry that its face turned red and its head was blazing that it jumped up and rushed into the next room. "Damn it! How dare you stab my host in the back with a knife! I'll show you what I'm made of!"

“Let’s handle this officially,” Hua Zaihong said without hesitation. “I’ve already decided to divorce him. We talked for more than half a year before the marriage, and I agreed to his proposal because I felt he was the kind of easy-going, generous, and tolerant man.”

Before we got married, we agreed that if we didn't have money or a house, we would work hard together until we bought our own little house and had a stable home so we wouldn't have to move around anymore before we considered having children.

I never expected this...

He's such a good actor. If he hadn't been detained for attempted assault and hadn't blurted out his original plan just now, I wouldn't have known that he intended to send me back to my hometown to use the child to control me during the later stages of my pregnancy.

Fortunately, this happened. Otherwise, if I had no income in the later stages of my pregnancy and couldn't abort the child, and he had shown his true colors without any pretense, I would have had no way out.

Mr. Wei, you don't need to ask my opinion. If he needs compensation, he should use his own assets to pay it; I won't contribute a single penny. If he doesn't want compensation, then let the court decide what's right. Anyway, I'm going to file for divorce soon, and I'll have nothing to do with him anymore.”

“Okay, then I’ll discuss filing a lawsuit with my lawyer.” Jiang Chen hesitated for a moment, seeing that the tears in her eyes hadn’t fallen, and continued, “Has the rumor-mongering had a negative impact on your life and work? If needed, I can provide free legal aid.”

Hua Zaihong took a deep breath and tried to suppress the bitterness in her heart. "Thank you, Mr. Wei. I may really need some help."

First, I filed for divorce. We didn't have much premarital property. After the marriage, he gave all his money to his family and used it for his own purposes. The money I worked hard to earn was also considered joint property. But... just splitting it equally with him like this feels so unfair!

There were also rumors circulating about me, and the company temporarily suspended me from my job to avoid further repercussions. I don't know if this is legal... I might face discrimination when looking for work in the future, and I want to seek justice for myself.

Chapter Seventeen: Finally, We've Been Waiting for You

In order to pave the way for his counterattack, Jiang Chen deliberately arranged for a public relations company to hype up the incident of his attack, and incidentally bring up Zhang Chengbo and Hua Zaihong's divorce case.

After the divorce lawsuit was filed, the judge intervened to mediate and try to get the two parties to agree to a divorce without going to court.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Chengbo knew that his wife was being slandered by rumors, but he showed no remorse. He even felt that even if it was a rumor, it would make his relatives, friends and colleagues laugh at him and make him lose face. He demanded that in addition to the normal division of property, Hua Zaihong should give him compensation for mental distress before he would agree to a divorce.

Boxers who specialize in creating gender antagonism smelled the potential for online traffic and swarmed around them like flies.

Articles pieced together from various rumors were freshly published online, delving into gossip and clues based on revelations from colleagues and neighbors. Some livestreaming influencers even went to Zhang Chengbo's hometown to interview his brother, parents, and others.

Zhang Chengbo's younger brother discovered that he had become popular, so he started live streaming to sell products and portrayed his sister-in-law, Hua Zaihong, as a greedy and promiscuous woman who bullied her parents-in-law.

Other self-media outlets were not to be outdone, even revealing the content of Zhang Chengbo's argument with Hua Zaihong at the police station, making all women open their eyes wide and see clearly that a man who does not know how to respect women does not deserve to have a wife...

There are also quite a few people who take advantage of the chaotic online world to stir up trouble and spread rumors.

"Both Hua Zaihong's divorce case and Zhang Chengbo's attempted assault case have lawyers specifically handling them. How's the situation with my recent pursuit of those who spread rumors?" Jiang Chen needs to resolve all the hidden dangers while simultaneously creating momentum online to deter those who spread rumors.

Before the virus can figure out another way to create a story around itself, we completely blocked its escape route.

The lawyer in charge of pursuing accountability produced a thick stack of documents. "To be honest, this work is progressing very slowly. At the time, many of the phone numbers you kept were virtual numbers online. On the contrary, it was easier to identify the real-name accounts on various social media platforms and software that sent abusive and insulting private messages. Here is a part of the list and information."

They are involved in almost every industry, from those in their sixties and seventies to those in their twelfth and thirteenth years.

The participants range from students to retirees, covering a wide spectrum. In this internet age, very few people don't use the internet, especially older people with little to do, who are easily swayed by emotions, self-righteously proclaiming themselves righteous, and making offensive statements.

"I'll sue everyone I can find. I don't want any financial compensation." Jiang Chen leaned back on the sofa and slowly tapped the table with his fingers, saying coldly, "I will never settle out of court. Anyone who reaches the point of criminal charges will be locked up, even if it's just for a few days."

Those who made insults and outrageous remarks without distinguishing right from wrong should also be required to publish apologies in newspapers. Furthermore, they must post apology letters explaining the situation on social media platforms such as WeChat Moments, posting daily for a week.

Attorney Zhang couldn't help but laugh and said, "This is a good idea. In fact, the internet age lacks people like you who take things seriously. There are too many people who are spread rumors every day, but the difficulty of protecting their rights leads to most cases ending in nothing."

Only when people see that the internet is not a lawless zone, and that those who hide behind keyboards to hurl insults and abuse will pay the price, will the online environment naturally improve.

"The internet is a double-edged sword; it can be used to protect rights and expose wrongdoing, but it can also insult and harm others. I hope that the conclusion of these successive cases of spreading rumors will serve as a warning and reduce the number of such cases of harming people online."

The day after their conversation, an unprecedented public trial began at the Supreme Court of Fuyu City.

There are more than 700 defendants. According to Wei Jiangchen's lawyer, this is only a part of them. Most of the other online accounts are involved in buying and selling transactions, and the real users cannot be traced in time, so it is impossible to file a lawsuit.

However, the case will not give up on continuing to fight for rights and will definitely dig out all the people behind the scenes who arbitrarily insult others under the guise of the internet!

The first-ever high-profile case to prosecute online defamation went to trial, with the online livestream attracting over 200 million simultaneous viewers at its peak. After a lengthy hearing, the judge ultimately found the more than 700 defendants guilty of cyberbullying and insulting, based on clear facts.

More than 100 defendants who committed egregious acts were sentenced to administrative detention and ordered to publish an apology to the plaintiff in the newspaper within a specified time and to publish an apology letter on a public platform for seven consecutive days, clearly stating the reasons for spreading rumors and insulting others.

The case caused a stir online.

In particular, in the following days, newspapers across the country were filled with messages apologizing for cyberbullying others, and apology letters from friends and colleagues were being widely forwarded online, sparking a frenzy of discussion.

Some people think that Wei Jiangchen is inevitably too serious.

Others are just being deceived and cheated by bad people, and they only curse a few times. They don't lose anything, and they even give the bad guys publicity. If you don't forgive others when you should, you will definitely not have a good ending in the future.

Some people believe that Wei Jiangchen's move will have a strong deterrent effect, at least making people think twice before trying to take advantage of the situation to vent their emotions and attack others.

"If apologies were effective, what would be the point of the law?" Jiang Chen coldly looked at the criticisms, threw his phone aside, and instructed, "Hurry up and dig out the mastermind behind the rumors about me and Hua Zaihong. I have more important things to deal with after this case is settled."

Peng Ziyang nodded and bowed, guaranteeing that he would find out the truth in the shortest possible time.

"Why are there so many cases of fabricated rumors lately? Are all these people just bored?"