NOVEL WEB
Chapter 26
Among Shen Yue's fans, there was a blogger who had gained quite a few followers by editing videos. To help Shen Yue clear her name after this incident, he immediately got to work extracting footage from various livestream replays.
Soon, a video titled "How Could Someone Like Shen Yue Bully Others?" appeared out of nowhere.
The opening of the video showed Shen Yue's initial appearance on the show, where she didn't speak no matter what others asked her, and would lie down flat to indicate refusal when it was her turn to perform, seeming very rude and unlikable as she was immersed in her own world and ignored others' feelings completely.
Then it showed the first time she answered a bonus question, where others had various expressions looking at the question sheet while Shen Yue was alone in the corner, carefully and meticulously writing a full response.
Her eyes showed focus and diligence, and she smiled after finishing the response looking at the A4 paper she had filled.
But when she went to hand in her response, there were already people in front of Shen Yue, so she obediently waited not far behind.
Then she blankly had her response taken away, questioned and mocked with sarcasm, during which she didn't say a word, only carefully holding the response with both hands when she got it back to hand to the director.
Soothing music played until this point, when it suddenly stopped and the rhythm abruptly became passionate, paired with the director's steady voice and Shen Yue's written content, making one's blood boil inexplicably.
The scene froze here, with a line of text appearing.
[She only seems rude, but is actually just afraid. The real her is diligent, hardworking, and knows to show elders respect by handing things with both hands.]
It then showed Shen Yue cooking ginger in a pot, and leaving a note in the pot to remind others, as well as the program team's own footage about how Shen Yue had only exchanged one precious request for a pot.
[She only seems to disregard others' feelings, but actually remembers to remedy her mistakes.]
After that, it showed the program team's sneaky faces as they brought up the bomb, the abacus they were publicly clacking to deliberately make things difficult for the guests audible to all.
But Shen Yue went straight up without another word, defusing the bomb before others even reacted, the guts and execution making one's scalp tingle even through the screen.
Yet Shen Yue still said nothing, only asking the program team for a bed before withdrawing into the room for a whole morning.
[Despite the guts to face life and death, and the ability to overwhelm most people, she actually still prefers to be alone.]
[Does this make you feel Shen Yue is an awesome, responsible child who is unwilling to communicate with others? But you're wrong.]
The scene switched to Zou Xuerong adjusting the camera angle.
"I turned off the camera."
"Yueyue, you...can talk..."
"You normally can't talk?"
Then Shen Yue's monotone voice. "Not can't, just very afraid."
"Yueyue, when I was bullied before, my parents told me it must be because I did something wrong, that's why everyone bullies me and not others...but you're so capable...don't be afraid, you can definitely do it."
After she said this, the video was silent for a long time, as if Shen Yue was being silent.
Right after, that toneless voice that could inexplicably stir emotions spoke.
"You did nothing wrong, neither did I."
[She seems indifferent to everything, but actually observes everything. Even if afraid, she's still willing to reach out, and tell herself...]
[I did nothing wrong.]
The video ended here.
Though not long overall, the key clips plus the soulful music instantly brought the video to a climax, making one inexplicably want to watch more.
Especially those few lines of text, though brief, were the essence, interpreting the video's theme - how could someone like Shen Yue bully others?
Many didn't know what kind of person Shen Yue was at first, only recognizing her as the Shen family's little daughter and then unilaterally determining she had bullied others.
But after this explanatory video, many who had opposed the Shen family could no longer criticize Shen Yue.
How could such a diligent, timid and gentle child bully others? It's laughable!
One feels Shen Yue is more likely to be the one bullied.
At this time, a certain hidden hot search that had originally been obscured began silently climbing with the constant sharing and commentary on this video, until it hung at the top of the rankings marked with an "explosive" label.
#Shen Yue Suspected of Being Bullied#
Some did bring up that Shen Yue's words in the video could be an act staged after realizing how things were developing to whitewash herself. But this speculation was quickly refuted.
Firstly, the program team had confiscated all guests' phones, and the ones they had now could only call each other, not even go online. Also, all footage appearing in the video was recorded before the bullied student's parents spoke up. So from this logic, there was no suspicion of deliberately acting to clear her name.
The blogger who edited the video even posted another pinned Weibo.
"The treasure gentle socially anxious girl who can defuse bombs and write tactics, don't miss her if you're passing by, please speak up for my daughter!"
The comments under this Weibo were very uniform.
"Shameless, she's clearly my daughter!"
"Unfollow him, the enmity of stealing a daughter cannot coexist!"
"She's my daughter!!"
Later, some netizens reviewed the livestream replays again and concluded:
Shen Yue's massage techniques for Zou Xuerong were very professional, making it hard not to suspect she did this frequently.
But what kind of circumstances would make a 12-year-old child have to learn such techniques and be so adept at using them?
Combined with Shen Yue's vague words to Zou Xuerong, some Holmes-esque netizens speculated that Shen Yue must have suffered physical bullying, but telling her parents would only bring blame, so she could only hide and massage away the bruises herself.
Thus, Shen Yue transformed from a bully to a suspected victim.
Though an extremely farfetched and rapid change, because everyone participated in it, netizens didn't feel anything was wrong. Instead, they only wanted to apologize to Shen Yue.
But now, another problem arose - if Shen Yue didn't bully anyone, then who was the real bully?
Many rushed to the Weibo of the netizen who had first exposed Shen Yue, asking for information on Shen Yue's siblings.
Some went to the Shen Corporation's official Weibo to make a fuss, telling them to stop playing dead, and to stop using Shen Yue as a human shield while hiding behind her themselves.
"President Shen, the public relations statement is written, and the evidence from the Zhao family has been obtained."
"Mm, release all the evidence."
"On it!"