I See through Everything

「Capital City.」

Dongcheng District, Happiness Avenue No. 37, Building 18, Floors 2 and 3.

"Chief Editor, could you take a look at this news draft?" The speaker was a middle-aged woman wearing glasses.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiaojia took the draft, adjusted his glasses, and gave it a quick scan. He looked up and asked, "Xiaozhang, this headline isn’t eye-catching enough!"

"Please enlighten me, Chief Editor."

"Oh, you." Wang Xiaojia gave her a look that screamed, ’You’re still too naive.’ He shook his head with a self-satisfied air, then gently tapped the manuscript. "Change it to ’Nobel-Caliber Genius Departs: An Act of Arrogance? Or a Last Resort?’ Then you can polish the content to match the new title."

"You truly live up to your title, Chief Editor." Xiaozhang was quick to suck up.

Wang Xiaojia waved her off. "Go revise it and get it published as soon as possible. This is a hot topic."

"Yes, sir."

Back in her office, Xiaozhang summoned all the skills she’d honed writing dramatic essays online. She drew from Handong University’s previous expulsion notice, the rumors about Lin Shuya, the incident of Luo Yulin jumping from a building, and additional information she gathered online about Handong University and Du Bolun.

A news article, taken out of context and filled with subjective conjecture, was now hot off the press.

Soon, the article was published on the Heart-stopping Report’s WeChat, Penguin, and Weibo platforms.

Other news outlets were also incredibly fast.

Some took the information they had gathered and embellished it to create their own articles.

Others simply took excerpts from other outlets’ reports, added their own voice-over and commentary, and released them as video news segments.

For a time, rumors of all kinds flew wildly across the internet.

Station Chief Guo had just gotten out of bed and was about to brush his teeth and wash his face. As he was thinking about his schedule for the day, the intern reporter, Xiaoli, suddenly knocked and entered.

"Xiaoli, what is it? Is there an urgent notice from the station?" Station Chief Guo, who had just finished brushing his teeth and was now washing his face, asked with some curiosity.

Xiaoli seemed nervous. "Teacher Guo, this is from this morning’s news. It’s somewhat related to us."

"Oh?" Station Chief Guo put down his towel, quickly took the phone, and read for a moment. A strange expression appeared on his face.

Before coming to interview Hailufeng Company, he had looked into Jiang Miao and Lin Shuya online, but he clearly hadn’t known about Lin Shuya’s expulsion from Handong University.

After all, Lin Shuya had been extremely low-profile before, and there weren’t many detailed disclosures about her online.

To be precise, Lin Shuya of Handong University and Lin Shuya, the wife of Hailufeng Company’s chairman, were two unconnected figures online.

This was because on Hailufeng Company’s official website, Lin Shuya’s alma mater was listed as Jiangcheng Lion Mountain Agricultural University—the same university as Jiang Miao.

Aside from a few people who knew the inside story, newcomers like Station Chief Guo and his team were naturally unaware of this fact.

However, after the video from Channel 17 came out last night, the all-powerful netizens followed the breadcrumbs and discovered that this Lin Shuya was the very same one who had been expelled from Handong University.

The main reason was that Channel 17 is the most authoritative agricultural channel among China’s official media. Many of its viewers are agriculture students from major universities or professionals in the agricultural industry.

As soon as these people heard that someone had developed a technique for the artificial cultivation of White Truffle, and on such a massive scale, their interest was instantly piqued.

At Dian Nan Agricultural University, the leader in the domestic edible fungi field, many students majoring in mycology began asking around in the school’s internal forums and alumni groups, wanting to know who on earth this Lin Shuya was.

As a result, Dian Nan Agricultural University activated its network and searched for over an hour, only to discover that this person was completely unknown in the domestic edible fungi field.

Then, a few clever undergraduates found her alma mater, Jiangcheng Lion Mountain Agricultural University, through Hailufeng Company’s official website.

This made things easier. After all, as the leader in the domestic edible fungi field, Dian Nan Agricultural University had alumni working as professors and lecturers in the mycology departments of many other agricultural universities in the country.

But after some inquiries, the results were jaw-dropping for everyone.

They discovered that Lin Shuya hadn’t majored in edible fungi at all, but in medicinal fungi. And the even more explosive news was that she had studied medicinal fungi at Handong University and had been expelled.

A single stone stirred a thousand ripples.

Meddlesome netizens immediately began spreading this huge scandal.

The news spread like wildfire, from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred.

In less than five or six hours, every agricultural university and a number of agriculture-related video bloggers in the country had heard about it, and the news continued to spread outward.

The management at Handong University and Du Bolun were still asleep, completely unaware that a massive scandal had just landed on their heads.

Some netizens had already flooded Handong University’s social media accounts with sarcastic comments. At the same time, they didn’t forget to save screenshots of the expulsion notice, just in case it was deleted.

After reading the reports from the Heart-stopping Report and other media outlets, Station Chief Guo thought for a moment, then shook his head. "It doesn’t matter. This sort of thing won’t affect our feature report. After all, we are only reporting on the development of agricultural technology and the opportunities Hailufeng Company is bringing to the local area. As for the grudge between Ms. Lin and Handong University—the rights and wrongs of it, who is right and who is wrong—that’s still an unknown. We just need to avoid taking a side."

’Actually, I already have my suspicions,’ Station Chief Guo thought. ’Judging from the current situation, it’s highly likely that Handong University and Du Bolun did something terrible to Lin Shuya.’

’After all, for a student to be willing to burn all bridges, leave in a fit of anger, and even give up their doctorate... it can only mean that the problem with Handong University and Du Bolun is a very serious one.’