By evening, the city had begun to hum differently, the scandal surrounding Su Ning rose to the fifth position on the national trending list.
The moment it locked into place, it stopped being gossip.
It became a public execution.
The numbers beside them climbed steadily—views, reposts, comments—each tick upward another nail hammered in.
Small influencers, those hovering desperately between obscurity and relevance smelled blood in the water. N one cared whether the story was true or not. Afterall truth didn't trend, scandals did.
Phones were propped up on desks. Ring lights flicked on. Faces arranged themselves into practiced expressions of concern, sarcasm, or mock authority.
One man with barely twenty thousand followers leaned toward his camera, eyes narrowed.
"I'm not saying she's guilty," he said, pausing just long enough to hook attention.
"But if she were innocent… would this many people really be talking?"
Another female influencer who branded herself as a "girls' advocate"—shook her head gravely.
"Girls like this are dangerous," she said. "They weaponize innocence. They make the rest of us look bad."
Someone else stitched together blurry screenshots, adding red circles and dramatic arrows.
"Notice her posture here," a robotic voice-over intoned.
"Notice how relaxed she is in a luxury hotel. This isn't her first time."
Laughter tracks. Sarcastic captions. Reaction memes.
The algorithms devoured it.
Within an hour, the comment sections had curdled into something vicious.
Notifications poured in like a flood: likes, comments, reposts—layer upon layer of judgment piling up without pause.
@StreetTruth_CN🤧: Fifth trending already? Guess the truth always comes out eventually.
@ColdReason🥶: People defending her are hilarious. This isn't a fairy tale.
@SharpTongueLiu💯: That face screams "experienced." Don't play dumb.
@RealityCheck88: Innocent girls don't sit with directors in five-star hotels. Period.
More vicious comments rolled in.
@NoMercyZone: She enjoyed the benefits. Now enjoy the consequences😅.
@DramaFeeder: This is better than any TV series 💀
@LaughingCrow: Her loyal fans still barking in the comments 😂 embarrassing.
@MockingGod: The fall from grace is always the most satisfying.
The comments refreshed endlessly, like waves slamming into shore, each one harsher than the last.
By the time night crept in and streetlights flickered on, Su Ning's follower count continued to drop at alarming speed.
At the Capital, Lin Yue stepped off the bus two stops early. Her fingers tightened around her phone until her knuckles turned white.
She had left the hotel the moment her shift ended, barely managing a stiff goodbye to her coworkers. She hadn't waited for the usual elevator crowd. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, if anyone said anything bad about Su Ning, she would scream.
By the time she reached home, her chest hurt from holding everything in.
"Yue-jie!" her younger brother Lin Chen called cheerfully from the living room. "You're back early! Did you see the internet today? That Su—"
"Shut up."
The words flew out of her mouth, sharp and raw.
Lin Chen froze, eyes wide.
Lin Yue didn't wait to see his reaction. She kicked off her shoes carelessly, one heel hitting the wall with a dull thud, and stormed down the hallway. Her bedroom door slammed shut behind her.
She locked it.
Only then did she let her back slide down against the door, her breath coming in shaky bursts.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time, she forced herself to look.
Mentions. Replies. Insults stacked on insults.
Her hands trembled as she sat in front of her laptop and opened it.
The screen illuminated her pale face as she logged into her account.
@GoddessSuBaby
The username stared back at her like a fragile shield—thin, cracked, but still standing.
Lin Yue stared at the blank post box for a long moment.
Her mind replayed the hotel lobby with painful clarity, the way Director Zhao Qi had stood slightly hunched, respectful, cautious. The way Su Ning's expression had been calm, distant, untouchable.
She was confused at first, but had slowly come to realize the shocking truth about who Su Ning was.
She knew it was either Su Ning's dad was the owner of Zongsheng or she was the owner. But she betted on the former rather than the latter. It would be ridiculous, Su Ning looked sixteen or seventeen, it was unreal.
But either way, she knew the scandal wasn't real.
Her fingers began to move.
@GoddessSuBaby: I work at the hotel. I was there. Director Zhao Qi was respectful to her. This scandal is fake. Please stop spreading lies.
She hit post.
Her heart pounded.
Another post followed.
@GoddessSuBaby: None of you know what actually happened. You're destroying someone based on rumors.
For a brief, foolish second, she hoped.
Then the backlash hit.
Her notifications exploded so violently the laptop lagged.
Replies flooded in.
@TruthCrusher🧐: LOL here comes the blind worshipper.
@FilthyTongue: Defending your "master" so hard—how much did she pay you?
@ExposeTheFans😡: Fangirls like you are the reason trash survives.
@KeyboardJudge: Shut up. No one believes you.
@DirtyMindset🤬: Slut defending slut. Makes sense.
@LaughTrack😂: This is peak embarrassment 🤡
@RealitySlap: You're just as fake as she is.
Lin Yue's vision blurred.
Her fingers shook violently as she typed back, ignoring the major plummet in her follower count, words tumbling out faster than her thoughts.
@GoddessSuBaby:
Why are you all so cruel? You don't even know her. You don't know anything!
The replies came faster and harsher.
Her chest felt tight, like a hand closing around her heart.
Tears spilled onto the keyboard, blurring the letters, but she didn't stop typing. She refused to stop.
"I won't let you do this," she whispered hoarsely to the empty room. "I won't."
Outside, soft footsteps approached her door.
"Yueyue?" her mother's voice came gently. "Dinner's ready. Come eat something."
Lin Yue couldn't answer.
She couldn't breathe properly, couldn't swallow, couldn't pull herself away from the screen.
From the living room, Lin Chen's voice drifted in, careless and teasing.
"Wow, sis, still fighting online strangers? You'll lose hair at this rate!"
Her hands clenched into fists.
She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood.
Her screen refreshed again.
More insults. More laughter.
One by one, the green dots beside fanclub members' names disappeared.
They logged off.
Retreated and silenced.
Her follower count dipped below 8,000 but she stayed, even as tears streamed down her face in devotion.