Chacha burped a few times and felt that her stomach was much better. She then washed up, lay down on the bed and rolled over the quilt. After turning off the light, she closed her eyes.

The quilt was a little cold even when her forehead was hot, but soon the soft fabric became warm.

This year was quite fulfilling.

She slept very deeply. Her body’s constitution was that when she got drunk, she would sleep deeply, basically not dreaming about anything. It was quite comfortable.

The first day of the Lunar New Year was the peak period for birthday celebrations^[1]usually of an elder person. Basically, families with various relatives were quite busy.

Although Jiao Yushi didn’t want to go home, he still had to. Fortunately, it wasn’t far from his current place and was only a two-hour drive away, so it’s convenient to come and go.

The only reason Chacha knew about this was because Jiao Yushi called her and told her that she could ask him for help at any time.

She naturally thanked him and hung up the phone amidst the cheers and laughter in the background.

Chacha wasn’t idle. She had made appointments with several people and was going to visit all of them that day.

Accompanying her were employees from a highly reputable media company, all of whom were all locals and had been asked to work overtime at the last minute.

However, they had no complaints. Firstly, they could get away from parents and relatives who were urging them to get married. Secondly, they had overtime pay and a big red envelope from Chen Cha. It could be considered as a good start for the year.

Chacha took some time to check Weibo on the way.

It goes without saying that marketing accounts under her would control public opinion, stand neutral, and wait for the truth to be revealed.

Marketing accounts under Jiao Yushi were similar. While standing neutral, they all said that they had met Chen Cha in person and believe she wasn’t that kind of person.

Just like Jiao Yushi, lies came out of their mouths casually.

To her surprise, Gu Fanghua also forwarded her Weibo post to speak up for her. The other party had always given her the impression of being a proud and self-centered person, and not caring much about other people’s affairs.

So the Gu Fanghua’s action was quite unexpected to Chacha.

Naturally, there was no need to mention Ning An, Wei Jinsheng, Mu Qingqing and the others who were close to her.

For a time, the opinions on the Internet were seriously divided. Either they were cursing Chen Cha to death, or they absolutely believed that Chen Cha was innocent.

Chacha was genuinely innocent this time. She’s indeed not a good person, but she really hadn’t abused animals or tried to take someone’s life.

The people she made appointment with included Chen Guosheng’s family’s nanny, Auntie Wu, Chacha’s class teacher and classmates, and the likes. They were all called in the morning and when Chacha’s group went over, they were able to interview the people without any hiccups.

The classmates who came were those who owed Chacha a favor, while she pretended to be pitiful and used their teacher-student bond to ask her class teacher for help, but Auntie Wu had a long-standing grudge against Chen Guosheng’s family. Using future work and her son’s future as payment, Auntie Wu had no reason to refuse.

The classmates and the teacher were just the appetizer, and the housekeeper’s testimony was the main course.

During the interview, Chacha only stepped in to chat with a few old friends and give some words of advice. After exchanging a few comforting words, she stood behind the camera.

The interview process went smoothly and was completed at around 4 pm.

———pr

This translation is by Pocketrobbin at S h a n g h a i f a n t a s y . c o m

7 pm sharp.

【X City Times: [The Twisted Truth Behind The Genius Girl] Chen Cha’s classmates and teachers claimed that they have never seen her get angry before and that she’s always working hard. The housekeeper who has worked for Chen Cha’s family for ten years revealed how Chen Cha was often mistreated by her parents as a child. [Video]】

In the video, the reporter asked her classmates and teacher about Chen Cha’s character. All of them highly praised Chen Cha. When the reporter asked them if they believed that Chen Cha would abuse small animals and push family members down the stairs, they immediately expressed that it was impossible, and revealed that Chen Cha had been oppressed by her family and had been subjected to many restrictions in her studies. She couldn’t even have any hobbies and had to learn new things in secret.

The appetizers were done, and finally it was the housekeeper, Auntie Wu’s turn. Her classmates and teacher all had mosaics on their faces and only Auntie Wu didn’t.

The reporter first asked Auntie Wu about Chen Cha’s character in accordance with the usual questions. Auntie Wu said that Chen Guosheng’s family looked down on her as she was just a worker and a single mother to boot. They often insulted her verbally and only Chen Cha would be gentle and treat her politely.

The reporter then asked her whether Chen Cha really abused animals and pushed her family members down the stairs.

Auntie Wu shook her head and said that Chen Cha had never done those things. Instead, it was Chen Cha’s parents who often mistreat her, deprived her of food, and locked her in a closet if she cried. This made Chen Cha very taciturn for a while, but she got better after adjusting herself.

The reporter asked, “Why do you think Chen Cha’s parents treated her like that?”

Auntie Wu said with disapproval, “It’s probably because Mr. Chen favors boys over girls. After Mrs. Chen gave birth to Chen Cha, she can’t have any more children. Mr. Chen kept a mistress outside who gave birth to a boy. Both the mistress and the boy are now living at home along with his wife. Chen Cha basically lived at the school and Mr. Chen won’t even call Chen Cha back during the holidays. Every time Mrs. Chen calls Chen Cha, she’s just always asking for money. Chen Cha is just a child and don’t have as much money as Mrs. Chen. I don’t know where Mrs. Chen’s money is going.”

Afterwards, the reporter asked a few more questions, such as when did Auntie Wu started working for Chen Guosheng’s family, how does the mistress usually treat Chen Cha, what’s the personality of Chen Cha’s half-brother, and so on.

Auntie Wu emphasized how the mistress appeared weak and pitiful on the surface, but arrogant in private, and how Chen Cha’s parents mistreated her. As for the half-brother, under Chen Cha’s instructions, Auntie Wu didn’t say much about him.

Ninety-nine percent of what Auntie Wu said came from the script Chen Cha gave her.

The events were real, but they took place in another world.

Chacha’s father in her previous life was also patriarchal, but in the years after she was born, her father did well in business and didn’t treat her badly. However, the good times didn’t last long. After he went bankrupt, his wife ran away with someone else, leaving the two of them alone. Originally, if his wife didn’t run away, he could still have another child. But she did, leaving him with a daughter that he despised, so he naturally wouldn’t be kind to Chacha.

After everything that happened to him, her father was devastated. He drank and smoked all day long and refused to let Chacha study or go out.

She was like a dispensable pet. When her father was happy, he would buy something to eat. When he was unhappy, he would disdain and rain insults on her.

Her father would leave her by herself at home whenever he went out. If he didn’t come home for a few days, she would go hungry.

Occasionally, when it gets too unbearable, she would go out and dig through the trash cans to find something to eat.

When she was a child, she didn’t have much self-esteem or other thoughts on her mind, and the only thing she could think of was how to fill her stomach.

From an early age, the only purpose in her life was survival. Out of instinct, she wanted to live. Even though she doesn’t understand death yet, she still subconsciously avoided it.

Sometimes, kind-hearted people would buy her some food when they saw her rummaging through the trash can, but their kindness stopped there, and before she had time to think about it, she had to worry again about the next meal.

If the neighbor hadn’t persuaded her father, she wouldn’t even be able to study.

Her father thought that it was indeed true that girls with good education could marry better, and he could also get money from Chacha later on, so he allowed her to go to school.

She was studying, but her life hadn’t improved much. If she goes back late or failed to prepare a meal, she would be beaten and scolded. Cleaning up the mess his father left behind whenever he brought people home to drink was a daily routine.

Chacha was still hungry.

Later on, some punks asked her to run errands for them and bought her snacks. She wasn’t afraid of them and even told them, “Can you let me run all the errands in the future? Just buy me some bread in return.”

The punks laughed at her gluttony.

Chacha seriously expressed that she wasn’t a glutton, but just hungry because she had nothing to eat.

After finding out about her situation, they punks really asked her to do their every errand. It’s not really that difficult, just things like buying food and cigarettes, and then delivering them to the Internet café where they always stay.

If it weren’t for them, Chacha would have starved to death in her childhood.

When she grew up a bit, she took advantage of her holidays to work part-time and did all sorts of things. She had also once been mobbed for offending some delinquent girls. However, she took advantage while the leader was alone and retaliated by taking away the other party’s money and used it to buy herself food.

When she was little, she was relatively quiet, but if someone tried to steal her food, she would go crazy. As she got older and learned how to deal with people, she began to curb her wildness.

At school, she’s a well-behaved girl, outside, she’s a master of fighting delinquent girls feared, and at her part-time job, she’s a poor girl who’s working hard to make ends meet.

Her ability to disguise was something she learned as she grew up. It wasn’t something she was born with.

She’d never thought about things like falling in love because she had no time and no interest in doing so. Love couldn’t bring her any benefits. It has nothing to do with her goal to survive and was equivalent to wasting time. As for friends, she doesn’t have any. They were more of acquaintances and partners who could bring benefits to her.

She had always been alone.

She never minded using everyone around her to gain benefits for herself. No one ever told her it was wrong and it allowed her to be better at surviving.

However, she wouldn’t harm people who were good to her.

Rather than taking advantage, it’s better to say that they were utilizing each other so that everyone could get what they wanted.

In the face of enough benefits, she could even temporarily let go of her hatred. As for when a benefit wasn’t enough? Sorry, pay the price for offending me.

The video wasn’t very long and the official cut was to the point.

Chacha didn’t like or forwarded it, pretending not to see the post. At the same time, Weibo pushed the post to every user’s homepage and paid posters also provided some reasonable and well founded guiding comments.

All talk about this matter was beneficial to Chacha.

【I didn’t expect Chacha’s mother to be so vicious. She not only tolerated her husband having a mistress, she’s also inhumane to her own daughter. She blamed Chacha for her inability to have a boy, but the fault was clearly theirs. What’s wrong with having a girl? It’s been so many years since the Qing Dynasty ended.】

【I feel bad for Chacha. I didn’t expect that although Chacha is so hard-working and cheerful now, she has such a miserable experience when she was a child. It’s so sad. I hope there will be less of such rubbish parents in the future.】

【This whole thing reminds me of all the times I was ignored by my parents and relatives who favored boys over girls when I was a child. Honestly, that kind of insult and denial of me as a person is really heart breaking. We’re clearly all human beings yet they treat you like that just because of your gender. Just thinking about it makes me very sad and angry.】

【In fact, isn’t it the center of this matter Chen Cha’s mother being extremely poisonous? She allowed her husband to look for a mistress and has been harming her own daughter since childhood. After her daughter broke free of the shadow, she actually makes it worse by discrediting her daughter online. What a twisted mentality she has.】

……Such comments swept the Internet.