Can't Hide My Love for You - Chapter 65

The police found Liu Min in a dilapidated residential building. Upon his arrest, he appeared remarkably calm; after a few words to his parents, he left with the officers. Once in custody, he confessed everything he knew.

“I don’t know who they are. I only know their boss is a man named Mr. Wang. I just did what he told me—I received the staff sent by Cheng Yixin. They confirmed my father’s condition, then asked to inspect the orchard.”

“Mr. Wang told me to give them the orchard owner’s contact number so they could coordinate. He must have paid off the owner to help with the deception. After they left, the manager, Ms. Li, contacted me and said they were willing to sell the oranges for free.” At this point, Liu Min couldn’t help but laugh with self-mockery. “I don’t even own an orchard. It was all a fake identity given to me by Mr. Wang. Aside from the group that came to the hospital, I never communicated with them directly.”

“How much did this Mr. Wang pay you?” the police asked.

“100,000 yuan.” Liu Min ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “I already used the money for my father’s treatment. I can’t pay it back.”

Seeing his “broken jar” attitude, the officer tapped the table and said sternly, “Liu Min, do you realize how serious your crime is? 100,000 yuan is considered a ‘huge amount,’ punishable by three to ten years in prison! Think about whether a few years in a cell is worth 100,000 yuan.”

“Do you know how badly Cheng Yixin is being cursed online because she tried to help you out of kindness? She helped you with a good heart—do you have no basic morality? You’re a young man with hands and feet; instead of working an honest job, you helped a scammer do his dirty work!”

“When your family is lying in the ICU and you have no money, is morality useful?” Liu Min’s eyes were bloodshot. “100,000. Could my dad wait for me to earn that much legally?”

“That is no excuse for using someone’s kindness to commit fraud!”

Another officer intervened and asked, “How did you meet Mr. Wang?”

“In the hospital billing hall, through a middleman. He was basically a ‘medical shill.’ He said he could help me raise medical fees quickly through a fundraising platform—all I had to do was take some photos and provide my dad’s diagnosis report. We raised 12,000, but I only got 2,000. A few days later, he said there was a ‘big deal’ where I just had to receive a few people to get 100,000 in one go. Those people were the ones Cheng Yixin’s company sent to inspect.”

“What was the middleman’s name? How do we contact him?”

“I only know people called him ‘Old A.’ Once the job was done and I got the money, he deleted me. I never saw him again.”

With no lead on “Mr. Wang,” the police focused on “Old A.” Fortunately, in the era of real-name registration, they quickly tracked him down. After 72 hours of non-stop investigation, it was revealed that the perpetrators were a professional fraud syndicate that the police had been monitoring for some time. After the arrests, the “Mr. Wang” that Liu Min mentioned finally broke under interrogation and confessed to everything.

Their targets weren’t fixed, but they were always celebrities. They wanted to exploit the “public figure doing good deeds for PR” angle. After long preparations, only Cheng Yixin replied to “Liu Min,” making her the primary target. Every step—from gaining trust to choosing the most advantageous platform for the livestream—was carefully designed.

The Jingning Police issued a detailed report on Weibo covering three main points:

Professional Fraud Syndicate: They tailored a plan for their target, using a patient’s family tragedy to gain trust and bribing an orchard owner to lie about a stable supply. Actress “C” performed the livestream under deception.

No Financial Gain: There was no cooperative business relationship between the actress and the seller. It was purely a public welfare act, and rumors of a 50% commission were false.

A Plea for Kindness: They urged netizens to speak with more kindness, stating that good-hearted people should not be harmed.

Following the report, major official media outlets spoke out for Cheng Yixin, including the People’s New Daily. The headline was: 《The Cheng Yixin Incident is Thought-Provoking: The Internet is Not a Lawless Place; Do Not Let Kind Souls Bleed and Then Be Brokenhearted.》

“Yixin, since the police report came out, public opinion has shifted,” Li Wenjing said, finally feeling a bit of relief after days of worry. “Now the comments are praising your kindness, and people are even apologizing for cursing you.”

Cheng Yixin’s response: “Disgusting.” It truly made her nauseous.

“Anyway, the matter is resolved,” Li Wenjing said, looking at the tightly drawn curtains. “Want to open them? The sun has been great these few days. Let’s go for a walk?”

“No.” Yixin pulled her legs in and turned another page of her book.

Li Wenjing sat beside her and patted her leg. “Fine, stay home if you want. Seeing you in better spirits than a couple of days ago makes me feel better. By the way… did you see a psychologist these past two days?”

“No,” Yixin replied. For three days, she had been home reading the book Chi Yi sent her. It wasn’t very thick, but she had read it twice. The first time felt a bit abstract; the second time gave her a new understanding.

“No?” Li Wenjing blinked. “Paparazzi caught photos of you visiting a psychology center. They’re fake?”

Yixin paused. “When?”

“They were leaked this morning.”

“Oh. I went before. It’s not a big deal,” Yixin said nonchalantly. “I’m fine now.”

“Wait, so you did go?” Li Wenjing jumped up. “When? Why didn’t you tell me? Was your stress that high… I’ve failed as your manager…”

“It’s not work-related. Don’t worry.”

“Really?” “Really.”

“Alright then,” Li Wenjing exhaled. “Well, the paparazzi picked a good time. Since it leaked now, people are feeling even more sorry for what you’ve endured and are starting to condemn the keyboard warriors.”

Yixin gave her a mocking smile. Li Wenjing understood the look, gave a wry smile, and changed the subject. “Chi Yi has been gone for four or five days. She should be back soon, right?”

“She said another week. She can’t come back yet.”

“You must miss her,” Li Wenjing teased. “But President Chi is so unreliable, going to a place with no signal when she knew you were suffering.”

“I told her to go.”

Li Wenjing didn’t get it. Wouldn’t you need your partner’s company most at a time like this?

“How should I put it…” Yixin closed her book. “I wanted her to stay, but I also wanted her to bring warmth to more people—to complete the part that I messed up. Also… I wanted to see my own psychological resilience. If I can survive this, there’s nothing to fear about being with Chi Yi in the future.”

“You should face things together,” Li Wenjing disagreed. “If it were me, I’d stay no matter what.”

“How do you know she isn’t staying with me?” Yixin tilted her head and picked up the book. “I prefer a gentle, powerful pillar of support over a clingy lover. Chi Yi is like that. She’s younger than me, but very mature.”

“Yes, yes,” Li Wenjing muttered, feeling overwhelmed by the “dog food” (public display of affection). “You have two more days of rest. I’ve piled up a lot of work for you for when you’re back at full strength.”

Once Li Wenjing left, Yixin’s smile collapsed. Li Wenjing had logged her back into Weibo, wanting her to see the positive comments to cancel out the old malice. Yixin stared at the familiar red notification dot on the icon for a long time. Then, she turned off Weibo notifications and moved the app into an unused folder on her second home screen.

The vile comments were still fresh in her mind; she didn’t have the courage to open the app yet. But the truth being restored did help her feel less suffocated. Maybe I can sleep well tonight.

Late that night, at a roadside BBQ stall on Sande Street. Three young men were drinking. One, with yellow hair, kept looking around nervously.

“What are you looking at? You’ve been jumpy all night,” his friend said.

“Nothing… just seeing if there are police. Haizi, do you think the cops will find us?”

“No way!” Haizi waved him off and took a big gulp of beer. “There were no cameras at the entrance; they can’t catch us. We took the back alleys. It’s been days—if they were going to find us, they would have by now.”

“Exactly!” the other friend, with red hair, scoffed. “Don’t be such a coward. It was just a bucket of paint, not like it was shit or piss. Be a man.”

“I just have a bad feeling,” Yellow-hair said awkwardly. “Like I’ve done something wrong.”

Haizi spat on the ground. “Pah! We were ridding the people of evil! If it weren’t for Cheng’s Hot Pot, our family’s shop wouldn’t be doing so poorly. That old man is so lucky, having a star daughter bringing ‘leeks’ to his door every day. If they won’t retire, they’re just stealing our business. They deserved to crash!”

“Yeah!” Red-hair added. “I’ve hated Old Cheng for a long time, acting like such a ‘good person.’ I hope they go bankrupt!”

“But—” “Don’t be a wimp!” Haizi clinked bottles with him. “The whole internet is condemning Cheng Yixin. Even if I cursed her ancestors online, she couldn’t do anything to me. It’s called ‘the law doesn’t punish the masses’!”

Yellow-hair felt reassured and kept drinking. Hours later, the three of them stumbled toward home, drunk.

“Ugh, I gotta pee!” Haizi let out a belch and stumbled toward the river embankment. “Wait for me, don’t leave!”

They were standing on a slope near the river, blocked only by a low chain. Haizi stood at the edge, fumbling with his trousers, when his body suddenly lost balance. His head pitched forward, and he tumbled straight into the water.

“Save me! Save me!”

The other two sobered up instantly and ran down to help. But being wasted, their legs had no strength. In the dark, on the slippery slope, they both tripped and fell into the river right on top of him. Haizi thrashed his arms, trying to call out, but the foul river water flooded his lungs and choked his throat.

Soon, the three of them were exhausted. They sank despairingly to the bottom of the river, where they would eventually float back up as horrific “giant” corpses. The dark water swallowed them bit by bit. Fear was the last emotion they felt. One wonders if, in their final moments, they felt even a flicker of regret for the malice they had unleashed.