Chapter 44 - Weibo Blast
At around the same time, Lin Qian was talking to Huo YeRui, Class 8 was exploding.
Guo XinDou was surrounded by his classmates as he read the messages on his phone out loud. “...Just a few days ago, someone in Weibo called ‘The Tree Hole in No.12 High School‘ asked any student from No.12 to anonymously send them any secrets that they knew. Looking through the posts, a lot of people seem to have sent in stuff about the recent controversy with the test and the school recommendation....and suddenly, many influential accounts are reposting and forwarding these posts! It’s now attracted everyone’s attention. Things were blowing up, and a lot of people started calling the Municipal Department of Education and the admissions office to inquire about it, asking if there’s been an abuse of power....”
All the students around Guo XinDou were listening in rapt attention. When they saw Guo XinDou stop, they hurriedly urged him to continue: “And then? What’s the situation now?”
“I don’t know.” Gou XinDou said regretfully. “That’s all what my friend sent me in QQ.”
At this time, smartphones are yet to be popularized. Weibo had also just been released, so for many, it was still a new and unfamiliar thing. These high school students who were studying all day usually didn’t even go online. And even if they did, everyone usually used Penguin. Although some people occasionally used Weibo, which closely followed the newest trends, these youngsters’ understanding and influence in the platform were rudimentary at best.
In fact, not only the students but even the many adults that regularly surf the web hadn’t realized yet just how powerful these social networking platforms were.
Since this concept of fast and self-made media hadn’t emerged yet, most people only regard Weibo as an ordinary social networking site.
Guo XinDou was still struggling with his cell phone, trying to log into his QQ and pull out the messages his friend had sent him, unable to fully retell the story that has everyone excited.
All the students around him were distraught. They lamented: “I really want to know what’s going on, ah!”
“Ah, wait! My friend just sent me an MMS message! Let me uphold justice!” As soon as Guo XinDou said this, all the hungry students descended upon him. “Open it! Have a look, quick, quick!”
The picture shows a computer screen Gou XinDou’s friend had snapped with their phone. On the computer screen was a Weibo page. The photo was extremely blurry and had a pitiful amount of megapixels, but all the students looking at the photo managed to decipher the words on the computer.
@Voice of Rong City: Recently, a public account called ‘The Tree Hole in No.12 High School’ has revealed some shocking news. Huo PingChuan, the Vice-Principal of No.12 High School, is suspected of abusing his power to help his son Huo YeRui, a senior student in No.12, to cheat on a test and get first place in the school rankings. Huo PingChuan is also suspected of using improper means to get the school to recommend Huo YeRui for F University, squeezing out the original recommendation student candidate. This matter had attracted widespread attention, and many media outlets are asking the city’s Education Bureau to investigate the matter. The Education Bureau has since replied that they were investigating the issue and had no definite response at this time.
Underneath the post were a large number of netizens forwarding the post. Each repost had also been reposted several times, with a high amount of comments underneath them.
Although the students couldn’t see the comments and reactions underneath the post, they could already tell that the topic was currently very popular on the internet.
How ironic that the students of No.12, the people who were closest to the news, had only found out about it much later.
All the students were very itchy. “Ah, I also want to add fuel to the fire!”
Someone echoed: “I want to go online!”
“Ah, how did I not know that there was such a great thing like this tree hole. I’m going to gripe on Ke CaiZhu.”
“Argh, I don’t have a Weibo account. I need to make one when I get home!”
“Damn. As a student of No. 12, how did I not know about this powerful thing.”
“I want to know which students went online and broke the internet with their posts. I truly respect this person.”
“So many students exposed all this? Why do I feel no gossip or movement around me? Do our classmates usually hide so deeply?”
“Regardless of who did it, the most important thing is that they did a great thing. I want to raise money to send this person a banner.”
......
Class 8 wasn’t an isolated case. This kind of hot news travels fast in a school like No.12. Guo DangLi and Li Gao quickly became Weibo ambassadors. They blocked the stairway once again and stopped several passing students to say: “Classmates, remember to go home and register for a Weibo account. You need to forward the news about Huo PingChuan and his evil deeds.”
“On Weibo, there’s an account called ‘The Tree Hole in No.12 High School’. You can send in your complaints to that account. Classmates, this is our chance to get back at Headteacher Ke.”
“Lin Qian was treated too unfairly this time. As his classmate, we must help him get the justice he deserves. You’re not a student of No.12 if you don’t forward the posts.”
“Are you angry that Huo YeRui cheated on the test? You can’t be considered a man if you aren’t angry. Remember to curse him when you post...no, no, that’s not decisive enough. Here, let me teach you...”
“You don’t have a computer? Then go to an internet cafe, ah. Here, I’ll give you 5 yuan for the fee. You don’t have to pay me back...”
The classmate who had somehow received money from the school hooligan: “.......Thank you.”
“Classmate, eh&#k2026;it’s you&#k2026;”
“It’s me.” Yang ZongJie couldn’t take his eyes away from the money Li Gao had given to a classmate. He didn’t know what to think. Just earlier this year, these gangsters were the ones extorting people for money, ah.
Yang ZongJie’s mouth curved. “It seems that you really hate Vice-Principal Huo.” Even encouraging other students to spread the scandal at his own expense.
“Wrong.” Li Gao said with a serious expression on his face. “We’re mainly doing this so the Boss can seek justice.”
Guo DangLi’s triangular eyes were serious. “Huo PingChuan used shady means to steal our Boss’ recommendation. Huo PingChuan, that old dog, deserves this.”
Yang ZongJie: “........”
He really wanted to ask Guo DangLi: Do you even remember that you were also once considered a Boss?
But before Yang ZongJie could open his mouth, Li Gao went up to him and hooked his arm around his shoulders. His voice sounding half-threatening and half-cajoling, Li Gao said to him: “Say, you also owe our Boss, you know? Given the circumstances, shouldn’t you also do your part in defending our Boss?”
Yang ZongJie: “.....” When did I have an obligation to your Boss? Didn’t you say I didn’t need to pay you back when you gave me your notes!
Guo DangLi also leaned towards Yang ZongJie. “Then, you’ll be responsible for spreading the news in Class 4.”
The suddenly appointed ambassador for propaganda in Class 4: “.....”
Yang ZongJie awkwardly asked: “Is it even okay for you to be saying such things in school?”
Guo DangLi rolled his eyes. “We can talk about the consequences later.”
As it turns out, YangZongJie’s worries weren’t unfounded. As soon as the class bell rang, all the teachers took the class leaders aside and told them to tell everyone that spreading ‘rumors’ on Weibo were strictly prohibited.
The teacher of Class 7 was particularly nervous when explaining things in his class. “Vice-Principal Huo is furious and is dedicated to stopping students from spreading these rumors. He’s keeping a close eye at our class in particular...”
Guo DangLi and Li Gao looked at each other guiltily. They didn’t dare look at their teacher in the eye. They listened as their teacher continued to say: “Anyway, I believe that no one in this class is the culprit. You all are good children who study hard. If Headteacher Ke or any other teacher comes to our class to inquire, just say that you don’t know anything.”
All the students responded in unison: “Yes, teacher.”
The teacher just smiled and said: “Then, we’ll diligently continue our lessons and strive to do better in the next monthly test.”
......
When Huo PingChuan imagined himself rising into power, he didn’t expect to still be handling every little problem that came his way. Principal Qiu was days away from retiring, and his status was nothing but an empty title at this point. Huo PingChuan figured that no one can compete with him in No. 12 and that the school can already be considered his behind closed doors.
But problems just kept stacking up. Huo PingChuan even had to deal with the complaint letters Lin YaZhi had sent to the Municipal Department of Education a few days ago when they arrived in his mailbox. It made Huo PingChuan unhappy, and he spent the morning thinking about how to punish Lin YaZhi next.
Who knew that his defeat would ultimately come from outside the school.
“Dad, is my recommendation really gone?” Huo YeRui looked at his father in disbelief.
Huo YeRui thought back to what had happened in his classroom and felt sick.
Just moments earlier, he had been baiting the annoying Lin Qian. He had been looking forward to seeing him fall down from his pedestal and become a bereaved dog. But then suddenly, a piece of news crash-landed on him like a piece of meteorite, almost smashing him unconscious.
The students around him had been trying to whisper amongst each other, but Huo YeRui could still hear them clearly:
“Wow! No way, is Huo YeRui’s recommendation really gone?”
“Well, he never should’ve been considered in the first place, right? He never deserved it.”
“This can’t be true, can it? That even Principal Qiu, who is supposed to be the most powerful figure in this school, couldn’t control things?”
“So hilarious! He’s just the Vice-Principal of a school. What kind of elite circle does he think he belongs in?”
“Pfft—— sorry, I’m not laughing...pfft—— shit, I can’t help it! Haha!”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, I always figured it was only a matter of time before these things come to light. I wonder if a certain group of people are now happy and at peace?”
......
Huo YeRui was finally getting his comeuppance. He had been so caught up on humiliating Lin Qian that he failed to keep his original righteous persona and in the end, resulted in making his classmates dislike him.
And the most shameful thing for Huo YeRui was that after the news struck, Xu Yao gleefully twisted the knife. “Classmate Huo, don’t be too disappointed. Since you have a clear conscience regarding your monthly test results, then it’ll be easy for you to get into a good university anyway, as long as you do well in the entrance exams.”
Ultimately, Huo YeRui couldn’t resist the numerous eyes trained on him. He stood up, and calmly walked out of the classroom. Once he stepped out, he immediately ran to the Vice-Principal’s office.
Now, Huo YeRui sees that Huo PingChuan’s expression is even uglier than his.
Huo YeRui found the situation difficult to accept. “Dad, it isn’t true, right? Didn’t you say your relationship with your superiors is good? The recommendation has to be given to me...”
“Shut up!” Huo PingChuan angrily threw the pen in his hand towards Huo YeRui. “If you hadn’t blindly copied the answers of the test, this would never have happened!”
Huo PingChuan had originally arranged all his plans perfectly. As long as Huo YeRui got good grades, he could’ve given him the school recommendation without any repercussions.
But why did a mistake suddenly happen in the easiest part of his plan?
And now, a Weibo post had revealed two pieces of irrefutable evidence: The sketchy procedure done to choose the recommendation candidate, and Huo YeRui’s problematic test results.
The procedure can be explained away with vague justifications, but Huo YeRui’s accurate answer to a misprinted question was the critical piece of evidence. No matter how they explained this, it was obvious to Huo PingChuan that no netizen would be convinced.
Huo PingChuan didn’t have a Weibo account, so he didn’t know what was happening until things had already boiled over. When he was informed by his superiors, he was truly surprised. He had tried to work things out for Huo YeRui, but his superiors all refused to let up on this case. Even the Boss he had a good relationship with replied to Huo PingChuan with sarcasm: “Your son is now being watched by the entire nation. They call him ‘The God of Examinations.’ If we give him the recommendation amidst this kind of scandal, the whole city’s education system will end up getting scrutinized.”
After this conversation, Huo PingChuan registered for a Weibo account and looked at all the trending news. They all had titles like “No. 12’s Huo” and “The fraud case in No.12”. There were a lot of seemingly influential accounts that have forwarded these posts.
It was also here that Huo PingChuan understood what his superiors meant with ‘The God of Examinations.’
@Oblique Shadows on Shallow Waters: Wow, this Huo YeRui’s a real cocky bastard. He can actually write the right answers to the wrong questions. He’s like the ‘The God of Examinations’, ah, always knowing the truth. Forward this post to ensure that all your upcoming tests will be protected. If you don’t, your next test will surely have a question misprinted. But things like that don’t matter if you have the test god’s blessings because your answers will never be wrong.
This account had 400,000 followers. This might not be that impressive compared to how much traffic Weibo gets in the future, but this was still the beginning of the digital age, so this account was considered to be first-tier.
This post had attracted many people, and they all started to repost it. Eventually, Huo YeRui had been dubbed ‘The God of Examinations’ and became known to many people far and wide.
Huo YeRui’s face was hit by Huo PingChuan’s pen, but he didn’t dare say anything. He trembled like a quail and shrunk his head. He asked timidly: “Have things become that serious?”
Huo YeRui was only a high school student. He couldn’t understand how the whole of society found out about this small thing that had happened in his school.
His face ashen, Huo PingChuan replied: “Don’t go to class for now. In fact, stay at home for now. Come back after I’ve dealt with the matter.”
Huo YeRui was surprised. “Then...do I have to take the college entrance exams?”
Huo PingChuan looked at his son as if he were mentally handicapped. “What do you think?”
Huo YeRui felt his legs going soft. “But dad...I....”
Huo PingChuan was impatiently said: “What are you? Even if you don’t get the guaranteed spot to F University, you won’t have a problem getting into another top university by yourself.”
Huo YeRui lowered his head and replied with a small voice: “I know.”
When Huo YeRui left the office, Huo PingChuan turned his cell phone on and looked at the text message sent to him by an unknown number again.
[Unknown]: This matter has attracted the attention of the entire city. There’s a file attached to this text that I want you to post for the public to see. You figure out how to do this.
......
......
After school, the tutoring group gathered in front of Ke CaiZhu’s office door as usual. They arrived just in time to see a gloomy Ke CaiZhu leaving her office with a box in her hands.
Zheng PingQing politely asked: “Headteacher Ke, are you done with your office?”
Ke CaiZhu: “...”
Dong MingEn rushed to the front of the group and said: “Headteacher Ke, why are you here? Did you want to help our tutoring group?”
Ke CaiZhu stared at the students for a moment, then said: “I just came back to check if my office got damaged by any of you.”
After saying this, the humiliated Ke CaiZhu didn’t give them an opportunity to further question her and directly ran away.
Dong MingEn couldn’t help but say: “Headteacher Ke really cares about public property, ah.”
Zheng PingQing: “....”
Soon after, the group of children quickly entered the office. As the others started to study, a relaxed Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing stayed outside the office and exchanged information with each other as they leaned on the wall.
Zheng PingQing gently ran his hand through Lin Qian’s hair. “We’re pretty lucky. Things are going much smoother than expected.”
Lin Qian let out a laugh. “If things weren’t going well, I would’ve made it go well.”
Zheng PingQing’s finger slowly drifted from Lin Qian’s hair to the tip of his ears. “Of course. My boyfriend is the most powerful.”
Lin Qian nodded. “But thanks to Ke MuZi, we saved a lot of time.”
The truth was, the printing error on the math question wasn’t an accident. As early as the days right after the first monthly test, Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing had already doubted Huo YeRui. The two men had begun to seriously re-examine their previous life.
In order to verify their conjectures, Lin Qian had reached out to his new friend Ke MuZi and asked him to hack into No.12’s system just before the second monthly test. Lin Qian asked him to secretly modify one of the extra questions in the math part of the test, then sneakily change the question back after the printing had been finished. This caused the illusion of a printing accident.
From the very beginning, Lin Qian had told Ke MuZi why he wanted this to be done. Of course, when Ke MuZi, this single-minded hacking otaku, found out that it was to expose the dirty secrets of the test, he immediately agreed to help.
The public Weibo account called ‘The Tree Hole in No.12 High School’ was also made with Ke MuZi’s help. As for the explosive scandal itself, that was done by Lin Qian and Zheng PingQing.
With the mention of Ke MuZi, Zheng PingQing said with sincere admiration: “Ke MuZi really is worthy of being called a coding genius. He’s already able to enter a school’s network system at such a young age.”
Lin Qian silently listened to him for a while, then finally told Zheng PingQing the truth: “While it’s true that Boss Ke really is an amazing hacker, in all honesty, it was just that our school’s security was too weak. Ke MuZi said that a black-bellied machine learning software could get in.”
Zheng PingQing: “.....”
The author has something to say:
Well, this was the era of Motorola phones and the beginnings of Broadband Internet. Playing computer games and browsing social media wasn’t really...
Zheng PingQing: I want to donate some money to this school to help upgrade their security...
Note, the title Weibo Blast is basically Twitter Blast. Also, I don’t know how Weibo works.
Also, I totally knew it! LQ and ZPQ had something to do with the misprint!