Chapter 142

Chapter 142

A demon walked among men.

Because of her application for the national financial aid grant, Cheng Jiamin often had to deal with the head of her department-Director Wu.

After going back and forth for a while, the two gradually became familiar with each other.

Director Wu was amiable and always wore a faint smile. On top of that, he had handled Cheng Jiamin’s entire financial aid application for her.

So at first, Cheng Jiamin had a very good impression of Director Wu.

The fact that Cheng Jiamin had been able to leave the mountains and come study at A University of Science and Technology was, in a sense, inseparable from the junior high and high school teachers who had helped her every step of the way.

In Cheng Jiamin’s mind, all teachers were worthy of reverence. They were people she ought to respect and repay. From the bottom of her heart, she was truly grateful to those who had allowed her to leave the mountains and see the world.

So when Director Wu asked her to help receive some guests visiting the school, she naively agreed.

She thought it would be nothing more than pouring tea, explaining the school’s history, and showing the guests around. She was even afraid that if she did a poor job explaining things, she would fail Director Wu’s expectations. That very night, she stayed up memorizing the university’s history until she knew it by heart.

But never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that this century-old university, the school she took such pride in, could also breed evil-and that its claws would reach toward her.

Afterward, Director Wu kept brainwashing her. On one hand, he comforted her, telling her it was nothing. On the other, he threatened her with her reputation and her studies. And she, who had never encountered anything like this before, was terrified into silence.

She did not know who she should tell, or how to even say it.

On one hand, what had happened to her left her too ashamed to speak. On the other, she was full of anxiety. What if it was just like Director Wu said…? If she spoke up, would anyone believe her? And if they refused to believe her?

In any case, it had already happened. No matter how she pursued it, nothing could be undone.

To fight him to the death would only leave both sides ruined. Besides, he had power and influence. Perhaps even if she made a scene, he would come out unscathed, while she would have to spend the rest of her life enduring people pointing and whispering behind her back.

And so, little by little, Director Wu succeeded in brainwashing her, and she gave up on holding him accountable.

Back then, she had still been naive enough to think, “Forget it. Just endure it. It already happened. It was my fault for not being careful enough…”

Perhaps time would dilute everything. Once this matter slowly passed, once her body slowly healed…

Everything would get better in the future.

So she did not seek help from anyone. She swallowed the incident in silence.

She thought that if she did this, the matter would pass.

But she did not know that her first concession would not put an end to it. It would only feed the demon’s arrogance.

Director Wu began using all sorts of excuses to demand that she come to his office outside of class hours, or attend his private banquets.

Sometimes he threatened her with the quota for the national financial aid grant. Sometimes he threatened her with the school’s work-study positions. Other times, it was competitions, exams…

He used every bit of power in his hands, doing everything he could to block her qualifications and make things difficult for her at every turn.

She managed to escape a few times. There were also times she did not. The last time, Director Wu used her graduation certificate to hold her back.

By then, Cheng Jiamin was already on the verge of collapse. Even then, she still simply tried to persuade herself: Just endure it one more time. As long as she got through this, once she graduated, Director Wu would never be able to do anything to her again.

She still had her mother, who had worked the land of Huangpi her entire life, waiting for her to repay the grace of raising her. She still had her younger brother, who had gone out to work early to earn money for the family so she could study, waiting for her to repay him. She still carried the earnest hopes of the teachers who had supported her for half her life.

She had no choice but to endure.

But no matter what, she never imagined that even after she had been so obedient, even after she had done everything Director Wu demanded of her…

Director Wu was still unwilling to let a plaything like her leave the school. Instead, he exhausted every method he could think of and used insufficient credits as a reason to require her to stay and repeat another year.

She could not escape. There was no escape at all.

…

“Actually, on the day Wen Tangtang asked me, I had already been planning to jump off the building in front of Director Wu…” Cheng Jiamin wiped away her tears. “There’s no escaping something like this. The moment I chose to endure it the first time, I had already fallen into his trap.”

“But I understood it too late.”

To Cheng Jiamin, who had already been pushed to the edge of collapse, Wen Tangtang’s concern and questions were undoubtedly the last straw a drowning person could grasp.
Back then, Cheng Jiamin had already resolved to die. The reputation she had once valued so much no longer frightened her.

So when Wen Tangtang asked, she told her everything.

Because Wen Tangtang had promised Cheng Jiamin she would not tell anyone, and because the matter concerned Cheng Jiamin’s reputation, Wen Tangtang had never revealed it to a soul-not even Wen Miao.

“But how did Director Wu know that Wen Tangtang knew about it?” Wen Miao still could not understand Director Wu’s motive. “He couldn’t have wanted to catch her just because she found out, right?”

“Maybe it wasn’t just because of that.”

Laying bare the ugliest parts of one’s past required immense courage. Cheng Jiamin lowered her head, both humiliated and furious, her teeth clenched so hard they chattered. “The reason I had no choice but to obey him was because he had… videos of me. Whenever I refused to listen, he threatened to make the videos public.”

“Wen Tangtang told me I should call the police… I was the one who could never make up my mind. That was why Wen Tangtang decided to help me get the videos back…”

“She wanted to help you get the videos back?” Wen Miao asked in surprise.

“Yes.” Cheng Jiamin was overwhelmed with regret. “I shouldn’t have let her take that risk…”

Whenever Cheng Jiamin resisted, Director Wu would send her those videos at the drop of a hat. He definitely would not dare keep videos like that on his own phone, and if he hid them at home, he would not be able to use them to threaten Cheng Jiamin whenever he wanted. So he had to have stored them somewhere within easy reach, somewhere he went every day.

That was why Wen Tangtang had guessed Director Wu must have a second phone specifically for storing those videos-and that phone had to be in Director Wu’s office.

The more Cheng Jiamin thought about it, the worse she felt. “Last night wasn’t the first time Wen Tangtang went to Director Wu’s office…”

Wen Miao suddenly remembered that Wen Tangtang’s roommate had said Wen Tangtang had claimed she was going to an internet café to work on her thesis for several nights already.

In other words, during those nights, Wen Tangtang had been searching Director Wu’s office for that phone.

Wen Miao’s heart trembled. “Since it was something that important, Director Wu couldn’t possibly have been completely unguarded… Maybe he already realized Wen Tangtang was searching for something during those nights. So last night, he deliberately lay in wait and caught her… And Wen Xin may have been caught by Director Wu while he was looking for Wen Tangtang…”

Cheng Jiamin was growing increasingly uneasy, fear creeping into her voice. “Why do you think Director Wu hid them away? He wouldn’t… kill them to silence them, would he?”

Wen Miao’s mind was a tangled mess too, but when she remembered Nan Mu’s firm assurance that nothing would happen to them, she finally steadied herself a little.

Wen Miao glanced at Cheng Jiamin. “Probably not. Even if Wen Tangtang found those videos, all Director Wu has to do is destroy them immediately. Then even if Wen Tangtang saw them with her own eyes, in the end, it would still only be her word against his. Without evidence, saying anything would be useless. So to Director Wu, Wen Tangtang isn’t nearly as dangerous as you are…”

Cheng Jiamin was startled by the look in Wen Miao’s eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you know if anyone besides you was threatened by Director Wu into being used as… entertainment?”

Cheng Jiamin quickly shook her head. “I don’t know, but… there probably are others. I once ran into another girl before, but Director Wu never lets us stay together.”

Wen Miao nodded in understanding. “That means he’s very cautious. But since he hasn’t only been threatening you, that means he still doesn’t know who Wen Tangtang was standing up for.”

Realization dawned on Cheng Jiamin. “You mean Director Wu took them away to get Wen Tangtang to tell him who she was helping? Then find…”

“Exactly. Wen Tangtang may know the truth, but she has no evidence, so she doesn’t really pose a threat to Director Wu. But you’re different. You’re the people directly involved. To some extent, you all have records of dealings with him, and Director Wu can’t be absolutely certain none of you kept any evidence… I’m afraid there are quite a few people like you, so Director Wu can’t ‘clean up’ all of you at once. All he can do is figure out who wants to ‘escape’ him, then get rid of the one trying to ‘run away’…”

At that, Cheng Jiamin’s face went abruptly pale. Terror flickered in her eyes, and her hands trembled slightly. She was clearly frightened to the extreme.

“Then… then what should I do…”

At a complete loss, Cheng Jiamin shakily looked toward Wen Miao, searching her face for an answer.