Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 359: Chapter 355: The Results

After clarifying the situation, Deputy Director Chen couldn’t help but twitch his mouth.

Defamation? And on the internet no less, in an era of free speech, where a few harsh words are usually laughed off. Who would take it seriously? Besides, things like this happen every day, the police can’t possibly knock on doors daily to arrest people, can they?

Deputy Director Chen wasn’t a fool; he clearly understood that this did not comply with the usual procedure. But the fact that Haiding District had acted in this way suggested only one possibility: the person Wu Jingyi had slandered must have either a special status or a powerful background, even capable of mobilizing the police in Haiding District.

Deputy Director He had been in his position for a few years now, and he certainly had a sense of crisis awareness.

In the Imperial Capital, any random person one bumps into on the street could be a scion of an hereditary family or the offspring of a high-ranking official. As a mere deputy head of a police station, he couldn’t afford to offend those kinds of people, otherwise, he wouldn’t even know how he died.

Wu Jingyi must have offended someone, otherwise why would Haiding District bypass the judicial authorities to arrest someone directly?

However, Liang Jinhong had personally called him, and it was help that Deputy Director Chen felt compelled to give. After some thought, Deputy Director Chen made a return call to Liang Jinhong.

”Young Master Liang, your friend was indeed taken away by the people from Haiding District, but this matter seems to be quite complicated,” he said.

Deputy Director Chen conveyed the feedback from Haiding District to Liang Jinhong and hesitated before adding:

”Miss Wu must have offended someone. I am not clear about how influential the other party is, but I’ll ask the folks at Haiding District to find a way to minimize the charges against Miss Wu as much as possible.”

”Thank you, I’ll be troubling you then.” Silence hung heavy for quite a while before Liang Jinhong finally spoke.

Deputy Director Chen agreed to have a meal together when free and exchanged pleasantries before hanging up the phone.

Liang Jinhong’s heart wasn’t at peace. He had been very close and harmonious with Wu Jingyi recently, and he knew quite a bit about her, an orphan without parents who had to feign strength to survive. Yet the harshness of life hadn’t subdued her; she remained innocent and simple, loving life as ever.

Liang Jinhong couldn’t believe that Wu Jingyi, pure and kind like a pristine sheet of paper, could do such a thing.

Liang Jinhong’s expression grew rigid. He felt there was a deeper meaning to Deputy Director Chen’s words. Wu Jingyi was so timid she couldn’t even kill a fish and would always get scolded during dissection classes for being faint-hearted. He couldn’t fathom how such an ignorant female student could frame a classmate.

So Liang Jinhong conjured up a scenario in his mind. If someone had mobilized the police from Haiding District, they must be influential indeed. Perhaps Wu Jingyi had unintentionally offended someone, and that person was deliberately framing her.

Anxious about Wu Jingyi potentially being wronged, Liang Jinhong drove to Haiding District without delay, but he was not allowed to visit her. This turned his expression rather unsightly, reinforcing his suspicions. After some consideration, he made a phone call to his grandfather.

”Grandpa, do you know anyone at the Imperial Capital police who could be of help? The higher their rank, the better.”

Elder Liang was playing with a myna bird in the courtyard and was startled by his grandson’s request: ”Have you caused trouble again?”

Liang Jinhong hurriedly explained, ”No, it’s not that. A friend of mine offended someone and was taken by the police. The person behind this seems to be quite powerful, and those I’ve approached are of no use, so I have no choice but to seek help from my omnipotent grandpa.”

Hearing his grandson’s flattery, Liang Pengzhi was in a good mood. After playing with his bird for a while, he agreed, ”Alright, I’ll ask around for you.”

”Okay then, thank you so much! Granpa, you really are wise and powerful, still strong in your old age!”

With his own grandfather agreeing to help, there seemed to be no problem for Liang Jinhong. Of course, he didn’t skimp on the nice words that came easily to him.

”So slick with your words. You should really settle down. The girl from Zhang Family is about to return to the Imperial Capital. Once she’s back, let’s have a meal together and finalize the arrangement between you two.”

Liang Pengzhi was quite fond of this grandson and, after jokingly chiding him awhile, he didn’t forget to bring up another matter.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jinhong’s face instantly stiffened, and after a few seconds, he muttered a low ”I know.”

With the Miss Magic incident causing an uproar, Chen Yu, as a key member of the Propaganda Department, couldn’t possibly be unaware. Initially, she wanted to use her official influence to suppress the matter, but was surprised to find that so many high-profile figures were publicly supporting Huo Sining.

”Is slander on the internet now without consequence? This won’t do. I must go ask Elder Wu about this. How can his Ministry of State Security allow people to vilify my daughter-in-law online!”

Madam Gu was not pleased when she heard her elder daughter-in-law mention that people online were badmouthing Huo Sining.

After recognizing Huo Sining as her future daughter-in-law, the Old Granny treated her as one of their own. The Huo family was protective and couldn’t stand to see their own being bullied.

Now, hearing someone insult a member of her Gu family, she couldn’t sit still any longer and abruptly stood up, mumbling about going to talk sense into Minister Wu at the Ministry of State Security.

Minister Wu was responsible for information security, which covered hacking attacks and data leaks, not this type of rumor spreading and defamation. Where would he have the time and energy to deal with that?

But Minister Wu couldn’t afford to snub Madam Gu’s pride, and he knew her character well; if he didn’t agree to her request, she might skip the phone call and show up directly at the Ministry of State Security to give him a piece of her mind.

Resigned, Minister Wu had no choice but to call the police station and exert pressure. Just great—now a police station that was ready to close the case received orders from above to handle it strictly.

In less than half an hour, the situation escalated; one call from a National Security minister instructing a strict approach, followed by another from a Supervisory minister advocating leniency.

With the gods at war, the demons suffer. The cops in Haiding District looked at each other in dismay, deleted their original verdict, and redrafted it meticulously. Only after ensuring no mistakes did they dare present it to their superiors.

”The principal offender, Zhang Jun, is sentenced to one and a half years of fixed-term imprisonment, and the accessory, Wu Jingyi, is sentenced to six months with a four-year probation since she is still a student. The others are to be warned and detained for one day as punishment. It is hoped this will serve as a lesson and that such offenses will not be repeated.”

Madam Gu was satisfied with the judgement. She wasn’t the type to be unreasonable once she had the upper hand; she wanted a resolution that would be a deterrent to those coveting her family, making it clear that the Gu family was not to be triffled with.

Liang Jinhong was also quite pleased with the verdict. Probation didn’t mean much; as long as no further offenses were committed, there was no need for imprisonment—it was akin to a verbal warning.

Only Gu Xu remained silent after hearing the outcome. His mother might be satisfied, but he was not. So Wu Jingyi was let off just like that, and his wife had been bullied in vain?