Chapter 21 The Righteous Netizen?
But as soon as this thought came up, Reuben dismissed it.
Adalyn couldn't even stand having her photo around—how could she possibly let him comfort her?
……
Matilda got home and pushed open the door to the smell of cooking.
Was Wentworth making dinner?
She changed her shoes, put down her bag, and walked to the kitchen doorway.
Wentworth was wearing an apron, cooking at the stove.
He was making beef and peppers skillet. The beef was already browned nicely, and the aroma of sweet peppers mixed with meat juices filled the kitchen—it looked absolutely appetizing.
Seeing Matilda come home, Wentworth turned off the heat and said while pouring the food onto a plate, "You're back?"
Matilda nodded, wanting to smile at him, but the smile looked worse than crying.
Wentworth could tell right away that something was bothering her.
He put down the spatula, walked over to her and asked, "What's wrong? Did the driving not go well?"
Matilda didn't want him to worry, so she said, "The driving went fine. I suspect I have the potential to be a racing champion—I drove really smoothly today and even passed several vehicles."
"Oh, what kind of vehicles?"
"Motorcycles."
Wentworth was amused by her humor. He said, "You must be hungry. Let's eat then."
"Okay, I'll get the utensils."
……
The two sat at the dining table eating quietly.
Wentworth kept feeling that Matilda had something on her mind, but she didn't say anything. With each dish she ate, she would just say, "This dish is pretty good, better than what I make."
The more she acted this way, the harder it was to figure out.
He felt like he didn't understand women again.
Why were women's thoughts so hard to guess?
When Matilda was almost done eating, she said to Wentworth, "Wentworth, tonight teach me some more difficult combat techniques—the kind that can make me exhausted."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Matilda smiled faintly.
"Alright, as long as you like it, I can do any level of difficulty." Wentworth said.
……
After dinner, Matilda insisted on washing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.
Wentworth picked up his phone to check his messages.
There was a message from Bob: [Mr. Gonzaga, do you know the person in this video?]
Wentworth's entertainment habits were pretty simple—he occasionally played military games, but never scrolled through short videos or watched entertainment news.
However, when he saw this video of Brianna accusing Matilda, he was so angry he almost crushed his phone.
No wonder Matilda had been holding something back since she got home. Such a big thing, and she didn't even mention it!
Did she not consider him her husband?
He immediately forwarded the video to Charles.
Wentworth had ways to deal with bad people and criminals, but for this kind of shameless lowlife, he figured Charles would have more experience, since Charles had a dedicated PR team and also worked with these short video platforms.
"Charles, I want to restore Matty's reputation and punish these people making videos." Wentworth stated his needs.
Soon, Charles replied: [Don't worry, leave it to me.]
……
While Matilda and Wentworth were practicing combat techniques, public opinion online was already shifting.
With one word from Charles, his team went into action.
To restore Matilda's image, the solution wasn't to block the original video, but to use evidence to change the public's impression of her.
The first wave: many videos appeared online about Derek's crimes and thuggish behavior. Derek was involved in organized crime and vice, and had harassed plenty of women. Now there were not only videos of him fighting and brawling, but also women coming forward to accuse him of harassment.
Once this wave of videos came out, many netizens commented.
[I knew it! How could a female doctor have the power to put someone in prison for ten years? Do you think the police nowadays are just fooling around? Locking people up just like that?]
[So this Derek is a half-brother from different parents. Being such a scumbag, he must have bullied that girl plenty, right? This kind of person deserves to be in jail!]
[I just saw Dr. Spencer's neighbor speaking out. This guy tried to rape Matilda before—go check it out!]
However, some netizens who liked to argue spoke up: [Derek did wrong, but Dr. Spencer abandoned her own mother!]
……
After the public opinion had fermented enough, a second wave of videos appeared online.
Matilda's teachers and neighbors were interviewed by media, saying that when Matilda was in elementary school, her grandfather took care of her. After her parents divorced and her grandfather passed away, she lived alone starting from middle school with no one else to care for her.
Then there were records of the student loans Matilda took out for college, and videos of Matilda working part-time jobs during winter and summer breaks. From age 18 on, she had been supporting herself.
At this point, netizens generally sided with Matilda being innocent.
[You gave birth to her, but you abandoned her midway. Now that she's grown up, you come back asking for money and things—why should she care about you?]
[You even made a video online to accuse her. If it weren't for these videos, wouldn't she have been ruined by you, her own mother?]
[Dr. Spencer is such a beautiful daughter—if she were born in our family, we'd treasure her. You actually don't cherish her at all.]
Of course, some people were concerned about whether someone was manipulating things behind the scenes for public opinion to reverse so quickly. Most likely this person was Matilda's boyfriend.
After a while, someone posted a photo of Matilda having dinner with a man, showing their backs.
From the back, you could tell he was a young man around 30, definitely not some old man.
As for who he actually was, there was no more information.
This video controversy ended there.
……
It was 10 PM.
Adalyn lay in bed constantly scrolling through videos.
When she saw the reversal in public opinion, she was furious.
Those interviews with elementary and middle school teachers, and the part-time job videos—they were all from so long ago yet someone dug them up. Clearly someone was manipulating things behind the scenes.
This person was very likely Matilda's boyfriend!
Did that person have such powerful connections?
Or did he have experience working in online media?
Beside her, Reuben was reading.
Being a doctor meant constantly studying and continuing education. Especially for professional title evaluations—not only did you have to take exams but also write papers. In this regard, he never dared to slack off.
During breaks from reading, he would occasionally observe Adalyn.
Seeing Adalyn getting angrier as she watched, he asked, "What are you watching? Why are you so upset?"
Adalyn said indignantly, "That thing with Matilda actually reversed. Now netizens all sympathize with her."
Reuben thought to himself: Of course, anyone who knew even a little about Matilda's upbringing would sympathize with her.
But he didn't want to offend Adalyn, so he said, "Netizens actually sympathize with her? Shows how society's values are getting worse."
"I'm so angry! Not watching anymore, going to sleep!" Adalyn angrily put down her phone and burrowed into the covers.
……
Brianna and Hugh lived in an old residential building on the west side of the city. This three-story building was left by their ancestors, with no mortgage pressure. If sold, it could fetch several hundred thousand dollars.
Hugh was a driving school instructor, and Brianna was a quality inspector at an electronics factory. Logically, the two of them should be living decently, but Brianna constantly compared herself to her ex-husband. When her ex-husband's child got into a key middle school, she wanted Paul to go too, and regularly signed Paul up for tutoring classes costing hundreds of dollars per session.
Add to that Hugh's son being a spendthrift, constantly taking things from home, so their days were pretty tight.
This afternoon after they posted the video accusing Matilda, quite a few people doing self-media interviewed them, and some even came to their door to give them food and clothes, and even sent study materials to Paul.
She was thrilled, constantly saying to Hugh, "These short videos nowadays are really great! Just make one video and you can get justice. Netizens are all so righteous and supportive!"