The woman who rushed out knelt down in front of Yan Qiuqing and bawled, “Mrs. Yan! Mrs. Yan! Please save my husband! He only stole the photos for Miss Dou because you told him to! Please save him! I beg you!” She began to kowtow on the ground, her forehead turning red and swollen immediately. Soon after, the media rushed in from outside the door and pointed their cameras to furiously take photos and record Yan Qiuying and the woman begging her. Yan Qiuying was frozen for a second, then finally recognized the middle aged woman as the wife of one of the accomplices! “What are you talking about? I’m very sorry about the incident, it was my daughter’s rashness that implicated your husband.” Yan Qiuying started crying immediately and Dou Haoyan squeezed himself in when he saw things taking a turn for the worse. He shielded his mother and walked away together.
…
“What happened? How could someone have gone to the orphanage to look for you?!” Prime Minister Dou was both shocked and furious. He had been elected and knew better than anyone about how important public image was. His wife had been engaged with charity work for many years and earned him lots of bonus points. This time however, it may be drag him down and even the charity activities that gave him bonus points in the past may be taken into question.
“This was an accident, nobody expected this to get exposed.” Dou Haoyan cradled head in his head with distress and sat on the couch. He glanced at his weeping mother, then at his red faced father and urged him, “Dad, we should think about how to clean up the situation right now. We must control the media and stop them from broadcasting these uncensored videos.”
Prime Minister Dou left his home with a fearsome expression. He went to his office to discuss the matter with his staff. After emergency public relation measures, a few of the major TV stations and press agreed to not broadcast the video nor report on it. As compensation, the Prime Minister would give them other opportunities. Just when Prime Minister Dou’s family assumed the incident had blown over, a cellphone captured video exploded on social media. Although the image was blurry, anyone could recognize who the the familiar, gentle and demure women in the video was. The Prime Minister’s wife had high exposure and was well known by the people because she had accompanied the Prime Minister on both campaigns. She was born in a wealthy merchant family and married the civilian born Prime Minister Dou. She assisted her husband and ran the household, helping him reach the position of Prime Minister–this was the story repeatedly embellished by the media and known by all people in the Huaxia Empire.
“Wasn’t this squashed down? Why is it being broadcasted again?” Yan Qiuying saw her image in the video and grew angry. The Prime Minister ordered his staff to question the media outlets, but they told them that this was social media and not TV and press. The Prime Minister had only requested them not to broadcast on TV and press, but never said anything about social media. The Dou’s finally realized someone was playing them, but they had too many political enemies to determine who was behind it. They had no way of stamping the incident out at the source. For example, the nominee running against him during the last campaign would never let them off if he found out the truth. Also, the several potential competitors that Prime Minister Dou had targeted were also suspects. Just when they hadn’t decided how to counterattack the social media accounts posting the video of the Prime Minister’s wife, the video had spread throughout the nation. It became the latest social hot topic with an incredible number of shares. The TV stations and press couldn’t help it anymore and didn’t want to let go of this new hot topic. Within a few days, the news of the Prime Minister’s daughter and wife collusion and abuse of power was broadcasted by all major media outlets. The news was published in a peculiar way–no specifics of the incident were revealed, but only implied that the Prime Minister’s wife ordered subordinates to abuse power and caused serious consequences. Now the subordinate had been arrested and put in jail, and the Prime Minister’s daughter had been sentenced to life imprisonment–but Prime Minister’s wife remains scot free despite being behind all this. Coupled with the video of the subordinate’s wife begging Yan Qiuying, it had a huge impact on the public.
“I didn’t think you would be that kind of a Prime Minister!”
“All men are equal in the eyes of law, and the Prime Minister is elected by the people. Does he really think he’s above the law?”
“Want to be an emperor huh, as if he’s worthy enough?!”
The ability of an angry public to unearth secrets is astonishing. Soon after, Prime Minister Dou and his wife’s family had been completely exposed. All the clues the public had missed during the election campaign were connected together to paint an image of Prime Minister Dou as a total hypocrite.
“He’s Yue Buqun! He should be called Yue Buqun!” The hypocritical literary character, Yue Buqun became Prime Minister Dou’s new nickname. He was overwhelmed continuously for a few days and was almost forced by the Senate to resign. That night, he returned home with an ashen face. He looked at the the luxurious Prime Minister’s official residence and thought about how his life’s efforts and dreams were about to be dashed by this incident. Miserable, he went to drink alone in the kitchen.
His youngest daughter, Dou Aiyan quietly in walked and sat across from him to whisper, “Daddy, what are the consequences if things get worse?”
“Get worse? Can things get any worse?! Your daddy is about to be forced to resign by the Senate!” Prime Minister Dou poured himself a glass of whiskey. Strong alcohol always had the ability to numb a person’s nerves and allowed temporary solace from undesired consequences.
Dou Aiyan was shocked. If her Daddy resigns, what would become of her? She would no longer be the Prime Minister’s daughter, so no one would support her anymore. At that moment, she was displeased with her older sister–it was because of her selfishness and so called love that the entire family was about to fall apart. Deeply depressed, Dou Aiyan couldn’t sleep all night and finally called Wen Shouyi to vent. She spoke with sadness, “Professor Wen knows about my family’s situation right? Oh, my Mummy is really innocent, this was all my sister’s fault… If it wasn’t for her, our family wouldn’t have ended up in all this trouble.”
Wen Shouyi quietly listened to Dou Aiyan complaints and whispered, “I’m responsible for this too, if I didn’t convince your sister to come home and brought her back, your family wouldn’t be in this mess. At the end of the day, it’s men’s fault. Aiyan, see how cruel a man becomes when he has a change of heart, it’s like he’s cold blooded…”
“Are you talking about Major General Huo?” Dou Aiyan frowned, “But Major General Huo never liked my sister thought? My sister sent herself to his door but he still rejected her.” She pounded the bed furiously, “She has no shame!”
“Haha, Aiyan. You’re still too young, do you really think that Major General Huo really had no feelings for your sister and your sister still loved him to death? Love is a two way street.” Wen Shouyi reminded her earnestly.
Dou Aiyan was silent for awhile, but continued to shake her head, “No, Professor Wen doesn’t know my sister. She is such a wishful person, and it wasn’t that she didn’t know Major General Huo didn’t like her. Otherwise how would she have slit her wrists, then stolen the photos and went abroad?”
“Oh? You sister attempted suicide?” Wen Shouyi was unfamiliar with the details between Dou Qingyan and Huo Shaoheng’s past, so her heart lurched when she heard of this.
“Of course, I was only 12 back then but remember it clearly. She had my Daddy ask for Major General Huo from the military so he can be transferred to a position in Daddy’s cabinet, but the military refused. She then went to look for Major General Huo and asked him to request for the transfer himself, but he thought she was being crazy and kicked her out. A lot of people saw this and she couldn’t stand losing face, so she came home and slit her wrists. She still has a scar on her wrist up until this day, did Professor Wen see it?”
Wen Shouyi recalled Dou Qingyan always wore a wide and flat gold bracelet, so it must be to cover the scar. “She’s so pitiful.” Wen Shoiyi sighed, then gently said to Dou Aiyan, “Aiyan, she’s still your sister. You can’t turn against her and say these kinds of things to people, even if you are displeased. Understand?”
“I understand. I was just venting to Professor Wen, and won’t say this to any outsiders. I really don’t know what to do anymore, so I wanted to ask for your advice. Professor Wen, you’re a great lawyer in the United States, can you issue a lawyer’s letter on my Mummy’s behalf?” Dou Aiyan took the chance to request a favour. She actually wanted Wen Shouyi to act as her Mummy’s defense lawyer and send a letter to the unscrupulous media outlets slandering their family.