The plump woman's words were like stones dropped into a calm lake, instantly causing ripples.
Almost everyone's gaze fell upon him.
"Auntie, what nonsense are you talking about?"
"Meng Hao, we watched him grow up. How could there be any problems with his character?"
"Are you having an epileptic fit or something?"
"Yeah, I think she's lost her mind."
In response to the plump woman's sudden outburst,
almost everyone voiced their anger.
Suppressing her rage, the plump woman unceremoniously shook the mobile phone in her hand.
"You all see for yourselves."
"The discussions about Meng Hao online are about to explode."
"Meng Hao, that kid has betrayed us, joined America!"
This plump woman,
her voice almost cracking, even carried a hint of schadenfreude.
As if Meng Hao being criticized by netizens nationwide and becoming a traitor would somehow benefit her.
For this kind of opportunist who enjoys seeing others suffer,
she only felt joy when others were down.
Due to a large group of people suddenly flooding into the house,
Meng Hao's mother, who had been busy in the kitchen serving tea, walked out with several cups of boiling water. Just as she stepped out, she heard the plump woman shouting.
"What's happened?"
"Why is everyone so stunned?"
Faced with this sudden freeze,
Meng Hao's mother was perplexed.
"Auntie Meng, something has happened to Meng Hao."
"This is what I just saw in the news."
"It says the US side has confirmed that Meng Hao has chosen to abandon his Great Xia nationality and officially join the US... The US military general officially announced it..."
What?
Meng Hao joining the US?
And it was officially announced by high-ranking US military officials.
Even more so,
up to this point,
the Great Xia official side had not responded... and Meng Hao himself had not appeared to clarify.
Almost all the information online pointed towards Meng Hao having officially joined the US.
Buzz!
In an instant,
the old Meng couple felt as if struck by lightning, their ears ringing.
One moment,
Meng Hao was a prodigious talent who brought glory to the nation and honor to his ancestors.
The next moment,
he had become a traitor seeking wealth and honor through betrayal?
If this were ancient times,
the crime of treason
would lead to expulsion from the entire clan, removal from the ancestral hall records, and complete banishment from the family.
After all,
in the traditional ideology of Great Xia,
family and bloodline were of paramount importance.
Even now,
the words "treason" and "traitor" were still extremely jarring.
"How is this possible?"
"How could Meng Hao betray his country?"
"He couldn't be called academically excellent since childhood, but he was always an outstanding youth who wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the country!"
Meng Hao's mother, her face full of disbelief, reflexively retorted.
A relative, whose emotional intelligence seemed rather low, shoved his phone in front of the old Meng couple.
"Uncle Meng, Auntie Meng, this seems to be true news..."
"Why don't you two elders contact Meng Hao and see what's going on..."
"Right now, the entire internet is cursing Meng Hao..."
Contact Meng Hao?
It was impossible to reach him.
According to what was being said online,
Meng Hao knew about his disgraceful actions and dared not contact Great Xia.
He had simply vanished.
"Three men talking make a tiger," and "The gossip of the masses can melt gold."
When lies are told enough times and believed by enough people, they become truth.
For Meng Hao's father,
such an act of seeking wealth through betrayal was a profound disgrace to the family, an unprecedented shame for the Meng family.
And in Meng Hao's mother's mind, a different feeling arose.
Meng Hao,
her own son whom she had raised for nearly twenty years,
hadn't even had the chance to properly care for her yet.
He had suddenly disappeared, choosing to flee to the US for his own glory and becoming a traitor to Great Xia.
If this logic were followed,
didn't it mean
she would never see her beloved son again?
And that there would be no further news of him?
After all, Meng Hao was an only child.
If this only son could never return to see her,
what was the difference between that and the living burying the dead?
Meng Hao's mother, ultimately, was a woman.
Completely unable to believe that Meng Hao would betray his country, that he would completely abandon his parents, and under the dual pressure of the seemingly ironclad information online and her own maternal feelings,
she felt her vision darken.
Clatter, clatter.
The cups of scalding hot water on the tray in Meng Hao's mother's hands fell to the ground, making a crashing sound.
The boiling water
splashed onto her legs.
In an instant,
with her vision darkening and her legs scalded by the boiling water, Meng Hao's mother collapsed straight to the ground.
"Honey, what's wrong?"
"Auntie Meng, are you alright?"
"Quick, call an ambulance!"
Amidst the flurry of activity,
everyone practically left the once harmonious room.
Only the plump woman, who had come to gloat and spread the news, remained, smugly standing with her hands on her hips, enjoying the spectacle.
Heh heh heh.
Didn't everyone think Meng Hao was so amazing?
In the end, he was just a traitor seeking wealth through betrayal.
It was still her son who was the most outstanding.
...
Soon,
the ambulance arrived.
Everyone busily helped Meng Hao's mother onto the ambulance.
And the plump woman, adorned in gold and silver, who had been gloating, followed along.
Of course,
she wasn't being helpful.
"Oh my, you have no idea, their family has a rebellious son!"
"You know that Meng Hao who's very popular online lately? That's their son, yes, he betrayed us!"
"Alas, I'm even their relative, and I feel so ashamed!"
"My son is much better. You know, he just graduated with a master's degree and joined a research company. In terms of learning, character, and ability, he's much stronger than Meng Hao."
While everyone was urgently trying to save the woman,
it was only the plump woman who continuously chattered to the onlookers.
It seemed by constantly belittling Meng Hao, she could elevate her own status and her son's.
Finally,
someone couldn't stand it anymore.
"Excuse me, plump auntie, aren't you also a relative of Meng Hao's family!"
"Your relative has fainted, and instead of helping, you're here gloating and fanning the flames. Is this really appropriate?"
"And, although we are all elders and not very familiar with the ways of the internet, we've lived this long and know one thing... rumors can kill."
"We reckon the gossip on the internet is probably even more rampant than the rumors among the old folks in our neighborhood... Even the rumors we hear change eighteen times a day. What if this news of Meng Hao's betrayal is also a rumor?"
"Aren't you afraid of retribution?"
"Be careful, you're stabbing at his heart!"