A Taste of Her Own Medicine

When the Shen Group publicly revealed Elena Shen's identity and directly tagged Jasper Zhong, stating they would pursue legal responsibility for defamation and slander, Jasper broke into a cold sweat and deleted her post without a moment's hesitation.

But deleting it didn't help.

Netizens, now stirred into a frenzy, flooded the comment sections of her other posts with scathing remarks:

"So let me get this straight—you claimed the heiress of Shen Group was trying to cling to power and hinted she was a homewrecker?"

"The marriage between Shen and Jiang families has been settled for ages. Why would a legitimate heiress need to be a third party?"

"You said she was entangled with the second young master of the Jiangs, and that Grace Su only turned to other men after realizing she had no chance? Blogger, is your brain full of sewage?"

"It's one thing to attack a corporation heiress's background, but to slander the legally wedded wife of Jiang Group's heir? Are you tired of living?"

"Dropping by the comments section. Look, it may be obvious, but I have to say it—half the skies over Huaihai City are held up by the Jiangs, and the other half by the Shens. Elena Shen isn't just any heiress—she's the wife of the Jiang family's current head. She's already standing at the peak of her power. Who exactly do you think she needs to 'cling to'? Without the coincidence of being a college classmate, Jasper probably wouldn't have even qualified to meet her."

"Preach."

As the trending topic around Grace Su and Adrian Jiang exploded across social media, fans who had originally followed Grace just to ship her CP with Adrian began to wake up—and they joined the battlefield en masse.

"A certain Miss Su posted a love-themed tweet two weeks ago, vaguely accusing a younger schoolmate from Huaihai University—surname Shen—of relentlessly pursuing her boyfriend. Implied she was a homewrecker. Looking at it now... could she have meant Elena Shen, the Shen Group heiress?"

The post went viral instantly.

Underneath, a cascade of sharp-tongued comments followed:

"Calling Elena a mistress? The audacity. And as for Jasper Zhong—I'm a student at Huaihai University. Word is, she and Grace were once dorm mates. Jasper's follower count only broke a million thanks to Grace's pull. Looks like they teamed up to smear Elena. But what if the real third party here is the one pretending to be all high and mighty—Grace herself?"

"There's no need to guess anymore. The truth's plain to see."

"The world's upside down. Some two-bit celeb trying to slander the wife of a CEO and heiress of a top conglomerate?"

"There were rumors two years ago about Elena Shen and Adrian's older brother having a close relationship. Turns out, she's the actual Mrs. Jiang. Of course, their family would be close."

"Grace Su spread slander, called Elena a homewrecker, and tried to sabotage her relationship. Now it looks like Grace is the one scrambling for a place at the table—she doesn't even know her supposed future sister-in-law?"

"Sister-in-law? Please. You think the Jiang family—the Jiang family of Huaihai—would ever let her in?"

"Bingo. The real Mrs. Jiang was slandered online, and the Jiang family's heir immediately stepped in to defend her. Shen Group and Tiansheng's legal team swiftly issued statements and began litigation. Meanwhile, Grace Su's scandal with Adrian has been the talk of the town for weeks—and the Jiangs haven't said a word. Shows exactly where she stands."

"Even Adrian hasn't officially acknowledged her, has he?"

"Let me interject—just because no one denied the rumors doesn't mean they're together. Grace's rabid fans assumed silence meant romance and started shipping them harder than ever."

As the tide of public opinion flipped at lightning speed, Annie Gu raised a brow, her lips curling into a pleased smile.

"Publicly claiming your identity really is satisfying," she remarked.

"No one's going to have the guts to mess with you again." She tapped at her phone, poking around the screen while muttering curses. "That Jasper Zhong... she's pure poison."

"She's out here calling others gold diggers and social climbers, when just a week ago, someone caught her getting out of a car worth over a million."

"The guy driving? A fat old executive with a beer belly who could easily be her father."

Hearing that last part, Elena's finger paused over Ethan Jiang's chat box. She turned her head to glance at Annie.

Before she could even speak, Annie—suddenly struck by a thought—quickly muted the video on her phone and turned toward Elena, asking first:

"Elena, she slandered you, which is already bad enough. But what she's doing isn't exactly innocent. Are you just going to let it slide, or do you want to return the favor?"

Their eyes met. Elena didn't answer right away—instead, she asked:

"Do you have evidence?"

Annie's eyes lit up instantly. She caught the tone—Elena wasn't about to let this go.

She scooted closer and held out her phone.

"Of course, I have evidence. That man? He's a financier behind Grace Su's new project. He's had some minor dealings with the Gu family. My cousin just happened to spot Jasper getting out of his car."

"Look." She opened a photo. "This is it."

In the picture, Jasper Zhong was dolled up to the nines, practically melting against the older man with the beer belly. Her high-slit dress exposed half her thigh, and the man's hand rested squarely on it.

Elena lowered her gaze to look at the image, her expression unreadable.

"Send it to me," she said simply.

Annie forwarded the photo without hesitation.

Normally, she wouldn't have bothered with people like Jasper—what she did, who she was with, none of it mattered. Even when her cousin originally sent the photo, she barely spared it a glance.

But slandering her best friend? That was a whole different story.

It wasn't until she saw the comment section that Annie remembered the incriminating photo. She dug through her WeChat history and pulled it back up.

Elena forwarded the image directly to a contact on her WeChat list.

Just like that, she used Jasper's own tactics—returning the favor, blow for blow.

The recipient replied almost instantly.

Minutes later, the very same photo—its meaning obvious at first glance—was splashed across every major social media platform, quickly climbing the trending charts under Jasper Zhong's name.

Back in the art department dormitory, as Jasper watched her phone flood with legal notices from Shen Group and Tiansheng Group, her face turned ghostly pale.

Now—now—she was scared.

Fear and fury warred in her eyes.

She had always believed Elena Shen to be just another top student—smart, but ultimately a nobody from an average background.

Jasper has hundreds of thousands of followers and a footprint already in the entertainment world. What could a little bookish girl do to her?

Even if Elena tried to clear her name online, she figured it wouldn't matter—without power or influence, what could she possibly accomplish?

But what Jasper hadn't realized… was that Elena's surname "Shen" wasn't ordinary.

It was Shen—the Shen of Huaihai's ruling family.

And that her marriage tied her directly to a realm of power even the wealthiest socialites could only dream of touching.