He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

In Northeast China, the morning sunlight streamed through the windowpanes onto the floor of dormitory room 302, casting a slightly cool glow.

Zhao Shuyao didn't go for a morning run on the playground this morning. Instead, he changed into a clean sweatshirt, took a basin to the water room to wash up, and bought two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk at the second canteen on the way.

Back in his dorm room, he threw the empty lunchbox into the trash can, picked up the broom in the corner, and slowly gathered the dust on the dorm floor into a dustpan.

Then, he took a rag, soaked it, wrung it out, and wiped his desk until it was spotless.

Zhao Shuyao's roommate, Yang Wei, stood at the door with a backpack on his back. He watched Zhao Shuyao's series of methodical movements with a hint of admiration in his expression. He opened the door, turned around, and said, "Shuyao, I'm going to the library to study. If your fellow townsman comes, you two can chat. I'll be back tonight."

"Go ahead, and I wish you good luck on your provincial exam." Zhao Shuyao stopped what he was doing and nodded in greeting.

The door closed. The room became completely quiet.

Zhao Shuyao hung the rag on the clothes rack on the balcony, walked back to his desk, sat down, pressed the power button on the computer host, the system startup prompt sounded, double-clicked the browser, entered his account and password, and directly entered the creator backend of Toutiao.

The message notification bar on the right side of the screen has changed to a number symbol representing the cap, and the number of fans has exceeded 200,000 after a night of fermentation.

Zhao Shuyao turned his attention to the video management list. The video titled "From Borrowing Living Expenses to See You in Court," which he posted at 3 a.m., was seeing an exponential increase in views.

Move your mouse and click on the comments section below this video.

The tide of public opinion has completely shifted from yesterday's one-sided abuse to an unprecedented group debate, with the long-silent male netizens' desire to express themselves ignited by the experiences in the video.

The top-ranked comment came from a male netizen named "Dust in the Night Wind." His text was long, non-aggressive, and entirely self-narrated.

"After watching Zhao Shuyao's video, I sat in front of the computer in silence for a long time. I started to believe him. The situation he described was exactly the same as what my ex-girlfriend said. My family gives me 2,000 yuan a month for living expenses, and I also work at a fast food restaurant on weekends to earn a few hundred yuan."

"On the first day I received this money, she took it all under the pretext of 'saving it for you so you don't squander it.' One weekend, I was so tired after working that I wanted to buy a pack of Double Happiness cigarettes for twelve yuan, but she refused to give me the money. She even told my classmates how much money I spent on her every month and that she was supporting me. Brothers, when I think back on it now, that logic is just unbelievable."

Below this comment, there were thousands of replies. Zhao Shuyao scrolled down, his gaze landing on the next highly-rated reply.

A netizen with the username "Brother in the Upper Bunk" replied: "Although I don't have a girlfriend, it's the same for the fourth guy in my dorm after he started dating. His family is well-off, and he gives me 3,000 yuan a month for living expenses."

"But by the 20th of each month, Lao Si wouldn't even have money for instant noodles. In the end, the other three brothers in our dorm had to take turns treating him to meals to support him. If you said he could get married, that would be one thing, but in the end, the girl still said that he spent too much of her money every month and felt that Lao Si had no ambition, so she broke up with him."

Following this comment was a densely packed line of four or five male students who had also experienced the "custody ordeal," all expressing that Zhao Shuyao's experience was a true reflection of the vast majority of male students' college days, and that the trickery involved was obvious without much thought.

Of course, many people in the comments section also expressed their doubts.

One netizen, whose profile picture was a landscape photo, questioned: "Even if what you said is reasonable, why didn't you present your evidence sooner? Why wait until the live stream at noon today to bring it up? Isn't this deliberately delaying the process to create hype? Besides, you've already transferred the money to that girl. Once it's in her account, isn't that money legally and morally hers?"

Zhao Shuyao looked at the question, tapped his fingers twice on the table, but didn't reply. This kind of cognitive bias requires the opinions of another group to provide the most direct counter-argument.

Scroll down the page to find comments from active female netizens.

The PR team's previously stirred-up fangirls clearly couldn't accept this situation where the fig leaf had been torn off. They launched a fierce counterattack in the comments section and put forward a brand-new line of logic.

A user with the online name "Independent Woman" posted three replies: "All you guys upstairs, shut up! You've transferred all the money to your girlfriend, so it belongs to her. You ask her for living expenses when you eat out, which on the surface means she's the one paying to support you. You think you're right to freeload?"

A female netizen with the username "Listen to the Wind" chimed in, "That's right! We girls were kindly helping you save money and manage your finances to prevent you from going astray, and now you're scheming against us like this? If you hadn't been so disappointing all along, would we have been so heartless as to leave you?"

Another girl, using a heavily edited selfie as her profile picture, went even further, offering a morally charged critique: "Don't blame everything on the girl; look for the reasons within yourself! You can't even afford to buy her a bag, isn't that because you're not working hard enough to earn money? You can't even afford to buy your girlfriend a bag, and you still have the nerve to post a video complaining?"

Zhao Shuyao leaned back in his chair, looking at the eloquent replies on the screen, and burst out laughing.

He found the scene hilarious; it was the most absurd spectacle in the online environment of 2016. In this zero-sum game theory, once resources are transferred, ownership is forcibly changed, and this change is given the moral halo of "preventing the man from going astray."

The most interesting thing is that many men actually believe, over a long period of time, that the woman is doing this for his own good, thus falling into extreme self-doubt.

Zhao Shuyao stopped smiling, picked up the water on the table, took a sip to moisten his throat. He didn't need to refute these female netizens at all, because when such extremely distorted logic was exposed to the public, it would only make those boys who were still hesitant instantly sober up.

After closing the comments section, Zhao Shuyao opened his private messages.

As expected, the scene inside was chaotic, filled with insults and abuse from online trolls and some feminists via private messages.

"You stingy guy, you don't work hard yourself and then blame women for being materialistic. You'll stay single forever!"

"The moment you give someone the money, it becomes theirs. Trying to get it back after the breakup—what kind of man is that!"

"You're going to get sued, you liar! If I were Xiaoyu, I'd kill you!"

Zhao Shuyao glanced through the private messages, his gaze lingering on a few politely worded messages from male friends. As the video went viral, some netizens even regarded him as a relationship mentor.

He opened a private message from one of the users, whose username was "Confused College Student".

"Brother Zhao, I'm a sophomore in college. I've been pursuing a girl in my class for half a year. I bring her breakfast every morning, save her a seat at the library, and give her gifts on holidays, but she keeps saying she wants to keep testing me."

"Yesterday she said the trial period would be extended for another year. I really don't know how to pursue her anymore. I'm almost out of living expenses, and I'm eating steamed buns and pickled vegetables every day. Brother Zhao, can you help me analyze this?"

Zhao Shuyao placed his hands on the keyboard, pondered for a moment, and typed out a long reply in the manner of a cultured person.

"Hello, student. From the perspective of geopolitical games in the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties, your situation is very similar to those regimes in history that unilaterally paid tribute to the emperor. You continuously send supplies (breakfast, gifts), but the other party always refuses to sign a peace treaty (establish relations) and keeps making new demands for annual tribute (extending the test)."

"History has shown that foreign states that only accept tribute but do not grant official status are essentially employing delaying tactics to maximize the extraction of your remaining value. I suggest you immediately cease all substantial material tribute and observe their reaction."

"If the other party gets angry and accuses you of not being sincere enough, it means that she only wants your tribute; if the other party takes the initiative to lower herself to communicate with you, it means that you can test her bottom line. Remember, one-sided tribute will not get you an equal treaty."

Click to send. Zhao Shuyao then opened another private message seeking help.

"Teacher Zhao, I met a girl through a blind date. She asked me to hand over my entire salary card so she could manage it, saying it's the custom where she lives and it shows a man's sense of responsibility. My family doesn't think it's appropriate. How should I refuse?"

Zhao Shuyao continued typing.

"Tell her that since ancient times, those who manage the national treasury must bear the corresponding governance responsibilities. If it is simply a matter of fund trusteeship, modern society has professional banks and fund managers."

"If she insists on managing the accounts, ask her to first submit a clear budget of household expenses and an asset appreciation plan. Unchecked power inevitably leads to corruption. No emperor of any dynasty would hand over the keys to the national treasury to a bystander who bears no responsibility."

After dealing with the two private messages, Zhao Shuyao glanced at the time in the lower right corner of his computer screen: 11:20.

He picked up his phone from the corner of the table and tapped the green bubble icon. There were several unread messages in the list.

The first message was sent by my fellow villager, Gu Nanxi.

"Shuyao, I saw the video you posted. The netizens are discussing it very intensely right now. Are you ready for your live stream at noon? If you need any help organizing materials, just let me know."

Zhao Shuyao replied with a voice message with one hand: "Thank you for your concern, Gu. Everything is under control right now, there's nothing serious. You can relax and enjoy your weekend."

Exiting Gu Nanxi's chat window, my gaze fell on an avatar labeled "Reporter Wang from Southern Media Group," who had sent me three messages in a row.

"Hello, Teacher Zhao. I watched your latest trailer video last night, and the content is very valuable for social discussion."

"We at Southern Media Group attach great importance to your personal live broadcast at noon today, as we believe it is an excellent case for exploring online reputation rights, the boundaries of self-media expression, and social consumer psychology."

"We'd like to request a live interview with you during your live stream, on behalf of our official media account. We'd like to conduct an in-depth follow-up interview in your live stream, which might provide you with a more credible platform to voice your opinions."

As Zhao Shuyao looked at the three messages, a clear light flashed in his eyes.

This was a completely unexpected surprise. Originally, he only planned to rely on his personal logic and a complete chain of evidence to fight alone in the public opinion field and tear a hole in the public relations matrix of the Yan family and his ex-girlfriend.

But now that established official media like Southern Media Group has taken the initiative to join the debate, the nature of the situation has completely changed. The connection with the official media is equivalent to providing them with a debate arena protected by both the law and mainstream media attention.

Those online trolls and the Yan family's capital hiding in the shadows who want to forcibly cut off power or maliciously report and shut down accounts in this arena should consider whether they can bear the consequences of being exposed by official media.

Zhao Shuyao's brain quickly weighed the pros and cons and replied with a message.

"Hello, Reporter Wang. We welcome the involvement of Southern Media Group. Media oversight can bring the truth to light. My live broadcast will start promptly at noon. You can submit your connection request directly in the background, and I will approve it as soon as possible."

The other party replied almost instantly: "Okay, Teacher Zhao, we'll prepare the equipment and outline immediately. See you at 12 o'clock sharp."

Zhao Shuyao put down his phone. It was 11:45.

He cleared the clutter off his computer desk, took out a high-definition external webcam from the drawer, and fixed it above the monitor.

Adjust the camera angle to ensure that the frame includes your upper body, while allowing the bookshelves and the heavy local gazetteers behind you to naturally enter the background.

This is the basic platform for cultured people; it doesn't need any fancy special effects.

Next, he opened an encrypted folder on his computer desktop and imported all of the dozen or so high-resolution scanned images into the quick display bar of the live streaming software.

These images include real records of a sharp decline in population during the early Qing Dynasty, complete screenshots of chat logs from an ex-girlfriend demanding living expenses, and several pieces of evidence of academic fraud bearing clear seals.

After doing all this, Zhao Shuyao picked up his cup, drank the last sip of warm water, and cleared his throat.

The numbers in the bottom right corner of the computer screen are changing.

11:55 PM.

Zhao Shuyao's gaze was level with the camera, which held countless anxious eyes waiting on the other end of the network. He reached out his right hand, grasped the mouse, and moved the cursor to the prominent green "Start Live Stream" button in the center of the screen.