In the complete surveillance video, the Baojun car owner's behavior was disgusting. He was trying to get a free meal by intentionally making things difficult for Xiao He. He kept starting the engine and threatening to ram Xiao He to death.
Xiao He insisted that he had fixed the car and there was no problem with it, and refused to back down.
But the Baojun car owner cursed viciously at Xiao He. He even drove the car forward a little. But before he could "ram Xiao He to death," his car was hit by the top-of-the-line sports car.
What happened next was the horrifying "murder" scene that everyone is now familiar with.
Then, Qiao Ying got out of the car.
Everyone could hear clearly what she said — ["I only wanted to come wash my car. Now I have to get it fixed"]
["You can't get this car fixed here"]
["That's troublesome..."]
["He doesn't dare come bother you. People like him only bully the meek. This lesson will be enough for him to remember his whole life"]
A few minutes later, in the surveillance video, the shaking Baojun car owner crawled out of the trunk. He was unharmed. Then he stumbled away, abandoning his car.
The whole incident was presented before everyone.
Qiao Ying went from being an assailant and murderer to a champion of justice who couldn't stand by in the face of unfairness. She was not as terrifying and vicious as portrayed online.
Furthermore, she did not ram anyone to death. She hit the passenger side. The Baojun car owner in the driver's seat was unharmed.
Then, more of the Baojun car owner's various misdeeds emerged online, some with accompanying surveillance footage providing the truth.
It turned out he had an unsavory track record of bullying the weak. Extorting free meals was the least of it.
He had multiple records at the police station. Xiao He was just one unlucky person he targeted.
This information was investigated and released by Qin Hanyue's people.
The edited surveillance video clip that had spread online, Qin Hanyue also worked to have completely removed from major media platforms.
But as Xiao He and those concerned about Qiao Ying guessed, even after the truth came out, Qiao Ying's extreme vigilante actions still did not sit well with netizens.
They seemed to resent Qiao Ying's top-of-the-line sports car.
They believed that none of the upper class were blameless, and labeled Qiao Ying an extreme rich girl or gold digger.
They sympathized more with the lower class people like themselves.
They didn't even bother nitpicking. To cover up their own foolishness in blindly following along and slandering Qiao Ying, and to eliminate the slight guilt they felt for wronging her, they shifted the focus to the Baojun car owner's death.
The police also responded.
They said it was an accident that happened while police were looking for the Baojun car owner to assist with the investigation. In the video, the Baojun car owner did run across the road.
At that time, Xiao He was standing at the alley entrance, out of frame.
There were also no cameras below the Baojun car owner's building.
Fortunately neither Qiao Ying nor Xiao He were captured on film. Otherwise, if netizens saw that the Baojun car owner recklessly ran across the road because Xiao He was chasing him, they would have shifted blame to Xiao He.
The complete surveillance footage, plus the police statement about the Baojun car owner's terrible character, still failed to convince netizens and clear Qiao Ying's name.
A man had died.
All because of a minor dispute over an unpaid repair bill.
People trotted out the usual rhetoric to stand up for the "weak": Yes he was in the wrong first, but you still shouldn't have done that...
The edited surveillance clips and the video of the Baojun car owner's death continued spreading rapidly online.
The full surveillance video was drowned out and avoided or selectively ignored by some self-proclaimed "justice warriors."
["He wouldn't have run just because of a small repair fee. There must be something else going on! I don't buy the police story."]
["The van driver needs investigating. Did the rich girl pay him off to cover up a murder?"]
["The car owner looked scared to death. You expect us to believe the police just wanted to ask him some questions?"]
["No one would be stupid enough to run across the road like that over some small dispute. Where are these police you speak of? I don't see any uniforms!"]
["His terrified expression shows he was running for his life. We demand a thorough investigation of the rich girl's identity and connections."]
["I'm a Peking University student. The girl is my classmate. She has good character and grades. She is absolutely not the kind of frightening person being speculated about online. The full video makes everything clear. Please see the truth and trust the government."]
["The car owner wouldn't have crossed the road like that over something so minor. But our classmate would take a life so easily over nothing? Don't accuse yourself to lessen your crime! Use your brain when you speak!"]
Those self-proclaimed justice warriors held banners outside the police station and Peking University, protesting for the dead man's justice.
Even Mayor Feng Yun of Yuncheng and Qiao Ying's father came under fire.
There were also protesters outside Qiao Ying's apartment complex.
Peking University students wanted to speak up for Qiao Ying and make people see the truth instead of thoughtlessly jumping on the bandwagon to hurt others.
But those students were no match for the massive online hordes.
Worried for Qiao Ying, Su Zhan went to Peking University.
But he saw crowds of people and reporters gathered at every school gate.
Seeing those banners, Su Zhan was indignant. He wanted to go down and ask them whether they didn't see the full surveillance footage or deliberately ignored it.
Zhang Chengyong personally gave interviews to reporters, staking his own reputation to vouch for Qiao Ying and Xiao He's character.
But Zhang Chengyong's defense accomplished nothing. It only brought bad publicity to himself and Peking University.
To avoid dragging even more people and matters into this, Xu Zhiyi promptly shut down the Peking University forums.
But some were even quicker than him.
["This rich girl has powerful connections. Go to the PKU forums. She has dirt on tons of important people, even Yuncheng's mayor is nothing."]
["The forums are down. I can't access them. Can you give more details?"]
["I saw the forums too. Her connections really are frightening. Extremely frightening...tied to the most powerful person in China...No wonder she dares drive around ramming people with impunity."]
["I took screenshots but don't dare share them. I'm afraid I'll mysteriously die in the middle of the road like that car owner."]
In just one day, things had evolved to the point that only the rallying cry of "We won't rest until the rich girl is dead" could quell public outrage.
Netizens flamed Qiao Ying relentlessly.
And just when netizens were calling for the real truth, major media platforms and social media sites simultaneously suffered server paralysis and crash pages.
No matter if it was a platform or social media, clicking in resulted in blank white screens. Nothing could be loaded or posted.
Even messages couldn't be received or sent.
People assumed it was servers overloaded by too many visitors.
But for so many platforms to crash at once was strange indeed.
People tried reconnecting on phones, computers, tablets and even TVs, constantly refreshing pages.
But they still only got blank white screens.
This sudden and bizarre occurrence baffled everyone.
