When Zhao Qian went to intercept Wen Ying, Xie Qian happened not to be on campus.
By the time Xie Qian heard about it, his first instinct was to have someone intercept and destroy the footage that Zhao Qian had arranged to be secretly recorded.
Wen Ying, however, disagreed. “Why intercept and destroy it? If I had not guessed someone was filming covertly, I would not have wasted time playing along with Zhao Qian’s performance.”
Zhao Qian had form for this. She had previously bribed so-called reputable journalists in an attempt to sabotage Wen Ying. How could Wen Ying not be on her guard?
At the time, noticing Zhao Qian’s shifty gaze, Wen Ying had immediately suspected hidden cameras.
While Zhao Dong and the others were meeting to discuss using Wen Ying to divert public attention, Wen Ying’s thinking ran along similar lines.
Use Wen Ying’s fame to shift the narrative?
They should be so lucky.
The matter was primarily about Silan consumers fighting for their rights. Those who had never used Silan products lacked strong personal involvement. Some passers-by even harboured schadenfreude towards the wealthy, thinking that anyone foolish enough to buy such expensive items deserved to be fleeced.
Thus, even with the beauty blogger leading the charge, without Jiang Youjia’s efforts behind the scenes, the story would have faded within days given the rapid turnover of online news.
Wen Ying’s repost, along with those from Li Mengjiao, Yun Chen, and Zhang Yangning, had kept the heat alive.
Yet until now, the “rights campaign” had no direct connection to Wen Ying. She could repost the beauty blogger’s article once, but constantly harping on it would strike the public as odd.
Zhao Qian confronting Wen Ying on campus and begging her to go easy on Silan changed the nature of the affair entirely.
Wen Ying could not accept Zhao Qian’s accusations. She refused to let Silan freeload on her popularity to redirect attention. Her counterattack was entirely justified.
Seeing the excitement in Wen Ying’s eyes, it was clear she relished the prospect of tangling with the Zhao siblings. Xie Qian advised patiently, “You handled the whole process superbly, but you know what kind of person Zhao Dong is. Since you did not follow his prepared script, he can maliciously edit the footage before releasing it.”
For instance, omit the latter part where Wen Ying and Zhao Qian made their wager.
Or, through selective cutting, emphasise Wen Ying’s supposedly “aggressive” manner.
Xie Qian knew some people could discern right from wrong, while others accepted whatever the media fed them without question.
Even if Silan were ultimately crushed, some would still remember Wen Ying as “overbearing”.
Xie Qian did not want Wen Ying to suffer any grievance. The safest course was to prevent the covert footage from ever seeing the light of day.
Wen Ying herself felt no grievance whatsoever. “Let him edit it however he likes. I am not afraid of malicious cuts. Those who like me will give me a chance to make amends even if I am wrong. Those who dislike me will pick faults even when I do everything right. I have never expected the latter to change their stance.”
When would Zhao Dong release the footage?
Truthfully, Wen Ying did not care.
She planned to preempt him with a blog post explaining the full sequence of events. Not only did she want Zhendan students to oversee the wager, she wanted the entire netizen community to supervise it.
Zhao Dong wanted to use Wen Ying to divert attention. Wen Ying intended to use the incident to sustain heat on the rights campaign and even tie up Zhao Dong’s energy, making it easier for Jiang Youjia to operate.
Seeing Xie Qian still hesitate, Wen Ying grew serious. “I am not just doing this to help you. This is something I want to do myself. Zhao Dong has troubled me time and again. Zhao Qian bribed journalists to ruin my signing event. I am not made of clay. How could I not be angry? It was only that back then I lacked the strength and energy to retaliate.”
Since Wen Ying wanted to do it herself, Xie Qian could advise no further.
The “perfect boyfriend” should not be overbearing. Xie Qian immediately changed tack and urged Wen Ying to write the post quickly.
“The public tends to believe the first version they hear. Post first and you already win half the battle.”
Wen Ying grinned in agreement. “I am a woman of my word. If Zhao Qian completes one full course without any reaction, I will definitely delete the reposted article and apologise to the Zhao siblings.”
Had Wen Ying’s face not carried a sly smile as she spoke, her “promise” would have seemed far more sincere.
With his girlfriend swearing so earnestly, Xie Qian chose to see through it but say nothing.
Deleting the reposted article merely meant Wen Ying would stop attacking Silan. It would not affect Jiang Youjia’s subsequent plans or hinder the beauty blogger’s continued campaign.
An apology to the Zhao siblings was likewise a personal act. It had no bearing on whether Silan products caused allergies.
Silan products were not divided by series. One course lasted at least a month.
If Zhao Qian used them continuously for a month without reaction, it would only mean she was lucky.
In any case, neither Xie Qian nor Jiang Youjia intended to wait a full month before deploying their heavy artillery. By then, whether Zhao Qian developed allergies would be irrelevant.
Xie Qian’s concern had never been the outcome, but the process.
Yet Wen Ying was thoroughly enjoying the process. Xie Qian no longer tried to stop her.
Wen Ying earned her living by writing. Drafting disclaimers was quick and flawless. Composing a “long essay” style blog post was even easier.
While Zhao Dong was still holding his shareholders’ meeting, Wen Ying had already finished a lengthy post.
She did not publish it immediately. Out of courtesy, she first showed it to her agent, Yuan Fenghui.
Yuan Fenghui’s only comment after reading was, “If Yu Tianlin had hired you back then to ghostwrite his PR pieces, he would not have died so completely.”
Wen Ying laughed delightedly. “Teacher Yuan, I will take that as a compliment.”
“No need to doubt it. It is a compliment. If one day you grow tired of writing novels or scripts, you could consider switching to public relations.”
Yuan Fenghui read the post once more.
It contained no direct insults towards Zhao Qian or Silan. Yet any neutral passer-by would finish it with a faint, indefinable distaste for the Zhao siblings and Silan.
Ahem. To put it more plainly, Wen Ying’s long post was rather subtly shady.
Wen Ying’s personality was straightforward. She usually kept shady remarks at arm’s length. Yet when she chose to employ them, she wielded high-end shade with effortless skill.
What was that?
Talent. Pure ability.
Yuan Fenghui could detect the shade because of her seasoned industry experience. Ordinary readers would never overthink it.
For Wen Ying’s fans, the effect was devastatingly effective.
They would only feel heartache and admiration for Wen Ying.
Once the post went live, the beauty blogger leading the rights campaign was the first to respond. She not only reposted it but expressed deep remorse over Wen Ying’s ordeal, believing Wen Ying had spoken out for justice only to be unfairly implicated.
“Blocking Little Fish on campus counts for what? If you have the guts, come block me!”
The beauty blogger was furious.
Li Mengjiao and the other two quickly followed with reposts. Before Yuan Fenghui could even assign a task to Song Fo Xiang, he proactively reposted as well.
Wen Ying’s connections extended far beyond the Proud Sons of Heaven.
Half an hour later, Xu Mei reposted using her own blog account.
Pei Yiyi’s blog had modest traffic, but she reposted too.
Shui Mingyue, Mu Fan, Wang Shuang… every friend of Wen Ying’s with a blog lent their support.
In less than half a day, the affair spread like wildfire.
By then, Zhao Dong had only just finished editing his footage.
Zhao Dong, having read the post: …!
It felt as though the recording had been made in vain. All that editing work had produced nothing but loneliness.
