An anonymous netizen on Tianya, either Han Qin herself or one of her lackeys, nobody else knows about our contract as clearly as that.
Wen Ying offered a reasonable suspicion.
Zou Weijun thought the same, but without evidence, she didn’t jump to conclusions.
Even if Han Qin is stirring things up online, what about the local reports in Rongcheng? Han Qin’s reach isn’t that long.
Wen Ying was also puzzled by this.
The online sentiment was overwhelmingly negative, clearly driven by someone pushing a malicious narrative.
Netizens are easily swayed by those with an agenda, jumping on the bandwagon to boycott Youth Idol. Wen Ying wasn’t too worried, though. Online keyboard warriors overlapped only slightly with her real-world readers. Most of the people attacking her online weren’t her potential audience.
Her reader base was mainly teenagers, particularly middle school students.
Teenagers share common traits: they’re cooped up in school studying most of the time, but during holidays, they let loose. When they finally get online, few bother with forums. Isn’t chatting or gaming more fun than browsing forums?
Tianya Forum’s user base has never been teenagers.
Wen Ying understood the situation but was still a bit annoyed.
At home, she might bow to Manager Chen, her mother.
But outside, why should she put up with certain idiots?
As for the local sentiment in Rongcheng, Wen Ying briefly suspected Zhao Dong’s involvement but quickly dismissed it.
Zhao Dong didn’t know that Reverse Flow Fish was her pseudonym.
Moreover, the criticism in those newspapers had a faint fan-pretending-to-be-a-critic vibe. If Zhao Dong were behind it, he wouldn’t be so kind to her.
At first, Wen Ying thought Zou Weijun might have arranged it as part of her publicity strategy, but meeting her confirmed it wasn’t.
Who was doing good deeds without leaving a name?
Could it be Editor Song?
No reason for that. Editor Song hadn’t even put this much effort into Song Chan’s book.
Wen Ying mentally crossed out Song Foxiang as an answer. Seeing Zou Weijun’s concern about the online boycott, she decided to tackle that first.
Auntie Zou, Xie Qian said you hired a lawyer for me?
Yes, I’ve discussed it with the lawyer. We’re suing Aige to make the magazine clarify the truth and restore your reputation.
Zou Weijun knew Wen Ying wanted to keep her pen name under wraps and stressed that Wen Ying wouldn’t need to appear in person.
Wen Ying shook her head, Auntie Zou, I’m not worried about exposure. I’m saying, since you’ve hired a lawyer, let’s not trouble two parties for one matter. Have the lawyer sue that anonymous Tianya netizen too, almost forgot to ask, is the lawyer’s fee covered by the promotion budget? If it’s not enough, you can deduct it from my future royalties.
Wen Ying wanted to roll up her sleeves and handle it herself, but she couldn’t.
She wanted to pay the lawyer’s fee herself, but she’d just handed over all her money a few days ago.
Her age and poverty were obstacles to Wen, the great lawyer, charging into battle.
Mentioning Zou Weijun covering the lawyer’s fee made Wen Ying blush with embarrassment.
For a reborn person to end up like this, what a disgrace.
You don’t need to worry about the lawyer’s fee, Zou Weijun said. This is for Youth Idol’s sales after launch, and the company’s leadership fully supports it. But why sue the netizen too?
It wasn’t that Zou Weijun lacked experience, but the era limited her perspective.
Wen Ying smiled, The internet isn’t a lawless place. Aige magazine damaged my reputation, and this rumour-spreading netizen is doing the same. Of course, we sue them together. The lawyer probably told you, even if we win against the magazine, it’s the magazine that’ll apologise, not Han Qin. Once her statements are published in the magazine, they become the magazine’s statements. Aige takes the fall, but Han Qin walks away unscathed?
If Youth Idol becomes a hit, Han Qin will definitely face consequences. Letting a bestselling author slip through her fingers will upset the magazine’s leadership who backed her.
But a light punishment or a brief cold shoulder, would that make up for what Han Qin did to Wen Ying?
Of course not.
This time, Han Qin kicked an iron plate by targeting Wen Ying. Wen Ying wasn’t a pushover, and Zou Weijun was willing to stand up for her.
If it were another new author, they’d probably have to swallow it silently.
The imbalance of status let Editor Han Qin get used to acting superior, bullying new authors at will. Wen Ying didn’t want Han Qin to stay as Aige’s editor-in-chief, continuing to harass other new authors.
Suing just the magazine wasn’t enough. To hit hard, they needed to sue Han Qin herself too.
Wen Ying was struggling to pin Han Qin down, but this anonymous Tianya netizen gave her hope of achieving her goal.
Wen Ying had experience with online rights protection.
She and Zou Weijun couldn’t identify the anonymous netizen, but Tianya Forum could.
The poster’s anonymity was only to regular users. The forum’s backend could see everything. Forums back then didn’t require phone number verification or real-name registration, so they couldn’t tell if the poster was male or female, but they could see the IP address.
Wen Ying’s explanation left Zou Weijun a bit confused, Sue the netizen and the forum?
Not really suing the forum, just sending a lawyer’s letter first. Usually, forums cooperate and provide user info. If they don’t, we sue the forum too, go through the process, and force them to give up the user’s details.
That’s how it worked a decade or so later.
Zou Weijun thought for a moment, How about I call the lawyer over, and you two can discuss?
Zou Weijun wasn’t sure if this was feasible and worried Wen Ying was acting impulsively. Professional matters were best left to professionals.
Wen Ying had no issue meeting the lawyer.
While Zou Weijun made the call, Wen Ying used her computer to register a new account.
She already had a Tianya account, Lawyer Wen, active in the Legal World section.
She wouldn’t do something foolish like exposing her other aliases by confronting trolls directly.
She registered a new account, tried Reverse Flow Fish, but it was taken, so she went with Little Fish Itself, which was approved instantly.
Wen Ying replied to every post where the anonymous netizen had drip-fed their expose.
Her first reply was dripping with passive-aggressive charm.
Are you Editor Han?
Why are you talking about me like this on the forum?
That’s not how things happened at all.
Editor Han, I never refused you. You’re the one who kept refusing my calls. If you see this, can you contact me?
Replying in a trending thread, plenty of netizens saw it.
At first, no one paid attention to Wen Ying, but she typed too fast, navigated the forum too well, and mimicked a wronged newbie author’s tone so convincingly that she played the part perfectly.
By the time Zou Weijun’s lawyer arrived, the thread was buzzing with netizens questioning Wen Ying’s replies.
They asked if she was Reverse Flow Fish, if Aige’s statement was real or fake, and if Youth Idol would actually be published. Lawyer Wen stirred the pot but ignored the curious netizens’ questions.
Wen Ying, this is Lawyer Zheng Zhihe, Zou Weijun introduced.
Zheng Zhihe?
Is it the Zheng Zhihe she knows?
