306: Internet Storm

At some point, the same group of pictures as the one sent to Zhou Shichang appeared on the Internet. Wang Cheng was sort of a celebrity on the Internet. Although most of the traffic came some time ago, many people still paid attention to him because of his status. So, some people immediately recognized Wang Cheng.

The person who uploaded the photo invited a large water army to scold Wang Cheng online, saying things like ‘homosexuality is disgusting’ and other such things, including all types of vulgar and unpleasant language that triggered a war of words.

Humans have been visual animals since ancient times. If the two protagonists in the photo were men with relatively average looks, then people wouldn’t have been able to make up their minds, and the water army would naturally condemn the couple. However, since the two of them were handsome, the situation was flipped, and the majority would more or less agree that the two of them were a good match. What's more, there was still a group of extremely ferocious rotten women* on the Internet.

[T/N: *fujoshis]

Both Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng's appearances were quite explosive. As soon as the water army came out, those who were just watching immediately jumped out and began a fierce scolding battle with them. The more observant people discovered that in all these exchanges, the people who didn’t support the Wang Cheng couple all had two things in common, which were: the ridicule was always aimed at Wang Cheng, and the language used was almost always the same. On the contrary, they did not scold the other man in the photo.

Why was that?

Obviously, the person who planned this behind the scenes had a grudge against the Zhou family's young boss. However, what was more dramatic was that some people found that some of the uploaded photos were actually photoshopped. As soon as the truth came out, there was an uproar on the Internet. A bunch of people came to find fault with the post.

The farce turned into a comedy.

In the end, whether or not two men in the photos were lovers was not the most important issue. Everyone ridiculed the behind-the-scenes instigators, saying that they should be a little more professional in blackening Zhou Shao. If they thought they could drag him down using a photoshopped picture, they thought too highly of themselves. The water army was also confused by this change and didn't know how to react. Should they refute it? However, the traces of photoshop on the photo were too obvious to the eyes of professionals. After the spots had been identified, even onlookers could see them. Now that the claim was inappropriate and the so-called evidence was false, what else could they say?

The mastermind who was about to enjoy the results then received a call from Mr. Li, the leader of the water army.

"How is it, how is the response online?" Zhou Lin winked for Zhao Jiansheng to stop talking. Seeing the name of the caller on her phone put her in a very good mood; after all, she was the mastermind of this incident.

Mr. Li thought that his employer had been paying attention to things on the Internet, and wanted to ask her what he should do. However, once he heard his employer's tone, it was clear she didn't know of the follow-up developments on the Internet. He hesitated to tell her the truth.

"Madam, there is something wrong with the photos you gave me. Most of them are fine, but the key photo has been modified with editing software. The reason why people would have thought they were a couple was precisely because of that photo. However, netizens can now see that it is fake, and the people under me don’t know how to refute the undeniable photoshopping. You can go online and have a look."

"Impossible, the photo is...No matter what, it’s impossible that the photo is fake," Zhou Lin retorted subconsciously. These were the photos she’d asked for from her son, the photos that caused Zhou Cheng to be kicked out of the Zhou house by her father. She already confirmed that the family matters, so she didn't even consider that the photos would be fake.

Zhao Chenlin didn't know that his mother was going to post these photos on the Internet. If he knew, he would have definitely stopped her, or deleted the photoshopped picture. The problem was, he didn't know about this, so this tragedy ensued.

Mr. Li rolled his eyes, "Madam, if you don't believe me, go and have a look for yourself. This has spread everywhere online. Also, we have already done what you hired us to do, so please pay the remaining balance."

Zhou Lin was immediately provoked when she heard this. "What I wanted you to do was discredit the person in the photo. Now that online public opinion is leaning towards them, you want to quit? Aren’t I paying you to help me?"

Zhao Jiansheng used his phone to search for today's hot topics. The photo incident filled all the top ten rankings. Zhao Jiansheng showed her his phone; the comments below the post were all aimed at the uploader. This had not achieved their original goal at all, instead, they were helping Wang Cheng clean up his homosexual scandal. How could Zhou Lin not grow angrier?

“Madam, the reason why public opinion is leaning towards them is because there was something wrong with the photos you gave me. It has nothing to do with my team. We are only responsible for making the incident bigger. We had already mentioned this to you when you first hired us. If you had mentioned your conditions earlier, we wouldn't have been so passive."

"You’d originally promised me that you would definitely satisfy me. Now that you’ve encountered a problem, you want to take the money and leave. Do you think my money is all for nothing?"

"Madam, you’re not trying to say you won’t pay the remaining half of the deposit, right?" Mr. Li couldn't believe what she was saying. They had certain rules in this line of business. Even if the results were not as good as the employer expected, the promised deposit still had to be paid in full. Otherwise, the employer would face consequences that most ordinary people couldn’t bear. Most celebrities in the entertainment industry who hired water armies were well aware that water armies were very powerful, otherwise they wouldn’t have developed so well.

“It was you who didn't meet my requirements first." Zhou Lin didn't care about paying those tens of thousands of yuan. However, she would absolutely never let anyone take advantage of her.

Mr. Li was annoyed to the point of laughter. It was the first time he had met such an oddball employer. "Okay, ma'am, just remember what you said today."

"Wait a minute." A male voice suddenly came from the phone.

When Mr. Li heard that the person speaking had changed, he paused and didn’t immediately hang up. If he could still receive the money, he would. After all, the money was not just for him, but also for the batch of water soldiers under him. Without receiving the sum, he’d have to subsidize the costs himself.

"Sorry, the lady just now was only taking out her anger on Mr. Li because she saw the comments on the Internet. The deposit that was promised to you will be credited to your account shortly." It was Zhao Jiansheng who spoke. Although he didn’t understand the rules of the Internet very well, he knew to be a little afraid of the water army. Since the other party was able to call on so many people, he didn’t know what kind of revenge would fall upon those who offended him.

"At least someone has good sense," Mr. Li snorted coldly. He hung up after leaving this sentence. Although Zhao Jiansheng's attitude was better than the lady’s, he still decided to blacklist the two and refuse to take their orders in the future.

"What is with that person's attitude? Daring to talk to us like this." Zhou Lin grew even angrier when she heard the hang-up dial come from her phone.

Zhao Jiansheng helplessly explained: "I know you haven't interacted with such people before, but it's better not to offend people on the Internet. In any case, the other party met the requirements we set for them at the beginning. If he had retaliated against us and done an investigation, things wouldn’t have turned out well for us, and we’d probably be found out by your father and your sister."

"I'm just too angry." Zhou Lin quibbled.

Zhao Jiansheng did not continue to find fault with her.

Zhou Lin stared at her husband's phone and refreshed the page again, wanting to see the latest comments. However, a window popped up, saying that the page no longer existed. She thought that their network was down and refreshed, trying it a few more times, only to receive the same result.

Soon, others began to whine about this online.

It turned out that it wasn't that she was blocked from the page, but that the link was deleted, and other related links were also being deleted at an extremely fast speed. At this time, many people could tell that someone big was taking things down. Everyone, including Zhou Lin and Zhao Jiansheng, suspected that it was the Zhou Group. However, it was not.

Zhou Lin and Zhao Jiansheng were a little bit afraid of Chu Yifeng, so when creating this homosexual scandal, they just asked for the water army to target Wang Cheng. There were very few people online who knew Chu Yifeng's identity, so it should have been easier to guide the trend of public opinion.

However, that didn’t mean that if they only targeted Wang Cheng, others would forgive them. Wang Cheng was also a famous person in Beijing University. In the past, whenever anyone talked about Wang Cheng, they would call him “Wang Ziyu’s second brother”, but recently, everyone began to call him “Young Boss of the Zhou Group”. Therefore, there were many people who were concerned about him. When they were bored from studying, students would go online to gossip. This link was soon forwarded to the school forum by the students of Beijing University, causing it to immediately explode. The news reached Lei Yunze’s ears, which meant the Chu family knew. Without waiting for Old Man Chu's orders, the juniors of the Chu family immediately used their relations to order others to delete all photos on the Internet.

Although the links were removed, there was no way to remove the photos. Some students at Beijing University were able to postethe photos. When they first saw the photos, they thought they were true, and their hearts were broken. The two men in the photos were so handsome that they should accompany a woman in need instead. How could they get together with each other? How were they supposed to feel, as women? The students of Beijing University were not very disgusted with this kind of thing. Most of the students were not too traditional, and the power of the rotten girls was also very strong. Once a group of people thought that the two of them were very attractive together, the public would also follow along.

Qian Baobao ran to Wang Ziyu's class immediately after learning about this, wanting to tell her the big news. However, when she arrived in the class, she was told that Wang Ziyu had left. So, she ran back to the dormitory, thinking that if she had left class, then she should have returned back by now. But she was still nowhere to be seen.

"Mili, have you seen Ziyu?" Qian Baobao looked at Mili, who was in an upper bunk. Mili only had two classes in the afternoon, and finished her school day earlier than them. She had exams coming up in two days. Mi Li never needed to cram, so she was returning to the dorm relatively early recently.

"No." Mili replied, "Didn't she just leave class, could she have gone to the cafeteria?"

"Impossible. If she went to the cafeteria, she would have definitely asked us what we wanted to eat." Qian Baobao shook her head.

Mili finally raised her head from her book with an expression like ‘how do we possibly live in the same dormitory’. "Fool, can't you just call her by phone?"

Only then did Qian Baobao react, suddenly laughing. She was in such a hurry that she forgot. She immediately took out her phone, and the call was picked up after four rings. However, it was not Wang Ziyu's voice that came from the other end of the phone, but a man's.

***

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