126: Chapter 127 Zhang San Has Arrived to Do Something

"And President Ma's friend is...?" He drawled deliberately.

"Leng Ba. You've probably heard of her," President Ma said, his tone carrying a hint of earnestness. "She's willing to place a long-term order at five times the price, and she even proposed becoming the spokesperson for your product. Of course, I know you aren't lacking spokespeople at all right now..."

Jiang Jing set down his wine glass, his fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

Leng Ba? That newly risen A-list actress in the entertainment industry? This was an unexpected harvest.

"Since President Ma is personally asking, I'll definitely grant you this favor," Jiang Jing said sincerely. "However, the endorsement deal needs careful consideration. How about this: you can pass her contact details to me, and I'll meet with her to discuss it."

The other end of the line clearly let out a sigh of relief. "Great! I'll remember this favor, brother. Sigh... If it weren't so hard to return favors, I wouldn't have wanted to trouble you."

"No worries, it's understandable." Just then, there was a soft knock on the office door. Li Ruonan poked her head in and mouthed the words, "Urgent matter."

Jiang Jing understood and said into the phone, "President Ma, a meeting just came up on my end. I'll have my assistant follow up on Miss Leng Ba's matter. Let's chat another day?"

"Alright, go ahead with your work!" President Ma tactfully hung up.

Jiang Jing put down the phone and looked at the tense Li Ruonan. "What's wrong?"

"Something's happened." Li Ruonan walked in quickly and handed him a tablet. "Someone leaked online that our beauty serum contains banned ingredients..."

"The whistleblower's ID is 'Beauty Industry Insider.' It was first posted in a Douban group at 3:00 AM, and within two hours, it was reposted to Weibo, Hupu, and other platforms."

Li Ruonan quickly swiped on the tablet, bringing up data charts. "The search volume for the keyword 'Xingchen beauty serum banned ingredients' has already reached 870,000, with over 12,000 related discussion threads."

Jiang Jing took the tablet. The screen displayed the most popular exposé:

[Insider Exposes Xingchen beauty serum Contains Hormones! Long-term Use May Cause Skin Atrophy! (Attached with screenshot of test report)]

The comment section was in an uproar:

[Oh my god, I just managed to snag two bottles!]

[No wonder the effects are so exaggerated, it turns out to be hormones!]

[Sisters, hurry up and return them!]

Jiang Yan's phone suddenly rang. After answering it, her expression changed drastically. "Mr. Jiang, the National Medical Products Administration called to inquire about the situation, demanding that we submit our full product ingredient list for filing."

The atmosphere in the office instantly froze.

Jiang Jing sneered and tossed the tablet onto the desk. He pressed a speed-dial key on his landline. "Have Lawyer Zhang come to my office immediately. Also, prepare a top-tier computer."

Five minutes later, a man wearing black-rimmed glasses and a crumpled suit rushed in, holding a half-finished cup of coffee.

This was Xingchen Technology's Chief Legal Officer—Zhang San, nicknamed the "Outlaw."

"Finally, some work!" Zhang San plopped down on the sofa, his eyes shining terrifyingly bright. "Defamation? Commercial disparagement? Unfair competition? I can sue them on at least ten charges!"

Jiang Jing had already opened a custom laptop, his fingers flying across the keyboard. "Don't rush. Let me find the mastermind behind this first."

The code on the screen cascaded like a waterfall as Jiang Jing fully unleashed his god-level hacking skills.

He first traced the original IP of the exposé and found that it was masked by three layers of proxy servers. After tracing it layer by layer, he finally locked onto the mastermind's location.

"Found it." In less than ten minutes, Jiang Jing pressed the final enter key. "Hongmei Cosmetics Company, the office computer of Deputy Marketing Director Wang Qiang."

Zhang San leaned in to look at the screen. "Hongmei? Is that the domestic skincare brand we ran out of business last month?"

Jiang Yan quickly pulled up the data. "Sales of their flagship mid-range skincare line fell by 67% year-on-year, and they just laid off 30% of their staff the day before yesterday."

Jiang Jing penetrated deeper into Hongmei's internal network, easily breaching their firewall to retrieve their internal emails and financial records from the past month. Soon, an encrypted file caught his attention.

"Splendid." Jiang Jing sneered after cracking the password. "'Project Black Swan,' with a budget of two million specifically to smear us." The screen clearly displayed transfer records for hiring internet water armies, chat logs for contacting self-media to publish smear articles, and even the original Photoshop files of the forged test reports.

Most ironically, the document read in bold letters: [Be sure to trigger public outrage before the National Medical Products Administration filing, using official hands to suppress Xingchen.]

Zhang San whistled. "This chain of evidence is too perfect. It's enough to convict them three times over."

Jiang Jing pulled up Hongmei's tax reports, and several red-marked spots automatically popped up. "By the way, I found that they've evaded 120 million in taxes over three years, as well as records of bribing NMPA officials."

"Leave it to me!" Zhang San snatched the computer, his eyes gleaming. "I'll draft the indictment right now and send a whistleblowing letter to the Tax Bureau and the Commission for Discipline Inspection."

Jiang Jing stood up and turned to Jiang Yan. "Prepare three things: First, release a statement on our official website. Second, contact an authoritative testing agency to conduct a live-streamed test. Third, post our GMP certification and EU CE certificate on the homepage."

Zhang San was already typing away on the keyboard. "The statement is written—'Solemn Statement: Lawyer's Letter Warning Regarding Untruthful Online Rumors,' attached with screenshots of Hongmei hiring water armies and our test reports. I also @-ed over twenty media outlets."

"Not ruthless enough." Jiang Jing narrowed his eyes. "Add another line: Effective immediately, Xingchen Technology is offering a 10 million reward for genuine evidence of product quality issues, to be paid out immediately upon verification."

Li Ruonan gasped. "This... isn't that too domineering?"

"This is called absolute confidence." The corners of Jiang Jing's mouth curled up slightly. "Also, contact CCTV and apply for them to film our production line and quality inspection process from start to finish."

Three hours later, the statement on Xingchen Technology's official website took the entire internet by storm.

True to his nickname "Outlaw," Zhang San not only posted the solid evidence from Hongmei's internal files but also attached the court's case filing notice and the Tax Bureau's acceptance receipt.

The Weibo hot searches instantly reversed:

#Xingchen Technology Offers Ten Million Reward to Prove Innocence#

#Hongmei Cosmetics Frames Competitor#

#NMPA Confirms Xingchen beauty serum is Compliant#

Netizens' comments were completely one-sided:

[Holy crap, what a plot twist! Xingchen is so badass!]

[A 10 million reward? Just how confident are they!]

[Hongmei's move is so low. If your own products are no good, you smear others instead.]

At 4:00 PM, CCTV's Finance Channel suddenly broke in with a flash news report: "This station's reporter has learned that several senior executives from Hongmei Cosmetics Company have been taken away by the police for investigation..."

Meanwhile, in Xingchen Technology's Livestream room, testing personnel in white lab coats were conducting on-site testing on randomly selected beauty serums under the gaze of millions of viewers.

When the words "All Compliant" appeared on the screen as the test results, the bullet comments instantly flooded the screen with "Awesome!"

Zhang San's phone was ringing off the hook. "We've received interview invitations from seven more media outlets... No, wait, it's nine now."

Jiang Yan looked at the backend data. "Traffic to our official website has surged by 300%, and the pre-order queue has exceeded two million people."

Li Ruonan suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Jiang! Leng Ba's studio has sent a cooperation proposal! They said that after watching today's dramatic reversal, they are even more determined to choose our product!"

Jiang Jing chuckled. Selectively avoiding Li Ruonan's glare, he picked up the light blue beauty serum on the desk and examined it against the light. "Tell Miss Leng Ba that I look forward to meeting her in person."