144: Chapter 144 Pinduoduo's Reputation Completely Reversed

Making videos takes time.

Just at that moment, the Bilibili tech vlogger 'Old Zhang' released a teardown video of a 200-yuan Pinduoduo TV, which had already hit the trending list.

With Tencent's boost, this video quickly surged to the top of the Weibo hot search list, hanging at the third position.

In the video, Old Zhang completely dismantled the 200-yuan TV. The screen used the lowest quality LCD panel; the backlight was uneven, and the color gamut coverage was so low that instruments could barely measure it.

The motherboard was an obsolete design from who knows how many years ago, with pitifully few ports. At the end of the video, he delivered the final verdict, saying to the camera:

"This kind of electronic garbage shouldn't exist in the market."

"Are there still poor people in Great Xia now? No one needs this kind of trash, and making such things is just a waste of resources!"

At this moment, although some felt Old Zhang's words were too extreme, most in the comment section supported him.

"What use is a 200-yuan TV? Can you watch videos on it?"

"This kind of industrial waste should be banned directly."

"People who buy this TV probably have absolutely no requirements for life."

"Pinduoduo is full of this trash; I really don't know who is buying it."

Just as Old Zhang's video had been on Weibo's trending list for half an hour, Ah Zhen uploaded her video to major social platforms.

The title was short, only a few words:

"The 38-yuan wedding dress, someone actually buys it."

The video content was simple—too simple, actually; it was just a screen recording of the Pinduoduo product review section.

Seeing this sudden video, countless netizens immediately remembered the hot search about the 38-yuan low-cost wedding dress from a while ago.

Seeing this video, they thought Pinduoduo wanted to explain something and were ready to flame it.

But, the moment a large number of netizens flooded into this video, what appeared before them was that review and photo of the 38-yuan wedding dress.

A messy room, a disabled wife wrapped in white gauze, and a face full of happiness.

Regardless of what attitude these netizens had before, the moment they saw this review, almost everyone fell silent.

Because the emotion conveyed in these plain words and pictures was too strong, instantly bringing a massive emotional impact to countless people.

Besides the wedding dress review section, Ah Zhen also recorded the review section of the 200-yuan Pinduoduo TV.

As the video played, the photos in the 200-yuan TV review section made people even more silent.

In the corner of a cracked earthen wall, two children were squatting—a boy and a girl. The older sister was hugging her younger brother's shoulder, and both were looking up and smiling very happily.

In a rural hospital ward, a woman covered in tubes leaned against the head of the bed, eating a steamed bun while looking toward the corner.

An elderly person lying on a hospital bed wearing reading glasses had their gaze fixed in one direction without moving.

And the place they were looking at was just a TV—the simplest kind. No high-definition LCD screen, no extra ports, just a 200-yuan TV that countless netizens and Old Zhang had cursed as electronic garbage.

Ah Zhen didn't say a single word from beginning to end in the video.

She just recorded what she saw, arranged it in order, and clicked upload.

She only added one line of text at the end of the video:

"I know some might say they gave a good review for a cashback."

"But."

"If it weren't for those few dollars of cashback, who would post such a wretched home for all to see?"

Because the emotion contained in the video was too strong, in just half an hour, this video hit the number one trending spot on almost all internet platforms like Weibo, Bilibili, and Douyin.

A large number of comments flooded in, and countless netizens were silent for a long time before typing their first line of text.

"I was wrong to curse Pinduoduo as industrial waste before; I didn't know anyone really needed these."

"I specifically went to look at the low-cost wedding dress review section. Do you know that the shop has many styles of wedding dresses, and the 38-yuan one is the most expensive among them? Even if life is miserable, he still gave his wife the best within his ability!"

"The 200-yuan TV isn't trash either; it's the entire world of the elderly person lying on the hospital bed."

"For those saying there are no poor people in Great Xia, open the Pinduoduo review section and take a look."

"I apologize. I cursed Pinduoduo before, but I understand now—this software has a reason to exist!"

Almost all previous criticisms and questions about Pinduoduo vanished after this video spread across the network.

At the same time, those bloggers who had smeared Pinduoduo were also hit by the backlash, especially that tech vlogger Old Zhang, who also had a trending topic on Weibo.

Half an hour ago, his video's comment section was full of agreement; now, countless insults were flooding in.

Refreshing it meant thousands or tens of thousands of comments—impossible to read through.

"You said there are no poor people in Great Xia; open your eyes and look."

"You dismantled a TV, but that was the only TV in someone's home."

"How can you be so high and mighty making a video now?"

Old Zhang had no choice but to immediately issue an apology statement and take down that teardown video.

And along with the removal of this video, all previous belittlement and slander of Pinduoduo also shattered silently at this moment.

Everyone understood one thing: Pinduoduo's existence had meaning.

Those products with prices so low they made people laugh were really being bought by people, and those who bought them weren't doing so because they were greedy for cheap goods, but because these were the only things they could afford.

And throughout all of this, Pinduoduo hadn't issued any statement or published any announcement.

Because Qin Mo knew that after Pinduoduo appeared, the voices of these people would one day be heard by the outside world; they didn't need to stand up and explain anything.

The reputation of Pinduoduo, which Alibaba had spent a huge amount of money to market and smear, dissipated naturally in a very short time.

Not even a ripple appeared.

...

Meanwhile, in Haixin District, Jincheng, a black business car was driving on a wide main road.

Qin Mo sat in the window seat in the back row, his phone screen lit up, displaying a few messages Lin Xiao had just sent.

"There are only five days left until 618; we have to announce the existence of the 10-billion subsidy today."

"We've negotiated good prices for most of those high-end electronic products and cosmetics, and with our own subsidies, we can achieve the lowest prices on the entire network."

"Douyin is also fully prepared; all the influencers will integrate Pinduoduo on 618, and the most popular influencers have already prepared warm-up videos, just waiting for our announcement."

"The promotional funds are also ready; we're just waiting to announce the 10-billion subsidy."

"Boss, for those manufacturers you're going to talk to now, if they won't give discounts, forget it. We'll subsidize it ourselves; the budget for this year is already set anyway."

Looking at the messages on his phone, Qin Mo lowered his head and typed a few words back.

"These manufacturers' annual sales are in the top three of the industry. If they give discounts, we can subsidize less. Besides, I've already negotiated with the others; this is the last one."

"And this time, besides talking about subsidies, I also want to talk about investment."

"I heard the other party is recently considering making electric cars."

Just as the message was sent, the business car slowly pulled over, the door was pulled open from the outside, and Qin Mo bent down and stepped out of the car.

Before him was a silver-grey headquarters building, with several middle-aged men in suits standing at the main entrance.

The leader was of medium height, wearing a plain dark jacket, no tie, with an unremarkable appearance.

The other party had been waiting downstairs for a few minutes already, and at this moment, he was smiling slightly with an air of calm composure.

Several executives and secretaries were standing half a step behind him.

Qin Mo reached out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, it's been a while, Mr. Lei."