57: Having donated so much money, of course we have to publicize it and set an example!

Meanwhile, in a high-end riverside apartment building in Magic City.

Yao Ting pushed open the door, her high heels clicking crisply against the marble floor. She casually tossed her Chanel cashmere coat onto the glass cabinet in the cloakroom, then took off her diamond bracelet and threw it on top of the coat.

She walked into the living room while absentmindedly tying up her hair.

Under the crystal chandelier in the living room, her brother Yao Kai was half-reclined on an imported leather sofa, puffing on a cigar while enjoying a movie.

Yao Ting took a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet, expertly uncorked it, and poured herself a glass. She took a sip and frowned. "Brother, the monthly rent for that house you mentioned is too high. Let's look for something else."

Yao Kai scoffed. "Is fifty thousand yuan even considered money? While Chen Fang still has buzz these few days, just open a livestream; won't the money flow into your account like water?"

"That's true." Yao Ting raised an eyebrow and took out her phone to scroll through it casually.

A few minutes later, news appeared on the screen that "one meat and one vegetable" was topping the new song charts. She shook her head, her brows slightly furrowed. "Brother, Chen Fang won't make a comeback and retaliate against us, will he?"

Yao Kai sat up straight, used the remote to pause the blockbuster movie on screen, draped his arm over the sofa, and turned back. "You're just timid. The surveillance footage has long been overwritten; does he have any evidence?"

"But netizens don't need evidence."

"Exactly. Many people don't think for themselves; since your news came out first, they believe you. Come to think of it, I've been pondering for two days—he has already left Jia Kang Entertainment and currently only has 'the adventures' as a platform. This should be the time he's most popular recently. You must add fuel to the fire on Friday and make a haul of money. Who knows when the next time will be? You might have to wait for another similar incident to happen before you can ride the wave of popularity. One must seize the opportunity."

Yao Ting gripped her wine glass, hesitating. "But won't Kiwi protect him for the sake of 'the adventures'?"

"If Kiwi takes action, it'll just be to suppress the buzz; we won't lose anything." Yao Kai smiled indifferently. "Even taking a step back, what if he really does make a comeback? He has no evidence. Go search online; these kinds of things happen all the time in the entertainment industry. Even if there's solid, indisputable truth, there will still be people who will become your followers and pay for our lifestyle."

"That's true."

"At the very worst, what if he has evidence and sues? The lawsuit process is very long. If you insist you were mentally unstable, what's the cost? We've already made over a million. If you graduated and worked, you wouldn't make that in ten or twenty years, right?"

Yao Ting felt a bit more relaxed.

Indeed, what if there is a price to pay? What if she has to go to prison for a year or two? Fu Gui seeks fortune in danger.

Low cost, high return, why not?

Yao Kai continued, "Instead of worrying about such low-probability events, you'd be better off seizing his last wave of popularity and hurry up to livestream and sell goods to make money."

Yao Ting chuckled. "True, even in the worst-case scenario, it's just defamation at most."

...

Just legal consequences? How could they get off so easily!

At eight o'clock in the evening, a day and a half later, Chen Fang sat in his room, waiting for the call from Pu Maosheng in five minutes, while staring at the clarification plan he had organized on his computer screen.

Daring to harm him—high amounts of compensation for emotional distress and other civil damages, criminal liability for forging hospital diagnostic certificates, and criminal penalties—none of these could be missing.

And public condemnation; as the saying goes, the internet has no memory.

Then he would repeatedly reinforce the memory.

Those who harmed him could manipulate public opinion, and so could he. Since these guns dared to show their faces on screen, they had to be prepared to be recognized as animals for the rest of their lives.

With the support of his cheat, he would definitely be able to climb higher and higher in the entertainment industry and master the right to speak.

Every few months, he would arrange for people to remind netizens to eat the melon, so that these animals would never be able to hold their heads high online or in reality. Even if they fled abroad, once he became an international star, he would have foreign media report the truth.

This didn't even count as an eye for an eye.

Because what he was telling was the truth.

Just as Chen Fang was about to crush his thermos, the phone rang, saving the thermos that was about to be strangled to death.

Chen Fang picked up his phone and quickly pressed the answer button. "Hello, Uncle Pu."

"Hello, Teacher Chen. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"You're too polite, Uncle Pu. I haven't even had the chance to thank you yet."

"You're quite busy with filming, so I'll get straight to the point."

"Please go ahead, Uncle Pu."

"There is quite a lot of material this time. I'll send it to you shortly for you to review. You are facing three types of rumors: first, Yao Ting's false accusation of sexual harassment; second, rumors claiming you were being kept; and third, two people claiming you were dating both of them at the same time."

"Regarding the first matter, we have already organized the evidence last time. The evidence proving the rumors about being kept are false has also been collected. Regarding the two-timing issue, we have mastered evidence sufficient to prove that Shen Caihan was not in the same city as you at several time points she claimed you were dating. However, regarding the other protagonist of this matter, Jiang Tong, we did not find any obvious problems in her schedule. We can only prove that the chat records were forged. This is enough to clarify, but for netizens, it lacks impact."

"When clarifying rumors, one difficulty is that the audience scope must be wide, otherwise it will affect your commercial value. Therefore, impact and gimmicks are very important. So my suggestion is to clarify the other people's matters first, giving netizens enough topics to discuss. Finally, attach the matter regarding Jiang Tong."

Chen Fang rubbed his chin.

Jiang Tong was the "Number One Sister-in-law" in the two-timing incident. Relying solely on the common excuse that the chat records were forged is indeed very difficult to wash away the perceptions people already have.

Hearing what Uncle Pu said, Chen Fang agreed. "Okay, I'll take a look in a moment. Thank you, Uncle Pu. I'll strive to give you a reply by tomorrow morning. Please help me contact a lawyer."

"Alright, I'll send it to you now. Take a look first, and if there are any issues, we can communicate again."

"Okay, thank you."

Chen Fang hung up the phone, and Pu Maosheng quickly sent over a compressed file.

Chen Fang downloaded it and browsed through it from the beginning.

Twenty minutes later, he rubbed the space between his brows. It was exactly as Uncle Pu said; the only thing missing was evidence to overturn Jiang Tong's attention-grabbing claims.

When Jiang Tong, this "Number One Sister-in-law," slandered him, she provided three pieces of evidence: the overlapping schedules were for dates; the group photo was actually a fan photo she asked him for; and the photoshopped chat records. The evidence was very flimsy, but this incident happened after Yao Ting attacked him. Supplemented by hints from staff, tips from unknown friends, and Shen Caihan's words, combined with the psychological demands of netizens eating melons to vent their emotions, three people make a tiger—this matter quickly became the truth.

But between Jiang Tong and him, the most famous and viral thing wasn't this relationship, but two memes about him—

One was "Time Management Master." Because netizens analyzed the statements of Shen Caihan and Jiang Tong and discovered he had dated both of them on the same night.

The second was "He even scraped the door clean." This meme started when Shen Caihan first exposed their relationship. Many of his die-hard fans refused to believe it and ran to Jiang Tong's livestream to question her: "Are you in a relationship? Do you have transfer records?"

Jiang Tong wasn't prepared and couldn't produce them on the spot, so she claimed he was very stingy. He only showed off and made her pay whenever they went out.

As the saying goes, people eating melons don't want to know the truth; they want to satisfy their demands.

The mob chooses to believe whatever they want to express or vent. They won't verify the truth before commenting. Consequently, many people's resentment toward stingy blind dates, stingy relatives, and stingy lovers was poured onto him, accompanied by the "He even scraped the door clean" meme.

But... this sword that once stabbed him could also become the sword for his counterattack!

Stingy?

In the year and a half since his debut, he had donated who knows how much money back and forth, and you call this stingy?! "Who knows how much money" isn't an exaggeration; he really didn't know. The original owner didn't keep accounts, and he didn't bother calculating it because it hurt his heart. Now, it was time to calculate it properly.

It's just a pity that when this meme became popular, the original owner had already suffered from multiple attacks, experienced cyberbullying, and friends kicking him while he was down by making outrageous demands. The successive blows led to severe depression and a collapse of his worldview. A mere internet meme was just a snowflake in an avalanche.

Chen Fang took a deep breath.

The original owner grew up in a greenhouse, educated since childhood in benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and integrity, and to do good deeds without leaving his name.

He was not! He was the kind of guy who, when someone sent him a silk banner for doing a good deed, would ask them not to write the date so he could keep it and repeatedly take photos and promote it!

Having donated so much money, shouldn't he educate the younger generation and the public by promoting it?

Dig! Dig up the donation records and the electronic donation certificates!

Stingy? I'll scrape your door in the middle of the night!

All of you, go to hell!