The 'Involution King' Second Female Lead Quits [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The First Confrontation in the Battlefield of Public Opinion

◎The First Confrontation in the Battlefield of Public Opinion◎

At Li Jianwei’s suggestion, Huada University heavily promoted the Zhizhuo Technology CEO’s gift to her alma mater on its social media platforms. They not only posted a group photo of her with the school leaders but also wrote a separate article on the official public account, praising her extravagantly.

At this time, Wang Yuanfei still confidently believed that Li Jianwei was just playing hard to get with him. He was convinced that as long as he passed her ‘test,’ he would win her heart.

Therefore, Wang Yuanfei did not restrict the spread of related videos on the video platform under Guanglvdong. In fact, to show his goodwill to Li Jianwei, he even brought up the old story of how they jointly funded the “Diligent Learning” scholarship.

He planned to use this as a starting point to hype up a romantic love story of the two, from campus to wedding dress. He would continue to bind himself to her in public, sharing half of the public’s praise for Li Jianwei.

This was Wang Yuanfei’s usual tactic. He only needed to have marketing accounts publish articles to distort some facts and instill fabricated information in the platform’s users, which would then be spread further and become the “truth” in the minds of netizens.

In the past, Li Jianwei didn’t mind these things. But now, she didn’t want anything to do with Wang Yuanfei.

What kind of story is this about accompanying each other since high school until they both achieved success in their respective fields? What kind of 13-year long-distance love marathon is this?

After seeing the video on her assistant’s phone, Li Jianwei frowned deeply, feeling as though her ears and eyes had been polluted.

“Gradually release the information we’ve collected on Weibo,” Li Jianwei said, returning the phone to her assistant, out of sight, out of mind.

“We can also push out revelations on the video platforms that compete with Guanglvdong, directing public opinion toward Wang Yuanfei’s questionable private life.”

“Remember, the focus should be on Wang Yuanfei, don’t let netizens’ attention be on who he’s having an affair with.”

The assistant nodded in agreement. “Okay, CEO Li. Should we release the news of the engagement being called off at an appropriate time?”

Li Jianwei lightly tapped her fingertips on the table. “Let the public relations department handle it. If it’s beneficial to me, make it public. Make sure to clearly state that both parties terminated the engagement in December.”

“If Wang Yuanfei tries to smear me and mislead netizens into thinking I used him to pave the way for myself in the early days, and now that I’ve used him up, I’m abandoning him, then put the patent leak on his head.”

“If necessary, be a little ruthless. Learn from those unscrupulous marketing accounts and fabricate groundless things to attract netizens’ attention.”

When playing a game with Wang Yuanfei in his area of expertise, Li Jianwei would usually make sufficient preparations in advance.

A war of public opinion is all about speed. Whoever reacts faster is more likely to control the situation. Moreover, public opinion is usually lenient towards womanizing men and likes to criticize high-ranking women.

Those male netizens online are eager to use a magnifying glass to scrutinize the women who are above them. As long as they find some so-called leverage, they can’t wait to drag the person into the mud and make sure she can never get up again, completely forgetting that they were all born from a woman’s body.

After explaining to her assistant how to handle public opinion, Li Jianwei threw herself into her work, no longer paying any attention to Wang Yuanfei.

The end of the year was approaching, and a pile of matters required Li Jianwei’s personal attention.

For example, this year’s summary, external financial reports, next year’s goals, and development plans all had to be finalized before the new year.

Even though Li Jianwei was the top executive, she couldn’t avoid working overtime at the company, and even sacrificing a weekend day for a meeting.

…

Shu Heng, a non-staff member, still had her weekends off. But in the company’s bustling atmosphere, she voluntarily chose to stay and work overtime, furiously tapping on the keyboard to debug programs with her colleagues.

Zhizhuo Technology was excellent in terms of employee benefits. Normal overtime paid double wages, weekends paid triple, and holidays paid quintuple, all higher than the statutory overtime pay.

Not only that, but there were also extra meal and transportation subsidies for working overtime at night. The employee benefits were better than most state-owned enterprises.

Therefore, the employees in the R&D department did not resist working overtime when they needed to meet deadlines. In fact, they didn’t forget to type on their keyboards while eating their takeout, showing great diligence.

Shu Heng wasn’t as busy as the official employees. During her meal, she could take out her phone and watch some de-stressing videos.

The videos recommended by the algorithm were half relaxing cute pets and half content that Shu Heng had actively searched for with high frequency—videos related to Li Jianwei.

When she saw a marketing account praising Li Jianwei’s donation, Shu Heng smiled and quickly double-tapped to like it.

When she saw a marketing account disparaging Zhizhuo Technology, Shu Heng was expressionless and quickly hit “not interested” and “block” in a single smooth motion.

As she scrolled, a familiar marketing account tone appeared again. “Am I the last to know? It turns out they were childhood sweethearts…”

Originally, Shu Heng wanted to swipe away as soon as she heard it. She wasn’t interested in a love story created by netizens.

But as a small part of the new video was pulled out, a familiar face appeared on the screen, which made Shu Heng instinctively stop her actions and go back to watch the video.

Huh? Sister Li and Wang Yuanfei are childhood sweethearts?

Ah? They were together in high school?

What? A 13-year love marathon?

Shu Heng’s eyebrows furrowed tighter and tighter. She couldn’t help but press the report button and choose “spreading rumors,” writing a long, detailed explanation in the comment box.

These marketing accounts are so shameless! How can they distort the facts and talk nonsense?!

How could Sister Li like Wang Yuanfei?! They were never together at all!

Shu Heng’s cheeks puffed up. After reporting, she clicked on the comment section and her eyes went black when she saw the content inside. Her fingers then moved quickly, refuting the high-ranking comments one by one.

[CEO Li and Wang Yuanfei are not a couple. CEO Li’s achievements have nothing to do with him.]

[Don’t believe what the marketing accounts say, most of it is fabricated.]

[Wang Yuanfei hasn’t been donating to the alma mater all this time! The person who donated the money is CEO Li! Don’t put a woman’s credit on a man!]

After a long time of refuting, Shu Heng chose to refresh and re-enter the comment section. Then she found that all her comments had been deleted, and the blogger had set it so she couldn’t comment.

This made Shu Heng so angry that she started grinding her teeth, and she didn’t even feel like eating her dinner.

“What’s wrong? You look all puffy,” a colleague holding a takeout box slid her chair over.

“A marketing account is slandering CEO Li, saying her success is inseparable from Wang Yuanfei’s help. It’s absolute nonsense,” Shu Heng said indignantly.

The colleague tilted her head and took a look, then smiled. “You’re using the short video app under Guanglvdong, so naturally, you’ll see videos that are beneficial to Wang Yuanfei. Switch to another app, and you’ll see other juicy news.”

“What juicy news?” Shu Heng blinked in confusion.

The colleague didn’t reveal anything in advance, she just told Shu Heng to download the short video app that was against Guanglvdong.

Without even needing to search for specific keywords, as soon as Shu Heng completed her registration, the algorithm pushed the videos she wanted to see to her.

After scrolling through a few videos, Shu Heng couldn’t help but open her mouth wide, looking like her brain was overloaded with information.

“Sister Qingqing, are these revelations true?” Shu Heng’s expression was subtle. “Is Wang Yuanfei really… well, having problems with his body?”

“Oh, how would I know? The marketing accounts’ videos only care about whether the news is juicy enough, they don’t care about whether it’s true or false.”

“Just watch the short videos for fun, no need to take it too seriously. The public relations department will handle the related public opinion, and the false information will disappear after a while,” the colleague said, stuffing a mouthful of rice into her mouth, her voice becoming muffled.

“Our company’s legal team is very professional. If a video that really affects CEO Li’s reputation appears, the legal team will definitely sue them.”

“Alright, don’t let those marketing accounts affect your mood. CEO Li will lead us to greater heights, and more and more people will know the truth then.”

That’s true, but it seemed that Shu Heng couldn’t just sit by and do nothing after seeing it.

After cleaning up her takeout box, Shu Heng clicked on a certain group chat in her contacts, forwarded the video link to it, and started typing away.

My abilities are limited. I can’t make the marketing accounts delete the videos and apologize, but I can post videos myself to let the netizens who are kept in the dark know the truth.

Even if it’s just to let a few hundred people who see it know the truth, it’s better than doing nothing.

…

The direction of public opinion was as Li Jianwei had expected. Wang Yuanfei was very good at misleading netizens by focusing on trivial matters to gain a more favorable position.

If Li Jianwei hadn’t prepared the public relations department in advance, the public opinion would have most likely tilted toward Wang Yuanfei, with him publishing a gross article about how he was a “reformed bad boy” to disgusting her.

“CEO Li, the public opinion on the relevant platforms is more optimistic than expected. Many Huada students have vouched for you with their real identities,” the assistant reported, standing in front of the desk.

“Especially the students from the computer science department. They have visualized and compared the data of Zhizhuo Technology and Guanglvdong, which has greatly lowered the barrier to obtaining information.”

“Even a netizen who has only graduated from middle school can see from the visualized data that Zhizhuo Technology is crushing Guanglvdong in all aspects. It can be said that this has fundamentally and forcefully refuted what the marketing accounts said.”

“The public relations department has inquired about the original organizers, but the students’ replies are all a unified, ‘My name is Red Scarf’,” the assistant said, a smile flashing in her eyes.

College students are indeed pure and sincere beings. In their eyes, one is one, and two is two. They don’t need to worry about too many twists and turns and unwritten rules.

That’s how I was when I was in college. I did whatever I thought of, and once I started, I gave it my all.

“Then give a gift to the ‘Red Scarves’ in my name,” Li Jianwei’s face also showed a hint of a smile. “They spoke up for me and cleared my name while under the pressure of studying. I can’t not show my appreciation.”

The assistant asked, “CEO Li, what’s the budget for the gifts for the students?”

“Send them our company’s best-selling smart speakers and an eye massager. Laser engrave their names on the blank space. If the students don’t want to reveal their real names, use their usernames.”

“Speed up the production and delivery, and make sure they receive it before the new year,” Li Jianwei said.

…

Li Jianwei was happily sending customized gifts to the students, while Wang Yuanfei was in his office throwing a tantrum, his emotions volatile for several days in a row.

“Are you all useless?! How can you not even control the public opinion on our own platform?!” Wang Yuanfei was launching an indiscriminate attack on the senior management in his office.

“Don’t give me excuses! I’m giving you two days to handle all the negative information about me online! Block all the bad keywords, and ban all the accounts that are against us!”

A senior executive pushed up his glasses. “CEO Wang, we’re not the only platform that can speak up. If we’re too heavy-handed, it might provoke a rebellious attitude from netizens.”

“CEO Wang, it’s actually very simple to solve this matter. You just need to attend an event with CEO Li, and some of the rumors will be put to rest,” another senior executive added.

Wang Yuanfei was silent. Didn’t he know such a simple truth?

But after he called to explain his intention, Li Jianwei refused him without hesitation. The second and third times, she just hung up on him directly, not even giving him a chance to speak.

How was he supposed to attend an event with Li Jianwei then? Was he supposed to put down his dignity and block her at the company entrance, begging her to go with him?

“CEO Wang, this is bad. Zhizhuo Technology has publicly released an article, saying that CEO Li already terminated her engagement with you in December, and that the two of you have no relationship now and she will not comment on your private life,” the assistant rushed in and said.

After meeting Wang Yuanfei’s dark gaze, the assistant immediately swallowed the words that were about to come out and lowered her head, remaining silent.

“CEO Wang, our consensus is that it’s better to guide than to block. As long as we don’t respond to this matter anymore, the heat will slowly die down.”

“Actually, there isn’t much negative news about you online. We can directly sue the individual accounts that are spreading rumors as a warning to others.”

“That’s right. We can pay to buy some dirt on a few celebrities. Netizens’ attention will quickly shift.”

“The company still has a lot of collaborations with Zhizhuo Technology. CEO Wang should respond to the matter of the engagement being terminated as soon as possible to give netizens the impression that you parted on good terms.”

The executives offered advice one after another. How much of it was sincere and how much was fake was probably only known to themselves.

Wang Yuanfei was furious for the sake of his pride, but he forgot that the executives in front of him were all prominent figures outside. Now that they were being scolded by a younger person, would they not feel they had lost face?

Wang Yuanfei’s face was very sullen. It wasn’t until a certain executive offered him an out that he finally relented, looking as if he would “consider it carefully” and dismissed everyone in the office.

After the office door was closed, Wang Yuanfei became a desktop cleaner, venting his dissatisfaction by smashing things.

His rationality told him that the reason public opinion was so one-sided was definitely not Li Jianwei’s work alone. His competitors must be at least half responsible.

But in his heart, Wang Yuanfei couldn’t help but attribute everything he had encountered to Li Jianwei. How could she be so petty? He had just made some mistakes that all men make, right?

Looking around, which man in his position is completely clean?

Compared to them, he had already been very self-disciplined. He gave Li Jianwei enough face in public and never brought women home. Everything was done in hotels.

At this moment, Wang Yuanfei still didn’t realize the problem. He was still treating Li Jianwei’s counterattack as a sign that she was jealous and acting up.

But no matter what Wang Yuanfei was thinking, in order not to make the situation worse, he still logged into his personal social media account and responded to the matter of the engagement being terminated in what seemed to be a magnanimous manner.

In order to stabilize Guanglvdong’s stock price, Wang Yuanfei forced himself to praise Li Jianwei, although he was extremely unwilling to do so.

At the same time, he said that he would always wait for her, and even if the two of them didn’t end up together, they would still be good friends who had known each other for many years.

…

Wang Yuanfei’s sensible behavior made Li Jianwei a little disappointed. She still had a backup plan, but her opponent had already surrendered.

However, the new year was approaching, and it was better to have less trouble than more.

Li Jianwei did not continue to attack. The extra budget was added to the annual meeting prize money, striving to ensure that the employees who attended would not go home empty-handed.

Shu Heng was one of the lucky ones at the annual meeting. She won the second prize, a high-end laptop.

When she received the prize from the hands of the Sister Li she had been thinking about, the smile on Shu Heng’s face was extremely bright and radiant. Her eyes were glued to Li Jianwei the whole time.

This scene was later edited and posted online, where it became a small hit.