What is real is real, and what is fake is fake.

“Who really cares how many bowls of noodles you’ve eaten?”

Ye Shuang’s words seemed to make Bai Yuyou understand something. Her beautiful eyes flickered, because she had once encountered something similar herself.

“Back then, I was framed in the biology lab…”

“Exactly. When so many people accused you, you should have made them produce the evidence themselves. All you needed to do was find the flaws in their evidence and take control of the situation.” Ye Shuang smiled. “Just step outside the logic of having to prove your own innocence. And if that still doesn’t work, use this.”

As he spoke, Ye Shuang waved his fist.

If words failed to get through to them, he knew a little martial arts as well.

Bai Yuyou nodded.

…

Meanwhile, Tao Yiyi was holed up at home, her fingers constantly tapping on her phone screen. While managing the comments, she was also busy writing another long post.

She hadn’t expected the issue to attract so much attention. Perhaps it was because the Chen Group was a well-known publicly listed company, so gossip about it spread especially quickly. There might even have been competitors helping to fan the flames.

Tao Yiyi knew very well that even if she were exposed, she wouldn’t lose anything. At worst, she could simply delete the long post. Plenty of senior influencers did the same thing: if their posts brought them benefits, they kept them; if not, they deleted them.

Seeing so many girls supporting her in her private messages, Tao Yiyi couldn’t help smiling with satisfaction.

“Wow, I gained seventy or eighty thousand followers. Maybe I should become a content creator and internet celebrity. It pays so much better than working!”

Tao Yiyi was already imagining herself making a fortune through livestream sales, shouting, “Come on, everyone, shower me with coins!”

As the topic continued to heat up, Tao Yiyi waited for someone from the Chen Group to contact her. Whether they threatened her or offered to settle, she would come out ahead.

If they threatened her, she could make another video claiming that she had been intimidated by them, using it to keep the topic trending. If they offered a settlement, she could demand an exorbitant sum.

Either way, she wouldn’t lose. If the Chen Group really tried to do something to her, all she had to do was delete her account and disappear.

After seeing that her video had made it onto the trending charts, and that several media outlets had begun reposting it, Tao Yiyi noticed that some reporters had even contacted her for an interview. After all, this involved a vice president of a major corporation, and everyone wanted firsthand information.

However, some media outlets remained on the sidelines. They had heard that Tao Yiyi had no evidence at all and was relying entirely on a long, one-sided post.

Tao Yiyi happily opened her account and glanced at it, then checked the Chen Group’s account. She discovered that there were already tens of thousands of comments.

“They haven’t even turned off the comments?”

Seeing that the Chen Group seemed to have no reaction at all, Tao Yiyi found it strange. Surely they should have issued some kind of response by now, right?

Even a lawyer’s letter would have been fine.

That evening, Tao Yiyi noticed her phone vibrating. She glanced at it and saw that the Chen Group had indeed posted a new video.

“I knew they’d say they didn’t do anything…”

But when Tao Yiyi clicked on it, she was completely dumbfounded.

The Chen Group’s latest video contained no announcement or explanation whatsoever. Instead, it went straight into promoting one of its products, as if it intended to use the sudden surge of attention for marketing.

“What is this supposed to be?!”

Tao Yiyi scrolled through the page and confirmed that the video was indeed newly posted. She couldn’t believe it.

They were promoting a product?

The comments under the latest video were taking a strange turn as well.

“Seriously? You’re not going to explain anything?”

“Bring your Mr. Ye out here.”

“Tsk, capitalism. I failed my middle-school entrance exam because of the power of capital.”

“I feel like things aren’t that simple.”

“…”

Tao Yiyi had no choice but to switch to a smaller alternate account and try to steer the discussion.

But when she opened the comments again, she discovered that many photos had been added.

“This is a photo of the Chen Group’s vice president.”

“This is a photo of the woman involved.”

“This should be the Chen Group vice president’s wife.”

After the photos appeared, many netizens were stunned when they saw Ye Shuang’s face.

Wait… no one said he was that handsome!

“Holy crap, seriously? I thought he’d be some fat guy in his forties or fifties.”

“Damn, I thought he was an old man.”

“Come to think of it, I initially imagined someone like Chen Rui.”

“Tsk… If he’s that handsome, would he really need to pay for that kind of service?”

The photos had simply been taken during an ordinary meeting, but Ye Shuang himself was anything but ordinary. With his clean-cut, mature, and handsome appearance, he smiled as he presided over the meeting. Not only did many of the girls stare at the screen in shock, even the men had to admit he was good-looking.

A woman admitting that a man was handsome didn’t necessarily mean he was truly handsome. But if even other men admitted that a man was handsome, then he had to be exceptionally attractive.

Photos of Tao Yiyi had also been posted. Compared with the heavily edited selfies she had used in her own videos, these pictures looked strikingly real, without any filters whatsoever.

“Tsk, why does she look so different from the person in her videos?”

“She definitely used a beauty filter. Didn’t you notice how the wall behind her was warped?”

“Tsk… seriously? Beauty filters are that powerful? Then my beloved Princess Qiaobiluo…”

The commenters gradually realized that something was off. Would a handsome man with an older, uncle-like appearance really need a woman like this to provide him with services?

He was the vice president of a publicly listed company, and he looked like that. He could have any beautiful woman he wanted with a crook of his finger. Why would he need someone like her?

Everyone’s attention then shifted to the third photo. According to the comments, the woman in it was supposedly Ye Shuang’s wife.

The girl in the photo had short hair and was standing beside Ye Shuang. Although she looked quite young, she also appeared extremely cute.

“I knew it. If they were really dating, she’d look like this.”

“This girl is pretty cute. But why does she seem kind of sassy?”

“Is she really Ye Shuang’s wife? I heard his wife was the Chen Group’s president. She doesn’t look like a company president at all.”

“Seriously? She probably is, though. They look pretty close in their photos together.”

Fish Tofu: “She’s definitely his wife. I’ve seen them coming out of a hotel together.”

Soon, several more photos of Ye Shuang with different girls appeared in the comments, including Bai Yuyou and Chen Qin.

Every one of them was so beautiful that they made Tao Yiyi look utterly ordinary by comparison.

By this point, even the slowest netizens realized that they might have been used as pawns. The mood in the comments changed in an instant. Even most of the girls who had initially supported Tao Yiyi began turning against her after seeing Ye Shuang’s face.

“Do you have any evidence? At least show us the chat logs or something.”

“Damn, I just realized you’re relying entirely on your own word. You got all of us well-meaning netizens to attack someone for you.”

The sharpest weapon had begun turning back on its wielder. Tao Yiyi was completely bewildered.

What was going on…?

How had public opinion changed so suddenly?