Jiang Tong’s drastic move of deleting the Weibo post that questioned him, aside from the paid trolls who were already stirring the pot and the netizens who had caught on, drew the attention of more and more onlookers who saw the doubts about Jiang Tong’s academic credentials in the comment sections of other trending topics.
So, Jiang Tong had the money to get a trending topic deleted, did he?
But he couldn’t possibly get every single trending topic deleted, could he?
Thus, netizens flocked to other people’s trending topics. As if they had all undergone professional training from their extensive gossip-mongering, they would first post a comment relevant to that topic, then in a new paragraph, they would add hashtags like #JiangTongDoesntKnowHigherMath and #JiangTongMoneyCanDoAnything to voice their doubts.
More and more people began to dig into Jiang Tong’s academic background, from the admission requirements of Standing University, to the required courses for its finance major, and even deeper inquiries into the authenticity of Jiang Tong’s degree.
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, Jiang Tong’s side quickly responded. The paid trolls and fans swarmed in to clash with those comments:
【Why are you all attacking Jiang Jiang? Isn’t it normal for different schools and majors to have different required courses? Besides, Jiang Jiang never publicly stated his major, did he?】
【Standing University isn’t some world-renowned institution, so of course the curriculum is a bit more relaxed. They don’t need to require students to learn everything, do they?】
【Who is slandering whom here? Jiang Jiang has been working hard to lead the team through the challenges in 《Secret Room》, and this is the thanks he gets? You people are falsely accusing him!】
【I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, after so many episodes of the 《Secret Room》 variety show, can’t you see who the real outcast is? Why would our Jiang Jiang, a handsome and rich man, need to fake his academic credentials?】
【Poor Jiang Jiang, always being used as a stepping stone.】
【My heart aches for Jiang Jiang.】
The original intention of Jiang Tong’s team in getting the topic deleted was to divert the netizens’ attention so they could play the victim. After spending hundreds of thousands, combined with the efforts of the paid trolls, the effect was immediate.
With tearful posts, they painted him as a pitiful figure who was dedicated to the show but was being used as a stepping stone by a certain artist who wanted to show off her own academic credentials.
Taking advantage of the information lag on the internet, they conveniently failed to mention that this whole affair had fermented because he didn’t know higher math, let alone the fact that he was the one who had tried to show off his credentials before Mu Yanxi.
However, the suppressed onlookers were clearly no pushovers. It was now Monday, the start of the week, and they were all venting their frustrations from being forced back to work:
【No way, no way, do Jiang Tong’s fans really think they can get away with this?】
【Did Jiang Tong never say he studied finance? (Attached GIF) Jiang Tong said this himself. I even found it in your Jiang Jiang fan forum. Good thing I saved a copy last night.】
【Damn, I was wondering why Jiang Tong’s fans were spamming “Master’s in Finance” everywhere before, but now I can’t find a single post when I search. So he deleted them out of guilt?】
As the two sides tore into each other more fiercely, many people also used their connections to inquire about Standing University.
Although Standing University wasn’t a particularly famous school, with so many Chinese students studying abroad each year, if you found the right student circles in that country, you were bound to find an alumnus.
Sure enough, it was better not to dig. Once they did, they discovered that Jiang Tong’s academic credentials really couldn’t stand up to scrutiny. There was indeed a big problem!
The Weibo post Jiang Tong had just sent was a photo of him in a master’s gown in front of a landmark building at Standing University, which had fooled the netizens.
Now, comparing it to Mu Yanxi’s crystal-clear photos of the front and inner pages of her diploma, Jiang Tong’s proof of education was as watered down as the Pacific Ocean.
There were plenty of netizens on the internet who used their study-abroad diplomas to show off their superiority and attract fans, but there were also many low-key ones who focused on sharing their daily life as an international student.
In their attempt to clear Jiang Tong’s name, his fans went from slandering Standing’s finance program for not teaching higher math to claiming Standing’s coursework was relatively easy, just short of boldly stating that Standing University itself was a diploma mill. This finally provoked the dissatisfaction of several popular bloggers:
【I have a bachelor’s and master’s in finance from Standing, my Weibo is verified, and I’ve posted relevant certificates that you are free to scrutinize. Please do not tarnish my alma mater. Every year, higher math has the highest failure rate, and if you fail, you absolutely cannot advance to the next year.】
【I’m late, but I made a special trip to the graduation display case to take photos of the finance graduates from the last four years (4 images attached).】
These two bloggers usually shared their study-abroad experiences and had a more artistic style, so when netizens clicked on their Weibo pages, their first impression was immediately positive.
Netizens examined the four graduation photos as if with a magnifying glass, comparing them over and over. A few minutes later, the comments section finally lit up:
【My eyes are going blurry. Jiang Tong fans, come and tell me, why does no one look like Jiang Tong? Sob sob sob.】
【To the Jiang Tong fans who used an art school graduation photo to claim Mu Yanxi had plastic surgery, can I see a photo of Jiang Tong before he entered the entertainment industry?】
【How can you curse our Jiang Jiang like that? All he did was forge his academic credentials (doge face).】
This time, Jiang Tong couldn’t patch up the holes anymore. There were leaks everywhere, completely stunning all the netizens.
Although the matter was practically confirmed, many netizens still found it hard to believe. How could Jiang Tong forge his own diploma and then have the audacity to attack someone else with it? Did he really not bring his brain with him when he entered the entertainment industry?
But without a doubt, Jiang Tong’s team was indeed quite brainless.
Especially after the exposé by those two bloggers, Jiang Tong’s management team descended into chaos.
Jiang Tong cursed out everyone in the studio, demanding to know from his manager why things that had been settled had developed this way.
At this point, the manager had no solution, but fortunately, he was more rational and calm than Jiang Tong. Seeing that this path was a dead end, he decided to have Jiang Tong admit his mistake and play the victim.
After all, Jiang Tong had entered the industry with the persona of a rich second-generation heir. Once this storm passed, he would be fine.
But Jiang Tong was still unwilling to give up. He felt he had suffered a huge loss at Mu Yanxi’s hands. Mu Yanxi had graduated from Yanjing University; how could he lose this battle?
So he stubbornly insisted that his manager deploy the paid trolls to steer the narrative towards him being an exchange student.
After all, foreign universities had many exchange programs. Having studied there could loosely qualify him as a semi-graduate.
The manager thought about the diploma Jiang Tong had once shown him and remained hesitant. Based on his years of experience, going against the grain when netizens were highly engaged would often lead to a greater backlash.
As expected, the manager had the studio post a couple of tentative comments about exchange students, and a towering thread of replies immediately built up in the comments section.
The manager showed the comments to Jiang Tong, trying to persuade him earnestly, “Let’s just take a small loss this time. There will be plenty of opportunities to get back at her in the future. When the time comes, that Mu…”
But before he could finish, an assistant beside him cried out, “Brother Luo!”
The manager looked over, annoyed. “What is it now?”
“Is, is Teacher Jiang from Standing Laifu College?”
The phone in the manager’s hand fell to the ground with a clatter. “You, how do you know?”
The assistant said cautiously, “Someone on Weibo, a graduate from Standing University, said that the master’s graduation gown Teacher Jiang is wearing is from Standing Laifu College, and they even posted a comparison photo…”
The assistant didn’t need to say any more. Seeing the expressions on the manager’s and Jiang Tong’s faces, it was clear it was true.
This matter was also dug up by that group of international students.
It was common knowledge that there were two types of international students: those who relied on their family’s money to get a diploma, and those who earned their way abroad through genuine talent and hard work. There was often a wall between these two circles.
After the two Standing University students came forward with evidence, Jiang Tong’s fans, posing as regular users, started digging through their past Weibo posts for dirt, trying to discredit the two bloggers.
This was a common tactic of brainless fans in the entertainment industry. As long as you smeared someone’s reputation, whatever they said could be labeled as false.
Those two students happened to be the type who had gotten into Standing University through their own efforts and on scholarships. Being smeared like this naturally made them even more furious.
They were not unfamiliar with the master’s gown Jiang Tong was wearing. At first, they didn’t want to cause too much trouble, but now that they were pushed, they just came out and said it, replying directly: 【If only your brother was as meticulous in his words as you are in digging through my Weibo (image.jpg).】
The image was a graduation photo from Standing Laifu College, identical to what Jiang Tong was wearing.
An onlooker commented: 【Isn’t Standing Laifu a college within Standing University? I’m not familiar with foreign schools.】
A Jiang Tong fan replied: 【Yes, it’s a subordinate relationship, both belong to Standing, just like the Standing College of Physics.】
But less than half a minute after this conclusion was drawn, the blogger replied: 【Standing Laifu College, please don’t try to associate yourself with Standing University, thank you.】
The reason Jiang Tong and his manager had been so fearless before was that Jiang Tong had indeed studied abroad. Plus, the two schools were close to each other, so if any proof was needed, they could produce something. They were banking on the distance, thinking netizens wouldn’t be able to dig too deep.
But they never expected this matter to blow up so much, let alone that Standing University students would personally step forward to expose it.
You have to know, normally, finding a graduate from such a foreign school online was like finding a needle in a haystack, yet today, they all seemed to pop out of the woodwork!
It was truly spectacular, with twist after twist, completely hammering home the fact that Jiang Tong was the one who had faked his academic credentials.
After searching for Standing Laifu College on Baidu, the gossip-mongers finally returned to Weibo to “eloquently discuss” the matter:
【Awesome. I just checked a study-abroad agency on Baidu, and they actually have a listed price of 500,000 a year for tuition.】
【I finally know why Jiang Tong doesn’t even understand the factorial symbol. Someone who attends this kind of diploma mill probably bought their way through middle school too, right?】
【I’ve long heard about those diploma mills that have a set price starting from middle school, covering everything up to a bachelor’s and master’s. You can even buy a doctorate. Today has really been an eye-opener.】
【It’s a bloodbath, a total bloodbath.】
【Countless ‘academic genius’ personas have collapsed in the domestic entertainment industry, but this time is truly mind-boggling. How could so much stuff be dug up?】
【It’s great to be rich. You can even fake your education like this.】
【So when Jiang Tong’s fans said he’s been studying abroad since middle school, was that true? Is his actual education level elementary school?】
【Damn, I have to say, it’s great to be rich.】
In truth, although the variety show 《Secret Room Rush Rush Rush》 had gained some popularity after a few episodes, it was still no match for those long-established, explosive national variety shows. The status of guests like Jiang Tong and Mu Yanxi wasn’t actually that high.
Logically, a simple slip-up on a live broadcast shouldn’t have garnered this much attention.
But firstly, Jiang Tong’s team loved to spend money, buying their way to the top of the trending list for every little thing. Secondly, when this incident went viral, it touched upon the sensitive topic of academic fraud, which is why it ultimately attracted so much attention.
Throughout this process, the fans of Jiang Tong and Mu Yanxi didn’t actually get involved much.
In other words, neither of them had many legitimate fans.
Mu Yanxi’s side was full of people who only acknowledged her anti-fans, not her actual fans. Jiang Tong’s side was all paid trolls masquerading as fans. The entire incident was just onlookers enjoying the drama.
Of course, there was also the gloating little peacock herself.
Ever since Jiang Tong was exposed by the international students, Mu Yanxi had put down her chopsticks, not even eating her meal. Her eyes were glued to Weibo. It was Yi Wulan, sitting beside her, who couldn’t stand it anymore and reminded her, “The food is getting cold.”
Without even looking up, Mu Yanxi waved her hand. “Oh, it’s fine. You eat. I’m not hungry.”
“Are you that happy?”
Hearing this, Mu Yanxi immediately brought her phone over. “Look, Jiang Tong actually graduated from Standing Laifu College. Is he trying to make me die of laughter? Does his management team have a brain?”
Yi Wulan placed a piece of food in Mu Yanxi’s bowl, saying helplessly, “Didn’t your management team also forget to delete your academic credentials from your profile after you denied it?”
“They just issued an apology statement. Luckily, I had already denied it, so the netizens didn’t give them too much trouble.” Mu Yanxi breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at Weibo with a new worry. “Those two international students who spoke up for me and exposed Jiang Tong’s school, they won’t face retaliation, will they?”
But as soon as Mu Yanxi finished speaking, Yi Wulan answered decisively, “They won’t.”
Meeting Mu Yanxi’s puzzled gaze, Yi Wulan cleared her throat, placed another piece of food in Mu Yanxi’s bowl, and said nonchalantly, “Jiang Tong and his team probably don’t have the energy to retaliate, do they?”
Mu Yanxi nodded, half-understanding. “That’s true. Jiang Tong can’t even fend for himself right now.”
Then, without paying any more attention to her meal, she heartlessly went back to scrolling through Weibo.
In reality, the graduation gowns of various schools looked quite similar, and the four-panel photo Jiang Tong posted didn’t show the school’s logo. But because he had indeed graduated from this school, coupled with his persistent refusal to admit it, netizens began to dig deep into the admission requirements of Standing Laifu College.
If it was truly revealed that he had been on a customized education path since middle school, buying his way to a master’s degree, it would be a massive loss of face!
Just as Jiang Tong was hesitating, an authoritative official education media outlet posted a Weibo message strictly prohibiting the buying, selling, and falsification of academic credentials.
In recent years, cases of academic fraud had been rampant. China had always maintained a zero-tolerance policy, exposing and forcibly shutting down a batch of unlicensed and non-compliant diploma mills every year. This kind of opportunistic behavior seriously undermined social order.
It was easier to rectify and stop the damage with domestic institutions, but foreign schools were much harder to control. In particular, many small companies were not strict in screening diplomas and still held the old-fashioned belief that anyone who studied abroad was a top student, thereby squeezing out other job applicants.
If someone was unknowingly scammed out of their money and wasted several years of their youth, they might receive public sympathy, but such cases were rare.
Jiang Tong avoided talking about Standing Laifu and deliberately used Standing University to confuse the public, which clearly showed he knew the nature of his alma mater.
Furthermore, by flaunting his master’s degree, how was he any different from those who spent money to buy diplomas and push others out of jobs? He had perfectly stepped on a landmine and was being made an example of.
Thus, many influential official education media outlets began to share the post, severely criticizing Jiang Tong’s academic fraud and essentially labeling him a disgraced artist.
These official media outlets had a huge number of followers. Parents of students followed them, and students themselves followed them. After they entered the fray in large numbers, Jiang Tong’s deeper and more serious academic fraud became known to everyone.
Seeing this trend, Jiang Tong’s team finally began to panic. Against those pestering netizens, they could use the power of money to delete posts, nuke hashtags, and suppress trending topics to shut them up.
But these official accounts were different. As long as Jiang Tong’s team was in China, they couldn’t escape this kind of judgment. So, Jiang Tong directly deleted the graduation photo he had initially posted at Standing University and had his studio issue an apology.
The apology seemed sincere at first glance, but the latter half subtly used rhetoric to play the victim, implying that he didn’t rely on this to build his persona anyway.
As soon as the announcement was released, the studio immediately arranged for paid trolls to control the comments section. They used the same old trick, bringing up Jiang Tong’s status as a rich second-generation heir to divert attention, creating the impression that Jiang Tong was just dabbling in the entertainment industry for fun, trying to retain fans with his only remaining persona.
The marketing trolls swept through Weibo like a flood, as if they were free. Since Jiang Tong had posted a lot of content showing off his wealth before, they didn’t even need to bother creating new material; there was plenty to go around.
Photos of various designer clothes, watches, luxury cars, and mansions were everywhere, desperately defending his rich second-generation persona.
After receiving their payment, the paid trolls blindly praised him, spreading this persona everywhere. They even stormed the comment sections of those official education media accounts to flaunt his superiority.
Originally, after Jiang Tong’s apology was released, although the official media’s wording was severe, they hadn’t definitively labeled him a disgraced artist; everything was still under consideration.
But at this critical moment, Jiang Tong’s paid trolls were still taking pride in being rich. Although their intention was to express that Jiang Tong didn’t rely on his diploma, at this juncture, wasn’t it just using money to show off superiority and flout the rules?
These official accounts were determined to handle this matter seriously and make an example of him to warn young people who might be tempted to take shortcuts.
And so, just five minutes after Jiang Tong’s studio posted that apology, it vanished into thin air!
The gossip-mongering netizens thought the young master Jiang was feeling guilty again and wanted to rush over to see why he had deleted his own apology.
But when they clicked, not only was that post deleted, but Jiang Tong’s studio’s Weibo account was instantly banned!
They refreshed the page, and sure enough, Jiang Tong’s personal Weibo was banned, the fan forum related to him was shut down, and all trending topics related to Jiang Tong disappeared in just one minute!
At first, the netizens were a bit slow to react, but having consumed their fair share of gossip, they finally came to their senses when someone pointed it out:
【I remember the last time we saw a spectacle like this was when a certain male celebrity was arrested for drug use. Am I witnessing history again?】
【Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, so Jiang Tong has been banned?】
【Isn’t Jiang Tong a super-rich second-generation heir? He got banned just like that?】
【To the person above, please look carefully. You are in China, a socialist country, not a capitalist one. So what if Jiang Tong’s family is rich? Does he think he can establish his own kingdom on Weibo?】
【Well, the wish of Jiang Tong’s fans has come true. Your brother is really going back to inherit the family business.】
【Hiss… After Jiang Tong leaves the industry, he won’t reappear on some financial news page as a successful entrepreneur, will he? Oh god, I really don’t want to see him again.】
【Jiang Tong’s family seems to be quite powerful. Yuncheng is the economic center outside of the capital, Yancheng. If Jiang Tong goes back to inherit the family business, won’t it be a matter of minutes before he pops up again in some interviews?】
【Help, I couldn’t stand his behavior before. I can’t imagine what kind of state he would run a company into, a person who would buy and deliberately fake his academic credentials.】
【Damn, now that you mention it, I’m scared too. Can someone give us a heads-up on which company to avoid?】
【Want to avoid +1. I hope I never have any dealings with Jiang Tong’s family business in my lifetime.】
As netizens grew more curious, it turned out that Jiang Tong’s family background wasn’t some impenetrable secret in the industry. After all, the more someone lacks something, the more they want to prove it to others.
Jiang Tong had no significant works in the entertainment industry. Like countless rich second-generation heirs who dabbled in the circle, he created buzz with trending topics as soon as he entered, then gained exposure on variety shows, and then secured a few endorsements to stabilize his position.
Take the variety show 《Secret Room Rush Rush Rush》 for example. Yu Jin and Shen Yi had just come off a moderately successful campus drama with national recognition. Although both were newcomers, there were rumors in the industry that the drama could win awards, either for the work itself or for the actors.
As for Hang Yunfan, an original singer-songwriter who grew up abroad, he had won awards in many foreign competitions and always firmly emphasized that he was from China. Even though he had just returned to the country, he had received considerable attention.
As for Mu Yanxi, when she took on this variety show, it was precisely when major official media outlets were praising her for her positive energy and life-saving actions. The review process for secret room-type variety shows was strict, and the production team was, in a way, currying favor with the relevant authorities.
Furthermore, variety shows love to have a beautiful female artist as a regular guest to attract eyeballs. With Mu Yanxi’s looks, even without the official media praise that made her famous, no one would have been too surprised if she was chosen for this show. It would be clear the production team wanted her for her face.
Therefore, Jiang Tong, who relied solely on money, became the sole outlier among them. The endorsements Jiang Tong secured also involved similar under-the-table rules.
But money alone wasn’t enough in the entertainment industry. To secure resources, one needed backing. Initially, when Jiang Tong collaborated with Yi Jingming and Yi Zizhuo, he used Rongjia Entertainment as his backer. After the Shuilin Fang incident, Jiang Tong simply had his manager use his family background to negotiate with clients.
The entertainment industry was known for fawning over the powerful and trampling on the weak. Seeing Jiang Tong banned, the artists who had suffered at his hands seized the opportunity, while the heat was still on, to enlighten the netizens.
Thus, under the comments where everyone was asking which company to avoid, many newly registered accounts suddenly appeared to guide the conversation:
【Jiang Tong is from Yuncheng. I remember he said his family runs some kind of construction company.】
【Jiang Tong looks quite rich. Can’t we just go down the list of comprehensive rankings for construction companies in Yuncheng? See which company’s head has the surname Jiang?】
【Yeah, yeah, maybe we’ll find Jiang Tong’s name directly (doge face).】
The netizens got the gossip they wanted and didn’t bother to discern if it was intentional. When it came to gossip, they were all willing to start searching on Baidu. Some even shared tutorials on how to use Tianyancha to look up corporate information.
Thanks to the enthusiastic digging of the vast number of netizens, Chenyue Construction finally surfaced.
As a construction company that had risen in Yuncheng in just a few years, Chenyue Construction had not only built some public facilities but also contracted for the architectural design and renovation of many private properties.
Netizens couldn’t do much about the former, but they could certainly avoid the latter! Renovation and construction were things most people would have to deal with if they got married, so they all spontaneously started to avoid it:
【For someone like Jiang Tong who buys a diploma and then pretends it’s from another school, how do I know my house won’t collapse in a gust of wind after Chenyue finishes renovating it?】
【Oh my god, now that you say that, I’m really scared. Will I get killed by a falling chandelier while eating dinner?】
【And paint poisoning, using substandard materials for everything… help, why did this suddenly get so terrifying?】
【It’s over, it’s over, my new home was renovated by Chenyue. Now that you’ve all said this, I don’t dare to live in it. Can I get a refund?】
【Stay away from Chenyue, live a long and peaceful life.】
【Stay away from Chenyue, live a long and peaceful life.】
These eight characters were spammed by netizens, and once such negative influence spread, it was something no company could bear.
A large number of netizens also flooded the official Weibo of Chenyue Construction to boycott it. Many netizens who had already used or were currently using Chenyue’s designers for renovation demanded compensation.
It was lunchtime, and the PR manager of Chenyue Construction was facing such a public opinion crisis for the first time since taking office. Coupled with Jiang Tong’s sensitive identity, she didn’t dare to delay for a second and rushed to the president’s office.
The young president sitting in the office heard the report and retorted, “Since when did I have a younger brother?”
The manager was taken aback, quickly understood the unspoken family drama, and immediately left the president’s office to avoid the fallout.
After the door to the president’s office was closed, Jiang Yu picked up his phone, carefully worded a message, and sent it to Yi Wulan.
A reply came back quickly, saying that they would outsource all the construction engineering for the large-scale entertainment facilities at Shuilin Fang to Chenyue Construction. Jiang Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He had known for a while that Jiang Tong was using Chenyue Construction’s name to swindle his way through the entertainment industry. But since Jiang Tong hadn’t shown any ambition towards Chenyue Construction yet, he was happy to turn a blind eye for the sake of the old man at home.
But who told Jiang Tong to pick the wrong side? First, he presumptuously got involved with the collateral branch of the Yi family, and now he couldn’t even recognize the second miss of the Mu family.
As expected, he was just something that couldn’t be brought out into the open.
This time, even if the old man at home wanted to protect him, he would have to consider the reputation of the Rongjia Group.
With this in mind, Jiang Yu straightened his tie, picked up the documents on his desk, and strode out, instructing, “Meeting.”
Chenyue Construction’s official Weibo acted very quickly. After receiving the president’s instructions, they promptly released a statement with the company’s official seal:
【Recently, based on rumors spread by some internet users on various online platforms regarding our company’s chairman, Mr. Jiang Yu, our company hereby issues a statement: Mr. Jiang Yu has no direct siblings. Please do not spread or believe rumors. Otherwise, our company will pursue legal action.
Chenyue Construction has always adhered to the principle of customer first. If there are any quality issues, our company will not tolerate them.】
As soon as this Weibo post was released, the netizens who were still spamming comments were instantly stunned.
Jiang Tong wasn’t the crown prince of Chenyue Construction?
Then which family’s rich second-generation heir was he?
Could there be a second construction company in Yuncheng with the surname Jiang?
But this time, there was no need for netizens to rack their brains guessing. Someone in the know quickly appeared in the comments section and started revealing the melodramatic family secret of Jiang Tong’s mother being a mistress who drove the original wife to her death. This comment was pushed to the top of the hot comments under the statement by the crowd of gossip-mongers.
At that moment, Chenyue Construction’s official Weibo even liked this hot comment. Its authenticity was beyond doubt.
So what right did Jiang Tong have to market himself as a rich second-generation heir?
It was common knowledge that marital property is jointly owned. Jiang Tong had always been extravagant in the entertainment industry, casually spending hundreds of thousands to get on the trending list, and his outfits for each appearance were worth millions. Where did all this money come from?
Even if it came from his father’s share, that share originally belonged to the child of the original wife.
Wasn’t it stolen from the original wife?
While sympathizing with and vowing to support Chenyue Construction in the future, netizens trampled on Jiang Tong even more fiercely, with a sense that an illegitimate son is an illegitimate son. Having been used to stealing from the original wife, it was no wonder he would do things like buying and forging a diploma.
Talk of him being an illegitimate son, accompanied by his photo and full name, spread all over Weibo.
His reputation was completely ruined.
Jiang Tong’s studio was already in chaos after being banned by the official media. Jiang Tong went out for some fresh air, only to be pointed at by several people, who muttered words like ‘illegitimate son’ and ‘mistress’.
The color drained from Jiang Tong’s face.
The commotion on the street soon attracted more onlookers. At first, some people didn’t know what was going on, but once they heard this was a person who acted unscrupulously because of his status as an illegitimate son, even passersby who didn’t follow Weibo cast disdainful glances at him.
Jiang Tong lowered his head in embarrassment and ran back towards the studio. But just as he entered the building, he was blocked and served with a summons from the court.
He and his management team were being sued for slander and defamation by their paid trolls.
Meanwhile, the company’s lunch break was about to end. Yi Wulan had things to attend to in the afternoon. Seeing that Mu Yanxi looked like she could get full just from feasting on gossip, she didn’t press her further.
After taking Mu Yanxi to a dessert shop to buy a few small cakes, they returned to Rongjia.
Mu Yanxi lay half-reclined on the sofa, sipping milk tea and nibbling on a cake while chatting with Bai Yu’an.
It turned out that the one who had exposed Jiang Tong’s background under the Chenyue Construction post was none other than Bai Yu’an. After saying her piece online, she still wasn’t satisfied and pulled Mu Yanxi into a rant:
【I’m telling you, is there something seriously wrong with that Jiang Tong’s brain? My blood pressure shot up just watching your live stream last night, and he still managed to stir up so much trouble today.】
【He finally got some money from his old man, why didn’t he use it to get his brain checked? Isn’t he afraid of his rich second-generation persona collapsing?】
【His brother Jiang Yu seems so refined and well-mannered. How did he end up so petty and mean?】
【He deserved to be banned. That idiot should get as far away as possible.】
Even though Mu Yanxi was the one who had been dragged through the mud and framed by Jiang Tong online, Bai Yu’an seemed more aggrieved than Mu Yanxi herself. It was Mu Yanxi who ended up comforting her.
Mu Yanxi was happily chatting away, completely unaware that an unexpected guest had arrived in the president’s office.
Mu Yanqing had just closed a major financing deal at noon. Before she could even eat, her assistant reported that Mu Yanxi was being slandered online.
She had always turned a blind eye to Mu Yanxi’s affairs in the entertainment industry. She could ignore the previous slanders, but something involving academic fraud was a different matter. She immediately had someone investigate the person behind it.
The investigation led her to Chenyue Construction. She decided to call Jiang Yu, only to find out that Yi Wulan had already spoken to him.
Coincidentally, she had a document to discuss with Yi Wulan, so she came to Rongjia after lunch.
Seeing her younger sister lounging on the sofa, lazily scrolling through her phone, she knew the matter had been resolved. She familiarly sat down across from Yi Wulan’s desk and handed her the document.
The two had already reached a consensus on this document. After they both signed, Yi Wulan looked at Mu Yanqing, who was still sitting opposite her, and shooed her away, “Yanxi is on the sofa in the inner room.”
“I know.” Mu Yanqing leisurely closed her copy of the document and smiled. “Did you resolve the matter on Weibo?”
Yi Wulan glanced at her and emphasized, “You can leave now.”
Over the years, Mu Yanqing had grown accustomed to Yi Wulan’s perpetually deadpan face, which looked like she was owed several hundred billion. She glanced in Mu Yanxi’s direction and, unafraid of death, began to gloat:
“Do you know how many rich second-generation heirs in Yuncheng have hinted to me about wanting a marriage alliance with our little Xi? Do you know how many fans online now want to sneak in and steal Xiao Xi in the middle of the night? And you? I bet Xiao Xi has no idea you did anything to help her, does she?”
The document in Yi Wulan’s hand flew towards Mu Yanqing with a ‘whoosh’.
Mu Yanqing reacted quickly and dodged to the side, her face full of a punchable ‘Ha! You missed!’ expression.
Yi Wulan’s face turned cold. “As her older sister, why didn’t you help her in the past two years?”
“Why should I help? I was being considerate of her, not wanting her to work so hard, so I didn’t make her work at Xinyu. But that doesn’t mean I like seeing her in that cesspool of an entertainment industry.” Mu Yanqing paused. “Besides, don’t you usually dislike people from the entertainment industry?”
Yi Jingming’s mother was once a household name, a famous actress in the entertainment industry.
Yi Wulan glanced towards the sofa. “She’s different.”
Hearing this, Mu Yanqing’s anxious heart gradually settled.
But she couldn’t resist stirring the pot and teased, “Yi Wulan, no wonder you’re so deeply in love with Xiao Xi, yet it’s unrequited. Tsk tsk.”
Yi Wulan: …
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