TNSFC – Chapter 90

Of course, the act of tossing the shirt aside was Que Yining’s doing. She was wearing a blouse today, a rather unique style that was very easy to put on and take off.

When their passion peaked, she had coaxed Gu Shanxue into unbuttoning it, and she herself had thrown the garment away.

She feared that if she moved any slower, the person immersed in the moment would sober up.

Que Yining was like a demon seducing a saintess to absorb her essence, leaning limply and bonelessly against Gu Shanxue, her deliberately drawn-out tremolo wantonly igniting fires in the quiet, luminous space.

Gu Shanxue’s fair face was beaded with a thin layer of sweat, covered with a blush like rouge. Her usual cool demeanor had mostly dissipated, and she sank deeper into Que Yining’s gaze.

Who could refuse such worldly pleasures?

The throw pillow on the sofa was tossed aside as if it were in the way, grazing the cat’s head as it went, making the cat, which had been curiously watching from its spot, jump away with a dissatisfied purr.

Light breaths sprayed onto her neck, gently lingering. Que Yining’s hand pressed the back of Gu Shanxue’s neck, her elegantly lined neck tilted upwards, hastily drawing in oxygen, her eyes shimmering with moisture, reflecting light.

As pure white as the bright moon in the sky, as soft as clouds. The one who adored and admired held it up, leaving her own mark upon it.

Sometime during the night, a fog had risen, enveloping them, draping them in a hazy layer.

Low voices intertwined, sometimes hurried, sometimes steady, sometimes rising, sometimes falling.

Que Yining’s leg, still undergoing rehabilitation, rested limply on the sofa, her toes touching the carpet. Her other, freely movable leg was audaciously spread wide.

Her hand clasped Gu Shanxue’s, leading Gu Shanxue on a journey of pleasure.

Fortunately, she was wearing a long skirt today, otherwise it really wouldn’t have been so convenient.

But before they reached the heart of the matter, the phone on the coffee table suddenly rang, its clear ringtone shattering the romantic atmosphere.

Gu Shanxue, as if startled, withdrew her hand, her whole body steaming, turning from white to red.

Que Yining glared at her phone on the coffee table as if it were her greatest enemy, silently cursing whoever had ruined her good moment at this time.

She had almost managed to seal the deal with Gu Shanxue, but this call had to come so tactlessly at this very moment.

The caller ID showed Li Suyin. She wouldn’t call her for no reason; if she called, it meant there was company business, and it wasn’t trivial.

Que Yining put her leg back on the floor, picked up the phone, her face still etched with cold displeasure.

She answered the phone, looking at Gu Shanxue beside her, who had turned into a little red person, and her mood warmed slightly.

“Boss, something’s happened………”

Li Suyin briefly explained the general situation to Que Yining, hoping she could go online and take control of the situation.

After listening, Que Yining’s expression became serious, and she asked Gu Shanxue to lend her the computer.

After reading what Li Suyin had sent her, she roughly understood what had happened.

A large amount of malicious low-scoring content for the game appeared in major app stores and game stores. Galaxy Watch‘s ratings plummeted across various platforms.

The studio also received a call from regulatory authorities, who, due to the excessive number of reports, hoped they would improve the game’s character designs soon.

This alone wouldn’t have been enough for Li Suyin to disturb Que Yining. More importantly, there were fabricated negative materials and press releases, and someone had even bought a trending topic for it, clearly a large-scale, premeditated attack.

Under the game’s tag, there were almost all negative reviews, as if the game’s reputation had plummeted in a short time, and it was about to flop before it even became popular.

Que Yining would absolutely not sit back and wait for defeat. The game was still in its initial stages, the real peak of its popularity hadn’t arrived yet. If it didn’t achieve the expected returns, she would suffer severe losses.

She was very familiar with these marketing tactics, and she was also familiar with the opponent’s methods. She wasn’t too flustered, just wondering who would go to such lengths and expense to slander them.

She had someone in mind, but she felt that even if that person couldn’t acquire her studio, they probably wouldn’t go this far.

“Is it serious?”

Gu Shanxue glanced over a few times, composed herself, and asked.

“It’s alright, the problem isn’t too big.”

Que Yining replied, looking at the posts.

There were all sorts of slanders, the most common being accusations of plagiarism.

She had proposed a 4v4v4 battle format, unprecedented in the market, making it a pioneer in terms of structural framework. But if someone was determined to slander, they could fabricate any kind of evidence.

The “exposés” were detailed and seemingly credible, but the so-called evidence was truly laughable—a hodgepodge of explanations, accusing Galaxy Watch of plagiarizing skills, posters, models, and plot, as if it were a game tailor, patching together bits from other games.

The top comments were filled with either paid trolls or easily swayed passersby; scrolling down, it was almost all negative reviews. Fortunately, some players and onlookers remained clear-headed.

【A Little Orange】: Seriously, what’s going on in this comment section? How the hell can this be called evidence? The graphics, design, and plot are completely different. Why are there suddenly so many “geniuses” who haven’t even played the game jumping on the bandwagon to hate it?

【Oh oo】: Haven’t played the game, but I looked at the screenshots, and I don’t think it looks very similar.

【Xun Feng】: I don’t think this skill is exactly the same, right? How is it plagiarizing some popular game? Shameless?

But these voices seemed very faint amidst the overwhelming flood of content from paid trolls.

Besides plagiarism, there were also parental complaints, and even sensational, unverified news about people dying suddenly from playing the game.

【Unintentional Draft Through the Hall】: Typing out a question mark. Why are all sorts of freaks and monsters suddenly appearing? Blaming the game for someone dying suddenly from playing it??? There’s a health system, what the hell does it have to do with the game?

【Allow Sadness】: Can parents please watch their own kids? If he died suddenly from studying, would you blame studying for being wrong?

【Lu Qi】: I’m so angry my head hurts. I was supposed to play with a classmate. I’m already hooked, but she hasn’t started yet. She just “educated” me with a whole bunch of reasons why this game is bad. I clicked to see the evidence, and it just made me laugh. Spreading rumors really costs nothing, and marketing accounts are just out for dirty money.

Que Yining looked at today’s activity data. These things indeed had an impact on the game. These issues hadn’t just appeared tonight; they had been around for a few days, but back then they had almost no effect, so the PR team hadn’t paid much attention. But tonight, it suddenly exploded, leaving them unprepared and only able to issue a clarification statement, then watch the negative material spread like a virus.

This actually wasn’t enough to make old players quit; after all, as long as the game itself was attractive, they wouldn’t give up. But it would create resistance among new players who had just started and potential players who hadn’t had a chance to try the game yet.

Just as she was pondering, the phone beside her rang again.

“Boss, the clarification statement has been out for a while, and the accountability notice has also been posted, but it hasn’t had much effect. Even the game streaming platforms have been affected.”

Que Yining looked at what Li Suyin sent. In the live streaming rooms of some streamers playing Galaxy Watch, many people were stirring up trouble about the game. Bigger streamers were fine, managing their rooms well, but smaller streamers and new streamers with little popularity directly shut down their streams amidst the abuse, or switched to streaming other content.

Li Suyin: “This platform also had its game section disappear. When we called to inquire, they claimed it was a server issue and kept changing the subject.”

“Has the section reappeared?”

Que Yining asked, suppressing her anger.

Li Suyin: “It reappeared, but the live streams are lagging, some are even frozen and won’t open, while others are still smooth.”

“Boss, do we need to deploy our own paid commentators for clarification? The current public opinion is really unfavorable for us.”

“Not yet. Note down the problematic ones, keep an eye on the worst rumor-mongers on each platform. When the number of reposts reaches a prosecutable level, send lawyer’s letters directly. Have the legal department prepare. Then hire paid commentators to amplify the impact of this. Remember, don’t let a single one off the hook.“

Que Yining was furious. For something like this to happen on such an important night, she felt like mincing the culprit and feeding them to the dogs.

After that, Que Yining’s phone didn’t stop ringing. She was either answering calls or making them, constantly contacting friends, reassuring partners, busy without a break.

Gu Shanxue wasn’t idle either. She used her connections to make inquiries and lent her own PR team to Que Yining.

After several hectic hours, around two or three in the morning, Que Yining finally found out who was behind it, and she was so angry she threw her phone.

“Que Linyang!”

Que Yining gritted her teeth. Que Linyang really spared no effort in targeting her; even while she was causing him trouble, he didn’t forget to create problems for her.

Que Linyang had somehow teamed up with Min Jiazhi, causing two partners she had already secured to back out.

Que Linyang alone couldn’t have had such a significant industry impact on her in this area. But with Min Jiazhi’s Zhizhen Games involved, it was different. Zhizhen Games had competed with Wu Anzhi’s Xindong Games for years, so their strength was definitely not small. If he deliberately suppressed her, it wasn’t surprising the situation turned out this way. Fortunately, Wu Anzhi was helping her, preventing the situation from deteriorating further.

Min Jiazhi had even sent a message just now, feigning concern, while also expressing his intention to acquire the game and making some teasing remarks. Que Yining couldn’t be bothered to curse him, so she just hung up and blocked him.

Que Yining went to check the game forums again. The moderators were doing a good job; they had long since deleted the negative posts and even set up filtered words. So the atmosphere there was still good, with many players indignantly defending the game.

The struggles of capital are like an undercurrent; what everyone sees is just the tip of the iceberg.

Que Yining closed the forum, frowning in annoyance.

In the past, these things wouldn’t have been enough to make her so upset. It wasn’t an unsolvable predicament, just a bit tricky. But today was different.

Que Yining felt depressed just thinking about it—the Gu Shanxue she had almost had.

Gu Shanxue, beside her, saw her somewhat mournful expression and was a little confused.

“It’s late. Rest first, we’ll look at it tomorrow.”

Gu Shanxue thought she was in a bad mood because of what happened tonight and spoke comfortingly.

Que Yining looked at her and suddenly asked a question: “Shanxue, did you wash your hands just now?”

Gu Shanxue froze for a moment, then shot up from the sofa as if burned, looking at her hands in distress, and hurried to the bathroom.

A few hours ago, Gu Shanxue’s hand had been pressed by Que Yining to touch a soft, smooth place, and a clear fluid had adhered to it. What happened afterward was so sudden that Gu Shanxue, in her haste, forgot what her hand had touched. She had gone to get the computer for Que Yining, then started working herself, contacting her people.

Que Yining watched Gu Shanxue’s somewhat flustered figure, and her restless mood improved a lot. She couldn’t help but reveal a mischievous smile.

Gu Shanxue washed her hands in the bathroom, her heart in turmoil, so embarrassed that if there were a hole in the bathroom floor at that moment, she would have dived right into it.

Gu Shanxue had mild mysophobia, but at this moment, she didn’t feel disgust or aversion, but rather a subtle embarrassment.

She washed her hands clean, then, under Que Yining’s gaze, wiped down the computer and phone she had just touched, disinfected them, and only after doing all this did she let out a small sigh of relief.

“Am I that dirty, Shanxue, that you have to wipe it clean, disinfect it, and then wipe it again.”

Que Yining said, feigning grievance, almost bursting into laughter at Gu Shanxue’s helpless attempt to explain.

“No, I was just wiping it, it’s not that you’re dirty……”

Gu Shanxue’s mind was about to crash. She just wanted to clean up and eliminate the evidence, not expecting this action to be so easily misunderstood.

“Really? I don’t believe you. Unless you touch me again, I won’t believe it.”

A bold, teasing invitation, an unrestrained smile, a sexy expression. Que Yining leaned lazily on the sofa, and before she even made a move, Gu Shanxue was already blushing furiously again.

“You should rest early.”

Gu Shanxue directly picked Que Yining up from the sofa, and without a word, placed her in the guest room. Then she rushed out, pushed the wheelchair in, hastily dropped that sentence, and closed the door, completely losing her usual composure.

Que Yining trembled with laughter in the room, mentally ticking off an item on her progress chart.

The next day, Que Yining didn’t go to Que Corporation but rushed to the Qingyun Studio headquarters.

After a night of effort, public opinion had fermented even more intensely. Fortunately, their clarification was quick enough, and the voices weren’t entirely one-sided.

Que Yining had the official Weibo account repost a lottery and organized a collection event. Anyone who came to cause trouble was blocked immediately; there was no need to give them any attention.

When Que Yining arrived at the company, Li Suyin showed her another press release that had just been published. This time, it wasn’t slandering the game, but her.

The person who wrote this report was quite skilled. Under the guise of introducing her, they dug up her past, or rather, the original owner’s past, completely.

It listed her education, things the original owner had done in the past, seemingly objectively and fairly stating these matters, but actually, it was very pointedly slandering her. Some even irresponsibly stirred up trouble, claiming the game’s creativity wasn’t hers at all, but that she had snatched it from others using her family background.

“Spreading rumors really costs nothing!”

In the meeting room, Xie Yanhuai was furious. They had built the studio from scratch. No one knew better than these veterans where the creativity came from. How could someone else just pop up out of nowhere with baseless claims?

“They realized attacking the game wasn’t working, so they started attacking the boss. Many magazines have requested interviews. I’ve already selected some……”

Li Suyin placed the materials in front of Que Yining, listing some magazines and weeklies she found reliable.

The team’s attitude was to fight a quick battle. When the opponent made a move, they would quickly clarify, lest it dragged on too long and the onlookers made up their minds before seeing the follow-up.

“No need to be angry. Fakes can’t become real. I’m not someone they can just trample underfoot. Since they’ve spent so much effort and money marketing against us, how can we let their hard work go to waste? If we don’t turn this traffic into ours, how can that be acceptable?”

Que Yining curled her lips, her smile full of deep meaning.

Everyone suddenly understood and exchanged knowing smiles.

Soon after, the official Galaxy Watch Weibo account published an article. The cover image attracted everyone’s attention and was widely reposted.

Sha Xiaoman was a girl who loved playing games and was always at the forefront of internet surfing. She first saw Galaxy Watch on a streamer she followed. After watching a few rounds, she found it interesting and downloaded it. Upon entering the game, she was immediately attracted by the heroine Afra displayed in the lobby.

No girl can refuse to play as a beautiful girl! She decisively got hooked. Not only did she watch live streams every day to learn the controls, but she also got heavily into shipping CPs. As a talented artist, she quickly became famous in the community.

She loved this game and spared no effort in promoting it, pulling people in to play together happily. So when she saw the negative material about the game last night, she immediately clicked to read it.

As a fan of this game, Sha Xiaoman hoped it wasn’t true. So before clicking to see the evidence, she prayed it was just idiots stirring up trouble. After reading the so-called evidence, she laughed.

As an artist, she really couldn’t see where the poster was plagiarized or where the characters and scenes were similar. Some compositional similarities were within reasonable limits; after all, people all have two eyes, one nose, and one mouth. She immediately took to her keyboard to argue.

After seeing the clarification and accountability notice posted by the official account, she reposted it immediately, hoping this storm would end quickly.

She fought late into the night. The next day, after waking up, she saw another widely reposted press release about the game’s founder, the boss of Qingyun.

Her first reaction was, “Are these people crazy?” Slandering the game was one thing, but now they were slandering the founder too. After reading those reports, she just wanted to say, “Is this blogger resentful of the rich?”

What’s wrong with a rich second generation enjoying life? How does that mean they can’t make games or do business?

And those articles with no solid proof, claiming the Qingyun Studio boss snatched the game idea from someone else—she just wanted to roll her eyes and say, “Show me the proof if you have any.”

Just as she was battling the haters, her phone vibrated, indicating that the official account she specially followed had posted.

“’A Few Things About Me and My Boss’… Pfft… What kind of genius title is this? Did the official account get hacked?”

However, as soon as Sha Xiaoman clicked in, she was struck by the beauty on the cover.

The beauty’s appearance was strikingly aggressive, her features bold, her gaze domineering, captivating one’s soul. She sat on a chair as if on a queen’s throne.

Sha Xiaoman was thrilled, mentally screaming about which beautiful Jiejie had made her fall in love in a second. Her hands trembled as she clicked into the article, shocked by the Jiejie’s beauty and talent.

The article clearly described the circumstances under which Galaxy Watch came about, how everyone worked overtime discussing it, what setbacks and difficulties they encountered, and briefly touched upon recent events.

The wording was concise, without unnecessary fluff or deliberate attempts to play the victim, only vibrant, upward vitality. At the end, there were two beautiful photos of the boss.

Sha Xiaoman was almost in tears after reading it, feeling incredibly sorry for her. She rushed to the comment section and quickly reposted the article to various group chats.

【Four Seasons in the Mountains】: May everything be as you wish, standing above the clouds (Qingyun), so those who are jealous can only look up. Go, Jiejie, go!

【indigo】: Boohoo, I cried, I really cried. I didn’t expect Jiejie to have been in a car accident. I watched the press conference and thought the boss was a big guy. Yesterday, when I saw that [negative article], I was quite puzzled. So that’s how it is. Thankfully, Jiejie, you are strong enough. The game is really good, really great!

【Be My Cat】: A super awesome game by a beautiful jiejie, who wouldn’t love it?

【Chang Yi Shi】: My game, charge! My game is the best!

【From the Question, We Get:】: Is the boss Afra herself???

This article appeared on major platforms with extreme speed. Que Yining bought a top spot on the trending list, and the discussion level rose even higher.

The PR department joyfully reported the shift in public opinion to Que Yining. Under the negative press releases, people were constantly clarifying. Wherever there was a negative association, game players were there recommending the game, causing those attracted by the negative material to curiously check what the official account said, and then get attracted by the game introduction, visuals, etc., and download the game.

All of this was within Que Yining’s expectations. After all, she acted uprightly, and those slanders meant nothing in the face of evidence. Besides, if Que Linyang knew how to manage a public persona, wouldn’t she?

Choose the best-looking photo as a cover to attract people, then explain the issues, don’t deliberately play the victim, just put up photos and state the facts lightly, boost morale, and look to the future.

But Que Yining didn’t really want to rely on her looks for publicity, which was why she hadn’t shown her face before. If the personal attack press releases hadn’t appeared, she wouldn’t have done this.

This was a swift battle, reversed in a very short time. Que Yining’s counterattack was beautiful. She didn’t just have the studio post on Weibo and do marketing; with Wu Anzhi’s help, she appeared in well-known industry interviews, attended industry awards. At the same time, the game’s daily active users and revenue hit new highs, and a brand collaboration was announced. She was in the limelight.

Her flaw of being temporarily unable to walk due to the car accident couldn’t be criticized; it only made people admire her strength and lament her misfortune.

This complete turnaround left Min Jiazhi unable to react. He was still immersed in his earlier joy. How did things change so drastically in just a few days?

According to his plan, shouldn’t Que Yining’s reputation be ruined by now, her funding chain broken, so he could seize the opportunity to acquire her?

Now, nothing was accomplished, and he had wasted a large sum of money for nothing!

He angrily called someone in his contacts and loudly questioned: “What’s going on? Didn’t you say that as long as her collaborations were cut off and we followed your method, she would have absolutely no way to fight back?”

Que Linyang on the other end was also overwhelmed. He never expected Que Yining to have more than just the Que family’s support behind her. This was completely beyond his control. The people supporting her were forces he couldn’t contend with. Moreover, her counterattack was too fast; the situation reversed completely in just a few days. His actions had even given the other party greater publicity. It was infuriating!

Que Linyang originally wanted to talk things over with Min Jiazhi, as he still had some use for him. But who knew Min Jiazhi would be so unreasonable, demanding benefits from him on the grounds that he had wasted money and made an enemy. How could Que Linyang agree?

Min Jiazhi: “Don’t forget, you were the one who approached me first!”

Que Linyang directly hung up and threw away the SIM card. Min Jiazhi was too stupid. He didn’t even know who he was dealing with and dared to cooperate and demand money. Ridiculous.

He paced back and forth in the study, still unable to resist smashing something out of frustration.

Hou Manni placed coffee on his desk, helped him pick up the things on the floor, a faint smile appearing on her lips. After leaving the room, she sent a text message to Que Yining.

Que Linyang was uncomfortable, which meant Que Yining was feeling incredibly pleased.

Actually, Que Linyang’s tactics weren’t wrong. If she truly only had herself, she would have had to borrow strength from the Que family, and then there would probably be more trouble waiting for her, falling into an even deeper trap set by Que Linyang, inevitably ending up in an isolated and helpless state.

But she wasn’t the original owner, not someone who had gotten this far relying only on luck.

Moreover, besides her brains and network, she also had Gu Shanxue, who supported her wholeheartedly.

---

If you’d like to read ahead and support me, you can request extra chapters or get the full novel as an EPUB.