In the venue full of reporters, the flashes occurred endlessly. The sound of shutter clicks continued to capture the posture of You Jiyuan kneeling on the stage.
Assistant Dong, who was standing beside the stage, glanced up and saw that the time was almost right. He put on a panicked expression and stepped onto the stage. He followed Bai Peilan to easily lift You Jiyuan’s arm, pulling up the grieving father.
Assistant Dong smoothed You Jiyuan’s suit. Then he faced the reporters in a very professional manner and said loudly, ‘Sorry, everyone. It is best not to send out the photos just now.”
You Jiyuan covered his face and coughed a few times. His eyes lowered, and he said in a deep voice, “I lost my composure.”
Assistant Dong and the other staff members rushed to the stage to help You Jiyuan and Bai Peilan sit back at the long table. Then at the prompting of Xiuming’s staff, the press interview session finally began.
Several entertainment reporters, who had been arranged in advance, raised their hands first and directly asked the explosive questions that had been decided in advance.
“Mr You, is the continuous plunge in Xiuming’s stock price today related to what you just said? Or can I ask if it is because your son You Mian led to a crisis of trust in Xiuming this time?”
The young Assistant Dong stood up and said in a reprimanding tone, “I’m sorry, Sir. This type of question…”
Before he could finish, You Jiyuan put on a kind look, nodded tiredly and confirmed it on the spot, “Yes.”
The atmosphere at the scene reached a climax again. In the chaos, the emotionally excited reporters no longer asked questions one by one in the order they had arranged in advance. They directly threw a large number of doubts heavily onto the stage.
“You Mian posted an agreement on the Internet not long ago with your signature and Xiuming’s seal on it, confirming that he no longer has any connection with the You family. You are aware of this, right?”
You Jiyuan’s pupils shrank. Before he could react, sharp questions came toward him one after another.
“An insider revealed that your biological son Bai Lin received an elite education abroad and attended a prestigious school. His personal oil painting exhibition he held while in school cost at least tens of millions… But as far as everyone knows, Bai Lin hadn’t been recognized by the You family at that time, and Bai Lin didn’t have any nominal adoptive parents. So was the money that he used given by you?”
The microphone was held high.
“So have you been secretly providing financial support to Bai Lin before we met?”
“Why didn’t you acknowledge him as your biological son when you knew about him?”
“You are biased between You Mian and Bai Lin.”
“Please answer directly…”
Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, You Jiyuan and Bai Peilan looked at each other hurriedly. The chairman’s assistant standing beside them had already raised his hand high in a panic and made a gesture of pressing down to signal for silence.
“We understand everyone’s emotions. We are holding this press conference today to answer everyone’s questions. We beg all our media friends to give Xiuming a chance to clarify. Ask one by one.”
You Jiyuan raised his hand toward the security guard standing next to the stage. Several burly men in black suits approached the side of the venue, causing the reporters, who had been extremely excited just now, to sit down instead of standing.
Assistant Dong had a smile in his eyes and no longer pretended. He directly pointed to a reporter who had been arranged in advance.
The man stood up and changed the topic, asking, “Mr You just emphasized the 20 years of raising, and every word was heart-wrenching. I’m sure you felt sad when You Mian directly released that recording and video, emphasizing that you no longer have anything to do with each other, right?”
The situation was finally brought back to normal. You Jiyuan sighed with relief, nodded, and said in a deep voice, “Yes, I believe that I haven’t treated him unfairly in terms of assets in the past 20 years. Xiao Mian has lived a superior life in the You family that ordinary people can’t achieve. I have provided him with the best environment for growth and the best educational resources.”
“I have a clear conscience about this!” You Jiyuan said in a sonorous and powerful voice.
The sound of shutter clicks rang out wildly. One after another, questions that had been arranged in advance were asked in public. After the press conference that lasted for over an hour, You Jiyuan walked out of the hotel lobby and got into the back seat of a luxury car.
Bai Peilan and Assistant Dong were already sitting on the leather seats.
You Jiyuan swept away the humble look he had just shown in front of the camera. He became fierce and ruthless again the moment the car door closed.
“Have all the reports been sent out?” You Jiyuan asked after taking the tablet handed to him by Assistant Dong.
Assistant Dong nodded and said with a smile, “The articles were all written in advance by our public relations team. They agreed to publish it according to what we wrote. Now public opinion has started to gain momentum. This is the first batch of articles that has been published. Mr You, please take a look.”
You Jiyuan followed his words and clicked on the article link on the tablet in his hand.
Bai Peilan smiled happily. She took out a bottle of champagne from the small refrigerator in the car. She tapped the glass with her lotus-pink nails and asked with a smile, “Celebrate Xiuming’s resurrection?”
The three people present had no doubts that after today’s press conference, You Mian wouldn’t be able to wash away this basin of dirty water.
What PR tactic was more powerful than a father kneeling down and crying?
Bai Peilan felt that they had made a brilliant move and couldn’t help wanting to celebrate.
But just as she unscrewed the champagne glass and the bubbles started to pop, You Jiyuan frowned and asked, “Why is the Internet loading so slow in the car?”
You Jiyuan stared at the buffering word on the tablet for around five or six seconds.
Upon hearing the sound, Bai Peilan and Assistant Dong leaned over to take a look.
Three seconds later, the page that had been in the buffering stage was finally refreshed.
[This content involves spreading rumors and has been deleted. Please correct it.]
The three people gasped at the same time. The water army had been set out, but the articles didn’t keep up. This was a major mistake!
You Jiyuan’s fingers clenched the tablet so tightly that they turned white. Wrinkles formed at the corners of his eyes.
He shouted loudly, “What is going on? Give me an explanation!”
Assistant Dong was so scared that his hands were shaking. He quickly took the tablet from You Jiyuan, picked up his phone, and started making a call.
Before the call was connected, Assistant Dong looked at You Jiyuan and said soothingly, “Don’t worry, Mr You. The scan from the platform’s machine must’ve encountered some banned words. This happens all the time. Just change it, and it will be fine.”
Bai Peilan held the champagne glass while thinking in her heart that this wasn’t a good sign.
She wasn’t in the mood to drink champagne, so she quickly took out her phone and opened Weibo and several other news platforms.
She looked through the hot search list from top to bottom, only to find several entries related to Xiuming, which had been hyped up before the press conference, had all disappeared!
Bai Peilan tried to type ‘Xiuming’ in the search bar, but apart from some show reports from half a year ago, she couldn’t see any news about this morning’s press conference.
Her breathing rate started to quicken, and her fingers started to tremble. She immediately tried to search for You Jiyuan and Bai Lin’s names, but the results were the same as before. She couldn’t find any blog post with the words ‘press conference’ written on it!
Bai Peilan’s expression was too ugly. You Jiyuan frowned angrily when he saw it. “What? The entries have also been removed?”
This type of publicity had been discussed in advance. Unless the platform went back on its word, it would’ve been impossible for JL to suppress it even if they wanted to.
You Jiyuan had guessed this and decided to hold a press conference. Therefore, his question was a casual one that was like a joke.
But after You Jiyuan finished speaking, Bai Peilan didn’t react for a long time. She stared at him in a daze.
The feeling of being out of control suddenly weighed down on the heads of the three people in the car. If they couldn’t send out the articles and entries, today’s press conference would be a joke like playing house.
You Jiyuan gulped before asking again, “Was it really taken down?”
Bai Peilan nodded hesitantly. “It is all gone.”
At the same time, Assistant Dong also called the contact number of an entertainment newspaper that they had given the most money to at this press conference.
The other party seemed to know what he was going to ask. Before he could open his mouth, he shouted, “Sorry, you have encountered someone tough this time. We will return the money in full and not take anything. We can’t take this job any longer.”
The assistant turned on the speakerphone, and You Jiyuan could clearly hear what the other person was saying.
He leaned over and snatched the phone that the assistant was holding to his ear. He shouted to the other person, “I want an explanation! What is going on now?”
You Jiyuan roared a few times. “Is the money not in place or is it something else? Is it because JL put pressure on you?”
No matter how big JL was in Huajiang City, it was at most a company and its influence was limited.
The press conference was well-prepared and eye-catching. The reporters who came were all expecting to get something big, which proved that they were prepared to be pressured by JL from the beginning.
Now that they receded, You Jiyuan felt extremely disbelieving.
The person on the other end of the phone sighed leisurely. “It isn’t just JL. The scope is even wider than this. All the public relations teams in Huajiang City and even national ones are collectively putting pressure on us. Some online streaming platforms also ordered us to remove those rumor articles.”
“It is the general trend,” the contact at the entertainment newspaper said. “In any case, we can’t take this job. We advise Mr You to stop because no one can take this job!”
“How is that possible?” You Jiyuan asked in surprise.
The person on the other end of the phone really seemed to not want to get involved in this mess. He hung up immediately after saying this.
You Jiyuan listened to the beeping sound in his ear, and the assistant finally found out the reason.
The young assistant said, “Mr You, it is because Matching Heartbeat was a huge hit last night. Its popularity has broken through the barrier between circles. Many advertisers and platforms have a new cooperation with them. From last night to now, there have been official announcements of new sponsors.”
You Jiyuan immediately snatched the tablet from his hand and scanned it.
From top to bottom, densely packed blue-labeled official Weibo accounts popped up like mushrooms after a rain. The top ten of the hot search list were all talking about the Matching Heartbeat show.
A huge crowd poured in. All the comments were positive and active under strict regulations.
More than a hundred advertisers made interactive comments on the Matching Heartbeat Weibo account, participating in the heated discussions with a spirit that went beyond the circle. The attention level was completely off the charts, making it a true national variety show.
The assistant said nervously, “All these new sponsors have joined in the pressure. Our reports have all been taken down in a matter of seconds. We can’t send out any of them.”
Driven by their own interests, the financiers who just made additional investments would naturally eliminate any false reports that would prevent them from making money.
The PR teams of hundreds of brands patrolled the Internet endlessly.
In particular, there were the articles about Xiuming where every word was directed at You Mian. They immediately attracted the attention of the PR teams. These teams contacted and removed the articles in less than two seconds.
Bai Peilan lowered her arm in a daze while You Jiyuan said angrily, “With such high popularity and such a big event, why didn’t you discover it before the press conference?”
The assistant said nervously, “It was because all of Xiuming’s PR teams were busy with the press conference. Some of them were also contacting Bai Lin’s fans. This was indeed our mistake. I’m sorry, Mr You.”
Another reason why Xiuming’s PR teams didn’t notice it was because You Mian’s popularity explosion this time was too fierce.
Who would’ve thought that a variety show that had only been slightly popular with its first few episodes would become as popular as it was now due to a few skiing videos?
No one could predict the future.
They all underestimated the impact of the episode aired last night and didn’t even put this incident on the list of things that needed to be prevented.
You Jiyuan was depressed and furious. “Apologizing is useless. Just quit and get out!”
The turnaround they carefully planned not only failed to bring Xiuming back to life, but instead made them a laughing stock in the circle.
It was really a slap in the face!
Unlike You Jiyuan’s group who already knew the current situation, Bai Lin’s fans on the Internet were charging against the current.
They jumped up and down under various entries related to the romance variety show, waiting for the situation to turn around as the big fans said.
But after a morning passed and then the whole day passed, all that was waiting was the official announcement of additional investments by several brands.
In addition, the fan who revealed the information that the situation would turn around suddenly deleted the account and ran away, leaving the group of fans, who had foolishly charged forward, staring blankly at their phones.
Even if the die-hard fans, who numbered only a few thousand, continued to insult others, it didn’t cause any ripples. In fact, they would be crushed by the celebrating crowd until there was nothing left.
At 8 o’clock in the evening, the official Weibo account of Matching Heartbeat, which had over 8 million fans, released the recording time of the last episode. In the midst of the excited and joyful voices of the fans, they announced that the last episode would be jointly broadcast in conjunction with the online streaming platform!
[Matching Heartbeat: @You Mian @Guan Tong @ Shen Nanxiao @Pei Huaiji @Yun Guanqing @Yan Tingxuan @Huo Yanzhi, the Dream Lake House, 48 hours of non-stop live streaming, the final confession day of love! Waiting for your arrival! Stay tuned!]
A few seconds later, You Mian’s Weibo also reposted this live stream message.
The chaotic online public opinion didn’t affect him at all.
In the cold night wind, You Mian wore a scarf and walked into the first floor of A College. His chestnut-brown curly hair swept across his amber eyes. The lean and handsome young man stopped at the stairs and looked up.
The gilded encouragement was hung high on the wall, unimpeded by wind or rain.
You Mian raised his head. The joy, admiration and longing in his curved eyes turned into a very complex emotion. Finally, he smiled gently.
He went upstairs and returned to the classroom to organize all his tools and books.
As he left the teaching building again, You Mian carried his bag and didn’t look back. Instead, he walked forward firmly.
In the moonlight, the gilded font reflected the gentle colors, reflecting You Mian’s elegant back like a veil.
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