Chapter 107: Hooking a Big Fish

On the other end of the line, Wang Sicong was visibly stunned when he heard Su Chen’s words.

“...A smear campaign? Brother Chen, do you mean you weren’t in a fight last night, and you weren’t taken away by the police?” Wang Sicong asked at once.

Su Chen answered with a smile, “Of course not!”

This only made Wang Sicong more bewildered. He fell silent for a long while before speaking again.

“But that video was way too clear. The person in it looks and sounds exactly like you!”

“Could it be... AI face-swapping has advanced to that level these days?!”

Wang Sicong would rather believe the video was fabricated by AI than believe Su Chen could really do something like that.

Su Chen found him a little amusing for being so slow-witted, but he was still moved by Wang Sicong’s trust.

After all, in the entertainment world, mutual trust is the rarest thing of all.

So Su Chen briefly told him everything that had happened the night before. When Wang Sicong finished listening, he could not help but explode in curses.

“Damn it?! My Brother Chen was clearly the victim, and they said you were in a fight?”

“Clearly Brother Chen was saving lives and healing the wounded, and they said you were hurting a defenseless old man?”

“It would be one thing if the rumor-mongers said that, but how can all those brainless netizens believe it too? That’s way too absurd!”

Wang Sicong kept muttering and cursing, never once realizing that he himself had also been led astray by those rumor-spreading videos, and that he was one of the very brainless netizens he was insulting.

In truth, it was not that these netizens could not tell right from wrong; it was simply that the clip the paparazzi had edited together was too convincing, so convincing it stirred up public fury.

The hostility online was already a hundred times worse than in real life, and with such a video added on top of it, Su Chen felt he would have to be extra careful whenever he went out these next few days...

“Brother Chen, don’t worry. Our company’s legal department is still top-notch. I’m going to gather evidence right now and sue every last person spreading lies about you until they’re sewing clothes in prison!”

Wang Sicong’s temper flared. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, the more he said, the worse he felt. He was ready to hang up at once and go demand justice for Su Chen.

But before he could act, Su Chen stopped him.

“Take it easy. Since I was wrongly accused, someone must be pushing this from behind the scenes. And I also want to know how many people are hoping I die.”

“Let’s wait a little longer. I want to keep watching. It seems there are still plenty of people who haven’t had time to speak up for justice yet.”

Su Chen’s tone also helped Wang Sicong calm down.

He could tell Su Chen had his own ideas and plans, so he did not insist any further, only saying, “All right then... but if anything happens, Brother Chen, you have to tell me!”

“I only just started taking over Wanda recently, and I’ve been so busy I’m a bit overwhelmed, but as long as Brother Chen says the word, Wanda will be your strongest backing!”

Su Chen laughed and scolded him, “Don’t go running wild. They say wealth doesn’t last past three generations, and with how unreliable you are, I’m starting to worry for your father.”

“Cough, cough... don’t worry, Brother Chen. Wanda is huge, with such a big family business. I don’t think even I could ruin it all on my own!” Wang Sicong said with an awkward laugh.

“...You really are your father’s fine son.”

After the two chatted for a while, Su Chen ended the call.

He had originally wanted to lie back down and sleep a little longer, but after Wang Sicong’s lively chatter, he was no longer sleepy at all.

Su Chen could only let out a long sigh, get dressed, and wash up.

He was planning to head downstairs for breakfast and lunch in one go, but the moment he opened the door, he saw Han Jiangxue standing right outside his room with a pair of panda eyes, her hand raised as if she had been about to knock.

Su Chen: ???

Su Chen said, “...Boss Han, what happened to you? Did you rest so much you ended up with panda eyes?”

Han Jiangxue, expressionless, simply brushed past him and entered the room, using her foot to shut the hotel door behind her.

Only then did she say, “How am I supposed to rest? I came back to the hotel planning to scroll through my phone and let myself get sleepy, and what do I find? The entire internet is filled with negative news about you.”

“I tried telling the netizens the truth and explaining the facts, but none of them would listen. They just kept saying I was your lapdog. Ugh, I was so angry I nearly died of it!”

Han Jiangxue was in a frenzy, and Su Chen felt both amused and sorry for her.

“So you’ve been fighting on Weibo all this time?”

“Not exactly, just for an hour or two...” Han Jiangxue said.

“And I was just about to win, but for some reason a video from last night suddenly appeared online, and it had clearly been maliciously edited.”

“Those people were almost convinced by me already, but after they watched that video, my side... was routed completely.” Han Jiangxue said with a mournful face.

Then she shot Su Chen a fierce glare.

Su Chen kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, pretending he knew nothing at all.

In truth, Han Jiangxue was not all that angry. She was just a little upset that she had been on the verge of winning the online battle, only for something like this to happen suddenly, making her feel that all her earlier efforts had been for nothing.

Because Han Jiangxue knew that the only people who could possibly have that video at the moment were the police and Su Chen, and the police would never publish a citizen’s information so bluntly on the internet.

Not to mention the video had been maliciously edited, and Su Chen had no grievance against the police.

So this video could only have been released by Su Chen. And once Han Jiangxue realized it had been him, she more or less understood his intentions.

Su Chen was fishing, using his own reputation to hook a big fish!

But Han Jiangxue was still unhappy, because whenever Su Chen did something so important, he never even told her about it!

Han Jiangxue glanced at Su Chen and said, pretending to be angry, “Stop pretending. I’m not stupid. You were the one who posted the video, weren’t you?”

“No,” Su Chen said at once, shaking his head.

“So you mean the police posted it?”

“If that’s the case, I’m going to the police station right now to demand an explanation.”

Hearing her, Su Chen knew that further denial would be pointless.

He stopped Han Jiangxue and said helplessly, “It was me. I sent it to the paparazzo, and had him edit it before sending it to Xu Fangyuan.”

At Su Chen’s admission, Han Jiangxue bit her lip and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me in advance?”

“You were going up against an entire entertainment company by yourself. How exhausting and difficult must that have been? If you had told me, I could have at least helped you!”

Looking at the mist gathering in Han Jiangxue’s eyes, Su Chen suddenly reached out and pulled her into his arms.

“I know you care about me, but this matter is between me and Xu Fangyuan. I want to bring her down with my own hands, like a man.”

“And you said it yourself: the other side is an entire entertainment company. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me, not even by public opinion.”

In Su Chen’s arms, Han Jiangxue’s slender body trembled lightly.