When He Qingwei received Gu Anrou's call, he was sitting on a swivel chair. He propped his hands on the edge of the table and pushed backward. The chair slid back, and he casually yanked open the drawer in front of him.
Lying in the drawer was the A4 paper that Gu Anrou had left for him that day. There were several red circles drawn on it, marking the antiques he wanted, all worth tens of millions.
"Sure. Once the online public opinion escalates, I'll immediately lead a team to thoroughly investigate the antiques and cultural relics in their family."
Gu Anrou hired a large number of internet trolls. With her deliberate manipulation, the public opinion quickly hit the headlines. Many well - meaning but uninformed netizens rushed into the relevant posts and cursed the Xu family for faking.
As the popularity soared, Gu Anrou posted all of Father Xu's collections online, which further outraged the public. People mocked the Xu family for scamming.
Moreover, those business rivals who had always disliked Father Xu's integrity also jumped in at this moment and posted innuendos.
Xu Yan, who was still dealing with company affairs late at night, was disturbed by the vibrating phone. All his good brothers were sending him online news.
"Brother Yan, what's going on with your family? Someone is spreading rumors that your uncle faked things!"
"Brother Yan, go check the internet quickly. People online are mocking your family!"
"Xu Yan, it's bad. People from the Gu family are all making innuendos about your family. Now the netizens are almost going crazy with scolding. You should clarify things quickly!"
When Xu Yan logged onto the website, a flood of abusive messages bombarded his phone. It froze for a while before he could get in.
The hashtags like "The Xu family is a fraud" and "The Xu family faked things" directly shot up the trending list. Many people were scolding Father Xu for being unworthy of his reputation and demanding a thorough investigation of their family.
"…Snow White drove the queen out of the palace and married the prince. From then on, they lived happily ever after…"
To soothe the frightened children, Xu Qingqing accompanied them to sleep at night and told them bedtime stories.
When she closed the storybook, the two children were already sound asleep. Their peaceful sleeping faces were like cute little angels. Without their daytime mischief, they were even more lovable.
Xu Qingqing gently covered them with the quilt and then heard someone knocking on the door.
When she walked out, she saw Xu Yan looking anxious. He first peeked at the sleeping children. "Are the kids asleep?"
Xu Qingqing nodded and gently closed the door. Seeing Xu Yan's strange expression, she asked with concern, "Brother, what happened? Why do you look so pale?"
Remembering the online abuse, Xu Yan pursed his lips and couldn't speak. He handed his phone to Xu Qingqing.
When Xu Qingqing took the phone, she saw the ruthless accusations and abuse against her father. She was stunned for a moment and kept scrolling down. All she saw were vulgar insults.
Her father used to have a very good reputation. How could he suddenly become the target of public ridicule!
"Brother, what's going on? How did it turn out like this?"
"Someone forged a letter saying that Dad faked things and posted all of Dad's antique collections online. Those people think Dad obtained them through illegal means, so they're scolding him…"
"But all those antiques were obtained by Dad through proper channels, and most of them were passed down from our ancestors."
"It's so unfair for them to spread rumors without knowing the truth!" Xu Qingqing couldn't accept it.
"I know." Xu Yan also looked solemn.
"Does Dad know about this?" Xu Qingqing frowned even tighter, thinking that Father Xu cherished his reputation as much as his own life.
"Not yet. I came to you because I want to solve this before Mom and Dad see it."
Tang Li hadn't gone to sleep yet. He heard the voices in the corridor. Although Xu Qingqing and Xu Yan spoke very softly, Tang Li's ears had received special training and he could discern the source of the sound.
He glanced at the negative reviews online, opened the door, and asked, "Qingqing, is there anything I can do?"
Xu Qingqing, who was already worried, was startled by Tang Li's sudden appearance. "I've caused you enough trouble. You don't need to get involved in this."
"What are you talking about? Uncle and Aunt have been so kind to me. Now that they're in trouble, how can I just sit back and do nothing?"
Tang Li's gentle and handsome face was gilded by the dim yellow light, looking extremely sincere.
"Okay then. I hope you can take Mom and Dad out for a few days so that they won't know about this. My brother and I can then solve the problem without worry."
After Xu Qingqing finished speaking, Tang Li immediately nodded. "There's a foreign artist holding an art exhibition here. I'll take Uncle and Aunt to enjoy the paintings then."
"Thank you so much."
Once Mom and Dad were taken care of, they could deal with the matter without any distractions.
Xu Qingqing's sincere thanks made her beautiful peach - blossom eyes look like the setting sun falling on the peach petals under the orange light, warm and dazzling.
For a moment, Tang Li was stunned. After a few seconds, he came to his senses. "You're welcome."
After Lu Chuanbai saw the news about the Xu family's trouble, he immediately contacted the public relations department of the Lu Corporation.
"Immediately delete all those negative posts and use our internet trolls to control the comments."
The assistant thought it was inappropriate and tried to dissuade him. "Mr. Lu, right now everyone is avoiding the Xu family for fear of being associated with them and getting a reputation for faking. If we intervene rashly, it will damage our reputation…"
"The Xu family is innocent. Do as I say."
As he said this, Lu Chuanbai's mind was filled with Xu Qingqing's beautiful and innocent face.
Those charming eyes always carried a bit of tenacity, adding a unique charm to her.
He knew Xu Qingqing well. She would never do such a thing.
At the Lu family.
The step - mother, who was lying on the sofa in the study and swiping videos, saw the negative reviews about the Xu family and couldn't help clapping her hands in glee.
"Haha! The Xu family has finally fallen. No wonder they raised an unwed mother. It's really like the father, like the son!"
Hearing her sarcasm, Father Lu took off his glasses. "What are you saying? What happened to the Xu family?"
"What else could it be? They were caught faking things." The step - mother handed her phone to Father Lu.
Father Lu just glanced at the title of the news and threw the phone back.
Although he had only met Mrs. Xu once, he could sense the pride of a cultured person from her tone. A cultured person with such pride would never do anything fake.
"The things on the internet are all rumors. They're just baseless speculation. You should read less of this nonsense." Father Lu warned.
"A fly doesn't land on a seamless egg. If they did it, they shouldn't be afraid of people talking!" The step - mother said dissatisfiedly.
She just couldn't stand that girl and her family, as well as those two annoying brats!
"If you want to watch this kind of stuff, go outside." Father Lu said impatiently.
In the yard of the Lu family villa, a black Bentley drove in. After Lu Fenglin got home, he reported today's mission itinerary to Father Lu as usual.