YA Ch26: Trending

The police looked around. The journalists and cameramen stood together, indicating they were just passing by, enthusiastic media. So it was only Lu Yu and Xiao Jiang who came to cause trouble, not a crowd of three or more.

Since there were fewer than three people, the property damage was minimal, and Lu Yu was actively compensating. The police only gave a few words of criticism and told them to leave.

The story made the police frown, not wanting to deal with this mess.

“You…” Lu Chaoxi clutched his chest, wanting to say something harsh, but faced with the journalists’ predatory eyes, he swallowed his words.

“Go ahead, say it!” A female reporter encouraged him softly.

Lu Chaoxi, trembling, took a heart pill and turned back into his office, slamming the door.

Although they didn’t hear a harsh word, the media were still excited, taking more pictures of the door of Chaoxi Mill until the security guard chased them away. Then they quickly followed Lu Yu downstairs.

The journalists, eager to go back and write their stories, began interviewing Lu Yu in the elevator.

Journalist: “President Lu, did you do this because you suspect Lu Chaoxi sent someone to cut the power?”

Lu Yu: “No, I’m just angry that he copied my wife’s drawing.”

He couldn’t admit to something without evidence; otherwise, Lu Chaoxi could counter-sue him for defamation.

Journalist: “We’ve heard the server is damaged. Can the live broadcast still go on as scheduled?”

Lu Yu: “We’re working on repairs to ensure the live broadcast proceeds smoothly.”

As the elevator neared the first floor, a journalist habitually asked, “Are you doing this because you’re out of ideas?”

Suddenly, the elevator fell into an awkward silence.

Lu Yu lightly slapped Xiao Jiang’s chest with the back of his hand. “Xiao Jiang, they’re asking you.”

“Hahaha…” Everyone laughed, realizing they were there to trouble the opponent, not Lu Yu.

“Ding—” The elevator arrived, and the media dispersed quickly, not even waiting for the PR director’s pleasantries.

【Shocking: Chenyu Technology’s power cut off by competitor, Lu Yu leads team to retaliate!】

【High-end business battle reappears: You cut my power, I gouge your eyes.】

【The impact of gouging the eyes of a golden toad on feng shui.】

Lu Yu hadn’t even returned to the company when news articles started flooding out, making this high-end business battle a trending topic instantly.

People who didn’t know the details called their friends to check the trending list!

What, Lu Yu gouged the eyes of a competitor’s golden toad? That’s absurd!

What, Lu Yu gouged the eyes of a competitor? How bloody!

What, Lu Yu gouged a middle-aged male competitor? Gouged where? Is it appropriate to say?

With the public’s relentless exaggeration, the first trending topic that emerged was:

#LuYuGougesOpponent#

Lu Yu looked at this trending title and fell silent. After a while, he slumped over, burying his face in Ming Yan’s chest. “Let’s not go to the office, let’s go home.”

Surprised by the sudden affection, Ming Yan paused before chuckling and told Xiao Jiang, who was driving, “Turn around, let’s go home.”

“Hmph, what’s with the PR department? What kind of trending topic is this,” Lu Yu grumbled, rubbing against Ming Yan’s chest. “Yan-ge, I’m so embarrassed.”

“The PR director hasn’t even arrived at the office yet, stop moving.” Ming Yan tried to pull away the guy wriggling in his arms but to no avail.

Feeling embarrassed now was premature.

Soon, their phones started ringing. Apart from the PR department, the rest were calls from friends and family unrelated to the incident.

“What happened? I heard Lu Yu gouged someone’s eyes?”

“Why is Lu Yu gouging other men? Aren’t you two still not divorced?”

Even Ming Yan’s father called via video to ask what was going on.

After explaining the situation, Ming Yan’s father was silent for a while before saying, “Doing business requires some class. Don’t act recklessly.”

Lu Yu, sitting next to him, popped his head into the video, “Dad, you’re absolutely right.”

Father Ming fell silent again. After a long pause, he said, “Don’t use that term carelessly.” Then he hastily hung up the video call, afraid that Lu Yu might say something else.

Ming Yan glanced at him helplessly.

Lu Yu lay down, resting his head on Ming Yan’s lap. “Our dad won’t let me call him ‘dad.’ I’m so heartbroken.”

Ming Yan tugged at his ear, looked at the driver in front, and whispered, “Xiao Jiang is still here, don’t talk nonsense.”

Xiao Jiang pressed a button, and the partition between the driver’s seat and the backseat slowly rose.

Ming Yan: “…” No need to be this considerate.

The AI brain emitted Shen Baishui’s voice, “Xiao Jiang, well done.”

A friend from a writing website sent Lu Yu a message:

[Yu, you’re amazing. Next time, don’t mess with Lu Chaoxi. Go mess with Xiao Zuancong instead. You haven’t written anything in the past two years, so that guy had nothing to learn and came to mimic my work.]

Lu Yu sent a voice message back: “Messing with him lowers my standards. My father-in-law won’t allow it.”

[Your father-in-law cares about that?]

“Smack!” Lu Yu’s arm was slapped. Ming Yan glared at him, “Stop talking nonsense.”

“You hit me,” Lu Yu pouted, pulling down his hand, “Don’t hit my arm, it hurts. Hit my butt, there’s more flesh.”

Ming Yan finally realized that this guy was still excited from causing trouble, with his adrenaline still high. Responding to him would only make it worse, so he decided to keep quiet and let him roll around on his lap.

When the two finally got home, the PR department had managed to control the situation, shifting the focus onto Chenyu’s new product.

Everyone finally understood what had happened. It turned out that Lu Yu had seen the plagiarized images and couldn’t stand his son’s work being stolen and his wife’s work being copied. So he went to the other company’s office, got into a physical fight, gouged out the eyes of the golden toad at the front desk, and tore up Qi Hongyu’s posters and banners.

Some media uploaded today’s recorded video: Lu Yu gouging out eyes, employees standing with hands on hips cursing, Lu Chaoxi changing his face and crying on the ground, and the police officers grimacing in disgust. Each scene was highly entertaining.

People flocked to Lu Yu’s social media to get the scoop and verify the truth. Lu Yu timely posted an update:

[Fighting plagiarism is everyone’s responsibility. I only did what needed to be done. Call me Justice Pollock. The livestream will continue as usual. Follow the livestream room to witness the birth of Hua Wenyuan. Click the live link… Share and win a pair of golden toad eyes, freshly gouged today.]

The picture showed a pair of colorful beads in Lu Yu’s palm.

[Netizen A: Haha, what the hell, I don’t want it!]

[Netizen B: So it was an ad all along. I’m curious about the livestream now.]

[Yi Qu Hong Xiao Bu Zhi Shu: Lu, I’ll pay a high price, sell me those eyes.]

Lu Yu was speechless when he saw the top fan’s comment. Why does this person want to buy everything? Do all tycoons spend money so recklessly? So he private messaged the top fan, asking how much they were willing to pay. If it was more than a thousand yuan, he could gouge a few more times.

People roamed through the trending topics, watching the fun, and while following the livestream, they also discussed imitation and plagiarism. Someone posted comparison images of Hua Wenyuan and Qi Hongyu, carefully marking the creation dates of three images and drawing auxiliary lines to identify plagiarism.

Normally unnoticed, the comparison revealed that Hua Wenyuan was indeed stunningly beautiful. In contrast, Qi Hongyu’s modified, odd-looking image was much uglier, with a completely different aesthetic level.

[Our Wenyuan is really handsome, looking forward to the release!]

[I must watch the livestream, ahhh!]

[By the way, not only was the image copied, but Qi Hongyu’s character was also originally modeled after Hua Wenyuan.]

Netizens then discussed the feud between Han Di Ba Yu and Little Green Onion, from Lu Yu’s debut spiritual revival series “The Fish King,” to the later infinite wealth series “The Golden House,” and finally the ancient conquest series “Shooting the Heavenly Wolf.” The themes and character designs of the three books varied greatly. Every time Lu Yu wrote a book, Little Green Onion would follow and imitate it, with traces of Han Di Ba everywhere. Eventually, Little Green Onion even changed his pen name.

[Such deep love.]

[Ugh, what love, really shameless, doesn’t he have his own ideas?]

This discussion even spread to the ad bought by Chaoxi Mill. Under Qi Hongyu’s ad, everyone discussed this, creating several trending topics:

Li Kui and Li Gui, Xi Shi and Dong Shi, Hua Wenyuan and Qi Hongyu, Han Di Ba Yu and Wetland Onion, Red Carp and Green Carp and Donkey…