DLWAV CH66

Regarding this, Xia Ruize’s manager was incredibly gratified, but that didn’t stop her from flying into a rage.

“Back when they directly notified you that they’d changed the format from pre-recorded to live broadcast at a time when you were severely carsick and barely looking at your phone—and then, after you arrived, they didn’t even bother to confirm if you’d seen the message, causing you to take such a massive tumble—I told you then that there was something wrong with this production team.”

“Later, when the live broadcast camera in your room suddenly turned on, causing you to take another massive tumble, I told you again that this production team was very fishy. You still didn’t believe it. You felt that because the Xia family was the show’s biggest investor, and you were the Second Young Master of the Xia family, there was no way the production team would set you up.”

“Now you know you were wrong, don’t you?”

“En.”

Sitting in the nanny van, what else could Ao Ruize do besides nod?

Besides, saying all this now was obviously too late.

However, using this opportunity to turn the tables and win back a round would definitely not be a problem.

The manager immediately said: “For the next two days, don’t contact the outside world anymore. I’ll handle the rest.”

“If I don’t peel a layer of skin off them, my surname isn’t Liang!”

The moment she dropped Ao Ruize off at the hotel, the manager left like a whirlwind.

Under her manipulation, very quickly, the public opinion that had almost been suppressed instantly surged right back up the hot search trends.

【Do you guys know what the funniest part is? Over at the Village Revitalization Project scene, Xia Lewen was still slowly dawdling while taking off his shoes, yet over on Xia Lewen’s Super Topic, the pinned Weibo post praising Xia Lewen for being kind-hearted and beautiful, saving Xia Ruize regardless of past grievances, was already posted! Even though they deleted that post immediately, they absolutely never expected that I took a screenshot at the time.
#Screenshot of article publication time#
#Screenshot of the time Xia Lewen took off his shoes#】

【#Handshake# #Handshake# What’s even more coincidental is that one of the planners from their production team immediately liked that Weibo post. Although I didn’t take a screenshot, I can guarantee it—Chinese people don’t lie to Chinese people.】
…

【With all this, the production team still dares to say they weren’t deliberately stepping on Xia Ruize to elevate Xia Lewen?】

【Can I just say that I was a little suspicious from the very beginning? Because basically every single day, Xia Ruize made a fool of himself due to all sorts of “mistakes” from the production team… Even if he had violated the laws of heaven, he couldn’t possibly be that unlucky, right?】

Subsequently, the General Administration of Broadcasting announced they were dispatching personnel to investigate The Village Revitalization Project production team.

“That damn Xia Ruize!”

Setting aside how thoroughly exasperated the directing team of The Village Revitalization Project was, since things had already reached this point, they could only grit their teeth and admit that the production team had indeed failed to equip emergency rescue gear and medical personnel according to regulations.

Because this way, at most, they would be fined a million yuan and lose fifty or sixty million yuan in advertising fees and delay costs.

But if they didn’t admit to this, it would be a tacit admission that they had deliberately chosen not to save Xia Ruize, and that they truly were stepping on Xia Ruize to elevate Xia Lewen. If that happened, the reputation of The Village Revitalization Project would be completely destroyed. Furthermore, what celebrity would ever dare participate in this variety show in the future? Once their golden signboard collapsed, the losses they would suffer then wouldn’t just be a few tens of millions, but hundreds of millions, perhaps even over a billion.

Most importantly, because of this incident, Xia Ruize was actually on the verge of clearing his name.

How could they allow that—

“If we suffer a disaster, Xia Ruize shouldn’t think about having an easy time either.”

And so, early the next morning, the winds of public opinion on the internet shifted again.

【The General Administration of Broadcasting has already posted the investigation results. The Village Revitalization Project production team truly just failed to equip emergency rescue gear and medical personnel according to regulations. In other words, they genuinely didn’t deliberately choose not to save Xia Ruize at the time.】

【And taking ten thousand steps back—even if all of this was a conspiracy by the production team, regarding those other things he did, did the production team press Xia Ruize’s head down and force him to do them?】

【That’s true.】

【So I think Xia Ruize acting like a big shot, looking down on us rural folk, and wasting food are still indisputable facts!】
【Most importantly, because of his report, The Village Revitalization Project has been suspended. Rumor has it that because the losses caused by the suspension are too great, plus a certain investor recently set his sights on another project and is preparing to withdraw funds to invest there, The Village Revitalization Project might be permanently canceled.
Do you guys know what this means? It means the opportunity to get rich that Kaoshan Village finally managed to wait for is just gone like that.
Is he worthy of the villagers of Kaoshan Village, who didn’t hesitate to bring out the cured chickens and ducks they were saving for the New Year, staying up overnight to make that late-night snack for him?】

Seeing this, not only Xia Ruize’s fans, but even some passerby netizens couldn’t stand it anymore.

【???】

【Are you saying Xia Ruize was wrong to protect his own interests?】

【In this matter, it’s one thing if you don’t blame the production team, but you’re actually blaming the victim, Xia Ruize?】

But very quickly, these comments were overwhelmed by a massive wave of aggressive new comments.

【To be completely honest, I also feel Xia Ruize went a bit too far this time.】

【He clearly could have negotiated a solution privately with the production team regarding this matter, but he deliberately chose to blow it up entirely.】

【Although the production team indeed didn’t do a good job, didn’t he end up perfectly fine in the end?】

【Do you guys think this might be Xia Ruize’s strategy?】

【By pouring all the dirty water onto the production team and Xia Lewen, couldn’t he use his identity as the victim to smoothly clear his own name?】

【Fuck!】

Seeing this, how could the manager not know that the group of bastards from the production team had entered the battlefield?

She immediately ordered the several assistants below her: “Go contact the other fan club leaders and have them rally the fans in their groups to enter the fray.”
“Then go contact a batch of water armies (paid internet trolls) and have them immediately start controlling the comments.”

In reality, there was no need for her to say anything; Xia Ruize’s fans had already exploded.

【Were your morals and memories eaten by dogs?】

【Our Ruize clearly already explained that he threw away that late-night snack because he was at odds with Xia Lewen, not because he looks down on rural people!】

【Wait, a lot of these people seem to be Xia Lewen’s fans and Best Actor Chen’s fans—】

【It really is them. Otherwise, how does the saying go? If you throw a brick into a pigpen, the one that squeals the loudest is the one that got hit! Look, right now, the ones jumping up and down the hardest are Xia Lewen’s fans, aren’t they?】

【So if this isn’t Xia Lewen playing tricks behind the scenes, I’ll livestream myself doing a handstand and eating shit.】

Seeing this, quite a few passersby couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

Watching this unfold, Xia Ruize’s manager couldn’t help but nod in satisfaction.

Want to fight me? That bunch of bastards from the production team needs to go back and study for another few hundred years!

But what they never expected was that right at this moment, another group of people wearing the label of “Xia Ruize’s fans” started spamming the screens.

【Besides, so what if our Ruize looks down on rural people? If they weren’t dragging us down, the country would have achieved comprehensive prosperity long ago.】

【Exactly.】

【And their fingers are all black, who knows how dirty they are. The food they make, let alone people, even our dog wouldn’t eat it!】

The manager: “???”
The crowd of passersby: 【??????????】

Public opinion instantly flipped.

【This is outrageously absurd. City folks who have enjoyed the dividends of the era are here mocking the rural people who made the greatest contributions to society’s progress yet haven’t enjoyed a single bit of the era’s dividends?】

【Why are rural people’s hands black? Because they do farm work day and night, forcibly wearing their hands black! If you have the capability not to eat food made by rural people, then have the capability not to eat at all! After all, that rice and wheat were also grown by rural people through blood, sweat, and tears!】

【Do you guys know what the most ridiculous part is? That we are supposedly crusading against Xia Ruize just to clear our Lele’s name?】

【What, is it only okay for Xia Ruize to rely on his power to bully people, and we aren’t allowed to kick a dog when it’s down?】

【And why would our Lele target that stupid pig of yours? Just because your guy has been in the industry for less than two years and dares to call himself ‘Teacher’? Or is it because your guy went to a noble school that costs hundreds of thousands a year for five or six years, and in the end only managed to test into a junior college?】

【Friendly reminder: your guy only scored 221 points on the college entrance exam! There were a total of 500,000 students taking the exam in Qian City that year, and your guy ranked 410,000th. This is equivalent to saying your guy’s IQ is at the absolute bottom among his peers.】

【Tsk, as expected, fans really do take after their idol.】
…

Seeing this, Xia Lewen nodded in satisfaction. He ordered his assistant: “Help me find an expert in poverty alleviation. Have him post a Weibo saying that the Kaoshan Village development plan I drafted is highly feasible.”
“Then help me launch a fundraiser with the goal of raising 10 million yuan in funds, to be used to help Kaoshan Village shake off poverty and get rich according to the plan I drafted.”

The assistant: “Understood.”

Sure enough, as soon as this news came out, the internet’s attitude toward Xia Lewen instantly turned into one-sided praise.

The manager’s face, on the other hand, instantly turned green.

She directly dialed Ao Ruize’s number: “Tomorrow, I’m having someone sign you up for a junior-college-to-bachelor’s degree upgrade program. This time, no matter what, you have to listen to me!”
“Just seeing the words ‘junior college’ gives me a headache now.”

And right at this moment, she heard several unfamiliar voices coming from the other end of the phone: “…This deep pool has existed ever since our ancestors moved here. I heard that back then, if you used the fish from this pool and the water from this pool to make braised fish, the aroma could drift all the way to the neighboring village.”

“Wasn’t there a famine in the 60s and 70s? At that time, the whole village relied on the few fish and shrimp in this pool to survive. Before long, we practically fished all the fish and shrimp out of the pool to extinction. Later, almost overnight, the pool suddenly dried up. Although the water in the pool returned to normal not long after.”

“But ever since then, there has never been another trace of fish in the pool. In the 90s, the village tried releasing fish fry into the pool, but usually, the moment the fry were released, they would vanish without a trace by the very next day.”

“The elders in the village all said it was because the village fished too ruthlessly in the past and offended the Fish God, so he placed a curse on this pool, making it so that not an inch of fish could survive in it from then on.”

“So the other day, when we found out that a giant grass carp that big was actually living in this pool, we were all very surprised too.”

“The elders in the village all said that it was definitely the Fish God.”

“Then does that pool have river snails, shrimp, or things like that growing in it?”
“Yes, it does have those.”
“Then I know what this situation is. It’s not a Fish God at all. There should be a karst cave beneath the deep pool. It, along with all those fish fry you released later, just ran into the karst cave.”

“Are you saying that the fish was so scared by our fishing that it just hid in the karst cave?”
“And it also kidnapped the fish fry we released later on?”
“Can a fish be that smart?”
“Then doesn’t that just make it a Fish God?”
“…You can’t say it like that. If this were a Fish God, then Fish Gods in this world would have long flooded into a disaster. After all, the dolphins in the ocean love bravely rescuing humans who fall into the water the most.”

The manager subconsciously asked: “Where are you right now?”

Ao Ruize: “In Kaoshan Village.”
“Doesn’t the internet say that I caused Kaoshan Village to lose an opportunity to shake off poverty and get rich?”

Now, he had come to slap their faces.

The manager: “…”

After hanging up the phone, Ao Ruize simply squatted down, reached out, and patted the surface of the water.

“It’s no use.”
The old village chief standing to the side said: “We’ve been squatting by the pool every day for the past few days, and we haven’t been able to see it again.”
He pointed at the offering table off to the side: “We even specially prepared a whole table of offerings for it.”

Little did he know that before his voice even faded, ripples suddenly began to spread from the center of the pool.

Following closely, a massive fish head popped out.

The old village chief and the others: “…”

They immediately prostrated themselves and bowed, saying excitedly: “Lord Fish God!”

The expert standing to the side: “…”
It’s already 2022! Can’t you trust the experts just a little bit?

The giant grass carp in the water was also startled.
If Ao Ruize hadn’t been here, it probably would have turned around and fled already.

Ao Ruize casually picked up an apple from the offering table nearby, broke it into four pieces, and tossed one to the giant grass carp.

The giant grass carp immediately ate a piece, and its eyes lit straight up. Subsequently, it swallowed the remaining pieces of apple in a few continuous bites.

Ao Ruize then peeled a banana for it.

At this, it ate even more happily.

Only after it had tasted every single pear, rice cake, and loquat on the offering table did Ao Ruize ask: “Is it delicious?”

The giant grass carp immediately nodded.

Ao Ruize: “Do you want to be able to eat this every day from now on?”

The giant grass carp’s tail instantly started wagging.

Ao Ruize: “Then bring your clan up to live on the surface. Barring any accidents, you’ll be able to eat such delicious food every day from now on.”

The giant grass carp was instantly tempted. But in the next second, as if thinking of something, it looked warily at the old village chief and the others behind Ao Ruize.

Ao Ruize: “It’s fine. They won’t hurt you anymore.”

The old village chief immediately said: “Right, right, right! From now on, you are the Lord Fish God of our Kaoshan Village. We will absolutely never hurt you.”

The giant grass carp hesitated, then nodded.

Mainly because of its heartfelt trust in Ao Ruize.

Seeing this scene, the expert standing to the side: “…”
Even dolphins in the ocean don’t have this high of an IQ! No, wait, even his eight-year-old son, who calculates 8 plus 6 as 68, doesn’t have this kind of IQ!
It’s only 2022. Is it really so strange for him, an expert, to be a little superstitious?

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but take out his phone and point it at the giant grass carp in the pool.

Then what came next was very easy to handle.

And so, that afternoon, a piece of news titled ‘Xia Ruize Started Broadcasting’ parachuted straight to third place on the hot search trends.

Because the previous incidents were already hanging on the hot search trends to begin with, very quickly, hundreds of thousands of netizens flooded into Ao Ruize’s live broadcast room.

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