YA Ch81: Deep Meaning

The PR director was stunned by this smooth operation and humbly asked the top supporter for advice on how he came up with his response strategy.

Hong Wuyang was a bit embarrassed by the praise and opened the smart brain to show him the memo, speaking candidly: “Lu Yu gave me a few templates and instructed me to step in if the PR department couldn’t handle it temporarily.”

Hearing this, the PR director blushed and looked down at the memo:

1. The Lu family hired a million-dollar PR team; don’t believe it.

2. If the Lu family wants to discuss their dirty laundry, go to another platform. This is a place to watch Hua Wenyuan.

3. Don’t provoke Lu Yu; you know what you’ve done.

4. …

The last point emphasized that regardless of which statement was used, it was crucial to end with “A-Ying Mama loves you” to redirect attention.

In fact, this statement proved to be crucial. At this moment, the bullet screen had already been skewed by this phrase. Although the top supporter had said many things before, no one paid much attention. Today, the impact was too noticeable and abrupt, making it hard to ignore.

[What? The top supporter is actually a woman?]

[No way, the top supporter is Little Soldier B, a burly man with a big beard!]

[So, the big brother is a mother? Hahahaha…]

[Mama-bro, look at me; I also need mommy’s financial love!]

“Oh dear, I wrote ‘mommy loves you’ instead of ‘mama’,” Hong Wuyang said regretfully.

The PR director felt deeply ashamed and, after the broadcast ended, immediately went to admit the mistake.

After hearing the whole story, Ming Yan sighed lightly and said, “You followed the plan I set, so there’s no problem, just a lack of adaptability.”

Since Lu Zhenni could use a colored name to control the comments, the PR department could also do so, but it was unclear why they didn’t. Fortunately, Lu Yu had prepared the top supporter as a trump card, which helped turn the situation around at a crucial moment.

Lu Yu wasn’t worried. He squeezed Ming Yan’s hand and smiled, “Discussing gossip is completely fine; it’s bringing in traffic, right? Hua Wenyuan’s target audience has at least doubled.”

He had asked the top supporter to help with the response not to stop people from discussing but to redirect their focus back to the storyline.

The live broadcast was quite successful today. Many people who had never watched it before were engrossed and went to Baijiao Video to catch up on the replay after the broadcast ended.

The video views on Baijiao rapidly increased.

Seeing that Lu Yu was genuinely in a good mood, Ming Yan secretly breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go for lunch. Suddenly, Lu Yu hugged him from behind and, in a very cheeky manner, rested his chin on his head.

“Caught a little cutie, today’s lunch is you,” Lu Yu said, opening his mouth and mimicking a “rawr rawr” sound.

Ming Yan was amused by this sudden childish behavior and reached back to scratch him, “Are you playing the giant character?”

The two were only about half a head apart in height, and for Lu Yu to do this, he had to stand on tiptoe. This scratch made him lose balance and he fell onto Ming Yan’s shoulder.

Lu Yu nuzzled into Ming Yan’s neck, “I can’t go back, lost ten years of youth in vain. Aren’t you going to comfort me?”

Ming Yan looked down at the hand wrapped around his waist, “Are you trying to go back to that younger Ming Xue-sheng?”

“Huh?” Lu Yu was momentarily stunned. He just wanted to act coquettish and get some benefits, but the topic shifted dangerously. He quickly stopped, “I’m just looking for some affectionate encouragement, like how you gave me the big red flower in the simulator, in real life too. For example, let me taste…”

His voice trailed off as his nose nuzzled against Ming Yan’s hair, sniffing affectionately.

The philosophical question of whether he loved the past or present Ming Xue-sheng was something he wanted to understand when he was engrossed in it. When Ming Yan asked him, he realized how difficult it was to answer. It felt like any answer was wrong, so he decided to change the topic.

Ming Yan raised an eyebrow, dragging him back to the office. He took out a colored oil pen and drew a small carrot on the back of Lu Yu’s hand.

“Why a carrot?” Lu Yu looked at the pattern on his hand, puzzled.

Ming Yan didn’t explain, just looked down and laughed quietly.

“Is this a satire that I’m like a rabbit, only eating vegetables and never getting meat?” Lu Yu puffed up his cheeks.

“No,” Ming Yan said with a smile, patting his head, “It’s a compliment. You’ve worked hard this week.”

Lu Yu, patted on the head, habitually rubbed against Ming Yan. He only realized afterward that working hard for a carrot was like a donkey grinding a mill.

Sure enough, in Ming Yan’s mind, he was just a carrot being dangled to motivate the donkey.

“Little Ming Yan, are you implying that your Lao gong is a donkey?” Lu Yu caught the culprit trying to escape and interrogated him.

“You said it yourself, I didn’t say it, hahaha…” 

Having drawn out his thoughts, the honest artist Ming Yan was cruelly tickled by the irritated Lu Yu on the sofa.

The Lu family had not responded yet. Besides causing trouble on the bullet screen, they had not done anything else. No press conferences, no public rebuttals, not even any activity on social media.

This was not in line with the Lu family’s usual style.

By the afternoon, AI Data Technology couldn’t sit still and contacted Hong Wuyang. Young Master Hong, along with Lu Yu, had a video conference: “That person talks too much; I don’t know how to handle it. Come listen with me.”

They hadn’t yet told Ming Yan about their tentative acquisition plan, so they used this as an excuse.

Lu Yu said goodbye to Ming Yan and went with the top supporter to the small meeting room.

The boss of AI Data Technology was a middle-aged man named Zheng Wuqiong.

As soon as Lu Yu saw him in the video, information about this person suddenly popped into his mind. He didn’t follow AI Data Technology closely, but he knew Zheng Wuqiong.

This person was known for his various ventures, from selling electronic dictionaries to educational machines, and later smart children’s watches, and now to the current products.

Zheng Wuqiong’s business legend was always talked about. Over a decade ago, he was used as a case study in various business courses because he always managed to catch the trends of the times. Lu Dayu had collected information about Zheng Wuqiong’s rise as a reference for his book “Golden House.”

Wait! Lu Yu suddenly broke into a cold sweat. Why did he know about the information in “Golden House”? Before he crossed over, “The Fish King” was not yet finished, and he hadn’t considered what to write next.

The sudden tension made his thoughts slow, and he couldn’t distinguish whether the knowledge was from his own mind or if it had accidentally seeped into his memory from seeing “Golden House” during the setting of “Shooting the Heavenly Wolf.”

Mr. Zheng, with his square face looking very honest, spoke in a very seasoned business tone: “President Lu, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I heard from Xiao Hong that we’re going to collaborate with Chenyu Technology. I’m truly delighted.”

At eighteen, Lu Xiao Yu was not accustomed to this kind of social tactic and, feeling upset, frowned and said, “It’s not a done deal yet. Mr. Zheng is too early to be happy.”

Zheng Wuqiong was taken aback and looked at Hong Wuyang.

Hong Wuyang nodded, “Exactly. You’re too early to be happy. The AI Data Alliance’s permission is still pending.”

Mr. Zheng chuckled awkwardly. After being in the business for twenty to thirty years, he knew how to handle non-conforming young people. He immediately dropped his pretentious demeanor and revealed a gossipy light on his honest face: “I investigated, and the Lu family didn’t hire a PR team but only consulted with two experienced PR people privately.”

On the issue of acquiring DCM, the Lu family was Mr. Zheng’s strong competitor, and no one wished for the Lu family to fall more than he did.

“It seems they don’t want things to continue to escalate,” Lu Yu guessed.

Such sensational scandals become more lively the more they are responded to. The Lu family is already quite embarrassed and, not wanting to lose more face, prefers to handle it coldly.

“But they should at least come up with some sort of excuse. Their behavior is abnormal,” Zheng Wuqiong analyzed seriously. “The AI Data Alliance’s permit, they definitely don’t have it yet; it’s still in process. They might be afraid that the scandal will affect the permit issuance, so they’d rather keep quiet.”

During the bidding presentation earlier, Lu Shuangcheng was very arrogant, as if getting the permit was a piece of cake. But so much time has passed, and they still haven’t announced that they have it.

It’s worth noting that if they obtained the permit, competitors like AI Data Technology would automatically be out of the race.

Having found the key point, Mr. Zheng suddenly laughed: “Although I haven’t heard of any impact from family scandals, since they’re scared, I must let the alliance know.”

Mr. Zheng spoke with a northern accent, which added a humorous touch, making Young Master Hong laugh: “Mr. Zheng, where are you? It looks like you’re outdoors.”

Zheng Wuqiong was dressed in a suit, and behind him was a marble wall, which made it seem like he was in his own company. But when a gust of wind blew, messing up Mr. Zheng’s black-and-white hair and reddening his weathered nose, his location was revealed.

“Hehe, I’m outside the Lu family building,” Mr. Zheng said nonchalantly, turning around to show them the surroundings. “I’ve arranged a meeting with Second Master Lu to discuss cooperation. I’ll sneak in later and give you guys a live stream.”

Of course, discussing cooperation was just a pretense; the real purpose was to watch the fun.

Lu Yu grinned. This uncle also loved to stir up trouble, and at his age, he was still so bold. No wonder he could always ride the waves of the times.

Hong Wuyang sat down eagerly and called Xiao Jiang to bring a bag of sunflower seeds, preparing to watch the Lu family live stream.

“I won’t watch,” Lu Yu said, his eyes darkening. He glanced at the carrot on his hand as if checking a bomb’s countdown, “Two days left.” With that, he got up and left the meeting room, letting the top supporter continue chatting with Mr. Zheng.

MR. Zheng was confused: “What does that mean?”

Hong Wuyang shook his head in bewilderment.

Mr. Zheng rubbed his chin, feeling that the last sentence sounded quite significant.