Financial freedom starts from graduation

Chapter 613 [Stage Costumes]

Chen Lin's hand trembled slightly.

Zhou Wang?

Which Zhou Wang?

A two-character name isn't anything special, but it seems that only our own boss can be associated with the words "billionaire".

Then Chen Lin recalled more details.

The company's public relations department held an emergency meeting this morning, and it's still not over.

Mr. Jiang, who rarely stays at the company for extended periods, seems to have been there all day without leaving.

Around noon, a deep cooperation agreement was signed with the group. It is said that Yunshangyun Law Firm, which is ranked among the top three in Shanghai, also sent a legal team to the site. She even personally led the way...

With a certain suspicion in mind, Chen Lin kept refreshing her Weibo account.

Compared to the other articles that were based on hearsay, this article, which is well-reasoned and directly names the person, is obviously more credible.

With the surge in comments below, the article's popularity also climbed rapidly to the top of the trending topics list.

The hashtag “Zhou Wang BlackPink’s unspoken rules” quickly and unsurprisingly entered the trending search list.

Clicking into the relevant topic, the topmost Weibo post is a recent update from Zhou Wang's verified personal account.

It happened to be the day after the establishment of Wangzhou Group. In order to thank all the guests who came to witness the ceremony, Zhou Wang posted a pinned Weibo post.

The copy was very simple, just a three-three phrase: "Respect the past, love the present, and look to the future." It was the kind of inspirational quote that you can find everywhere on the internet. But when this Weibo post was published, without any marketing, it still gained Zhou Wang hundreds of thousands of followers.

The reason stemmed from some bloggers tagged by Zhou Wang below, along with his nine-grid photo collage, which included group photos of him with various guests. When Chen Lin saw this post again, her expression still showed amazement, a deep regret that she hadn't been recruited back then.

After this post went viral again, the number of comments below it, which was originally tens of thousands, also increased rapidly. Almost every time Chen Lin refreshed the page, the number of comments increased by thousands per second.

Chen Lin opened the comments section and saw that the most popular comments had all reached the top spot in that short period of time.

"Wait, who is this person? How come they have so many photos with celebrities?"

"Miss Gu, Miss Li, Miss Yang... Wow, they're all top-tier actresses!"

"It's confirmed! With such a huge influence in the entertainment industry, no wonder he has the power to sexually harass Lisa and Jisoo!"

"Don't you know him? Oh, right, he's probably more popular on Douyin."

"I don't believe it! Zhou Wang is my idol, how could he do such a thing? Waaaaah..."

"Could it be a misunderstanding? Zhou Wang is a proper mainlander. Although he is indeed very rich, he wouldn't go to Macau to cause trouble, would he? That's not his territory!"

"Heh, you idiot brainless fan upstairs, I can't even be bothered to talk to you. Your figure and clothes match up pretty much, and you still won't admit it?"

"Someone in Australia has already posted on Instagram, showing Zhou Wang walking with the eldest son of the Galaxy Group in Australia. Isn't that enough to explain things?"

"My God, how can you all be so narrow-minded? Why can you only see the celebrities in the photos? Why don't you take a closer look at who the bigwigs who attended the Wangzhou Group's banquet that day were? Compared to these people, what are these so-called celebrities...?"

This comment has been deleted.

"..."

Upon seeing this, Chen Lin knew that the matter was almost settled, and Zhou Wang's identity could no longer be concealed.

She opened Douyin again and saw that, sure enough, the comment section under Zhou Wang's video had been completely closed, and no new comments were allowed. However, in other related videos, there were countless people cursing Zhou Wang.

Many BlackPink fans even demanded that Zhou Wang go abroad to bow and apologize to BlackPink in person, while others called for the authorities to arrest and severely punish Zhou Wang...

However, you can still see some voices in the comments section that support Zhou Wang, mostly from female fans who aren't particularly fond of BlackPink.

It's common knowledge that when women start swearing, men have no chance.

Zhou Wang's die-hard female fans are all incredibly sharp-tongued—

"Sisters, this isn't right. They should be the ones compensating our Brother Gou for emotional distress. They're the ones who are getting the better deal—"

"Exactly! How can anyone be so shameless? They were touched by President Zhou and they still want compensation. They get all the good things in the world!"

"It's only in modern times that there's still some respect for human rights. In ancient times, if a dancer from Goryeo were sent to Master Zhou Wang's room, she would only be a bed warmer or a maidservant..."

"Hey, is she trying to seduce me but then turning around and biting me?"

"It's their good fortune that our CEO Zhou is with them, how dare they come out and complain..."

"Uh, sister upstairs, did you miss a word? Something feels off."

"..."

After watching for a while, Chen Lin couldn't help but want to join them.

If we set aside principles, she would definitely support Zhou Wang unconditionally... In front of her boss and idol, it seems she doesn't need to have any stance.

As a girl who dared to strike up a conversation with Zhou Wang on the street, Chen Lin's values ​​must have leaned towards those of her die-hard sisters.

So what if I get touched a couple of times? Does that make me a celebrity?

Those girls who frequent nightclubs, wouldn't they be threatening to jump off buildings every day?
As Chen Lin hesitated about whether to create a few alternate accounts to join in, she heard the rapid tapping of high heels on the floor at the elevator entrance. Chen Lin looked up and saw President Jiang's secretary, Xu Lingyue, walking in quickly, carrying a food box.

Because Xu Lingyue was in charge of Chen Lin's interview, and the two are close in age and share many interests, they have become good colleagues over time, even if they are not best friends yet.

"Yueyue, Yueyue!"

Seeing Xu Lingyue's hurried appearance, Chen Lin quickly waved to her.

"What's wrong?" Xu Lingyue stopped, rubbing her temples, looking preoccupied. "If there's something, just say it. President Jiang hasn't eaten all day, and I was just about to bring her some food..."

"Is it because of... Mr. Zhou's matter?"

Chen Lin moved closer, and when Xu Lingyue's expression changed slightly, she quickly handed her the phone. "It's already been exposed online, and the topic is trending on Douyin and Weibo. You haven't seen it yet, have you?"

Xu Lingyue was taken aback. She quickly took the phone and looked at it, then shook her head. "I was busy ordering food for President Jiang and didn't have time to check... No, I can't talk to you anymore. I have to report to President Jiang right away!"

After Xu Lingyue finished speaking, she quickly ran into the company, leaving Chen Lin behind with a "hey".

She originally wanted to find out from Xu Lingyue how the company planned to respond, but now it seems that neither Xu Lingyue nor even the CEO Jiang behind her anticipated that the matter would gain such attention so quickly...

But even if you anticipated it, what could you do?
Although Chen Lin had little experience, she knew that such a "scandal" could be fatal to a public figure once it was exposed.

So many internet celebrities, stars, and bosses have all fallen victim to public opinion, haven't they?

Although Zhou Wang is only a semi-public figure, given the online environment in China, once he falls from grace, everyone will likely kick him while he's down, and his negative influence will probably soon spill over into the real world.

As Chen Lin thought this, she let out a soft sigh.

As Chen Lin had predicted, the subsequent events unfolded as more and more onlookers joined the condemnation campaign. Gradually, the comments from Zhou Wang's die-hard fans were suppressed, and the online discourse was almost entirely one-sided with condemnation.

Chen Lin checked Wangzhou Group's official account again, but there was still no response. Normally, shouldn't they have issued some kind of clarification or denial?
Even if it doesn't work, it's still better than doing nothing...

Chen Lin, who was fiddling with her phone at the front desk, didn't even know when she fell asleep.

When Chen Lin was groggily awakened by a familiar voice, she opened her eyes to find that it was already dark.

She looked at Xu Lingyue, who had woken her up, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "There might have been something wrong with the milk tea I drank earlier. I don't know why I suddenly felt so sleepy..."

Xu Lingyue waved her hand dismissively, a relaxed expression on her face. "It's almost nine o'clock. Let's hurry home. Everyone's gone."

"gone?"

Chen Lin regained her senses and glanced into the company. Sure enough, most of the lights were off.

She was completely puzzled. Wasn't this the most critical moment? Why was everyone already off work?
"Yueyue, what's going on..."

She hurriedly called out to Xu Lingyue, wanting to get to the bottom of things.

Seemingly knowing what Chen Lin wanted to ask, Xu Lingyue simply smiled and said, "Just open your phone and see for yourself. I have to go now; a classmate is getting engaged today, and I have to show up..."

After Xu Lingyue disappeared into the private elevator, Chen Lin, realizing something might have happened, quickly unlocked her phone.

The phone screen was still showing the trending topics on Weibo, but it seemed to be unchanged from two hours ago. However, Chen Lin quickly realized something and refreshed the screen.

Sure enough, the entire Weibo trending topics list changed instantly. The top spots were no longer filled with topics related to "BlackPink's unspoken rules," but rather with four large red characters:
Zhou Wang responded.

Chen Lin quickly clicked on it, only to find that Zhou Wang's response was not text, but a video that was clearly copied from Douyin.

When the video is opened, a background resembling a luxurious study appears on the screen. Zhou Wang himself, dressed in a magnificent suit, sits in the center of the study in a chair with his arms crossed in front of his chest, looking at the screen with a relaxed expression.

Chen Lin's attention lingered for a long time on Zhou Wang's suit.

She had never seen this style of suit before. It was a combination of a Western tailcoat and a Chinese Tang suit. The colors were also very flashy, but it was inexplicably very well-designed. It looked exceptionally harmonious on Zhou Wang, making her overall temperament appear more ethereal.

Then she heard Zhou Wang speak calmly in the video:
"Today, without my knowledge, a wave of public opinion about me and a certain well-known girl group broke out online. I didn't want to pay attention to it, not because I felt guilty, but simply because I believed that the innocent would clear themselves, and I always thought that one should leave room for maneuver in one's actions. It's not a good thing for anyone or anything to say everything."

At this point, Zhou Wang paused for a moment, but Chen Lin's attention was unconsciously drawn to the man in the video.

He seemed to be just making a routine opening remark, but for some reason, Chen Lin subconsciously began to doubt the truth of the whole matter. Was it really as BlackPink said?
Zhou Wang then continued:

"But then I thought about it, and even if I don't care, there are still so many people who eat with me. What I find even more unbearable is that quite a few people have already taken this matter to a higher level."

"As a proud Chinese, I cannot stand by and watch this happen."

Zhou Wang spoke these words very casually, yet they seemed to exude an aura of righteous indignation, causing Chen Lin to subconsciously sit up straighter.

Then Zhou Wang, in a detached tone devoid of any emotion, as if standing entirely on an objective perspective, recounted what had happened that night.

According to Zhou Wang's description, the events of that night went something like this—

As a casual fan, Zhou Wang heard that BlackPink was performing in Australia, so he bought a VIP ticket to support them. However, the audio-visual effects were not very good, and some fans next to him were discussing that BlackPink's performance did not seem as professional and energetic as their performances abroad.

Zhou Wang, who had some doubts, heard that there was another meeting segment, so he thought about going backstage to see BlackPink to see if their performance was not satisfactory due to their physical condition.

After waiting backstage for more than half an hour, all I got was news that BlackPink had canceled their appointment.

Zhou Wang admitted that he was very angry and used some connections to put pressure on BlackPink, but in the end only Lisa and Kim Jisoo attended.

Zhou Wang thought that this was at least an explanation, and he didn't plan to do anything more. As for the video that was leaked during the group photo, Zhou Wang pointed out that it was because the two girls were far away from him at the time, and Zhou Wang thought they were putting on airs, so he couldn't help but pull them closer.

As for the so-called "deliberately taking advantage," it's simply a case of taking things out of context due to a flawed perspective.

The two girls did not say anything on the spot, which can be corroborated by the staff present.

Zhou Wang never expected things to turn out this way, and that it would escalate to this extent...

At the end of the video, Zhou Wang's expression turned serious: "I have already dispatched a legal team to negotiate with YG Entertainment, the company behind BlackPink. If they cannot eliminate the negative impact and apologize to me, I guarantee I will make them pay an unbearable price!"

The video ends abruptly here.

Chen Lin's eyes were already sparkling, and she even clenched her fists in anger. She didn't doubt whether what Zhou Wang said was the truth, but had completely taken Zhou Wang's description of what happened as fact.

The comments section below is completely in an uproar.

(End of this chapter)