I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Ding Zhentao was alone in his office; the door was open.

Hearing two knocks on the door, Ding Zhentao looked up and saw Shen Kang standing at the door.

"Little Shen's here! Come, have a seat..."

Ding Zhentao stood up and invited Shen Kang to come in and sit down.

He still had a deep impression of the young man in front of him, after all, it was very rare for someone to cause such a mess in their freshman year.

Shen Kang sat down and exchanged a few pleasantries with Ding Zhentao. Knowing that Dean Ding was busy, he didn't waste any time and got straight to the point: "...Dean Ding, actually, the reason I came to Qianmin University this time is about that charity event we're collaborating on with the Nuanyang Society..."

He gave a detailed account of the cross-school collaboration in the public welfare zone.

Finally, he also mentioned his request: those old houses in good locations that he had his eye on.

"...I heard that some businesses wanted to rent that place, but the school wouldn't approve it. Dean Ding, I'd like to know if that place is available for rent?"

After listening, Ding Zhentao didn't immediately answer Shen Kang's question. Instead, he thought for a moment and then asked, "Aren't you afraid of criticism if you adopt this model?"

Perhaps because he had been in the system for a long time, when Ding Zhentao heard Shen Kang's words, the first thing that came to his mind was "impact".

Shen Kang's approach, which he calls "charity + social interaction," is actually more accurately described as "charity + networking." Otherwise, why would Shen Kang mandate the display of gender? It's to make it easier for students to contact the gender they actually want to connect with when doing charity work, avoiding the awkward situation of connecting with someone only to discover later that the other person is the same sex.

Of course, it's possible that some people specifically want the same sex. But even in that case, forcibly displaying the gender would meet their needs.

Closer to home.

In this "charity + networking" model, how many people are genuinely doing charity work? How many are just there for networking? Won't unpleasant comments emerge, or even be maliciously amplified? For example,

Charity Turns into "Blind Dates"—When "Socializing" Becomes a Cover-Up for Charity, Who Is Exploiting Goodwill?

"Gendered Volunteers: Privacy Exposure and Harassment Risks – Is This Public Service or a 'Human Market'?"

Ding Zhentao is also very experienced in the business world; he can come up with several similar titles in a very short time.

If these news stories were to appear, especially if they mentioned the name of Qianmin University, that would be what Ding Zhentao feared most.

Upon hearing Ding Zhentao's words, Shen Kang replied, "There may be criticism, but a gentleman judges by actions, not intentions. Just like those charity concerts, as long as they truly get more people involved and actually carry out charitable acts, then I think it's good regardless of their initial intentions."

After a moment's thought, Ding Zhentao directly voiced his concerns: "Xiao Shen, you are also involved in social enterprises, which is different from the average college student. I believe you understand many things, so I'll just say it directly... I can't really say what it is, let's just discuss it together."

"If after your model goes live, someone notices it, and an article appears in the media titled 'Charity Turns into 'Blind Date'—When 'Socializing' Becomes a Fig Leaf for Charity, Who Is Exploiting Goodwill?' or something similar, and it generates some negative impact, how will you handle that? Do you have any contingency plans for this?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Kang understood what Ding Zhentao was thinking.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's start by addressing the root cause."

"There are two possibilities when similar news emerges: First, it's purely spontaneous reporting, where a reporter notices our pattern and wants to create a big story. Second, we have enemies who see this pattern and invest resources in creating news, hoping to attack us from this angle."

Ding Zhentao listened and found it somewhat interesting.

He had only briefly met Shen Kang at that academic conference last time, and didn't know much about him. Therefore, he only learned about Shen Kang's style of doing things today.

They are indeed different from ordinary college students. Instead of directly addressing their own problems with specific or general responses, they start from the fundamental logic.

Ding Zhentao listened.

Shen Kang continued his analysis: "Regarding the first scenario, we can start by building relationships. Actually, I do know a few people in the media in Yangcheng."

During the National Day holiday, perhaps because Director Fang had given instructions to cooperate in promoting policies related to the domestic service industry, the *Yangcheng Daily* interviewed him. This is how Shen Kang made some connection with the media in Yangcheng.

"Furthermore, our model is generally safe and has a lot of positive significance. It just has loopholes in public opinion that can be exploited, unlike the melamine incident, which was an explosive negative public opinion event. There is a fundamental difference between the two."

"If someone really wants to produce the kind of report that Dean Ding described, then they're doing it with a fault-finding mentality. And the resources required to suppress this kind of idle, fault-finding news behavior are much less than those required to suppress a genuine negative public opinion event like the melamine incident."

As Shen Kang spoke, he even gave an example on the spot.

"To give an example, if you want the media to stop reporting on the melamine incident, you might have to spend 100 units of resources. But if you want the media to stop reporting on the loopholes in our model, you might only have to spend 1 unit of resources."

Ding Zhentao understood what Shen Kang meant, and was therefore even more surprised.

Based on Ding Zhentao's understanding of these college students, he knew they were often passionate, deeply valued freedom, and genuinely believed in and supported freedom of the press and speech. However, Shen Kang's first tactic was to flex his muscles in the media sphere, then openly declare his intention to manipulate public opinion, suppress negative news, and even directly assess the resource costs of suppressing negative information…

Is this a college student?

Ding Zhentao was very surprised, but he did not reject it. On the contrary, he appreciated it even more.

Shen Kang continued, "Furthermore, our model itself can be argued from both sides. Take the example you just gave, Dean Ding, for instance; let's have a direct debate right here and now, which might be more intuitive. How about that?"

Ding Zhentao was also interested and nodded in agreement.

Then the two split into two camps: Ding Zhentao represented the reporter who was looking for trouble, and Shen Kang represented the reporter who was a stakeholder in the public welfare activity. They then began a debate, or rather, an attack and defense.

As a representative of the fault-finding journalists, Ding Zhentao naturally made the first move.

After thinking for a while, he offered a suggestion from a possible angle: "According to your model, the networking mechanism will lead participants to come only for socializing and ignore the essence of public welfare."

Shen Kang responded, "This actually comes down to the issue I mentioned before: 'A gentleman judges by actions, not intentions.' The so-called 'essence of public welfare,' in my view, is merely self-indulgence by public welfare volunteers. Who cares whether the person helping them genuinely wants to help them or has some other motive?"

"I have participated in many volunteer welfare activities and come into contact with many vulnerable groups. I understand their psychology very well. All they want are things they lack, such as clean clothes, food, an electric fan, a television, and so on. As for the purpose of those charity participants donating these things to them, nobody cares."

Shen Kang concluded by saying, "In my view, the true essence of public welfare is simply delivering something to the disadvantaged groups who need it. It's that simple, not about upholding some kind of 'purity of public welfare.' On the contrary, if upholding this so-called 'purity of public welfare' leads to a decrease in the number of participants, then that is a kind of evil."

Ding Zhentao thought for a moment and continued, "If we follow your model, many people will inevitably participate in the donations just for networking and socializing. It's foreseeable that many of them will stop donating after finding a suitable match, making it unsustainable."

Shen Kang nodded and continued, "Indeed. Many people come purely for social networking; they lack long-term sustainability in philanthropy. But does that mean we should abandon them?"

Even if you only participate once and donate only one item, it's better than not donating at all.

"It is very possible that their charitable donation, which was intended for social interaction, enabled an orphan in a welfare home to receive a new outfit for the New Year, enabled a lonely elderly person without children to receive a small heater to keep her warm in winter, and enabled a middle school student to receive an extracurricular book. From that extracurricular book, he learned about a brand new world that he longed for, and he strived to achieve it."

After Shen Kang finished speaking, he added, "Moreover, many things are difficult at the beginning, and doing charity is no exception. Perhaps these people initially come purely for social networking, but as they continue, some of them may genuinely begin to dedicate themselves to charitable work. Even if this group is small, perhaps only one-tenth, or even less, in absolute terms, the world will still have more people passionate about charitable causes."

Ding Zhentao and Shen Kang were simply rehearsing a potential public opinion battle scenario; there was no conflict between them, so the entire debate was very harmonious.

As the debate continued, adhering to the principle of reciprocity, Shen Kang launched a counter-offensive in the latter half of the debate.

"...Social attributes are an accelerator for the dissemination of public welfare."

"Through contact with Nuanyang Society and other public welfare organizations, I discovered something: at present, public welfare activities in our society are still in a state of 'silent contribution.' These public welfare organizations are doing public welfare quietly, and many people are unaware that they are doing public welfare. They can only attract new members through very limited means. At the same time, some people who are willing to do public welfare are also in a state of information isolation from them. They want to do public welfare, but they don't know how to do it."

"However, in our new model, by leveraging the reach of social media, we can break down this isolation, creating an opening in the state of 'silent giving,' allowing public welfare information to flow more widely and accelerating the dissemination of public welfare..."

After some debate, the two finally stopped.

Ding Zhentao couldn't help but summarize the comments: "It seems that even if you were to actually engage in a public opinion war with those troublemakers, you could put up a good fight. Hehe."

Overall, he was quite satisfied with the outcome of the debate.

Seeing that this topic had ended, Shen Kang moved on to the next topic—the enemy.

Upon hearing this, Ding Zhentao chuckled.

After chatting for a while, he and Shen Kang became closer, so he didn't hide anything and directly said for Shen Kang, "I know, the one from Yangshang, right?"

They were all from the university computer science circle in Yangcheng, and Ding Zhentao knew a lot about Dai Qiu and Bao Yiheng's messy affairs. After all, whenever they got together for some reason, it was impossible not to see these two arguing.

"Um."

Shen Kang nodded. "This enemy's strength is still very weak. Currently, it's only focused on his own forum. If the second scenario I just mentioned, 'enemy attack,' really happens, I estimate that the most likely outcome is that he manipulates public opinion on his own Yangbei forum to attack us."

"From the perspective of overall public opinion, this scope is very small. Furthermore, based on the results of our debate, we can also go to his forum and engage in a war of words with him."

"Of course, he definitely has a greater advantage in public opinion on his forum. But my own forum is starting to take off now, and we've already driven his Yangbei Forum out of Yangke University. We can also wage a war of public opinion on our own forum."

Shen Kang then brought up something he had mentioned earlier: "Furthermore, as I just said, I also have some media resources. We can fully utilize these resources to first launch a favorable propaganda campaign in reputable newspapers and magazines, and then 'export and re-import' these reports back to us as new weapons in our propaganda war. With the endorsement of official media, these 'exported and re-imported' favorable opinions will be even more powerful..."

Ding Zhentao listened silently.

From the fundamental logic of "troublemaker" and "enemy," Shen Kang did indeed have a good contingency plan for dealing with the problem.

When Ding Zhentao first heard Shen Kang mention this matter, considering the potential impact, his mind was completely inclined to "not do it."

Now, Shen Kang has balanced Ding Zhentao's mind. But the "doing" side of the balance is still lacking a bit of leverage.

After Shen Kang finished speaking, he glanced at Ding Zhentao, pondered for a moment, and then continued speaking, starting a new topic.

"In addition to these two points, I have also prepared a specific tactic from a psychological perspective."

Is there anything else?

Ding Zhentao's interest was piqued again, and he listened attentively.

Shen Kang did not immediately explain the specific methods, but instead started talking about something else: "In life, there is a psychological phenomenon that is very common."

"A good person who has done good deeds all his life can be labeled a bad person and cursed for centuries just because he did one bad thing."

"A bad person who has done bad things all his life can be recognized as a good person and praised by everyone just because he did one good thing."

Ding Zhentao nodded.

This kind of social psychological phenomenon is indeed quite common.

Shen Kang said, "This social psychological phenomenon also applies to charitable acts."

"If a singer who has always been involved in commercial activities decides one or more charity concerts and donates all of his earnings to charity, people will praise him wildly."

"But what if a singer spends their entire life doing charity concerts, and one day, they want to improve their life and suddenly want to hold a few commercial concerts..."

Shen Kang didn't continue, and immediately changed the subject, "The activities in our public welfare zone can also be done using this social psychological phenomenon."

"Didn't I say that this cross-school event in the public welfare section is a joint effort between Xianyu.com and Beiming Community? Before this public welfare social event goes live, we can first hold a long-term joint social event between Beiming Community and Xianyu.com to create an image of 'networking + secondhand goods'!"

Ding Zhentao's eyes lit up when he heard this.

If Shen Kang's previous talk about "information warfare" and "enemies" was still within his scope of thinking, then the new idea that Shen Kang proposed now was truly beyond his expectations!

"Continue, please elaborate."

Ding Zhentao couldn't help but speak up and urge him on.

Shen Kang continued, "To be specific, it's about organizing an online social event on the Beiming Community, but it's not called a social event; it's more like a 'second-hand transaction'."

"This 'second-hand trading' is very special. Unlike other second-hand trading platforms on Xianyu.com, where you can find something you like, negotiate a price with the seller, and then place an order to buy it, this requires mutual recognition between the buyer and seller."

"For example, if I have a used guitar to sell, then I can participate in this event."

"At the same time, there were 12 other girls participating in the event, but unlike me who was selling secondhand items, these 12 girls were buying secondhand items; they were the buyers."

"Then, as a seller of used guitars, I will be dealing with 12 buyers who want to buy used items at the same time."

"With the technical support of the website, we will be implementing a new feature in the Beiming Community's main square."

"This feature allows me to communicate with these 12 female buyers via text, and other people in the community can see what we are saying."