I'm a web novelist, and you want me to work in the entertainment industry?

Clearly, in the chaotic world of entertainment, no one has ever seen Cheng Che retaliate in such a "decent" manner.

However, it must be said that since ancient times, scholars have held a very high status, so Cheng Che's move was indeed very effective.

At least in Cheng Che's Weibo comment section, public opinion has visibly begun to shift.

"Wow! This kind of swearing comes from a scholar; even that doesn't use any profanities!"

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, aren't you fangirls confused? Do you need me to translate what this poem means?"

"Where are the people who accused Cheng Che of buying songs and having his poems ghostwritten? Come out and show yourselves. If you hire a ghostwriter to write this kind of poem, I'll eat up the Chinese website's server on the spot."

"Xiao Cheng is still too impetuous. Retaliating with a poem instead of a lawyer's letter is just ridiculous! Now look what happened, a complete rip-off! Which hater will dare play along with you now?"

Of course, no matter how public opinion changes, it's impossible to clear away negative voices in just a few minutes.

There will still be some people, either driven by pure hatred or by self-righteousness—

"So what if I write a poem? Who says you can't have someone else write it for you? That's just pretentious affectation!"

"The PR team has stepped up their efforts; it's the powerful force behind Cheng Che making its move again!"

"To be honest, this poem is just so-so; it's all plain language and lacks any real depth!"

……

In a rented room, Lin Wenyuan, who was reading "The Answer," was completely dumbfounded.

There are still many trolls online who are stubborn, probably because their knowledge is limited and they don't really understand the merits of this poem.

But he graduated with a proper Chinese literature degree! He really has a discerning eye!

He hadn't read Cheng Che's novels, so he couldn't understand why someone with such talent would choose to write online novels.

He slumped dejectedly into his chair, knowing that this time he was likely to suffer a crushing defeat.

Although there are still some people online who are just being stubborn, Cheng Che posting this poem doesn't seem to directly prove that the public opinion he's been subjected to is false, but it's actually meaningless now.

The world is always exceptionally tolerant of those with genuine talent and ability, especially since Cheng Che already had a group of devoted followers.

Moreover... Cheng Che didn't seem satisfied with the reversal of public opinion; he seemed to have a backup plan.

Lin Wenyuan looked down at his phone. As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy and you will never be defeated." So he had actually been secretly following Cheng Che using his own Yin Fu account.

And now, he received a notification—

"The user you follow, 'Zero (Master Xia Mi),' has just released a new work. Go check it out!"

……

Cheng Che's latest work is a video co-created with the official account of Hangzhou Culture and Tourism.

The content is also very simple, typical Jiangnan scenery - misty rain, bluestone road, arched bridge, oil paper umbrella, and awning boat.

At first glance, it doesn't seem to be much different from their previous promotional videos.

There are only two differences.

Firstly, the video features a clear protagonist—a graceful woman in a cheongsam, holding an oil-paper umbrella, moving with light, delicate steps through the misty, rainy ancient town.

Secondly, the background music in the video is no longer the audio of Cheng Che singing "Jiangnan" that Hangzhou's cultural tourism industry used to love to use.

Instead, a soft, ethereal female voice recited a poem with a melancholy and restraint:

"Holding an oil-paper umbrella, I wander alone in the long, long, and lonely rainy alley."

"I hope to meet a girl like a lilac, bearing the marks of sorrow..."

The video is two and a half minutes long. In the video, a graceful woman walks through a misty, rainy alley, reciting poetry.

At the end of the video, the camera focuses on the depths of a rain-soaked alley, and two lines of subtitles slowly appear:

"Rainy Alleys in Hangzhou"

"Cheng Che's 'Rainy Alley'"

After the video was released, it went viral, and the comment section exploded.

"So you mean... your brother Cheng Che just posted 'Answer' on Weibo, and then immediately came here to collaborate with the cultural tourism industry to release 'Rainy Alley'?"

"Can someone give a high-level critique of 'Rainy Alley'? What's its quality?"

"Brother military officer, don't make your civil official brother laugh... I've only been to university for two years, what right do I have to comment on this!"

"666, is it really that exaggerated? Hangzhou's cultural tourism is really improving. You've been sucking up to Brother Che for months, and finally you've gotten something good!"

"Fun fact 1: Video editing takes time, so it's obvious that Cheng Che's collaboration with Hangzhou Culture and Tourism couldn't have been reached just today."

Fun fact 2: Xiaotian mentioned modern poetry in her diary before because Che Ge said something in the Jiangnan section of "Random Notes," and that thing corresponds to the first line of this poem, "Rainy Alley."

With the release of the "science popularization" comments, even setting aside the timeline issue, the online claim that Cheng Che hired a ghostwriter has been largely debunked.

After all, Cheng Che published more than one poem, and their quality was quite remarkable.

In short—if there really were "ghostwriters" who could write poems like "Answer" and "Rainy Alley," why wouldn't they publish them themselves to make a name for themselves, instead of content to hide in the shadows like a rat?

Cheng Che's fans were celebrating like it was a festival, making a huge fuss as they began to clean up the music, Weibo, and all the social media platforms in the world!

but!

Just when fans thought Cheng Che's counterattack was over, it wasn't over yet!

As fans cheered and jeers fell silent, the official Weibo account of the Chinese website posted a new message:

About two months ago, writer Zero (real name Cheng Che) from our website, together with our website, donated RMB 20 million to a poverty alleviation project for education.

Some of the donations have been used to improve teaching facilities and purchase stationery and books, and further plans are still underway. The use of the first batch of donations and the school's feedback are hereby publicized for public oversight.

Below are several pictures: bank transfer receipts, donation agreements, procurement lists, before-and-after photos of the school renovation...

In addition, perhaps not wanting to be outdone, the official Chinese website account also posted a video.

and!

Like Hangzhou's cultural and tourism sector, it also features Zero Co-creation!

The copywriting is a bit sleazy:

"Hehehe, Zero Brother is here! The collaboration with Zero Brother is really here!"

...However, although the copywriting is a bit lewd and might inexplicably remind people of a turtle dried in the sun, the content is generally quite serious.

It was on that very day that Cheng Che went to the Chinese website and watched the unboxing video of the gifts his students had sent him.

The video did not reveal any students' names or the contents of the letters.

It simply showed the large number of gifts sent by the students to express their gratitude to Cheng Che and the Chinese website, as well as Cheng Che's "humanity explosion" when he unpacked the boxes.

At this point, Cheng Che's three-pronged counterattack had been completely executed.

He never directly addressed whether he wrote his novels and songs, nor did he respond to whether his sudden fame was due to the intervention of powerful investors, and he didn't even try to prove anything.

But none of that matters anymore.

Because everyone who is paying attention to this matter knows—

It's time for...the great reckoning.