Chapter 147: Someone Else Is Going In to Tread the Sewing Machine!

Inside the lounge of the Starry Sky Nightclub.

Zhao Mo was originally discussing the video to be filmed that evening with two girls from her team when she suddenly noticed her TikTok backend notifications blowing up with comments.

Puzzled, she opened the app, and her jaw dropped instantly.

"Little slut, taking money to do dirty work without a shred of conscience, huh?"

"What kind of Linyao cooking wine is this? How much money were you paid to sell out your conscience?"

"Hanging out in nightclubs doesn't just cost you your virginity, it costs your conscience too, right? How much did they pay you to dare say Linyao cooking wine is good?"

"..."

"Got it, boss." Julie didn't ask any further and directly accepted the task.

"This lawsuit will naturally be withdrawn in the end; it's impossible to actually sue TikTok. However, the other party needs to give an attitude, starting with banning that Luo Yan's account."

He naturally understood the eldest sister's intention.

Chu Yan asked rhetorically, "If taste is so hard to control, have you opened online ordering channels? From what I understand, your products cannot be ordered on any online platforms."

On the other side, Luo Yan naturally received her assistant's report: "Someone sent you a message warning you to delete the video, or else they'll sue you. It's that Mo Mo."

This Young Master Tu seemed to be paying close attention to his affairs. He understood what the other party wanted—the Atlantis sea-squirts.

"Mm-hm." Zhao Mo nodded, her face full of indignation. "How can this Luo Yan talk such utter nonsense? It's making me furious."

Chu Yan nodded and said, "According to my investigation, the other person's video was shot in a plaza in Anhui Province. Putting aside the fact that there are no online purchase channels, even if there were, it takes three days for packages to arrive there. How did she manage to get it on the exact same day?"

"This news will be released tomorrow. By then, people online will think twice before slandering your cooking wine, and it will definitely reverse a lot of the momentum."

"At Linyao Restaurant!" Chu Lin reported the location.

Chu Yan's voice sounded again, "By the way, where are you now? I'm coming over to find you. These kinds of matters should be resolved through the legal system."

She herself was well aware of the effects of Linyao cooking wine.

"Mhm." The assistant nodded.

"Sis, you knew?" Warmth flooded Chu Lin's heart. The eldest sister obviously cared deeply about him, which was why she kept paying attention to his affairs.

"Hire more internet trolls to guide the narrative, revolving around the fact that the other person comes from a nightclub background and definitely knows all sorts of shady characters. Right now, I feel my life is threatened and I'm very scared, but for the sake of justice, I will not yield an inch."

Wu Ying still had doubts: "But lawsuits can drag on for a long time. Even if there's a result, wouldn't it be too late? When a certain internet celebrity slandered her own boss, it dragged on for several years."

"Furthermore, didn't she also guide, insult, and defame Mo Mo? Articles 109 and 110 of the Civil Code: infringing on another's right to reputation and personality rights. In severe cases, that's two charges, though the penalties aren't too heavy."

Puzzled, he answered the call and heard Tu Shanyue's laughter: "Mr. Chu, it seems your product has run into some trouble. I have a cousin whose family has a high-ranking official in the Fujian Provincial Department of Traditional Culture. I had a word with him, and your cooking wine has been designated as a Fujian Traditional Culture Craft Product."

Cai Yao, however, said, "What if Lao He Heng anticipates that we will do this, and then does the opposite to bicker with us? At that time, they could claim that someone tried to kill two birds with one stone—ruining Linyao cooking wine while framing them, hoping to make us fight each other."

TikTok would undoubtedly be baffled upon receiving a lawsuit notification and would investigate the situation. At that point, the platform would face two choices: either go to court with them or do as the eldest sister suggested.

"Why is this person talking such nonsense?" Seeing these comments, Zhao Mo was beside herself with anger.

Hearing this, Luo Yan provocatively replied to Zhao Mo with a message: "Sue me if you've got the guts! As if I'm scared of you!"

The reviews left by tourists participating in the event were the most authentic, whereas everything Luo Yan said was fake, and the hired passerby actors were all plants.

Yet the more this happened, the more anxious she became, not wanting anything bad to happen to Mr. Chu's product.

Wu Ying suddenly felt ignorant, her pretty face flushing slightly. However, looking at Chu Yan, she felt a sense of admiration; Mr. Chu's older sister seemed extraordinarily formidable.

Ordinary people simply couldn't handle these maneuvers, or they'd just be played around in circles.

Zhao Mo hurriedly said, "We have the records here; we can just release the whole thing."

She sent several messages in a row before feeling satisfied.

"When 99 out of 100 people believe her and only one believes you, then whatever the other person says becomes the truth, no matter how you argue."

"I'll contact Mr. Chu first and see what he says," Julie said, taking out her phone to dial Chu Lin's number.

Looking at the message, Luo Yan sneered and instructed, "Cut out the sentence 'I warn you to better delete the video...', blur out the words 'I will definitely sue you,' and emphasize 'otherwise I'll make you pay.' Tomorrow, release another video claiming I've been threatened and told I would 'be made to pay'."

"Let me see." Julie immediately snatched Zhao Mo's phone, saw the message, and sighed. "Mo Mo, you acted impulsively. I can guarantee the other party is going to immediately take a screenshot of this message to stir up trouble, taking it out of context to claim they're being threatened by you."

Julie immediately warned, "Then don't do anything right now, and don't make any public statements, or it's going to get very troublesome. This matter needs to be considered for the long term."

Perhaps this was why she could never become truly famous?

This remark left Chu Lin stunned.

"I'll be right there." Chu Yan hung up the phone.

Not long after, Chu Yan arrived. As soon as they met, she said, "I already know about the situation. The best course of action right now is to sue that Luo Yan and put her behind bars. Then all will be peaceful under heaven, and instead, your Linyao cooking wine can turn a disadvantage into an advantage, gaining even greater popularity than before."

"Ah! What should we do then?" Hearing this, Zhao Mo was truly dumbfounded.

Thinking of this, she immediately called Julie.

"Let me see." Luo Yan grabbed the comments and laughed. "Such a feeble warning. If the other party wants to sue, let them sue, as if I'm scared. I'll just issue an apology when the time comes. Right now, go write the apology draft first."

She immediately clicked on the relevant video to check and saw Luo Yan's post.

If Mr. Chu hadn't thrown money to back her and found her a team, she figured she would never have become famous.

At Linyao Restaurant, inside Cai Yao's office.

With that, he had already dialed Chu Yan's number.

TikTok had long since surrendered to official authorities and still cared deeply about its own reputation.

Patiently, Julie explained, "The other party could claim you photoshopped it, or that you used a secondary account to send messages to yourself. In the current online climate, do you think people will believe you or her?"

However, once Luo Yan faced criminal charges for such solid offenses, TikTok naturally couldn't afford to fight a lawsuit against them and would directly ban Luo Yan as the best option. As for internet celebrities, they could prop up as many as they liked; those banned influencers were all precedents.

Still, how did the eldest sister manage to become good friends with everyone?

She was close with Eldest Miss Cai, having gone shopping together several times, and now she had become good friends with Zhao Mo as well.

Hearing this, Zhao Mo immediately asked, "I just sent a message to that Luo Yan. Will that have any negative impact?"

Wu Ying wasn't familiar with Chu Yan, so hearing this, she remarked, "It seems internet celebrities don't care about these things at all; in the end, they just post an apology and call it a day. Besides, the other party might brush it off by citing personal taste issues? We can't control people's personal tastes."

Without any hesitation, Chu Lin immediately told his eldest sister, "Sis, let's sign the agency contract right away! I'm handing this case over to you!"

Yet the other party was showing genuine sincerity.

Chu Lin nodded, understanding the logic. At that very moment, his phone rang. It was an unexpected number—Tu Shanyue, the person who had previously helped deliver the 500,000 yuan.

Was the internet really this deep?

As soon as the call connected, Chu Yan's voice rang out: "Xiaolin, you just launched a product, how did you manage to get smeared like this?"

Seeing him hang up, Wu Ying was furious. "It's obviously fake, yet so many people believe it. This Luo Yan must have taken money from Lao He Heng, and she keeps bringing them up everywhere. Aren't they afraid we'll sue them?"

The moment the call went through, he instructed, "Now, go find those people who previously posted videos about our Linyao cooking wine and were cyberbullied and slandered. Tell them that my side can help them sue Luo Yan, we'll cover the costs, and we can even help them secure some compensation."

Chu Yan, however, added another point: "There is one issue that needs to be made clear: the added value of the product affects the severity of the sentencing. By added value here, I don't mean your 100-yuan pricing; sentences for new products are generally not very high in this regard."

Chu Yan looked at Wu Ying and teased, "Little sister, we have many cases that can be expedited—for instance, trials for cases carrying sentences of over three years, or cases with conclusive evidence, alongside many other conditions. Most importantly, the founders of every prominent law firm actually have connections with the courts. For many major cases with conclusive evidence, the expedited procedure is much faster than you think."

Hearing this, Chu Lin's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

The assistant immediately gave a thumbs-up: "Awesome, you're the best. That Mo Mo is finished, and this time, Luo Yan, you can be promoted to a major influencer."

"..."

Chu Lin nodded: "Then add that clause as well."

"I warn you to better delete the video and apologize to Linyao cooking wine, otherwise I'll make you pay and I will definitely sue you."

"..." A sudden realization hit Chu Lin that he had been flattering himself; apparently, he was just an afterthought.

Cai Yao nodded and said, "We don't have online purchasing channels. Even if a client bought it on the day of the event and had it mailed, expedited shipping would only get it to destinations within Fujian province on the same day."

Chu Yan retorted irritably, "Mo Mo and I are good friends now, and I follow her videos. When others tried to smear her, I naturally saw it, and along the way, I saw your product getting smeared too."

"We'll sue her for defamation and personality insult on behalf of these people as well! Of course, if they suffered psychological trauma from cyberbullying, they can sue for that too!"

Cai Yao shook her head. "It all comes down to who has better PR, leaving the audience to weigh things in their own minds. Therefore, we must currently spend a high price to hire a team skilled in internet PR, at the very least to keep the situation from deteriorating further. Otherwise, our product will suffer a huge blow before it's even promoted."

"Even if you hire a specialized internet PR team for online matters, you might not outplay the other side," Chu Lin said coldly. "In this world, internet celebrities can't just do whatever they want. If they cross the line of the law, no matter how big an influencer she is, she's going down. I'll have the eldest sister come over to ask about it first."

Thinking that this Luo Yan dared to slander Mr. Chu's product made her blood boil with rage. She directly opened Luo Yan's backend profile and sent her a direct message:

"How can someone like you smear others?"

Couldn't those people think for themselves?

Julie hurried in just then: "Mo Mo, have you seen what's happening online?"

Zhao Mo received the message and was ready to explode with anger. How could someone be so shameless?

Yet the crucial problem was that everyone online seemed to be backing Luo Yan wholeheartedly.

"However, there are also cumulative sentencing and joint punishment regulations. Didn't she claim those guests who posted videos were paid actors? It seems netizens are flooding those people's profiles with abuse."

"Don't panic!" Chu Yan said. "Add one more count to the lawsuit—sue TikTok for spreading false information, which caused massive damage to you. Right now, the authorities are severely cracking down on distorted values and unhealthy trends on the internet because bad influences spread too easily. This matter right now is precisely an unhealthy trend."

Chu Lin received Julie's call, then frowned and said, "Julie, I know. I'll handle this matter."

Naturally, they would have to withdraw their lawsuit against TikTok later; it was impossible to genuinely offend the platform.

"..." Wu Ying was momentarily dazed. Twisted around like this, she felt her brain wasn't quite keeping up. "So this is completely unresolvable?"

"These internet celebrities are ignorant. For the sake of traffic, they can do whatever they want, completely oblivious to the fact that they've broken the law. You can sue her under Article 246 of the Criminal Law for the Crime of Defamation, and Article 221 for the Crime of Damaging Commercial Credit and Product Reputation!"

Thinking about this, he subconsciously moved the phone away and asked his eldest sister, "Sis, what if my cooking wine is a Fujian Traditional Culture Craft Product?"

Chu Yan was startled for a moment, then immediately declared, "Then I'll do my best to push the penalties for both Article 246 and Article 221 to the maximum!"

(End of this chapter)