Chapter 151: Such Self-Rescue! Check the Water Meter!

As time passed, following Zhao Mo’s issuance of the formal lawsuit, Luo Yan’s side failed to give any response. The reputations of Linyao Cooking Wine and Zhao Mo completely reversed, and they became even more popular.

Naturally, Luo Yan’s Douyin account was completely bombarded. According to videos exposed by some netizens, her follower count dropped by nearly a million in just a short period of time.

In contrast, Zhao Mo’s follower count grew rapidly in a very short time. It could be said that she was now enjoying this wave of popularity all by herself, making everyone who knew her green with envy.

Naturally, there were also people who were furious to death, such as Zhao Mo’s former roommates, Xiaoyue and Gu Ling.

They had also seen the news and were practically boiling with rage.

"Why?" Xiaoyue was furious. "Clearly, she was supposed to be finished."

Gu Ling sighed and said, "Finished? Far from it! She already has over two million followers, and it looks like the number is still growing. She’s about to take off. Is that President Chu who backs her really that powerful?"

Anyone who had watched Luo Yan’s previous livestreams knew that she had blown the lid off this issue in her broadcast room: We must still support Luo Yan, and it is recommended to thoroughly investigate the Min City side...

Many prominent internet influencers and content creators did the same.

"..." Xiaoyue.

However, just as she was about to click to end her broadcast, she suddenly noticed a pop-up message sent by the platform official:

"I’ve raised the minimum consumption to 5,000; even a corner table requires a minimum consumption of 3,000, and a VIP private room cannot possibly be booked for less than 10,000 for a night."

"Don't people on the internet understand by now? Luo Yan is innocent. From the very beginning of the incident, she was just exposing a product designed to fleece people, only she didn't know there was a big shot behind it and has now offended them."

"This time, Starry Night Bar is also going to go viral. I'm afraid it will become the most famous bar in Min City in the future!"

Douyin actually banned her account directly.

As for the people in the livestream cursing at her, who cared anymore?

And the people manipulating such public opinion behind the scenes were going to suffer a miserable end.

How many morons would post such remarks?

Could Luo Yan really be this daring, attempting to drag Min City down into the mud with her?

They wanted to give themselves a hard slap across the face.

"Due to your account's serious violation of internet-related regulations... We hereby solemnly notify you that your livestream room will be subjected to indefinite closure and punishment!"

"This is practically the crime of undermining the ethnic... undermining society... and maliciously smearing the official authorities... If things are serious, even a life sentence is possible."

Though they held Luo Yan in disdain, everyone still had Zhao Mo open Luo Yan’s Douyin account to see what she had to say.

They felt envy and jealousy; they also wanted to become popular and be internet celebrities—it was just that the ones who made it weren't them, leading to a deep sense of imbalance.

The two of them immediately opened their chat group to check.

With Zhao Mo’s immense popularity, it looked like her follower count would eventually exceed three million, or perhaps even higher. Under such circumstances, if Zhao Mo shot videos and hosted livestreams, having someone by her side would bring great exposure and substantial traffic.

"What truly tastes terrible is Laoheheng. Compared with Linyao Cooking Wine, it really falls far short. The ones that belong in the garbage can are them."

Since he had entrusted the bar to Huang Bin, and Huang Bin enjoyed socializing and hadn't neglected the bar because of his work at Bayi Ke, there was no need for him as an outsider to meddle in the professional domain.

At this moment, the chat group became even livelier because Zhao Mo had already posted a message in it: Starry Night Bar plans to recruit three more resident singers. Anyone interested can send their portfolios to me.

Right at that moment, Zhao Mo suddenly turned to Chu Yan and said, "Sis, someone must be trying to frame this Luo Yan. She sent me a message, take a look."

He looked at the video and was utterly dumbfounded.

Chu Yan sighed with emotion, "Originally, it was just a simple case. No matter how we fought it, the judge would still have some reservations when sentencing. Now that this kind of public opinion has been hyped up, it is no longer just a matter of the two cases themselves."

If this were true, then you might be a hero, and public opinion would strike fear into the real tigers. But since it was completely baseless, it was a severe accusation, and the accuser would end up even more miserably.

Zhao Mo nodded and immediately replied to Luo Yan with a message: "You better watch your tail!"

Because what these people said made a lot of sense.

Still, seeing the people in the group ingratiating themselves with her and asking her to put in a good word for them, she thoroughly enjoyed the feeling.

Naturally, Zhao Mo received messages shortly after and forwarded them all to Huang Bin sitting beside her: "President Huang, take a look for yourself. Many of these people actually have pretty good singing voices."

Sure enough, Luo Yan was livestreaming. Moreover, upon seeing Zhao Mo’s account enter the stream, Luo Yan spotted her immediately and started speaking right away:

"Sis, I don't have skin as thick as hers," Zhao Mo hurriedly expressed.

"Momo, let her watch her tail!" Chu Yan sighed. This person actually still harbored illusions of weathering this storm.

Xiaoyue instinctively took out her phone and sent a message to Zhao Mo: "Momo, are you there?"

"..."

Luo Yan naturally received the message, and a look of joy instantly appeared on her face.

"Hello everyone, I am Luo Yan. Regarding the events on the internet, I offer my sincere apology. Due to my assistant's carelessness, two dishes meant for passersby to taste were mixed up. In truth, Linyao Cooking Wine is much more delicious. I have personally tasted it again."

"The previous two are fine for the regular floor, but they no longer meet our requirements now. Make them full-time DJs, and we need to interview a few candidates with good qualifications to assist Momo. In the future, Momo will only be responsible for prime time, and by then we can have Julie's side promote them a bit, taking charge of the early and late shifts."

Had the other party seen her livestreamed apology? Was this considered letting her off the hook?

Otherwise, why would she bother reminding her with those words?

In other words, this matter should be behind them now.

"Haha, I'll notify them to come to Starry Night for an audition then." Huang Bin smiled and nodded, then reported to Chu Lin nearby: "Chu Lin, you're the masterstroke. Now Starry Night is reaping the benefits and has completely blown up."

Thinking this, she wanted to end the livestream, play dead for a while, and make a comeback after the storm passed. After all, she still had over two million followers on her account.

"The bar used to be worth 20 million, but now people are offering 50 million to buy it. However, this momentum must be maintained, and our services and bar quality must keep up."

Xiaoyue and Gu Ling were left dumbfounded upon seeing these words.

Chu Lin and Chu Yan looked at each other in dismay; this was truly twisting black into white without even blinking an eye.

Instead, she saw a red exclamation mark staring back at her.

She was clearly trying to salvage the situation.

"Zhao Mo has completely blown up. Xiaoyue, Gu Ling, aren't you two her roommates and close friends? Ask her if she can take you along."

She no longer showed any courtesy to Laoheheng and continued:

"I have already fired the negligent assistant and offered a truly sincere apology to Linyao Cooking Wine."

That could also gain her a large number of followers.

She had been deleted.

What was she supposed to do now?

She had just taken delivery of a Bentley; without this account, how was she supposed to make money to pay off her loan?

Just as her expression turned ghastly, her assistant rushed over in a panic: "Luo Yan, it's bad! Something's happened! You need to look at this video right now—someone is hyping up Min City in your name and even suggesting that the authorities thoroughly investigate Min City."

"???" Luo Yan was struck completely dumb.

Why did things turn out like this?

Chu Yan, who was reading documents, suddenly looked up and said, "This Luo Yan is finished. I'm afraid we won't even need to do much; she'll probably be behind bars for a dozen years. This person is truly unhinged."

"Sis, what is it?" Chu Lin asked, perplexed.

They knew that the objects of their envy and jealousy were about to increase by three people.

At that moment, the two of them saw someone tagging them in their old chat group.

"What?" Luo Yan immediately glanced at the video, the color instantly draining from her face. "When did I ever expose anything in my livestream? This isn't me, it has nothing to do with me."

By now, they had already fallen out with Zhao Mo.

This made the expressions of Xiaoyue and Gu Ling even uglier.

"Yeah, she can take you with her. With that kind of heat, you could at least become mildly popular, right?"

These words instantly caused her livestream chat to explode.

Earlier, they had been so consumed by envy and jealousy that they had forgotten about such benefits.

"Take a look at this video." Chu Yan handed a video to Chu Lin with an incredulous expression.

Upon seeing this message, Chu Yan sighed, "People who manage to become internet celebrities really do have thick skins."

Her ability to post those words was naturally at the instruction of President Huang.

"Daring to manipulate this kind of public opinion—either her brain is seriously damaged, or someone really wants her dead!"

Wasn't this equivalent to severing all her paths and kicking her straight into the abyss?

Though that was how it used to be.

"I'm already interviewing candidates for the beauty positions; I won't accept anyone whose looks and figure don't meet the standards. I've contacted another dozen batches or so. Some of the resources at Bayi Ke are truly top-notch, and besides that, we need to sign more resident singers."

Moreover, that big shot was formidable—practically possessing absolute power in Min City, able to reverse black and white, and even having the authorities endorse Linyao Cooking Wine!

This was a complete reversal, and Luo Yan had essentially self-destructed. As for what she said, who would believe it now? Could anyone even get their hands on the cooking wine?

All the victims who had been deceived previously could no longer hold back and began hurling abuses.

They practically held a natural advantage.

"You can take charge of these things." Chu Lin smiled and said.

Chu Lin and the others crowded around and saw the message Luo Yan had sent to Momo:

"Momo, I think everything that happened before was just a misunderstanding. Now that the internet buzz is so massive, we can totally win together. I've already started a broadcast, I will livestream an apology, and I can even help promote Linyao Cooking Wine. We can all make money together, right?"

So many influencers played dirty tricks, yet she had never seen anyone get banned so easily.

"That's right, let me talk to Zhao Mo and ask if we can go sing as residents at Starry Night Bar!"

Others could become famous because they didn't know them, but when someone you actually knew became famous, it genuinely felt awful—even worse than hearing a sworn brother boast about buying a Range Rover.

The people in the group seemed to have caught on as well. Xiaoyue, Gu Ling, and Momo had bad blood between them, so how could they pass up the opportunity? They immediately began messaging Zhao Mo.

"Except for you." Seeing that she had caught stray friendly fire, Chu Yan immediately said with a beaming smile, "Still, whoever wants Luo Yan dead is truly ruthless. However, I'm afraid that person is also digging their own grave; the authorities will definitely figure out what's going on. Anyone who instigated things or fanned the flames won't be let off the hook."

Just as she was scared out of her wits, the doorbell suddenly rang, followed by a voice from outside: "Is anyone home? I'm from property management. There's an issue with the residential water pipes, we need to come check the water meter."

"???" Upon hearing this, Luo Yan was so terrified that her legs turned to jelly and she collapsed to the floor.