Chapter 244: These Are All the Personal Actions of the Audience (Seeking Monthly Votes)

As the common saying goes:

Candied coptis will eventually taste bitter, and fruit plucked by force will never be sweet.

Good deeds must be done by good people; how could a mortal ever act as a god?

"Everything in this world, every sip and every peck, is determined by heaven"—this is a sentence Zhou Yi often saw in novels.

Zhou Yi felt this sentence was actually quite interesting when applied to reality, because Ah Huang and Xiao Lan could be considered "collateral damage," yet not quite.

It was only after getting up this morning that Zhou Yi discovered his comment section had long since gone off the rails.

There is no helping it; truly speaking, for many people, the most intuitive experience of Big Data Price Discrimination is likely through food delivery and ride-hailing apps.

And especially regarding food delivery, really, I reckon those who did business in the past could never have imagined that nowadays there would be platforms simultaneously hated by merchants, customers, and service personnel (riders)!

Many customers feel they have been cheated, but in fact, merchants have also been cheated, and even the riders are still being cheated.

In a certain sense, the rider profession has something in common with express delivery.

Anyway, if someone complains, they deduct your money first, then talk later.

Therefore, seeing Ah Huang and Xiao Lan being roasted in the comment section, to be honest, Zhou Yi did not find it surprising at all.

Zhou Yi believes that no one would deny the achievements of these internet giants, whether it be online shopping, food delivery, or ride-hailing.

These internet giants have thoroughly changed our lives, making life much more convenient.

Or one could say, at the very beginning, they might have had other intentions, but once a Company develops to that extent, it is no longer up to the individual.

This brings us back to the classic theory of Fortune; is 996 a Fortune? Many people want to work 996 but don't even have the path to do so!

Let alone talking about the issue of begging on one's knees; they have already provided you with a job position, what else do you want!

Zhou Yi scrolled through everyone's comments; these comments included insults, complaints, and sarcastic remarks, as if everyone had suddenly found an outlet for their frustrations.

Some people might not have been clear about Big Data Price Discrimination, and after watching Zhou Yi's video earlier, they also felt it was a bit absurd.

Internet companies couldn't be that stupid, right? How could they possibly do this so blatantly?

Right, how could they? Wouldn't people know just by comparing with two mobile phones?

For example, this person named "Xiao Jiu Jiu".

In the comment section of the previous video (Part 1), they stubbornly debated with Pusa Xiong for a long time, feeling it was simply impossible.

And now, seeing this update, they are directly speechless.

Pusa Xiong finally let out a breath of relief.

"Take a look for yourself; these companies doing this is just making it clear they aren't afraid of you knowing. Even that Pinduoduo is so blatant, guess if they are afraid of people."

Pusa Xiong tagged "Xiao Jiu Jiu" again and said.

An individual facing a company, especially this type of company, is always in the weaker position.

This time, if it weren't for A Yi organizing the data, many people really wouldn't have known that current Big Data could be sensitive to this degree!

However, to be honest, having no gatekeeper on one's mouth easily leads to the consequence of Tort.

The simplest act of insult—this term, when placed in court, the lawyers for both sides can argue it into a flower.

Consequently, very soon, some professional audience members began sending private messages to Zhou Yi.

"A Yi, why don't you manage the comment section? Tell everyone not to curse at people randomly. Honestly, it won't be good if the other party comes looking for trouble later."

A brother named "High-Speed Typing Keyboard Warrior" said.

There are quite a few people cursing in the comment section; the other party certainly won't be like Zhou Yi and sue everyone at once.

That is absolutely impossible; if they did that, would they still want to do business?

But that doesn't mean they can't look for trouble with Zhou Yi!

Zhou Yi naturally saw this private message, but he did not reply. I don't know anything; these are all the Netizens' own actions.

Does this sound a bit familiar?

Using his own shallow legal knowledge, Zhou Yi felt he should be fine.

Those who previously claimed it was "personal behavior" all had contracts with the company, so when dealing with the outside, they represented the company.

Just like if a staff member of the People's Bank of China has a problem, then according to the most basic principles, the bank cannot say it has no responsibility, and a single sentence of "personal behavior" cannot settle it.

This is his own logic.

No matter how you put it, the client should not be the one taking the blame.

Because the Employee has a contract with the bank, they represent the bank to the outside world; the same logic applies to other companies.

And here, Zhou Yi does not believe he has any relationship with these audience members. You all shouldn't talk nonsense without reason; be careful, or I'll sue you for defamation!

Even if there is a problem, let the other party go argue with Fang Dazhuang in court; at worst, we'll pay whatever we need to pay in the end.

Although he hasn't lost a lawsuit yet, Zhou Yi doesn't think he can win for his whole life.

If he loses, then he will obediently accept it; this is Zhou Yi's motto.

After watching the comments for a while, he stopped paying attention. Zhou Yi walked out of the bedroom to wash up; today he has to go to work to hold a lucky draw for everyone.

He was quite carefree on his side, but he didn't expect that the update he posted would directly shock the Chengdu Company.

In Modu, inside the Chengdu Company, at the same time, Liu Yun had just arrived at the office not long ago when she received a notification.

"What did you say? After we issued the statement, the other party responded?"

"How did they respond?"

The Secretary handed over the relevant materials. Liu Yun opened them to take a look, and her expression changed instantly.

That Zhou Yi, he actually produced such a set of data!

Liu Yun did not think this was false data, because the other party had no need to do so, but, but what was he aiming for!

Whether the Company engages in Big Data Price Discrimination, everyone actually knows in their hearts.

But because it is difficult for ordinary people to collect evidence and seek Legal Aid, no one takes it to heart, just like Ah Huang and Xiao Lan next door.

The profit in this is too great, so great that unless it is a painful, personal experience, it is simply impossible to give up.

Moreover, algorithms are a very professional subject; if you haven't studied them, you can't even grasp the basic principles within them.

There have been consumer associations in some places that conducted corresponding investigations before, with precise samples, but at most ten or twenty of them.

Even for a public welfare organization like a consumer association, no one has ever done something as outrageous as a five-hundred-sample survey!

What is he trying to do? Why didn't he say anything in advance when he had this thing in his hands?

"When did this happen?" Liu Yun asked with a serious expression: "What is the current level of popularity?"

"Manager Liu, the other party released this last night. After fermenting for a night, the popularity is already quite high now."

Liu Yun pondered carefully for a while, then immediately began to give orders!

"First, have the public relations department start working and closely monitor whether it hits the trending topics; if it does, get it down!"

"Second, book me a flight immediately. I am going to Jingzhou now. I want to talk to the other party in person and figure out what exactly he wants!"

"Third, have the legal department collect materials and prepare for a lawsuit as soon as possible. Once the other party refuses, we will go straight to file a lawsuit."

"Alright Manager Liu, is there anything else?"

"No, I'll go report this first. We must stabilize the other party right now."

As Liu Yun spoke, she gathered the materials and immediately walked out of the office; she had to report to the Company's chairman and the general manager.

As for why not talk over the phone, this is the most basic experience in doing public relations.

When you do public relations, you inevitably have to negotiate terms with the other party, and some of these terms are suitable for disclosure, while others are not.

Therefore, you cannot talk about it over the phone.

If we talk about the beginning, this post was only within the circles of Bilibili, but as the heat of everyone's discussion grew higher and higher, it brought along the popularity of Zhou Yi's previous videos, which also grew higher and higher.

Soon, the Self-Media of Jingzhou City, as well as the Self-Media that had received benefits before, all smelled the scent and came.

Now the Self-Media in Jingzhou all understand that there is no need to go against A Yi at all.

With the other party there, that is a huge traffic-generating machine.

Of course, it is not to say that every piece of news is worth everyone pushing; it must definitely go through screening.

Like now, Big Data Price Discrimination, a direct head-on confrontation—no matter which term it is, it is the most eye-catching.

Thus, everyone started to repost it one after another.

Now everyone is clear about A Yi's bottom line: citing the source is very important.

And so, with everyone's push, this survey data began to skyrocket in popularity as if it had gone crazy!

It made users on other short video platforms, Tieba forums, Sina Weibo, and so on, feel inexplicably horrified after seeing it.

So it turns out that without us noticing, Big Data had already calculated everything, and then, like a dull knife cutting flesh, it came to earn our money.

Everyone doesn't think that internet companies can't make money—everyone is willing to make money—but what everyone is dissatisfied with is that you use this kind of Big Data Price Discrimination method to make money!

Collecting personal data, drawing user profiles, and setting prices through all kinds of differences.

This kind of money-making is hateful!

"I am willing to call Chengdu Company 'absolutely amazing'; speaking of which, I just saw it, they issued a statement saying that Big Data Price Discrimination absolutely does not exist, so what is this?"

"Yeah, what is this? It's so obvious that everyone's pricing is different, with the high ones being dozens or even over a hundred higher than the low ones. I'm very curious, is this still not Big Data Price Discrimination?"

"Didn't you guys see? Chengdu Company said they want to sue the other party for Tort, and have already sent a Lawyer's Letter, saying the other party slandered them for Big Data Price Discrimination..."

"Ask for a hammer and get a hammer; I just like watching this kind of plot, and besides, the original video didn't even say a word about Big Data Price Discrimination!"

Originally, everyone just saw this data and was still wondering why that Up Master would inexplicably publish such a survey result.

But actually, after seeing the cause and effect, it was truly a roar of laughter.

Honestly, after seeing too many of these bizarre things on the internet, everyone has already treated the so-called "Serious Statement" as just entertainment.

Especially in the entertainment industry.

Today they just issued a Serious Statement saying they would warn those spreading rumors about divorce to stop the Tort, and then they turned around and issued a statement announcing their divorce.

This is actually fine, but there are even more outrageous ones: today they just issued a Serious Statement saying the other party was blackmailing them and so on, and that they had already called the police.

As a result, they were arrested themselves, and were held in Criminal Case Detention...

Therefore, everyone now really doesn't care about this so-called Serious Statement; they have seen too many of them.

And at this moment, "Zixing Yaoyue," who often appears in Zhou Yi's comment section, had already started their long comment once again.

"The other party initially stated that A Yi slandered them for Big Data Price Discrimination. The key is, A Yi's original video only talked about what he encountered; he didn't mention a word about Big Data Price Discrimination!"

"On the contrary, Big Data Price Discrimination appeared for the first time in this statement..."

"This matter reminds me of a story plot: a certain camel was said to have weapons of mass destruction, and then, it was flattened and searched for many years but they were never found."

"Then one day, Eagle Sauce asked Rabbit, saying, 'How come you are helping people manufacture thiodiglycol and thionyl chloride?'"

"Rabbit replied, 'A gentleman remains steadfast in poverty; would I help others manufacture weapons of mass destruction?'"

"So the question is, whose problem is it exactly?"

"How did Rabbit and Eagle Sauce know that adding these two things together could manufacture weapons of mass destruction?"

"Chengdu Company, how did they know that this behavior is Big Data Price Discrimination? Otherwise, on what basis did they say the other party slandered them?"

"Things in this world cannot withstand scrutiny; once you scrutinize them, you will find the blind spot. I am very curious, and I hope Chengdu Company can issue another statement!"

Why else would people say that when the level is different, the problems seen are also different?

Pusa Xiong also had the same thought; someone was just properly talking about a matter, and you opened your mouth and said they slandered you for Big Data Price Discrimination.

But after thinking for a long time, racking his brains to come up with three sentences, he looked up and saw that a long comment had already appeared.

And the person who posted the comment was the same as before: Zixing Yaoyue.

Sighing, Pusa Xiong replied again: "Me too!"

Alas, I am uncultured, so one "holy crap" covers everything.

Other audience members replied one after another below, and suddenly, the entire comment section was filled with a happy atmosphere.

But in such a happy atmosphere, there was a discord.

In Modu, inside Ah Huang Company, the relevant staff members have already noticed this public opinion.

They felt it was inexplicable; this was clearly the test data of Chengdu Company that was published, so why was our company being scolded while we were doing just fine?

The key is that you all aren't even scolding Chengdu Company anymore, but are specifically picking on me and that food delivery company next door to scold together; this is a bit bullying!

This time, everyone saw it clearly; those comments in the comment section all mentioned Big Data Price Discrimination.

Consequently, very quickly, Ah Huang Company likewise issued a statement.

"Recently, our company has discovered that a large amount of groundless abuse and slander against our company has appeared in the comment section of a certain Up Master..."

The format was exactly the same as that of Chengdu Company above, making people suspect they were downloaded from the same template.

There was also Xiao Lan next door, who had issued the same statement.

This was naked slander; it was absolutely impossible for them to have any situation of Big Data Price Discrimination.

Furthermore, both Ah Huang and Xiao Lan provided relevant explanations, explaining why different mobile phones displayed different prices.

Through the company's specialized staff contacting relevant media, an interview was quickly released.

"For the same distance, in fact, depending on the weather and the time, the fees will all be different; this is a natural price fluctuation."

"This is adjusted according to an algorithm; it is a very complex algorithm, so please rest assured, Ah Huang will be responsible to customers and to society from beginning to end."

Regardless of these, anyway, they explained it first to leave everyone with a preconceived notion.

Even if you later bring out so-called investigation data like you did to poke at Chengdu Company, it won't be enough; it's just price fluctuation, after all.

Xiao Lan next door also started copying their homework; whatever Ah Huang did, they copied it, not missing a single statement or interview.

And shortly after the interview press release was issued, they began to push the heat; it wouldn't reach the trending searches, but it definitely had to have heat.

Of course, a Lawyer's Letter was also indispensable, not sent to those people scolding them, but sent to Zhou Yi.

Just as Zhou Yi had thought before, these companies did not dare to file such large-scale Lawsuits; if they were looking for someone, they would look for Zhou Yi, this big target.

Even if you win a lawsuit against an ordinary user, you will still be mocked.

But an internet celebrity is different; everyone feels indignant when mentioning internet celebrities.

They clearly have nothing, yet they can earn so much money, making many hardworking office workers feel it is not worth it.

Therefore, poking at an internet celebrity is never wrong.

The onlookers on the internet were happy; it had actually alarmed even Modu's Ah Huang and Xiao Lan, but what about Xiao Di? Why wasn't Xiao Di saying anything?

Xiao Di was hesitating; they had already been sanctioned once last year, and now they couldn't even be found on the APP store.

So now they didn't know whether they should make this response.

Right now, the best thing for them to do was to act low-key, rather than responding in such a high-profile manner.

So now, inside the company, they were still struggling over this matter.

Thus, in the words of Yuan Jie, the pressure had come to A Yi's side.

…………

Today at Tengda Company, oh man, it was lively!

Holding a team-building event on a workday, just ask yourself, how many companies can do that?

Not taking up any rest time, it was just a workday, and everyone just stopped working; the lucky draw was more important.

If this were any other company, the boss would be dying to work everyone like cattle and horses.

Everyone took turns drawing, and what Zhou Yi had to do was personally draw the first prize, which was that car.

As for the remaining prizes, they were of course drawn by other high-level executives of the Company.

"Old Yuan, stop shaking; we are both 'lucky draw insulators,' the first prize and such have nothing to do with us."

Colleague Cao laughed from the side.

Previously, because of Cao's behavior, Yuan was very disdainful; the guy was even better at bootlicking than me, yet he dared to say I was bootlicking!

Yuan, who was next to him, glanced at the other person, nodded, and said: "Although we are 'lucky draw insulators,' one must still have dreams."

"No way, no way? You really think you'll win a prize, Old Yuan? Let me tell you, these prizes and such are all fake..."

"Especially this kind of first prize, it's already been decided internally; it won't be our turn at all. Boss Zhou definitely wants to win over the high-level executives first..."

However, just as Cao's words reached this point, Zhou Yi's voice rang out on the stage.

"First prize, Yuan Jianhua!"

Accompanied by bursts of music, Yuan froze right there.

Although he had said before that he should have dreams, to tell the truth, he really hadn't thought about this first prize.

What Cao said also made a lot of sense.

So he had many chances to draw, but he only thought about winning a refrigerator, a washing machine, or some other home appliance.

He never expected to actually win it!

"Cao, look, I won, I won!"

Cao, who was next to him, was already in a daze, but he still subconsciously said: "Even if the boss really brings out a car, it won't be a good car, and there will definitely be many additional conditions."

"I've seen this kind of trick many times in other companies before..."

It was a pity that Zhou Mouren on the stage had started speaking again.

"This car was purchased with my personal funds, worth over one hundred thousand, and it is a domestic new energy vehicle..."

Following Zhou Yi's words, the corresponding introduction had already appeared on the big screen.

Looking at that beautiful car body, Cao's eyes went straight; it really was a car, a proper one at that.

"And please rest assured, my lucky draw has no binding conditions. Yuan Jianhua, right? Come and collect your prize."

Yuan's tongue started to tremble; he took three steps in two, went up on stage, and took the car keys from Zhou Yi's hand.

Immediately, Zhou Yi continued: "Seeing Yuan Jianhua take the first prize, does everyone think this is a hateful 'lucky person'?"

"No, he is not some 'lucky person.' In the previous investigation activity, this guy alone obtained thirty-five lucky draws..."

Zhou Yi must clarify this matter; after all, this grand prize is indeed quite large, and people worry not about scarcity but about inequality, so jealousy is inevitable.

Therefore, Zhou Yi wants to say that the other party truly put in hard work to help; what thirty-five draw chances mean is that he alone produced thirty-five sets of survey data.

"And the one in second place only had eleven, so everyone can see, this isn't some 'lucky European,' this is purely winning by quantity."

There is nothing to say; if the other party worked hard, they should receive the reward they deserve.

Hearing the number thirty-five, Liu Fangfang below gave a bitter smile; she was the one with eleven.

She originally thought she had worked hard enough, but she didn't expect that for the sake of a lucky draw, they could be this competitive!

However, she drew a new dishwasher worth over ten thousand, so she was content.

After announcing the draw results, Zhou Yi stepped off the stage, and the following time was to be left to everyone.

Just as he was preparing to greet Manager Quan, his phone rang; he picked it up and saw it was Yuan Jie.

"Hello Zhou Yi, have you seen the statements from Ah Huang Company and Xiao Lan Company? Some viewers have watched videos for so long and still haven't learned the phrase 'misfortune comes from the mouth'."

Yuan Jie explained the general situation and then asked.

"So what do you plan to do? The other party has almost completely blocked your retreat, and it's too late for you to collect data temporarily, right?"

There was a hint of worry in Yuan Jie's voice.

She and Zhou Yi are the kind of pure friends who, on one hand, desperately urge for updates, and on the other, worry about the other's situation.

She worried that if this guy went inside, there would be no one left to film videos.

"Too late? It's fine, it's not too late."

Zhou Mouren said leisurely: "When I was collecting data before, I conveniently collected the data for Ah Huang and Xiao Lan as well."

"Don't worry, just because they say it's price fluctuation, does it mean it's fluctuation? The eyes of the masses are sharp; no matter how it fluctuates, for the same time and the same takeout, can the price really differ that much?"

"Not to mention that the member price is actually higher than the non-member price, and the price for old users is higher than for new users."

"You don't say, my HR Director is truly amazing."

These statistics were all done by He Ling; the data for Cheng Du was needed urgently, so there was no detailed summary.

But Ah Huang and Xiao Lan are different; He Ling has already identified the explicit characteristics within them.

Since you want to be hammered, then I will hammer you; Zhou Mouren has always been a rather kind man.

Opening the website, Zhou Yi discovered that there were even more insults directed at him.

They said he condoned and instigated fans to curse people—oh wait, to curse those companies.

Such an Up Master should be banned!

Why does this situation sound a bit familiar...

A six-thousand-word chapter. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are the three busiest days for Jiu Jian. Thursday is the wedding, and Friday is the return visit. I was busy all day today and only had time to write at night, so these few days will be one chapter each. I will try my best to maintain over six thousand words a day. I am terribly sorry to keep everyone waiting; it is truly a major life event, and I dare not be negligent.

Thanks to Wenchidage, Yaoyaoyao, Leshui, Another Newbie, Xiao Shufu, Feimaowuyu, Baiyijian, and Shanshanbushi Xiao Kubao. Thanks to everyone for the tips, especially thanks to Xiao Shufu for the alliance leader upgrade. The recent backlog has returned to sixty thousand, plus the brother's alliance leader, it is now sixty-six thousand words in arrears.

(End of this chapter)