Chapter 510: Justice for the Weak

Liu Tianxian meant that she could participate in daily life matters, but not in commercial competition.

Huang Jiaozhu was speechless—how could this girl be so stubborn? She wouldn't even help pass on a simple message.

If it's doable, then do it; if not, then don't.

Yan Zi, on the other side, also heard and softly said, "Forget it."

"Alright, thank you, Yifei!" Huang Jiaozhu hung up the phone.

He had originally thought that if he stepped in himself, Liu Tianxian would pass along the message, letting him give Yan Zi some face and earn a favor—but now that she refused, even the favor was unmarketable.

Why was she so stubborn? Last time, with Da Baobei, Liu Tianxian had still helped.

That last incident involved Liu Tianxian herself, and besides, that was years ago—back then, her relationship with Fang Hong was entirely different from what it is now.

Now they're married; she would unquestionably stand by her husband.

"It's not easy to handle—only you can deal with it yourself," Huang Jiaozhu shook his head apologetically.

"It's fine, thanks for your trouble," Yan Zi still expressed gratitude, surprised that even this path had been blocked.

After hanging up, Liu Tianxian went to the wardrobe room and found Fang Hong, who was dressing in front of the full-length mirror; the weather had turned cool, so he needed to wear thicker clothes.

Liu Tianxian hugged Fang Hong from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder: "Do you know who just called me?"

"Who?" Fang Hong turned his head and saw her flawless face and caught the pleasant scent.

"Huang Jiaozhu—he asked me to pass a message to Yan Zi, saying he wants to make peace." Liu Tianxian smiled.

"So he's trying to calm things down—Ali won't back her up anymore," Fang Hong guessed.

"Yeah, I thought the same," Liu Tianxian nodded, then asked: "So what will you do next?"

"You didn't promise him anything, right?" Fang Hong asked back.

If Liu Tianxian had promised something, he'd give her face.

"No, I told him I won't get involved—tell them to solve it with you," Liu Tianxian said.

"Good. Since they want to make peace, we'll press our advantage," Fang Hong clenched his fist, ready to push to the end.

"That's not right!" Liu Tianxian said.

"Why not? When the enemy shows weakness, of course I'll press the advantage," Fang Hong said.

"I think we should just let it go—don't push them too far," Liu Tianxian wanted to play it safe, hoping her husband would stop before things escalated further.

Fang Hong chuckled and tried to slip away, knowing she was about to hit him.

"Hey, hey, come back," this time Liu Tianxian's voice was serious.

"What?" Fang Hong turned around.

"That outfit looks bad—come back," Liu Tianxian waved him over.

Fang Hong looked at himself—the hoodie and pants—and asked: "Why's it bad?"

"It's not grand enough."

Liu Tianxian pulled out a jacket and a pair of loose pants from the closet: "Wear these."

Fang Hong didn't refuse—he changed clothes right there, then looked in the mirror and saw he actually looked good, very dignified.

"Not bad. Why don't you ever dress like this normally?" he said.

"It's different—looking at others and looking at yourself are two different things. You see others clearly, but not yourself." Liu Tianxian said.

"That's quite philosophical."

"Of course it is!"

Liu Tianxian smiled and adjusted his clothes.

Someone had organized it—suddenly, a large group of Wangyi flooded the Cyberspace Administration with complaints: "Media manipulation!"

They also called the Cyberspace Administration's hotline to report it.

The Wangyi submitted screenshots as evidence, listing numerous cases.

They claimed their online articles and comments had been deleted without cause by certain platforms.

Of course, who they were pointing at—wasn't said outright.

Because the hotline was overwhelmed and reports poured in, the incident grew large enough that mainstream media stepped in, with Daily News reporting: "As public figures, you cannot prevent people from speaking the truth, nor restrict freedom of speech."

The article was long, detailing Yan Zi's experiences over the years, then arguing she shouldn't use capital power.

With mainstream media taking this stance, Yan Zi's pressure increased dramatically.

He hadn't expected the Principal to be this ruthless—he truly left her no room to breathe. If this continued, she'd become the target of everyone's ire.

Of course, the article was quickly deleted, demonstrating what a capital iron fist looked like—no matter how mainstream, deletion was still carried out without hesitation.

But reports kept coming in; soon after, an official WeChat account posted about the matter, calling for freedom of speech and the right to speak.

Yet it was deleted too!

The internet exploded—Wangyi were stunned. One major V said publicly: "An actress? Holy shit, that scared me!"

Soon after, the official WeChat account reposted: "The article has been restored—readable as normal!"

And joked: "Who's protecting this guy?"

This was a severe criticism—but not to the point of real punishment; the matter was serious, but not one that warranted high-level escalation.

It affected Yan Zi, but not her survival; still, being named meant she had to tremble with fear.

Utterly audacious—daring to delete official WeChat posts! Fang Hong wasn't holding back at all, pushing Yan Zi to the brink, yet he himself never stepped into the fray, nor used his foresight to report her actions.

He merely accused her of manipulating public opinion, inciting Wangyi and media to launch a fierce attack.

Since she handed him the knife, he'd just exploit the loophole—actually, Fang Hong hadn't wanted to do this at first, but when she showed weakness, why wait?

This surprised the industry: initially, Yan Zi's side had been on the offensive, but now the roles had reversed—the Principal was attacking.

Some people were terrified; Da Mimi sent a WeChat group message to Xia Jie and other close friends: "Actually, the Principal has been kind to us."

Everyone in the WeChat group fell silent, each secretly feeling a measure of fear toward the Principal.

They could go after Liu Tianxian all they liked, targeting her day after day, slyly leaking dirt, and the Principal didn't do anything to them. Yan Zi only offended Zhang Songwen, and they want to crush her outright.

Of course they also know this is essentially a "Rabbit-Cat struggle," one that will shape the future say-so in the entertainment circle.

Whoever wins, whoever is more dominant, their voice carries more weight.

"The Principal is a fine general, it's a pity he can't be used by me." Tony Ma sighed.

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Daring to fight, daring to go all out, unafraid of taking risks!

She had clearly shown she wanted to let things die down, yet the Principal insisted on pressing the attack.

An ordinary person wouldn't do this — after all, being in the weaker position, a normal person would think: since the other side has cooled off, I should cool off too.

Don't want to blow things up too big; development is what matters most.

"Indeed, if we can get into Jade Rabbit, then in entertainment Alibaba can forget about getting a foothold." Cheng Wu also said.

"Hard. What they're pushing is independence — if they can go up against Alibaba, they can go up against us too." Tony Ma spoke little, but hit the nail on the head.

If Fang Hong weren't fighting for independence, there'd be no need to take such a huge risk.

"Then what do we do? Watch the tigers fight from the hill, or jump in and back one side?" Cheng Wu said.

Tony Ma thought for a moment and said: "Just put pressure on Alibaba."

Compared to Alibaba and Chang'e Jade Rabbit, Alibaba is the bigger threat; in his eyes Chang'e Jade Rabbit is just a small company just starting to rise.

Their competition with Alibaba is across the board, not in any single field.

Their competition with Chang'e Jade Rabbit is only in entertainment and games; in other areas there's no competition.

Not only did Tencent choose to help Jade Rabbit, even other companies competing with Alibaba were subtly putting pressure on Alibaba, choosing to side with Jade Rabbit.

No other reason — they just want to embarrass Alibaba.

Let Alibaba get tripped up in entertainment, don't let them keep advancing, make Jade Rabbit hold Alibaba back.

If Jade Rabbit loses, loses again and again, then Alibaba will swallow Jade Rabbit's gains, and Tencent and other institutional capital will be even more passive in entertainment.

And if Alibaba swallows Jade Rabbit's gains and grows stronger, once its hands are free it'll come after them.

So in some people's eyes, Jade Rabbit cannot fall — it must be used to block Alibaba's expansion.

These big shots keep their own ledger, and they know clearly who poses the biggest threat.

With certain people stoking the flames, the negative public opinion about Yan Zi can no longer be contained — it's trending toward another eruption.

At first they didn't act because they feared Alibaba; now that Chang'e Jade Rabbit is charging so hard, still out in front, they'll lend a hand.

Jack Ma misjudged the situation this time. He figured that since Yan Zi wasn't being used as a gun, the Principal should have backed off, just like last time's Youku–Chang'e dispute.

But he didn't expect the Principal to be this hard-nosed. He muttered: "I don't know what this guy's thinking."

Damn it — give him a step down and he won't take it, doesn't know what's good for him!

Just as the outside world was in an uproar, many people who didn't know the truth expressed great indignation.

Of course Fang Hong hadn't expected things to blow up this big either, because he hadn't anticipated that others would help him.

And then he got a call from Zhang Ju.

"Someone passed me a message: if you don't back off, they'll finish you off." Zhang Ju got straight to the point.

The meaning was clear — this was a bare-faced threat.

Of course the other side definitely wouldn't have said it to him that bluntly; it was only implied.

"Did I scare easy?" Fang Hong said.

"I've been following this too. I'm not trying to talk you into anything, it's just — you're still a bit green right now." Zhang Ju spoke in the tone of an elder.

He knew that at the start it wasn't Fang Hong who provoked the other side; they were the ones who came knocking. Fang Hong even tested the waters a few times, and the other side kept pressing.

Now that he's struck back and it's gotten big, they want to wrap things up.

Fang Hong figured the other side had mobilized some unspeakable network of connections. He said: "Director Zhang, this is a society ruled by law, right?"

"Of course it's a society ruled by law." Zhang Ju affirmed.

"Then I'd like to ask — how exactly are they going to make me die? Did I break the law? Did I kill someone? Just because some things they can do, I can't?

They can stomp a person into the ground, but I can't fight back? And after I fight back they want me dead — I want to know, does this society protect the strong, or does it protect the weak and justice?" Fang Hong spoke with ringing conviction.

This left Zhang Ju silent too. He felt they were pretty pathetic — telling the weak party to stand down, while the strong side started the whole thing and now one word is supposed to end it, and they're even threatening their way to him.

It was somewhat laughable, and somewhat sad.

"We uphold justice," he said.

"I also believe this society has justice. I'll back off, but I need an apology — Song Wen needs an apology, the broad masses of the people need an apology. It's not enough to just smooth things over for me, it's not enough to play deaf and mute — she has to apologize for what she did."

(End of chapter)