Chapter 253

Several months earlier, Ye Jiaying had already resigned from Shang Clan Media. The person who resigned with her was also the divorced woman from Green Bamboo Village—Liu Hong.

Ye Jiaying followed Lin Dongfan's instructions and set up her own shop.

She has now established the company 'Mortal Media'.

The name sounds a bit rustic, but the company's business scope is broad—investing in film and TV productions, cultivating hot internet celebrities, and its PR and publicity are extremely slick.

From the moment the provincial TV station aired the negative news.

Ye Jiaying quickly organized PR forces and launched a strong online public opinion counterattack.

The headline of the first salvo was eye‑catching: 'Just because he caught a corrupt official, Section Chief Lin was splashed with sewage! Are Nanzhou's corrupt officials too arrogant, or is anti‑corruption really a high‑risk job?'

This is the anger from a first love, the whole article runs over ten thousand words.

Probably not many netizens have the patience to read the whole thing.

However, this passage's headline is extremely explosive and starkly contradictory, enough to ignite the sensitive nerves of the onlookers—corrupt officials deserve to be hacked to pieces!

Not long after, the topic was pinned by Edge of the Sky Community, attracting tens of thousands of replies.

It was then forwarded to forums such as Tieba.

It spread rapidly across the entire internet.

One must admit, Edge of the Sky Community in 2010 was still impressive, bearing the labels of openness, inclusiveness, freedom‑seeking, and justice‑pursuit, making it a spiritual homeland for countless netizens.

Where there are interests, there are back‑room manipulations.

These days, some moderators can make a fortune just by using operations like pinning, bold highlighting, and deleting posts.

For posts like this, which are relatively sensitive anti‑corruption pieces, being deleted is all too common.

But today.

Yet the post Ye Jiaying made cannot be deleted.

Even if Nanzhou Propaganda Department staff personally intervene, it's useless; the post remains pinned at the most prominent spot, allowing people to discuss Nanzhou's corruption.

This made Gao Peng furious, jumping with rage.

Gao Peng pointed at Wang Xiaosheng of the Propaganda Department and yelled, 'What are you eating?! You can't even delete a post, making the whole country look at Nanzhou as a joke!'

Not the whole country, boss—it's the whole world, the whole world! Edge of the Sky is a global community.

Wang Xiaosheng was scolded so badly he didn't dare lift his head.

He was also puzzled about this.

He, a minister‑level official, personally called Edge of the Sky's administrator, who said, 'I'm really sorry, I don't have the operational permission for this post.'

In fact, he does have the permission—he just doesn't dare to delete it.

Pinned!

That's the intention of Xie Yuxin from the Z Propaganda Department.

You bunch of scumbags blackening my grandnephew—do you think I'll let you off easy? Xie Yuxin had already called Ye Jiaying, telling her to go all out in bombarding them.

Unfortunately, Wang Xiaosheng didn't know this battle was being directed from behind the scenes by Department Head Xie.

It's also fortunate that he didn't know.

If he had known, he'd probably have been shaking with fear, like Chang Ming of the Procuratorate, and would have submitted his resignation overnight, yielding first out of respect.

'Give me a straight answer—can we clean up the net or not?'

Gao Peng's roar echoed in his ears again, striking like thunder and shaking Wang Xiaosheng so that his face showed an expression of grief worse than heartbreak.

Wang Xiaosheng steeled himself and replied, 'The public opinion outbreak is on Edge of the Sky; right now Edge of the Sky's main post can't be deleted, and even if we delete the reposts on other platforms, it's useless……'

'Why can't it be deleted? Give me an explanation!' Gao Peng glared at Wang Xiaosheng: 'You, the head of the Propaganda Department, are you just a decoration?!'

Wang Xiaosheng: '……!!!'

Gao Peng bellowed again: 'Cat got your tongue? Speak!'

Wang Xiaosheng burst out in despair: 'Secretary Gao, even if you flayed my skin it wouldn't help. Rather than throwing our own ranks into chaos, we should find a way to calm this public opinion storm.'

'Are you telling me how to do my job?!'

Gao Peng shot a deadly glare, his face darkening to the extreme.

Trembling with fear, Wang Xiaosheng didn't dare lift his head: 'I didn't mean that…… I mean, we seem to have fallen into Lin Dongfan's trap……'

'What do you mean by that? Say it all at once!' Gao Peng grew angrier as he spoke.

Wang Xiaosheng kept his head bowed, trembling: 'Lin Dongfan is using their own methods against them. His counterattack speed this time is outrageously fast; I estimate he already anticipated our public‑relations battle and made full preparations. Now it's us who are riding a tiger we can't dismount—if this matter……'

Having said that, Wang Xiaosheng wanted to say more but stopped.

Gao Peng, fuming, urged: 'You've got a fish bone stuck in your throat, right? If you haven't choked to death, spit it out! If anything……!!!'

'Right now dozens of people are blocking the Clear Lake Guest House, and the situation is very unfavorable for us.' Wang Xiaosheng analyzed calmly: 'The Edge of the Sky public opinion has someone behind the scenes guiding it, claiming we Nanzhou paid people to besiege the anti‑corruption task force. If we don't immediately disperse those crowds, later even jumping into the Yellow River won't wash us clean.'

'……!!!'

At this moment Gao Peng felt as if he'd swallowed a green‑headed fly—just two words: awful.

Wang Xiaosheng had a word that fit perfectly—'riding a tiger, hard to dismount'!

Now Gao Peng truly is riding a tiger he can't dismount; he originally wanted to use public opinion to topple Lin Dongfan, but instead of stealing a chicken he lost the rice, and ended up trapped in a dead end by Lin Dongfan.

Could it be that we really have to admit defeat today?

After so many years navigating the bureaucracy, Gao Peng has never felt this despondent.

Although victory and defeat are common in warfare.

But a deputy‑minister‑level official who oversees a city, being thrashed by a lowly section chief until he's utterly ruined! This is too damned absurd—if it got out, people would laugh their heads off.

Lin Dongfan, you son of a bitch!

If you won't let me have an easy time, I won't let your Professor Luo have an easy time either! In the end, it'll be your Professor Luo who takes the blame—do you think I'll lose? Naive!

Having thought this through in silence.

Gao Peng picked up the desk phone and dialed Luo Xiang of the Political and Legal Committee: 'Secretary Luo, dozens of civilians are now besieging the task force, the scene is out of control, and your Political and Legal Committee has shown no reaction at all! What are you waiting for? Waiting for the banquet to start, or waiting for the province to remove your cap?'

Secretary Gao, I have already arrived at the scene.

The voice on the phone could be said to be as calm as possible.

This made Gao Peng's heartstrings twitch: Arrived? Could it be that I fired the cannon wrong again? Absolutely outrageous! Even if we've arrived, it's still your responsibility!

In a fit of anger.

Gao Peng coldly threw out a harsh remark: "Now the whole country is watching Nanzhou's joke; if this matter cannot be quelled, you, the Political and Legal Affairs Commission Secretary, will bear full responsibility!"

"Secretary Gao, could you first listen to me say a couple of sentences?"

"Speak!"

"The emotions of the crowd at the scene are very agitated. I've said everything I needed to say; I can't persuade them, and I certainly can't call in riot police to drive them away. Now they say they want to see you—do you think you can come over?"

"Is it the crowd that wants me to come over, or is it you who wants me to come over?"

"Secretary Gao, you're overthinking it; it's really the crowd at the scene who wants to see you. They're all shouting that they won't leave unless they see Secretary Gao."

!!!

I'm done for; this time I've fallen headfirst completely into it.

A painful realization.

It left Gao Peng's heart shattered without a trace.

As for this matter right now, even a fool would understand that it's definitely Luo Xiang and Lin Dongfan joining forces to dig a pit, forcing him Gao Peng to personally go to the scene to quell the anger.

If the public anger is quelled, then that is what you, Gao Peng, ought to do.

No merit, no fault.

If the public anger cannot be quelled, well, this only shows that your abilities, Gao Peng, are inadequate; how can you still claim to be the 'Number One' of resounding Nanzhou?

And what makes Gao Peng even more anguished right now is:

Knowing full well that this is a pit, yet unable to retreat, he must steel himself and jump in.

Damn it!

That brat Lin Dongfan has really come into his own nowadays; he no longer plays shady conspiracies behind the scenes, but instead has started playing open-and-above-board 'yang' schemes!