Chapter 97: Nailed to the Pillar of Shame

Zhou Ping, who was beside him, was completely unaware. He stared at the bullet comments on the screen and couldn't help but curse Li Qiang: "This beast! He even messes with his own biological daughter!"

"I originally thought that he and Qian Lili were just greedy for money and wanted to extort a few million in hush money from you, but I never expected that he would be a thief crying 'stop thief.' He is a psychopath himself, and he even tried to frame you..."

Shang Yiran narrowed his eyes slightly: "Brother Zhou, do you also think Li Qiang is a psychopath who would molest his own daughter?"

Zhou Ping was stunned by Shang Yiran's words, then asked as if it were a matter of course: "Otherwise? There were so many witnesses and material evidence at the press conference; could this still be fake?"

Shang Yiran shook his head upon hearing this: "Indeed, that reporter listed a lot of evidence, including photos and interviews. Putting them together is indeed very impactful, but if we take these pieces of evidence out individually and look at them, can they really constitute evidence accusing Li Qiang of molesting his biological daughter?"

Zhou Ping was also stunned when he heard this. He carefully recalled the evidence Chang Hua had made public.

From the initial comments on the Weibo alt account to that photo of the father and daughter taken by the bedside in the bedroom, as well as the neighbors' testimonies—if you break all of these apart, it seems they really don't prove anything...

For instance, those Weibo comments—perhaps Li Qiang was just following the trend, or perhaps he really does have some peculiar fetishes. This only shows that his character is flawed, but it doesn't mean he would actually lay a hand on his own biological daughter.

And that photo on Weibo taken with his daughter is also very normal. Without the foreshadowing of those lewd remarks earlier, it could completely be taken as an ordinary photo, more like an interaction between a father and daughter.

As for the neighbors' testimonies, at most they can only prove that Li Qiang has a tendency toward domestic violence, or that there had been conflicts between Li Qiang and them, and these people intentionally exaggerated.

But when these pieces of evidence are added together, they directly make Li Qiang look like a psychopath who would lay a hand on his own biological daughter.

After Zhou Ping figured this out, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Shang Yiran in disbelief: "Could it be that this Li Qiang is not..."

"Not, or rather, not necessarily."

Shang Yiran took over Zhou Ping's words and continued: "But none of that matters now. For the media and public opinion, the truth no longer needs to be excavated."

"That's right, those pieces of evidence alone are enough to convict him and make it impossible for him to turn things around. Even if Li Qiang were innocent, no one would believe it anymore."

Zhou Ping looked at the figure of the youth dressed in low-key clothing quietly leaving in the live broadcast, and couldn't help but sigh:

"The reason Xu Tian didn't ask President Guo for help was to increase the credibility of this evidence, because as long as people from our Tian Feng Entertainment take action, no matter how critical the evidence found to prove your innocence is, it will be questioned as being faked."

"Didn't our company issue a statement before? Although we found evidence that Li Qiang had previously committed domestic violence against his wife, the outside world and the media thought it was evidence we intentionally fabricated to smear Li Qiang in order to clear your name."

"Therefore, Xu Tian started with the reporters who came to the press conference and teamed up with a reporter from the Tongtian Times, an old-school newspaper that has long enjoyed prestige in the media industry, which is how he turned the situation around."

"And the reason Chang Hua mosaicked Li Qiang's Weibo account in advance was also to first let the media and public opinion convict such behavior, and then announce the truth to reverse it."

"Once Li Qiang's righteous image collapsed, he would never have another chance to argue or explain. The subsequent evidence and interviews nailed him to the pillar of shame, making it impossible for him to turn things around."

Every link in this was very critical; a slight carelessness would have led to a total loss, and even caused more serious smearing and impact on Shang Yiran's image.

But Xu Tian managed to make every link perfect and just right, both making everyone believe that Li Qiang's words were untrustworthy and clearing Shang Yiran's name.

Xu Tian's series of actions can be summarized in a few words: use their own methods to treat them.

Didn't Li Qiang want to manipulate public opinion to frame Shang Yiran and make him unable to speak? Then Xu Tian would make him eat his own bitter fruit and become the very beast in human skin he claimed to be.

It was precisely because Xu Tian's deployment was so natural that even he, who has countless years of public relations experience, didn't find any flaws at first. It was only after Shang Yiran's reminder that he understood Xu Tian's entire layout.

That seemingly ordinary youth actually had such brilliant methods.

What shocked Zhou Ping the most was that he had never seen Xu Tian in the entertainment industry or any media before this, and he could also tell from the conversation between Xu Tian and Guo Qishan that Xu Tian was truly a newcomer with absolutely no experience.

A newcomer who could instantly kill an experienced public relations team and solve this public relations crisis all by himself truly left him feeling deeply shocked.

Because Li Qiang lost his mind and hit someone, this press conference ended hastily.

But the media reporters guarding every exit refused to leave, trying to dig out more explosive scoops from Li Qiang and his wife, Qian Lili.

"Li Qiang, do you have any explanation for the matter of you molesting your biological daughter?"

"Ms. Qian, were you aware of your husband's behavior beforehand?"

"Besides your daughter, are there other children who have been victimized?"

"Li Qiang, I saw that you had no intention of repenting just now at the press conference. Can it be assumed that you didn't realize your own behavior already constituted a crime?"

Facing the microphones and lenses held up to his face, Li Qiang was almost driven mad with anger.

And Qian Lili, who was beside him, just covered her face in embarrassment, trying her best to avoid the cameras so she wouldn't be filmed.

"You people, stop talking nonsense! I haven't done anything! You are spreading rumors and framing me! I have never molested my own daughter. She is my own daughter; how could I possibly do such a thing?"

"You reporters who fear the world won't be in chaos don't even know you've been led by the nose. This is aiding and abetting! You are accomplices!"

Li Qiang defended himself indignantly, his expression ferocious and his eyes fierce.

It's just a pity that this appearance of his was automatically interpreted by these reporters as being ashamed and angry.

"But Reporter Chang just found the remarks you made on your social account earlier. How do you explain that?"

"You indeed had lewd and obscene remarks, and judging from your browsing history, you have always preferred photos and videos of minors. Are you still going to quibble that these are all frame-ups?"

"I was just bored and looking at them casually! There is no preference at all. Those were all planted on me by them! I never searched for them..."

However, before Li Qiang could finish, the reporters' questions were thrown out once again: "We have already appraised those images; they are not forged. And that initial account that left the comments has also been investigated and is your own Weibo account. You cannot deny this!"

"And there are also those testimonies from your neighbors that all point to you being a pervert who molests his own biological daughter!"

"No, it's not! I didn't do it! That kid surnamed Chang is intentionally trying to frame me. Why won't you believe it?! Why convict me just because of his one-sided words?"

"The neighbors around me have a grudge against our family. They want to frame us and want to drive us out of that community!"

"One neighbor might lie intentionally, but are you trying to say that all your neighbors colluded to lie and frame you? And everyone's statements have absolutely no contradictions. Do you think that's possible?"

"How is it impossible? They are just framing me!" Li Qiang stiffened his neck and refused to admit defeat.

"Admit it, you are a lewd and filthy pervert yourself! And you even splashed dirty water on Shang Yiran. Was your goal to extort money from Shang Yiran and his agency?"

"Don't talk nonsense! I didn't! I didn't!" Li Qiang continued to roar crazily, but this time, no one believed him.

Just as these reporters were hounding Li Qiang and his wife, Qian Lili, Chang Hua walked out from the hotel entrance. ===== CHAPTER 98 =====