Chapter 3307: Shield

The reason Mitsui Yoshitaka invited Ye Chen and Xiao Churan to the party's core area was mainly because he was worried that Fei Ke Xin would arrive later and discover that he had neglected her close friend.

After all, the friend who could make Fei Ke Xin change her mind and personally rush over must be extremely important to her.

If Fei Ke Xin arrived and found that her friend wasn't even in the party's core area, she might well have objections to him as the host.

Ye Chen knew what he was thinking; although he wasn't interested in these people, the key was that his wife genuinely liked Tawana, or rather, genuinely liked Tawana's songs, and having a chance to meet her idol and even chat a few words was a rare opportunity for any fan.

Seeing Ye Chen agree, Mitsui Yoshitaka breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said with a smile: "Mr. Ye, Mrs. Ye, please follow me!"

Ye Chen said: "Don't rush, Mr. Mitsui, we are five people here."

As he spoke, he pointed to Dong Ruolin and Sasaki Sachiko beside him, as well as Kelly, who represented Fei Ke Xin.

Mitsui Yoshitaka quickly came to his senses and immediately said: "Yes, yes, yes, sorry for my oversight; please follow me, all four of you!"

Sasaki Sachiko felt a little uneasy and whispered to Dong Ruolin: "Ruolin, why don't I just not go? You go with Mr. Ye and them."

If it were any other member of the Sasaki family, having the chance to directly contact Mitsui Yoshitaka or even receive his invitation would be the utmost fortune, but for Sasaki Sachiko, she truly didn't know how to handle social situations, especially with someone as lofty as Mitsui Yoshitaka; rather than flustered and at a loss, it would be better to simply not go.

Dong Ruolin knew Sachiko was very laid-back, but thinking of how she had just been bullied by her own younger sister, she recalled her past in the family—being squeezed out by her cousin Brother Biao Ge, even hiring assassins to kill her—and if it weren't for Ye Chen's rescue, she would probably have died long ago.

Step by step, she had come to today, and Dong Ruolin understood a truth: in a large family with complex relationships and intertwined interests, even if you don't strive or compete, you may not necessarily gain peace and love, because someone will always see you as a potential rival; if you don't attack them, they will attack you.

To stand firm in such an environment, you must first make yourself strong; otherwise, you won't have peaceful days in the future.

And now, with Ye Chen here, it's the perfect opportunity to help Sachiko establish her position in the family; as Sachiko's best friend, how could she just watch Sachiko miss such a good chance?

So, she stepped forward, grabbed Sachiko's arm, and secretly pulled her hard while whispering: "You stupid woman, if you want to become someone no one dares to provoke in the family, today is the best opportunity of your life; Ye Chen's boat isn't something just anyone can hop on for a ride."

"But..." Sasaki Sachiko said embarrassedly: "But I really am not good at this kind of occasion, and... and I'm afraid that if I say the wrong thing or do something wrong and upset Mr. Mitsui, it will drag down the whole Sasaki family..."

"Don't worry!" Dong Ruolin comforted: "Just follow along boldly; no matter what you say or do, as long as you don't slap that Mitsui's face in front of so many people, he will absolutely not get angry with you."

Sasaki Sachiko gasped at hearing this, but Dong Ruolin gave her no chance to hesitate, dragging her along as they followed Ye Chen and Xiao Churan to the party's core area.

The core area had three round tables in total, arranged in an equilateral triangle, with the central and frontmost round table being today's main table.

Since this Western-style party didn't arrange a formal meal, the tables weren't large, and there weren't many seats in front of each table.

Each table had only six seats at this party; the main table's six seats were arranged by Mitsui Yoshitaka, half of which he gave to his own family of three, and the other half was arranged for Tawana and her boyfriend, as well as Kelly West, who represented Fei Ke Xin.

After coming down, Tawana had been continuously checking the trending news on social media and the comments from her fans.

Earlier, she had spared no effort in promoting the current loser, always appearing confident and assured; now that the backlash came so quickly, she needed to understand the actual direction of public opinion toward her.

She quickly discovered that the content on social media was unfriendly toward her; many people were mocking her poor judgment and overconfidence, thinking she was a clueless hothead who insisted on meddling in politics despite knowing nothing, and many others mocked her influence, believing that although she had many fans, they didn't give her face at critical moments or respond to her calls.

On the famous short-video platform, many people had even edited her previous public videos and statements supporting the losing side, then deliberately paired them with well-known internet memes, and the mockery was turned up to the max.

These negative contents made Tawana furious inside and also made her realize what true winner-takes-all meant—she had merely publicly supported a loser, yet everyone was condemning and mocking her, and she feared she wouldn't be able to escape this shame for the next few years.

At this moment, she suddenly noticed a hot post on social media rapidly becoming the current hotspot, with the title: "Tawana's Secret Suitability Exposed?"

Among the many replies, the netizen with the highest likes believed that Tawana's unwavering support for that loser must be because she had many unspeakable secrets, fearing that if the other side won, her secrets would be exposed.

This reply received support from many people; thousands commented below agreeing with the replier's view.

Tawana never expected to become the target of everyone's anger so quickly; feeling extremely depressed, she suddenly thought of something and hurriedly asked her boyfriend: "Trevor, when I was speaking just now, did you record a video?"

"Of course." Trevor nodded and said: "I recorded the entire process."

"Good!" Tawana immediately said: "Send the video to me."

Trevor immediately did so, sending the video to Tawana, who then immediately opened the short-video software, imported the just-recorded video, and added a caption: "Even though I am now in Japan, thousands of miles away, I will still speak up for LGBT, letting LGBT receive fair and just treatment, which is my greatest wish and driving force; as for who won that game, to me it doesn't matter at all!"

After saying that, she pressed send and uploaded the video.

The reason she posted this text was to convey a message to everyone: her support for the loser wasn't due to some secret fearing exposure, but rather a noble hope that LGBT could receive fair and just treatment.

In other words, she now needed to use LGBT as a shield to block all attacks from other aspects.

As long as she maintained this persona, whoever questioned her could be accused of discriminating against LGBT, drawing their fire and letting angry minority groups and netizens help her take down the opposition.

Tawana's fan count on social media numbers in the hundreds of millions; this video quickly gained massive views and even quickly rose to the top three on various platforms' hot search lists; many of her fans gained a new understanding of her noble character, wildly liking and commenting in support below, and public opinion shifted significantly in a short time.

The rapid shift in public sentiment let Tawana taste the sweetness of moral blackmail; at this moment, she couldn't wait to create more material to strike while the iron was hot, and just when she didn't know what to use as material, she saw Mitsui Yoshitaka approaching with one man and three women.

This made her eyes light up instantly, and she immediately whispered to her boyfriend: "Trevor, get your phone ready, quietly record a video—note, absolutely don't let anyone find out!"