Chapter 7: Number One in the World [7]

Under Li Jianwei’s subtle guidance, Hua University actively publicized Zhizhu Technology’s president giving back to her alma mater across its external social media channels. They not only posted a group photo of her with the university leadership but also published a dedicated article on their official WeChat public account, showering her with praise.

Wang Yuanfei, however, remained confident. He believed Li Jianwei was simply playing hard to get, convinced that as long as he passed her “tests,” he could eventually win her back.

Consequently, Wang did not restrict the spread of related videos on the short-video platforms under Photon Dynamics. In fact, to curry favor with Li Jianwei, he even dug up the “Diligent Study” scholarship they had jointly funded during their university days.

He planned to use this as a starting point to spin a romantic narrative of a love story spanning “from campus to wedding dress.” By keeping their names tied together in the public eye, he hoped to redirect a portion of the praise meant for Li Jianwei onto himself.

This was his usual strategy: deploy marketing accounts to flood the internet with promotional scripts, subtly distorting facts and feeding fabricated narratives to users until repetition turned these stories into the accepted “truth” in netizens’ minds.

While Li Jianwei had tolerated such tactics in the past, she now wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.

Talk of mutual companionship since high school and a thirteen-year love marathon only drew a deep frown from Li Jianwei when she saw the video on her assistant’s phone. She felt her eyes and ears had been thoroughly polluted.

“Start gradually releasing the materials we collected earlier on Weibo,” she said, handing the phone back to her assistant, preferring to keep the nuisance out of sight.

“Push these revelations to the video platforms competing with Photon Dynamics as well. Guide public opinion toward Wang Yuanfei’s personal misconduct.”

“Remember to keep the focus entirely on Wang Yuanfei himself. Do not let netizens fixate on the women he was involved with.”

The assistant nodded in agreement. “Understood, President Li. Should we release the announcement regarding the cancellation of the engagement at an appropriate time?”

Li Jianwei tapped her fingers lightly on the desk. “Let the PR department handle that. If it works to our advantage, make it public—and ensure it is absolutely clear that both parties terminated the engagement back in December.”

“If Wang Yuanfei tries to smear me, misleading the public into thinking I got engaged to use him as a stepping stone only to discard him afterward, then pin the patent leak directly on him.”

“If necessary, play a bit dirty. Take a page from those unscrupulous marketing accounts and fabricate some minor details to divert public attention.”

When clashing with Wang Yuanfei in his area of expertise, public relations, Li Jianwei always ensured she was thoroughly prepared.

Public opinion battles relied heavily on speed; whoever reacted faster seized control of the narrative. Furthermore, public sentiment historically showed greater leniency toward unfaithful men while subjecting high-achieving women to intense scrutiny. Many male netizens online seemed eager to dissect any successful woman with a magnifying glass, searching for any perceived flaw to drag her down, seemingly forgetting their own origins.

With the PR strategy laid out, Li Jianwei immediately returned to her work, refusing to waste any more energy on Wang Yuanfei.

With the New Year approaching, a mountain of administrative tasks required her personal oversight. Year-end summaries, external financial reports, next year’s targets, and strategic plans all needed to be finalized before the holidays. Even as the top executive, Li Jianwei found herself working late and sacrificing her weekends to attend meetings.

***

As a contract employee, Shu Heng technically enjoyed full weekends off. However, swept up in the company’s highly motivated atmosphere, she voluntarily chose to stay late, working alongside her senior colleagues to write code and debug systems.

Zhizhu Technology offered exceptional employee benefits. Overtime on regular workdays was paid at double the standard rate, weekend shifts at triple, and official holidays at five times—all exceeding legal minimum requirements. Additionally, late shifts came with dinner and transportation subsidies, making the compensation package more competitive than those of many state-owned enterprises.

As a result, the R&D staff rarely minded working extra hours to meet deadlines, often typing away diligently even while eating their takeout.

Shu Heng’s workload was lighter than that of the full-time employees, allowing her to scroll through videos to unwind during her dinner breaks. Her feed, shaped by algorithms, was divided between relaxing pet videos and her frequently searched topic: content related to Li Jianwei.

Whenever she saw marketing accounts praising Li Jianwei’s donations, Shu Heng would smile and double-tap to like the post. When she encountered accounts criticizing Zhizhu Technology, she would calmly select “not interested” and block them immediately.

Eventually, a video using a familiar marketing tone popped up: *”Am I the last to know? It turns out they were childhood sweethearts…”*

Initially, Shu Heng intended to swipe past, having little interest in online romance stories. But as the video loaded further, a familiar face appeared on screen, prompting her to pause and rewind the clip.

*Sister Li and Wang Yuanfei were childhood sweethearts? Together since high school? A thirteen-year love marathon?*

Shu Heng’s brow furrowed. She immediately hit the report button, selected “spreading rumors,” and wrote a lengthy explanation in the feedback box.

She found the shameless distortion of facts by these marketing accounts incredibly frustrating. Sister Li would never like Wang Yuanfei, and the two had never been together in that manner.

Puffing out her cheeks, Shu Heng opened the comment section. The contents made her sigh in frustration. She quickly began replying to the top comments one by one to set the record straight:

*“President Li and Wang Yuanfei are not a couple. Her achievements have nothing to do with him.”*

*“Do not believe these marketing accounts; most of this content is fabricated.”*

*“Wang Yuanfei did not fund those donations alone. It was President Li who contributed. Do not misattribute her generosity to him.”*

After spending a significant amount of time debunking the claims, Shu Heng refreshed the page, only to find that her comments had been deleted and the creator had disabled further replies. This left her thoroughly annoyed, ruining her appetite for dinner.

“Why the long face?” a colleague asked, sliding over on an office chair with a takeout box in hand.

“Marketing accounts are making things up about President Li, claiming her success is entirely due to Wang Yuanfei’s help. It’s completely false,” Shu Heng said, venting her frustration.

The colleague leaned in to glance at the screen and laughed. “You’re using Photon Dynamics’ short-video app, so of course it pushes content favorable to Wang Yuanfei. Switch to a rival platform, and you’ll see very different news.”

“Like what?” Shu Heng asked, blinking in confusion.

Without giving away details, the colleague simply suggested she download a competing short-video application. Once the app was installed and registered, the platform’s algorithm immediately began serving her relevant content.

After watching a few clips, Shu Heng stared at her screen in disbelief, her mind struggling to process the information.

“Sister Qingqing, are these allegations real?” Shu Heng asked, her expression complicated. “Is Wang Yuanfei really… suffering from physical issues?”

“Who knows? Marketing accounts care about views, not facts,” her colleague replied between bites of rice. “Just treat those videos as entertainment. The PR department will handle the rumors, and the false reports will disappear soon anyway. Our legal team is highly professional; if any video genuinely harms President Li’s reputation, they will take legal action immediately.”

“Don’t let it ruin your mood. President Li is leading us to success, and eventually, the truth will be clear to everyone.”

While Shu Heng understood the logic, she found it difficult to simply ignore the situation. After throwing away her takeout container, she opened a group chat on her phone, shared the video links, and began typing rapidly.

Though she lacked the power to force the marketing accounts to delete their videos or apologize, she realized she could create her own content to help set the record straight. Even if she only reached a few hundred people, it felt far better than doing nothing at all.

***

The public relations battle developed exactly as Li Jianwei had anticipated. Wang Yuanfei attempted to deflect criticism and mislead the public to present himself in a more favorable light. Had Li Jianwei not prepared her PR team in advance, public sentiment might have shifted in his favor, building a narrative of redemption that she found deeply distasteful.

“President Li, the situation on the major platforms is better than expected. A significant number of Hua University students have verified their identities to speak up on your behalf,” the assistant reported, standing by her desk.

“In particular, the computer science students created data visualizations comparing Zhizhu Technology and Photon Dynamics, which made the differences very easy for the public to understand.”

“Even users without a technical background can see from the charts that Zhizhu Technology outperforms Photon Dynamics across the board. This effectively disproves the claims made by the marketing accounts.”

“The PR department tried to find the organizers of these efforts, but the students all responded with variations of ‘just call me a good Samaritan,'” the assistant added with a smile.

College students remained direct and earnest; to them, facts were facts, and they had little regard for corporate posturing.

“In that case, let’s send them a token of appreciation on my behalf,” Li Jianwei said, a warm smile appearing on her face. “They spoke up for me despite the pressure of their exam preparation, and I should acknowledge that.”

“What budget should we set for these gifts, President Li?”

“Let’s send them our company’s popular smart speaker along with an eye massager. Have their names laser-engraved on the casings. If any student prefers to remain anonymous, we can use their online handles instead.”

“Expedite the production and delivery so they receive them before the New Year.”

***

While Li Jianwei arranged the custom gifts, Wang Yuanfei spent several days in his office in a state of visible anger.

“What are we paying you for? How can we not even control the narrative on platforms we have stakes in?” Wang Yuanfei shouted at his executive team. “I don’t want excuses. You have two days to clean up the negative search results. Block the damaging keywords and terminate any accounts actively opposing us.”

An executive adjusted his glasses cautiously. “President Wang, we do not control all the platforms. Aggressive censorship might trigger a public backlash.”

“President Wang, an easier solution would be to attend an event together with President Li. That would quickly put an end to the rumors,” another executive suggested.

Wang Yuanfei remained silent. He understood that logic, but his previous attempts to reach Li Jianwei had failed; she had rejected his calls and refused to engage.

“President Wang, bad news,” the assistant interrupted, entering the room. “Zhizhu Technology has released an official statement. They confirmed that President Li ended the engagement in December, stating there is no current relationship and declining to comment on your personal life.”

Meeting Wang Yuanfei’s cold stare, the assistant quickly fell silent.

“President Wang, our recommendation is to let the matter settle. If we stop responding, the public interest will naturally decline,” an executive advised.

“The volume of negative content is relatively low. We can initiate legal action against a few prominent accounts to deter others.”

“Additionally, we can sponsor entertainment news to redirect public attention.”

“Given our ongoing business collaborations with Zhizhu Technology, it would be best to formally acknowledge the end of the engagement in an amicable manner.”

The executives offered various suggestions, their motivations mixed. Wang Yuanfei’s outbursts had begun to alienate his senior staff, who resented being spoken to in such a manner by a younger executive.

His expression remained grim until one executive provided a face-saving compromise, allowing him to dismiss the team under the pretense of considering their advice.

Once alone, Wang cleared his desk in frustration, throwing objects to vent his anger.

He knew the coordinated public sentiment was likely amplified by his business competitors rather than Li Jianwei alone. Nevertheless, he blamed her for the situation, viewing her actions as petty retaliation for mistakes he considered commonplace among men in his position.

In his mind, he had always treated her with respect publicly and kept his private affairs discreet. He still viewed her response merely as jealousy.

To prevent further damage to Photon Dynamics’ stock price, he eventually logged into his social media account to address the broken engagement with a show of magnanimity. He praised Li Jianwei’s achievements, stated he would support her from a distance, and expressed hope that they could remain long-term friends.

***

Wang Yuanfei’s quick concession left Li Jianwei slightly disappointed, as she had prepared additional public relations measures that were now unnecessary. With the holidays approaching, however, she decided to let the matter rest.

She redirected the unused PR funds to the budget for the company’s annual meeting, ensuring every attending employee would receive a prize.

Shu Heng was among the fortunate attendees, winning second prize: a high-end laptop.

Receiving the prize directly from Li Jianwei, Shu Heng smiled warmly, her eyes fixed on her. A video clip of this moment was later shared online, gaining modest popularity.