Chapter 107: Bristling

After Lan Xinqiao finished the meeting and was walking back to her office, she spotted Li Ye crouched in a corner, gloomily scrolling on his phone.

Her brow tightened at once. How could he be playing on his phone during work hours?

“Hey, Li Ye, what are you doing on your phone? Have you gotten bold enough to neglect your duties?” Lan Xinqiao strode over and kicked him in the knee.

“Ow!” Li Ye sprang up at once, bending down to rub his knee.

“Director Lan, I’m sorry, but it isn’t even work time yet.”

Lan Xinqiao glared. “What, you can’t even wait a few minutes before playing on your phone?”

Li Ye hurriedly smiled ingratiatingly. “Hehe, no, no, not at all.”

“Oh! Director Lan, have you seen what’s on Weibo?”

Lan Xinqiao froze. She did not pay much attention to Weibo, so she truly had no idea what had been happening there.

“Did someone get divorced, married, or start tearing each other apart again?” In her impression, Weibo was full of little celebrity scandals and trivial messes.

“No, no, it’s Miss Shen!” Li Ye’s face flushed red at the mention of it, as though blood had rushed to it, all because the netizens had angered him.

Hearing Shen Qing’s name, Lan Xinqiao immediately became serious. “What happened to Miss Shen?”

Li Ye looked as though he wanted to say something but held back. Lan Xinqiao was growing impatient watching him, ready to swat him again.

“You should just see for yourself.” Li Ye held out his phone to block her.

Lan Xinqiao shot him a glare and took the phone to look.

Shen Qing, the very fact that you are alive pollutes the air! If your brain is useless, then stop studying. Scoring zero is just humiliating! What is even more disgusting is that you bully your classmates too. School bullying will not be tolerated!

How could a school like First High ever have a student like this? How embarrassing. Money really is wonderful. You can do whatever you want and bully classmates anywhere you like.

Human trash does not deserve to be human.

Shen Qing, you filthy piece of garbage, go die, go die, go die!

Illegitimate daughter, no shame at all, stealing my precious Min’er’s family fortune!

I used to think she was beautiful, but I never imagined she was this disgusting. I feel like throwing up. What is wrong with Spring and Autumn Entertainment, propping up someone like this? No wonder they got wiped out.

This Shen Qing even uses drugs, and I have proof!

Who is Shen Qing anyway? Someone please explain?

Shen Qing: a social toxin, a brainless pretty face, an illegitimate daughter who does not deserve the spotlight, arrogant and incompetent, with warped values. She was thrown out of her home long ago.

...

After reading just over ten posts, Lan Xinqiao was already completely stunned, and then fury surged up within her.

“To hell with it!” she ground out through clenched teeth, nearly smashing the phone in her rage.

Li Ye hurriedly stopped her. “Director Lan, don’t get worked up. Anger will only hurt you.”

The main reason was that he had bought this phone less than half a year ago, and if it got smashed, he would be heartbroken.

“What on earth is going on?” Lan Xinqiao’s face darkened. This was clearly a deliberate smear campaign, paid for by hired trolls.

Who had nothing better to do than fixate on a little girl who had only recently appeared in public? In less than a day, there were already three trending searches, and she had taken the third spot overall.

“I’m not entirely sure either. At dawn this morning, that account Flying Pig started posting dirt about Miss Shen, and by the time the night passed, it had already blown up on the trending list.”

Lan Xinqiao narrowed her eyes and let out a cold laugh. “Hah. Quite bold of them. Just because a tiger dozes off, they think we’re some sickly tabby.”

“Director Lan, what should we do?” Li Ye was genuinely worried. Public opinion could save a person, but it could just as easily destroy one.

So many people had been driven to the brink by public opinion. No matter how capable Shen Qing was, she was still only a seventeen-year-old girl. If she could not bear it and something happened...

“Leave this to me. You go back and work. I’ll handle it.”

Li Ye hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded and left with his phone in hand.

Lan Xinqiao took a deep breath, and only then did her mood gradually settle. She strode into her office, sat down, flipped through a couple of files absentmindedly, and then took out her phone to make a call.

“Hello, Director Wen. It’s me.”