Chapter 36 - Counter-attack

Jing Lihua wanted to leave at once but Mo Liang told her that the doctors recommended staying a night. As she didn't want to be confronted by that crazy doctor, she agreed. In the morning, she traveled straight to her office. Mei Xiu was already in the office.

"President, while you were away..." Mei Xiu looked tense.

"I know." Jing Lihua walked into the elevator with her. "I received your message."

At nine am, Mo Liang's official account made a statement.

"To all my devout fans and followers, first of all, I would like to thank you for the love you show me. My all loyal fans know I don't beat about the bush and get straight to the point. As most of you know that recently there have been disturbing photos of me and Jing Lihua circulating over the social media. I will officially make my statement now. I and Jing Lihua do not have any sort of romantic relationship. Jing Lihua is my best friend and it is a natural thing to find so my photos of someone with his best friend. As for the 'only' suspicious photo of us, there's the same photo from another angle I've posted previously. I would leave this decision to my fans to decide whether the photo was tampered with or not. For us being spotted at the hospital yesterday, Jing Lihua got into an accident. Who caused that accident, would be revealed soon. So I request followers not to believe in blind rumors. Love, Your Liang Prince."

Soon the post was flooded with comments.

"OMG! Mo Liang actually made a statement? I didn't expect that! What was the last time he used his official account? I expected that he would be hiding in shame somewhere after being exposed."

"What are you barking? Get out of here. This section is only for our Prince loyal fans. And we trust what he says. Why would he be hiding in shame when he clearly stated that Jing Lihua was just his friend? There is nothing to be ashamed of."

"Seriously guys? You had to slander Jing Lihua so much? Why can't a woman and a man be just friends without fingers rising in objection."

"We trust your words @Mo_Liang. We'll support you."

"Come on guys! It is obviously a lie! He is trying to cover up for Jing Lihua. The sl*t is obviously pregnant with his child."

"Why are you here again. Get the f*ck out! The loyal fans trust whatever he says. You must be a fake fan."

"Guys, did you read well? He said someone tampered with the photo. Could there be someone trying to slander our Prince."

"No way!"

"I'll fu*king kill whoever dares to think about that!"

"It is reasonable. See? Our Prince said Jing Lihua got into an accident. He also said it will all be revealed soon. Could it be a part of a big conspiracy? To slander both Jing Lihua and Mo Liang."

"I've seen a reality show that Jing Lihua volunteered. She was amazing. Since that day I'm her fan too. And I can vouch for her character. She would never do something like that."

"Yeah, I've heard Jing Lihua opened a charity shop in slums. She has a nice heart."

"This drama is for popularity. Do you really believe that those rich people would care for the homeless? They just want their faces published in tabloids."

"It must be it; someone is trying to slander them both. Now we all have to wait and see who is it."

"@Jing_Lihua and @Mo_Liang, we're with you!"

Jing Lihua was swapping through her screen briefly glancing at the comments. while walking to the Heng Bingwen's office. Mo Liang had a lot of loyal fans. Just a word from him and a majority of them trusted him. As for the negative responses, she knew who was behind.

Must be the 50 cent army to change public opinion. How many people Su Lanfen had employed to flood the comment sections against her?

She knocked at the door.

"Come in." His voice was gruff.

When Jing Lihua walked in, she saw Heng Bingwen sitting in front of multiple screens. His eyes were bloodshot. When he saw her, he rose in respect.

"President, why you came in person? You should have called me. How are your injuries now?"

"I'm fine. Nothing serious." Jing Lihua showed him Mo Liang's account. "Will you be able to trace the fake accounts and block them on your own?"

"Yes, President."

"Good. This matter is urgent. Suspend other tasks. Focus entirely on stopping this scandal." Jing Lihua personally didn't care about the scandal. But because of her connection with the Tang enterprise, her reputation would have a direct effect on the corporation. She had to stop it.

"I had already started working on it since yesterday." Heng Bingwen's eyes looked groggy. He must have not slept. Poor kid. He deserved a raise. "When I received your message this morning. I started keeping a track of all the media channels. I was ready to corrupt their files if they had something against you. But... I didn't find a thing. No media channel released the scandal."

"How is this possible?" Jing Lihua had been expected for worst after Su Lanfen's critical warning. How could it be possible that no media updated this scandal? Without media coverage, simple social media rumors were useless. They would soon die on their own in a few days.

"When they didn't show any sign of activity, I hacked into their CCTV recordings and looked into it thoroughly. It seemed that half of the major media groups had initially planned to release those scandals against you; they even had printed the newspapers and prepared the scripts but they stopped at the last moment. They canceled the broadcasts and altered the headlines. But the most strange thing was that not a single one of the tiniest channel whispered a thing. What do you think it implies? They were scared; scared of something big."

Jing Lihua had a great hunch about that matter. It wasn't exactly a nice feeling and it wasn't, of course, a bad feeling.

"Who do you think is behind it?"

"I tracked down the phone record of all of the major anchors and reporters. And only one thing connected them all. They all received a call from a private number from a massive corporate in Hong Kong. And you wouldn't believe the name of the corporate." Heng Bingwen groggy eyes were reinvigorated with zeal.