Self-Inflicted! It's Over!

The video released by Qin Ren's studio was a clarification video. Because Guo Huai's video went viral, this video also garnered significant attention.

"First, let me clarify something. The promotional video for Qinglin Villa's sea of flowers was made by our studio. Also, is the person who posted that smear video an idiot? If you're going to smear someone, shouldn't you investigate their identity first? This person is actually the Chairman of the Blue Sea Group in the city, and they're quite prominent in Min Province. Why would they need to act as a paid promoter?"

"Furthermore, we've already looked into it. This whole thing was caused by a spoiled brat acting out and making a mistake. Their unreasonable parents, instead of educating them, threw a tantrum. Do they think having a phone makes them right?"

The video also included surveillance footage from the villa and audio recordings of the current conversation, which Qin Ren specifically obtained from Qin Lin.

As soon as this video was released, the city erupted.

The promotional video for Qinglin Villa, displayed on the outdoor screens at Oriental Commercial Plaza, had already become popular. Yesterday's incident made Qinglin Villa even more famous, though last night it was famous for all the wrong reasons, with everyone cursing Qinglin Villa.

But no one expected things to completely reverse overnight?

Qin Ren's studio was willing to spare no expense, also investing in DOU+. Under the trending topic of Guo Huai's viral video, their video also became popular, even bringing Chen Shengfei a bit of fame. Many videos introducing Chen Shengfei began to appear.

This was naturally the work of self-media accounts in the city who knew Chen Shengfei and were trying to ride the wave of popularity.

In a short period, the situation had transformed into another social issue concerning spoiled children.

With so many children making mistakes nowadays and unreasonable parents, the issue of these parents trying to pass off someone like Chen Shengfei as a paid promoter added a dramatic element, further highlighting the parents' ignorance and stupidity.

Therefore, everyone who had seen the video yesterday was stunned.

The sudden reversal left them unable to react.

Many people looked at the hateful comments they had left, silently chose to delete them, and then their sense of justice reignited as they commented again: "Spoiled brat..."

After watching the video, Guo Huai frantically took out his phone and searched for information on the Blue Sea Group. Upon seeing Chen Shengfei's profile, his legs felt weak.

"Damn it, you've killed me," Guo Huai cursed angrily.

He had trusted his cousin and his wife and hadn't investigated thoroughly, hoping to gain some followers from this incident. Who knew his cousin's wife would betray him like this? The promoter she mentioned had such an identity?

He immediately wanted to delete the video, but suddenly received a system notification: "Your video is suspected of illegal and false dissemination and has been banned."

Immediately after, another official system notification appeared: "Your account is suspected of illegal and false video dissemination. The circumstances are serious, and your account has been permanently banned."

"No... don't..." Guo Huai panicked.

He had spent three years on this self-media account, gathering material, filming, and paying for DOU+. He was only starting to recoup his expenses this year. Moreover, he had accepted two advertisements, and losing his account meant paying double compensation.

Anxious, Guo Huai took out his phone and contacted his Douyin account manager, only to find he had been blocked.

He was completely stunned.

A self-media account with over 200,000 followers, many of whom were likely fake, was insignificant to Douyin, especially after receiving a lawyer's letter from a legal team. They wouldn't care about his fate. If the other party decided to pursue the matter further, he was on his own.

"It's over!" Guo Huai wasn't stupid. He understood his predicament and regretfully called his cousin's wife: "Cousin's wife, didn't you tell me the matter was true? Why did this happen? I treated you like family, and you set me up like this? You're worse than dogs."

Lin Chunlan was clearly annoyed by the scolding: "It's just a video, just delete it. I'm having a hard time too. I've been filmed, and I don't know how I'm supposed to go to work."

With that, Lin Chunlan angrily hung up on Guo Huai.

"F*ck..." Guo Huai angrily smashed his phone. Was deleting the video going to solve everything?

Just a video?

Never mind that he was losing money so badly he felt like spitting blood.

If the other party reported them for slander and defamation, with hundreds of thousands of likes and so many videos capitalizing on the situation, they would be eating free meals.

He finally understood what it meant when the people you trust the most could be the ones to ruin you.

After waking up in the morning, Qin Lin set aside 300 jin of the ripe Okra and sent the rest to RT-Mart. He then delivered the remaining strawberries, watermelons, and Okra from the game to the villa.

As soon as he arrived at the villa, he saw Gao Yaoyao running out excitedly: "Boss, do you know who that Mr. Chen is? He's the chairman of a major group in the city. That self-media account that slandered you is in big trouble. Their video and account were just blocked."

She had been very worried when the villa was slandered and had been following the developments. Seeing Qin Lin, she couldn't help but share the good news.

Qin Lin asked Chen Dabe to have the security guards unload the items from the car, while he also took out his phone to check.

The video from yesterday was indeed gone, and the account had also been blocked.

This was within his expectations. With Mr. Chen's identity revealed, even if Mr. Chen didn't speak up, Douyin wouldn't let the person who posted the video off the hook. After all, the fault lay with Douyin, and they were afraid Mr. Chen would hold them accountable.

However, he wouldn't let those who slandered him get away with it.

If the situation were different, and he had no way to retaliate, his villa might have been ruined, and all his recent efforts would have been in vain.

Moreover, he knew very well that if someone like this encountered a tourism business, not making an example of them would lead to future problems.

Therefore, Qin Lin left the villa again and headed straight for the You City police station.

There was a criminal law called defamation.

Slandering someone's reputation, if the scope of dissemination reached a certain level or caused severe emotional distress to the victim, constituted defamation. Depending on the severity, it could result in imprisonment for up to three years, detention, or restriction of political rights.

However, this law also provided an exception: except for cases that seriously endangered social order and national interests, prosecution only occurred upon complaint.

The phrase "prosecution only upon complaint" meant that for defamation, the court would only accept the case if the victim filed a complaint themselves; otherwise, it would not be processed. This provided an opportunity for private settlement.

This also led to the low cost of defamation lawsuits, causing many people to act with impunity online. When such incidents occurred, victims would often shed a few tears, admit fault, or claim they were young and didn't know better, and many victims would let it go.

Others would settle by paying money.

Many victims, seeing that the incident had already happened, decided to accept a private settlement to gain some immediate benefit.

Naturally, there were also those who refused both options, intending to teach a lesson. For those with serious offenses, imprisonment and free meals were the only outcome.

Qin Lin intended to make an example of them, so he resolutely went to report the crime first.

It was the parents' fault for not educating their unruly children. If the parents, knowing they hadn't educated them, still acted out, then he would educate those parents on behalf of society, setting an example for the unruly children.

Qin Lin entered the police station, registered his report, and provided evidence. In fact, the police in You City were already aware of the incident due to the widespread attention the video had garnered, so they accepted the case with ease.

Afterward, the police asked Qin Lin to return home while they began investigating the identity of the woman in the video.

On the other side, Guo Huai's expression grew even more grim as he received the message on his phone.

"Mr. Guo, your account has been suspended. You have failed to fulfill the advertising contract. We hope you will compensate us as soon as possible, otherwise, we will initiate legal proceedings against you..."

He had accepted two advertisements. The compensation stipulated in the contracts would exceed the value of his car, even if he sold it.

This made him increasingly furious. He had ruined his career to help his cousin and cousin-in-law, yet his cousin-in-law acted as if nothing had happened.

Guo Huai stormed out in anger and drove directly to his cousin's house. Arriving at the door, he knocked furiously.

"Little cousin, you're here?" his cousin said sheepishly. "I know this matter has affected you, but the video has been taken down. I'll treat you to a meal as an apology."

"Is that something a meal can solve?" Guo Huai roared, his face full of rage. "Do you know that because I helped you, my account was banned? I spent over 100,000 on that account! And I lost two advertisements, now I have to pay over 200,000 in compensation. You two have to pay me all this money, or I'm not done with you."

Hearing this, Lin Chunlan emerged from inside with displeasure. "Guo Huai, that's not fair of you. I just showed you the video and complained a bit. Don't think I don't know you wanted to use that video to gain popularity yourself. Now that there's trouble, you're here throwing a tantrum at us."

Hearing this, Guo Huai almost spat blood. He finally understood what kind of person his cousin-in-law was. It was no wonder she had done such embarrassing things at Qinglin Villa with such a tantrum-throwing tactic.

As the two were arguing, they suddenly saw several police officers coming upstairs.

One of the officers saw the three of them and said, "Ms. Lin Chunlan and Mr. Jiang Hang, we hope you will cooperate with our investigation into the defamation incident at Qinglin Villa. Also, please tell us the owner of the You City Huaiying Media account."

Hearing this, Lin Chunlan was instantly dumbfounded. She had thought it was a minor issue and never expected the police to come knocking. She was so scared that her legs felt weak.