Let the Bullets Fly

"Who is Chen Yuanguang?" Bill Gates's Twitter account is managed by the Gates Foundation, and he rarely logs in to check it himself.

Seeing so many Chinese people commenting below and the images they posted all mentioning someone named Chen Yuanguang, the Gates Foundation's operations staff began to report upwards.

The feedback reached the head of the Gates Foundation's marketing department. "Yuanguang Chen? Never heard of this person. But I'll call around and ask."

He called around but no one had heard of him. Since they hadn't heard of him, they decided not to reply directly.

Bill Gates's verified Twitter account mostly promotes his philanthropic work and rarely posts personal comments.

From the Gates Foundation's operations perspective, such comments are best ignored.

If there were really such a thing, they wouldn't reply using Bill Gates's account but would issue a statement through the Gates Foundation.

Kate is a staff member in the Gates Foundation's marketing department. The big boss didn't want to reply, but he didn't want to miss out on this hot topic. After all, the popularity on Twitter can be converted into money.

As an operator, he was very clear about how many Chinese people were leaving messages under Bill Gates's posts.

"The boss and the higher-ups don't want to reply, they look down on this little bit of traffic. I can totally reply with my personal account. I remember my personal account is enterprise-verified."

Twitter views can be exchanged for money. Once your follower count reaches a certain level, Twitter calculates your monthly views and pays you.

It's like how Lao Hu loses money trading stocks every day in later years, but the traffic he gains from talking about stock trading is converted into money by Weibo, more than enough to cover ten times his losses.

Kate directly retweeted the comment from a Chinese netizen with the most likes:

"We have not heard any news about recruiting this person, and the news about 5 million US dollars has no source whatsoever."

Kate watched as the comments and likes under his retweet quickly surpassed a thousand, and two hours later, the likes exceeded ten thousand. He felt incredibly pleased, making a good profit.

Since Kate's workplace was verified, Chinese netizens quickly became agitated. Even a staff member from the Gates Foundation had confirmed there was no such news, so Chen Yuanguang was still directing and acting.

Before, the comments under Chen Yuanguang's Weibo were mainly questioning, but now they all turned into insults.

News saying he was overestimating himself and habitually bragging filled the entire comment section.

When he woke up the next day, he found a lot of missed calls. "Hello, Mom, don't worry, this is real. How could I possibly talk nonsense?

The invitation letter from the Gates Foundation is still in my email. I also have a handwritten invitation letter from Gates in my office drawer at MIT.

Don't worry."

"It's okay, I'll clarify."

Only then did Chen Yuanguang realize what had happened yesterday.

Lin Jia asked with a bewildered look, "Yuanguang, what happened?"

Chen Yuanguang first opened Weibo, then clicked on a marketing account's summary of the whole story, and handed it to Lin Jia: "Here, take a look."

Lin Jia glanced at it. "Ah? A staff member from the Gates Foundation came out and said this didn't happen?

Bill Gates himself or the official Gates Foundation account hasn't responded, right?"

Chen Yuanguang nodded: "They haven't responded."

Lin Jia immediately became alert: "Has Goose Factory called?

This might be an opportunity. Are you sure you've kept the evidence well?"

Chen Yuanguang said, "There are both email and paper invitations. When Trevor came to see me the second time, he specifically brought an invitation letter signed by Bill Gates himself to show his sincerity."

Lin Jia got up, took Chen Yuanguang's phone, glanced at the missed calls, and sneered, "Goose Factory is getting anxious. This is a good opportunity."

Chen Yuanguang was puzzled. "Huh?"

Lin Jia said, "Call Jenny back and tell her you were arrogant, then see what she says."

Chen Yuanguang understood a little. He took the phone and called Jenny back. The call connected instantly without even a single ring.

"Yuanguang, what's going on with Weibo? The Gates Foundation has already replied to you. This matter is now very likely to have a huge negative impact on the release of the Kuala Lumpur Affairs sequel.

Have you thought about how to handle it? Do you want us to help you write an apology statement? Goose Factory's crisis public relations team is already ready. I'll send it to you first. Take a look. If you think it's okay, send it out as soon as possible. We need to seize this golden twenty-four hours."

Jenny was clearly anxious. Only then did Chen Yuanguang remember that due to the virus epidemic, Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2, originally scheduled to be released this summer, had been pushed back to the end of the year.

Because the promotion of the first Kuala Lumpur Affairs movie had made him one of the key promotional points, and he was indeed the original author and special consultant, his current negative public opinion would seriously affect the release of Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2.

Since the call was on speakerphone, Lin Jia handed her phone screen to Chen Yuanguang, then poked him with her hand, mouthing: Say what I wrote.

Chen Yuanguang remained silent as he looked at the words typed on Lin Jia's screen. Seeing that Chen Yuanguang wasn't speaking, Jenny became extremely anxious:

"Yuanguang, are you listening? Now is not the time to be stubborn. It's the golden eight hours for public opinion crisis management, and time is running out.

Don't refuse to apologize for the sake of face. This is already a public opinion crisis, and it will seriously affect your personal reputation."

Chen Yuanguang then slowly replied, "Jenny, I was trying to debunk the little essay circulating on Weibo about my collaboration with Zhifei Biological, to save retail investors and prevent them from being tricked by the little essay and becoming 'leeks'.

I didn't do anything wrong. At most, you could say I had good intentions but messed things up."

When Jenny heard this, she knew it was over. The other party was young and hot-headed and didn't want to apologize. The problem was that playing dead wouldn't work. First, he had offended capital, and then there were a bunch of competitors waiting for Kuala Lumpur Affairs 2 to be released in the New Year's slot at the end of the year. This matter would definitely be brought up repeatedly.

"Yuanguang, this will seriously affect your personal image..." Jenny still didn't give up.

Chen Yuanguang said calmly, "Jenny, you forgot I'm a scientist. I didn't agree when you first proposed building me into an IP. It's just that my joining the Gates Foundation was called out as fake by the other party. The Nature and Science papers I published haven't been called out as fake, and the contributions I've made in scientific research haven't been called out as fake.

This won't affect my ability to join any top university in China as a professor."

After hearing this, Jenny felt a surge of anger. "You..."

Before she could finish speaking, Lin Jia snatched the phone directly from Chen Yuanguang's hand and pressed the hang-up button.

"Hmph, old woman, trying to play games with me. Let the bullets fly for a while longer." Lin Jia's face was full of disdain.

Chen Yuanguang looked at her, waiting for her to speak.