After copying and pasting the blog link under every marketing account post, Shao Yichen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Regardless of the outcome, she had at least tried to resolve the rumor problem for the original Shao Yichen, though the effectiveness of her clarification remained to be seen.
Last night, the moment she saw the blog's contents, she finally recalled those blurry memories in her mind—memories that belonged to the original Shao Yichen.
To Shao Yichen's surprise, a large portion of these memories concerned her roommate, Li Qiaoqiao.
Contrary to Shao Yichen's assumptions, the relationship between Li Qiaoqiao and the original Shao Yichen wasn't as terrible as she had imagined. On the contrary, before the plagiarism controversy, Li Qiaoqiao had been practically the perfect roommate. Though three years older than Shao Yichen, who had skipped grades to enter university, she hadn't shown the same initial contempt for Shao Yichen's young age as others in their class had.
Instead, she had been quite caring toward Shao Yichen.
Because of this, even though Shao Yichen discovered that Li Qiaoqiao's attitude toward film differed greatly from her own, she hadn't paid much attention to it.
Indeed, unlike Shao Yichen who wholeheartedly wanted to film the stories in her heart, Li Qiaoqiao merely viewed directing as a profession that could bring fame without requiring her to be in the spotlight. Shao Yichen had realized this early on, but since Li Qiaoqiao was so friendly in other aspects, the former Shao Yichen had still been willing to continue their exchanges, even discussing script-related issues.
Now Shao Yichen was initially surprised by the fact that they had once been close roommates, but on second thought, if they had been merely acquaintances, Li Qiaoqiao wouldn't have had the opportunity to access the original owner's graduation project. The reality was indeed more reasonable than her speculation.
Their good relationship had continued until senior year. Even when submitting graduation projects, the original Shao Yichen hadn't realized that Li Qiaoqiao had secretly borrowed from her stop-motion animation and turned it into a children's online film.
Not until she was reported for allegedly plagiarizing in her graduation project.
Ironically, in the original owner's recollection, the person who reported her wasn't Li Qiaoqiao, but another classmate who had previously competed with her for graduate school recommendation and failed. When the original owner heard about this report, her first reaction wasn't to clarify, but to find a way to contact Li Qiaoqiao. She couldn't believe that the friend she had always regarded as an older sister would do such a thing.
She wanted to hear Li Qiaoqiao's denial directly.
Unfortunately, she not only never received Li Qiaoqiao's denial, but didn't even hear a single apology—from that day forward, the original owner couldn't reach Li Qiaoqiao by phone again.
Being betrayed by a friend she considered an older sister, compounded by being falsely accused of plagiarism, dealt a severe blow to the original owner's mental state, making her subsequent memories somewhat blurry. Fortunately, the school hadn't immediately ruled it as plagiarism, but had only arranged for a counselor to speak with her privately, requesting her to temporarily modify her graduation project's content to avoid the so-called "plagiarized" elements.
But it was already May—how could there be time to make changes? Combined with her mental distress, the original owner couldn't submit her work, resulting in her delayed graduation.
Recalling this, Shao Yichen felt a heaviness in her heart.
Even she, someone without memories, could find these pieces of evidence on the phone. Couldn't the Shao Yichen from back then have found them if she had truly wanted to argue her case?
But the fact that she hadn't used this evidence to reverse public opinion and accuse Li Qiaoqiao only showed that she still couldn't forget their "friendship." Seeing that the situation hadn't escalated, she ultimately chose to let it go.
Yet while she still valued their original friendship, Li Qiaoqiao clearly didn't care at all! She even tried to exploit her former tolerance to destroy her now!
Unfortunately for her, the current Shao Yichen was no longer the original Shao Yichen. The current Shao Yichen truly regarded Li Qiaoqiao as a stranger. No, after all this, Shao Yichen now considered her an enemy.
That being the case, don't blame me for exposing everything!
Li Qiaoqiao, you wanted fame as a director back then—fine, I'll make you famous!
With this thought, Shao Yichen dialed the number of her company's new general manager.
Qianqian answered quickly: "Hello? Boss, is this about handling the negative news on those marketing accounts?"
After seeing the public opinion this morning, she had guessed the boss would make this call and had already begun contacting water armies, though she hadn't deployed them yet.
Shao Yichen got straight to the point: "Qianqian, have you seen the link I just posted?"
"Link?" Li Qianqian was momentarily confused. She had been busy contacting water armies and hadn't updated her information.
"Yes, a link. I've posted it under my real name on marketing accounts and forums. It leads to a blog with a pinned video containing evidence from four years ago that I didn't plagiarize," Shao Yichen's voice was unusually calm, making Qianqian feel somewhat uneasy. "Before your promotion, you were in charge of distribution, right? You should understand how this works. I'm giving you two tasks now."
"First, spread the content from the blog, telling everyone I didn't plagiarize and that I was falsely accused."
"Then, we need to launch a reverse exposé—use the same format they used to accuse me of plagiarism, but change the subject to Li Qiaoqiao—unlike me, her plagiarism is genuine."
After saying this, Shao Yichen was about to hang up, but hesitated and added: "One more thing."
"After this storm settles, help me investigate Fu Lianghui to see if he had any involvement in this incident."
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
After Shao Yichen posted the link, the whole incident escalated further.
Initially, when people saw this unverified account posting an obscure link that led to clay-making craft videos, they assumed the director couldn't refute the accusations and was randomly posting to divert attention. The comments were uniformly mocking.
But when some deeply invested gossip followers watched the entire video, they discovered that Director Shao was proving she hadn't plagiarized.
This creative idea had been proposed by Shao Yichen at least a year before the film's release!
If traced back to when she started making the clay figures for the stop-motion animation, it was three years before the film's release!
The gossip-hungry audience, whose melons hadn't even been digested yet, found their mouths stuffed with fresh melons, nearly bursting from overindulgence.
What was happening? The original plagiarist suddenly became the victim, and we've completely misinterpreted the melon in our hands?
What about the previously mentioned issue that the other two films had similarities with other movies? Were those accusations also false?
At this moment, fans of her films who had remained silent finally dared to speak up.
Having directed two excellent works in succession, Shao Yichen actually had quite a few casual fans, but the evidence of her college plagiarism and delayed graduation had seemed so concrete that speaking up earlier would have looked like defending a plagiarist, so they had remained silent.
Now, learning that Shao Yichen hadn't actually plagiarized but was the victim, they finally dared to stand up, replying en masse under marketing account posts and forum threads.
"As someone who's watched both 'The Last Wish' and 'The Web,' I can finally say that these two films absolutely didn't 'borrow' from anywhere! The accusations are completely forced and malicious!"
"Just because the male leads are both ghosts means it's plagiarism? Then I'd like to point out that all ghost stories are plagiarizing 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'!"
"'The Web' has such a complex plot with four suspects, plus the final mastermind Yuan You, with at least five different motives. You can't claim plagiarism just because one suspect's motive shares similarities with other films. Besides, crimes of passion are extremely common motives—I could find at least a hundred cases with passion-based motives in 'Detective Conan' alone..."
After looking around, the gossip followers found that Shao Yichen's supporters had more logical and substantiated arguments, while those still insisting she had plagiarized were clearly paid trolls.
Reflecting on how they had criticized Shao Yichen for plagiarism without verification, most casual observers felt embarrassed and ashamed, which increased their sympathy for her.
Such a genius director had nearly had her reputation damaged by false rumors. If she hadn't had concrete video evidence, they would have been completely misled!
These entertainment seekers naturally wouldn't reflect on their own follow-the-crowd mentality; they would only blame the marketing accounts for publishing false information that led to their misjudgment.
Suddenly, the comment sections under marketing accounts descended into chaos, with people attacking the accounts just as they had attacked Shao Yichen earlier, pushing "Apologize to Director Shao Yichen" comments to the top.
Seeing they couldn't control the comments, the marketing accounts quickly deleted their Weibo posts.
They felt quite wronged—when they had accepted payment for the job, how could they have known the exposé was false!
They would never accept jobs from Fu Lianghui again! Unreliable!
Normally, the incident should have ended here.
But unexpectedly, right next to the original post exposing Shao Yichen, a new post appeared with a very similar title, with only one difference—Shao Yichen's name had been replaced with Li Qiaoqiao.
Li Qiaoqiao? Who was that? Was there new gossip to consume?
With this curiosity, people clicked on the new link.
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Li Qiaoqiao walked out of the meeting room with her head down, her expression extremely unpleasant.
She hadn't been involved in this incident targeting Shao Yichen—after all, she had a guilty conscience and wouldn't deliberately invite trouble.
But when she heard about the plan, she had indeed tacitly approved it.
It had been four years; who could clearly explain what had happened back then? Moreover, she was just a minor director. Even if Shao Yichen investigated, she shouldn't be able to trace it back to her...
She never expected the fire would burn its way to her.
What surprised her even more was that Shao Yichen still had evidence from back then!
If that was the case, why didn't you bring it out back then?! Wouldn't that have prevented your delayed graduation?
Could it be that she had anticipated this day and kept it to take revenge on me?
Thinking of this, Li Qiaoqiao gritted her teeth, took out her phone, and with her finger trembling over a number for a long time, finally pressed the call button.
To her surprise, the call connected quickly.
A familiar voice came from the other end: "Li Qiaoqiao."
"Shao Yichen." Li Qiaoqiao pronounced these three words somewhat through gritted teeth, but quickly suppressed her emotions. Stabilizing herself, she asked: "That new exposé post on the forum, did you post it?"
"What's the matter?" Shao Yichen neither confirmed nor denied, but to Li Qiaoqiao, this was as good as admission.
She hastily said: "How much money would it take for you to delete that post? As long as it's not too outrageous, we can negotiate!"
There was no response from the other end.
"One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?" Li Qiaoqiao probed, growing increasingly agitated. "Shao Yichen, don't push your luck. Even without paying, I have ways to delete your post—"
"Now you know to call me, feeling anxious?" Shao Yichen's voice came through the phone. "When that original exposé came out, why didn't you think to stop it?"
Li Qiaoqiao was taken aback.
She had never heard such a sharp tone from Shao Yichen before.
She tried to explain: "I had nothing to do with the exposé—"
"But you had everything to do with the plagiarism," Shao Yichen interrupted. "Couldn't you have issued a statement four years ago? Saying the inspiration came from Shao Yichen, that you had obtained permission from the crew? Even without that, just one sentence from you—'Shao Yichen didn't plagiarize my film'—would have helped me avoid the plagiarism controversy back then, and I wouldn't have had to modify my graduation project at the last minute, ultimately leading to delayed graduation."
"But you didn't say that—not four years ago, not now. Only when the plagiarism accusation falls on your head do you suddenly become anxious and come looking for me?"
"Have you ever considered how I felt being accused of plagiarism?!"
Only then did Li Qiaoqiao vaguely realize that Shao Yichen seemed truly angry.
In her memory, this girl appeared to never get angry.
She quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, Chenchen, it was my fault. I was so foolish back then. But remember how much I took care of you in college? Reminding you about classes, eating meals together—have you forgotten all that? Please, give me one more chance. I've finally secured the director position for my next film, and it's about to be taken away by the company..."
"I did give you a chance—I waited for you for four years," Shao Yichen interrupted.
"You know what? Your number has remained in my contacts all these four years."
"I've been waiting for you to call, waiting for you to say one word: sorry. Just that, and I could have forgiven you."
"But you never did."
"I gave you a chance, but you didn't take it."
"As for now, it's too late for apologies." Shao Yichen laughed ambiguously on the other end. "Didn't you want to be famous? Well, let me give you a good taste of what fame feels like!"
After saying this, Shao Yichen hung up immediately, giving her no chance to respond.
Li Qiaoqiao listened to the beeping sound from the phone, suddenly at a loss for words.
When she tried calling that familiar number again, she found she could no longer get through.
Author's Note: Today's update~ Thanks to the little angels who gave me Overlord Tickets or Nutrition Solution between 2020-09-12 12:34:27 and 2020-09-13 10:40:30~
Thanks to the little angels who gave Nutrition Solution: Know-Nothing Jin 20 bottles; Lian Lian 19 bottles; zoe, Meow Paw, Mrs. Xu 10 bottles; Bai Hao Yi Ru Chen 6 bottles; 41892658, Big Shield's 36D 5 bottles; Eating Melons Every Day 2 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!