Chapter 17: Furious Yun Hongquan

He even suspected the other party was an enemy sent by a rival wonton shop. This whole stunt was designed to ruin the reputation of their twenty-plus-year-old, time-honored brand.

After all, this was the information age.

They could easily face a torrent of online criticism. It wasn’t uncommon for shops to go out of business that way.

Now he was starting to regret it. Why did he have to immediately hire other streamers to stir up drama after the guy posted his video?

If those two minor streamers with their hundred-thousand-plus followers hadn’t gotten involved, things probably wouldn’t have blown up to this extent.

But he also knew there was no use in regret.

So, halfway through the stream, Yun Hongquan immediately contacted the two streamers he had hired.

He hoped they could help find some trolls to slander Li Xiao in his stream and steer public opinion.

As parties involved in the situation, the two of them were naturally watching Li Xiao’s stream as well.

Seeing Li Xiao’s viewer count quickly surpass 500, they were filled with both envy and jealousy.

Even though they both had over 100,000 followers, their actual concurrent viewer count for each stream was usually only around a few dozen to a hundred people.

The rest of their "viewers" were basically bought.

The two were veterans in the streaming world, so they could tell from the dense barrage of bullet comments in Li Xiao’s stream that the 500-plus viewers were most likely real. Otherwise, the stream wouldn’t be this active.

After envy and jealousy came naked fear. Just a day ago, they had posted videos staunchly supporting Yun Ji Bamboo-Rising Wonton Noodles.

Of course, they didn’t want to see another streamer immediately pop up and prove them wrong.

Even if Boss Yun Hongquan hadn’t asked, they were planning to pay out of their own pockets and find some trolls they knew to cause trouble in the stream, just to prevent the fire from spreading to them.

Now that the boss was willing to foot the bill for this PR crisis, the two were more than happy to help.

That’s why so many haters and trolls appeared in Li Xiao’s stream during the latter half.

Li Xiao didn’t know much about the streaming industry yet, so he mistakenly assumed those haters and trolls were just unreasonable viewers. In reality, most of them had been paid.

Normally, if these haters and trolls continued to control the narrative, they would have successfully swayed the atmosphere of the entire stream.

Unfortunately for them, just as the paid commenters began their assault, Li Xiao had already delivered all the takeout orders to the 100 lucky viewers.

As the rating segment began and the score gap grew wider and wider...

...the trolls’ attempts to steer public opinion became completely useless.

After all, facts speak louder than words.

Without the ratings, the water army could have easily guided people’s thinking with arguments like, "Everyone has different tastes," or, "What right does a streamer with only 2,000 followers have to judge a time-honored brand that’s been popular for 20 years?"

But with the clear ratings displayed in the stream, everyone could see the difference between the two at a glance.

At first, Yun Hongquan was quite pleased to see the stream filled with insults.

But his happiness was short-lived. The stream’s ratings were a blatant slap in the face, and the bullet comments, once controlled by his paid trolls, were suddenly overwhelmed by messages supporting Li Xiao. He nearly fainted from rage.

He had originally planned to invest more money to hire even more trolls.

But his reckless move was stopped by the two streamers.

They weren’t idiots. They knew very well that the streamer, "Brother Li Loves Food," was now guaranteed to win this fight.

Continuing to hire trolls now would only generate more hype for the streamer and make the fallout even more severe.

Yun Hongquan’s eyes were bloodshot. He quickly sent a message to their small three-person group chat.

"Are we just going to let this go?"

Sister Juan:

"Boss Yun, I know you’re anxious, but don’t be. Rushing this won’t solve anything."

"My advice is to hold off on the trolls for now. After he ends his stream, we’ll have people use troll accounts to post inflammatory and sensitive comments on his channel. Then, we report his account."

"That way, the platform’s automated backend review will most likely shadowban his account or suspend it temporarily."

"Internet fame comes and goes quickly. By the time his account is restored, this wave of popularity will have passed, and your shop, Boss, will be in the clear!"

Sister Juan was clearly an expert in these matters, laying out her plan with practiced ease.

Brother Pang was stunned by Sister Juan’s methods. He’d heard rumors that she was ruthless, but he never expected them to be true.

While he thought it was a decent plan, his cautious nature made him unwilling to make an enemy for life.

In his view, while they had a feud now, it wasn’t a major one.

So, he offered a different opinion.

"Sister Juan’s proposal is good, but I still wouldn’t recommend that Boss Yun escalate things this far."

"I just have a bad feeling about that kid; something’s off about him!"

"He’s way too generous. I did a rough calculation, and in the past two days, he’s given out thousands in red envelopes alone."

"That’s not something a streamer with only 2,000 followers can do."

"I’m worried he has an ace up his sleeve."

"My suggestion is for Boss Yun to take a step back. Contact him privately and see if you can resolve this peacefully."

"Get him to issue a follow-up statement to smooth things over, and just let it be."

Seeing the two different opinions, Yun Hongquan chose the former without a moment’s hesitation.

In his mind, he was just running his business peacefully, not bothering anyone.

This "Brother Li Loves Food" guy had come out of nowhere to stomp all over his face. Was he supposed to grovel and beg for mercy now?

However, it never occurred to him that if he hadn’t cut corners on ingredients and engaged in false advertising in the first place, he wouldn’t have so many problems to worry about now.

If he had simply changed his sign from "Yun Ji Bamboo-Rising Wonton Noodles" to "Yun Ji Authentic Wonton Noodles," he would be receiving praise from Li Xiao right now, not criticism.

It was a case of "patience brings peace, but taking a step back only makes you angrier the more you think about it."

Watching the bullet comments in the stream mock him, Yun Hongquan didn’t hesitate at all.

"There is absolutely no peaceful solution to this!"

"Sister Juan, I’m putting you in full charge of this. Can you handle it for me and clean up this mess?"

"You have to get this guy’s account banned. A permanent ban would be best!"

Sister Juan:

"A permanent ban is a bit difficult, but if Boss Yun is willing to pay, we can probably try for a one-month suspension."

Yun Hongquan quickly did the math. A month didn’t seem long, but given the short attention span of today’s internet users, they would have long forgotten about the whole thing by then.

"A month is fine. Just send me a bill for how much it costs!"

Sister Juan was delighted. Of course, she wouldn’t be working for free; she was sure to get a hefty fee for her troubles.

As for Brother Pang, he felt a sense of unease. He had a feeling Boss Yun was digging his own grave.

But since the boss had already made his decision, he didn’t say anything more. After all, he still had to make a living in this circle and didn’t want to burn any bridges.