Chapter 187 - 122: Zhao Han: You’re Badmouthing Yourself, and I Was Worried Sick?

Chapter 187: Chapter 122: Zhao Han: You’re Badmouthing Yourself, and I Was Worried Sick?

Zhao Lili had initially thought it was normal for other beauty bloggers to chase clout. Nowadays, everyone was after views!

It wasn’t just bloggers like her who relied on cosmetics. Even women who worked as drinking companions in bars would see their value skyrocket once they got a following. Take those beautiful influencer DJs, for instance. Some of them started out by striking seductive poses and dancing for any customer who’d tip them 500 yuan.

But once their seductive dancing went viral and they amassed 300,000 or 400,000 followers, bars would be begging to hire them. A single DJ set would start at 50,000 yuan. They could rake in tens of thousands more in tips every night, with a single appearance potentially earning them as much as 100,000 yuan.

The difference between 500 and 100,000—that was the power of internet traffic.

But after watching the two bloggers’ videos, she realized this was clearly more than just a simple case of clout-chasing.

I was invited to the Li Yuan Farm trial event too, but just like Lili, I refused. Lili’s right—there’s no way Li Yuan Farm can produce a good moisturizing cream. And just like she said, using rapeseed oil as an ingredient? Isn’t that ridiculous?

I saw Lili’s video and I’m definitely on her side. Just like she said, Li Yuan Farm is just trying to scam its followers, using that rapeseed oil to make another quick buck. But like Lili said, that oil can’t be used as an ingredient, so the moisturizing cream Li Yuan Farm makes is bound to be completely ineffective!

Zhao Lili’s brow furrowed as she finished watching the two videos.

These two bloggers seemed to be slandering the farm just for the sake of it. The crucial part was that they were doing it in her name, prefacing everything with "Zhao Lili said."

But her own critique had been well-reasoned and evidence-based; she had backed up her claims with data. She had even added a cautious caveat at the end: ’unless Li Yuan Farm has some kind of special, proprietary technique.’ This was to leave herself an out, not wanting to offend Li Yuan Farm too much.

Now, thanks to these two bloggers, that wiggle room was completely gone.

Zhao Lili immediately checked the comments section on her own video. Due to the incredible rate of growth, the number of comments was already huge, but one glance at the content was enough to see something was wrong.

"I support Lili! Li Yuan Farm is just ripping people off!"

"Li Yuan Farm’s product is bound to be useless. I support Lili!"

"Making moisturizing cream from rapeseed oil? Li Yuan Farm must think we’re idiots! I support Lili!"

"..."

Comments like these looked exactly like they were from paid trolls. Anyone who wasn’t a complete idiot could see it.

The problem was, with this flood of trolls appearing in her comments section all at once, everyone would assume she was the one who’d hired them.

"Someone’s targeting Li Yuan Farm, and they’re using us as their weapon." Having been navigating the internet for so long, Zhao Lili immediately understood what was happening.

The planner next to her wasn’t an idiot. "It looks that way. So these trolls were probably hired by them. The question is, who are they, and why do they want to smear Li Yuan Farm?"

Zhao Lili sighed. "That’s not important. Right now, they’re hiding in the shadows while everyone thinks I’m the one attacking Li Yuan Farm. All eyes will be on me. If things somehow turn around, I’ll be the one left holding the bag, while they won’t even have to show their faces. Such a clever scheme."

In the world of online promotion, this was the most dreaded scenario: being used as a weapon by an unknown party.

The planner asked, "Lili, do you think a reversal is even possible in this Li Yuan Farm moisturizing cream situation? Do you think they can actually use rapeseed oil to make a highly effective moisturizing cream?"

"Of course not!" Zhao Lili said immediately. "After all, even huge companies like Lancome and L’Oreal gave up on it. They concluded that rapeseed oil was impossible to use as an ingredient. They couldn’t possibly be wrong, could they?"

The planner smiled reassuringly. "Exactly. Since there won’t be a reversal, and someone else is willing to spend money to target Li Yuan Farm while we reap the benefits for free, why should we overthink it? Let’s just pretend we don’t know anything. Besides, you should be preparing a new application for the International Fashion Convention for Beauty Bloggers. After this surge in followers, you’re definitely qualified."

"Right!" Convinced by her planner’s words, Zhao Lili visibly relaxed.

’That’s right!’

’Who cares who was behind it? As long as she was getting the clout and it could help her career take off this time, that was all that mattered.’

But it apparently never occurred to either of them that the one slandering Li Yuan Farm might be Li Yuan Farm itself.

During this prime time, combined with the existing hype around Li Yuan Farm and the fact that Zhao Lili was a top-tier beauty blogger, the controversy simply exploded.

Previously, Li Yuan Farm had always focused on scenic attractions, and each project was very appealing, especially the two Flower Seas, the Bamboo Maze, and the Bamboo Culture Park.

So, if Li Yuan Farm had launched another new attraction and someone started slandering it, people might have suspected it was a deliberate smear campaign by a competitor.

But now, Li Yuan Farm was making moisturizing cream—something completely out of their wheelhouse. The crucial factor was that a blogger like Lili Fragrance, who was widely considered an authority on the subject, was the one raising doubts and even backing them up with data.

Add to that the fact that two major international brands, Lancome and L’Oreal, had previously researched rapeseed oil and given up on it, declaring it impossible to use for making moisturizing cream.

This made things look suspicious. It seemed Li Yuan Farm really might be trying to scam people, cashing in on its sea of rapeseed flowers one more time and treating visitors like fools.

Instantly, all sorts of bloggers locked their eyes on this trending topic, ready to jump in and take a bite of the hype at any moment.

However, they didn’t rush to act.

More and more people these days understood the wisdom of letting the bullets fly for a while.

According to standard procedure, after this kind of negative press, Li Yuan Farm would certainly issue an emergency PR response. Everyone was waiting to see what Li Yuan Farm would say.