Chapter 1791: Xia Ruya’s Other Scheme
Not many people believed in Rosy Lane and Lu Bingxin’s self-directed little drama.
Gu Yihan was a renowned name for many years in the world of fas.h.i.+on design. Her reputation and influence were not something that could be easily shaken by the words of a newbie designer and a fresh entrant into the Chinese market.
More people were willing to believe that this was just part of the Li Corporation’s underhanded ploy to compete with the Wen Corporation in the luxury brands market.
Meanwhile, Wen Corporation had decisively recalled their products. The media and upper-cla.s.s society couldn’t help gus.h.i.+ng. “Old Mr. Wen is still as formidable as he was during his younger days!”
In everyone’s eyes, Wen Corporation’s recall of their clothing was like a vicious slap across Rosy Lane’s face.
With the media frenzy dampened down, Gu Yihan was not too affected by this matter.
Most of the consumers stood on Wen Corporation’s side and showed disdain toward Li Corporation for their dishonest tactics. It was a major blow to the Li Corporation.
Rosy Lane’s move had been a ma.s.sive miscalculation.
“I heard that Rosy Lane bribed several smaller news agencies to purposely drum up the clothing design piracy incident. You must be more careful. Xia Ruya probably intends to make use of this incident to create some chaos. Although I have been in the media industry for a long time, those smaller news agencies may not heed my request. They are only focused on profits.”
Although the general media didn’t stir up too much news on the incident, Ling Qingxuan had been paying close attention to the matter. It was a contact within the media circles who had informed her of Rosy Lane’s despicable bribery act.
Wen Xinya’s face turned chilly. “I knew that Xia Ruya wouldn’t give up.”
It was mainly Wen Corporation’s aloof response which had dampened the media frenzy toward this incident, but Ling Qingxuan also helped on her end to contain the press.
Meanwhile, Gu Junling had also activated his own connections and helped them out by quite a bit.
Today, Wen Xinya had specially invited them out for a meal to thank them for their efforts.
“What the h.e.l.l does Xia Ruya want? They did so much to drum up negative publicity on Gu Yihan, but it is obvious that no one believes them. What’s the point of continuing this smear campaign? They are just spoiling their own reputation. Isn’t that contrary to their goals?”
Zhou Tianyu’s face was full of disdain at the mention of Xia Ruya.
Although the Wen Corporation suffered immense losses from the recall of their clothing, the Li Corporation also didn’t benefit much from this smear campaign.
Not only did they take a major hit on their corporate reputation, but their fas.h.i.+on brand was also much affected, with many fans of Gu Yihan lambasting them.
“Xia Ruya has been stubbornly pursuing this matter as this is just a diversion. It may look like she is targeting Gu Yihan, but her true goal is the Wen Corporation’s luxury brands market.”
Gu Junling had been in business for so many years that he was immediately able to discern Xia Ruya’s ulterior motive.
Moreover, Xia Ruya’s move was not that brilliant. Anyone who paid closer attention would be able to see through her actions.
Although crude, it was undeniable that her move was still effective. In order to maintain their established name and dignity as a long-standing brand, the Wen Corporation had not much choice in the way they handled Xia Ruya’s despicable methods.
Realization dawned on Xu Tongxuan and she commented. “The Wen Family recalled two outfits, so there is an empty spot on the market. There is an urgent need now to come up with even better outfits to fill the gap. So Xia Ruya continues to drum up the negative publicity in order to affect Gu Yihan’s mood, such that she is unable to concentrate on creating a better design. In the meantime, the Li Corporation will take advantage of this gap to usurp the Wen Corporation’s market share in the luxury brand sector.”
The Wen Corporation was entirely dependent on Gu Yihan for its position in the clothing market.
As long as Gu Yihan couldn’t produce good designs, Rosy Lane would have a chance at s.n.a.t.c.hing away market share from the Wen Corporation.
But Han Mofeng had another line of thought. “Sometimes, if you repeat a falsehood a hundred thousand times, there will bound to be some people who would end up believing it. Xia Ruya’s dogged pursuit of smearing Gu Yihan’s name might eventually stick if it goes on for a long period of time. Everyone will start to have some doubts about her. I believe that her final goal is still to destabilize Gu Yihan’s reputation and influence in the fas.h.i.+on world.”
Everyone knew how talented Gu Yihan was.
But few knew what kind of person Gu Yihan was, and whether her personality was as commendable as her talents.
The thing was that in these modern times, public perception of a person was entirely derived from the media, regardless of whether there was truth behind the reports.
The moment anything happened to Gu Yihan, the Wen Corporation’s fas.h.i.+on market would be completely destroyed.
However, Wen Xinya felt that things were not as simple as it appeared. “Rosy Lane has been going all out to besmear Gu Yihan’s name. Anyone with eyes can see that. But I know Xia Ruya well. She is manipulative and scheming, but she will not sacrifice herself for the sake of causing harm to her enemies. These despicable actions to s.n.a.t.c.h at Country Z’s luxury brand market is not beneficial to Rosy Lane at all.”
Even if Rosy Lane managed to successfully blacken Gu Yihan’s name, their own reputation would also be just as tarnished. In this way, there was no way the Li Corporation would be able to take over Wen Corporation’s position.
Both parties would emerge losers in this scenario. Xia Ruya was not that foolish.
An idea suddenly popped into Gu Junling’s head. “Do you think Xia Ruya has another scheme ongoing?”
Xia Ruya was such a scheming person that it was not unreasonable for Wen Xinya to have her suspicions.
Wen Xinya nodded gravely. “I feel that making use of Lu Bingxin’s allegations to besmear Gu Yihan is just too obvious a move. It is not like Xia Ruya at all. It feels more like…” She suddenly paused as her expression turned even darker. “… tossing out a tiny bait to induce your opponent to incur further losses!”
Making use of Gu Yihan to attack the Wen Corporation and cause immense losses to the company was probably one of Xia Ruya’s goals.
And this incident was just an appetizer. She definitely had something much bigger and juicier planned for later.
And it would definitely be targeted at Gu Yihan.
Everyone’s faces turned solemn at Wen Xinya’s words.
If that was true, then Xia Ruya’s plotting was indeed scarily formidable.
Ye Feiyu couldn’t hold back her disdain. “Xia Ruya is like a c.o.c.kroach that just can’t be killed. Absolutely disgusting. It is your Wen Family’s greatest misfortune to have met someone like her.”
Xia Ruya was exactly like the modern-day version of the fable, “The Farmer and the Snake”.
But this time, the Wen Family would probably not be able to escape unscathed that easily.
Everyone nodded meaningfully at Ye Feiyu’s words.