Chapter 272: Please Tell Us Who That Man Is!
For the next few hours, there were many comments and opinions online. Whenever artistes were involved in public welfare, they would often be subjected to harsh criticism.
They would be judged on the amount donated, whether it is more or less, as well as on every single action that they take. Once an artiste becomes a target, netizens and the public would continuously judge them based on their att.i.tudes and actions.
Regardless of the status or ident.i.ty of the artiste, the netizens would then always refer to them in a similar manner, for instance: “Oh, it’s that artiste who has caused havoc by creating an educational platform for students. I heard that someone lost their grandson because of the platform that she created.” In other words, anything that they do in future would no longer be relevant, nor could they make up for anything that had already happened.
Things escalated quickly and the netizens began cursing at Jiang Yuning and Guangying Media.
[Come out and explain yourself! Don’t pretend to go missing at a time like this.]
[The old man’s grandson is missing! Jiang Yuning, why don’t you use your intelligence to solve this case now?]
[The comments above are really disgusting! I have no choice but to speak up for Jiang Yuning. Why are all of you attacking her as though you already know the facts of the case? Jiang Yuning created the educational platform for your benefit but once something goes wrong, all of you are ganging up against her and criticizing her for creating the platform in the first place. How can you even be certain that the video and what the old man has said is true? Even if what the old man has said is indeed true, how can you be certain that there is no misunderstanding or miscommunication in this matter? Why don’t you guys keep your criticism and opinions to yourself until this matter has been officially clarified?]
Jiang Yuning subsequently expressed her opinion on her public social media account.
@JiangJiangLovestheScenery: “We had already contacted the police to lodge an official police report as soon as we found out about this matter. We will definitely give our full and utmost cooperation to the police to help in their investigation of this matter.”
After that, Guangying Media released an official statement using their account.
@GuangyingMedia: “The educational platform that Jiang Yuning has set up was prepared as a thank you gift to the Ginger Candies when Jiang Yuning achieved twenty million fans and followers. The educational platform is currently only made available to all of her fans and followers who are officially registered as Ginger Candies. Jiang Yuning has hired all the top education and counselling experts in the industry to provide their services on the educational platform without reaping any profits at all and so far, the service has been well-received. Therefore, as soon as Guangying Media and the Ginger Candies found out that the elderly man’s grandson had gone missing, our support team responded immediately by contacting the police without any hesitation at all. Guangying Media promises to give our full cooperation to the police in order for them to investigate and come to the bottom of this matter. We will make sure to provide the public an explanation as soon as possible. We only hope that the majority of the netizens can be patient and try not to trample on Jiang Yuning’s act of kindness without finding out the truth.”
Guangying Media had not only lodged a police report, but they also contacted the elderly man to understand and find out the truth about this matter. They also a.s.sured the old man that they would definitely try their best to find his grandson as soon as possible.
However, even after all of these efforts, some of the netizens still had something to say.
[What exactly is the point of releasing an official statement? You are just putting on a show for the public to see.]
[Just wait and see. The child is probably dead already.]
[Well, Jiang Yuning, why are you trying so hard to build up your own reputation again? Nothing else matters when your character is so terrible!]
After reading all the comments and criticisms online, Xue Li immediately stepped up and gathered some of the Ginger Candies before she instructed, “I want you to investigate and find out the ident.i.ty of the people behind these accounts. Why are they acting as though Sister Yuning’s twenty million fans do not exist at all?”
“I want the public relations team to go out and try to resolve this matter.”
“Statistics team, target any of the profiles that are posting frequently and try to find out the ident.i.ty of the owners of those social media accounts.”
“Keep in mind that the Ginger Candies are an organized and disciplined fan club. Therefore, I do not want any of the Ginger Candies to be arguing or trying to justify anything that the pa.s.sers-by are saying. This is because whatever we do might have a huge impact and consequence on our beloved idol.”
Since Xue Li had taken control of monitoring the Ginger Candies, Jiang Yuning and Guangying Media could focus on locating and contacting the old man and providing him the necessary a.s.sistance to locate his grandson.
Alas, at this time, the wolves who were hiding in a corner before all of these unfolded finally came out to add salt to the wound.
Hua Xin had been patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to pull Jiang Yuning down and she could not help but celebrate because it seemed as though Jiang Yuning had already dug her own grave.
Therefore, she decided that this was the perfect opportunity to add fuel to the flames…
…
Later that night, the police officers paid a visit to the old man who had reprimanded and blamed Jiang Yuning for his grandson’s sudden disappearance.
After interviewing and speaking to the old man’s neighbours, the police officers found out that the grandfather’s surname was Zhou and he was already seventy-eight years old. His son had died young and his daughter-in-law also pa.s.sed away a few years ago from overworking. The only person that the old man had left was his grandson and they both depended on one another.
The old man and his grandson lived in poverty but they were still happy and grateful because they had one another.
Grandpa Zhou only discovered recently that his grandson seemed to be fascinated by a celebrity that went by the surname Jiang. His grandson had also told him that this celebrity had created an online education platform as a study and support system for her beloved fans.
Xiao Zhou was very happy and because of the educational platform, his pa.s.sion for learning and studying increased.
However, Xiao Zhou suddenly disappeared without a trace two days ago.
The old man immediately suspected that his grandson’s disappearance was related to Jiang Yuning’s educational platform but he did not know who he could ask for help from. Therefore, when he saw a reporter interviewing people on the streets the other day, he could not stop himself from rus.h.i.+ng forward and grabbing the microphone from the reporter so that he could be heard by the public.
After the police learned about the entire situation, they conducted some investigations. After comforting and a.s.suring Grandpa Zhou, they started to track Xiao Zhou’s movements before he suddenly disappeared.
Besides that, the police also conducted an investigation and collected several pieces of evidence from Xiao Zhou’s Internet account and logins on Jiang Yuning’s educational platform.
In the end, the police finally concluded that Xiao Zhou’s disappearance had nothing to do with Jiang Yuning’s educational platform at all.
This was because the online tutors and counsellors that Jiang Yuning had hired were all front-line experts in their professions.
“Jiang Yuning has created a very good platform for the students and yet, she is paying the price and getting reprimanded for doing a good deed. I wonder how I would have reacted if this were to happen to me. My son has always wanted to attend tuition cla.s.ses but we’ve never had the luxury of sending him for any private tuition cla.s.ses because they’re too expensive. Now, Jiang Yuning has created a counselling and education platform that provides free services to students in need. Do you know how much that would help the people who are less well-to-do?” The police officer who was investigating the matter could not help but sigh after receiving the results of the investigation.
“There are so many celebrities in the entertainment industry but not all of them are like Jiang Yuning, who is willing to offer such practical benefits to her fans. I can only say that the entertainment circle is really very complicated indeed.”
“Who could say otherwise?”
“Now, all we have to do is to prove Jiang Yuning’s innocence as soon as possible.”
Both the police and Guangying Media were busy dealing with this matter throughout the entire day.
However, in the middle of the night, someone decided to splash another bucket of dirty water on Jiang Yuning.
@StarEntertainment: “Let me share some juicy news with all of you. There is someone backing Jiang Yuning up all these while and he is not any ordinary gold sponsor. This man even attended the banquet dinner that was hosted by Guangying Media the other night to protect Jiang Yuning. If you have your doubts, then you can try to find out where Jiang Yuning is living at right now. She is very secretive with her place of residence and no one knows exactly where she is staying because she is living at that man’s house!”
[Oh no. Is Jiang Yuning involved in yet another scandal again?]
[Please tell us who that man is!]
[Hahaha. Whenever Sister Yuning is on the hot search, there would always be a bunch of people who would step up and accuse her of doing things that she did not do. It really feels as though these people are just hiding under Sister Yuning’s bed and waiting for the perfect opportunity to jump out to destroy her. These malicious compet.i.tors are really disgusting!]
[But to be fair, Jiang Yuning’s family background is really very mysterious at the moment.]
[Should a celebrity’s house address be exposed to the public so casually? Jiang Yuning is also a major shareholder of Xiya Hotel and Dongheng Enterprise. Why would she casually reveal where she is living at? These people are simply ridiculous!]
Vera saw all of those negative comments in the middle of the night.
However, she was not in a hurry to clean up the mess created by this rumor.
This was because right now, their main priority was to find the old man’s missing grandson.
In fact, Xiao Zhou did not disappear. He was currently working an odd job in a neighbouring city and had lost contact and communication with the world because he was currently working inside a factory. This was all because he wanted to earn some money so that he could buy better hearing aids for his grandfather.
He was so motivated and persistent to work hard because he was inspired by his idol’s constant encouragement. How would he have known that his idol was currently under fire and suffering because of him?