Around eight o’clock that morning.
The lounge at the Qizhi Future Education Laboratory was already packed with media reporters.
After Puwen Online reported on the large-scale fraud case the night before, the other victims involved had all been ordinary elderly people, which offered little news value.
Professor Zhong was the only prominent figure among them.
Before retiring, he had been a university professor. After retirement, he founded Qizhi, promoting slogans like “Enlightening Tomorrow, Creating the Future”… only to nearly be tricked into marriage and surrendering his assets by a fraud ring.
That was why the media had flocked to Qizhi first thing that morning.
They wanted to know:
If even Qizhi’s founder, Professor Zhong, could be deceived, did Qizhi really have what it took to educate children?
Were you truly cultivating students, or merely packaging empty concepts?
Two reporters sitting in the back row were different from the others.
Both of them worked for Horizon News, a media outlet known within the industry as a journalistic muckraker, famous for reporting nothing but negative stories.
They were often cursed at, but their traffic was high—and so were their profits.
The two of them whispered to each other.
“Looks like everyone else is here because of Qizhi. We’re the only ones here because of Shengde.”
“That’s not bad. It’ll make it easier for us to fish in troubled waters.”
They exchanged a knowing smile.
They had been paid to smear Shengde and Yu Xiaxing.
In the local media scene of Pu City, the name Yu Xiaxing had almost become legendary.
Ever since taking over Shengde, she had pulled one outrageous stunt after another.
Every time people thought she was certain to lose, she would turn things around at the very last moment!
This time at Qizhi, it looked as though the two schools had already terminated their contract, leaving no possibility of a comeback.
But when it came to Yu Xiaxing, one could never afford to let down one’s guard.
Someone did not want her to pull off another reversal.
So they had paid these two reporters to sneak into Qizhi today and find a chance to throw mud at Shengde.
Ideally, they would get Qizhi to blacklist Shengde permanently and never work with the school again.
As they were talking, a sharp, capable-looking middle-aged woman with short hair suddenly entered.
She walked to the front and faced all the reporters, giving them a slight nod.
“Good morning, everyone.”
“I’m Zhong Wenxin, Professor Zhong’s daughter and Qizhi’s current director. I’m mainly responsible for media relations.”
“In last night’s case, my father was indeed deceived. We won’t evade that fact, nor will we try to cover it up or make excuses for him.”
“Today, Qizhi will be holding an open day. We welcome all media outlets to supervise Qizhi, provided that they do not interfere with the students or experiments and do not expose the students’ privacy.”
The media were naturally willing to cooperate with such an open and straightforward invitation to oversight.
The two reporters from Horizon News wore darkly excited expressions. This would make it even easier for them to tamper with things.
…
The morning’s schedule went very smoothly.
The reporters racked their brains trying to find fault, but they could not uncover a single problem.
At noon, Qizhi’s cafeteria even brought in extra staff and prepared the meals ahead of time.
The reporters ate lunch at Qizhi, where students from Mingde and Shengde were also dining.
Although the two schools disliked each other, they merely sat in separate areas of the cafeteria and did not cause any trouble.
Many of the reporters’ attitudes had already begun to soften.
“There really doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with Qizhi.”
“Professor Zhong being deceived was a personal matter. Elderly people who lack companionship are indeed more vulnerable to fraud. Forcing that onto the institution is a bit of a stretch.”
“We’ve filmed enough material this morning. Let’s take a look at the laboratories this afternoon. If there’s still no problem, we can leave.”
Most of the media had reached the same decision.
After all, news without any negative emotions had very little reach. Once published, it would look more like an advertisement for Qizhi.
So many reporters felt that although Yu Xiaxing was not from the media industry, she was a genius when it came to publicity.
All of her outrageous schemes were negative at first, stirring up countless people who waited to see her make a fool of herself.
Then, at the peak of public attention, she would pull off a reversal.
How exactly was her brain wired? How did she keep coming up with such effective publicity stunts?
If she ever stopped being a school board director, would she be interested in working in media? Quite a few outlets were already eager to recruit her.
Hearing the other reporters discussing her this way, the two reporters from Horizon News began to panic.
They had spent the entire day searching for an opportunity to cause trouble, but had found nothing.
If things continued like this, they would not receive the rest of their payment.
“We can’t wait any longer. We have to find a chance to make an issue of something this afternoon.”
—
A little after three in the afternoon.
The open day was drawing to a close.
Most of the reporters were already preparing to leave.
Zhong Wenxin was conducting final follow-up interviews with several media outlets, secretly hoping they would hurry up and go.
She had spent the entire day under supervision, keeping herself tense every moment. She was exhausted.
Just then, a shrill cry suddenly rang out from the end of the corridor.
“Something happened! Something happened! Someone’s been poisoned!”
The instant the word “poisoned” was shouted, the entire scene exploded into chaos.
All the reporters instinctively rushed over.
Zhong Wenxin’s expression changed drastically.
Don’t tell me we’re really this unlucky!
She hurried after them to see what had happened.
They soon reached the outside of Laboratory One.
Through the window, they could see several students from Mingde. Some were clutching their chests, some had pale faces, and one student was leaning against a classmate’s shoulder, looking as if they were about to faint.
The supervising teacher who had accompanied them quickly called an ambulance.
Qizhi’s staff were helping the students to a resting area while investigating exactly where the problem had occurred.
Inside the other laboratory, the students from Shengde were perfectly fine.
After hearing the commotion, they came out to take a look.
The reporters from Horizon News immediately raised their doubts.
“Why have the Mingde students been poisoned while the Shengde students are fine?”
“At lunch, we also heard the students from both schools talking. Shengde and Mingde had already gotten into a conflict on the first day, so there’s clearly accumulated hostility between them.”
“The two schools ate in the same cafeteria at noon. Now one group has been poisoned while the other hasn’t. Could Shengde have poisoned them?”
The cameras belonging to the media at the scene all swung toward the Shengde students.
“Please respond to our question!”
After the two reporters from Horizon News finished speaking, Lu Yanzhao stepped behind them and said, “That’s a pretty obvious smear.”
So what if it was?
That was how Horizon News always operated. They would film a few real snippets, edit them together, and put them online. The audience would believe whatever it wanted to believe.
The Mingde students had indeed been poisoned, while the Shengde students were indeed fine. That footage alone was enough to spread the story.
Lu Yanzhao continued questioning them. “Which of Board Director Yu’s brothers or sisters sent you here to smear our school?”
The two reporters from Horizon News remained completely unfazed.
“We’re merely raising a reasonable question!”
The media atmosphere had been corrupted by people like them. They convicted others first, no matter what had happened, and then forcibly demanded that the accused prove their own innocence.
The other reporters also decided to seize the breaking news and began rushing toward the laboratory.
Jiang Tinglan had been watching from the back of the crowd. Seeing this, she went over and pulled Lu Yanzhao aside, speaking in a low voice.
“Assistant Lu, I think I know what happened.”
