The Rumor Crisis

Rumors, especially those about celebrities, have always been the most eye-catching and click-worthy content on the internet, spreading at an unimaginable speed. In just two or three days, these posts and content had been reposted tens of thousands of times. They appeared on various forums, communities, blogs, and even in the news sections of some portal websites across the country.

However, the titles on major websites were much milder, such as "Rumors: Charitable Tycoon Murong Feng's Donations Allegedly Not Received."

After being advised by Liu Xuejiang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Murong Feng immediately summoned Meng Hao and Wei Bao from Ayu Games to Beijing to check if there was any prohibited content in the development of the "Criss-Cross" game as per the regulations issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Culture. He also took this opportunity to gather them with Ding Jun and several middle managers from Fengxing to discuss business integration opportunities. He hadn't yet discussed the idea of integrating the two companies at an appropriate time with Ding Jun and Wei Bao. Letting them get to know each other now and then communicating this issue when the time was right was also timely.

The employees of Fengxing Wireless's Beijing office suddenly found that apart from CEO Ding Jun, the rarely-seen big boss Murong Feng and Liu Xin were both at the company, along with two others who weren't from the company. They had been locked in the executive conference room for two days, discussing some big issue.

In the conference room, Murong Feng was listening to Ding Jun describe the current development status of Fengxing games, the research and development situation in the studio, and marketing bottlenecks encountered, when he received the first phone call from his secretary, Lily.

"Boss, a bunch of negative reports about you have suddenly appeared on the internet... Are you able to go online? They're on websites like Sina, Tencent, Tianya, Mop, etc. Should we initiate crisis management and communicate with these media sites to take down the relevant reports?" Lily was undoubtedly a competent secretary. Having previously served as a CEO secretary for a PR company, her first thought was PR crisis and suppressing the reports.

Murong Feng initially let Ding Jun continue while he opened up his computer to check online. However, the more he read, the angrier he became. Finally, he slammed the conference table and angrily cursed, "This is fabrication! Slander!" Everyone in the conference room fell silent.

Murong Feng's phone rang again. He angrily pointed at the computer for others to see and answered the call. Ye Zi's concerned voice came through: "Murong, I just saw on the internet..." Murong Feng said, "I know! I just saw it too!" He was angry, and his tone sounded irritable. Ye Zi could hear it over the phone and tried to comfort him: "Fame brings trouble. The internet is a place where rumors spread. You shouldn't take it too seriously. As they say, 'A straight foot is not afraid of a crooked shoe.' If what you've done is right, those rumors will eventually be exposed."

Her gentle words calmed Murong Feng's burning anger somewhat. He forced a smile and said, "I understand, Ye Zi. I'm fine, don't worry too much. I'll handle it." Having been with Murong Feng for several years, Ye Zi understood his temper. He rarely got angry, but when he did, who knows what he might do! She comforted him a few more times before hanging up. Thinking that Murong Feng might complicate things if he got too angry, she called Tang Qing.

Tang Qing was in a department meeting when her phone rang. Seeing it was Ye Zi, she let others continue the meeting and walked out of the conference room to answer. "Hello, Ye Zi." Tang Qing felt somewhat guilty towards Ye Zi and was always very warm and polite when talking to her on the phone. Ye Zi said, "Sister Janney, have you seen the online reports?"

Tang Qing replied in confusion, "No, what reports?"

Ye Zi urgently said, "There are negative reports about Murong being spread online, like fake charity, connections with the underworld, unclear sources of wealth, all sorts of nonsense. I'm afraid Murong might lose his temper after seeing these reports and do something rash. I want to ask you to keep an eye on him. He always respects your opinion. Sister Janney, please!"

Tang Qing quickly reassured her, "Alright, Ye Zi, don't worry. I understand. I'll go check it out right away. Don't worry, you're in Sichuan, try not to be too concerned. Murong isn't the kind of person who doesn't know his limits." Hearing Tang Qing's words, Ye Zi felt slightly relieved. After hanging up and getting busy with the complicated IPO materials, she was still thinking, should she ask for leave to return to Beijing?

Murong Feng's phone kept ringing non-stop after that. Friends, clients, leaders and members of associations like the Federation of Industry and Commerce, and media were calling to express concern, inquire, or fish for information, annoying him greatly. He didn't know how suddenly so many people had his phone number. He thought he should probably get two phones in the future, and turn off the one known to the media and others when something like this happens!

Amidst his anger, he also found it amusing that he was thinking about changing phones at a time like this.

But now, what could he do? Report it to the police? Even if it was for the crime of defamation, with his good relationship with the Public Security Bureau, not to mention whether they could trace who was posting and spreading rumors on the virtual world of the internet. Just using the police force for such a matter seemed like making a mountain out of a molehill to Murong Feng.

Suppressing the reports? This approach was the least meaningful. On such a free platform as the internet, simply relying on money and pressure to get those big websites to take down reports wasn't a solution to the problem at all. It would only make the online rumors seem more true.

Suddenly facing this kind of PR crisis, he was a bit confused. Despite having millions in assets, he couldn't find a solution for the moment.

By this time, Liu Xin, Ding Jun, and the others had already read through the content and were all indignant, calling such rumor-mongering tactics too despicable! This was directly throwing dirt on someone!

Just then, the person in charge of the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation called Murong Feng, saying that many media outlets had called today inquiring about Murong Feng's previous donations, asking if it was true as reported that Murong Feng's donations had not reached the foundation's account? Although the foundation's staff had answered affirmatively multiple times, calls still kept coming in. So they hoped to hold a press conference together with Murong Feng to explain the true situation to the public, not letting Murong Feng's good deed be slandered like this.

This call finally helped the anger accumulated in Murong Feng's heart to slowly subside, and rationality returned to his mind. He began to think about ways to handle and solve the problem. Just as Ye Zi said, "A straight foot is not afraid of a crooked shoe."

He saw that although the titles of those reports varied, the actual content was about three aspects. One was saying he was doing fake charity, claiming to be China's most enthusiastic young philanthropist, but actually using charity for fame, without a penny actually being donated to the charity foundation's accounts. Murong Feng couldn't figure out what the rumor-monger wanted to achieve. This kind of thing could be clarified immediately with just a press conference from the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.

Another aspect was saying his wealth came from improper sources, actually being from the underworld with him using legitimate business for money laundering, and linking it with his kidnapping case, claiming that it was actually an internal dispute over dividing the spoils within the underworld. It said Murong Feng had even killed someone but escaped police and legal sanctions because of his wealth. This was somewhat difficult to explain. The rumor-monger clearly knew about Murong Feng's relationship with Guo Guodong and used the term "underworld forces," which society rejects, to label his wealth and identity. It was indeed venomous.

The third aspect was complete slander. They somehow found an incident of a rich businessman hitting someone and fleeing, and pinned it on Murong Feng, asserting that someone had seen the vehicle involved, which was Murong Feng's car, and so on. This kind of completely fabricated rumor wasn't worth mentioning. Murong Feng didn't even bother to address it.

In fact, among these rumors, the one that had the biggest impact on his reputation was naturally the fake charity accusation. This point related to his business integrity and how high-level figures in both political and business circles viewed him. It was the most damaging, yet also the easiest to resolve. Thinking of this, his heart slowly calmed down.

Tang Qing's call came at the right time. She had just browsed through various news articles online and was equally angry and indignant. However, Tang Qing thought more deeply. Who was spreading these rumors? What was their purpose? Did they have a conflict with Murong? Was it driven by interests? Or was it pure jealousy and slander?

After thinking for a long time and coming up with several solutions, she called Murong Feng.

"Murong, it's me!" Tang Qing knew Murong Feng must be in a bad mood at this moment, so she deliberately softened her voice. Unexpectedly, Murong Feng's voice coming through the speaker was still clear and steady. "Oh, Janney. You've seen those reports too?"

This sentence from Murong Feng made Tang Qing understand that there were other people around him. This kind of semi-underground feeling made her feel very peculiar, and a smile unconsciously bloomed on her lips. The tense emotions she had felt since receiving Ye Zi's call also relaxed.

"Looks like you're in a pretty good state now," Tang Qing asked with a smile.

"Mm, I was very angry at first, but I'm much better now. The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation is planning to hold a press conference tomorrow to clarify the rumors about my fake charity on the internet. As for other rumors about underworld connections and hit-and-run, I think they're meaningless and not worth addressing. As they say, 'Rumors end with openness, rumors end with the wise.' I think any person with a brain should understand that if I really had done such things and it was exposed to this extent, no matter how rich I am, the public security department wouldn't let me off. It will naturally subside after some time." Murong Feng's tone had become much lighter.

On one hand, Tang Qing was very happy that he could calm down so quickly and had thought of a solution. On the other hand, she was worried about him letting his guard down so easily. She tried to keep her tone calm as she said, "Mm, Murong, you're right. I also think the rumor about charity has the biggest impact on you and should be clarified as soon as possible. Holding a press conference together with the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation is a very good approach. However..."

She hesitated for a moment but still said, "Murong, I don't think this matter is that simple. Think about it, who would fabricate and spread such rumors? What do they want to achieve? Could there be other subsequent issues? Murong, this incident at least proves that someone wants to harm you! I think you should think carefully about whether you have any conflicts of interest with anyone?"

Murong Feng was stunned. Conflicts of interest? There didn't seem to be any...