CH 73

Yao Shengan didn’t expect things to become like this at first.

Yao Wenxiao was detained by the police for fifteen days for hiring thugs. Yao Shengan originally thought that as the chairman of the Sheng’an Group, he could easily release his grandson on bail. But the result, it was discovered at the police station that the police refused Yao Shengan’s bail offer on the grounds that the incident of Yao Wenxiao hiring thugs to beat people was fermented too quickly on the Internet, was paid attention to by too many news media, and caused too much bad influence. Yao Wenxiao must stay in the detention center for fifteen days. Family members were not allowed to visit during this period.

Yao Shengan knew that Yao Wenxiao had been pampered since he was a child, and was worried that his precious grandson would not be able to bear the suffering, so he asked the lawyer to find a solution as soon as possible.

However, although Sheng’an Group was the leading catering industry in Shanghai, it had no influence in Beijing. What was more, Yao Wenxiao’s case was personally reported by the Li family’s eldest son. The so-called strong dragon could not suppress the local snake, Yao Shengan visited and asked around the contacts he had in Beijing, even begging some business partners with their company’s headquarters in Beijing, but ultimately failed to get Yao Wenxiao out in advance.

As a last resort, Yao Shengan had to call Tao Mu, saying a bunch of things that made people feel tired after hearing them, and even the ears would grow callus: “…..Anyone can make mistakes, so one must forgive them when possible. CEO Tao’s decisive means, this old man has witnessed it now. Today I will give up this old face, and ask you to please let Wen Xiao go. If you agree, I will immediately return to Shanghai with Wen Xiao and not set even half a foot in the capital. The old things in the past, we can both write off. From now on, Wen Xiao and you Tao Mu will naturally not have any contact. I will no longer pursue you for deliberately digging holes to frame Wen Xiao.”

Yao Shengan was old and cunning, and he could naturally see that on the matter of Yao Wenxiao bribing the media to smear Tao Mu, Liu Yao had already set a trap in advance. In his opinion, Yao Wenxiao being unable to bear the moment of anger after learning the truth, and found someone to teach that Da Hui a lesson was just an act of a hotblooded young man. Although acting impulsively, it was excusable.

As for Liu Yao and Tao Mu themselves, Yao Shengan had never given them much regard. In fact, if it were not for the existence of Li Xiaoheng and the Li family, Yao Shengan would not even let Tao Mu go so easily.

In his opinion, even if Tao Mu knew about his old affairs with the Song family, what could he do? This world had always adhered to the belief that “a general achieves greatness over ten thousand withered bones.” The Song family fell because there was no one capable in the Song family. He, Yao Shengan, could reach this day with his ability, and he could start from scratch to create the huge Sheng’an Group so naturally he was not afraid of gossip.

Therefore, even if Tao Mu directly exposed the old affairs between him and the Song family on FlyNews, in Yao Shengan’s view, it was just to provide some after-dinner chats for those little common people. Being criticized would not make him lose his skin, and it would not affect the status of Sheng’an Group in the industry.

As for Li Xiaoheng’s threat, although it was a bit troublesome. But that said, for those like him who do business in the industry, the stock market was just the icing on the cake. So long as the company was running well and the stock price did not fluctuate much, it would not affect the actual operation of the company.

What was more, no one could say what exactly Li Xiaoheng could do for Tao Mu. After all, the two were just business partners who had known each other for less than half a year. How much was the friendship worth if they haven’t even seen each other a few times? The businessman highly valued profit, and anyone could give vernacular support by making a few empty words. When things happen, Li Xiaoheng might not be willing to come up with real money to fight him.

Yao Shengan used his own mindset to judge others, so naturally he had no fear. So when he faced Tao Mu, he didn’t conceal his sense of superiority in using his strength to bully the weak. Even if he was calling to ask for a truce, he would not bow his head. In his words, it was very clear that he was making threats and promises, taking advantage of Tao Mu for his youth and lower capital to bully him.

If Tao Mu was really 18 years old, towards Yao Shengan’s attitude, he very well might be extremely pissed off. Unfortunately he was not.

“What does Mr. Yao mean by this?” Tao Mu pretended to ask in confusion: “Yao Wenxiao hired thugs to beat someone and violated the law and order punishment regulations and was detained by the police in accordance with the law. Although I think this result is very pleasing, in this matter it is really not something I can control. I’m different from your Yao family. Your Yao family relies on your family’s big business and can do everything and dare to do everything regardless of laws and regulations. I, Tao Mu, am a small commoner. I have to be law-abiding and conscientious. I really don’t understand what you meant by making this call today?”

Yao Shengan sneered after hearing this: “Surnamed Tao, I advise you to not take it too far. Don’t be ungrateful. Do you really think that Li Xiaoheng can protect you for the rest of your life?”

“I don’t understand these words of yours even more.” Tao Mu still smiled, unashamedly pissing off the other: “I walk upright and sit upright and never do things that violate the law and order. Naturally, there is no need for anyone to protect me. Mr. Yao, if you have any methods, then you can go ahead and use it. But I would advise you here, you are already old, so your thinking and actions are inevitably old school. But if you are still thinking about using that old set of methods to ruin people, it will not work now.”

This was the first time Tao Mu mentioned his grudges with Song Ji in front of Yao Shengan. Yao Shengan’s expression sank: “Why, do you think you can stand up for the Song family with just your ability?”

“So what if I do?” Tao Mu responded tit-for-tat: “Mr. Yao has committed so many shameful deeds, yet you can sit back and relax. The Song family can’t. The Song family’s many lives will not agree. Since I have recognized Mr. Song as my grandfather, this blood debt of the Song family will naturally be taken up by me.”

“Very good.” Yao Shengan laughed in anger: “I want to see, just how do you plan to stand up for the Song family, and how can you stand up for the Song family?”

The two ended the call in disagreement.

Tao Mu hung up the phone, turned around and went to class. After class, he went to the next-door broadcasting and hosting department, and begged the professor to help him find a dubbing that met the requirements. In addition, Tao Mu also wanted to find a teacher with a profound cultural heritage to help write the script for the food show “Life in the City: Food for the People”.

Tao Mu started creating FlyNews as soon as he enrolled in school. Now this seemingly small site was getting bigger and bigger. As the founder, Tao Mu naturally received different treatment from the teachers and students.

What was more, even though Tao Mu’s business was becoming bigger, he never missed class or asked for leave, and his performance in the courses of his major was even more outstanding. A universal truth in the education field was that all teachers like hard-working and high-achieving students. Tao Mu met this standard no matter how one looked at it.

Of course, the teachers who appreciate Tao Mu’s student ethics were willing to help Tao Mu solve problems. But when the professor of the drama department took over the program planning book written by Tao Mu and read it from the beginning, he suddenly became a little confused: “Is this a drama script or a program plan? Do you want to make a TV series or a food show?”

“I just want to make a food show similar to a reality show documentary.”

In Tao Mu’s planning book, this program revolved around Song Ji, which was opened in the Houhai neighborhood. The work of the program crew was to follow the daily life of Mr. Song, get up early to buy food, open the restaurant, cook the ingredients while telling the historical origin of each dish, what kind of story each dish had in history, and then extend it to the restaurant’s guests, what kind of stories each guest had when they ate this dish, and even tell the stories of the neighbors in the neighborhood. And then finally bring the main theme to the owner of the restaurant, Mr. Song, and draw out the story of Mr. Song.

In Tao Mu’s setup, this food show could be made in the form of a unit drama. The reason why Tao Mu did this was to make more viewers feel connected. In this way, when he called on netizens to boycott the hotels under the Sheng’an Group, he could arouse more people’s support.

Of course, this part of the plan would definitely not be written in the planning book for others to see.

“Your project is a bit big.” With his professional sensitivity, the professor of the drama department immediately realized Tao Mu’s ambitious plans: “You want to make a food show with emotions and heritage. Then you need more than just narration and copywriting, you still need screenwriters and actors.”

Tao Mu frowned and said seriously: “I haven’t thought about using professional actors. I think it would be more realistic to let the show crew film the stories of the diners. If professional actors are used in the role, the audience will see those familiar faces and will not have such a strong sense of connection.”

“But ordinary diners don’t have enough expressive power in front of the camera. Can they shoot the feeling you want?” The drama professor was very interested in Tao Mu’s plan: “I think you can cooperate with the school. You can let your senior brothers and sisters appear on the show. They are professional actors and have received professional training, but they don’t have much experience in acting. They are fully in line with your needs.”

The drama professor seemed to be able to see Tao Mu’s concerns and added: “As for the sense of reality and connection you want, we can use the documentary method to shoot this show. You mentioned reality show, right? We use the diners’ stories and allow some real diners to appear on the scene, and you can make a statement afterwards that this show is completely adapted from real people. I don’t think it will affect the audience’s sense of connection too much. After all, you have to consider that emotional expression is also part of the sense of connection invoked in the audience.”

Tao Mu pondered thoughtfully. The drama professor also didn’t force it: “How about this. You can go back and think about it. On my side, I will help you contact the broadcasting side and copywriting. According to your requirements, ordinary teachers will definitely not be able to do this job. I will find a way to help you contact Mr. Bai Anbai, who used to be the host of the National Channel. His voice is very mellow, and his vicissitudes should meet your requirements for the atmosphere of this show. As for the copywriting, I can help introduce you to Pu Lincang, Teacher Pu. He once wrote a series of essays on Beijing street food. His writing style should be able to meet your needs, right?”

Tao Mu was overjoyed and nodded again and again: “Definitely. Thank you, Professor Cen.”

Cen Wen waved his hand and smiled: “You are welcome. Helping students solve problems is what we should do as teachers.”

Tao Mu smiled shyly. After coming out of Professor Cen’s office, Tao Mu received a call from Meng Qi: “…..The Internet Observer wants to interview me?”

The “Internet Observer” was a well-known journal in China’s Internet industry. As the name suggests, it liked to interpret the development of China’s Internet industry from the perspective of Internet development, and thus extend to the development of China’s business and economy. Because the content of their reports tend to be commercial and entertaining, it was much loved by readers. It could be said to be a weekly popular science magazine with a relatively wide range of influence.

Tao Mu thought about it for a while and felt that accepting an interview with the “Internet Observer” would also help FlyNews’ publicity, so he immediately agreed.

Considering Tao Mu’s student status, the “Internet Observer” thoughtfully scheduled the interview at six o’clock in the evening, at the headquarters of FlyNews.

Before starting the interview, the reporter of the “Internet Observer” also obtained the consent of Tao Mu to take a tour around the headquarters of FlyNews and interviewed the workers in working areas except the technical department and other confidential departments under the name of “increasing the publicity for your recruitment pitches.”

Because FlyNews had its own big killer weapon, FlyNews Entertainment, and the lessons learned from more than a dozen colleagues who had discredited Tao Mu, the Internet Observer’s attitude was very friendly from the beginning. The interview process that followed was naturally a pleasant one.

At the end of the interview, reporters from the “Internet Observer” said that they also wanted to record a little bit of footage and asked some light-hearted questions. Most of the questions were asked by netizens they collected on the Internet.

“Do you have a girlfriend, Tao Mu?”

Tao Mu laughed: “No.”

“Then what is your ideal girlfriend?”

Tao Mu continued to laugh: “I don’t have any ideals.”

The female reporter of the “Internet Observer” also laughed: “How can it not be possible, you don’t have to be shy.”

“Really not.” Tao Mu shook his head. He liked men and naturally did not have ideals for girlfriends: “I just don’t think that you should limit yourself too much on this kind of thing. When fate has arrived, you will naturally know that it is that person. Say, if you set a lot of conditions in advance, but the person you meet is different from what you described, then what do you do?”

The female reporter of the “Internet Observer” suddenly laughed: “CEO Tao, you are so devious.”

“This is not a question of devious or not devious.” Tao Mu smiled and offered the single dogs among the public advice: “This is the desire to survive, okay? What if the person you like is particularly jealous? So don’t make trouble for yourself beforehand…..”

“Well alright then, one last question.” The female reporter recited from a card: “Some netizens reported that FlyNews chose to take a screenshot and publish the background data when facing some fans’ doubts about the voting part of the finals of the National School Beauty and Hunk Contest. For an Internet company, we all know that there is no need for FlyNews to do this. Or put it in another way, you had more choices at the time, such as making a form, or uploading background data in text form. You didn’t need to take a screenshot directly. So why did you do this?”

“Why?” Tao Mu rubbed his chin with his slender fingers, pondered for a moment, and said solemnly: “That is, we all know that questioning and arguing have always been an important driving force for the advancement of human society. I am not against questioning, in fact. I understand why netizens questioned this matter. But how to say, you can’t just make a question and that’s it. After you have questioned, you have to learn to verify. How to verify? Naturally, verify from the source. I think whether it’s star chasing or whatever, if you chase anything, the final result is not only the truth, but also what you can get from it. I asked the technical department to directly take screenshots and publish the background data, and I also asked them to post a tutorial. So you see, some of the netizens who questioned the matter have now learned how to read back-end data, and some even learned coding by themselves and how to check IP. Isn’t that good?”

“So Mr. Tao’s reason for doing this is because you hope that more questioning netizens can learn how to trace to the origins?” The female reporter of the “Internet Observer” held back a smile. She felt Tao Mu was really fun. This naked revenge mentality could actually be put in such a righteous way: “Isn’t it really because you were angry that those netizens questioned you, so you deliberately threw out backstage screenshots in an attempt to look down on the IQ of those questioning netizens?”

“Eh, how can you say that, little big sister?” Tao Mu was immediately indignant, and his slender fingers tapped in mid air at the 28-year-old head female reporter of the Internet Observer: “You can’t slander people like that. Am I such a petty and vengeful person to you?”

The term “little big sister” made the female reporter burst into infatuated giggles, and the interview ended in a harmonious atmosphere. Tao Mu got up and saw off the people from the “Internet Observer”. At the front doors, he received a call from the boss of Weibo.

“Have you been adopted before? When you were five years old, did your adoptive parents send you back to the orphanage in the name of you having secretly abused your younger brother behind their backs?” Gao Yonghuai said straightforwardly and concisely: “You be careful. I have received the news that someone wants to discredit you on this matter.”