Chapter 107 Letting Go

Direction has been very busy recently.

After he came back from Yanggou Village, he was only thinking about making a big news. Although the article he wrote was praised by his superiors, it did not cause any splash after it was published.

After finally struggling, the result was no different from not struggling at all. Xiangfang couldn't swallow this anger, so he took the initiative to find work for himself and gave serious suggestions to his leaders, saying that they should keep pace with the times, keep up with the trend of the times, and turn paper media into self-media. If no one reads the press release in paper media, then publish it on self-media, and people will definitely read it.

Their mission is to educate, not just to write and then be done with it.

After listening to this, the leader praised Xiangfang for his ambition, and then taught him the important task of building his own media.

Even Sister Hong, the old office lady, has become Xiangfang's assistant. Originally, the two of them were just relaxing in the office, but now they both have to work overtime. Fortunately, Sister Hong is a good person and has no complaints about being forced to work overtime. Instead, Xiangfang feels a little guilty.

Sister Hong wasn't very good at self-media. She stayed up late to learn from Xiangfang, and often left home an hour or two late. She had children at home, and Xiangfang felt embarrassed: "Sister Hong, I'll do the rest. You can go home first."

Sister Hong looked up from her computer and smiled, "No need. The boss gave us two jobs, so how can we let you do it alone and get paid by yourself?"

She was joking, but Xiangfang quickly said, "Impossible. In terms of merit, Sister Hong, you are definitely ahead of me. After all, I was the one who found her..."

"Hey, stop it. Xiao Fang, you see online those men who don't go home after get off work, hiding in the basement garage, smoking, playing with their phones in the car, and are unwilling to go home. You don't understand. I just want to be like those men, to have a good rest under the guise of work, and not go home and work non-stop all day."

Sister Hong was understanding and made an excuse so that Xiangfang wouldn't feel so guilty.

The young man is still young, and it is normal for him to be ambitious in his career, but he doesn't know that Sister Hong was also a workaholic when she was young. Later, she had a family and the print media gradually declined. She was full of energy but had nowhere to display it. Now she finally found the feeling of her youth.

In order to repay Sister Hong, Xiangfang gave Sister Hong the specialties that Xia Wu gave him, two bottles of honey, some dried mushrooms, and some fresh vegetables.

Xiangfang lives alone and doesn't eat much. He keeps the vegetables in the refrigerator and doesn't cook. He just brings them all to Sister Hong.

Seeing that the vegetables were still fresh, Sister Hong couldn't help but inspect them on the spot. "Wow, these vegetables are grown well. Did you send them from your hometown?"

"No, I went to Yanggou Village for an interview and they insisted on giving it to me. They said drinking this honey is good for your health. Sister Hong, take it home and drink it."

Sister Hong held up the honey bottle and examined it carefully. It turned out to be quite pure honey, with no added sugar or water. It was obviously good stuff. She was a little tempted, "Are you really going to give it to me?"

"Of course. Look at you, you've been going out early and coming back late these days, and you don't look as good as before."

The middle-aged woman was most afraid of this sentence. She subconsciously touched her face and decided to accept Xiangfang's kindness. "Then I won't be polite with you. Take this bottle back for Old Wu and the others to try, and keep this bottle in the office. You can drink it when you are free to replenish your complexion."

Sister Hong accepted Xiangfang's kindness, and Xiangfang finally felt relieved.

There are not many people in their office. The fewer people there are, the more important it is to maintain good relationships with colleagues, otherwise how will they survive the next few decades?

Xiangfang majored in Chinese in college, so he was quite familiar with self-media. Some of his classmates became freelancers after graduation, specializing in self-media, and made a lot of money by riding on this wave of opportunities.

Some people also suggested that Xiangfang create an account, but he is a bit aloof to put it nicely, and lazy to put it bluntly. Unless he really wants to do it, he will not make things difficult for himself for a little money.

He just wants to do it now.

I registered accounts on major popular platforms and tried my hand at it. I selected a few good articles I had written in the past and posted them on the platforms. They made a small splash, but not much.

"Hey, Xiao Fang, wasn't Xia Xia, the blogger in the mountains, the one you interviewed a few days ago?"

Sister Hong suddenly asked him.

Xiangfang didn't look up, he was editing the manuscript, "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Look, is her house broken?"

"ah?"

Now Xiangfang was not calm anymore. "What do you mean by collapsed house? How did it collapse?"

Could it be that all his efforts during this period will be wasted?

"Look at this video," Sister Hong sent the video to Xiangfang. It was Jian Zhuang's video, which had more than 30,000 likes and more than 10,000 comments.

After watching the video, Xiangfang felt a little relieved. "This person's one-sided statement doesn't mean the house has collapsed. Sister Hong, you are not rigorous and scared me."

Sister Hong giggled. "Isn't this a word I just learned? My daughter is a fan and keeps telling me about this collapsed house and that collapsed house. I asked her what collapsed house meant, and now I need to use it."

Xiangfang was at a loss for words, and hurriedly checked the comment section. He followed the clues and finally figured out what was going on. It turned out that the long video from last time was to blame.

"Did the house collapse or not? Should you publish the article you wrote?" Sister Hong didn't understand. She was old and didn't understand the twists and turns of the Internet.

"As for the video that attracted me last time, Xia Xia went viral because of it, and it attracted many tourists to Yanggou Village. However, because the facilities were not complete, the villagers were not mentally prepared. I guess many people found that the environment was different from what they expected after they went there, and they had some opinions. Some uncultured tourists even had disputes with Xia Xia, and this person was one of them."

"He said Xia Xia accepted his money for picking apricots in the mountains, but after he went up the mountain, his son was bitten by a dog while picking apricots in the orchard. Xia Xia blamed him instead and refused to compensate him. He took advantage of the village's large population to bully outsiders, so he exposed this person online to tell everyone not to go."

Sister Hong was shocked when she heard this. "Isn't this called a house collapse?"

Xiangfang shook his head. "The matter isn't over yet. Now another netizen has exposed Jian Zhuang as lying. On the day of the incident, Xia Xia didn't even start the picking fee program. In other words, she didn't collect any money, and there was no sign outside the orchard prohibiting private picking. The dog didn't bite anyone. When they clashed with Jian Zhuang that day, this person wanted to engage in physical conflict with them, so they drove them down the mountain."

Xiangfang keenly searched for the video exposed by netizens. If the comment section of Jian Zhuang's video was one-sidedly scolding Xia Xia, then the comment section of this video was completely different. Many people said that they actually did not believe Jian Zhuang.

Sister Hong listened to the directions and ate the melon with great relish.

"Then who is at fault in this matter?"

"Jian Zhuang must be lying. Xia Xia has posted evidence. One, no fees were charged. Two, no bites. Three, there's a live video. Four, Jian Zhuang made some crazy comments in the group chat, saying he was going to mess with Xia Xia..."

"Oh my god, this guy is so mean. He failed to steal the fruit and turned the tables and blamed others. If there was no video, wouldn't the girl be wrongly accused to death?"

"Yeah, so netizens are all speaking well of Xia Xia. This matter has come to an end, but it has brought up another matter..."

HCN company hired a group of internet trolls to fish in troubled waters and discredit Xia Xia. Someone took advantage of the situation and entered the internet troll group. Now the situation has become more and more serious.

"Xiao Fang, have you been to Yanggou Village in person? What do you think of the Xiaxia people? Who is right and who is wrong about what the netizens said?"

Xiangfang recalled the Xia Wu he met that day, shining brightly in the sun. He had seen it with his own eyes. Every old man in Yanggou Village would give a thumbs up when mentioning Xia Wu. This was not an act.

"She's a very capable girl. Sister Hong, you'd like her if you met her. Those rumors online are just fabrications, deliberately smearing her." Xiangfang thought for a moment and decided, "Let's change the order of the articles. I originally wanted to post the Yanggou Village article later, but posting it now is a great way to show support for her. It's not easy for that little girl."

His tone was different when he mentioned Xia Wu, and Sister Hong couldn't help but tease him.

Xiangfang posted a video on Kuaishou, which was an interview video of him taking a car to Yanggou Village that day. The whole video was like a leisurely interview, and also like a mini documentary, recording what he saw and heard along the way.

As soon as the long video titled "A girl who returned to her hometown to start a business, getting closer to the Utopia in the hearts of urban beauties" was released, Xiangfang and Sister Hong quickly contacted colleagues from other departments, including those from the local tourism bureau and the local news TV station. As long as they had an account, they helped to forward comments and drive up the popularity.

Just like a matrix account, although the direction account was newly registered, it is a blue V after all, so it is much easier to create an account than for ordinary people.

After this long video was forwarded by many official accounts in Tong City, it became noticeably more popular.

Although it is not as popular as a video posted by a small internet celebrity, Xiangfang is already very satisfied. You know, few people read the articles he publishes in print media.

At the same time, Xiangfang has a better understanding of why print media is declining, and the return rate of self-media is too high.

As long as you post a video or article, you can immediately see netizens' comments and opinions, but print media does not have this effect.

First, some stranger netizens spoke up for Xia Wu, followed by acquaintances in the village. Regardless of whether they knew how to use Kuaishou or post videos, everyone learned to post videos on it to support Xia Wu. Even some people they met on the road joined in the melee.

Zhou Hui, like a funny man, made a funny video about how he infiltrated the water army group. The response was as good as ever, exposing the ugly face of HCN company that took advantage of the farce.

Xia Wu was deeply moved by these people's spontaneous actions.

She had faced a similar situation before, but at that time there was no one behind her. Now, she was no longer fighting alone.

Do I need to submit more evidence to prove my innocence? It seems not.

Xia Wu was like a wronged child, crying and making a fuss with all her might to prove herself, but when someone hugged her and told her that she was believed, she lost interest in crying.

Xia Wu should not and would not care about what some people who would never come to Yanggou Village said.

After she figured it out, she decided not to respond to online disputes and shift her attention to real life, but she received a WeChat message from Xiangfang again.

Xiangfang first expressed his apology, saying that he had been busy recently and had delayed sending the newspaper. He had just sent the newspaper and Xia Wu would receive it at the latest tomorrow.

Then Xiangfang said that he had seen the online quarrel. He said that he supported Xia Wu and forwarded the video posted by the official account to Xia Wu.

"I've been busy with this account these days. I'll probably post interviews or articles on it in the future. We need to keep up with the times and keep up with the trends."

Xia Wu was naturally very grateful. Although she decided not to care about the outside disturbance, Xiangfang had forwarded the video to her personally, so Xia Wu could only express her gratitude online.

After deciding not to respond to the online dispute, Xia Wu briefly explained the situation in the group chat. Everyone's purchases would be shipped as usual without delay. The apricots in the mountains were ripe, but difficult to transport, so they wouldn't be shipped by express. Apricot jam would be available soon, and anyone who wanted some could pick it themselves.

Yanggou Village gradually returned to normal.

People in the group come to play spontaneously. There are not many people, but it is not as chaotic as it was some time ago.

Everyone who comes here is very environmentally friendly and never litters. They are also very familiar with the places to buy groceries and other things, and are as friendly as they can be.

Life returned to its former calm. Although he didn't make as much money as before, at least Xia Wu felt happy.

More and more loquats on the mountain are ripening. Xia Wu organized people to pick the loquats by hand. The big loquats were selected, put into gift boxes and sold to Xu Li at a high price.

The small loquats are kept for making loquat paste, and all are used by myself.

As the weather gets hotter, it gets dark later than usual. After dinner, the villagers go out of their homes and visit each other to chat.

A car stopped at the entrance of the village. Two people carrying large and small bags got out of the car, and then the car turned around and left.

There is no bus from the town to the village, and there are no taxis in their small place. If there are any, they are all hitchhikers. The two people who got off the bus came back by hitchhiking.

"It's dark now, why are there still people coming to play?" A white-haired old man noticed and muttered, saying that there was no place to live in their village.

"Uncle Hong, look, isn't that your Guoen and his wife?"

Someone shouted, and the white-haired old man said "Huh?" and quickly stood up and took two steps forward.

The two people walked closer and closer. When they reached the light of the convenience store, the old man's head suddenly "boomed". His son and daughter-in-law came back!

"Why are you two back? Why didn't you tell me you were back?" These two sentences were full of surprise.

The next second, seeing the large and small bags on their backs, I had a bad feeling in my heart. Could it be that they encountered something outside and came back home to take shelter?

"Did you two get into trouble outside? Why are you back when it's not New Year or a holiday?"

Yang Guoen and his wife were at a loss for words. Didn’t the old man have any hope for them?

"Dad, why are you asking so many questions? We've been sitting in the car all day and are almost starving. Let's go home first. Is there any food at home?"

Eating is the most important thing in the world. Even if you really get into trouble, you still have to eat.

The old man led his son and daughter-in-law home and said, "There's nothing we can do at home. The two children and I will eat dinner in the mountains tonight. We don't have a stove at home. We can just buy two packets of instant noodles and eat them back home!"