Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 624: The Boss Is Being Exploited, Xiao He Is Being Used to Make Money

Xiao He couldn’t fathom the situation: “Why? This is the first time I’ve heard of employees exploiting their boss.”

Any fan who had followed him from the beginning should know Linghui Entertainment was founded with Xiao He’s investment. In other words, Xiao He, as the boss, held shares and real power.

No matter how you put it, that didn’t mean he could be bullied!

So how could he not understand what they meant?

If this rumor spread, would anyone really buy it?

If casual observers heard it, they’d laugh their heads off.

“Actually, I don’t really get it either.”

Xiao Zhou gave an awkward but polite smile.

He’d heard of bosses exploiting employees, but never the other way around.

If the boss in question hadn’t been standing right in front of him, Xiao Zhou would have gladly jumped into the super-topic and gone at those accounts for three hundred rounds.
[The boss makes us work overtime on paid leave, do you think that money grows on trees?]

Xiao Zhou roared silently.

[Who’s exploiting whom? Who’s squeezing who?!]

Of course, Xiao He might not be the infamous heartless capitalist the rumors painted him as, but “cursing the boss at work” was a rite every worker felt entitled to.

“Right now this public sentiment risk isn’t serious. It’s mostly comments in the super-topic, and the number of people being stirred up isn’t large. Most of the accounts involved clearly look very young.”

Xiao Zhou explained with mixed feelings.

Obviously, those saying such things, or being led astray by them, were mostly kids who hadn’t worked a day in their lives and hadn’t been beat up by society.

Any actual office worker seeing those comments would have to bite back a laugh.

Come on, they already work themselves to the bone. Please don’t pity a wealthy, famous boss who also has a huge fanbase, okay?

The corner of Xiao He’s mouth twitched: “Clean up these comments thoroughly, and don’t let them spread.”

If those remarks leaked, or if an opportunistic marketing account spotted them, he might indeed be dragged onto the hot seat again.

After all, if that kind of news got out…

It would be ridiculous, to say the least.

Xiao He definitely didn’t want to pick up any bizarre negative press.

“Got it, Brother Xiao. We’re already controlling the situation.” Xiao Zhou nodded, “So do we need to inform Sister Liu about this?”

This public sentiment problem wasn’t severe, but with National Day and then Spring Festival coming up, everyone wanted to wrap up work early and enjoy the holidays.

Last year, because of the birthday event, the whole company barely had a chance to take time off, and many people missed returning home for New Year. Although a long leave was given later to make up for it, going home during Spring Festival still felt different from going home at other times.

So when it became clear the company would take normal holiday time this year, everyone snapped to attention and started hustling to finish tasks as quickly as possible.

Most of Xiao He’s own work was already done; even he didn’t have much left. But other people at Linghui Entertainment, especially those in the Operations Department, weren’t in the same boat.

Although big scandals rarely break during Spring Festival to dampen the holiday mood, they still needed to proactively monitor and prevent any unexpected public opinion issues.

In any case, Xiao Zhou didn’t want to be told to work online as soon as he arrived home—no amount of overtime pay would make that acceptable!

Xiao He had no idea what Xiao Zhou was thinking. He studied the super-topic for a moment, then suddenly patted Xiao Zhou and said, “Please go call Sister Liu for me. If it can be handled before the holiday, try to get it sorted early.”

“Oh, okay.”

Xiao Zhou hurried off to find Liu Rulan.

Xiao He slid over to the computer chair next to the desk and started typing code furiously.

A few minutes later, Liu Rulan arrived, with Xiao Zhou trailing behind.

“What’s going on?”

Liu Rulan got straight to the point.

Xiao He moved aside so she could see the screen. “Something about this account feels off to me.”

Liu Rulan didn’t speak. She bent over slightly and examined the posts on the account with a more serious expression, then asked, “Is this the person you just investigated?”

“Yes.” Xiao He nodded. “After Xiao Zhou mentioned it, I felt someone must be secretly guiding the narrative, so I investigated the super-topic more thoroughly. It turned out the user who originally stirred things up was a side account, and her main account is the one we’re looking at now.”

The Weibo account called “Thousand Paper Crane” actually had a fair number of followers; she only followed Xiao He among the people she paid attention to. Most of her posts were typical fan-life content, occasional romantic fantasies about dating celebrities, and every so often some scenic shots and photos of items.

On the surface she was a perfectly ordinary fan, but many of the things she showed felt oddly familiar to Xiao He.

“Huh? How did we miss this account before?”

Xiao Zhou exclaimed from the side. “Brother Xiao, how did you find her?”

That speed in digging up alternate accounts was almost hacker-level!

Xiao He gave an awkward laugh. “Uh, I found her through related push recommendations… ah, that’s how big-data streams work now.”

It wasn’t just hacker-like—he basically was a hacker. But with Xiao Zhou present, Xiao He didn’t elaborate.

Liu Rulan didn’t join their banter. She kept her eyes on the photos under the account, voice tightening: “This person is using you to make money.”

Xiao Zhou: “Huh?”

Xiao He also grew serious: “How so?”

“She posted this photo taken during National Day—”

Liu Rulan pointed at a scenic shot dated October first.

[Thousand Paper Crane: Came to visit Brother Xiao~ [photo] *2]

Anyone familiar with the background in that photo would recognize it immediately: it was the entrance to the film base where Super Spacetime Confrontation was shot.

The focal point of the picture was those giant mecha models that Huang Junhao had delivered earlier.

After those mecha were placed at the film base entrance, many fans came to the site to take photos.

This account owner was no exception, but instead of photographing herself, she posed holding a matching small-scale figurine next to the huge mecha.

Liu Rulan pointed at the little thirty-centimeter model in her hand and said, “For the movie promotion we didn’t produce this kind of small mecha figurine. Clearly she had someone custom-make it for her.”

“But—” Liu Rulan paused, then continued, “in the comment section she says it was a gift from the staff.”

Here’s the problem: this small figurine didn’t exist in the first place; they never made it. But thanks to Thousand Paper Crane’s fabrication, some less discerning fans in the comment section were misled into believing it was real.

At that moment, a ‘fan’ asked Thousand Paper Crane if she’d sell the figurine, and she refused, politely suggesting people could try the seafood market to find others.

You don’t have to think hard to see how this plays out: since the small figurine wasn’t officially produced, the ones on the market had to have come from somewhere—and who else but Thousand Paper Crane?

She orchestrated the whole thing herself, with the end goal of selling merchandise. She cooperated with a manufacturer to privately produce the same item, then used her fan identity to lend it an air of official association, misleading other fans into buying and lining her pockets.

Xiao He’s eyes narrowed instantly.

No way—that was his future revenue stream being targeted.