Chapter 187: The Chen Clan Is Faking It! Now This Is Getting Complicated!
After Lu Xue finished watching the first video, she was really a bit confused.
After watching the second video and the third video, she was completely unsettled.
These were videos shot by tourists at the Chen Clan National Style Event, and at a glance it was impossible that they were special effects.
But that did not make sense. Who was it back then who concluded that this cloud barrier technique was special effects, even had the tech department create this cloud barrier technique effect, causing so many people now to come and demand an explanation from Douyin?
Thinking about it, it seemed to have been her.
This…
Lu Xue’s brain could not quite turn around.
But her analysis back then was not wrong, and the people in the tech department had agreed. After all, the diffusion speed of that smoke was off, and its dissipation speed was off as well, not matching the pattern of smoke or dry ice fogging and similar things.
So the tech department had been able to easily create a cloud barrier technique effect.
If they really wanted to make something that matched the drifting and diffusion pattern of smoke or dry ice fogging, it actually would not be that simple.
In other words, that cloud barrier technique was obviously fake at a glance.
And now they were telling her the cloud barrier technique was real?
The Chen Family Head could flick his hand at random and smoke would erupt and spread?
Had things gotten this fantastical now?
As she thought about it, Lu Xue immediately began reviewing these videos. As long as there was no violation, she approved them no matter what, and even boosted the stream for some of them.
But did Douyin have to give these people an explanation?
There was absolutely no need to give them any explanation.
Right now she only needed this popularity. The higher the popularity, the better it was for her; at least there would be a bonus.
After all, the Chen Family Head’s account was one she had dug up. She could be sure that with this level of popularity, the Chen Family Head’s account would likely break five million followers.
…
As the Chen Clan National Style Event performances ended, many tourists chose to leave and head to the parking lot to get a ride, and many people looked regretfully at the advertising board for acquiring winning prizes.
Some tourists, after arriving at the Chen Clan, not only watched the wonderful performances, but also won prizes, selling them here at a high price, which was simply enviable.
While many were full of emotion, they suddenly saw a person walking toward the advertising board carrying a bamboo tube.
This attracted a lot of attention.
That bamboo tube looked like the packaging of Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.
Could it be that this person had directly won a whole tube of Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea?
You had to know that this kind of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was rumored outside to already sell for three hundred thousand per jin, and you might not even be able to buy it.
If someone could win such a prize, that was truly hitting the jackpot.
“I want to sell Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.” That person arrived at the advertising board and indeed spoke to the person who was staying behind.
The surrounding tourists could not help but crowd around to watch.
The bodyguard working for Liu Ye was also very surprised when he saw this. Over these three days, many people had sold Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, but no one had ever sold a whole tube at once.
He had only seen this kind of full one-jin tube at his own boss’s place.
So he immediately said, “First, inspection.”
The man immediately handed over the Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea in his hand.
After the bodyguard took it, he lifted the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea to his nose. His brows furrowed at once. He passed the bamboo tube back. “Mister, my boss will not buy this tea.”
The man’s expression changed dramatically, and he hurriedly asked, “On what basis won’t he buy it? Didn’t you write here that you acquire Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea?”
The bodyguard said coldly, “Mister, are you really not clear yourself? This Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea you brought is fake, or do you think I am a fool?”
With one sniff he knew this Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was fake; it did not have the rich tea fragrance of his boss’s tea at all.
Hearing this, the man’s expression grew even uglier. “How can it be fake? This is the Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, bought directly from the Chen Clan people. You can tell from this bamboo tube packaging.”
As he spoke, he angrily raised his mobile phone to record, and shouted to the surrounding tourists, “Everyone, come and have a look. This Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea from the Chen Clan is basically a scam. The Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea in my hand was bought from the Chen Clan, and now this person here is advertising that they acquire Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, yet says the Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea in my hand is fake. Don’t you all find that ridiculous?”
These words stirred an uproar among the surrounding tourists.
Over the last three days, many winners had sold their things here. Now, someone suddenly appeared claiming the Chen Clan was engaging in fraud. How could that not attract attention?
The key point was that they had watched the Chen Clan’s performances and knew the Chen Clan indeed had quite a few things. There was no need at all to engage in fraud.
After all, the Chen Clan had openly and aboveboard put Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea into the prize pool, and the winners could not possibly all be plants arranged by the Chen Clan.
Unless it was because those were just small portions, while this person was holding a whole bamboo tube, a full jin. The price involved was too large.
There was also another possibility: this kind of product for high-end tycoons was just a gimmick created by the Chen Clan to harvest leeks, and in fact to harvest tycoon leeks, having nothing to do with ordinary people.
Now this person had accidentally stepped into this leek-harvesting range, then discovered he had been deceived, and deliberately came to sell this Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea back?
But this kind of gimmick was far too easy to expose. There was no need for it. The key was that the ordinary Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was genuinely effective, and everyone could drink it free for three days.
This Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea should also not be fake. The Chen Clan was not that stupid.
Likewise, if the Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was not fraudulent, then this person was here to slander the Chen Clan, but that could be seen at a glance, unless this person was extremely stupid.
The key was, after all his fussing, there did not seem to be any sign of the rumored bad luck. If that rumor about bad luck was true, then since this person was slandering the Chen Clan, he should be punished.
“The Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea is fraudulent and cheats people out of money.” The man, however, continued recording with his mobile phone, shouting to those around him, drawing more and more tourists to gather. They all raised their phones to film.
Even Huang Xin was drawn over and brought people to understand the situation.
When he heard what had happened, his brows furrowed at once.
The matter was somewhat troublesome.
After seeing that the Chen Clan National Style Event was a great success, Chu Ping and Chen Kai observed the tourists’ reactions at the Chen Clan for a while, then planned to return to the county to gather the relevant people for a meeting.
Naturally, he wanted to settle the matter of holding a national style event in the county, and then go talk with the Chen Clan.
This time, due to venue limitations, the Chen Clan had only sold a bit more than five thousand tickets. If it were held in the county, the venue could definitely hold far more than five thousand people.
Even if the county’s appeal was not as strong as the Chen Clan’s, as long as the Chen Family Head and the others were willing to participate, it could still be held successfully.
As long as the first step could be taken, everything afterward would be much easier.
They had not expected that as soon as they reached the parking lot, they would see trouble breaking out here.
Someone was directly, in public, accusing the Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea of being fraudulent.
Now, with so many tourists filming all around, once this spread online, if the matter was not handled clearly, it would be a mess no matter what they said afterward. It would be impossible to explain clearly. Most people online always believed rumors without discernment.
In fact, his concern was not misplaced, because some tourists had already uploaded the videos they shot.
Moreover, many who had watched the videos of the Chen Clan National Style Event before, especially those who had just watched the videos of the Chen Family Head’s cloud barrier technique, could easily come across this kind of video.
Huang Zhenbin was one such person. He had just seen the cloud barrier technique performed by the Chen Family Head.
He had certainly seen videos about the Chen Clan before. As for the so-called Heavenly Lord of Demon Subjugation’s Blessing, he really did not know how to comment. After all, “three feet above your head there are deities” was an ancient saying.
This involved religion and tradition.
But to claim that the Chen Family Head could use spells, was that not nonsense?
What kind of modern society was this?
As for the cloud barrier technique, although it looked miraculous, he believed it must have been caused by some kind of scientific technology. There were already many kinds of dry ice fogging technology nowadays; maybe it was just some new technology.
He absolutely would not believe it was a spell.
The key point was that the Chen Family Head himself had said he believed in science, yet those idiots still treated it as a spell and demanded an explanation from Douyin.
He had only commented under one video, “A bunch of idiots with no brains.” Who would have thought he would be swarmed by attacks from that bunch of idiots.
That bunch of idiots could not even refute properly; they just snapped back at him, “Were you at the scene? Then how can you talk!”
This made him realize that people’s intelligence was simply not on the same level. If these people wanted to be fools and believe in the Chen Clan’s miraculous things, believe that the Chen Family Head was using spells, then let them.
He, anyway, would not believe it.
Now, when he saw this new video about the Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea being fake, he could not help laughing.
This was the Chen Clan those idiots believed in?
Seeing a point of attack, of course he knew how to vent his anger. He directly screenshotted the video with some keywords and posted a video post: 《Hahaha, this is the Chen Clan those people believe in. Look, if they were really that amazing and could really use spells, would they need to engage in fraud with their products?
Just like I once saw someone say they believed those Weixin QR-code fortune tellers. If those people could really tell fortunes, tycoons and high-ranking officials would have long invited them as honored guests. Would they still be there asking you to scan a code for twenty yuan for fortune telling?
But some people just cannot see clearly. Now this is obviously just hype by the Chen Clan. The Chen Clan people themselves said we should believe in science, and a bunch of idiots still took it seriously!》
After clicking send, Huang Zhenbin felt much better, especially when he saw people immediately supporting his video post.
Because of today’s popularity from the Chen Clan and Chen Han performing the cloud barrier technique, online attention toward the Chen Clan was very high, so this incident was quickly seen by many.
Some people liked the Chen Clan, some praised the Chen Clan, while others did not believe, did not like them, and felt the Chen Clan was overhyping.
Many internet celebrities were disliked for overhyping, their personas collapsing.
Now the Chen Clan might be the next to stumble from overhyping.
Sure enough, people immediately came forward accusing the Chen Clan of fraud.
When Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was first seen, many already felt it was fake. Now that someone had exposed it, many people stepped up to comment, especially quite a few bloggers involved with tea leaves.
A blogger called “Tea Tasting Life” immediately posted: 《The “foundation” of fine high-end tea has never been formed overnight. It hides in years of accumulation, in old tea trees absorbing the essence of sun and moon in cloud-mist mountain fields…
It lies in the micro-ecology of the soil and the subtle balance of climate, in the control of heat during fixation and the changes of microbial communities during fermentation. Every step carries the code of time and experience…
And what is this Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea that is being hyped so fiercely now? It is simply bamboo leaves picked from the bamboo forest in that village…》
In a short time, this post received many likes and shares from people in the tea-related industry.
Rivalry among peers was on full display.
In their eyes, bamboo leaves and their tea were simply not the same thing.
Another key point was that there were already many people online curious about Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, who had filmed the Chen Clan people picking bamboo leaves. Those leaves were picked from an ordinary bamboo forest on the mountain.
So could ordinary bamboo leaves really be used to make something with such mysterious effects as advertised?
If so, what did that make their old tea trees?
As for the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea that the Chen Clan had served to guests who booked rooms, that was even easier to explain; perhaps something had been added to it.
So there was a saying: the higher you stand, the less you can afford flaws. Even a small flaw can draw countless attacks, especially from people who dislike you or are your enemies.
And now, was it not because of a groundless and unproven matter that so many people had developed resentment toward and attacked the Chen Clan?
Because of the Chen Clan National Style Event’s popularity, the trending topic 《“The Chen Clan is fraudulent”》 had already appeared.
When Lu Xue was almost done reviewing the Chen Clan’s videos, she suddenly saw more and more new videos needing review, still about the Chen Clan.
When she first saw the title that the Chen Clan was fraudulent, she thought it was about the cloud barrier technique. If it was that, then it was not a big deal.
But this accusation of fraud was actually about the Chen Clan’s Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.
She certainly knew what that was. It was a high-end tea leaf from the Chen Clan Inheritance. When she had previously seen it confirmed as real, she had been very surprised that such a thing actually existed.
Now seeing that the Chen Clan was being exposed for this being fake, she was stunned, because she knew how serious this was.
Ordinary product fraud could already lead to account bans, let alone something of this level. If it was confirmed to be a mere gimmick, or that something had been added to deceive people, and anything that made people addicted was usually not good.
As she was thinking about this, she received a telephone call.
It was from the business sales department.
They were in charge of storefronts, product promotion, and internet celebrity product selling and such.
The purpose of the call was about the Chen Clan’s Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea, asking her to come over and explain the situation first, then see how to handle it.
There was really no way she could get off work today.
On the other side, Chen Han stared at the constant @ notifications and comments on his mobile phone screen, feeling a bit dumbfounded.
“Chen Family Head, come out and explain!”
“Chen Family Head, explain it!”
“Yeah, explain, what is this!”
“…”
When Chen Han saw these @s, his brows furrowed slightly. These people all clearly had a mocking tone.
He clicked into the @ links and immediately saw the accusations of Chen Clan fraud, and the scene of someone causing a big scene in the parking lot with a tube of Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.
This made his brows knit even tighter.
He himself knew clearly whether Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was real or not. If this person was holding Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea and calling it fake, then this person clearly had a problem.
Either it was someone chasing popularity by any means just for clicks. There was no shortage of such people online, who would stop at nothing for a little heat.
Or it was someone who disliked the Chen Clan and had deliberately sent this person to cause trouble. That seemed somewhat unlikely, since the Chen Clan had not offended anyone in Linhe County.
If that was the case, then it was just too stupid. Coming to the Chen Clan would trigger a Minor Punishment as a Warning and bad luck, and beyond that, the county would definitely not let him go. They would investigate thoroughly, and after that he might be lucky enough to receive a pair of silver handcuffs.
Just then, Chen Han’s mobile phone ringtone sounded. It was a call from Huang Xin, and he guessed it must be about this online incident.
As soon as he answered, Huang Xin said, “Chen Family Head, someone here is accusing the Chen Clan’s Premium Thunder Bamboo of fraud. The other party also brought a tube of Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.”
“The Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea is fake?” Chen Han asked.
“It is fake,” Huang Xin replied, then added, “But I have brought him over to the office courtyard… and he has not had any bad luck.”
“???” Chen Han froze when he heard this. Someone had brought fake Premium Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea to the Chen Clan to accuse them, and had slandered them in public, yet had not met with bad luck.
That made the matter a bit more complicated.
