After My Rebirth Chapter 17: Fighting Back

Chapter 17: Fighting Back

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

The next morning, Li Sinian, as usual, woke up, exercised, and made breakfast.

His account had been restored, so he started updating videos again, recording the process of making breakfast.

While eating his breakfast, Li Sinian propped his phone in front of him, ready to find an interesting video to watch during the meal.

As soon as he opened the homepage, he saw a video recommended on the main page:

“Piggy’s Secondary Account Responds to Vote-Boosting Incident.”

People love to gossip, and even though not everyone frequents the food section, they still enjoy watching the drama between internet celebrities. So the video got a lot of views.

Piggy had been on C-Platform for three years, and his appearances were rare. This clarification video was one of the few times he showed his face.

In the video, a well-groomed man sat in front of a white background wall.

The man wore a neat white shirt and silver-rimmed glasses, looking like a polite and gentle person.

The comments were full of praise for his appearance, with people surprised that the food blogger named Piggy, who made such delicious dishes, was actually such a refined-looking person.

Although Piggy wasn’t exceptionally handsome, for someone who cooked, looking like this on camera was enough to earn compliments.

In the video, Piggy adjusted the camera and greeted the viewers before becoming serious and addressing the vote-boosting incident.

“Hello, everyone, I’m Piggy. Unfortunately, my main account was banned, so I can only post videos on this secondary account. I don’t know how many people will see this.”

“First, I want to apologize to my fans who like me. I’m sorry, this might be the last video in my career as a food blogger. I won’t be able to cook for you all anymore.”

“Next, I’ll address the vote-boosting incident. I know no amount of evidence can change things now, so I’ll try to prove it in a different way.”

“I don’t know whether the so-called evidence posted by that blogger ‘Nian Nian You Today’ is real or not, but I do know that with one night of self-taught Photoshop, I can make similar images.”

At this point, the video paused for a moment before showing a segment where Piggy demonstrated Photoshop.

A blank image was cropped and adjusted, turning it into a bill that looked exactly like the one Li Sinian had posted.

Then the video paused again for two seconds, and Piggy demonstrated creating a new WeChat account, changing its name, and using another phone to send messages between the two devices, mimicking the content from Li Sinian’s alleged evidence.

Once the demonstration ended, the camera returned to Piggy.

“I can’t say for sure whether the evidence from ‘Nian Nian You Today’ was made like this, but I know I can easily make evidence like that.”

“And regarding this ‘evidence,’ I really found it strange when I saw it yesterday. Using abnormal login locations to trace the studio was a good idea, but I really want to ask ‘Nian Nian You Today,’ how did you get the login information from users?”

“Because login information is private, only the website can see it. As bloggers, we don’t have that access. Could it be that your actual job is managing C-Platform?”

“That would be even worse. C-Platform doesn’t allow its employees to be bloggers.”

At this point, the comments exploded with responses.

[Yes, I thought about that when I saw the pictures yesterday, but at that time, everyone was supporting ‘Nian Nian’, so I didn’t dare to speak out.]

[Laughing so hard, only some fans from that year would believe the flawed evidence, and, oh, some ignorant bystanders too.]

[Actually, getting users’ login information is really simple. In this big data era, just hire a hacker, and you can find out. But doing this is really disgusting.]

Piggy seemed to know that this part would spark a lot of discussions. He paused for a moment before continuing.

“Of course, I know that the main evidence making people believe ‘Nian Nian You Today’ is innocent isn’t those pictures, but rather the website’s decision. That’s the key point of this video.”

“I’ve been on C-Platform for three years, and I really feel connected to this website, but I have to say, C-Platform really disappointed me this time.”

“I know the website banned my account because ‘Nian Nian You Today’ submitted the evidence to the management, and I have to ask C-Platform, do you guys not review evidence when you make decisions? Do you just blindly believe a few pictures and think I framed him?”

“I really don’t understand. Even courts need to consider motive before sentencing. What did I gain from framing him? His votes were lower than mine, so why would I frame him?”

Piggy spoke with strong emotion, and the audience quickly turned in his favor, switching opinions just like when they saw Li Sinian’s evidence yesterday.

I have to say, Piggy is a seasoned influencer. He knows exactly how many people are swayed by public opinion and how to manipulate it.

The video was five minutes long. After clearing up the vote-boosting incident, there were two more minutes of reminiscing and emotional appeals.

While he got emotional, a slideshow of his food over the years appeared in the corner, successfully drawing a wave of “Don’t go!” comments.

Once posted, the video quickly garnered over 10,000 views.

It was so popular that it even made the homepage recommendation.

But overnight, Piggy became the winner of the public opinion battle.

Li Sinian’s private messages were flooded, with new messages cursing him arriving one after the other, making it hard to keep up with the old ones.

However, Li Sinian ignored the messages and leisurely finished his breakfast, made a new video, and uploaded it.

He posted a status saying he would go live at twelve o’clock, then logged out of C-Platform.

At the same time, he sent a message to Bai Yusheng.

[LSN: Back in Beijing yet?]  

[Ah Sheng: Not yet, what’s up?]  

[LSN: Want to grab lunch? Come to my restaurant.]  

[Ah Sheng: !!! Yang Master Li is doing it himself?!]  

[LSN: If I don’t handle my own restaurant, who will?]  

[Ah Sheng: Wait for me, send me the location, I’ll head over now!]  

Having lived his life again, Li Sinian felt he had become much more laid-back. He no longer fought for things that didn’t belong to him, and he had become indifferent to the power struggles of the world. Running a restaurant or being a blogger, both were just for fun.  

He thought he was truly free from desires, but today he realized that he wasn’t as laid-back as he imagined.  

At least when someone threw dirt on him in front of the whole internet, he couldn’t stay indifferent.  

Originally, it wasn’t a big deal, and he didn’t want to be involved with the past anymore, but Piggy kept stirring things up…  

If he backed down now, it would make him look weak.  

Bai Yusheng drove over. He had left the moment he received Li Sinian’s message, but Li Sinian’s restaurant was so secluded that he spent nearly an hour driving around before he finally found the place.  

When Bai Yusheng entered, Li Sinian was just walking out with some cold dishes.  

Their eyes met, and Li Sinian smiled, “Just sit anywhere, it’s a small place, don’t mind it.”  

The place was small but not messy at all. Since it was his friend’s restaurant, Bai Yusheng wouldn’t mind.  

He walked in and sat right at the table where Li Sinian had placed the dishes, complaining, “This place is way too hard to find! I almost ran out of gas looking for it!”  

“And this restaurant’s name? It’s so random! I thought you meant you were talking about a restaurant you own, but the place is actually called ‘Restaurant!’”  

“Couldn’t think of anything else for a name,” Li Sinian shrugged, “Anyway, I just opened it for fun, so I didn’t care about the name.”  

“So, do you get many customers? Are you busy every day?”  

“Not too many,” Li Sinian thought for a moment, “You’re the third batch of customers.”  

Bai Yusheng was surprised. “How many days has this place been open?”  

“Opened for a week,” Li Sinian said, “But strictly speaking, it’s only been open for three days.”  

Bai Yusheng, “….”  

He silently gave a thumbs up, “Now I believe you really just opened it for fun.”  

Li Sinian had cooked five dishes in total. Since Bai Yusheng still had to drive, they didn’t drink alcohol, just honey passion fruit juice.  

Before they started eating, Li Sinian took a picture of the table full of food, set up his phone on a cabinet, and took a selfie with Bai Yusheng.  

Li Sinian wasn’t one to take many photos, so while taking pictures of the dishes was understandable, Bai Yusheng realized something was off when it came to the selfie.  

He asked, “You’re acting a bit strange today—first you invite me to eat, then you want to take a picture with me… Damn, you’re not planning something shady, are you?!”  

Li Sinian smiled faintly, holding back the urge to roll his eyes, then explained the situation with Piggy.  

“He insists my evidence is fake and that the user login info is made up, so I had to show him it’s all real.”  

Bai Yusheng frowned, “Why are there so many internet celebrity dramas? They’ve already banned his account, yet he’s still causing trouble.”  

“He said your website banned his account because of poor management and that he’s disappointed in your site,” Li Sinian said, pulling up the video of Piggy’s alternate account to show him.  

After watching it, Bai Yusheng’s face turned sour.  

He sneered, “How much do you think I could sue him for defamation? How much could he even pay?”  

“Probably not a penny,” Li Sinian said. “Don’t be fooled by his big online presence and all the ads; his life isn’t as great as it seems.”  

“His name is Hong Yunquan. After he graduated from university, he started a business and lost millions in debt. The money he made as an internet celebrity went straight to paying off that debt, and he only managed to pay it off this year.”  

“To survive, he got a job selling insurance, tricking old people into buying policies, just scraping by.”  

“I understand why he hates me. The collaboration with Songyuan was his first big deal after clearing his debt, a step towards a better life. But then I forced him to lower the price, and of course, he wasn’t happy.”  

Bai Yusheng was shocked, “You investigated this thoroughly?”  

“Not at first. But when he kept coming after me, I got angry and decided to investigate,” Li Sinian smiled. “Turns out, every person with a glamorous exterior has their own hidden struggles.”  

After hearing that, Bai Yusheng understood Li Sinian had a plan.  

He asked, “So what are you planning to do? Do you need me to help with anything?”

Li Sinian said, “I’ll be streaming soon. All you need to do is post our group photo with your official account. Thanks.”  

At twelve noon, Li Sinian started the stream on time.  

Many people saw his post, and as soon as the stream began, a flood of viewers poured in.  

At the same time, countless doubts arose.  

[You still dare to stream? Impressive.]  

[Explain yourself, your evidence is too weak.]  

[I wonder what this blogger could explain now.]  

[What the heck, Piggy is streaming too!]  

Seeing this comment, Li Sinian chuckled. “Piggy is streaming too? That’s great. How about we go live together? We can confront each other directly, save the time and effort of shouting across the screen, and the audience won’t be confused or miss out.”  

He sent a request to Piggy to join the stream.  

[Is Li Sinian really this bold? Does he really have evidence?]  

[I just checked over at Piggy’s stream, and the comments are urging him to join the live stream.]  

[I also hope Piggy agrees. This situation has flipped and flipped again, it’s giving me a headache.]  

[Maybe it’s a bit odd, but I think Li Sinian’s voice sounds really nice.]  

While Piggy was considering, Li Sinian turned the camera around, showing the dishes on his table, explaining as he filmed, “Today, I made clear broth lamb, Mu Xu pork, cold spinach vermicelli, garlic eggplant, and spicy sour potato strips.”  

“This is a homemade drink, honey passion fruit. It’s not anything special, but the main ingredients are top quality, and my friends all think it tastes amazing.”  

“I’m currently at a small restaurant I opened. It’s a new place, kind of remote, not many people, so it’s pretty quiet. I invited my friends over for a meal.”  

“Want to see my face? Sure.”  

Li Sinian adjusted the camera to his left side, just enough to capture his profile and the dishes on the table.  

He rested his chin, slightly tilted his head, and greeted the camera with a smile, “Hello everyone~”  

It was clear how superficial people could be. Just moments ago, the comments were filled with doubt, focused only on the vote manipulation issue. But as soon as Li Sinian appeared on screen, the comments immediately changed to “Wow” and “So freaking handsome.”  

Li Sinian slightly adjusted the angle of his phone and captured the profile of Bai Yusheng. “This is my friend, the one I invited today.”  

Bai Yusheng casually lifted his head, waved at the camera, and said, “Hello~ hello~ A’Nian, these dishes are really good!”  

The comments erupted in excitement.  

[Li Sinian is so handsome, and his friend is handsome too. Good-looking people only hang out with other good-looking people.]  

[I’ve decided to listen carefully to Li Sinian’s explanation. If it’s not a big mistake, I’ll forgive him.]  

[Li Sinian actually has a restaurant! I want to go eat there!]  

[Wait, does this mean that because he’s good-looking, it’s okay to wrongly accuse people of vote manipulation?]  

[Hold on, why do I feel like the friend opposite the blogger looks so familiar? Now that I think about it, I feel like I’ve seen Li Sinian somewhere too.]  

Someone had noticed that Bai Yusheng and Li Sinian looked familiar, and at that moment, the stream indicated that Piggy had agreed to join.  

The screen was split into two parts: one showing Piggy and the other Li Sinian.  

Normally, Piggy’s looks would be considered good among non-visual influencers, but compared to Li Sinian, he seemed much more ordinary.  

Li Sinian politely greeted Piggy, and without waiting for a response, he started speaking, “Let’s get down to business. The issues you were confused about in the video, I’ll clear them up for you now.”  

“First, were my pictures photoshopped? No. So how did I get the user login information? Sorry, I didn’t search for it. I noticed some discrepancies in the vote count and went to the management. They helped investigate, and that’s how I got the user login information.”  

“I know that with your limited understanding, this might be hard for you to follow, so let me make it clearer. The sequence of events was: the management investigated the vote manipulation, found the studio through the abnormal login locations, got transaction screenshots from the studio, confirmed you were buying votes, and then they banned your account. It wasn’t that I used illegal means to find the studio, gather evidence, pass it to the management, and then get your account banned. Got it?”  

“From start to finish, I never interacted with any abnormal accounts. The login info was provided by the website, and like you, I only had the abnormal login locations, no access to any user’s private data.”  

Piggy furrowed his brow, clearly displeased with the way Li Sinian was speaking to him.

He glanced at the bullet screen and saw that some people felt Li Sinian’s attitude was bad. He quickly made a wronged expression, saying, “Why are you so fierce? I didn’t mean anything by it. Generally, the management wouldn’t care about these things, so I thought it was you who gathered the evidence.”

“Who said the management wouldn’t care about these things?” Li Sinian’s lips curved into a faint smile. “Vote manipulation is against the rules. As long as you report it to the management, they will definitely help investigate.”

“Impossible,” Piggy instinctively retorted. “This is a private matter between influencers. The management won’t interfere.”

“You’re wrong,” Li Sinian replied. “All the evidence I have was provided by the management.”

“Impossible!” Piggy’s tone grew more serious. “Your evidence definitely wasn’t provided by the management.”

“How do you know?” Li Sinian stared at the camera, as though directly meeting Piggy’s gaze. “Oh right, if you’re referring to the Administrator No. 005 who initially coordinated with me, then yes, he wouldn’t intervene. After all, you two must have already made a deal, right? Mr. Hong?”

Hong Yunquan’s eyes trembled. “What are you saying? I don’t understand.”

The bullet screen was also confused at this point.

[Not just you don’t understand, I don’t understand either.]

[What? Does ‘Nian Nian You Today’ mean Piggy colluded with the administrator? Is that a bit too far-fetched?] 

[Did ‘Nian Nian You Today’ just call Piggy Mr. Hong? Is that his real name?]

“Don’t pretend not to understand, Mr. Hong,” Li Sinian said. “Songyuan Foods cooperated with you, and in order to lower the price, they deliberately spread news of collaborating with me, a newcomer. Feeling threatened, you panicked and lowered the price, signing a contract with Songyuan.”

“Cooperation with Songyuan must have some special meaning for you, right? You know exactly how it’s special. In short, this partnership was underpriced, and you were very angry.”

“But Songyuan is your benefactor, so no matter how angry you are, you didn’t dare to take it out on them. You had no outlet for your anger, so you made me take the blame.”

“You’re right. Your votes for the food event were already higher than mine, there was no need for you to get me to drop out. But your real goal wasn’t to have me leave, it was to vent your anger and ruin my reputation.”

“Now let’s talk about why you were so sure the management wouldn’t provide me with evidence.”

“As far as I know, that administrator No. 005 was once your good friend, wasn’t he? You two started a business together, then ended up in debt. He walked away clean, and it was only later, after you posted your video, that he learned you became a blogger.”

“He felt guilty about what happened back then, so he tried to help you as much as he could, and this time was no different.”

“You wanted him to ignore my appeal, so he took over communication with me, and I could only contact him. Then, by doing nothing, the vote manipulation issue was left unresolved.”

“Too bad for you, though. Your friend was already someone who got into the company through the back door, and with the unfair treatment of bloggers, he was eventually fired.”

“I suspect that after I exposed my evidence, you tried to contact that Administrator No. 005, didn’t you? It’s really a shame, though—he can’t help you anymore.”

“Honestly, I didn’t want to lay everything bare in front of so many people, but I don’t think you have any remorse.”

“I’ve already found the evidence to clear my name, and you’re still trying to frame me, shifting the blame onto me. Do you think I’m an easy target?”

“Also, I sincerely suggest that if you really have such a strong desire for revenge, you should focus it where it belongs. For example, Songyuan Foods is the one who pressured the prices, so go and take revenge on them, not on me, someone who’s been used as a pawn.”

Every time Li Sinian spoke, Hong Yunquan’s face paled more. When Li Sinian finally finished speaking, he took two deep breaths before continuing to play dumb. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

His demeanor was clearly not as good as before. After speaking, he repeated that he didn’t understand, his tone harsh, though it seemed like he was trying to calm himself down.

At first, the bullet screen didn’t believe him and thought Li Sinian’s story was too far-fetched. But seeing Hong Yunquan’s reaction, they began to hesitate.

[Is Piggy not in a good state?] 

[Is it true? I didn’t believe it at first, but seeing Piggy’s reaction, hmmmmm] 

[Wait, am I the only one curious about how ‘Nian Nian You Today’ knows so much? Did they know each other in real life, or is all this information from an investigation? How could they find out so much? That’s scary.]

As the bullet screen began to piece together the events, Piggy took a few deep breaths and forced a smile. “What? How come you believe everything he says? No, I didn’t know any of this myself.”

“Seriously, you’re telling this story so vividly, it’s almost like it’s true. Where did you get this information from?”

“How do you know I’m involved with the management? And how do you know about the management’s plans?”

“Also, you said I’m in contact with the management. If they told me not to deal with your appeal, how did you get all that evidence? Don’t you think your words contradict themselves?”

“His evidence was given to him by me. How did ‘Nian Nian You Today’ know about your dealings with the management? I told him,” Bai Yusheng answered for Li Sinian. “Songyuan first approached you, then ‘Nian Nian You Today,’ and finally, they came back to you. I saw the three price quotes with my own eyes; I also saw your chat with the management, which violated company rules.”

“You? Who are you?”

One Li Sinian was already annoying enough, but now this person jumped in and started talking too. Didn’t he know it was rude to speak out of turn in someone else’s livestream?

Bai Yusheng shifted his body slightly, his entire face in the frame, smiling as he greeted the camera, “I’m Bai Yusheng.”

At the same time, a special effects bullet screen flashed by.

[Holy crap! No wonder ‘Nian Nian You Today’’s friend looks so familiar. It’s Bai Yusheng! CEO of C-Platform!]

 

 

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