Hidden identities of the AI Heiress
Chapter 685 - Chapter 685 Chapter 685 Reputation Damaged; Professor Qiao

Chapter 685: Chapter 685: Reputation Damaged; Professor Qiao Takes Action Chapter 685: Chapter 685: Reputation Damaged; Professor Qiao Takes Action Li Miao spoke rapidly, like a machine gun, as she opened the news interface for Qiao Yun to see.

“Look at the news quickly, how nasty these ignorant fools sound…”

This issue had, under the manipulation of some schemers, now dominated headlines across major media, becoming the topic of hottest discussion.

In the video, the victim’s son and wife, along with a group of relatives, were blocking the entrance to a building still under construction by Lu Group, holding a banner of protest, surrounded by a swarm of media interviewing them.

The woman, her eyes swollen from crying, sobbed, “If the relevant departments don’t handle this, who knows how many families will lose their loved ones like I have.”

The victim’s son shouted, “Even if I die here today, I have to get justice for my dad. Everyone, come and see, this is the protective equipment Lu Group provides their workers…”

The man pulled out a safety helmet and with one tap of his hand, the helmet broke apart.

The crowd was in uproar.

Wearing such helmets while working at high-risk construction sites is essentially akin to indirect suicide, isn’t it?

Lu Group was reputed as a conscientious company, and it was unimaginable that such a major oversight could lead to the loss of a life.

The man then shouted again, “I have also learned that Lu Group, in order to save costs, has used substandard building materials. As far as I know, the building currently under development has already sold out, yet this tofu-dreg construction will only kill people!”

The media had not expected to receive such crucial information, and all became even more excited, immediately surrounding the man for interviews.

Seeing this, the man said indignantly, “I don’t want money, I don’t want anything, I do not even want compensation. I only want the unscrupulous merchants to return my father’s life! I hope the relevant departments do not cover up for this unscrupulous company! They must thoroughly investigate Lu Group!”

His words implied as if Lu Group and the relevant departments were colluding.

Throughout the morning, the fervor surrounding this issue continued to rise, and discussions concerning Lu Group became a hot topic among netizens.

Countless people expressed their condemnation of Lu Group.

“Such a large group, yet they treat their bottom-level employees harshly, isn’t a laborer’s life still a life?”

“Is it true? Using substandard building materials, isn’t that disregarding human life?”

“What’s the difference between this and a murderer! I guess there are more dirty deeds done by Lu Group that just haven’t been exposed yet.”

“Maybe the buildings previously developed by them were also tofu-dreg projects, and the problems have just not yet emerged.”

“Using this incident, I hope the relevant departments will thoroughly investigate Lu Group. If they don’t check, is there any justice left in this world?”

“Damn, I saw the news suddenly this morning right as I had booked a house in this very building complex, what should I do now?”

“No matter true or not, better cancel quickly. If something really goes wrong, regret won’t help.”

“From now on, I won’t buy anything from Lu Group again.”

Usually, when nothing goes wrong, nobody speaks up; once something happens, a whole bunch start leading the charge.

Among them are not a few who muddle through unclear waters, as well as those who delight in stirring up trouble, and of course, some genuinely seek justice for the affected workers.

Especially now, the prevailing online sentiment favors the underdog, coupled with the fact that the substandard safety helmets indeed put Lu Group in a bad position.

Moreover, Lu Group usually prides itself on empathizing with its bottom-level employees and focuses on promoting employee safety, building an image of a people-friendly corporation.

Now, because of this incident, their face has been thoroughly slapped.

After grasping the situation, Qiao Yun’s eyebrows were tightly knitted together.

She believed that the people from the Lu Family wouldn’t be so heartless as to buy such safety helmets for their workers.

Nor would they use substandard construction materials.

Doing this was like setting a timed bomb for themselves, it seemed that someone was causing trouble.

Qiao Yun was confident about the Lu Family, and this confidence made her certain that someone was targeting the Lu Group.

Recalling what Li Hanzhou had mentioned about someone reporting the Lu Group yesterday, if Li Hanzhou hadn’t stopped it, it would have been adding insult to injury for the Lu Group, worsening their public perception.

Li Miao, seeing Qiao Yun not speaking, assumed she was worried, so she firmly grasped Qiao Yun’s hand, saying, “Qiaoqiao, don’t worry. The innocent will prove their innocence, and there must be some misunderstanding. I believe in you.”

Qiao Yun came back to her senses, looked up at Li Miao, and felt a warmth in her heart, “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

Li Miao exaggeratedly exclaimed, “Do you want me to ask my brother to help? With his involvement, one of him equals a million netizens.”

“No need.”

“Don’t be polite, we are family, and it’s only right to help each other,” Li Miao said without any guilt.

Qiao Yun still shook her head, “I don’t want to bother him. It’s okay, my family will handle it.”

“Alright then.”

Seeing Qiao Yun insist, Li Miao said nothing more, but she comforted Qiao Yun for a while longer.

Qiao Yun thought helplessly that she wasn’t really worried; she believed the Lu Family could handle this situation, it just needed time.

Thinking this, Qiao Yun still decided to call Pei Ya.

As soon as Pei Ya answered, neither surprised nor excited, he even sounded a bit smug, “Boss, I knew you’d call me. Did you see what they’re saying online?”

Qiao Yun hummed in acknowledgment, then asked, “Do you think the Lu Family would do such a thing?”

Pei Ya spoke frankly, “Based on my in-depth investigation of them, I suspect the Lu Family has been framed. This situation seems orchestrated. It’s all too perfect, as if everything were prepared just waiting for the safety helmet incident to be exposed. The person behind this is either a competitor of the Lu Family or someone with ulterior motives.”

Qiao Yun suddenly said, “I watched the victim’s family’s interview video.”

“Oh?”

“He said he doesn’t want compensation; his aim is to seek justice,” Qiao Yun recounted.

“Exactly.”

Qiao Yun’s thinking was straightforward, “So, we just need to refute his statement to turn public opinion around.”

“What?” Pei Ya was confused, “Refute what exactly?”

Qiao Yun’s tone was forceful, “Rebut his claim.”

Qiao Yun planned to use evidence to prove that the victim’s family didn’t want compensation only to stir things up and seek a higher payout.

Their current actions had an agenda.

The netizens were a tool the victim’s family used against the Lu Group.

As long as this could be proven, the netizens who were angry on behalf of the victim’s family would turn their criticism elsewhere once they realized they had been used.

This would shift media attention and prevent public opinion from completely turning against the Lu Family, giving them more time to thoroughly investigate the matter.

Pei Ya became instinctively excited, “Boss, you’re still the rational one.”

Qiao Yun’s tone remained neutral, “What we need now is evidence for rebuttal.”

Pei Ya puzzledly asked, “Boss, your line of thinking is right, but how do you know that the victim’s family went public to seek a large compensation rather than true justice? If it’s the latter, there would be no rebuttal.”

Without hesitation, Qiao Yun replied, “Emotion.”

“What emotion?”

“He isn’t sad. His closest relative died, and he shouldn’t be like this.”

Although Qiao Yun’s tone did not change when she spoke these words, Pei Ya could still feel that Qiao Yun was a bit sad.

She might have been thinking about Professor Qiao.

He immediately changed the subject, “I understand what to do now.”

Qiao Yun added, “Of course, it’s also possible that my approach is wrong.”

“Whether the victim’s family is looking to make a profit from compensation or genuinely seeking justice for the victim, it doesn’t hurt to investigate. We might uncover something, yet the evidence regarding the safety helmets is conclusive.”

Pei Ya quickly said, “But we cannot rule out the possibility of an insider within the Lu Group, which they will need to investigate themselves.”

“Hmm.”

Qiao Yun suddenly remembered Qiao Xun, who had previously played a double agent.

“Even if the mole is caught, the damage to the public opinion has already been done, and it will take a lot of effort to salvage the group’s image – if it were me…”

Pei Ya stopped abruptly at this point, seemingly struck by a thought, and sighed, “Boss, you seem to have forgotten something.”

“What?” Qiao Yun thought carefully. She hadn’t forgotten anything.

Pei Ya said speechlessly, “You forgot that I am now the nominal boss of Shengqiao Group, not the boss of Lu Group. Is it really good to be working so hard for someone else’s group instead of your own?”

Qiao Yun countered with Li Miao’s words, “We are family, and helping each other is the right thing to do.”

“Wait, when did I become family with them?”

“You were picked up by me.”

Pei Ya: “…”

Alright, he understood now.

He was picked up by Professor Qiao, so in that sense, he was family with Professor Qiao.

Now that the Lu family members are Professor Qiao’s family, he naturally became family with the Lu family members as well.

Pei Ya, who suddenly had a bunch of new family members, really didn’t know what face to use when dealing with the Lu family.

“Keep an eye on the stock situation of Lu Group, and be ready to lend a hand if needed.”

Qiao Yun’s voice brought Pei Ya’s thoughts back.

He thought wryly, Boss, your favoritism is a bit too obvious.

…

At this time at Lu Group.

Lu Xian, Lu Rui, and Lu Jingzhi were gathered together, analyzing and discussing the situation online.

Lu Jingzhi, looking at the news with eyes full of fury, spoke in a voice tinged with anger, “This is absolutely nonsense. They were just threatening me yesterday for five million.”

Lu Xian asked, puzzled, “The worker’s family hasn’t contacted you again?”

“No,” Lu Jingzhi shook his head, “I didn’t foresee that he would really go to the media as if suddenly gaining some confidence. This whole family doesn’t care about the worker’s life or death at all, they’re only after the money.”

Lu Xian fell silent, apparently in thought.

“What’s with the safety helmets?”

Lu Rui, who was holding a safety helmet brought back from the construction site, began speaking while knocking it on the office desk, only to find it cracked easily.

“I asked around, and it turns out many workers had already noticed issues with the safety helmets but didn’t want to stir trouble, preferring to let it be.”

Lu Xian’s face turned pale; though the safety helmets were managed by subordinates, he held a great responsibility for not noticing it sooner.

Lu Rui spoke seriously, “Big brother, this batch of safety helmets was only repurchased a month ago. Who was responsible for the procurement? We need to investigate this person.”

Lu Xian exclaimed in shock, “You suspect something’s wrong with this person?”

“Very likely,” Lu Rui speculated, “There are two possibilities now. One is that the person charged a kickback to make a profit, and the other is that someone was purposedly bought off to exploit the safety helmet issue and tarnish our reputation.”

“I’ll have someone look into it right now,” Lu Xian quickly picked up the office phone to instruct his secretary to investigate.

Lu Jingzhi, clear-minded, said, “Even if it turns out we were unaware, the accident did happen on our construction site, and now that the worker’s family has blown this up, it’s hard for public opinion to be on our side.”

Lu Xian sighed, “Let’s handle the PR as quickly as possible. Jingzhi, why not contact the worker’s family to see exactly what they want to quiet down.”

“Okay.”

…

Lu Jingzhi personally reached out to the worker’s family.

The man on the phone, having anticipated that Lu Group would contact him, now with public opinion fully on his side and someone advising him from behind,

his tone was tougher than before, “Yo, young master Lu, why are you bothering a commoner like me?”

Lu Jingzhi patiently said, “Let’s talk.”

“We can meet and talk in person.”

The advisor behind him had told him that Lu Group would definitely reach out, and he must not talk nonsense over the phone in case the conversation was recorded, which could go against him.

“Okay,” Lu Jingzhi did not hesitate further and told the man that a driver would come to pick him up.

When the driver brought the man to the company’s entrance, Lu Jingzhi got into the car and prepared to have a face-to-face discussion in the car.

The man, in a luxury car for the first time, touched here and there like someone who had never seen the world. Seeing Lu Jingzhi enter, he grinned, “So, what do you want to talk about?”

Lu Jingzhi said, “Let’s start with your demands.”

“What demands?” the man feigned innocence, “I just want to seek justice for my father and expose the unscrupulous corporations like yours.”

Lu Jingzhi: “Heh.”

He did not respond to the man, just giving him a scornful look.

The man relented first. The aura of doing business was different; even when silent, it was indeed intimidating.

“If you want me to quiet down, I might consider it. But I’ve already made my statements. Suddenly not pursuing your responsibility would be like slapping my own face, wouldn’t it?”

Lu Jingzhi impatiently said, “Cut the crap.”

“Alright, fine.”

The man extended five fingers.

“Five million?”

“No, fifty million.”

Lu Jingzhi almost laughed in anger.

The man, with a rogue-like demeanor, said, “Fifty million is nothing to you, and you wouldn’t like to see your company lose even more, right?”

Lu Jingzhi stared at the man, then suddenly asked, “I do have a question, though. How did you know there was a problem with the safety helmets?”

Lu Jingzhi’s voice carried a coercive tone, “Is someone advising you from behind?”