Chapter 431: Quitting (Part 2)

“It’s normal for her to sell herself, considering her family is poor.”

“People say desperation leads to recklessness. She helped the old lady up, probably trying to steal money from her pocket.”

“If the old lady hadn’t been alert, she surely would have run away after stealing the money.”

“Liu Laotai is old and has poor eyesight. It’s fortunate she caught her; otherwise, she would have been wronged!”

See, this is the power of rumors.

Spreading rumors is easy, but refuting them takes much effort. Unfortunately, some people prefer to believe what they hear without questioning it.

Despite being highly skeptical, Zhang Xiaodong still followed Ma Huateng’s instructions and uploaded the Liu family’s statements to the internet.

Instantly.

The internet was again engulfed in a huge uproar.

Many who didn’t know the truth were misled, quickly condemning Wang Mingyue as shameless, accusing her of acting, and even cursing her for not drowning.

“Thank you, Brother Zhang!”

Liu Sanyou grabbed Zhang Xiaodong’s hand, “Brother Zhang, please thank President Ma for me. You guys at Tencent are awesome. Once this incident is over, I will definitely thank you properly!”

“…”

Zhang Xiaodong smiled awkwardly, releasing his hand, and walked to the village entrance.

Though young, he was worldly and could easily discern that the Liu family was the typical unreasonable type. Now, he found himself speaking on behalf of such people against his conscience. Is this what business competition has come to?

“No conscience…”

Sitting on a roadside stone, Zhang Xiaodong muttered to himself.

If it were normal business competition, he would’ve gladly faced any challenge for President Ma.

But losing his conscience over it made him extremely uneasy, contradicting his original intentions.

When he first joined Tencent, that group of young people was full of grand ambitions.

Eager to become China’s biggest internet company, contributing to all netizens and letting them enjoy the charm of the internet.

But years of ups and downs later, the entire company’s atmosphere changed.

Money, only money, became Tencent’s ultimate pursuit.

And himself, had he changed? No, Zhang Xiaodong didn’t want to change, but now it was incredibly difficult.

What he couldn’t bear most was, during Lingfeng Technology’s rise, he always saw Zhao Qingfeng as a rare talent. Heroes admire heroes, and he wanted to be friends with Zhao Qingfeng.

But just now, Zhao Qingfeng’s young face showed nothing but disdain.

Though he said nothing, it felt like he was accusing Zhang Xiaodong of being complicit in evil, a man without conscience.

“Vice President Zhang?”

His subordinate reminded, “LeXin’s headline says they’ve found new evidence. The traffic police stated the bicycle shows no signs of collision, and public opinion has shifted again! Now netizens are calling for the police to interrogate the Liu family, suggesting it be escalated to a criminal case. We should act quickly; many netizens are already flooding our forum to criticize the company…”

This was inevitable, as Ma Huateng had anticipated.

Only by putting Zhang Xiaodong in a desperate situation could they pin all past and present mistakes on him.

According to the script, Zhang Xiaodong should find more evidence favorable to the Liu family, continuing to sway public opinion.

But.

Suddenly, Zhang Xiaodong felt very tired and unworthy.

He said nothing.

Just stood up quietly.

With a light sigh, he smiled at his subordinates and slowly said, “You guys go ahead, I’m leaving…”

“Vice President Zhang, where are you going?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not going back to Tencent.”

“But…”

“There’s no ‘but.’ Tell President Ma, do whatever you want with the rest.”

After speaking.

Zhang Xiaodong dusted off his clothes, waved for a taxi, and disappeared into the dust.

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