If It’s Wrong, Then It’s Wrong - Chapter 51
Chapter 51: The Eighteenth Day
Just before boarding, Cheng Liu received a message from Shenyin Technology, saying that Mingtai had pushed a notification to their system. Car owners would see a pop-up message as soon as they started their cars.
“They’re acting so quickly?” He Bai asked, surprised.
Cheng Liu didn't reply, showing him the message on her phone.
He Bai looked at the screenshot of the notification and frowned: “They’re pushing all the blame onto us.”
The notification shifted all responsibility to Shenyin Technology, portraying Mingtai as the diligent company that discovered the issue and promptly notified its customers.
“The press conference will proceed as planned. Release the recording and add fuel to the fire online,” Cheng Liu said, her expression unchanged, taking back her phone.
The notification wasn’t unexpected; she had been prepared for this.
They boarded the plane. As soon as they were seated, He Bai started reviewing the press conference details.
The recording wouldn’t be played at the formal press conference. The main purpose of the conference was to announce the termination of their collaboration with Mingtai and to subtly reveal that a department at Mingtai had breached their contract, stealing Shenyin Technology’s proprietary technology.
Shenyin Technology had reacted quickly since the release of Mingtai’s new system. Once the press conference was over, they would be completely disassociated from Mingtai.
But no one had expected the accident to happen so quickly, and while Cheng Liu was on the plane, her phone on airplane mode, unreachable.
In just three hours, the situation escalated rapidly.
As soon as Cheng Liu landed and turned on her phone, she was bombarded with missed calls and messages, her WeChat notifications showing 99+. She frowned, seeing this for the first time, and opened WeChat.
He Bai, beside her, turned on his phone and immediately received a call. As he listened, he turned to Cheng Liu: “CEO Cheng, check the trending topics. Something happened.”
Cheng Liu, hearing his words, exited WeChat and opened Weibo, seeing the top trending topic: #ShenyinTechnologyFatalSystemFlawCausesFamilyCarCrash#
A bright red “exploding” icon indicated the rapidly rising popularity of the topic.
Cheng Liu stared at the headline for a long time before clicking on it.
The top post was a video from a dashcam. A Mingtai car, driving normally on the road, suddenly veered off course, crashing into a rock face. The front of the car crumpled, then bounced back, breaking through the guardrail and plunging down a cliff.
The timestamp on the dashcam showed 4:24 pm, April 18th, earlier that afternoon, before Mingtai had pushed their notification.
“The H City police have confirmed the deaths of a family of three,” He Bai said, his voice strained, hanging up the phone.
They stood in the bustling airport, silent.
“I should have discovered it sooner,” Cheng Liu suddenly said.
He Bai clenched his phone: “This was Mingtai’s fault. We’ve already done everything we could.”
He looked at Cheng Liu, wanting to comfort her.
But Cheng Liu had already regained her composure, her voice calm: “Send someone to H City. Wait for the accident investigation report and confirm the cause of the crash.”
He Bai paused, then immediately agreed.
Cheng Liu checked the time: 7:43 pm.
Less than five hours since the accident, and it was already the top trending topic. Someone was deliberately pushing this, targeting Shenyin Technology.
“Let’s go to the company,” Cheng Liu said to He Bai.
“Okay,” He Bai said, going to get the car.
Once in the car, Cheng Liu started tracing the source of the initial video.
At 3:31 pm, seven minutes after the accident, the driver of the car behind had posted the video on social media, where it had quickly been shared thousands of times.
The initial comments had focused on the driver of the crashed car, speculating about poor driving skills, drowsiness, or drunk driving.
At 4:45 pm, several marketing accounts started reposting the video, suggesting potential quality issues with Mingtai cars, but the posts gained little traction.
A few minutes before that, Mingtai had pushed their notification, blaming the system flaw on Shenyin Technology.
At 5:59 pm, a large number of marketing accounts suddenly appeared, targeting Shenyin Technology, including screenshots of Mingtai’s notification.
By 6:52 pm, Mingtai had faded into the background, all the marketing accounts now focusing on Shenyin Technology’s supposed serious system flaw.
At 7:05 pm, the topic related to Shenyin Technology had reached the top trending spot.
Cheng Liu closed her phone, leaned back against the seat, rubbed the bridge of her nose, and looked out the window in silence.
“Senior…” He Bai said, looking at Cheng Liu through the rearview mirror. “We’ve already ended our collaboration with Mingtai. We didn’t release that update. Once we hold the press conference, everything will be cleared up.”
Cheng Liu looked away from the window, her voice calm: “Mingtai simply handed them a weapon.”
Initially, the target had been Mingtai, the initial marketing accounts likely hired by their competitors. But Mingtai’s notification, implicating Shenyin Technology, had shifted the focus.
That was why so many marketing accounts had suddenly appeared. Of course, Cheng Liu suspected that Mingtai had also played a role in escalating the situation.
Shenyin Technology’s growth had threatened many companies. If this incident wasn't handled properly, it would attract a swarm of sharks, all eager to take a bite out of Shenyin.
“Postpone tomorrow afternoon’s press conference,” Cheng Liu suddenly said. “Move it to tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” He Bai asked, puzzled. “Why not today? I can have the media come over. We can clarify the situation with Mingtai, and we have the recording.”
“I have something else to do,” Cheng Liu said, leaning against the car door. “Mingtai is secondary. They’re just using this to target Shenyin.”
Cheng Liu’s assessment was correct.
That afternoon, shortly after Director Wu had instructed his technical team to push the notification, blaming the system flaw on Shenyin Technology, he had received a message from his PR department, informing him of the negative news circulating about Mingtai.
Director Wu looked through the news and noticed that more and more marketing accounts were discussing Shenyin Technology, only mentioning Mingtai in passing.
“Add fuel to the fire,” Director Wu suddenly said with a smile. “Let them focus on Shenyin Technology.”
…
By the time Cheng Liu arrived at the company, over an hour later, there were multiple trending topics about Shenyin Technology, some even questioning their ability to develop autonomous driving technology, arguing that the domestic regulatory environment wasn’t mature enough.
Shenyin Technology, emergency meeting room.
“CEO Cheng, we’ve already posted the termination agreement with Mingtai on our official Weibo and website, along with a statement clarifying that we didn’t provide them with the technology used in their new system before ending our collaboration,” the head of Shenyin’s PR department said seriously.
There were too many forces behind this, too many rumors spreading rapidly. They couldn't possibly address everything in such a short time.
And this wouldn’t be enough to quell the situation.
“Leave the Weibo and website posts as they are. Release the recording,” Cheng Liu said, pointing to one of the employees. “You’re going to H City tonight. Make sure the accident investigation is handled properly and we get the results as soon as possible.”
The employee paused. He Bai had already sent someone to H City over an hour ago. He quickly understood: “I’ll go right away. I won’t let anyone tamper with the investigation.”
After the meeting, He Bai walked over to Cheng Liu: “Are you sure we shouldn’t hold the press conference earlier?”
“No,” Cheng Liu said, standing up. “I have something to prepare.”
“I’ll stay and help,” He Bai blurted out.
“No, you go prepare for tomorrow night’s press conference. Allow questions from the media. Make sure everything runs smoothly,” Cheng Liu said, then added, “Leave ten minutes for my closing statement.”
“Okay,” He Bai said, leaving the meeting room.
Cheng Liu sat at the head of the table, took out her phone, opened WeChat, and looked at Ji Chaozhou’s message. She wondered if he had heard the news.
Probably not. He rarely used social media.
Cheng Liu didn't message him, not wanting him to worry.
She exited WeChat and started contacting several government officials.
If they wanted Shenyin Technology to give up this opportunity, she would simply flip the table and level the playing field for everyone.
…
“This is getting out of hand,” Ji Mushan said, sitting at the dining table, looking at the news updates, and sighing. He turned to Ji Chaozhou with a wry smile. “Cheng Liu has made too many enemies. Everyone wants to bring Shenyin down. They’re trying to force her to abandon the autonomous driving project.”
Every car company, every tech company, wanted a piece of this pie, but most lacked the resources to develop the technology independently, and even those who could couldn’t keep up with Shenyin. Who would willingly watch Cheng Liu succeed?
Even Tianqi Automobile was envious of Shenyin Technology's progress; their own R&D department couldn't compete.
“What will happen to her?” Ji Chaozhou suddenly asked.
Ji Mushan paused: “They’re trying to force Cheng Liu out. If the government gets involved, the resources are limited. If she can’t get a share, Shenyin’s growth will stagnate.”
Ji Chaozhou looked at his phone. As time went on, even mainstream media outlets started criticizing Shenyin Technology for being unrealistic, overly ambitious, and rushing into development without considering the current limitations.
Cheng Liu had just appeared on a live stream program, her popularity at its peak, and Shenyin Technology was directly associated with her. Now, many people were not only criticizing the company, but also targeting her personally.
“I’ll call and ask how she’s doing,” Ji Mushan said, seeing his son’s silence. “See if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Ji Chaozhou looked at Ji Mushan for a long time before saying, “Thank you.”
Ji Mushan: “…”
Thank you?
Anyone hearing that would think they were close.
Ji Mushan coughed, secretly pleased to hear his son thank him, even if it was for someone else.
“I’ll call and ask,” Ji Mushan said, finding Cheng Liu’s number and dialing it, putting the call on speakerphone.
The first call didn’t connect, going straight to voicemail.
Ji Mushan waited a minute and tried again. This time, Cheng Liu answered.
“CEO Ji?” Cheng Liu asked. “Is something the matter?”
Ji Chaozhou, hearing her calm tone, relaxed slightly. She didn’t sound stressed, even overly composed.
“CEO Cheng, is there anything I can do to help?” Ji Mushan asked, eager to please his son.
Cheng Liu, hearing Ji Mushan's words, took the phone away from her ear, looked at it, confirmed it was him, then put it back to her ear, surprised: “CEO Ji, are you serious?”
When had Ji Mushan ever been so kind?
Could this be…the inexplicable attraction between future family members?
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