About half an hour later, both the ambulance and police cars arrived. The onlookers and many reporters had already completely surrounded the hot pot restaurant.
The owner cooperated with the police and provided the on-site surveillance footage. The ambulance immediately took away the mother and son, who had suffered severe burns, amidst the murmuring crowd.
The friend of the "hot mom" was dumbfounded from the moment the pot flew. She had curled up in a corner of her seat and only came back to her senses when the police called her over.
Xiao Xun shrugged and said to Mu Jiahe, "See? This is what happens when a brat has a bratty parent. If they don't discipline them, others will have to. We're not eating this meal today, I'll make you something when we get back!"
Back in the car, as soon as the engine started, Mu Jiahe said, "You know, if you had let that little boy play with your phone, none of this would have happened today."
Xiao Xun's displeasure was evident on his face. "Are you saying it's my fault, elder? That's my phone, why should I have let him play with it? Even if this incident hadn't happened, something similar would have happened eventually."
Mu Jiahe shook her head. "You! You always have to be so right!"
Xiao Xun said righteously, "In any case, I'm not arguing unreasonably."
Upon returning home, Xiao Xun turned on the lights and first scanned the surroundings to see if anyone was there.
Lately, because of this incident, he felt he had developed a phobia. Every time he opened the door, his heart would pound, fearing an old lady in a red vest might be behind it.
Mu Jiahe was nonchalant. "Hurry up and cook! We need to leave after a quick bite."
Xiao Xun agreed, opened the refrigerator, and selected a few ingredients.
He steamed the rice, mixed a cold dish, stir-fried two vegetable dishes and one meat dish, and also simmered pork ribs in a small clay pot.
Mu Jiahe was already hungry. She hadn't eaten anything at the company at noon and had only had some biscuits in the afternoon, planning to have a good meal in the evening. She never expected to encounter such an incident again.
As Xiao Xun was serving one dish, by the time he went to get another, the first dish had already been completely eaten by Mu Jiahe.
Looking at the clean plate, Xiao Xun had forgotten what the first dish was.
After the meal, Mu Jiahe drank a large bowl of pork rib soup and patted her stomach, saying, "I'm full, so satisfied!"
Xiao Xun stacked the bowls and chopsticks together, put them all into the sink, and said, "As long as you're happy, shall we go?"
The two went to the master bedroom on the second floor. Before they even entered the room, Xiao Xun's phone rang. It was his mother.
Xiao Xun quickly answered, "Hello! Mom, what's the matter so late at night?"
His mother's voice came through the receiver, "Your niece has something temporary to attend to and probably won't be here until a couple of days. Remember to pick her up."
Xiao Xun sat on the stool at the foot of the bed and said, "Got it. Do you have her phone number? Give it to me so I can contact her conveniently."
His mother said, in a tone of sudden realization, "I almost forgot! Write this down."
Xiao Xun said with a look of disdain, "Why bother? Can't you just copy and paste it to me?"
"Your mother doesn't know how to do that. Just write it down! One, three, two…"
Xiao Xun had no choice but to turn on the speakerphone and noted down the number on his phone. After finishing, he asked, "What's my niece's surname?"
"Your brain takes after your father completely, not me. You ask what surname your niece has? Of course, it's Mu, not Liu!"
Xiao Xun's face darkened. "Didn't you say she's your cousin's granddaughter? Shouldn't she take her father's surname…"
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "That's true… I don't know either. You can ask her yourself later!"
Xiao Xun scratched his head awkwardly, quickly turned off the speakerphone, and turned to look at Mu Jiahe.
Mu Jiahe was currently listening to his conversation with his mother with a curious heart, sitting up and perking her ears.
"Mom, that's all for now! You're busy, I'm hanging up."
With that, he hung up the phone and said to Mu Jiahe with a silly grin, "Sorry for letting you witness that."
Xiao Xun's mother, looking at the hung-up phone, slammed the table, startling the surrounding customers. "Hey! This brat, he's only useful when he needs something. Before, I always hung up the phone first, but now he dares to hang up on me. He's really getting too wild at home and needs a spanking."
Mu Jiahe leaned against the bed, holding her phone. "Jingji Group's public relations are too terrible! The trending topic hasn't died down for days and has already been turned into internet memes."
Xiao Xun put his phone aside. "I'm afraid it's not that Jingji Group's PR lacks ability, but that someone is deliberately fanning the flames behind the scenes. But this is good, let them fight among themselves, and we'll be the ones who benefit in the end."
Mu Jiahe said in surprise, "Then this person is incredibly powerful, to be able to manipulate public opinion in the media and make everyone oppose Jingji Group."
Xiao Xun understood the mechanics. "It's not as exaggerated as you think. It's very likely that someone hired 'internet trolls' specifically to smear Jingji Group."
Mu Jiahe hadn't heard of it before. "What are 'internet trolls'? Are they foreign private armies?"
Xiao Xun explained to her, "When we browse forums and post, we call it 'flooding.' And 'internet trolls' are a group of people who post on these media platforms with purpose and organization. The fact that they can exert such public opinion pressure on Jingji Group indicates that the people behind it have spent a lot of money hiring 'internet trolls.'"
Hearing Xiao Xun's explanation, Mu Jiahe nodded in sudden realization, then looked at Xiao Xun with a serious expression. "What do you think about us forming our own 'internet troll' team?"
Xiao Xun didn't understand. "What do we need that for? It's fine for occasional use, we don't need to post every day. Keeping a group of people long-term is too expensive."
Mu Jiahe looked at Xiao Xun as if he were an idiot. "You! How can you not understand this? We can set up a private company outside of Santiloman. We don't need many people, just hire five or six people long-term. It's basically a shell company. These five or six people's job is to build groups and then pull in those moms and students, those who want to earn some extra money, into the groups. When needed, tasks will be assigned accordingly."
Xiao Xun thought about it. "This is also fine, it won't cost much money. If we take on external orders, we can also make a profit. But there are too many such groups, we can just find those studios when we need them, why hire people specifically to start a company?"
Mu Jiahe revealed a cunning smile. "I don't just want to build a 'troll' company, I want to make it the leader of this industry. Money is secondary. Think about it, if someone suddenly pays to hire 'trolls' to smear you, wouldn't you know about it immediately, and perhaps even trace the source?"
Xiao Xun suddenly realized, "Oh, right!"
Seeing that he was starting to understand, Mu Jiahe continued, "Besides, it will be very convenient for you to use, and you won't have to worry about not having it when you need it. Most importantly, if we become number one, it means we control the discourse online. Then, we can even turn black into white. What a huge advantage that is!"
Xiao Xun kept nodding. He finally realized the difference between himself and Mu Jiahe, especially in business, which was like a world apart.
He couldn't help but say, "I've been active on forums for so many years, and I never thought it could be done this way. You're really amazing."