Thursday, June 27th.

Wei Jinghui sat in his office, feeling confused.

He didn’t know how Boqun Media would develop in the future.

His plan had been quite good initially—simply going undercover from the Anti-Tenda Alliance to Tenda’s Cooperation Department, collecting sufficient materials, and then withdrawing.

Afterward, the Anti-Tenda Alliance would provide him with financial support to expand his company. The entire plan had been perfect!

But plans couldn’t keep up with changes.

Old Deng had voluntarily requested to write an article refuting Zheng Hao’s viewpoint, which was something outside the plan. Wei Jinghui hadn’t intended to agree. But Zheng Hao thought this approach would be more effective, so Wei Jinghui had no choice but to cooperate.

As a result of their cooperation, attention did indeed increase, but it also pushed Boqun Media into the spotlight!

Now many people automatically assumed that Boqun Media stood on Tenda Group’s side!

So the question became: if Wei Jinghui were to take Boqun Media back to the Anti-Tenda Alliance, what impression would it leave on all the employees and netizens?

Either a cunning undercover agent or a treacherous traitor!

If Old Deng hadn’t published this article, even though Zheng Hao had used Boqun Media’s data, Boqun Media would have left netizens with the image of a neutral victim. It wouldn’t have attracted too much attention afterward, and regardless of which side Wei Jinghui turned to, he probably wouldn’t have been criticized too harshly.

But now, Boqun Media was highly bound to Tenda Group, especially since this article was written with such righteousness. If they were to truly betray Tenda and return to the Anti-Tenda Alliance, the consequences would likely be unimaginable.

Moreover, this pressure didn’t just come from external public opinion but also from within the company.

Old Deng said he wrote this article completely out of personal feelings and hadn’t received instructions from Wu Bin. Wei Jinghui didn’t quite believe this.

Wei Jinghui, who had been holed up in his office, began deliberately venturing into the office area to communicate and probe the ordinary employees, wanting to know their true opinions about this collaboration.

The result astonished Wei Jinghui!

Everyone in the company actually wholeheartedly supported Wu Bin’s decision, and the employees’ mental state had greatly improved!

Before this, Wei Jinghui had always thought of himself as a pretty good boss. Although the company often worked overtime, Wei Jinghui felt he paid his employees enough, and employees were always respectful when they saw him.

So Wei Jinghui had always felt good about himself, believing he was unchallenged in the company and a leader who enjoyed people’s support!

But as the saying goes, comparisons are odious.

Wei Jinghui suddenly discovered that since starting cooperation with Tenda, employees’ attitudes toward him had obviously become warmer. His orders were also being executed more smoothly. All this indicated that employees’ views of him had greatly improved, and they genuinely supported his decisions.

Working backward from the current state to infer the previous state, Wei Jinghui immediately realized that previously when employees were polite to him, it was merely a courtesy toward the boss. Who knows how they cursed him behind his back.

But now the entire company’s atmosphere had clearly improved. One could truly feel a sense of vitality and energy!

If they ended cooperation with Tenda Group and reverted to their original state, many employees would likely find it intolerable and resign on the spot.

This left Wei Jinghui in a very conflicted state, caught between a rock and a hard place.

If he stayed with Tenda Group, Boqun Media was originally meant to be an undercover operation. Wouldn’t this completely contradict his original intention?

If he returned to the Anti-Tenda Alliance, he would feel like the biggest rebel in the entire company, attacked by all employees!

More importantly, the recent special campaign to regulate self-media had begun online. Many self-media accounts had been shut down. Clearly, the previous model of riding hot topics with viral 100k+ articles was no longer viable.

Even if Wei Jinghui wanted to return to the previous model, he couldn’t anymore.

If he truly terminated cooperation with Tenda Group and went back to use Anti-Tenda Alliance resources to continue writing viral articles, the end result would likely be repeated warnings from the platform and eventually account deletion, leaving him with nothing.

In short, the situation was changing too quickly, and Wei Jinghui didn’t know what to do now!

As Wei Jinghui was struggling with his dilemma, there came urgent knocking from outside.

It was Old Deng who pushed the door open.

Since Old Deng had published that article refuting Zheng Hao, Boqun Media hadn’t expressed any opinions regarding this incident.

It wasn’t because Old Deng didn’t want to publish, but because Wei Jinghui felt things had gone far enough.

“We at Boqun Media are undercover! We’re coordinating with Zheng Hao’s side in a setup, not really wanting to argue.”

Moreover, Zheng Hao’s side had very detailed information proving that Boqun Media’s performance was rapidly declining. This was difficult to deny, and forcefully arguing might actually have a counterproductive effect.

So from that time on, the entire Boqun Media had fallen into a state of shared hatred of a common enemy. Old Deng had the strongest temper, and Wei Jinghui hadn’t dared to find him.

Unexpectedly, today Old Deng appeared spirited and full of smiles.

Wei Jinghui was somewhat surprised: “What’s the matter, Old Deng?”

Old Deng excitedly handed over his phone: “CEO Wei, look quickly, official recognition!”

Wei Jinghui took the phone and found it was an official notification message inviting Boqun Media to attend the Magic Capital’s Quality New Media, Self-Media Accounts and Works Awards and On-site Observation Meeting!

Clearly, this event was also part of the recent self-media regulation campaign. With punishment, there must naturally be recognition.

Self-media was a new form of media that had rapidly developed with the internet era. Although there were situations of unchecked growth and frequent chaos, this was after all a new thing. It couldn’t be completely banned with a single cut but should be guided toward healthy and positive development to become an important supplement to traditional media.

So while the authorities were punishing some problematic accounts, they also needed to praise some excellent accounts, allowing the entire self-media industry to learn from them as role models for learning and optimization.

And this time, Boqun Media was conspicuously on the list!

According to the notification, the conference had selected a total of 11 outstanding service-type new media accounts, 9 outstanding self-media accounts, and 15 outstanding articles.

Boqun Media had been selected as an outstanding self-media account and had also had two articles selected as outstanding works!

These two outstanding articles were published a few days ago. After publication, their popularity had remained low, but because the content of these two articles was detailed and comprehensive, with positive value orientation, they received official recognition and affirmation.

Wei Jinghui looked at this notification, then looked at Old Deng, almost thinking he had seen wrong.

This matter was completely beyond his expectations.

You could win awards for doing self-media?

Wei Jinghui had never thought of anything like this before.

Although this award didn’t come with prize money, it represented a kind of recognition and affirmation from officials. For the self-media industry, this was far more valuable than money.

Seeing Wei Jinghui looking somewhat confused, Old Deng hurriedly said: “CEO Wei, hurry and prepare. This meeting is on Friday morning. There will be an award ceremony and live broadcast. This is a great opportunity for us at Boqun Media to show our face, and also our first appearance before netizens after our rectification. You must dress spiritedly for the occasion!”

Wei Jinghui was still confused: “But I…”

He wanted to say that he was undeserving, after all, he had never thought about promoting positive energy before! He simply wanted to go undercover at Tenda, obtain some evidence beneficial to the Anti-Tenda Alliance.

But somehow this undercover operation had resulted in an award for Magic Capital’s Outstanding Self-Media!

But he swallowed his words halfway.

This matter couldn’t be mentioned! If other people in the company found out that he was actually an undercover agent for the Anti-Tenda Alliance, wouldn’t his image as a boss completely collapse?

Thinking of this, Wei Jinghui reluctantly nodded: “I understand. I’ll definitely attend on time tomorrow morning.”

Old Deng left Wei Jinghui’s office happily and began discussing with others in the company where to place the certificate and trophy after the boss brought them back.

Looking at Old Deng’s retreating figure, Wei Jinghui had mixed feelings, his emotions quite complex at the moment.

…

…

Friday, June 28th.

Zheng Hao opened his phone and scrolled through Weibo, wanting to see the latest developments in the public opinion war.

His previous open class for entrepreneurs had been uploaded to a video website and had high popularity.

Although days had passed and the comments section was filled with criticism, overall there were still quite a few supporters.

On Weibo, Zheng Hao had released Boqun Media’s data, staging a beautiful comeback! The previous rebuttal article from Boqun Media was quickly drowned out by the heat, and from all aspects, Zheng Hao seemed to have the upper hand.

In particular, he had shaken many companies’ blind faith in Tenda’s Cooperation Department.

The successful cooperation of Tianhua Studio and Longyu Group with Tenda had given many companies a kind of blind trust in Tenda. But the iron-clad facts and case of Boqun Media made these companies realize that cooperating with Tenda didn’t guarantee success; it still depended on the specific field.

Indeed, quite a few companies and even ordinary people accepted Zheng Hao’s statement, believing that Tenda’s no-overtime model might not be suitable for all companies.

Combined with many companies that had applied to Tenda’s Cooperation Department but weren’t selected—sour grapes psychology at work—and companies that had grudges against Tenda also adding fuel to the fire, the entire public opinion situation looked excellent.

When things are going well, people always like to frequently check the battle situation; it’s only when things are going badly that they play dead. With nothing to do, Zheng Hao wanted to find the next target on Weibo to criticize, continuing to expand his advantage.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he went online, he found that many people were @ing him.

Zheng Hao was puzzled. Had something unexpected happened again?

He quickly searched and then saw a group photo from a news release.

It looked like a very official occasion. A red banner hung at the top of the conference room, reading “Magic Capital’s Quality New Media, Self-Media Accounts and Works Awards and On-site Observation Meeting.”

Below the banner was a large group photo. Outstanding self-media representatives held trophies and certificates in their hands, standing straight and neat.

Wei Jinghui from Boqun Media was conspicuously among them, quite eye-catching!

The others either had serious expressions or were beaming with joy. Only Wei Jinghui, at the award ceremony, somehow managed to have a worried expression about the state of the nation, lost in thought about who knows what.

Zheng Hao was stunned!

At this moment, his expression was the same as Wei Jinghui’s in the group photo, full of bewilderment.

The two men clearly had not been psychologically prepared to face the current situation.