Yu Fei checked Weibo’s trending topics and discussions on other forums. Sure enough, once this thesis came out, the buzz that Zheng Hao had painstakingly stirred up immediately vanished, and along with it, he himself became a laughingstock.

On one hand, all of Zheng Hao’s criticisms against Mr. Pei had collapsed on their own because of this thesis.

On the other hand, netizens’ attention had completely shifted to this thesis, and they simply didn’t care about the issues Zheng Hao had raised.

The former was easy to understand. As Cui Geng had said, Mr. Pei’s thesis couldn’t be questioned, couldn’t be falsified, and couldn’t even be suspected of being ghostwritten.

Not only had the thesis received recognition from professors in the field, but it was also comprehensible to ordinary people. Combined with Tenda Group’s cultural products, it was irrefutable, completely proving Mr. Pei’s true capabilities.

Naturally, all of Zheng Hao’s criticisms couldn’t stand.

Furthermore, the fact that Mr. Pei had barely passed all his subjects now had a reasonable explanation.

Previously, people believed that Mr. Pei was too busy with work, so he didn’t have time to study properly, and just passing was already quite good. Although this explanation had some reasonability, it was ultimately too passive.

Now it appeared that Mr. Pei hadn’t neglected his studies; rather, he had focused on learning things useful to him and hadn’t deliberately pursued high scores.

Simply put, other students might score 60 or 80 points, but only 20% of what they learned could be used for further research, and perhaps only 10% could be truly applied to reality and impact the world.

Mr. Pei, though also scoring just 60 points, would use everything within those 60 points to directly change the world.

This was a completely different nature.

Moreover, most people weren’t interested in Zheng Hao’s face-to-face debate proposal anyway.

Because both Zheng Hao and Mr. Pei were entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs should compete on who runs their company better, creates more value for society, and earns a better reputation among the masses.

A face-to-face debate would merely showcase verbal skills. You’re entrepreneurs, not debaters—what’s the point of debating?

Meanwhile, the content covered in this thesis offered too many discussable topics.

Many people dug up all of Tenda’s previous games and movies and revisited them.

Others used this standard to compare current literary works on the market, whether novels, movies, or games. They found that nearly all works that met all the characteristics were well-received, popular works.

Many more people extended this further, seriously exploring the future development direction of popular literary works in the internet age, and even derived discussions into other fields.

There were still some unwilling critics raising questions, questioning that Mr. Pei’s thesis was about literary creation, at most covering novels, movies, and games. But what about other business fields that still hadn’t been explained?

Such questioning was quickly drowned out by waves of mockery.

Because this was Mr. Pei’s undergraduate thesis with limited length, it was already tight just writing the current content—how could he possibly write about other content?

Besides, just because Mr. Pei didn’t write about something didn’t mean he didn’t understand it!

Mr. Pei had already proven himself in the most abstract and complex field of literary creation, let alone other fields—it was completely self-evident.

In short, once this thesis came out, it completely reversed the online sentiment.

Previously, many people had questioned and felt that Zheng Hao’s public criticism of Mr. Pei, while Mr. Pei remained evasive without responding, showed signs of guilt.

But now it was clear that Zheng Hao wasn’t even in the same league as Mr. Pei—Mr. Pei ignoring him was perfectly normal.

As for Mr. Pei, he was undoubtedly a worthy genius!

From founding Tenda to completing his studies, in just four short years, he had built such a massive business empire.

Everything that happened during these four years repeatedly verified this point, and this thesis was merely an annotation to Mr. Pei’s cheat-like career.

…

Meanwhile, Pei Qian was slumped on the sofa in his living room, looking up at the ceiling, contemplating life.

He had seen all the discussions on Weibo, but the more he read, the more ridiculous he found them.

“What’s going on here?”

“Are these people even being reasonable with their praise?”

“I can’t take it anymore… I feel like every pore of my body is oozing milk…”

Pei Qian’s feelings were complicated.

It was like a student who had made educated guesses before an exam, ended up getting all the answers right, scored high marks, had their test results much higher than their usual performance, and was publicly praised by the teacher.

It was nerve-wracking!

Strictly speaking, Pei Qian definitely hadn’t cheated, because he wrote about Tenda Group’s work and analyzed others’ analyses of his thinking—the source was always him.

But this wasn’t his true level either. Because when he was making those games and writing those movie scripts, he hadn’t deliberately thought in this direction.

At most, they were just flashes of inspiration.

So Pei Qian felt very uneasy about receiving this outstanding graduation thesis recognition.

He never expected Zhang Wei and Professor Kong to keep the last sentence without deletion, submitting it exactly as it was without changing a single word. This made Pei Qian so embarrassed he wanted to dig a three-bedroom apartment with his toes.

Even more ridiculous was that the online discussions about this thesis had clearly elevated it by several levels.

There was much praise that Pei Qian had never anticipated and felt unworthy of receiving.

Pei Qian was very clear about his true level of ability. Much of his achievement was due to luck rather than his extraordinarily hard efforts. So he didn’t want everyone to force these honors upon him.

The reason Pei Qian had always tried to avoid the spotlight and kept a particularly low profile was because he knew that he might be far from the Mr. Pei that people expected.

But the more he avoided it, the more people praised him. Four years had passed, and finally, he was about to lose his composure.

“I think I should clarify a little.”

“If I say nothing, it’s like accepting all this praise, and the fall will only be harder later.”

“Just saying a few simple words and expressing my personal views would also serve as a warning to everyone.”

Pei Qian didn’t want everyone to think he was “staying silent to act like a master.” Seeing himself being forced to pretend, the situation was getting a bit out of control, and he instinctively wanted to come forward to cool things down.

So after careful consideration, he composed a long Weibo post.

“I’ve noticed a lot of online discussions about my graduation thesis. Some of the content is indeed what I had in mind, but some content is clearly overinterpreted and exaggerated.”

“Writing comes naturally, and a skilled hand occasionally creates beauty. As a creator, many times when creating content, there isn’t a very clear idea, but merely a flash of inspiration.”

“So I’m actually unworthy of everyone’s praise.”

“I hope everyone will stick to the facts. There’s no need to give me too much personal praise, nor place too many unrealistic expectations on me.”

“Additionally, I’m not deliberately ignoring the questions Mr. Zheng Hao raised about me; I simply feel there’s no need to argue over this issue.”

“However, since I’ve already posted on Weibo, I’ll take this opportunity to respond to Mr. Zheng Hao’s questions.”

“Mr. Zheng Hao believes that I’m not an excellent graduate, my abilities are limited, and I’m not an excellent entrepreneur. I completely agree with this point—I’ve never considered myself an excellent graduate or entrepreneur.”

“Mr. Zheng Hao far surpasses me in both academics and entrepreneurial ability.”

“As for why I’ve repeatedly won in business competition, I myself am quite puzzled about this.”

“However, I think one possible reason is that precisely because I’m not smart enough or excellent enough, I can distinguish right from wrong. After becoming a boss, becoming a key figure who can mobilize large resources through the company, I can still clearly distinguish right from wrong. My position hasn’t affected my eyes and brain.”

“Thank you again for everyone’s support and love. I will work harder to learn and improve, striving to one day become someone worthy of this praise.”

After writing this, Pei Qian deliberated for a while and felt that the overall tone was sincere.

The key was that he couldn’t make many things very clear—he couldn’t just completely expose himself, could he? That wouldn’t be clarification; it would be actively committing social suicide.

The netizens were his own people, reasonable and easy to talk to. As long as he made his attitude clear to them, the heat should gradually die down.

Of course, Mr. Pei couldn’t post this long Weibo from his personal account, or he would be exposed instantly.

He still had to use Tenda Group’s official Weibo account.

…

Meanwhile, in Shanghai, at Shengyun Group headquarters.

Nie Yunsheng scrolled through web pages, then leaned back weakly in his executive chair, eyes half-closed, silently sighing.

“Sigh!”

“I knew that once Zheng Hao lost his head, it would definitely not end well.”

“In the field of public opinion warfare, no matter from what angle you attack, Mr. Pei always manages to find a way to counterattack, and it’s impossible to defend against.”

Nie Yunsheng hadn’t expected that Mr. Pei would easily repel Zheng Hao’s final angry offensive with just one thesis.

Not only that, but the thesis had also sparked extensive discussion online.

With just one thesis, he effortlessly topped Weibo’s trending topics through organic traffic. It also served as comprehensive promotion for Tenda’s other industries, saving who knows how much in advertising and marketing expenses.

This kind of ability wasn’t something ordinary entrepreneurs could compare with.

It felt as if Mr. Pei had never pursued popularity, yet popularity always followed closely behind him.

Just then, Nie Yunsheng scrolled to a new Weibo post.

It was Mr. Pei’s response to this incident, posted through Tenda Group’s official Weibo account.

Nie Yunsheng read the entire long post from beginning to end with mixed feelings, then fell silent again.

After a long while, he sighed softly and lamented: “Kill the body and destroy the soul?”