How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?-Chapter 493 - 226: Unveiling the Curtain_2

"But after you post this warning statement, we’ll be able to present evidence in advance during the lawsuit, explaining to the court that you’ve already issued a warning and have forgiven those netizens who deleted their comments. Those still sitting in the defendant’s seat are the incorrigible ones."

"Although it might seem like a small move, it can still increase the likelihood of a conviction by 20%!"

Gu Heng slightly nodded upon hearing this...

If it wasn’t for him being a top-tier lawyer...

Even if criminal prosecution wasn’t Wang Haonan’s strong suit, he still laid things out for Gu Heng clearly...

No wonder people say that in a society ruled by law, the three types of people you shouldn’t offend are lawyers, doctors, and low-level bureaucrats; because if these people decide to target you, they really have countless ways to make you unable to escape within the rules...

With this in mind, Gu Heng spoke up, "I’m not sure how to issue this warning statement. Since your firm is full of professionals, could you help me draft a statement and send it to me? After I post it, you can coordinate directly with it."

Wang Haonan: "Can do."

"Oh, right," Gu Heng suddenly remembered something else and continued, "What about evidence collection? Do you have experience? Could you guide me?"

"Don’t worry about this part, collecting evidence is our duty as lawyers, and cases like online defamation and cyberbullying are relatively straightforward to gather evidence for. Moreover, our firm has a specialized team. Once our team finishes collecting evidence, we will also assist the other lawyers you’ve hired, aiming to complete the entire lawsuit process within 3-5 days!"

Hearing this, Gu Heng had no objections and he stood up immediately, extended his hand toward Wang Haonan, and said, "Then here’s to a happy collaboration."

"To a happy collaboration."

"To a happy collaboration."

With these good wishes, a lawsuit against a never-before-seen massive online defamation and cyberbullying case involving thousands of people began to unfold...

At 8 p.m.

Gu Heng’s Weibo and Douyin simultaneously posted a statement...

[Solemn Declaration.

In recent days, I’ve discovered numerous marketing accounts defaming and slandering me, and also engaging in cyberbullying through private messages. I hereby respond, adopting a zero-tolerance stance towards any rumors and defamation, issuing this warning with the hope that netizens will stop spreading "rumors" and "defamation", and delete any defamatory and slanderous content within 24 hours. Otherwise, I will take legal action to protect my interests.

I have currently reached cooperation agreements with more than 10 law firms including Jun He, Jin Du, De Heng, and have entrusted lawyers to collect evidence, resolutely protecting my interests.

Time...]

Due to the lingering popularity of this morning’s Douyin post, the likes for this new post broke a thousand within minutes of it going up. Gu Heng glanced at his follower count, which had reached over 900,000, and was rapidly approaching a million...

He had never imagined he would become a million-follower internet celebrity in his lifetime...

Even if it was through negative popularity...

As for Weibo, though Gu Heng’s account was newly registered, given the joint statement from the top 10 law firms, coupled with someone working against him in the background, the comment section was very lively...

Gu Heng noticed an amusing phenomenon...

That is, the comment sections on Weibo and Douyin showed a polarized state...

Initially, Douyin comments were overwhelmingly negative against him, but after his response video from the morning, surprisingly, supportive comments began to appear...

Unspoken, as an emerging platform, Douyin hasn’t been fully infiltrated like Weibo and Little Red Book, a decent proportion of normal people still existed...

But as for Weibo...

It’s hard to put into words...

One could tell from the comments below...

"Yo? Is he starting to pull the same moves as internet celebrities and their studios? Found that just explaining isn’t working and starting to issue lawyer warnings?"

"Black is black, white is white. Think a lawyer’s warning will cleanse your image? Don’t be funny. You earn money from Chinese people and spend it abroad. If you’re not a traitor, then who is?"

"If the money was earned through legitimate means, you could spend it wherever you wanted, and no one has the right to say anything, but did Gu Heng come by his money legitimately? How can any decent person make so much money in a year? Let me educate everyone, a tax bill of 7.135 billion, even at the highest tax bracket of 45%, is close to a post-tax income of two hundred billion, and even more before taxes.

Do you believe that money came through honest channels?"

"A friend of mine works in the commercial sector, and he told me that the state had already started investigating Gu Heng’s unclear financial sources. Everyone, just wait for the news. With such a large amount of unexplained wealth, I believe the official statement will be released in a few days.

As for why he’s paying taxes, I guess he wants to make the money legitimate, but he’s seriously underestimated the government’s information channels."

"Exactly, I have a relative who works in the tax system, and they aren’t low-ranking. During a family dinner today, this relative mentioned that they had initiated a secret investigation into this matter, and they’re even at the stage of filing a case. Do you guys know what filing a case means? Generally, in a public prosecution, it means the evidence collection is complete! I can only tell you guys, there’s a lot involved, and one thing that’s certain is money laundering; more than that, I can’t say, you’ll have to guess the rest."

Gu Heng looked at some of the reasoned comments below his Weibo post...

He was really dumbfounded...

If it weren’t for the fact that virtually every cent of his money had a source verified by the system, and had completely passed through the tax system’s audit.

Gu Heng himself started to doubt that maybe, just maybe, his money was indeed ill-gotten gains from some unknown system...

As the person involved, he was almost confused by these rumor-mongers, not to mention the online onlookers...

A crowd gathered beneath those rumor-spreading comments, asking about their authenticity, while the commentators, far from holding back, earnestly set about clearing up any confusion...

Unmentionable as it was...

Those who enjoyed spreading rumors, whether habitual liars or being paid by an Internet army, had truly strong storytelling skills; not writing novels was really a waste...

If these people turned to novel writing, why would there be any readers facing a dearth of web novels? Wouldn’t such legendary works keep popping up one after another?

However, just as Gu Heng was about to scroll through more comments, Fu Songyang’s call came through...

"Hello, Fu, what’s up?"

Fu Songyang’s voice was still as robust over the phone.

"Didn’t you ask me to investigate who was causing trouble for you online? I’ve got results."

Gu Heng slightly startled...

Was this the capability of a genuine social magnate?

He had only asked him to take a look in the morning, and by the afternoon, there were already results?

Amazed, he exclaimed, "That fast?"

Fu Songyang laughed wryly on the other end, "I initially thought some big shot from the circle was displeased with you and wanted to take you down. I spent the whole afternoon inquiring for you but found out that recently no mogul had let slip any intentions of targeting you.

Then I handed it over to a friend of mine who’s a small shareholder at Weibo, and in just over two hours, we had our answer.

It wasn’t a big shot, just some known paparazzo named Zhuo Wei, frantically hiring an Internet army to amplify the impact of the news about you. You know how many people resent the wealthy these days, with him fanning the flames like that, how could the situation not escalate?"

"Zhuo Wei?"

Gu Heng had heard about him from Ouyang Nana that morning, but he didn’t think Zhuo Wei was behind it.

After all, just a paparazzo at the end of the day, even if he was doing something grand-scale, he was still just a paparazzo. He could pick on celebrities, but for someone like Gu Heng, he was hardly worth noticing...

And besides, Gu Heng had no beef with him, did he? Surely, there should be a reason to target him?

With this in mind, Gu Heng also asked, "Did your friend find out why this guy is targeting me?"

"No, I called you as soon as I got the news. Should I go back and dig around some more, or shall we just confront him directly so he can kneel before you?" Experience exclusive tales on novelbuddy

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In Fu Songyang’s mouth, a paparazzo feared like a tiger or wolf in the entertainment circle sounded like just a beggar, as casually mentioning kneeling.

"No need for now, let him keep it up. I’m actually planning to do something, and since he seems keen on adding some heat to my situation, let him continue."

"Really? You’re taking it this easy? Planning to let him off the hook?"

Gu Heng chuckled and shared the details of his collaboration with the top ten law firms that afternoon. Fu Songyang on the other end of the phone was so stunned he couldn’t speak for a long time, and in the end, they just agreed to meet up to discuss further...