…
Roy suddenly froze for a second, struck by a moment of clarity. "She actually makes a lot of sense."
From how things were unfolding now, it really didn't seem that bad. They hadn't even done anything, and yet the tides of public opinion had already shifted in her favor all on their own.
But the more he thought about it, the more he needed to know what she had really done behind the scenes. There was no way this all just happened naturally. He absolutely didn't believe that public opinion would just change course without someone guiding it.
There's no such thing as love or hate without reason in this world.
Just a few days ago, people were slamming Laila for "buying ticket sales," accusing her of using shady tactics to inflate her movie's box office. Now, out of nowhere, everyone had flipped sides, insisting she was innocent and had been framed.
Who could believe that kind of shift happened without someone pulling strings?
Seeing how curious he truly was, Laila finally began to explain what she'd done over the past couple of days.
In truth, she had something—or rather, someone—to thank for her inspiration: a past-life incident known as the "Post at 8:20" scandal.
In that event, a celebrity's PR team accidentally published a scheduled Weibo post that included not just the pre-written message, but also the note: "Post at 8:20." A dead giveaway that the whole thing was orchestrated.
When Laila first heard that someone was trying to frame her and the company, she was completely lost. In her past life, she'd never encountered something like this, and nothing like it had ever happened in the East—there were no similar cases for her to reference.
But then, while digging through her memories, she stumbled upon the "Post at 8:20" event—something that wouldn't even happen until years later.
She began to consider the possibilities. The people behind this had money, connections, and influence. The Moran Group alone had tens of thousands of employees—not to mention the companies under her mother's name and the ones managed by Mr. Quentin. Who knew how many of them could be bribed into testifying against their boss for the right price?
Xiao Ye had already done an impressive job finding the few moles they did uncover, but Laila wasn't naive enough to assume he had found every single one. Even one slip-up could bring massive damage once the movie hit theaters.
So rather than sit around and wait for the enemy to strike, she decided to make the first move.
What made the other side's plan so dangerous was that it didn't just aim to hurt her—it was designed to destroy her and her company's reputation, to erase all the success she had built.
As could already be seen, the media didn't care about the truth when chasing headlines. They only cared about reporting the story the public wanted to see. Counting on anyone outside her own team? She might as well believe that Hollywood actually practiced "equality for all."
Once the story about "buying box office numbers" dropped, the public immediately assumed it was true. The accusations and condemnations followed instantly. Now, imagine if the attack had come directly from her enemies, with an army of paid trolls fueling the outrage—there was a real chance they could have succeeded.
But what actually happened?
That ugly boil—the "box office buying scandal"—was popped by Laila herself.
She had planned the entire thing: buying out a small news site behind the scenes, hiring online trolls to stir the pot, and allowing the story to spiral.
Then, once the site received enough traffic, she removed the article.
Why?
Why not leave it up so people could come back and verify the report once they realized something was off?
Because she wanted the public to miss that chance.
At first, readers would just focus on the juicy headline and wouldn't pay attention to a few seemingly meaningless words at the end. But as traffic picked up, someone would inevitably spot the phrase "To be published tomorrow"—and if that became the focus, her plan would lose its edge.
She wanted the discussion to explode, to reach farther than any regular PR campaign could. After all, she hadn't gone through all this trouble for nothing. She also intended to ride the wave of this media storm to boost her film's visibility.
Plus, the original article was full of holes—ticket stubs that didn't pass scrutiny, inconsistencies in the details. With only two days to prepare, there was no way she could ensure it was airtight.
So to keep sharp-eyed critics from tearing the story apart too quickly, she pulled the report as soon as public interest peaked. Ironically, this led to rumors that a hacker had deleted the article—a complete fabrication, of course, but one that only added fuel to the fire.
The audiences who were outraged now would feel that much more guilty once they learned the truth—and that guilt would turn into ticket sales. It would literally help Laila break records in box office history.
As for the story spreading back to the East—that had been part of her plan from the very beginning.
The East was her home turf. That's where her most loyal fans were—fans who loved her for her movies and for who she was, not because of her family's wealth or background.
Originally, Laila had planned to "clear her name" after the buzz reached its peak. She hadn't expected that Eastern fans would be so sharp-eyed—they discovered the "secret" on their own and even helped hype the story up for her. It was an unexpected bonus.
If she had arranged for someone to "leak" it, the effect wouldn't have felt nearly as natural.
Maybe Lady Luck really was on her side.
Of course, she couldn't just count on good fortune. Turning public opinion around in a matter of hours required precise timing—and hands-on control of the entire PR machine.
Laila probably couldn't even say how many paid accounts and troll groups she had mobilized in this battle. The only thing she knew was—she had used every last one she could find.
It was a huge gamble.
If she pulled it off, she saved the day.
If she failed, she would've been the laughingstock of the industry, a fool who dug her own grave.
Maybe her timing was just too perfect, or maybe the event escalated too quickly—whatever the case, her opponents didn't even have time to respond before everything had already turned in her favor overnight.
Now, practically everyone in the world who could read, watch a movie, or go online knew that Laila had been framed. They knew someone was trying to sabotage her with fake box office accusations.
And now? If someone tried to pull the same stunt again, would the public fall for it a second time?
Absolutely not. They'd feel twice as betrayed. They wouldn't give another lie a second chance.
Looking at the flood of people apologizing under her FB account, Laila knew that her gamble had paid off.
She had successfully washed away the mud that had been flung at her, and guilt had driven thousands of people straight into theaters.
But if you thought she only did this to save her movie and her company...
Then you still don't know Laila very well.