Chapter 3 — My friends and I went to eat seafood buffet

9

I was enjoying scrolling through the comments when I suddenly received a video call from my best friend. I pressed the call. On the other side, her voice trembled with anger.

"Roe Roe, I... actually, I went to see that boss this afternoon to talk..."

“I asked him to delete the video. Guess what he said?”

I asked.

“What did he say?”

My best friend was silent for a moment, then laughed.

"He said the shop just opened and is lacking traffic. Cutting off other people's way to make money is no different from killing their parents, so even if he dies, he won't delete the video."

I looked at the long row of video files on my computer's hard drive and suddenly burst out laughing. My best friend has a hard time understanding.

“What are you laughing at?”

I laughed even deeper.

“Nothing, just… if he needs traffic, I can help.”

My best friend was bewildered.

“Huh?”

I said.

“Of course, use my blogger account to promote his shop.”

My best friend paused, then cursed.

“Wow, it's really dog bites dog, as expected of you!”

But right after that, she hesitated a bit.

“But… is it okay? That's your main account…”

I shook my head.

"It's okay, my identity has been exposed anyway, the comments section on my channel is being trashed with spam."

On the other end of the line, my best friend let out a shrill scream.

“Fuck you!”

10

I shoot videos with my face exposed. So it's not strange that someone recognized me in the shop's comments section. D:o!c f-u_l=l at~i p.a*ge,1/ n;ga:y=la;m•c#ancient•god^n As soon as they found out my identity as a blogger, the video's popularity exploded to a new level. Anyway, the story "Two girls went into the buffet restaurant and forced the staff to stand peeling shrimp for 3 hours" only stopped at the level of causing outrage. But changing it to "Shock! Blogger millions of followers abused power, forced poor buffet staff to stand peeling shrimp for 3 hours. Is this the corruption of humanity or the collapse of morality?", hearing it was shocking enough to cause an internet storm. Every sentence is filled with sensationalism. The comments section of my channel blew up.

"That's really disgusting. If you have high followers, you can bully anyone you want, right?"

“In the video, you pretend to be very dignified, but you do something like this behind your back?”

"The video was recorded normally, I don't know why it's up. It's probably because I slept with someone!"

There were also some fans who understood me well and spoke up to defend me.

"Don't be so quick to judge that Banh Nguyet's videos are filmed normally and leave. I've been following her for more than three years, from when she only had a few thousand followers until now. Her videos are easy to watch, funny, have something to say, not forced, especially don't accept hidden ads."

"Me too. I believe in Banh Nguyet's dignity. As for the guy who defamed her, I also watched the video, but didn't give any specific evidence. Is what he said true?"

But these defenses were quickly attacked by an ignorant crowd.

“Bleaching? Try bleaching!”

“Looking at the faces of these two, you can tell that they are not nice people.”

"How much do you pay per comment? I want to do it too."

11

I yawned. Quickly download evidence collection software online, save all of the boss's fabricated videos, along with slanderous comments about me. Then contact your lawyer and ask her to write a lawsuit against the foundation. Filing a lawsuit for cyber violence is not easy. You must first sue the platform to request the information of the poster, then you can sue the slanderer directly. Just waiting for the platform to approve it took several months. But fortunately, his viral video was so strong that it was eligible for legal action. Having finished everything, I put down the phone, looked out the window at the gloomy sky, then bowed my head to continue processing videos on the computer. Am I angry? Not really. I just feel lucky because of my professional habits - when I eat and drink, I have to bring a camera to record. From the moment I entered the shop to the moment I left, I had complete documents. The secret camera was hidden in my pendant. When arguing with the boss, he was completely unaware. At first I was hesitant about whether I should post this video or not. I've been in a good mood lately and don't want to get myself into trouble. But the owner of this buffet restaurant likes to do tricks like that—I'm dying of laughter, if I don't post, I'll take his name.

12

I stayed up all night making videos, posted them to my account, then slept until three o'clock in the afternoon. As soon as I woke up, turned on my phone, a series of text messages poured in continuously for 30 seconds straight—all from my best friend. She spammed the chat box, screaming like she was about to explode, wishing she couldn't transform on the spot.

“Aaaaaaa damn, I'm so angry I can't sleep!!!”

“Are you asleep?”

“Did you really sleep well?”

“I hate you!”

“Fuck you, how fast are you editing videos?!”

“Let me go in and take a look!”

“Hihi, very nice editing! Very beautiful! AWESOME!”

"GOOD NEWS GOOD NEWS! There are more and more people defending you!"

“GOOD NEWS! A bunch of people are cursing the boss!”

“That idiot was cursed to the face and had to delete the video!”

"Have you saved the proof yet? If not, I saved a copy last night. Do you need me to send it to you?"

“Hu hu hu, I'm so happy I don't know how to share it with anyone!”

“It's already 9 am and why aren't you up yet???”

"Can you sleep well? At this age, can you still sleep in?"

I couldn't close my mouth when I read it, but I still calmly left a message. D=o(c) f'u|ll at;i p*a@g'e 1 n!ga-y_do_c-neck\^god#n

“It's just a buzzing fly.”

The other party immediately sent three middle finger emojis. I can imagine my best friend rolling her eyes. She scolded me:

“What a profound performance!”

13

I opened the personal page of the buffet restaurant owner, intending to see if he was up to anything else. But suddenly discovered, not only the video disappeared, but also the account was locked by the platform. I laughed, then opened my new video. Perhaps because the content is so attractive, my videos have extremely high views. When I woke up, my account increased by 100,000 followers.

“After ten years of reviewing, no one cares, once stepping on shit, everyone knows.”

The video I edited this time was extremely detailed. From the moment we entered the restaurant, the receptionist was rude, until they were openly contemptuous. From the time I ordered the food, I waited 40 minutes and still didn't see any sign of it, until the restaurant brought the food up and it was short. Whatever unpleasant things we encountered, I did not miss. The hottest comment satirizes:

“Phones are truly great things, just sitting at home watching videos makes me want to explode.”

Second hot comment:

“The first time I watched this blogger's video, I felt like she kept her composure. If it were me, I probably would picked up a dead crab and threw it straight at the boss's face!

I glanced at my private messages and saw someone claiming to be the owner of the buffet restaurant texting me. Begged me to delete the video.

14

I hesitated for a few seconds, then answered.

“Please provide proof, prove you are not a fake.”

The other party immediately sent a photo of their ID card. He panicked and typed the message repeatedly.

“Please, delete the video, it has a huge impact!”

“When my video was hot, there were a lot of people who sympathized and bought buffet from my restaurant. But now, everyone wants a refund! I give up, really! All the money that was about to go into my pocket is now gone!”

“You delete the video, I'll compensate you 1000 yuan... no, 2000!”

I laughed out loud. Do you know now? He also knows that rumors can kill people, and collective attacks can break other people's bones. Never underestimate the power of public opinion. But when he spread rumors to defame me, did he ever think about the consequences? When my best friend begged him to delete the video, where was he? Probably still laughing happily. What if the person being slandered was not me—a blogger with a camera recording the whole thing, but just two ordinary girls? Do people just assume that they deserve to be trampled on and cursed by thousands of people? I smirked, my fingers quickly typing a sentence.

“Dream on!”

Then bluntly stopped him. Oh, that reminds me, he just sent a text message, making me suddenly remember something.