"No, not at all..." Zhong Tianque asked in confusion.
"The internet..." Li Xuan said.
Zhong Tianque immediately opened a new website and felt a sense of vertigo as his eyes went dark upon seeing the huge headline atop the trending searches.
It hit the trending searches!
Phoenix, equally clueless, also instinctively took out her phone and opened the foreign internet they mentioned.
Then, her eyes widened as she looked towards her elder brother...
Was it because of this incident that he was hospitalized?
Could someone be framing her elder brother?
Was someone targeting Royal Family Members? That was truly audacious...
Right at that moment, Zhong Tianque’s phone rang.
Zhong Tianque glanced at the caller ID and then pressed the answer button, saying, "Father..."
"Come back here," the voice of Zhong Daolong came from the other end of the phone, as calm as a still well, devoid of any emotion.
"Yes, I’ll come right away," Zhong Tianque responded.
"Phoenix is with you, isn’t she? Have her come back as well."
Without asking for Phoenix’s opinion, Zhong Tianque stated, "We’ll come back together."
After hanging up the phone, Zhong Tianque looked awkwardly at Phoenix.
Phoenix’s mouth opened and closed, but in the end, all that came out was a heavy sigh.
At times , it was difficult to even voice words of comfort...
The head of the Royal Family’s public relations department, Hu Kecheng, stood before Zhong Daolong like a schoolchild reporting homework, his voice low but clear as he spoke, "The video leaked from the Rui Bing country of the Kaman Federation. As soon as it was posted, it surged to the top of the local news trending list... Our sentiment monitoring team informed me immediately upon receiving the news..."
"I also immediately contacted the PR department of Rui Bing country, requesting them to delete all videos related to this incident as soon as possible..."
"Rui Bing country agreed to our request, but as they began deleting the videos from the internet, other countries of the Kaman Federation began leaking them one after the other, all rushing to the top of the trending lists..."
"At that point, Rui Bing country started dragging their feet on the deletion process, stating that if we got the other countries’ networks to delete, they would agree; otherwise, they’d be attacked by their citizens for having an overly strict and authoritarian internet management..."
"Worse still, the Aus Empire began covering the event as news, and various internet celebrities and promotional agencies started to share and interpret it... We communicated with the Aus Empire, asking them to remove videos related to this..."
"Their PR department verbally agreed but then did nothing, allowing the situation to spread further..."
Hu Kecheng dared not raise his head to meet Zhong Daolong’s gaze, nor did he want to look at anyone in the room.
He knew that this was a royal scandal.
If not handled properly, it could sweep away the Royal Family’s reputation...
And the Eldest Prince’s prestige would be damaged.
Could it affect his position as Crown Prince or lead to a change of candidates...
What else had the others done?
Forget it, he couldn’t think about it, didn’t dare to.
Pretend to know nothing and just dutifully do one’s own job well.
"It’s difficult to control the situation now that it’s developed to this point... As long as one country refuses to cooperate, the others won’t agree to delete either..."
"What about domestically? What about the Phoenix Empire?" Zhong Daolong asked from his position on the sofa.
"We have it well-controlled. We’ve warned major media companies and news platforms not to release any related photos or videos..."
"However, some things are unavoidable, despite us using every method and means available... They still find various ways to spread the photos and videos... sharing them across different chat apps and platforms..."
"It’s within our control; it’s just fragmented discussions that can’t form a large scale or create a tide of public opinion..."
Zhong Daolong nodded and said, "Monitor in real-time, report any issues to me immediately."
"We’ve initiated a 24-hour duty system. I’ll be on watch in the office all the time, trying to keep the situation within a certain range."
"Alright, you may go," Zhong Daolong nodded and spoke.
"Yes," Hu Kecheng replied, then after a bow, he quickly left the room.
Zhong Daolong looked at Zhong Tianque and asked, "Why didn’t you report to me immediately after the incident occurred? Why didn’t you communicate with the PR department to develop a contingency plan?"
"Father, it’s my fault," Zhong Tianque said, hanging his head in shame, "I thought... that it would be too embarrassing, and it would be best if I could resolve it quietly..."
"After the incident, we also communicated with White Crane Academy. They assured us no student would film or take photos, much less let them leak out..."
"White Crane Academy? Was it Xuanyuan Mingjing who gave you that assurance, or was it Si Yinchuan?" Zhong Daolong asked.
As a sovereign, it was difficult for Zhong Daolong to remember the name of a deputy dean.
However, given White Crane Academy’s unique situation and status, he was aware of the existence of someone like Si Yinchuan.
"Si Yinchuan," Zhong Tianque said.
Si Yinchuan had only promised to issue a ban to the students to prevent them from leaking videos or photos and had made no other guarantees...
But now that his father had brought it up, there was no choice but to throw Si Yinchuan under the bus as a scapegoat.
Who else was more suitable for that role?