Chapter 221 Repaying Kindness with Hatred

The next afternoon…

Pei Qian woke up naturally, got up, and looked at his watch. It was already ten in the morning.

After washing up and making a simple lunch, he swiped his phone while eating to see if anything was buzzing.

He actually found out that Hardcore Reviews’ account had a long list of notifications!

Pei Qian was stunned. He took a closer look and saw that the latest episode had become a hot topic in the electronics area. The broadcast, bullet screen comments, and comments sections were all vastly different from before.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t this still an unknown thing last night? What has happened?”

Pei Qian was a little flabbergasted.

His first response was to swear; there would be trouble if this video became popular again!

Wait a minute. I made the episodes using my own money; I hadn’t used the System Funds!

Money from the incentive plan would be mine; this is a good thing and I don’t need to fret!

The more popular this became, the more I would earn!

Pei Qian instantly became happy as he clicked on the comments section.

“People are getting paid to talk bad about Shenhua’s cell phones?”

“This is just like Shaohu Reviews; foreign trash.”

“Aye, domestically-produced cell phones are really subpar. Look at this phone’s body; it would break with a single touch.”

“The design is a little too messy, right? Cutting corners and shoddy workmanship.”

“Talking about quality issues? I recommend you guys look up the previous UP Master episode. The Pineapple cell phone broke even faster…”

“Everyone has seen this, right? This UP Master is not targeting Shenhua’s cell phones; it had released a Pineapple cell phone before.”

“Have we been taken for a ride? I don’t think that UP Master was talking bad about Shenhua’s cell phones; isn’t this the basic flow of a hardcore review?”

Pei Qian looked at quite a few comments as he was a little baffled.

What was going on; why were people arguing about this?

This episode had indeed gained in popularity. However, it evidently wasn’t a normal type of popularity; it was the type that was triggered by arguing and fighting online.

Some people were talking bad about Shenhua’s cell phones while some were offering rebuttals. Some people were sitting on the fence as well. All in all, the comments section was lighting up.

Pei Qian wasn’t particularly biased towards any cell phone brand and wasn’t interested in this sort of online bickering. However, after turning to the next page in the comments section, he finally found who was causing this ruckus.

The first major UP Master that shared this episode was the official account of ‘Shaohu Reviews’. As this platform had misrepresented the episode, many viewers had misunderstood the true intention of it. Without even watching the episode, they had started scolding profusely; and Pei Qian had become the unfortunate target of such vitriol.

Pei Qian took a look at the main page of this UP Master. It looked like a very normal program offering reviews. However, embedded in it were many signs of sponsored partnerships.

“You guys have a knack at stirring trouble; not bad. En, I could learn from this. Perhaps this could come in handy in the future.”

Pei Qian made a mental note of this company. This type of account that specialized in such methods was the most professional at taking money to execute all sorts of tasks. It might be useful for Boss Pei in the future.

Pei Qian didn’t mind at all; notoriety was after all still a form of popularity!

Everyone could continue to scold as they pleased; I don’t bother looking at the comments section. I’ll continue with my plan of making my episodes, and I’m sure they will gain in popularity slowly.

You guys can bicker and fight all you want; it is none of my concern.

Even if no one showered any appreciation or praise in the end, money would still come in from the high viewership as part of the incentive plan. Although it wouldn’t be much, it would at least be pocket money.

After all, all expenses of this program are being sponsored by Boss Lin; Pei Qian was making a windfall.

“This is great! While everyone is paying attention to this, I’ll release the next episode regarding MSC as well.”

“Three flagships; popularity would definitely be boosted!

On the other hand, Hu Xiao was directing his own fans and ardent online friends to be on the same page. He definitely wasn’t going to do this dirty and tiresome work on his own; it would ruin his image.

However, he definitely still had to add some oil to the fire.

“I don’t know why people in the comments section are so agitated. I had shared this episode purely from an entertainment point of view; many people then started to talk so much about this. Do you guys have persecution mania?

“Furthermore, I just felt that these episodes were rather interesting. Such a violent dismantling could also reveal some things such as the strengths of the cell phone’s structure, the quality of the internal pieces, organization, etc.

“Actually, this video also shows that it isn’t that Shenhua’s cell phones are not of good quality; it is just that in comparison to foreign honchos such as MSC, there is still room for improvement.

“Take the rear cover of the phone. Although we can’t say that corners were cut, it is evident that not much thought was put into its production. It actually broke apart after a few touches. If it was an MSC cell phone, it is highly improbable that such a problem could happen.

“Including some details of the internal structure of the cell phone—the thought process behind the materials used, we must acknowledge that we still have a long way to go. That Shenhua’s cell phones are cheaper than foreign flagship models is not without reason…”

After seizing on the pretext to kick up a fuss, Hu Xiao immediately felt refreshed and content.

Stirring up trouble was rather comforting!

After sending these messages, Hu Xiao relaxed in the living room as he ate some fruit and waited for everyone’s responses.

Half an hour later, Hu Xiao went to his computer and took a look at the discussions.

As he took a closer look, Hu Xiao started to frown; something was amiss.

“Hahaha, the coordination was done a little too well, right?”

“I had just released such a message and have already gotten a slap on my face?”

“MSC’s flagship model is actually worse than Shenhua’s; it broke with a single touch.”

“This is so laughable. The UP Master had actually done a review on all three models but just hadn’t released the rest. That was unexpected!”

Seeing so many comments of people taking pleasure in other’s misfortune, Hu Xiao was a little stunned.

What was going on?

He hurriedly opened the ‘Hardcore Reviews’ page and found that a couple of minutes after his message had been posted, a new contribution had surfaced.

Hardcore Reviews Three: MSC-B90.

This episode was the same as before in terms of content: immersion in water, dropping from a height, smashing the rear cover, forced dismantling…

Hu Xiao had never expected that MSCB90’s workmanship couldn’t even be compared to Shenhua’s!

Right from the first test on immersion in water, the MSCB90 had been switched on and placed in water for a time. After taking it out, although it looked as if nothing was wrong on the surface, when the UP Master reviewer used the phone; the audio was a little fuzzy, and the phone wasn’t very responsive to touch. Something was evidently wrong!

Although the UP Master had not belabored on this point, all viewers could see this clearly.

Next was dropping the phone from a height as well as smashing the rear cover of the phone. MSCB90 performed even worse than Shenhua’s flagship. After dismantling the phone, the internal mechanisms were extremely complicated-bordering on chaotic.

Of course, the chaos could be reasonably explained by a complex and exquisite structure.

However, the crux was MSC’s rear cover was indeed incomparable to Shenhua’s. Shenhua’s rear cover had only cracked after three or four strikes on it; after one strike, the MSC phone had evidently cracked and could easily be torn apart!

The toughness of a phone’s rear cover depended on the material used to make it. Nevertheless, the sturdier the rear cover was, the more protection it offered the phone. Hu Xiao had also specifically mentioned the flimsy quality of Shenhua’s cell phone’s rear cover, that it was still a distance away from foreign honchos such as MSC. In the end, he had gotten a slap on his face so quickly.

Hu Xiao was a little dazed. Although he was a reviewer himself, these two models had only been released in the market recently. Ordinary reviewers would also examine each cell phone’s specifications. Even if they really dismantled the cell phones, they would do so carefully by heating the rear cover and cutting through the glue seal to take the phones apart. No one would use such a violent method to test which cell phone’s rear cover was harder.

Hu Xiao had only casually briefly commented on Shenhua’s cell phone, and he didn’t expect that the UP Master had swiftly uploaded a new episode.

Furthermore, this evidently wasn’t directed at him.

After Hu Xiao had sent the message on Weibo, a new episode had been uploaded two minutes; this was evidently a coincidence!

Hu Xiao had blood clotting in his throat. Damn it, why is the UP Master of ‘Hardcore Reviews’ repaying kindness with hatred!