On Weibo, Xu Qingyan, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke up.
She reposted Xiyu’s Weibo with the comment:
[Xu Qingyan]: I’ve been following this matter. As a teacher, I know Luo as someone kind, sincere, humble, and hardworking. I believe in his character and professional abilities. As an artisan, I despise plagiarism and am disgusted by malicious competition and sabotage in the industry. The truth will prevail, and justice is in people’s hearts.
Once Xu Qingyan spoke up, Miss Shao and others who had held back for so long could no longer stay silent. One by one, they reposted Xiyu’s Weibo, describing what a lovely person Teacher Luo was in their eyes, expressing their support and strongly condemning Mr. Fang and [rrmft0429].
Besides these acquaintances, many people who didn’t know Zhan Xi and Luo Jingyu also reposted. Some were Xu Qingyan’s students, some were original hanfu brand studios, and some were craftspeople from other industries who had participated in craft fairs together, all speaking up in support.
Although except for some hanfu studios with hundreds of thousands of followers, other craftspeople only had between a few thousand to tens of thousands of followers, incomparable to entertainment celebrity drama, this incident still stirred up quite a wave in the small hanfu and craft circles.
The logic chain of the whole incident was very clear. Anyone who read Xiyu’s long Weibo post could understand the point: Mr. Fang and Teacher Luo went from being partners to competitors. When Xiyu first started with pressed flowers, he came down hard with suppression, employing a series of malicious tactics, wanting Teacher Luo to fail on his own and never be able to recover in the pressed flower industry.
The PR team at Huashang Hanfu was practically ready to set off firecrackers in celebration. They quickly reposted the two “Fish Playing with Lotus” Weibo posts and wrote a long statement supporting Xiyu, saying they would not tolerate those who falsely accused Huashang and Teacher Luo of plagiarism, and would definitely use legal weapons to defend original designs and brand dignity.
[rrmft0429] tried to fight back, posting on Weibo that her design draft was indeed completed on the 18th, but Teacher Luo’s hairpin design was drawn on the 15th, and a friend who visited her house had seen it, probably that friend leaked it and Teacher Luo saw it.
Xiyu generously reposted this Weibo.
[Xiyu Pressed Flower Art]: Oh really? Then prove it to me! [Dog head emoji]
Netizens immediately commented:
[Netizen 1]: @rrmft0429, didn’t you say you never showed the design to anyone? Now suddenly there’s a friend?
[Netizen 2]: Xiyu said early on that the draft was photographed by that Fang person, their story never changed. @rrmft0429, you changing your story like this is very emmmmmm…
[Netizen 3]: @rrmft0429, hahaha! You said it yourself: Oh really? Then prove it to me. Just prove that your draft was indeed drawn before Teacher Luo made the hairpin, then we’ll admit you copied the drawing from Mr. Fang pretty quickly, hahaha!
The most confused were those netizens who had attacked Xiyu and Luo Jingyu earlier.
Faced with the evidence Zhan Xi threw out, the fans of “Little Fish Fish” and Guan Rujie had complicated feelings. However, most people quickly realized they had taken the wrong side, and then felt anger. How they had attacked Teacher Luo before, they now attacked [rrmft0429] and “Little Fish Fish” the same way.
Their Weibo comments instantly turned into a bloodbath, filled with unspeakable insults.
The comments under Xiyu’s Weibo were much more harmonious.
[Netizen 1]: I need to apologize to Teacher Luo, how can those people be so disgusting!!! Support Teacher Luo in suing them! Death to plagiarists! May those who falsely accuse rot in jail!!
[Netizen 2]: Wuwuwuwu my house didn’t collapse, so happy, Teacher Luo’s flowers are the most beautiful in the world! Quickly climbing over to Xiyu’s side, everyone must come see my Teacher Luo’s absolutely beautiful hands~~
[Netizen 3]: After following this whole drama, I just feel human nature is so complex. It’s just breaking up a partnership, why do these terrible things to drive someone to death? Heaven sees what people do! Now let’s see how those three respond, will there be another twist?
[Netizen 4]: There won’t be another twist, right? They even got it notarized. Between someone who’s studied for ten years and a newcomer, think about it – there’s no need to plagiarize, right? Could it be Teacher Luo can’t design on his own? Just because he went independent, his brain stopped working and he can’t design anymore?
[Netizen 5]: It turns out it’s not just plagiarism, but actual framing… I was too naive [kneeling] How can there be such stupid people? Are they legally illiterate??
[Netizen 6]: Why doesn’t this Fang person go write scripts? What talent!
[Netizen 7]: Blind guess @rrmft0429 and @Miss Rujie are the same person, fight me if I’m wrong!
[Netizen 8]: This law student noob will point out a path for Xiyu, there’s a crime called cyber defamation, established in 2013. This rookie thinks this case qualifies for criminal charges!
[Netizen 9]: I’m probably one of the few who never believed Teacher Luo would plagiarize from the start. Seeing Xiyu’s new Weibo made me cry tears of joy, really cried!! Started in the hanfu circle in sophomore year, bought Teacher Luo’s flowers first time. Now I’ve already graduated, I buy one of Teacher Luo’s custom pieces every year. Just received one bought from Little Fish Fish this year, the quality is really unspeakable, I’m planning to return it and buy from Xiyu instead! Will follow Teacher Luo forever!
…
—
“Brother Fang, what should we do? Can I delete those Weibo posts?” Guan Rujie cried loudly on the phone. “How could you deceive me? You said you were sure they had no evidence, that’s why I listened to you and made things big. Now they’ve brought out evidence, what am I supposed to say? They’re all cursing at me! Wuwuwuwu…”
Fang Xu was also at his wit’s end. After more than a week had passed, Zhan Xi and Luo Jingyu suddenly produced iron-clad evidence, even notarized by the notary office, leaving them unable to even say anything about the other side “faking friend circles.”
At this point, he and Guan Rujie were both playing dead on Weibo, feeling that anything they said would be wrong. They wanted to delete their Weibo posts, but Zhan Xi said she had already preserved their posts as evidence, so deleting them would be useless.
Looking at the number of reposts, it had already exceeded 500, and they were all their original Weibo posts. Would they really face legal charges?
Fang Xu tried to comfort Guan Rujie: “Rujie, don’t panic first. We can’t delete the Weibo posts, deleting them would show we’re guilty. Just insist that a friend saw that draft, maybe they took a photo when you weren’t paying attention, and you only just found out about the leak now.”
Guan Rujie asked through her tears: “But if they sue me and ask which friend it was, to bring them out as a witness, where am I supposed to find one? I only showed this image to you, and that was through WeChat. Can I say it was you?”
“Are you crazy?” Fang Xu was furious. “Don’t drag me into this! You can’t admit that you know me! I’ll insist that I didn’t take their photos, even if their image leaked, it wasn’t me who did it. As long as I don’t admit it, they have no evidence to prove it’s related to me. At most, netizens will just suspect me based on their words, but there’s no concrete proof, understand?”
Guan Rujie was stunned: “You mean… you want to distance yourself and let me take all the heat? If they sue, they’ll just sue me alone?”
Fang Xu softened his tone: “I’m not distancing myself, it’s just that if we link me with your alternate account, it would be concrete proof, and things would get even more unsalvageable. Rujie, trust me, they’re just talking, they won’t really sue you. If there needs to be compensation, brother will help you, don’t worry.”
Guan Rujie screamed: “How can I not worry? This isn’t about money! I don’t lack money! I don’t want to go to jail! If they find me through Weibo, they’ll know I’m Guan Rujie! Can you really distance yourself? How am I supposed to stay in this circle anymore?”
“Tch.” Fang Xu was speechless. “Even if they know you’re Guan Rujie, you can still say this was your action alone, I didn’t know about it. Rujie, remember, absolutely don’t admit to plagiarism, don’t say you got the image from me, just insist it was your own inspiration, your own drawing, seen by a friend. That friend, you can find someone random, pay them, say they’re studying abroad or something, that they posted the image on some foreign social media platform and later deleted it. Didn’t you study in Russia? You can find someone!”
Guan Rujie: “…”
After a moment of silence, her tone became calm: “Fang Xu, I don’t want to cooperate with you anymore. Give me the money for the flowers I made in August, I calculated it, one hundred and twenty thousand, not a penny less. I won’t make any more flowers later, you can find someone else to make them. If you don’t give me the money, I’ll expose everything about you and me. If I’m going down, you’re not getting out alive either.”
Fang Xu roared: “You’re thinking about this at a time like this? Don’t you see how many returns there are in the shop? Just those things you made, even I can see they’re not up to par! Back then you confidently said your skills were as good as the deaf guy’s, but what happened? Rujie! We’re in this together, at times like this we should stick together. You’re in the open, I’m in the shadows, Brother Fang promises to protect you. That deaf guy really doesn’t like causing trouble. How about this, Brother Fang will think of a way to beg him, we’ll pay compensation, settle this thing, try to get them not to sue you, how’s that?”
“No!” Guan Rujie was very firm at this point. “I don’t want to wade in these muddy waters anymore. You give me the money, I’ll use my alternate account to beg them, if compensation is needed I’ll come find you again. Now you’re complaining about my skill level? That’s not what you said back then, and besides! I didn’t ask you to take so many orders! With fewer orders I could maintain quality, but with so many! It’s impossible to maintain both quality and quantity, did you think I was a machine that didn’t need rest?”
It all started in March when Guan Rujie actively sought out Fang Xu to explain her intentions.
She was from Qiantang and had studied pressed flowers in Russia. After returning to China, she occasionally took orders for Lolita accessories, but in recent years, this business couldn’t compare to hanfu accessories in China.
Guan Rujie wanted to enter the hanfu circle but had no connections. She accidentally discovered that “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers” was based in her city, so she went to find Fang Xu and asked if she could outsource some work to her.
Privately, Guan Rujie only saw Fang Xu’s place as a stepping stone, thinking that after one or two years, when she became familiar with the hanfu circle, she could go independent. Like Miss Shao and Little Miss Zhu, she was young and beautiful, and could establish herself as a beautiful pressed flower master.
After seeing Guan Rujie’s works at that time, Fang Xu was noncommittal, and the matter was dropped.
Later in June, Fang Xu actively sought her out, asking if she would be willing to cooperate with him if he and his partner split up.
Guan Rujie knew her own skill level and was a bit nervous, but still answered “willing.” Fang Xu then said if she was willing, she needed to help him with something. If the deaf guy went independent, he would become “Little Fish Fish’s” biggest competitor. If they wanted to continue the pressed flower business, they needed to blacken Luo Jingyu’s reputation.
Everything was planned by Fang Xu. “Huashang” was just a bird that happened to fly into the net. Even without Huashang, there would have been other brands affected. Even if things hadn’t happened in July, they would have happened in August, September, or some other time.
Fang Xu knew Luo Jingyu’s work habits too well. His original idea was just to ruin Luo Jingyu’s reputation, making “Xiyu” forever carry a stigma.
Even if Luo Jingyu later changed his name and brand to start over, with Fang Xu’s familiarity with his work, he could still expose him. In other words, even if Luo Jingyu struggled to survive in the pressed flower industry, he would never be able to rise to prominence.
Things were going exceptionally smoothly. Fang Xu was originally just observing, but then Luo Jingyu came and beat him up, completely angering him, and he impatiently made the incident bigger.
Luo Jingyu was so impulsive, he must not have evidence! If he had evidence, why would he risk jail by coming to beat him up?
Fang Xu regretted it now. How could the deaf guy have kept an ace up his sleeve? He had really been careless. Now the situation had become very awkward. Guan Rujie was nearly driven crazy, and there were massive refund requests in the Taobao shop that he hadn’t approved yet.
If he approved them, it would be a loss of over two hundred thousand, plus a pile of useless accessories, and he’d still have to pay Guan Rujie, or she would become even more desperate. If he didn’t approve them, he couldn’t drag it out! Customers would go complain to Taobao, this matter was really difficult to handle.
The fault lay with that fool Guan Rujie. Why did she have to say she hadn’t shown the design to anyone? If she hadn’t said that one sentence, they could have held out a bit longer.
Fang Xu comforted Guan Rujie for a while longer before finally hanging up the phone. He wondered if he should really go beg Luo Jingyu, offer money, would he agree to minimize the matter?
If it weren’t for Zhan Xi, Fang Xu felt his chances would be greater, after all, all these years, Luo Jingyu always seemed to let himself be pushed around when facing him.
When did things start to change? It was from that “Good Fortune” flower arrangement, then later the “Cherry Blossom Tree.” The little deaf guy met that sharp-tongued girl, and gradually became bolder.
—
Two days after Xiyu’s long Weibo post, Zhan Xi, Luo Jingyu, Pipi Xia, and Luo Xinran sat together, staring at two pressed flower hairpins on the table.
One was a rose hairpin, one was a cockscomb hairpin, both were designs Luo Jingyu had made for Fang Xu’s hanfu festival flowers.
“How does it feel? Look good?” Zhan Xi asked Luo Xinran and Pipi Xia while drinking water.
Pipi Xia scoffed disdainfully: “Are you kidding? Just this? Give me a few more days of practice and I could do better, manly pressed flower master!”
Zhan Xi almost spat out her water laughing.
Luo Xinran also shook her head: “Rough, not delicate at all. Before I brought these over, I showed them to some friends who don’t know about pressed flowers and asked them to guess the price. None of them guessed over a hundred yuan.”
Zhan Xi picked up the rose hairpin and examined it from all angles: “She sells them for three or four hundred. You can’t say she’s completely unskilled, she does better than me at least. But if you say she’s skilled, making them this carelessly is too perfunctory. What do you think, Little Fish?”
Luo Jingyu sat very properly, looking at these two hairpins, with mixed feelings in his heart.
He had no emotional attachment to Fang Xu, but he did have feelings for “Little Fish Fish Handmade Pressed Flowers” – after all, it was a workshop he had built up with his own hands. Now that he had left, “Little Fish Fish” was producing such poor quality items, and they were his designs too. It felt particularly awful, and he even felt like he had let down those old fans of “Little Fish Fish” who had always supported him.
Luo Xinran asked Zhan Xi: “How did your talk with the lawyer go later?”
“Cyber defamation.” Zhan Xi pointed at Luo Jingyu. “This crime requires the victim to file charges in court – it won’t be prosecuted otherwise. Little Fish needs to sue them. We have all the evidence, and they did the preservation notarization when it had already been reposted over 500 times. The impact was quite big, thanks to them tagging so many people themselves.”
Luo Xinran asked again: “So will Little Fish go ahead with the lawsuit?”
Luo Jingyu looked at her, then at Zhan Xi. Zhan Xi answered: “Of course we’ll sue! We absolutely won’t settle this privately. We still need to discuss more with the lawyer, and also coordinate with Huashang’s side.”
Seeing Luo Jingyu purse his lips with an uneasy expression, Luo Xinran asked puzzled: “Does Little Fish have some concerns?”
Zhan Xi looked at Luo Jingyu and held his hand, saying: “It’s not really concerns. He’s very angry, it’s just that he’s never encountered something like this before. The lawsuit requires him to appear in person to sue, and he’s a bit uneasy, after all, Fang Xu… did show him kindness before.”
“Come on, that debt’s been repaid long ago, sue him to death!” Pipi Xia said fiercely. “I’m so angry I could die! These two aren’t even human. Little Fish, why didn’t you call me when you went to beat him up? This won’t be settled without breaking a few of his ribs!”
Luo Xinran kicked him. Luo Jingyu glanced at him and lowered his head.
It had been many years since he’d gotten into a fight, and his skills were mediocre. It was already a miracle he hadn’t been beaten down by Fang Xu.
Zhan Xi said: “Xinran, can you believe it? Just these past two days, our shop has gotten over three hundred orders, and they’re still increasing! I’ve set inventory limits. Little Fish will only make them until the National Day holiday ends, no more after that, just until we sell out. Also, Huashang added to our contract – they want fifty more sets of that ‘Fish Playing with Lotus’! My goodness, I feel so bad for Little Fish, how long will this take to make?”
“I guess it’s a blessing in disguise.” Luo Xinran thought for a moment, then asked, “By the way, when you sue, can you only sue that alternate account? Can you sue Fang Xu? He’s the mastermind behind all this.”
Zhan Xi said: “If that alternate account is Guan Rujie, then we can drag Fang Xu into it. It depends on what that account says. Fang Xu is quite cunning, a master of manipulation. I’m worried he’ll convince Guan Rujie to take the fall alone, letting her foolishly be the scapegoat.”
“For a legal case, Guan Rujie wouldn’t be that stupid, right?” Luo Xinran said. “But she must have evidence in hand, otherwise what if Fang Xu refuses to admit anything?”
—
Fang Xu indeed planned to deny everything, but he hadn’t expected Guan Rujie’s tolerance to be so fragile. After she asked him for money twice and he kept stalling, Guan Rujie exploded.
She used the [rrmft0429] account to post several voice-altered phone recordings on Weibo. The recordings were edited, all featuring a male voice telling a female voice what to do – how to explain her design inspiration, where in Qiantang there were lotus ponds blooming for her to photograph, how to frame “the deaf guy,” saying her hairpins and flowers were made too well and didn’t look like a newcomer’s work, telling her to redo them…
She didn’t say who the man was, but the female voice was clearly herself. She asked netizens, was this entirely her fault? She was just being used as a pawn! If Xiyu and Huashang wanted to sue, they should go after the real culprit, not her! She was under immense mental pressure now, she had depression, she couldn’t sleep, she had tried to self-harm, she hadn’t gained anything from this, she was forced into it!
Netizens: “…”
The evidence came surprisingly fast, and it couldn’t be more damning.
This development was truly unexpected, even Zhan Xi was stunned.
Netizens quickly noticed a key point in the recordings – “deaf guy.”
Who was the deaf guy?
Was it Teacher Luo?
Teacher Luo was deaf?
No way!
From start to finish, very few netizens knew Luo Jingyu was deaf. Most were people who had met him at craft fairs, and they had all tacitly avoided mentioning this fact.
“Little Fish Fish’s” fans definitely didn’t know – Fang Xu had “protected” Luo Jingyu well for four years. Xiyu’s customers didn’t know either, even Huashang’s Susu didn’t know!
After [rrmft0429]’s recordings came out, this incident evolved from an initial plagiarism controversy to a legal case, and now because it involved insulting a disabled person, it became a public event that rapidly fermented online.
Many disability rights protection organizations were outraged. Hearing the constant use of “deaf guy” in the recordings, they suppressed their urge to curse violently and spoke up one after another to condemn this, demanding an apology and hoping Xiyu wouldn’t settle privately but would definitely expose this behind-the-scenes manipulator in the light of day.
Luo Jingyu also saw these messages, but he couldn’t hear the audio. He asked Zhan Xi what was said in the audio that made everyone so angry.
Zhan Xi hugged him and said: “Little Fish, trust me, you don’t need to know.”
After getting Luo Jingyu’s consent, Zhan Xi also posted a Weibo.
[Xiyu Pressed Flower Art]: Yes, Teacher Luo is indeed hearing impaired, living in a silent world since childhood and communicating through sign language. But he is an angel, with the warmest smile and purest heart. This has never been our focus – Teacher Luo’s hearing impairment hasn’t affected his professional skills. Instead, it allows him to find more peace in this noisy world, to better endure solitude, to create the purest and most beautiful flowers. Thank you everyone for your concern, Teacher Luo will continue working hard.
She attached a photo to this Weibo – one day, Luo Jingyu was sitting on the balcony, surrounded by his lush flowers and plants in the background. He wore a light gray tracksuit, holding a small white cat in his arms, head lowered, his slightly long and fluffy hair falling down to cover his eyebrows and eyes, showing only the tip of his nose and upturned corners of his mouth, the curve particularly beautiful.
He was a young, clean, wonderful boy with a gentle smile.
No one would use “deafness” to attack him, how could they?
He was simply an angel – heaven had played a small joke on him, seeing him too perfect and giving him a tiny flaw.
But in Zhan Xi’s eyes, this wasn’t a flaw at all. Her Little Fish was perfect – his nimble hands and mind full of wonderful ideas were perfect, his gentle and tolerant heart was perfect, his kindness toward the world was perfect, his love and persistence for the pressed flower craft were perfect, even his tears and occasional sensitive emotions were perfect.
Under Xiyu’s Weibo, the comments were full of encouragement and support, changing from being full of hostility to especially warm.
Luo Jingyu felt somewhat at a loss and signed to Zhan Xi: [Now that they know I’m deaf, will they hate me?]
Zhan Xi cupped his face and kissed his lips, smiling and saying: “No, now not only do I love you, but more and more people are falling in love with you, and they’re all pretty girls. I’m getting jealous!”
Luo Jingyu looked at her with a red face, shaking his head and signing: [You’re the only one in my heart.]
Seeing his serious expression, Zhan Xi couldn’t stop laughing. After a while, she gradually stopped and said seriously: “Little Fish, we must sue them, we can’t be soft-hearted. Any debt you owed Fang Xu has long been repaid. This isn’t just for yourself, but for other original craftspeople who put their hearts into their work, and for other friends who work hard despite physical disabilities like you. You need to set an example for them, let those with evil intentions know that they must be prepared for the consequences of their bad deeds. Adults must be responsible for their actions – we’re not easy to bully.”
Luo Jingyu could only partially understand by reading her lips, but he still nodded. He trusted Huanhuan – she was so clever, she had turned the tables for him. Huanhuan’s opinion was definitely more correct than his, and he was willing to listen. He really couldn’t be so weak anymore.
Five days after obtaining the iron-clad evidence, while the matter was still fermenting on Weibo, Luo Jingyu, accompanied by Zhan Xi and the lawyer, submitted a lawsuit to the court, formally suing Weibo user [rrmft0429] for cyber defamation.
As for Fang Xu, the lawyer said there was a joint crime determination, namely “when the perpetrator knowingly provides funds, venues, technical support, or other assistance to others using information networks to commit crimes such as defamation or picking quarrels and provoking trouble, and jointly completes the related criminal activities with others, meeting the constituent elements of crimes such as defamation or picking quarrels and provoking trouble, they should bear corresponding criminal responsibility.”
In other words, as long as they could expose who [rrmft0429] was, with the evidence of those recordings in her possession, Fang Xu wouldn’t be able to escape.
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