Chapter 259 Controlling Public Opinion?
Sophia threw her arms around Catherine's waist.
She rubbed against Catherine's slender, soft waist pitifully.
"It's all because after the last gemstone gambling conference, my teacher told me to follow Catherine from now on! Catherine, I'm yours now, so you have to treat me well! When you marry Alexander later, you have to take us along too!"
If Catherine could lead Galactic Aurora Collective and take over Shadow Syndicate along the way, plus snag a handsome husband for herself, then their dream of dominating the border would be just around the corner!
Richard immediately shifted his attention.
"Catherine, how come you came with Alexander this time? When I called you just now, were you two...?"
The angle from where Richard was lying in the room was off - lying on the ground, he could only see Catherine and Alexander embracing, and it looked like they were about to kiss!
Good thing he spoke up in time!
Otherwise, who knows what kind of scenes might have unfolded. Thinking about how pure and kind Catherine would eventually run off with another man made Richard's heart ache!
Catherine said, "After I got the call, Alexander brought me here. I haven't told Charles about this yet. I'll tell him when I get back."
Although the Windsor family children could all handle things independently, they instinctively never hid anything from each other.
No matter what happened, they would tell the others and share their lives with family!
The crew manager came forward with a smile.
"Richard, are you feeling better? The crew is still worried and has arranged a car to take you to the hospital for a checkup!"
Richard raised an eyebrow at the manager and sneered, "Can't keep the news under wraps anymore, so you're hoping we'll come out and do damage control now?"
The manager's thoughts exposed, he nodded with an awkward smile to admit it.
Who knows how it happened - the news had been kept quiet just fine, but suddenly it was all over the place outside, saying Richard and Sophia had gone missing!
Richard's phone was practically blown up by calls from the Windsor family.
Sophia also received many calls from media trying to dig for information.
These things were too coincidental - to say it wasn't deliberate, they wouldn't believe it!
Catherine thought for a moment, "Richard, can we hold off on the damage control?"
"Of course! Catherine, whatever you say goes!"
Richard immediately agreed to Catherine's suggestion without even asking why.
He completely ignored the several crew managers beside him who looked like they were about to cry.
"Mr. Windsor, if we don't clarify things, the crew will suffer huge losses."
Catherine's cool gaze fell on the manager, carrying a disdainful air that made one dare not underestimate her, as if her eyes could see through everything.
"The reason Richard and Sophia got into trouble is mainly due to the crew's security issues. Whether it was leaking the filming location or letting them be attacked late at night, these are all your problems."
The manager still wanted to make excuses, "These were all accidents, we didn't expect something like this to happen."
Catherine let out a cold laugh.
"Then how did the news leak immediately after finding them? Did those messages fly out on their own? It's simply because you saw they were fine and wanted to ride this wave for some publicity!"
"Such a big incident counts as free trending topics. If you have Richard and Sophia clarify things now, the crew doesn't have to take any losses at all."
Not only would the crew not take losses, they could also guide public opinion from the victim's perspective!
After all, it was all those crazy fans' fault - the crew was also a victim.
The manager's eyes shifted, "Ms. Windsor, it's not nice to put it that way! If the crew leaked the news ourselves, wouldn't we be asking to be criticized for poor security? We're also very worried about Richard and Sophia's safety, we would never do such things!"
Catherine's eyes held some contempt.
"Who leaked that information can be found out with an investigation."
Sophia called Venus over, "Venus, track the IP address."
Without a word, Venus pulled out her computer right there.
The crew manager wasn't worried - the signal in this small mountain village wasn't strong. Even getting online required climbing up the mountain to find signal, let alone investigating other things.
But then they watched Venus's hands move non-stop, rapidly typing on the computer. Three minutes later, she turned the screen around.
"It was someone from the crew who sold the information, having those marketing accounts spread the news."
On the screen were several screenshots of the director and marketing accounts.
Without exception, they all said to make the incident bigger!
Only by making it big could the crew benefit from it!
Whether it was hyping up Richard being kidnapped by crazy fans or being harassed late at night, these were all excellent selling points.
The crew could then coordinate by buying some trending topics and sending them to the hospital, playing public opinion perfectly.
Looking at those screenshots, Catherine said disdainfully, "Looks like the director thought it through very clearly, knowing how to guide public opinion. But Richard and Sophia shouldn't become tools for your publicity stunts!"
The director felt somewhat guilty.
Looking at Catherine's sharp, clear eyes that seemed to see through everything, he was terrified!
How could Catherine seem even more frightening than Richard, this long-established movie star!
But no matter how scary, she was just a young girl, supposedly still a college freshman. What would such a young kid know? Just brush her off a bit!
"Ms. Windsor, you don't understand - this is all for Richard and Sophia's benefit! This publicity is real and will all feed back to Richard and Sophia."
"Ms. Windsor, it's normal that you don't understand things in the industry, but we're all thinking about Richard's career development!"
Catherine curved her lips, "For Richard's development, so you sold his address to crazy fans? As far as I know, Richard's current phone number was changed after joining the crew!"
Only the director's team, Richard's agent, and the Windsor family knew Richard's new number.
And the number was registered under Richard's assistant's name - crazy fans couldn't possibly find it!
Unless someone had sold that information in advance, allowing the crazy fans to find Richard's location!
The director panicked a bit!
How did Catherine know about these things?!
They were always very discreet when doing such things, and had already formed a complete publicity model.
The crew sold information to sasaeng fans, crazy fans came to harass and cause some trouble, then the crew bought some trending topics to hype it up.
Catherine must be talking nonsense!
"Ms. Windsor, you can't just say things like that. We would never do something so unprofessional."
"That's right, Ms. Windsor. Richard has been in the entertainment industry for so many years, he understands many principles. If you don't understand, you can leave first!"
This was getting angry from embarrassment, wanting Catherine to leave quickly.
Richard said angrily, "What do you mean? How dare you talk to Catherine like that!"
One hand blocked in front of Catherine, holding her wrist and protecting her behind him.
Alexander, with his sharp gaze, looked displeased, his presence oppressively low. The coldness in his eyes was enough to kill. Just standing behind Catherine earlier had already made the director nervous!
Alexander curved his lips slightly, saying calmly, "Just now, who said my fiancée was talking nonsense? I think every word she says sounds wonderful!"