This morning, many Facebook influencers suddenly began posting articles.
"Let me reveal the inside story of the Jones family: the famous actress Emily, her father Garrett, and her mother Mia were in love when they were young. There's no truth to the rumors online about affairs and divorce. It was the eldest daughter of the Jones family, Deanna, whose mother Olivia did everything to marry Garrett, breaking up a loving couple."
The posts hit the trending list around five in the morning.
Logically, this was when night owls were going to bed.
Early risers were having breakfast.
This should be the time when the fewest people were on Facebook.
So how did it suddenly trend?
Lance was thinking, his expression serious.
Then, the poster on Facebook started commenting again: "Garrett arranged for Deanna to marry the son of the Cody family. He did it out of love for his daughter who was living away from home. He had no other better candidate because the eldest daughter of the Jones family had a bad reputation!"
Gradually, many people began to gossip, asking, "Is this true?"
The pinned comment was: "What happened to the eldest daughter of the Jones family?"
The public's attention gradually shifted from Emily to Deanna.
That pinned comment seemed like someone was guiding it.
Within minutes, it had a lot of likes.
The number of likes was unusually high.
Soon after, other influencers started revealing: "Six years ago, Deanna slept with a gigolo on the eve of her engagement, causing a huge scandal. Garrett cared for his daughter and found her a wealthy family to marry into. He never expected to get a malicious slander instead."
More and more influencers came out to clarify.
The comment sections were filled with many paid commenters trying to clear Emily's name: "Emily is innocent. When Mr. Howard was so sad, she comforted him, and he developed feelings for her. That's how they got together."
"How can such a perfect match be called scum?"
Emily's fans were driving the narrative.
In an instant, public opinion shifted, and the entire internet was in an uproar.
"I used to think the eldest daughter of the Jones family was innocent. Now it seems she's just a bitch!"
"Whether Emily is a good person is debatable. But Deanna is definitely not a good person!"
"Why doesn't she just die? She's disgusting and shameless!"
The voices insulting Deanna reappeared.
Netizens tend to follow the crowd, easily swayed by influencer posters.
Lance frowned deeply as he read this.
He put down his phone, not wanting to see any more of those hostile comments.
"Mr. Mercer, someone is manipulating public opinion," Xavier said confidently.
Lance nodded. "It's obvious."
It was clearly done by the Jones family.
To clear Emily's name and protect the family's reputation, they used money to manipulate public opinion.
The Howard family was definitely involved too.
But this method was truly disgusting.
To protect one daughter, they trampled on another.
It was truly unacceptable.
Lance sneered, "The Jones family and the Howard family are really showing their ugly side."
Xavier clicked his tongue, thinking about those comments and feeling a bit sympathetic.
The insults from netizens were too harsh.
He sighed, "Dr. Deanna is also Garrett's daughter. It's been six years since that incident. Even if Dr. Deanna really did something wrong back then, he shouldn't be so cruel to her! Anyone who didn't know better would think Dr. Deanna was his enemy!"
Xavier felt full of sympathy for Deanna.
After spending time with her, he felt she wasn't a bad person and didn't deserve to be ruined by public opinion like this.
Hearing this, Lance frowned even more deeply.
He threw his phone to Xavier, leaned back in his chair, and instructed Xavier, "Deanna is now crucial to my treatment. To ensure she can focus on treating me without distractions, silence the influence of that trending as soon as possible. I don't want these trivial issues affecting my treatment!"
A fleeting shadow passed through his eyes.
Xavier nodded solemnly. "Understood!"
At this moment, the Howard family villa was filled with a heavy atmosphere.
Early in the morning, Raphael and Emily sat on the sofa in silence.
As newlyweds, this should have been their happy time.
However, after last night's wedding, they hadn't slept because of Deanna's issue.
Emily hadn't taken her eyes off her phone.
Her bridal makeup was ruined by tears, with streaks still visible on her face.
After crying all night, her eyes were swollen to slits.
Raphael felt heartbroken as he held an ice pack to her eyes.
"No!"
She slapped his hand away.
She looked aggrieved and very unhappy.
Raphael sighed and placed the ice pack on the table.
Having not slept all night, dark circles formed under his eyes, and he looked very tired.
But he couldn't sleep either.
Since they saw scandal about Emily spreading online last night, their moods had been terrible.
The power of public opinion far exceeded their expectations.
Emily cried immediately and clung to Raphael, asking what to do.
Calls from her agent and assistant came one after another.
She was completely flustered.
It was Raphael's quick reaction that saved part of her reputation by paying off some media outlets to clear her name.
But this had made Emily very unhappy.