This money... It all came from loans that needed to be repaid to the bank.

Even so, after accounting for litigation fees and compensation for the 15,000 defendants, he still netted over thirty million.

Old Zhang and the nursing home had also given him a "thank you fee."

After deducting the bank’s "interest," his total assets amounted to eighty million!

He was less than eighty million away from his modest goal of one hundred million.

In the past, he would have definitely chosen to coast, thinking this was a huge sum.

But after this incident... he increasingly felt how poor he was.

He couldn’t even handle fifteen thousand people. If he faced an even bigger internet mob in the future, would he just have to watch helplessly?

"If I get a chance in the future, I really need to find a way to make some money," he couldn’t help muttering.

「In the following days.」

Qin Mu shuttled between the nursing home and the Mountain and Water Garden District, maintaining a simple routine of going to work and coming home, spending his days leisurely.

Meanwhile, he submitted a refund application to the court and repaid all the bank loans.

On the phone, Pei Xuanqing, the bank manager, was beaming. He said that Qin Mu should definitely choose their bank next time he needed a loan.

Besides, the television station’s apology caused quite a stir in Jin City.

Many social media outlets began various "analyses" of the matter, making it a hot topic of conversation for Jin City residents.

When Li Weiguo and the others learned about it, they looked regretful, criticizing the TV station for lacking backbone.

"They apologized in less than an hour? That TV station is really spineless, right?"

"Running a TV station like this has no future. I heard that some TV station even sued a traffic cop a while back, accusing them of infringement."

"I also heard a story where a TV station used a few minutes of video someone had spent two months filming, didn’t pay a cent, and when the person confronted them, they were fobbed off with 2,000 yuan."

"Sigh, so spineless. I think Jin City has no heroes left."

"..."

Previously, the TV station staff had also interviewed them, and they had assumed the station informed Qin Mu.

But there wasn’t even a word of explanation.

After publication, the article and video did go viral, but not for long.

Qin Mu soon found out. After one phone call, the TV station promptly deleted the content and issued an apology, all without the slightest resistance.

This left them feeling very dissatisfied. They enjoyed watching a good fight; one without resistance was no fun.

Seeing this, Qin Mu just chuckled and shook his head. He was already used to the old folks’ reactions.

Since the TV station had apologized, he didn’t pursue the matter further. After all, they had only sought traffic, hadn’t profited from it, nor had they fabricated facts.

On this point, the TV station still maintained a degree of professional ethics.

"By the way, Old Zhang has been gone for several days. Which country in Europe is he in now?"

"He called back last night, said he was in Turpan or somewhere."

"Turpan? That’s in our Xinjiang. He clearly said he was in Isela."

"Isela? You mean Israel, right? Wasn’t that the country he visited the day before yesterday? I hear the people there are incredibly smart."

"..."

In the courtyard, Li Weiguo, Song Tiancheng, Su Yongnian, and the others started chatting idly again.

As they talked, the conversation turned to Zhang Qingyuan and Feng Cuihua.

The two had joined a tour group and gone abroad several days earlier. They called back every day to boast to their old friends about what they had seen and heard overseas.

They were the only two from the entire nursing home who had ever been abroad.

"Hey, Old Zhang’s calling again!"

Just as everyone was chatting, Li Weiguo’s cell phone suddenly rang. The caller ID showed Zhang Qingyuan.

Li Weiguo smiled and answered the call. He was just about to ask Old Zhang what new and interesting things he’d encountered, when he heard Old Zhang’s urgent voice from the phone, "Mr. Li, is Xiao Qin there? Quick, give the phone to Xiao Qin! I’m being sued!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.

The volume on the basic phone was very loud, so even without speakerphone, everyone else heard Old Zhang’s words.

Surprised, they all looked bewildered. Old Zhang and his wife were supposed to be on vacation, so how had they gotten entangled in a lawsuit? And this time, they were the defendants?

The main issue was, he was abroad and didn’t speak the language. How could he possibly have gotten into a dispute?

In everyone’s eyes, Old Zhang couldn’t even speak Mandarin fluently, let alone any European languages. What do they even speak over there, English or some other foreign tongue?

"AHEM. Old Zhang, don’t panic. Take it slowly. What exactly happened?"

Qin Mu, seeing the situation, took the phone and calmed Zhang Qingyuan with a few words.

On the other end of the line, Zhang Qingyuan finally settled down and took several deep breaths. Sighing, he said, "I think I’ve been scammed by the tour group."

Then, filled with frustration and indignation, he recounted what had happened.

It turned out that he and Feng Cuihua had joined a domestic tour group and flown abroad, traveling through several countries.

But gradually, he noticed something was amiss with the tour group.

After arriving in a foreign country, the tour guide actually started openly selling bottled water on the bus for one hundred yuan per bottle.

Moreover, it was a forced purchase; everyone was required to buy one.

Their group was an elderly tour group, consisting mostly of seniors, with only a few younger people accompanying their parents.

When these few young people tried to resist, they saw several foreigners, each over 1.9 meters tall, standing behind the guide, and instantly abandoned the thought.

Everyone obediently bought the water.

And this bottled water was the most common kind, the type that sells for two yuan a bottle domestically.