The very afternoon the old man received the phone call, his son was released.
But this doesn't mean that the system succumbed to some influence—though the truth is likely just that, the operators were still quite careful about following proper procedures.
So, even though the son was released, his legal representative wife was still detained, and the reason for his release was to cooperate with relevant departments in rectifying the platform's order.
If the rectification goes well, then his wife might be released, after all, the words "legal representative" are quite serious, it's definitely not wrong to give them more attention.
As for some people seeing this as "hostage-taking," that's basically overthinking it—does the Official Government need a hostage to deal with you? At most, they're just afraid you'll flee the country.
