Chapter 20: Old Li Can Also Spin Dreams
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Li Wenyu’s summons back to the Beijing Film Academy became a joyous comedy as multiple schools competed to recruit him and his graduate students, following the massive success of the foreign network and the astonishing triumph in the sales market.
After collecting more phone numbers from professors at other schools and leaving the teaching building, he was soon surrounded by his roommate Lao Wang and classmates Yu Bo, Huang Xiaolei, Zhang Songwen, and others.
“Lao Wang, what kind of high-level manipulation is this? None of us understand it. The whole internet is buzzing. Yang Lin and Huang Shengyi are representing our mainland beauties, competing against Ah Jiao, Quan Zhixian, and others. This is a real honor for the mainland—such huge attention.”
“Exactly, even the numbers 12-22-08 in the promotional campaign have been suppressed.”
“More absurdly, the advertising fees—back in ’96, Huang Xiaoming’s debut ads were just over a thousand yuan each, but now people are offering 200,000 yuan to have Huang Shengyi shoot commercials!”
“These two junior sisters are making a fortune!”
...
When Old Li returned to campus, even the security guards recognized him. Once the news spread, it traveled fast.
Many students still didn’t know he had filmed the Shark Beach movie, but they knew this ’99 screenwriting major, junior or senior, had gone wild.
His inexplicable stir had propelled the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, the Taiwan Strait, as well as Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines into a fierce contest for the title of East Asia and Southeast Asia’s most beautiful woman.
An online beauty pageant?
Those savvy with VPNs were already on the offensive, pushing Yang Lin’s and Huang Shengyi’s stunning photos and simple Chinese slogans. Many even screenshot foreign netizens’ comments and brought them back behind the firewall for amusement.
The heads of the internet troll squads Li Wenyu had gathered were baffled. They urged their troops to stir up posts and create trouble, but no one expected it to escalate so wildly.
Everyone was dazed, unable to believe they had taken part in and led a major online event that sparked heated debates and keyboard warrior clashes among netizens from multiple countries!
As everyone chatted, Zhang Songwen suddenly coughed a few times. When others turned to him, he explained, “I don’t want to interrupt, but there’s a quirky situation—someone contacted me offering 100,000 yuan to promote our ’97 senior, Le Jiatong.”
“They say Senior Le can also represent our Beijing Film Academy beauties in the overseas competition.”
Yu Bo and Huang Xiaolei were momentarily speechless, stunned.
Li Wenyu chuckled, “That’s how fame works—name and fortune. Investing a bit upfront to make someone popular is normal. I’ll take this job. I’ll keep 60,000 yuan and distribute 40,000 yuan in dividends to all of you. I’ll have Senior Le come see me in a couple of days.”
Le Jiatong was among the leading actresses in the drama Endless Love, though far less prominent than Wei Zhentian or Ah Ru, but she had a brief taste of celebrity status.
Such is fame! Whether she intends to follow Huang Shengyi’s path and recoup her earnings through commercials or has capital backing her push, it’s normal.
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Zhang Songwen opened his mouth, lit a cigarette, and nodded firmly. “I’ll relay the message immediately.”
Yu Bo suddenly recalled something and explained, “Recently, the ’96 class at the Central Academy of Drama, like Hu Jing, has been riding this wave, pushed by troll squads...”
“Ahem, Senior Yan Dancheng from ’96 even said she wants to treat us to dinner and asked for help, ahem.”
Yu Bo wasn’t sick; he was speechless from the 100,000 yuan offer from Le Jiatong.
Yan Dancheng was also their senior, and Senior Le was offering money!
These troll squad leaders already had high daily wages; even splitting 40,000 yuan among them was a nice sum.
Li Wenyu nodded with a smile, “If we do this well this time, we can plan other events later, so the classes of ’99, ’00, and ’01 can lift their own people to fame, just like Yang Lin and Huang Shengyi. We must preserve our troll squad resources.”
“This first attempt might be rough, but it will get smoother. I’ll be flying to Hong Kong Island soon. Before I go, let’s have a proper dinner gathering.”
Already, the ’99, ’00, and ’01 classes had become the largest troll squads in mainland China, influencing internet trends and explosive news.
Properly managed, whether taking external gigs for small money or promoting their own team members, it was a minor matter—just a dream to motivate a group of classmates.
Maintaining this team model, once the internet bubble and winter pass, registering and starting up new platforms would be easy.
A group of students, stirred by the dream, felt both excited and dizzy. Yu Bo quickly asked, “What if seniors or juniors from other classes want to join later?”
Li Wenyu shook his head, “No expansion for now. We have to wait until many of us become famous before recruiting more. Otherwise, just boosting others for free won’t be worth it.”
Everyone understood the logic.
After some more encouragement, he vanished.
The group was left dazed and questioning their situation, especially Huang Xiaolei, who asked, “Guys, what exactly is going on? I don’t get how someone can become a big star without any works yet.”
The older Yu Bo and Zhang Songwen exchanged looks, then Yu Bo laughed, “Don’t you think we’re like the gossip paparazzi teams from the print media era, all colluding to create news and scandals? And the paper even published our stuff.”
“Old Li is right. We need to bring this fire into the online gaming youth—those addicted to games also love the drama.”
Everyone fell silent, contemplating the intricacies involved.
After a while, still unsure of their roles and status, Huang Shengyi came rushing over, panting, “Senior Wenyu? I have big news. Besides someone offering 200,000 yuan for an ad shoot, a film crew has contacted me... a movie crew...”
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Yu Bo, Che Xiao, Zhang Songwen, and others were dumbfounded again. Was this really happening? How rare is it for ordinary drama students to get access to film resources?
As Huang Shengyi and Yang Lin increasingly represented the mainland’s top first and second beauties venturing abroad to challenge Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, Emperor Entertainment was pouring money into promoting Ah Jiao to lead the Hong Kong team’s charge. They even copied the tactic of hiring troll squads to hype Ah Jiao, like their senior Ah Rong.
Most insightful directors and film companies were not slow to react.
...
On November 28, Li Wenyu, having accumulated 16 attribute points without wasting any, boarded a plane bound for Hong Kong Island again with Pang Bing. By then, he had already squeezed Le Jiatong into the beauty pageant battle.
The Hong Kong Island reworked script of “Let Me Embrace Happiness” was over 80% complete and could be handed to Zhang Guorong soon. The other party had rejected the “Unforgettable” male lead role, feeling the emotional depth was shallow.
This one should satisfy Ah Rong.
Having stayed in Beijing for 20 days, the “Unforgettable” script had gained more detailed framework. Pang Bing’s 85-point acting attribute had improved through many plot discussions at home.
No matter how rough the outline, she could understand it was the story of a young woman who lost her fiancé, struggling to raise his son with his ex-wife while trying to move past her grief.
In the first-class cabin, she flipped through the script again and smiled, “Yu Ge, why don’t you cameo as the fiancé?”
Li Wenyu was stunned for a few seconds, then shook his head, “Maybe later. I’m not refusing to cameo, but my acting is terrible.”
His acting attribute was still a poor 50+ points, improved only because his directing skills had soared, helping him grasp many concepts and boost his performance.
Pang Bing bit him twice in frustration, then dropped the subject.
This trip to Hong Kong Island, “Unforgettable” was still tentative. The real project, Hua Ge’s “Miracle Boy,” was set to begin filming in early December, with Ah Zhi finishing “Infinite Resurrection” and waiting to join the crew.
The Xiang family was pushing Zhang Bozhi forward—East Asia and Southeast Asia’s new generation top beauty. The beauty pageant hype was enough to excite many stars and fans, even without works.
(P.S. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year~)