How can you ascend to heaven when you are a star?

Chapter 522 Wandering Among the Stars
After leaving Shanghai, Zhang Wen never stopped moving forward.

Baosheng Group's branches in various locations have all received Zhou Siyi's instructions, so whenever he arrives in a city, the head of the local branch will make preparations for his reception in advance and present him with a local art exam market analysis report, saving him a lot of time.

In this way, at an average rate of one city every two days, he successively finalized the locations and teams for the other five city branches, completing the branch layout in six core cities before August arrived.

On the first day of August, Zhang Wen returned to the capital.

Instead of going straight home, he took a car to Xingxiang headquarters first. He had too many documents in his bag, so he decided to send them back to his office first.

The car slowly stopped in front of Xingxiang headquarters. It was the afternoon break time, and parents and students were constantly coming and going.

As soon as Zhang Wengang approached the gate, someone recognized him.

"Hello principal!"

"Principal Zhang, you've arrived!"

"..."

Parents and students kept greeting each other, especially the younger students, whose eyes showed not only respect but also admiration.

The principals of other art exam training institutions are just principals, but the principal of Xingxiang is not only a principal, but also a famous musician and star promoter, which is an important reason why they choose to study at Xingxiang.

I really hope to be selected by Principal Zhang to enter the special training class and receive his personal guidance.

This is the goal of every student who comes here.

Zhang Wen smiled and nodded to every parent and student who greeted him. As he walked through the gate, he immediately saw many students standing in front of the portrait of "Wenqu Xingjun" (God of Literature) praying... No wonder there was a constant stream of incense along the way.

"Principal, you're back! Did everything go smoothly?" Xu Zining asked expectantly.

"Yes, everything went smoothly." Zhang Wen nodded.

"That's great!" Xu Zining clenched her fist excitedly, looking even happier than Zhang Wen.

In her view, the larger Xingxiang's scale, the brighter the halo above her head.

As one of Xingxiang's initial employees, she sincerely hoped that the boss could make Xingxiang bigger and stronger, and preferably go public. After all, the feeling of being an employee of a listed company is different from that of being an employee of a small training institution.

"How's school? Nothing's happened, right?" Zhang Wen asked with concern.

He will lead Xingxiang to national prominence next, and he doesn't want anything to happen to the school at this time.

"Don't worry, Principal, everything is fine at headquarters." Xu Zining said as she took out her tablet, opened the backend data interface, and swiped her finger across the screen.

"Student attendance has remained stable at 96%, and student satisfaction with teachers has reached 4.98 points..."

"There's another thing. Last Wednesday, someone from an organization sneaked in here, pretending to be a parent attending a class. He also secretly recorded videos on his phone and asked students about the course content and progress. Later, the teacher discovered it. I saw that he didn't cause any trouble and was worried that the parents would misunderstand, so I deleted the video and let him go."

"Ignore them. True gold fears no fire. Our core competitiveness cannot be learned by simply peeking," Zhang Wen said calmly, not taking the matter to heart.

What are Xingxiang's core competitive advantages?
It wasn't the teacher's personal teaching ability, nor Xingxiang's teaching style, but rather his magical abilities as the reincarnation of the Wenqu Star Lord.

Teaching skills can be cultivated, and teaching methods can be learned, but magic cannot be learned at will.

“Okay, boss.” Xu Zining nodded.

"Get ready these next few days. I'm planning to do a live stream on August 5th to answer questions that parents and students are concerned about." Zhang Wen deliberately lowered his voice so that others wouldn't hear. "At the same time, we'll announce that Xingxiang is establishing branches in six cities to promote recruitment for those branches."

Xu Zining was slightly taken aback, but instantly understood what the principal meant.

The first half of the sentence was just a pretext; the second half was the real purpose of this live broadcast.

"Principal, what is the theme of this live broadcast?" Xu Zining asked.

Zhang Wen thought for a moment before saying, "Let's call it 'Wandering Among the Stars'."

“Cloud Wandering Stars? That’s a nice name. I’ll contact the media company right away and prepare for the live broadcast,” Xu Zining said.

Zhang Wen gave a few more instructions before heading upstairs.

Xu Zining handed over the front desk work to Liu Qing, then quickly took out her phone and went to the next office to contact a professional new media company to discuss specific live streaming plans.

In the following days, Xingxiang Art Examination's official account continuously released promotional posters featuring Zhang Wenhe's headquarters building, with slogans such as "Bring your family to learn about Xingxiang" and "The principal personally answers your questions."

The media company edited short videos introducing the headquarters and interacting with outstanding graduates, and released them on multiple platforms. They also launched a "book a live stream and win an art exam gift package" campaign.

It was probably because a celebrity reposted it on Weibo that more than 10,000 reservations were accumulated in just three days, which generated enough popularity for the live stream.

Time flies, and August 5th has finally arrived.

The live stream started promptly at 1 p.m.

Zhang Wen, wearing a white T-shirt with "Xingxiang Art Examination" printed on it, stood outside the headquarters gate, with the Xingxiang Art Examination Training Center building behind him.

At this moment, a huge poster was hanging on the exterior wall of the building, with four characters written on it: "Wandering Among the Stars".

"Welcome parents and students to Xingxiang Art Exam's 'Cloud Tour of Xingxiang' live stream! Today, I will guide you through a virtual school visit, answer your questions one-on-one, and finally, we'll announce some exciting news. So please leave your comments below and let me see your enthusiasm!"

After Zhang Wen finished his opening remarks, the number of viewers in the live stream quickly reached 5,000. Thanks to the promotion in the previous three days, the number of viewers continued to grow and soon exceeded 10,000. The comments section was filled with all sorts of opinions.

"Teacher Zhang, hurry up and write a new song."

"Teacher Zhang, I'm 31 years old and have been working for seven years. Can I still register with you?"

"Why is the tipping feature disabled? I want to tip for a sports car."

"This is the official live stream of Xingxiang Art Exam. You're not art exam candidates, so why are you here making a fuss? Get out of here, unlike me, who isn't an art exam candidate either."

"..."

The comments section was very lively, but no one asked any questions related to the art exams.

Clearly, among the more than 10,000 people in the live stream, many were Zhang Wen's fans, as well as netizens who were just there for the fun of it.

After all, whether in real life or on the internet, there is no shortage of people who want to join in the fun, or what is commonly known as onlookers.

Zhang Wen didn't care about any of that. He didn't care who was in the live stream, as long as it generated buzz.

"The building behind me is the headquarters of Xingxiang Art Examination Training Center, and the three floors next to it are also Xingxiang's classrooms. Currently, the performance majors have classes at the headquarters, while the music and dance majors have classes next door. Now I will give you a tour of the headquarters. If you have any questions, you can ask them in the live broadcast room..."

As Zhang Wen spoke, he walked into the gate of Xingxiang headquarters.

Upon entering, the first thing you see is a grand hall, and on the left side of the hall, a portrait that is at least two meters tall hangs on the wall. When the camera focused on the portrait, countless comments immediately appeared in the live stream chat.

"Teacher Zhang, who is in the portrait?"

"Could the excellent art exam results of Xingxiang students be related to this portrait?"

"Why do I feel like the person in the portrait looks a lot like Teacher Zhang?"

"Teacher Zhang is the principal of Xingxiang Art Examination Training Center. No one is better than Teacher Zhang!"

Seeing the comments in the comment section, Zhang Wen walked to the bottom of the portrait and said, "Everyone seems to be very curious about this painting. Let me introduce it to you. The painting actually depicts Wenqu Xingjun, who blesses students to realize their dreams. It can be considered a kind of spiritual sustenance."

Comments immediately appeared in the comments section.

"Teacher Zhang, is that accurate?"

"Requesting a portrait of the same style."

"Three, two, one, link up!"

Looking at the enthusiastic netizens, Zhang Wen suddenly had an idea: "Netizens who want one can come to Xingxiang headquarters to get one for free. Limited to one per person, small ones."

His idea was simple: even if these people took the portraits home and used them to wallpaper their walls, he would still benefit as long as they remembered to worship them someday.

The portrait is worthless, but the incense offerings are priceless.

What is his purpose in opening art exam training classes? Isn't it just to accumulate good karma?

Even if he doesn't come to class, he can still receive offerings; why not do something like that?
"Teacher Zhang is so generous!"

"I'll go to Xingxiang to pick it up tomorrow."

"Brothers in Beijing, could someone please pick up a copy for me and mail it to me via SF Express, cash on delivery? Thanks."

The surrounding staff were speechless.

Surprisingly, there weren't many people asking about the course, but a huge number wanted to have their portraits drawn.

"Next, I will lead you on a tour of the performance classroom..."

Zhang Wen walked down the corridor to a classroom where a class was in session.

The teacher lectures on the platform, and the students listen attentively below, sometimes interacting with each other. The teacher's lecture is detailed and vivid, and the students listen attentively and enthusiastically, creating a harmonious and high-quality teaching scene.

If there were only one classroom like this, it might be staged for a photo shoot, but Zhang Wen visited more than a dozen classrooms in a row, and they were all like this, which is enough to show how outstanding Xingxing Xiang is.

At this point, some questions about art exam training finally appeared in the comments section.

Zhang Wen left the classroom, looked at his phone screen, and said, "This user named 'There's a bone in the egg' asked: Principal Zhang, is it too late for someone with no prior acting experience to start learning acting in their senior year of high school?"

After reading the question, Zhang Wen looked at the camera and smiled as he replied, "There's absolutely no time. Every year, Xingxiang accepts many high school seniors with no prior experience to apply. Through targeted physical training and dialogue polishing, they eventually get into their desired art schools. Xingxiang's core principle is to customize programs based on the students' individual needs; different levels of experience have different training courses..."

User 1423553 asked, "Could you elaborate on the promise of a full refund if I fail the art exam?"

"Well, in the entire art exam training industry, only Xingxiang dares to make such a promise. I think many people are concerned about this issue, so let me explain in detail..."

In the live broadcast room, questions came one after another, and Zhang Wen would answer them as soon as he saw them, answering them in great detail and without reservation.

Not only the parents and students who asked the questions, but even netizens who were just joining in praised the answers, saying they understood them and wanted to enroll.

"Shills, they're all shills!" Li Lehua looked at the comments in the comment section, curled his lip in disdain, but his eyes were filled with jealousy.

Jia Hua's number of applicants this year has been halved, even only one-third of the number in previous years, which has filled her with anger.

Previously, Jia Hua, backed by Tianxi Media, was a highly sought-after institution in the art exam training industry, attracting numerous parents and students. But this year... it's failed miserably, almost to the point of exhaustion.

And all of this is because of the person on the screen!

"President Li, this Zhang fellow is too eager to show off!" Zhou Maoquan, standing to the side, said with a tone full of hatred.

Xingxiang already had a great reputation in Beijing's art exam circle, and now with its frequent live streams, its online popularity has also increased. Isn't this leaving no way for its peers to survive?
Can we please stop this involution?

Li Lehua glared at Zhou Maoquan and said irritably, "If you can recruit more students for Jia Hua, you can also show off like him."

In her view, the fact that the other party, as the principal, could not recruit students was a sign of incompetence, and it was useless to try to shift the blame to others.

"..."

Zhou Maoquan immediately lowered his head and dared not speak, for the other party was his boss.
Seeing that Zhou Maoquan didn't utter a single word, Li Lehua became even angrier and said coldly, "Old Zhou, I think you've been staying in your comfort zone for too long these past few years. Even your business skills have started to deteriorate. Not only can you not beat your competitors, but you can't even retain your employees. You're really getting worse as you get older."

Zhou Maoquan shuddered, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. He sensed a strong killing intent in his boss's tone.

If Jia Hua's current situation does not change, he will definitely be fired by the boss.

"Mr. Li, I've actually already thought it through. In a few days, Jiahua will also do a live stream so that more people can learn about Jiahua," Zhou Maoquan said, straightening up.

"Hmph!" Li Lehua snorted coldly. Although his live streaming was somewhat following Xingxiang's lead, it was still better than doing nothing.

Zhou Maoquan unconsciously swallowed and whispered, "President Li, I'm not as famous as that guy surnamed Zhang, so could you arrange for one or two celebrities to do a live stream with me? With celebrities on the show, we're sure to attract a lot of parents and students."

Li Lehua thought about it and thought it was a good idea. Zhang's live stream became very popular because he attracted attention by receiving donations from celebrities.

If a celebrity appears in Jia Hua's live stream, it will definitely bring higher viewership to the live stream, even surpassing Xing Xiang and that guy surnamed Zhang.

Tianxi Media has many shareholders, while Jia Hua only has her and her best friend behind her. Using Tianxi Media's resources to help Jia Hua is also helping herself.

If you don't put in the effort yourself, are you expecting others to make mistakes and shut down your own company?

“Okay, I’ll find two celebrities to participate in your live stream tomorrow to suppress Xingxiang’s popularity,” Li Lehua said.

Tianxi Media has no shortage of artists.

Even if you change it every day, you won't repeat it for a month.

"Thank you, Mr. Li, thank you, Mr. Li." Zhou Maoquan bowed repeatedly, feeling relieved. He confidently promised, "Please rest assured, Mr. Li, I will definitely make Jiahua's reputation shine again and restore its former glory. I will not let you down."

"Hmph, that's for the best." Li Lehua said, then continued watching the live stream.

……

(End of this chapter)