How did this star become more popular after his scandal?

Chapter 325 Romance Hype
After Jiang Yu finished his conversation with President Yang, he stopped worrying about it. Since President Yang told him not to concern himself with these matters and to leave them to them, his only task now was to focus on finishing filming "Secret."

The filming of "Secret" is now nearing its end. He believes that, based on the current situation, it should be completed by the end of this month, or even earlier, around the 10th or 20th.

The film will be sent directly to post-production. For urban fantasy romance films like this, there aren't many special effects to speak of. It's relatively simple, and post-production is convenient. Two months should be more than enough time. Jiang Yu even thinks that if production starts in November, post-production can be completed by December and the film can be submitted for review, allowing it to be released around New Year's Day or the Spring Festival.

Judging from this progress, Jiang Yu felt it was quite possible to achieve. If it were released during the Spring Festival season, he would be very busy during the holiday.

He himself is also looking forward to releasing the film during the Spring Festival season, since although the competition is fierce at that time, the audience is also large, and the box office revenue is expected to be higher than that of films released at other times.

Meanwhile, online, many netizens and viewers have already finished watching the newly released Tomb Raider Chronicles and The Great Wilderness Chronicles. Both series are basically updated simultaneously, with two episodes released daily.

The series just launched yesterday, and with today's update, a total of six episodes have been released. Now, after watching the two latest episodes released today, a heated discussion has erupted online.

These two TV series just finished airing tonight and have already been trending on social media.

"I feel like The Grave Robbers' Chronicles is getting better and better. The two episodes that were released today have already gotten to the main point and started going into the tomb. It's so exciting!"

"Yes, yes, I love watching these strange and unusual things, especially tomb raiding and adventure stories. They're so exciting and I love watching them. I hope there will be more works like this on the market."

"I feel like The Legend of the Great Wilderness is really failing. The two episodes that came out today were all about the interactions between the male and female leads, and they didn't get to the main plot at all. Where was the male lead's cultivation?"

"Exactly, exactly. This is a TV series adapted from a fantasy novel. I came here to watch the male lead level up and fight monsters, not to talk about the male and female leads falling in love. If that's the case, I might as well watch a female-oriented novel."

"If you don't like it, then don't watch it. I think the romance between the male and female leads is interesting."

"Exactly! The romance between the male and female leads is so good. I came here specifically for them. I just want to see them fall in love. What are male-oriented novels? Those cultivation stories are so awful. I'd rather read some historical romance novels."

"I personally think WarnerMedia's adaptation is pretty good. I like watching romance stories, not fighting and killing, like in The Lost Tomb, which is too scary."

"No way, are you fangirls out of your minds? This is a male-oriented novel, and he actually adapted it using a male-oriented novel. Then please respect the original work. Who's going to read this? It shows absolutely no respect for the original work."

……

With the release of two new episodes today for the TV series "The Lost Tomb" and "The Great Wilderness Chronicles," viewers have been overwhelmingly positive about "The Lost Tomb," while the reception of "The Great Wilderness Chronicles" has become polarized.

Many fans of the original novel are complaining that the TV series adaptation of "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" has ruined the original work, turning it from a fantasy novel about leveling up and fighting monsters into a romance drama.

This situation is unacceptable to many fans of the original work, who feel that the adaptation has ruined their beloved classic novel.

This has led to many fans of the original novel criticizing Warner Bros. Entertainment's adaptation as utterly terrible. Even online, in the comment sections and bullet screens of the TV series "The Legend of the Great Wilderness," you can see many fans of the original novel complaining.

However, there are also many fans of the male and female leads of The Legend of the Great Wilderness, as well as some casual fans. Besides, the adaptation is quite good, and they like to watch this kind of ancient romance drama where the male and female leads are mostly in love.

Meanwhile, on Chu Shaoyang's side, he was also looking at the playback data for "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" sent by TaoChang. The data for the two episodes that aired tonight was similar to that of the premiere last night, without any decline, and even showed a slight increase.

However, when he saw the comments from netizens online, it seemed that the reputation of their "Legend of the Great Wilderness" had become polarized. This made Chu Shaoyang somewhat worried. Although many fans of the male and female leads, as well as casual viewers, were supporting the drama, many fans of the original novel were criticizing it.

It seems that the data for their TV series is still on an upward trend, but the polarized reviews online are making Chu Shaoyang a little worried.

He was also thinking that if their team started slowly but finished strong, while Jiang Yu's team started strong but finished weak, then he would still have a chance to beat Jiang Yu later.

However, if the polarized reviews cause their drama's ratings to fall behind later on, then they will truly lose to Jiang Yu and his team.

Thinking of this, Chu Shaoyang immediately sent messages to his company and iQiyi, instructing them to increase their promotional efforts during this period. He also wanted the male and female leads, along with the main creative team of the drama, to participate in more programs and events to promote the TV series "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" as much as possible.

Chu Shaoyang even went so far as to say that he would allow the male and female leads to hype up their romance, as long as it boosted the drama's popularity and ratings. He said any means necessary would be used.

Furthermore, Chu Shaoyang also knew that in the industry, many TV series or movies, upon release, would require the male and female leads to engage in "couple" hype in order to generate buzz and boost viewership and box office success. This could be genuine or fabricated, but the goal was always the same: to increase the show's or movie's popularity and viewership, ultimately leading to better results.

Now, their drama has already lost to Jiang Yu's group in its premiere, and the viewership is even lagging behind. This is making Chu Shaoyang a little panicked, and he's preparing to use other methods, such as having the male and female leads create a romantic relationship for publicity. This method is old-fashioned, but it always works. Fans love it, and not just fans, but also netizens enjoy it, shipping the characters. This would quickly boost the popularity and viewership of the drama "The Legend of the Great Wilderness."

"Tell them to have the male and female leads participate in shows and events during this period. Even hype their romance is acceptable. You have to boost the popularity, traffic, and even the ratings of 'The Legend of the Great Wilderness'." After sending the message, Chu Shaoyang put down his phone, his brows furrowed. The comments from netizens online kept flashing through his mind. Even Jiang Yu's smug face appeared in his mind, seemingly mocking him, mocking his drama for losing to Jiang Yu.

This made Chu Shaoyang even more irritable. This time, the premiere ratings of their TV series, *The Legend of the Great Wilderness*, couldn't compare to Jiang Yu's *The Lost Tomb*. That was already making him anxious, and now, the episodes released today were receiving polarized reactions online. This made Chu Shaoyang feel even worse.

But in Chu Shaoyang's heart, there was still a glimmer of hope and expectation. He hoped that once the series "The Legend of Da Huan" became popular, it would surpass Jiang Yu and the others.

After all, it's only the fourth episode so far, and the series has just gotten into its prime. He's already seen the exciting plot developments to come, and there's still a lot to come. He just hopes that by the time it gets to around episode 10, the ratings will pick up. Ideally, the ratings should catch up with Jiang Yu's group. Even if they don't, he's secretly praying that Jiang Yu's storyline will collapse and the ratings will plummet, so that they'll still be the ultimate winners.

He himself watched the pacing of Jiang Yu's Tomb Raider Chronicles, and Jiang Yu controlled it very well. The first few episodes were very fast-paced and compact, which is why their premiere ratings were so high.

However, Chu Shaoyang glanced at the episodes and realized that with Jiang Yu's storyline progressing at such a fast pace, it was easy for the plot to fall apart. Therefore, he felt that Jiang Yu's team would likely start strong but then decline, while his own side would start weak but then rise. This was Chu Shaoyang's hope and expectation.

……

In the past two days, the male and female protagonists of the novel "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" have started to hype up their relationship, which has also boosted the popularity and attention of the novel.

Even after the latest updates to "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" these past two days, the viewership has started to rise. The ratings are steadily increasing, all because the male and female leads have begun to promote their romance. Many fans who ship the couple have started paying attention to the drama.

Creating a romantic pairing is a common but effective tactic in the entertainment industry. Chu Shaoyang didn't care about such things; as long as he could boost the performance of "The Great Wilderness Chronicles," he felt he was willing to use any means necessary. He even hired online trolls to discredit and smear Jiang Yu and his team's "Tomb Raider Chronicles."

However, Jiang Yu and his team made no move whatsoever. Regardless of how much Chu Shaoyang and his group hyped up and smeared the Tomb Raider Chronicles TV series, its ratings remained rock solid, steadily climbing. It even seemed to be getting better and better. Far from the scenario Chu Shaoyang and his group had hoped for—a high start followed by a decline—the ratings actually improved as the plot progressed.

Just as Chu Shaoyang and his team's "Great Wilderness Chronicles" were seeing their data climb over the past two days, Tencent Video released a message announcing a live stream.

"Tonight at 7 PM, join Yu Liufeng, the author of The Lost Tomb, on Tencent Video to chat about the stories behind the creation of The Lost Tomb."

As soon as Tencent Video released this message, it immediately sparked heated discussions and attracted attention from netizens, even trending on social media within just half an hour.

"Wow, seriously? Tencent Video actually got Yu Liufeng, the original author of Tomb Raider Chronicles, that's amazing."

"Yes, this author has always been very mysterious. Even on YueDian Chinese website, there's no news about him. He's never participated in any author events, and you can't find any information about him online. Even recently, when the Tomb Raider series premiered, the creative team was all live-streaming, but the author wasn't there. It seems he doesn't even have any social media accounts."

"Help! I was so curious about the author when I was following the novel. Now someone has finally managed to get the author to participate, and it has to be Tencent Video! That's amazing."

"7 PM tonight, right? Great, I have to check it out. Just for Tencent Video, they even managed to get such a mysterious guy like the original creator on board. I have to support them."

"I'm quite curious, who exactly is this author? Judging from the writing style, I feel like it's the kind of middle-aged man with a lot of experience."

"That's not necessarily true. There might be a sense of contrast when writing suspenseful tomb raiding novels. It's possible that it's a female author, or a young author, who knows?"

……

However, this news caused a huge stir both online and within the industry. With the success of the Tomb Raider series and the successful adaptation of the IP, everyone is very curious about the person who created the novel IP, the original author, Yu Liufeng.

Even Chu Shaoyang was slightly taken aback when he saw the news, and immediately realized something.

"They're also starting to hype things up and generate buzz over there."

Chu Shaoyang was well aware that Jiang Yu was indeed the author of *The Grave Robbers' Chronicles*. Previously, the news that Jiang Yu was the original author hadn't been publicly revealed online; in fact, the author's identity had been shrouded in mystery. Now, Tencent Video had invited the original author to do a live stream, which was clearly a promotional and marketing tactic. Chu Shaoyang understood perfectly well that they were probably using this marketing campaign to increase the popularity and data of *The Grave Robbers' Chronicles*, hoping to push its performance even higher.

This period gave Chu Shaoyang a bad feeling. Originally, the ratings of their TV series "The Legend of the Great Wilderness" were rising because of the hype surrounding the romance between the male and female leads.

But if Tencent Video and Jiang Yu's team launch a similar campaign now, and their hype and marketing push the data for "The Lost Tomb" even higher, wouldn't I be unable to catch up?
But now, Chu Shaoyang seems to be helpless. He can only watch as Tencent Video announces the news. Indeed, Tencent Video already has a live stream reservation window, and the number of reservations has reached a million.

This moment made Chu Shaoyang feel like he was punching cotton, which made him extremely irritable.

(End of this chapter)