This celebrity is absolutely wicked.

Chapter 293 The Burning Study Group's Complaint Meeting
You even went so far as to make strange noises on stage; who can compete with that?

Even Lu Ran had to admit defeat.

Jiang Yaofeng strongly suspected that if Jiang Yixuan's groaning hadn't been reported, this topic would have been the number one trending topic.

The only thing that comforted Jiang Yaofeng was that no one was saying he was blind anymore.

All the firepower was drawn away by Jiang Yixuan.

Looking at Lu Ran, who was ranked second on the trending searches, Jiang Yaofeng felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

"From now on, I'll take a detour around any place where Lu Ran is!"

Meanwhile, backstage at the Beijing TV New Year's Eve Gala.

Lu Ran had already changed out of his performance costume and met up with Li Quan.

He was called away by staff shortly after stepping down from the stage and chatted with You Zhenhao for a few minutes.

Comrade You Zhenhao pointed out that Comrade Lu Ran's performance of "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" at the New Year's Eve Gala fully demonstrated the positive spirit and excellent work style of young literary and artistic workers in the new era, laying a solid foundation for the Beijing TV New Year's Eve Gala. He hoped that both sides would further strengthen cooperation in multiple fields in future work and jointly promote the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art.

Comrade Lu Ran stated that creating and performing for the people is the duty of literary and artistic workers. Being able to participate in the CCTV New Year's Eve Gala, an important cultural promotion activity, is both an honor and a great responsibility. He will always adhere to the people-centered creative orientation and looks forward to deepening cooperation with Director You Zhenhao to make new contributions to the prosperity and development of socialist literature and art.

After discussing these matters, You Zhenhao also told Lu Ran about Zhang Lian's situation.

Upon hearing that it was a branch venue in Qincheng, Lu Ran was quite interested.

After meeting Li Quan, Li Quan told Lu Ran about a whole bunch of directors' invitations.

"Judging from the situation of each branch venue, the Qincheng branch venue is the most suitable."

Li Quan has already analyzed the situation for Lu Ran.

In the entertainment industry, being able to appear on the Spring Festival Gala in your debut year is already a remarkable achievement.

Many singers didn't even qualify for an invitation, let alone a branch venue.

"Okay, let's make it the Qincheng branch venue then."

Li Quan smiled happily.

"I'll make the contact."

Six months ago, Lu Ran was just a minor celebrity, and now she's going to be on the Spring Festival Gala. Which agent in the entertainment industry has that kind of power?

Although this has little to do with him, it would have been the same no matter who was in his shoes.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

Lu Ran is simply too outstanding.

Soon, Li Quan and Zhang Lian finalized the time.

After the New Year's Day holiday, Lu Ran went directly to the Spring Festival Gala directing team's office in Qincheng to discuss the specifics.

On the way back to the hotel, Lu Ran checked his phone.

Upon seeing the top trending topic on Weibo, Lu Ran's expression changed.

After watching the video clip of Jiang Yixuan edited by netizens, Director Lu became suspicious.

"Has the Chinese entertainment industry become this corrupt?"

Is this really not some kind of game?

He showed his phone to Li Quan.

Li Quan: "Chen Ke has found out everything. Jiang Yixuan fell one night and injured his lower body."

Lu Ran imagined the scene and immediately tensed up, getting goosebumps all over.

This is a pain that no man could bear.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

Lu Ran sighed.

Back at the hotel, Lu Ran first called his parents.

After the conversation, he went to check out the Combustion Study Group.

The Combustion Learning Group currently has three pilot groups, each with two thousand members.

Group members kept coming in and out.

Because tonight is the last episode of the free version of "The Beginning" to be released, and it's still being serialized, the group activities are still ongoing.

These activities still consist of interactive Q&A sessions.

In addition to popularizing knowledge about fan circles and raising awareness, there are also some common sense tips and historical and cultural tidbits.

The atmosphere in the group chat was quite good; these people had forgotten that the group was actually Lu Ran's fan group.

"I'm new here. Isn't this Lu Ran's fan group? Do we really not need to vote? Lu Ran is being overshadowed by Jiang Yixuan on the trending topics."

"Who is Lu Ran? Isn't this a knowledge exchange group?"

"What does it matter to us whether Lu Ran trends on social media or not? He wants to outshine Jiang Yixuan on social media? My brother is a top star, does he even deserve it?"

"Report! There's a Jiang Yixuan fan here, get him out!"

Lu Ran's eyebrows twitched as he looked at the situation in the group chat.

"Well, so you lot are ungrateful, pretending you don't know me now?"

This group of fans is starting to transform into silly and funny people.

Director Lu needs to make his presence felt tonight.

Lu Ran opened his memo app and wrote a short speech draft on it.

After writing down the speech, he called Li Quan over.

"What's wrong?" Li Quan asked curiously.

"I'll record a New Year's greeting video for my fans."

"This needs to be recorded on video."

Li Quan set up the camera, adjusted the lighting for Lu Ran, and then began recording.

Before long, the New Year's greeting video was recorded.

Lu Ran edited the video on his computer and had Li Quan post it to the three fan groups of the Burning Study Group. He also sent a copy to the initial fan representative group and finally posted it on Weibo. [Secretary Li: Lu Ran wishes everyone a Happy New Year.]

After seeing the video, netizens clicked on it one after another.

In the video, Lu Ran appears solemn.

"Dear fans, on the occasion of the 2021 New Year's Day, I would like to extend my sincere holiday greetings to you as an artist."

Over the past year, we have witnessed the launch of "Sailor" and shared the glory of "Future Singer". In the new year, let us continue to encourage each other with three principles.

First, we must adhere to the correct value orientation and spread positive energy works; second, we must maintain a spirit of overcoming difficulties and improve our professional skills; and third, we must practice the principle of art serving the people and create more high-quality works.

I sincerely wish you all a prosperous and successful new year: may your career be as vigorous as the song "Serving the Country with Utmost Loyalty," your life as warm and fulfilling as "A Steady and Happy Life," and your ideals as smooth and unobstructed as "Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies."

Let us greet the arrival of 2021 with renewed spirit!

In the group chat, everyone started talking at once.

"Happy New Year!"

"Wow, Director Lu, is your New Year's greeting this formal?"

"Thank you for your blessing, Director Lu. You may leave now."

"Who is this person? Why is he wishing us a Happy New Year in our group chat?"

People started making all sorts of silly and ridiculous comments.

After everyone chatted for a while, a new group announcement popped up in the group chat.

Let's leave the hardships of 2020 behind and the joy of 2021. We're launching a "Complaints from the Entertainment Industry" event in this group. Everyone can vent their frustrations and dig deep into their troubles, so we can enter the new year with a fresh perspective. All participants will receive a New Year's gift.

The group members were a little confused after seeing the announcement.

What does it mean to complain?

What does it mean to complain bitterly?

What is meant by "digging up bitter roots"?

Secretary Li spoke up at this point.

"I have two questions: Does value come from fans or from celebrities? And when you become a fan of a celebrity, what are your reasons for becoming a fan?"

The group chat started to get lively.

"Shouldn't celebrities provide value to their fans? Celebrities provide emotional value to their fans."

"I think it's the fans who provide value to celebrities. If no one likes a celebrity, then he has no commercial value."

"To be honest, I haven't really thought about why I'm a fan of this celebrity. I guess it's just for fun?"

Secretary Li spoke again.

"Then I have a question: when you vote for your favorite celebrities, are you happy?"

Someone quickly replied: "Happy."

"Was it because you were happy at the time, or is it just because you think about it that you feel happy?"

The group chat fell silent again.

At this moment, Lu Ran was using Secretary Li's account to navigate between three group chats.

This activity was his idea on a whim.

complain!

You have to tell me your grievances!

You can't change these people's thinking at its root if they don't complain.

Under his guidance, the conversation in the group chat gradually got to the point.

“I watched a talent show before, and I spent all but 200 yuan of the 1,000 yuan my mom had left with me. I used all the money to help that star climb the charts. My mom asked me for money to buy some seeds for the family, but I didn’t have any money. My mom’s savings were in a fixed deposit and she couldn’t withdraw them. I didn’t know what to do at the time, and later I realized how stupid I was.”

"Once, I joined a fan group to hold a birthday party for my favorite star. I didn't eat breakfast for a month and gave away all the money I had saved. Later, I found out it was a scam."

“Once when I was following my idol, the big fans in the group said how miserable my idol was, how he was suppressed by the company, how few appearances he had, and how his data was declining. They told us to help my idol boost his data. At that time, one person took more than a dozen accounts and stayed up all night to do data for my idol. Later I found out that it was all a lie by the company, and they were deliberately playing the victim.”

Former fans continued to expose the things they had encountered.

Lu Ran clenched his fists as he watched.

These entertainment companies will stop at nothing to squeeze money out of their fans.

People are prone to doing stupid things when they're excited, so why not just let these fans stay excited?

Only by staying motivated can one continue to make contributions.

Those with money contribute money, and those without money do the data work.

"Luckily we met Lu Ran, otherwise we wouldn't have known that everything we encountered before was a trap."

"What's past is past. Anyway, I won't believe these people's nonsense anymore. Real life is much more important than idol worship."

"Okay, I understand. We won't spend a single penny on Director Lu."

As the grievance session progressed, everyone began to comfort each other.

At this moment, in an apartment.

Xiao Mei, a die-hard fan of Jiang Yixuan, began to waver.

She originally planned to infiltrate Lu Ran's fan group to gather dirt on him and get revenge for Jiang Yixuan.

During the time spent in the group, not only did they not find any dirt on Lu Ran, but they also felt a different atmosphere in the group.

Her fans' faith wavered.

This is a community where there is no exploitation by big fans, and it is a community where fans communicate on an equal footing. No one will say that you are not worthy of liking your idol if you don't have money to vote for them, and no one will say that you will be expelled from the fandom if you don't do data work.

"I was wrong about how I was a fan before, completely wrong. I was so stupid!"

After much deliberation, Xiaomei finally decided to do something.

She's going to expose Jiang Yixuan!

(End of this chapter)