How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 190 Horrifying!

From an economic perspective, taking advantage of others stems from loss aversion. This is because the pain of loss outweighs the pleasure of twice the equivalent gain. Taking advantage of others involves experiencing pain first, followed by pleasure, and then starting with four times the pleasure.

Physiologically speaking, it's because taking advantage of others triggers the body's 'hunting pleasure,' stimulating dopamine and resulting in happiness.

Therefore, from ancient times to the present, humankind has never learned any lessons or evolved in its pursuit of taking advantage of others.

In particular, capitalists, by studying the psychology of taking advantage, have set up various traps that make most people fall for them every day, each time with a different twist.

Since Yuan Shanjiu gave up Tieba and started hanging out in fan groups, he found that his standard of living had risen sharply. He wore clothes recommended by Ma Ruo, applied the Magic Shijia face mask recommended by Jin Zhiyuan, and occasionally got half-price movie tickets from the fan groups. He could also see photos posted by female fans in the fan groups and even had an online romance. His life was much more comfortable than when he was a homebody.

Moreover, they even had extra living expenses, mainly because the fan group Yuan Shanjiu joined would frequently share links to discounted items from other members, with discounts starting at 8% off, some of which were items that male college students like them could afford.

Seeing how well Yuan Shanjiu lived, his roommates naturally followed suit, but since they didn't have access to discount channels, they could only ask Yuan Shanjiu to help them buy things. Over time, he started a purchasing agent business, selling discounted clothes, snacks, movie tickets, restaurant vouchers, and the like.

Not only did he help his roommates with shopping, but he also helped the girls in his class with shopping. After all, online shopping payment processes are very complicated now, and most girls are unwilling to do it themselves, so there is a market space for this.

Yuan Shanjiu only accepted a small fee for his work, but with many orders, he could earn several hundred yuan extra each month, which was quite a sum for a college student.

As the saying goes, "practice makes perfect," and Yuan Shanjiu naturally gained some experience in the process of purchasing on behalf of others. The key was the various fan groups he joined. He initially joined these fan groups to pass the time because he was attracted by the personalities of Ma Ruo and Qu Shou, but now they have become information channels that can generate profits. Although he is not yet a sophomore, he has basically seen the end of the road for sports school students.

Seeing the news about Wang Yao starting a business in college, he also decided to follow suit. After all, pursuing a sports career was too tiring and demanding. He wanted to see if the business of reselling products for profit was worthwhile, so he joined a large number of so-called "bargain groups" in the industry and then shared product links that he thought were valuable to his own reselling group.

Initially, it mainly sold movie tickets, but it gradually expanded to include daily necessities and the like.

Because he could often get discounted movie tickets, Yuan Shanjiu developed a habit of watching movies. On the first day of the release of "Lost in...", he managed to snag a 3% discount on the first-release tickets through a discount group and took a few good friends to see it. The quality of the movie was somewhat beyond his expectations, especially the scene where Wang Baoqiang drinks milk, which left a deep impression on them.

Everyone thought this movie would be a hit and become another representative work of Wang Baoqiang after "Soldiers". Sure enough, the clip went viral on major social media platforms the next day.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shanjiu also received a message in a coupon group that he could use the ticket stub of "Lost in Thailand" to buy milk at a discount in the joint column on the JD.com platform.

A 6L case of Mengniu milk, which originally cost 55 yuan, can be purchased for 46 yuan by simply contacting customer service and uploading your ticket stub for the movie "Lost in Thailand," which is equivalent to a 85% discount!
Meanwhile, imported brands of milk of the same weight, such as Anchor and Oudebao, which cost 80 yuan, are only 68 yuan, a direct 8.5% discount.

This discount was very tempting for athletes like them who usually drink milk like water. Yuan Shanjiu saw the business opportunity immediately and placed an order. JD Logistics offers two options: delivery and self-pickup. In order to confirm the product as soon as possible, Yuan Shanjiu chose the nearest self-pickup station.

After arriving at the self-pickup station, I checked the milk's expiration date and found that the specifications were no different from those in the offline store. Then I started to figure out how to make money from the price difference, even though the rules stated that the ticket could only be redeemed for one order.

However, some experts in the "wool-gathering" groups have shared that it can be used repeatedly, and the platform cannot verify it at all. In other words, this "wool-gathering" can be done repeatedly, which can be considered a loophole in the activity.

Yuan Shanjiu immediately went to the supermarket owner at the school and asked him if he would buy it back at a 9% discount.

For domestic brands like Mengniu, although small distributors in first-tier cities can get goods at around 8.8% off, the minimum order is 500 cases. This puts a risk of inventory pressure on many small businesses. More importantly, small businesses generally cannot get low-priced imported brand goods.

The merchant directly ordered a batch of imported milk from Yuan Shanjiu. Although the price difference was only 3 to 5 yuan per box, if the sales were stable, it would be a considerable daily income, and they could also expand their business to the surrounding areas.

Yuan Shanjiu suddenly felt that he could start a business by taking advantage of this information gap.

Redeeming milk with movie ticket stubs is a kind of scarcity consumption trap called "limited-time special offer". It creates the illusion that "you spend 40 yuan to watch a movie, but can get 8 to 12 yuan off milk", which means you can watch the movie and buy milk at the same time at a cheaper price.

Driven by this dual motivation of taking advantage, even people who haven't actually seen the movie will use fake ticket stubs to try and get a bargain, betting that the platform is unlikely to be able to verify the ticket stubs.

With such substantial discounts, it's natural that many scalpers will emerge.

Yuan Shanjiu is just one of them, but not everyone can get the information gap immediately.

Most of them first tried to collect unwanted ticket stubs from audiences offline and then resell them. Only a few bolder ones simply took advantage of the situation and reused a single ticket stub repeatedly to make a profit.

Because the scene of Wang Baoqiang drinking milk in the movie "Lost in Thailand" went viral, it boosted the overall popularity of milk, resulting in a surge in sales of milk products related to the movie on JD.com.

Especially milk from imported brand specialty stores, led by Lianli. Because of the previous melamine scandal, people lost confidence in domestic brands. 2010 was the year when imported brands made rapid progress. However, because they were basically only sold in large department stores in first-tier cities, many consumers in second- and third-tier cities could not buy them. Now that JD.com allows online shopping, it has directly expanded the user base.

When "Lost in Thailand" broke 400 million yuan at the box office on its second day, the sales of the milk promotion also quietly exceeded 1 cases. Moreover, according to the platform's algorithm, sales will further increase in the next two days as the movie's popularity grows, and warehouses in various regions have begun to request restocking.

For the joint promotion, Wang Yao is only pushing it on a small scale within the offline private domain of Mulan Street. So far, he has not bought any trending searches, in order to give Liu Qiangdong enough bargaining chips and time.

Liu Qiangdong was very astute. He sent the data directly to domestic brands such as Mengniu and Yili, letting them decide for themselves. The imported brands like Lianli, including the agency operation commission, had a total discount equivalent to 20%, of which 5% was Wang Yao's commission as the 'agent'.

JD.com is essentially losing money on logistics, but it can use this opportunity to expand its user base, boost sales, and increase the volume of goods to offset the overall logistics system costs. So even if it loses 5 yuan per order, Liu Qiangdong is willing to do so.

If domestic brands perform well and are willing to offer commissions of 25% or more, BOE could still make some profit.

After receiving subsidies from JD.com, Kanpianer.com not only increased its revenue by 10%, but also boosted box office sales, making it a worthwhile investment.

On June 6th, the day before the college entrance examination, "Lost in..." broke 10 million yuan at the box office on its third day of release, with an estimated box office of 50 million yuan, officially becoming the number one dark horse of this year's low-budget films to achieve a comeback.

The film industry is abuzz with discussion, especially regarding the lead actor, Xu Zheng.

Xu Zheng was considered a top-tier actor in the television industry in his early years with works such as "Li Wei" and "Chun Ba". However, he is not a pure actor, but also a director. Due to the stagnation of his career after graduation, he questioned his identity as an actor, so he took on directing as a side job, intending to make a living behind the scenes.

The 06 film "Crazy Stone" marked his transition from television to film, where he gained a head start by showcasing a rare "Southern-style dark comedy" style in a film industry dominated by Northern-style comedies.

His subsequent starring role in "Love Call" officially propelled him to the position of a second-tier film star. Although he had many stars supporting him in his roles, Xu Zheng did gain a stable audience.

The explosive popularity and positive reviews of "Lost in Thailand" propelled him into the spotlight.

Amidst the praise from southern media, a provocative post suddenly appeared on a movie-watching website, sparking a controversy.

'Ge You and Xu Zheng, two bald men's comeback story.'

The post tells the story of Ge You and Xu Zheng, both of whom experienced setbacks in their early years, leading to hair loss and eventual baldness, before their fortunes turned around and they became comedy stars. Both share a similar shrewd, down-to-earth comedic charm and are both dark horse talents who achieved great success despite limited resources.

Furthermore, the article compares Ge You's representative work "If You Are the One" with Xu Zheng's representative work "Love Call," and proposes a joke that being bald in the entertainment industry can bring good luck.

Subsequently, many media outlets found inspiration in this post and began to compare and criticize the two individuals.

Bald men are carrying the torch for comedy films; who can carry it better, Ge You or Xu Zheng?

These kinds of news stories comparing and belittling each other suddenly flooded the internet.

The question of whether male actors can carry the box office is a hot topic in the film industry, as it not only reflects their star power but also the confidence of investors.

Before "Lost in Thailand," Ge You was undoubtedly the most box office draw among mainland Chinese comedians. Feng Xiaogang and Huayi Brothers relied entirely on him to support their core audience, since Feng Xiaogang had been making the same old "The Dream Factory" movies over the years, living off his past glory.

Whether the emergence of another Xu Zheng of the same type would shake the foundation remains to be seen. After all, the entertainment industry is unpredictable, and with the recent influx of coal bosses and large amounts of capital, no one dares to be complacent.

The first one to be provoked was Feng Xiaopao. He already had a strong desire to dominate the mainland comedy competition, and Ge You was his foundation. Now Xu Zheng was going to directly shake his two foundations. He was riding high on the success of Huayi's listing and was not afraid of Zhao Benshan, so why would he be afraid of a junior?
He spoke out directly on Weibo.

Feng Xiaopao V: I've been really annoyed by the media these past two days. Stop asking me if Xu Zheng might replace Ge You; the two are completely incomparable. I'm busy with the final work on 'Tang Zhen' and don't have time to deal with you guys. 'Lost in Thailand' is a great road movie. The last time I saw such a good film of the same genre was 'Crazy on the Road' in 87." Feng Xiaopao seems to be responding to media harassment, but in reality, he subtly belittled Xu Zheng and implied that 'Lost in Thailand' plagiarized 'Crazy on the Road'.

Public opinion escalated again, shifting from the bald head controversy to plagiarism allegations against the film.

The major media outlets have been quite exhausted by "Steel 2" and "Leaf 2" lately, and are preparing to change things up and focus on "Lost in...".

But the more intense the media discussion, the faster the box office grew.

Faced with the malicious attacks of Feng Xiaopao's blatant plagiarism, the official account of "Lost in..." finally responded, releasing a report celebrating the film's box office exceeding 10 million yuan, but the title was...

"With the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) approaching, I wish all the candidates across the country a happy Gaokao. Please remember to bring your admission ticket, be careful, and double-check everything. Don't make any embarrassing mistakes in the exam room!"

While Feng Xiaopao was still locked in a fierce battle over interests, the crew of "Lost in Thailand" had already elevated the scope of the project to another level.

The media once again fanned the flames, implying that "Lost in Thailand" looked down on Feng Xiaopao and didn't bother to respond.

However, the creative team behind "Lost in Thailand" was not as relaxed as one might imagine.

To celebrate the film's box office surpassing 10 million, Wang Yao and Ren Quan invited the main cast and crew of "Lost in Thailand" to a celebratory banquet.

"Mr. Wang, Mr. Ren, thank you both for your great help with 'Lost in Thailand'. I'm not good with words, but I can express my gratitude in my drink." Xu Zheng raised his glass to express his thanks.

"You're too kind, senior brother. If the film itself weren't of such high quality, even our best efforts wouldn't have helped," Ren Quan said with a wave of his hand and a smile.

"That's not how it works. We approached many publicity and distribution agencies, but they all declined as soon as they heard our budget. It was the two of you who had a keen eye for talent," Wang Baoqiang said with a smile.

Compared to his honest appearance, he is actually not stupid in terms of intelligence or personality. He is just prone to inferiority complex because of his background. Otherwise, he would not have been so easily manipulated by Song Menqing and Ma Jinlian.

There's a reason he's called a 'straight man's succubus': he awakens the softest, most innocent part of every chauvinist's heart, stirring up their protective instincts. Seeing him reminds them of their innocent and simple selves from their youth.

“The right time, the right place, and the right people are all indispensable. When the time is right, heaven and earth will lend their strength. It’s your luck to come,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Mr. Wang, you flatter us. Luck also requires the help of benefactors," Xu Zheng said with a smile. "However, I've noticed that the recent media coverage seems a bit too aggressive. Should we guide it a bit?"

The entire publicity and distribution of "Lost in Thailand" was outsourced to Kanpianer.com. Xu Zheng was not sure if the accusation and bashing of Ge You was part of the publicity and distribution, but he knew that it was better to avoid trouble and that having more friends meant having more options. He was reluctant to offend Huayi Brothers, a big shot in the industry.

“There’s nothing radical about it. I think my senior brother’s comedic talent is no less than Teacher Ge’s, and the two of you, one in the south and one in the north, are a perfect match,” Ren Quan said with a light laugh.

Xu Zheng looked at Ren Quan with surprise.

Although I haven't had much contact with this junior, we are relatively familiar with each other, especially since he started his career at Huayi. How come he now speaks as if he doesn't respect Huayi at all?

Things have really changed.

His thinking was still limited to the entertainment industry's network of connections, and he didn't realize that the capital version had already been put into public beta.

"No, no, I'd be laughed to death if word got out of here," Xu Zheng quickly declined.

“Brother Quan is right. Brother Zheng’s comedic talent is no less than Teacher Ge’s. Besides, you two are from different schools, so there’s no problem comparing you. If ‘Lost in China’ grosses over 100 million, then Brother Zheng will be a miracle representative of Chinese-language cinema,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Zheng was completely stunned.

He already thought the prediction of 50 million in box office revenue was ridiculous, but now Wang Yao is talking about over 100 million, it's terrifying.

"What will happen if it exceeds 100 million?" Wang Baoqiang asked curiously.

"To put it this way, 'If You Are the One' had an investment of 5000 million yuan and a box office of 3 million yuan, a 6-fold return. Your investment was 500 million yuan. If the box office exceeds 3 million yuan, that's a 20-fold return. One Xu Zheng is roughly equivalent to three Ge Yous," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare." Xu Zheng was so frightened that his scalp was sweating.

This young Mr. Wang is so tactless; how could he make such a comparison?

It does sound pretty cool.

"Holy crap, that's awesome! Does that mean I'm practically equal to Uncle Ge?" Wang Baoqiang grinned.

"You could say that. You two have probably been so focused on your creative work lately that you haven't realized the changes in the industry this year. Do you know how much the salaries of top-tier actors in China have increased in the past month?" Ren Quan asked with a smile.

Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang looked at each other and shook their heads.

“50%.” Ren Quan held up five fingers. “Previously, TV dramas were priced at 20 yuan per episode, but now they’re basically starting at 30 yuan. After Liu Tao’s comeback, he filmed a web drama for Sohu, which was 30 yuan per episode. After Huang Shengyi became popular thanks to Boss Wang’s variety show, he now demands 500 million yuan per movie, catching up with Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun from two years ago. And Li Bingbing just took on a China-Korea co-production movie, which cost him 1500 million yuan.”

Ren Quan reported a series of alarming figures.

"Huang Shengyi is worth 500 million now?" Xu Zheng's eyes nearly popped out of his head in shock.

When she made a cameo appearance in "Love Call" back then, she earned less than 30 yuan. Now, she seems to be someone you can't afford to watch.

"It's all thanks to the support of our CEO, Mr. Wang," Ren Quan joked.

"What will Mr. Yang think if word gets out? It's because the film and television industry is overheated right now. In the first half of this year, more than 300 new film and television companies opened nationwide. Many investors are carrying cash but can't find actors to film their movies. It's really reminiscent of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema." Wang Yao smiled warmly.

"So if Zheng Ge and Qiang Ge really do break 100 million yuan with 'Lost in Thailand,' their salaries for their next film will start at least in the seven figures," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"My God, Chow Yun-fat only has over 30 million." Wang Baoqiang muttered.

Xu Zheng's face turned completely red, and the veins on his temples throbbed violently.

Although the company has developed well in recent years, the sky-high salary of tens of millions is enough to offset the efforts of the previous ten years.

"Of course, if we use conventional methods, the chances of 'Lost in Thailand' breaking 100 million at the box office are slim. 50 million is probably the limit. I was just using an analogy," Wang Yao said, changing the subject.

Xu Zheng wasn't stupid; he could naturally understand the unspoken meaning in Wang Yao's words.

The box office revenue seems to depend on Wang Yao's wishes.

Xu Zheng looked at Wang Yao with complicated eyes. He had met many big shots before, but those people could only determine an actor's status and the rise and fall of their career.

But Wang Yao's tone in his words seemed to suggest that he could not only control the rise and fall of actors, but also control the audience and the box office.

How could the industry have developed like this in just a few months?
Shocking!

(End of this chapter)