Chinese entertainment industry has been booming since 2008.

The wave of nostalgia sparked by the "Those Years" music video has not subsided; on the contrary, it continues to grow under the conscious guidance of Zhang Yang's team.

On social media, the "Sharing Youth" campaign is in full swing, with countless netizens sharing their youth stories, faded photos, and regrets, turning the topic of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" into a long-term hot topic. The scope of emotional resonance continues to expand, far exceeding the traditional scope of movie fans.

Just as the emotional appeal of "You Are the Apple of My Eye" resonated with many casual viewers online, several audio clips began circulating in small circles on forums and gossip accounts frequented by seasoned film fans.

The audio quality isn't top-notch, but the conversation is clear and discernible. It's a series of sharp critiques of the film "Chasing Shadows," made by several seemingly seasoned industry professionals in a private setting, after they've just finished watching the movie.

"The story is so clichéd I could recite it by heart, what is this nonsense?"

"There are too many logical flaws. I laughed when I got to the second half. Did the screenwriter write this with their eyes closed?"

"What a waste of such good actors. If the core story doesn't hold up, everything else is in vain."

"To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. Huayi might have misjudged them this time..."

These comments were noticed by Huayi Brothers as soon as they appeared online and were quickly suppressed by public relations. However, Zhang Yang's team continued to update similar revelations from time to time, which still planted the seed of "Chasing Shadows may not be good" among core movie fans and people who follow industry trends.

Although Huayi reacted quickly, attempting to delete the audio and denouncing it as "malicious rumor-mongering," how could the memory and speed of the internet be so easily blocked? The more it was suppressed, the more it aroused the curiosity and rebellious mentality of some people.

Wang Xiaoer naturally wanted to find the people who made the whistleblower revelations, but because the voices had been altered, it was quite difficult to find the people in the conversations by listening to their voices.

.....

Inside Huayi's office, Wang Xiaoer smashed another cup.

"Investigate! Find out who's behind this!"

He roared at his men with a ferocious expression. His intuition told him that this must be Zhang Yang's doing, but he couldn't find any direct evidence.

Wang Xiaoer's assistant carefully reassured him, "Mr. Wang, calm down. It's just a minor incident and won't affect the overall situation. After all, our advantage in screen time is real. As long as the box office figures are good in the first three days, these noises will naturally disappear. How long can a youth film rely solely on fan support? Once the hype dies down, the true attendance rate will naturally be revealed. At that time, the screen time will further tilt towards us, creating a snowball effect."

These words calmed Wang Xiaoer down a bit. He thought they made sense; Zhang Yang's methods, in his view, were nothing more than desperate, low-level tricks. With absolute screen dominance and the powerful marketing and screening offensive of "Chasing the Shadow," all struggles would be futile.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaoer snorted coldly: "You keep a close eye on those media outlets that are smearing us. After 'Chasing Shadows' becomes a box office hit, I will settle accounts with them one by one. Go do your job."

After his assistant left, Wang Xiaoer picked up his phone and dialed Lin Ziwei's number: "I'm waiting for you at the company. I'm really angry right now."

......

June is already summer, which makes filming period dramas quite unbearable. After finishing work, on his way back to the hotel, Zhang Yang casually glanced around and happened to see a small stall making cotton candy.

Yes, Hengdian is such a big place, so naturally it also has night market streets, food streets, and commercial streets.

So it's not surprising that there are stalls making and selling cotton candy.

In his past life, Zhang Yang watched many video bloggers making various fancy cotton candies while browsing short videos. He even tried to learn how to make them, and after half a month of continuous practice, he actually learned how to make fancy cotton candies.

Now, upon encountering a cotton candy stall, Zhang Yang suddenly felt playful and wanted to make his own cotton candy.

Without hesitation, Zhang Yang walked straight to the cotton candy stall, smiled, and said to the owner, "Boss, can I talk to you about something?"

"What is it?"

The cotton candy vendor's stall is very popular; several people are waiting for him to make them cotton candy.

"Zhang Yang! Zhang Yang!"

The customers waiting for the cotton candy were so excited when they saw Zhang Yang that they covered their mouths, and some even had tears in their eyes.

Zhang Yang was a little annoyed to have run into fans, but he didn't give up and decided to give it a try.

"Don't get excited, don't get excited!"

After calming his fans down, Zhang Yang continued his discussion with the shop owner: "Boss, it's like this, I'd like to make some cotton candy by hand to give to my fans, so could I borrow your cotton candy machine?"

Upon hearing this, the cotton candy vendor looked at Zhang Yang in surprise and exclaimed, "You can make cotton candy?!"

"Yes, I've learned that before."

Seeing Zhang Yang's confident demeanor, the cotton candy stall owner readily agreed.

Seeing that the cotton candy stall owner agreed, Zhang Yang immediately started making it, while several of his fans were even recording videos on their phones.

Speaking of which, the boss has quite a lot of sugar here, not just white sugar, but also colored sugars like yellow sugar and brown sugar.

However, the cotton candy the boss made wasn't fancy cotton candy; it was just the simplest kind, a round cotton candy.

Zhang Yang started making it, but gradually, the boss was surprised.

Because Zhang Yang's method of making cotton candy was something he had never seen before.

When the marshmallows were made, they turned out to be three colors and looked a bit like a flower.

This cotton candy doesn't look very big, but it's really pretty.

"Wow!"

When Zhang Yang finished making the cotton candy, the female fans watching were even more surprised.

This was the first time they had ever seen cotton candy like this.

Zhang Yang's technique in making cotton candy was so skillful that even the boss was ashamed of himself.

"Here you go!"

Zhang Yang handed the finished flower-shaped cotton candy to a female fan in front of him.

"Wow!" The female fan excitedly accepted the cotton candy from Zhang Yang.

"Am I really dreaming?!"

This female fan even wondered if she was dreaming.

Zhang Yang made the cotton candy himself, and it even looked like a flower. He gave her such a beautiful cotton candy? Any girl would have the same thought as her.

After making one flower, Zhang Yang started on the second one. This time, he increased the difficulty, making the second flower even more beautiful.

"Wow!!!"

The finished cotton candy drew gasps of amazement from the onlookers.

After finishing making it, Zhang Yang gave the cotton candy to another female fan.

After making another cotton candy, Zhang Yang had his fill of fun. He gave the cotton candy to his third fan and then took out 100 yuan and handed it to the shop owner.

"Boss, here's 100 yuan, thank you!"

Three marshmallows were enough, costing less than 10 yuan. Zhang Yang really didn't skimp on the 100 yuan.