How did I become famous?

Chapter 159: Going All Out! (Two chapters, 7000 words completed! Requesting monthly votes!)

"A bet's a bet?" Fang Bie stared blankly at the keys. "What bet?"

The cold-faced, bespectacled man, Su Erge, pushed up his non-prescription gold-rimmed glasses: "It's none of your business. Just remember to return the car to you."

"I have another question."

"explain."

When do we go to the vehicle management office to transfer the vehicle registration?

But how can you say it's mine?

"..." Su Erge barely suppressed the urge to beat him up. "I'm leaving."

"No, Brother Su." Fang Bie grabbed Su Zhe and, ignoring his resistance, pressed him down onto the recliner, opened a can of beer, and shoved it into his hand. "Have a couple of drinks before you leave."

"I'm driving."

"With your status, why are you driving yourself? Why not just call a driver?"

Su Erge sighed, downed half a can of ice-cold beer in one gulp, and then burped: "Alright, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Fang Bie grabbed Liu Mang and the others, who were trying to sneak off for a test drive, and yelled, "You've been drinking and driving? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

After cursing a couple of times, he turned around and said, "Brother Su, there's something I want to discuss with you, it's about Xiao Lin Records."

"Hmm? You're starting to care about this?" Su Zhe was in a good mood. "Tell me, what's the problem? By the way, your songs are pretty good, are you interested in developing a career in the music industry?"

"No, but our problem is how to generate hype for the album?"

"Publicity stunt? Why would she need to create a publicity stunt? As my sister, she only needs to rely on her own abilities."

"You're right, come on, drink!"

Half an hour later——

"Isn't it easy to create hype? You could just post on Weibo to help promote it, wouldn't that be enough?"

Su Erge got drunk.

Fang Biexiao slyly said, "Second Brother, your company is very knowledgeable about this, why don't you just help us with the operation?"

"I...I'm afraid my little sister will get angry." Su Erge's face turned red, and he spoke unclearly, "You little...boy, only if you do this will she...she won't get angry."

Fang nodded and snapped his fingers.

Seven or eight burly men in black suits suddenly appeared from the surrounding shops.

Fang handed the limp Su Erge over to them, saying, "Erge drank too much. Take him home and get some sleep."

"Yes, Aunt Fang." The leader of the men in black nodded, then called two of his men to carry Su Erge, who was still shouting "I'm not drunk," and they left.

Watching the group depart, Liu Mang remarked, "Has Su Ershao's image really crumbled?"

The originally aloof, bespectacled man became a completely different person after drinking heavily.

Fang Bie shrugged: "Everyone has their true self. But that's not the problem right now. The problem is, what should I post on Weibo?"

Xu Qian has been quite unhappy these past few days.

He didn't offend anyone; he was just releasing an album to make some money. Why did he get dragged into this mess for no reason?

Yes, he's the young heartthrob who's about to release a new album.

His last album sold two million copies and he successfully obtained a platinum record certificate from an unknown source.

But that's too unrealistic; netizens simply don't believe it.

In the US, platinum record certification requires one million copies sold to achieve platinum status, ten million copies to achieve diamond status, and half a million copies to achieve gold status.

The number of tickets issued is 30,000 for Hong Kong and Taiwan, 50,000 for mainland China, 250,000 for Japan, and 300,000 for the United Kingdom.

Logically speaking, two million copies should be more than enough for Xu Qian.

The problem is that they calculate this certification based on the standard price of a physical album, which is around 50 or 60 yuan, and digital albums are not counted.

Moreover, each person can only buy one digital ticket.

Xu Qian, on the other hand, sells digital records directly online for five yuan each, and multiple copies can be purchased.

Converting that number to physical albums, it would be roughly equivalent to around 20,000.

Therefore, it's easy to imagine how much padding there is in those two million copies.

Now that his new album is being released at the same time as Su Mulin's, netizens are naturally starting to compare the two songs.

What are Xu Qian's songs?

A four-minute song might have three minutes of pure electronic music or just incoherent humming.

The remaining two or three lines of non-standard English and inexplicable Chinese lyrics are repeated on a loop.

When he holds a concert, all his dance moves are harmonious. If you put him in a novel, he'd be a walking 404!

What song is Su Mulin's?

Although I don't know the other songs on the album, the songs she sang, such as "Sunny Day," "Red/White Rose," "Seven Mile Fragrance," and "Exaggeration," are all top-notch classics.

Aside from the song "Exaggeration" which will be released as a single, all the other tracks will be included in this album.

Who wrote the lyrics and music for those songs?

Fang Biefang, the author of "Blue and White Porcelain"!

His medley has become a classic, and countless fans still regret how classic it would have been if he hadn't gotten sick.

This comparison clearly shows the difference in quality!

Xu Qian even made headlines because of this.

But he was very unhappy.

Because he actually knows how bad he is.

But popular singers rely on their popularity to make a living.

He's under a lot of pressure too.

These days, young fans are fickle; if his popularity drops a little, they'll immediately go find a new "husband."

What use would he be if he had no value at all?

After discussing it with his agent, he reported the matter to the company.

The company also took this matter very seriously. Xu Qian was a young idol they had worked hard to promote, and they even hired a lot of online trolls to hype him up, calling him things like "a 20-year-old pop king" and "a rising star in rap."

Afterwards, they spent money to boost his data and get him a "Platinum Record" certification.

Now this new album is just trying to get another "platinum" status to cash in.

You asked how the company makes money if selling albums results in huge losses?

Of course, it's about making movies and TV series!

The official salary was 150 million, which would be split 50/50 with the film company, and then Xu Qian would get 5 million. The rest would be the company's.

Once Xu Qian's reputation and value have been squeezed dry, we can discard him and promote a new young heartthrob.

Moreover, they could even create a boy band outright, making them as effeminate as possible!

Then we can scam another round of money!

Quite expensive!

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their entire family!

Now someone's stealing the spotlight?

That's unacceptable!

So the company began "operational operations".

In a short time, a large number of online trolls appeared to stir up trouble online.

They dare not criticize Fang Bie, after all, Fang Bie's 120E brainwashed fans are quite fierce.

They didn't dare to criticize Fang Bie's songs, after all, these were classic songs that had been praised by both industry bigwigs Lin Qingjie and Ye Lun.

So who can be criticized?

Of course, we're criticizing Su Mulin, who has no fan base and no connections!

As a result, a large number of posts and Weibo posts attacking and destroying Su Mulin began to spring up like mushrooms after rain.

"What singing skills does Su Mulin have? Isn't she just a nepotism hire? She was already a guaranteed champion on 'The Amateur Singer'!"

This is blatant disregard for the facts and a direct attack.

"Watch your words! Who knows what kind of background she might have! Just think about it. Fang didn't write songs for you or make movies for you, and she directly won the championship on 'The Amateur Singer.' What kind of background does she have?"

This attributes everything about Su Mulin to a fabricated background.

"Judging from her appearance, she's probably already been sexually harassed by Fang Bie! Otherwise, why would Fang Bie treat her so well? He even went to support her while he was sick. Boyfriend and girlfriend? That's even more outrageous! She's sick, and she doesn't care about her boyfriend's health for her own sake? This kind of woman is disgusting!"

This is also a deliberate attempt to stir up trouble.

No matter how you refute it, the other party will always find something to criticize.

After all, they're paid to do things.

While hiring online trolls to stir up controversy, Xu Qian's company also began to increase its promotional efforts for his new album, even going so far as to say that the digital album had already sold 200,000 copies and that he wanted to continue aiming for platinum status with this album.

The Su family, father and his two sons, sat facing each other.

The ever-present carefree smile on Su Shi's face was gone, while Su Zhe's face remained as indifferent as ever.

Only Old Man Su continued to eat his meal slowly and deliberately.

After a moment, he raised his head, looked at his two sons with cold eyes, and smiled: "What's there to be angry about?"

Su Zhe pushed up his glasses: "That company has financial problems. I think we can try to manipulate things."

"There's no need. That's just how it is in the entertainment industry." Old Man Su wiped his mouth with a tissue. "Besides, someone will step in. What's the rush?"

Inside the dormitory of Wenhua College, Zhang Xixi was holding her phone and muttering something through gritted teeth.

Su Mulin, who had just finished showering and was drying her hair, asked upon seeing this, "Xixi, who made you angry?"

"Ah Lin," Zhang Xixi looked up, "it's that young heartthrob Xu Qian again! He's definitely behind this!"

"Oh, then you can stay angry. I'll play the piano for a while. You'll calm down after I finish." Su Mulin didn't care at all; in fact, her eyes even curved into crescent moons.

"Ah Lin, are you running a fever? Or are you just delirious from anger?" Zhang Xixi was stunned. "You can still laugh?"

Oh no, Ah Lin hasn't seen Brother Fang for several days, and she's gotten quite sick.

Should I call Brother Fang and ask him to come over and give Ah Lin some "Fang Bie Energy"?

Hearing her words, Su Mulin laughed even more happily: "Because I know someone, he'll definitely have some amazing tricks up his sleeve, I'm waiting for him to avenge me~"

"Old Fang! You can tolerate this?!"

Fang looked up, completely bewildered: "What?"

Liu Mang was furious: "You can tolerate our young lady being targeted by such malicious rumors? Is that slandering our young lady? That's slapping your entire family in the face!"

And it also slapped Liu Mang in the face!

I put my heart and soul into making this movie, and you're saying it's garbage for Fang Bie to make for his mistress?

Even if it's a sugar daddy arrangement, it's a sugar daddy arrangement for a rich girl!

And I, Liu, am the young lady's number one lackey, what are you trying to do?

Fang Bie said indifferently: "Maybe this is actually Su Erge's reverse strategy. Don't forget what he really said after drinking that day; he actually wanted to create a stir."

At first, Fang Bie was indeed quite angry, but later he understood.

This must be Su Erge's conspiracy!

Otherwise, if it were the other side, they would have directly slandered the young lady like this, and the Su Group would have had no reaction.

It's likely that the other company's stock price has already plummeted and they are preparing to file for bankruptcy.

Then why should I, Fang, be in such a hurry?

Liu Mang sensed something was amiss: "But what's the purpose of doing this?"

"Make enemies, you know. You set up a target for yourself to fight." Fang Bie shrugged. "What's the most satisfying thing? Of course, it's being slapped in the face in public."

When the album is released, it will become clear who is stronger and who is weaker.

Moreover, Su Erge's reverse-targeting publicity has another advantage: it can quickly enhance the young lady's fan base.

In his previous life, Fang Bie was classmates with a writer who wrote novels.

His classmate did something rather unconventional back then.

His classmate was supposedly a decent student, so he gathered a few of his author friends, who were also academically successful, and they had a huge fight.

According to him, "That was a huge melee and infighting among more than 100 authors with 10,000 subscribers!"

I don't know who won or lost, but the end result was that I heard they dominated the bestseller list for several days. However, in the end, their secret meeting was exposed, and the person who started it all, Fang Bie's classmate, had to go into hiding and start over under a different name.

So Fang Bie didn't care at all. It was just hype anyway. He actually felt a little sorry for Xu Qian, who didn't even realize he was being used by others.

He sighed and decided to post a Weibo to ease the tension. He happened to have written something good, which could also be seen as a subtle hint to Su Erge not to push people to the brink.

Soon enough, the Su family father and son, Xu Qian's side, and Su Mulin and Zhang Xixi, who had been paying close attention to this matter, all saw the new Weibo post by "Director Fang Bie".

"I will personally produce Su Mulin's debut solo album, 'Mu Se.' I also believe Xu Qian's explanation is true. I urge my fans and Su Mulin's fans to restrain themselves and not spread cyberbullying to others. Actually, Xu Qian's songs are all quite good; I admire him. His songs have also inspired me, so I've improvised a piece here as a way to promote Xu Qian's new album. Let's all keep things peaceful. @SuMulin @SingerXuQian"

Then below is a recorded audio clip. This audio clip has no background music, only a rather rhythmic English rap.

"Look at this side~It's long and wide~Like this bowl~ it's big and round~"

After listening to the audio, the three members of the Su family laughed, Su Mulin also laughed, and Xu Qian was dumbfounded.

Fang Bie's group of fans, who had been eagerly anticipating the event, finally understood.

Teacher Fang deliberately wrote this nonsensical rap, isn't that just to say that Xu Qian's songs are garbage?

If it's garbage, then why did Teacher Fang praise Xu Qian's song?

Oh, so we need to understand Teacher Fang's words in reverse.

If that's the case, shouldn't we take the earlier statement that it wasn't Xu Qian who hired the online trolls in reverse?

That's simple; a class representative made a summary.

Fang Bie's Weibo post can be summed up in just four words—

Go all out!

I've been quite busy these past few days. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be spending time with my cousin and sister-in-law in Luoyang. My sister-in-law is from out of town, and my cousin is a sophomore who's back for the holidays.

So the three brothers will get together tomorrow afternoon and also get to know their sister-in-law better.

I'll try to release two more chapters around midnight. Once I'm done with these busy days, I'll try my best to resume updating three 10,000-word chapters a day.

I'm a little embarrassed about updating only 7000 words, but it's almost the end of the month, so I'll shamelessly ask for your monthly votes. Thank you everyone!

By the way, here's a mysterious number (to avoid censorship): 686013032

I understand everything I understand.

(End of this chapter)