Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

The group of male university students smiled shyly. Among them, Cao Pengfei from National Chengchi University chuckled and said, "It's really quite satisfying to watch thousands of people speak exactly as we designed it."

Yang Che paused for a moment: "As the saying goes, a lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth, and the same applies to aesthetics. Everyone should remember that huge black and white poster in Wangfujing in August, right?"

"I remember, that was the guy who removed my freckles, right?"

"What 'freckle-removing guy'? That's a model guy."

"I heard that the removal was due to complaints about it affecting the city's appearance."

"..."

Yang Che clapped his hands: "Regardless of what kind of guy he is, the model on that guy will soon become China's number one model. She has just shot many covers for various magazines in China, and she has also flown to Paris."

Why?

"Because Westerners have repeated it countless times, that Chinese people who look like that are beautiful and sophisticated. Even if you don't accept it, they want you to know that's how you make a living. So people in the fashion industry thought that way first, and that's why we have that GG photo. The public doesn't accept it now, but once this model steps onto the international stage, the domestic public will accept it. Not only will they accept it, but they will also change their previous attitude and elevate her to a pedestal."

Yes, it was either foreigners or Chinese who discovered Lv Yan; that classic photo of freckled lilies was also taken by a Chinese photographer.

It was heavily criticized when it was first posted, but if I post it again next year, a lot of people will praise it.

The group of men had varying expressions, and half of them felt uncomfortable.

This is normal, because in this day and age, the moon is always brightest in foreign countries; this is a consensus and there is no denying it.

Just like Yang Che, the reason why the media reported on him so extensively and admired him was because he sold his movie to foreigners for a high price.

Seeing this, Yang Che waved his hand and said, "Those who don't understand can think about why foreign models all have big eyes. Not to mention Asians, Japanese and Korean models, who are also Asians, all have big eyes."

Because they are preparing to enter the Chinese market, but they need to cultivate it before entering. You've all learned the art of calling a deer a horse, right? It's the same principle. Once they get Chinese people to follow their narrative logic, then whatever they say becomes the truth. A box of Wan Zi Qian Hong that costs two yuan can be sold for thousands or tens of thousands of yuan with foreign packaging.

I'm not saying this to discuss ideology with you. I run a company and need to make money. I'm talking to you about the psychology of communication and the herd mentality.

The reason I'm paying you such a high part-time salary is because I need you to be proactive, not just posting machines.

I knew during the interview that each of you is capable of handling things independently; don't waste your abilities.

The group of lively male students looked at Yang Che in silence, their eyes either showing confusion or sparkling.

Yang Che said that foreigners are calling a deer a horse to Chinese people, but isn't he also "brainwashing" them now? Of course, you can also call it rebuilding values. You have to think like me, otherwise what's the point of doing this?

Seeing that the rambling conversation had yielded some initial results, he clapped his hands and laughed, "Of course, it's an objective fact that Fan Bingbing is prettier than Zhao Zhetian."

Everyone was taken aback by these words, then burst into laughter.

In just two days, the topic shifted from overwhelmingly favoring Zhao Zhetian, to the idea that aesthetics are subjective, and now to the objective fact that Fan Bingbing is more beautiful—at least on Tianya. What they need to do next is spread this viewpoint across the entire internet.

Today's internet is like a sesame seed compared to a watermelon compared to traditional media, but it's just a spark that ignites a fire.

Of course, it's not just about praising Fan Bingbing; there's also the song, and in a while, interviews with the main cast and crew by media outlets in Japan, South Korea, and other countries will be shared and discussed.

As mentioned earlier, these are just preludes, practice exercises for them. The real test will come when the movie is released next month.

Nowadays, China Film Group and Berna Films are still the main players, mainly in offline promotion and distribution.

Of course, Yang Che will also come up with corresponding solutions and participate in every step in real time.

Time passed by day by day.

On November 15, China and the United States formally concluded bilateral negotiations on China's accession to the WTO. This signifies the removal of the biggest obstacle on China's path to WTO membership and lays the foundation for negotiations with other major trading partners.

That day, Fan Zeping called Yang Che for half an hour.

The next day, Yang Che was summoned to China Film Group by Wu Hongliang, where he chatted with Han Sanping for a while along with Ma Dong. Of course, he didn't say anything shocking, nor could he.

He only said he hoped to jointly issue an anti-piracy reporting notice with the Copyright Bureau and the Anti-Pornography and Anti-Illegal Publications Office, and he could offer 100 million yuan in cash as a reward pool. Han Sanping said he would study it and also told Yang Che not to act on his own.

So Yang Che had nothing more to say.

On November 17, Yang Che officially "enrolled" at the Beijing Film Academy, which was actually a preparatory course for the postgraduate entrance examination.

After no longer needing to travel for work, Yang Che spent about half his time attending classes at the Beijing Film Academy. He also met many people who came to study there, many of whom were from various local television stations, such as Hou Hongliang from Shandong TV. However, he did not encounter anyone like Xiao Yi from Hunan Province again.

On November 20th, Gugu Gaga Network Company was officially established. Its office address is located in the east wing of a courtyard house in Tayuan Village, which is Tazhai after Yang Che made several slips of the tongue. Currently, there are only two and a half people: a programmer named Zhang Jianbin, an operations, finance, administration, business, graphic designer and general manager named Yu Wenhao, and half a person, Yang Che, who is the product manager and boss.

合伙公司，杨澈投资10万占股51%，于文浩投资8万占股40%，张建彬投资1万占股9%。

The website address is 360, after all, their slogan is "One homepage, the whole world." It provides various categories of content and website entrances, including portals, forums, news, games, wallpapers, and stocks, offering a simple and convenient internet navigation service.

Similar to modern websites, it features densely packed hyperlinks and text, which is only possible with current internet speeds and computer CPUs. However, the categorization is clear and easy to read, thanks to Yang Che's layout design and precise font spacing.

Because Zhang Jianbin is a PC-based programmer, the company currently only has a desktop navigation website; he can't develop a mobile version, and he can't even think about hiring anyone—they won't be able to. Even if they had specialized skills, they'd either be in the US or serving their country...

There aren't any on the market. Putting aside the technical issues, there aren't any mobile phones on the market that can access the internet. Even if you could buy one from overseas, it wouldn't have internet access and would have to wait until next year... So we can only research it for now.

Yang Che's other tasks involved signing distribution contracts—a large number of contracts, with various local companies and cinemas, since there were no cinema chains. He also followed up on online promotion and offline distribution.

As for his personal life, aside from flying to Guangzhou to visit Fan Bingbing on set for a day, he spent the rest of his time in Beijing.

He had been with Cheng Hong twice, both times in the carriage.

Another time was with Wang Fei (which will be mentioned later).