Huayu 16: I Became the Dream-Fulfilling Master for Young Actresses

Chapter 109 I think... it's been so long since I've tasted...

What bothered him even more was that another trending topic was climbing faster than he had expected.

#Trying to poach talent backfires and instead spreads rumors#

He clicked on it and saw that the transcript of the recording had been compiled into a nine-grid long image by a marketing account.

The comments below were more jarring than he had imagined:

He tossed his phone onto the sofa and closed his eyes.

The biggest headache right now isn't Cai Yinong, but how much of his resources Chen Xingzhou still holds onto.

Just then, Yu Zheng noticed his phone vibrating.

It was Xu Junyan calling.

He then showed a slight smile.

"Yan Yan, what's wrong?"

"Zhengzheng, are you alright? But what you did this time was really bad; your attempt to sabotage him was way too obvious!"

Yu Zheng rubbed his temples, his tone tinged with resentment, "I never expected that Chen Xingzhou's people would record phone calls and try to extract information from us."

"And the speed at which they clarified things was too fast; something's not right."

"Chen Xingzhou is a lucky guy."

Xu Junyan chuckled softly, seemingly a little helpless, "So, have you stopped now?"

Yu Zheng nodded, his tone tinged with reluctance.

"This hype ruined a lot of my company's online army. Hundreds of accounts from our online army matrix were banned by Weibo and Douyin through their green channels. A lot of my money went down the drain."

"But that's all we can do now; there's nothing we can do about this kid."

He spent a considerable amount of real money this time.

The copywriting, distribution, and topic maintenance of marketing accounts, as well as the recruitment of online trolls, all require expenses.

All these investments sank without making a ripple, but they also brought a lot of attention to Chen Xingzhou's "Go Go Squid!".

For Yu Zheng, a businessman who is used to leveraging maximum traffic with minimal investment, this defeat has resulted in enormous losses.

But as he thought about it, he came up with another good idea.

He raised an eyebrow, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

"But Chen Xingzhou has too many women around him. I don't believe that such a hot-blooded young man can resist. As long as I catch him once, I can make him bleed profusely."

Upon hearing Yu Zheng's words, Xu Junyan hesitated for a few seconds before slowly saying, "As a friend of many years, I still advise you to take it easy. Your method does sound very good, but as you saw this time, Chen Xingzhou survived under such circumstances. Perhaps there are other countermeasures."

Yu Zheng remained silent for a moment, his excitement subsiding slightly, but the thoughts in his eyes had not yet faded.

"I will be careful."

Xu Junyan hummed in agreement and hung up the phone.

She glanced at the time, walked outside, knocked on Li Yitong's dormitory door, and went inside.

"Sister Yan."

"Um."

"Sister Yan, is there something you need?"

Xu Junyan walked into the room, paused for a moment, and then slowly said, "I saw that Chen Xingzhou was trending on social media last night. The fact that he reacted so quickly means that he had prepared in advance."

Li Yitong hummed in response but did not reply.

Xu Junyan glanced at her again, then suddenly changed the subject: "I heard you spent the whole time with him at the banquet last night?"

Li Yitong felt a slight tightening in her heart, but her expression didn't reveal anything. She said, "He chatted with me for a bit, talking about the premiere of 'Dearest' and asking me to help promote it."

"that's all?"

"Hmm—and there's also the matter of him trending on social media."

Xu Junyan didn't press further, but her gaze towards Li Yitong held a knowing look.

She remembered asking Li Yitong if she and Chen Xingzhou were familiar with each other, and how Li Yitong's ears turned red and she stammered.

After praising him at length, she then added, in a rather blatant attempt to conceal her true feelings, "I won't date him."

Having been in this industry for so many years, how could she not see through their shady dealings?

In particular, last night she deliberately instructed her subordinates to keep an eye on Li Yitong, and their report was that the way Li Yitong looked at Chen Xingzhou was the same way she looked at him in the play.

"Sister Yan?" Li Yitong called softly when she saw her lost in thought.

Xu Junyan came to her senses and brought up the matter again: "I told you before to keep your distance from him because Yu Zheng told me that he was no good."

"But as you saw last night, Yu Zheng failed to poach other people's artists, so he resorted to this tactic instead—"

Xu Junyan was still talking about the things that impressed her about Chen Xingzhou this time, when she paused and said, "So—I plan to find some time to meet Chen Xingzhou."

Li Yitong paused, her eyes flashing slightly: "In what capacity?"

"As your agent," Xu Junyan looked at her, her words carrying a hint of probing, "of course, if there's some other relationship between you, then there's even more reason to talk face-to-face."

Li Yitong didn't rush to deny it, but lowered her eyes and said in a steady voice, "If Sister Yan wants to see him, I'll help you make an appointment."

Xu Junyan smiled slightly, "Okay, then you help me make the appointment. If it goes smoothly, you might even be able to act in his drama. I'll go now, so as not to disturb your rest."

She slowly got up and walked towards the door. She paused at the doorway and said honestly, "Xiaoxue, we've known each other for quite a while now. I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, Chen Xingzhou is so outstanding, I definitely won't break you two up."

"Of course, you can't let it affect your work."

Li Yitong was stunned for a moment, watching her close the door, and felt a little tempted.

Many people now want to act in Chen Xingzhou's dramas.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but she didn't know how to talk to Chen Xingzhou, nor did she feel that she could offer him anything useful.

As for feelings, she didn't want to trade them for anything.

If Xu Junyan wants to collaborate, the chances are indeed quite high.

She took a breath, picked up her phone, and sent a message to Chen Xingzhou:

[Xingzhou, Sister Yan, who is also my agent Xu Junyan, wants to meet with you, possibly to discuss a collaboration.]

By the way—Sister Yan seems to know about our relationship, but she said she won't interfere.

While Chen Xingzhou was still dealing with the rumor-mongering incident, he was slightly moved when he saw Li Yitong's message.

Xu Junyan wants to see him?

He wasn't worried that she would find out about their relationship.

-

Given his current momentum, no matter how shrewd Xu Junyan is, she wouldn't do something as foolish as breaking up a couple.

As for cooperation, he was somewhat interested.

He did have some impression of Xu Junyan.

I had heard of her reputation in my previous life; she was ruthless, had a keen eye for talent, and none of the artists she mentored ever became failures.

The foundation she used, "General," was indeed heavily criticized online, becoming a very popular breakout event in the entertainment industry in the years that followed.

But the foundation "General" has at least become famous, and has even reached the threshold of being a top star, which shows that Xu Junyan really has the ability.

Furthermore, the artists under Xu Junyan's management are generally not lacking in resources.

Xu Junyan is currently with Feibao Media. By November 26, 2018, she will establish her own company, Yizhongxin Era (Xiangshan) Culture Media Co., Ltd.

He happens to be lacking a particularly capable agent like this right now, and if he can persuade Xu Junyan, it would be very beneficial to his career development.

Gathering his thoughts, he sent a message to Li Yitong:

"Sure, you can schedule a time. As for our affairs, don't worry about them; just act as usual."

Li Yitong: [Okay, I understand.]

But—Xingzhou—has been thinking about it—for so long—hasn't tasted it yet.

Chen Xingzhou raised an eyebrow. It seemed that the two of them hadn't gotten together for quite some time. Last night, he had to spend time with Tian Xiwei, so he didn't go with Li Yitong.

He thought for a moment and replied, "You can set a time; you happen to be free recently."

Li Yitong: [Then you absolutely can't not come. I'll think of a time right away and let you know later.]

Chen Xingzhou: [Of course.]

After sending the message, Chen Xingzhou focused his attention on the upcoming episode of "Go Go Squid!" that evening.

Because of yesterday's rumors, many people who hadn't noticed the show before have gradually come into contact with it.

The hashtag for clarifying the rumors is still trending on Weibo, but it has been pushed down to second place by the premiere of "Go Go Squid!"

Especially that short video of the hand gesture dance, which received strong support and traffic push from Douyin (TikTok's Chinese version).

In just three days, this video has already caused a tsunami on Douyin, which is not yet at the peak of its popularity.

As of today, the number of views has reached 23 million.

What truly made this video go viral was the challenge topic that Douyin (TikTok) created specifically for this drama – [#HanShangyanGestureDanceChallenge#].

Within just two hours of the topic going live, the number of participants skyrocketed at an abnormally high rate.

By the third night, the hashtag #HanShangyanGestureDanceChallenge# had surpassed 1 million views.

1 million views.

On a platform that is not yet widely adopted and whose daily active users are far from reaching their peak, it means that even if not every Douyin user participated in the challenge, almost everyone has seen at least one related video.

At 2 PM, a new video featuring the participant was pushed to the top of the trending topics list.

Posted by: Bailu, actress, best known for her roles in "A Love So Beautiful" and "Go Go Squid!"

In the video, she is wearing a pink and white hooded sweatshirt, her hair is tied in a small ponytail, and she has an earphone around her neck, clearly resembling Tong Nian from the drama.

She didn't say anything, but just smiled at the camera. The smile was exactly the same as her smile in the drama, with a touch of baby fat on her face.

Also, because of the photographer's tricky shooting angle, she appeared to be a little short, making her look even more like a little girl.

As the music of "Milk and Bread" played, Bai Mengyan began her hand gesture dance.

The movement wasn't complicated, but the way she performed it was completely different from how Chen Xingzhou imitated Han Shangyan.

Chen Xingzhou's version has a somewhat cold expression, while Bai Mengyan's version is more cute and funny.

The comments section instantly descended into chaos.

This is practically Tong Nian herself!

Sister, your smile is so sweet! I've already taken a screenshot and set it as my wallpaper and lock screen.

[The on-screen couples Han Shangyan & Tong Nian, and the off-screen couple Chen Xingzhou & Bai Lu, are a delight for CP fans!]

Bai Mengyan's video caption reads: "[Tong Nian is requesting to participate! @Actor Chen Xingzhou.]"

The video garnered over a million views within an hour of being posted.

In the afternoon, Douyin's official account boosted the traffic of her video, directly sending the hashtag #BaiLuTongNian# to the top of Douyin's trending topics.

The comment section of this video has been completely taken over by drama fans and CP (couple) fans.

So sweet! I've been watching their videos and grinning like an idiot for the past few days.

[Can Han Shangyan reply to Tong Nian?]

An hour before the broadcast, the hashtag #HanShangyanGestureDanceChallenge# had already garnered over 1.4 million views.