Chapter 81
Random Entertainment officially announced a new feature, but the content described in the announcement wasn't as interesting as what fans discovered on their own. Many fans who didn't even finish reading the first line exited Weibo and went to Galaxy to explore slowly.
Ling Cheng had just bought food and returned to her dorm when she saw the announcement from Random Entertainment. After sitting down, she ignored her meal and started researching how to use this feature while gathering information in group chats.
"I just looked carefully, fans can create chat rooms with each other, and the group owner decides whether to charge or not."
"Should we set up our own place there too?"
"You want to set up a home everywhere in the world, aren't all those groups enough for you to chat in?"
"The monthly card is more cost-effective, but 45 yuan a month is a bit expensive... Random Entertainment, you've changed."
"I think it's better to just top up and have fees deducted automatically. Let's wait and see, Pei Luming and the others are busy with competitions and may not have time to go online every day."
"I just created a group, scan the code to join, quick."
"You move suspiciously fast."
They were chatting nicely in WeChat when suddenly they moved to a new platform.
"It's still different, artists' groups are from a 1-on-1 perspective, ours is just a big group chat."
"It can even connect to voice chat."
"The artist version is different from the fan version, how can we study it like this?"
"Where's Pei Luming, can someone get him to come online?"
"I get it now, the monthly card can only be designated for one person, but the 2 yuan per time option allows you to hop around everywhere. It's perfect for someone like me who likes to join in the fun but doesn't want to spend much money."
"But if that's the case, wouldn't anti-fans be able to get in? A 2 yuan threshold is too low."
"You have to trust Random Entertainment's monitoring. Those card scalpers have already gotten this software up and running."
"You can even add friends!!!"
"There's always been an add friends function."
"My bad, I don't get into the card circle so I haven't been on here much."
"Then look at my profile."
"Oh my god!!! An electronic card album?!"
"The small cards you buy will automatically show up in the electronic card album, and if you sell them, they'll disappear from the album too. It's super useful and really satisfies my collector's urge."
"The focus isn't on the electronic card album right now!"
"Pei Luming is online---------------Ahhhh!"
With this news, the group chat that had been buzzing with messages suddenly went quiet.
Ling Cheng hurriedly put down her chopsticks, picked up her phone, and immediately topped up to enter the group.
"Pei Luming: Hihi~ Ling Cheng! It's lunchtime now, have you eaten?"
A ordinary question, but it made Ling Cheng purse her lips, looking like she was about to cry. She whimpered, "Baby..."
"Ling Cheng: Didi, I'm eating right now. Have you eaten?"
"Pei Luming: I haven't eaten yet, but looking at today's cafeteria menu, it says there's steak. I'm planning to take a shower and then go eat."
"Pei Luming: Want to see a selfie?"
"Pei Luming: Oh, the staff sister said we're not allowed to post selfies today. I'll take a picture of the steak for you guys when I eat later. Our food is super good!"
"Ling Cheng: Babe, you type too fast. I haven't even managed to squeeze out one sentence and you've already sent three."
Her initial excitement had disappeared. She looked at the rapidly appearing messages and was quiet for a few seconds.
The trainees received the news at the same time as the fans. In that brief twenty or so minutes, the staff urgently gave them a lesson, explaining what they couldn't mention when chatting with fans.
For example, since it's a 1-on-1 chat from the fan's perspective, they should try to avoid using words like "you all". Also, when sending pictures, they must check multiple times to make sure they don't show any brand logos and such.
This was their first time encountering such a feature, and also their first time chatting with fans at such close proximity, so their excitement was no less than the fans'.
Ye Xing looked at his own page, answering the fans' questions one by one.
"Ye Xing: What I see here are many messages."
"Ye Xing: We can do voice chat and even livestream, but not today. The staff sister won't allow it."
"Ye Xing: I can even send red packets. Wait a moment."
Liu Yue had just entered when she saw a rain of red packets appearing on the screen, with "Let me treat you to milk tea!" written on them.
Despite having been a fan for so many years, Liu Yue was moved by this sincere kid. She smiled as she opened it, saying, "How cute..."
After opening the red packet, she found 30 yuan inside.
This amount startled Liu Yue, and she began to worry about how many red packets he had sent.
Ye Xing, seeing all the "Ahhhhh" and "Holy crap" on the interface, couldn't help but reply: "Everyone, please use civilized language!"
Seeing fans ask how many red packets he sent, Ye Xing answered honestly: "I sent a hundred. The red packets are random, I'm sorry if you didn't get one."
With the new feature online, both fans and trainees were having a great time.
In between, many people came to join in the fun, and as they explored, they discovered that the artist list didn't just include traineesβ
There was also Jiang Juyou.
"Title: Gossip discussion / You can even choose hangover medicine..."
"I just searched casually, and after entering the name of the hangover medicine, I found that she was also available for subscription. Out of curiosity, I subscribed. I hope my wife doesn't let me down for these 45 yuan."
Comments:
"There's even hangover medicine?"
"She really thinks she's a celebrity..."
"This poison drinker is heading there right away, wife I'm coming!"
"The hangover medicine already has fans, those big fans managing the super topic all have over a hundred thousand followers."
"She's really there!"
"But will she come?"
"Great, now fans have a place to defend their rights."
"I'm here, I'm here!"
There are 1-on-1 interactive chat apps both domestically and internationally. Random Entertainment's version made some changes on the basics. It has a square that displays the current artist group chats that are open, convenient for those with strong curiosity to come and see.
Two yuan per time doesn't seem like much, but it adds up with a large user base. Those who are curious, those with a sense of novelty, and those who just want to join in the fun, will all spend this money.
Jiang Juyou logged into her account as usual to check, but found that her test account was still there. She must have forgotten to delete it when modifying the app.
Jiang Juyou, who hadn't made a mistake in a long time, felt dizzy when she saw this account. What made her even more frustrated was that to delete this account, she would have to spend several million to enable the app modification function again.
She sat in her office chair covering her eyes, threw her phone on the desk, not wanting to face her own mistake.
Having just modified the app, she really didn't want to spend money to change it again at this time. She could only pretend not to see it and wait until the next modification to delete it together. As for those who had already paid for subscriptions, she could just clear them from the backend.
Just as Jiang Juyou was feeling so stupid that she wanted to stand up and do a set of punches, her assistant suddenly knocked on the door. Jiang Juyou, who had just stood up, quickly tidied her clothes and sat back down. "Come in."
"Ms. Jiang, the pop-up store has been set up and will open tomorrow. Would you like to take a look?"
Jiang Juyou regained her professional demeanor. She coughed lightly, then pushed back her sleeve to check the time. "...Not today. Arrange a time for tomorrow."
"Alright." She hesitated for a moment, then asked, "...Would you like me to order takeout for you?"
"No need, just go to the fifth floor and get me something."
"Okay!"
-
On the first day of the chat function's launch, only trainees were available. By the second day, many artists had joined, making the Galaxy World app even more lively, with many more chat rooms on the square.
The launch of this feature suddenly increased the daily cash flow of Galaxy World, even accounting for up to one-third of it.
During the morning meeting, the staff specifically mentioned Jiang Juyou.
"Among themβ" she said while checking Jiang Juyou's expression, with the surrounding staff holding back their laughter, "Ms. Jiang's account subscription is also very high, ranking in the top five. Currently, over 4,000 people have subscribed to Ms. Jiang's account using the monthly card."
After hearing this, the people present cheered and applauded, celebrating for Jiang Juyou.
The mentioned Jiang Juyou: "..."
Just kill her.
She couldn't explain the reason, so she could only accept it. Jiang Juyou nodded, applauding for the first day's performance, then closed her iPad. "Not bad. Continue the promotion, and see if we can sign some artists with good traffic to join."
As she spoke, she gathered her things and stood up, "I'll be going then, you all continue."
"Bye-bye, Jiang Zhi~"
Jiang Juyou waved to the staff inside, then left the meeting room with her assistant.
The assistant walked beside her, telling her about the situation at the pop-up event today, "This pop-up store event was even more popular than the last one. There were a lot of people on site, so I asked the security company to send more people over."
"How about the sales?" Jiang Juyou nodded after listening and asked casually.
"Sales have already exceeded 10 million!" The young assistant's eyes were bright, looking even more excited than Jiang Juyou.
-
As winter approached, the outdoor temperature was getting lower day by day. The fans waiting in line to enter the venue couldn't help but recall last winter around this time, when the previous pop-up store was held at about the same time, and they had queued for a long time to get in just like today.
But because it was held in the Galaxy venue in Beijing, they were a bit better off than fans in other regions.
There were benches in the square, and the seats were heated. Warm air was even coming from underground, so even though they had to queue, it wasn't particularly cold.
Gray clouds hung low in the sky, and cold winds occasionally passed through the crowd, causing a shiver. Liu Yue was grateful she had worn a fleece hat before leaving home. She looked up at the sky; the clouds looked heavy, as if it might snow.
"Didn't the weather forecast say there might be snow today?" She turned and asked her friend.
"Did it? I don't know."
A few friends queuing behind her complained, "We should have come to the morning session. There are way too many people this afternoon."
"There were a lot of people in the morning too. Didn't you see the videos in the super topic?"
"As many as now?"
The plaza, which usually didn't see crowding even during concerts, was now packed with people. This was the downside of an enclosed square.
A friend behind her asked, "How many people can fit in one session?"
"Probably a few thousand... Last time at the pop-up store, no matter how many people there were, we could still move around easily. Not like now."
"Random Entertainment, you guys have really blown up. Forgot about the rest."
"...I didn't expect someone to actually say this meme in real life."
Because they anticipated that many fans would visit this pop-up store, reservations were required in advance for safety reasons. The day was divided into three sessions, and theirs was the noon session, entering at 1 PM and exiting at 4 PM, open for only three hours.
Some of the merchandise for this pop-up store could be ordered directly through the Galaxy APP, but some could only be bought offline.
Everyone knew that Random Entertainment's photo cards were very popular. Even now, the prices of last year's photo cards were still high in the second-hand market. Galaxy recently updated a card price curve chart similar to the stock market, showing the prices of photo cards at various periods.
With the show currently hot, the photo cards that had been trending downward immediately picked up, with prices slowly climbing.
That chart was practically tickling the hearts of card speculators. Some who had planned to quit the card circle changed their minds as soon as this feature went online.
This feature brought in the Korean entertainment circle and didn't spare the Chinese entertainment industry either. Not only did it provide card price curve charts, but also artist card price curve charts.
Among Random Entertainment's trainees, the four with the most expensive photo cards were Pei Luming, Ye Xing, Sang Mo, and Chi Qiao. The first three were due to high popularity, while Chi Qiao purely had a knack for selfies - all of his photo cards looked great, and no pose was repeated.
Galaxy had both group rankings and overall rankings.
On the overall ranking, these four ranked at the top, with their average prices crushing the Korean artists behind them. For others, expensive cards were few and affordable cards were many, but for Random Entertainment, expensive cards were plentiful, and even the affordable cards weren't that cheap.
Besides card speculation, another reason for the large crowd at this pop-up store was its connection to the debut competition.
After purchasing at the venue, the amount could be converted into votes for their favorite group. The winning group would have an exclusive themed pop-up store after the third public performance.
Originally, people didn't want to come and squeeze through the crowds, preferring to use purchasing agents to get what they wanted. But with this activity announced, they had no choice but to come.
After queuing for a while, they finally entered. Liu Yue unwrapped her scarf and hat, stuffing them into her backpack, while looking around at the venue's setup and exclaiming, "This morning when I saw them saying we must come to the venue in person, I thought they just wanted someone to pad the numbers."
The first wave of people who entered in the morning had already posted photos of the venue setup online, but no matter how you looked at them, you could only see a sea of heads. When you actually entered, you'd find it wasn't so bad.
Previous pop-up stores only used the inner area, but this time was different. Even the stands were accessible, with all the card-drawing machines placed up there, while the lower area was for fans to browse and take photos.
The venue was a sea of green, interspersed with silver, presenting a very novel visual experience.
Green plants with a primitive forest feel filled the venue. The Moonle that appeared in the concept short film was even given a separate area, planted in a whole patch. Looking up, instead of seeing the crossbeams of the concert venue, you saw a large white board with silver pipes running across it, entwined with vines.
The whole theme and feel of the pop-up store was similar to that in the concept short film, like hope growing anew after the apocalypse.
Liu Yue had brought a camera in and took a few photos of the venue's setup. She even went to the Moonle area and, when no one around was paying attention, touched it.
"Oh!"
It was artificial, but...
The flower bed was arranged exactly like in the concept short film, with walls resembling spaceship hulls on both sides, and a patch of Moonle on the ground. Just like in the short film, it moved, made sounds, and released golden particles.
Liu Yue thought the golden particles were real, but when she reached in and touched them, she felt nothing. She looked up and realized it was actually a holographic projection.
She wasn't the only one to discover this. Liu Yue clearly noticed some fans gasping in amazement, covering their mouths, looking at the projection above and then touching the spaceship wall.
Liu Yue was about to message her friend to share her discovery when she accidentally bumped into someone while taking out her phone.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sor--" Liu Yue quickly apologized, almost finishing her sentence when she suddenly realized the person she bumped into looked familiar.
The person she bumped into was Jiang Juyou, who was clutching her arm and staring at Liu Yue for a few seconds, then glancing at the camera hanging around her neck and the Ye Xing merchandise blanket draped over her shoulders.
"..."
With this collision, Jiang Juyou suddenly had a bit of recollection, as if she had encountered something similar before.
During the final performance, Jiang Juyou thought she had seen Liu Yue in a VIP box, but because she hadn't seen clearly at the time, she wasn't sure if it was Liu Yue. She also hadn't heard Liu Yue mention following Chinese entertainment, so after the show ended, Jiang Juyou didn't ask further, thinking she might have really seen wrong.
But now, looking at her, it really was Liu Yue.
Jiang Juyou teased her, "Busted, huh!"
"Ahem..." Liu Yue looked away, coughing awkwardly.
"Yue Yue! I helped you get a Ye Xing SR photo card!" Liu Yue's fandom friend came over, holding the card she had just collected, but as soon as she got close, she saw Jiang Juyou. "Ah ah ah ah, holy crap!" Her shout immediately alerted everyone around.
Even Jiang Juyou's young assistant was startled.
"Holy crap! Jiang Juyou!"
"Where? Where?!"
"Ah ah ah ah, it really is her! She's so thin!"
"Can I go over and ask her to give me an SSR card?"
"See? I told you we should choose the noon session!"
All the fans at the venue were startled by that scream. Those close to her excitedly took out their phones, and some even called out to her directly, "Jiang Zhi, can you increase the probability of SSR cards?"
"Wifey, ah ah--"
"21 to 7! 21 to 7!"
The young assistant protected Jiang Juyou to prevent her from being squeezed, while Jiang Juyou answered the surrounding fans' questions while walking towards the exit, fearing that if everyone came down, it might cause a stampede. "I can't decide the probabilities, but all the cards are in there."
"Don't shout randomly!" Jiang Juyou wrapped her coat tightly, and before leaving, she said quietly to Liu Yue, "I'd better go now, we'll talk later."
Liu Yue agreed and quickly pretended not to know her, to avoid being targeted by other fans later.
However, her fangirl companion noticed and said, "Wow, you even know Jiang Juyou!" But she didn't think much of it, assuming Liu Yue's family had sponsored the talent show, which is why she knew Jiang Juyou. It never occurred to her that they might be classmates.
She quickly added, "Does she know you're a fan of Ye Xing?"
Liu Yue: "..."
She put Ye Xing's blanket back in her bag and replied wearily, "She didn't know before, but now she does."
The good news was that her identity was revealed, but not completely.
After leaving the pop-up store, Liu Yue saw a message from Jiang Juyou.
"Juyou grocery store: So it was you I saw backstage back then."
"Still fangirling today: I thought you recognized me at the time."
"Juyou grocery store: I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me."
"Still fangirling today: ..."
Standing in the square, snowflakes drifted down from the sky, melting instantly as they landed on her phone. Liu Yue stared at the chat screen and let out a long sigh.
Suddenly, she felt a weight lift from her shoulders.
Before, she had always worried about Jiang Juyou discovering her fangirl activities, fearing she might be mistaken for a sasaeng fan, or that Jiang Juyou would distance herself after learning about her admiration for Ye Xing. That's why she never said anything.
But now that she'd been found out, what was there to be afraid of?
If anyone should be worried, it was Jiang Juyou.
Liu Yue looked at her newly created account and chuckled.
The other fangirls who came out later saw Liu Yue grinning to herself and tapped her shoulder, asking, "What are you laughing about?"
"Nothing," Liu Yue put her phone away, not revealing anything to them.
One of the friends behind her checked the date and asked the others with furrowed brows, "After the third public performance, they're going on tour in Southeast Asia. Are you guys going?"
"Of course, it's not expensive."
"If we're going, I'll book the flights and hotels now."
"Are the venues and dates out yet?"
"They just came out."
"Book it then, I'll transfer you the money."
While the group behind her discussed the concert plans, Liu Yue was busy typing on her phone in front, occasionally giggling to herself.
-
"@Today's Juyou grocery store: [Opening Announcement]"
"#JiangJuyou#"
"Worry-solving grocery store, we have everything. Hope to solve all your troubles."
"[Opening Gift]"
"89 square meter apartment in Kunshan Landscape Complex, 6th Ring Road, Beijing x1 [Can be exchanged for cash]"
"Like, follow, and comment to enter the draw for a chance to win."
The Weibo post was accompanied by a photo of Jiang Juyou frowning while on the phone at the airport. She wore a black turtleneck with a camel-colored coat draped over her arm. She seemed to be dealing with a thorny issue, hence her displeased expression while on the call.
In the picture, Jiang Juyou had her hair loosely tied back, but due to the hours-long flight, some stray hairs had escaped, messily framing her face and partially hiding her discontented expression.
However, the comment section barely focused on the candid photo.
"Huh?"
"What kind of gift is this?"
"?"
"Whose fan account is this? What gift?"
"Where? Beijing's 6th Ring Road?"
"Are fan site admins this competitive now?"
"I don't know whether to doubt my eyes or my brain."
"@PrettyGirl, come check this out!"
"I don't even know what to type on my keyboard anymore."
"Is this the world of the rich? Ah? Let me join quickly!"
"I'm! Here! To! Be! A! Leech!"
"...It's a whole apartment, a whole apartment in Beijing, even if it's on the 6th Ring Road, it's still Beijing!"
Whether it was opening a fan account for Jiang Juyou or giving away an apartment as a prize, either would be worth discussing. Putting the two together was even more mind-blowing.
After confirming the information several times, the commenters' brains seemed to short-circuit.
There are so many rich people in the world, why couldn't they be one of them!
Jiang Juyou: ...
-
Said and done! I must seize this fortune!
Thanks everyone for the free publicity~
Tomorrow I'll write six thousand words again!
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