Huayu: I'm being coveted by young actresses.

Chapter 30: Why is it always me?

In pursuit of perfect data, he had no choice but to follow the capital's lead and grit his teeth to spend 150 million yuan of his own money to purchase it.

"Damn, let's do it."

A man who isn't ruthless won't have a stable position.

He was heartbroken; this wasn't 1, or 10, but 150 million.

This is all real money he invested, money that many people can't earn in a lifetime.

But he felt that the money was well spent. Five hours later, the sales of "The Wind Rises" reached 260 million, breaking his own record and reaching double platinum record status.

……

At the same time, another popular celebrity, Wang Yuan, a teammate of the "Four-Character Brother" (a nickname for a popular young male celebrity), released his album on the same day.

Wang Yuan was extremely uncomfortable because Gu Luojin violated the rules by using a "money bomb" (a metaphor for a large sum of money), which suppressed both the quality and popularity of the song.

He has always been the one who surpasses other popular celebrities; he has never been surpassed by other popular celebrities.

It's one thing for a senior to suppress him, but who can blame him when the other debuted earlier, achieved better results, and has a higher status in the industry?

But he had never heard of the name Gu Luojin.

"Who is this person? Where did he come from? I've never heard of him before."

"He is a rising star who just emerged recently. He participated in the show 'Back to Field' and generated a lot of buzz."

"I don't care who he is, I can't let him be in front of me."

He was already very unhappy about the company assigning two teammates ahead of him.

Now that the three are about to debut separately and develop their own careers, this kind of thing must not happen again.

"Have the company notify the top fans to organize them to buy his item and knock him down from the top of the rankings."

Neither of them mentioned Gu Luojin's name during their conversation, clearly indicating that they didn't take him seriously.

Underestimating the enemy is a cardinal sin in warfare.

A true master always has the heart of a student.

……

Whether it can reach Diamond Records depends on the fans and the continued promotion of "The Wind Rises".

Companies spending money to boost rankings and manipulate data is a common practice in the industry.

Creating a star's achievements, embellishing the idol's abilities for fans, making fans even more devoted to the idol, and then the company can harvest the next wave of profits—this has become a cyclical pattern.

It's no secret in the industry, yet fans still relentlessly continue down the path of being exploited.

This is the first time Wang Lu has ever seen a celebrity spend money to boost their own online rankings.

"Brother, you're really generous, spending so much money. I wouldn't be willing to spend it; I'd rather use it to buy designer handbags."

Gu Luojin, who was bleeding heavily, didn't want to talk to her.

They are hoping that "The Wind Rises" will be a huge hit, which would recoup most of their losses.

The sales report was updated from 75 to 260 million, a figure that is enough to make them stand out from the crowd.

While Gu Luojin and her company were celebrating their success, an article criticizing Gu Luojin quietly appeared on Weibo.

"Sis, just as you said, someone has already started smearing him online."

"When he becomes popular, he tries to take away other people's share of the pie, making them eat less, so it's inevitable that he'll offend people."

"Since someone has started this war, we can't just sit idly by. We should add fuel to the fire and make it burn even brighter. I'm worried that his eyesight isn't good and he might not be able to see it."

"Okay, sis, we'll get right away."

With Zhang Bichen adding fuel to the fire, the article quickly spread across the entire internet, reaching the top three on Weibo's trending topics, a speed that even the young actor Jackson Yee didn't expect.

"Brother Qian, how many online trolls did we use this time?"

"Five or six, I guess."

How could five or six online troll groups have such power?

He was skeptical.

"Brother Qian, it only takes five or six online trolls to write something that can get you into the top three trending topics on Weibo. Next time, we'll use the same ones. It's economical, affordable, and has a high cost-performance ratio."

"If you can use it yourself, don't give it to the other person; it's a waste."

The unintentional remark from the young actor with the four-character name made Li Qian realize that things seemed to be going beyond his expectations.

"Millennium, what did you say? It's in the top three trending topics on Weibo?"

"yes."

"Oh no, someone's trying to push us out to be the scapegoats."

Li Qian never intended to mobilize a large number of online trolls to smear Gu Luojin; he was testing Gu Luojin's side's attitude and public relations capabilities.

Although he was pushed out this time, he held onto a sliver of hope, believing that Gu Luojin's side wouldn't be able to find them behind the scenes.

The dutiful Wang Lu kept a close eye on the evolving online public opinion, and she would not allow anyone to ruin the excellent situation that Gu Luojin had worked so hard to create.

An article written by an author named Ding Taisheng caught Wang Lu's attention, and its popularity quickly rose to the top three on Weibo's trending topics list.

"Brother Gu, someone is smearing you. Please read this article first."

"I'll have the company's PR team investigate to see which company released the message targeting you, and then use our network of online trolls to attack them."

He frowned as he read the Weibo post targeting him, titled "#Popular celebrities release singles just to cash in on fans; after listening, would you still buy it?"

"First of all, let me state that I do not know this popular celebrity."

"A friend told me that this single, 'The Wind Rises,' is popular among many young people, so I spent a huge sum of money—3 yuan—to buy it."

"To ensure the authenticity of my following review, I will release the purchase records later."

"After listening, my first impression is that the songs of popular celebrities are destined to be incomparable to those of older generation musicians such as Zhou, Wang, Tao, and Lin."

"The songs they released are just mindless pop songs; they're completely treating their fans like韭菜 (a metaphor for being exploited) to be harvested."

"I am willing to be the first to fight against traffic stars and support their retirement from the entertainment industry to bring clarity to the Chinese entertainment circle."

"Releasing such songs disrupts the environment for domestic music creators and affects the development of domestic music. How can we bring Chinese music to the world and influence the world with culture?"

"Next, I will analyze the song to show you why it is bad, and even worse than ever before."

"This song is too sad and melancholic; it's not positive at all."

……

"In conclusion, this single is not worth the price. It was a waste of my 3 yuan. I would have been better off buying a piece of pork belly and having Teacher Huang make braised pork. At least I could taste my mother's cooking."

"I hope this popular celebrity retires from the entertainment industry, otherwise what he writes will just be industrial garbage."

Gu Luojin, after reading it, had no reaction, but used very strong words, criticizing the music style as not being positive, and concluding that the work was of poor quality.

"Brother Gu, what are your thoughts?"

"this one?"

This article's attack is so weak; most of the criticisms of him are mindless denigration, trying to incite public disgust towards traffic stars and launch a media offensive.

Apart from this article, there is no evidence of widespread, multi-platform smear campaigns against him.

This proves that it was done by one or two individuals or companies in an attempt to prevent his sudden rise to fame.

Who exactly is this person? He found it hard to guess.

Netizens, looking at the trending topics on Weibo, also found it hard to guess.

"Xiaolu, do you think we even need to guess who this person is?"

"Brother Gu, I think we don't need to guess anymore. I think everyone knows who it is."

What else is there to say? Let's fight!

Lemon Pictures issued a statement in response to the smear campaign against Gu Luojin: "First of all, the vast majority of people like her, and you're the only one who doesn't. Who do you think you are?"

"Secondly, we do not accept the baseless smears made by commentator Ding Taisheng against our artists."

"The analysis of a song should be based on the analysis of the entire song, rather than maliciously interpreting the song's style."

"The world is culturally diverse, and we must allow for the existence of other musical styles. Besides, the musical styles of our artists have already been pioneered by predecessors in the music industry."

"To reiterate, artists must be cultured."

"Finally, please stop any deliberate attempts to smear and damage our artists. We will pursue legal action against any actions that infringe upon our artists' rights and reserve the right to do so through legal means."

After the press release was issued, Ding Taisheng, unable to withstand the pressure, deleted the post and fled.

Gu Luojin once again launched an online attack on Zhang Bichen. With the template from last time, the attacks from netizens, online trolls, and anti-fans were still sharp and incisive.

As a result, Zhang Bichen's Weibo account was once again flooded with comments from Gu Luojin's netizens, fans, and online trolls, with highly aggressive texts filling her Weibo comment section.

"Sis, you've been attacked again."

Zhang Bichen was furious when she heard the news from her team.

She admitted that she was the one who did the previous things, but the other party found out and attacked her online and with his fans.

It's not her now, yet they're still trying to shift the blame onto her. She can't stand it; this is intolerable!

She wanted to fight back, but her team stopped her.

"Sister, we can't fight back. We're just playing dead right now. We have to endure it."

"They're bullying us right at our doorstep, and we still have to put up with it."

"We can't afford to remain passive. If we retaliate, wouldn't netizens think we're guilty?"

"So what do you suggest we do? We can't close the comments section now, which is tantamount to confirming that I did this, right?"

If you get mud stuck to your crotch, it's shit whether it's poop or not.

"Sister, we can also shift the blame. Since we know it was his competitor who did it, let our online army guide his fans and netizens to attack the mastermind behind it."

"But have you considered that it costs money to guide online trolls?"

"I've taken the blame, and now I have to pay for it too. I've never been this patient with my own father; he's the first one I've ever had."