Chapter 115 - 110: Old Luo! You’re No Good
Tonight’s award ceremony wasn’t being live-streamed, but you couldn’t stop the sheer number of people there!
The moment the accident happened, before anyone even knew the full story, people were already uploading videos and photos online to chase clout.
#HuZhenningFallsOnTheRedCarpet#
#NiBingyanPushesDownHuZhenning#
#NiBingyanDisfigured#
#HuZhenningDisfigured#
...
The hashtags grew more and more sensational.
By the standard playbook for cultivating high-traffic stars, an incident like this was a godsend. It was as if fate itself wanted her to blow up. You’d have to be a fool not to capitalize on it!
Wei Shuojie had been navigating the entertainment industry for twenty-odd years. She had been on the front lines with Sun Lizhi, seen all sorts of thrilling and dangerous situations, and was naturally an expert at this kind of thing.
If not for her special agreement with Ni Bingyan, she probably would have bought a trending spot for the topic #NiBingyanDisfigured# the very first chance she got.
A certain celebrity put it well: tragedy is the destruction of something beautiful for all to see.
Ni Bingyan was famous for being the pinnacle of beauty in the entertainment world. If she were disfigured, it would be an absolute tragedy.
Who wouldn’t click on that hashtag to take a look?
Just how bad is the damage? Can she be treated? Who on earth did it? Have they caught the person who hurt her?
Once the clickbait lured people in, they would find it was just a false alarm. No one would have the time to condemn her for making a mountain out of a molehill. Instead, they’d just be relieved that the beauty was unharmed.
With Wei Shuojie’s skill, she would even have new topics ready for these netizens, guiding them to argue amongst themselves. They would be too preoccupied to spare any energy on such trivial details.
Add to that the fact that the Huabiao Award results were about to be announced. With proper planning, she could get a variety of different topics trending for at least a week straight. It would gain her several million new followers, to say the least.
If she got lucky, she might even be able to rally other celebrities to collectively condemn this type of toxic fan behavior.
That would elevate the conversation, expand the scope of the incident, and maybe even keep the hype going for another week.
And if her luck was even better and she could attract the attention of official state media, or even push for a new policy to be established, the public discussion could easily last a whole month...
The only risk in doing all this was that if the situation blew up too much, people would try to ride the wave of popularity or even start rumors. ’What terrible thing did Ni Bingyan do to make some girl throw concentrated sulfuric acid at her?’
At that point, even if you said it was one of Hu Zhenning’s toxic solo stans, no one would believe it.
People are always quick to assume the worst, speculating about the sordid affairs of a girl they don’t even know, especially when that girl is an actress.
Who asked her to be a public figure?
Aren’t public figures there for people to talk about?
If you only want to hear good things, why be a star?
If someone says something unpleasant, you should just listen quietly, right?
You can’t have it all in this world. To reap the benefits, you have to pay the price. If you’re unwilling to pay, you won’t get those benefits.
Wei Shuojie understood this principle, and so did Ni Bingyan.
Ni Bingyan didn’t want this kind of publicity. Wei Shuojie knew her boundaries and naturally wouldn’t buy any trending spots.
But just because she wouldn’t, didn’t mean others wouldn’t!
The incident had just occurred when Old Luo got the news. Without even waiting for his artist to go inside, he immediately found a corner and started coordinating with his team.
A good opportunity waits for no one. Besides, his artist was a man and not so fragile. ’A few more setbacks won’t be a bad thing for him,’ Old Luo thought. So, instead of rushing to console him, he got busy dealing with this matter.
Old Luo was also a famous gold-medal agent in the industry. Whatever Wei Shuojie could do, he could do as well.
Therefore, within five minutes of the incident, he had laid out a three-step plan for generating hype.
Step one: Get #NiBingyanPushesDownHuZhenning# to trend.
This topic was heavy with sexual implications. Anyone with a pulse would have to click on it. You’d be a beast for looking, but less than a beast for not looking.
As soon as this topic appeared, Hu Zhenning’s fans would surely explode. Even if each of them only left one angry comment, it would be enough to get the topic trending. Add in the water army he’d hired, and the effect... just thinking about it was incredible!
Step two: Push the topic "Ni Bingyan had acid thrown at her" to the top.
At that point, her act of pushing him would become intriguing.
Was she selling out her teammate at a critical moment? Or was she protecting him from harm?
He was already working nonstop to secure videos shot from the perfect angle.
If you want to generate buzz, you need a flashpoint for arguments. As a master of hype, Old Luo understood this deeply.
’Did she save my star, or was she trying to harm him?’