Chapter 170
In the hotel lobby, Zhou Xiao, who had just returned from Zhejiang Province, was stopped by the front desk. The receptionist waved her over and, when she arrived, informed her that the package that had arrived that morning had been disinfected and placed in the locker at her door.
Zhou Xiao, indicating she understood, waited until she reached the door. Looking at the two large boxes, a question mark slowly formed in her mind. A passing hotel staff member saw Zhou Xiao squatting at the doorway. When they saw the two large boxes in front of her, they immediately stepped forward to ask if she could help.
Zhou Xiao waved her hand. She had just tried to move the box. The box was very light, but it looked very big and heavy on the surface.
Zhou Xiao brought the two boxes together and placed them on the living room floor. As she unpacked one of them, she realized why it was so large. Two poster tubes were fixed to the left side of the box, while on the right were two stacked albums, securely protected by air columns.
The box Zhou Xiao was unpacking had been sent by New Town. Besides the album and the accompanying poster tube, there was also an envelope with the New Town logo. Inside, there were several autographed photos of Ji Shao. Zhou Xiao sat cross-legged on the carpet and took out the photos, looking through them one by one. These were the photos she had taken during Ji Shao's WP event.
The physical albums were all sealed in plastic. Zhou Xiao randomly opened one and saw Ji Shao's signature on the cover of the photo album inside. Additionally, the three random cards that were supposed to be included were now fixed as Ji Shao's cards.
If this were a probability within his own fan circle, it would be considered a lucky break, but Zhou Xiao suspected this batch was a "special order." After all, no matter which original economic company it was from, they wouldn't provide free publicity for other members. Furthermore, Ji Shao's signature was even laminated inside, which must have been prepared by Huayao in advance.
His gaze shifted to another box. When he opened it, Zhou Xiao was somewhat surprised. Including the signed album, Hua Yao had sent Zhou Xiao three boxes of albums and posters.
Of course, this wasn't what surprised Zhou Xiao. Inside the box, she saw something wrapped in bubble wrap. When she unwrapped it, she saw it was a jewelry box. Inside was the same silver neem flower brooch Ji Shao had worn. Zhou Xiao could already predict how Hua Yao was going to act, ready to drain all of their fans' money...
After sorting through the albums, Zhou Xiao kept the autographed albums and mailed the remaining signed albums to those who needed them. Of course, Qi Sisi received her summons the next afternoon and came to the hotel to pick them up.
Within a week of Zhou Xiao receiving his signed album, netizens began posting photos of their copies of the album they'd won through the "Limited Time Treasure Hunt" flash sale. This fueled the clamor for a physical album among ordinary fans eagerly watching the photos posted by their followers.
Zhou Xiao and his friends discussed this in the group chat, and it was clear that Huayao was simply trying to whet the appetites of fans. Furthermore, representatives from other fan clubs were also somewhat ham-fisted in the group chat, essentially just rattling off numbers daily and asking about Huayao's pre-sale progress for the physical release.
Since there wasn't much filming going on during this period, Zhou Xiao found a good day and went to the gallery. This time, when she arrived, a chubby little dog was already basking in the sun beside the gallery, accompanying the security guard on his daily patrol of his "territory."
Hiring security was the advice Zhou Xiao's former lawyer, Fu Jiao, had given him. If he planned to use it in the next few years, it would be best to hire two people to take turns guarding it. Although there were a lot of cameras installed, it was still necessary to be on the safe side.
The process of transforming the gallery into a photography base is still on hold for Zhou Xiao. On the one hand, he currently has no design ideas, and on the other hand, this idle gallery does not pose any safety hazards, so there is no rush to renovate it.
The security guard, who was walking his dog, was quite pleased to see Zhou Xiao. Knowing she was just stopping by for a quick visit, he even asked her to take some of her dried vegetables home to try. Although the Huashang District was undergoing significant development, many residents, like them, were still unable to enjoy its benefits. Finding a security job nearby was considered a blessing.
Zhou Xiao lived in a hotel and rarely cooked, so he quickly declined. The two hired uncles were very responsible. The last time Zhou Xiao came, the ground at the door was covered with fruits that had fallen from the trees and exploded.
Today, I see a few cracked fruits scattered across the concrete floor. A closer look reveals a broom leaning against the trunk of a large tree. The once desolate and empty gallery suddenly feels human.
…
Looking at the screenshots in the group chat, which showed Ji Shao's autographed album being auctioned at a high price on Xianyu, Zhou Xiao had expected Huayao to resort to hunger marketing, but he hadn't expected them to be so patient.
For nearly two weeks now, a significant number of fans have been clamoring for a physical album. Of course, some are just trying to hype things up. Whether it's NINE STAR's group variety show or the video comments on "Please Donate a Meal," there's a lot of talk about a physical album.
I don't know if it's just a scam or if there are people who genuinely want the album. Maybe it's because those who can't get it want it the most, but in any case, it's already whetted people's appetite.
【Happy and auspicious】
Zhu Jian (Yi Rou Ke Gang): The Xianyu auction is so scary!!! The fan club had one signed album left, so we thought we'd put it up for sale, but it ended up selling for 16,210 yuan. [Picture]
Li Mo (little tail): Ah, this, I am so shocked by this price [shocked.jpg]
Qi Sisi (Sisi): @A smile makes you look ten years younger Dear smile, a grateful heart
Zhu Jian (Yi Rou Ke Gang): The key is that after the album was released, several people came to ask if there were any more. Judging from the homepage, they must be wealthy ladies who are not in the entertainment industry... We plan to put all the albums up for sale, so we don’t have to worry about offline support funds in the future.
Dong Xiaoyu (the boss said it was raining and there was no umbrella): Rourou, why don’t you sell the portion that Xiaoxiao gave me?
…
Of course, these prices aren't fixed. As more and more physical album auction links are posted on the platform, Huayao finally pulled out the stops. They announced the release of NINE STAR's first concert and partnered with multiple music platforms to sell both physical and digital NINE STAR albums.
Besides the physical album, fans are most concerned about whether there will be a book signing event. Huayao also announced this during the event. The book signing event will be a flash sale with a one-yuan discount for the first 1,000 people to buy it. However, the prerequisite for this flash sale is that the buyer must have purchased the original concert ticket from a legitimate sales platform.
While Zhou Xiao was still reading the detailed rules, an electronic notification chimed in his head: [Beep! Detecting the start of the NINE STAR concert, automatically issuing one ticket for December 24th and one ticket for the autograph session on December 25th.]
Looking at the two tickets that automatically appeared on the coffee table, Zhou Xiao couldn't help but mentally give the system a thumbs-up. Huayao hadn't even revealed its opening date, and the system had already automatically identified it. If nothing else, this was truly a stable happiness!
Before the album went on sale at 2 PM, each member of Nine Star's original agencies also reposted Huayao's official concert announcement. It seems the earlier "gift" of the album had worked. At least Zhou Xiao had noticed that New Town, with its deep pockets, had directly sent a trending search: #Ji Shao Concert#
——【Forum】——[November 30, noon]
[Topic] I don't know if I'm overthinking it, but I feel like Huayao's actions are a step-by-step plan to make the neighbor's dream come true...
[Main Building] The first public performance of Dream Come True was on November 10th. It was very popular, but it was easily overshadowed by the mature NINE STAR stage on Double 11.
After that, because of the uproar over the physical album, there was much less discussion in my group about the new talent show! By the way, who would have thought that the next door had already been eliminated in the first round...
1L
The host said this, and now I remember the neighbor
26L
Today is NINE STAR's pre-concert, and tomorrow is the second round of performances next door. It really keeps the heat up.
67L
A friend I met offline once climbed over the wall from Ji Shao's house to attend a fan meeting next door. Now he's regretting it so much. The popularity is low, and the trainees are being tortured by the show and becoming uglier and uglier...
108L
Are you guys going to grab the album this afternoon? I saw that the official NINE STAR Weibo has already announced what the album includes.
149L
Reply to 108L: An extra poster tube and three small cards cost 100 more, Huayao will make more money [speechless]
…
Although Zhou Xiao already had the album, he still took a look at the official Weibo post about the price and items. He was surprised by how generous Huayao and New Town were, giving away hardcover copies.
Despite being criticized for the huge price difference, the pre-sale was sold out without hesitation. This was mainly because Huayao set up a special nameplate on the album purchase page. If you matched the member's birthday, you would receive a signed album.
This caused fans who originally only wanted to buy a few to constantly refresh the interface, and then impulsively buy albums in bulk to get the members' autographed albums. Among them, Ji Shao's albums were the most difficult to get, not only Ji Shao fans, but also some scalpers who were interested in the previous prices sold on Xianyu.
The intense competition prompted Ji Shao to subtly advise everyone to act within their means in his blog post that evening. As a member of NINE STAR, he couldn't outright tell everyone not to buy. However, this seemed to intensify the enthusiasm of many fans outside the circle, who rushed to buy the album.
As for Zhu Jian's earlier suggestion of auctioning off the autographed album, they had originally thought that Huayao would open a purchase link, and that not many people would buy Ji Shao's autographed album. However, unexpectedly, due to Huayao's pre-sale mechanism, the autographed album, which was originally sold at a high price, sold even better...
Zhou Xiao, who was watching the intense trading, was eating melons and holding on to the system. It wasn't that he couldn't afford the autograph, but the system was more cost-effective!
Originally, many people were worried that the signing session, which was limited to 1,000 people, would be difficult to get. Now it seems that this is just a game that depends solely on hand speed.
Zhou Xiao looked at the album sales and figured that NINE STAR's offline concert would likely be well-attended. As if remembering something, she opened a map app and started searching. According to the concert ticket address issued by the system, it was about an hour's drive from the Huashang District, and the book signing event was at Huashang Times Square!
An idea gradually took shape in Zhou Xiao's mind.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
