21 Chapter 21
"Eh? Shangguan Huaijin's support... fans can actually contribute such pure and vigorous emotions?" Bai Xuan finally understood what Ning Shu meant, and her eyes widened slightly in surprise:
"I didn't expect to see such results in just a month. The Young Sect Master's innovative cultivation method is truly promising!"
"Hehe, these thousand fans are nothing..." Ning Shu scratched the back of his head in a humble manner, as if he wasn't the one who was about to jump up with excitement just now. "When the show is officially aired, everyone's fans will definitely increase by tens of thousands!"
"Really? It seems like our Hehuan Sect finally has a chance to surpass the Tianyan Sect and become the leader of the five great immortal sects!" Bai Xuan's clear deer eyes smiled, and she expressed her expectations very tactfully: "Then I'll wait and see. The young sect leader is truly promising at such a young age!"
Then she affectionately grasped Shangguan Huaijin's wrist and led the new disciple, who was clearly still in shock, out the door. "You're absorbing a large amount of spiritual energy every day now, and this will damage your tendons and veins over time. Come with me, our Hehuan Sect has a secret method that can help you widen your spiritual veins."
Shangguan Huaijin had long forgotten the manners of a lady from a noble family. She was dragged out the door by Bai Xuan with a stunned expression on her face, muttering to herself in disbelief:
"There are actually over a thousand people supporting me? They also think I've been wronged..."
"I... am wronged... I am wronged..." Her voice gradually became choked with sobs, her vision blurred, her chest felt so stuffy that she couldn't breathe. She gently felt the spiritual energy surging in her body that made her veins ache slightly, and finally couldn't help crying out loud: "It's not my fault... I'm not wrong... Wuwu... I was wronged..."
What she had been going through during this period was simply like a nightmare. Although she tried her best to maintain her composure, she had doubted more than once in the dead of night whether it was really her problem. Otherwise, why would everyone unanimously curse her for being vicious?
Is it really my fault? Maybe I should have died to prove my loyalty when the elders wanted to break off the engagement, like those chaste women in the books?
Now finally someone is standing on her side. At least these more than a thousand people don't think there is anything wrong with her. They stand with her and express their support and stance with the most sincere feelings.
Shangguan Huaijin's sobbing gradually turned into loud crying. She squatted on the ground like a bullied child, with messy hair and hoarse voice. She looked like a mad woman.
In a trance, she seemed to hear a long sigh, and a soft silk handkerchief with a faint floral scent wiped away her tears.
"Huai Jin, rumors are weapons that men use to discipline women. As long as you don't care, they can no longer do anything to you.
Don't be a woman who is disciplined. Become the proud female immortal of the Hehuan Sect, stronger than all the men who have bullied you! "
Shangguan Huaijin looked at Elder Bai Xuan with tearful eyes, who was smiling gently in front of him. Finally, he wiped away his tears and nodded vigorously.
The audition program, whose popularity had begun to decline, complemented the newly released magazine. While it made the contestants successful, it also provided more love threads for the sacred tree of the Hehuan Sect. Although Shangguan Huaijin received the most attention because of his tragic past, the contributions of contestants such as Liu Pianpian and Xiao Lihua should not be underestimated. In just a few days, the number of love threads increased by dozens, and the plan to use the star-making method to nourish the sacred tree achieved initial success.
But as the saying goes, if you don't plan for the future, you will have immediate worries. The support for love has increased, but the funding for the project is about to run out.
After all, Ning Shu had originally come to the City That Never Sleeps with the intention of escaping cultivation. She hadn't known if her plan to enter the entertainment industry, which she had come up with on the spur of the moment, would succeed. Therefore, feeling guilty, she had no confidence in asking her mother for too much financial support. Add to that the costs of buying a venue, Spirit Shadow Stone, holding auditions, and publishing the magazine...
Well, the business is getting bigger and bigger, and Ning Shu can no longer make ends meet with the small business he has.
On Lanyueting, where the young master resided, Ning Shu and the program's founder, Zixiao, stared at each other in bewilderment at the account book showing the deficit. After looking through the account book several times, Ning Shu finally accepted the reality, covering his face.
"There's a major funding crisis right before the talent show even starts? Sister Zixiao, our show is going to die before it even airs..."
How could this happen? It was so popular both in the auditions and in the magazine, yet we lost so much money? I, the project planner, am such a failure!
Compared to Ning Shu's shock and disbelief, Zi Xiao, who had been in charge of the accounts, was not surprised by the result at all. She shrugged nonchalantly and said, "We've absorbed so much emotion during this period. Isn't it normal to pay a price? Just tell the sect leader directly. She will definitely allocate more funds to support you."
After all, the effectiveness of Ning Shu's work is obvious to all. I heard that the disciple named Shangguan has now jumped from the fifth level of Qi training to the great perfection of Qi training, and is only one opportunity away from building a foundation.
This method of cultivation is much faster than taking risks in romance. Now all the sisters in the sect are eagerly waiting for the young sect leader to quickly experiment with a set of rules so that they can follow them for cultivation. No one will object to investing money in this.
"But my mother is already very busy managing the affairs of the entire sect, and I don't want to bother her with this matter..." Ning Shu sighed in annoyance. He still couldn't accept that he had actually lost money. "Besides, if this happens, everyone will just be using spirit stones to accumulate cultivation. Even if the Hehuan Sect has mountains of gold and silver, they will be emptied out!"
"You want to make money and collect love at the same time?" Zi Xiao tapped her forehead with his index finger. "How could such a good thing happen in this world?"
“But…” But the entertainment industry on Earth is obviously making a fortune, okay?
She choked for a moment, still unconvinced, and flipped through the account book again and again: "Didn't they say that the magazine was very popular? There were even so many more love stories! Isn't the money for buying the magazine in it?"
"Young Master, not everyone likes the same books as you and needs to buy them back home for collection." Zi Xiao flipped open a page and pointed to a less obvious entry, explaining, "Many people even share a magazine with two or three people. The content inside is the same anyway.
Even if a fan of a contestant wants to collect a collection of beautiful pictures, one copy is enough, and our prices are not high to begin with, so of course we won't make much money."
"Only buy one book?... In other words, if we ask each of them to buy a few more books..." Ning Shu muttered to himself, touching his chin.
"Why buy so many identical magazines?" Zixiao thought she was dreaming. "Unless you have a way to make sure only one person can read each one, or the content of each one is different."
"Or maybe there's only one of something in a book..." Ning Shu's eyes rolled, and she suddenly had an idea. She leaned over to Zi Xiao and whispered a few words, "I think it's better to do this..."
After hearing Ning Shu's words, Zi Xiao's eyes suddenly became complicated: "Young Sect Master, you are worthy of being from our Hehuan Sect. You are really good at calculating people's hearts."
Alas, sometimes you're just too mean. In the past, no matter how busy we were, we could only deceive one or two men at a time, but you, on the other hand, have the entire city that never sleeps under your thumb.
So seven days after the magazine went on sale, the monks near the City That Never Sleeps who had been following "Hehuan Weekly" gathered again under the high tower bought by the Hehuan Sect. They stood together in groups of three or two, discussing the possible content of this issue with their friends while waiting for the female monks who were selling the magazine to appear.
"Who's on the cover of this issue? It should be Miss Shangguan, right?"
"I saw in the last issue that Miss Ying'er is on the cover this week! She's the perfect female cultivator for the cover!"
"I prefer..."
They were discussing with great interest when suddenly the door on the first floor of the pagoda, which had been closed all the time, opened again. The female monks carried out a shelf full of magazines with ease. The only difference from last time was that there were two boxes of different colors in front of the shelf.
The anxious monks had no time to pay attention to the two strange, unremarkable boxes. They rushed to the magazine stand impatiently. One monk patted the other on the shoulder and said, "Daoquan, didn't you say you've been waiting for this for a long time? Hurry up and pay!"
"I know, I know! I'll save these few spirit stones and deduct them from you!" Zhang Daoquan muttered reluctantly and took out a few spirit stones from his bag: "I want a magazine."
"We call this sticking to our original aspirations!" One of the monks pushed Zhang Daoquan's shoulders and walked out. They sat down at a roadside tea stall with a magazine in hand.
"How many people can't read a book? We can just watch an interview with a character! Unlike you? You buy several copies of a magazine. Have you been bewitched by the female cultivators of the Hehuan Sect?"
Zhang Daoquan's face flushed instantly: "You're talking nonsense! I, I just want to buy a brand new copy of Miss Pianpian's Beauty Picture! I don't believe you won't buy Miss Shangguan's Beauty Picture!"
Seven days ago, Zhang Daoquan pulled his friend over to watch the audition replay. His original intention was to develop another supporter for Miss Liu Pianpian. Who knew that his friend would fall in love with Shangguan Huaijin, who had a more pure and dignified temperament? It was really sad.
"Anyway, the cover this time is neither Liu Pianpian nor Shangguan Huaijin, let's take a look and see if there is anything interesting inside." The friend opened the magazine nonchalantly. Several young monks gathered together and started reading while discussing. When they were almost finished reading a magazine, they realized that this magazine actually had a few more pages than the previous one.
"What is this?" The friend came over curiously and found that it was a piece of paper with dotted lines and marks, which was very easy to tear off. It was printed with small pictures of popular contestants, and there was something written in fancy handwriting at the top.
"Popularity Contest for the Next Issue's Cover Photographer... Use one ballot to write down one contestant's name and place it in the red ballot box... The person with the most votes will be the cover actress for the next issue... Also included is a three-foot-long hanging painting of a beautiful woman?!"
As the friend read on, his tone grew increasingly excited, his eyes lighting up: "Who else is there to choose? The most popular candidate has to be Miss Shangguan!"
"Not necessarily!" Zhang Daoquan also leaned over. "It seems there's something else going on. The most popular female fairy in each episode will be given a special seat in the subsequent talent show, occupying the main position on the stage? This is... I don't quite understand it, but it should give them some kind of advantage in the subsequent selection competitions, right? It seems that the selection of the most popular female fairy is quite important..."
"That must be important! Look, isn't it written right here?" A friend snatched the magazine and pointed at the most eye-catching line at the bottom: "You vote, I vote, and the fairy will become a great master tomorrow. If you don't vote and I don't vote, when will my sister be able to make a name for herself?"
That's right! That selection competition wasn't just any selection competition! It was about Miss Pianpian's path to becoming an immortal! Zhang Daoquan suddenly understood.
Miss Liu Pianpian's life has been so difficult. If I don't vote for her, when will she be able to make a breakthrough?! A sense of mission and protective desire emerged from the bottom of Zhang Daoquan's heart. He straightened his chest and said, "I can't just stand by and watch!"
At this time, his friend was about to start writing: "I want to see Miss Shangguan..."
"Go to hell!" He snatched the magazine back: "I bought this! I want to vote for Miss Pianpian!"
"Didn't Liu Pianpian appear on the cover?"
"Who said it can only be once? I want her to come every time!"
"You! Fine! I can buy it myself!" The friend stood up and left, heading straight for the magazine stand. "Miss Shangguan has suffered so much, doesn't she deserve a cover?"
"I'm going too!" Zhang Daoquan picked up the magazine and stood up.
"What are you going to do?"
"Who said one person can only vote once? I want to buy ten books! Ten votes for Miss Pianpian!"
"You're cheating! Fine! You're playing with me, huh? I want twenty votes!"
"Then I'll give you thirty votes!"
"I'll give you fifty votes!"
【Author’s words】
Ning Shu: You vote, I vote, and the fairy will become a great lady tomorrow! Everyone, come and pink your beloved sister! [Spread flowers]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
