Chapter 3: Trading one's life for money—a piece of cake!
"Go check the trending topics. Jiang Chuan is in big trouble this time. He might get fired. I suspect he might be behind your substitute teaching job, trying to push you out to attract attention so no one will pay attention to him." The agent spoke quickly, then sneered, "He really played his cards right. Now it's time for him to pay his debts."
Fang Xuran was completely confused, having no idea what his manager was talking about. Wasn't he supposed to be talking about him? How did he end up bringing up Jiang Chuan? Was his bad luck because of Jiang Chuan?
He quickly opened Weibo. He wasn't logged into any account; he was just a visitor. Fortunately, visitors could still see the trending topics. Over the past few days, he had gotten used to checking the trending topics list and counting his own name. So this time, he subconsciously started counting from the top down.
1...Huh? There isn't one?
Fang Xuran was somewhat incredulous. She flipped back to the top of the list and counted again, but it really wasn't there. It wasn't on either the main list or the entertainment list.
Oh, there's one in the real-time trending topics, but...
#Fang Xuran the scapegoat#
Huh??
It looks like they're trying to get justice for him!
He couldn't wait to click in and found that it indeed contained content that helped clarify things for him, as well as a few posts that bitterly criticized Jiang Chuan.
His fans and team have tried to clarify the trending topics in recent days, but they can't overcome the power of the general public. Even if they rise to the top, they will quickly fall down. This particular topic, however, is steadily climbing in popularity.
Fang Xuran exited and refreshed the page again. The trending topic about the scapegoat had risen to 47th place on the main list.
He was certain that his team hadn't trended this keyword, and the topic's host wasn't a marketing account from a partner company he recognized.
What happened? Was it really a divine intervention, or a chain reaction related to Jiang Chuan's situation?
In that instant, a name flashed through his mind. Could it be...?
"Have you seen the trending topics? Ah, that's so satisfying! Jiang Chuan pushed you out to take the blame, but he ended up taking the blame himself because he felt guilty. To be honest, he's pretty cunning. You two are nominally roommates, and instead of helping each other out, you stabbed each other in the back."
The agent's boisterous voice suddenly burst out from the speaker, breaking Fang Xuran's drifting thoughts, and he realized that the voice call was not over yet.
"What? Jiang Chuan did that to me?"
The agent paused for a moment after being asked the question, then said irritably, "Didn't I tell you to look at the trending topics? What were you looking at?"
"Jiang Chuan was just exposed by Green Petal for having made connections with the Central Academy of Drama in advance to secure a position. With the current poor job market and many people taking the civil service exam, it's ridiculous that an artist like him would try to take a spot from an ordinary person. He's being heavily criticized right now."
"Actually, he's quite clever. He didn't make a fuss, and the Central Academy of Drama didn't post the announcement on a public platform this time. However, the person who exposed him was very capable. He went directly to the offline location to photograph the list of candidates and contacted other candidates in the same examination room to speak out. Jiang Chuan has really angered the public this time."
"I had suspected before that one of your classmates might have done this. After all, only people in your school knew about the power outage on the day of your exam, and since you happened to be in one of the exams, even fewer people knew about it. I just didn't expect it to be Jiang Chuan."
While listening to her manager's nagging, Fang Xuran scrolled through the trending topics list containing Jiang Chuan's name.
I counted them, and wow, there were ten of them!
It's got that same momentum as when he dominated the rankings.
#Jiangchuan Central Theater#
#Some netizens claim there was no written exam in Jiangchuan#
#Jiangchuan Radish Hole#
...
Jiang Chuan...
Jiang Chuan was one of Fang Xuran's college roommates. Although he had hardly ever lived on campus since his freshman year, and his relationship with his roommates was just so-so, Jiang Chuan was the one he was most familiar with among the three roommates, because the other two roommates were all strangers.
As fellow celebrity students, the two had some common topics, such as the struggle of balancing work and studies. Therefore, even though he didn't spend much time at school, he would still chat with his roommates in the group chat from time to time.
He did mention the power outage during the final exams in the dorm group chat.
Fang Xuran scrolled through the trending topics with mixed feelings. Jiang Chuan's case was much more serious than his cheating incident. With the economic downturn and the pressure on the public, civil service exams were a highly sensitive topic. It could only be said that Jiang Chuan would be severely punished, if not killed, for this.
After quickly reviewing all the trending topics, Fang Xuran had a general understanding, but she couldn't help feeling a little confused.
The incident was clearly documented in the trending topics, and the poster who exposed the truth had a very complete chain of evidence, clearly explaining from beginning to end the unreasonable aspects of Jiang Chuan obtaining the position at the Central Academy of Drama, with reasoned arguments and conclusive evidence.
How could Shi Yao have completed such a detailed and massive amount of work all by herself in such a short time?
As if it had heard what he was thinking, a new message popped up at the top, from Shi Yao.
[Shi Yao: Honey, the result is already trending on Weibo, are you satisfied?]
It really was her...
Fang Xuran impatiently tapped the screen: 【Is it really you? How did you do that!】
[Shi Yao: This is an internal secret, darling [covering mouth and laughing]]
[Shi Yao: If you're satisfied, would you consider subscribing to the full service? This matter isn't completely resolved yet. Subscribing to the full service will guarantee you no worries, dear.]
Without a second thought, Fang Xuran typed in reply: 【I'll buy】
To his embarrassment, his phone was not with him at the moment. He could not log in to Alipay, and WeChat prompted that the unfamiliar device did not allow him to pay and that he needed a mobile phone verification code. After hesitating for a moment, he still chose to make a voice call to his agent.
The agent answered quickly, and after hearing Fang Xuran's words, remained silent for a moment before saying meaningfully, "Mao Mao, why are you doing this again? You actually believe this?"
"In less than two hours, a complete stranger, an unknown artist, who had no prior connection with us, helped you resolve the issue that had been bothering us for seven days, and even uncovered such detailed evidence regarding the Jiang Chuan incident. Do you think that's possible?"
"The author of the Green Petal post, the original poster, and countless people who reposted it, along with so many marketing accounts and KOLs on Weibo, with such detailed and comprehensive copywriting, and such perfect coordination, do you think she could have done it?" The agent sneered. "She just got lucky. She just fooled you and someone is doing her a favor, and you actually believed it."
"Just block these scammers."
Fang Xuran listened in silence. Although he also felt that such a huge workload could not be completed by Shi Yao alone, he couldn't help but think that what Shi Yao said was true.
Why did things take a turn for the better right after he contacted Shi Yao?
"But our matter is not over yet. Right now, it's just that Jiang Chuan is more controversial. Once netizens realize what's going on, they might still come after me, since I haven't finished clarifying things."
The agent was silent for a moment. He knew, of course, that the matter was not over yet, and unfortunately, the staff sent to the school had just replied that they had not found any backup surveillance footage, which meant it would be difficult to completely clear up the situation.
Fang Xuran was unaware of this, and he wasn't planning to tell the silly boy, so he casually asked, "How much does she charge?"
"One hundred thousand." It was originally ninety thousand, but because he didn't pay immediately, there was no discount.
Shady businessman!
"Take away the young master? 100,000! Block her immediately, block her immediately! What a heartless liar! She really dares to ask for that much, and you actually believe her?" The agent's voice immediately turned cold. "If she had asked for a few thousand, I would have agreed to let you transfer it, but 100,000? Ha."
Although Fang Xuran earns a lot, this is not the way to spend it.
"Do you really think it's possible to get it fixed for a few thousand dollars, bro?" Fang Xuran couldn't help but retort.
The agent choked on the question. They had spent nearly seven figures on public relations these days, so a few thousand dollars was definitely out of the question.
But that's a professional team. Is Shi Yao comparable?
"Alright, alright, I disagree. Forget about it. We'll handle the clarification. You just need to block that person right now. It's impossible for her to have done it. She's a liar."
Fang Xuran was abruptly cut off from the phone and couldn't help but mutter, "It's impossible anywhere."
Although he was already leaning towards Shi Yao, he couldn't help but wonder how she had managed to do it.
Let's go back two hours.
"Host, Fang Xuran's matter has been trending on social media for a week now. It's not going to be easy to resolve. Why did you choose such a difficult task for your first task?" Seeing that persuasion was ineffective, the system had accepted that its host was determined to leave the entertainment industry and go against the grain.
The worst that can happen is that the mission fails! It can just repeat itself again!
It's such a shame about its outstanding graduate badge.
While rapidly switching between various apps, Shi Yao casually replied to the system, "Do I even have a choice?"
System: "...That's true."
"Relax, who told you it's difficult?" Shi Yao comforted the little system, seeing it looking a bit down. "These kinds of small orders are a piece of cake for me."
She used to specialize in this, and within minutes she had analyzed Fang Xuran's true situation and started recruiting.
Although it was a different world, the entertainment industries on both sides seemed pretty much the same. She skillfully accessed a certain adult seafood market, entered keywords, and placed an order precisely.
Then I opened Weibo, entered a special pronoun to enter the "trading" super topic, conducted a precise search within it, and then switched back to WeChat to add the WeChat ID I had just copied from Weibo.
The other party accepted the request almost instantly. Shi Yao checked the price in the other party's WeChat Moments, then switched back to the super topic and added a few more people. After comparing prices from multiple sources, she chose one person to place an order with.
[AAA to grow bigger and stronger: I need 20 verified yellow accounts, each with over 500,000 followers, preferably over 1 million, and they must be active accounts. I also need 100 regular accounts with a "public square" theme and 50 accounts with high comment weight. How much does all of this cost in total?]
There was a ten-second silence on the other end, followed by a reply:
[Professional Data Provider A: So many?]
[AAA is growing bigger and stronger: Haven't you?]
[AAA wants to grow bigger and stronger: Then I'll switch to another company]
[Professional Data Agent A: Yes, yes, yes, let me organize it first]
Shi Yao had no idea how surprised the data scalper on the other side of the screen was. All she could think about was making money quickly. While the other party was organizing the accounts, she switched to the seafood market and bought more than a dozen green petal accounts.
"It's really hard to find accounts on the Melon Group. They're expensive, and almost no one's willing to pay for them," Shi Yao complained softly as she scrolled through the screen.
The Melon Group is the largest entertainment group on Green Petal, and many of the biggest and most explosive gossip in the entertainment industry comes from there. The group's property prices are extremely high, and there are never any available properties. Shi Yao searched for a long time before finally finding a post advertising the sale of a Melon Group account, and she quickly rushed over to send a private message.
Fortunately, the seller was online and replied quickly. Shi Yao confirmed that the seller wanted to sell, so she asked about the price.
"Two thousand yuan!" the system exclaimed. "That's so expensive! You just bought more than a dozen accounts and didn't even spend two thousand yuan."
Shi Yao wasn't too surprised. Houses in these entertainment groups wouldn't be cheap. The entertainment group accounts were just extras; the gossip group accounts were the most important. So she bought them without thinking.
But when it came time to pay, the payment failed. Shi Yao slapped her forehead and realized she had almost forgotten that she only had about three thousand yuan on her, and she had just bought a bunch of small accounts. At this moment, she only had a little over a thousand yuan left in her card.
Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. The original owner was so poor that she was in tears. Shi Yao didn't forget what the system had said before and said without hesitation, "System, transfer me the money."
System: "Huh? I don't have that feature."
Shi Yao: "What I mean is, let's exchange life points for money. Didn't you say that 1 life point can be exchanged for 100,000? Exchange it for 300,000 for me first."
The system was horrified: "Host, you only have seven life points left! You'll die in seven days! How can you trade your life for money? Don't you want to live?!"
Shi Yao didn't even look up: "I know, there are still four days left after the change, that's enough."
Seeing that the system still didn't respond, Shi Yao clicked her tongue and coaxed, "System, as the saying goes, you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. I'm not risking my life, you're contributing to our startup capital."
"I can resolve Fang Xuran's matter in two days at most, and I'll definitely make back the three days I lost by then."
"...What if we can't make it back?" the system whispered.
Shi Yao blurted out, "Then he'll just die."
system:"!"
Shi Yao said earnestly, "The bold get rich, the timid starve. You're a smart leader, you know which one to choose."
You have successfully redeemed 300,000 yuan, and 3 health points have been deducted.
Shi Yao smiled and said, "Thank you, Commander. You deserve some credit for recruiting soldiers."
The system just smiled wryly; it seemed it was one step closer to repeating a grade.
After obtaining the Guazu account, DataNiu also replied to the message.
[Professional Data Agent A: There aren't many verified accounts (yellow V accounts) right now, and you're asking for active accounts with high authority and many followers, so the price is relatively high. I only have five accounts with one million followers, plus fifteen accounts with five hundred thousand followers each, and one hundred and fifty regular accounts. I'll charge you a total of 200,000 RMB, is that okay? They're all active accounts.]
"So expensive..." the system muttered to itself.
I just exchanged 300,000, and I'm already going to spend two-thirds of it.
Shi Yao did a quick mental calculation and found it was even cheaper than she had expected. She immediately and readily transferred the money, and also asked this data expert to add her to some "order dispatch groups".
Once she got the accounts, Shi Yao logged in and checked them. She found that they were indeed active accounts that had been active before, so she was relieved. She went back and tagged the data analyst, saying she would contact him again if she needed any work.
The text was already edited. Shi Yao opened the software to switch IPs, logged into her Guazu account, and started editing. At the same time, she used another alt account to send a private message to her Guazu account.
Soon, a new "external submission" broke the news.
With a large number of people and high traffic in the gossip group, the thread was quickly built up. Shi Yao seized the opportunity, immediately changed her account and IP, posted it to different entertainment groups, and then logged onto Weibo, directly screenshotted the gossip group post and reposted it, using the kind of ambiguous and inflammatory copywriting often used by marketing accounts.
These verified accounts have high authority, and their posts automatically become popular. Shi Yao then switched to a regular account she had just bought to generate data for her marketing account and keywords. Finally, she opened the order-distribution group she had just joined and distributed an order there.
[AAA is growing bigger and stronger: expanding its presence on the main page and in the comments section, offering packages at 3 RMB per post, and providing private content.]
Soon the friend verification area was full, so Shi Yao quickly switched to one-way verification and then verified and dispatched orders one by one.
The system was stunned by her actions. By the time Shi Yao finally calmed down, almost two hours had passed. She temporarily turned off friend verification and then sent a message in the group saying that she was pausing order acceptance.
Switching back to Weibo, Shi Yao finally saw the name she wanted to see on the trending topics. A cryptic smile appeared on her lips. She randomly clicked on one of them. The top trending topic was from an account she had just bought, as were the top comments and other popular posts in the square.
Perfect!
She returned to the main screen, opened another WeChat account, found the client she had just teased, and sent him a message.
[Shi Yao: Honey, the result is already trending on Weibo, are you satisfied?]
Trending on social media is a piece of cake!
A note from the author:
Agent: What to do if your artist isn't thinking straight?
Xiao Fang: This is called "fools having good fortune".
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