Chapter 137: Feng Shui Changes
"What?"
Cheng Xuezhou opened his eyes irritably, his tone was very bad.
Even the most good-tempered person would find it difficult to be in a good mood if they were woken up in the middle of a sound sleep. Moreover, Cheng Xuezhou's temper was not very good to begin with.
He slowly opened his eyes and squinted to look over. His vision was often blurry after waking up, and Cheng Xuezhou looked for a long time before he saw clearly that the person standing at the head of his bed was Ling Xiao.
"Ling Xiao, it's you..."
Cheng Xuezhou stirred slightly and slapped away Ling Xiao's hand that had been on his shoulder when he woke him up. He glanced at the clock on the wall, frowned, and said dissatisfiedly, "It's still so early, why did you wake me up?"
"You and I are not in the same group... If you want to train, just go by yourself. Why did you wake me up..." He didn't get a good night's sleep. What if he gets dark circles under his eyes?!
"No!" Ling Xiao said anxiously, even a little incoherent due to excitement: "That's not why I woke you up!"
"Yes...yes, something happened!"
Cheng Xuezhou yawned sleepily, pulled up the quilt, and said nonchalantly, "Are you talking about Zeng Han's incident? Haah—I know. Didn't you tell me about it yesterday?"
"What? Have his ex-girlfriends released more damning evidence?"
"Or has one of his endorsements been dropped again?"
Although Cheng Xuezhou acted completely indifferent to Zeng Han's affairs, he was still interested in the gossip. Especially when there was such a revelation, brand PR would constantly monitor public opinion and cut ties with Zeng Han immediately if they saw that his reputation was failing.
So last night he secretly watched for a long time in his bed, watching Zeng Han's endorsements drop one by one, like collecting an illustrated book.
That's why he was so unhappy when he was woken up today - after all, he really didn't get enough sleep.
"no!"
Ling Xiao looked at the person on the bed who was completely calm and unaware of the seriousness of the situation. He no longer worried about whether speaking directly would affect the other person's mood, and said directly: "It's you who is in trouble, Cheng Xuezhou!"
He thrust the lit phone screen directly in front of Cheng Xuezhou's eyes and said, "Forget it, just watch it yourself!"
"Your name is trending now!"
The bright light from the screen dispelled some of Cheng Xuezhou's sleepiness. He half-closed his eyes, adjusted to the light from the screen, and looked over nonchalantly.
A few seconds later, Cheng Xuezhou snatched the phone from Ling Xiao's hand and sat up suddenly from the bed.
"What's this?!"
Cheng Xuezhou stared at the words on the screen - "Cheng Xuezhou's character collapses", and dug his nails into his palms.
What does this mean? When did this happen? When did his image collapse? He was clearly acting so well on the show!
Cheng Xuezhou stared and clicked on the entry with trembling hands.
The cause was a revelation from a marketing account. This marketing account was quite clever, not naming anyone, but just vaguely saying "a trainee from a certain program."
But the marketing account couldn't help but use some very obvious descriptions to cover up its own mistakes - "a talent show with a top star named Xie as a mentor", "known as the little angel on earth", "a trainee with a cute style", "his agency seems to have had a big problem recently"... Cheng Xuezhou clenched his phone tightly.
——What’s the difference between this and directly reporting his ID number!
Especially that damn marketing account that also said something like "Another individual trainee who also has a cute style lost her ranking due to the last hot search incident, so this 'little angel' trainee took advantage of her and successfully advanced." Such vague words made Cheng Xuezhou curse in his heart!
Which company is behind this marketing account?! What a clever trick!
On the surface, this statement means that he is not as good as Xia Linxing, and only if Xia Linxing's ranking drops will he have a chance to squeeze into the top 30 and enter the fourth public performance, but in fact, it is implying that he was the one who manipulated Xia Linxing's last hot search incident!
No one except his company should know about his actions against Xia Linxing...
In addition, this marketing account also dug up a lot of photos of him at the company. Some of these photos showed him smoking and relaxing in the company corridor, some showed him in the practice room with a very ferocious look on his face and losing his temper, and there were also photos of him arguing with people at a night snack stall and pushing and shoving with them...
Where on earth did this marketing account find so many old photos!
Even Cheng Xuezhou himself was seeing these photos for the first time!
"You saw it all..."
Ling Xiao looked at Cheng Xuezhou with some worry. When Cheng Xuezhou looked over, he instantly restrained his expression, fearing that Cheng Xuezhou would think he was laughing at him or that he felt sorry for him. "Now, your name is also on the trending search..."
Originally, Cheng Xuezhou’s incident was not serious. After all, when it comes to character setting, everyone, whether fans or passers-by, knows that it is fake.
The reason why fans are disappointed with their favorite artists whose personalities have collapsed is that many of them are disappointed because they think, "It turns out you don't even want to pretend well," "You are so perfunctory even when you lie to us," and similar disappointing emotions.
——The character can be fake, but you can’t make us feel it is fake.
——Maintaining the persona your company has created for you in front of your fans is one of your jobs as an artist.
——As an artist, if you can’t even maintain the most basic personality, what else can you do?
But there are also some fans who don’t care - if they are not fans of the artist because of his personality.
Moreover, Cheng Xuezhou is not yet an officially debuted artist, he is still just a trainee. His character can only be regarded as a character in the variety show, so there is still a lot of room for modification and development.
But there was no way, Zeng Han’s incident broke out first.
Originally, when Cheng Xuezhou's name was on the trending search, few passersby clicked on it. After all, Cheng Xuezhou is not Xia Linxing. From the recording of the show to now, Cheng Xuezhou has hardly been on the trending search, nor has he been out of the circle. When his name is seen, people will have a reaction of "Ah, who is this?"
But some marketing accounts got wind of it - they may not have been able to catch up with Zeng Han's traffic, or they didn't get a share of the traffic from Zeng Han's incident, so they set their sights on Cheng Xuezhou - they dug up the fact that Cheng Xuezhou and Zeng Han were from the same company.
Artists from the same company, the same personality collapse...
Now, people who had had enough fun with Zeng Han’s melon yesterday suddenly flocked to this entry and started pointing and commenting.
"Wow, I was wondering why it's been so busy lately. Two artists' personalities have collapsed in succession. I thought there were just too many Sherlock Holmes, but it turns out they're from the same company..."
"Why don't the boss of this company change their artist team... Look at the crap characters you've picked for your artists. You're selling the straight man persona of a man who's always saying sweet nothings, and the innocent angel persona of a spirited young man who smokes, drinks, and fights... Or maybe you should go to the temple and pray when you have time, so you don't get set up by someone..."
"Looking at it this way, Zeng Han seems to be getting better. At least he's been performing for us for so many years... But this young artist who hasn't even debuted yet, ugh... He's only been on the air for a few episodes, and he can't hold on any longer? Why not just stop recording the show, pack up and go home... After all, there are so many things he'll have to perform in the entertainment industry in the future, brother..."
"Ugh [disdain][disdain][disdain]... The expression on this angel brother's face when he curses can scare a child to tears. Which 'genius' came up with this 'angel' persona for him? Even demons don't have the ferocious expression he does!"
…
In addition to the melon eaters, there are also fans of Cheng Xuezhou in the comments:
"Oh my God, is this true?"
"Fake! Someone must have seen that our brother made it to the fourth public performance and could advance to the finals, threatening his position, so they're trying to smear him!"
"Friendly reminder to fans, this photo has been authenticated and is not photoshopped."
"Ah... so disappointed! I became a fan of Xiaoxue because I saw on the show that he was good at business and kind of sweet and gentle, but he turned out to be like this in person... my fantasy is shattered..."
"Ahhhhhh I can't accept that my good little Xue is actually a hard-core guy who smokes, fights and curses... I'm quitting being a fan..."
"Okay, okay, I have another cyber criminal record!"
"Hiss... this insulting expression, the ones who bullied me at Vision High School, so scary!"
"Hello, Cheng Xuezhou, are you asleep? I'm still awake. I'm really embarrassed to be deleting updates related to you in the middle of the night..."
…
There were many more comments below, but Cheng Xuezhou didn't want to read them anymore.
The fans he had before participating in the show were all bought by the company to help him support the show, and they were all zombie fans; after participating in the show, he attracted a group of fans because of his "little angel" persona, but now, the number of active fans that was hard-earned is dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Cheng Xuezhou even suspected that the reason why they had not fallen off completely was because they had not woken up yet and had not seen the trending searches.
no……
He can't sit still and wait for death any longer!
Cheng Xuezhou threw the phone back to Ling Xiao rudely, without caring whether Ling Xiao caught it or not. Then he lifted the quilt, got out of bed swiftly, and began to look for his phone.
He wants to make a phone call!
He wants to find a company!
The company must have a solution!
However, the call, which was easy to get through in the past, remained unanswered for a long time this time.
What’s going on? ! ! !
Did the company give up on him?!
Cheng Xuezhou paced back and forth in the room anxiously, dialing the phone tirelessly.
No...
No...
He tried desperately to comfort himself: his situation wasn't as serious as Zeng Han's. The company hadn't even given up on Zeng Han, so why would they give up on him?!
He's still on the show! He hasn't even participated in the fourth public performance yet! What if he performs well in the fourth public performance and makes it straight to the finals and debuts?!
The show hasn't ended yet, everything is possible!
As long as the company is willing to help and handle it properly, they can completely convert these black hot searches into his traffic!
His image just collapsed, he didn't cheat on his wife like Zeng Han, nor did he try to trip up other trainees like Xia Linxing (it doesn't count if it doesn't succeed! - Cheng Xuezhou). Zeng Han's company didn't give up even after such a big failure, and Xia Linxing had such a big fuss on the hot search before, but he has turned around now, so, he is not at the end of his road yet!
As long as the company is willing to help him!
Finally, the repetitive busy tone stopped abruptly, replaced by an extremely faint electric sound: "Hello?"
——The call was finally connected!
"Hello! It's me, Cheng Xuezhou!"
"Ah... don't be so loud, Cheng Xuezhou, I know it's you..." For some reason, the voice on the other end of the phone sounded weak, and even yawned while speaking.
If it were in the past, Cheng Xuezhou would definitely care about the other person's physical condition, but now, he can't even take care of himself, so how can he care about whether the other person sleeps well or not? He himself hasn't slept well!
"You should know that someone is deliberately slandering me!" He hurriedly got straight to the point, "What is the company going to do?"
"When will the company help me clarify the matter?"
"Um..." The staff member on the other end of the phone said slowly, in stark contrast to Cheng Xuezhou's attitude: "Xuezhou... I'm sure you know that the company has been really busy these past few days..."
Cheng Xuezhou suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
Sure enough, I heard the staff member continue to say: "We haven't dealt with your previous matter with Zeng Han yet..."
"Every team in the company is busy with Zeng Han's case. We all stayed up all night last night, busy managing public opinion, busy trying to intercede for Zeng Han with the brand (who wants to terminate the contract), and busy negotiating the liquidated damages..."
"It's really... aha..." He yawned loudly, telling Cheng Xuezhou with his actions that they were not lying.
"So, ah..." The staff member sighed deeply, "It's not that we don't want to help you, Cheng Xuezhou, it's just that the company really can't spare the time to help you right now..."
"What do you mean by that?"
Cheng Xuezhou held the phone stiffly, feeling his fingers go numb. All the sounds in his ears gradually faded away, leaving only the staff member's words: "The company is unable to help you with this matter..."
...Can't spare any time?
Ha...what do you mean "can't spare my hands"?!
Cheng Xuezhou gritted his teeth fiercely. He just couldn't believe that such a large company couldn't spare even one or two people?!
It's simply that the company feels Zeng Han's situation is more important right now, and that helping the company's top star restore his reputation is more helpful than helping a trainee who hasn't even debuted yet...
In the final analysis, isn't it because the company looks down on him as a trainee who hasn't debuted yet?!
"Bang!"
Cheng Xuezhou slammed the hung-up phone to the ground.
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