"You're here?"
"They're here."
Ji Juntao raised his eyes, scrutinized Shang Yechu for a while, and said with a half-smile, "I thought you came here to argue with me."
"No." Shang Yechu calmly sat down opposite Ji Juntao. "My birthday has passed, I should be more mature."
"You know about the cosmetics you used?" Ji Juntao tapped the keyboard. "It was my mistake to keep this from you. I apologize."
Shang Yechu stared at Ji Juntao and slowly opened her mouth, saying, "I want to issue a statement calling on fans to consume rationally."
It wasn't a question, but a notification.
Ji Juntao didn't show any surprise, and only said, "Do you know how your fans will react after this message is sent out?"
"Know."
"They will feel betrayed by you, feel that their sincerity has been wasted, and feel that you are ungrateful."
"I know."
“They will get angry and unfollow you, or even turn against you. You will see people who were wishing you a happy birthday just two weeks ago now hurling insults at you.”
"I know."
"And passersby may not buy it. They will say that you are seeking fame and fortune, hypocritical, wanting to make money while pretending to be virtuous."
"I guessed it."
Ji Juntao frowned, staring at Shang Yechu for a long time before saying, "I'm afraid the magazine 'Muse' won't be too happy. Future cooperation will be difficult."
Shang Yechu nodded: "I've thought of that, but don't worry, because I probably won't be doing magazine shoots anymore."
Shang Yechu paused, then added, "For a very long time."
Snap!
The mouse under Ji Juntao's hand made a crisp sound, and Shang Yechu suspected that she had cracked it.
"What do you mean by that?" Ji Juntao tossed the mouse aside. "Did I hear you wrong?"
“You heard me right, that’s exactly what I meant.” Shang Yechu spoke clearly, with an undeniable air, “You don’t need to worry about Fang Gao from ‘Muse’ magazine being unhappy anymore, there won’t be any more of that.”
"Ha!" Ji Juntao let out a cold laugh, as if he had heard a funny joke. "Even if you want to get revenge on me, you can't use this kind of method, can you?"
"I'm not looking for revenge. What is there to be revenged on you for?"
Shang Yechu's tone was very serious. Of course, Ji Juntao didn't believe a word of it. She narrowed her eyes, as if judging how much of Shang Yechu's answer was performed.
“I’m very busy and tired. So I won’t lie to you,” Shang Yechu said. “You have nothing to retaliate against. Because you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Ji Juntao rarely showed such a surprised expression: "Is it haunted?"
"It's a businessman's duty to pursue profit," Shang Yechu shrugged. "Your only problem is that you kept it from me, but that was a plan, not a mistake. The one who's wrong... is me."
On the way here, Shang Yechu thought about many things. She wondered why she and Ji Juntao could never truly open up to each other, why she was always surrounded by a group of hypocrites with ulterior motives, and why her team members, with whom she had worked for so long, would keep secrets from her based on a single sentence from Ji Juntao.
At first, Shang Ye couldn't understand it, so she treated it all as a drama, trying to figure out what each character was thinking. The moment she stepped into Ji Juntao's office, she understood.
“I want to make money, but I don’t want to make money from the money my fans save up and ‘go all out’.”
Ji Juntao almost laughed: "Aha."
Ji Juntao was trying to provoke Shang Yechu. Whenever Shang Yechu got angry, Ji Juntao, who was best at manipulating emotions, could steer the entire conversation in his direction.
Shang Yechu saw through this and waved her hand, saying, "Don't put on that deadpan look. I won't get angry about it. I know that money has no inherent value. But if someone is good to me, shouldn't I take advantage of them even more? Wouldn't that be incredibly despicable?"
“Back in Gu Wenhua’s time, you weren’t this kind,” Ji Juntao retorted.
“Yes.” Shang Yechu actually laughed. “So what? There are plenty of people with double standards, why can’t I?”
When someone is completely unfazed, all psychological tactics become ineffective. Ji Juntao was speechless for a moment: "..."
Shang Yechu values her fans more than romantic relationships. If Ji Juntao had received this news at any other time, he would probably have been overjoyed and opened a bottle of champagne. But hearing it now, he felt as if he had swallowed a huge steamed bun.
“I originally wanted to scold you, Ji Juntao,” Shang Yechu said calmly, “but on my way to your office, I saw people from our company carrying a stack of ‘Muse’ magazines to destroy.”
The company also boosted sales of "Muse" magazine. These heavy paper magazines took up space, and selling them or throwing them in the trash might give paparazzi something to hold against them, so the company had no choice but to destroy them.
Moreover, many fans who buy magazines in bulk actually use a more efficient and cost-effective method—
Shipping physical magazines incurs significant shipping costs and takes up considerable storage space upon arrival. They serve no purpose other than as table leg supports. Therefore, many fans who purchase magazines in bulk contact the shipping company directly to save money and effort, requesting them to manipulate the quantity of magazines shipped. While the order may be for hundreds or thousands of magazines, the company may only need to ship one to a few dozen, or even use virtual shipping.
This eliminates the hassle of shipping and storage.
That's right. Many fans who buy thousands of magazines are actually just spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a bunch of air and inflated sales figures.
For the magazine, this was a windfall, a windfall of money, so there was no reason not to accept it. A risk-free, highly profitable deal—there's hardly a better deal in the world.
Fans paid money and got air and dignity in return; celebrities gained real achievements, and everyone wins.
Shang Yechu stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the tall buildings in the distance.
"Forced spending, boosting sales, selling air... Do you think I don't know these things? I do," Shang Yechu said with a wry smile.
In her previous life, Shang Yechu had never had fans who would enthusiastically boost her sales, but after spending so much time in this place, it would be shameless of her not to understand the ins and outs.
"I'm just deceiving myself, pretending not to know. I'm enjoying the vanity and achievements that sales bring me. As long as I act like I know nothing, the inflated figures in the sales figures will never be seen by me."
Ji Juntao rubbed his aching wrist: "Since you knew that, why have you changed your mind now?"
"Because I discovered that these things are not only known to me, but also to you, everyone in the company, the magazine, and everyone in the industry!"
Shang Yechu turned around and said, "Everyone knows this without saying it. Magazine sales are no longer proof of strength; they're just a money-making net."
"These things can't prove that I have any viewership or box office appeal, nor can they prove my popularity or general public support. They're just evidence that my fans are stupid and rich!"
"Everyone knows where that money came from, everyone," Shang Yechu emphasized with a cold smile. "Ye Ya thought that achieving high sales would bring me better resources. But what's the truth? You know perfectly well! What good manuscripts are coming to me for that 14 million? It's just more magazine invitations!"
If Shang Yechu once held a strange, unwarranted fascination and longing for the "Big Six" magazines and the "Big Eight" art circles, now all that remains in her heart is contempt and amusement. In just three short days, the mystique and nobility of art have been completely stripped of their glamorous robes, revealing a dense swarm of bloodsucking lice beneath.
"The only purpose of this thing is to pay tribute to those old fogies in the fashion industry," Shang Yechu said wearily. "I sacrificed my fans and their wallets to the fashion industry and capital in exchange for the opportunity to continue to be harvested in the future, and packaged it as a glory that others can't even dream of. That's the truth of the whole thing, Ji Juntao."
Ji Juntao remained silent for a long time, then sighed deeply: "Even if this is the truth, so what? Everyone just wants to make money, it's always been like this. You want to remain untainted by the mud? Then why are you in the entertainment industry? Wouldn't it be cleaner to become a nun?"
Shang Yechu remained silent, while Ji Juntao said, "Do you intend to refuse all endorsements in the future? People are quite happy using Renxing phones. It's just a matter of spending money on a phone versus spending money on a book."
Ji Juntao's meaning was clear: it's all about harvesting leeks; whether you cut once or ten times, it's still harvesting. Shang Yechu sharpened the sickle himself; why pretend to be a saint now?
“I’ve thought about it a lot.” Shang Yechu shook her head. “Yes, buying a phone is the same as buying a magazine. But at least the phone is something they can use, and it’s of good quality. Although there’s no real difference, at least it lessens my sense of inferiority.”
Ji Juntao paused, and after a long while, he stammered, "Why do you have to say that about yourself?"
“The responsibility for this lies with me,” Shang Yechu said seriously. “Ultimately, it’s because I’m not capable enough, forcing my fans to prove my worth in this way. If I were a top star like Yu Jianqing or Liang Wan, they wouldn’t need to rely on sales figures to prove my status.”
Ji Juntao put down the computer and walked to Shang Yechu's side: "You know the current trend on the internet, right? If you stand up now and call on your fans to consume rationally, then every time you take on an endorsement, these words will become a laughing stock, and you'll be dragged out and whipped repeatedly."
If you want to encourage your fans to consume rationally, wouldn't it be simpler to just not accept magazine covers or endorsements? Instead, you take them and then hypocritically tell your fans to spend less money. You're a perfect example of being a hypocrite!
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