Chapter 36

Green Pines and Emerald Cypresses' lengthy post, combined with its resounding slap in Earwash's face, caused quite a stir on social media.

In its wake, many casual observers also began to grow curious about various forms of traditional culture.

Seeing Yingge Dance imitation videos and all sorts of educational posts springing up like bamboo shoots after rain, Uncle Yang was happy from the bottom of his heart.

The facts proved that the path Green Pines and Emerald Cypresses had taken was the right one.

To get young people interested in traditional culture, they had to use young people's ways. They couldn't put themselves on a high shelf and act superior.

Otherwise, they would be building a threshold before the door had even opened.

It wasn't as though they had never worked with entertainers before. They had put on similar fusion performances and released songs, but to little effect.

Looking around, only X4 had both the willingness and the ability to help them take on this challenge.

First, the four were patient enough to "torture each other" with this bunch of old folks, rather than rushing off to make money and take gigs;

Second, not only were the four upright, but each of them was also highly capable. That was how they could thoroughly master traditional material and bring it to life in a modern way.

So, let alone one "Earwash" slandering their young friends like a jumping clown—even against an army of thousands, they were willing to battle!

Even that foreign blond brat Saylor was willing to do the Square Dance after watching Xiu Si's performance. They didn't believe there was anyone else they couldn't handle!

Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei hurried out of the showers, only to feel utterly unwell at the sight of Saylor twisting his waist and swinging his hips along with the big yangge dance.

The two of them had thought up eighty or a hundred groveling apologies, and they didn't get to use a single one?

Only then did the executive director tell them that the reason the uncles and aunties had been on their phones during the recording was that they had actually been helping them fight back on Weibo.

The two people at the center of the drama were stunned. They hurriedly checked their Weibo direct messages and found they already had 999+:

"Thanks for recommending us! Our dance troupe has received lots of invitations lately!"

"We were about to run out of ways to keep going, but recently, lots of people have asked us to perform!"

"May we imitate your dance routine?"

Qiao Huan had complicated feelings.

They seemed to have done the right thing. After all, these folk dance troupes brought "back from the dead" were living proof.

But... they each had several hundred thousand Weibo followers now! Did that make sense?

Even on the ride back, the two of them still felt somewhat bewildered.

Every day brought them a new understanding of just how ridiculous the entertainment industry could be.

Fortunately, at this critical juncture, Radiance Films released the promotional video for Dreamship.

Dreamship's cast consisted entirely of popular stars, including both a top actress who had been out of the spotlight for years and a newly rising actress. Back when it was being filmed, news of their hair-pulling feuds had been endless, and audience anticipation on Tiger Eye Network was so far ahead that it sat alone at the top.

Qiao Huan and the others had heard from Jiang Renbao that people in the industry who had seen the film all said it was a romance wearing an interstellar skin. Its strength lay in being sufficiently melodramatic and dramatic, so naturally all the promotion leaned into that.

And for this promotional song, they had also brought in AUV. Though not a top-tier group, they still had a sizable fan base.

Sure enough, as soon as the promotional video "Star River Skiff" came out, it immediately eclipsed the news about Earwash and Green Pines and Emerald Cypresses, settling firmly in first place on the trending searches.

The video showcased every sensational plot point from the film: patricide and a power grab, lovers turning against each other, a faked death and a stand-in, and so on.

AUV, meanwhile, spared no effort in their... performance.

"Aah, Qian Li's star river makeup is breathtaking!"

"That's not a scepter Qian Li's holding, it's my life!"

"The two of them gazing at each other across the galaxy is incredible. What kind of BE ending is this?!"

"AUV's dance under the stars was absolutely explosive!"

"Now this is a real Shura Field boy group, waaah."

After watching it, Qiao Huan had a pretty good idea why they had been able to edit their video so quickly.

Aside from scenes from the film itself, every shot of AUV was an extreme close-up shoved right in their faces, paired with expressions that looked deeply affectionate but were actually empty. They were certainly beautiful, and it was easy to capture the audience's attention.

What was more, AUV didn't have many members, yet they had managed to pair them off in every possible combination and produce over a dozen CPs.

It seemed they were also trying to match the term "Shura Field."

Their promotional song had an ethereal, melodious feel, with heavy instrumentation and light vocals, mostly humming. The lyrics were a string of ornate images piled together.

Ye Yiwei listened to it and turned it off without expression. He said he could write a song like that in a day, and that Xiao Bai could copy the lyrics straight from a middle schooler's collection of fine words and phrases in under an hour.

Although people in the industry generally thought Dreamship's combination of moves was crude, they had to admit it had hit its target audience squarely where it thrilled them.

All manner of comments and interpretations naturally rose with the tide. Radiance Films struck while the iron was hot and opened presales for preview screenings, with box-office takings breaking the million mark one after another. Paid posters also seized the chance to whip up publicity, and for a time the film basked in the limelight.

A day or two passed amid all this commotion.

With nothing better to do, netizens suddenly remembered: Huh? What happened to the promotional video for 《Phantom River》 that had been hyped up so much before?

One marketing account fond of stirring up fights even tagged Cheers Entertainment directly.

Domestic Entertainment Cockfight: @Cheers Entertainment, where's your promotional video? You've been bragging about its cultural depth for so long. Don't tell me Dreamship scared you off?

The comments immediately came alive:

"Hhhh, exactly. You talked about how much depth it had before, so why don't you even dare release it?"

"It's been so long, and apart from Xiu Si still tagging each other, you haven't let out a single fart."

"Someone's chickened out. I won't say who."

"I've got no shame, so I'll say it: isn't it a fact that X4 can't beat AUV? And they think they're worthy of carrying the banner of folk culture revival with the national team?"

In truth, however, the four of them had been put through the wringer these past few days.

After seeing their perfect performance at the recording session, everyone in Green Pines and Emerald Cypresses unanimously agreed that there was still room for improvement in the arrangement and vocals.

These retired elders who had left the performing arts had their fighting spirit reignited. They brought Xiu Si back to record again, adding many more details and striving for perfection.

Even more pitiful was the editor. Ren Rong had originally poached them from the Deserted Island Production Team, and now they had joined the uncles and aunties in redesigning it all over again. The video file was already named "Invincible Final Dead Full Stop Version v1023."

Faced with these retired national team members and Xiu Si, Ren Rong unexpectedly slowed down.

She wasn't in the least bit anxious.

Jiang Renbao, on the other hand, asked everyone three times a day when they could produce a final version, afraid that his own mother would get angry and replace the whole thing.

Seeing the growing number of negative reviews online only made him more nervous.

Things weren't much better on Jiang Ji's end.

Ling Ji also asked several times a day about the progress of X4's debut song and exactly when he could expect to see returns from the market.

Fortunately, Jiang Ji had gradually found a way to deal with it: when you have enough lice, you stop itching; when you have enough debts, you stop worrying.

At first, his replies had been the utmost in respect: "I'm sorry," "I'm urging them along," and "It was all my oversight." Now they had turned into "Yes," "Okay," and "Sorry, I didn't see yesterday's message..."

Under his superior's demands for accountability, a new generation of shamelessly unyielding manager was beginning to take shape.

But just as the final version was about to surface, a great many marketing accounts suddenly came out with more revelations.

"Did you know the music consultant for 《Phantom River》's promotional song 'Beyond the Frontier Star River' previously made a work combining ancient-style and modern music?"

"Go listen. It sounds absolutely awful!"

"It has that electronic xx scripture feel. It's genuinely making me physically uncomfortable."

Somehow, these people had dug up a work the music consultant had made in college. Like "Beyond the Frontier Star River," it combined folk culture with electronic music.

The only difference was that the music consultant had still been a young person in the exploratory stage back then, so naturally the work... wasn't very good.

"Hahahahaha, that sounds terrible!"

"I'm laughing so hard I could puke. Don't tell me 'Beyond the Frontier Star River' is going to be like this too."

"Look at his blog from back then. He also said he'd visited lots of folk artists for inspiration, but didn't it still come out sounding this awful?"

"Maybe they shouldn't have tried this kind of subject at all. They obviously forced it in for X4's image, right?"

Some even dug up Saylor's overseas social media account.

"Guys, Saylor is the cameraman for this promotional video. Look what he posted after he landed: 'Can this jumbled mess of a script really work?'"

"Saylor is internationally famous! He shot several god-tier MVs for xx and xxx from Pickle Country. Back then, he even said those idols' faces were really beautiful, but this time he didn't praise X4 at all."

"I'm dying. Sure enough, people who've actually seen X4 don't think they're good-looking. And they want to debut like that? Gag."

Seeing this, Jiang Ji hurriedly contacted paid posters he knew, trying to suppress the comments.

But the other side was clearly attacking fiercely, and Ling Ji still hadn't approved any more funds for him. For the moment, it was just a cup of water on a burning cart, with no effect to show for it.

He was wondering whether to pay out of his own pocket to suppress the buzz when he suddenly noticed an email sitting in his inbox.

[Paid poster information]

The subject line was short and clear.

Could this be a virus?

Extremely wary, Jiang Ji went out and found an internet café before clicking the link.

Then he was stunned.

It was a spreadsheet listing information on more than ten thousand Weibo accounts, along with everything they had posted over the past week.

The last row even contained their IP addresses.

And the signature on the document was as short and clear as its title—

NightWing.

After reading it, Jiang Ji immediately searched the name.

This was actually one of the most famous ethical hacker IDs in China?

NightWing had shot to fame by taking down more than three thousand telecom fraud websites at once. Many people even guessed that it couldn't possibly have been one person behind it, but a team.

But Jiang Ji had no time to worry about that.

Because everyone listed in the document was a paid poster who had been attacking them since their performance at Azure Dragon Base!

And the uproar on the internet today had been stirred up by the very same people!

So he first sent an email thanking the ethical hacker, then made a Weibo post.

OSOK-X: Watch yourselves.

He attached screenshots of the document as well.

At first, the people who saw this Weibo post didn't know what it meant and were a little confused.

But the more they looked, the more they thought... Amazing!

"Damn, I've never seen anyone nail paid poster accounts to the wall like this!"

"These accounts actually started back at Qinglong?"

"Shocking. What kind of background does X4 have? Other people fight black fans, but they can come out and diss paid posters directly?!"

"No wonder they had to keep a low profile. X4 are too formidable..."

As soon as the post went up, the paid posters fell silent. They rushed to lead the way in groveling and frantically passed the blame to one another, hoping for lenient treatment.

But it was too late.

Although the spreadsheet didn't say who had hired these paid posters, everyone had a pretty clear idea from the timing: it was either AUV or Radiance Films, right?

Over on AUV's side, their leader Qian Li began to panic as he watched the attitude in the comments take a sharp turn.

The company's PR team had yet to agree on a countermeasure, and they didn't know whether they should respond at a time like this. The team at Radiance Films hadn't put out any word either.

As the saying went, a gentleman was open and at ease; a petty person was forever anxious.

AUV and Radiance Films were now like two parties caught in a prisoner's dilemma. They shared common interests, but each had its own calculations, and neither dared make the first move.

At this very juncture, Cheers Entertainment finally released the promotional song that had been polished 1,024 times—"Beyond the Frontier Star River."

The eagerly waiting fans instantly pushed the view count into six figures.

The opening shot was a sky full of stars.

Then several of the film's young leads, on different planets, looked up at the same starlight.

The light shone brilliantly, yet it could not illuminate all that boundless darkness.

The background music was a simple guitar and piano, lending the images of the starry sky a profound loneliness.

But attentive listeners had already recognized who was playing the accompaniment.

"Aaaaaah, that's Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei, right?"

"Those are the two instruments they're best at!"

"This intro is incredible. Just a few notes played together create the feeling of a grand opening!"

The next second.

Two eyes appeared on opposite sides of the screen, and every viewer instantly held their breath.

One gaze was weary, seemingly exhausted by a world of scheming and deceit; the other was cool and detached, with more than a hint of having seen through the mortal world.

The shots changed rapidly. The protagonist and his older brother belonged to opposing factions: one grew up from the bottom amid the mud without forgetting his original purpose, while the other gradually lost himself in the glittering arena of fame and fortune, falling ever deeper...

The screen abruptly went black.

When it lit up again, they were in a divine temple without a single glimmer of starlight around it. The owners of those two eyes gazed at each other in silence.

At the same moment, the background music rose and fell in mighty surges. The man's rough, hoarse singing alone brought to mind just how many pursuers and fierce bandits were closing in outside, step by step.

"Aaaaaah, I'm bawling. Why do the protagonists have to suffer so much?!"

"This is the Jinghe Opera 《Wutai Brothers Reunion》 they showed before, right?"

"!!! I wouldn't even have noticed if you hadn't said it. The transition from the movie scene to Jinghe Opera is that smooth?"

The two wore splendid costumes, but every gesture was filled with wariness.

A pot of wine, a pair of brothers hiding countless secrets... In an instant, the audience imagined ten thousand seconds of plot.

In the end, the older brother portrayed by Ye Yiwei picked up the wine pot. "Whence have you come?"

Qiao Huan drained his wine in one gulp. "The Star River Marshal's Mansion. Do you know it?"

Ye Yiwei's hand trembled continuously, his throat bobbing as he staggered several steps, as though deeply drunk.

He murmured, "I... how could I not know? I, how could I not know!"

"Incredible... This singing, this acting, it's such a tearjerker!"

"Now I know why they chose Jinghe Opera. This kind of rough, powerful singing is exactly right for an interstellar setting!"

"Both the background music and the singing were adapted, but they flow together so smoothly!"

In the darkness, Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei went from mutual suspicion and probing to the brothers finally recognizing each other. The scene, only a few dozen seconds long, was performed to the fullest.

Next came more scenes from the film. The brothers parted again, each serving his own faction.

But when a dynasty rose, the common people suffered; when it fell, the common people suffered.

The young man from the bottom of interstellar society portrayed by Bai Jike was like duckweed adrift in these chaotic times, unable to fill his stomach and subjected to relentless bullying.

On the other side was the great general portrayed by Zhuo Yang, born for war and naturally the focus of countless eyes amid the land's turmoil.

In the film, the commoners appeared only in passing, but the promotional video gave the two men a scene of their own.

Zhuo Yang, who might as well have asked why the starving didn't eat meat, mistook the mud-covered Bai Jike for a wandering ghost. Bai Jike, full of innocence and all things beautiful, thought the man who had taken shelter beside him could save him...

The accompanying music had reached the passage where their voices overlapped.

Bai Jike's rap was childlike, while Zhuo Yang's singing was deep and powerful. The two seemed to be conversing, yet Zhuo Yang's voice also seemed to become Bai Jike's accompaniment...

The two performed an adapted Yingge Dance sequence.

The Yingge Dance had always carried the meaning of slaying demons and banishing evil, yet the demons Zhuo Yang faced now were the very people he was meant to protect. The irony was striking!

"Now that's what you call tension. Incredible!"

"Are Zhuo Yang and Bai Jike really such good singers too?"

"Did you notice? Zhuo Yang's voice was underneath the whole time. What kind of ultimate push and pull is this?!"

At last, Bai Jike's frail body fell, while Zhuo Yang, bathed in rosy light, gradually walked into the radiance.

In every war, it was the common people who were sacrificed.

But daylight would always come.

At every critical moment, there were always people among the Star Sea who stood like a backbone, holding up the world in troubled times.

Qiao Huan, Ye Yiwei, and Zhuo Yang were finally reunited.

After a series of clashes, conflicts, and tentative probes... they finally revealed their identities to one another and formed a united front.

Among the countless forces, the film's protagonists' spacecraft seemed no more than a tiny boat.

Yet the Giant Dragon, embodying their spirit, darted like lightning through the barrage of cannon fire, restoring order from chaos.

Even at the Giant Dragon's tail, the spirits of the common people, represented by Bai Jike, joined forces with them.

His strength gradually failed him, and he was on the verge of falling, but he still gritted his teeth and pushed forward with the three of them.

Forward, forward, forward!

In the end, the Giant Dragon in the promotional video and the film protagonists' Starship fell together toward the depths of the boundless, dark universe.

They became the only light in that gloomy darkness.

But what would become of them? Could they transform this chaotic world?

The screen suddenly went black.

"Midyear blockbuster 《Phantom River》 premieres June 30. Stay tuned."

What?!

The absorbed viewers erupted at once:

"Holy crap! Cheers Entertainment, you're so cruel!!!"

"Boohoo, my heart was in my throat, and you wouldn't even let me see what happens!"

"What happens next? Ahhh, do I have to go to the cinema to find out? Boohoo."

Other viewers had just pulled themselves out of their emotions and realized that the promotional video and song really had something to them:

"If I hadn't said anything, would you have noticed the whole promotional video was over six minutes long?"

"You're right! It was so long, but not boring at all. Everyone's performances in the film and X4's performance were both incredible!"

"The song blended so many things together, but none of the parts felt out of place. It conveyed the emotions perfectly!"

"Exactly. I questioned why they were using traditional culture to promote science fiction before, but now I understand. Space opera may be an imported genre, but its core here is our own!"

"I think only people from Country C could feel this way about a world battered by wind and rain!"

Still more viewers were pleasantly surprised by X4:

"I didn't expect Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei to be such strong performers! Although 《Wutai Brothers Reunion》 was adapted quite a bit, every move they made had the bearing of masters! How much work must they have put in?!"

"I didn't know Zhuo Yang and Bai Jike were such good singers either! The part where their voices overlapped gave me goosebumps!"

"And they wrote the song and did the choreography themselves!"

"Especially the fire dragon dance at the end. The four of them worked together so beautifully, and those bodies, whew!"

"The one flaw in all that beauty was that, aside from little brother Jike, the other three still barely showed their faces. I'm dying here!"

"+1024!!!"

"Now that's a badass boy band. What the hell was that thing AUV filmed?!"

Once the video had finished, there was no need for further explanation. The public had already decided for themselves which of the two films' promotional videos was better.

Did it even need saying how much effort and thought Xiu Si had put into it?

Meanwhile, several AUV members were copying what Xiu Si had done before, frantically tagging one another to hype their CPs.

Someone took comparison screenshots of the two groups' posts, stirring up quite a commotion.

Qian Li had never expected his carefully devised plan to fail completely—

The public didn't think AUV was the real Shura Field at all. Instead, they mocked them relentlessly for playing Dongshi to Xishi?

Qian Li panicked, his refined features twisting.

Then, in his haste, he made a mistake. While scrolling through the public's comments, his finger slipped and he liked a marketing account's post clearing things up for them.

Although he quickly unliked it, he was at the center of a storm, so naturally someone noticed.

Qian Li was badly frightened and was about to issue a statement explaining himself when Radiance Films seized the opportunity to turn on him, releasing an announcement distancing itself from the paid trolls.

Radiance Films: Our company has no connection whatsoever to any paid troll accounts. We hereby issue this statement.

The attached images were a series of screenshots showing when paid trolls had been attacking Star Radiance, starting from the performance at Azure Dragon Base.

The comment section immediately got the implication of the images. Putting them together with the accidental like, they solved the case themselves:

"Holy crap, so these celebrities and marketing accounts all know each other?"

"Qian Li and his people hired those trolls before too, didn't they? Why else would he be following them?!"

"That's so low. It would be one thing to copy the Shura Field hype and botch it, but they even resorted to malicious competition!"

"Exactly. X4 had barely gone off to military training before they followed right after. They really love riding others' coattails."

"A boy band that pays no attention to talent and only peddles the worst of fandom culture should get out of the entertainment industry, and fast!"

Now Qian Li had a hundred mouths and still couldn't defend himself.

He had hoped to use his popularity to climb over X4, but instead he spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Wasn't it perfectly normal to copy others and ride their popularity in the entertainment industry? Why couldn't he do it...?

But the viewers, whose fiery eyes could see through more and more, gave him no chance to clear his name. His Weibo followers instantly dropped from seven figures to six, and the number kept falling.

Those who remained were either zombie accounts or followers he had bought before.

Qian Li knew those numbers were his last fig leaf. Now he had lost even the last of his commercial value.

Fuck.

Qian Li instantly broke down. He hadn't even paid the trolls their final balance yet!

The former idol now stamped his feet, tears filling his eyes. He was who knew how much more sincere than the partings and deaths acted out in the promotional video.

Meanwhile.

Although X4 kept a low profile, Saylor couldn't hold back.

After spending ages figuring it out, he finally asked Uncle Yang how to open an account on a domestic social media platform, then immediately went online to clear things up.

Green Pines and Emerald Cypresses - honorary member Saylor: Xiu Si are very, very, very good-looking in person. It's not at all as you say, that they're unwilling to show their faces because they're ugly. They only chose this approach because they thought it was a promotional song for a film and should focus on footage of the film's protagonists.

And the reason I haven't posted anything all this time is that your country's Square Dance is just too, ex, haust, ing! I followed along for an hour and slept like the dead for several days QAQ.

Seeing Saylor's straightforward statement, the comment section immediately burst into laughter.

"Hhh, that slap in the face felt good. Global photographer Saylor himself has certified their looks. What can the haters say now?"

"I never expected Saylor to be recruited as an honorary member of a Square Dance group. Isn't this his first time in our country?"

"Suspected leak of a national treasure. Danger!"

Some fans also took the opportunity to kick them while they were down:

"@AUV, while you're still busy stirring up a foul mess with paid trolls and copying others by shipping your members, Xiu Si are already exporting Square Dance culture. Aren't you ashamed?"

Xiu Si had stayed up for several days and collapsed into sleep as soon as the video went out. The grown men curled up in their safe dormitory and slept soundly.

Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei in particular had been "tormented" the worst by the uncles and aunties from the former national team, since they were responsible for the entire song. By the time they woke up, it was already midnight the next day.

For a moment, the four of them had nothing to say.

This turn of events was way too absurd!

Qiao Huan and Ye Yiwei's original intention in writing and composing the song had been to highlight Zhuo Yang and Bai Jike's singing abilities.

Zhuo Yang and the uncles and aunties from the Folk Customs Association had arranged the entire shoot only to highlight Qiao Huan and Yiwei's dance skills.

Bai Jike... Bai Jike had drawn the most discussion simply because he was the only one of the four who had shown his face, and because things were quieter when he didn't post on Weibo.

He had sent Jiang Ji the information on the paid trolls not because they had attacked him, but because they had attacked his three teammates and the uncles and aunties from the Folk Customs Association.

But in fact, all four of them were now considered all-round talents.

And especially dedicated ones at that.

On top of that, they had not only been able to dig up information on the paid trolls, but had also secured the support of so many leading figures from the Folk Customs Association. Now viewers were no longer satisfied with just getting them to show their faces.

Netizens even wanted to know what backgrounds the four of them had, how every move they made struck a fatal blow, and why they had such a broad vision...

Just who were they?!

The four looked at one another, at a loss for words: ...

Brothers, did we just... get famous?