The sky was gloomy, as if a torrential downpour was about to fall...
Back then, the "news" about the fifty-thousand-yuan fortune-telling session hadn't appeared on Master Shen's Weibo account, so Xu Ruifeng knew nothing about it.
Besides the account named Master Shen, Chen Yuxiang's account had also posted about Shen Qiong's fortune-telling on Weibo.
At that moment, Xu Ruifeng gritted his teeth and locked himself in his room. He ignored the three-and-a-half-year-old knocking on the door and stared coldly at his computer.
He hadn't chosen to curse Shen Qiong out in front of his shop. Instead, he'd thought of another way to ruin Shen Qiong's reputation.
"So you're amazing, huh? So many people support you." He muttered as he browsed Master Shen's Weibo.
Suddenly, a sly smile spread across his face. "Interesting. In that case, I'll give you a hand."
Click, click...
He typed rapidly on the keyboard. The more words appeared on the computer screen, the broader Xu Ruifeng's smile became.
After spending a full hour and a half on it, he posted the long thank-you letter to the school district forum in Deshun City. At the same time, he hired online promoters on Taobao to help publicize it.
Only after finishing all this did he open the door. In the living room, a chubby little child grinned and called, "Daddy!"
The online promoters were very efficient, and the post titled "To Us Dream Chasers" quickly became a sensation.
He began by directly borrowing the promotional lines from Master Shen's Weibo.
"Maybe you were born at the wrong time? Maybe you're still lost about your future. Do you want to compete on The Voice? Or dream of becoming a star in the spotlight one day? Maybe you're talented but lack confidence. Perhaps you, an ordinary person, have a skill that could change your life."
"Thousand-mile horses are common, but those who recognize them are rare. The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion will point you in the right direction!!!"
The lines above were set apart in bold, enlarged lettering. After that came Xu Ruifeng's painstaking "masterpiece."
Although Xu Ruifeng had studied art, he was a decent writer. The opening was as compelling as a novel, making people eager to read on.
"There's a kind of excitement called sudden happiness. I'm an unknown art student, living like a walking corpse every day. I don't dare to rebel against fate. I finish my assignments on time and study late into the night every day. Sometimes I even forget why I'm working so hard, or whether it's worth it."
Since the post was on a school district forum, almost everyone browsing it was a student. By this point, most of them could strongly relate.
"On my way home from school that day, I was going to get dinner in the school cafeteria as usual, then head to evening study. But... the school broadcast suddenly came on and began playing music. I couldn't name the song, but its familiar melody caught my attention."
"It was a love song that could draw people into a whirlpool of emotion. The moment the singing began, I stopped in my tracks. It wasn't just the melody that was familiar. I recognized the voice, too. The person singing that song was a classmate I knew. Oh my God!!!"
"It was unbelievable. I could tell it was his voice. Fang Yongkang—I knew him."
"Before this song, though, nobody knew he could sing. There were even plenty of nasty rumors about him going around among the students."
"He was as ordinary as someone lost in a crowd, just like me, just like you, just like all of us."
"But everything changed because he refused to give up. He was like a fugitive with nowhere left to run, stumbling around in pursuit of his dream. Fortunately, he met Master Shen."
"Master Shen. Since he's in Lingxi City, not Deshun City, perhaps you've never heard of him."
"Fate had smiled on Fang Yongkang. He met Master Shen, who was skilled at fortune-telling and especially accurate at predicting people's talents. Master Shen had confidently assured Fang Yongkang that he had a gift for singing and had to keep at it."
"Master Shen had even promoted the song Fang Yongkang recorded on Weibo himself..."
"A boy chasing his dream, a boy stumbling along as the cruel reality crushed him until he was powerless to fight back. Just like me, just like Fang Yongkang."
"But he had it better than I did. With Master Shen's support, he'd received encouragement from netizens. His songs were even being played on the school broadcast."
By now, countless students reading the post had started liking it, clicking like over and over...
Xu Ruifeng wanted to credit all of Fang Yongkang's success to Shen Qiong, making Shen Qiong sound mysterious and unfathomable, almost like a god.
"I didn't write this to praise anyone, and Master Shen didn't hire online promoters. I'm just an ordinary art student, but like Fang Yongkang, I have a dream."
"Maybe I'm just an ordinary, inferior horse. Or maybe I'm a fine steed. But who gets to decide? Not me, not the teachers, and certainly not my parents."
"Go find Master Shen. Thousand-mile horses are common, but those who recognize them are rare!!!"
These words immediately stirred up countless passionate students. Who didn't have a dream?
At an age when high school students were full of dreams, they were all fired-up teenagers. They began searching for information about Master Shen online.
While eating, Xu Ruifeng logged into the forum on his phone to check his post. Sure enough, in less than an hour, it had become the hottest post of the moment.
Countless people left comments asking for Master Shen's address and how to book an appointment.
Of course, plenty of people didn't believe it and thought it had to be the work of online promoters. They started looking up Fang Yongkang and found that he really existed. He'd uploaded cover songs to Song Dream, where they'd gotten a lot of plays and praise.
Most importantly, Fang Yongkang's profile on Song Dream showed that he really was a high school student in Deshun City. The discovery set the forum ablaze!!!
Was it a publicity stunt?
Was Master Shen the target, or was it Fang Yongkang?
Meanwhile, plays of Fang Yongkang's cover songs were soaring, since his talent was undeniable.
In a high school group chat.
"It really sounds great. I asked a few of my elementary school classmates, and one of them said there really is a Fang Yongkang at their school. He's pretty popular lately, and lots of students have heard his songs."
"Seriously? Which high school?"
"No. 73 Middle School."
"That's not far from us!"
"Of course it isn't. My cousin's in his first year there."
For Xu Ruifeng, the more people discussed the matter, the happier he was.
He stood alone on the balcony, letting the cold wind blow over him, but he felt utterly refreshed. He sneered, "No matter how capable you are, when that many people come looking for you, you're bound to slip up somewhere. The higher I raise you, the more I want to watch you crash and burn!!!"
At Shen Qiong's little place, Gu Liming quickly found the post online and cried out in surprise, "Shen Qiong, look! Someone's using Fang Yongkang's story to stir up a publicity campaign."
The two of them stared at the computer and quickly finished reading the article in the post.
"Damn, if I hadn't been watching you all day, I'd have thought you'd hired those online promoters." Gu Liming shouted excitedly.
Shen Qiong was happy, but he thought the article went a little overboard with the praise.
He shook his head. "No one would praise us for no reason. If Fang Yongkang had posted this, that would be one thing. But it was posted by a student who hasn't revealed their name from beginning to end?"
Gu Liming had keenly spotted the online promoters among the comments. "Someone's definitely promoting this post. But the whole thing is praising you, making you sound like some kind of savior. It doesn't seem like they're targeting us!"
Targeting him? Shen Qiong furrowed his brow and immediately thought of the idiot who'd come to his shop that day and tried to buy him off for five hundred yuan.
Could it be him?
Gu Liming knew who Shen Qiong suspected and quickly said, "No way. He'd probably love to spread rumors about us everywhere. Why would he advertise for us?"
The corner of Shen Qiong's mouth curled up. "There's a tactic called building someone up just to tear them down!!!"
Before you continue