Page 28

By now, his group's funds had pulled far ahead of the others'. Xie Ran's withdrawal from the stock market would not have much effect on the outcome. Without Xie Ran stealing the spotlight, he would be able to stand out even more.

He had not expected Snowball TV to throw in an additional three days of splash-screen advertising. This was an utterly unexpected delight.

Fang Huiwang suppressed his excitement and put on a composed front. "Then thank you, Director."

The moment he finished speaking, Xie Ran suddenly glanced at him and asked the director with apparent confusion, "Shouldn't this splash-screen ad be an individual resource?"

"Huh?" The director had not expected him to ask that. The guests on the show competed in teams, so resources were assumed to belong to the team. But once Xie Ran brought it up, everyone realized that this resource was actually compensation for Xie Ran's losses from withdrawing from the stock market. Theoretically, it had nothing to do with Fang Huiwang.

Still, for Xie Ran to bring it up so bluntly was far too humiliating for Fang Huiwang.

Breaking up the partnership—again!

The director was briefly embarrassed and chuckled awkwardly as he passed the buck. "You can decide that yourself."

Fang Huiwang could hardly believe it. He barely managed to keep his expression from collapsing, though his smile inevitably stiffened. He stared darkly at Xie Ran. "What... do you mean by that?"

Xie Ran remained unmoved. He lightly rested a hand on the armrest, his posture relaxed. "Exactly what you think I mean."

Upon learning that President Xie had withdrawn from the stock market, the other two groups of guests finally came back to life. Although President Xie was far ahead, he also spent money fiercely. As long as he did not keep making money in the stock market, everyone still had a chance.

Seeing that everyone had finally regained their spirits, the production crew breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did the director gather them together and say, "All right, next we'll announce the voting results for the photos you took yesterday."

After the guests submitted their photos last night, the production crew posted them on Weibo and opened voting. The voting period was twenty-four hours, ending just before the director went to negotiate with Xie Ran.

At this, Fang Huiwang's dark expression finally improved a little. His moment to shine had finally arrived.

Some tasks on Somewhere Else with You were fixed, so before filming began, he and his studio had prepared for them. One of those tasks was the photo vote.

The photos were not credited during voting, making it seem as though everything depended on the guests' personal aesthetics and photography skills. But Kuang Youfang had come up with a way: have Fang Huiwang photograph something specific as a marker, so he could identify Fang Huiwang's work even under anonymous voting.

Then the hired internet trolls would get to work, ensuring he won by a large margin while pretending to be ordinary users posting across every platform to lavish praise on the photo by this "unknown photographer."

As a typical traffic star, fashion resources were crucial to Fang Huiwang. After his contract with the luxury brand he had endorsed expired last year, he had yet to secure a new one. The brands seemed concerned about his current popularity and had been slow to finalize anything.

As long as this operation succeeded, Somewhere Else with You's high ratings and this segment's consistently strong reputation could completely establish him as someone with refined aesthetics, perhaps even an artist.

With both an image and traffic, future negotiations would become much easier.

Fang Huiwang was entirely confident, but outwardly remained impassive. Like everyone else, he put on an expectant expression and looked toward the director.

Whenever voting results were announced in the past, the director would deliberately keep the guests and viewers in suspense. But because Fang Huiwang had just been humiliated by Xie Ran, the director felt sympathy for him and was unusually straightforward. Looking directly at him, he smiled. "Little Fang, you did great this time. Your vote count was nearly double everyone else's, and the online feedback was especially positive. They all said your technique and aesthetic sense were excellent. I bet once the show airs, you'll make several trending searches..."

"Really?" Fang Huiwang revealed a perfectly measured smile and spoke with pleasant surprise. "Do people really think my photos are good? I'm honestly so surprised..."

Xie Ran did not care in the slightest. He merely watched Fang Huiwang's performance with an indifferent expression. As soon as voting began, Meng Feixuan had already detected the heavy involvement of paid trolls, so this result came as no surprise.

In his earpiece, Meng Feixuan cried dramatically, "His acting is way too fake! My eyes, my eyes! Sir, cover up the surveillance here quickly, or I'm going blind."

Xie Ran said, "...Turn your volume down."

Meng Feixuan said, "Oh."

He lowered it to the volume Xie Ran was used to and continued, "You should have let me vote for you. I could've boosted you to first place in one minute."

Xie Ran said, "Childish."

Meng Feixuan was unashamed. "That's because I'm only five years old!"

It had been exactly five years since Meng Feixuan was developed.

Xie Ran said, "..."

While they were talking, the guests from the other two groups were congratulating Fang Huiwang, their voices tinged with envy.

Jiang Wei said, "Twice as many votes as everyone else? That's really rare!"

"That's why Little Fang is so impressive." The director was mainly concerned with the show's effect. This was the first time in all these years that such a massive gap had appeared in this segment's voting, so naturally he had to emphasize it. He immediately focused all the cameras on Fang Huiwang's face. "Little Fang's photo led from the moment voting began. You could call him the photography world's ultimate star. There were also so many comments this time, and the approval rating was especially high. How about I read you a few audience comments..."

With the director's praise, Fang Huiwang's smile grew increasingly sincere.

Just then, the staff member responsible for tallying the votes hurried over. He gestured urgently at the director and interrupted in a rushed whisper, "Director, stop talking!"

The director was baffled. "What's wrong?"

The staff member handed him a phone. The director took it and looked at the screen, then immediately cried out, "What's going on? How is Xiao Ran in first place?"

The others all turned to look, especially Fang Huiwang, whose expression abruptly changed. He blurted out instinctively, "How is that possible?"

Only after saying it did he realize his reaction was inappropriate. He quickly composed himself and gave a dry laugh. "What's going on?"