Pei Yubai opened the live stream chat, and the comments scrolled by quickly, but he didn't pay much attention to them. Instead, he kept an eye on Qiguan Yuan.
Since Pei Yubai turned off the gift system, the fans in the live stream couldn't send gifts, so the screen was relatively clean.
Pei Yubai remembered something.
Pei Yubai initially didn't care much about the lives of his fans; he entered the entertainment industry simply because he was interested in acting.
Therefore, he didn't have much of a concept of fans at the time.
When his first movie was released, he was still filming the second one.
Even the box office figures were monitored by his agent; he himself didn't care.
He only cares about taking photos that satisfy himself; he doesn't care what others think.
His agent told him that he had gained a lot of followers, and he simply said he knew, but he didn't interact with his fans at all.
Back then, many people chased after him, drawn to his face.
They waited outside the film set, holding up light boards and calling his name.
Pei Yubai walked past them without stopping, at most nodding once, and then got into the car and drove away.
Those people chased after it for a while, then dispersed.
After they dispersed, a new batch arrived, and after that batch dispersed, another batch arrived.
The rest are people who genuinely watch his acting or simply like him.
In the early years, he made one film after another and won one award after another.
As his fame grew, so did the number of people who criticized him.
After his background was revealed, some people said he relied on his family, some said he stole resources, some said his acting skills were overrated, and some said he was just good-looking. In short, there was a constant stream of negative articles.
However, Pei Yubai didn't care about any of this and never paid any attention to these clowns.
Until one time it escalated to a significant level.
A blogger posted a long Weibo, showing screenshots of Pei Yubai's fans, saying that "even though they're licking him so much, the idol doesn't pay any attention to them," and included several screenshots of fans' heartfelt comments under Pei Yubai's Weibo.
That Weibo was shared thousands of times, and the comments section was full of mockery.
Pei Yubai didn't even glance at you.
"You are just leeks in his eyes"
"His movie ticket money could buy several houses, and you're still counting money for him."
All sorts of comments are mocking the Imperial Fans.
The Imperial Fans stepped in to argue that Pei Yubai was not that kind of person.
The other party persisted, saying, "Did he even acknowledge you? Did he reply to a single message? Did he even glance at you?" The Imperial Fans fell silent.
Because it's true, Pei Yubai didn't interact with her much. That's a fact.
There was a fan at the time who was quite young, probably a freshman in college.
At that time, she had liked Pei Yubai for three years. She had watched every movie of Pei Yubai's more than three times and written dozens of movie reviews.
That day, she came across that Weibo in her dorm room and saw a comment she had left on Pei Yubai's post a few months ago.
She wrote that passage before her final exams. She said she was under a lot of pressure and afraid of not doing well, but every time she thought about how hard Pei Yubai worked while filming and still persevered, she felt that she could persevere too.
After that comment was posted online, some people in the comments section said she was "self-indulgent," some said, "Does he even know who you are?" and some said, "What does it matter to him whether you do well or not?"
These are considered relatively mild comments; the harsher ones are countless.
She turned off her phone and cried in bed all night.
Feeling upset, she couldn't help but open Pei Yubai's Weibo homepage and leave him a message on his message board.
There are actually quite a few fans like this. Most of them won't reply; they'll just silently process their emotions and continue to support their idols quietly.
But coincidentally, on that day, Pei Yubai was promoted by the director of the movie he was filming, and since his agent wasn't around, he had to promote it himself.
While editing his Weibo, he was preoccupied with the script and lost focus, so he subconsciously clicked on the message board and saw that fan's message.
After forwarding the promotional Weibo, Pei Yubai, unusually, set aside some time to read the messages left by his fans.
Of course, I also saw a lot of people criticizing him. Those people's criticism skills were really poor, and they presented him with the image of an incompetent, low-quality human being.
It won't have any effect on him.
However, he still directly found the blogger who had incited insults against his fans, made a phone call, and randomly took screenshots of those who were spreading rumors and verbally abusing him in the comments section. The blogger and the group of people whose screenshots were taken all ended up appearing in Pei Yubai's second Weibo.
A list appeared, followed by Pei Yubai: "We have already sent a lawyer's letter. Please accept it."
That was the first time Pei Yubai had used his connections.
After posting those two Weibo, Pei Yubai immediately posted another one.
The Weibo post was very simple, just one sentence. "In the past few years in this industry, my fans have suffered a lot of injustice. I didn't pay attention before, which was my problem. I won't do that anymore."
This is the result of Pei Yubai's self-reflection; he has indeed been too indifferent to his fans.
Someone in the comments section asked, "Could you please reply to us?" Pei Yubai did not reply.
But he sent a red envelope (a monetary gift).
Pei Yubai always believed that money was the most effective way to coax people.
Pei Yubai only just realized that there's a limit to the amount of money that can be sent as a red envelope on Weibo.
What can you do with 50,000 yuan?
So he transferred 20 million to his agent to handle the matter, while he went back to filming.
The agent's approach is to release the information in multiple tiers and rounds.
Initially, fans who had followed for more than 30 days could receive the reward, which was 50,000 x 100 rounds, totaling 5 million.
The second round is for loyal fans, also 50,000 x 100 rounds, totaling five million.
The third round is for those with Gold Powder or higher, 50,000 x 200 rounds, totaling ten million.
That night, the entire Weibo was discussing Pei Yubai envelope incident.
Someone calculated that the first round alone paid out five million, and the three rounds combined paid out nearly twenty million.
From then on, the Imperial Fans became as strong as titanium alloy.
When someone mocked them again, saying, "Does Pei Yubai even bother with you?", they sent them a screenshot of the transfer record and said, "Twenty million? Do you have that kind of money?"
The other person fell silent.
Pei Yubai later held his first live stream.
Too many people flooded into the live stream, causing the server to lag several times.
Because they discovered that Pei Yubai had turned off the gift-giving function, fans flooded the live chat with messages urging him to turn it on and saying they wanted to send him gifts.
Pei Yubai looked at the comments and said, "The little bit you guys sent isn't even enough for me to give out some fan perks. Don't waste your money, use it to please yourselves."
The fans were still touched that he still cared about them, but the next second Pei Yubai said, "This little bit isn't even as much as the fan benefits I give out. Why bother? Do I look like I'm short of money?"
Although, I really want to hit him, I'm so angry!
Pei Yubai watched the scrolling comments on the screen, while Qiguan Yuan leaned on his shoulder.
He remembered these things, but he didn't say anything. He moved his phone a little closer to Qiguan Yuan, so that the camera was focused more on Qiguan Yuan's face.
His fans don't care; the important thing is that Xiao Yuan Grains's main force has arrived.
Then Xiaoyuanli posted a Xiao Yuan Grains in the live chat:
Why aren't you opening the gift? I want to give Yuanyuan a gift.
Imperial Fans:
[Buhou!]