Chapter 144: Thanks to Brother Zhao Yining, Blessings (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)

Beating a fallen drum is something everyone joins in on.

This is an experience every scandal-plagued celebrity must go through.

And sure enough, today Zhao Yining, the top-billed star of The Correct Way to Be Independent, fell from grace. Once the scandal broke, practically all of her past dark history was dug up.

Faced with such a situation, the only thing Zhao Yining could do was play dead.

Then wait for the next trending topic.

Right now, Zhao Yining's PR team was thinking of playing dead as much as possible, letting the hype blow over, and hoping that some other celebrity would suffer an even bigger scandal in the next few days. That way, they could easily slip through and escape unscathed.

However, because Zhao Yining had been too arrogant in the past, many people didn't mind kicking her while she was down.

"Serves her right. This Zhao Yining should have been blacklisted long ago."

"That's right. Aside from making all sorts of drama every single day, she was extremely high-maintenance on the set."

"Artists like her, who have nothing except good looks, are a disgrace to the entertainment industry."

"The person above me is talking nonsense. Isn't the whole entertainment industry filled with people like this?"

...

The trending searches were exceptionally lively.

Meanwhile, over in Hong Kong, at the shooting location of Bad Kids, quite a few media reporters had already arrived to visit the set.

If this drama did not feature Lin Xing, the Bad Kids crew wouldn't have been able to attract media interest even if they invited numerous reporters.

But with Lin Xing, it was a completely different story.

Just like with Portraying a Murderer, Lin Xing was currently the ultimate traffic magnet.

What's more, the hype surrounding Portraying a Murderer had not died down by a long shot. At this moment, Lin Xing equaled trending topics and public discussion.

Today's media set visit was primarily aimed at interviewing Lin Xing.

Meanwhile, a simple set had already been arranged on the middle school's playground, serving as a temporary, small-scale press conference.

At 10:00 AM, several media outlets officially entered the venue.

Lin Xing happened to spot a few acquaintances; multiple media outlets such as Sina, Tencent, and Sohu had already interviewed him back during Portraying a Murderer.

"Thank you all for your hard work. The weather today is not too bad, so let's do the interview right here. Besides, we're all family..."

At this moment, Lin Xing was truly acting as a temporary guest host.

"Let me introduce everyone first. These are the actors from our Bad Kids: Tong Jing, Kong Wen, Zuo Fang..."

Aside from Dong Xia, most of the main cast members currently filming were present.

Among them, Zuo Fang was the actress playing Ding Zhaoyang's mother in the show.

In addition, Lin Xing gave a relatively detailed introduction to the three child actors who played Ding Zhaoyang, Yan Cheng, and Pingping.

All three child actors possessed quite a bit of innate talent.

The actor playing Yan Cheng was named Xu Liang, a newcomer with no prior acting experience.

On the contrary, Wan Jie, who played the role of Ding Zhaoyang, had a certain amount of acting experience. This time, Wan Jie was recommended by director Hao Tao because Ding Zhaoyang was the absolute male lead of the show.

His performance had to hold the weight of the production.

Wan Jie's acting was quite good, the kid was very emotionally intelligent and acted somewhat like a little adult.

He passed the audition immediately on the first try.

As for Lin Ni, the actress playing Pingping, she was half non-professional. She was recommended by crew members while filming another drama, My Biological Mother and Stepfather.

She tried out, and she was pretty good.

Basically, Xu Liang was selected from a large group of children, while Wan Jie and Lin Ni were recommended by others and then secured their roles after their auditions proved impressive.

Today, the three children displayed quite different demeanors when facing the media.

Xu Liang was the most nervous, Lin Ni managed to keep her composure, and Wan Jie already knew how to maintain his facial expression control.

He genuinely looked like a little adult, which also fit Ding Zhaoyang's character profile.

After Lin Xing introduced everyone in turn, for some reason, the scene suddenly fell slightly quiet.

This wasn't intentional on the part of the reporters; on the contrary, these reporters were trying to figure out how to pose their questions.

After all, apart from Lin Xing in this current web series, Tong Jing had only a tiny bit of talking points among the rest, and even Kong Wen lacked any major discussion value.

What the reporters were pondering was which question to ask?

The media set visit wasn't targeted at the drama Bad Kids itself; they were all here for Lin Xing.

"No questions at all?"

Seeing the awkward silence stretch for five seconds, Lin Xing burst out laughing instead: "That shouldn't be. Aren't I already carrying a massive amount of traffic right now?"

This remark instantly made all the reporters present burst into laughter.

"Teacher Lin, you're right. Your traffic right now is quite massive."

The reporter from Sina Entertainment spoke up first.

"Then how come none of you have any questions to ask?"

Lin Xing said with a feigned look of slight annoyance.

"Of course I have questions, I just haven't figured out what to ask you yet."

Because the Sina Entertainment reporter had already asked some questions about Bad Kids during Lin Xing's studio tour, she had planned to ask last.

She figured she'd let the other media outlets ask first.

Who could have guessed that the other media outlets wouldn't take the initiative to ask first either?

And so, an awkward silence ensued.

Fortunately, Lin Xing proactively warmed up the atmosphere.

"How could you not figure out what to ask me?"

Lin Xing said without the slightest hesitation: "For instance, why did I take on this drama? What kind of role do I play in Bad Kids? Or how is my cooperative relationship with the other actors? And so on, any of these will do."

"Then Teacher Lin, why did you take on this drama?"

Sina's editor quickly seized the opportunity to ask.

"I must state one thing first: this reporter is not a plant I hired..."

Lin Xing's words caused another round of laughter at the scene, but then Lin Xing said seriously: "The reason I took on this drama is because the script is very solid. Although Teacher Tinghai is a rookie screenwriter, every single character in the script of Bad Kids that he wrote is exceptional..."

Earlier, Lin Xing had only cracked a light joke because of the slight lull, but now that the ice was broken, it was naturally time to start discussing the real main topics.

For instance, the script of the drama Bad Kids and its cast.

After answering Sina's question, Lin Xing steered the conversation toward the three child actors.

"I just introduced Wan Jie, Xu Liang, and Lin Ni earlier, but I still want to introduce them to you once more..."

Lin Xing said to the crowd: "As you all know, our drama is called Bad Kids, so obviously they are the main characters. Therefore, everyone is welcome to interview them more..."

Often, the media worked this way; they only ever interviewed people with talking points and hype. Child actors like Wan Jie, Xu Liang, and Lin Ni were practically nobodies.

If you were in the media's shoes, would you interview them?

However, this was precisely the moment that showcased Lin Xing's skill at "balancing the bowls" (giving everyone equal attention).

He stated once more: "During my live broadcast earlier, I mentioned that this time I'm playing a good son-in-law and a good husband, and the actress playing my wife in the drama is none other than Teacher Tong Jing..."

Tong Jing then spoke up: "In the drama, Teacher Lin and I play a married couple. We were first loves, and ever since we graduated from college, the character played by Teacher Lin followed me to my city. He left his hometown and family just to be with me..."

"So this is an idol drama?"

A reporter asked excitedly.

One had to know that Lin Xing's face was his greatest asset. In industry terms, if a face like his wasn't used to star in idol dramas, it would be a total waste.

Regardless of whether this drama Bad Kids turned out to be a suspense thriller or not, if Lin Xing and Tong Jing were truly starring in an idol drama, it would probably be worth watching.

"Yes, Teacher Tong is right. In the drama, we have a love-hate relationship; I love Teacher Tong so much I could practically risk my life for it."

Lin Xing chimed in from the side to cooperate.

A love-hate relationship.

The media felt this might genuinely be an idol drama. After all, didn't idol dramas always feature love-hate relationships?

However, they might have misunderstood just a tiny bit.

The "love-hate relationship" Lin Xing was talking about wasn't the kind they had in mind.

After all, in Bad Kids, Li Dongsheng literally murdered his wife.

A literal murder.

Next, Lin Xing continued to balance the bowls.

When the topic shifted to children's education, it was handed over to Kong Tian.

Kong Tian stated: "My character belongs to someone who is divorced and remarried. In the drama, Wan Jie plays my son, but he is my son with my ex-wife, so our relationship is relatively complicated."

One had to admit that Kong Tian's comprehension of the character, his interpretation of Ding Heping, and the fact that he had served as an acting coach allowed him to explain things simply, clearly, and lucidly.

And just like that, Kong Tian explained his character to the media present as if he were telling a story.

More importantly, the media actually absorbed it all.

A ten-minute speech genuinely left the media quite astonished.

The Bad Kids crew was full of hidden talents.

Aside from the bowl-balancing master Lin Xing, there was actually a speech-making master here as well.

The interview lasted roughly half a million—ah, half an hour, mainly to give the media some talking points to write about when they returned. Next came giving the media a tour of the filming locations, costumes, props, and so on.

Of course, the highlight was breaking a major piece of news to the media.

Broadcasting while filming.

This drama Bad Kids would be meeting everyone as soon as possible.

This piece of news was truly heavyweight.

The simultaneous broadcasting and filming model existed in Japan and South Korea, but it had never been done over on their side. In fact, it wasn't that no one had wanted to try this model before, but the idea was always abandoned because it was far too uncontrollable.

The main fear was losing money and driving up production costs.

Yet Bad Kids had no such worries. For one, it was a web series, and for another, Panda Video was testing the waters in the suspense market, making the simultaneous broadcast and production model a perfect fit.

Another point was that Lin Xing's popularity was currently at a scorching peak, so seizing the remaining hype of Portraying a Murderer to launch Bad Kids immediately was the most appropriate move.

This counted as news, but to be frank, it wasn't the biggest news.

After all, everyone knew that the hype surrounding the media visit for Bad Kids could only be considered average, and moreover, today's top trending topic belonged entirely to Zhao Yining.

However, Zhao Yining's side took the initiative to purchase trending searches for Bad Kids. Not only that, but she also bought hot searches for Portraying a Murderer and Lin Xing.

One had to remember that ever since The Correct Way to Be Independent premiered on April 1st, Zhao Yining's camp hadn't gone a single day without buying trending searches for herself.

She wanted to rely on this drama to make a comeback.

As it turned out, the drama's word-of-mouth wasn't great upon release, but its viewership ratings and streaming view counts were fairly decent. Consequently, Ding Chunling thought about helping Zhao Yining run a promotional wave.

As a result.

If there hadn't been the comparison of Portraying a Murderer, The Correct Way to Be Independent wouldn't have received quite so many curses.

Just as Chu Chen said, audiences possessed a level of appreciation; once the audience had tasted something good, if you tried to fool them with slop afterwards, they would curse you out.

Portraying a Murderer was that delicious feast, while The Correct Way to Be Independent was a messy stew cooked with decent ingredients. Though it couldn't quite be called slop, when placed side-by-side with a feast, it was indeed pretty much the same as slop.

Consequently, ever since the 3rd, The Correct Way to Be Independent had been cursed from head to toe.

Not only was the drama criticized, but main creators like Zhao Yining and Xu Tong were also ruthlessly mocked.

Not only was the television series The Correct Way to Be Independent completely crushed by a web series, but it was even reduced to serving as a mere background board.

And yet, today, Zhao Yining and her team still had to buy trending searches for Portraying a Murderer.

"Why on earth should we?"

Listening to Ding Chunling's words, Zhao Yining grew somewhat angry: "This drama and Lin Xing have already suppressed us for so long, and we still have to buy them hot searches?"

At this, Zhao Yining found it laughable: "Does this mean we have to thank them?"

"Otherwise what?"

Ding Chunling had run out of patience. She said to Zhao Yining: "Our primary task right now is to lower our own negative heat. Currently, only Lin Xing is the most suitable shield because his traffic is the biggest right now. Of course we have to thank him."

Zhao Yining: "???"

And so, half an hour later, the trending search for the Bad Kids media visit on Weibo shot straight to the top spot.

"Brother Xing is going to star in an idol drama, that's just fantastic."

"Is Lin Xing going to play a dad in Bad Kids? Isn't he only 32? Isn't it a bit too early for him to play a father?"

"I actually feel that while I'm not worried about Lin Xing's current acting skills, his eye for picking scripts is a bit unique."

"Ain't that the truth? I originally thought that after Sweeping the Storm he would continue taking on television dramas, who could have guessed he'd take web series one after another."

"Portraying a Murderer was still pretty good, and it proved Lin Xing's ability to carry a show, but what on earth is this Bad Kids?"

"Just looking at the title of the script, could Lin Xing actually be playing a supporting role?"

...

"I read what Lin Xing said during the media visit, he said the three child actors are the main characters in this show."

"No way, Lin Xing is playing supporting to three child actors? What kind of joke is this?!"

...

The current trending topics appeared exceptionally lively.

"It looks like you guys at Panda Video still value our drama quite a bit."

Lin Xing looked at Deng Ying with a smile and said: "To actually buy this many hot searches in one go?"

Currently, Lin Xing noticed that out of the top ten trending searches, Bad Kids occupied about three spots, not to mention Lin Xing himself holding down a spot.

Throwing money at this kind of momentum wasn't cheap.

"We didn't promote this."

Deng Ying shook her head and said: "Where would we still have the budget for hot searches and publicity? Besides, the funding for today's media visit was something I had to fight tooth and nail to get approved."

"You guys didn't promote it?"

Lin Xing was stunned: "If not you guys, then who? Could it be spontaneous?? That's impossible."

In Lin Xing's view, he had a fairly realistic understanding of his own traffic. He might be able to add the finishing touches to something, but soaring onto the trending list so abruptly could never happen spontaneously.

It had to have been bought.

If Panda Video didn't buy it, then who did?

"It's possible that Zhao Yining's camp bought it."

At this moment, the PR person in charge at Panda Video laughed and said: "I just asked around. It seems Zhao Yining's side wanted to divert negative attention and lower their own heat, so they boosted us up instead."

"Oh."

Lin Xing came to a sudden realization: "So that's how it is."

Right now, he suddenly felt that Zhao Yining was a good person.

If Portraying a Murderer hadn't had the contrast provided by Zhao Yining, its reputation wouldn't have been this stellar, and now Bad Kids had gotten a helping hand as well.

If she wasn't a good person, what was she?

Lin Xing glanced over the keywords briefly; the trending keywords were entirely Portraying a Murderer, Bad Kids, Lin Xing, and so on.

In other words, Zhao Yining's agency was using their own money to build momentum for Lin Xing.

This was practically a top-tier financial backer.

Saying "Thank you, Big Boss Zhao Yining, for the rocket" would probably be quite fitting.

"Teacher Lin, I've already ordered the milk tea."

At this moment, Xiao Nan walked over to Lin Xing and said: "According to the scheduled time, the fans will be visiting the set at 2:00 PM."

"Alright."

Lin Xing nodded gently: "I got it."

"Teacher Lin, do you need my side to help shoot and record some promotional footage?"

Deng Ying already knew that Lin Xing's fans were coming to visit the set. In Deng Ying's view, the media visit could pre-warm the hype, and the visit from Lin Xing's fans could pre-warm it a second time.

"No need. These fans are all quite young, let's not expose them to the public eye."

Lin Xing shook his head and said: "Many of them are still kids. My main purpose this time is just to chat with them. If I weren't worried about something going wrong, I wouldn't have let them visit the set either, but this trend must be put to a stop. Otherwise, if everyone starts coming to visit the set like this in the future, it won't just affect me—it will affect our entire crew."

Deng Ying smiled and said: "Teacher Lin, many traffic celebrities practically pray for fans to come visit the set every day so they can manufacture the illusion of being massively popular. Yet you always seem to do the exact opposite."

"It's not doing the exact opposite; it's for the sake of work."

Lin Xing joked: "Or else, Director Deng, should I tell the fans to come visit my set every single day?"

"No, no, no, what you said is right, everything is for the sake of work."

Deng Ying hurriedly waved her hands and said.

Are you kidding me?

Given Lin Xing's current level of traffic, if his fans came to visit the set every day, their Bad Kids crew really wouldn't need to film anymore.

However, Deng Ying also knew Lin Xing was merely joking.

Having an actor who was emotionally intelligent, brilliantly skilled, knew his boundaries, and worked with utmost dedication was truly a blessing for all of them.

Deng Ying sighed inwardly.

...

...

(End of this chapter)