Chapter 17: It’s All About Creating Momentum

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It was out of the question for Li Wenyu to return to the dormitory. With Pang Bing around, who would want to go back to live in a crowded four-person room? A university dorm filled with teeth grinding, snoring, and occasional sleep talking?

A new day had arrived, the sun already high in the sky.

He had allowed himself a good, lazy sleep, his career gradually unfolding. There was no longer a need to run to the Tsuen Wan crew by the seaside to study and improve himself, nor to labor day and night like on Shark Beach.

Li Wenyu woke up at 11 a.m. and glanced at Pang Bing, who was nestled in the master bedroom, browsing on the computer and chuckling quietly to herself. He stood up and smiled, "What are you looking at that’s so funny?"

Pang Bing hurriedly got up. "Brother Yu, you’re awake? Just some entertainment. Right now, many people on Tianya, NetEase, and Sohu are discussing what 12-22-08 means. It’s only been one night."

The thought that this was all to hype up her as the sole female lead of the film made her endlessly happy.

The next moment, Pang Bing said, "By the way, Sister Hua said that President Wang wants to invite you to dinner. It’s not for anything else—he wants to learn your tactics for manipulating online public opinion. Sister Hua mentioned that President Wang plans to give you a car as tuition."

Li Wenyu was surprised. "That’s bold, but I’m too lazy to go. If Huayi dares to make things difficult for you, just switch jobs. Following me, you’ll never lack film projects."

Pang Bing, having been through the Three Links for over a month, was still fired up by these words.

...

As the afternoon sun stood high, Li Wenyu’s phone rang.

This time it wasn’t an insignificant number—it was an old classmate, Ling Xiaosu. When he answered, Ling Xiaosu hesitated and awkwardly said he couldn’t continue his work as a head of an online manipulation team.

He had talked with his girlfriend, Yao Dazui, that morning, and she had encouraged him to give up. "Old Li, I’m really sorry. It’s not much work for a few days, but after more than a month, the pressure builds..."

"I’ve been looking for opportunities with film crews myself. Things are looking up; I might return to the Xi Film Studio for a while. My partner insists I focus more on improving my acting. I’ll treat you to two—no, three meals later."

Despite the embarrassment, Ling Xiaosu spoke plainly.

Li Wenyu was speechless. "It’s fine. When couples are passionate, listening to the other half isn’t bad. Got it."

Ling Xiaosu came from a third-generation film family: his great-grandfather was one of China’s third-generation directors, his grandfather a cinematographer at Xi Film Studio, and his mother a director and screenwriter there.

He never lacked a 50-yuan side income.

After a brief chat, Li Wenyu logged into his Tencent QQ account using Pang Bing’s computer. The night before, he had told Yu Bo and Huang Xiaolei to recommend friends to earn this extra income, specifying they should chat on QQ.

If he hadn’t specifically said to chat online, his phone would have rung numerous times by now.

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As expected, the QQ group grew quickly. Huang Xiaolei invited her close friend Sui Lan and her buddy Du Chun.

Yang Qin from the 1999 advanced class was also added, and they were all eagerly adding Li Wenyu as a friend.

While chatting about various online rumors, Li Wenyu couldn’t help but remark, “I’m really about to change the style of Beijing Film Academy.”

Apart from Yao Dazui and Ling Xiaosu who had dropped out, others might still be at Xi Film Studio.

Those less concerned had mostly joined in. Zhang Songwen from the 2000 vocational class even brought Zhou Yiwei and Che Xiao.

Vocational programs generally lasted only two years. Starting in the summer of 2000, by now, November 2001, Zhou Yiwei and Che Xiao were nearing graduation.

For a part-time job paying a monthly salary of 1500 yuan, which could be done during lunch breaks and evenings, this was quite a good opportunity.

Anyone with a few years of experience in the industry would know this.

Regarding Ling Xiaosu and his girlfriend, Li Wenyu suddenly realized Ling had joined the Guanzhong Bandit Affairs crew early in 2002, probably after an earlier audition. Guanzhong Bandit Affairs was a project of the Xi Film Group.

Ling grew up at Xi Film Studio, starting as a male lead, but never really took off. Later, the Ling family promoted Dazui instead.

Just as Pang Bing, who had finally come back to her senses, approached curiously, "What style are you talking about that you’re changing?"

Li Wenyu chuckled, "Wait and see."

By 2001, he was already assembling a professional team. He had to consider the wit of some clever netizens and create alternative topics to divert attention.

12-22-08 was just a number, but never underestimate the intelligence of netizens. Earlier while chatting online, Xiao Hu from Hong Kong Island had emailed him, reporting that in the Hong Kong-Macau Bay and island networks, after over a week of speculation, many netizens concluded it was a date—the numbers representing month, day, and hour.

In the mainland, after one or two days of curiosity—or more accurately, some netizens figured it out within minutes—it was understood as a date.

If he kept silent, it might still attract countless curious onlookers and linger in memory. But for the clever ones, some audience would be lost.

At two o’clock, Li Wenyu went out purposely, meeting with Huang Xiaolei, Yang Qin, and others for a photo shoot at the entrance of Beijing Normal University.

Seeing Yang Qin’s makeup, he frowned, "Forget the photo shoot for now. Yang Qin, you need a new look. I’ll pay for it; it’s covered by the promotion budget."

"We’ll shoot several sets of photos to hype you up online as the most beautiful campus belle of Beijing Normal University, and then as the most beautiful campus belle representing all universities in the capital..."

As he spoke, Yang Qin blushed awkwardly, trying to scrape a three-bedroom apartment layout with her foot on the road, while Huang Xiaolei and Sui Lan stared dumbfounded.

Li Wenyu waved his hand, "It’s all promotion. This can only benefit you. You’ve worked with crews before. If we make you famous, the directors you work with will send you bonuses, and other projects will consider you first."

He was promoting the campus belle so netizens would move from online discussion to reality, rallying more friends to join in the conversation. Just pushing 12-22-08 alone wouldn’t work, but hyping the campus belle could.

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This plan wasn’t confined to the mainland; it was meant to spread outward. They even aimed to pull in Quan Zhixian, who had just skyrocketed to fame with "My Sassy Girl," for a little publicity stunt.

At the end of 2001, Yang Qin had joined two drama crews, but the TV dramas wouldn’t air for another ten months or more.

Had she cameoed in films? Those two had no theatrical release records. Mainland China had countless productions that never reached cinemas.

For Chinese audiences, Yang Qin was still an unfamiliar beautiful face.

After some communication, Li Wenyu arranged for a stylist to change Yang Qin’s hairstyle and fashion, aiming to make her photos more stunning than those of "Anzhuo Baby." If needed, they could enhance them further with online retouching.

Starting November 11, batches of online manipulation leaders and numerous netizens at internet cafes began flooding forums with posts about the 12-22-08 numbers.

Simultaneously, they launched the theme: “Beijing Normal University’s most beautiful campus belle—can she represent all universities in the capital as the most beautiful? Dare to challenge?”

At that time, Baidu Tieba didn’t even exist, and Tencent QQ hadn’t opened spaces or group chats.

Yet, with Yang Qin’s looks and figure, combined with Li Wenyu’s directing skill rating of 82 points to shoot beautiful photos…

With good lighting, filters, and a bit of skin whitening, one could see the photos on screen and not recognize it was the same person standing before them.

Yang Qin was still somewhat dark and thin, with less ideal skin. Barefoot and standing 1.7 meters tall, Li Wenyu pushed for shots emphasizing long legs and a slender waist to tempt the camera.

This was the deliberate creation of the 21st century’s first internet celebrity goddess.

It was to make those clever netizens who had already guessed the meaning of 12-22-08 stop wasting time on just one topic. Instead of spending time explaining and debating, they might as well enjoy looking at a beautiful woman!

They could discuss whether anyone on their own campus was more beautiful than Yang Qin. If not, that would be infuriating, so they would mobilize classmates and friends to find a rival and learn to surf the internet to bring glory to their alma mater.

The Facebook platform, created and risen through campus belles, hadn’t even appeared yet—it would be years before that. This first fiery campus belle rivalry, starting with Yang Qin, could ignite interest among other classmates or juniors.

Everything was to create momentum for Pang Bing. The campus belle discussion might last one or two months, but once Pang Bing’s Shark Beach hit the screen, it would sweep across East Asia, silencing all dissent.

The campus belle could truly propel an online topic into reality, spreading influence layer by layer.