Chapter 403: Rising Popularity
Speaking of which, after Yu Linna had publicly revealed her identity, what followed was an explosive growth in popularity, as well as a steady stream of commercial endorsements. This momentum was even more terrifying than Air-sensei’s. After all, at Wenqing, not many authors had as high a topic as Shion-sensei. Her debut was her glorious period. She had had a low point in the middle and was once thought to be unable to return, but in the end, she had returned to the public’s view with a strong attitude.
And from her own interview, she herself had also frankly said that it had not been an easy road, and had also revealed many of her unknown stories. For example, she had gotten herself sick the first time she had written a novel, and because she hadn’t been careful and had sold the copyright wrongly, her work had been tragically animated. And then there was the experience of a low point but being unwilling to give up and finally returning to the ranks of a god-tier author.
There were many places to dig in her story, and this was also the reason why businesses were willing to find her. After all, everyone knew that Shion-sensei’s popularity was constantly rising, and there was a trend of her once again surpassing Air-sensei. If it developed according to this pattern, it was really possible to realize what everyone had said in the past, that Shion-sensei was about to become the first supreme god author of Wenqing.
The thought was still very exciting.
But Shion-sensei herself had not taken on any commercial endorsements. According to her, she hadn’t decided whether to take on endorsements yet.
“You can, why not take on endorsements? Didn’t you always want to be on TV before?”
When Ye Zhiyun had learned that she was troubled by this matter, she had specially called her and talked to her about it.
“But the past and the present are completely different. I thought that when I appeared in front of the camera, not many fans would be excited. Who would have thought that it would be so terrifying now? Do you know? I can’t even leave my dorm now. A lot of people are staking out downstairs at my dorm. Especially after they found out that I am Shion, it’s not just terrifying. I can even cause a crowd just by going to the cafeteria for a meal. Do you know how many people that is? That’s at least fifty people! The cafeteria door was blocked and they wouldn’t let me out!”
Yu Linna was particularly troubled now. Yes, very troubled.
Ever since she had publicly revealed her identity, her number of die-hard fans had been growing crazily. Plus, she herself was extremely beautiful, and her appearance was still that of a loli. Many die-hard fans were crazily obsessed with her because of her appearance, and for this, they had even specially run to her school to stake out. The security guards had driven them away many times. In the end, it had gotten to the point where the police had come.
Celebrities are like this. Whether they are willing or not, they have to suffer the harassment of brainless fans. If they are a little uncooperative, these sasaeng fans will say a couple of bad things about their idol, as if their idol’s achievements today were all supported by the fans.
For this, Yu Linna had been troubled for a long time.
“I’ve already made a call. They will strengthen the school’s security system. I’ve also arranged for people to protect the dorm building you live in. Don’t worry, you’ll still be safe during this period of time. But as for the commercials, aren’t you going to consider it?”
“What, you want me to film a commercial for you?”
“My wife still knows me best. You also know that I’m very short of money recently. The company needs income, so do you want to consider it?”
“…I’ll think about it.”
This Ye Zhiyun had actually set her sights on her. Was this the so-called “fertile water does not flow into outsiders’ fields”? Ye Zhiyun’s abacus was really loud. As expected of a businesswoman. Speaking of which, her being a director was often out of a kind of helplessness. Actually, what she was most suited for was being a businesswoman. Think about it, how little money would she have made as a businesswoman? Although the company had just started, she was still managing it now. She had solved many of the problems that a newcomer company would encounter one by one.
In short, she was still considering the matter of the endorsement. During this period, Yu Linna had also gone to the premiere of Happy Fries’ new movie, Qiuli’s Troubles, to stand on the stage and help them promote it. And this movie, starring Shen Wenwen, had achieved a good start as soon as it was released, and had reversed the trend of the movies of the same period with its super strong reputation.
Qiuli’s Troubles had grossed five hundred million at the box office in its opening weekend, had reached one billion in the following weekend, and had reached one and a half billion in the third week. The final box office was expected to be around sixteen hundred million. This was a crushing victory for Happy Fries. This had also made this company, Happy Fries, officially establish itself in the industry, gain a firm foothold, and begin their journey of film hegemony. And this was also a female-themed story with Shen Wenwen as the main character, which had broken the female-led movie market that had been monopolized by Nangong Ying in one fell swoop, letting the film industry blossom and enter a new era. And it was also from this time that the trick of popular celebrities driving the box office gradually became ineffective, but at this time, popular celebrities still occupied the market.
But this was not the main point. The main point was that when the movie was a great success, the reporters had interviewed the crew of Happy Fries, and a young actor in the crew had revealed that Shion-sensei had once been from Happy Fries, which meant that Shion-sensei could also be considered a senior of Happy Fries.
This news was really a big deal when it was revealed. The reporters, with their keen sense of smell, had immediately found the director of Qiuli’s Troubles, as well as the boss of Happy Fries Company, wanting to get some useful information from them. But they were all unwilling to be interviewed. The reporters had changed their position and had found Yu Linna, wanting to find some useful information from her.
“If you want to be serious about it, I did indeed come from Happy Fries, but I didn’t stay at Happy Fries for long, and I also never went on stage once.”
Yu Linna was willing to be interviewed and mentioned her past experience at Happy Fries. The reporters smelled useful gossip and quickly followed up with questions.
“Then Shion-sensei, what was the reason you left Happy Fries?”
“You can’t really say I left. It’s just that I needed a path that was more suitable for me. I was introduced to the Happy Fries drama club. At that time, Happy Fries was still just a drama club. I only stayed there for a week. Although I liked Sister Shen and the others very much, I didn’t have the strength to stay. I found that I had a more suitable place.”
“So you’re saying, you were eliminated, Shion-sensei?”
“This… if you have to say so, it’s not wrong. But at that time, my strength was indeed not enough. This is a fact.”
Shion-sensei herself had revealed it, so what reason did everyone have to doubt it?
Although she herself had said that she had only stayed at Happy Fries for a week, and could not be considered an official actor, and that she had left the drama club early because she was not good at acting, the people at Happy Fries just liked to tie her to Happy Fries and shamelessly called her a senior, but in fact, Yu Linna couldn’t even be considered an actor. These people just wanted to bask in her glory.
But Shion-sensei had stayed with the Happy Fries crew in her early years and had now become a hot great author. This topic was still quite interesting. As soon as it was written, many people would read it. Everyone liked to read this inspirational story.
“I feel that Shion-sensei can’t be considered to be from Happy Fries. She herself also said that she only stayed at the drama club for a week. If you count it like that, that was two years ago. At that time, the company hadn’t even been established, and Shen Wenwen wasn’t famous. She didn’t even have an official actor’s contract. She can’t be considered to be from Happy Fries, right?”
“I think so too. Shion-sensei is a novelist now, not an actress. But why do the people at Happy Fries just like to tie her to Happy Fries? I think this is completely just to bask in her glory.”
“After all, a great author of a god-tier level has come out of their own company, and a super famous one at that. Who wouldn’t want to have a connection with her like this?”
“But have you guys noticed? Shion-sensei said she had once stayed at Happy Fries. That means she used to be an actress.”
The netizens looked at the interview over and over again, as well as Shion-sensei’s past history, and were surprised to find that Shion-sensei had indeed been an actress before!
Looking at her information, you would find that besides her experience at Happy Fries, she had made a guest appearance in a movie during that period and had also filmed an online commercial. Those commercials could still be found now, and indeed used Yu Linna’s real name. And what was interesting was that these commercials were all filmed at Chenghe. After that, you could basically not see Yu Linna’s works and commercials anymore. It was a long time later that she had appeared in a movie for a guest appearance, and after that, she had always appeared as a novelist, or as Little Angel’s best friend, Little Na.
Originally, everyone had still been thinking, Shion-sensei is so beautiful. Why doesn’t she go and be a star? Now, looking at it, she seemed to have been an actress before. But for some reason, she had not left any works. Logically speaking, Shion-sensei was so beautiful. Even if she couldn’t act, she should still be of some use as a “vase.” However, the fact was that Shion-sensei had not left anything behind during her days as an actress.
The reporters had even fought for the opportunity to interview her specifically about this matter and had asked her this question. Yu Linna had only answered this way:
“Oh, I was fired because I was too bad.”
This answer was quite mischievous. It had amused the fans on Weibo.
After laughing, everyone also discovered that Shion-sensei didn’t seem to be very willing to talk about her days as an actress. It must have been very difficult for her during her days as an actress. It was probably because she was not good at acting that she had changed her career to become a novelist.
Yu Linna didn’t pay any attention to these comments. Although she had agreed to participate in commercial activities and was willing to be interviewed by reporters, she would not be so foolish as to tell her story everywhere. She would avoid what she could and only answer some important questions.
Chen Xi was also quite satisfied with her current state. She had popularity, looks, and was also willing to attend commercial activities for Wenqing to make money. Of course Chen Xi was happy.
“Shion-sensei, I’ve already arranged the next event for you. You just have to be on time.”
“That’s no problem. Sister Chen, where are you now? I’ll show you the outline and subsequent setting for the second volume.”
“Alright, I’ll come and find you after I’m done here.”
As Shion-sensei’s editor, Chen Xi was very busy. She had many famous authors under her, among them the big salted fish, Air-sensei. Every month, she had to hold a knife to her neck and rush her manuscript. Air-sensei really didn’t make people worry at all. In comparison, Shion-sensei was so good. She never had to be rushed for her manuscript, and every month, she even serialized two books.
It would be quite busy during this period of time, and Chen Xi had also prepared herself. She just hoped that at the end of this year, she could take an annual leave for herself and go home to relax. But before that, she had to finish her work first.
