Chapter 51

As soon as the official Weibo account of We’re Going Traveling aired the promotional video edited by Su Xingyao for Lushui County, it quickly updated a new post.

It was an explanation about the video.

We’re Going Traveling Official Weibo: “Family, isn’t the video edited by our Mr. Xiao Su super cool? Has anyone not seen it yet~ But here, we need to talk about something else. During the recording of the show, we did shoot a lot of footage, but after hearing Mr. Su thoughts, everyone unanimously agreed that the video quality filmed with phones couldn’t match the creativity. So, after the recording, the guests and the team used professional cameras to re-shoot scenes all across Lushui County. The process was really fun, and the behind-the-scenes footage has already been updated on the CatCat website, so don’t miss it!”

The official Weibo account thoughtfully posted the behind-the-scenes footage to make it easy for viewers to watch.

After a previous mishap, the show’s team leader was cautious this time and proactively gave a precautionary explanation.

As expected, the same thing happened.

As soon as the program aired, the trolls came out.

Soon, an account, not even sure if it was a person or a bot, appeared, using this small issue to criticize Su Xingyao and the production team.

A fake “seeking fame” accusation was thrown at them.

【Can such steady footage be shot with a phone? I haven’t read much, but don’t lie to me. Your program team didn’t have to make such a big fake just to create a buzz for Su Xingyao’s persona.】

【So fake, so fake, so fake. How could Su Xingyao edit this alone? The program team is getting shameless in seeking attention.】

【Do you think I didn’t watch the live stream? I watched the whole live stream and didn’t see you guys go to any flower sea, bamboo forest, or night market. You’re just trying to be famous, and now you’re lying so easily.】

【We have to say, Su Xingyao has really gone too far with building his persona recently. It’s no wonder he doesn’t fear backlash when claiming the program team’s work as his own.】

In the past, fans would have worked hard to explain such comments.

But today, when they saw these attempts to stir up trouble, everyone was in unison, laughing.

【Hahahahahaha, don’t tell them that the program team already posted the behind-the-scenes footage explaining the reason!】

【Hahahahahaha, don’t tell them that the guests thought Su Xingyao idea was so great that they requested a re-shoot!】

【Hahahahahahaha, don’t tell them that the program team kneeled to Su Xingyao after hearing the idea!】

The trolls didn’t care about clarifications or responses. They were just focused on getting paid for their work.

Even when the program team posted proof to defend themselves, they still kept spreading their comments everywhere.

Because of their strange behavior, many people began to notice something unusual about them.

【Oh my god, who bought these trolls? Their self-talk is so stubborn, the smell is too strong.】

【All the same lines to bash the program team and Su Xingyao, clearly trolls.】

【Laughing to death, they even ran to the wrong place earlier, spamming those comments on a travel blogger’s page, confusing everyone.】

【Which troll group is this disgusting? Their efforts to cover up are so obvious.】

【I’d guess it’s from a rival program…】

While the fans caught the trolls, on the other side, neither the official Weibo account of We’re Going Traveling nor the Lushui County official Weibo had released the video clips alone. Instead, both accounts simultaneously posted the video edited by Su Xingyao for Lushui County.

Moreover, the local government even officially endorsed the video, announcing that they would use the video edited by Su Xingyao as a promotional video for Lushui County.

The local government’s sudden announcement completely caught the trolls off guard.

Originally, they thought filming and editing the video was just a simple task.

What they didn’t expect was that the production team had a deeper purpose behind it.

Suddenly, the significance of this video became much clearer to the netizens.

After the official announcement from the Lushui County government, the video appeared on several platforms.

With the combination of celebrity editing, official collaboration, and stunning visual effects, these three key elements made the video’s topic and reach expand even further.

Netizens even gave the video a catchy name: “Su Xingyao Teaches You How to Make a County Promo Video Feel Like a Blockbuster with Minimal Costs.”

Under all this hype, more netizens who hadn’t seen the video before began watching it and joined in with praise and heated discussions.

At first, the discussion topic was: “I can’t believe this was edited by a celebrity in just a few days. Are celebrities this good now?”

Then the topic shifted to a more academic direction, as people started discussing how Su Xingyao achieved such an effect.

After some experts explained the AE (After Effects) techniques and editing tricks, netizens felt like their brains were overheating.

So, they didn’t want to dive deeper into how Su Xingyao did it anymore. They had a rough understanding that it was mentally demanding, required a lot of effort, and involved highly technical skills. But the only thing left in their minds was one thought:

Su Xingyao is amazing!

Amid the buzz of both the celebrity effect and the magic of the special effects, netizens ultimately circled back to the actual content being promoted in the video.

Su Xingyao’s promotional video showcased several important landmarks in Lushui County.

The video featured everything from elegant handicrafts like the fragrant fan art and various intangible cultural heritages, to the fresh and romantic bamboo forests and flower seas, as well as the more down-to-earth scenes of night markets and urban landscapes.

Originally, after watching the program, netizens were already eager to visit Lushui County, but now, after seeing even more interesting details in the highlights of the video, their desire had grown even stronger.

The entire video felt like a giant promotional campaign.

Many netizens left comments on the official Lushui County promotion page, expressing their desire to visit the county.

【Thank you, Su Xingyao, for making my hometown look like something I could never dream of.】

【Hahahaha, after watching this, I’m really in love with the place. I’m planning to travel there this weekend!】

【Hotel booked, I’ll arrive tomorrow. PS: Since we’re all friends here, I’ll be honest! I really want to try the sour and spicy noodles Su Xingyao ate!】

【Sour and spicy noodles? Forget that, I’m planning to visit every place Su Xingyao showed in the video. He’s such an amazing editor, every spot looks so inviting!】

【Um, sister upstairs… you might not be able to go this weekend. The hotels in Lushui County are already fully booked.】

【????? How fast are you guys?】

【???? Su Xingyao’s video is making every place she visits popular!】

In just one night, this small county with a long history, once little known, suddenly became popular the very night the show aired.

As a result of the Lushui County tourism boom, the local intangible cultural heritage of fragrant fans also received a huge boost.

After all, in both of Su Xingyao’s videos, he highlighted the process of making fragrant fans as a key element, even using vector graphics to create picture-in-picture effects to carefully showcase the fan-making process.

Many people who watched the video were deeply moved by the meticulous work involved in making the fragrant fans.

After learning about the fan-making culture, the netizens who developed a huge interest in the fragrant fans updated their latest fashion items!

In just one night, the fans sold on the Fragrant Fan Group’s online store were swept off the shelves, and the comment section of the official channels was filled with messages from people who couldn’t get the fans, urging them to restock quickly.

【Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!!!】

The six fan faces that Su Xingyao drew for the guests during the filming still left a deep impression on everyone.

There were fans designed for students, featuring geography and advanced math knowledge.

There were fans suitable for young people, featuring bird feathers and cats and dogs.

There were also fans loved by middle-aged people with simple typography, and peony fans that could be used by people of all ages.

Six fans, suitable for different age groups, making them perfect for all ages.

So, after seeing the program air, when the five guests shared the fan faces that Su Xingyao drew for them on their personal pages, netizens came up with a bold idea.

【The local government has already partnered with the program team. Can you also collaborate with Su Xingyao to release the same fans from the show?】

【Agreed!! Please, collaborate with Su Xingyao!】

【Begging for the collaboration +1】

【My best friend said she has cancer, and before she dies, she wants to own a fan co-branded with Su Xingyao. Please, please!】

The passionate netizens, afraid the Fragrant Fan Group might not see their comments, not only left messages on the online store but also went to the local website to comment.

However, their enthusiasm was so intense that it crashed the website.

But there’s a saying: “What you keep thinking about will eventually be answered.”

The day after the program aired, at eight o’clock in the morning, the Fragrant Fan Group and the program team suddenly announced their collaboration with Su Xingyao on cultural creative products.

Since Su Xingyao no longer used his old Weibo account, the program team made the announcement on his behalf.

When fans saw this news, their first reaction was: ????? Am I dreaming???

But after carefully reading the official announcement, their inner thoughts changed to: Su Xingyao is amazing!!!

After this announcement, fans and viewers who had already been impressed by the promotion spread the news to everyone.

Originally, they thought this collaboration would take some time to be realized.

But they didn’t expect the Fragrant Fan Group to be so well-prepared. At 10 o’clock that same day, they went live to sell the six fans designed by Su Xingyao that everyone wanted.

The Fragrant Fan Group had signed the collaborative cultural creative contract with Su Xingyao after filming finished.

However, from the end of the filming to the program airing, it was less than a week, so the guild, anticipating the demand, only prepared 6,000 fans.

At first, some of the group’s leaders were worried about this decision, fearing they wouldn’t sell all the fans.

But who could have expected that, as soon as the link to buy the fans went live on the Fragrant Fan Group’s website, they sold out in less than ten seconds?

Meanwhile, on another platform’s live stream…

In order to promote the products, the branch president, who had started a live stream to catch the trend, hadn’t even begun introducing the craftsmanship when he was stopped by someone from the backstage.

“President… don’t introduce it yet, we… we’re out of stock… We can’t get the link to work.”

The president didn’t quite understand what was going on. “What do you mean out of stock?”

“The fans on the official website are all sold out…”

The branch president was stunned.

Other group leaders in the live stream room were equally shocked.

Although they had already witnessed the purchasing power of the netizens the night before, the official website only had a few hundred fans in stock, so selling out wasn’t unexpected.

But now, even the massive 6,000 fans they had prepared were sold out in an instant…

The sheer purchasing power and enthusiasm of the netizens had left the president completely dumbfounded.

In the live stream room, the netizens who had stayed on the official website but failed to purchase a fan were frantically venting their frustration.

【Ahhh, I got stuck for a second while paying! Why is it gone when I tried to click again??!!】

【Are you guys devils? What kind of hand speed is that?! Not even one second???】

【Sold out as soon as I clicked… I’m not joking, really…】

【Good thing I have experience with concert ticket sales. I had five friends helping me online, and I managed to grab a cat-dog fan hahahaha.】

【Wow, I never thought this fan-chasing skill would come in handy…】

【Wuwuwu, President, President, hurry and restock, even my kid wants to buy one!】

The branch president looked at the barrage of comments urging for restocking and couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.

“But we only prepared 6,000 fans… there’s no way to restock.”

The netizens, desperate from not being able to buy, immediately gave him some suggestions.

【Then do a pre-sale!!】

【Pre-sale +1】

After a while, the president finally understood how pre-sale worked, and after discussing with the other group leaders, they saw how passionate the netizens were and agreed to do a pre-sale.

The staff quickly set up six pre-sale links.

Once everything was ready, the branch president picked up the fan in his hand, ready to continue explaining the craftsmanship to the netizens.

However, he was interrupted again by someone from the backstage.

As soon as the pre-sale links went live, they sold 50,000 units in an instant…

This number continued to soar, and soon it had surpassed 200,000…

Seeing these sales numbers, the branch president hurriedly told the backstage team to shut down the pre-sale links.

The live stream was no longer feasible, and the Fragrant Fan Group’s official channels quickly posted urgent notices to warn the netizens.

【This time, the fan designs for the joint cultural creation were authorized by Mr. Su for free. We would like to sincerely thank Mr. Su and the vast number of consumers for their love and strong support for Fragrant Fans. However, the sales volume has temporarily exceeded the capacity of our group, so we regret to inform everyone that this pre-sale will have to be paused. QWQ Please, everyone, consume rationally.】

【Hahahaha, other companies are dying to sell more, but you guys are saying, ‘Don’t buy anymore, we sold too much’.】

【I’m the type of person who enjoys being rebellious. Today, I want to consume wildly.】

【What’s the difference between 200,000 and 300,000? (smiling) How about opening another 100,000 links?】

【SRDS, do you think opening another 100,000 pre-sale links will help you grab one?】

【That’s a punch to the gut, bro…】

A show has successfully promoted the local culture of Lushui County and its surrounding areas.

Netizens who couldn’t grab a fan or book a hotel room could only review things online.

Then, they suddenly realized that this was the same route as Qingshan City last time.

【Last time it was Qingshan City, this time it’s Lushui County.】

【Wow, Su Xingyao, why don’t you just switch careers and become a tourism ambassador? Everywhere you go, it gets popular.】

【Although it sounds a bit mystical, the key is still Su Xingyao’s own talent. The special effects video and the skillful fan painting aren’t something just anyone can do.】

【Ahhh, Mr. Xiao Su, please consider coming to my hometown!】

【Mr. Xiao Su, please, next time, come visit our small county too. Even the kids’ hometown wants to be seen by others, wuwuwu.】

After suddenly realizing Su Xingyao’s strong tourism influence, the netizens started creating videos and challenges to invite him to record a program in their local areas.

Challenges like these on short-video platforms are the easiest to spread, and soon influencers and netizens alike were recording videos to join in.

In no time, the hashtag #SuXingyaoPleaseLookAtMyHometown was trending across the internet.

The winds on the internet are always unpredictable. After this wave of attention, the online viewership of “We’re Going Traveling” shot past 100 million.

Even the second-round TV reruns of the episode had the highest ratings of the day across all TV stations.

“Leisure Weekend” had done a lot of preparation to pull down the competition by bundling content, but in the end, it couldn’t withstand the positive reputation and buzz of “We’re Going Traveling.”

It seemed that the program hadn’t aired yet, and with various promotional collaborations with Lushui County’s local government, the “We’re Going Traveling” team had been holding back from addressing “Leisure Weekend’s” smear tactics.

After the chaos caused by the explosive success, once the “We’re Going Traveling” team finished dealing with all matters related to this episode, they immediately posted a lawyer’s letter on their official Weibo.

They filed a lawsuit against the “Leisure Weekend” team, accusing them of infringing on intellectual property and stealing the core concept.

At the same time, the program team’s planner shared the initial draft and timeline for the plan.

After the netizens, who had been kept in the dark, saw this, they instantly realized what had happened.

【Wow, I was wondering how two shows could have such similar processes and themes. Turns out, the other side stole the planner and the idea from them.】

【So it wasn’t really the same, it was just someone sneaking behind and stealing.】

【Such a pity, we could’ve seen the guests live streaming the sale of the fans, but it got stolen by the thief.】

【Laughing so hard, did your team study stealing from other countries?】

After “We’re Going Traveling”‘s bold move, netizens revisited the actions of “Leisure Weekend” over the past couple of days and finally understood many things that they had previously found confusing.

【They stole the concept, no wonder they rushed to air the show early.】

【They stole the concept, no wonder they released so many negative press releases.】

【The show next door kept criticizing “Travel”, saying that the program didn’t promote the local area and didn’t contribute anything to it, unlike them, where they did a live broadcast, promoting it thoroughly and boosting the local GDP…】

【Laughing so hard, but the show you criticized actually collaborated with the local government to make a promotional video, and worked with the Fragrant Fans Group on cultural products. Now, Lushui County is one of the top 10 most popular tourist destinations in the country, and Fragrant Fans has sold out 200,000 pre-sales… Is that not promoting the area? Is that not contributing to the local area?】

【You stole their process and content, even the creative idea for their live broadcast, and in the end, you didn’t do it better. Who’s the clown here, I won’t say it.】

【Just to add, Su Xingyao is really impressive. If it weren’t for his two videos saving the day, our little travel program would have been completely sabotaged by them.】

With this show as a comparison, netizens now understood how hard the team and guests of “We’re Going Traveling” worked.

They also finally realized why Su Xingyao put so much effort into making such a difficult video.

Although the end result was very good, even surpassing the original plan’s expectations, it didn’t mean that people would tolerate this kind of malicious competition.

As a result, all the tactics “Leisure Weekend” used backfired, and their reputation took a massive hit from the audience within a day.

Netizens were not only demanding that the program’s responsible people come forward to explain and apologize but also started spreading the news about the disgusting actions they had taken, calling for everyone to boycott such a shameless show.

【Family, this disgusting show also bought a lot of trolls to attack others. Fans have already exposed their paid press releases about Su Xingyao and Jiang Xunche.】

【Ugh, what a trashy show. They don’t focus on making good content, just put all their energy into shady tricks.】

【Stealing concepts, maliciously slandering, and using trolls to attack others. Seriously? Will anyone still watch this kind of dark show?】

As the incident escalated, all of “Leisure Weekend”‘s shady operations were exposed, and their show’s rating, which had just started airing, was bombarded with one-star reviews.

After being criticized for an entire day, under immense public pressure, “Leisure Weekend”‘s official Weibo account finally issued an apology and announced that all involved staff had been fired.

The TV station also released an announcement, saying they would properly clean up and reorganize.

But none of this was the most damaging for the program team.

The greatest blow came when, just one episode into the show’s airing, their investors swiftly withdrew their funding overnight, with some even suing the program to demand compensation.

Without investors and with the reputation plummeting across the board, this repulsive variety show had no chance of continuing.

—

Su Xingyao woke up to find that these matters had mostly been dealt with.

In the days following his birthday, in order to finalize the promotional video for Lushui County and the vector images for the fan-making process before the show aired, he stayed in his room and didn’t go anywhere.

The massive workload meant he hadn’t really had a good night’s sleep during those days.

He stayed up late into the afternoon before the broadcast, finally finishing everything and sending it to the post-production team. He then collapsed onto his bed, exhausted, and slept the entire day away.

When he woke up again, it was already the next day.

After Su Xingyao came downstairs, he found Lu Jiuxu fiddling with his phone.

“Good morning, Mr. Lu.”

When Lu Jiuxu saw him up, he got up and brought a cup of warm milk to him.

Seeing the faint bruise still visible under Su Xingyao’s eyes, Lu Jiuxu teased him.

“Su Catcat, you’ve turned into Su Panda now.”

It was a joking tone, but there wasn’t a smile on Lu Jiuxu’s face.

On the contrary, Su Xingyao smiled, took a sip of the gentle milk, and casually pointed to his face as he asked, “Is it really that dramatic?”

He lightly touched the area under his eye.

Lu Jiuxu nodded seriously.

“Very.”

“It was a bit tight on time, so I may have overworked a little,” Su Xingyao explained.

Lu Jiuxu chuckled, “Mm, just a little bit.”

As soon as Su Xingyao finished speaking, he saw Lu Jiuxu’s alarm clock vibrating.

Lu Jiuxu unlocked his phone, tapped a few things on the screen, and then helplessly turned it around to show Su Xingyao.

“It sold out right after it opened.”

Su Xingyao looked closely and realized that the page Lu Jiuxu was looking at earlier was the official website of Fragrant Fans.

Seeing the sold-out sign on the page, he remembered the alarm clock Lu Jiuxu had set earlier.

Su Xingyao belatedly realized, “Mr. Lu, did you set an alarm to buy Fragrant Fans?”

Lu Jiuxu didn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he pulled up the link showing Su Xingyao’s cat-dog fan.

“I want to buy this one.”

He added, “But there are too many people who like it.” Lu Jiuxu laughed helplessly. “I can’t get it.”

Su Xingyao looked at the man who had set an alarm to buy the same fan as him, and without thinking, he spoke up.

“Mr. Lu, if you don’t mind…”

“I could just draw it for you directly…”

The man lowered his head to lock the phone screen.

But his lips curled up slightly in a smile that Su Xingyao didn’t notice.

“Then I’ll trouble you, Mr. Xiao Su.”

After making the promise to Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao felt that drawing another fan just like the ones for the program team seemed a bit perfunctory, so he quickly added a follow-up.

“Mr. Lu, do you have any particular drawings you like? I can draw a special one for you.”

The man, upon hearing this, slightly squinted his narrow eyes, a faint glimmer of light reflecting in them.

Lu Jiuxu looked at the person in front of him, his voice gentle and slow.

“I like everything you draw.”

After promising to paint a fan for Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao kept the matter in his mind.

However, due to the aftereffects of staying up late, although he had caught up on sleep, his mind was still a bit foggy, so he didn’t rush to start painting when he wasn’t in the best state.

After having a meal, Su Xingyao returned to his room.

His body was exhausted, but his mind was unusually clear.

Lying in bed and unable to sleep, he took out his phone and began browsing videos.

The first video recommended by the short video platform was a topic from the netizens: #SuXingyaoPleaseLookAtMyHometown#.

The platform recommended a video from a small internet celebrity with over 700,000 likes.

The person filmed many scenes from their hometown and praised Su Xingyao endlessly.

Having no idea what was going on, Su Xingyao was about to click on the comments to see what was happening.

But the top comment was:

Official Mosquito Coil Brand: Begging Mr. Xiao Su to cooperate with us, we don’t need millions in special effects, just hundreds of thousands will do.

The second top comment:

Famous Makeup Brand: Mr. Xiao Su, please consider us, we don’t need millions in special effects, just your presence is enough.

The third top comment:

Domestic Milk Powder Brand: Mr. Xiao Su, we don’t need you to come, just give us a contact method.

Netizens were also posting photos and leaving messages below.

“Mr. Xiao Su, please look at our small town.”

“Mr. Xiao Su, please look at our small county.”

“Mr. Xiao Su, please look at our small village.”

Su Xingyao scrolled through the comments, utterly confused: ??????

Wow, are they all playing awkward games with him?

—

Su Xingyao continued frantically scrolling through the comments he couldn’t understand.

On the other side, after the program’s failure, Jiang Xunche, who was one of the ones involved in the publicity stunt, was also dragged out and harshly criticized by everyone.

Not just him, but even Chu Zian, who had deep romantic delusions, was similarly criticized.

The situation escalated so much that even Chu Zian, who was currently training in a temple in a Southeast Asia country, heard the news.

When Chu Zian learned that his failure and being criticized were related to Su Xingyao, and that Su Xingyao’s video had caused his boyfriend’s program to be canceled, he was utterly shocked.

During this period, Chu Zian, who had finally managed to stabilize his mental state a little, was now completely frightened.

He quickly pulled out his phone and called Jiang Xunche, his voice shaky as he spoke.

“Honey…”

“Su… Su Xingyao… is he… is he coming back for revenge on us?”

Jiang Xunche, who was busy with public relations, was extremely annoyed. “What are you talking about?”

He realized that ever since Chu Zian recorded the show with Su Xingyao, he had become more and more paranoid.

On the other end of the line, Chu Zian sounded as if he had been deeply scared, unable to explain himself clearly, repeating the same thing over and over.

“It’s just… Su… he, he must have come back to get revenge on me.”

Hearing Chu Zian’s ominous tone, completely baffled by what he was saying, Jiang Xunche impatiently hung up the phone.

“You’re crazy.”