Chapter 218: Preheating

Miss Luo Quan smiled: "Ten years ago, she was still in elementary school."

"At least I've debuted for three years; round it up to five, and isn't that ten years?" Wen Xia's results in the art exam were probably very ideal, and she seemed to be in a good mood. Without a word, she took the paper and pen and signed an autograph for the fan junior.

Why else would she be a professional idol? Wen Xia's autograph was much more artistic than Miss Luo Quan's—elegant and good-looking, and crucially, fast.

"Speaking of which, since returning to China, this is the first time I've signed an autograph for a fan." After signing, Wen Xia was suddenly a bit emotional.

When the surrounding juniors heard this, they couldn't let it slide and hurriedly swarmed forward to request autographs.

Although there weren't many students here who were fans of Wen Xia, she hadn't had any negative news in the past few years, was beautiful, strong in ability, and recently her variety shows and TV dramas were all popular. Now that she was standing right in front of them, how could they not want an autograph?

Seeing this, Miss Luo Quan also sensibly stood to one side. Lin Zheyuan, who was nearby, didn't go up to ask for an autograph but just silently adjusted the focus of his camera.

"Aren't you going up to ask for an autograph?" Miss Luo Quan leaned over and asked curiously.

Lin Zheyuan squinted his left eye and pressed his right eye tightly against the camera: "I've seen too many beauties, and I've seen quite a few celebrities. Autographs aren't worth much money. If it were yours, I might have some interest. I heard your autograph can now be settled with Bitcoin on the black market abroad; it's worth quite a bit. Why don't you sign one for me?"

Miss Luo Quan scanned Lin Zheyuan, who was dressed in designer brands: "You don't look like someone who is short of money. Why does your speech reek of copper?"

Lin Zheyuan smiled: "Money isn't everything, but you can't do anything without money. It's not easy for us craftsmen to earn some money. You saw it last time—taking photos for a celebrity, buying milk tea, apologizing, and in the end, still getting scolded."

Miss Luo Quan's expression was strange: "I always feel you are hinting at something."

"No, I didn't say you celebrities earn money too easily." Lin Zheyuan laughed: "Just joking. I wouldn't be sour about you two. Among the celebrities I've met, you two are the only ones who can be considered very good."

"Then you must have met very few celebrities."

"Perhaps." Lin Zheyuan shrugged.

"What are you chatting about?" Wen Xia asked after finishing signing.

Lin Zheyuan said: "Chatting about taking photos later. Wen Xia, would you be willing to be a model for a while for these juniors in our photography department? You and Miss Luo Quan come together, just take a few shots!"

"You agreed?" Wen Xia turned her head to look at Miss Luo Quan, who nodded.

"Then fine, anyway, it's still early, and we're idle." Seeing that Miss Luo Quan had agreed, Wen Xia didn't refuse either.

Because they weren't going to take professional portraits, they didn't specifically design poses. It was just the two of them standing opposite each other under the peach tree, looking at the sky at a 45-degree angle—a common pose in the non-mainstream era.

However, why else would Lin Zheyuan be a professional? If it were just such a simple pose, even if the two models had explosive beauty, while the photos would look good, they wouldn't be considered stunning.

But adding a few elements would immediately raise the picture to another level.

Still the old method: keep shooting the tree.

"Come, I'll give you a task." Lin Zheyuan called out the ten-year fan of Wen Xia from earlier and had him stand by the tree.

"I'll tell you when to shake." Lin Zheyuan found a position and prepared to start shooting.

"Then what about my photo?" The boy was a bit hesitant.

"Stupid, would I treat you badly if I let you do something? I don't need to submit a comprehensive practice assignment, so won't the ones I take be yours?" After Lin Zheyuan finished speaking, other boys also scrambled to help with this favor, but they were scolded back by Lin Zheyuan:

"Less nonsense, hurry up and prepare to shoot. The two celebrity models are taking time out of their busy schedules to help for free!"

After saying this, the students didn't dare to say anything more, and the boy who was called also ran to the tree with a grin and squatted down.

Because the shooting angle was the upper bodies of Miss Luo Quan and Wen Xia, he didn't need to be in the frame while squatting.

Lin Zheyuan said loudly: "Everyone, get ready to shoot. I'll count one, two, three, and then start... one! two! three!"

The boy shook the tree violently, and the lush peach blossoms suddenly fluttered in the sky. The sudden spring breeze swirled around the two of them, creating a beautiful pink spiral that surrounded Wen Xia and Miss Luo Quan.

Lin Zheyuan grasped this rare scene and pressed the shutter violently. All around were the sounds of "click, click."

After a few seconds, Lin Zheyuan put down the photography equipment and revealed a smile: "The effect when this photo is developed will definitely be very good."

A group of students also exclaimed that Wen Xia and Miss Luo Quan were beautiful and that Senior Lin was a genius.

And the student who shook the tree came over with a grin: "Senior, this photo..."

Lin Zheyuan glanced at him: "What's the rush? This photo still needs to be retouched. Can you do it?"

"Still need to retouch?" Miss Luo Quan was unhappy when she heard this: "I've taken so many photos, and I've never had to retouch them."

"It's not that you need to retouch." Lin Zheyuan waved his hand, and then Wen Xia cast a "kind" look at him.

"It's not that you need to retouch either!" Lin Zheyuan was instantly extremely embarrassed. "My meaning is that the photo as a whole needs to be retouched. After all, it's outdoors; contrast, saturation, tone, etc., all need to be adjusted."

"That's more like it." Wen Xia smiled coquettishly, then glared at Miss Luo Quan, as if saying: "I'm not worse than you!"

After finishing, Wen Xia and Miss Luo Quan didn't stay long, and after a while, they waved goodbye to the juniors.

On the way back, Miss Luo Quan asked Wen Xia: "How did you do on your exam? What did you take?"

Wen Xia said: "Just a self-introduction first, and then a regular talent show."

"Acting departments generally look at the examinee's image first. After all, acting talent isn't something that can be reflected in one or two temporary performances."

"Anyway, the content of the exam was quite friendly to me. I went up and sang a song, and then got the highest score."

"And listening to the meaning of Teacher Wu Dongmei, the department head of the acting department, I don't need to go to the next two exams; I can just focus on preparing for the college entrance exam."

Miss Luo Quan guessed: "Most likely they've seen those TV dramas of yours and think you have talent."

Wen Xia nodded: "Perhaps."

After returning to Jiangnan, the two of them did their own things in the hotel.

Wen Xia had no new announcements and was fully preparing for the college entrance exam, which was less than forty days away.

There were no problems with the basic knowledge of the subjects. Wen Xia wouldn't force herself on high-difficulty questions; just let it be.

As for the medium-difficulty questions, they were the focus Wen Xia would target in the coming days. These questions were also the score-pulling items that teachers often mentioned. Only by capturing all of them could one get a high score.

As for high-difficulty questions, they were actually the patent of true top students; there weren't many in the country who could master them all.

Wen Xia's learning ability was actually quite good, but it was too difficult to compare with those top students.

As for wanting to master these medium-difficulty questions, there was no other particularly good way. One word: "Brush!"

Do more, practice more, remember more; there were no shortcuts.

What could be foreseen was that the next forty days would definitely be Wen Xia's most arduous forty days. Whether she could achieve good results would depend on the effect of brushing questions in these forty days.

As for Miss Luo Quan, her recent life could also be described in one word: "Idle"?

Her first year at the University of Tokyo had ended early, and her second-year study life at Shangyi wouldn't start until September. "Creating Girls' Generation" was recorded once a week, she didn't take any endorsements, and she had a large amount of money coming in every day. At a young age, she lived a boring and dull life.

The only thing that could cause ripples was probably her album that kept breaking records.

Although it was sold online and offline simultaneously, and the sales of online digital albums were quite good, various records were generally recognized by physical albums.

Like all singers who dared to sell physical albums in China, regardless of status or the popularity of the songs, Chinese fans treated everyone equally and didn't give Miss Luo Quan any special treatment.

Less than ten days after being put on the shelves, about 600,000 physical albums were sold, most of which were commemorative editions. As for who bought them and what they were aiming for, there was no need to say more; those who understood, understood.

Although such sales were already a very good result in the Chinese market, compared to Miss Luo Quan's previous records except for "18," it couldn't even be described as a flop; it wasn't much different from giving them away for free.

Fortunately, the sales of digital albums were strong enough, heading straight for ten million. Tencent also made a lot of money from various copyright fees. The money was definitely earned, but this form of making money still made Miss Luo Quan a bit disappointed.

In her heart, she always treated virtual albums and physical albums differently. After all, the former was much easier to fabricate in terms of numbers than the latter.

Fortunately, the overseas market, on which she had pinned high hopes, finally gave her comfort.

In the same region where English is not the native language, the sales in Japan were several times that of China!

As the current sales queen of the new generation in the Japanese music scene, Miss Luo Quan's reputation had been thoroughly established, and the saying "Miss Luo Quan's production must be a masterpiece" had become a recognized fact both inside and outside the circle.

After Sony Music acquired the copyright to Miss Luo Quan's album, they didn't spend much effort on promotion at all, because there was no need. As long as the official website released a little bit of news, countless fans who had been looking forward to it would help promote it themselves, and it could be described as omnipresent. Any social platform or forum could see Miss Luo Quan's fans recommending her new album to everyone.

Although it was a non-Japanese album, it was at least a work Miss Luo Quan had put a lot of thought into. Its reputation abroad had long since exploded, and with the "Miss Luo Quan" gold-lettered signboard, even those who didn't listen to English songs much would buy one to support her for the sake of the name.

As for true fans, it went without saying; they went straight for the commemorative edition. In terms of buying physical records, Japanese fans were truly willing to spend money.

The sales for the first week on the shelves were also out. "Love" had first-day sales of 1.03 million copies, with commemorative editions accounting for more than 60%. The first-week sales exceeded 3.16 million, and all ten songs rushed onto the Japanese Oricon chart. However, the top spot was still occupied by "Don't Give Up," and its status was invincible.

Selling over 3 million copies in the first week, such a result was a rare achievement in the entire Japanese music scene, but compared to "Coming of Age," it was still a big gap.

This album in Japan had already been called a miracle in the history of Asian pop music, a myth that was almost impossible to replicate.

Because it was very difficult to make Japan experience three consecutive earthquakes of about magnitude 8 in three days. It was also very difficult to use a song to completely inspire the national mood in the almost desperate social atmosphere after the earthquake.

Miss Luo Quan had achieved this, and "Don't Give Up" could be said to have contributed significantly.

For a period of time afterward, many Japanese singers released songs with the main theme of inspiring the public, but they were somewhat like "Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi" (clumsy imitation).

In short, with pre-sales of over 2 million and first-day sales of over 4 million, it was probably difficult to find a result close to this in the world. If one wanted to break this record again, one would probably have to wait for Miss Luo Quan herself.

As for "Love," although the sales were also very good, compared to "Coming of Age," it could only be considered standard. It was also Miss Luo Quan's previous results that were too good, single-handedly raising the sales record of Asian records by several levels.

What was even more terrifying was that she hadn't even debuted for a year.

Of course, this wasn't the most terrifying part.

Although her appeal in Japan was second to none, the true audience for this album was actually fans in Europe and America.

Especially the United States, which was the world's number one record market.

And the final result didn't disappoint Miss Luo Quan. Under the vigorous promotion of Universal Music and the assists from major magazines, Miss Luo Quan became a top-tier figure in the American music circle during that period.

Regardless of whether they usually liked listening to songs or liked listening to pop music, under the overwhelming related reports and recommendations from friends, everyone would try to listen to it.

And then, it was out of control.

The "Love" album achieved explosive results in both the virtual and physical record markets in the United States.

Virtual records had sold nearly 12 million copies on iTunes, the best result in the last decade.

It was also the best result for virtual records since entering the information age!

Besides this, physical records also broke various records, such as the most pre-sales, the most sales on the first day of release, the most sales in the first week of release, etc.

Anyway, physical record sales had already reached 4 million copies.

Don't look at it as if it was about the same as the sales in the Japanese region; there was actually a difference.

In Japan, the daily sales increase of the album had already begun to show a decreasing trend, while in the United States, it had been increasing, and the magnitude was not small.

Looking at this momentum, by the end of next week, the sales of this album would likely exceed 10 million copies.

Although it couldn't compare to those records in history that reached tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, it had at least reached the point where it could be discussed.

And Miss Luo Quan believed that the final result of the "Love" album would definitely be more than 10 million, and even more than 30 million!

PS: Thanks to book friends Xiao Xiao Xiao Yu and Xiao Xiao Meng Gui for the book coin rewards! ===== CHAPTER 219 =====