Chapter 23: The Concrete Idol of Chinese Youth Literature

From that day on, Fang Xinghe's fan count and Starlight Value simultaneously entered their first period of explosive growth.

Within a single month, the sales of Sprout's April issue surged from the usual 10,000-plus copies to 250,000 copies.

And Fang Xinghe's fan count exploded to 1,000,000.

In this day and age, a single book would normally circulate through at least ten students' hands — not everyone has the money to buy one, but many will borrow it for a look.

Sales of 250,000 meant that perhaps 3,000,000 people had seen his face.

The value of top-tier looks was now magnified to an extreme degree.

99% of girls, upon seeing the magazine cover, would at least develop an interest in learning more, and through the written descriptions inside, build up an initial sense of fondness.

3,000,000 people converting into 1,000,000 casual fans — a conversion rate so high it could be called a miracle.

In that later entertainment golden age, if a single hard photo could market to a coverage of 3,000,000 people, then converting just 100,000 casual fans would have the company boss calling you "Dad" on the spot, guaranteed.

"Godfather, you're literally the Ziwei Star descended to earth!"

Really, it was that exaggerated.

In the post-traffic era, no up-and-coming star could achieve a 1% conversion rate relying solely on simple exposure through "hard photos, GIFs, looks," and the like.

And before the traffic era, the first ordinary person to blow up from a single photo was Cheng Lin, the second was Milk Tea, the third was Nazha; the coverage went Milk Tea > Cheng Lin > Nazha, and the conversion rates were untraceable, but all low — certainly below one-tenth of a percent.

But what about Fang Xinghe?

At this month's peak he had 1,200,000 casual fans, which dropped to around 1,000,000 before stabilizing — a 30% conversion rate!

Exaggerated, terrifying, frightfully so.

Although the number of dedicated fans wasn't that many, ultimately accumulating only 4,700,000 Starlight Value, that was because his work hadn't been released yet, the emotional impact wasn't deep enough — not a problem of his constitution.

In any case, he personally felt very satisfied.

First, he had to thank the times; second, the decision to max out his looks; third, the effort put into styling and persona design — otherwise there definitely wouldn't be the results he had now.

Looks are the number one productive force in the entertainment circle — that's the truth.

Begin with looks, fall for the talent — also correct.

Right now Fang Xinghe had only taken the first simple step of attracting fans, so his Starlight Value wasn't much; once that was supplemented, there would surely be a new atmosphere.

……

Having a little money, naturally one has to spend it.

After a long period of practicing, developing, and nurturing, Fang Xinghe's stat panel data was now very beautiful, though the speed of attribute growth had clearly slowed.

Given a middle schooler's physical development level, his current fitness was roughly at the limit; forced training might bump it up a bit more, but there was no need.

Better to allocate points~~~

It's just a pity that attributes above 70 can't be raised now — he could only push everything below 70 up to 69.

A round of spending spending spending, and the new attributes were handsome beyond having friends.

【Attribute Panel】

Appearance Attributes: Looks 99, Figure 75

Physique Attributes: Strength 69, Speed 80, Endurance 69, Agility 75, Flexibility 73

Hidden Attributes: Coordination 72, Perception 69, Recovery 74, Immunity 69, Health 73

Artistic Attributes: Writing 79

【Skill Panel】

Wudang Taiji Standing Post: 60

Wudang Taiji Thirteen Postures: 60

Basic Swordsmanship: 60

Basic Footwork: 60

Basic Leg Techniques: 60

Mengcun New Frame Baji: 60

Liuhe Great Spear: 60

【Starlight Panel】

【Fan Count: 1.01 million】

【Starlight Value: 10,222】

【Stellar Value: 0】

After comprehensively boosting his attributes, he did a simple warm-up, pulled into stance, and threw out a set of Taijiquan — and immediately felt something different.

The movements had more power, the core was more stable, the control was stronger, more rhythmic and more natural.

Truly, every single attribute point was well spent; the hardware improved, and the software immediately became smoother — it's just a pity the software's level was still not high. If only the average could reach 80, how much cooler would that be?

Looking at the Starlight Value that had returned to five digits, Fang Xinghe sighed: Broke!

So hard to earn, yet so easy to spend — are you RMB?

After careful calculation, he now needed 6,300,000 Starlight Value to raise all 7 martial arts to 69, and then another 70,000,000 Starlight Value to raise them to 79.

Damn, can't afford to upgrade at all.

With only 7 martial arts already this difficult, what about when there are 70 skills in the future?

Scared, scared……

Clearly, the same Starlight Value was more meaningfully spent on boosting basic attributes.

Attributes are the foundation, skills are the application; with higher attributes, the efficiency of self-study and cultivation would also improve.

Although he couldn't ascend to heaven in a single step, Fang Xinghe was not disappointed.

The System was already plenty strong, giving him a chance to exchange normal effort for a hundredfold return — what more was there to be unsatisfied about?

No need to overthink it, just keep grinding and that's that.

……

Days marched on as scheduled to mid-May, with over a month remaining until the high school entrance exam.

The long-awaited May issue of "Mengya" finally hit the stands.

Without anyone needing to remind them, on the very day it arrived, nearly every student in the class had a copy.

"Fang Xinghe, could you please sign this for me..."

The girls didn't even have time to read it; they all surged forward demanding autographs.

Good students or bad students, in front of Brother Fang, they were all just little girls~~~

The ballpoint pen scribbled wildly with dragon-like flourishes; after signing for the entire class, he kept the copy meant for "Bao Fu" to read first.

This issue of "Mengya" was simple and clean, with no cluttered introductions, directly featuring the full text of Fang Xinghe's semi-final essay and a full seven writer critiques.

Oh, right, the cover.

The cover of this issue was a full-body portrait of Fang Xinghe: his left hand hanging naturally by his side, his right hand casually waving a certificate, walking forward.

For reasons unknown to the reporter, all backgrounds were blurred out; in the entire image, only he was clear, vivid, and free, creating a final effect as if he were traversing an illusion, walking toward the "audience."

"What a beautiful shot!"

Tao Dang felt from the bottom of his heart that he looked cool, yet couldn't describe it, so he pressed Lu Tingting: "Right? The Big Boss is too cool!"

"Mm-hmm!" Lu Tingting nodded vigorously, "It really has a super vibe!"

"Haha, we finally found common ground!"

Tao Dang was over the moon; this was the first time Lu Tingting had responded to him so enthusiastically, making him so happy he nearly blew a snot bubble, leaving him extremely agitated.

Thus, Fang Xinghe, along with Bao Fu, Duo Yu, Little Stutterer, Sang Men Xing, and the rest of the little friends, exchanged bewildered glances, feeling the scene was truly hard to describe.

No, Brother Tao Dang, exactly what are you so excited about?

"Hiss..."

"Huff..."

Everyone collectively sucked in a cold breath of "cold skin," then exhaled a mouthful of "fried dough rings," before silently burying their heads and going about their own business.

There was no way to remind him; forget it, let the kid enjoy his last year properly...

Fang Xinghe withdrew his gaze and opened the magazine.

At the same time, nearly 100,000 middle school students flipped the magazine to page 22 in the middle and immediately looked at that unique article.

Among them were even quite a few female actors, female singers, and female screenwriter-authors who would later become extremely active but were currently in elementary or middle school, born in the 80s.

When that essay topic, which belonged to no current era yet was uniquely suited to that age group, came into view, who knows how many people, due to that feeling of "not understanding but feeling awesome," had their hearts pounding like drums and their spirits lifted.

Unlike the simple and straightforward "Peering at People in a Cup," this topic stirred emotions more, was more hot-blooded, more arrogant, more flavorful, and more powerful.

And upon reading the main text, even more differences began to emerge.

"Peering at People in a Cup" had a certain threshold for appreciation; its love and hate were deeper, its various criticisms were only lightly touched upon, requiring careful pondering, leaning more toward stream of consciousness.

"Knowing but Not Obeying" was different: white blade in, red blade out, extremely clear, utterly resolute.

You don't need to painstakingly ponder what the author actually meant; just follow along. Fang Xinghe had written all the answers clearly there.

You only need to compare, like looking in a mirror, and see clearly whether you are a happy little idiot or a waste who has been gnawed but dares not resist.

The result was too many "wastes"; the 400,000 copies of "Mengya" riskily prepared were not enough.

Later, Li Qigang described today as follows—

"Just from the moment we published that piece, the field of Chinese youth literature finally had a concrete idol."