Chapter 42: The Hilarious Good News [Thanks to New Alliance Member Fangcun Mountain]

The interview lasted a long time, and they talked about a great many things.

In terms of volume, it was roughly enough for her to write three pieces of in-depth articles, analyzing Fang Xinghe from different angles.

Among them, some of the content was clearly quite controversial, so the newly converted "mommy fans" privately reminded her: "Do you need me to pretty it up?"

"Thank you, but no need."

Fang Xinghe refused flatly.

"But…"

Zhao Chunhua hesitated, wanting to say more, frowning in thought.

As a battle-hardened reporter, her professional instinct was to dig up as many news hooks and the real person as possible; yet deep down, her profound fondness for Fang Xinghe made it impossible for her to feel at ease.

After hesitating for about two seconds, her professional instinct was ultimately defeated by her feelings, and she finally decided to lay out the consequences clearly for Fang Xinghe.

The boy before her carried the dual identity of both idol and child, and she had poured a great deal of genuine feeling into him.

As long as it didn't affect herself, she was very willing to extend the greatest possible goodwill.

"Honestly speaking, the attitude of the cultural circle toward the layoff policy is that criticism is the consensus.

There are quite a lot of heavyweight figures in the cultural circle speaking up for it, and they're united; going against them, well… I think it might be a little ill-considered…

The matter itself is very sensitive, and your words are so sharp—you'll offend a lot of people.

Also, although your intentions are good, I'm afraid this won't bring you any benefit.

There are a great many people out there full of anger, unable to step out of their emotions; no matter how right you are, you're not necessarily going to earn their gratitude.

You can't measure others by yourself. Because you're smart, you assume everyone is smart; because you can control yourself, you assume everyone can control themselves.

That's not right. Actually, the disposition of most ordinary people is pretty average—I've seen far too many of them.

The world is made up of mediocre and vulgar people.

You're special, but ordinary people are emotional—they can't shoulder responsibility, and they can't accept reality… sigh!

In short, do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand, Sister Zhao."

Fang Xinghe accepted Zhao Chunhua's goodwill and gave her a brilliant smile.

Then he arched an eyebrow slightly; the sword-like edge of his brow swept sideways toward his temples, and a wild, fierce spirit seemed to gush out from his strange-colored eyes like sword Qi.

"But so what?"

Fight on, that's all—I take joy in it.

Seeing the look in the boy's eyes, Zhao Chunhua could no longer persuade him.

She forcibly suppressed that heart-pounding, trembling feeling, and took her leave of Fang Xinghe.

"I've got to get back and file my piece, Xiao Fang—keep in touch!"

"Sure."

Fang Xinghe waved his hand casually, stood at the courtyard gate watching her off for three seconds—no more, no less—then turned and went back inside without the slightest hesitation.

Watching the boy's figure disappear behind the door, Zhao Chunhua finally dimly realized that there seemed to be a scale, or perhaps a ruler, in Fang Xinghe's heart.

She didn't know how to describe it; the feeling was too strange.

The more she mulled it over, the more uncomfortable it got, her heart itching unbearably. So the moment she reached the train station, she couldn't wait to call Wang Yali.

"Yali!"

"Interview over? How was Xiao Fang—amazing, right?"

"Super, super unbelievable!"

Zhao Chunhua was only thrilled for one second before being submerged once more by confusion. She tried clumsily to describe that ineffable, personal feeling, hoping Wang Yali could help her analyze it.

"You know, I've seen plenty of people myself—the good and the bad, the smart and the foolish, the sincere and the hypocritical…

But how can Fang Xinghe be so special?

I don't know how to share my thoughts with you, because a lot of my feelings come from emotion and intuition—I can't describe them. My head is a mess right now, you get me?"

Zhao Chunhua hadn't expected Wang Yali to understand, but amazingly, she really did.

"I get it. After getting in close contact with Fang Xinghe, you instinctively feel that everything is off. He's completely different from the image you expected—the good parts are even better than the highest expectation, but the angular parts clash so much with your fixed way of thinking…"

"Aiya!" Zhao Chunhua cried out, "That's exactly right, that's it!"

Wang Yali raised an eyebrow, grinned smugly, feeling both pleased and full of herself inside.

Not so cocky now, are you? Looking up at the mountain in awe?

No one understands Fang Xinghe better than I do!

"So, what specific questions are there? Let sis analyze it for you."

Wang Yali boldly took everything on, but the next second, Zhao Chunhua's impatient four-part barrage of questions left her completely dumbfounded.

"Where do you think the sense of mystery about Fang Xinghe essentially comes from?

He clearly already has enough capital to stand on his own in society now—why is he still so wild, so untamed, so aggressive?

But I feel he's both smart and calm—how on earth did such contradictory personality traits come about?

And last of all, what does he actually want to do?

Sis…"

Wang Yali rubbed her temples in pain, her head buzzing.

Forget it, don't call me sis—call me Xiao Li. I don't know a damn one of them!

"Um, it's hard to explain over the phone. Come back first, and once I've read the interview draft, we'll chat slowly!"

……

How exactly was Fang Xinghe's personality formed?

Lying in a hospital bed for a few years, dying once, then coming back to life; fusing a wild wolf cub into a strange era and seeing devastation everywhere; and finally being paired with a system daddy—done and done.

See? Dead simple.

As for what he wants to do…

For now, Boss Fang only wants to rack up followers like crazy; he doesn't care about anything else.

Today's interview stayed spinning inside the frame he'd pre-drawn, without a single slip.

Those grand-sounding chicken-soup-for-the-soul platitudes look like preaching, but really aren't — he never planned to persuade anyone.

At its core, this is just a form of self-display.

I show the world a depth of thought far beyond my peers, and use it to trigger fans' adulation and worship. That's all there is to it.

As for whether others buy it, accept it… you'd all better not.

If you really start arguing or bring on criticism, even better — thanks for bringing your own rations to help me sift my fans.

Saying the right thing and getting cursed for it, doing the righteous thing and getting hated for it — that's the easiest way to pull in fans and lock them down.

Twenty-some years later, a similar stunt let Mingde gain ten million followers in a single day; ported to the present, the spread is far narrower, but the per-unit effect is only stronger.

Fang Xinghe never deliberately provoked a fight the whole time — he just stood there like a nail you couldn't bend, hammered right in, saying the right things, being his own god.

After that, whoever wants to curse, curse; whoever wants to hammer, hammer — bring it on.

Brother Fang wasn't flustered in the slightest — if anything, he was full of anticipation.

You all better bring it, don't disappoint me.

……

Zhao Chunhua, with her transcript, the video, and that "Small-Town Test-Taker" piece she was about to run in her paper, rushed back to the Imperial Capital through the night.

She couldn't wait to make Beijing Youth Daily explode with a huge bang, and show the peer media outlets a thing or two.

But before she'd even gotten out of the car, that morning's new issue of the paper had already pushed the education debate to a climax.

Ji Province Daily: "What Kind of Student Is the Talent We Actually Need? — An Interview with Fang Xinghe"

Han Han: Seven red lights hang high, lighting up my future.

Fang Xinghe: I took first place in the high school entrance exam because I wanted to.

This was the first time the media had set the two against each other, sparking an even fiercer battle.

The instant she saw the paper, a swear word flew out of Zhao Chunhua's mouth; in fury, she slammed everything onto the desk in one heap.

"What's wrong?"

A colleague asked with concern; she laughed through her rage: "Nothing — got played by some backwater county station…"

"Oh! The Fang Xinghe interview?"

"Mm."

The moment they heard Fang Xinghe's name, everyone in the office turned their heads at once.

"Sister Zhao, how was Fang Xinghe?"

"Badass as hell!"

Back in the Imperial Capital, Zhao Chunhua had picked up her Imperial Capital accent again, and proudly stuck up her thumb.

"Is he really that good-looking in person too?"

"Even better-looking than in the photos!"

"Whoa, that's something else — wouldn't that make him the complete package, brains and brawn?"

"You bet!"

"Tsk tsk, if only he were my son…"

"Hahaha, dream on!"

"Sister Zhao, how's the interview material? High quality?"

"Just wait and see!"

Zhao Chunhua flipped open her notebook and started the final polish with much huffing and puffing, swearing to grab tomorrow's front-page headline.

Meanwhile, the blast radius of Ji Daily's head start was spreading across the land of China.

In fact, in the recent public-opinion arena, the education flame war had long since stopped using Han Han as its narrative lead — mostly just mentioning his name, propping him up to take a shot, then each side laying out its own logic and saying its own piece.

Ji Daily was the only recent provincial-level paper that actually used the two of them, Fang and Han, as its subjects of deconstruction.

Of course, the slant was obvious.

Good big brother got trampled into the dirt, while their own kid, Fang Xinghe, was set up as the model student of a new era.

Mostly because his scores were just too dazzling — only 5 points off a perfect score, good enough to fight for first place in any province.

So the sly editor, with a clear conscience, laid on a thick coat of Spring-and-Autumn-style writing — played it about as dirty as it gets.

【Fang Xinghe is always fighting】

Pfft, kids in the Northeast are mischievous from little on — who hasn't had a tiff or a bump with someone? That's nothing!

Besides, where does this "always" come from?

It was clearly only occasional!

【Fang Xinghe took in a bunch of little brothers】

Pfft, you don't get it — Northeasterners are outgoing, taught from little on by their parents to go out and make their way; bro, sis, whatever — we call everyone that the moment we meet them.

Thirteen Eagles? What Thirteen Eagles?

Don't have 'em!

Actually, it was a self-formed study group, and Fang Xinghe was the group leader.

Through our investigation, we found that Fang Xinghe urged his younger brothers and sisters to study hard — and look, every single one of those kids' grades went up on this final exam.

He really moves you — good-looking, kind-hearted, and responsible!

【Fang Xinghe charged classmates for treasure payments】

Nonsense! Slander! Rumormongering!

What? You have witness testimony?

Ahem, Fang Xinghe's provincial exam first place achieved a zero breakthrough in junior high education in Nong'an County; do you know how hard that is?

Look again at Han Han; he failed seven out of eight subjects in total!

【There are many swear words in Fang Xinghe's article】

Han Han failed seven subjects.

【Fang Xinghe is too arrogant and proud, showing no humility at all】

Han Han failed seven subjects.

【Fang Xinghe speaks shamelessly, criticizing the media】

Han Han did it too, but Fang Xinghe was first in the high school entrance exam, with 610 points!

【Fang Xinghe shouted that he would break his biological father's legs...】

Sorry, we simply didn't sign up!

The press release wrote everything, except for this one point, which was ignored as if it never happened.

Confirmed, it's true love.

To dilute the negative information surrounding Fang Xinghe, the Jilin Daily didn't even care about saving face; it glossed over the bad parts in one stroke, and when it really couldn't gloss over them, it dragged Han Han out to stand in front... tsk tsk.

Rumor has it: After seeing the Jilin Daily, Big Brother turned pale with anger, turned around, and went out to run a half marathon...

At the very end of the report, the Jilin Daily started getting emotional again, tearfully rambling about how difficult, moving, and worthy of praise and encouragement it is for an orphan to "turn over a new leaf."

They set up a memorial tablet for Fang Xinghe in the void, and as soon as they finished offering incense, they started clutching their heads and weeping.

To be honest, even Fang Xinghe felt ashamed after seeing it.

A provincial official media outlet!

Staring with wide eyes and spouting nonsense!

Stepping on my good Big Brother and spewing madness!

Is this appropriate?

Jilin Daily →_→: Just say, did the effect work or not?

That's true; as soon as the report was released, Fang Xinghe immediately returned to the center stage, with heat several times greater than before.

If the heat generated when "Mengya" put him on the cover for two consecutive months was 10, then the heat during the confrontation between the two gangs was 30, the heat after Mr. Ba Jin wrote an article praising him reached 80, and now the heat has hit at least 200.

On that single day alone, more than twenty evening papers reprinted it; a rough estimate puts the total circulation at least two million copies, covering an incalculable number of people.

The "pro" side supporting "reading is useful" was thus inspired, raising Fang Xinghe's banner high, and launching a general assault on the "rebels."

This offensive reached its climax the next day.

Zhao Chunhua finally rushed out the first of the three pieces of the in-depth interview; it was the headline of the social section of the Beijing Youth Daily, and the title shocked all parties, causing fans to scream wildly—

"I Fought a War with Fate"

With the release of this article, like fire poured on oil, Fang Xinghe was sublimated from a mere high school entrance exam top scorer and literary genius into a cultural phenomenon.

Then, through the following two follow-up pieces, this image was further fleshed out, rapidly sweeping across the entire society.

For a time, paper in Luoyang became expensive; newsstands across the country frantically demanded stock, reprinting, reprinting, reprinting!

Before the exclusive interview was published, the circulation of the Beijing Youth Daily remained stable between 600,000 and 650,000 copies, with little fluctuation.

The pass-along rate stayed at 4.69 people per copy, the highest value among capital media.

And three days later, when the series of reports ended, the circulation surged to 1.1 million copies, knocking "Capital Evening News" out of the top spot for the first time and ascending to the throne of third place nationwide.

At the same time, the pass-along rate broke through 6.12 people per copy, achieving industry-wide domination.

On the other side, although "Southern Weekly" still maintained a circulation of 1.5 million, firmly holding second place, they, who staunchly supported Han Han, were beaten into a state of shame and trembling in recent days; even with the hardest mouths, they could not hide the despair of their momentum being suppressed.

The Beijing Youth's second report, "Learning Has No Why," was relatively more peaceful; they could still hold on.

When the third piece, "The Universe Is Undecided, You and I Are Both Dark Horses," was released, really, no exaggeration, resistance collapsed completely.

At the very end of the final piece, Zhao Chunhua wrote as follows:

"Usually, we do not link a grand proposition like fate with a child; if a teenager tries to tell me about fate, I would want to laugh.

But at this moment, I cannot laugh.

I feel truly shocked.

It is not because Fang Xinghe's experience is so miserable; as a reporter, my tolerance for misery itself is high; the experiences of many interviewees have made me weep like rain, but that is only sympathy, compassion, kindness, and unwillingness.

Only Fang Xinghe made me feel ashamed of myself.

Everyone, what kind of imagination must we exhaust to fuse completely opposite characteristics like 14 years old, orphan, campus big brother, fighting every three days, provincial top scorer in the high school entrance exam, literary genius, calm critic, the fierce youth who vowed to break his biological father's two legs, and the focused small-town problem-solver, and so on and so forth, into one person?

If you accept his incredible nature, then good, can you continue to accept his disdain for fate?

I cannot quite accept it; I think: how can you be so nonchalant?

Sometimes a small thing can easily crush me, making me irritable, irascible, even manic; I do not think this is because I am too fragile; many adults are like me too, and can be stimulated by life's disappointments at any time until their chests feel tight and their minds feel dizzy.

But Fang Xinghe is just so nonchalant.

When he said 'I fought a war with my fate' in the most serious tone of the entire interview, I felt no sense of him showing off at all.

He simply used himself as an example to tell us adults: Don't lose heart, don't be negative; when certain things become established facts, accept the part in front that cannot be changed, and then smash the part behind that has not yet reached its conclusion.

The universe is undecided; you and I are both dark horses.

Fang Xinghe finally used this sentence to summarize his attitude toward fate, which finally made me convinced.

I had to be convinced, and I had to accept it.

But I insisted that this thinking does not have universal significance... so I said this: 'Fang Xinghe, you are an exception; you possess top-tier talent I have never seen, so you cannot use your standards to demand things from everyone.'

Guess how he answered?

He let out a laugh, and at last a hint of wild abandon showed on his face.

"Of course, I know that spiritual impotence is indeed very hard to cure, but if my provocation can make them stiffen just a little—even just once—after they've tasted the benefit of being hard, they'll miss that feeling, plant a seed in the deepest corner of their hearts, try every which way, pursue it little by little, and perhaps one day they'll really be able to rise to the occasion.

But when all is said and done, what does that have to do with me?

Certain media outlets want to force a sentiment of pitying all creation onto me, but I'm very sorry—I truly don't have it.

I cursed, I felt good, that was enough.

If in the end it bears bitter fruit, I don't care; if in the end it bears sweet fruit, I won't take the credit either.

So I won't use my standards to demand anything of anyone. I hope when you report on this, you'll record it faithfully—everything I've said represents only myself.

I'm definitely a dark horse, as for you all… love me or not, it's up to you."

At the very end of the interview, Fang Xinghe overturned every principle he had just laid out. I was stunned, and for a long while my mind was a complete blank.

Back at the newspaper office, I reorganized the interview transcript, my heart restless and uneasy, confused and hesitant.

After a long hesitation, I finally decided to take a little of my colleagues' time and hold a special discussion.

Everyone was very enthusiastic—from the editor-in-chief down to the assistants—watching the interview footage while speaking freely.

The core question was: through this interview, what kind of person is the Fang Xinghe you see?

The argument was that heated, but the result was regrettable—we failed to reach a consensus.

In the end, the editor-in-chief decided to shelve the dispute and leave the question to the readers.

And just as I was filing the piece, my thoughts suddenly, inexplicably, opened up—

You all think whatever kind of person Fang Xinghe is, he may not necessarily be that, but he certainly won't care whether you think he is or isn't, so… love him or not, it's up to you."

The awkward yet profoundly suggestive ending Zhao Chunhua left behind meant that "what kind of person is Fang Xinghe, really?" quickly became a hot topic.

And beneath this interview, Beijing Youth once again announced in bold, heavy 2-point font—

Tomorrow, we will publish Fang Xinghe's latest article, "Small-Town Test-Taker," in our Literature section.