Chapter 49: The Vast Horizon Is My Love [Big Chapter]

Regardless of what expectations others held, Fang Xinghe remained unmoved; he had his own rhythm.

After the new article was published in the newspaper, the heat surged, and the scheming monster instead voluntarily entered a period of silence.

One must know when one has done enough regarding a certain matter at a certain time, then immediately awaken and not be swept away by inertia again.

In Mr. Fang's view, one should no longer consume one's own image to fulfill the media; one only needs to wait quietly for the fire to rise and the wind to come, letting those who want to get high get high on their own.

What is called rhythm?

Every era has the characteristics of its own era, absolutely different.

In the era of short-video self-media, public relations or causing trouble must be fast and fierce, with one burst of effort, exploding output.

In that year's public opinion war, sometimes victory and defeat could be decided in just 8 hours.

But at this time, in 1999, the correct rhythm was loose and tight, shallow and deep, giving emotions enough time to ferment, and also leaving enough space for aftertaste for the aftermath.

Conforming to the era is rhythm.

So Fang Xinghe not only did not rush himself, but also did not allow the outside world to lead him by the nose.

He stopped causing trouble, obediently huddled at home revising the long novel, immersed in the joy of writing beyond self-control.

He refused all entertainment and also turned away many reporters who had rushed over.

Whoever you love is whoever you love; stop reporting font sizes to me, young master isn't receiving guests recently!

Firm will, handsome and arrogant.

But looking at it from another angle, his behavior was like that of a scumbag dog: first stirring up the public opinion world until it howled, then, just when everyone was gathering strength, the damn dog pulled his finger out, patted his butt, turned around, and left...

How is this act any different from that of a beast?

Heaven knows how many reporters and media outlets were grinding their teeth at him.

You've blown up more than half of the public opinion world, and then you shrink back into seclusion and hermitage; what are we supposed to do?!

Damn!

Although it was seclusion, Fang Xinghe could not really huddle at home motionless.

He only isolated the media, not the world.

On the third night after "Added Value" was published in the newspaper, the hermit Xiao Fang stole half a day of leisure from his floating life, quietly slipped out to go online for a while, and observed public opinion.

"Damn it, I'm having such a hard time."

Walking furtively and sneakily in the night wind, Fang Xinghe couldn't help but complain: "Days without mobile internet or AI tools are really hard to handle; even such trivial matters require sneaking legs to an internet cafe to act like a monkey..."

Good things don't work, bad things do; the words became a prophecy.

Once inside the computer room, Fang Xinghe was indeed surrounded by onlookers like a monkey; the familiar chuunibyou sighs entered his ears again, the words had changed, but the flavor was still so pungent.

"Holy crap! Fang Shao!"

"Wow! He's even handsomer in person than in the photos..."

"I actually saw our Nong'an legend with my own eyes! Hehe, hahaha, oh hahahaha..."

"Doing everything as number one is so damn cool!"

"I wonder if Big Brother Fang still needs anyone to run errands or something?"

"Need you? Even the school beauty from our No. 2 Middle School can't find a chance to stick close to him."

"Really? How do you know?"

"Damn, I personally snuck in and stuffed the first love letter into Fang Shao's desk; how could I not know?"

Damn, the information load is huge.

And it was that familiar toe-picking awkwardness, unmatched.

Fang Shao sat in the corner with a cold face, put on headphones, opened the local music player, pretended everything outside didn't exist, and surfed the net quietly.

The internet now was finally no longer a wasteland.

BBSs were declining, but Tianya and Maopu were quietly rising; the 1.5-generation Chinese netizens gathered in various channels, arguing or bragging every day, far livelier than the comment sections of Douyin, Kuaishou, and Bilibili in later generations.

You, Brother Fang, are now the focal point on Tianya.

In the Arts and Literature Sketches and Bookworm Tea House sections, he and his pendant big brother jointly occupied half the territory, with heat second only to Jin Yong.

In the era of print media, Jin Yong's martial arts novels enjoyed a mass following at an unprecedented level.

80% of literate men had read Jin Yong's novels, and 80% of illiterate men had also watched Jin Yong's martial arts films and TV shows, thus making Fang Xinghe, who had seen nothing, seem out of place.

He was very unfamiliar with Jin Yong's martial arts and could only feel that obsession through everyone's praise.

Among them, the most active in flooding the board was an ID named Feng Qingyang, a crazy fan who spoke wildly when mentioning Fang Xinghe:

"Comparing him to Yang Guo is too illogical; you can't praise him so wildly just because he looks good. I think he's at most Duan Zhengchun, with talent and Wu Gong in a complete mess, surviving entirely on his charm with women."

Of course, I'm not saying this out of jealousy; if he's a bit promiscuous, has several more children, and passes on his genes, I support it.

But expecting him to revitalize the literary world is too ridiculous; he can revitalize nothing!"

Fine, fine, fine!

Fang Xinghe laughed in anger, feeling there was no more insulting nonsense than this.

I was born good-looking and have been handsome since childhood; is that my fault?

But do you know that looks are the only thing I gained without effort; as for the rest—talent, ability, Wu Gong—which one did I not obtain through hard work?

Actually cursing that I can only be kept by a rich woman because of my face; this Feng Qingyang must be used to being ugly in reality, right?

Um, regarding the skill of talking nonsense, you two are equally matched...

Feng Qingyang's criticism was a representative voice, but its influence was average.

Because, although Jin Yong was the popular mainstream of the current era, he was not at the very top of the chain of contempt.

Orthodox literature lovers looked down on everyone equally; in this chain, international was again greater than domestic.

People who read Tolstoy are more impressive than those who read Ba-Lao-Cao, and those who've read José Saramago rule over all—even though he's not that famous, who can blame him? He's the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.

And aside from the orthodox canon, Wu Xia is the strongest, while youth literature sits dead last.

Actually, at this point there wasn't any real youth literature, and no internet literature either, so everyone had no choice but to look down on Fang Xinghe and Han Han together.

The difference was, Han Han got cursed out worse, while Fang Xinghe had at least a few fans.

That's right—when good big brother first got held back a year, he was this miserable; aside from people with ulterior motives and a few little boys, the whole world looked down on him.

It wasn't until "Triple Door" burst onto the scene and sold like crazy that he finally earned the right to speak up.

Six, extremely strong execution, decisive and clean-cut.

Han Han: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Grass!

Actually, the spray Fang Xinghe took was even more and fiercer; no matter how badass his grades were, they couldn't offset the "wild bragging" of not knowing his place.

But even those orthodox-literature lovers with their noses in the air had to pinch their noses and admit, "Fang Xinghe is still worth looking forward to—let's wait and see."

"Need your looking forward to? Don't know what you're on about."

Fang Xinghe gave a light laugh, shook his head, and closed the literature board.

With the vibe here, it would never become his main turf, so whether praise or curses, best to just ignore them.

A precious little circle that can't bring in Starlight value isn't worth caring about.

On the contrary, on the emotions and chitchat boards, his popularity was surprisingly positive.

Hottest post: "Serious discussion: Can Fang Xinghe represent the highest talent a Chinese person can possess in their teenage years?"

Seeing the title with his own eyes, Fang Xinghe had only one feeling—China's first batch of netizens were pretty unhinged too.

Going abstract might be a built-in skill for Chinese people.

The original poster summed it up as follows:

One, looks—top of the top.

Two, compared to peers, the spirit in his writing, the abundance of literary talent—visible to the blind.

Three, excellent physical fitness; a first-year junior high kid beating a third-year and not losing out.

Four, strong fashion sense; an astonishing intuition for beauty.

Five, very high intelligence; studying seriously for half a year got him first place—sure, it was only the middle school entrance exam, not much of an IQ test, but at least it proves he's plenty smart.

Six, extremely strong执行力, decisive and clean-cut.

Seven, leadership is strong too; that study group with the Left Azure Dragon and Right White Tiger is said to be especially united.

Eight, has a literati's sensitivity but not a literati's softness; a bit like Chancellor Cao—one look and you can tell he's a hero-villain.

To sum up, in my personal opinion, Fang Xinghe is not a child prodigy in the conventional sense like Wei Yongkang; he is far more extraordinary than any prodigy. Looking across ancient and modern times, you cannot find any template to match him—his impact is comprehensively shocking.

Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think?

"I'll watch with a smile."

Fang Xinghe's lips curved up; he loved watching people flatter him—contributes Starlight value AND lifts his mood, double the joy stacked together, better than a 3-split.

Under the post, netizens' discussion enthusiasm was running high, and they naturally split into three big camps.

The data and information he wanted to collect—everything was there.

First big camp: brainless frenzied hype, extreme worship.

Honestly, the enthusiasm was a bit over the top.

"Hard to disagree, all eight get a check."

"One, two, five, six, eight—no problem. But you call dyed-red hair, ear studs, and Japanese-style school uniform fashion sense? How cheap is your fashion sense?"

"Right now the Fang-style messy hair is everywhere on the streets, driving a whole trend—how is that not fashion?"

"Brother Fang's vibe is super badass."

"Just looking at the hairstyle, it does have a refreshing fashion to it, way easier on the eyes than long hair."

"Holy shit, that Zhongshan suit plus red hair and ear studs is insane, so handsome it made my blood boil. Same day I got a matching look, then got beaten up eight times in three days…"

"I'm from Yancheng, yeah, tons of copycats!"

"Same in the capital."

"Mountain City +1."

"Current trend ranking among teenagers: first Young and Dangerous, second HOT, third is basically Fang Xinghe—he might be the only mainlander on the list."

"Little Swallow didn't make it? Bullshit!"

"Not the same thing. We're talking pop culture here. Little Swallow, Little Plum, Jordan, Backstreet Boys are all hotter, sure, but the main imitation targets for teenagers are people like Fang Xinghe."

"If you're only talking about imitation behavior, then yeah, it's spreading like crazy in junior and senior high."

"Brother Fang only ranks third?"

"HOT has dance, has music, buy a disc and you can watch. What does your Little Fang have? Just a few photos, not even 1/3 the size of someone else's poster."

"By that logic Brother Fang is seriously badass, managing a tie with that—ridiculous."

"Mainly the Fang-isms are too popular; my classmate's new catchphrase is 'don't panic first.'"

"Shut it, one more word and I'll scatter your ashes~~~"

"Hahaha, the idiots in our class chat like this every day!"

"My 11-year-old nephew the day before yesterday yelled at his mom: I shall bathe in your blood and become a wolf again, eat meat in great bites, and feed you shit!"

"Pfft!"

"Then what happened? Then what?"

"He's still hanging from the ceiling beam right now…"

"Hahahaha!"

Good heavens, so netizens of this era were already this talented?

Putting aside the anachronistic jokesters, the things they discussed were completely unknown to Fang Xinghe.

The greatest inconvenience of the print media era lay not in dissemination, but in feedback.

Truly, wanting to understand the reality beyond one's sight was simply too difficult.

Now, although there is the Internet, Tianya and Mop, the extremely low penetration rate renders the statistical sample non-authoritative, making it hard to grasp comprehensive information in a timely and accurate manner.

So, what netizens discuss can be trusted, but not taken entirely at face value, because netizens are concentrated in cities, covering too narrow an area.

As the head of the water army, Fang Xinghe placed special importance on data and data analysis, far surpassing people of today; unfortunately, it was truly impossible to cook without rice.

After thinking it over, he decided to register an account to chat with the netizens personally.

Reaching the step of naming, he casually filled in: Fang Xinghe himself.

【Sorry, your name duplicates an existing user; registration is not allowed】

Fang Xinghe the real one, sorry...

Fang Xinghe the entity, sorry...

Fang Xinghe is my dad, sorry...

Fine, fine, fine, you dare misuse names with such weight; aren't you afraid you can't bear the burden?!

Fang Xinghe had no choice but to append numbers after the ID, trying until 【Fang Xinghe himself 185】 finally succeeded.

Now, he truly experienced his own scorching popularity.

No description is as real as this information; being able to make everyone crazily register social accounts with his name, isn't this the greatest recognition?

Happily returning to the original post, continuing to peek... continuing to supervise their chat.

"Similarly a New Concept spokesperson, Xiao Han seems quite far behind?"

"What do you think? Chen Jiayong got into Peking University with one essay, Han Han shocked the world with 'Peeping into the Cup', Fang Xinghe's fans are his two combined multiplied by ten; the term 'fan' was coined by Fang fans for him; there was none before."

"Comparing fans is too bullying; Brother Fang is sure to win just by that face."

"Actually, at the very beginning I hated him, but recently I suddenly found he is truly cool."

"Same, after seeing the latest interview I suddenly admired him."

"Crazy, admiring a thug who fights and collects protection fees? You might as well continue admiring Chen Haonan."

"The one above, I am from the South; our middle schools here are strictly managed, almost no fighting, but those bad students still have plenty of ways to bully you. If you haven't been bullied, you will never understand. I envy Fang Xinghe so much, but I really dare not resist; I wish so much for a good big brother like him..."

"Thug? You compare that trash Chen Haonan with my Brother Fang? Funny!"

"Exactly, do you know what is called an opinion leader?"

"Tch, a tyrant-type leader?"

"Now Brother Fang is benchmarked against An Chihyun, Xiao Tong, Xie Tingfeng... Chen Haonan is out!"

"That's not quite so; among girls, Bang fans, Fang fans, and Tong fans fight each other; among boys, Goodbye My Princess, Fang fans, and Fang haters fight each other, making nowhere peaceful."

"Indeed, just look at the forum; the ones constantly spraying each other are always those few factions."

"But Brother Fang hasn't lost recently; awesome~~~"

"Hahaha! Brother Fang gets scolded in newspapers every day; Fang fans are going crazy; right now, whoever bumps into them won't have a good time."

Indeed, Fang Xinghe himself also discovered that as his fan base expanded to its current size, it had truly begun to radiate influence outward.

While Mr. Fang is still in the charging phase, Fang fans have already begun to interrogate the entertainment industry.

The main conflict targets, roughly sorted by fan base size, are Ren Xiaoqi, Li Erpeng, Lu Yi, Zheng Yijian, Xie Tingfeng, An Chihyun, and other South Korean idols; the Four Heavenly Kings haven't dared to challenge them yet.

Good heavens, not counting you wouldn't know; counting makes you jump twice; male stars with even a hint of idol attributes are about to be fought to a standstill...

To be honest, the murky atmosphere in the film and television section is half Fang Xinghe's responsibility—his fans are besieged by all fan circles collectively; what kind of treatment in Huaxia is this!

But this matter itself is not worth finding strange, because fans are always more sensitive than idols, feeling the crisis better.

Fang Xinghe's sudden rise is essentially eroding the basic support of all idols.

The current idol market is truly too small; the core force is girls between 12 and 22 years old; removing the vast rural towns and villages, the most valuable city girl fans are never enough to go around.

Just the H. O. T. fan club claims to have 8 million fans; what about adding others?

Of course, the numbers are very fake; the young people listening to their songs probably exceed 8 million; the true number of floating fans is unknown how many discounts to apply.

Actually, floating fans and mid-level fans are fine; they can like Fang Xinghe and anyone else simultaneously; after all, they are not on the same track, so sitting on the fence is unaffected.

But reaching level three die-hards, and level four toxic exclusives, that possesses exclusivity.

There can be only one idol; everyone else is a demon.

Toxic exclusive, toxic to everyone, exclusive to the idol.

Once other people's fans reach this point, no matter how handsome or talented Fang Xinghe is, it is useless; he can only wait for opponents to make mistakes; that would be too passive.

So, this is a life-or-death struggle for resources, and Fang Xinghe has the whole world as his enemy.

But he was not afraid at all; instead, he was full of excitement and eager to try.

"Now jump around to your heart's content; wait until I, your brother, have eaten up most of the fan growth, then I'll start cutting you!"

Fang Xinghe, baring his teeth in a cold smile, truly lived up to that warlord evaluation: hawk-eyed and wolf-gazing, with both boldness and banditry coexisting, as if ready to pounce and tear someone apart at any moment.

So, why is only Han Han a good big brother?

Because he is weak.

Even at his peak, he couldn't get a few girl fans; let alone now; there is no conflict at all...

"Eh? Why are so many calling Brother Fang? Are they all elementary school students?"

"Laughing to death; I am a junior; calling Brother Fang is out of respect."

"Unspoken rule of this section: call Fang Xinghe Brother Fang, call Han Han Xiao Han; calling Xiao Fang defaults to being an extremely sour dog; brother, are you new?"

"Ah? Who made that rule? Are you sick?"

"Friendly reminder: A certain forum moderator is a big sister Fang fan, so watch your words~~~"

"Received! I especially admire Brother Fang. The OP is awesome, the moderator is awesome!"

"Don't listen to them fooling you; calling him Brother Fang is spontaneous. Those few articles really lift the spirits, and the interviews are particularly thoughtful. Many forum members truly respect him."

"Exactly right."

"Speaking seriously, I have many younger brothers and sisters who all like Fang Xinghe now. This guy writes articles that are truly cool; the arrogance deep in his bones is too charming."

"Charming is a good summary. Even I, a man, feel he is very charismatic."

"That line 'Love it or leave it' really gave me a shiver all over, raising goosebumps. How can a little kid be so arrogant? How can he be so arrogant with such style!"

"Not as good as 'I am the sole ruler'."

"There are a hundred reasons to like him, but only one reason not to: jealousy."

"My reason is 'The Small-Town Exam Taker'."

"Same. It touched my heart. No one understands the bitterness of the process of leaving the mountains and getting into Jiaotong University better than me."

"My reason is 'I Fought Fate'. It's awesome."

"Then I was the earliest. The award-winning piece 'Knowing but Not Obeying' shocked me. Sometimes you really have to admit geniuses exist. Damn, what a beast!"

"Couldn't agree more! 'Knowing but Not Obeying' went viral in our school! Many people copied the whole text! By the way, I'm in high school!"

"Damn! We copied it too!"

"When I first read 'Knowing but Not Obeying', I only admitted he was awesome but disliked him deeply. There was a girl in our class who was obsessed with him, and I felt terrible. But now I don't feel terrible; now I'm damn desperate! How can this be compared?"

"Hahahaha wuwuwuwu! My crush likes him too! Damn it!"

"Wow, you middle schoolers are one wilder than the next..."

"I just found 'Knowing but Not Obeying' to read yesterday. What touched me most was that line: 'The beatings a youth didn't receive, society will make up for; it should be quite refining.' How mean is this person? But he really sees through society clearly; he is indeed awesome. My life was smooth sailing before I started working, but now I've been beaten so badly I want to die."

"Don't panic. The outcome isn't decided; you and I are both white horse princes!"

"No, do you really not understand the value of 'The Small-Town Exam Taker'? The level is at least two tiers higher!"

"Shut up, loser. 'Added Value' is number one."

"Don't mention 'Added Value'. That's the one that made me feel the worst. I regret it so much."

"I really envy you guys, having so much to read every day. We kids from small towns almost never get the chance to fully understand Fang Xinghe; I never saw 'Added Value'."

"Which town are you from? I'm in a town too. Our class uses his three pieces as model essays for discussion."

"Is there any point? If you can learn from it, so what? Just joining the hype, it's just a passing fad."

"How could there be no point? I have a good friend who originally didn't plan to continue studying. A few days ago, he was still complaining to me about going south to work. After reading Fang Xinghe's 'Added Value', he fell silent for a long time, then suddenly changed his tune: 'Forget it, I'll finish high school after all. I don't expect to get into a good university; I'll just treat it as further mental training.'"

"Holy crap! The same thing happened around me! Really, a guy in our class who hung out outside every day suddenly came back to school yesterday!"

"Brother Fang tells his story so well. Even though there are parts I don't understand, I can just feel a faint sadness."

"Right. Reading such text is itself a meaning."

"That's true. Suddenly I feel the post-80s aren't such losers; they aren't particularly terrible."

"Spreading the lie online that the post-80s are a lost generation? We post-80s are definitely better than you, much better!"

"It's that Fang Xinghe is better than me, not that you post-80s are better, and certainly not that you are better."

"Damn! You 3%3&! Q#..."

Why did they start arguing for no reason?

Fang Xinghe felt that the internet in 1999 wasn't very harmonious either; it was equally filled with chains of contempt, superiority complexes, mutual bickering, and even direct insults about organs.

Actually, his reputation wasn't one-sidedly good; many people cursed him, and their combat power was particularly fierce.

The second major camp was the fault-finders, the mockers, those subtly showing off their nobility, and even those crazily spewing profanity.

Skip it, don't look.

Our Brother Fang never internalizes conflict; he wouldn't deliberately seek suffering for himself.

Just collect data, count heads, and check fan affiliations; no need to ponder deeply, it hurts too much.

The third major camp, however, was serious and detailed analysis.

The Chinese netizens at this time were full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

High internet access fees meant only a small portion of the wealthy or successful could speak freely online for long periods.

So there were truly many experts among the netizens, seeing problems with a single, precise strike.

Look at their analysis of Fang Xinghe; it was the kind of depth that would shock the person himself.

Fang Cunshan: "I describe Fang Xinghe's personality as a stress-induced traumatic personality. Look closely at his interviews and articles, and you will definitely feel an extremely strong aggressiveness. This young friend is full of competitive desire; once he locks onto a target, he dives in headfirst and perseveres. The OP's summary is on point: warlord, fitting."

Xiao Aguahei: "The first time I saw his eyes, I knew he possessed a very wild, dark, and deep vitality. Add that face, and he's a female killer seen once in a hundred years."

TEMPEST: "He doesn't just attract women with his looks; he carries a mysterious attribute. I don't know how to describe it so you can understand. Anyway, he combines immense destructive power in thought with exquisite, dreamlike beauty in appearance. Even in a calm state, he has a latent power. He really isn't some little kid pretending to be cool; I even suspect his mindset is more weathered than mine."

Gao Huohuo: "Weathered is wrong; it's deep and calm."

Xinruo Xinghe: "Unfortunate childhoods can indeed change a person's growth state and force out their original potential, but for Fang Xinghe to develop into his current state, I still find it incredible. His potential is so high it's almost ridiculous. I suspect he was born with mutated genes. The state should recruit him specially immediately; don't leave him outside to harm little girls."

Caijue Hei: "Indeed, I've never seen someone become this famous just from three essays and a few interviews."

Greg_Laswell: "He is too topical."

Jie Ge: "Actually, I've always suspected many of his behaviors had clear purposes, but I could never find the reason. Now I realize he really seems to want to be famous, very much liking to appear before the crowd in the most unconventional and rule-breaking form. Irresponsible speculation: he seems to treat fame as a source of security."

Dao Lin: "Bingo! He wants to be an idol writer, or even possibly a star."

yu2003: "I feel the same. I feel the path he has arranged for himself is definitely not the standard route of going to university, taking postgraduate and doctoral exams, and living a quiet life."

Jiusi Zhiyou Sanmiao: "What's the point of guessing this?"

Bai Mu Chun Shi Wu Ge Shu: "Regardless of what path he wants to take, I will keep watching, because it's like watching monkey tricks; it's very interesting."

Yan Meng_Yan Bao: "The description of 'watching monkey tricks' is truly frivolous. Fang Xinghe is not just a cultural phenomenon; he is also a minor who should be protected. I hope you can maintain the most basic respect for him; otherwise, we can make you very interesting too."

Cun Li You Ge Gu Niang Jiao Xiao Fang: "A girl?"

Fang Xinghe456: "Fang the Prostitute. Brother, you're about to meet your doom~~~"

Full Eyes of Stars: "Sisters, come here! Another stinking scumbag has appeared. It's time to teach him who not to mess with and who not to curse!"

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: "Five? Then what's the point of keeping it? Be good, listen, and cut it off."

The scene suddenly descended into chaos...

Witnessing his fans protect him firsthand, Fang Xinghe felt a subtle, indescribable emotion welling up within.

But he would not let such emotions run rampant.

For he knew very well what his fans needed most—the idol's success.

And endless, unceasing success.