Chapter 556: The Most Solid Backing

"One show each in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen without fail, plus Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau—guaranteed at least seven shows. And that doesn't even count the gigs I'm doing back in Singapore..."

After coming off stage and finishing all rehearsals, Sun Yanzi, as was her custom, showered her team and the on-site staff with generous tips, then treated them to an extra meal. She herself dragged Cheng Hao into a rambling conversation, her mouth never stopping all the way back to the hotel.

Before even trying to eat, she couldn't help but count on her fingers the bleak, ox-and-horse-like life awaiting her next, instantly making the tomato and scrambled eggs served by the hotel restaurant seem unappetizing.

A pungent spicy aroma kept tickling her taste buds, making her unable to resist glancing at the lunchbox on Cheng Hao's table, and she instinctively swallowed her saliva—

Stir-fried pork with chili peppers, shredded cabbage.

Just by appearance, they looked far more appetizing and tempting than the tomato and scrambled eggs and luffa pork slice soup in front of her.

Mainly because chili peppers really do whet the appetite; even if you end up hissing from the heat, the more you eat, the more addicted you get, the more enjoyable it becomes.

Unfortunately, she couldn't eat them right now.

"You're going back to Singapore?"

Cheng Hao, chewing her rice methodically, instinctively shook her head to the left, raised her hand to tuck the stray strands of hair from her forehead behind her ear: "Is the schedule really that packed?"

"This year is actually the better one; the first half was almost entirely rest."

Sun Yanzi, who had to protect her voice to avoid any mishaps, could only deceive her taste nerves with the aroma of chili peppers, taking small bites of the bland "dinner" before her, clearly content when talking about the schedule.

Cheng Hao smiled: "Don't say that in front of Zhou Yi later."

Recalling how a few months ago Zhou Yi had worked himself to exhaustion fighting in the US while the two of them stayed home eating watermelon and enjoying the air conditioning, Sun Yanzi herself occasionally using a fake account to cheer them on, fearing the commotion wasn't big enough.

"Hehe, I'm not that stupid."

Sun Yanzi, full of pride, held chopsticks in her mouth, laughing like Lady Gaga. Before Cheng Hao, whose words were already on the tip of her tongue, could speak, the phone on the table rang—

It was Wang Xiaoyu.

"Hello?"

"There's a wave of public opinion circulating against Zhou Yi, but it lacks organization; it's probably just scattered troops, so the volume is a bit annoying. Do you want to control it?"

On the other end of the signal, Wang Xiaoyu, who had been burying his head in work these past days, had clearly achieved remarkable results—the online troll army he spearheaded had truly taken shape, and in a fully organized formation.

Now they could not only take orders from Warner, but had even expanded their business scope to other companies in the entertainment industry.

Whether it was Sony, Warner, or Universal, their motto was simply "whoever feeds you is your mother"—sometimes, even at Cheng Hao's instruction, they would maintain their own accounts to smear Zhou Yi.

Deeply influenced by Zhou Yi's philosophy, Cheng Hao did not want to mold him into a perfect idol; instead, she would highlight some of his minor personality flaws—"Sometimes imperfection is true perfection," she now understood a bit of what Zhou Yi had once said.

While Warner's official team was responsible for deifying him, she was responsible for ensuring Zhou Yi always retained a touch of earthly warmth in the shadows.

In an environment where everyone from various factions knew little to nothing about online troll armies, this troll army led by Wang Xiaoyu's team, under Cheng Hao's command, directly became the industry's No. 1; their professionalism made many individuals and companies exclaim that they were true insiders, all wanting to emulate them—

A businessman named Chen Jinfei, with an extremely sharp nose, tried several times to use his connections to arrange a meeting with the hidden Cheng Hao, wanting to pay her to learn and borrow their troll army model.

"No organization? Is it a scandal?"

"I guess so; they're all cursing him for eliminating dissenters and running a dictatorship at Warner. Song Ke wasn't sentenced to prison, was he..."

Wang Xiaoyu on the phone clarified the reason.

"Guide them to distinguish the primary from the secondary, point the spear at Gao Xiaosong, bring up his ex-girlfriend's murder case again, create the impression that they are the ones destroying the general environment. Emphasize that Gao Xiaosong dares to act but not to take responsibility; since he can't speak now, dump all the dirty water on him.

"As for the rest, don't worry about them; silencing them too obviously will backfire; we must allow them space to curse Zhou Yi..."

Cheng Hao drew a line for Wang Xiaoyu; after all, cursing a couple of times wouldn't cost anyone a piece of flesh.

Doing this not only projected an image of Zhou Yi being so magnanimous that he didn't care about these remarks, which would greatly help his public favor, but also made Zhou Yi appear more guiltless, as these accusations were malicious slander.

Having been by Zhou Yi's side for so long, Cheng Hao had learned quite quickly and could even draw inferences from one instance.

Sun Yanzi, silently picking at grains of rice, blinked her eyes; she was just pricking up her ears to hear what had happened to Zhou Yi when she saw Cheng Hao hang up the phone and look at her—

"What's wrong? Did Zhou Yi have another incident?"

"Nothing major, don't worry."

Cheng Hao smiled, returned to her seat, and sat cross-legged, saying with a smile: "As for you, the marketing campaigns trying to tie you to others are increasing, like Xu Huixin and Cai Yilin."

"There's nothing to be done; their mouths are on their own bodies."

Sun Yanzi, discussing these matters, waved her hand indifferently: "If it's not excessive, let it be."

Cheng Hao, holding her cup and taking a sip of water, smiled lightly and shook her head. Sun Yanzi glanced at her and raised one eyebrow higher than the other: "What are you laughing at?"

"No, nothing. Eat, eat; after eating, I still have to handle other matters."

Cheng Hao, with an even wider smile at the corner of her mouth, even poured a bit of oily broth from the stir-fried pork with chili peppers into her own bowl; the fragrant aroma wafting up during the stirring instantly distracted Sun Yanzi, whose attention had been snatched away...

"I'll just have one bite, just one bite—"

"No, no."

"The doctor said I'm too thin; I need to eat more high-fat and high-sugar foods."

"You've gained nearly ten jin in just a few months of rest."

"It's all water weight; this week, with all the busyness, I've lost four jin back."

"No wonder you don't gain weight."

"?"

Huh?

Huh???

Damn it, is growing fat such a big deal?!

Wan Ren Mi laughed until her shoulders shook, while an indignant Sun Yanzi raised her hand to grab her—the two tussled and played together.

After the dinner break, Cheng Hao returned to her room, opened the company email, and checked the public opinion information regarding "Sun Yanzi" summarized and sent by Wang Xiaoyu.

As someone deeply influenced by Zhou Yi, her emphasis on online channels far exceeded everyone's expectations, including Wang Xiaoyu himself.

"Are the sales figures for 'Unfinished' really that good? Then let's start marketing her as the number one female singer in the Chinese-speaking world; after all, Wang Fei is retiring soon."

Looking at the chart with soaring data, Cheng Hao murmured to herself, quickly setting a small goal—kicking Wang Fei out.

As the female singer of the previous generation with the strongest marketing ability, the most victimized fans, and the most die-hard fans, even though rumors of Wang Fei retiring from the scene had been circulating recently, Cheng Hao did not believe it.

There was no other reason; she believed Wang Fei couldn't bear to give up this channel for monetization.

But this did not stop her from climbing the pole, joining hands with Warner to push Sun Yanzi into the position of the top Chinese female lead.

The difference in endorsement fees and commercial performance fees between the two was not on the same level.

Most importantly, as Sun Yanzi's general manager, Chen Ze Shan also wanted to push her in this direction; now their efforts were aligned, and they could even pocket some money from Warner—why not take it if it's free?

After replying to a stream of emails, Cheng Hao, who was just about to shut down the computer, suddenly received a phone call—

It was from Zhang Xiaolong, the project manager of the email company she had purchased.

"General Manager Cheng, someone from Tencent wants to cooperate with us on some business matters..."