Chapter 16: Winning by Word-of-mouth

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

“Second brother, the shops outside the new campus are not for rent. They’re for sale only.” Yun Zhibin said as he frowned.

The shops outside the new campus were in high demand now. Outside the school, whether it was a mini market, a stationery store or a restaurant, they were all raking in a steady profit. However, for some reason, the principal was only keen on selling and not renting. If someone wanted to rent, he had no choice but to wait for an investor to buy it before he could rent it. However, until now it hadn’t been sold out yet.

The shop didn’t have the value, but it would be unfortunate to give it up. Those who were especially rich would not be paying attention to a shop lot outside a high school. However, if those that didn’t have that much money wanted to buy one, they would have to act quickly. Things might change once Yun Xiangxiang’s movie hits theatres.

“Second brother, I have discussed it with the school. Forget the shops outside the school. There’s a high possibility the school will let you rent one inside the school.” Yun Zhibin wasn’t the type to leave family high and dry.

“In the school!” Yun Zhiwu shouted. He didn’t even dare think about that.

High school students weren’t allowed to leave the school except after school ended. It was impossible for the shops outside to achieve the same profits as the shops inside the school.

“It’s in the school, but it’s still not confirmed. I’m just letting you know in advance.” That’s what Yun Zhibin said, but he would never say something unless he was already 90% sure. “You do know that a film was shot on the new campus, Xiangxiang is in it. I made this request when I agreed to let Xiangxiang participate.”

The reason the principal agreed to it was indeed because of this exchange of favor. It was uncertain how good the movie was, but it was not an insignificant little project. It just had a budget that was comparatively lesser, but it was still a proper film.

Even if this film didn’t get popular, Zhou Wei graduated from a prestigious school. Who knew whether he would become famous one day? That’s why this film meant a lot to the school. Not to mention Zhou Wei didn’t pay a dime for the location, so he must have given the school some other benefits.

Someone had to run the shops inside the school, so it was not a big deal to give it to Yun Zhibin.

“There’s a condition; you have to provide subsidies for stationery and study materials to the poor students.” This was the biggest reason Yun Zhibin was helping his brother; it was easier to talk to his own family.

“Xiangxiang, Xiangxiang, second uncle thanks you. You’re really the lucky star of our family!” Yun Zhiwu’s face was flushing. The condition that Yun Zhibin mentioned was not an issue to him. A school only had a certain amount of poor students, even if he sponsored all of them, he would still be making huge profits. “When is your film premiering? Our entire family should go see it!”

“Tomorrow,” Yun Xiangxiang answered politely.

“Then shall we all go and watch the film tomorrow?” Yun Zhiwu said to everyone.

It was a movie that a family member was in, so even if they didn’t like it, they still had to show some support. Yun Zhiwu invited everyone as he waved his hand.

“Caring Love” already had advanced screenings, and movie critics who watched it already wrote their reviews. There were a number of Lunar New Year movies, including a famous director’s commercial film and a kung fu film featuring a kung fu movie superstar. These two movies had shocking presales; one had over 70,000,000 and the other over 50,000,000. “Caring Love” only had over 600,000 in presales. It couldn’t even make up the small number of presales of others…

Yun Xiangxiang skimmed through the reviews of movies about to premiere. Maybe it was because there weren’t many reviews, but “Caring Love” had the least nitpicks.

Four Seasons group chat

[Wei Shanshan: The film is premiering soon. I’m so nervous; this is my first time!]

[Fang Nanyuan: Don’t worry. Surely someone will cherish your first time.]

[Yi Yan: At the advanced screenings, the seniors acknowledged us. I think it won’t be too bad.]

[Wei Shanshan: {(´Oƪ)} We’re competing with Director Zhao and movie superstar Lee. I’m not confident at all. If I weren’t the lead in this movie, I would’ve gone to see both their movies {?}.]

[Yun Xiangxiang: Happy Lunar New Year. Go to bed early. Once you wake up tomorrow you’ll see the results.]

[Wei Shanshan: !!!]

[Yi Yan: {?}{?}]

[Fang Nanyuan: I’m envious of people who can sleep right now. I’m going to play a few rounds of my game.]

[Wei Shanshan: God Nan, take me with you!!!]

[Yun Xiangxiang: Beauty is the result of a good night’s sleep. I’m going to bed, goodnight.]

This night, among the four, only Yun Xiangxiang could sleep early. Out of habit, she turned her phone off when she slept, and when she woke up the next morning, the Four Seasons group chat had 99+ notifications. She read all of it seriously. “Caring Love” exceeded ten million in box office sales. Of course, the other two had already exceeded a hundred million, but they had an advantage. That was having the highest word-of-mouth score.

Buying tickets online was the trend now. Online ticket sales had a recommended section that featured the film with the highest box office sales or the film with the best word-of-mouth score. This allowed the film to receive more attention, increasing its sales. Zhou Wei was so incredibly happy, he sent a big red packet to the group chat.

[Wei Shanshan: Xiangxiang, you’re trending on Weibo!]

Yun Xiangxiang opened Weibo’s trending page. The last title was called #the most beautiful school belle#

After clicking on it, the page was filled with pictures of the movie that were obviously taken in the theatre with a phone. It resulted in dim and blurry pictures. There were even a number of people that taped an entire scene.

That scene was when Yang Qi heard that Wei You died by electrocution at the internet cafe. She stopped by the corner where Wei You stopped the longest whenever he walked her home. She leaned against the wall and lifted her head slightly, trying her best to not let herself cry. The muscles in her face didn’t twitch as much, but the pain deep in her eyes was evident. A lone tear escaped from the corner of her eye, sliding down her pale cheeks, and her hands were trembling uncontrollably.

That extreme endurance, pain, despair and remorse were all heavily exaggerated.

The comments below were full of yelling. Some asking who the school belle was; some asking what film it was from.

Sure enough, only appearance mattered. No matter what, Yun Xiangxiang, a regular person, got herself into the trending page purely on her face.

As more and more people walked into the theatres. Whether it was because they were attracted to Yun Xiangxiang’s face or because they failed to get tickets for the other two popular movies, more people were beginning to choose “Caring Love.” Most of them walked out of the theatre with solemn faces and red eyes.

When Yun Xiangxiang, wearing a hat, came to the theatre to watch the movie with her entire family, she saw a young girl in her teens hugging an older girl in her twenties and bawling.

She said insistently as she sobbed, “Did Yang Qi like Wei You? She must have because she wouldn’t have cried with such despair at the place he sent her off. If she knew that Wei You got his head beaten up there and suffered a sequela from that, causing him to trip at the internet cafe, knocking over a cup of water and getting electrocuted, would she feel even more despair?”

Someone else said, “If it weren’t for Xu Chen’s overbearing parents, their premature relationship wouldn’t have gotten exposed and one of them wouldn’t be forced to change classes. Yang Qi definitely would have accepted Wei You. Every night, tired after studying, she would take out the gift Wei You gave her and caressed it gently with care. She was just scared that Wei You would get removed from the elite class like Qi Xiaoran. That’s why she steeled herself to draw the line clearly between them.”

“A lonely genius and a young internet addict like Wei You turned over a new leaf for Yang Qi’s sake. He always looked at Yang Qi with so much warmth in his eyes. Ah! Why did they get this sort of treatment?”