Marry a female star at a bargain price

Chapter 317, Chapter 318: A World of Black and Red

The next morning, Lin Xiao woke up at six o'clock.

I slept like a log, and when I woke up I felt refreshed and great.

My wife is sleeping soundly and obediently right next to me.

Lin Xiao leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Xi Xi frowned and turned to the other side.

Lin Xiao grinned as he got out of bed, intending to make his wife a hearty breakfast—after all, he had been criticized so harshly in the first episode that aired yesterday, and he had to salvage his image.

He went to the kitchen and busied himself with steaming, boiling, and washing dishes.

The cameramen were already at work, with several cameras positioned around Lin Xiao, filming from all angles and in all directions, afraid of missing any detail.

This demonstrates his status as the show's leading figure.

Before the official start of filming for this season, the staff had a feeling, both openly and secretly, that Lin Xiao and Han Xixi were the ace of the season.

At the time, everyone was puzzled.

Based on their status and achievements in the industry, Jiang Feng and Zhang Yi should rightfully be at the top.

Even Du Yanfang, from another couple, is one of the top actresses in Taiwan. She entered the mainland market many years ago and became a household name with several classic roles and the image of a "drama queen".

In addition, she later married Jiang Xiaofei, a wealthy second-generation from the mainland. This relationship also involved a melodramatic love triangle, which ultimately ended with Du Yanfang emerging victorious.

In short, Du Yanfang is a master at creating buzz and generating hype. After marrying into a mainland family, her popularity with mainland audiences has also increased. Despite her age, her popularity has only grown, making her a true queen of traffic and a controversial female star.

In terms of topicality and public attention, Du Yanfang is no less than Lin Xiao and Han Xixi, and it's not unreasonable for her to hold this ace position.

Everyone was baffled as to why the director would place his bets on Lin Xiao and his wife.

To be precise, they staked everything on Lin Xiao, even agreeing to a clause like "no script," a clause that is utterly humiliating and shameless for a variety show personality.

However, after last night's explosive online buzz and phenomenal data,

Everyone finally understood.

As the saying goes, laymen watch the spectacle, while experts see the details.

The cameramen work for Hunan TV, the entertainment industry leader, so their vision is already broader than that of ordinary industry workers. Even if they didn't have the foresight of the chief director, Lutdan, before the show aired, they quickly understood the intricacies of the situation after the show aired.

Netizens only criticize Lin Xiao for being a chauvinist, lazy, and disrespectful to his seniors, as well as for the lack of affection between him and his wife and Han Xixi's low status in the family.

However, these behaviors, in the eyes of professionals, are incredibly accurate in hitting the Achilles' heel of "feminism".

Hitting the weak point of feminism is equivalent to hitting the weak point of ratings and popularity.

It's worth noting that 80% of the audience for variety shows is female, and for marriage documentary variety shows like "Back to the Good Life," the proportion of female viewers is as high as 95%, with the remaining 5% mostly being dragged to watch by their wives or girlfriends.

When watching variety shows, the main purpose is to have fun.

In the show, the guests were all lovey-dovey and sweet, and the female netizens watched for fun and enjoyed the spectacle, but it was all over in the past.

The popularity was neither high nor low, and the reviews were neither good nor bad, just like the previous two seasons.

But if the male guest behaves like her husband, the female audience watching the drama will get restless and their anger will rise.

It was under the influence of this emotion that the first episode of "Rebirth" became so popular, almost reaching the sky.

And this was entirely Lin Xiao's achievement.

The program crew members all had some real contact with Lin Xiao.

It's not immediately clear how much he loves his wife and children, so no one dares to speak carelessly.

But one thing is for sure: he is definitely not as chauvinistic as he appears on the show, treating his wife like a servant.

Moreover, his dedication and charisma at work are evident to all.

Would someone like this act like a tyrant at home? And even in front of the camera, he doesn't know how to restrain himself?

This big guy doesn't believe it.

Therefore, everyone agreed that Lin Xiao's performance in the first episode was deliberate.

This is even more amazing.

Because his performance on the show was very skillful and natural, even more natural than that of international film star Zhang Yi, who tries to portray a virtuous wife, and Taiwanese actress Du Yanfang, who, despite her age, still acts like a young girl.

There was absolutely no trace of acting.

This is also why Lin Xiao was subjected to a barrage of criticism online after the show aired.

Because it's so real.

In reality, she's just like my lazy, good-for-nothing husband, maybe a little more handsome, a little more talented, and a little more rich than him...

Okay, yes, there are many more handsome men, many more talented men, and many more rich men!
Then the female audience members got even angrier.

How could someone so handsome, talented, and rich not be devoted, gentle, and considerate, just like my annoying husband?!
What happened to this world?
The female netizens felt as if they had been slapped hard in the buttocks, and were even more furious. They couldn't even sleep at night, and they went around on various platforms cursing Lin Xiao, using every kind of extreme language.

This fervor left even seasoned industry professionals, accustomed to the ever-changing landscape of the entertainment circle, speechless.

Lin Xiao's ability to subtly manipulate the audience's emotions is simply divine.

Only then did everyone have to admit that it was the right thing to not prepare a script for him and Han Xixi.

Because no matter how ingenious the script, it wouldn't be as exciting as the play he orchestrated, and it certainly wouldn't have garnered the current popularity.

Early this morning.

The first episode of "Rebirth" has already surpassed 9000 data points, breaking the record for the fastest variety show index to reach 9000 since Mango TV's launch.

With this kind of success, breaking 10,000 is just a matter of one or two days, and at the latest, it won't be longer than after the second episode airs.

Now, after this crazy night...

The way everyone looks at Lin Xiao now is no different from looking at a god; they all revere and worship him.

In fact, Lin Xiao had already earned everyone's heartfelt respect because of his status as a musical genius.

But this time is different.

What he showed this time was his exceptional performance on variety shows, which had nothing to do with the talents he had previously displayed.

This time, they've really gone too far, even daring to challenge Guan Yu, and what's more, Guan Yu was amazed and applauded their performance.

How could everyone not be excited?

If Lin Xiao were to wave his hand, a group of men might immediately take off their clothes and rush forward.

Lin Xiao: "???"

But I admire him as much as I admire him.

What people can't understand is that this legendary figure has already achieved remarkable success in both the music industry and the government sector, and his future looks bright.

It's understandable to try and capitalize on the hype by making a quick buck in the variety show industry.

After all, who has a grudge against money?
Only a fool wouldn't do something that would bring in tens of millions of yuan after just a few days of recording a variety show.

But if you're going to make money, why go to such lengths, even at the cost of ruining your image?

It's important to understand that celebrities often put on various facades when they appear on variety shows, portraying themselves as moral paragons—it's all incredibly fake.

This is one of the reasons why variety shows are so criticized.

The production team naturally wants the guests to be authentic, since it's a reality show and authenticity is what makes it interesting.

But celebrities are all inherently despicable, and they know it themselves, but they have no choice but to act for the sake of their future.

It's not that there aren't people who play ugly.

But these kinds of people are basically just trying to gain popularity and advance their careers by making fun of themselves.

Given Lin Xiao's current popularity, he doesn't belong to the latter category at all.

Given his nature and abilities, he doesn't need to pretend to be the former.

He is actually the most qualified person to appear on the show and show his true self. Cooking, chatting, kissing and hugging his wife, simple and easy, the audience will definitely buy it, and he can easily earn tens of millions.

But he refused, which sparked a huge online war of words.

This left the production team completely bewildered, wondering what this big shot was up to—did he really want to switch to the variety show scene, give up songwriting and government positions, and become a full-time variety show personality?
People couldn't figure it out, so they stopped thinking about it.

The first episode of the show was a huge hit, and that's enough.

With the bonus in hand, everyone worked even harder, afraid of missing a single moment of this benefactor.

……

The sun is high.

In Dafeng Village, the second recording of "Rebirth" proceeded as normal.

In Xingguang Town, on the main street less than 400 meters from the town government, there is a small storefront of less than 30 square meters.

The sign at the entrance reads "Starlight Honey Root Tea," but the horizontal stroke in the middle of the "sun" radical of the character "star" is missing, leaving only the "mouth" radical.

But nobody cared.

Shop assistant Nana sat behind the counter, her faded pink hair casually tied up, her phone propped up in front of her, playing a popular fantasy drama.

Nana looked on listlessly, her face showing annoyance at the thought, "Who's a nice person working on Saturdays?"

Next to the phone was a computer with the "Starlight Honey Root Tea" online store page on it, and the customer service window was in the lower left corner.

That's right, Nana works as a customer service representative for this company, earning a monthly salary of 2,200 yuan, excluding meals and accommodation.

Nana didn't want to do it, but her father insisted that she do it.

Because this shop was owned by his father.

Her father was afraid that if she went out to work, she would be kidnapped by a scoundrel, so it was better for her to stay at home.

Of course, Nana didn't really want to go out to work either, because it was too tiring.

She felt that things were fine as they were, since she only needed to watch the store and could only do five minutes of work a day.

There are no customers in the store, and the online store is even more deserted, with less than two orders sold in a month.

This honey root tea is a specialty of Starlight Town and can't be found elsewhere.

However, Xingguang Town is virtually unknown, and few people on the internet know about it, so naturally, the town's specialties cannot be sold.

Of course, this situation improved after that famous internet celebrity mayor arrived.

However, this only applies to offline stores.

Recently, tourists have been coming to the town from time to time, all drawn by Mayor Lin's reputation. However, the tourists rarely see Mayor Lin, so after wandering around the town for a while, some pass by shops and buy some local specialties to take away.

Sales of honey root tea have increased in the past two months.

But it's also very limited.

Nana's work is still not too busy, and her monthly salary of 2,200 is very cost-effective.

She thought today would be another boring, aimless day, just waiting to die.

He logged into his customer service account with a frustrated expression.

The computer was quite old and ran very slowly. It usually took half a minute for the account to log in, by which time Nana had already forgotten about the account.

But today.

"Ding dong ding dong ding dong..."

Nana was still watching TV when the little blue figure in the customer service window on her computer suddenly started flashing wildly.

The notification sounds kept coming in one after another, and I couldn't stop them.

Nana was startled, instinctively thinking that the computer had malfunctioned.

Open the customer service window.

She was numb. The usually quiet window was now filled with a list of bright yellow windows, stretching as far as the eye could see as she scrolled down.

There are probably over a hundred.

Until then, Nana still thought the computer was infected with a virus and that these new messages were just computer malfunctions.

However, upon closer inspection, she discovered that none of the messages were garbled text; they were all concise Chinese characters.

Nana then realized that something big had happened.

New windows keep popping up.

While calling her father on her phone, Nana hurriedly opened the chat window one by one.

"Are you selling honey root tea?"

"Is it the honey root tea from Starlight Town, the Starlight Town where Lin Xiao is the mayor?"

"Is the honey root tea at the end of the first episode of 'Rebirth' from your shop?"

"I've placed my order, when will it be shipped?"

Do you have a photo of Lin Xiao?

Does Lin Xiao own shares in your tea shop?

"Is this tea really sweet? Or is it a scam?"

"Lin Xiao..."

Nana quickly scanned the area and roughly understood what was going on.

She's also a young person with 5G internet speed, and she keeps up with the latest news about the arrival of a big-name mayor in her hometown and the fact that the big-name mayor recently appeared on a variety show with his big-name wife.

But she didn't watch the first episode of "Back to the Good Life" last night.

The reason is simple: she just broke up with her boyfriend and is currently single, and she finds these lovey-dovey variety shows incredibly annoying.

Now, it seems fate is punishing her.

The only trending topic that could be associated with her was missed in a spectacular fashion, and then a massive amount of attention rained down on her like arrows.

She quickly grasped the key words and understood what was going on.

Just then, Dad got through on the phone.

"Playing cards? What are you doing?!" Boss Zhao Yuanping's voice came over, sounding very impatient.

"Dad, something terrible has happened!" Nana exclaimed anxiously.

"What serious thing could happen? Just watch the shop and don't try to fool me! Six!"

"This time something really big has happened!"

Nana, unusually flustered, stammered, "Hundreds of orders suddenly popped up on our online store! Our honey root tea is a hit!!"

On the other end of the phone, Zhao Yuanping remained calm: "Keep making things up! Your lies are getting worse and worse, not as convincing as when you faked a stomachache last time!"

Nana was so anxious that she stomped her feet. Suddenly, she remembered a text she learned in elementary school called "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

She often fakes illness to skip work and go out to play, and even if her dad sees through her, there's nothing he can do about it.

Now, it's like a bullet from years ago hitting you right between the eyebrows.

"This time it's for real! You know that big-name celebrity mayor who just came to our town, right?"

"Yes, I know. He's going to marry you! That's right!"

"Hey Dad, I'm serious!"

Nana was extremely anxious. "Mayor Lin recently appeared on a variety show and brought our honey root tea to the program. Now that the show is popular, netizens are finding our online store because of Mayor Lin's fame and are placing orders. We've already placed over a hundred orders, and many people are still constantly contacting customer service. Our online store is about to explode!!!"

This description was delivered with an unprecedentedly anxious tone.

Zhao Yuanping then realized that his daughter wasn't lying, but that it was true.

Old Zhao was also dumbfounded.

"Old Zhao, play your card! Do you want a pair of twos?" the player to your left urged.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

Zhao Yuanping was so shocked he stammered, stubbed out his cigarette, and asked the person on the phone with disbelief, "Girl, are you telling the truth? You're not lying to your dad?"

Nana jumped up and down, yelling, "I'd be a cuckold if I'm lying to you!"

Zhao Yuanping twisted his head: "If you're a turtle, then I'm an old turtle too?"

Now I believe it's true.

At the card table, he lost a good hand. Normally, Zhao Yuanping would have been cursing long ago.

But today he looked radiant and completely at ease.

He tossed his cards aside and shouted, "I'm done playing! I'm off to make my fortune!!"

……

News of the sudden popularity of honey root tea spread quickly.

Of course, this only applies within Starlight Town.

Because netizens searched for similar items online based on information from variety shows, these were all spontaneous individual actions and not enough to spark online discussion.

Of course, another reason is that the first episode was so popular that it generated so many topics and trending searches that there was no need to discuss things like the local specialties of Xingguang Town.

However, the show's popularity actually has little to do with Star Town, at least not at the moment.

However, the popularity of honey root tea is largely due to this.

The town has 33 natural villages, each nestled against the mountains and beside the water, where generations have drunk honey root tea.

Picking and drying honey roots is something villagers do during their off-season. If tea merchants come to buy them, that's a source of income. If they can't be bought back, they can still brew tea for themselves. Anyway, they can store as much as they want without it spoiling.

Honey root tea has become a hit.

All the tea leaves stored up in the homes of villagers throughout the town can now be sold.

This is undoubtedly a good thing that benefits the people and brings salvation to all.

Of course, to really get this done well, the town government needs to step in.

After all, merchants are profit-driven. If the tea merchants in the town are left to absorb this wave of popularity, firstly, their appetite is too big to be satisfied, and secondly, they will not think of raising the purchase price of honey root tea to benefit the people and share the benefits.

If it weren't for the town officials getting involved.

Predictably, merchants will continue to purchase goods from rural areas at the old prices, and villagers will not benefit from this surge in demand. The merchants, being small local workshops with limited manpower, are simply unable to cope with such overwhelming demand. After a flurry of activity, issues such as inadequate service and poor quality control can easily turn the hype into a disaster.

Therefore, without waiting for Mayor Lin Xiao's instructions, the two deputy mayors in charge of agriculture and economy directly decided to contact the mayor's three honey root tea sales merchants.

They were talking on the other end.

Meanwhile, many officials in the town watched last night's program and guessed that honey root tea was going to be a hit.

It's not that their online radar is exceptionally advanced, but rather that they've been following a popular town mayor and constantly trending on social media lately, which has inadvertently cultivated their online savvy.

The cadres spontaneously rushed to their workplace to work overtime.

Now everyone understands: the town mayor is both making fun of himself on the show to generate buzz and blatantly advertising local agricultural products on the show.

This is clearly a case of a strategist personally entering the game to help develop local agriculture!
Netizens couldn't see this layer, and their insults were varied and numerous, with spittle flying everywhere.

Having spent several months with Lin Xiao, the cadres knew about his concern for the people, so they easily discovered his good intentions.

They were all deeply moved.

Of course, Mayor Lin can have ideals and ambitions, but we are all just ordinary cadres earning a fixed salary, and we really have no right to spout such lofty talk.

The reason everyone voluntarily worked overtime was 90% because Lin Xiao had paid them their full salaries and various subsidies.

that's enough.

Led by the two deputy mayors, more than a dozen cadres spontaneously divided into two large groups.

A team was responsible for contacting merchants and explaining the seriousness of the situation to them. They not only needed to see this as a good opportunity to get rich, but also needed to recognize that the quality of the honey root tea was related to Mayor Lin's reputation and the fame of Xingguang Town, and therefore had to be strictly controlled.

Of course, the most important thing is that merchants should not only make money, but also help villagers make money. They must not maliciously lower the purchase price!

The other group was responsible for convening a meeting of the village heads of the 12 administrative villages to explain in detail the opportunities and challenges of this event.

The opportunity is that with the sales of honey root tea soaring, local tea merchants will definitely increase their demand for purchasing it, which is a good thing for all villagers to increase their income.

The challenge is that once the villagers hear this news, there's no guarantee that they won't resort to using inferior materials, passing off substandard goods as superior ones, or frantically going up the mountain to search for roots and then indiscriminately cutting down trees.

We must seize opportunities while also facing challenges head-on.

This requires village directors to set a good example and keep a close watch on things, ensuring that good intentions do not turn into bad ones.

The two groups acted simultaneously.

Amid the online buzz, everyone in Xingguang Town was in a frenzy, with people going up the mountains, down to the countryside, buying and selling, and processing goods—every single link was operating at full capacity.

It was late August.

In the south, the second crop of rice has not yet been harvested, and the navel oranges covering the mountains will not be ready for harvest for another month.

Right now, it's a short, pleasantly late period of slack farming season.

As if he had calculated it perfectly, Lin Xiao managed to free up surplus labor in the villages of Xingguang Town, which were already sparsely populated, so that they could go up the mountain to cut honey roots and increase family income.

Such brilliant planning left the officials, villagers, and merchants all in awe.

With the twenty cadres managing things in an orderly manner, the whole town became exceptionally busy.

This remote town, which has experienced a large outflow of population and has been stagnant, old, and withered for years, has unexpectedly displayed a delightful vitality and life force.

While the villagers were happily heading up the mountain.

With the explosive popularity of the first episode of "Rebirth", a large number of tourists finally broke through the limitations of distance and traveled over mountains and valleys to reach Xingguang Town.

Those who are chasing after celebrities and riding the wave of popularity are naturally there for the big star Lin Xiao, as well as the other guests of "Rebirth".

Those who love to travel were attracted by the mountains and rivers in the first episode and traveled hundreds of miles to enjoy the pristine natural scenery.

Ever since.

The booming industry is not limited to the sale of honey root tea, but has also spread to the nascent but far from mature tourism industry in Xingguang Town.

This weekend.

The hotels, guesthouses, and farmhouses in the town were all fully booked.

The once lifeless town suddenly saw a surge of out-of-town vehicles and a large number of trendy, energetic young people.

Saturday afternoon at 7 pm.

Deputy Mayor Ge Tao had been busy all day and hadn't had dinner yet, so he stood at the entrance of the town government building to take a break.

The town was bustling with unprecedented activity.

He felt somewhat emotional and dazed, as if it were Chinese New Year.

No, it wasn't like this even during the Chinese New Year.

Because the Lunar New Year falls in winter, it's cold and gloomy everywhere, so people's moods are already low.

In addition, most city dwellers who return to their hometowns for the Spring Festival are reluctant, their faces showing signs of travel fatigue, with no trace of the joy of family reunion.

But now, these travelers, who should be rushing about, all have smiles of novelty on their faces.

Ge Tao also laughed from the bottom of his heart.

"Starlight Town, this time it really seems different..."

(End of this chapter)