Generation Z Artists

Chapter 151: 700 million copies sold in 12 days!
It's another birthday, but it's different from previous years—Fang Xinghe has come of age.

Orphans reach adulthood at a different age than others; they are considered fully capable of civil conduct by the age of 16.

April 1st is another day he usually releases a book.

The ensemble piece about youth, "Our Youth," has finally been published.

Book signings are a must. He rarely does anything else, so a book launch like this has to be a grand event that gives fans a way to participate.

Moreover, male succubi make a lot of money by organizing offline events. It's common for female fans to become instantly enthusiastic, and male fans are often intimidated by their charisma, showing them more respect and admiration.

In comparison, the cost-effectiveness of appearing on television programs seems rather low.

"Let's go, it's time to go on stage."

The first book signing of the year was held in the capital, much to the dismay of the provincial cultural authorities.

A cultural center should have the status of a cultural center. Last year, its momentum was not strong enough, so it needed its hometown to boost the situation. Now, there is no need for any clever tricks; it can just be straightforward and honest.

At the Wangfujing Building, three hours of signing sessions were held each in the morning and afternoon. Only a little over two thousand names were signed, but 15000 books were sold—and this was just from this one sales point.

Some fans were so quiet they didn't dare say a word, while others suddenly burst into tears, and still others threw down their gifts and ran away—the list goes on and on.

Television filming and interviews are indispensable, and the media today is still not particularly friendly.

The controversy surrounding educational equity from some time ago is still reverberating, and the reporter wanted to extract more insights from him, although the intensity of the issue had somewhat subsided.

After all, any normal person knows that it was just an art exam. No matter how you try to label him, it can't be compared to the middle school or college entrance exams. Fang Xinghe is not someone who hasn't been a provincial top scorer before, so it's hard to really criticize him on this point.

Therefore, neutral media outlets only want to relay messages from different angles, asking him about his attitude towards certain people and certain statements, the more sensational the better.

The situation has recently developed to a very delicate degree.

Broadly speaking, it was the media with official and university backgrounds that tried to suppress the college entrance examination, while the media with capital, led by Nanfang, tried to dig deep into the exam. They fought one battle after another around the core battlefield of the college entrance examination, but to no avail. Then they turned their attention to special admissions.

There's really nothing to criticize about the special admissions program. Although it's not transparent, it doesn't take away from the spots available to regular college entrance exam takers.

The question asked by the Capital Radio station was about special recruitment.

Fang Xinghe casually replied, "Strict laws and severe punishments, firmly upholding the red line of the college entrance examination. As for the remaining special admission quotas, universities can give them to whomever they want."

The reporter knew that Brother Fang would say something surprising, so he was particularly excited.

"But if that's the case, aren't you afraid that some people who hold dictatorial power will engage in shady dealings?"

Fear, but does fear mean we shouldn't do anything?

When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one.

Fang Xinghe became a little more serious: "Judging whether a student is a special type of talent requires very high professional competence. I can't judge that, and neither can you. So we can only delegate the corresponding authority to a few professionals."

What we can do is not to supervise the power itself. We are a bunch of laymen; they can't fool us however they want.

The only thing we can do is to establish a long-term and effective accountability mechanism to ensure that mistakes are corrected.

If those who have the power to select are mediocre and fail to achieve results, then their industry ranking in the relevant field will continue to decline, and they will naturally be punished.
If they are incompetent and engage in power-for-money transactions, they can be investigated and held accountable. Modern China does not have the tradition of exempting high-ranking officials from punishment. They should be dismissed or sentenced as appropriate. Why create such intense conflict before anything has even happened?
Necessary oversight is essential, but haphazard actions only breed chaos.

"Has the 'Difficult to Guard' faction been up to something again lately?"

Another reporter from a city TV station suddenly interjected: "No, although their attitude was a bit harsh, a few days ago they uncovered a major local cheating case involving someone impersonating another student to get into university..."

Fang Xinghe raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Oh, these guys may have impure intentions, but they actually did do something good?"

The reporters were both amused and exasperated: "Weren't you the one who hated them the most? Why have you changed your tune?"

"Give them a good scolding and praise them when they deserve it. I'll praise them as many times as they do this kind of thing."

Fang Xinghe waved his hand, his righteousness naturally radiating outwards.

"Exposing the real darkness is always meaningful and valuable. However, I hope everyone will read, listen to, and believe less of the self-serving rhetoric behind their articles that elevates the system, the government, and the nation. It's stupid, malicious, and pointless."

Everyone smiled knowingly.

This is right!

Hearing you praise the difficulty in preventing infection made us feel uneasy, but now we feel much better.

The reporter from Guangming Daily pressed on, seemingly unwilling to give up: "Delegating power while holding people accountable—that's a very cautious approach, so cautious it's unlike you, Fang Xinghe. Don't you think this will foster a sense of complacency among them? How can we warn them without confrontation? How can we protect fairness without keeping a close eye on them? For example, the student who failed the exam a few days ago—she's certainly not an isolated case, but there are many more we simply can't find out..."

Good question, but also a stupid one.

This is a typical example of failing to grasp the main contradiction.

Every country, organization, and system has limited resources. Focusing on major issues and letting go of minor ones is a practical necessity, and only by respecting objective laws can we achieve development.

Trying to block everything, can you really block it all?
Who should be assigned to the enormous increase in workload?

If dedicated personnel are assigned to oversee and handle every minor detail at great expense, it will inevitably lead to the redundancy that has occurred many times in history, and in turn foster internal corruption and abuse of power within the supervisory system.

If there is no dedicated management, it remains self-monitoring, the work becomes superficial, and even the priorities are not distinguished.

Throughout history and into the distant future, no organizational form has been able to resolve this subtle decay rooted in power, because human selfishness can only be contained, not eradicated. To truly believe in utopia is pure madness.

Therefore, public oversight is absolutely necessary, but if those overseeing act with bias and arbitrarily expand upon it, the consequences will be far more serious than that minor ulcer.

Under immense external pressure, if one simply follows the crowd and becomes preoccupied with fixing problems wherever they arise, the overall situation will be lost.

Fortunately, our administrator possesses both historical wisdom and strategic composure, and is not easily swayed. He only makes minor mistakes without ruining the overall situation; otherwise, it would have become another hellish place like India in a few years.

China's public opinion battlefield has been chaotic for decades. Occasionally, when an academic tyrant is exposed, some people will shout "the country is doomed." This only shows that people who have been fed too much dog food can no longer eat human food. Fortunately, netizens at that time had already become wise and reasonable and were not so easily incited.

People these days really won't listen to reason; they have to resort to using fans to fight back.

Fang Xinghe chuckled inwardly, having no intention of explaining anything to them.

A group of journalists who don't understand the essence of things only want to create a big news story. What's the point of going into depth? It's like casting pearls before swine.

He just smiled and said, "Stop. My attitude is to use strict laws and severe punishments to protect the college entrance examination. Delegating power is limited to special admissions, which is a small-scale, detailed, and minimally impactful process."

"And when have I ever been unsteady? My nickname is 'Steady Fang,' meaning I'm thoughtful and deliberate in my actions..."

"what?"

"Hahahahahaha!"

The reporters were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter, bending over with mirth.

With the ability of the online army leader to control the situation, he quickly extricated himself from the entanglement.

He waved his hand: "Alright, you've all done your job. Let's leave the irrelevant topics here. Today is the day my new book is released..."

The reporters fell silent and began interviewing people about the new book.

"Fang Xinghe, what are your sales projections for the new book?"

"It's enough that people like it. It doesn't matter how much or how little I sell. I'm not short of money."

If someone else had said such a thing, the reporter would have thought he was pretentious and hypocritical, but coming from Fang Xinghe, no one could disagree.

"Then I wish you success in breaking the record of your last book... By the way, will 'Our Youth' be published in English?"

"will not."

"Why? I don't think the new book touches on any dark side."

Fang Xinghe patiently explained, "Our youth and the youth of Europeans and Americans are not the same concept. Cultural barriers make it difficult for us to understand each other, so it doesn't make much sense to release it outside of Asia."

The reporter was utterly bewildered: "But even if it only sells a few hundred thousand copies, isn't that a good thing? It would be very beneficial for the Western world to understand our culture..."

This statement sounds reasonable at first glance, but it's actually quite self-evident.

Promoting books in Europe and America is extremely difficult without the added advantage of fame. Lowering the price is secondary; some publishers are simply treating Fang Xinghe like a fool.

Some people are hoping to snag a bargain by acquiring the publishing rights, planning to sell as much as they can from organic traffic back in China without having to promote it much.

Others are even more disgusting. They make a lot of promises, but the promotional resources in the contract are all traps. They are just taking advantage of Fang Xinghe's inability to supervise.

A very few came with good intentions but then asked Fang Xinghe to cooperate with their publicity plans, such as attending events, appearing on shows, creating controversy, and so on.

In short, no matter who you agree to, you're essentially giving them your own blood to suck.

They weren't specifically targeting Fang Xinghe; this is the kind of treatment Chinese writers receive these days.

Most people might have tolerated it, thinking there was no need to go against money, but Fang Ge can't stand it. Everyone, get the hell out of here. I'm not publishing this book in Europe or America anymore.

Of course, there's no need to say this to reporters. People in China today have a huge expectation for Fang Xinghe to go beyond Asia and into Europe and America. They don't know how many difficulties and unpleasant things are involved. They just hope that someone can boost morale.

Fang Xinghe didn't want to mock this simple desire; such was the way of the times, why be so critical?

So he replied calmly, "If we want to open up the European and American markets and spread Chinese culture, youth literature is not a good medium. Film and television are the more appropriate keys. This is one of the core reasons why I want to study directing."

There are indeed no plans to publish "Our Youth" in Europe and America, but I have plans. Perhaps it will be my next book, or perhaps my first movie. In any case, the world will eventually get to know me and cheer for me.

That day won't be too far away...

Damn, you're really steady!

The reporters, satisfied with the explosive answer, quickly dispersed.

The local news channel in the capital broadcast the interview that same day, and well, the situation looked great—after hearing Fang Xinghe's outrageous remarks, normal viewers were too lazy to even criticize him.

It's great that we don't get scolded much, and it boosts the morale of the team!
The official comments were also quite friendly. The art school praised him as "rational, clear-headed, wise and profound," which goes without saying. The president of People's Daily also wrote a special article, a commentary derived from the theory of contradiction, which expanded Fang Xinghe's simple response into an article.

The article analyzes the primary and secondary contradictions in contemporary Chinese society, and quotes Fang Xinghe's original words many times. I really love him.

Actually, it has quite a significant social impact, but it doesn't attract many fans or cause much fan backlash, so Brother Fang didn't pay much attention to it and let them do what they wanted.

I arrived in Shanghai late that night to prepare for the book signing the next day.

The media in Shanghai have a different style. Unlike their counterparts in the capital, they don't care about politics or like to dabble in serious topics. They are particularly interested in Fang Xinghe's income.

"Could you tell me how much money you have left?"

The first question was rather presumptuous, but Fang Xinghe did not shy away from it.

"Two or three million, I guess."

The Shanghai media was shocked: "You made so much money, but only kept so little for yourself?!"

"Enough is enough, and it's not like I can't earn more."

"So, will you still be so generous with your next income... in philanthropy?"

"It depends on the needs. I don't usually do anything deliberately, but I will definitely continue to do this kind of educational assistance in the long term."

The more casual he was, the more sincere he appeared, and the reporters couldn't help but applaud—it was truly a rare sight.

"Fang Xinghe, could you tell everyone about the goals you hope to achieve with your new book?"

Fang Wenzhong pondered for a moment with great composure, then held up two fingers: "Let's aim for 2000 million copies this year!"

"!!!"

The crowd was stunned, exchanging bewildered glances and speechless.

Alright, the Shanghai media got the breaking news, everyone's happy.

On the third day, when I went to Guangzhou, the media had a completely new style.

"Fang Xinghe, didn't you find your father, Fang Tonghui, in South Korea?"

They had the air of Hong Kong tabloids, and if it weren't for their impeccable Mandarin, it would be hard to tell where they were from.

Fang Xinghe's expression immediately turned serious: "No."

The reporter wasn't satisfied and continued to tease him: "I heard he's doing very well over there?"

Fang Xinghe laughed angrily: "Since you don't want to conduct a proper interview, then let's stop here."

After saying that, he got up and left, heading straight to the book signing event.

OK, the Guangzhou media got the sensational story they wanted, as well as Fang Xinghe's unilateral ban.

"I shouldn't have had any expectations of the Nanfang System's headquarters." Fang Xinghe complained casually, then his face turned cold. "I will not accept any interviews from Guangzhou media from now on. Write that down."

Wang Charlie shrugged: "As you wish, anyway, it's not us who will suffer the loss."

At that moment, the troublemaking reporter from Yangjiang Evening News was unaware of the enormity of his actions and was happily writing a news article titled "Fang Xinghe Acts Like a Big Shot."

This matter will eventually escalate, but not now.

On the fourth day, there was a book signing event in Bangkok.

"The Young Us" was translated into eight languages ​​and released simultaneously throughout Asia.

The Thai princess remained as enthusiastic as ever, shouting "husband" repeatedly in Chinese.

In just four days, the Thai version only sold a little over 300,000 copies, demonstrating the increasingly clear decisive significance of market size.

The Chinese version sold very well in Singapore, with a population of several million and sales of 80 copies, all without any translation costs.

In contrast, sales in Hong Kong were far from satisfactory, with 20 copies sold, even less than in Thailand. This was partly due to the small number of teenagers and partly due to a disdain for everything mainland China had because of its educational system.

While both sides looked down on mainland China, South Korea treated Fang Xinghe's return visit with exceptional enthusiasm and grandeur. Female fans came to greet him at the airport again, and even erected a billboard in downtown Seoul that read: "Fang Xinghe, happy birthday! You are our eternal master and home."

As he passed by, Fang Xinghe only glanced at it before ignoring it.

The way we show support these days is too crude, and besides, the enthusiasm of Korean fans doesn't deserve much more response.

How many years can they hold out against the onslaught of South Korean boy bands?
The fervor born from good looks will inevitably be broken by an even more glamorous appearance.

Don't overthink it. It's impossible for a Korean to be more attractive than Fang Xinghe, but the stage performances of K-pop groups offer a different kind of impact—more direct, more exciting, and more likely to ignite sexual fantasies.

Most importantly, the constant influx of new talent always provides an irreplaceable sense of novelty.

Therefore, Korean female idols are the fastest to switch allegiances in the world, and each group only has a few years of peak popularity. No top idol in later generations has ever treated South Korea as an important market, which shows the consensus on this matter.

Fang Xinghe spent three days in South Korea, made a killing, renewed his six-month contracts for four food advertisements, and then left happily.

His previous FMCG advertisements had expired, and he only renewed four of them from those that offered the most money, raising the cost to 800 million yuan for six months.

Actually, his popularity is no longer at its peak. The patriotic sentiment among South Koreans, which was fueled by the Japanese, has long since faded. However, these four companies have successfully entered the Chinese market, so they are interested in signing long-term contracts with Fang Xinghe.

Fang Xinghe disagreed—"Sorry, I don't sign long-term contracts with food companies. We'll discuss it again when they expire."

He had a big plan in the middle of the year: food companies prefer short-term hype, and he couldn't let them get away with it.

He did the same thing after arriving in Japan.

He only renewed his FMCG endorsement for six months and put all other business collaborations on hold until the storm hit.

He returned to China on April 12th, and the total sales of his new book have quietly surpassed 7 million copies.

It has sold 300 million copies in China, 80 in South Korea, 160 million in Japan, and 160 million in Southeast Asia, topping the bestseller lists in many countries.

Reviews, analyses, and excerpts of "We" have also begun to proliferate in various contexts.

　While you guys are on holiday, I'm in the hospital. How awful!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)