Generation Z Artists

Chapter 399 Happy New Year
Fang Xinghe spent the Spring Festival of 2007 alone in the capital.

He declined all requests to accompany him, and after getting up in the morning, he slowly began to prepare vegetables, chop meat, and clean seafood.

He quietly worked until 11 o'clock, preparing the ingredients for eight main dishes, but lunch consisted of only four simple dishes and a soup.

They are fried meatballs, fried spring rolls, fried shrimp chips, braised pork with pickled cabbage and glass noodles, and seaweed and tofu soup.

I took a picture before the meal, then poured myself half a glass of baijiu (Chinese liquor) and quietly started eating.

The food I ordered at random, number 89, was quite nice. The meatballs were made with high-quality ingredients, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with an amazing taste.

But for the other dishes... well, there's really not much room for creativity.

I picked up a pink shrimp chip; it was crispy, but the taste was hard to describe.

This is the cheapest kind of bagged shrimp chips, produced by unknown small factories. They are made by extruding starch, shrimp flavoring, leavening agents, and colorings. The brightly colored, cheap industrial pigments create an enticing illusion.

Fang Xinghe crunched on two pieces, his taste buds telling him that this thing was just something to fool his mouth, but his memory told him that this was childhood.

Xiao Fang's childhood.

Today's lunch of four dishes and one soup was entirely to Xiao Fang's liking.

When he was a child, these were his favorite things to eat during Chinese New Year.

The fragrant Northeastern free-range pork, combined with my mother's homemade pickled cabbage, smelled so good it was almost intoxicating.

Seaweed and egg drop soup is responsible for enhancing the flavor. The tender tofu from small workshops in Northeast China is mostly made from the inferior products of local soybeans. But I don't know if it's a embellishment of memories, but the aroma of local tofu seems to have a natural sweetness. It's so tender that it crumbles at the touch, and the long-lasting aftertaste nourishes every night when we can't eat meat.

Meatballs were a luxury; I only enjoyed them for a very short period of time.

Later, his mother still insisted on frying meatballs for him, but there were no longer large chunks of meat, only starch and vegetable leaves.

That tastes good too.

Fried spring rolls are the number one dessert for children in Northeast China. The red bean paste filling is sweet but not greasy. If it is a "high-end" product produced by the No. 1 Bean Products and Food Factory in Chunchun City, the generous filling will win over even the most picky child.

Of course, fried shrimp chips will always be the king of snacks.

This was probably the earliest puffed snack for those born in the 80s and early 90s, and its status was far higher than later French fries, potato chips, and Doritos. Rural children might only be able to eat it once a year, and they would start looking forward to it as soon as the first month of the lunar calendar began.

Actually, by the time Xiao Fang was around 10 years old, this thing didn't seem so special anymore. However, his family had fallen on hard times and he didn't know what other families were like. Anyway, he relied on shrimp chips to keep himself entertained during the Lunar New Year.

Of the white, yellow, red, and green foods, he loves green the most, feeling as if he's chewing on hope.

Today, he specifically chose to eat the pink ones—perhaps because food coloring is too cheap, the red shrimp chips turned a pale pink after being cooked and swelled into strange shapes.

Crunch, crunch, the more you chew, the more astringent it becomes.

Fang Xinghe calmly took a sip of soup, his mood neither happy nor sad.

After a busy year, he had very little time to be alone. Only today was he able to calm down and spend time with himself, to savor the memories and emotions that lay at the bottom of his personality, and to feel the growth and sedimentation.

This isn't being sentimental; it's his unique mission in the world—my heart is the world.

In the afternoon, Fang Xinghe, the writer, turned off his phone and wrote several essays in his study.

Because he was relatively calm, only three out of the four articles were critical, a very low percentage.

There have been so many annoying people this year. I haven't been in the mood to deal with them until now. If nothing major happens after the New Year, it's time to put them on the city gate tower and whip their corpses.

Around 5 o'clock, we started cooking.

There was no need to dwell on those unpleasant things at this point, so he ordered all eight major cuisines to their maximum, humming a song as he prepared a truly grand feast for himself.

Take photos, then start eating.

After finishing the meal, I posted two photos, one from lunch and one from dinner, on Xingwang Weibo, along with a short post that seemed to reflect my thoughts.

[Fang Xinghe]: Recalling the bitter past at noon, appreciating the sweet present at night.

Some bitterness is caused by lingering memories, while some sweetness is a unique experience.

On New Year's Eve, when I was alone with myself, I was suddenly struck by the realization that the two were intertwined and inseparable.

When I was a child, I felt incredibly satisfied with just a bite of shrimp chips during Chinese New Year. Now, even with lobsters, crabs, mutton, and beef in front of me, I can't taste them.

What is bitterness? What is sweetness?
Suffering is the unaccepted past; sweetness is the reconciliation between the heart and circumstances.

Suffering is the anxiety of unfulfilled desires, while sweetness is the tranquil joy of letting go of greed.

Actually, when I think about it carefully, my childhood doesn't seem to be as bitter as I thought, and my present is not necessarily as sweet as you imagine.

When people start to feel nostalgic, it's because things are slipping away.

When people begin to dream, it means they have truly seen a brighter future.

Today, I only have memories, no aspirations.

The holidays make me miss my family even more. Being alone for so long, I think I'm probably sick...

*****
"!!!"

The person who left the first comment only typed three exclamation marks to express her shock.

Then, the entire official fan cafe exploded, with all the online fans posting frantically.

What happened to Fangfang?

"Honey, don't scare me!"

"Are you feeling too lonely and sad during the Lunar New Year?"

"Waaaaah, my emotions just collapsed all of a sudden. You can only see the glamour of the stars, but who can see how much pain he's going through inside?"

"I'm breaking down in tears! I'm sobbing uncontrollably! Fangfang, please don't be like this. At least I will never leave you!"

The official fan cafe was in chaos, and messages were flooding Weibo, with many fans racking their brains to find words to comfort Fang Xinghe.

However, not long after, a male netizen's comment was pushed to the top—

Before you start lamenting at the grave, should you scroll to the bottom and take a closer look at the post? (doge)

"Ok?"

Subconsciously, Mantianxing scrolled down and finally saw the last sentence of the blog post after eight rows of period marks.

[By the way, does anyone in South Korea want to beat up Fang Tonghui for me to help relieve my symptoms? (doge emoji) (doge emoji)]

Happy Lunar New Year's Eve!
#HappyNewYear#
Fang Xinghe's final move completely froze Man Tianxing in place.

The discomfort was stuck right in the center of my chest, neither up nor down, which was truly both frustrating and laughable.

The starry sky suddenly split into two factions.

The first group consists of carefree individuals who quickly relax.

"I was so scared! I thought Fangfang was really depressed, but it turns out she was just joking!"

"Haha, this plot twist is absolutely amazing!"

"Damn, you bastard, messing with fans during the Chinese New Year, you're ruthless!"

"That's great! As long as Fangfang is happy, what's wrong with letting him have some fun? I'm willing!"

The second group, comprised of sensitive and sentimental individuals, naively believed that Fang Xinghe's last words were a way of masking his true feelings. "Waaah, what if he cries even harder? How much pain must Fang Fang be going through? Even though he's already in so much pain, he still worries about us and takes care of our feelings. He truly deserves our everything!"

"Your smile is not a real smile, your sweetness is not a real sweetness, but my love is real love. Your pain is my pain, your death is my death."

"I hate my own powerlessness!"

"Fang Tonghui deserves to die! Is there anyone in South Korea who would like to die with him?"

"We can't find him at all now. So many Korean fans are looking for him, but it's been almost half a year and there's still no definite news. All we know is that he seems to be in a wealthy area of ​​Seoul."

"The pain comes from an unaccepted past... Oh my god! I feel like Fangfang's childhood scar will never heal, what should I do?!"

"Fine, I won't object to his marriage with Liu Yifei or Zhang Hanyun anymore. Let him have his fun!"

"Yes! No matter who it is, as long as they can make my husband happy even for a second, I'm willing to wish them happiness! (crying) (crying) (crying)!"

Female fans went wild with their imaginations, adding more scenes for Fang Xinghe, and the more they thought about it, the more upset they became.

As a result, low-level fans kept getting promoted in the fan panel, purifying and crystallizing at the same time, contributing a huge amount of star points along the way.

Fang Xinghe suddenly pulled this stunt at the end of such a glorious year, which immediately irritated the overconfident fans. The fans who were obsessed with academic achievements and celebrities quickly bowed down, while the fans who were obsessed with girlfriends, older sisters, and literary fans were all ready to take over!

Seriously, when it comes to playing the fandom game, Fang Ge is the best.

Within an hour of being posted, it surged into the top 50 trending topics.

Two hours after the post was published, it surged into the top 10 trending topics.

The power of online buzz ends here. After all, we don't live in a mobile internet era where everyone has a mobile phone and can access the internet anytime, anywhere. It's difficult for online buzz to break out of its niche.

However, Fang Xinghe's random thoughts happened to stir up the emotions of the internet's main force, and the topic quickly spawned various extensions.

By around 8 p.m., the number of comments exceeded 500 million and the number of reposts exceeded 200 million, making it the number one trending topic.

This has sparked widespread discussion across the platform, resulting in a plethora of related entries.

#Fang Xinghe spends the Chinese New Year alone#
#Fang Xinghe suffered from depression on New Year's Eve#
#Bitterness and Sweetness#
#SpringFestivalGala, Fang Xinghe#
#The Spring Festival is becoming less and less festive#
#The Taste of Childhood#
……

It happened to be Lunar New Year's Eve, and young people with computers at home simply didn't watch the Spring Festival Gala. Instead, they took advantage of this trending topic to complain online that the New Year was becoming less and less interesting, unlike the topics they had when they were children.

This is indeed true. China's post-80s generation has been immersed in the internet environment for nine years since 1998, and their mindset has begun to differ significantly from that of previous generations.

Furthermore, the earlier and more mature emergence of Weibo led to a shift in online social interaction from the small, one-to-one circles of QQ to a platform-based interaction directly facing the public, causing a significant disconnect between the internet ecosystem and reality.

Fueled by Weibo, the internet today is roughly equivalent to the level of prosperity it enjoyed in 2010.

For example, Taobao ads, internet celebrities selling pork floss cakes, fan groups taking root on Weibo, movie, music and game promotions, and the proliferation of various free resources, etc., all of these are all examples of explosive growth.

As a result, the actual infrastructure development has lagged behind.

Of course, this is not a big deal. The internet and reality never need to develop in sync. If one side takes the lead, the other side will naturally catch up driven by capital.

From this perspective, the early emergence and global popularity of Weibo actually accelerated the country's development.

Leaving aside the numerous projects that have sprung up around the Weibo ecosystem, from a purely human perspective, those born in the 80s have more fun, and those born in the 90s are growing up faster. The social significance and cultural value of Weibo far surpasses that of its predecessor.

On the downside, the explosive growth of the new generation of internet users has also created increasingly intense conflicts and gaps between generations.

One young child even made a suggestion that was both funny and sad: "The country should quickly abolish New Year's Eve and Spring Festival, and only celebrate the Gregorian New Year from now on. I don't want Brother Fang to be sad every year!"

It may seem outrageous, but it's actually quite normal—many people born in the 80s and early 90s made silly mistakes on the internet in its early days, and when they look back on it years later, it's just a matter of youth.

……

As the new generation of netizens engages in increasingly lively online discussions, Fang Xinghe, as the central figure in these discussions, once again reaps the benefits.

There was little change in the number of casual fans and first and second-level fans, the number of third-level die-hard fans remained stable, and the number of fourth-level fanatic fans and fifth-level believers began to surge.

The phrase "feeling sorry for my brother" has become just a common joke in later generations, often with a mocking connotation. However, for fans, feeling sorry for their brother is a powerful motivator.

Just over six hours later, at midnight on New Year's Eve, Fang Xinghe opened his fan panel and his eyes widened in surprise.

Level 3 die-hard fan: 500 million.

Level 4 Frenzy: 200 million.

Level 5 Belief: 20.

Looking at the numbers alone, they weren't that far behind the top stars of later generations, because the market size back then was enough to support hundreds of male and female celebrities. The number of die-hard fans of Xiao Zhan, Wang Yibo, Lu Han, and Yi Yangqianxi could easily exceed ten million.

However, if we only look at the proportion, the current "Gypsy" fandom has already occupied about half of the entire fandom.

That is: all the high-level fans of all celebrities in China, when added together, are roughly equivalent to a level 3, 4, or 5 star.

They might not even be able to reach the required 720 million.

It's only 2007, bro!

Whether it's Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, Tony Leung, or Nicholas Tse, Jay Chou, or the "Princess Consort," their general fame is about the same, so die-hard fans should stop trying to piggyback on their fame.

If it weren't for the extreme xenophobia of the two major markets of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and your decision to confront them head-on, Fang Xinghe alone could have drained the fan base of those two small counties.

Forget it, forget it, I might as well not do it. Anyway, I'm already the king of the Chinese entertainment industry, I don't need their little bit of money.

Fang Ge looked at the neat rows of numbers, chuckled, and posted a new status update right at 12:00.

Only four words—

Happy New Year!

The accompanying photo is a picture of fireworks exploding outside a window, with him appearing only as a solitary figure looking up at the sky from behind.

The cunning boy didn't write "Happy New Year," but instead used the two characters "大吉" (great fortune) to imply "smooth sailing and a breakthrough, but without expecting happiness," instantly tormenting his already sensitive female fans once again.

He has two movies and 12 volumes of "The Primordial Era" to be released this year. He's already laid the groundwork, and if he stirs up some trouble during the promotional period, he'll probably be able to ignite their emotions.

Money isn't important. A movie giving me 5 Star Points isn't too much to ask, is it?
That's for sure. We can't catch him in person, but we're already eagerly anticipating his movie and want to see him on screen.

After midnight, a new trending topic quietly climbed into the top 10, top 5, top 3...

#Go Fangfang in the new year!#
With all the blessings from his fans, Fang Xinghe slept soundly through the night.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, I was busy welcoming and seeing off guests until the seventh day. After handling all the necessary matters, I began to immerse myself in polishing "Untouchable" and "Sword Comes".

Don't get me wrong, "Sword Comes" isn't the work of Director Chen, but rather a martial arts performance from the Olympic opening ceremony.

With February 2007 almost over, exactly 18 months and 500 days left in the countdown, everything else was going to be demoted, and those who bore the cultural responsibility had to settle down and polish their works.

As a result, while making movies went smoothly and he could wield his martial arts skills at will, he encountered a creative bottleneck when it came to martial arts performances. Despite having master-level kung fu, he couldn't come up with a program that satisfied him.

A month has passed, and "Untouchable" has been completely completed, but there has been no progress on the program itself.

Just before his birthday, the men's basketball team cautiously paid him a visit: "Brother, training camp is about to start, when are you coming?"

Fang Xinghe thought about it and decided not to get bogged down in details. He decided to temporarily give up the martial arts performance and instead train the big men on the men's basketball team.

What if the pressure leads to a positive mood, which in turn leads to a breakthrough in their thinking?
That's possible, right?

So he skipped his birthday celebration and immediately embarked on a training camp.

When the news spread, people of all ages across the country went wild, their shouts deafening—"Win the medal!"
For next year's Olympics, we aim for 3rd place and strive for 2nd. We not only want to break the zero, but also work hard to win the silver medal!
************
The plot coincides perfectly with the Spring Festival. Wishing all my friends a Happy New Year and great fortune!
(End of this chapter)