Top Chinese celebrity: Debuted from Running Man

……

……

The August sunlight streamed through the car window, casting dappled shadows on Gu Qing's face.

He leaned back in his chair, his fingertips lightly swiping across his phone screen, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed schedule, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

"Sister Xiaoya, are you sure this is the work schedule for August, and not a year-end summary?"

Zhao Ya sat down beside her, rubbing her sore eyes, and said with a smile, "Boss, this is indeed the work schedule for August. I have confirmed it three times."

Gu Qing fell silent.

He looked down at the screen again—

Gu Qing glanced at it, then quickly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Am I going to travel halfway around the world?"

"Boss, strictly speaking, the fashion capital is not the beautiful country, and it doesn't count as a globe."

Zhao Ya corrected him carefully.

Gu Qing opened her eyes and gave her a long, lingering look.

Zhao Ya immediately sat up straight, pretending not to say anything.

The carriage was quiet for a few seconds, then Gu Qing picked up her phone again and began to carefully examine every detail of the trip.

Apart from the nearly 20-day advertising and business trip, the remaining 10 days of the trip were all marked with red subtitles.

One of them was an invitation to the LV fashion show and Bulgari.

The fashion show in the fashion capital was one of LV's most important autumn/winter releases this year.

As Bulgari's brand ambassador and one of the most influential Asian faces in the entire luxury goods market, Gu Qing was naturally at the top of the invitation list.

In fact,
The person in charge of Bulgari in China called me a few days ago.
"Little brother, are you interested in modeling?"

"We can create a custom outfit for you, designed by our creative director. You just need to walk the runway once, just like Chris Wu did for Burberry back in the day..."

His tone was very enthusiastic.

"Thank you for your kind offer, but I feel that I am more suited to sitting in the audience and watching the show."

Gu Qing didn't hesitate much, politely declining the offer without giving the other party any room for maneuver.

joke.

Does he need to follow Chris Wu's development path?

When Chris Oh walked the runway for Burberry, the marketing accounts raved about him—"the first Asian male celebrity to walk the runway for a top luxury brand," "a darling of the fashion world," "his international influence has reached a new level"...

That formation
Anyone who didn't know better would think he won the Palme d'Or.

and then?
What about his musical works? What about his film and television works?
Besides his increasingly empty albums and increasingly awkward variety show performances, what else does Kris Wu have to offer?

Why haven't I seen him make a few blockbuster works like I have?
Using one's top-tier status to model and walk the runway to showcase clothes?
He's much more expensive than clothes.

not to mention,
The fact that the fashion industry suddenly "values" him so much makes Gu Qing even more wary.

For him, luxury brand endorsements are merely icing on the cake, never a lifeline.

The box office success of his films and the high ratings of his TV dramas have laid a solid foundation for Gu Qing's popularity among the general public.

These things are irreplaceable by any brand, any marketing, or any trending topic.

As for the so-called "international reputation"?
Gu Qing never intended to use one or two appearances in the fashion world to open that door.

That stuff might fool some celebrities from the past and some now, but it won't fool him.

No one knows better than him what the so-called "international entertainment industry controlled by Western discourse power" really is.

What kind of Asians do they welcome?

They welcome "international" artists who can sing and dance, rap, and wiggle around on stage in increasingly revealing clothes.

They welcome "integrators" who are willing to adopt a "squinty-eyed" look, play stereotypical roles, and bow and scrape in international settings.

They do not welcome Asians who have a sunny and healthy image, who do not need to look up to them, or who do not need to flatter them.

You want to go in?

can.

A pledge of loyalty.

The journeys of those South Korean girl groups to "conquer America" ​​are the most authentic portrayal of this.

The skirts they wore were getting shorter and shorter, and their clothes were revealing more and more. The lyrics of the songs they sang, when translated into Chinese, were directly content that was rated 18+.

Fans also proudly boasted about their "successful foray into the US" and "international influence."

What's the key to success?

Where is the pride?

Isn't she just a stripper kept by a man?

As for why this is the case?
It's because the domestic market where you can make money effortlessly is gone, so we have no choice but to grit our teeth and try to develop the North American market.

He brought trouble upon himself.

Gu Qing didn't need to pay any attention to these things.

You pay me an endorsement fee, and I'll give you your image rights.

He ignored any further attempts to stir up trouble.

When Ah Dou sets sail, he will naturally become an international superstar.

Singing English songs?
He's waiting for others to learn Chinese.

……

Besides attending a fashion show

There's also information about "Chef Nic's Taste of Life" and hometown promotion.
When Nicholas Tse called, Gu Qing had just finished the game and was preparing to return to the hotel.

After exchanging pleasantries for a moment,

"Xiao Gu, the new season of 'Chef Nic's Taste of the World' is about to start filming. Are you interested in appearing in an episode?"

Nicholas Tse then brought up the topic, saying, "The salary is negotiable, just name your price."

He didn't mention what Gu Qing had promised him. Smart people in the entertainment industry understand each other's topics from the very first phone call.

Gu Qing thought for a moment and said, "Brother Feng, forget about the pay. But, can I make a small request?"

"You said."

"Could the recording location be in Anhui Province?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, then Nicholas Tse's voice came through, tinged with curiosity: "Anhui Province? Your hometown?"

"Correct."

Gu Qing nodded, "I'd like to be your tour guide for a while and take you to try some of our local delicacies."

Although Anhui cuisine is not as famous as Sichuan and Hunan cuisine, it still has many delicious dishes.

Stinky mandarin fish, hairy tofu, Fuliji roast chicken... these are all flavors that people remember.

"Row!"

Nicholas Tse readily agreed, his voice even carrying a hint of anticipation, "I've wanted to visit Anhui Province for a long time, but I've never had the chance. This is a perfect opportunity to have a good meal!"

Gu Qing chatted for a few more minutes with a smile before hanging up the phone.

Acting for free is no big deal for him.

The pay for a single variety show appearance is, at most, that's all. Compared to his movie pay, it's nothing.

Instead of asking for an exorbitant amount, why not simply do someone a favor and, incidentally, promote our hometown?

He hasn't forgotten the enthusiastic response from his hometown people during the "grain replenishment campaign" a few months ago.

The Culture and Tourism Bureau appointed him as the "Huizhou Tourism Image Ambassador" to promote the landscape and culture of his hometown.

The Department of Culture appointed him as the "Ambassador for the Promotion of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Anhui Province" to participate in related cultural heritage projects.

These titles were originally scheduled to be filmed when I returned at the end of the year.

Now, thanks to the lens of "Chef Nic's Taste of Life," we can get everything done in one go, saving us from having to make several trips.

Kill two birds with one stone.

Secondly,

About the Rice Festival and the "iPartment" movie
August 17th is the Rice Festival.

This day is an annual grand event for fans of "The Lost Tomb".

On this day every year, fans from all over the country gather together to commemorate the world they created in their books.

Gu Qing once made a cameo appearance in one episode of the "iPartment" movie, playing two roles—Zhang Qiling and Wu Xie.

now,

The "iPartment" movie capitalized on this popularity and was released just before its scheduled premiere.

Gu Qing naturally had to make an appearance at the Rice Festival.

It's not for the movie's box office, but to crush the competitors once again.

Li Yifeng and Lu Han, who both starred in the Tomb Raider series, received terrible reviews and were utterly disastrous.

The plot was drastically altered, the characters were poorly designed, and the special effects were cheap, drawing fierce criticism from fans of the original work.

Gu Qing went to the Rice Festival without having to do or say anything.

Simply by standing there and making an appearance, offering a surprise, one can easily win the hearts of fans of the original work.

With enough data, you can easily make a living.

Gu Qing even wondered if, when the time came, these fans would only recognize him and not that fatso, Nanpai Sanshu.

Other than that,

August 28, Huangguotai.

Gu Qing was invited to participate in the second season of "I Want to Sing with You".

The four songs he sang for "Love O2O" also became incredibly popular with the airing of the hit drama, becoming mainstream covers on short video platforms.

His name and those songs repeatedly dominated various music charts.

Appearing on variety shows for promotion is a matter of course.

It's worth mentioning that the hosts of this program are Wang Han and Han Hong.

The latter had a very good relationship with Gu Qing.

Teacher Han Hong is known in the industry for his warm heart, his great support for younger generations, and his lack of airs.

When Gu Qing first debuted, she praised this young man in public on many occasions: "This kid Gu is polite, hardworking, handsome, and has the aura of a superstar. I have high hopes for him."

The invitation to "I Want to Sing with You" wasn't even sent by the production team; it was Mr. Han Hong who personally called to invite me.

Gu Qing certainly wouldn't refuse.

He personally has great respect for the other party's charitable work.

The last two days of the month are the anniversary celebration for Honor of Kings.

As the spokesperson for this game, Gu Qing naturally had to attend the exhibition match.

His opponent will be another star team led by Yang Mi.

"And there's the submission of programs for the Spring Festival Gala..."

Thinking about her entire August schedule, Gu Qing was almost in despair.

"Boss, don't forget your birthday is on the 20th."

On the way, Zhao Ya smiled and reminded her, "I think this year's birthday celebration will be the grandest birthday party in the Chinese entertainment industry."

"In the internal groups I follow, many big fans were already preparing to celebrate your birthday a month ago."

"Can we skip my birthday?" Gu Qing's head ached even more at the thought of her birthday on the 20th.

In his past life, he had seen the extravagant scenes of fans celebrating celebrities' birthdays.

Exorbitant gifts and lavish support activities; millions invested in advertising videos in Times Square.

Furthermore, there are large-scale offline support activities.

Fans often organize to place birthday greeting advertisements for celebrities in public places such as city landmarks, shopping mall screens, subway stations, and airports...

All I can say is that it can be as exaggerated as it gets.

Although Gu Qing wasn't exactly socially anxious, she still felt awkward seeing such a large gathering.

In his past life, he was a natural romantic non-representative. He would never think about or celebrate any holidays; he was content to simply live each day happily.

For me, birthdays are either spent playing games at internet cafes or I only remember them after the day has passed. I've lived for over 20 years and have never even bought a cake once.

To give someone who doesn't celebrate their birthday such a grand celebration is truly unsettling for Gu Qing.

"Boss, you've managed to avoid my birthday celebrations the last few times, and the fans are already quite disappointed."

Zhao Ya covered her mouth and chuckled, coaxing, "You have to make an appearance at this birthday party, right?"

"Either you celebrate with your fans, or you celebrate with your celebrities. I've already received calls from Sister Liying and the others, asking if you want to hold a private birthday party so they can prepare gifts in advance."

"If I'm not going to do it, I might as well just spend my time with my fans."

Gu Qing was more afraid of receiving birthday gifts from a large group of celebrities than of meeting fans.

With his current popularity and status, most of the entertainment industry would send him their blessings.

Moreover,

Besides celebrities, will those investors and bosses who have only met once also ask to come over?

These people are coming, and who knows what kind of gifts they'll bring?

A house? A car? Diamonds? Jewelry?

It's not that Gu Qing can't think of anything, there's nothing they can't give away.

If he were to act rashly for the sake of his male friend, he'd probably be stuck online for a week once the list of recipients was leaked.

At this sensitive time, with the release of Wolf Warrior 2, it's no different from courting death.

"Boss, shall I contact a venue now?"

Zhao Ya smiled happily and said, "The Wukesong Arena was pretty good yesterday. It can hold 18,000 people. How about we book that one?"

"Eighteen thousand people celebrated my birthday?"

Gu Qing's lips twitched. "Sister Xiaoya, can we be a little more low-key?"

"Boss, Li Yifeng recently celebrated his birthday with a banquet for 10,000 people."

Zhao Ya's tone was tinged with indignation, "With his level of talent, he dared to hold a birthday concert, and the farthest tickets were selling for 480 yuan each, which were then being resold online for over a thousand yuan each! How could he possibly do that?!"

"How many listenable songs does he have? He only ever sings the same two over and over again, and he's off-key! And he still dares to charge admission, he's shameless!"

Looking at her sullen face, Gu Qing suddenly felt like laughing.

But he couldn't laugh.

Because he knew that what Zhao Ya said was true.

In today's entertainment industry, celebrity birthday parties have long become a business.

Generally, ticket prices for fans attending birthday parties are divided into three tiers:
Low price range: 30-100 yuan (usually for peripheral areas or online live streaming access)
Mid-range price: 300-600 yuan (regular area inside the venue)
High-end price range: 800-1588 yuan (VIP area, where you can interact closely with your idol)
However, this is only the officially announced price.

The truth is, fans simply cannot buy official tickets.

All the tickets are in the hands of scalpers.

Scalpers will resell these tickets for several times, ten times, or even dozens of times their original price.

For example, tickets to Principal Gu's birthday party were so popular that they were scalped for thousands of times their original price.

Tickets that officially sell for a few hundred yuan are being offered by scalpers for tens of thousands of yuan, and fans are actually willing to buy them.

In the future, for those popular celebrities, their companies will treat their birthday parties as a harvest feast.

They profit from offline ticket sales, online live streams (and virtual gifts), brand sponsorships, and merchandise sales...

A birthday banquet can easily generate tens of millions in net profit.

"His tickets can be resold for thousands of yuan,"

Gu Qing looked at the plan in her hand, her brows suddenly furrowing deeply. "What about mine?"

Zhao Ya paused for a moment, then thought about it seriously: "Boss, with your popularity and the craziness of your fans... tens of thousands of yuan a copy should be no problem."

"Tens of thousands of yuan per ticket?! The most remote ones?"

"The most remote one!"

"..."

Gu Qing repeated the number and took a breath.

My first thought was that it was nonsense, but then I thought about my current popularity and the craziness of my fans.

Since his debut, he has never held a concert or a fan meeting.

His fans have waited far too long for this day.

If this birthday party were to actually be held at Wukesong Arena, all 18,000 tickets would be snapped up instantly.

Scalpers will resell these tickets for 10,000, 20,000, or even 50,000 yuan each.

Moreover, if scalpers dare to speculate, fans will dare to buy.

Those sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls, those students who only have a little over a thousand yuan a month for living expenses, those office workers who have just started working and don't earn much...

They would spend several months' worth of their living expenses just to see him.

Someone might steal money from your home.

Some people will borrow money at exorbitant interest rates.

Some people will do all sorts of bizarre things to get a ticket…

In a split second, many unpleasant scenes flashed through Gu Qing's mind.

If he also mentions the location of the birthday party,
Booking accommodations in the capital or Shanghai would be an astronomical sum for ordinary students and working professionals, due to the high cost of accommodation and travel expenses.

Sometimes Gu Qing didn't want to think about things so complicatedly. She just wanted to be a top star, living a life of pleasure and extravagance.

Why bother caring about these irrational fans who are draining their wallets?
Outsiders would only say one thing: they deserve it, because they're chasing after celebrities.

Even wealthy fans within the fandom will look down on you, saying, "If you don't have money, why are you following any celebrities?"

But Gu Qing still felt depressed, and even felt a little guilty.

"Sister Xiaoya, could you contact Adou's official team later and ask them to organize an online live stream? That would also help drive traffic to the platform."

Gu Qing paused for a moment before interrupting Zhao Ya, "We can adopt a paid model, with tickets priced at thirty yuan. All proceeds will go to charity, and this will be posted on my personal blog account."

"After the amount was tallied, it was donated to Mr. Han Hong's foundation in the name of Gu family fans."

Zhao Ya was stunned. She looked at Gu Qing's profile. His young and gentle face was expressionless at the moment. He was just quietly looking out the window.

She suddenly felt that,
Her own small business owner was unlike any of the celebrities she had ever met.

"Oh, right,"

Gu Qing seemed to remember something, turned her head and added, "On the day of the live stream, I had A Dou disable the gift-giving privileges. He couldn't accept a single penny."

"Boss, I understand. I will definitely tell them."

Zhao Ya nodded vigorously.

Gu Qing nodded slightly, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes.

My frustrated mood gradually calmed down after making this decision.

My breathing gradually became calmer.

Sleepiness crept in quietly.

Zhao Ya looked at her boss's slightly tired sleeping face and didn't say anything more.

She simply took out her phone, turned the volume to silent, and sent Xu Wei a message explaining the situation.

The driver in the front seat glanced at the back seat through the rearview mirror and gently closed the window to block out the noise of the traffic outside.

then,

He switched to a soft instrumental piece, adjusting the volume to a level that was just audible.

Looking out the window, Zhao Ya recalled what Gu Qing had just said, and a complex emotion welled up in her heart.

She has been with Gu Qing for almost three years.

She has watched him grow from an unknown nobody who couldn't even debut to a top star in China.

She had seen Gu Qing traveling from city to city non-stop, so exhausted that he would fall asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

She had seen him remain calm and continue working as usual, even when faced with a deluge of negative information.

She had also seen Gu Qing reject those exorbitant endorsement deals and those "easy money" opportunities, simply because they were "not suitable."

However, many of these examples are actually done by celebrities in the industry.

But Zhao Ya had never seen anything like this before.

When they could have made a fortune, they chose to give it up and donate everything.

Thirty yuan a ticket.

Sending gifts is prohibited.

Donations were made in the name of the fans.

she thinks,

No other popular celebrity would have made such a decision.

Those celebrity teams want to squeeze every penny out of their fans.

They want to sell the most expensive tickets, produce the most merchandise, and offer gifts and tips during live streams—they practically have the words "harvesting韭菜" (a Chinese slang term for exploiting people) written all over their faces.

Can Gu Qing be spared?

He could have done nothing and comfortably enjoyed the fervent adoration of his fans.

He could have easily turned a blind eye and let scalpers resell tickets, since the money coming from the fans wasn't his.

He could have easily hosted a grand offline birthday party, reaping both fame and fortune, and been touted by marketing accounts as a "top celebrity in the Chinese entertainment industry."

But he didn't.

"..."

The driver adjusted the music and glanced at the quiet young man in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

He has been driving for celebrities in the industry for almost 10 years and has seen too many people and things in this circle.

He knew perfectly well what kind of people those celebrities were like in private, despite their glamorous appearances on the surface.

Some people in the car cursed their fans, saying, "You poor bastards can't even afford an endorsement deal."

Some people are polite to their staff, but then complain to their agents, "These lowlifes are so annoying."

Some people accept exorbitant gifts from fans and then immediately throw them in the trash.

But Gu Qing is different.

He would roll down his car window and wave to fans as he passed by.

After getting on the bus, he would say to the driver, "Thank you for your hard work, driver."

During work breaks, he would order takeout for his staff and then say with a smile, "Let's all eat together, don't be shy."

Someone like that definitely deserves to be famous!
……

...(End of this chapter)