While eating, the two chatted about their respective progress.
"Song Linxin and Yan Liang have already given me the manuscript," Lu Yanhe said. "We may need to hire a professional editor to review it, otherwise we might miss many typos and grammatical errors."
"Let's ask a professional editor to help us," Chen Siqi said. "Don't you know an editor at Jiangyin Publishing House? See if you can get them to help."
"Yeah." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Chen Siqi said: "I have received three responses, willing to provide us with manuscripts. They are all popular bloggers with many fans, but I have basically received no responses from others. There is nothing we can do about it. We don't have any sample books for everyone to refer to. Many people think we are just a scam."
"For the first issue, most of the content requires help from friends I know to get enough content." Lu Yanhe was a little amused.
"Our current lineup of writers is already quite influential. We can focus more on writing articles that move readers, rather than focusing on writers who can bring more readers to our book," Chen Siqi said. "Next time I meet with Xin Zixiong, I plan to mention the writing competition on Yemai."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"The essay solicitation itself is, to some extent, a form of publicity," Chen Siqi said. "It's not just for Yemai.com internally, but submissions can also be made to related platforms."
"That's good, then."
"Yeah." Chen Siqi nodded. "Although Xin Zixing gave us a goal of 50,000 subscribers, I still hope for more. Since we're going to do this, we must do our best to do it well and make it the most amazing Mook."
"What is your target number of subscriptions?" Lu Yanhe asked curiously.
"100,000, 200,000? The more the better," Chen Siqi said seriously. "As long as we really make it so people want to read, the number of subscribers will definitely increase. We used to read a magazine for two or even three years straight."
"It sounds like a goal that will take a long time to accomplish." Lu Yanhe nodded. "However, I don't think it's impossible to accomplish. Am I being too arrogant?"
"Because we all believe that if we create good content and have good publicity, we will be recognized." Chen Siqi smiled proudly. "It actually feels a little unreal right now. I didn't expect to actually start working on a book like this. I thought this summer would be very boring. Besides, this is the first time I've actually done something I really want to do. Whatever I did before, it was either to make things difficult for Liu Wei'an or to prove to my dad that I could do it. I've never done anything I truly wanted to do. If it weren't for working on this book with you, I don't think I would have ever taken any action to do it."
Lu Yanhe didn't expect Chen Siqi to suddenly make such a "true confession" to him.
"Me too," Lu Yanhe said immediately. "If you hadn't joined me in this, I wouldn't have put it into action. It would just be an idea that popped up in my head occasionally, and then nothing would happen."
What Chen Siqi didn't say was that she hoped this first issue would do better than imagined and expected, and that this book could continue. In this way, even if she went to Jiangguang and Lu Yanhe stayed in Yuming, even if she was just an ordinary student and Lu Yanhe would become more and more popular and famous, they could still stay together because of this book and maintain a long-term and stable connection.
Chen Siqi is not an optimist. She cannot optimistically believe that she and Lu Yanhe can always maintain their current relationship after a long period of separation.
Without investing time and energy, the feelings between people will become increasingly weak. Even if old friends meet again, they can only talk about the past, but the past is only the past, and the present is the present.
She not only wants the past, she also wants the present.
-
After dinner, they found a coffee shop nearby and planned to discuss the editing of the book and other follow-up work together in the afternoon.
"Hey, isn't that Lu Yanhe?" When they were about to leave the hotel, someone suddenly pointed at Lu Yanhe and shouted.
Her voice attracted a lot of attention.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi were surrounded by gazes in an instant.
He looked around awkwardly, not knowing what to say.
"Why is there a girl next to him?" someone commented, speaking directly to the person next to him in front of him.
This "also" is the essence.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Someone asked directly, as if he was an old acquaintance of Lu Yanhe.
Lu Yanhe frowned slightly and looked at the man.
The man was obviously watching a show, looking at him with a mocking expression.
Lu Yanhe turned his head and glanced at Chen Siqi.
Chen Siqi glared at him fiercely, "Who are you? What does this have to do with you?!"
Lu Yanhe panicked, fearing that Chen Siqi would start arguing with someone in public, so he quickly pulled her away.
-
This unexpected episode made Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi's departure seem a bit like a "fleeing in desperation".
Chen Siqi was very dissatisfied and asked, "Why did you pull me away just now?"
Lu Yanhe answered honestly, "I'm afraid you'll quarrel with him."
"That guy looks malicious and has a shifty look on his face," Chen Siqi said. "I won't argue with him."
Lu Yanhe felt a bit of a headache and said, "It seems like I'm getting recognized more and more easily lately."
"Isn't it normal that you're trending on the internet so often and becoming more and more recognizable?" Chen Siqi said. "I still find it strange that you can go out so often, eat and drink coffee like a normal person, without being affected at all. Don't most celebrities have travel restrictions and find it difficult to enjoy a normal life?"
"Unless they're incredibly famous, they wouldn't be so restricted. Even Sister Yuqian could go out normally if she disguised herself," Lu Yanhe said. "It's not that exaggerated. Li Zhibai is so famous, as long as he doesn't go to crowded places, he can still go out with us."
Chen Siqi: "That's because the people you mentioned are only known to many young people. Why don't you try Shang Yongzhou and the others?"
"That's true."
The two of them ran to the nearby cafe, pushed open the door, and found a seat in the corner.
They usually find this kind of seat, and then Lu Yanhe sits facing the corner with his back to other people in the store. This way he will rarely be recognized, at most he will be recognized by the store clerk.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down this time, a voice called "Lu Yanhe!"
Lu Yanhe's body stiffened and he looked at Chen Siqi in disbelief.
Is this recognition frequency too high today?
Chen Siqi also turned around and looked over.
They soon realized that they had misunderstood and Lu Yanhe was not recognized.
Sitting next to them were two girls who were both dressed very fashionably.
They each held their phones and browsed through something. The voice of "Lu Yanhe" just now was shouted by one of the girls.
"He seemed to be eating at a restaurant nearby!"
"ah?"
"There happened to be a live streamer doing a restaurant tour in the restaurant. I ran into him and even filmed him bringing a girl with him. The girl had a pretty bad temper."
"What girl?"
"I don't know, she looks just average."
"It's just average" Chen Siqi took a deep breath.
Lu Yanhe quickly used his eyes to signal her to calm down.
The two girls continued talking.
"These idol artists nowadays all look incredibly innocent on the surface, but I'm saying, at this time, they're handsome, young, and rich, how can they be innocent? Look at any good-looking guy around us, when has he never been without a girlfriend?"
"I thought Lu Yanhe was a little different."
"There are also many scumbags among the top students."
Lu Yanhe, the "scumbag", widened his eyes in shock.
Chen Siqi nodded at him with a teasing look in her eyes.
"Hahaha, this is hilarious! The restaurant owner even said Lu Yanhe was stingy. He treated a girl to a meal and only ordered two dishes for 27 yuan!"
"27 yuan?! Holy shit, if a guy treated me to a meal and only ate something like this, I'd just grab my bag and leave. Holy shit, this is so disgraceful! How could a guy be so stingy?"
"I'm really speechless."
…
The two girls had no idea that the two new people were the ones they were talking about.
I waited until they finished their coffee and left the store, but still didn't notice.
Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi stared at each other, neither of them spoke.
It feels so sour to sit next to others and listen to them talking about you.
After a long while, Chen Siqi said, "Are you OK?"
The two girls were mainly talking about Lu Yanhe just now, saying that he was fickle, stingy, and embarrassing.
Lu Yanhe was so exhausted from being scolded.
Chen Siqi couldn't stop laughing and said, "It's really only when I sit with you that I can understand what kind of environment you usually face."
Lu Yanhe: "Ah, I suddenly feel that after this lunch today, I will probably become a very bad man in the eyes of many people."
"Let's clarify it quickly," Chen Siqi said. "From what they said, I guess a lot of people are already discussing this online."
"What's there to clarify? I don't know what to clarify," Lu Yanhe said. "It's a fact that we only spent 27 yuan on the meal."
"Then we just had a dish of braised pork with eggplant and a dish of stir-fried cabbage. How much money can we expect to spend on it? It's not a high-end restaurant. It's just a restaurant that serves simple stir-fries for the common people," said Chen Siqi.
“But that’s how it sounds to others.”
"Why don't you just clarify that I'm not your girlfriend?" Chen Siqi said.
Lu Yanhe: "Then there are even more people calling me a scumbag. Well, after being talked about, I even denied being his girlfriend."
Chen Siqi sighed.
"What should we do then?"
"I'll send a message to Sister Zi Yan. It's okay." Lu Yanhe said, "At most, I'll be laughed at for two days."
He pretended to be carefree, but he was actually a little upset inside.
It clearly has nothing to do with the facts, yet I find myself in a situation where every time I explain the facts, I'm misunderstood. Being an artist always faces this kind of situation: the facts don't matter, and explaining too much only makes things worse. It's better not to say anything.
Lu Yanhe has faced this situation several times.
Chen Ziyan replied: It’s a small matter, don’t take it to heart.
It was Chen Ziyan's attitude that made Lu Yanhe feel relieved.
It seemed that no matter what happened, it was not a big deal to Chen Ziyan.
-
Chen Ziyan really doesn't care about such trivial matters.
For her, she always feels that as long as the artist does not violate the law or discipline, there is nothing that cannot be solved or handled through public relations.
All crises are opportunities - to some extent, Zhou Ping'an's concept is not wrong, black and red are also red, black can turn into red, image crisis can be transformed into image improvement. Now such discussions have at least made many people pay attention to Lu Yanhe. If the public relations are good, these followers will become positive admirers.
Chen Ziyan directly arranged a fictitious "friend" identity and wrote online: "I saw that Lu Yanhe and Qiqi were mistakenly thought to be a couple. As their classmate and good friend, I should come out and explain. They are classmates at No. 13 Middle School and have a good relationship. There are several other people who often hang out with them, not just the two of them. They often meet and eat together now because they are working on a book together, so they often meet to discuss things. Doesn't it mean that a boy and a girl are together as a couple? Also, as for the 27 yuan, the restaurant they ate at only costs an average of 12 or 13 yuan per dish. It's a restaurant that focuses on affordable prices. We are good friends eating together, and we are all recent high school graduates. Even 27 yuan is not cheap, okay?!"
After writing, find familiar media to forward it, attract traffic, increase popularity, and create topics.
Under the posts criticizing Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi for being boyfriend and girlfriend, I put a screenshot of the content, increased the popularity, and sent the screenshot to the top of the comment section.
It’s not just the black fans and internet trolls who know how to manipulate internet traffic; the same applies to public relations responses.
When Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi's phones rang one after another, they realized that this incident and the response arranged by Chen Ziyan had become a hot topic.
Many of their friends sent "sympathy".
Li Pengfei even created a group and named it "The Campus Prince and Campus Beauty of No. 13 Middle School".
He started talking loudly in the group.
Lin Yu, Chen Qin, Xu Zijun and others were all added to the group.
Li Pengfei was very curious about who responded online, so he @ed everyone and asked if it was them.
Everyone denied it.
Li Pengfei: Then who else is so familiar with Lao Lu and Chen Siqi?
Lu Yanhe replied silently: That ID was arranged by my agent, it is not a real person.
Li Pengfei: I’ll go.
Linyu: I was wondering why I couldn’t figure out who this person was.
Lu Yanhe: An unexpected disaster.
Li Pengfei: It’s so funny.
Chen Qin: This response is so real, I really thought one of us wrote it.
Chen Qin: But, are you working on a book together?
This response brought up the idea of Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi working on a book together for the first time in public. (End of this chapter)