Generation Z Artists

Chapter 42 Fan Base

Time finally passed on the third day amid the fans' painful torment.

Early in the morning, Wan Baoer ran to the newsstand outside the alley, and like a happy puppy, lay on the window and wagged his tail wildly.

When the boss saw her, he also smiled.

"Xiao Wan, you came really early. I have prepared everything for you~~~"

"Thank you, how much?"

“25块4毛5，你给25块4就行！”

"25! I'll cover the difference~~~"

Wan Baoer threw down the money, picked up the pile of books and newspapers and ran back. When she got home, she rushed into the living room and casually divided the newspapers into two piles in the middle.

"Dad, I'll give you half and the rest will be mine."

Father Wan looked at the huge stack of papers in front of him with a headache, and couldn't help shaking his head and smiling bitterly: "There are so many, how can I finish reading them? I only read two copies of yesterday's newspaper..."

"You have plenty of time anyway, just take your time to read it~~~ I don't care, I spent another 25 yuan today, you have to reimburse me!"

Father Wan chuckled and said, "Let's wait and see how the media criticizes him."

"Hate it!" Wan Baoer was furious, "You are deliberately irritating me!"

"Wrong, wrong." Father Wan surrendered immediately, rubbing his forehead and smiling bitterly, "Why did you buy so many when you knew everyone was scolding him? Wouldn't it be better to just buy the Beijing Youth Daily?"

"I don't care. I just want to stand with him and face it together! Anyway, you have to give me the money for the newspaper!"

"Okay, okay, I'll give you another 50 yuan. Is that enough for tomorrow?"

Father Wan waited for a long time but got no response. He turned around and saw that his daughter was already immersed in the Beijing Youth Daily.

"Alas, a girl cannot be kept at home when she grows up..."

Muttering sourly, he simply found a newspaper with Fang Xinghe in it and began to read it casually.

He had no objection to Fang Xinghe, but he wasn't very curious about him either.

Over the years, he has seen too many young talents, prodigies and evildoers, but if he observes them for a longer period of time... they are all just so-so.

Most of the children of their generation only respect their parents and have very high standards.

However, the article "Uncertainty" reprinted in Guangming Daily did arouse his interest a little - you love it, don't you? It has a bit of gangster spirit, which is rare.

Father Wan, who was originally a little careless, became involuntarily immersed in it as he watched.

It was not until his mother called him and his father to eat and Wan Baoer became lively again that he suddenly woke up.

Yo ho?

This is more than just a little interesting. In addition to his purely youthful perspective, Fang Xinghe can actually look at things from this height?
It's not easy...

Wan Baoer was also in high spirits and started chattering with his father.

"Dad, what kind of person do you think Fang Xinghe is?"

Her mother glared at her and said, "Fang Xinghe, Fang Xinghe. All they talk about is Fang Xinghe! Look how crazy he is about her. What's the difference between him and those South Korean idiots?"

"That's an idol boy band that uses music to empower people. How come it's a dud?"

After saying something stubborn, Wan Baoer suddenly changed her tone: "Forget it, their musical level is indeed not on the same level as Fang Xinghe's literary talent. They are idiots, but you can't scold my brother Xinghe!"

Yo? You changed your gender?

Mother Wan widened her eyes slightly, feeling very unbelievable.

"Didn't you like that HOT thing the most before? You posted it all over the wall and didn't allow me to criticize it at all."

"When did this happen?"

Wan Baoer denied it flatly: "You are slandering me! That was just a poster given to me by a good friend. I can't hurt her feelings. I just put it up for a while as a courtesy. My true heart can only belong to brother Xinghe!"

Mother Wan was so angry that she opened her mouth and was about to curse again.

In the Wan family, she has always played a strict role and paid great attention to the education and discipline of Wan Baoer.

But before he could open his mouth, he was stopped by his daughter-slave next to him.

"Stop, stop, stop. You should pay attention to the way you educate your children in the future. Fang Xinghe's composition is very well written and correct in a sense. Bao Bao is a grown-up girl now and understands many things. You can reason with her and she will listen to the right things. You can't just criticize her without encouragement. That's not good."

Wan Baoer happily hugged his father and pointed his neck at his mother: "Humph! See? People who can accomplish great things have different minds!"

The mother laughed angrily and tapped her little head: "Okay, okay, I am not kind-hearted. I punished you before just to bite you!"

Just from this one sentence, we can tell that she has also read Fang Xinghe's article "Knowing but Not Following".

"Not really." Wan Baoer stopped when she saw that things were going well, and laughed, "I know you're doing this for my own good. You and dad have given me a lot of love, but I'm also at an age where I have my own thoughts."

Father Wan smiled and tried to smooth things over, agreeing with his daughter: "Fang Xinghe's articles are indeed very positive for young people.

Being too rebellious is certainly not a good thing, but not yielding is a very good quality, and nothing is more important than a strong heart.

Fang Xinghe has the character of your grandfather's generation. I can understand and accept your admiration for him. "

In fact, the real meaning is: I don’t understand and don’t accept your worship of those South Korean idiots.

He had said this many times before, but unfortunately, it didn't work.

Today was different. Wan Baoer nodded obediently: "Yeah, yeah, I get it! I won't do it again in the future, I promise!"

Wan's mother's brow did not relax, and it was obvious that she was still unhappy.

"You can't be a fan, especially Fang Xinghe, whose personality is too..."

However, Wan Baoer was very clever and didn't let her mother finish her words. She ran back to the living room, picked up the Beijing Youth Daily, and ran back again, smiling ingratiatingly, "Mom and Dad, can I read Fang Xinghe's new article to you?"

The couple looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

Wan Baoer didn't even wait for their consent and began to read the article "Small Town Test-Taker" with great emotion.

The previous part of this article mostly talks about a class perspective.

That is: how did I, who came from a poor small town, view the world, and what shocks did I receive after I bravely stepped out into the world?

From Wudang to Shanghai, I first accepted the tranquility of Taoism, then felt the prosperity of Shanghai, and finally returned to the small town. Both tranquility and prosperity took root in the depths of my impoverished soul, and the adolescent restlessness that once found no outlet suddenly irrigated a small flower.

The green branches strive to stretch upwards, the flowers bloom brightly and fragrantly, and the silent roots dig deeper and deeper into the dark soil...

The text is no longer full of hostility, but is filled with symbolic implications.

Fang Xinghe did not write out any possibilities directly, but the three symbols of flowers, branches and roots, as well as the dynamic changes resulting from them, are enough to make people imagine any possibility.

Are branches the vitality of youth?

Are flowers blooming with effort?
Is the root of silence the original heart?

It can be, but not necessarily, and it may not even be.

Fang Xinghe's writing is no longer as clear and brave as that in "Knowing but Not Following". He has a strong determination to get out of the small town, but the ending he ultimately aims for is not how strong he will become, what he will accomplish, or how glorious he will be, but the slightly illusory "being true to oneself and clarifying one's heart".

On the surface, he doesn’t look fierce or cool at all, but in the last sentence “I choose to do the questions” he sublimates into extreme determination.

Wan Baoer saw the mountains as mountains and felt only a vigorous spirit of upwardness.

What Wan's mother saw was the fathers walking out of the mountains barefoot, holding their heads and bathing in blood, with the most tenacious will to grow, and finally blooming their lives into gorgeous red flowers.

From the perspective of Wanfu, I can imagine more and higher things...

From being poor to flourishing, the flowers are attracting bees and butterflies, the branches are overwhelmed, the soil where they are rooted is poor and in urgent need of irrigation, and the roots themselves have some...

Of course, none of them has realized the Taoist level of tranquility.

The stillness of the root and the movement of life are both opposite and unified.

Unless you have experienced the great enlightenment between life and death, it is difficult to understand the contradictory philosophy of quietly lurking in the darkness and desperately absorbing in poverty.

Life and death, yang and yin, movement and stillness, their essence is too metaphysical and can only be understood but is difficult to express.

And when Wan Baoer finally read the lyrical paragraph that sublimated the main theme, the couple, who were immersed in thought, were stabbed in the chest without any preparation. They shuddered all over, from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads.

“Everyone’s ultimate mission is to find oneself and then be faithful to oneself. We are not going to escape from this homeland, but we need to hit the road, see different scenery, use the wider world to purify our souls, change from hating everything to loving everything, change from disdaining everything to respecting everything, and finally happily discover that this world is not what I imagined when I was young, but I still love it.”

Even until Wan Baoer's voice faded away, Wan's mother still felt incredible.

"Is this really written by Fang Xinghe?"

"Yeah! What else?"

"Good!" Father Wan couldn't help but raise his voice, "It's very profound and impressive. Great!"

Wan's mother suddenly felt a strong sense of loss in her heart, and she stared out the window blankly: "We are about to leave this homeland, but we are not escaping, we just... In short, we really can't bear to leave..."

The Wan family has decided to move to Hong Kong Island and send Wan Baoer to study abroad.

No matter what the reason, leaving the hometown where you were born and raised and where you have carried decades of memories is bound to be sad and uneasy. At this moment, hearing such a sentence, I am really overwhelmed with mixed feelings, from the heart.

This is high frequency synchronization, and it comes at the right time and is exactly what it means.

It may sound like an empty explanation to others, but it can be the highlight to the right person.

"It is indeed an excellent article. Fang Xinghe's spiritual world is very large and beautiful."

In just a moment, Wan Mu's opinion of Fang Xinghe turned from negative to positive, and her favorability level rose dramatically to a very high level.

Being understood, being touched, and being comforted with words is truly a rare kind of happiness and fulfillment.

Compared to this, things like breaking her father's legs and calling the media scumbags are actually not a big deal in the eyes of people at her level.

She changed her words decisively and her attitude took a 180-degree turn.

"Xiao Fang is a little extreme, but he is really very spirited. Your generation are all little ancestors and big babies, who have never suffered any hardship. You are all spoiled and extremely unreasonable. Since you like him, you should learn more from him and stop being so irresponsible..."

"Wow!"

Wan Baoer exclaimed: "It's so rare to see you praising someone! Then the two of us are on the same side! Come, follow me and join the great Fang Fan Organization!"

Question marks appeared over the heads of Mr. Wan and Mrs. Wan.

Fang fans? Organization?
What is this and what is this?!

……

In Tianjin, on the way to dance class, Mao Xiaotong bought a copy of Beijing Youth Daily from a newsstand.

Without time to take a closer look, she just flipped through it roughly and saw that the entire page of P13 was Fang Xinghe's new article, and there was a new photo of him on the color page of P12. She was immediately overjoyed.

“Haha, that’s awesome!”

Mao Xiaotong was very satisfied with today's newspaper. She held it carefully in her arms and went to the practice room happily.

When she got to the classroom, two girls who were chatting saw the newspaper in her hand and surrounded her with a wow: "Xiaotong, you also bought the Beijing Youth Daily? Do you want the color page in the middle?"

Mao Xiaotong was furious and held the newspaper behind her: "Of course! What do you want to do?"

"No, I didn't think of anything..."

One of the students was frightened by her. He pursed his lips and muttered weakly: "If you don't want to give it to me, then don't give it to me. Why are you in such a hurry..."

The other one's eyes lit up and asked excitedly: "You like Fang Xinghe too? Right? Oh, then we are mutual fans of Fang!"

"Fang fan?" Mao Xiaotong was stunned.

Liu Jingjing nodded frantically: "Yes, yes, Fang Xinghe's fans are called Fang fans on Tianya!"

"Tianya? Fans?" The poor student was confused and didn't understand at all.

"It's Fans, F, A, N, S. It's an English word, meaning fanatical fans, a group of people who protect a certain idol!"

Liu Jingjing was extremely proud, as if she was announcing something huge.

But Mao Xiaotong was really interested and murmured it several times. The more he recited it, the better it sounded.

"Are you a fan of Fang? Of course I am. I've liked him since May."

"Then I started earlier!" Another girl, Wang Yutang, came over and proudly announced, "I started liking him from the cover of the April issue of Moegi!"

Mao Xiaotong felt a little uncomfortable and snorted coldly: "At that time, his first article had not even been published. Why do you like him?"

"So handsome! He's so handsome that it makes me dizzy!"

Wang Yutang was so frank that Mao Xiaotong was speechless.

Little girls these days... no, little girls of any age, all like handsome stars.

If you ask them to appreciate Wang Baoqiang's great performance in Mr. Tree, that would be really difficult for them, but if you ask them which star is handsome, they will immediately name them all.

There is no need to be too harsh on this. 99% of young girls have gone through this stage. Zhu Shimao in the early days, Tang Guoqiang even earlier, and even all the way back to Pan An, were once the dream lovers of a generation of girls.

However, Mao Xiaotong is one of the very rare exceptions.

At first she didn't like that face. She had a natural wariness towards men who were too handsome. It was not until she gained tremendous courage and strength from "Knowing but Not Following" that she began to admire Fang Xinghe more fanatically than anyone else.

So, she felt indignant when she saw that Liu Jingjing and Wang Yutang only liked Fang Xinghe's handsomeness.

"Being handsome is only Fang Xinghe's most insignificant advantage. You should focus on his talent!"

"I'm paying attention! I read every issue of Beijing Youth Daily."

"And your newspaper?"

"I'll put the reward booth away after I finish watching it!"

"what?!"

"There are no photos of Fang Xinghe in the first few issues, so why should I buy them? Because I like Fang Xinghe. My mom doesn't give me any pocket money anymore, so I'm going to save the little money I have left to buy Fang Xinghe's first book."

Wang Yutang's eloquent repartee completely confused Mao Xiaotong.

She found that her admiration for Fang Xinghe seemed to be on another level - she not only bought the Beijing Youth Daily, but also planned to go elsewhere to collect all the newspapers and periodicals that featured Fang Xinghe.

But she was more interested in the book.

"Where did you get the information? Fang Xinghe is going to publish a book?"

"It was in the Xinmin Evening News!" Liu Jingjing answered hastily, "That report mentioned that Fang Xinghe is writing his first long novel, a novel!"

Wang Yutang added: "Also, Xinmin Daily has already arranged a new interview with Fang Xinghe!"

Mao Xiaotong kept these two things in mind and made up her mind to work hard to save money from now on.

I can’t lose to Wang Yutang, absolutely not!

……

Wang Yutang, Wan Baoer and Mao Xiaotong represent three types of classic Fang fans respectively.

The first one is that because their parents dislike Fang Xinghe, their love is not accepted by adults and they can only hide it in secret.

This situation is probably the mainstream, because Xiao Fang’s current reputation... hehehe!

But it’s not a big problem. Even if it’s worse, it can’t be worse than HOT, right?
Well, it seems hard to say...

The second type is that after being influenced by the work, their admiration for Fang Xinghe finally gained their parents’ tacit approval or even support.

Many parents suddenly realized that, apart from his somewhat wild personality, Fang Xinghe was really outstanding in other aspects.

Not only are the three interviews talked about a lot, "Small Town Test-Taker" also has both beauty and righteousness.

It is understandable that children like Fang Xinghe, and it is not necessarily a bad thing.

As a result, the act of chasing Fang Xinghe has become legal in some families, and many Fang fans have been given more space to declare their love openly.

Some open-minded parents are even willing to talk to their children in detail about Fang Xinghe's works and personality.

This greatly expanded the total number of fans of idol Xiaofang and enriched the composition of his fans.

Although those middle-aged parents generally only have a superficial favor and it is difficult to continue to upgrade, their value does not lie in providing star value.

The purpose of their existence is to provide financial support for young Fang fans, raising the overall consumption capacity of Fang fans several times.

At this point, Fang Xinghe finally had the capital to publish a book independently and have it sell well.

The third type of Fang fans is represented by Mao Xiaotong.

They did not receive support from their families because they were all traumatized children who kept their problems to themselves and seldom shared them with others.

They worship Fang Xinghe independently and stubbornly. They may be financially constrained, but they are extremely firm in their will.

All of Fang Xinghe’s current fanatical fans basically come from this group.

The same article once reported that a level one shallow powder only provides 1 point of starlight, but they can provide as much as 15 to 50 points.

In addition, they are also the most solid fortresses when huge waves hit.

The iron wall is unbreakable, so no matter what kind of blow Fang Xinghe suffers, he will always have a chance to make a comeback.

The first type of beauty fans are the same as middle-aged shallow fans. They are fence-sitters, impulsive, and have the characteristics of being a floating duckweed that cannot withstand pressure. Their huge numbers are like flowers that may be blown away by the wind at any time.

Only when the latter two types of fans are combined into one can Fang Xinghe truly build a basic base, allowing him to stand firm in the wind and waves and fish with peace of mind.

Even if the fish you hook is a shark, they have to bite each other a few times to know who is at the top of the food chain.

So, this is just a negative trend that is still on the way...just give it a try and you will know.

　The previous chapter mentioned too many real-life newspapers and editors-in-chief, so it is difficult to change it, so I will not change it and will just delete it.

　　We will be more cautious in dealing with related plots in the future.

　　The word count of the new chapter is exactly 5200, love you guys~~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)