Chapter 1318

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

When the 1 billion RMB was received.

Work on the stage began.

The advertising negotiations were carried out.

The program list was drawn up.

Preparations for the first approval session began.

The Spring Festival Gala’s production team led by Zhang Ye suddenly got busy.

Meanwhile, there was no lack of doubting voices from the outside world.

Little Wang reported, “Director Zhang, there is quite a lot of scolding directed at us outside.”

Zhang Ye said, “I know, just leave them be.”

Tong Fu was slightly surprised. “Aren’t we going to issue a response?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “There’s no need. If they keep talking about us, it proves that there is a lot of attention given to the Spring Festival Gala. That’s much better than having no attention at all, isn’t it? It can also be seen as a different form of publicity. Besides, this isn’t even that much of a scolding. They still have not started with the serious scolding.” There was a deeper meaning to his words.

Everyone was dismayed.

“Ah?”

“Have not started yet?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Is it because of the advertisements?”

“Are there going to be problems with the advertisements?”

They kept up with the questioning. The Spring Festival Gala production team members did not have the same strong mental fortitude as Zhang Ye.

However, Zhang Ye did not give them a direct answer. He simply gave a sheepish smile and said, “You’ll find out when the time comes.”

For the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings, Zhang Ye had resorted to using his killer move. This killer move was the kind that would sacrifice a 2,000-strong army to defeat an army with only 1,000 enemies. It was one of the most controversial marketing cases in Zhang Ye’s previous world but an extremely explosive technique that was very deceitful as well. The people of this world would surely not know about it, but if it was mentioned to anyone in Zhang Ye’s previous world, eighty percent people would surely jump up and start cursing at it!

That’s right!

It was just such a deceitful marketing technique!

And now, Zhang Ye was getting ready to introduce it to this world!

…

The days passed.

The production pace of the Spring Festival Gala started picking up.

…

On this day.

The country was in an uproar!

Everyone had been stunned by a sudden piece of news!

The Spring Festival Gala’s advertising partner, one of the country’s largest payment processors called ” Unipay 1 ,” had announced some extremely shocking news. With a cash prize pool of 200 million RMB, the Spring Festival Gala’s “Five Cards of Fortune Collection” campaign was launched.

And what were the five fortunes?

The prosperity and strength card of fortune.

The harmony card of fortune.

The friendship card of fortune.

The patriotism card of fortune.

The work dedication card of fortune.

The rules were: A user who adds ten new friends on Unipay will stand to receive three cards of fortune. The remaining two cards could be gifted or exchanged between Unipay friends, and the users who managed to gather all five cards of fortune would stand to win an equal share of the 200 million RMB cash prize. This was not simply a chance at winning the prize money, but a definite one as long as you could gather all five cards of fortune. So that would mean that if only one person could gather all the cards, then that person would win the entire share of the 200 million RMB. If two people each managed to gather the five cards, the 200 million yuan cash pool would be split equally between them!

It was cold, hard cash!

This was as fair as it could get!

The Spring Festival Gala’s official Weibo shared the post!

This campaign was widely advertised across all the major forums!

Unipay’s promotions instantly covered every nook and cranny in an overwhelming fashion!

When had the people ever witnessed such a strong marketing push before? They were dumbfounded!

“Holy shit!”

“200 million RMB?”

“I didn’t read it wrong, did I? Has Unipay gone crazy?”

“Is this what the Spring Festival Gala’s advertisement is?”

“Haha, I like this advertisement!”

“No shit, who wouldn’t like it since it involves money to be won!”

“Are they really going to give out 200 million yuan in red packets?”

“Did they have to make such a big move! Isn’t this a little too much?”

“This is fucking 40 times higher than the prize money for those sports lottery tickets!”

“My God!”

“Ahhhhh! 200 million! It’s 200 million!”

“Great showing, Unipay! Nicely done!”

“200 million, here I come!”

“Get lost, it’s mine!”

“I’m gonna give it a try!”

“Hurry, add me as a friend! Quick!”

“If we’re too slow, it’ll be gone. Requesting ten contacts to add!”

“Let’s help each other out, comrades!”

“This is so exciting!”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Everyone was bursting with excitement!

The red packet war had started!

…

At Tsinghua University.

In a classroom.

An English teacher was currently giving a lecture from the front of the room.

“How do we play this?”

“Add me as a friend first, then I’ll tell you.”

“Wow, I’ve already gotten three fortune cards!”

“Me too, I’m just short of another two!”

“Who has the work dedication card of fortune? I’ll trade the prosperity and strength card of fortune for it!”

“Shh, be quiet. We’re in class.”

…

At a company.

“Old Li, I’ve already gathered four cards of fortune.”

“What cards of fortune? Why are you gathering them?”

“Don’t you know? There’s 200 million yuan to be won!”

“Ah?”

“Quickly sign up for a Unipay account.”

“Alright, let me give this card gathering thing a try too!”

…

In a restaurant.

The waiters were huddled together in groups of two and three.

“Give me a patriotism card! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

“I only have two cards of fortune!”

“I’ll trade the harmony card with you!”

“Alright, I’ve sent it to you!”

“Where’s the work dedication card?”

“I don’t know! No one has it!”

…

In the crosstalk world.

“What are you all doing?”

“We’re gathering the five fortunes.”

“Whoa, you guys are also playing such games at your age?”

“There’s no chance for us to get on the Spring Festival Gala anyway, so we might as well just give it a try. Who knows, we might end up winning the red packet prize.”

The number of people collecting the cards of fortune was increasing!

Even the old comrades from the crosstalk world had joined in, so just imagine what kind of a situation this was!

…

On one of the days.

A Weibo photo went viral.

The first person in the country to gather all five of the cards of fortune finally appeared. That person posted a screenshot with the five cards flush with color 2 , while the comments below were all envious voices.

“That’s amazing!”

“You’ve gathered them all so quickly?”

“Big Bro, please give me a share of your prize!”

“This is worth 200 million, bro!”

“If no one else manages to gather them all, the entire 200 million RMB prize will belong to you!”

“Damn, where’s the work dedication card!”

“I’m also looking for it. There are too few of them!”

“Fucking work dedication card, show yourself!”

“Collecting the work dedication card, paying 50 yuan for one!”

“I’ll pay 100 yuan!”

“Whoever has the work dedication card, please PM me. I can act cute for you and warm your bed too!”

“Could this poster end up winning the entirety of the prize money?”

“No way, right? There will definitely be others who can gather all five of them as well. In fact, I heard that there will be an indication of how many people have managed to gather all the cards of fortune during the live broadcast of the Spring Festival Gala on Lunar New Year’s Eve. The hosts will also be handing out cards of fortune that will be up for grabs to the viewers, so there should still be quite a few work dedication cards getting released. We can only depend on luck to see if we can get them!”

“What? It will be a concurrent event with the Spring Festival Gala?”

“That’s right.”

“This advertising campaign is really fun and gimmicky!”

“Zhang Ye is so devious!”

“Yeah, the campaign was thought up by him in the first place!”

“Pfft, Zhang Ye is too good at business. I was still wondering why he was suddenly open to taking advertisements for the gala. So it was because the advertisements could help increase the viewership ratings and bring in viewership for the Spring Festival Gala!”

“I don’t care about the gala. All I want is the work dedication card!”

“I’ll be the girlfriend of whoever gives me their work dedication card!”

“Damn, previous poster, are you serious?”

“I hope the Spring Festival Gala gets broadcast soon. I can’t wait anymore!”

“I hope they’ll give out a few more of the work dedication cards during the Spring Festival Gala!”

One spread to ten.

Ten spread to a 100.

Some people were doing it for the red packets while others were doing it purely for the fun of it. There were also people who saw their friends asking for cards of fortune who ended up joining in the activity as well. A propagation like this through social media was extremely frightening. Once a user started gathering the cards of fortune, the ten friends they added would also know about it. When those ten friends joined in to gather the cards, they would then bring in another 100 friends with them. The 100 friends would then bring in 1,000 friends, and the 1,000 friends would bring in 10,000 friends. This would go on and on until no new users were left!

It was a form of viral marketing!

In just a short period of time, the entire country was caught up in the craze of the Spring Festival Gala’s Five Cards of Fortune Collection!

That’s right!

It was crazy!

It was an unparalleled madness!

…

Elsewhere.

Zhang Ye had been on the receiving end of countless phone calls from his relatives and friends in recent days.

His mother called.

“Son.”

“Mom, I’m busy at work.”

“Wait, I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“Go on, go on.”

“Send me a work dedication card.”

“Ah?”

“The work dedication card! Hurry up!”

“But I don’t have it.”

“The cards of fortune are given out by the Spring Festival Gala, so how can you not have any when you’re the executive director?”

“I really don’t have any. They’re handed out by Unipay; we’re just their partner.”

“Alright then, I’ll go check with others.”

Rao Aimin called.

“Little Zhang!”

“Big Sis Rao, what’s the matter?”

“Send me a work dedication card.”

“What? You’re playing that too?”

“There’s money to be won. Only a fool would not play!”

“But you’re already so rich. Anyway, I don’t have it.”

“Rascal, don’t you give me that bullshit. Hurry up and get me the card!”

“I really don’t have it.”

After hanging up, Zhang Ye gave a wry smile. Then he looked at Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the group of people from the Spring Festival Gala production team who were on their break. A lot of them were whispering to each other, and it could be seen that they were all trading cards of fortune with one another. They were really enjoying it, and it could be seen that even the Spring Festival Gala production team had fallen into the craze of gathering the five fortunes!

The entire country had fallen!

No one was spared!

They had all been taken in by the scam!

It had gotten big!

It had gotten huge!

Zhang Ye shuddered in fear on the inside. He wiped away his sweat and called Ha Qiqi over. “Sister Ha, uhh, come over for a bit. I have something that I need to talk to you about.”

“Coming, Director Zhang.” Ha Qiqi quickly traded a card of fortune with Little Wang before coming over. “Is the noon break over? Should I notify everyone to start working?”

Zhang Ye coughed and said, “Were you the one who liaised with Unipay?”

Ha Qiqi nodded. “Yes, I’m in charge of that.”

Zhang Ye cleared his throat and stammered, “Umm, so, tell them quickly that I said to let them come up with another promotion to create another prize pool on the day of the Spring Festival Gala. It doesn’t have to be much, just tens of millions, or a 100 million would be fine too. Or they could also work with some of the artist studios and invite the celebrities to join in. They can then hand out red packets in the name of the celebrities or stuff like that. This would not require the use of the cards of fortune, nor will there be any limitations on who can grab the red packets. Everyone is allowed to take part, and it’s best that everyone can participate in it. When the time comes, we’ll also help them to promote it here on the Spring Festival Gala.”

Ha Qiqi was taken aback. “That shouldn’t be necessary, right, Director Zhang? This Five Cards of Fortune Collection campaign has taken off so crazily that everyone is trying their hand at it. Why is there still a need to directly give out additional red packets? The publicity effect is in place, and the advertising world is totally shocked by this advertising and marketing push that you’ve started!”

Yes!

They were all in shock!

But what was even more shocking was still to come!

This marketing push was a complete scam. It was a bottomless pit!

Zhang Ye said, “Just do as I say.”

“Alright, understood. I’ll get in contact with them about it,” Ha Qiqi said.

Zhang Ye said, “Tell them that this is to earn goodwill for them, so don’t be afraid to spend. They’ve already spent 200 million anyway, so this amount should not really matter that much.”

Ha Qiqi went to carry out his instructions. “OK.”

This proposal that Zhang Ye was suggesting was actually to help Unipay dig its way out of the pit. Once the campaign ended, Unipay should be able to benefit quite a bit from it, and the Spring Festival Gala would not be implicated either. Be it the Five Cards of Fortune Collection or grabbing of the red packets that the celebrities would be giving out, all of that would help to boost the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings. As such, the Spring Festival Gala was the party that stood to gain the most out of this campaign. So when you thought about it, the blame would only fall onto Zhang Ye. Not only was he the executive director of the Spring Festival Gala, he was also the manager of this advertising and marketing proposal. This fellow could already imagine how many people would curse at him on the day the campaign ended!

Hai, come at me then. He was already mentally prepared for the backlash that he would receive over his “scamming” of the entire country’s citizens in a bid to boost the viewership ratings of the Spring Festival Gala!

The five fortunes?

Five fortunes, my ass!

This was more like the five deceptions!

But the thing was, nobody knew what it was yet!

Unipay = Alipay

If the cards have not been collected yet, they’re grayed out.