169: Getting a bargain and still acting cute

Xie Yunxuan looked at the scene, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.

Killing two birds with one stone!

Seeing that Chen Fang wouldn't budge, Bai Wenbin turned back angrily and glared at Xie Yunxuan.

Xie Yunxuan spread his hands, "Don't blame me. Blame the production team."

Bai Wenbin gritted his teeth, glared at him for five or six seconds, then turned to Chen Fang, "You go back and shower, then put on the production team's clothes and come over. I'll clean it myself; you just come and symbolically wipe it a couple of times!"

Chen Fang, taking advantage of the situation, tugged at his clothes, "I really don't have cat hair on my clothes. And my cat is really cute, don't be so disgusted."

Saying that, Chen Fang tapped his screen protector, thrusting it in front of Bai Wenbin.

Bai Wenbin's negative emotion value +166!

Xie Yunxuan slapped the table and stood up, "No! The task card stipulates that the toilet surface must be sprayed with cleaner and wiped once. It can't be just a symbolic wipe! Director Liu, they're breaking the rules."

Bai Wenbin sneered, "Where's the violation? The card doesn't say who has to do it! You've already used it, so the card is effective."

Director Liu gritted his teeth and quickly scanned the detailed rules on the card.

Damn it, they've been exploiting bugs all day.

He suppressed his resentment and said, "From now on, every task on every card must be completed by the person who accepts the task!"

Xie Yunxuan was full of resentment.

Damn! I gave the wrong one. I should have let Bai Wenbin clean theirs.

No, that wouldn't have tormented Chen Fang either.

Ah! Forget it, at least he didn't suffer the consequences of his own actions.

Liang Yan pulled out a card, "I want to issue one too, Teacher Xie, you go clean the yard."

"No way."

Xie Yunxuan used his only bounce card.

Bai Wenbin pulled out a trump card and slammed it on the table, "Xie Yunxuan! You go clean the first-floor public restroom!"

The scene in the living room gradually became chaotic.

...

At the same time, after the production team announced the evening live broadcast preview at noon, the news quickly spread online.

Firstly, the production team bought a trending topic.

Secondly, after Tang Chen learned the news, he sighed, "He still ended up on this path," then contacted Chen Fang, and after confirming his confidence, he also used his money power.

As a result, by 4:30 PM, the news had climbed to positions in the teens and twenties on the entertainment rankings across various social media platforms.

In an apartment building in Modu.

A man in his mid-twenties, wearing pajamas, rapidly typed on the keyboard, and after pressing enter, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Finished writing!

He opened his chat software and found that someone had @ him in the [Takeoff] group.

He is a full-time novelist, mainly writing long novels, and occasionally short stories.

The chat group named [Takeoff] has fifteen authors, including successful ones and old failures.

He opened it and saw a message from an old failure.

[Lan Ye]: @Kulusu, Kulusu, has the editor replied to you?

The man chuckled lightly and typed back: "Yes. He said the market outlook is good."

Some time ago, ghost blows out the light made archaeology and adventure popular. Many people followed the trend but failed because they lacked knowledge.

So he chose to leverage his strengths and avoid weaknesses by selecting hisGood at of sci-fi genre, incorporating suspense, horror, adventure, and strange elements from ghost blows out the light.

This perfectly satisfied something called the "Optimal Stimulation Model," which simply put is: preference = familiarity + surprise. Embedding 10%-20% surprise within 80%-90% familiarity can balance security and surprise, making it easy to take off.

[Lan Ye]: "Big shot will definitely take off! Please recommend my chapter!"

Kulusu chuckled, "It might be niche. No matter how good it is, the royalties probably won't be a fraction of my last book's. I'm just writing for fun."

...

At the same time, in another community in Modu.

Xinghai was on the toilet, looking at the pretentious remarks on the screen, and couldn't help but frown in disdain.

This group of people is starting to show off again.

These guys probably show off too much when writing novels, so they easily start showing off in the group.

Yesterday, he even saw someone say, "Today I only earned 5,000, I can only eat vegetable sandwiches." Go die! These guys are good at showing off in books, but when they show off in the group, it inexplicably becomes blunt and clumsy.

Xinghai raised his hand, intending to exit the chat page, when he saw a message pop up.

[the adventures Preview: Tonight at 7 PM! Chen Fang will tell his self-written sci-fi horror story live!]

Immediately after, another message popped up.

[Lan Ye]: Is the threshold for novels so low? Anyone can write, even celebrities? Lol, do they think it's like writing an essay?

[Kulusu]: With fans, even if it's toilet paper, people will buy it.

Seeing this, Xinghai's brow furrowed tighter, and he let out a long sigh.

This kind of belittling is common in this group. Most people are quite normal, but three people love to belittle others.

Perhaps because both big shots and failures are in the same group, and luck is an important factor for success, it's easy for people to have cognitive biases about themselves, feeling that even if they haven't achieved success, they are still super awesome, just a bit unlucky.

This then leads to a common phenomenon: some arrogant individuals will talk glibly about big shots' books, and even if a big shot just changes platforms and hasn't even published a book yet, they will be labeled "no good." If this is true for old authors, let alone celebrities.

Of course, this happens in all industries; it mainly depends on an individual's cognition and character. It's just that this industry has less contact with the outside world, and luck is a significant component, making cognitive biases more prone to occur.

His wife is a psychological worker, and in her words, this phenomenon of arrogantly saying that a big shot's work is no good is called the Dunning-Kruger effect—those with lower cognitive levels, unable to assess their own shortcomings, overestimate their abilities and confidently criticize people far superior to themselves.

This is also about maintaining self-esteem, establishing a persona of being "knowledgeable and awesome," and becoming engrossed in it.

Seeing the group getting more and more excited with the belittling, Xinghai couldn't help but type: "Stop talking, maybe he writes well?"

[Lan Ye]: Xinghai, are you his fan?

[Xinghai]: No.

[Lan Ye]: Then why are you defending him? Yesterday we were saying that Old Thief Yunxiao played for half a year, and his new book, just by the title, is no good. You didn't feel bad for Yunxiao then, so why are you feeling bad for Chen Fang now?

Xinghai was too lazy to argue. That's because he didn't check his phone yesterday.

He sent a teasing emoji and then closed the chat software.

Once upon a time, this group was also a place for discussing writing. It has changed...

...

At 6:30 PM, 30 minutes before the broadcast.

The production team staff were preparing in the small living room and on the balcony on the second floor of the villa. A few people were adjusting the cameras, outline, and audio equipment.

Chen Fang walked over and noticed that the room had more decorations. There was a medical oxygen mask and a vintage pocket watch on the coffee table, and a small white mouse doll under the sofa.

"Teacher Chen, excuse me."

Chen Fang moved aside. The prop master, holding a spherical fish tank with both hands, smiled and nodded at him, then walked to the coffee table and placed the fish tank down. Inside, two goldfish were swimming around.

Chen Fang asked, "Where did you get the goldfish?"

"We bought them from the fish-catching game stall at the amusement park entrance. Director Liu said they would add to the immersion."

Chen Fang nodded. Seeing that the setup was fine, he went downstairs to rest for a while.