CDJMM – Volume 4 – Chapter 12 Filming in the Interstellar Era (12)

Luo Bao stared carefully for a moment before finally realizing the real reason behind the ranking change—

It wasn’t that Old Times Scenery’s votes suddenly dropped, but that some other works’ votes had suddenly skyrocketed.

Under the passionate promoting of some fans like Luo Bao, Old Times Scenery’s vote count had been steadily rising.

It had already passed fifty thousand votes, enough for the work to break through the competition and approach the top ten.

But during the half a day when Luo Bao hadn’t logged in to Qijiang Video, some accounts’ vote counts suddenly shot up, pushing Old Times Scenery from the front rows to the back.

If such an abnormal situation wasn’t shady, Luo Bao might as well change his name to “Radish”!

And plenty of fans besides him noticed something was wrong.

Fuming with anger, Luo Bao rushed into the Q Penguin group, only to see they were already discussing it:

Former Pro Quitter: What’s going on here?

I Came With Summer: Why did Old Times Scenery’s ranking suddenly drop?

Typing Is Exhausting I Want to Watch Dramas: Shady! Absolutely shady ╰_╯

Will I Finish This Month: I’ve been watching this. I suspect some accounts are mass-botting votes.

After Completion I Want to Drive on Haitang: Exactly! How can you suddenly gain that many votes in half a day? Totally abnormal!

Suddenly Remembered I Have a Haitang Pit: Definitely abnormal +1

Fine I’ll Just Go to po18: WTF they’re actually cheating—I’m going to report them!

Happy Scientist of Internet Freedom: Eh? Old Times Scenery just posted on Xingbo!

Actually I’m Good at Driving: ??? Holy crap did Scenery finally remember their own password??

Too Bad I Write No-CP: Bold guess—did Scenery get forced to promote for votes?? Hahaha

If I’m Reborn I Want to Be a Happy Pigeon Spirit: Huh? Scenery already knows? Are they angry?

Luo Bao instantly perked up. He didn’t expect Scenery to actually post on Xingbo!

From debut until now, Old Times Scenery had always been icy-cold, like an emotionless submission machine— except for the scheduled Saturday updates of Little People, they were completely invisible the rest of the time.

Their Xingbo only became active when updating Little People or Young Marquis.

To even his die-hard-fan eyes, Scenery’s Xingbo activity made a zombie account look lively.

Excited, he clicked Xingbo, opened Old Times Scenery’s profile, and saw a brand-new post from a few minutes ago:

[Old Times Scenery: The TV drama Republic-Era Literary Chronicles, co-directed by Director Li Jianye and me, will premiere on Qijiang Video this Saturday. Episodes 1–2 will update on Sat/Sun. Stay tuned~ (web link)]

Luo Bao: …

Luo Bao: ???

Luo Bao: !!!

Oh my god!

After being silent for so long, Scenery suddenly dropped a whole new drama out of nowhere!

Is this person Superman???

He clicked the link and was taken to the video homepage. The show hadn’t aired yet, but already had a synopsis.

From the summary, Luo Bao roughly understood the plot: The main story was simple—after his close friend Li Jingran dies unexpectedly, Zhou Dezhang is determined to uncover the truth and avenge him.

A detective story…

To be honest, Luo Bao felt a little disappointed.

After thousands of years of development, every trope in mystery-solving stories had already been overused. Readers had zero interest anymore. Detective stories had already declined centuries ago.

Even if Republic-Era Literary Chronicles took place in the Republic era, Luo Bao still wasn’t interested.

He barely understood that the Republic was a chaotic time full of wars, but didn’t last long before a new government formed, and their country regained stability under the Party’s leadership.

To him, the Republic era wasn’t nearly as interesting as the Dark Three Hundred Years.

During those three centuries, humanity repeatedly rose up against alien colonial rule, producing countless heroic martyrs. Because of those predecessors, humanity has a future today and enjoys independence and freedom.

But the Republic era?

To Luo Bao, it was just old notes buried in dusty paper—long outdated relics of an ancient age.  He simply couldn’t develop interest in such old-fashioned themes and cliché plots.

But Old Times Scenery clearly cared deeply about this show.

This eternally silent, icy author not only sent three Xingbo posts introducing the drama, but even posted a promo on Qijiang Video.

Compared to Little People and Young Marquis, which only got update reminders, the difference in treatment made this loyal fan feel extremely unbalanced.

Still, since the drama was made by Scenery, he’d watch it once it aired, out of loyalty.

But he still hoped Scenery would make more new, heartfelt works like Little People and Young Marquis, not more cliché detective stuff.

Since Scenery had posted, Luo Bao followed tradition and sent them a rainbow-confetti compliment, promising to watch the drama on time.

Then, after thinking a bit, he sent Scenery a private message:

“Hello Scenery!

I’m the fan group admin—It’s Luo Bao Not Radish.

In this competition we discovered some contestants maliciously botting votes, causing your ranking to drop 😡😡😡.

Don’t worry! To maintain fairness, we will definitely report this to Qijiang Video and fight this cheating to the end!”

He honestly didn’t expect Scenery to reply. They had never replied to any of his past messages.

Not just his— they ignored all fan DMs.

So he never expected a reply this time either.

But to his shock, a brand-new message appeared within seconds:

“Thank you. I understand. Sorry to trouble you all, and thank you for your continued support.”

Luo Bao stared blankly for a long moment before breaking into a goofy smile.

Scenery replied to him!

Amazing!!!

Scenery truly cared about him!!

He excitedly screenshotted the conversation and posted it in the Q Penguin group, instantly receiving a flood of jealous screeching.

Feeling satisfied, Luo Bao logged off and marched off to call Qijiang Video for a complaint.

But things weren’t as simple as he thought.

The staff said the voting data was normal!

Group members soon found the reason—

“I asked around. Those people are internet influencers with millions of followers on Xingbo.  They have traffic by default. One post from them and fans rush to vote. We can’t compete with that.”

Male silence, female tears—anyone hearing it would feel crushed.

Although Scenery’s works had good view counts—Little People had 2–3 million per episode—  Luo Bao knew his idol had only risen to fame for a month or two, and only had a bit over 300k Xingbo followers, nowhere close to long-established influencers.

But what now? Were they going to just watch Scenery get eliminated?

Someone tried to comfort the group:

“It’s fine. Anyone in the top 100 gets to debut anyway. The top 100 are still stable. Once the professional judges take over, they’ll judge by quality, not fan numbers.”

Though unwilling, it seemed that was the only option.

As the saying goes, “Fans resemble their idol.” Scenery was aloof and Buddhist, their videos were historical, so their fans tended to be older and very chill.

Thus after venting for a bit, the group quieted down. Everyone was busy with real life anyway; no one had time to mass-vote.

Luo Bao was ready to let it go— until someone lit the match again.

A contestant in this competition, a small influencer named Liu Yin Xiu, posted a passive-aggressive Xingbo:

“Some people don’t do proper work and only think about shady tricks.
If they spent less time buying hot searches, buying bots, and buying views,
and more time making actual content like I do,
readers wouldn’t see right through them.
This vote really shows their true colors.
flop is just a flop.
Hope they learn to work honestly next time.”

Fans asked who he meant. He replied:

“Pointing at Qijiang History section.”

If it had only been that post, Luo Bao could still pretend he was overthinking— but then Liu liked a post insulting Old Times Scenery’s work.

Luo Bao exploded.

He commented directly:

“Are you talking about Old Times Scenery?”

Liu replied quickly:

“Oh? You figured it out so fast. Looks like I’m not the only one who feels that way.”

Luo Bao was furious.

He typed a long rebuttal demanding an apology.

Liu didn’t respond— he just screenshot Luo Bao’s comment, posted it on Xingbo, and wrote:

“A brainless fan has arrived. Sorry, but I’m just someone who tells the truth. If you dare to insult me, I’ll dare to expose you.”

Luo Bao was swollen like an angry pufferfish.

He wrote another long comment— but when he tried to post, the system said:

“You have been blocked by this user.”

Luo Bao: ……

F***!!! I’m gonna end you!!!

He rushed to post the screenshots in the group and @everyone:

“Guys! The other side is attacking Scenery! Get your weapons!!”

A single stone stirred a thousand waves.

Almost Finished Writing: WTF is wrong with this idiot?!

I’m Only 15 and Tired: I remember him—he’s in the competition too, currently… tenth place?

Finally Can Read Novels: I know him. He’s also a Qijiang signed creator. Always makes tacky shorts. When Qijiang held the New Star Program, our idol was selected, he wasn’t, and he’s been passive-aggressive ever since!

I Can Still Watch Dramas!: His fans are all kids—lunatics who always start fights. They’ve attacked me before!

Write More Tomorrow: The author himself is jumping in? Is he bored or what?!

What Name Should I Pick: If he wants war, we’ll give him war! Who’s scared?!

Let’s Just Use Reader IDs: Form a battle squad—anyone joining?

Wait Everyone: Hold up. Don’t be impulsive—don’t give him free hype!

It’s Luo Bao Not Radish: I have an idea! He said our ranking is low because we’re flops, right?  We can also vote-boost! Let’s send Scenery to C-position debut! Make him realize who the real flop is!

Why Isn’t It Finished Yet: Huh? Vote-boost? Can we buy vote services on Taobao?

Hurry Up and Finish Writing: How do we vote-boost? I already used my vote. Should I mobilize my WeChat Moments?

It’s Luo Lan: Guys, this contest isn’t one-person-one-vote! It’s multiple votes per person! As long as you do tasks on Qijiang, earn activity points, you can exchange those points for votes! @everyone

Luo Bao froze— What?? It was that complicated???

I Really Want to Finish: ??? So advanced??? I don’t get it!

Old-Age Disco: Where do I do tasks? Where do I see points? Where do I exchange them?? I’m old, I can’t learn these things!

Black Cat Knight: Old person +1. I’m almost forty—I really can’t understand modern fandom culture…

Cavendish: Is there a tutorial? I’ll study.

Luo Bao grinned. This was the moment for Luo Lan, the fandom veteran!

It’s Luo Bao Not Radish: @It’s Luo Lan, the organization needs you!

Lose Weight Please Katayose: Who would’ve thought—ten years after leaving fandom, I have to activate again.

I’m So Hungry: I finally understand why fangirls get emotional. When your baby gets attacked, it REALLY pisses you off!!!

It’s Luo Lan: I’m here!! Here’s the tutorial! I screenshot every step with instructions! Guaranteed you can learn. If not, DM me—I’ll teach you one-on-one!

It’s Luo Lan: Also, everyone avoid cursing the other side—it hurts our reputation! They have no manners, so we must stay smart. Explain the whole situation clearly for the public. Post screenshots with the hashtag “Old Times Scenery’s Work Is Great”!

It’s Luo Lan: We’ll form a small anti-black team. DM me if you want in!

Old-Age Disco: Forty years old and forced back into fandom…

Sea and Sky: I can’t keep up with you young folks. How about I buy a hot search instead?

Blue Sea And Sky: I can pay an influencer promo account! As for manual voting… please spare me ORZ

Go With the Flow: Sigh, these kids must have too little homework. I’ll assign them more later.

It’s Luo Bao Not Radish: How about we buy a trending tag: “Sunset-Glow Elderly Fans Forced to Become Active Again” HAHAHAHAHAHA