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The final episode of 'Autumn in My Heart' broke through the 3% viewership mark, and the ones who felt both the most excited and anxious were none other than Haijin Satellite TV.
The excitement was self-explanatory. Thanks to this low-budget, 20-episode urban romance drama, Haijin TV, previously just a fringe player, finally got its moment in the spotlight.
For two whole months, they basked in glory. Even after paying out the performance bonuses from the revenue-sharing contract, they were still making a massive profit.
But the sense of loss came from the fact that now that 'Autumn in My Heart' had wrapped, Haijin TV would soon return to its old track, and that wasn't a glamorous one.
With no signature variety shows and a lack of competitive dramas, Haijin TV had previously been performing worse than Capital City TV's secondary and tertiary channels, bringing them little more than embarrassment.
Now that they had finally latched onto a cash cow, how could they possibly let go so easily? Sure, 'Autumn in My Heart' was over, but the creator and leading actress were still around. If they didn't act now, when would they?
So in their congratulatory blog post, Haijin TV went all out with lavish praise, even bordering on flattery of Lu Chen, while also tagging Chen Fei'er for good measure.
Chen Fei'er couldn't stop laughing as she read it.
Meanwhile, not to be left behind, Capital City TV and Zhedong Satellite TV jumped into the spotlight. Both networks announced via their official blog accounts that they would rebroadcast 'Autumn in My Heart' this week.
The rebroadcast rights had been sold long ago, shared between the two networks. Watching Haijin TV devour the meat, they clearly couldn't wait any longer.
A phenomenon-level drama like this was bound to perform well even in reruns. Especially since 'Autumn in My Heart' had little promotion during its initial run and the first few episodes didn't score high ratings, many viewers and fans who missed it the first time were now eager to catch up. Capital City TV and Zhedong TV were obviously trying to ride the wave while it was hot.
As for all this media frenzy, Lu Chen wasn't especially interested. Instead, he returned to his own blog to look at the comment section under the post containing his poem, "The Farthest Distance in the World."
After a period of organic spread, the poem had climbed into the Hot Search rankings on the Wave Blog homepage, becoming one of the day's most talked-about topics.
It had already racked up over a million comments and hundreds of thousands of shares, becoming blisteringly popular. Among the sea of feedback, most netizens appreciated and praised Lu Chen's poem, the number of likes alone made that clear.
But of course, there were also critical and even skeptical voices, many coming from verified influencer accounts.
"These people…" Reading the comments over Lu Chen's shoulder, Chen Fei'er grew angry. "All they know how to do is throw shade. If they've got the guts, let them write a poem and see how people react!"
She had been in the industry for over a decade and was no stranger to the ups and downs of public opinion. She could take praise or criticism with grace. But when it came to Lu Chen, she wouldn't stand for it. "They just can't stand to see someone else do well!"
Lu Chen chuckled in spite of himself, deeply moved by her concern. He thought for a moment, then grabbed the mouse and opened the blog editor page. He was ready to publish a new post.
Chen Fei'er thought he was about to fire back at the critics.
"No need to engage with them," she said quickly. "The more you respond, the happier they get. They're just using you for clout."
This kind of attention-seeking behavior was a well-known play in the entertainment industry, and blogosphere drama was nothing new.
If Lu Chen started trading barbs, it would only lower him to their level.
But Lu Chen shook his head and said, "It's not about them. I'm planning to make an announcement, something important."
This was something he'd thought about for a long time, and now the timing was finally right.
Through his Wave Blog, Lu Chen announced a major decision to the public:
He would donate 10 million yuan from the profits of 'Autumn in My Heart' to set up a charity fund dedicated to helping leukemia patients who couldn't afford treatment.
This idea had taken root back when he was writing 'Autumn in My Heart'. Back then, it wasn't feasible. But now, he had both the means and the platform to bring it to life.
The moment the blog post went live, it received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.
"Strongly support!"
"Good things happen to good people. Supporting Big Lu Chen!"
"The entertainment industry needs positive energy. Let me just say, well done!"
"Do you accept donations? I'm willing to give a month's salary."
"Truly moved. If all celebrities were like Lu Chen, the world would be a better place!"
"I'm willing to donate all my red envelope money!"
"So touching."
At this point, all doubts and criticisms vanished without a trace. Celebrity charity work was nothing new, but for someone like Lu Chen to put up 10 million yuan to start a dedicated fund, that was genuinely rare.
No one doubted Lu Chen's sincerity and kindness, because he made the announcement publicly on Wave Blog, witnessed by tens of millions. If he broke his promise, it would be career suicide.
Seeing Lu Chen's announcement, Chen Fei'er first paused, then snatched the laptop from him, logged out of his account, and signed into hers.
Just minutes after Lu Chen's statement was posted, Chen Fei'er published a very similar blog post herself.
She announced she would also donate 10 million yuan to this special charity fund!
A charity project that hadn't even been officially registered or named suddenly doubled its capital to 20 million yuan overnight, instantly causing a sensation on Wave Blog.
In reality, 20 million yuan is not much in the charity world, such a fund is quite small compared to foundations with hundreds of millions or even billions.
But the identities of the founders and donors were extraordinary, and their influence magnified the impact exponentially!
"Ah, they really are the best couple in the entertainment industry! Support Chen Fei'er, support our Enxi!"
"Yeah, Junxi and Enxi!"
"Haha, is this what they call husband and wife in harmony? I like it!"
"Enough talk, just because of this, I'm officially switching from a passerby to a fan!"
"Oh wow, they're really a couple. Do you think the rumors about Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er are true?"
"True or not, people who do good deeds are good people!"
Combined, Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er had over 30 million followers on Wave Blog. Even with significant overlap, that's still a terrifying number.
Their blog posts were shared everywhere, receiving countless support and praise.
Within just half an hour, many celebrities and artists in the showbiz community started publicly declaring their intention to donate and join the charity fund project, with amounts ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.
Among them were mutual friends of Lu Chen and Chen Fei'er: Tan Hong, Liao Jia, Sister Li, and Tian Tian.
What had started as Lu Chen's personal idea and decision was quietly becoming a joint entertainment industry movement.
Even Lu Chen hadn't anticipated this.
This time, they really played big!
(End of chapter)