I Can Turn into a Fish

That night, Xiao Xiao reached out to some famous bloggers on Weibo, and through them, she was able to contact a couple dozen in total.

Chu Xian gave them all ten thousand RMB and in return, he simply asked them to forward the Weibo post of the Hai Qing City Morning Post and to cooperate a little with some of the reactions.

Such an easy task for ten thousand RMB – all the famous bloggers accepted without hesitation.

Very soon, all the famous bloggers forwarded the newest Weibo post of Hai Qing City Morning Post with the additional comment: “Another Sky-High Price Shrimp Fiasco? Please expose this terrible behavior!”

All the famous bloggers had many fans, ranging from a couple hundred thousand to a couple million. With all their fans added together, that meant they had a total reach of five or six million people! This kind of exposure of evil was good at grabbing people’s attention, and very quickly, the message went viral. Lots of people reposted and forwarded it, leaving many angry comments.

People online started commenting. Some admired the work of the journalists and some criticized the tourist trap angrily, but most just made fun of the goldfish store on Gu Wu Street.

“An Audi’s brake wasn’t working, and on the left side was a cart of Xinjiang nut cakes, while on the right side was an old man with a backpack. The driver swerved and hit the old man, thinking himself lucky that he reacted fast. At that time, the old man spoke with a Hai Qing accent, ‘Why did you hit my backpack?’ The driver said generously, ‘Old man, how much did it cost? I’ll make it up to you!’ The old man said calmly, ‘My backpack is filled with Gu Wu Street goldfish!’ The driver fell down in surprise and couldn’t get back up and died at the age of 38.”

“The day before yesterday I was in Hai Qing City and saw someone selling goldfish on Gu Wu Street. The sign said ‘highest quality goldfish, twenty RMB each.’ I bought one happily, but as I was paying, it turned out that a single scale cost eighteen RMB. When I saw the fish covered in scales, my heart bled.”

“Today I hung out with my friend on Gu Wu Street. Since I like goldfish, when I saw some beautiful goldfish, I bought one tank directly. As I was paying for ten RMB each, five in a tank, I discovered that the price was ten thousand RMB! My brothers all huffed angrily and asked, ‘Why are they so expensive? You said ten RMB each.’ The shopkeeper pointed at the goldfish and said, ‘There are hundreds of fish in its belly.'”

Groups of comedians strained their brains and commented on Weibo, rushing to post their comments. The messages were numberless.

Meanwhile, the chief editor, Zhao Zecheng, was surprised by the commotion. Someone else was directly responsible for their online presence, and although their online platforms were usually used to publish big events in Hai Qing, this time was different. The article was one he reviewed yesterday afternoon.

The article was written by Li Feng and exposed a tourist trap on Gu Wu Street that sold goldfish. When he read that the goldfish were two thousand RMB each, he didn’t hesitate to approve the article and publish it in today’s paper. This kind of shopkeeper had no conscience and should be criticized by all.

He wasn’t surprised that this message had been published on Weibo, but rather he was surprised at how many times it was reposted and forwarded. His Weibo fan count had increased from just over ten thousand to more than fifty thousand in the span of a day.

Zhao Zecheng read through the comments curiously and he soon understood why. Some big bloggers forwarded the message and spread the news to many people. Nice! This incident wouldn’t be bad publicity for the city, but would instead promote the reputation of the Morning Post! And it also helped spread Gu Wu Street’s fame!

Zhao Zecheng was so excited he clapped a couple times as he continued reading the comments. He walked out with a happy face and looked at all the people working including Li Feng and the others. He called out, “Come, come, let me share some good news.”

They all looked at the chief editor curiously. Zhao Zecheng smiled at them. “I want to congratulate Li Feng, Du Hai, and Chen Ze first. Today, the publicity with the goldfish store story has had a huge influence on the internet and many people are praising our Morning Post. It has also helped the government promote Gu Wu Street. Tomorrow, you can continue your report and wait for an award for this month!”

Li Feng and the others were stunned for a moment before becoming excited. They looked at each other and laughed proudly.

“Kid, I’ll see how you die now,” Li Feng thought. As he remembered the arrogant shopkeeper, he couldn’t help but cock his eyebrows and put on a proud expression.

Meanwhile, the arrogant shopkeeper of the goldfish store on Gu Wu Street smiled and glanced at Weibo. Such shocking news was now one of the hottest topics on Weibo, and sooner or later, billions of people in the whole country would know of his store.

Chu Xian didn’t use Weibo, but since he felt he should start the next step of his plan, he created a Weibo account called Ornamental Fish in Paradise.

Among the pictures and videos he collected and took on his phone, Chu Xian picked out a few about each fish and posted them on Weibo with some captions introducing and explaining each goldfish and their price – three thousand RMB each.

After finishing everything, Chu Xian went to sleep with a satisfied smile.

The next morning, Chu Xian looked out at the sunny day and stretched. It was already a little past eight, so he washed up and brushed his teeth. By the time he finished breakfast and arrived at his store, it was nine.

When he arrived at the entrance of the store, he saw that a group of people had already surrounded the entrance, all talking and pointing.

Chu Xian was stunned. He knew the event would attract the attention of countless people, but wasn’t this a little too much too soon?

“Excuse me, please don’t block the entrance!” Chu Xian shouted loudly as he walked forward.

“Shop owner? Is he the boss?” The people whispered to each other.

“Hey, brother. Are you the shopkeeper? The boss who sells goldfish for two thousand RMB each?” one of the young man yelled at him curiously.

“No!” Chu Xian replied, smiling. “No, I am the boss who sells goldfish at three thousand RMB each.”

Chu Xian opened the door and turn to the crowd. “Welcome to my little shop. Come in and see the so-called tourist trap, haha!”

The people were all stunned. The owner of the tourist trap was so arrogant but seeing as the door was wide open and welcoming, the people went in.

In a breakfast café across the street, Li Feng and the others pointed cameras at the scene. They arrived earlier that morning and saw the people gathered, talking and giggling. Stunned by how many people there were, they went up and asked them why they were there.

Apparently, without their knowledge, their article already became the top Tencent news.