Volume 1, Chapter 133: The Unspoken Rule Backfires

Seeing this line of text, Mr. Wang froze for a moment, then frowned. He had not expected such a problem to arise at such a critical juncture!

After refreshing, the original page still failed to display. Realizing the issue lay within his own company, Mr. Wang immediately reached for the phone to call the technical staff, but before he could, a frantic knocking echoed at his door.

"Mr. Wang, it’s no good! We’ve engaged all our backup servers, and the load has climbed to three million, but we still can’t meet the demand. The servers have crashed!"

Just then, a customer service representative ran up. "Mr. Wang, our phones haven't stopped ringing for a single second. The lines are completely jammed."

Hearing this, Mr. Wang stood up abruptly, a bead of sweat sliding down his forehead. If this situation wasn't handled properly, the repercussions for the company would be massive!

"Quick, contact our partners and lease more servers—get two more!"

Driven by the relentless "urging" of netizens, the ticketing company worked overtime. Finally, the website and the app were restored. Satisfied, the users logged back into the ticketing site. When they accessed the app, they rubbed their eyes in disbelief at the number of tickets available.

Jiang Yu’s concert tickets were listed at fifty thousand. Never before had a singer released so many tickets at once; the highest count they had ever seen was around ten thousand, usually split across several rounds. This was the so-called "hunger marketing" strategy. Yet, Jiang Yu had released fifty thousand tickets in one go, and at very accessible prices, with the most expensive seat costing only 1,500 yuan. While that figure might sound high, it was very reasonable compared to the exorbitant prices of over 10,000 yuan often demanded by top-tier "fresh meat" idols.

The remaining number of tickets began to drop steadily.

1000... 0... All tickets for this session have been sold out. Please stay tuned for the next release.

"Ah, I got one!"
"I got one too! This is the first time ticket-grabbing has gone so smoothly for me!"
"So satisfying! I got mine!"
"Are you people demons? I’ve practically poked a hole through my phone screen and I still didn't get one. I have to wait for the next round."
"Haha, I got it! So smooth."
"You bunch of beasts! Fifty thousand tickets, and not a single one left for me!"

"Bosses, the ticketing site just contacted the company. All fifty thousand tickets are sold out!" Wu Kenan ran into the room, beaming with excitement.

Su Muyu turned her head to look at Jiang Yu, and upon turning back, she found another pair of twinkling eyes fixed on her.

"Really?" Su Ling looked on in disbelief, yet another massive surprise. "I need to contact the company immediately to issue an announcement!"

[Fifty Thousand Tickets Sold Out in Half an Hour!]
[Genius Singer Creates Another Miracle]

Several media outlets chimed in, and exaggerated headlines began to pop up all over the internet. At first, some questioned the validity of the claims, but shortly after, the ticketing site published the transaction data. Every piece of authentic data was posted online. Soon after, trending topics erupted across all major social media platforms.

The story wasn't over yet. Once the fifty thousand tickets were sold, Jiang Yu posted another update on Weibo: "My friends, the fifty thousand tickets are all gone. I look forward to meeting everyone in Shanghai!"

As soon as this post went live, a massive crowd gathered on his feed.

"No way. I thought there would be a second round, ahhh!"
"Damn it, I should have asked for time off to buy tickets!"
"What do I do now? I’m going to get ripped off by scalpers again!"
"The thought of being extorted by scalpers just breaks my heart."

At Star Entertainment:
"You loser! How did I end up with a worthless son like you?"
A roar erupted from the office, followed by the sound of objects being smashed. Li Jiang stood there trembling, clutching his face, as a crystal brush washer crashed at his feet.

Li Gang pointed at his son's nose and reprimanded him harshly: "You beast! I told you to be careful. Not only did you get caught on camera, but it was someone from our own company!"

"Have I ever told you about the company's rules?"

Listening to his father, Li Jiang rubbed his reddened cheek with a look of grievance and muttered, "You’ve played around before too, and you never said anything."

Hearing his son’s pathetic retort, Li Gang’s rage flared again. He grabbed an ashtray and hurled it at him: "You scoundrel, I..."

Seeing his father in such a fury, Li Jiang didn't dare utter another word. Li Gang began pacing back and forth.

Just then, the secretary entered. Seeing the awkward atmosphere, she wanted to retreat, but after glancing at the documents in her hand, she walked in anyway.

"Mr. Li..." Her voice was thin, and she kept stealing nervous glances at her boss.

"What is it?" Li Gang calmed his temper and looked at her.

The secretary placed the documents on the table and answered timidly, "You should see this for yourself."

Li Gang picked up the documents, and a nameless rage surged in his heart. He raised the stack, ready to smash it down, but then his strength seemed to desert him, and he slowly sat back down. The files scattered across the desk.

One line was printed in bold: [Genius Youth Creates Another Miracle, Fifty Thousand Tickets Swept Away in 30 Minutes.]

He had hoped to use the recent incident to drive Jiang Yu into the abyss, yet he hadn't expected him to make such a comeback. Why was he so difficult to deal with?

Meanwhile, the other entertainment companies that had conspired against Jiang Yu were not faring well either. Aside from the tickets sold to scalpers, very few of their own tickets had been moved. They had tried many methods, including but not limited to fan clubs and having their artists post videos and photos acting cute on Weibo.

It had some effect, and their popularity saw a small uptick on social media.

The "Little Fairies" (obsessive fans) jumped in:
"Charge, sisters! Our idols cannot lose to anyone!"
"That's right, they are so handsome, we must support them! I bought several!"
"Sister, you're so rich! I took the money I saved for my wedding with my boyfriend."
"You did the right thing, sister. Youth must be lived without regrets."

Many fan-circle girls were lured into buying tickets, but the results remained meager. It was nowhere near the sales performance of Jiang Yu.

But this wasn't the worst of it. What caused the bosses even more distress was that the scalpers they had partnered with were now facing a disaster. Nearly six figures' worth of tickets were now stuck in the hands of the scalpers. They had bought those tickets at five or even ten times the face value. Now that they couldn't sell them, how could they possibly be willing to take such a loss?