Yu Qiang covered her mouth with her hand as she gasped.
"Hui Yin, it's really you. Your face is all over the city!"
<Captive> was not only displayed on the side of that particular building. It was also being streamed on various social media sites, on the television, and various city towers in Shanghai. Although a few parts were clipped in some display screens and others only featured a thirty second teaser of the PV, it was enough for people not to miss it. Liu Jun's PR agent had truly not skimped on the promotional budget.
When the video first focused on the lonely glass box that stood alone in the center of a dim living room, it drew gasps from the walking crowd as they didn't expect for a girl to be caged inside it. Her skin was white as snow, her lips the color of ripe cherries. Since her eyes were closed, the thick eyelashes that curved like half-moons along her cheeks made her seem delicate, almost like a porcelain doll.
Several men stopped on their tracks as they gawked dumbly at the display screen, only recovering when their wives or girlfriends pinched and whacked them in anger.
"Her name is Hui...Yin? She's an actress? I thought she was a model! How come I've never heard of her?"
A group of male students had seen the PV and immediately pulled out their phones to search for the identity of the girl online. Hui Yin's manager, Su Jing, had already prepared her public social account beforehand and showed only minimal private info. The rest were posted photos of Hui Yin, revealing her being casual in front of the camera.
There was a picture of her goofing around while eating ice cream, tendrils of hair framing her face. Another shot showed Hui Yin in a cream-colored trench coat with the city lights of Beijing on the background, her body playfully tilted to the side and her hair tied into a high ponytail. It made the viewer feel as if they were seeing her hidden side, the normal person who could actually relate to them.
While making Hui Yin seem approachable, these photos also highlighted Hui Yin's beauty and perfect figure, creating a both 'near yet distant' effect that all public figures aspire to have. In just a short time, the likes on her photos skyrocketed, her personal inbox pinging with constant messages. Su Jing had also subtly emphasized the fact that Hui Yin hadn't gone under the knife by posting a few childhood photos along with her yearbook picture.
Such effortless and natural beauty drove people crazy—girls wanted to be as beautiful as her, and boys wanted to win the beauty's heart. Since time immemorial, people have always been drawn to aesthetics. The entertainment industry had fully utilized this concept by using powerful visuals to entice the audience, and similarly, Su Jing had applied this idea to build Hui Yin's public image.
Needless to say, it created splendid results.
Bao Bai silently handed the dumbstruck Hui Yin a face mask she bought from a nearby stall, as more people began to spot Hui Yin like the teenager did.
Hui Yin quickly signed an autograph before the three of them hastily went back to the apartment. Immediately after they arrived, Hui Yin got a call from her manager.
"Don't go out in public too much," Su Jing instructed. "The video has gone viral, and more people are wondering about you, which is what I had intended this PV to do in the first place. It would be good for your career in the long term, but for now you need to keep a low profile. Because you're in the spotlight, it's easy for just a small mistake done in public to turn this free advertising into something that could potentially destroy your career. Water can float a boat, but it can sink it as well. I'm looking over your account, so you don't need to worry about false negative comments coming from the jealous fans of Liu Jun."
"I know, Sister Su," Hui Yin said calmly.
She had also gone through this in her previous life, only in a much larger scale. Right now, Hui Yin was just a small-time actress that had starred in the same PV as Liu Jun—his fans' reaction shouldn't be too bad. It couldn't even compare to the hell she had gone through after the whole country discovered her identity as 'Mrs. Lu', the girl who stole the perfect bachelor every female in the country dreamed to marry.
"It's good that you're keeping a clear head about this." Her manager breathed a sigh of relief. "Most actors and actresses get high on their popularity and use this chance to expand their popularity in social media, only for their plans to end up backfiring. Especially for those who have skeletons inside their closet, the curiosity of the netizens can be deadly to them. Be careful of stalkers and haters—report the former, ignore the latter. Also..."
Hui Yin could hear the smile in her voice.
"Congratulations, Hui Yin."