“President, these low scores can’t be deleted. It’s too obvious and will affect our website’s reputation!” the site manager hastily advised.
“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Zuckerberg rolled his eyes. “These ratings won’t be deleted. Whatever they want to rate is their business, but how many points are finally displayed is our business. Three days from now, you’ll adjust the scores back to their original values. And from now on, no matter how many negative reviews are posted, they will all be statistically accounted for, and the scores will be locked at the current figures. Do you understand?”
“Lock the scores?” The site manager’s expression stiffened. “President, won’t that be too obvious? If someone finds out, the hard-earned reputation of our website might…”
“You lock the scores for super bad movies, and that’s when you get discovered and your reputation collapses. But we’re locking the scores for *Piaomiao Zhi Lu* because it’s an excellent film. We’re doing it to protect the market, to ensure users can continuously see more excellent works. Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?” Zuckerberg’s face turned cold. The site manager immediately showed an expression of sudden enlightenment. At this moment, he finally understood Zuckerberg’s good intentions and vowed to complete the task resolutely!
“Don’t worry. The main channels for discussing movie plots online are either your Rotten Tomatoes site or our Weibo. Google also has some, but Google has shares in our America First Group, and Google’s chairman is also my friend. We often participate in activities at the same club, and Google will help me control public opinion.”
“The few of us just need to control things meticulously, and we can perfectly manage the entire public opinion. No one will discover that we’ve locked the scores!” Zuckerberg said lightly. With a mere wave of his hand, these few people effortlessly controlled the entire online discourse.
“Then, President, *Piaomiao Zhi Lu 2* is about to have its scores released. Should we lock its scores as well?” the site manager asked cautiously.
“Hmm!” Zuckerberg pondered for a moment. “I’ll decide after I see it. If it’s a bad movie, I definitely won’t interfere. But if it’s another excellent film, then we still need to protect the audience’s right to see excellent movies and not let some people with ulterior motives ruin a great film!”
Indeed, at Zuckerberg’s command, within a day, the Rotten Tomatoes score for *Piaomiao Zhi Lu* began to slowly rebound. By the time the second installment was released, it had returned to its previous score and remained unchanged for many years.
Thus, future generations would repeatedly praise *Piaomiao Zhi Lu* as the greatest Eastern fantasy film in history, wondering why its score was always so high.
“Fortunately, I still manage Rotten Tomatoes. Otherwise, such a good movie would have been ruined. History will remember my contribution!” Zuckerberg thought to himself as he left the Rotten Tomatoes office. At this moment, he felt as if he had made a significant contribution to history by preserving an excellent film.
However, Zuckerberg did not know that less than an hour after he left, the site manager received a call from the headquarters of America First Group. The call was from Ms. Versailles’ secretary.
In reality, compared to Zuckerberg, the nominal president, Ms. Versailles’ secretary was the actual controller of the entire Rotten Tomatoes website. All commands executed by Rotten Tomatoes were relayed from headquarters through Ms. Versailles’ secretary to this site manager.
“Miss Celine, there’s something… The president of Weibo just…” The site manager wanted to report Zuckerberg’s orders to Secretary Celine. Despite appearing so obedient to Zuckerberg earlier, this man had no intention of directly executing the orders. Instead, he intended to report to headquarters, meaning Secretary Celine, and await the headquarters’ decision.
If headquarters approved Zuckerberg’s reckless actions, then he would execute Zuckerberg’s orders without delay.
However, he believed that headquarters would most likely not approve such a chaotic command. And once headquarters rejected it, he could openly refuse Zuckerberg, and Zuckerberg would have no recourse against him.
After that, Zuckerberg would likely be too embarrassed to manage Rotten Tomatoes anymore, and he would have one less direct superior.
This site manager’s thinking was not wrong, but the problem was that before he could finish speaking, Secretary Celine directly stated, “I will convey headquarters’ orders first. Headquarters is extremely angry that the scores of our partner’s film have been subjected to malicious reviews. You must restore the scores to normal levels within one day. We cannot let those damned malicious reviewers ruin an excellent movie!”
“… “ The site manager opened his mouth, stunned for a moment before saying, “Are you referring to *Piaomiao Zhi Lu*?”
“Yes, is there a problem?” Celine retorted.
“No problem, I’ll do it immediately!” the site manager said quickly.
“Very good. By the way, what were you about to say about President Zuckerberg?” Secretary Celine asked.
“It’s nothing. President Zuckerberg just stopped by and gave us some guidance. I didn’t know…”
“Zuckerberg is your president. As long as his orders do not violate headquarters’ directives, you should follow them. After all, Weibo is the asset headquarters values most. You’d better not offend this president.”
“Of course, if Zuckerberg asks you to violate headquarters’ orders, you can directly refuse!” Secretary Celine added.
“Yes! Understood!” the site manager immediately said, then hung up the phone. He glanced at the data for *Piaomiao Zhi Lu* on the computer. The scores that were supposed to take three days to rise were restored in just one day.
—
At 12:00 AM on January 1, 2005, as the first moment of the year shifted from 2004 to 2005, Zuckerberg sat in a VIP box at a nearby cinema. Beside him sat Priscilla Chan and Daniel, whom he had specially invited.
The three of them had gathered three hours earlier. Daniel had been incessantly describing his experience learning cultivation from the great Brother Song, mentioning that he had entered a meditative state for the second time and had begun studying the meridians of the human body. He believed that if he could master the operation of the Great Heavenly Cycle, he would have a chance at immortality and become the first Western saint to achieve enlightenment.
Daniel spoke happily, and Zuckerberg listened attentively. This was also the reason he had invited Daniel to watch the movie.
After all, Zuckerberg also wished to achieve immortality, but he was unwilling to apprentice himself to that old man. Therefore, if he could obtain some cultivation methods from Daniel, it would be most beneficial.
However, when Zuckerberg asked about the specifics of cultivation, Daniel, who had previously been so forthcoming, fell silent. After hesitating for a long time, he said, “Good brother, it’s not that I’m unwilling to tell you, but the sect has regulations. These are secret cultivation techniques, and they cannot be passed on to outsiders. Only by truly becoming a disciple and becoming brothers can these methods be taught.”
“As the eldest disciple under Brother, I naturally cannot violate the sect’s rules!”
These words made Zuckerberg’s heart flutter, and he almost immediately expressed his willingness to become a disciple. However, upon realizing that by becoming a disciple, he would become Daniel’s junior, Zuckerberg became unwilling again.
“I can go directly to Wudang Mountain and seek apprenticeship from the teachers there. That way, I’ll be the senior brother instead!” Zuckerberg mused inwardly.
Finally, when it was time for the movie to begin, the three of them hurried to enter.
To their surprise, although it was a midnight premiere, the ticket check entrance was packed with people, and the entire cinema was crowded.
Then Zuckerberg exclaimed, “Back then, we were also among the first to watch movies, but the cinema had fewer than 10 people. Now, for the second installment, the midnight screening is packed. This movie is truly popular!”
“So, does that mean the box office for the second installment will definitely surpass the first one!” Daniel said excitedly.
“On the contrary, with the release of the second installment, the box office certainly won’t surpass the first one!” Zuckerberg also shook his head.
“What makes you say that?” Daniel asked, somewhat displeased.
“Because when the second installment is released, the first one will definitely be taken down. And people who haven’t seen the first one definitely won’t go to see the second one. Therefore, the box office for the second installment can never surpass the first one!” Zuckerberg patiently explained. Daniel said nothing more after hearing this, as the logic was indeed sound. It seemed that the second installment would indeed be difficult to surpass the first.
“Then, if the first installment remains in release when the second installment is released, wouldn’t the situation be different?” Priscilla Chan asked softly from the side.
“The first installment is still playing when the second installment is released!” Zuckerberg was stunned. He had never considered this possibility because he had never encountered a situation where the second movie was released while the first movie had only been out for over 20 days. Thus, he couldn’t answer this question.
Zuckerberg didn’t know how to answer, but a middle-aged man sitting beside him’s eyes lit up. He was the owner of this cinema, and his favorite pastime was to blend in with the midnight premiere crowds to get their genuine feedback on movies, and then fine-tune the cinema’s various showtimes to increase its revenue.
He had initially decided to suspend the screening of the first installment after the release of the second one. However, after hearing Priscilla Chan’s words, he quietly left the queue, found his subordinates, and issued them orders to cancel the previous directive to suspend the first installment. Instead, they were to reallocate three showtimes, not during peak hours, from other movies to screen the first installment.
Zuckerberg didn’t know the answer, but he could try it himself and see what the effect would be if both movies were shown simultaneously!
He also issued an order to add an extra screening at 3:00 AM. This was a time when no movies were usually shown; it was the cinema’s rest period. However, this was precisely the time when the premiere of the second installment would end. He wanted to know how many people, after watching the second installment, would be interested in going to see the first one.
Of course, he overlooked one problem: the people who would rush to see the premiere of the second installment were basically those who had already seen the first one. The answer to this question seemed to be a foregone conclusion.