Chapter 27: Preparations for Establishment

After arriving home, Gao Yun sat down at his computer to better prepare for the next day's filming. He diligently studied course materials on editing and cinematography, boosting both skills by 5%.

The colleagues at the Youth League Committee were equally industrious, finishing their research and drafting a detailed script in a single evening—half a day ahead of schedule.

The following morning, filming began. Gao Yun, following the script, visited various locations with Darya. Hushi is a coastal tourist city featuring a dilapidated Qing Dynasty ancient town, the two-hundred-meter-tall Shou Mountain, and a desolate island. While there were plenty of sights, the poor infrastructure made them less than picturesque. This placed a high demand on the cameraman’s technique and the leads' ability to perform.

When they had dated in the past, Darya had already explored every corner of Hushi, so she was familiar with the route. During the shoot, Gao Yun tried to avoid the more lackluster visuals, occasionally appearing on camera to narrate the history and stories behind the sites.

The filming took two days, and editing took another. Overall, it went smoothly. Once the final cut was ready, the committee watched it together and were pleased; there were no major issues requiring changes. The video covered the human and natural landscapes of Hushi, as well as its local snacks. Interspersed were clips of Gao Yun and Darya joking and showing affection, which added both promotional value and charm.

Li Dapeng immediately gave the green light, uploading the video to the Youth League Committee’s Douyin account. Due to the volume of content, the twenty-minute-plus video had to be split into three parts. To increase its reach, Gao Yun also uploaded it to his own account, tagging the Hushi Youth League Committee in the description to drive traffic.

During the three days of filming, Gao Yun’s initial video, "Three Tastes of Hushi," had reached three million likes, and his follower count had climbed to 1.2 million. Achieving this without spending a penny on promotion made him a rising star in the influencer world. By the day after the new videos were released, the combination of his account's traffic and the high quality of the content pushed the committee’s account to fifty thousand followers—exceeding their goal.

The dozen members of the committee were jubilant. They hadn't forgotten their earlier promise; Li Dapeng rushed to have three certificates printed and elegantly framed. Before getting off work that day, he drove over to deliver them to Gao Yun’s doorstep personally, vowing that he would issue an official circular to all grassroots Youth League committees the next day to commend Gao Yun, and promised to send him a digital copy once finalized.

"Hushi’s Top Influencer League Member"
"Hushi’s Number One Douyin Talent"
"Hushi’s Top Outstanding League Member"

The three titles were exactly as promised, filled with flowery, laudatory language, and stamped with the official seal of the Hushi Youth League Committee. Holding the framed certificates, Gao Yun couldn't stop grinning. The certificates were secondary; the main point was that his experiment had been a success.

The maximum reward for a county-level honor—one million RMB—was deposited into his bank account the moment he received them. As expected, even though the three certificates had different titles, they were considered the same event, so he only received one payout. The system was hard to exploit, but this was enough! This confirmed that the system didn't just recognize top-three finishes in competitive events; it also acknowledged official honors. The reason previous certificates had only yielded two hundred was simply due to their low prestige. Now that he knew how to lower the difficulty of gaining honor points, Gao Yun was naturally pleased.

However, he realized that making money had never really been difficult for him. The easiest way was to use his "Emotional Index" to farm cash. If he dated more women—once he had ten, as long as the next one had an attractiveness score of 50, each reward would be over ten million—why struggle with the other three metrics?

He glanced toward the kitchen, where Darya was wearing an apron and cooking dinner with focus. He cleared his throat and thought, "There's no rush on making money; the important thing is the money itself!"

For him, the real challenge was how to spend the system's rewards openly without raising suspicion. That was what he needed to consider now.

"I need to speed up the construction of the gym."

It wasn't just to improve his own attributes through exercise, but also to explain his source of income. Of course, his future spending would likely be far greater than the gym’s revenue, but how would others know? As long as he had a business as a front, he wouldn't look like an unemployed person, and few would look too closely. Plus, he could open more gyms across the country later. Turning it into a chain, making it big, and ringing the bell at an IPO—wouldn't that be sweet?

For years, the fitness industry was what Gao Yun knew best. By investing in this field, he could at least guarantee he wouldn't lose money. As for internet, finance, or other industries, he knew nothing and had no connections. Diving in would be suicide; the painful lesson from his futures trading days taught him never to touch things he didn't understand. Self-media could also continue to grow; it helped improve his editing and filming skills, and the income of top influencers served as a perfect cover.

Over the next few days, four of his old subordinates, including Li Jianchen, resigned from Caesar, and Liu Xingsheng closed the Ace Club. Gao Yun spent all his time with them, busy with the gym’s setup.

First, they decided on the name: "Yunhai Sports"—combining Gao Yun's name with the seaside view. Once the name was set, they handled the registration. Next, the interior design blueprints were finished, featuring a luxurious, sporty aesthetic. After a few minor tweaks, the design was finalized, and the workers moved in.

Following Gao Yun's vision, the five-thousand-square-meter gym was divided into twelve zones: cardio, strength, cycling, yoga, group exercise, personal training, combat, a lounge/juice bar, youth fitness, billiards/ping-pong, showers, and "special training." That last zone was designed specifically for himself, using more professional equipment to boost his physical attributes.

Soon after, seven pre-sale elites hired at high salaries arrived in Hushi. They hired over eighty membership sales staff, training them while leading them to canvas every corner of the city, plastering the streets with flyers featuring the gym’s renderings until everyone knew the name.

The owners of the ten existing gyms in Hushi felt a sense of impending doom. While Gao Yun and his coaching team were well-known, and everyone knew he was opening a gym in the new district, they hadn't taken it seriously. After all, the new district was five or six kilometers away—there shouldn't be any competition.

But now, seeing a sales team of nearly a hundred people? "Our ten gyms combined don't even have that many staff!"

Then, seeing the size: five thousand square meters!

Finally, looking at the renderings: it was incredibly luxurious and comprehensive. Even the rival owners wanted to sign up for memberships at Yunhai.

"Five or six kilometers? That doesn't seem very far, does it?"

That was the immediate reaction of every owner. The second was, "The wolf is coming." The fitness industry in Hushi was about to be completely reshuffled.

Just as Yunhai Fitness was in full swing, Gao Yun faced a problem: Darya was leaving for a business trip to Shanghai. It meant that a couple who had only recently reunited would have to part ways again.