Wu Zhengqiang, a Chinese teenager, 18, became a meme after he called the local news after he felt a barbershop in Hangzhou City, China tried to rip him off. He first called the police and they settled it but Wu was still unhappy with the outcome so he called the local news to complain and that’s when his face became a viral meme in China reports CGTN.

Bad Service And A High Price

On August 28 Wu went to a local barbershop because he wanted to look sharp at his new job at a real estate company. He asked the barber to fix his hairline, eyebrows, and sideburns. When the barber was finished he was charged 40000 yuan ($5851) for the service. Wu complained to the barber over the price and the bad cut but after some negotiations, he got the amount down to 18000 yuan ($2632) but he still felt ripped off so he called the cops.

Calling The Police And The Local News

The police arrived and were sympathetic to the young man’s plight so they negotiated the price down to 2500 yuan ($365). Wu paid but he was still pissed and still felt he got ripped off so he decided to call the local news to air his grievances.

Video interview can be seen here on 1818 Golden Eye.

A local news channel, 1818 Golden Eye showed up and interviewed the young man. He told his story and how he felt the barbershop was ripping him off and this stuff shouldn’t happen. 1818 Golden Eye posted the interview on Weibo and that’s when this boys face turned into a viral meme. With 42 million views and other outlets picking it up, it quickly snowballed this young man into a local celebrity.

Wu Becomes a Celebrity

The netizens nicknamed Wu, the ‘hairline boy’ and sympathized with Wu about getting ripped off, but his face became a laughing matter.

“I’m sorry but his look is so funny and I couldn’t stop laughing,” one commenter posted.

The commenters loved his awkward face with the high eyebrows. And that’s when the memes started to pop up

At first Wu was not happy with all the attention he was getting.

“Since I became famous on the internet, I received numerous phone calls from the media every day and it really bothered me a lot. I know if I worked as an internet celebrity and did live streaming online, I could earn much more money, but I don’t see any reason to do it and I don’t want to quit my job,” Wu told Pear Video.

Eventually, Wu came around posting his favorite memes of himself on his Weibo account.

He told Pear video he doesn’t like the attention much but if the netizens enjoyed it and it gave them happiness he was okay with it, “To be honest, I don’t like to be made into memes. But since the netizens found them so funny, I’d like to join in with them.”

Something Positive Comes From All The Attention

There was an upside for Wu once his story became public. The police launched an investigation that led to the barbershop paying back all of Wu’s money.

Good for the kid for not taking the memes too seriously. He is a handsome kid but he does have a goofy look to him especially with those eyebrows. Additionally and most importantly he handled this like an adult. He called the police and news outlets instead of trying to bust out of the place without paying like this nutjob. I say keep the eyebrows and the haircut and try to get some money out of your 15 minutes of fame. Maybe try out for the Chinese version of Spock.