Not long after their passports and tickets were checked, the cast of " Walking the Flower Road Together " boarded the plane.
After the plane took off, the cabin quickly became quiet.
The production team booked business class seats, which were spacious and allowed passengers to recline.
The guests put on blindfolds, adjusted their chair backs, and no one had the energy to chat anymore.
The early morning flight and the preparations before filming left everyone exhausted.
Cheng Che followed local customs, put on an eye mask, and fell asleep soon after.
Unbeknownst to him, at that very moment, on the ground, Mango TV's internet platform was experiencing a tsunami.
The pilot episode of " Walking the Flower Road Together " was released on time.
The moment the platform's homepage was pushed out, the number of concurrent users in the backend jumped from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and then to millions.
The server let out a faint groan, and the page froze for a full three seconds.
The comments started flooding in from the very first second.
The first image shown is of Ning Qing.
She sat on her balcony, holding an orange cat, her expression indifferent, but her voice was very soft when she spoke to the cat.
She sang a short song, without accompaniment, just a cappella. Her voice was as clear as a stream in winter.
[ Ning Qing is so beautiful]
[ Sister Qing's voice is amazing!]
[This cat is so fat]
[ Ning Qing is still so cold... but I like it.]
[ Sister Qing, please sing a few more lines!!!]
Then there's Su Jianqiu.
Her segment was the most lively.
I was rummaging through drawers and cupboards at home packing my luggage, stuffing half a wardrobe into a suitcase, when my agent yelled at me over the phone.
She made a face at the camera and said, "When traveling, of course you need to bring enough clothes."
[ Sister Su is so real!]
[Exactly the same as when I go out]
[ Su Jianqiu's walk-in closet is huge!]
[My older sister is so cute]
Next up were Huang Ming and Zhou Yuan.
Huang Ming's segment is very quiet. He is reading at home, with a cup of tea on the table. The camera pans across the spines of the books, all of which are related to acting theory.
Zhou Yuan's clips are the complete opposite. He does a live stream from home, telling jokes to the camera and laughing so hard he slaps the table.
The live chat was flooded with comments, but it wasn't nearly as lively as before.
Then, the style of the comments changed.
[Wait, where's Cheng Che???]
Why hasn't Che Baby come out yet???
[This is the one I've been waiting for!!!]
[Release my brother immediately!!!]
[Platform, can you please release all the content at once? I'm so impatient!]
[I turned on three devices for Cheng Che ]
[Don't worry, the next one will definitely be him.]
Cheng Che's image finally appeared on the screen.
The first shot shows him standing downstairs in the residential complex.
The morning sunlight shone on him; he wore his sportswear loosely, the collar slightly open, revealing his clean and sharp collarbone.
He didn't look at the camera, but just glanced at the greenway in the distance before starting to run.
The comments section paused for 0.5 seconds.
Then it exploded.
[Holy shit]
Is this face real?
[The way he runs is so beautiful it's almost unfair]
[Help! I screamed in the office!]
[When he ran, his T-shirt clung to his back, and the lines of it...]
[Photographer, you deserve a bonus!! This angle is amazing!!]
[I've taken thirty screenshots already]
The camera cuts to the perspective of the electric scooter.
Cheng Che ran under the ginkgo tree, sunlight filtering through the leaves and scattering golden light on his shoulders.
He turned his head to look at the lake, his profile as clean as a painting in the backlight.
The comments section completely spiraled out of control.
Is this a human being??? Is this a human being???
[I declare this to be the best variety show moment of the year.]
Was he running a marathon or doing a magazine photoshoot???
Why does he look so good even when he's running?!
[I cried, how can someone make even running look like they're in a movie?]
[ Cheng Che Studio, could you please release this set of photos? I want to use them as wallpaper.]
On Weibo, the trending topics are being refreshed at an alarming rate.
# Cheng Che #
# Cheng Che #
# Walking the Flower Road Together #
The three terms surged onto the list almost simultaneously.
Clicking through reveals nothing but screenshots and GIFs.
The running segment was edited into a short video of about ten seconds, and it was shared more than 50,000 times within ten minutes.
The comment section was filled with lamentations.
I've watched it twenty times, and I still haven't had enough.
The rhythm of his breathing when he runs is so steady, so beautiful.
I wasn't interested in variety shows before, but now I'm going to start watching them.
[Just for his face, I could watch the whole season]
Cheng Che, the rising star of the entertainment industry
In the super topic, fans are already flooding the screen with comments.
Someone cropped the running footage into a nine-grid layout, captioning it "Every frame is wallpaper-worthy."
Someone made a GIF of Cheng Che turning his head to look at the lake and played it on a loop. Someone commented, "When he runs, it's like the world goes quiet."
The comment section was full of "+1".
Then, the scene cuts to the kitchen.
Cheng Che, wearing a white T-shirt, stood in front of the stove, cracking eggs, chopping tomatoes, and heating oil in a wok.
His movements were practiced and efficient, without any unnecessary actions. He even washed the dishes and wiped the countertop.
The style of the comments section has changed again.
[Can he cook???]
[I'm dead, and he can actually cook]
Is it reasonable for a guy to be such a good cook and also so handsome?
The way he cracks eggs is even more skillful than my mom's.
I declare him the most perfect man I've ever met.
[He can play ball, run, cook, and play guitar. What can't he do?]
The female audience members reacted particularly strongly.
The number of "Ahhhhh" comments in the live chat increased tenfold within ten seconds.
Some people simply said, "I'm getting married," while others replied, "Get in line."
The cooking segment was edited out separately, set to light music, and uploaded to a short video platform, where it garnered over a million likes in half an hour.
The scene finally cuts to the study.
Cheng Che sat in a chair, holding a guitar, and bent down to press the strings.
The sunlight streamed in from the side, casting a soft glow on his profile.
He was playing a simplified version of " Chasing the Wind," occasionally pausing to adjust his fingering and sometimes tilting his head to think of the next chord.
The chat was silent for a few seconds.
Then someone posted a message.
Even the way he plays the guitar is so handsome...
Immediately afterwards, a white bullet screen appeared on the screen, neither bold nor colored, quietly slid across from right to left.
He is the chosen one, and the only one.
This comment was followed by a long string of "+1".
The image freezes, and the trailer ends.
Meanwhile, in Hang City, Lin Ming was sitting on the sofa at home, watching a program with his girlfriend.
My girlfriend hasn't stopped screaming since the part Cheng Che was running.
"So handsome! So handsome! So handsome!" She grabbed Lin Ming's arm, her nails digging into his flesh. "I told you! I told you he was handsome! You didn't believe me then!"
Lin Ming was so dizzy from being shaken that he smiled helplessly.
He truly didn't believe it.
His girlfriend dragged him to watch Cheng Che's match live, saying, "This guy is so handsome." He glanced at it, thought he played alright, but didn't pay much attention.
Later, his girlfriend dragged him to watch the game in Hang City, and that was the first time he saw Cheng Che play basketball up close.
Cheng Che won that match cleanly and decisively, and he applauded from the stands.
Later, he bought that Blade V10.
His girlfriend laughed at him, saying, "Didn't you say you weren't a fan of celebrities?"
He said, "I'm not buying a racket because I'm a fan. He plays well, so it's reasonable for me to use a racket he endorses."
But he knew in his heart that it wasn't entirely the reason.
He watched Cheng Che the screen, then glanced at the racket leaning against the corner of the wall.
He had wrapped his own sweatband around the frame, and there were some scratches on the grip, indicating that it had actually been used, not just for show.
He simply liked Cheng Che's authenticity.
His girlfriend leaned closer, took his arm, glanced at Cheng Che on TV, and muttered softly, "Then next time he has a competition, you have to take me with you."
"You don't understand tennis anyway."
"I've seen it now," she said matter-of-factly, "And I mainly went to see the people."
Lin Ming smiled and didn't expose her.
He leaned his racket back against the corner of the wall, picked up his phone, opened Weibo, and followed Cheng Che super topic.
His girlfriend leaned over for a look, then nodded in satisfaction. "That's more like it."
Outside the window, it's daytime in Hang City.
The image on the television screen was still frozen on the last frame of Cheng Che playing the guitar; sunlight streamed in from the side, casting a warm glow on his silhouette.
Lin Ming looked at the scene, then at the racket in the corner that he had grown accustomed to using, and suddenly felt that being dragged to watch those matches by his girlfriend was a really good deal.