The internet in January can be described as Cheng Che.
His popularity has remained high ever since he won the Australian Open.
In particular, the behind-the-scenes footage of " The Youth Here " is trending every day, bringing fans both pain and joy.
I can't wait to see the full movie.
He himself doesn't actually make many public appearances, but topics about him are trending on social media every day, like a train that never stops.
Under Qin Lie's arrangement, Cheng Che successively signed contracts with four brands.
The LV contract was signed in the company's office in Capital City China World Trade Center. The Asia-Pacific president was present in person, shook his hand, and said, "Welcome to LV."
The Nike signing took place in Magic City. The head of Greater China, an United States, said in accented Chinese, "You look really cool when you play basketball."
The Rolex contract was signed in the brand's showroom, and they presented him with a watch engraved with his name.
Gucci signed the contract the latest, but their attitude was the most enthusiastic. The brand director spent half an hour chatting with him about movies and art.
The filming schedule is set for early February.
Qin Lie scheduled the time very tightly, but left some leeway between each project.
As for the official announcement, the four major endorsements and even Esquire magazine are all planned to be announced later.
Because they know that releasing it now would make it easy for others to steal their thunder.
Of all these business activities, the only thing Cheng Che was concerned about was the broadcast of " The Youth Here ".
This drama is finally going to air.
Tengda Video acquired the exclusive broadcasting rights to " The Youth Here ".
Tengda is one of the largest video platforms in Xia Country, with deep pockets and decisive actions.
When they bought the rights to the show, Cheng Che hadn't yet reached the Australian Open final.
The price offered at the time was 4.5 million per episode, for a total of 108 million for 24 episodes.
The series was promoted and distributed to the standards of an S-level web drama, with homepage recommendations, splash screen ads, and subway and bus screens, covering all channels.
However, this price was set before Cheng Che won the championship.
After winning the championship, Producer Fang saw the popularity of Cheng Che and was so distressed that he slapped his thigh.
"You sold it too early," he told Director Zhou. "At this price, people would buy it even if it were doubled."
Director Zhou was quite philosophical about it. "The contract's already signed, there's no point in regretting it. Besides, Tengda has provided ample publicity resources, so it's not a loss."
Producer Fang sighed and said nothing more.
Tengda, on the other hand, was overjoyed.
Their copyright acquisition manager bought the rights to the show despite the pressure.
Some objected, saying that Cheng Che is a tennis player, and it's unknown whether he can act. Spending 100 million yuan on a youth drama without any popular stars is too risky.
But he stuck to his judgment because he saw Cheng Che's camera presence during the broadcast of the Magic City Masters. He was the kind of person who could make the audience unable to look away when he stood in front of the camera.
He was betting on Cheng Che's face and Cheng Che's popularity.
As it turned out, he won his bet when Australian Open won the Australian Open.
Furthermore, to prevent a platform crash like the one that happened with Mango TV before, Tengda's technical team began expanding its servers ahead of time.
They prepared for a peak of 30 million concurrent users, nearly tripling their usual capacity.
The technical director said at the pre-broadcast mobilization meeting:
"The lessons learned from the previous Mango TV repair system are right before our eyes. We've made so many preparations; if it still crashes, it's not a technical problem, it's a problem with my thinking."
8 PM.
" The Youth Here " has officially launched.
The homepage of Tengda Video features Cheng Che in a school uniform, with a large caption below:
Zhou Ye, a senior in high school, specializing in sports. See you this summer!
Eight o'clock sharp.
Within the first second, more than six million users simultaneously clicked the play button.
The CTO stared at the real-time data in the backend, his expression shifting from calm to confusion, and then to terror.
The number of online users jumped to ten million in ten seconds, to fifteen million in twenty seconds, and to twenty million in half a minute.
And it's still rising.
Twenty-three million, twenty-five million, twenty-eight million.
"Server!" He had barely finished speaking when a red alert popped up on the screen.
Tengda collapsed.
At 8:03 PM, the first complaint appeared on Weibo.
" Tengda, what do you mean? It crashed as soon as I clicked on it?"
Then Article 2, Article 3, Article 10, and Article 100.
Within just five minutes, tens of thousands of complaints flooded Weibo.
Ten minutes later, # Tengda # became the number one trending topic.
Following closely behind were # Youth Here #, # Cheng Che #, Zhou Ye # Tengda #. Three of the top ten trending topics were related to this drama, and all three were filled with anger.
The comments section was filled with insults.
[ Tengda, aren't you a big company? You expanded your capacity and it still crashed???]
[I went in at exactly 8 o'clock, and the page went dead as soon as I saw Cheng Che's face.]
[I waited a week, and you're telling me the platform crashed?]
[Last time the Mango TV broke, you all laughed at them; now it's your turn.]
[ Tengda, you owe me money!!! I took leave to go home and watch the premiere!!!]
[Are your tech team just sitting around doing nothing? It still crashes after scaling up?]
[I tried opening three devices, but it didn't work; they all returned 404 errors.]
[You guys didn't predict Cheng Che's popularity? You should have thought of this before the show even started.]
I originally wanted to criticize Mango TV, but now I realize that all crows are black.
Tengda Video Headquarters
The technical department was in complete chaos.
The person in charge, Old Zhao, stared at the dense error messages on the screen, sweat pouring down his forehead.
Several engineers were running back and forth between their workstations, their keyboards clattering loudly.
"What's going on?" Old Zhao shouted.
The CTO peeked out from behind the screen, his expression complicated. " President Zhao, it's not our problem. Today's peak volume is just too extreme."
"How many?"
"Twenty-eight million users were online simultaneously. And at exactly 8:00 PM, over six million users clicked the play button at the same time. This concurrency level was almost double our estimated peak."
Old Zhao was stunned for a moment.
Twenty-eight million.
He had worked in the video platform industry for over a decade, and the highest number of concurrent viewers he had ever seen was the finale of a popular TV series, which had 12 million viewers online at the same time.
That's already broken the platform record.
Twenty-eight million, which is more than double that number.
He paused for a moment, then laughed.
Twenty-eight million?
The CTO nodded.
Old Zhao's laughter grew wider and wider, until it finally turned into a hearty laugh.
He slammed his hand on the table, startling his subordinates.
"I knew buying ' The Youth Here ' was the right decision!" He rubbed his hands together, his expression shifting from anxiety to ecstasy. "Back then, some people objected, saying Cheng Che wasn't a top star. Not a top star? Which of the four top stars could do something like this?"
He turned to the technical director. "Fix it quickly, is twenty minutes enough?"
"Enough."
"After fixing it, post an apology on Weibo, then do a giveaway. Give away 100 annual membership cards, no, give away 1000."
The CTO nodded, turned, and left.
Old Zhao sat in his chair, watching the number of reservations on the screen continue to rise, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
Twenty minutes later, Tengda Video was restored.
The official Weibo account issued an apology statement, which was sincerely worded, acknowledging the technical malfunction, promising compensation, and providing a link to a lottery for 1,000 annual membership cards.
The criticism in the comments section subsided somewhat, and more people simply ignored the Weibo and flocked back to the platform.
[I'm not smoking anymore, I'm going to watch Zhou Ye.]
[Apology received. I'm going back to watching Cheng Che.]
[Keep the membership, I'll top it up myself.]
[You made me miss twenty minutes, but I forgive you, because Cheng Che's face is worth waiting for.]
[Hurry up and play it! I want to see the first episode!!!]
At this moment, countless people clicked on the first episode.
When the screen lights up, it's bathed in the light of summer.
In the classroom, sunlight streamed in through the windows, and books and test papers were piled on the desks.
The countdown to the college entrance examination was written on the blackboard, and hurried footsteps could be heard in the corridor.
Then, the camera cuts to the classroom doorway.
Cheng Che, who plays Zhou Ye, pushed open the door and walked in.
He was wearing a white school uniform short-sleeved shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and there was sweat on his forehead, as if he had just come back from the playground.
He walked into the classroom, glanced around, and then went to his seat.
In that instant when he looked up, sunlight shone on his profile, clean, refreshing, and radiating the unique vibrancy of youth.
The comments section paused for 0.5 seconds.
Then it exploded.
[Holy shit]
Is this face real?
He looks so good in his school uniform!
[ Zhou Ye!!! My Zhou Ye!!!]
[The very first second of the first episode was a visual feast, I'm dead!]
[ Tengda, I forgive you, but you showed me this.]
Cheng Che, you're still the school heartthrob even if you don't win the Grand Slam, and you're still the school heartthrob even if you win the Champion.
I declare that Zhou Ye is my favorite character this year.
Even if the plot is terrible, I can still watch this show just because of his face.
[He's this handsome in the first episode, imagine how good he'll be later!]