At the same time that Youth Here " premiered, countless people sat in front of their screens, watching the real-time data from Tengda Video.
After all, there are only so many opportunities in the entertainment industry; if you take a bigger bite, I'll take one less.
Cheng Che, an outsider, rose from an ordinary person to a top star in less than six months, which frightens everyone.
Most of the entertainment companies and celebrities were hoping he would flop.
The more spectacular the fall, the better.
Among the four top stars, Shen Du is a movie star and has no worries about Cheng Che taking his place.
Movies and TV series are two separate tracks. No matter how popular Cheng Che, he won't be able to break into the film industry in the short term.
Lu Heng is a frequent guest on variety shows. Although Cheng Che appeared on " Walking the Flower Road Together," variety shows are just a side job for him. His main focus is still tennis and TV dramas, so he doesn't pose a fundamental threat to Lu Heng.
After seeing the popularity of Cheng Che "Walking the Walking the Flower Road Together," Yi Yangfan has already let go of the past.
Some people you can't be jealous of; the gap between them is just too big.
Only Gu Yan.
Gu Yan is ranked second among the four top idols. He started as an idol, singing and dancing, and later transitioned into acting, rising to fame with a period drama.
In terms of online traffic, he's not as popular as Shen Du.
In terms of popularity among the people, he is not as popular as Lu Heng.
But his second-place position is secured by a solid fan base and commercial value.
He looks a bit like Cheng Che.
They both started as idols and rose to fame through television dramas.
Although Cheng Che's background is even more outrageous: top Zhuangyuan in the college entrance examination, tennis Champion, Peking University student, any one of these labels would be enough to overwhelm anyone.
But Gu Yan's core competitiveness lies in television dramas; he cannot allow anyone to surpass him in this field.
So Youth Here " premiered, he was more nervous than anyone else.
When Tengda collapsed, Gu Yan was in the lounge of his studio, his phone propped up in front of him, the screen displaying Tengda's 404 error page.
He was stunned for a moment, then laughed in exasperation.
"It crashed?" he said to his agent beside him. "Didn't Tengda expand its capacity? How come it crashed?"
The agent and assistant sat beside him, not daring to say a word.
Gu Yan stared at the 404 page and suddenly felt very angry.
He has never received this kind of treatment in all his years in the industry.
Which platforms crashed because of him?
Which server was expanded for him?
Cheng Che, a tennis player, has only been in the entertainment industry for six months, yet he's already created this kind of spectacle.
Twenty minutes later, Tengda recovered.
Gu Yan clicked on the first episode and began watching it intently.
He looked very carefully.
I'm not just watching the plot, but also Cheng Che's performance.
The plot is solid; as long as a youth campus drama avoids melodrama and has logic, it already surpasses half of its peers.
The director's work was solid, avoiding excessive sentimentality and maintaining a brisk pace.
But what truly weighed on his heart was Cheng Che.
Cheng Che's portrayal of Zhou Ye is not that of a cold and aloof character.
He was always grinning and moving naturally. He would tilt his chair during class and play around with his classmates after class. When he ran in the hallway, he was like a real athlete.
His scenes with Wen Zhiyi were filled with something in his eyes, but he hid it well, without being greasy or deliberate. It was just like a young man who liked someone but didn't know how to express it.
Gu Yan stared at Cheng Che on the screen, his fingers gripping the remote control tightly.
He recalled his first time acting in a TV series.
He stumbled over his lines and his expression was stiff, so the director scolded him countless times.
He later made up for it through hard work, but the memory of being scolded remained.
He knew he wasn't a naturally gifted actor.
But Cheng Che is.
That sense of relaxation, that ease and control, that effortless naturalness in front of the camera—it's not something you can learn; it's innate.
Gu Yan stared at the screen, his expression growing increasingly grim.
He wanted to say that Cheng Che's acting was just so-so, and that youth campus dramas didn't require acting skills; anyone could play the role.
But he couldn't bring himself to say it.
Because he knew that if he were to act in the role, he wouldn't be able to capture Zhou Ye's essence.
He turned off the video and threw his phone on the sofa.
"I'm not watching anymore."
The agent glanced at him cautiously. "Brother Gu, how is it?"
Gu Yan did not answer.
He stood up, went into the inner room, and closed the door.
The assistant leaned close to the agent's ear and whispered, " Cheng Che's acting is pretty good, better than I expected."
The agent glared at her fiercely.
The assistant shrank back, not daring to say another word.
Across the country, countless viewers are engrossed in the first four episodes of " The Youth Here ".
After the first day's four-episode run, the show's reception can be summed up in four words.
Overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Weibo is full of compliments.
Some praised Cheng Che's acting skills, some praised his chemistry with Wen Zhiyi, some praised the director's Camera Language, and some praised the beautiful background music.
Of course, some people think these positive reviews are just fans controlling the narrative, but even casual viewers can't pinpoint any major flaws in the show.
I initially watched it for Cheng Che's looks, but I ended up becoming a fan of the story.
[ Zhou Ye is so vibrant! He really is like a high school student, not the kind of high school student who's pretending to be young.]
Wen Zhiyi's acting is really good; her scenes with Cheng Che are so natural.
[The director did a great job; the shots are clean and free of that greasy filter.]
[I screenshotted the scene at the beginning of the first episode where sunlight streams into the classroom and used it as my wallpaper.]
[I've finished watching all four episodes and I'm still wanting more. Please add more!]
Meanwhile, the cast and crew of " The Youth Here " are currently gathered at a hot pot restaurant in Capital City.
Director Zhou sat in the main seat, Producer Fang sat next to him, and Wen Zhiyi, Zhao Yiming, Li Siyuan and several other actors sat around a large table.
The pot was bubbling away, and the table was piled high with tripe, duck intestines, beef, and shrimp paste.
Director Zhou's phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID; it was the copyright manager of Tengda Video.
He answered the phone, listened for a few seconds, and then jumped up from his chair.
"How many?"
Everyone at the table looked over.
Director Zhou's hand holding the phone was trembling.
As he listened to the numbers on the other end of the phone, his expression shifted from tension to shock, and then from shock to ecstasy.
"Okay, okay, I understand."
He hung up the phone, looked at everyone on the table, and took a deep breath.
" Tengda just gave us the data," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "The first four episodes garnered over 200 million views. The peak real-time concurrent viewership reached 28 million, breaking all premiere records for dramas on the Tengda platform. It received an 8.2 rating on Douban. Three of the top ten trending topics on Weibo are related to our drama."
A moment of silence fell over the table.
Then Zhao Yiming was the first to stand up, raising his glass. "Awesome!!!"
Everyone stood up, clinked glasses, and cheered.
Wen Zhiyi sat in her seat, a smile playing on her lips. She glanced down at the trending topics on her phone, saying nothing, but the smile on her face was undeniable.
After everyone quieted down, Director Zhou said another sentence:
" Tengda said that, based on this trend, the final number of views may exceed two billion."
Producer Fang almost dropped his chopsticks into the pot.
Director Zhou sat down, picked up his phone, and scrolled through his contacts.
He found Cheng Che's name and pressed the dial button.
I answered it after it rang twice.
" Cheng Che," Director Zhou's voice was filled with barely concealed excitement, "The premiere data is in, it's excellent. Thank you."
Cheng Che chuckled on the other end of the phone, " Director Zhou, you're too kind. A good script is the most important thing."
"Without you, there would be no drama," Director Zhou said. "You must come to the celebration banquet."
"Must."
After hanging up the phone, Cheng Che put his phone back in his pocket.
He was sitting in Qin Lie's car, their destination being the Capital City branch of Esquire.
Qin Lie glanced at him in the rearview mirror. " Director Zhou?"
"Hmm," Cheng Che said, "The premiere ratings were very good."
"As expected." Qin Lie turned the steering wheel and onto another road. "Hold on tight, we'll be there in ten minutes."
The car was parked in front of an office building.
Cheng Che got out of the car and looked up.
The building isn't tall, but the facade is very clean, and the Esquire logo hangs at the entrance.
He pushed open the door and went inside.
Someone was already waiting at the front desk.
A woman in a black suit approached, her smile very professional.
"Mr. Cheng, welcome. I'm Lin, the editor-in-chief of Esquire. Today's shoot theme is 'The Two Sides of an 18-Year- Champion.' Photographer Teacher Chen is already waiting in the studio."
Cheng Che nodded and followed her inside.
After walking through a corridor, I entered the photography studio. The studio was large, the lights were already set up, and the backdrop was dark gray.
Photographer Teacher Chen was standing behind the camera, adjusting the lighting. He looked up when he saw Cheng Che enter.
"You're here." Teacher Chen smiled. "I watched your Australian Open matches. I was there during the final."
Cheng Che nodded slightly.
Teacher Chen turned around and glanced at the clothes rack behind her, which had two rows of clothes hanging on it.
One row is formal attire, and the other row is sportswear.
"We'll shoot two sets today," he said. "One set is your A-side, Champion in formal attire. The other set is your B-side, as a teenager in sportswear. Get ready, we'll start in half an hour."
Cheng Che walked to the clothes rack and glanced at the clothes.
In the formal wear row, there was a black cashmere suit with a very sharp cut.
In the row of sportswear, there was a white tennis outfit, as if it had been prepared especially for him.
He stood there, not in a hurry to choose.
Since we're faced with a choice, let's try out the effects of [ Hand of God ].
And so he silently activated [ the Hand of God ].