In the office of the Tengda Video " The Realm and Old Friends " project team, the reservation numbers on the data screen are still jumping up.
Fifteen million.
This data is from two hours after the official Weibo.
Prior to this, the number had remained stable at around 12 million, accumulating gradually after the official announcement of the release date.
After the clarification Weibo was published, the number of reservations increased by three million in two hours, with the curve so steep it looked like a straightened hook.
The project leader stood in front of the large screen, clutching an unopened bottle of water, muttering to himself:
"Raise it a little more, raise it a little more."
A staff member next to me whispered:
"At this rate, surpassing the record set by ' Joy of Life 2 ' is only a matter of time. And we haven't even started the official promotion yet; Cheng Che's fans haven't even gotten going."
The person in charge unscrewed the water bottle, took a sip, and said, "Keep a close eye on this number and report it every hour."
However, the reaction from people in the industry was not so calm in WeChat groups.
A producer posted a message in the group:
" Tengda's marketing strategy this time was really dirty. They used a relationship to create hype, and even when they clarified the situation, they still managed to gain a lot of attention. With this combination of moves, their appointment numbers skyrocketed."
Someone chimed in, "It is indeed dirty, but the results speak for themselves, there's no use getting angry."
Another director replied:
"You all just criticize Tengda, but why don't you think about why this marketing campaign worked? Tengda's marketing was very conventional; the clarification statement was written in a standard way. If it weren't for Cheng Che's 'I am the King' Weibo that saved the situation, the popularity would have dropped even after the clarification. The one who was truly effective was Cheng Che, not Tengda."
The group chat went silent for a moment.
Then someone replied, "You're right. Tengda was just lucky to sign Cheng Che."
No one responded.
Because everyone knows this is true.
An older actor posted a long rant in another group:
"Back in our day, good acting skills, wide connections, and status meant you had a voice. Now? Traffic is king. What good is your acting if nobody watches? A single Weibo post from a top star is more effective than ten of your acting performances. That's how we lost our voice."
No one agreed with or refuted this statement.
Because everyone knows this is true.
In the studios of the four top celebrities, the atmosphere has returned to that "waiting for something to happen" state.
But nothing came of it. Cheng Che's "I, the lonely one" Weibo not only failed to provoke a backlash from fans, but instead turned the comment section into a massive meme-filled event.
Those top-tier teams waited for ages, only to receive news that " The Realm and Old Friends " had broken records for pre-orders.
Shen Du's agent put down his phone and said to Shen Du, "It's hopeless. His Weibo was too clever; the fans didn't even react."
Shen Du leaned back in his chair, paused for a moment, and then said:
"Then let's wait and see US Open. If he wins the US Open too, he'll have a Grand Slam, and nobody can stop the hype."
In Rongcheng, after the anime convention incident ended, filming for the variety show continued for another week.
This week, Cheng Che completely let loose.
Director Zhou initially only planned to shoot three episodes, but the amount of footage kept increasing.
Cheng Che was making breakfast in the apartment, making a mess of the kitchen. Ning Qing stood next to him, cleaning up while complaining about him. The whole scene of the two bickering was recorded by a camera.
He went downstairs to the convenience store to buy snacks, showing off each bag of potato chips he chose to the camera, only to be criticized by Ning Qing as "all junk food," leading to another argument between the two in front of the convenience store.
He even taught Ning Qing how to play games in the living room, starting a match on his phone. Ning Qing chose support, and he chose Ezreal.
The two fought and argued back and forth, and in the end, the loser blamed the other for the fight.
Each piece of footage could be edited into a separate episode.
Director Zhou sat in front of the monitor watching the playback, becoming more and more reluctant to delete it. In the end, he discussed it with President Fang and expanded the original three-episode variety show into eight episodes.
"He's such a clown," Director Zhou said to President Fang with a smile. "And the way he was acting, he didn't seem like a top star at all; he was like a high school student having a blast at home on vacation."
President Fang flipped through the list of materials and smiled, "Isn't this exactly what we wanted? This is what the audience wants to see."
After filming eight episodes, Cheng Che and his team flew from Rongcheng to New York.
Flushing, Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
In the week leading up to the US Open, Cheng Che trained for two hours every day at the training ground, spending the rest of his time adjusting to the time difference at the hotel.
But for someone with 90 points of physical strength and endurance, jet lag has almost no effect, and they adapt completely by the second day.
During training, he would occasionally encounter a few athletes who had arrived early to prepare for the competition.
Some people nodded at him from afar, while others came over to chat for a bit.
A Spain player came over after he finished practicing his serve and said in English, "You've won on grass and clay, so you should have no problem on hard courts."
Cheng Che smiled and replied, "Hard courts are what I'm best at."
Meanwhile, in China, the episode of " Let's Eat " Cheng Che finally aired.
When the program aired the part about going out to sea from Zhoushan, Cheng Che was standing at the bow of the boat, his hair blowing in the sea breeze. The camera cut to the sea surface, and a group of dolphins swam over from the side of the boat. One of them jumped particularly high, spun in the air, and then landed back down.
The screen was flooded with comments at that moment.
Holy crap, it really is a dolphin!!!
[What incredible luck Cheng Che has! He spun a roulette wheel and landed on a cruise ship, and even encountered dolphins while sailing out to sea!]
[The production team said it was a chance encounter, not a setup, and I believed them, because you can't arrange things like dolphins.]
[I took a screenshot of him standing at the bow of the boat watching the dolphins; it was so beautiful.]
[Does this guy have some kind of lucky aura? How come he always seems to run into good things?]
[Hey, do you know what's most infuriating? Not only did he encounter a dolphin, but that dolphin also threw a squid at him!]
[I laughed so hard at the squid part; Teacher Huang's expression was so speechless, he'd never been so dumbfounded in his life.]
"Even dolphins work for you"—I'll laugh about this for a year!
Meanwhile, in Cheng Che's fan community, fans were posting while watching the show.
My husband looks so gentle when he watches the dolphins; I've watched that smile ten times over.
[The production team said this footage was filmed several months ago, before he won Wimbledon.]
So this guy was already this lucky before he won Wimbledon?
I now believe that some people are just chosen ones, and that's something you can't envy.
Cheng Che smiled as he looked at the comments on his phone screen in his hotel room in New York.
Then he turned off the video and opened the US Open schedule.
At that moment, the system panel in his mind suddenly lit up!