The fact that Tieba has survived to this day is entirely thanks to college students.
Many people never touched Tieba before high school, thinking it was an old relic.
But once they entered university, they started using it.
The reason is not complicated: Tieba freer than online forums and more authentic than Weibo; it has everything.
Part-time job information, course selection guides, tips for avoiding bad courses, secondhand trading, and all sorts of anonymous gossip.
Liu Lang is a sophomore at Peking University, majoring in physics.
He lay in bed, his laptop resting on his stomach, the mouse hovering over the screen, but he couldn't find anything interesting.
He finished his classes, got tired of playing games, and watched a bunch of videos. Out of sheer boredom, he opened the Peking University Tieba.
A post caught my eye with a very striking title.
"The New Peking University Heartthrob: Who Agrees? Who Disagrees?"
Liu Lang burst out laughing.
"Male god?" he muttered. "These days, anyone can be called a male god."
His roommate, Chen Mo, was leaning back in his chair reading a paper when he heard his laughter. He looked up and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Liu Lang turned the screen around.
Chen Mo glanced at the title and smiled.
"Is this some freshman trying to market himself?" Chen Mo leaned back in his chair, his tone languid. "There aren't that many male and female gods in college. The truly good-looking ones have already been scouted by talent agents. These posts are either self-promotion or posted by friends. Starting to market yourself before you're even famous is a bit too hasty."
"Click in and take a look," Liu Lang said.
Chen Mo leaned closer.
Liu Lang opened the post.
The first picture that catches the eye is a frontal shot.
I don't know who took this picture secretly; the angle is a bit random, but they were very lucky.
Sunlight streamed in from the side, and the boy in the picture was walking under a ginkgo tree, his head slightly tilted, as if he were looking at something.
The " Heartthrob of Ten Thousand " effect was perfectly preserved in the photo.
That face, that figure, that clean yet slightly aloof air.
Liu Lang and Chen Mo both fell silent.
"Damn it," Chen Mo said first, his tone carrying a defeated yet resigned air, "He really is that handsome."
Liu Lang didn't reply. He scrolled down the scroll bar.
The post already has hundreds of replies.
"He's really handsome. I admit I'm a sucker for good looks."
"It's alright, nothing special. You guys haven't seen much of the world."
"The person upstairs is so pathetic, always so stubborn."
"Is this a freshman? Which department are they in?"
"Mathematics Department. I saw it when I registered today; there was a whole circle of senior students surrounding them."
"Holy crap, math major? Doesn't that mean he's my direct junior?"
"Oh my god, it was him. No wonder it was so lively during registration today."
"Don't you guys know who he is? He's the top scorer in Caiyun Province's college entrance Zhuangyuan with 732 points. He plays tennis and is a National Youth Games Champion. He broke the marathon record. That cultural tourism video on Douyin was also filmed by him."
"Wait, he filmed that video? I saw it on social media!"
"That's definitely a male god."
"However, whether someone is a male god or not depends on their academic performance. Good looks don't necessarily mean good grades."
"How could someone who's the Zhuangyuan in their province be bad?"
"The college entrance exam is nothing. You need to produce research results. Peking University isn't a place where you can rely on your looks."
"You're making it sound like someone who didn't get into Peking University is talking about something else."
"That's not what I meant. I meant that getting into Peking University means starting from scratch. Your college entrance exam score is worthless here."
"Then why don't you go and become the top Zhuangyuan in the imperial examination?"
"Why are you being so argumentative? I'm just saying that research and exams are two different things—"
So you think people who are good at exams are necessarily bad at research?
I didn't say that.
Your logic is flawed.
Your logic is flawed.
The thread went completely off-topic starting from the 200th post.
Some people started discussing whether the college entrance examination equals ability, some cited various examples to prove that exams and scientific research are unrelated, and some countered that if one's foundation is not solid, how can one talk about scientific research?
In the end, even the question "What is the purpose of studying?" was brought up.
Some say it's for money, some say it's for ideals, some say it's to live up to their parents' expectations, and some say it's to see a bigger world.
Liu Lang flipped through more than a dozen pages but didn't find any mention of "male god" again.
He closed the post, leaned back in his chair, and sighed.
"These guys," he said, "Are more engrossed in arguing than in playing ball."
Chen Mo chuckled, "Normal. If there are no arguments on Tieba, is it still Tieba?"
The boys in the post are arguing.
But outside the thread, many more people were silently doing something else.
Cheng Che's photo was circulating privately in various freshman groups at Peking University.
Some people saved it and set it as their phone wallpaper.
Someone posted the photo in their group chat with their girlfriends, captioning it, "This is the person who got into our school this year."
A girl stared at her phone screen for a while in her dorm room, then put her phone face down on the table and picked up a book.
After looking at two pages, I flipped my phone back over and glanced at the photo on the lock screen.
"Just one more look," she whispered, "Just one last look."
A few minutes later, the phone was still lit up.
Meanwhile, at Capital City Beijing Normal University on the other side of the capital, Su Qingyue was sitting in her dormitory, chatting casually with her new roommates.
"You're from Spring City?" A girl with a ponytail poked her head out from the upper bunk, her voice filled with surprise. "I'm also from Caiyun Province, but I'm from Qujing."
"I'm from Spring City," Su Qingyue said.
"That's pretty close." The girl with the ponytail jumped off the bed and sat down next to Su Qingyue. "Did you come alone?"
"With a few friends."
"Does your friend also study here?"
"Yes, they're all in the Capital City."
The girl with the ponytail nodded, then suddenly remembered something and took out her phone.
"By the way, have you seen that post on the Peking University Tieba?"
What post?
"That one—" the girl with the ponytail said while scrolling through her phone, "Someone on our school's Tieba posted it, saying that Peking University has produced a male god."
Su Qingyue's heart skipped a beat.
No way.
The girl with the ponytail handed over her phone. Su Qingyue glanced down at it.
The screen displays a photograph. Under a ginkgo tree, in the sunlight, a boy tilts his head slightly.
Cheng Che.
Su Qingyue remained silent for two seconds.
The girl with the ponytail didn't notice her expression and was still excitedly saying:
"Look at this! The Beijing Normal University Tieba is full of confessions of love. Some people say they want to audit classes at Peking University, others say they want to wait for him after class. Some people have even dug up information that he was the top scorer in the college entrance Zhuangyuan, plays tennis, and has filmed cultural tourism videos."
She scrolled down; the comment section was densely packed.
"That's so cool!"
"I hereby announce that, starting today, I will be eating at the Peking University cafeteria."
"Does anyone know anyone at Peking University? Could you help me find out which dorm he's in?"
"I checked his Douyin; his name is Cheng Che Himself. You can search for him."
Su Qingyue's lips twitched slightly as she read the comments.
She remembered a few months ago, standing on the high school campus, watching him surrounded by a group of people; at that time, she was just watching from afar.
Now she has come to the Capital City.
He was there too.
But she could only watch from afar.
Su Qingyue returned the phone to the girl with the ponytail, smiled, and said nothing.