Huayu: Traffic is king

Chapter 214 Shura Field

Flowers bloom inside the wall, and their fragrance spreads outside as well.

"Ashes of Love" was not only a huge hit in China, but also caused a ratings frenzy overseas.

After its broadcast in Southeast Asia, it directly contributed to its dominant popularity.

"Ashes of Love" premiered in Thailand on CH3 television's prime time slot, becoming the first Chinese historical drama to air on a mainstream Thai channel! Its peak viewership reached 8%, surpassing "Story of Yanxi Palace's" 7.2%! "Ashes of Love" immediately climbed into the top three in viewership ratings for the year upon its premiere!
The hashtag #FengXufeng topped the Twitter trending list in Thailand, and fan-made Thai-language special effects intros went viral.

The mainstream media outlet Bangkok Post featured a special report stating that "Ashes of Love is a visual revolution in the aesthetics of Eastern mythology."

In Vietnam, after the broadcast on VTV2, the Vietnamese support message "Cy Nho và Phng Hoàng (Grapes and Phoenix) - Eternal Love" appeared on outdoor screens in Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh City. The episode garnered over 500 million views on the video platform FPT Play, setting a record for Chinese-language dramas.

South Korea goes without saying. Do they even understand the value of "Kpop's eternal Chunwon"? As soon as "Ashes of Love" aired, the viewership ratings on China TV surged by 600% compared to usual, and Korean netizens posted: "The pinnacle of Chinese male actors' ancient costume looks has been born."

The Korean drama "Ashes of Love" was translated as "Frost Flower Princess" and became incredibly popular. Upon its premiere, Gu Jingyi immediately topped the charts on both the PANN and theqoo forums.

His official fan base has surpassed 20, making him the most popular Chinese male star in South Korea. Even many South Korean male stars envy Gu Jingyi's fan count; generally, surpassing 10 is considered top-tier.

These official fan cafes require a fee to join. And it's not something you can just join whenever you want; you have to wait for the official cafe to open up slots. South Korean fans who want to join Gu Jingyi's official fan cafe are already on the waiting list for several weeks from now.

Even in Europe and America, it received a good response. "Ashes of Love" was released on Netflix. In its first week, it broke into the top 10 in 10 countries including Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Although it did not make the top 10 in Europe and America, it received a user rating of 4.2 stars (out of 5).

English-speaking regions are giving it rave reviews: "Ashes of Love is an even more beautiful Eastern fantasy epic than Game of Thrones."

However, South Korea received the most praise, with "Ashes of Love" completely shattering confidence in Korean dramas. This was a low-budget South Korean historical drama, with special effects and production costs that would never be achievable.

"Ashes of Love" was selected as the most popular overseas drama of the year by the South Korean streaming platform TVING, and also won the Most Popular Overseas Drama Award at the Seoul International Drama Awards.

A rare overseas event, a great opportunity to showcase national prestige.

The entire cast and crew of "Ashes of Love" naturally attended, making the Seoul International Drama Festival a star-studded event.

From his red carpet appearance to the autograph and photo session, there was only one voice on the red carpet: "Gu Jingyi!"
As the first Chinese artist to have a personal section on theqoo forum, he is now the first Chinese artist to have a personal section on a major South Korean forum.

Gu Jingyi's popularity in South Korea is terrifyingly high.

After all, he is the man who, after the establishment of this section, was able to surpass BTS's Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook to take first place in the overall discussion area of ​​the artist section this month.

Aesthetic sense is a personal thing, but a uniform kind of handsomeness can break aesthetic standards.

Just like Cha Eun-woo and Won Bin from South Korea, both of them are praised for their good looks even in China.

Gu Jingyi is just an adjective in South Korea.

"Only handsome" and "like looking at someone else" both describe his extreme handsomeness. The first "only handsome" means that there are many handsome men in Asia, but only Gu Jingyi is the most handsome.

The second meaning of "like Gu Jingyi" is that among the South Korean idols and actors, who has some of Gu Jingyi's handsomeness? They will support whoever does and watch their work.

South Koreans love the "resemblance to Tzuyu" trope, and Kim Min-joo from "Produce 48" was hailed as a "Tzuyu-type beauty." Because of her resemblance to Tzuyu from Twice, her popularity has remained consistently high since she joined the show.

South Koreans have been searching for male idols like Gu Jingyi but haven't found one.

They probably really wanted to find a male idol like Gu Jingyi, so they had to create a batch of "brothers" to lie on cold operating tables for plastic surgery...

Sigh, poor Ahn Joon-young was clearly busy working on a sewing machine. With the immense popularity of "Ashes of Love"... oh wait... I mean "Frozen Flower Princess," he's constantly being relentlessly attacked online by South Koreans.

If South Koreans want to see Gu Jingyi, they can only watch his previous works. For example, "A Love So Beautiful" was a highly popular contemporary romance drama in South Korea.

Even the school uniforms were praised by some girls for looking comfortable and warm. They are flattering for all body types and quite durable.

As the "archaeology craze" swept through, Gu Jingyi's previous works were also reviewed one by one.

Then they were caught in a vortex of screaming for Gu Jingyi, and everyone envied that China had Gu Jingyi.

Korean media forums also praised Gu Jingyi as a handsome man of legendary caliber, like Won Bin, saying he was exceptionally handsome.

Don't believe those marketing accounts that say South Korea doesn't like handsome men with striking features, or that South Korea doesn't follow any stars other than K-pop.

Look at the top two on every list of male celebrities, aren't Won Bin and Jang Dong-gun both strikingly handsome men? They have completely shed the typical South Korean looks of single-eyelid beauties and high cheekbones, yet they possess a very Chinese-style handsomeness.

The claim that South Koreans don't like strikingly handsome men refers to their dislike of mixed-race individuals with Western ancestry. A typical example is Kim Samuel, who participated in "Produce 202" with Gu Jingyi, and Little Eleven from SVT.

To say that South Koreans don't follow overseas celebrities is utter nonsense; the most typical example is Tang Wei.

Gu Jingyi is even better than Tang Wei, after all, he is a man who carved out a bloody path from the very beginning with his looks.

After attending this event, Gu Jingyi and Yang Zi reunited to promote Nongshim Ramen. This was a joint endorsement by the two, added after the broadcast of Ashes of Love.

After completing everything, Yang Zi returned to China ahead of everyone else.

Gu Jingyi is also filming a music video for her new album in South Korea. The title track of the new album is "Write Our Story".

The original time was included in JJ's album and was regarded by countless people as a "wedding song".

Gu Jingyi went directly to several filming locations for Korean dramas to complete the shoot, and the final result was quite good.

It looks beautiful and dreamlike, and is full of romantic charm.

The other music video is for "If I Could," which is a rather unique song.

Gu Jingyi wants to shoot a music video, and it would be more convenient to film in South Korea.

Because of the music video for this song, he directly brought in Jang Won-young and Yoo Ji-min to be the female leads.

As the theme song of the original time-travel movie "The Matchmaker", "If I Could" has consistently ranked among the top three on various domestic music charts since its release.

Overseas, the song has garnered over 1 million views on YouTube in just over a year since its release.

This result is three times that of Zhang PD's "Lotus," easily doubling the score.

On the show "Sound Breaking," "If I Could" garnered a staggering 50 million views. While that may seem like a lot, it depends on the competition. Shows that have surpassed 100 million views include those by Mondstadt, BTS's English trilogy, and Selena Gomez.

The most obvious common point is that all the songs that have broken 100 million views on The Voice are in English!
"If I Could" is a Chinese song, and it's truly amazing that it has achieved such great success! Even if Gu Jingyi does nothing, he could make a fortune just from the revenue generated by this song.

This song is one of the best-performing Chinese songs on streaming platforms overseas.

The number one Cpop star has never been Huang Lege Tao, nor Wang Jiaer or Zhang Yixing.

Two people performed the best: Wei Li-an and Zhou Xingzhe.

Zhang Yixing wants to hype up "Lotus"? Let's see if his performance breaks 3000 million views first...

The song "If I Could" is also very nice, with a touch of ballad love song flavor.

The chorus features a dense high-pitched vocal range, with continuous G4-A4 notes, creating a rich listening experience. Several sustained A4 notes also allow Gu Jingyi to showcase his technical skills. The chorus and bridge then feature a seamless transition between his true and falsetto voices, with five consecutive high notes that propel the song's emotion to a climax.

Layer upon layer, it can be so beautiful it makes the listener feel numb.

Recording the song was also very simple; Gu Jingyi rented a venue and easily got it done in half a day.

His singing skills have never deteriorated; his voice is still as steady as ever.

After completing everything, Gu Jingyi drove directly to Lin Yun'er's house.

Why not go to Jisoo's house? Because BLACKPINK is still in the dormitory phase.

No sooner had Kim Ji-soo dared to meet Gu Jingyi than her relationship was exposed by various paparazzi, media outlets, and fan site administrators.

Yoona doesn't have this problem. Girls' Generation's career started to decline noticeably in 2014. And by 2019, those fans had long since matured.

Besides, Yoona is already 29 years old. She's considered "older" now, who cares if she's in a relationship or not...?

By this point in Girls' Generation's activities, fans have long since come to terms with it.

And so, Gu Jingyi easily overcame all obstacles and arrived at Lin Yun'er's luxury apartment.

I rang the doorbell and fought with Lim Yoona on the bed all night.

The next day, Yoona felt a severe backache.

That same morning, at a coffee shop.

Gu Jingyi picked up his coffee, took a sip, and watched the two of them with interest.

Zhang Yuanying and Liu Zhimin both arrived, and both of them kept their heads down, looking somewhat reserved.

Yoo Jimin had not yet debuted at this time; Aespa debuted in 2020.

Jang Won-young's situation was prematurely ignited by the Ahn Joon-young ticket scandal.

Just like the group IZ*ONE, whose activities were going very well, all activities were abruptly halted and the group disbanded ahead of schedule.

This is kind of funny. All the idols who have already debuted are now being sent back to their original agencies to become trainees preparing for their debut, waiting for their chance to debut.

Falling from the sky is nothing more than that.

This is one of the reasons why Zhang Yuanying looked somewhat reserved when she met Gu Jingyi.

Zhang Yuanying knew very well what this handsome Chinese man in front of her could bring her.

After Ahn Joon-young entered the competition, the true debut positions began to circulate on various forums.

In the end, there was indeed a debut list, although it was encrypted and spread on various forums under the names of A and C.

It's generally accepted that Gu Jingyi's first place in "Produce 202" was stolen, and Yingzi stole Xiaoying's first place in "Produce 48".

Zhang Yuanying hasn't had a very good time lately.

Starship's public relations capabilities are terrible; they've been getting a lot of flak lately.

Do you know what our filming assignment is today?

Gu Jingyi's gaze swept over the two of them, and he spoke slowly. He slumped lazily in the sofa, his long legs crossed.
"Yes, today we're going to be the female lead in Jingyi oppa's new music video."

Today, Zhang Yuanying resembles a carefully nurtured jasmine flower, wearing a white cashmere dress. Her slightly wavy long hair falls over her shoulders, and her makeup is so fresh and delicate it seems as if you could squeeze water from it.

When Gu Jingyi asked the question, her eyes lit up instantly. She raised her hand to answer, her voice so sweet it could drip honey.

Seeing her like this, Liu Zhimin, dressed casually, glanced at Zhang Yuanying's deliberately approaching body and finally landed on Gu Jingyi's face, curving into a faint, slightly mocking smile.

Zhang Yuanying's smile froze for a moment, then returned to its sweeter state, though her hands on her knees tightened slightly. She turned to Liu Zhimin, her voice still sweet: "Is there a problem? Ah, you look very familiar! Are you a new trainee at SM? You look so young and energetic."

She made the words "young" and "trainee" particularly clear.

Liu Zhimin scoffed lightly, then immediately retorted, "Yes, she can't compare to Senior Yuan Ying. She debuted earlier, has more experience, and is the 'national center'!"

She picked up the coffee on the table, took a sip, and her neck, with its smooth yet delicate lines and Adam's apple bobbing, defiantly looked through the bottle at Zhang Yuanying as she continued, "Senior, you're so 'busy,' yet you still managed to come and film a music video. You're truly dedicated."

Zhang Yuanying's face turned cold. Of course, she understood that Liu Zhimin was subtly mocking her for how glamorous she had been before.

They were brought back to square one after Ahn Joon-young's alleged misconduct was exposed. The "Shorty King" group became a mere shell of its former self, and its members were all sent back to their original companies.

"Correct answer, so here's the script. Take a look."

Gu Jingyi seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere and simply handed over two folders containing the script for the music video of "If I Could".

He snapped his fingers again, signaling the two of them to take a good look.

In the music video for "If I Could", Jang Won-young symbolizes "pure reincarnation" and is the male lead's innocent first love.

A first encounter under the cherry blossoms, sheltering from the rain; a red scarf; raindrops in the palm of the hand; an unfinished touch. These correspond to the lyrics "you under the big tree," "let time stop that rain," and "a ten-thousand-year promise." It requires an extreme purity, fragility, and a bittersweet, fateful beauty.

Liu Zhimin, on the other hand, represents the troublemaker.

Whether it's a seductive encounter in a bar, a passionate kiss in a rain-soaked garage, or a desperate entanglement beside a lit piano, these correspond to the lyrics "not wanting to prepare for storms and gales," "love is love," "fire blossoms," and "a decision to gamble the world." They require a dangerous, aggressive, and destructive tension of passion.

These also fit the two's appearances well, and Yoo Ji-min's future debut with Aespa will be in an AI style.

As Zhang Yuanying listened to her part, a look of longing and shyness, befitting her character, appeared on her face. She would occasionally look at Gu Jingyi with adoring eyes: "Oppa, in the scene under the tree, we need to portray that 'love at first sight' feeling! Just like the lyrics say, 'The red thread draws across the secret of reincarnation.'" She deliberately emphasized "reincarnation," as if to declare a certain order of arrival.

Liu Zhimin chuckled softly, but her voice was loud enough for her to hear clearly.

She stood up, her fingertips tracing across Gu Jingyi's chest muscles.

“Reincarnation? That’s too vague and unrealistic,” Liu Zhimin said, raising her eyes to stare directly at Gu Jingyi. Her red lips parted slightly, her voice carrying a seductive undertone.

“Oppa, I still prefer my part! I’m more interested in ‘kissing your breath’ and ‘not wanting to be on guard against storms and gales.’ Fate? I prefer to rewrite it myself.”

She glanced meaningfully at Zhang Yuanying, her eyes filled with undisguised contempt.

Zhang Yuanying's face turned slightly pale, and her fingers dug into her palms.

Gu Jingyi put down his phone, his gaze lingering on Liu Zhimin's face for a few seconds.

His eyes were deep, yet filled with a complex mix of emotions. In the end, he simply said, "Since there are no objections, let's proceed according to the script. Be on time tomorrow afternoon."

(End of this chapter)