Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Chapter 119 If Jiang Bai hadn't been born, the Chinese entertainment fandom would have been plunged into eternal darkness!

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai felt a sense of helplessness and speechlessness.

This is a complete and utter injustice.

He doesn't have much of a romantic storyline in "The Thunder".

Or rather, the romantic storyline isn't the focus of this drama.

As a hardcore drug-busting crime drama, "The Thunder" focuses on the fight against organized crime, clan struggles, and the confrontation between good and evil from beginning to end.

The male lead's romantic storyline is not part of the main plot at all.

There were several main actresses in the crew, but they were all just colleagues, and he wasn't that indiscriminate in his pursuit of them.

Despite his complaints, Jiang Bai knew in his heart that he had no right to refute Li Yitong.

After all, in Sister Xue's eyes, his reputation was already terrible.

Who told him to openly cheat on two girls from the very beginning, comfortably enjoying the affections of both? He was selfish and greedy.

This is something no girl could ever clear her name about.

Rather than trying to defend yourself and ending up in an unnecessary argument, it's better to keep quiet and be a silent punching bag.

Fortunately, Li Yitong was just making a casual joke.

She understood Jiang Bai's current popularity better than anyone else; countless girls liked him.

Instead of living in constant anxiety, suspicion, and internal strife, it's better to relax and have a more relaxed mindset.

For some things, as long as she doesn't bring them up, maintaining the status quo is the best way for everyone to get along.

The brief moment of emotion vanished quickly. Li Yitong lazily shifted her posture, leaning back in the passenger seat, and casually changed the subject, asking curiously, "Hey, have you been watching that 'Idol Producer' show from iQiyi lately?"

"This show is being discussed everywhere online right now; its popularity is off the charts."

Speaking of this, Jiang Bai's eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded gently, answering truthfully: "I was bored the night the show premiered, so I watched the first episode."

"After that, the crew had more filming commitments, so I stopped paying attention."

The calendar has now turned to February 3rd.

Just last night, Qiyi Video updated the third episode of "Idol Producer" on time.

The program has also progressed to the end of its first stage, with all one hundred trainees completing their initial stage evaluations and successfully dividing into initial groups.

They were assigned levels and independently selected songs to form teams, entering a high-intensity training phase.

They made ample preparations for the first performance stage, marking the first climax since the show's premiere.

Next Friday at 8 PM, the fourth episode will be released, featuring the stage from the first performance, which is considered the first climax of the show.

That date happened to be February 9th.

That is, on the same day that "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" officially premiered on Tencent Video.

Tencent's ambition to directly challenge Taobao and seize the young user market during the winter break is now plain for all to see.

Li Yitong frowned, her tone filled with undisguised worry, her delicate face etched with anxiety: "These past few days, I've been scrolling through Weibo and Douyin, and I've noticed that everyone's attention has basically been drawn to 'Idol Producer'."

"Especially young girls, it seems like they're all waiting for next week's performance stage."

"Our drama just happens to be airing at the same time as the first performance of this show. If the show diverts our popularity and the premiere ratings are poor, that would be terrible."

It's perfectly normal to feel anxious.

Unlike Jiangbai, which is fully booked and operates year-round.

Li Yitong is currently in a rare period of free time.

Her next drama series won't start filming until May, where she will co-star with Luo Jin in the big-budget historical drama "Royal Nirvana".

It has to be said that Li Yitong's management team is really good at securing resources, and has an extremely strong network of connections.

While others are still scrambling for leading roles in low-budget web dramas and competing for supporting roles.

She has already secured leading roles in several top-tier historical dramas.

With such a high starting point, she surpasses more than 90% of her peers among the new generation of actresses.

Because she has no work scheduled for a long time, Li Yitong, who has been staying at home recently, has caught up on all the TV dramas and variety shows she missed.

She naturally followed the entire season of "Idol Producer," which is currently the most popular show by a wide margin.

It was only after she had thoroughly understood the show's massive viewership that she felt uneasy about the prospects of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for its premiere.

Besides, the most fundamental reason stems from her deep-seated lack of self-confidence.

Since her debut, Li Yitong has starred in several films and television dramas, which have received fairly good reviews.

However, the playback data has always been in an awkward position, neither high nor low.

No work has ever truly achieved mainstream popularity.

Over time, she subconsciously felt that she couldn't carry the ratings of a drama and couldn't attract a large audience of casual viewers on her own, so she lacked confidence in herself.

But when Jiang Bai heard this, he immediately became unhappy.

What does Sister Xue mean by that?

Does she think she needs to deliberately avoid Cai Xukun and the show "Idol Producer"?

This is not just a lack of self-confidence, but also an underestimation of him.

They also underestimated the potential of the drama "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"!

Jiang Bai confidently interrupted Li Yitong's worries: "Don't worry, our show is guaranteed to win, we don't need to be afraid of the other side at all."

"Why?" Li Yitong looked up blankly.

"It's very simple. The size of the audience for 'Idol Producer' is not even on the same level as that of drama fans."

Jiang Bai explained calmly, "You have to understand that while the audience for idol talent shows is also young girls, it can only cover a portion of them."

"It looks exciting, but it's all bark and no bite."

Even though "Idol Producer" is all over the internet now, and fans are everywhere, the real fans are only a small part of the vast majority of netizens.

"But idol dramas are different."

"The idol drama market covers students, office workers, and casual viewers, with a much larger audience than a variety show."

Those fans who are willing to watch "Idol Producer" are likely also the target audience for idol dramas.

However, not all people who enjoy watching idol dramas also enjoy watching shows like "Idol Producer".

The audience for TV dramas is always much larger than the audience for reality show fans.

Jiang Bai firmly believed this.

Moreover, the former big fans of Reed who were most willing to spend money in the original timeline have now become ordinary fans.

In addition, there's his existing fan base, Tencent Video's top-tier promotional resources, and the script's potential to be a dark horse.

With multiple advantages combined, why should he be afraid of a talent show?

After listening to Jiang Bai's analysis, Li Yitong suddenly understood, and the anxiety in her eyes vanished.

The man in front of us alone is our biggest asset in terms of popularity.

"That's true!"

Li Yitong's eyes lit up with a smile again. She leaned back in her chair with her arms crossed, a smile playing on her lips, and said in a light tone, "With a great god like you in charge, this drama is bound to be a hit on its premiere. I was just worrying for nothing."

Jiang Bai chuckled lightly, offering no further explanation, and gently pressed the accelerator, smoothly navigating the city streets of Zhongshan.

The two chatted idly along the way.

Before long, the car came to a smooth stop downstairs at the hotel reserved for the film crew.

Over the next few days, Jiang Bai and Li Yitong officially began filming the music video.

The music video production team dispatched by Universal Music had arrived in Zhongshan well in advance, and all the shooting equipment and locations were ready.

As planned, the team filmed music videos for the two singles, "Exchange of Lifetimes" and "Want to See You".

The two music videos have completely different shooting styles and narrative modes.

For the music video of "Exchange of the Rest of Our Lives," Jiang Bai provided the script outline, which is basically the same as the original version, telling a story of parallel timelines alternating.

The two timelines are a tragedy and an open ending.

The difference lies in the fact that the male protagonist, due to drowning while swimming, travels through and interferes with a parallel universe.

Ultimately, the two timelines echo each other, perfectly matching the theme of the song itself.

As for the second song, "Want to See You," the production team did not adopt a complete script narrative mode.

The song itself has a sweet and gentle style, which is suitable for fragmented atmospheric shots.

Therefore, the team chose the most common shooting method for love song MVs in the industry, abandoning complex plots and focusing on visual appeal and atmosphere.

The content they filmed mostly consisted of sweet snippets of the male and female leads' daily interactions.

Watching the sunset side by side at the beach, strolling hand in hand through alleyways, snuggling together in a room listening to music, sharing the evening breeze and sunset on the rooftop.

Later, it will be edited together with some plot clips from "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Is this a sweet daily life of Zhang Wansen and Lin Beixing in a perfect time and space?

To be honest, if this music video is released later, it will be completely in line with the drama's promotion, openly fulfilling the wishes of the CP fans and showering them with sweetness.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

With highly efficient teamwork, the filming of both music videos was successfully completed.

All the footage was sealed and handed over to the post-production team for editing, color grading, and music addition, and will be released later in conjunction with the album.

As night fell, the hotel room was warm and inviting.

After the chaos subsided, only the sounds of rapid breathing remained in the room.

Li Yitong felt hot all over and threw off the thin blanket covering her.

Completely ignoring the fine beads of sweat on her fair forehead, she panted and turned to wrap her arms around Jiang Bai's neck, leaning lazily into his embrace.

After a long while, Li Yitong slowly calmed her breathing, her eyes revealing an undisguised satisfaction and a lingering, unsatisfied longing.

She asked in a soft, sweet voice, "You heartbreaker, I don't have any work scheduled until the Lunar New Year."

"Should I stay in Zhongshan and stay with you on set?"

At this moment, Jiang Bai's fingertips were unconsciously caressing Li Yitong's smooth and delicate back, enjoying a moment of tranquility.

Upon hearing this, his fingers, which were stroking his skin, suddenly stopped, and the satisfaction on his face vanished, replaced by an undisguised embarrassment.

He paused for two seconds, carefully choosing his words, before forcing himself to say in a low voice, "Um—Tongtong, Xiaotian is coming to visit the set next week."

"She's finished her work, so she'll probably stay until the Lunar New Year before going back home."

The air suddenly became quiet.

I heard that name from Jiang Bai, a name that the two of them usually tacitly avoided mentioning.

This forced Li Yitong to confront some realities she had deliberately ignored in her daily life.

The languidness and gentleness on Li Yitong's face vanished instantly.

She silently released her arms from Jiang Bai's neck, curled up, and turned her back to him.

After a dull silence lasting for more than ten seconds, Li Yitong finally sighed softly, her tone listless and devoid of much emotion: "I understand."

There was no loud arguing or hysteria, but this silent and sensible demeanor was more heartbreaking than any outburst of temper.

Her personality dictates that she would never act out of jealousy or compete with another girl for the same man.

That kind of attitude is too humble and degrading.

Since there was no way to fight for it, the nameless anger and grievances that had been building up inside could only be vented on Jiang Bai, the instigator.

Body.

"I really don't understand what I was thinking back then, how could I have fallen for a womanizer like you?"

Li Yitong said this through gritted teeth for the nth time, her tone full of helplessness.

It has a sense of hindsight, like a saint.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Jiang Bai quickly wrapped his arms around her slender waist from behind, pulling her into his embrace.

He lowered his stance and smiled ingratiatingly, "Don't be angry, Sister Xue."

"Let's look at it from a different perspective. You came to Zhongshan to be with me before Xiaotian. You were first, she was second. This time, you went first!"

The truth is that Xiaotian's work won't be finished until next week, so even if she wanted to come earlier, she couldn't.

But Jiang Bai's words gave Li Yitong a reason to convince herself, and she felt much better.

It can only be said that there is essentially no difference between a scumbag man coaxing a woman and a celebrity coaxing his female fans.

As long as they are given the right opportunities, they can convince themselves and reconcile with themselves.

Ultimately, the root cause of all this boils down to one word: love.

That's love!

Looking at the girl in his arms whose emotions were gradually calming down, Jiang Bai couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

His greed for the affections of two girls is itself a debt he owes to them.

To make up for this guilt, and to properly comfort Sister Xue who was wronged.

Jiang Bai's eyes flickered slightly, and his voice was low: "Sister Xue, let's—play another round."

After saying that, he mounted his horse!

"Huh?!" Li Yitong, still feeling a bit emo, hadn't had time to react.

It was completely filled.

Okay, enough with the emo, let's enjoy this!

The next morning, it was bright daylight.

Jiang Bai personally drove Li Yitong, who was in poor condition and had a slight weariness in her eyes, to the high-speed rail station, and watched her go through the ticket check and leave Zhongshan.

After seeing Li Yitong off, time passed quickly, and a day flew by.

Friday, January 2th.

It's the focus of everyone's attention and the anticipation of the entire internet.

This day is destined to be recorded as one of the major events in the Chinese entertainment industry this year, becoming the most contentious day in the industry.

On one hand, there's Tencent Video's long-planned fantasy suspense romance drama "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," which boasts promotional standards comparable to S-level dramas and stars top idol Jiang Bai.

On the other side is the first performance stage of "Idol Producer," a new idol talent show launched by Qiyi Video at the beginning of the year, which swept the entire network and claimed to be a nationwide phenomenon.

Tencent Video and iQiyi, two top video platforms, are going head-to-head.

TV dramas and talent shows are airing at the same time and clashing with each other.

War is imminent!

For more than half a month, the pre-release promotion and publicity work for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" has never stopped.

Tencent Video has invested a massive budget to comprehensively cover major social media platforms.

The official team released three different trailers in different styles to generate buzz.

The trending search terms purchased by Weibo are displayed on a daily rotating basis.

Douyin and Kuaishou, short video platforms, have launched a major offensive, with various behind-the-scenes clips and promotional videos featuring attractive personalities flooding the recommendation pages.

Just one day before the broadcast, the official Douyin account released a short video of Jiang Bai and Li Yitong changing costumes during a scene transition.

In the video, the two seamlessly transform from simple school uniforms into gorgeous formal wear, performing a waltz, accompanied by the fateful interlude of the yet-to-be-released song "Exchange of Lives".

In just one day, the video easily garnered over 2 million likes and 100,000 comments, directly topping the Douyin trending list and leading a new wave of Douyin costume challenge trends.

The extensive, two-week-long publicity campaign made everyone aware of it.

A fantasy suspense romance drama starring Jiang Bai, which combines sweetness and heartbreak, is about to premiere during the winter break.

In contrast, the popularity of "Idol Producer" is equally undeniable.

After the groundwork laid in the first three episodes, each of the one hundred trainees has accumulated a fan base.

In particular, the number of fans of popular contestants, led by Cai Xukun, Chen Linong, and the three members of Yuehua Entertainment, has skyrocketed.

During his initial stage performance, Cai Xukun rose to fame with his fishnet outfit, securing his position as the most popular contestant on the show.

Countless fans have been eagerly anticipating the first performance stage at 8 PM on Friday.

Throughout the day, the entire Weibo entertainment section was abuzz with activity.

Supporters of both camps refused to back down, turning into free promoters and frantically recruiting people in various supertopics, trending topics comment sections, and public forum posts.

To generate buzz and promote the show/series you support.

Jiang Bai's fan club issued a unified mobilization notice well in advance.

Former die-hard fans of Reed Sister have broken down the tasks in detail.

A group of fans are responsible for controlling comments and promoting trending topics, and purging negative comments from trolls.

Some fans are stationed in the super topic, ready to launch a counterattack at any time to ensure that their home is not stolen.

The remaining fans dispersed to platforms such as Douyin, Hupu, Tieba, and Xiaohongshu, posting trailer clips and behind-the-scenes footage to attract casual viewers.

Within the super topic, the pinned comments are all uniformly written.

[Turn on Tencent Video at 12 PM on February 9th! Top star Jiang Bai transforms into Zhang Wansen, a character experiencing a mutual unrequited love across parallel universes, transcending countless reincarnations just to reach one person. This winter, witness mutual redemption with Zhang Wansen!]

What does it mean to have the fan cohesion of a top celebrity?

Tactical fadeaway.JPG!

Besides the core fans of Jiang Bai, who are also known as "white rice fans," there are also many drama fans and casual fans who were previously attracted to Jiang Bai, who are also spontaneously promoting the product everywhere.

"Please, everyone, go watch 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'! The parallel universe setting really resonated with me, and I'm totally obsessed with the ceiling. I've already watched the trailer over a dozen times, and I'm eagerly waiting for it to premiere at noon!"

"I thought it was just a typical sweet romance campus drama, but after watching the trailer, I was completely hooked! The sweet and angsty blend with a strong sense of destiny—stay tuned to Tencent Video on February 9th, you won't regret it!"

The main force of the "Idol Producer" fan base consists of individual fans of each trainee, group fans, and general talent show enthusiasts.

Unlike "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", which premiered at noon.

The first performance of "Idol Producer" was only updated at 8 pm.

In theory, the two broadcast times are staggered.

But that didn't stop the fans from promoting the show intensively all day long.

Fans collectively posted calls to action within the individual fan pages of each contestant:

Tune in to Qiyi Video this Friday at 8 PM to support your favorite boy! His first performance is packed with amazing moments – don't miss it!

Especially Cai Xukun's fans, most of whom are newcomers under 20 years old who may not have been fans of other celebrities before.

Circle.

But it is precisely these newcomers who are most likely to inspire and motivate.

They are also the most proactive when it comes to data processing.

In just half a day, multiple hashtags such as #CaiXukunFirstPublicPerformanceStagePreview# and #CaiXukunStageKing# surged to the top of the trending searches.

In the comments section, the newly formed Ikun fans flooded the screen with messages: "We can always trust Cai Xukun in the Chinese entertainment industry! His initial stage performance was divine, and his first performance reached another peak!"

"At 8 PM on February 9th, everyone tune in to the Strange Video app and wait for the Big Boss to appear!"

For a time, these enthusiastic fans really gave off the aura of top-tier celebrity fans, which was quite intimidating.

At least without fully understanding its combat capabilities, the white rice enthusiasts did not rashly launch an attack.

The fans on both sides each occupied half of the space, and they were relatively restrained, with only minor friction and squabbling occurring in the comments section.

Some extreme fans bluntly stated: "Who still watches mindless, artificially sweet idol dramas these days? We're already tired of the same old domestic entertainment. High-quality singing and dancing performances are the way to go!"

The provoked white rice didn't back down either, directly retorting: "Talent shows are just for fans to entertain themselves."

"Don't be too arrogant, niche circles. Idol drama audiences far surpass reality show fans. Who's the mainstream? The data will tell tonight!"

The back-and-forth tug-of-war created a tense atmosphere.

This immediately plunged the Chinese entertainment industry, which had seen little drama after New Year's Day, back into a fierce and heated battleground.

The largest group, consisting of casual observers who weren't fans of any particular group and were just there for the spectacle, got excited too.

Okay, okay, as expected, the entertainment industry in China still depends on Jiang Bai.

He certainly made quite a stir!

After defeating Yang Yang, it's time to fight Chris Wu.

Now, on behalf of Tencent's entire platform, it has declared war on iQiyi's "Idol Producer".

If Jiang Bai is gone from the Chinese entertainment industry, where will I find the fan wars I'm missing?

If Jiang Bai hadn't been born, the Chinese entertainment industry and fandom would have been plunged into eternal darkness!

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