Huayu: The young actress is heavily dependent on me

The timing of Wang Xiaoyu's interview article being published was so coincidental that even she herself felt incredibly lucky.

With "So Cute Us" having just surpassed 7 million views, Chen Li's name was constantly trending on social media, and her article promptly landed on the homepage of Sohu Entertainment.

She came up with the title herself. Her years of professional experience told her that no one would click on a regular, conventional interview; it had to be sensational!

"From director with 7 million views to warlord of the Republic of China: I may have discovered the most unprofessional second male lead in the Chinese entertainment industry."

The accompanying photo is a candid shot of Chen Li in military uniform standing next to the offering table at the opening ceremony.

I don't know which photographer snapped the picture quickly, but the lighting, angle, and expression were all perfectly captured.

His eyes looked over through the screen, cold yet carrying an indescribable sense of story.

The comment section exploded within two hours of the article being published.

"Wait a minute, isn't that Tan Song? Tan Song is playing a warlord now??"

"I'm still listening to 'The Wind Rises' on repeat, how come he's gone to Hengdian again?"

"The editor's title is great; I really want to click in and see just how unprofessional it is."

"Am I the only one who noticed that he wrote, directed, and starred in that 7 million yuan drama... What kind of genius is he?"

"Upstairs +1, when I first watched 'Cute,' I thought Tan Song was a new actor, then I found out he was the director, and then I found out he wrote the opening and ending theme songs—and now you're telling me he also played a warlord???"

Wang Xiaoyu squatted in front of the computer, scrolling through comments, the corners of her mouth curving upwards and upwards.

She deliberately planted a hook in the report—the comparison at the end of Chen Li's transformation from a "cool and roguish boy next door" to a "warlord villain" was reposted by several influential bloggers.

An entertainment account with three million followers directly screenshotted that passage and created a GIF, captioned with four words:

"Who wouldn't be looking forward to this?"

The number of reposts exceeded 50,000 that night.

Then, a hashtag quietly appeared at number 20 on Weibo's trending topics list: #ChenLiZhangXianzong#

Clicking through, I saw that the most popular Weibo post was written by an ordinary viewer, with a very simple caption:

"I just finished watching 'So Cute Us,' and Tan Song is exactly the face of my first love. Then I saw on the trending topics that he's playing a warlord in the Republican era... I immediately searched for the trailer for 'Wu Xin: The Monster Killer,' and he looks so handsome in his military uniform! I want to watch it!"

The number of reposts and comments below has exceeded a thousand, all discussing the same topic—just how many hidden skills does this newcomer named Chen Li have?

When Wang Xiaoyu saw this trending topic, she was also stunned for a moment.

Having worked as an entertainment reporter for so many years, she has a general idea of ​​what kind of articles will go viral and what kind will disappear without a trace.

But the article went viral much faster than she expected.

Little did she know, this was actually Chen Li's "attention-grabbing" skill at work, causing many people to be drawn over at a glance.

She clicked on the trending topic, scrolled through it from beginning to end, and discovered even more astonishing data.

The topic's readership surpassed 100 million at 3 AM!

That wasn't morning, it was 3 a.m.!

Netizens who stayed up late at night spontaneously dug up Chen Li's Weibo posts under the trending topic, compiling every single one of his posts from when he registered on Weibo in early 2014 to the present into a "Chen Li Timeline".

From the music video for "Undyed" to behind-the-scenes footage from the set of "So Cute Us," and now to that candid photo of him in military uniform at today's opening ceremony, the caption is only four words:

"He's been on a winning streak all the way."

......

Just as the trending topic on Weibo continued to gain traction, in the conference rooms of two film and television companies thousands of miles away, witnesses were staring at the same set of data reports, deep in thought.

Hou Hongliang's office at Shandong Film & Television Production Co., Ltd. The walls are covered with stills and posters from classic projects such as "Crossing the Guandong" and "Battle of Changsha," and a progress report on the post-production of "Nirvana in Fire" is spread out on the table.

Post-production was completed in June 2014, and the rough cut was scheduled to air on Beijing TV and Dragon TV in September 2015.

But at this moment, the data curves coming from Penguin Video are getting steeper and steeper.

Chen Li plays the young Lin Shu in "Nirvana in Fire," representing Mei Changsu's childhood. Although his role is small, he is a key supporting character who runs through the core of the entire story.

Chen Li's Weibo followers have now grown from a few thousand to nearly four million, and he has topped the trending searches three times. He is a director with 7 million views, an original musician on both Kugou Music's charts, and a new character playing a warlord in the Republican era. The spotlight shines on this young man, who also has a name in Hou Hongliang's drama.

"Director Kong, have you seen how popular Chen Li is online?" Hou Hongliang turned his phone screen towards Kong Sheng sitting opposite him. "Chen Li is incredibly famous right now."

Kong Sheng took the phone, scrolled through a few trending topics, and then looked at the report about Wang Xiaoyu. He nodded slightly.

"We've already edited the trailer for the young Lin Shu character, and we originally planned to release it next spring to coincide with the promotional schedule. But now—"

He adjusted his glasses, his tone calm and steady.

"Why not release it now while we still have this window of opportunity?"

Hou Hongliang pondered for a moment, then decisively made the decision:

Release the character trailer and poster for the young Lin Shu ahead of time. The font size of Chen Li's name in the end credits can be slightly bolded. Subsequent promotional copy should emphasize that "the young Lin Shu is played by Chen Li" and make it one of the important promotional points in the material matrix of online cooperation platforms.

"Remember, it's not about changing the plot, it's about amplifying the promotional strategy."

He put the teacup back on the table.

"In all subsequent promotional materials, the position of young Lin Shu on the poster can be increased by one level, and the online promotion keywords must be linked to 'Chen Li' and 'young Lin Shu'."

Meanwhile, in the conference room of Yu Zheng Studio, the same intelligence certificate was being rapidly processed.

Yu Zheng stared at the hashtag #ChenLiZhangXianzong# on Weibo's trending topics list, then flipped through the cast list of "Ban Shu Legend," a slight smile playing on his lips.

In "Ban Shu Legend", Chen Li plays Kou Feng, a supporting character with a strong presence, and has many scenes with Dilraba Dilmurat and Jing Tian.

"The storyline about Kou Feng was already well done in the film. Now that Chen Li is so popular, our editing team suggests that we appropriately increase Kou Feng's screen time in the final cut," a production assistant reported to the director.

Yu Zheng put his phone on the table:

"Add more seconds, within reasonable limits. Also, make a separate trailer for his scenes with Dilraba and Jing Tian, ​​and release it on Weibo and Tencent Video as soon as possible."

He paused, then added,

"The joint poster should also include Kou Feng—highlight Chen Li's name and role separately, so that he isn't overshadowed by the main cast."

He leaned back in his chair, brandished his pen, and spoke with certainty.

"The cost of one episode of 'So Cute Us' is less than 700,000 yuan, yet he managed to get 700 million views—this kid has his own built-in audience, so why not take advantage of him?"

In the early days of December 2014, Chen Li's popularity was like a boulder thrown into a lake, with ripples spreading outwards layer by layer.

Wang Xiaoyu's report was the fuse, the trending topics were the fuel, and the subsequent actions of "Nirvana in Fire" and "Ban Shu Legend" were the inevitable chain reaction that occurred during the spread of this popularity.

Hou Hongliang released a teaser trailer for the young Lin Shu, and the short clip of the young general riding a horse was repeatedly forwarded on Weibo and major portal websites.

The comments were full of "Chen Li's portrayal of young Lin Shu was so cool" and "No wonder Mei Changsu couldn't let it go."

Yu Zheng followed up with a separate trailer featuring Kou Feng, Dilraba, and Jing Tian, ​​highlighting the new label of "Chen Li, the ancient costume male god".

Sohu Entertainment, Sina Entertainment, and other media outlets successively published news about the two major production teams leveraging Chen Li's popularity, referring to this spread of attention as the "Chen Li effect."

Two TV dramas that were originally scheduled to start filming earlier both adjusted their promotional schedules due to news reports about the start of filming for a second male lead.