Huayu: The young actress is heavily dependent on me

On March 16, 2015, "Ban Shu Legend" was officially broadcast on Hunan TV.

Before the premiere, Yu Zheng had the publicity team edit Chen Li and Dilraba's scenes together into a standalone trailer and released it on Weibo and Tencent Video with the straightforward title: "Chen Li and Dilraba's First Costume Couple Show".

Kou Feng's name was moved two rows forward on the poster, placed alongside Jing Tian and Zhang Zhehan in the visual center, while Chen Li's name was highlighted in bold.

Less than 24 hours after the trailer was released, the comment section was flooded with bullet comments.

"Holy crap, Chen Li looks like this in period costume??"

"From Tan Song to Kou Feng, from school uniforms to armor, this man's looks are flawless."

"Wait a minute, is he Chen Li from 'The Wind Rises' and 'Da La Bengba'? Isn't he a musician? How come he's doing action movies??"

On its premiere day, "Ban Shu Legend" achieved a CSM50 city network rating of over 1.8 and its national network ratings share entered the top three in its time slot.

Less than 48 hours after its exclusive online premiere on Tencent Video, the first episode garnered over 30 million views.

Yu Zheng's studio's publicity team, while monitoring the backend data, discovered an interesting phenomenon:

The number of episodes featuring Chen Li had almost twice the density of comments compared to the number of scenes featuring the female lead, Jing Tian.

What surprised them even more was that when Chen Li and Dilraba Dilmurat were on screen together, the comments section was full of people saying "They're such a good match," "I'm shipping them," and "I'm shipping this couple."

Dilraba plays An Xin, the princess of Loulan, who is in a bickering relationship with Kou Feng.

The two characters go from bickering to developing feelings for each other in the drama. Although they don't have the most screen time, every time they appear together, the density of comments on the screen spikes to its peak.

But Jing Tian wasn't so lucky.

As the absolute female lead, she carried the most screen time in the entire series. The character Ban Shu went from being an orphan girl on the grassland to becoming a great female tutor, and her character design was undeniably outstanding.

However, online reviews were less than positive. "Jing Tian's acting is still the same as always."

"Your facial expressions are too stiff."

Comments like "To be honest, she hasn't made much progress over the years" are common on Douban and Weibo.

One of the most popular comments was featured on the homepage:

"The biggest surprise in Ban Shu Legend is not Jing Tian, ​​but Chen Li."

What truly caused the online comments to explode was Chen Li's action scenes.

In the third episode, during the scene where Kou Feng is shooting arrows at the palace school, Chen Li's action of drawing the bow and nocking the arrow is seamless.

The moment he released the arrow, his fingertips swiftly and decisively released the string, the arrow piercing the air and striking the bullseye. When he put away the bow and turned around, his eyes were as cold as knives.

The entire set of movements was fluid and natural, clearly not performed by a stunt double.

The barrage of comments exploded instantly:

"Is this archery for real?"

"I studied traditional archery for two years, and his posture is definitely the result of real practice, not just for show."

"Kou Feng's action scenes are even better than the male lead's."

"Is there anything Chen Li can't do?"

Later, fans posted screenshots of the archery scene frame by frame on Weibo for analysis.

From the hand gestures for drawing the bow, the weight distribution in the stance, to the post-release posture, the conclusion is that "he has practiced for at least six months."

The post was shared over 10,000 times, and the comments section was full of "This man is terrifying".

What surprised the audience even more was the inexplicable chemistry between Chen Li and Dilraba.

The bickering couple Kou Feng and An Xin, from their initial dislike for each other to their eventual growing affection, are portrayed with seamless eye contact and physical interaction between the two young actors.

In particular, the close-up of Kou Feng's profile as he picked flowers for An Xin in the Imperial Garden with his back to the setting sun was captured by netizens and turned into countless wallpapers.

The Weibo hashtag #KouFengAnxin# saw a surge of over 100,000 followers within three days of the premiere. One user wrote in the hashtag:

"Is the chemistry between Kou Feng and An Xin real? I originally came for Jing Tian, ​​but I ended up becoming a fan of this supporting couple."

All of this data is displayed in real time on the large screen in the conference room of Yangmi Jiaxing Media.

Yang Mi leaned back in her office chair, crossed her legs, and swiped her fingers across the trending topics page on Weibo on her iPad screen.

Today marks just one week since the premiere of "Ban Shu Legend," and the CP (couple pairing) hashtag for Dilraba Dilmurat and Chen Li, artists under her company, has already climbed into the top 20 trending topics.

#寇峰安安#

#ChenLiDilrabaCP#

#Princess Loulan of Reba#

The three topics took turns on the list.

For a young actress who has never played a leading role, this kind of popular CP (couple) topic is like a windfall of traffic.

She clicked on the top comments section and casually browsed through them.

"Chen Li's gaze towards Dilraba is so tender."

"These two are such a perfect match, I hope they're a couple in real life."

Yang Mi's lips curled slightly. Whether they are a couple in real life is not important; what matters is that the audience thinks they are a couple.

The chemistry between a couple can appear and disappear in an instant, but once it's there, it becomes the best promotional weapon.

"Dilraba." Yang Mi put down her iPad and beckoned to Dilraba, who was sitting on the sofa.

Dilraba was looking at her own fan page on her phone when Yang Mi called her out, and she almost dropped her phone.

Today she was wearing a simple white T-shirt and jeans, her long hair was casually tied in a ponytail, and she only wore light makeup.

Even with such a simple outfit, her deep, large eyes and sculpted features still made her strikingly beautiful.

She put down her phone and obediently sat down opposite Yang Mi.

"Honey, what's up?"

Yang Mi turned the iPad around to show her:

"The topic of your pairing with Chen Li has gained nearly 100,000 followers this week."

I watched a few of your scenes together in "Ban Shu Legend," and you two really do look good together.

The "bickering lovers" trope is inherently easy to create chemistry, and with Chen Li's face, he looks like a dish just standing next to you.

She paused, then tapped her index finger lightly twice on the table.

"I'd like to take advantage of this buzz to discuss something with you—have your team help you officially promote your CP (couple pairing)."

Dilraba's face turned red at a visible speed.

She subconsciously lowered her head, her fingers twisting the hem of her clothes, her lips moved but she didn't say anything.

Yang Mi raised an eyebrow.

In 2012, Dilraba participated in the casting audition for "Micro Era" and signed with Yang Mi's studio. At that time, this girl had a very outgoing personality. She spoke loudly and laughed loudly, never acted coy, and didn't take being scolded by the director to heart. She could easily become friends with the crew members.

Yang Mi has never seen her blush when mentioning any male actor.

She stared at Dilraba for several seconds with a meaningful look, then suddenly spoke:

"What's wrong with you? You didn't react like this before when male actors were mentioned. Last time you were interviewed with Zhang Binbin, you could still complain about his accent on camera—how come you've changed so much since it's Chen Li?"

Dilraba didn't answer, and remained silent with her head down.

Yang Mi picked up her coffee cup, took a sip, and slowly put it down. A slight smile played on her lips, but there was no hint of a joke in her eyes.

"Dilraba, you are my artist. You are 24 years old now, which is the most crucial period for a female actress to rise to prominence. Every exposure opportunity should be used wisely. Chen Li already has a built-in fan base."

"His self-written, self-directed and self-acted song 'So Cute Us' has garnered over 7 million views. Both of his songs are on the Kugou Music charts. His Weibo followers have increased from a few thousand to several million. He also has the roles of young Lin Shu in 'Nirvana in Fire' and Zhang Xianzong in 'Wu Xin: The Monster Killer' coming up soon."

"His popularity continues to rise, and associating yourself with him would be the most cost-effective form of publicity for you. But I must remind you—it's all for your career."

"You've just signed with Jaywalk Studio, and the company has invested a lot of resources in you. From 'Micro Era' to 'Ban Shu Legend' and several other dramas in the pipeline, we've planned every step for you. I don't want anything between you and Chen Li that goes beyond a work relationship, at least not now. Do you understand?"

Dilraba raised her head and met Yang Mi's shrewd eyes, hesitating to speak.

She bit her lip and remained silent for several seconds before finally nodding slightly: "Okay. I'll listen to Sister Mi."

Looking at her obedient appearance, Yang Mi nodded in satisfaction, picked up the internal phone, and dialed the publicity team:

"Starting today, we'll focus on managing the #ChenLiRebaCP# hashtag. The platform will follow up simultaneously, pushing and streaming the mashup video of Kou Feng and An Xin to boost the CP's popularity. Then we'll find a few entertainment accounts to do two more rounds of content distribution."

"The first round of submissions will focus on the interactions between the two characters in the drama. The second round will focus on behind-the-scenes photos and interview clips of the two characters filming in Hengdian. Don't push the pace too hard; let it unfold naturally for it to be convincing."

She hung up the phone, glanced again at Dilraba who was still tugging at the loose thread on her cuff, sighed helplessly, and softened her tone:

"Alright, stop pulling. If you keep pulling, your cuff will be ruined. Go back and prepare your lines for the next scene."