Rebirth in 2011: Starting as an Advertising Genius

"Jiang He, is that your counselor?"

Tian Ke looked like she was looking on with a gossip in her eyes!

He had just vaguely sensed that there was something strange about the relationship between the two, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong.

Chen Jianghe rolled his eyes at him, telling him to mind his own business.

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The edited video is only forty-five seconds long.

There was no narration, no explanation, and not even any brand announcements. There was only a soothing cello piece as background music, and in the scene, Huang Xiaoqian, wearing a floral dress, was walking slowly through the locust flower alley.

She smelled the flowers, looked up, pressed down her skirt, and watched the flowing water on the stone bridge; every movement was as natural as breathing.

At the end of the video, a line of text appeared on the screen:

Some beauty doesn't need to be forced.

Then it fades to the Tianji Clothing logo, below which is a line of small print: "Tianji Mori Girls' Wear, Wear Back to a Slower Pace of Time".

Chen Jianghe uploaded the video to Bilibili, Youku, and Tudou, with the title:

She only walked down one street, yet her beauty was like a poem.

There was no mention of any competitors, no price reductions or promotions, and no offensive remarks.

But those who understand will immediately see that this video is telling consumers: true forest style is about inner tranquility, not about the filtered, overly-made "internet celebrity" look.

This video is not clickbait.

Its core emotion is not "beauty," but "slowness"—the kind of luxury that comes with spending five minutes smelling a flower or watching a fish in a fast-paced era.

This sense of luxury is something that the influencer models at Cotton and Linen Story can't provide.

Because that's something that can't be created with Photoshop.

The video received less than two thousand views in the first hour after it was released.

Five thousand in the second hour.

By evening, the number of views had exceeded 80,000.

The comment section completely exploded.

This model is amazing!

Some beauty doesn't need to be forced; this guy's words are so true. Our goddess is naturally beautiful.

I cried while watching it. I don't know why, but my heart just softened.

Looking for the same dress! Looking for the girl's contact information!

[This is what a true gem is... not just empty slogans, but something that makes you want to live like this after watching it.]

[Tired of those filtered faces from Cotton and Linen Story? This is real beauty.]

Chen Jianghe scrolled through the comments, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He switched to the Taobao store's backend and saw that the number of visitors had surged from over a hundred per hour to over eight hundred, and the number of orders had started to rise rapidly.

Tian Ke's message came again, this time a voice message, and her voice was cracked:

"Jiang He!! Our system is exploding!! What platform did you post that video on?! Sales keep going up!!"

Chen Jianghe didn't reply with a voice message, but typed a few words:

[Chen Jianghe: Just ship as usual. If we're too busy, we'll hire a couple more part-time workers; the cost will be deducted from the profits.]

[Tian Ke: Okay, okay! I'll do whatever you say!]

At 10 p.m., Chen Jianghe opened the Cotton and Linen Story store page again.

The other party's sales today are nearly 30% lower than yesterday.

It wasn't Chen Jianghe who directly attacked them.

Rather, it's because consumers' aesthetic standards have been raised.

When "beauty" has a new frame of reference, things that once "looked okay" suddenly become "far from good".

This is GG's dimensional reduction attack.

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The next day, Chen Jianghe was having lunch in the cafeteria when his phone vibrated.

It was a message from Huang Xiaoqian, containing only one sentence:

[Huang Xiaoqian: Chen Jianghe, are you sick?]

Chen Jianghe was stunned for a moment, and almost choked on the braised pork.

[Chen Jianghe: ???]

[Huang Xiaoqian: You made my face look so big in the photo, now the whole class is teasing me, saying I'm the "most beautiful counselor in Suzhou"...]

Chen Jianghe smiled and typed:

Chen Jianghe: That's true.

[Huang Xiaoqian: ...Can't you be normal for once?]

Chen Jianghe: I'm perfectly normal. What's abnormal are those who say you're not good-looking, but they don't exist because nobody says you're not good-looking.

There was a two-minute silence on the other end.

Then two words popped up:

Huang Xiaoqian: ...Shut up.

Chen Jianghe stared at the screen, and could almost imagine Huang Xiaoqian's expression at that moment: her ears were red to the roots of her neck, she was biting her lip, wanting to throw away her phone but unable to bear it.

He scooped up a spoonful of soup, slowly drank it down, and felt a sweet warmth in his heart.

It's even sweeter than osmanthus-flavored rice wine.

In the afternoon, Chen Jianghe did something else.

He asked Tian Ke to reorganize the Taobao product details page.

The previous product photos were the set of photos taken by Huang Xiaoqian, which were already very good, but Chen Jianghe felt it wasn't enough.

He took screenshots from the video of Huaihua Lane, made them into several still images, placed them at the top of the details page, and added a line of text:

"Wear clothes that make people think you're 'slow'—in this fast-paced world."

Then, he added a section to the store's homepage: "Model's Picks - Spring Limited Edition". It specifically displays the dresses that Huang Xiaoqian wore in the video, and each one has the words "Model Recommended" added before its title.

On the day this section was launched, sales of individual products quadrupled.

A week later, Tianji Clothing's monthly sales not only returned to their peak, but also increased by 60%.

Cotton and Linen Story completely lost its edge. They could copy the copywriting, the prices, and the styles, but they couldn't copy Huang Xiaoqian's temperament, nor could they copy the "slow life" narrative in Chen Jianghe's mind.

The best defense is not to attack others.

It's about making yourself unreplicable.

Two days later, Chen Jianghe was scrolling through his phone in his dorm room when he discovered that Cotton and Linen Story had quietly changed its store homepage—they replaced the original internet celebrity model with a girl without makeup, took a series of photos of her walking in the park, and changed the caption to "Slow down and appreciate life."

But the most upvoted comment was:

"I tried to imitate others but ended up with a mess."

Chen Jianghe smiled and closed the page.

He sent Huang Xiaoqian a message:

[Chen Jianghe: Director, do you know what you are now?]

[Huang Xiaoqian: What?]

[Chen Jianghe: A walking bestseller generator. The dresses you wore are already sold out.]

[Huang Xiaoqian: ...Stop praising me, I can't take it anymore.]

Chen Jianghe: Then I won't praise you anymore.

[Huang Xiaoqian: ...You're really not going to praise me anymore?]

Chen Jianghe looked at the message and couldn't suppress the smile on his face.

He typed four words:

[Chen Jianghe: You're the best looking.]

Then I locked the screen and placed the phone face down on the table.

The May sunshine shines outside the window, and a gentle breeze blows in from the balcony, carrying the fragrance of magnolia blossoms.

He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and in his mind was the profile of Huang Xiaoqian watching the flowing water on the stone bridge in Huaihua Lane.

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[Mini-Theater: Huang Xiaoqian's Phone Photo Album]

January 2011

(First photo: On the set of the filming in Huaihua Lane, taken secretly when Chen Jianghe wasn't paying attention—he was squatting on the ground adjusting the camera, looking down attentively.)

(Second screenshot: "You're the prettiest" in the chat history)

(Third screenshot: The "Model's Style" section of the Taobao store, showing "487 items sold")

(Album name: Can't bear to delete)

Does he even realize that his "looks good" is more effective than a hundred of everyone else's?