Esports world champion, debuted as the center of a talent show

In the "Sailing" training room, Zhou Ran was standing in the corner looking through the documents in his hand. Hearing Jiang Zhiyu open the door, he looked up, nodded slightly, and greeted him.

The team members had not all arrived yet, and Wang Hongduan, another assistant choreographer, was nowhere to be seen.

Today's training proceeded smoothly as planned, without any adjustments made due to my birthday.

Everyone had been privately informed by the program crew that he didn't really like celebrating birthdays, and they all tacitly avoided causing any trouble.

However, the proper etiquette was still observed. During a break in rehearsal, a trainee approached him and whispered a happy birthday wish. Jiang Zhiyu smiled politely in return, and that concluded the procedure.

Fans who followed the training livestream closely were eagerly anticipating the segment about Jiang Zhiyu's birthday.

But for the entire day, the training room cameras were on as usual, recording daily rehearsals, but there was no birthday video, no custom-made cake, no flowers or gifts, no exclusive birthday interview, and not even a single official verbal blessing.

The live stream chat started with great anticipation, then gradually turned into doubt and anxiety, and finally into restlessness.

What's going on? Is there really no birthday celebration at all today?

[In previous years, popular contestants' birthdays always included some small surprises, even if there wasn't a ceremony, they'd at least have a cake and take a group photo. Hong Liu, are you out of your mind?]

He turned eighteen... a once-in-a-lifetime coming-of-age ceremony, and the production team treated it so perfunctorily?

What happened to the gifts the fan club sent to the production team? They didn't even give him the gifts?

[Hong Liu, are you treating Jiang Si's patience like trash?]

Fans waited all day, but even after training ended, the footage only showed their daily rehearsals, with no mention of their birthday.

Just one minute before the live stream of the training room was about to shut down, the show's official account finally posted a message, bringing an extremely simple end to this highly anticipated 18th birthday celebration.

Minimalist dynamic content:

[@ShiningProject: Happy 18th birthday to @ShiningProject-JiangZhiyu! Best wishes for the finals, and may you live up to your passion.]

The accompanying photos are three previously unreleased images of the trainees from the show's archives. They are candid shots from daily rehearsals, with clean and ordinary scenes, no special birthday decorations, no cake, no flowers, simple and unoriginal.

The live stream then went completely black and shut down.

At this moment, the fans who had been waiting all day could no longer hold back.

Starting from midnight last night, 250 cities lit up their entire cities, large screens were flooded with messages, and support was provided from land, sea, and air. Hundreds of millions of fans poured their hearts into creating an unprecedented grand coming-of-age ceremony for him in the history of the Chinese entertainment industry. His popularity on the entire internet skyrocketed, and even passersby were amazed by the overwhelming scale of the event.

After a whole day of back and forth, the most official and personalized program team only offered a template blessing and three random stock photos to get by, without even the most basic sense of ceremony.

The huge sense of disappointment instantly swept through the entire fan community, and the emotions that had been suppressed all day finally exploded.

[To the program team: Your coming-of-age birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime important day, why did you treat it so perfunctorily?]

[I don't expect a grand celebration, but isn't even the most basic sense of ritual required?]

[His fans across the internet gave him the best possible support, and your production team treated him so perfunctorily?]

[All contestants received simple surprises and official birthday celebrations, but Jiang Zhiyu was treated differently?]

Respect for the contestant isn't just empty words; don't squander his popularity and the genuine support of his fans with a perfunctory attitude.

The comment section quickly gained popularity, with tens of thousands of questions flooding the official account's comment section in just a few minutes.