206: The magic of the TOP1 challenge

At the scene, Chen Fang saw that time was almost up and He Xing had learned about eighty to ninety percent of it, so he stopped.

The host, Hu Ning, played the role of the straight man: “Oh my god, so handsome! He Xing, you’ve transformed into a different person!”

He Xing raised his long spear and said with a smile, “Cool, right? I still want to practice more.”

Chen Fang said, “I believe many viewers and Teacher He are also interested in learning more about spear techniques or Traditional Wushu. You can click the link below to enter the free teaching page provided by the Chinese Martial Arts Association. I just took a look, and there are many types, including fitness and cool performances. If you’re interested, you can check it out.”

In front of the screen, Wang Yuxuan’s mother’s eyes lit up.

This was great; she had just been worried that her little rascal’s enthusiasm would only last three days.

If there were free courses, it would be a good way to test his determination.

And since it was from the Chinese Martial Arts Association, it should be reliable.

She turned and patted her daughter, “Click on the link.”

Her daughter opened it on her phone, and a long list of courses appeared on the TV screen.

At the very top was “Chen Fang’s Spear Technique Performance Tutorial – From Basic Training to Full Performance.” Below it were various other tutorials, such as Wushu Introduction, Body Strengthening, Simple Performances, and so on. There were also courses like “Tai Chi Twelve Forms,” “Parent-Child Wushu Game Class,” “Sword Dance Introduction Tutorial,” and “Spear Technique Introduction.”

The mother pointed at the screen and said, “Wang Yuxuan, if you can practice these courses for one hour every day for a month, I’ll sign you up for classes.”

“Okay!” Wang Yuxuan, full of fighting spirit, spun the clothes pole in his hand.

...

At the scene, Chen Fang and Zhao Guohua finished their teaching and walked off the stage, and the evening gala continued.

However, the influence of the Wushu performance was rapidly spreading.

With the help of Tianji Entertainment, the adventures production team, and marketing accounts, the complete video of the Wushu performance and the spear flower spinning tutorial video quickly spread.

One hour later.

Qiu Jian, the deputy director of the Traditional Wushu Committee of the Chinese Martial Arts Association, finished watching Liang Yan’s dragon dance performance, yawned, and turned off the live stream.

He had originally intended to exit after watching Chen Fang’s performance, but he didn’t expect the live stream room to have such a lively festive atmosphere, so he watched a bit longer. Before he knew it, over an hour had flown by.

He turned off his computer, took his phone, and strolled to the balcony.

Suddenly, something came to mind.

Chen Fang was a top-tier celebrity, so after more than an hour, his video should be trending online now, right?

Perhaps people had developed some interest in Wushu because of it?

Qiu Jian sat on the rattan chair on the balcony, took a gentle deep breath, and clicked on Douyin on his phone, only to find that it needed a version update.

It had been too long since he used this app.

He quickly finished updating it, clicked on the entertainment trending list, and saw that the number one spot was “Chen Fang’s Wushu Performance.”

Qiu Jian nodded, as expected.

But this must be a sponsored hot search, right? He wondered how much and how long its influence would last.

He sighed softly and clicked on the video, suddenly noticing a very eye-catching orange icon: “Challenge Ranking TOP1: Chen Fang’s Spear Flower Spinning Challenge.”

Hmm? What was this challenge ranking? He hadn’t noticed this feature when he used Douyin back then. Never mind, he would check it later; he would watch first.

He clicked in, swiped his finger up twice, his eyes widened slightly, and he slowly sat up straight.

What was all this?

Teenagers, eighteen or nineteen years old, spinning spear flowers with clothes poles.

Handsome guys in their twenties, dressed in ancient styles, spinning spear flowers with long spears.

Women in their thirties, wearing home clothes, spinning spear flowers with mops.

A girl, dressed in a heroic and dashing motorcycle outfit… uh, probably a young girl, spinning spear flowers with a black umbrella.

And some unidentified male and female humans, wearing green big-mouthed fish pajamas, looking somewhat unintelligent, spinning spear flowers with brooms…

Qiu Jian swallowed, slowly raised his head, and looked at the starry sky outside the balcony.

No, was he dreaming? Where did this take him?

Before, only people in sportswear, cloth shirts, or casual wear posted such videos. But this, this, what the heck was a big-mouthed fish spinning spear flowers?

He first exited the app and opened his browser to check what the challenge ranking was. Soon, the screen showed:

“The Challenge Ranking ranks user-participated challenge activities. These challenges are usually initiated by users or officially launched by the platform, aiming to encourage users to create specific types of content.”

Qiu Jian suddenly understood. It was the effect of “money power” + top-tier celebrity + platform incentives. No wonder those people just now weren’t shy; they must have been bloggers with a good number of followers to begin with.

Ah! He remembered now. He had heard some time ago that village chiefs were filming male celebrities’ dance videos. He had been curious at the time, how could a dance move become so popular? This must also be due to this type of challenge ranking. But he estimated that the village chiefs were already among the later group to film. The first ones to jump on the trend were definitely internet celebrities.

Qiu Jian switched back to Douyin and continued to scroll down.

Below, there were also cute kids aged seven or eight, and blond, blue-eyed foreign guys spinning spear flowers. As expected, they were all internet celebrities with followers.

He understood now. This was the contrast. The big-mouthed fish, home clothes, children, foreigners—they were all intentional, creating a contrast to attract attention.

It seemed that the challenge ranking, by bringing in netizens and internet celebrities for secondary dissemination, had a much stronger ability to create hot topics than buying hot searches.

He exited the page for “Challenge Ranking TOP1: Chen Fang’s Spear Flower Spinning Challenge.”

He returned to the previous number one trending topic.

Scrolling further down, he found that some bloggers were live-streaming tutorials on spinning spear flowers and connecting them with over-the-shoulder spins.

There was also a Wushu club from a university that posted a video saying they would organize 50 people to perform a spear formation on the playground and film a university flash mob video.

...

Qiu Jian scrolled for 20 minutes, his mouth slightly agape, his eyes filled with pleasant surprise.

Oh my goodness, it really is the era of traffic!

The ability of top-tier celebrities and short video platforms to create hot topics was simply outrageous.

The impact of this performance seemed even greater than their work for a whole month!

However, it was still early. He would look at the data indicators tomorrow and the day after.

Especially the conversion indicators, such as the playback data of teaching videos. If the data was ideal, they would definitely seize this momentum.

Of course, if possible, they would try to continue cooperating with Chen Fang.

In the entertainment industry, he should be the most suitable candidate, right?

He would arrange for someone to investigate his private character and life tomorrow and the day after. If they were good, they would strive for cooperation!

...

At the same time, backstage at the adventures production team’s performance venue.

Chen Fang and Yue Qingzhu were sitting in the styling room removing their makeup, while Shen Wantang was scrolling on her phone not far away.

Just as Chen Fang was about to check his phone, his arm was gently patted. He turned his head to see Yue Qingzhu, who had just removed her Peking Opera makeup, blinking at him.

“What’s wrong?”

Yue Qingzhu glanced at the mirror, caught sight of Shen Wantang wearing headphones, and lowered her voice, “The show ends tomorrow. When will you be home?”

“What for? Stealing cats?”

“I have a gift for you. It’s quite big, so I’ll deliver it directly to your home.”

“Quite big, delivered to my home? What kind of gift?”

Yue Qingzhu crossed her arms and looked straight ahead, “I’m not telling you.”

Chen Fang shrugged, “My parents are coming tomorrow, so it’s not very convenient.”

“What are you thinking?” Yue Qingzhu tilted her head, narrowed her eyes at him, and slapped his arm. “What I’m giving you isn’t something that can’t be seen by elders.”

Chen Fang pulled his arm back, “I wasn’t thinking anything. My cousin just came to the Capital for school, right? My family is inviting her for dinner tomorrow. If you give me a gift, I should at least treat you to a meal or a drink, right? What would you and I talk about with my parents?”

Yue Qingzhu pursed her lips, her cheeks slightly flushed, “Indeed, even if I don’t go in, you’ll be interrogated, which would be a bit awkward. How about the day after tomorrow? I’ll give it to you and then go home.”

Chen Fang thought for a while. The day after tomorrow, Monday, he had an appointment with the qin dynasty storm production team to record moonlight at the company. This couldn’t be postponed.

“I have something at the company during the day. In the evening, I’ve invited Du Yunxiang, Jiang Haotian, and Yu Mengmeng to eat at my place. We haven’t set a specific time yet. Do you need to avoid peak hours?”

Yue Qingzhu blinked. Avoid peak hours? Was it a secret relationship?

Chen Fang continued, “What I mean is, it depends if you’re afraid of being misunderstood, if…”

Before he could say “if you’re afraid of meeting strangers is troublesome,” he was interrupted by Yue Qingzhu.

“I’m open and honest. What is there to be afraid of being misunderstood? I’m free the day after tomorrow. Just confirm what time you’ll be home and tell me to come find you.”

Yue Qingzhu’s voice rose a pitch. Noticing Shen Wantang looking over, she quickly picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip.

“Then I’ll confirm the arrangements with the company later.”

“Okay.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the sound of a door opening came from the entrance.

“Three teachers, it’s time for the final chorus. Please proceed to the waiting area.”

The three of them stood up one after another.