Since we are both reborn, of course I would choose the rich woman!

Chapter 420 Let the Mountain Come Over (6k views, please subscribe)

Basang suddenly asked such a question in front of Lü Yao, Wei Minsheng, Gongbulaba, and both sets of parents, which immediately put Ayi in a shy and embarrassed situation.

But how can she express her feelings?

Liking someone can be very simple at times, and extremely complicated at others. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old boys and girls can say "I like you" without any burden, but men and women around thirty years old cannot say these words directly.

This has nothing to do with qualities like frankness and sincerity.

Seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boys and girls can say such things without any scruples because they are inexperienced and don't have many burdens. So they can easily say things that contain so much. The emotions represented by such easy words are indeed pure, but they are also shallow.

Men and women with more life experience understand all too well what this statement means. When ordinary men and women utter such words, they face clashes in their lifestyles, conflicts in their financial concepts, and differences in their value systems. Even men and women who are not short of money will face a lot of trouble and entanglements once they get caught up in these issues.

Just like Gan Xiaoxi was also moved by Lü Yao, she even felt that "one special talent is enough between people".

But once she was overcome with such emotions, the huge gap in their social status quickly brought Gan Xiaoxi back to her senses. Thus, the heartfelt words she uttered under the fireworks became nothing more than a joke to be laughed off.

Ayi and Basang are both quite young.

They should be at an age where they can easily express their emotions, but in reality, although Ayi didn't have much education, she was much more mature than her peers. So after thinking for a while, she slowly said, "Brother Basang, I'm still too young. We're all too young. We don't know what liking someone really means, so I can't answer you."

"But I can answer your question: if I'm with you now, I'll definitely be haunted by the things I couldn't accomplish in the future, and we won't be happy."

At this point, Lin Yongzhen also chimed in, saying, "Basang, people are meant to see the world. Otherwise, they will be plagued by demons throughout their lives and trapped in regret and suffering. In Buddhism, this is even more painful than falling into the Avici Hell."

The religious atmosphere in western Sichuan is very strong, and many people here are devout Buddhists.

Therefore, when Lin Yongzhen used religious language to persuade Basang, Basang easily understood and could somewhat comprehend Ayi's feelings.

Finally, Basang said dejectedly, "I understand, Ayi, you should go out and take a look."

After Basang agreed, the whole thing became much easier.

Afterwards, Wei Minsheng took Basang and his parents outside and continued to work on them. Under Wei Minsheng's persuasion, Basang and his parents finally came to Lü Yao again with a hada (a ceremonial scarf) on their faces, expressing their sincere apologies and offering their sincerest blessings.

The matter concerning Xiao Ayi has been resolved here.

However, Lü Yao was already in a very bad mood at this point, but he wouldn't renege on his promise. So he entrusted the next steps to Lin Yongzhen, asking her to convey the arrangements to Ayi.

After finishing these tasks, it was completely dark.

To express their apology, Basang's family prepared a lavish feast of beef and mutton, inviting Lü Yao and his team to come and drink together as a gesture of remorse.

In this highland village, Basang's family invited many people and made tonight's beef and mutton feast a grand affair. While Lü Yao and his group were eating and drinking, Director Lei, however, was too busy taking pictures of the feast and bonfire performance to eat and drink.

To be honest, the people here really can hold their liquor.

Lu Yao is from the north of Su Daqiang, where there is a very strong drinking culture. So there is a saying in the drinking circle: "Northeast tiger, Northwest wolf, drink like a little lamb who is not afraid of Su Daqiang."

It's like the people from Su Daqiang's group look fair-skinned, delicate, weak, and easy to bully, but in reality, they're quite formidable when it comes to drinking. They may not be as fierce as a Northeast tiger or a Northwest wolf, but they're not intimidating either.

Lu Yao is young and has indeed practiced his drinking skills, so even after being toasted several times by the local villagers, he remained calm and composed, which made the local villagers look at him with new respect.

There are indeed such rules in social circles.

People who are good at drinking do indeed earn respect.

Therefore, some bosses will specifically recruit people with a high alcohol tolerance to accompany guests or do marketing. As this trend becomes popular, all kinds of drinking techniques in the workplace and business world begin to emerge, and the tricks become more and more elaborate.

Years later, it was unearthed by countless people and used as evidence to condemn the inherent flaws of the people who blamed the drinking culture—which became synonymous with the root of all evil.

However, drinking culture is not only prevalent in China, but also in other countries around the world, and the ways of drinking are even very similar.

As for culture outside of drinking culture... academic exchanges in academia, talent shows in the arts, poetry and prose in literature—how many ordinary people possess these skills? Those who later clamored on the internet that drinking culture was dross would be nothing more than a roadside idiot if they actually entered such professional settings.

To some extent, drinking culture is a relatively low-barrier culture that ordinary people can easily access. Even so, a few years later, those who have just started working are still easily swayed by rumors and join in criticizing the so-called drinking culture...

Lu Yao's impressive drinking skills drew cheers from many local villagers at the banquet. Everyone was all smiles and enthusiastically brought over their wine bowls, ready to drink until they were completely drunk. Even though Lu Yao could always come up with a good excuse to get everyone to drink with him, there were just too many people here, and the locals were just too good at drinking.

So, after a little over an hour, Lü Yao prepared to leave.

With the help of Wei Minsheng and Gombulaba, Lü Yao managed to escape from the siege of the enthusiastic local villagers. Once he returned to the hearth and warm room, the feeling of the chill outside and the alcohol inside him clashing together was slightly soothed by the fire and firewood.

Lu Yao let out a long sigh of relief, while Lin Yongzhen brought over a steaming cup of milk tea: "Have some milk tea to calm down."

Lu Yao pushed the milk tea towards Lin Yongzhen and said with a smile, "You've helped me fend off a lot of drinks, you drink first." As he spoke, Lu Yao got up and poured another cup of milk tea, and then the two snuggled together.

The campfire burned quietly.

The warm, cozy air made the two, who had just drunk too much, feel cozy and, combined with the effects of alcohol, they both became drowsy, their consciousness seemingly drifting away from the world.

In the quiet companionship, Lin Yongzhen suddenly said, "Xiao Ayi wants to talk to you, what do you think?"

Lu Yao chuckled: "Why are you suddenly so considerate of her?"

Lin Yongzhen shrugged and said nothing.

Although Lin Yongzhen didn't say anything, Lü Yao understood what Lin Yongzhen was thinking. Lin Yongzhen felt that she might have placed some kind of emotion on Xiao Ayi, but in reality, Lü Yao was just fulfilling his original promise.

He never expected to encounter such a situation after arriving.

So Lü Yao took a deep breath and smiled, "Let's not talk anymore, there's nothing to talk about. Ultimately, she has to walk her own path in life."

Lin Yongzhen's lips inexplicably curled into a smile: "Okay~"

……

After finishing their business with Ayi, Lü Yao and his team prepared to leave.

On the day before New Year's Day, Lü Yao and his team packed their things and prepared to set off. The video content edited and produced by Director Lei was also almost ready, and they were preparing to officially start the continuous updates of the program after New Year's Day.

As for when it will start, that depends on when they have collected enough material.

However, according to Lü Yao's requirements, these video contents should ideally be no more than a week apart, which would be a more appropriate timeframe.

The main difference between short video platforms and traditional TV programs, as well as internet platform programs, lies in their brevity, speed, realism, and time span. Let's not even talk about early TV programs; they were all pre-recorded and edited before being broadcast.

What TV series or programs you see this year might have been recorded last year, or even two or three years ago.

Later, when television stations transitioned to the internet, the pace of program production accelerated significantly, ushering in the era of nationwide variety shows. Variety show powerhouses, represented by Hunan TV, began to rise rapidly, quickly dominating a large portion of the viewership ratings. Apart from traditional news programs, many television programs that were originally dedicated to dramas began to repeatedly broadcast old dramas from several years, even more than ten or thirty years ago.

The once-popular TV shopping channel eventually declined with the changing times, and commercial advertising began to dominate the market.

However, individual programs on short video platforms are more engaging than traditional internet variety shows.

Their update schedule is generally kept within a week, with some updating two, three, or even five times a week. However, based on comprehensive data analysis, three updates a week is the most effective, and the interval between updates for the same event should ideally not exceed two days.

Because this contact with Xiao Ayi was somewhat complicated, Lei Daoguang spent several days just on sampling and shooting.

Even though he worked overtime to create a rough cut, the subsequent production process still took quite a while.

The earliest we can ship the finished product is the day after New Year's Day.

During this time, Lü Yao can head to the next scenic spot and gather the footage for the next episode.

Just as Lü Yao and his team were packing up their equipment and preparing to leave, Xiao Ayi stood timidly not far away, watching Lü Yao's convoy. Her actions of wanting to go forward but hesitating attracted the attention of many people in Lü Yao's team. Director Lei finally couldn't stand it anymore and came over to persuade Lü Yao.

"That young lady has been staring at you for so long, Mr. Lü, could you please do me the honor and go see her?"

Lü Yao chuckled and said, "What's going on? Director Lei, haven't you finished this episode yet?"

Lei, whose thoughts had been exposed, chuckled: "I can't help it, who would have thought you guys would be so insightful? I discover something new and interesting every day. Hurry up, let's go over there."

Lu Yao glanced at Xiao Ayi and saw her standing there all alone. Even he felt a pang of pity for her.

"Ugh."

With a sigh, Lü Yao walked towards Xiao Ayi.

Seeing Lü Yao walking towards her, Xiao Ayi's eyes lit up instantly. Dressed in local clothing, the timid Ayi seemed to have transformed from a wilted flower into a beautiful and radiant highland flower once again. When Lü Yao reached her, Ayi pursed her lips and said, "Brother Yao, are you... disappointed in me?"

Lu Yao smiled and said, "It's not what you think. Let's find a place to sit down."

In the pavilion where Lü Yao had sat before, Lü Yao took out a cigarette after sitting down, but after thinking about it, he didn't light it.

Although the altitude here isn't that high, the environment is still very unsuitable for Lü Yao, who lives in the plains all year round. His lungs are already under considerable pressure here, which makes it quite uncomfortable for him to smoke.

Putting away his cigarette, Lü Yao thought for a moment and said, "This is not really your fault. You were born and raised here. In this kind of environment, it's too much to ask of you to step outside your comfort zone and look at things from a different perspective."

Ayi lowered her head. Having not read many books and not experienced much of the hardships of life, she didn't really understand what Lü Yao was saying.

Lü Yao then laughed and said, "So, you need to go out into the world, read a lot of books, travel a lot of roads, meet a lot of people, see how the world works, see how people live. Only when you see and encounter enough things can your heart be rich enough, and only a rich enough heart can truly reflect the path you want to take."

Ayi pouted and said, "Brother Yao, I don't understand any of what you're saying. Am I too stupid?"

Lu Yao laughed and said, "Don't think like that, you'll understand later. You've seen the arrangements Sister Yongzhen made for you, right?"

Little Ayi: "Mmm."

Lü Yao smiled and said, "Then go and live, learn, and experience things according to our arrangements. That's all for now, see you next time."

After saying that, Lü Yao got up and walked out of the pavilion, heading towards the convoy without looking back.

The cold wind from the north blew across Lü Yao's coat. Even though Lü Yao wore a vest underneath to keep warm and a scarf around his neck, and his overall outfit wasn't exactly high-end, he still managed to make it look like haute couture.

This feeling is very similar to the video of the internet blogger "Shangnan" later on.

Before seeing his face, I just thought he was a tasteless, frivolous young man.

But when the injured man lifted the hair that was covering his eyes, his clothes, which had just looked dowdy, instantly became very high-end.

This is also a fatal blind spot for many people learning how to dress. No matter how good the outfit is, it can improve your image, but if your appearance is too bad, no amount of good outfit can save you.

Once Lü Yao finally got into the car, the convoy roared off and headed out of the village. Little Ayi stood on a high place and watched Lü Yao and the others leave quickly. The complex emotions in her eyes, including lingering feelings, made for a very good close-up.

of course.

These were all faithfully recorded by director Lei with his camera.

As Ayi's village gradually faded into a blurry mass of color, Director Lei reluctantly turned his gaze away, then picked up the walkie-talkie in the car and called out to Lü Yao: "Hey, Mr. Lü! When we settle down again, I'll show you the close-up of that last scene! Humanity! Nature! And human emotions—all blended together almost perfectly at that moment!"

"I fucking think I deserve the Hamdan Gold Medal!"

Director Lei is indeed very talented. His documentaries about snowy areas and grasslands were quite famous both domestically and internationally. However, talented people are often a bit eccentric, which Lu Yao understands. So he smiled and said perfunctorily into the walkie-talkie, "Okay, okay, if Hamdan won't give you the award, I will."

"By the way, what award is Hamdan?"

Director Lei exclaimed exaggeratedly into the walkie-talkie, "Wow! Mr. Lü, you're so handsome! My goodness! This isn't even with a filter! Just the local lighting here is amazing on your face, the light and shadow, the contours are incredible! It's not like it's you!"

Lü Yao was somewhat convinced.

How come I never noticed that Director Lei was such a chatterbox before?

So Lü Yao manually muted Lei Dao's microphone, preferring to ignore it.

Next, Lü Yao visited a herder village in Aba to find material for the next episode of his video. He also planned to showcase the beautiful scenery of the area through a variety show. To make the video more interesting, Lü Yao planned to incorporate the "Eight Drinks of the King" from the TV series "The King's Reign," combining natural scenery with cultural and artistic pursuits.

Only by arousing people's yearning for distant places can we inspire them to set off.

Lu Yao believes that his videos will likely be unearthed by netizens a few years later, because only after experiencing loss can people realize the value of freedom and wake up from the dazzling and intoxicating world before, in order to explore the natural beauty that they have never seen before but has existed since ancient times.

Use a hundred years of life to witness the accumulation of billions of years of natural evolution.

On New Year's Day, Lü Yao spent his own money to buy cattle and sheep in the local herder villages, and even bought frozen seafood from the more developed county town to treat everyone well.

After a night of revelry and dancing, Director Lei showed the first episode of the video he had produced to Lü Yao.

Lei's camera work, video language, landscape presentation, and story editing are all excellent. Combined with Lü Yao's first-person and third-person perspectives of the landscape, the overall presentation feels very good and realistic, but it also has a strong professional feel.

The professional training he possesses is the culmination of years of honing his skills, and it's something that's hard to erase.

However, this formal, academic feel was perfectly acceptable at the time of January 2018.

This can actually give people a sense of sophistication. In today's materialistic and competitive world, this kind of formal, academic style is actually more conducive to its spread. When the economy starts to decline and people's lives become more difficult, vlogs will become popular immediately. The simpler and more authentic the vlog, the better it will spread.

People always have to do things that fit the current context, unless you are an unparalleled hero who can change the world single-handedly, otherwise you are bound to suffer.

The current era may have better and more convenient ways of communication, but Lü Yao only has a perspective on the future, not that he suddenly became a genius, so he cannot discover those ways of communication.

After finalizing the video content, Lü Yao uploaded it to his Weibo and Douyin accounts. As for his WeChat official account...

Lu Yao has completely withdrawn from the platform, which has been completely overrun by WeChat merchants and advertisements.

Tencent, due to the strong rise of Douyin, has begun to focus its main efforts on short video apps such as Weishi, hoping to once again use a "breeding up" strategy and compete on resources and scale to eliminate Douyin.

However, as 2018 approached, the penguin's hopes in this regard became increasingly slim.

In fact, WeChat's breakthrough in the short video market is still reflected in WeChat itself. However, WeChat's current landscape is already established, and coupled with internal management issues within Tencent, it will be quite difficult for WeChat to rise to prominence in the short video market.

Even if Tencent focuses its short video efforts on WeChat's "Video Accounts" in the future, the scale of Video Accounts cannot compare with Douyin. Not to mention that although the algorithm of Video Accounts has improved, the promotion methods are limited by internal management. Furthermore, by the time Tencent finds a way out, the short video market will have already entered its late stages.

With the established landscape and user habits already set, while Video Accounts may be able to secure a place in the field, it's unlikely to achieve significant success.

After the video was uploaded, Lü Yao's media forces, which had been ready to act, immediately began to mobilize. The internet celebrities from Shangnan MCN began to forward Lü Yao's video content, and online trolls and marketing accounts also boosted the popularity. Even Douyin (TikTok) was rapidly gaining popularity.

Meanwhile, the big bosses in Aba and Ganzi, who have been paying close attention to Lü Yao, have also mobilized their official media resources to amplify the influence of Lü Yao's videos.

All of a sudden.

The scenery of Mount Siguniang, the magnificence of the plateau snow-capped mountains, and the local customs and culture have been presented to countless netizens almost virally.

The reactions of netizens to this episode released by Lü Yao were varied.

Some netizens were indeed captivated by the scenery of western Sichuan captured by director Lei, leaving numerous comments expressing their admiration:

"My God, are there really such beautiful places in China? It would be such a shame not to go in my lifetime!"

"You're only just realizing this? Seriously, our country's beautiful landscapes are truly worth seeing! However, the roads in these places in the video are difficult to travel on."

"Actually, the highway network in China is already very extensive now, and the scenery along the 318 National Highway is truly breathtaking!"

"I must drive the 318 in my lifetime!"

"Waiting for a brother to take us on a trip before the Spring Festival~ (Selfie by the younger sister)"

Besides marveling at the scenery, some netizens also noticed Xiao Ayi's story in the video. Since this was the first episode, many of Lü Yao's longtime fans left angry comments in the comment section when they saw Xiao Ayi reject Lü Yao.

"Damn it! What's the difference between this and throwing away Aladdin's lamp that you've already got your hands on?"

"Holy crap! Girl, do you even know what you just rejected?"

"I can't take it anymore, I'm having a heart attack!"

"Mr. Lü, Mr. Lü~~ I'm so ignorant, why don't you help me out? [ww beautiful selfie]"

"Mr. Lü, Mr. Lü, I'm also in Sichuan~ I also want to go to developed cities to broaden my horizons [bear-shaped selfie]"

Because Lü Yao's fans are a diverse group, the comments in Lü Yao's comment section are also mixed, with both good and bad opinions.

As the video gained popularity, Lü Yao commented on and pinned his own work, saying, "If I can't climb that mountain, then I'll make that mountain come to me."

"If Xiao Ayi can't leave this sacred mountain, then let the outside world in."

(End of this chapter)