The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 108: Reduction in Enrollment - Youth Sanatorium
"Well said! Of course we should ride the wave of popularity!"

Chen Nanxing, who was helping Xu Hongdou with her phone, couldn't help but speak up.

Xu Hongdou seized the opportunity to push the phone to Chen Nanxing: "I don't want to talk to him anymore, you talk to him."

Chen Nanxing held his phone, looking completely bewildered.

Yang Muye's voice came from the other end of the phone: "President Chen, what can I do for you?"

Originally, nothing was wrong, but upon hearing that leisurely tone, Chen Nanxing suddenly felt something was amiss.

"You still know you're a member of the Werewolf Club? Next Thursday and Friday, the school is organizing recruitment for all clubs. I still have no idea what it's all about."

"Recruiting is so easy! The four of you from dorm 302 just stand there, you don't even need to advertise, there are plenty of guys lining up to add you, believe it or not?"

Chen Nanxing put the phone on speakerphone, and Yang Muye's words were clearly heard by everyone present.

Xu Hongdou crossed her arms and made a "refusal" gesture to Chen Nanxing on the spot.

Chen Nanxing then looked at Yang Zixi and Xia Qing to make sure they shared Xu Hongdou's opinion before replying to Yang Muye:
"They're all busy."

"Chen Nanxing, you're the president of the club, you need to show your authority. You can't handle Xia Qing and Yang Zixi, but you can't handle Xu Hongdou? If recruiting two people isn't enough, I'll find you two more."

"Cheng Feng and Wu Di?"

"You wish! They've already signed with a management company and are getting appearance fees for events."

"Given your relationship, do you really need to talk about money?"

"Yes, I need to, because the company that signed them is owned by me."

"..."

Chen Nanxing suddenly felt a strong urge to hang up the phone.

Listen to this yourself, is this even human language?
"Just kidding. They're so popular right now, like you just said, why not capitalize on the hype? But they don't need to be there in person. Just make a life-size standee and put it there; that will definitely be more effective than having them there in person."

"why?"

"This is the same principle as when our college's welcome party revealed that the song 'The Lone Warrior' was on the program, but didn't say who the singer was. It's about maintaining anticipation. If the real person comes to the event to recruit new students, the anticipation will be gone. In that case, there will likely be more people watching the spectacle than actually signing up. Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

After Yang Muyi's explanation, he successfully persuaded Chen Nanxing.

This also exposes the true nature of unscrupulous merchants.

Of course, these words were said by Xu Hongdou.

203 Dormitory.

Just as Yang Muye hung up the phone, he heard the sound of a door opening behind him.

At first, I thought it was Shi Xiaomeng who had gone to the library to study and had returned, but when he opened the door, it was Cheng Feng and Wu Di who came in.

The two were wearing sunglasses and masks, completely covered from head to toe.

At first, Yang Muyi almost didn't recognize him.

Why are you two dressed like that?

Cheng Feng and Wu Di explained as they took off their clothes, "Disguise, isn't that what celebrities do when they go out?"

Yang Muyi laughed on the spot: "You two are both celebrities now, why would you go back to the dormitory? You should just go to a five-star hotel!"

The two quickly explained that the "celebrity going out" was just a metaphor.

They only took three days off, and now that the song and music video are finished, of course they have to go back to school to continue their classes.

"Don't you think dressing like that was truly ostentatious? Didn't the security guards consider you suspicious when you entered the school?"

"We did take a second look. We thought we had been recognized and were quite startled."

Seeing the lingering fear on Wu Di's face, Yang Muyi said speechlessly, "Do you know the saying in the entertainment industry, 'The song is popular, but the person isn't'? At best, your song is popular, but you two are still a long way from being famous."

"That's why we came to you to discuss what the next step should be."

The person speaking this time was Cheng Feng.

After not seeing him for two days, Cheng Feng seemed like a completely different person to Yang Muye.

If Wu Di's sudden fame was a sign of maladjustment, Cheng Feng's was clearly fueled by even greater ambition.

Of course, this is normal. After experiencing the taste of fame, who wouldn't want to take a trip in that glamorous world of fame and fortune?
"If I told you that you don't have to do anything from now on, and just stay at school and attend classes and eat meals as usual, would you be willing?"

Yang Muye's answer was somewhat unexpected by Cheng Feng and Wu Di.

Besides being shocked, bewildered, and confused, Wu Di also felt a little unwilling. He moved his mouth, wanting to say something but then stopped.

Instead, Cheng Feng remained silent for a few seconds before speaking decisively:
"Okay, we all listen to you."

Yang Muye immediately countered with a question:
"Did your father teach you to say that?"

Seeing that even this couldn't escape Yang Muye's eyes, Cheng Feng had no choice but to nod.

He did call Cheng Zhen'en before he returned.

Although Cheng Feng deeply resented Cheng Zhen'en for causing his mother's suicide, he had unwavering faith in Cheng Zhen'en's business acumen and judgment.

“He said he had limited knowledge of the internet, but he could sense that what you wanted to do was different from what everyone else had done before. You were playing with something very new, and regardless of whether you succeeded or not, the experience would be invaluable. He told me to learn from you.”

Cheng Feng repeated Cheng Zhen'en's original words.

Yang Muye smiled after hearing this.

"When did you, Young Master Cheng, become such an obedient little boy?"

Cheng Feng was speechless at these words: "I just don't want to accept a life that's been arranged for me, but that doesn't mean I don't know what's good and bad."

After confirming Cheng Feng's attitude, Yang Muyi then looked at Wu Di.

"I'm like a madman."

"That's not what I asked."

"what?"

Wu Di was stunned.

"Cheng Feng asked his father's opinion, what about you? Didn't you ask your half-brother's opinion?"

Wu Di's eyes widened.

Yang Muyi saw through that?

After the music video was recorded, Wu Di immediately sent the demo to his brother Wu Wei.

It's more about showing off.

Wu Wei then called Wu Di to discuss the matter.

Unlike Cheng Feng's father, Cheng Zhen'en, who encouraged Wu Di to do what he wanted, Wu Wei calmly analyzed the current situation with Wu Di.

Although Wu Di and Cheng Feng's lyrics in "The Lone Warrior" are similar, their priorities are actually quite clear.

Cheng Feng was the main leader, and Wu Di was the assistant.

Without Cheng Feng posting that video, Yang Muye wouldn't have released the song "The Lone Warrior".

If Cheng Feng hadn't sung "The Lone Warrior," the song certainly wouldn't have garnered such high traffic and attention upon its release.

Unable to accept playing a supporting role, Wu Wei suggested that Wu Di withdraw as soon as possible.

If you can accept it, then continue.

Wu Di has clearly made his choice.

“Okay, let’s start by creating an account like the Back Dorm Boys. Crazy, go on Youku and change your username to Old Boy. From now on, this account will be your and Wu Di’s official account.”

"What about other video websites?" "Don't worry about them, we can focus on Youku from now on."

Seeing that Wu Di and Cheng Feng still had some doubts in their eyes, Yang Muyi further explained: "There are many reasons for choosing Youku. I will explain the other aspects to you later. For now, I will only say the most fundamental one: Youku is currently the video website in China with the most successful financing and the most money. And the essence of video websites is to compete on who has more money!"

Affected by the overseas subprime mortgage crisis, domestic video websites, including Tudou, have encountered difficulties in financing to varying degrees.

Except for Youku.

Even before the subprime crisis had fully materialized and spread domestically, Youku had already completed a crucial round of financing, securing ample funds to weather the storm.

This is largely due to the background of Gu Yongqiang, the founder of Youku.

Gu Yongqiang started out in investment. His company was optimistic about Sohu's development and sent him to discuss investment matters with Dr. Zhang.

After chatting for an entire afternoon, they didn't reach an agreement on the investment, but instead ended up discussing Gu Yongqiang's new job.

Dr. Zhang extended a warm invitation to Gu Yongqiang to serve as the CEO of Sohu.

It was under Gu Yongqiang's leadership that Sohu successfully went public.

After achieving great success, Gu Yongqiang left Sohu to start his own business, founding Youku.

Gu Yongqiang is a financial expert, and Youku's several rounds of financing went very smoothly.

Of course, simply securing investment is not a remarkable achievement. Gu Yongqiang's brilliance lies in the fact that he still held a 41% stake in Youku even after several rounds of financing and the company's IPO.

Tudou, which was founded earlier than Youku, had its founders holding only slightly more than 20% of the shares when it finally went public.

Even after Youku and Tudou merged, Youku remained dominant.

High judgment.

Currently, the main operating cost for major video websites in China is bandwidth. Youku has more money than other video websites, which allows it to make online video playback smoother and load faster than other companies. However, it can only maintain its leading position and cannot create a significant gap with its competitors.

This situation will continue until next year, at which time all video websites in China will face a life-or-death test.

The sword of Damocles that has been hanging over the heads of major video websites in China, "copyright," will fall fiercely next year.

Domestic content copyright holders will unite to launch copyright lawsuits against all video websites.

While losing money, a large amount of copyrighted content uploaded by users will also be taken down, forcing video websites to move towards legal content.

At this point, paid content will become the biggest operating cost for video websites.

Video websites will replace coal mine owners as the new dominant capital force in the entertainment industry.

"Since video websites are a game for the rich, of course you'll play with whoever has the money."

These were Yang Muye's exact words when he met Hu Ling in the lobby bar of the Fairfield by the Bay Hotel at noon the next day.

Cheng Feng and Wu Di also came along.

Compared to their extravagant outfits last night, their attire today was much more normal.

On my way to class in the morning, I was recognized by people from time to time, but they just looked at me with curiosity. No one talked to me or asked for my autograph.

It was quite embarrassing that the two of them had prepared pens for signing, which was a waste of their time.

The worst part is during class; no matter what class it is, the teacher will always call out the names of two people first.

You won't be able to skip class anymore.

Hu Ling didn't care how Cheng Feng and Wu Di were doing at school; she only cared about how the two would proceed on their path to becoming internet celebrities.

"If we don't earn any money by uploading the videos, wouldn't we be working for the video websites for free?"

"That's why you need to negotiate with Youku to share advertising revenue with us based on video views. The price can be lower at first, but we absolutely will not accept free advertising," Yang Muye explained.

In addition, advertisements can also be inserted into the video.

Of course, all of this depends on the fact that the equation is actually implemented.

After hearing this, Hu Ling couldn't help but question, "Do you think anyone would actually watch them film those everyday vlogs?"

“No one will watch videos of people going to class or studying. We need to film things that happen on the university campus that people are interested in, such as beautiful women, delicious food, and all sorts of fun and interesting things.”

As soon as Yang Muyi finished speaking, Wu Di immediately chimed in:
"The food in our school's three canteens is quite famous. We could make it into a series, exploring the delicious food in university canteens."

Hu Ling and Cheng Feng nodded repeatedly after listening, but Yang Muyi frowned.

Upon seeing this, Wu Di immediately felt uncertain.

"What, my idea won't work?"

"The idea is good, but the name... it sounds too much like an essay title."

Wu Di was stunned.

"Let's change the name to 'The University Cafeteria: A Taste of Food'," Yang Muye continued.

Hu Ling and Cheng Feng's eyes lit up at the same time.

Wu Di didn't think there was anything wrong with the name he chose at first, but now, after comparing it with others, he has to admit that he is indeed terrible at choosing names.

"Wouldn't it be too monotonous to just film food? We can't lose the biggest feature of our school... no, I should say our college."

Cheng Feng then added a comment.

This piqued Hu Ling's interest, prompting her to ask what the biggest feature of Chengfeng Business School was.

"Our college has always produced beautiful women."

The speaker was Wu Di.

Hu Ling didn't believe it and turned to Yang Muyi for confirmation.

"Have you forgotten the lesson of 'Campus Belle Rush'? Of course, you can film beautiful women, but you have to get their consent first. And you can't just film beautiful women. You have to think of other themes. Beautiful women can only be used as a gimmick."

Yang Muye's words made Hu Ling even more curious.

Are the female students in business schools really that high-quality?
Before she could even speak, Hu Ling heard another new word from Cheng Feng.

"How about we find a few pretty girls to play Werewolf together? This is a club activity, and it should be quite interesting to film."

"Sure, but we'll have to wait until the shops on the pedestrian street are finished being renovated. We can also give BaWangChaJi a little advertising when that's done."

At this point, Hu Ling realized that she could no longer keep up with the pace of the conversation.

Fortunately, Wu Di acted as her "translator," which helped her understand what Werewolf was and what the shops on the pedestrian street were all about.

At this point, Yang Muye offered another filming suggestion:
"We could also organize an 'Old Boys' singing club, looking for the best singers in the school, or even teachers. We could set up some small challenges, and those who pass could organize a competition. It doesn't need to be very professional, just to create a lively atmosphere."

After listening, Hu Ling couldn't help but have a deep question in her mind.

Was the university I attended really the same kind of university as Yang Muyi and Cheng Feng?
However, it must be admitted that these kinds of college daily vlogs, which feature delicious food, beautiful visuals, and fun activities, are indeed very appealing.

The only problem is that if such a video is made, the principal of Yanjingmao will have a headache.

Do they really think schools are youth sanatoriums?

Just as Hu Ling was about to bring this up, Yang Muye's phone suddenly rang.

Yang Muye glanced at the caller ID and looked up.

"You guys continue chatting, I'm going to take this call."

He stood up and walked to the side.

Put the phone to your ear.

"Father, is there something you need?"

(End of this chapter)