Taking Liu Yifei back to Northeast China for the Chinese New Year has sent the entire internet into

One night passed.

The trending topics list has changed three times.

Fang Yu's name was always prominently displayed, unwavering.

The very next morning, as soon as Xingyao Entertainment opened its doors, the publicity department's email inbox exploded!

Dozens of unread notifications popped up in a queue.

The office landline was even more outrageous; it hadn't stopped ringing since nine o'clock.

Cultural interviews, special features on young artists, documentary interviews, traditional culture promotion activities...

Each invitation was more formal than the last, and each letter was more respectful than the last.

When Li, the publicity director, rushed into the president's office with his tablet in his arms, President Zhang was flipping through the premiere briefing sent by the "Forbidden City" project team that morning.

Paper version.

The project team clearly valued this data highly, and even printed and bound a copy and sent it over.

The first episode's viewership ratings broke records for similar historical documentaries in recent years.

But what really caught Mr. Zhang's attention was not the total number.

But one of them—

The proportion of viewers under the age of 25 has increased significantly.

This group has always been the most troublesome audience for lengthy historical documentaries.

In the past, during meetings at the Taiwan government, there were always people complaining that "young people can't sit still" or "they can't watch such long films."

But last night, they were dragged in by "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales" and "Light".

Mr. Zhang continued scrolling down.

The last page contains Fang Yu's latest audience profile.

Previously, his core audience was concentrated in the variety show, short video and pop music circles, with young people making up the vast majority.

After last night, several new sections appeared on the portrait.

Wenbo.

calligraphy.

drama.

History and culture.

Several scholars who usually don't touch popular works also forwarded two songs last night, and seriously analyzed the central axis, dragon scales, Changyin Pavilion and 600-year history in the lyrics.

Mr. Zhang stared at that picture for a long time.

I put down the presentation and leaned back in my chair.

"He used to be considered a top-tier singer."

He paused.

"These four words are a bit too much to contain now."

Old Li nodded in agreement.

"Someone outside is already calling for Teacher Fang."

He placed the tablet in front of General Manager Zhang, his tone carrying an air of utter disbelief.

"In all my years in publicity, this is the first time I've seen an artist's public image jump several levels overnight."

"How should these interviews be arranged?"

He scrolled forward two pages.

"Several entertainment media outlets gave us a lot of space; if we nodded today, we could be on their homepage tomorrow."

Mr. Zhang glanced down at it a few times.

Then reach out and turn off the screen.

"Transfer all of it to Sister Wang."

"Prioritize cultural and national-level platforms; postpone entertainment interviews for now."

Old Li was stunned.

"Taking advantage of this momentum to appear on a few major programs should provide good exposure."

Mr. Zhang looked up at him.

Just one sentence.

"Does he need more buzz right now?"

Old Li opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Yes.

The thing Fang Yu has in abundance right now is exposure.

If he were to spend too much time on entertainment appearances at this point, repeatedly talking about his love life, responding to jokes and memes, he would only gradually erode the cultural understanding that "The Forbidden City" had just established for him.

Mr. Zhang tapped the list of invitees on the table with his fingertips.

"We used to scramble for resources for him all over the world."

"From now on, we'll have to see if we have enough resources before deciding whether to let it in."

Old Li glanced down at the unread numbers still scrolling on the tablet.

This time, he didn't say anything more.

……

At the same time.

Huace Media, conference room.

The data report for the premiere of "Light" was spread out on the table, and the projector displayed the trending keywords from various platforms.

Sister Hong sat at the long table, looking at the audience feedback in the report, feeling somewhat excited.

Liu Yifei's voice received widespread positive reviews.

Clean, restrained, and emotionally stable.

Many music critics have specifically analyzed her singing, believing that her pop female vocals and Fang Yu's opera-style vocals blend together extremely naturally, not like a splicing, but more like the two voices that should naturally be in the same song.

After the Pepsi theme song and this song "Light"—

The name "Singer Liu Yifei" is finally no longer just an additional label in commercial promotion.

After reading the report, the senior executive in charge of artist management took off his glasses and placed them on the table.

"When Yifei and Fang Yu first went public with their relationship, quite a few people in the company were indeed worried."

He spoke frankly.

Sister Hong picked up her water glass without avoiding it.

"I was more worried than you were."

She still clearly remembers the earliest live broadcast footage transmitted from Mohe.

Northeastern Chinese floral print jacket.

tractor.

A heated brick bed.

Liu Yifei sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), hugging a frozen pear and munching on it, juice smearing half her face.

Every second of footage is enough to send Sister Hong's blood pressure soaring.

At that time, what everyone at Huace was most afraid of was that Fang Yu's overly strong sense of variety show humor and down-to-earth image would overshadow Liu Yifei's high-end image that she had painstakingly cultivated over the years.

The results of it?

After shedding that sense of distance, Liu Yifei became even more popular.

Viewers suddenly discovered that the nation's goddess also gets cold easily, has a sweet tooth, laughs so hard she can't stop hiccuping, and even wears a floral jacket while riding a tractor in the wind.

Her commercial value has not declined.

Endorsement offers, public image, and online discussion—all are on the rise.

The Pepsi theme song helped her open up the music market.

The Mohe cultural tourism ambassador gave her official endorsement.

Now, "The Light" has completed the most difficult piece of the puzzle: a mainstream cultural project.

One by one.

Everything is going upwards.

Sister Hong took a sip of water, and when she put the cup back on the table, the sound was a little louder than usual.

Because she knew best in her heart—

Every single one of these opportunities is directly related to Fang Yu.

Everyone initially thought Fang Yu would hold Liu Yifei back.

Now let's go back and watch it.

The situation has completely reversed.

……

The popularity of "The Forbidden City" continues to expand.

Meanwhile, another top-tier music variety show has quietly entered its countdown.

"Peak Concert" Collaboration Competition.

The show's producers have made the guest performance segment the biggest selling point of this season.

The lineups of other singers have been officially announced one after another, each more explosive than the last—

Veteran pop diva.

The King of Songs of Hong Kong Island.

National team tenor.

The names are all top-tier; every single one of them is a royal flush.

There has been no news yet about Hua Yu's guest performer.

Marketing accounts have a keen sense of smell, like dogs, and immediately seized this opportunity.

[Hua Yu's collaborative match appears to have no one to step in and save the day]

Other singers invited top singers, but the guest performer for Hua Yu remains a mystery.

Former top star on the verge of elimination, possibly forced to bring new company talent to the stage.

Hua Yu's fans were furious.

However, since the production team did not make an official announcement and Hua Yu himself did not respond, they could not even find a point to refute.

But at this moment, Hua Yu didn't care about any of that.

These past few days, he has locked himself in a rehearsal room in Xingcheng and has hardly ever gone out.

He tossed his phone to his assistant.

I declined all interview requests.

He had been practicing the song Fang Yu sent him for several nights in a row.

He went through the emotional build-up in the chorus hundreds of times.

The more he practiced, the clearer it became to him—

Just how significant is this opportunity that Fang Yu has given him?