My cousin asked me to go to Wuha, and Hanikezi stuck to me.

Chen Yi tightened his grip, firmly holding the pure black USB drive containing the S-level script in his palm.

If we're going to fight over the cake, let's take the plate too.

"Bang!"

The solid wood door to the CEO's office was kicked open.

Xiao Fang rushed to the desk with his tablet in hand, breathless.

"Bro! Mr. Li from Tencent Video just sent me a message! The first episode of the new season of 'Five Ha' will premiere online in ten minutes!"

Chen Yi casually tossed the USB drive into the drawer and locked it.

"Have you allocated enough resources for publicity and promotion?" Chen Yi asked.

"That's more than just giving us enough!" Xiao Fang slammed the tablet down on the table. "President Li has gone completely mad! He's smashed our solo performance trailer in the Tencent Video homepage, on Weibo's opening screen, and on the trending topics of all the major short video platforms! He's betting all the S-level resources of the entire platform on you!"

It's exactly eight o'clock.

The first episode of the new season of "Five Ha" has officially been released.

Chen Yi leaned back in the boss's chair, his gaze fixed on the screen.

The game begins with the "24-hour three-meter red rope binding" task at Dali Station.

Just three minutes into the progress bar, the screen was completely obscured by a barrage of comments, so dense that even faces were barely visible.

[Ahhhh, it's here! I've been waiting for this since the Golden Melody Awards!]

[A three-meter red rope? Old Wang, you know exactly what we want to see!]

[Help! Chen Yi's disgusted look is priceless, but why did he just casually take the heavy thing from Hani's hands?!]

The scene shifts to Xizhou Ancient Town.

A cooking competition for two.

Hanikezi cut her finger while slicing ginger.

Chen Yi threw down the iron spoon, grabbed her hand to clean and disinfect it before applying a band-aid, and told her to sit down and rest in a very harsh tone.

The comments section exploded.

[Holy crap! That physique is terrible! That's intimidating!]

Chen Yi panicked! He even threw away his spoon!

[If this is acting, I'll eat my keyboard! This is absolutely genuine emotion! The way he looks at her is anything but innocent!]

Then, the progress bar showed the night.

Heart rate monitoring device segment.

The two looked at each other face to face.

Hanikezi's heart rate fluctuated wildly on the screen, soaring all the way to 112.

Chen Yi made up a bunch of nonsense with a straight face, saying things like "mutton, Pu'er tea, and sympathetic nerve stimulation."

In the video, Deng Chao and Chen Chichi are laughing so hard they're doubled over.

The sheer number of comments on screen crashed Tencent Video's servers.

[What the hell is this?! Sympathetic nervous system activated! Chen Yi, you're even using medical terminology to protect your own!]

Honey's face was flushed crimson! Her gaze towards Chen Yi was practically dripping with desire!

[I've moved to the Civil Affairs Bureau! You two must get married right here tonight!]

Xiao Fang stood by the desk, looking down at the real-time monitoring data in the backend, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold the tablet.

"Brother," Xiao Fang swallowed, "it's broken."

Chen Yi looked up: "How much did it break?"

"The ratings for the live broadcast on Tomato TV broke 3.0 within twenty minutes of the start!" Xiao Fang's voice cracked. "It set a new record for the highest premiere ratings in Tomato TV's variety show history! Even the neighboring channel's top music show was completely crushed by us!"

Xiao Fang swiped the screen and brought up the Weibo backend.

"And the super topic!" Xiao Fang exclaimed incoherently, "The number of fans for the 'Yi Zi CP' super topic exploded by 1.5 million in just half an hour! It's now surpassed 2 million! It's directly topped the list of CPs in the Chinese entertainment industry!"

Chen Yi remained calm, tapping his fingers twice on the table.

"What about the total number of views for the edited videos across the entire internet?" Chen Yi asked.

"It's broken one billion!" Xiao Fang shouted. "Douyin and Bilibili are completely dominated by your eye-catching edits! Any random reposted video gets hundreds of thousands of likes! Netizens are scrutinizing your sweet moments with a magnifying glass!"

Xiao Fang took a deep breath and pulled his frantically vibrating phone out of his pocket.

"The most terrifying thing is the business side!" Xiao Fang pointed to the constant stream of new WeChat messages. "Those three top luxury brands we were just talking to, along with seven or eight national-level FMCG brands, have all sent urgent emails!"

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow.

"Cartier, Bulgari, Armani!" Xiao Fang's eyes lit up. "These three top luxury brands originally only planned to sign you as their Asia-Pacific representative, but now they've sent you supplementary agreements! As long as you and Sister Hani are willing to shoot a special Qixi Festival campaign together, your endorsement fee will triple! It'll be the highest tier in the Chinese entertainment industry!"

Chen Yi's lips curled into a highly aggressive smile.

"Su Wan used high-pressure announcements to keep Hani Kezi busy, sending her to auditions for seven or eight ancient costume dramas a day, just to prove that Hani can still quickly monetize her career even after leaving me," Chen Yi sneered.

Xiao Fang nodded repeatedly.

"But after tonight, all the big spenders will teach Su Wan a lesson." Chen Yi's tone was extremely cold. "The capital market will clearly tell Xingyu: without Chen Yi, Hanikezi's commercial value will be halved. With Chen Yi, she is a ruthless money-printing machine."

Xiao Fang suddenly realized and slapped his thigh.

"Exactly! The more Su Wan tries to separate you two to monetize yourselves, the more the brands are pressuring you to reunite with real money!" Xiao Fang rubbed his hands excitedly. "So, should we take it or not?"

"Go and give them a reply," Chen Yi decisively ordered. "We can accept a joint endorsement, but the price will be increased by 30%. Moreover, our studio must dictate the contract terms; Star Entertainment will only receive a share."

Xiao Fang was stunned: "Will Xingyu Entertainment agree to that? Su Wan, that Ice Queen, has a tight grip on Sister Hani's contract."

"She has no choice but to agree." Chen Yi's tone exuded absolute control. "Capital only cares about profits. Right now, the entire internet is supporting our CP. If Su Wan dares to stop Hanikezi from accepting a dual endorsement at this critical juncture, the board of directors of Xingyu will be the first to kick her out."

Chen Yi took out his phone and opened WeChat.

In the "Five Ha" regular group chat, Chen Chichi sent a voice message.

"Cousin! You two are such a popular couple, I'm almost convinced it's true! Deng Chao just called me to ask how much money I should give as a wedding gift!"

Chen Yi casually replied, "Tell him to prepare a red envelope."

Just after replying to the group messages, Hanikezi sent a photo to the pinned chat box.

In the photo, she is sitting in the back seat of a van, holding a tablet in her hands. The screen is showing the heart rate monitoring segment of the TV show "Five Ha".

The girl's eyes sparkled, and the fatigue from running around for days was completely gone.

"Chen Yi." Hanikezi sent a voice message, her voice filled with barely concealed excitement, "Sister Hong just saw the trending topics and ratings, and her face turned black. Her phone has been ringing off the hook, she's received over a dozen calls from brands, all wanting to collaborate with us."

Chen Yi pressed the voice button and brought the phone closer.

"Let her answer," Chen Yi said, his tone softening and reassuring. "You don't need to worry about anything these next few days. Just get some sleep. Eat whatever you want, and ignore her sullen face. Leave the rest of the negotiations to me."

Sending complete.

The landline on my desk suddenly started ringing incessantly.

Xiao Fang glanced at the caller ID, answered immediately, and pressed speakerphone.

Old Wang's hoarse roar came from the other end of the phone.

"Chen Yi! Did you even look at the data?!" Old Wang slammed his fist on the table excitedly, the background filled with the cheers of the production crew. "3.0! In all my years making variety shows, this is the first time I've ever achieved such a resounding success!"

Chen Yi leaned back in his chair: "Director Wang, calling in the middle of the night just to deliver good news?"

"Of course not!" Old Wang gasped for breath. "The top management at Tencent Video held a meeting overnight and decided! An additional 30 million yuan will be added to the production budget! The new season of 'Five Dogs' will change from weekly to twice-weekly!"

Xiao Fang gasped.

Zhou Shuanggeng.

This is unprecedented in S+ level variety shows in the Chinese entertainment industry, doubling both workload and exposure.

"Where will the next episode be filmed?" Chen Yi asked, getting straight to the point.

"Hainan!" Old Wang grinned maliciously. "Tencent Video has booked an entire uninhabited island. The theme for the next episode is survival on a deserted island!"

Chen Yi stopped tapping his fingers on the table.

"Survival on a desert island?" Chen Yi confirmed.

"Yes!" Old Wang shouted, his voice booming, "Get your luggage ready, we're flying early tomorrow morning! I'm going to go big this time!"

The phone hangs up.

Chen Yi stared at the blacked-out landline screen, a strong sense of interest surfacing in his eyes.