Chapter 216: Instant Fame
The matter of finding a bodyguard had been settled. However, Xu Youyou had limited connections, and the Lu family, with their years of experience, didn’t need to rely on Shen Ju’an to find the right bodyguard.
In just three days, the Lu family had already found several suitable candidates, waiting for Xu Youyou to personally interview them and select the one she liked once they returned to Hu City.
What Xu Youyou didn’t expect was that her first video as a new blogger, after being edited and published, had surpassed one million views in less than a day.
Qing Yatou became an overnight sensation!
Although the video was boosted by Lu Jingyao’s influence and their relationship being revealed, the content of Qing Yatou’s video itself was of high quality, which kept the audience engaged.
“The completion rate is over 80%. Boss, you really found a treasure this time!” Xie Ran said excitedly.
Xie Ran had stayed at Hu City, working during the New Year. He hadn’t personally met Qing Yatou yet but trusted Xu Youyou’s judgment. He had even managed to organize a photography team to film the video during the holiday.
Fortunately, all the effort had paid off with substantial returns.
This wasn’t Xie Ran’s first time helping to cultivate an internet celebrity. From the elderly Mrs. Li, who had been raising stray cats and dogs, to the young lady who vlogged spending tens of thousands a day, none of them had matched the explosive popularity of Qing Yatou.
For the Chinese people, there’s an old saying: “The people take food as the most important thing.” This clearly shows how much emphasis is placed on food.
In Qing Yatou’s video, the focus was on the simplest of foods, things that seemed almost within reach, yet they managed to capture the attention of top billionaires like Lu Jingyao and Xu Youyou.
Beyond food, the comments from netizens were rather chaotic.
“Husband, how come you have a partner already?”
“To be honest, it was hard to imagine Lu Jingyao ever dating, but now that I see him with Xu Youyou, it doesn’t seem that surprising.”
“Okay, okay, my husband is with my wife now.”
“Congratulations to Boss Xu for finding her perfect match, now no one can spread rumors about her and our Zhihai brother.”
“Am I the only one who thinks they’re just acting?”
“Top billionaires pretending just to hype up this little blogger? Who is this blogger, if they really want to support her, why not get her into the entertainment industry?”
“I don’t care, I just don’t believe this is real!”
Xu Youyou glanced at the sour comments in the comment section and simply smiled, not letting it bother her. It was better to have attention than none at all. No matter how these people had been drawn to the video, they would eventually become Qing Yatou’s traffic.
Xie Ran told the photography team to strike while the iron was hot and shoot more videos.
“Talent? I don’t have any personal talents,” Qing Yatou said honestly.
“Unfortunately, there aren’t any wild fruits or mushrooms on the mountain right now. Otherwise, you could go up the mountain and perform a fruit-picking segment. That would definitely drive the whole internet wild,” Xu Youyou sighed, feeling that Qing Yatou had so much potential, but it was too cold outside.
Xie Ran thought for a moment and asked, “Is there any intangible cultural heritage in your local area?”
Qing Yatou replied, “I learned how to make Huizhou ink from Grandma Tan before.”
Xie Ran immediately said, “I’ll have someone prepare it right away. You should film an episode on how to make Huizhou ink.”
Qing Yatou said, “I learned it before, but I don’t remember it very well now.”
Xie Ran wasn’t concerned and said, “It doesn’t matter if you remember it perfectly, just present the process to the audience. Learn it just like your teacher taught you, as long as you don’t make any mistakes.”
Qing Yatou felt that this somewhat tedious process wouldn’t be very appealing.
But Xu Youyou, on the other hand, was very curious: “I want to join in too.”
Xie Ran said, “Boss, if you want to join, you’ll have to go through the whole process. Don’t quit halfway because it’s tiring.”
Although Xu Youyou had become more indulgent after gaining wealth, she was still sensible: “Don’t worry, I’m not someone who can’t endure hardship.”
Xie Ran had doubts about this, but he didn’t want to stop the boss. He instead said, “Mr. Lu is currently the key to gaining traffic. If you bring him along, I’m sure the video will go viral.”
Xu Youyou turned to look at Lu Jingyao beside her, and seeing him nod, she couldn’t help but ask, “How come you suddenly don’t have work?”
Lu Jingyao smiled, “Work is for a better life.”
Lu Jingyao had stayed with Xu Youyou in Huangshan for more than ten days. Despite being constantly interrupted by phone calls, he had held his ground, not willing to return to work even if Assistant Liu begged him.
Xu Youyou, on the other hand, felt a bit embarrassed: “You should go back now. I promise I’ll be back in Hu City before the end of the month.”
Lu Jingyao had planned to refuse, but Xu Youyou’s attitude was firm. In the end, he reluctantly agreed to return to Hu City, with her promise to give him the Huizhou ink as a gift.
After spending ten days together, Xu Youyou suddenly felt a bit unused to the absence of her clingy companion.
“Well, well, the wise don’t fall in love. This saying isn’t wrong; I nearly lost my mind from all that dating.”
After sighing, Xu Youyou immersed herself in the process of making Huizhou ink.
In fact, after they both changed into Hanfu, Qing Yatou and Xu Youyou looked particularly beautiful together. To the discerning eye, it was clearly a documentary about making Huizhou ink. But to those who didn’t know, they might have thought it was an ancient romance drama.
The video went viral across the internet, just as expected.
Unlike other loud, sensational self-media videos, there was something magical about Qing Yatou. Despite it being the simplest of tasks, she made it so captivating that people couldn’t look away.
It was like a moment of peace for the soul.
“Once my eyes have learned it, it’s like I’ve learned it. Round it off, I now know how to make Huizhou ink.”
“I now feel so powerful, just waiting to make the best ink!”
Though the viewers were joking, this video did indeed make them feel closer to traditional culture.
What was even more unexpected was that Qing Yatou’s video on making Huizhou ink was uploaded to foreign websites.
Once it was posted, it immediately went viral worldwide. The views and buzz were unlike a typical intangible cultural heritage video, it was as if the video had a cheat code.
Many foreigners even learned how to pronounce “Huizhou ink” from this video.
Of course, some trolls were quick to jump in: “This can’t be real, it’s just making ink sticks! How could it be so popular? I checked, this blogger named Qingqing is signed to Xu Youyou’s company, it must be Xu Youyou buying traffic to promote her. Song Zhihai got famous the same way!”
But they were quickly shut down by others: “Buying traffic domestically is one thing, but how could you buy it abroad? Didn’t you see that the comments on the foreign video are even more than those on the domestic one, each one is different? Do you really think Xu Youyou is so powerful she can make foreigners promote this?”
The vast majority of people felt the charm of Qing Yatou’s video. Even the most irritable viewers would quiet down upon hearing her voice, and countless insomniacs relied on her voice to fall asleep.
However, the real end to this online battle was yet to come.
