You're So Beautiful

Within 24 hours of the first episode airing, Cai Xukun understood what true popularity really meant.

Everyone is talking about him whenever there's a topic related to the show.

He opened Weibo and searched for his own name in real time.

Topics with tags keep popping up, and new content appears every time you refresh the page.

He dared not look closely, yet he couldn't help but look.

It all started with that self-introduction.

"I've been practicing for two and a half years, and I love singing, dancing, rapping, and playing basketball!"

These twenty-odd characters became the biggest meme on the entire internet.

Cai Xukun's own fan group hasn't even been established yet, but his memes have already become popular.

His stage performance was cut into countless fragments, and what was originally a perfectly normal gesture of raising his hand became online material.

One, two, three... more and more people joined.

Not long after, the first parody video appeared on Bilibili.

The video is titled "You're So Beautiful, Chicken".

The cover features Cai Xukun smiling with his head down.

Click on it, and a familiar melody begins to play.

The lyrics were re-split, with only the line "Just because you're too beautiful" repeated on a loop.

The content creator perfectly timed Cai Xukun's dance moves to the beat, hitting every frame with pinpoint accuracy.

In the background, the sound of a basketball hitting the ground is rendered as drumbeats.

The barrage of comments scrolled by, densely packed.

"Holy crap, this is so brainwashing."

"After listening, I felt energized and got ready to go downstairs to play basketball."

"I'm doomed, I can't get out of here. I'll do this every day to prevent depression."

"Wow, this song is amazing? I want the original song."

"Warning: High-energy content ahead! You're too beautiful!"

"I feel uncomfortable if I don't listen to it for a day, and I feel uncomfortable all day after listening to it."

"Who would have thought that self-introductions would become background music? Cai Xukun won't sue us, will he?"

"Hilarious, the person involved hasn't even said anything yet."

"Stop tagging Cai Xukun, he's probably practicing singing, dancing and rapping right now."

"My roommate can already recite it."

"What's so special about carrying someone on your back? All the boys in my class are learning that move."

"Oh no, all I can hear in my head is chickens."

"You're so beautiful, you're really beautiful."

"This song wasn't popular before, it was the parody videos that made it a hit."

"No, it was the self-introduction that made me fly."

Soon, the phrase "Chicken You Are So Beautiful" replaced the original lyrics and became the most popular meme title.

A second, a third, a fourth... dozens of videos appeared overnight.

Some played the melody on a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument), some played it on a calculator, and some even used the sound of a cat stomping on a keyboard as the intro.

The comments and bullet screens under each video have become a new carnival.

But Jiang Han knew that things weren't that simple.

"Teacher Fang, did you spot any problems with the press releases circulating in the market?"

Jiang Han sat in the chairman's office and spoke to Fang Chongwen.

Fang Chongwen nodded: "The first few parodies fermented naturally, but in the latter half of the night, a group of marketing accounts suddenly joined in and stirred up trouble."

"The manuscript was written in a very veiled manner, but it all hinted at the same meaning."

"They say Cai Xukun has no talent, relies on Xingyue Media to buy traffic, and wants to use hype to rise to fame."

Fang Chongwen handed over the tablet, on which three long articles were neatly arranged.

The titles are "Looking at Cai Xukun and the Anxiety of Starry Night in Talent Selection" and "Starry Night in Talent Selection."

When Capital Starts Buying Memes for Trainees

The Marketing Secrets Behind "You're So Beautiful"

"The brushwork is very clean." Jiang Han glanced at it briefly, "It's better than Chiang Kuang-yao's style back then."

"It was an order placed by United Capital." Fang Chongwen circled several back-end data points.

"The accounts used for posting, the promotional periods, and the trending topics all highly overlap with their Google search pool."

"These guys have gotten smarter," Jiang Han chuckled.

"They didn't criticize or insult, but they arranged for someone to imply that Xingyue was manipulating things behind the scenes, trying to drag Cai Xukun and Xingyue down with them."

"What should we do?" Fang Chongwen asked.

"Make it cold," Jiang Han said.

"If he says I should buy, I actually buy; if he says we should do marketing, we do marketing."

"Those memes and parodies can't be bought with money; I'll take the free publicity."

Fang Chongwen understood and immediately went to make the arrangements.

Jiang Han sent a message to Cai Xukun: Take a good rest, the stage after the variety show is more important.

Cai Xukun quickly replied: "President Jiang, I really didn't hire anyone to hype me up. I only watched half of those videos."

"I know it's not you, just focus on the game."

Cai Xukun didn't understand everything, but he felt much more at ease.

Jiang Han called Xiao Xiao again.

Xiao Xiao was lying in her room watching videos, laughing so hard her stomach hurt.

Jiang Han didn't beat around the bush: "Tonight, lead a team to work on secondary innovation projects. I'll give you a few directions."

"If you're going to play, play it even better than they do."

That evening, several short video accounts under Wangyue Culture began posting fan-made works of "Chicken You Are So Beautiful".

One is a video of three orange cats lining up and turning their heads, accompanied by a rearranged version of the music.

A group of people recited their self-introductions in Sichuan dialect as if it were a tongue twister.

There's also one that turned Cai Xukun's stage performance into a pixelated game opening animation.

Xiao Xiao personally took to the field, wearing Jiang Han's oversized overalls, and danced in front of the mirror in the training room.

He exaggerated every move, and in the end, he squatted down and laughed uncontrollably.

After the video was released, the comments section exploded.

Is this the start of his own involvement?

"Star Moon Media is no longer playing dead."

"The Chinese entertainment industry is having a blast playing with its own memes."

"With Xiao Xiao's face, I believe she didn't make a mistake in her outfit."

"Could you please provide a link to the same overalls?"

"I'm dying of laughter, I forgot how to dance the original version, this is the real source of joy."

"Capital was killed by its own jokes. I love the entertainment industry now."

"Hilarious even more than Cai Xukun himself."

Cai Xukun: Have some decency.

"Official pranks are the most lethal."

Two days later, the controversy was still ongoing, but the tide had begun to turn.

On Weibo, a blogger posted a long article saying that Cai Xukun has a kind of clumsy earnestness.

He was ridiculed from the very first episode, but he neither deleted the comments nor offered any explanation.

He only mentioned on the show that he likes singing, dancing, and basketball.

The article concludes by stating its main point: "After you've insulted someone, you'll find that you've actually come to know them."

Some netizens also commented:

"I used to think he was greasy, but now I find him quite interesting."

"Indeed, the more you watch those moves, the more captivating they become."

"I'll wait until the next episode to see if he can come up with anything new."

The earliest content creators who made parody videos also started changing their titles.

The initial frenzy surrounding "Chicken You Are So Beautiful" gradually transformed into a "Cai Xukun Stage Compilation".

As people laughed, they didn't realize they had become his first batch of casual observers.

Late that night, Yang Mi sent me a WeChat message.

"President Jiang, your young trainee is quite something!"

"The first episode has just been released and has already generated a lot of buzz across the internet."

Jiang Han didn't mince words: "No rush, the real show is just beginning, let's wait for the finals."

Yang Mi added, "I have a lot of variety show resources, so I can help him get started later."

Jiang Han did not reply immediately.

He turned off the desk lamp and thought of Cai Xukun's face, which was both serious and funny.

Many passersby who once mocked Kun Kun eventually became fans.

Time will prove everything.

……