Chapter 568: In the Name of the People' Has Absolutely Blown Up!

The next morning, Hou Yong was still asleep when his manager's relentless calls jolted him awake.

"Lao Hou! You're famous! Really famous!" on the other end, his manager Wang Yu shouted, his voice trembling with excitement, "Your Weibo fans jumped by 870,000 overnight!!!"

Hou Yong rubbed his eyes groggily, "What? Lao Wang, did you drink too much this early?"

"What are you drinking! Check your own Weibo!" Wang Yu shouted, "'In the Name of the People' finished airing yesterday, and you're now the internet's acting textbook! You dominate the top three hot searches!"

Hou Yong sat up with a start and hurried to open Weibo.

However...

His old phone froze completely; he had to reboot it before it would turn on.

He stared at his follower count, which had been only a few hundred thousand, now glaringly showing 1.03 million, his hands trembling.

"This... this is just too exaggerated..." Hou Yong muttered to himself.

Opening the comment section, under the latest promotional Weibo for the series, the most liked comment read: "Suggest checking Teacher Hou Yong, does his performance feel so authentic because of real-life experience /dog head/"

At that moment, his wife Li Li came in, saw him staring blankly at his phone, and asked, "What's up, what's this?"

Hou Yong passed the phone to her, "Wife, I think... I'm famous?"

Don't be fooled by Hou Yong's youthful look; he's already in his fifties, approaching sixty.

However, his wife is considerably younger, more than ten years his junior.

Cough cough..

Don't think Lao Hou's age has caught up with him, his personal life is still quite rich.

He went to bed early last night; although he knew 'In the Name of the People' was premiering, he only had a cameo and didn't take it to heart.

Who would have thought...

Li Li didn't take the phone; instead she smiled and said, "I saw it on Douyin this morning, I was going to wait until you woke up to tell you~"

Just then, Hou Yong's phone rang again.

He picked it up and saw it was Director Li Lu calling from 'In the Name of the People'.

"Lao Hou! You've really given our crew a good face!" on the other end, Li Lu's voice was brimming with unmistakable excitement, "Last night's rating broke 3, a record for CCTV in the past five years! The station leaders just gave you special commendation!"

Just after hanging up, the phone rang again.

This time it was Lu Yi: "Teacher Hou! Your performance was superb; my wife watched last night and kept saying you must have been playing yourself. I tried to explain for half an hour but she wouldn't believe!"

All morning, Hou Yong received no fewer than ten congratulatory calls.

During lunch, Li Li held the phone, laughing uproariously, "Lao Hou, look! A netizen turned your noodle‑eating scene into an Emoji Sticker!"

The screen showed a GIF of Zhao Dehan slurping his fried‑bean sauce noodles, captioned, 'I, Zhao Dehan, walk upright… sit straight.'

Hou Yong was at a loss, half laughing, half crying, "These youngsters..." before he could finish, the phone rang again.

This time it was an unknown number.

"Hello, is this Teacher Hou?" the caller said respectfully, "We are the Production Team of 'The Birth of an Actor' and would like to invite you to be a mentor for the next season..."

After hanging up, Hou Yong and Li Li looked at each other in bewilderment.

Then Hou Yong burst into laughter, pulling his wife into his arms.

In his decades‑long acting career, this was the first time he truly felt what 'overnight fame' meant.

But what moved him even more was that the audience finally began to seriously appreciate acting.

At the same time.

The other cast members of 'In the Name of the People'.

Each one was excited, full of anticipation.

Mind you, the drama had only just started airing.

It became this popular right after the premiere; one can imagine how huge the follow‑up will be.

They also wanted to be like Hou Yong, exploding in fame overnight!!!

Do you think these veteran actors don't want to be famous?

Just kidding—being famous means resources will come knocking, and resources mean money!

Who would turn their back on money?

Elsewhere.

At Morning Light's Animation Base, in the rendering room.

Lin Mo was staring at the WALL·E model on the monitor.

This endearingly clumsy robot had just finished an animation test of a chase scene; the spark effects from its tracks dragging on the ground still needed tweaking.

"Director Lin, the lighting for the third shot is done," Yang Sheng ran over to report, "But the robotic arm's motion path is still a bit stiff."

Lin Mo was about to speak when his pocket phone vibrated, the incoming call showing Han San Ye.

"San Ye!" Lin Mo answered, handing the storyboard to Yang Sheng, "Yes, I'm here at the Animation Base—what? It already broke 3?"

On the other end, Han Canping's bright laugh rang out, "Just got the numbers—premiere rating hit 3.28%, market share 9.7%! The CCTV ad department is grinning ear to ear!"

Lin Mo walked to the lounge and sat down, a smile curling his lips, "Hou Yong's performance must have earned some merit, right?"

"It's more than just merit!" Han Canping raised his voice an octave, "Now the whole net is talking about Zhao Dehan eating noodles; the related Douyin videos have surpassed a billion views. CCTV just called me, saying they'll add an extra midday rebroadcast!"

Hearing that, Lin Mo also gave a small laugh.

It's a perfectly normal thing.

After all, 'In the Name of the People' blew up right after its premiere, so CCTV naturally wants to boost the hype even more.

"By the way," Han Canping suddenly added, "the leaders up there are very satisfied, saying that this realist subject should... the Central Discipline Inspection Commission wants to schedule a symposium with us..."

Lin Mo thought for a moment and said, "San Ye, you can go; my film is at a critical stage, I can't leave." As he spoke, he glanced at the robot model being tuned.

Such matters aren't that important.

Lin Mo was too lazy to make the trip.

The reason this drama "In the Name of the People" became so successful actually isn't very much related to Lin Mo.

He is just a nominal producer, merely having made a slight improvement to the plot.

On the phone, Lin Mo and Han San Ye chatted for a while before hanging up.

In the following days.

The whole internet was taken over by the drama "In the Name of the People".

Seven of the top ten topics on Weibo's hot search list are related:

#Secretary Dak's Lethal Gaze#

#Qi Tongwei's Famous Grave-Crying Scene#

#In the Name of the People's Boundary-Pushing Ceiling#

#Hou Liangping's Clever Battles#

In short, it's just one sentence: the drama "In the Name of the People" went completely viral.