Chapter 171: The Man Who Suppresses the Heavenly Kings

On July 2nd, Cheng Chen's personal blog updated with an image.

It was an unfolded view of the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painting.

Below the image was a line of small text as a caption:

"The 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' is the work of the Northern Song Dynasty master Zhang Zeduan.

One of China's ten legendary paintings, it is a national treasure-level artifact.

August 2nd, we'll see you there!"

At the same time, Xinghuo Entertainment and Tianhai Records reposted this blog post from Cheng Chen on Huaxia Blog.

Many fans, upon seeing it, left comments one after another under Cheng Chen's blog.

"Updated! Finally updated!"

"What does this mean? Posting a picture, what's the meaning, playing riddles?"

"The person above is stupid, isn't August 2nd an obvious enough hint? Of course it's the release of the boss's new album!"

"'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'? China-style? This level of class is too high.

Combining music with cultural artifacts, first there was 'Blue and White Porcelain' and now 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival', the boss is awesome!"

"Ahhhhh! It's my favorite China-style again, looking forward to it, looking forward to it, looking forward to it!

!"

"'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'... who is Qingming, and who is River Map? Hehe!"

"Using cultural artifacts to write songs, a poetic and picturesque fusion, this is the unique romance of China, support!"

"Damn, the person above, get away, I can't look at these five characters anymore! You pay for my eyes, ahhhhh!"

Following the news of Cheng Chen's new album, media outlets from all sides followed up with reports.

It had been over half a year since Cheng Chen last released an album.

Although Cheng Chen had been continuously releasing some singles during this period.

But the quantity was still too small, it simply wasn't enough to listen to!

Therefore, once a new album was announced, media outlets were like they had been injected with adrenaline, excitedly digging for relevant news.

Many media outlets kept watch at the entrances of Xinghuo Entertainment and Tianhai Records to stake out Cheng Chen, but he didn't appear at all.

Yet, just as a group of entertainment reporters were dejectedly preparing to leave, news of Cheng Chen updating his blog spread.

"Is he completely planning to give up on news publicity and release album news exclusively online?"

This absurd thought surfaced in the minds of the entertainment reporters.

In fact, although after a round of rapid growth, internet users were already in the hundreds of millions.

But this did not represent the number of actual users; many people going online were not necessarily there to look at entertainment news.

People who specifically went online to search for news related to Cheng Chen were even fewer and further between.

If Cheng Chen abandoned traditional media publicity, then one could only say that Cheng Chen's choice was too risky.

"Whenever I lift my head for you, even tears feel free.

Some love is like a torrential downpour, yet I still believe in the rainbow..."

Just as the media were speculating about what was going on, Cheng Chen's personal blog and the official blogs of Xinghuo Entertainment and Tianhai Records updated again.

This time, they still used the image-and-text format; the image showed Cheng Chen and Liu Tianxian wearing school uniforms.

The two were sitting on the grass, sunlight spilling over them; Liu Tianxian was smiling sweetly and brightly, looking incomparably youthful.

Cheng Chen was holding a guitar, smiling relatively subtly, looking just like a top student who had been well-behaved since childhood.

And those two lines of lyrics from "The Light Chaser" were the copy used as the caption below the image.

"I, I, I, I love this photo of the boss so much!"

"No way, the Fairy Sister actually came too... this is definitely a goddess!"

"The two of them are too well-matched, it's really a feast for the eyes!"

"'Some love is like a torrential downpour, yet I still believe in the rainbow...' This sentence is written so well.

Love is just like this, it isn't necessarily always smooth, but we are all willing to believe that the ending will be beautiful."

"Is this a still from the new song's MV? It looks like this song is about love, I like it, I will always support the boss!"

"The hatred of Cheng Chen stealing my wife is irreconcilable!"

Following that, songs like "Between Mountains and Rivers," "The Wind Has Risen," and "Dissipating Sorrows," each song was presented on the blog using the image-plus-copy method.

The outside world now also knew of Cheng Chen's flashy tactics,

releasing one song a day on the blog for promotion.

At first, those media outlets thought Cheng Chen was "seeking his own death."

How much traffic could he get just through blog exposure?

But very soon they were wrong; ever since Cheng Chen started promoting on his blog, his exposure grew in an exponential, explosive manner.

Especially those lyrics, every one of them became a popular internet meme and spread widely.

Even Cheng Chen's posts were being carried over to major forums for concentrated discussion.

And every time Cheng Chen released an image-and-text post, it would trigger heated discussions among netizens.

What kind of emotion was this song expressing?

What type of song was it?

What kind of story did the MV tell?

It even formed a phenomenon where all netizens were discussing it; based on the existing copy and photos, everyone was enthusiastically exploring it, as addictive as a puzzle-solving game.

Put into reality, it was basically:

"Hey, did you see the blog Cheng Chen posted today? What do you think the song title is?"

"I don't know, just those two lines of copy and the photo, you can't tell what the content is at all, but the artistic conception is super beautiful, isn't it!"

"What are you guys discussing? What artistic conception and song title?"

"You don't even know this? You're too out of it! Go search online yourself.

Cheng Chen released a new album, it's like a puzzle game, it's so fun."

Consequently, people in reality also actively joined the online discussion to keep up with the trend, and the buzz grew higher and higher.

This phenomenon was soon promoted by the media through offline magazines, newspapers, and other media.

Of course, what was published in print media was nothing more than the blog posts Cheng Chen had released on his blog.

There was no help for it; Cheng Chen wouldn't show his face for interviews at all, but his popularity was so high that it forced them to resort to this superficial method.

This also made many singers feel as if a door to a new world had opened after seeing this maneuver by Cheng Chen.

You can promote an album like this?

Is this the power of the internet? That's too exaggerated!

Learned it, learned it, next time I release an album, I'll do it like this!

Of course, it was impossible for Cheng Chen to rely entirely on the internet promotion model.

If this were in later generations, shooting a short video to notify everyone, without print media, radio, or television, the effect would be just as surprisingly great.

But after all, it is 2004 now; although the internet is growing promisingly, it definitely cannot represent the massive market.

Thus, everyone soon discovered Cheng Chen appearing on television variety shows, in radio broadcasts, and in entertainment magazines and newspapers.

This wave of dense and all-encompassing exposure made people have an exceptionally deep impression of the date August 2nd.

At the same time, they were also very much looking forward to the arrival of this day, because Cheng Chen was going to release his new album on this day!

"《Battle of the Heavenly Kings! Zhou Dong voluntarily steps back, the new album 【Common Jasmine Orange】 scheduled for release on 8.3 has changed its date! 》"

"《Is there really no one who can stop him? The man even Zhou Dong retreats three steps from! 》"

"《Who else among contemporary new singers can rival him? Answer: Not a single one! 》"

In the middle of July, news suddenly broke that Zhou Dong had changed his new album release date, which immediately caused a huge uproar.

Although the detailed reason was not stated, everyone could guess it.

There were rumors that Zhou Dong changed the date to avoid Cheng Chen's new album release.

For a time, everyone was in a frenzy.

You have to know that since Zhou Dong debuted, it could be said he had fought across the world without a rival.

The high quality of his albums meant he won awards until his hands went soft.

Now, he was actually forced to change his album release date by Cheng Chen, a "newcomer" who had only debuted for two years.

This matter sounded unbelievable, yet it was happening right before their eyes!

Multiple media outlets reported on this one after another; there were even reporters staking out when Cheng Chen was recording programs, asking him the reason for this matter.

Cheng Chen also didn't expect that Zhou Dong would actually be forced to change the date.

However, this also meant Cheng Chen had one less formidable enemy; no matter what, he had come from an era dominated by Zhou Dong.

If he really went head-to-head with Zhou Dong, although he was confident he wouldn't lose, it would definitely be a narrow victory, or even a mutual destruction.

Cheng Chen spent the entire month of July feeling incredibly fulfilled; on one hand, he had to promote his new album, constantly rushing between television stations and media.

On the other hand, he also had to occasionally rush to the "World's First" film crew to shoot scenes.

"Director Shang, you look at the script first; if there's anything that needs to be discussed, we'll talk in detail over the phone tonight.

I have a flight at three this afternoon, I need to rush to Jinkui Yingshicheng to film."

Jingcheng, around ten o'clock in the morning.

Cheng Chen handed the thick stack of scripts in his hand to Shang Jing.

"This is... how many episodes of a script is this?"

Shang Jing adjusted his glasses, took the stack of scripts, and asked in surprise.

Ever since he finished talking with Cheng Chen last time, he had been very optimistic about the concept of a "martial arts sitcom" in his heart.

But since they parted last time, Shang Jing had never seen Cheng Chen again.

He did see news about him often, and he looked very busy.

Although he really wanted to ask Cheng Chen how far the script had progressed?

Even writing two or three episodes would have been fine.

But Cheng Chen didn't take the initiative to contact him, and Shang Jing didn't want to disturb him, so they didn't connect.

Today, Cheng Chen actually took the initiative to contact him, saying the script was finished.

Shang Jing was overjoyed and hurriedly arrived at the location the two had agreed upon.

"Yes, it's 80 episodes in total, plus character biographies for the leads."

Cheng Chen said with a smile.

"Ah? So many, this, this was all written by you recently?"

Once Shang Jing heard eighty episodes, good heavens, this was a direct plan to finalize the draft for filming!

"Yes, I wrote it when I was free; you take the lead on the content here, if there's anything that needs to be modified, contact me."

Xiao Shu Ting

Cheng Chen said.

"Impressive, truly the younger generation is to be regarded with respect!"

Shang Jing gave a thumbs up and praised him.

One must know that during this period, Cheng Chen not only had to film a television series but was also busy with a series of matters such as the production and promotion of his album.

Yet, who would have thought he actually wrote an eighty-episode television script.

Writing a script is not like other literary styles; scripts require concise wording and a sense of visual imagery.

Having these is not enough; the most important thing is the plot!

If the plot is not good, no matter how concisely you write it, it is useless; it is all just a pile of trash.

Like those professional Screenwriters, an eighty-episode television series would take them half a year to write!

Some television series plots take even longer, with years of compilation and revision.

Looking at the manuscript in his hands, not to mention how the plot was, the spirit Cheng Chen displayed alone was enough for Shang Jing to praise!

The small grudge he originally held in his heart about Cheng Chen not contacting him for a long time also vanished into thin air at this moment...

Shang Jing lowered his head and read the script seriously, with the sound of turning pages ringing out from time to time, along with Shang Jing's occasional one or two laughs, and sometimes continuous laughter...

"Hahahaha, this Li Dazui... he's killing me."

Shang Jing slapped his thigh, laughing loudly as he pointed at the script.

Cheng Chen, sitting to the side, only smiled faintly; when he was writing the script, he tried his best to use the descriptive adjectives from the scenes of the original show after editing.

Therefore, whether it was the sense of imagery, the flow, or the density of the comedic points, it could be called the original show.

However, seeing Shang Jing laughing so hard, Cheng Chen felt very fortunate that this was a private booth.

Otherwise, he would have truly been embarrassed to death by Shang Jing's commotion.

After about an hour, Shang Jing reluctantly closed the manuscript.

He wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and said:

"This script is really... too fun. Did you really write this in just one month?"

"Yes, it is all original!"

Shang Jing nodded, his face full of joy.

The subtext of Shang Jing asking this question was:

You wrote such a high-quality script in such a short time; you didn't plagiarize, did you?

That was why Cheng Chen gave the answer he just did.

"Especially excellent, especially great! This script is written so fluently, and the dialogue design is also particularly ingenious, it's as if...

It's as if it were written while watching the television series. I've been in the industry for so many years, and I have never seen such a smooth script!"

Shang Jing said with a sigh of emotion.

"Hehe..."

Hearing Shang Jing's words, Cheng Chen could only respond with a silly smile.

Of course, this was him transcribing it while watching the original show, but this also served as a reminder to Cheng Chen.

He cannot do this again when writing scripts in the future; it is fine if he is the director himself, but if it were someone else, they would inevitably be suspicious.

"I have roughly read the first twenty episodes now, and it is very brilliant.

If the quality remains the same for the rest, I suggest we can start filming directly; there is definitely no problem with the script."

Shang Jing said as he looked at Cheng Chen.

"That's great, but Director Shang, this production will likely start a bit late, at least until around October. Do you think that's okay?"

He expected to be busy with album matters for the upcoming August.

In September, he definitely had to go to the crew of Little Fish and Flower.

Although he did not intend to act in Wulin Waizhuan, he, as the investor, still had to keep an eye on it.

Only after the crew entered a regular routine could he feel at ease filming.

"October?"

"Is the time too long?"

"It's too short!"

Shang Jing glanced at Cheng Chen and said helplessly:

"Although our script is mostly finalized, we still need to find and prepare the actors and the crew.

Although a sitcom doesn't require location shooting like a traditional television series.

But precisely because of that, the set must be built to a perfect degree!

We have to wait at least until the end of October or early November to resolve all these issues."

"Early November? That's fine. As for the casting part...

I think the actors you worked with before in 'Story of the Cooking Squad' are all quite good; we can have them come over."

Cheng Chen was naturally referring to Sha Yi, Yan Ni, and the others.

"Hmm... we can let them try. They don't have much to do lately, and 'Story of the Cooking Squad Part 3' isn't filming for the time being. Hmm... do you have any recommendations for the cast?"

Shang Jing asked.

Cheng Chen pointed to the script in Shang Jing's hand and said:

"I have written the specific actors in the character biographies; you can refer to them when you have time later."

After the two chatted for a while, Cheng Chen proposed to leave; he still had to fly to Jinkui Shi in the afternoon.

"Alright, I wish your new album... great sales!"

"Alright, thank you, Director Shang!"