Subsequently, a slightly blurry video link was tossed into the trending topic forum.
The title of the link wasn't flashy, just a dozen or so words:
Donghai University School of Computer Science Graduation Thesis Defense Clip.
Those who clicked in initially just wanted to gossip, but once the video loaded, the bullet comments and replies briefly paused for a few seconds.
On the screen, Jiang Yue stood in front of the podium wearing a white shirt, holding a slide clicker in his hand. Behind him, the screen was paused on a page densely packed with algorithm model explanations.
A row of professors sat below the stage. The professor at the very front had a thick stack of printed thesis drafts by his hand, with red pen annotations covering everything from the cover to the table of contents.
Jiang Yue flipped to the next page. The moment he spoke, he switched to French, pointing out a translation error in an obscure, cutting-edge academic paper.
The professor, who had been looking down flipping through pages, froze his pen tip at the margin upon hearing the French and looked up at the podium.
Several professors next to him exchanged glances. One of them took off his glasses to wipe them before squinting to examine the projected content again.
The topic forum fell silent for a few seconds before new comments began to surge upward.
【Donghai University? School of Computer Science? Is this the Donghai University I know? A top-three university in the country! Who was the one calling him an uneducated pretty face earlier? Come out and take your beating.】
【Holy crap, his French is so fluent, and he can even present an algorithm defense. Why didn't he go to a tech giant to get a high-paying job instead of joining the domestic entertainment industry to compete as an actor?】
【Now I suddenly feel that with an actor possessing this kind of IQ, those political schemes and calculations in the original novel suddenly make perfect sense.】
There was never a shortage of people on the internet who would pull on a thread to uncover the whole story.
Jiang Yue had been virtually unheard of before simply because the spotlight hadn't truly shone on him yet.
Once the Donghai University defense video became the breakthrough point, more of his public resume was unearthed.
National competition award lists, on-campus project public announcements, outstanding graduate lists, and screenshots of articles from the School of Computer Science's official WeChat account—one after another, they flooded the forum.
Many Donghai University alumni also joined in.
【Stop digging, this really is our department's Great God Jiang. Back then, the professors specifically told the lower-classmen to study his code.】
【I can vouch that he is not a fake straight-A student created by marketing.】
【He used to help modify models in the computer lab. After reading his code, an upperclassman fell silent for an entire day.】
【Lmao, Great God Jiang never liked posting on his Moments when he was in school. To think he went to play a villain before even graduating. I honestly thought it was just someone with the same name.】
As the popularity continued to climb, the duty computer of the Donghai Municipal Bureau's Publicity Department also popped up a public opinion alert.
Zhou Jianguo, carrying his thermos, walked past the workstation. When he saw the name on the screen, his footsteps slowed.
Xiao Liu from the Publicity Department looked back at him, his hand already on the mouse.
“Chief Zhou, Jiang Yue is on the trending search list, and it's positive publicity. Should we piggyback on this?”
Zhou Jianguo set his thermos on the desk. He stared at the topic page, read through the top posts, and made a decision on the spot.
“Post it.”
“Include the link to the anti-fraud app. Have someone keep an eye on the comment section—don't let scam accounts sneak in to leech traffic.”
The official Weibo account of the Donghai Police was subsequently updated, complete with the previous anti-fraud promotional video.
Donghai Police: 【Student Jiang is not only an outstanding graduate but also a warm-hearted citizen full of positive energy. We thank him for his friendly appearance in our bureau's anti-fraud promotional video. We would like to remind everyone that the internet is not a lawless land. Please keep your eyes open to prevent fraud, and actively download the National Anti-Fraud Center app.】
As soon as the video was posted, netizens naturally clicked on it.
The Academic God who had been wearing a white shirt and speaking French in the previous video was now sitting in front of a computer, earnestly typing code in the police video.
In the next scene, just as he placed his hands on the keyboard, two police officers closed in from both sides and pinned him to the desk.
The comment section completely lost it.
【Help! First, he's a scheming historical drama male god, then a high-IQ straight-A student, and finally an anti-fraud cat-eared college boy. Are these really the same person?】
【Official trolling is the most lethal.】
【I seriously suspect the police have some leverage over him. Otherwise, how do you explain those cat ears?】
【Shen Xu, Donghai University's Academic God, Chu Yan, anti-fraud campaign pioneer... Jiang Yue, just how many more surprises do you have that this Emperor doesn't know about?】
With such a solid resume and an incredible contrast in personality, there was no need for a PR team to package him.
Video editing bloggers across major platforms worked overnight to change their covers, adding the freshly minted trending search terms to their titles.
The video started with the poster of 《The Grand Game》, where Chu Yan, dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, looked down at a chessboard with half of his face shrouded in darkness.
The next frame cut to 《Manhunt》, where Shen Xu, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, flashed a smile through the surveillance camera that drama fans still found unforgettable to this day.
Further back, in the defense hall, Jiang Yue stood in front of the projector and switched to French, making the professors nod in approval.
With a sudden beat drop in the music, the police arrest and pink cat ears scenes served as the grand finale.
In less than an hour, this recommendation video highlighting his duality spread across every platform.
【I take back what I said earlier. Xu Pingqiu wasn't hijacked by corporate sponsors; he struck gold!】
【If Chu Yan can really be portrayed like this, I'm willing to kowtow to Director Xu.】
【I'm a fan now. Hurry up! When on earth is 《The Grand Game》 going to air?】
Inside his apartment in Donghai City.
Jiang Yue sat on the sofa. His phone screen lit up and dimmed repeatedly. The direct messages and mentions in his notifications had accumulated to the point where he couldn't even see the exact numbers anymore.
System prompts rang out one after another in his mind, the mechanical voice uncharacteristically sounding like a busy signal due to the sheer volume of heat generated.
【Ding!】
【Detected massive fluctuations in collective emotions: shock, fanaticism, curiosity. Prestige points +25,000!】
Twenty-five thousand Prestige points had been credited to his account.
Jiang Yue switched to his Weibo home page. His follower count was surging, soaring from 280,000 all the way past 600,000. Every time he refreshed, a brand-new batch of avatars appeared in the comment section.
He had been too low-profile (a salted fish) before, to the point that he didn't even have a standard set of promotional photos.
But precisely because of this, netizens took it upon themselves to dig up his resume, make videos, and piece together timelines, which instead pushed this organic, fan-driven carnival to even greater heights.
Jiang Yue watched for a while, then exited Weibo, opened Xu Pingqiu's WeChat, and sent him a screenshot of the hot search.
Jiang Yue: 【Director Xu, should we contact the platform to suppress it a bit? Just so it doesn't disrupt the crew's promotional rhythm.】
Just as the message was sent, a voice message from Xu Pingqiu came through.
Jiang Yue tapped to play it.
Hearing a hearty, loud laugh right off the bat, Jiang Yue initially thought Director Xu had sent it to the wrong person.
“Hahaha...”
“Suppress what? Anyone who tries to suppress this right now would be a fool.”
Xu Pingqiu's background was noisy; he was likely still in the post-production room.
After he finished laughing, he slowed down his speech slightly.
“The PR department was originally still trying to figure out how to pave the way for a fresh face like you.”
“But look at you. You single-handedly generated all the early hype for the entire production.”
“Jiang Yue, your background is clean, and everything the netizens have dug up is positive feedback.”
“There's no need to run from this kind of traffic. Just ride the wave.”
The sound of rustling paper came from the voice message, and after a few seconds, he added another sentence.
“Also, a few commercial brands just reached out through the crew to discuss potential mid-roll ad collaborations with you.”
“Since you haven't signed with an agency, send me your work email, and I'll have them send the letters of intent directly to you.”
Jiang Yue replied straightforwardly.
Jiang Yue: 【Understood. Thank you, Director Xu. Email: jiangyue_work@yunmail.com.】
Less than ten minutes after sending the email, a new email notification popped up on his computer.
The sender was the commercial coordinator of 《The Grand Game》's crew.
The other party had already packaged all the materials, simply waiting for Jiang Yue to provide his email.
Jiang Yue opened his inbox and downloaded the compressed file. After extracting it, three folders sat neatly on his desktop.
Yuanqi Energy Drink Mid-Roll Ad Letter of Intent.
Huanyu Smartphone Mid-Roll Ad Letter of Intent.
999 Cold Relief Powder Mid-Roll Ad Letter of Intent.
He first opened the one for Yuanqi Energy Drink.
The brand's offer was quite generous, and the script was lively, but the problem was that it was a bit too over-the-top.
In the script, Chu Yan sat in the military tent planning the battle strategy. Just as his strategist finished saying that their provisions were nearly depleted, Chu Yan pulled out an aluminum can of energy drink, popped the tab, took a sip, and then turned to the camera to recite the ad copy:
“Energy levels fully loaded!”
Jiang Yue finished reading the last page and closed the file.
The second was the Huanyu Smartphone.
This one offered the highest quote, significantly more than the energy drink. Its main selling points were fast charging and QR code mobile payments.
The script was even more ridiculous.
When Chu Yan was pursued by assassins and cornered, he was actually supposed to pull a smartphone out of his sleeve, scan a QR code to pay, and hire local bodyguards to rescue him.
Jiang Yue's cursor hovered over the top right corner of the page, and he didn't scroll down any further.
If this kind of mid-roll ad were to air, the audience wouldn't remember the brand; instead, Chu Yan's character image would crumble into a laughingstock.
He opened the third folder.
The offer for 999 Cold Relief Powder was lower than the first two, but the brand's profile was more stable, being an established, long-standing pharmaceutical enterprise in the Xia Nation.
Jiang Yue looked at the draft script they provided, tapping his fingers twice on the desk.
This one actually had some potential.
Jiang Yue lined up the three quote sheets side by side on his screen.
He picked up his phone and dialed Xu Pingqiu's number.
The call went through after a few rings.
“Director Xu, I've finished reading the emails.”
Jiang Yue didn't beat around the bush.
“I want to take the 999 Cold Relief Powder.”
From the other end of the line came the soft sound of a cup being set on a desk.
Xu Pingqiu didn't speak immediately, only opening his mouth after a brief pause.
“Why did you choose this one?”
“I had the coordinator look over them. The offers for the energy drink and the smartphone are both higher than the pharmaceutical company's. The highest one is three hundred thousand more before taxes.”
His tone was a bit more serious than before.
“Are you sure you want to choose this?”
Rate on N.U.
