By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 87 Atypical Internet Celebrity [6.5 words!]

Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue packed their things before dark and prepared to leave.

Old Wang, a photographer, added Li Younan on WeChat. He said, "Don't let my photography skills fool you, I've been making videos all along, and I already have over 7000 followers."

I feel a little bit proud.

As he spoke, Lao Wang opened his video platform. His homepage had over 200 short videos, each with 60-70 likes, and he indeed had over 7000 followers.

Li Younan blinked, nodded, and said, "That's impressive."

Old Wang said, "My wife and I are considered late-pregnancy mothers. Even though our child is still young, we're both around 45 or 46. We've had a lot of free time these past few years, so we've been thinking about traveling around and filming videos to post on short video platforms. Recently, I've become obsessed with photography and bought some equipment, but following online tutorials hasn't really helped me much. Next, I'll improve my photography skills a bit more; maybe I can become a big streamer someday. By the way, do you usually use short video platforms?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "Let's play a little too."

Old Wang said enthusiastically, "Come on, let's follow each other..."

When he opened Li Younan's homepage, he saw the number of followers clearly displayed, as well as the number of videos in the single digits, each video having tens of thousands of likes.

He blinked, and his phone seemed to shrink back a little...

……

After saying goodbye to photographer Lao Wang and his family, Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue embarked on their journey again. They were quite close to Nanchang, only a little over an hour's drive away, so they decided to head straight there.

The car drove along the dirt road by the lake, bumpy and uneven, and Qingyue turned her head to look out the window.

The lake narrowed in view, eventually being replaced by dikes and vast rice paddies.

The humidity was still high, and the gray sky pressed down on the lush green rice paddies, with the outlines of the high-voltage power line towers in the distance appearing blurry.

The car merged into the traffic heading towards Nanchang and picked up speed.

Qingyue closed the notebook on her lap and tucked the pencil into the side slot.

She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and kept them warm for a while before entering the city.

When Zhu Qingyue woke up, the car had already entered the city.

She stretched comfortably and said to Li Younan with a smile, "Your driving skills are pretty good. The ride was smooth and I slept until now."

Li Younan blinked but didn't say anything.

They were a bit tired after playing all day, so Li Younan and Zhu Qingyue randomly picked a hotel.

As Zhu Qingyue got out of the car, she couldn't help but glance at the modified drawer bed in the trunk and asked out of the blue, "By the way, have you ever used that bed?"

Li Younan nodded and casually said, "I've used it, it's okay to sleep on."

Zhu Qingyue seemed to be deep in thought, as if she had thought of something, and said, "If we stayed in a place like the shores of Poyang Lake, it would actually be quite comfortable to spend the night there..."

Li Younan followed her words and said, "You should have said so earlier, and I could have let you experience it today."

Zhu Qingyue paused for a moment, then suddenly her expression turned serious. She gently tapped Li Younan's forehead with her finger: "Don't get the wrong idea!"

"what?"

Zhu Qingyue walked away quickly, as if fleeing.

……

When Li Younan returned to the hotel, Brother Long sent her a message with the already edited video of Jingdezhen.

It was still that same magnetic voice narrating.

Gentle, respectful and warm: "In the depths of Jingdezhen's alleyways, time flows at its own pace."

Li Younan silently watched the entire video. The video was a montage of most of the footage he had shot in Jingdezhen, a departure from his previous style, becoming somewhat serious and calm.

Zhu Qingyue's copywriting is very moving, and combined with sophisticated editing techniques, it has a storytelling feel to it.

Li Younan wasn't sure if this kind of video would gain traffic, but after watching it, he felt at peace.

Li Younan sent another message to Brother Long: "Thank you for your hard work."

Brother Long said, "It's alright, it was just edited to match the copywriting. The copywriting is quite good, I didn't expect you to be so artistic."

Li Younan didn't explain. Anyway, it was highly likely that Zhu Qingyue and Brother Long would have no chance of crossing paths again. So he said with a bit of smugness, "Some people say that I'm an artistic youth at heart."

Brother Long replied to the message: "Okay, from now on you'll be in charge of all the copywriting."

Li Younan's expression stiffened slightly, and she quickly replied, "Yeah, I was just bragging. Someone else wrote that copy for me."

Brother Long paused for a moment, then sent a message: "Is it the girl you were with?"

Li Younan asked curiously, "How did you know?"

Brother Long said, "This kind of delicate copywriting looks like it was written by a girl."

Li Younan joked, "Looks like you really understand girls, Brother Long."

Brother Long simply said, "It's nothing to be proud of."

In Li Younan's mind, a guy similar to Huang Xiaoyang was created, surrounded by a bunch of girls, but he didn't like any of them.

Yet, ironically, this kind of person is very popular with girls.

Brother Long didn't continue the topic, saying, "I won't be able to help you edit videos for the next three days. I have some things to take care of myself."

Li Younan said, "Okay, no problem."

He had his own plans for those three days and really didn't have time to film videos. Or rather, someone else filmed videos for him for the next two days.

After posting the video of Jingdezhen on his homepage, Li Younan opened his work WeChat account. There was a new friend he had just added, whose contact name was listed as "Nanchang Media Convergence Center"...

……

Zhu Qingyue is currently video chatting with Gan Tian.

In the video, Gan Tian, ​​wearing pink pajamas, sits on the bed, playing with her hair and sighing slowly. "You ran off to Nanchang without a word. Don't tell me you went to see Li Younan."

Zhu Qingyue didn't say anything, and changed the subject: "Your pajamas are quite nice."

"You said it wasn't pretty last time, have you forgotten? We bought it together."

"Aesthetic tastes change."

"Don't interrupt. How long are you planning to stay away this time? My birthday is in a few days, you have to come back eventually."

Zhu Qingyue paused for a moment.

I had to beg and plead with my dad for a long time before he finally agreed to go on a trip for a while.

She was still in the capital at the time, and sent a message to Li Younan asking where he was. Li Younan said he was on his way to Jingdezhen.

Without thinking twice, Zhu Qingyue replied to Li Younan that she was in Jiangxi.

Then they flew to Nanchang overnight, and the next day they took a car to Jingdezhen to meet up with Li Younan.

A week has passed in the blink of an eye, and Gan Tian has no idea that she and Li Younan have been together for almost a week.

I spent most of the past week in Jingdezhen.

Zhu Qingyue sat on a chair by the window, where the sky was a grayish-blue that was just about to darken.

Holding the small clay pig that Li Younan had casually carved in his hand, it was a little cool and a little heavy.

This week felt like being immersed in lukewarm water, flowing by slowly.

There are no crowded tourist attractions to visit, and no must-eat famous restaurants with long queues.

Most of the time, I just followed in his footsteps.

He walks slowly, often stopping to watch an old craftsman throwing clay in the depths of the alley, to see how the sunlight climbs over a mottled mud wall, or simply to watch a cat dozing on the wall.

With the camera hanging around his neck, he didn't rush to raise it, as if he needed to see the images with his own eyes before letting even a little bit slip into the lens.

The things he photographed, when viewed later, all seemed to possess a quiet, peaceful quality.

While camping, I ate his cooking again. The taste was clean, just like him—unpretentious yet perfectly comforting.

This little pig is so cute!

Perhaps, as he was carving, a slight smile played on his lips, and perhaps his gaze was relaxed as he watched the lump of clay in his hand come to life, transforming into a lovable little pig with a wet nose.

The room is quiet now.

Zhu Qingyue placed the piglet, which had been completely dried and become hard and firm, on the table.

All in all, he didn't say anything special or do anything earth-shattering this week; he just walked, took pictures, talked, and sculpted a little pig.

Although he is a video blogger, Zhu Qingyue could sense that he doesn't chase after anything or deliberately show off anything.

very nice.

I really want to walk with him a little further.

But it was Gan Tian's birthday, and I had to go to see my best friend of many years.

It was indeed sweetness's fault.

Zhu Qingyue sighed softly, leaned on the table, raised her eyes, poked the pig's nose with her finger, and then burst out laughing.

I wanted to lie down on the little bed in his car again, but I'll have to wait until next time.

……

Zhu Qingyue said she planned to return to the capital first.

Li Younan was a little surprised and chuckled: "I really envy you guys. You can just go whenever you want and travel all over the country. Going from Nanchang to the capital is no different from going to People's Park."

Zhu Qingyue caught the teasing in Li Younan's tone and punched him.

Before leaving, she took out the little pig that Li Younan had given her and said, "Look how happy this pig will be in the future, because it belongs to me now."

Li Younan chuckled: "It's just a lump of mud; it can't feel happiness."

Zhu Qingyue frowned and said angrily, "Do you have a grudge against romanticism? I can't be bothered to talk to you."

After seeing Zhu Qingyue off, Li Younan began preparing for his trip to Nanchang to check in and film videos.

In fact, this order wasn't placed because someone added him after watching his Douyin video; it was specifically recommended to him by Jing Chaoyi.

Jing Chaoyi often writes copy and creates plans for various organizations, right? She also occasionally takes on graphic design jobs, some of which are for official accounts. For example, she previously took on a project for Hangzhou Media Convergence Center.

Within the system, units of the same system and at the same level have very close ties and will learn from each other's working methods.

Through introductions and recommendations from acquaintances, and in short, through a series of connections, the Nanchang Media Convergence Center inexplicably got in touch with Li Younan.

Nanchang is also trying to become a popular online city, and there is no doubt that short video platforms have the best dissemination effect.

They had previously hired some online celebrities to help shoot videos, but the results were unsatisfactory, at least according to Jing Chaoyi.

Li Younan didn't necessarily intend to get this done. The other party's staff simply asked him to come to the media convergence center for a face-to-face meeting.

His tone was far from enthusiastic, more like a businesslike manner.

Li Younan didn't have the long gown of Kong Yiji that he couldn't take off. Since he was already in Nanchang, he figured he might as well shoot a video and earn some extra money. There was nothing wrong with that.

After agreeing, we scheduled the meeting for this afternoon.

I probably won't be able to visit the spot in Nanchang this afternoon; it's located at the August 1st Uprising Memorial Hall.

To be honest, even without this check-in task, Li Younan would have gone anyway.

But right now I need to meet with the staff of the integrated media company.

……

The air conditioner was humming in the office, and several printed resumes of online celebrities and past case studies were piled on the desk.

Yang Hui leaned back in her chair, her fingers unconsciously tapping on the slightly curled pages of the "Nanchang Local Chronicles" on the table.

"This internet celebrity should be here around 2 p.m.," Yang Hui said, pushing her phone to Lao Zhang across the table.

Old Zhang adjusted his glasses and glanced at the package: "Another recommendation? Whose favor is it this time?"

"Wang Ke from the Culture and Tourism Bureau said that a friend in Zhejiang recommended it, and that it's quite interesting and young people like to watch it."

Yang Hui picked up her cup and took a sip of tea. "These internet celebrities... sigh, their cultural level is still too low. Last time, that Ganjiang expert filmed Tengwang Pavilion, but he mispronounced 'the sunset and the lone wild goose flying together' as 'the sunset and the lone bird flying together.' There were more people explaining the facts in the comments than his fans."

Old Zhang chuckled twice and counted on his fingers: "The last time, that food blogger took the money, but in the video he was only focused on showing off his outfit and didn't even mention the name of the clay pot soup restaurant. The time before that, that guy who filmed the city night view almost crashed into the spire of the Shengjin Pagoda with his drone... Sigh."

He sighed, his tone sarcastic.

Have you seen his videos?

"I've only added him on WeChat so far, and haven't had a chance to watch his videos yet, but my boss seems to really like them."

"Oh, let's talk about it when he gets here."

"When we meet, we'll follow the procedure. First, we'll present this and explain the core values ​​we want to convey. And then..."

Yang Hui paused for a moment, then threw the documents on the table with a soft "thud." "Nine times out of ten, they'll just glance at the title and move on to the important points: how the service fee will be settled, how many days the shooting will take, and whether a hotel can be arranged."

"We still have to follow the procedures." Old Zhang picked up the thick document and weighed it in his hand. "What if? What if things are different this time?"

Yang Hui twitched the corner of her mouth but didn't say anything.

Different?
She began to plan how to start the conversation when they met, and how to subtly incorporate the meaning of the word "Nanchang" into the conversation, especially when the other person might be getting impatient with cultural nuances.

……

in the afternoon.

Li Younan pushed open the rather heavy glass door of the Nanchang Media Convergence Center, and a wave of cool air rushed in, which felt quite comfortable.

The receptionist checked the appointment and pointed out the direction to teachers Li Younan and Yang Hui's offices.

Ms. Yang Hui looks younger than I imagined, but her eyes hold a habitual scrutiny.

The handshake was firm and decisive, without any pleasantries, and he led Li Younan directly into a small conference room.

She handed over a printed letter of intent for cooperation, speaking quickly: "Teacher Li, this is a general contract template for video bloggers we collaborate with. The remuneration is calculated based on the influence of the video. Take a look."

“We’ve worked with some bloggers before… well, those with a certain amount of traffic, but the results weren’t ideal.”

She paused for a moment, not saying it explicitly, but Li Younan roughly understood what she meant. She simply felt that those people were either incompetent or uncooperative.

Li Younan took the paper, and before even looking at the terms, smiled and said, "Just call me Younan. Teacher Yang, to be honest, I really like this place."

She glanced at Li Younan, somewhat surprised that he didn't directly talk about money or the number of fans.

She leaned back in her chair and asked, "Oh? How much do you know about the history of Nanchang?"

"It's not that deep," Li Younan said honestly. "I know it's where the military flag was raised, and I know a little about the rise and fall of the Tengwang Pavilion, and the old well dug by Guan Ying in the ancient Yuzhang Prefecture. Oh, and those arcade buildings..."

Li Younan casually mentioned some of his understanding of the place after entering it.

Yang Hui didn't reply, but her eyes flickered, and her previously tense shoulders seemed to relax a little.

Li Younan began to read the letter of intent. The content was quite conventional. It simply requested that Li Younan cooperate in filming short videos that highlighted Nanchang's revolutionary culture and urban landscape, to be co-created and released using his account and the official account. The letter also included some resource exchanges and symbolic travel expenses.

The pay wasn't high, ranging from 5000 to 15000 yuan, but it was within Li Younan's expectations.

As Li Younan was looking at it, Yang Hui finally couldn't help but ask, "You look... quite young."

Li Younan nodded and said, "Twenty-five." He looked up and smiled, "He just resigned."

Yang Hui paused slightly, leaned forward a little, and asked with interest in her eyes, "What did you do for a living before?"

Li Younan lowered his head again and said, "I used to work at a listed company in Binhai City, doing software development and maintenance."

"Software engineer?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "I wouldn't dare call myself an engineer."

Yang Hui then asked, "So, which university did you graduate from?"

Li Younan casually mentioned the name of his alma mater.

A hint of surprise finally flashed in Yang Hui's eyes. Of all the internet celebrities she had met, Li Younan's resume was the best so far.

"You have such a high level of education, and that job was pretty good, and it was in Binhai City. Hmm, why did you decide to quit your job and become an internet celebrity?" Yang Hui asked casually.

take things too hard?

Ok……

Li Younan didn't answer the question directly. He flipped through the materials in his hand page by page and said, "Teacher Yang thinks that the job of an internet celebrity is comparable to that of a software engineer..."

Li Younan looked up. "Which one is better?"

Yang Hui paused slightly, then said, "It's hard to say..."

Li Younan laughed: "I think so too."

Yang Hui hesitated for a moment, then smiled.

At this moment, Yang Hui looked at Li Younan, and the professional aloofness on her face faded considerably. She took out her phone and started searching for Li Younan's account. The two of them then watched a video on her phone while the other looked at the contract.

After a while, Yang Hui said with some surprise, "You have quite a wide range of interests... parkour, cooking, and woodworking? It's quite different from the average person."

“Just messing around,” Li Younan said, having finished looking at the contract. “When you’re traveling alone, you need to find something to do. Filming videos is a way to document things, and I can also see if I can make some new friends and learn about some new places.”

Li Younan picked up the letter of intent, pointed to one of the clauses regarding the right to modify the content, and said, "If this clause only involves historical inaccuracies or issues of direction, I completely understand. But if it's about style or points that I personally find interesting, I hope we can discuss it a bit? Of course, the general direction will definitely follow your publicity needs."

She nodded, this time quite readily: "That's negotiable. We're mainly worried that the content might be too... superficial, or have some serious flaws." Her tone softened noticeably. "To be honest, You Nan, after talking to you for a few minutes, I feel you're quite genuine, not the kind of person who's... um... drifting along."

"You have to be down-to-earth to go far," Li Younan smiled. "I think everything else is fine. As for the filming, let's set the date for tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"

Yang Hui completely relaxed and extended her hand: "Okay! Let's settle on this for now. Later, I'll have our director contact you and send you the specific ideas and script so we can discuss it further!"

……

It was a little late, but not too late.

Li Younan had only been out for a short while when Yang Hui contacted him.

There were two more people in the meeting room this time: a guy carrying a pretty professional-looking camera, and a young man who looked quite capable; he was the director.

"You Nan, this is our center's cameraman Zhang Ge and director Xiao Liu."

Yang Hui explained, then handed a more detailed plan to Li Younan, "We discussed it and felt that your parkour segment was particularly suitable for connecting city landmarks, and it would have a strong visual impact. We'd like to have a professional team from our side film it, and you'll be responsible for appearing on camera and doing the actions. What do you think? This way, the quality of the content will be more guaranteed."

Li Younan carefully examined the plan.

Their concept was quite ingenious; they wanted to use parkour moves to connect places like Tengwang Pavilion, Bayi Square, Shengjin Pagoda, and the Wanshou Palace historical and cultural district. The visual design included long shots, medium shots, and first-person perspective shots taken with an action camera strapped to his body.

It's somewhat similar to the kind of videos edited by Brother Long from Xiamen.

“Sure!” Li Younan nodded. “Running around and seeing the city definitely offers a different perspective. But…” Li Younan turned to cameraman Zhang Ge: “Zhang Ge, parkour moves are fast and the routes change frequently. Will that make filming difficult? Especially the follow-up shots.”

Brother Zhang grinned and patted his equipment: "Don't worry, we have experience with this. We've scouted the locations beforehand, planned the routes and camera positions, and prepared wide-angle, telephoto, and stabilizers. We'll also provide you with an action camera, which you can attach to your helmet or chest to shoot from a subjective perspective. We also have people with small drones to shoot panoramic shots."

Li Younan does have an action camera.

"Safety first," Xiao Liu, the director, interjected. "We will arrange safety personnel along your planned route, and we will also try to keep the ground clean. You know best how difficult the stunts are, so please don't push yourself."

Yang Hui listened to their discussion of technical details without interrupting, but she appeared much more relaxed than when they first met.

After we'd talked for a while, she finally spoke: "The shooting period will be about two days, intensive shooting. We'll handle the team, equipment, and post-production; you just need to focus on appearing on camera and providing creative ideas. The fees are the same as we discussed before, plus accommodation and insurance during the shooting period. Is that okay with you?"

“Okay, that makes sense.” Li Younan readily agreed.

The pay wasn't high, but they provided manpower, equipment, food, and lodging, so it was like getting a free experience with a professional team's services. I also got to explore Nanchang in depth, and the video was co-created and released, which brought me some traffic. It was a win-win situation.

“Let’s refine the script further, define the actions and feelings we want to express for each point, so that we can shoot more efficiently.”

"Okay!" Yang Hui made the decision. "Xiao Liu, you and You Nan go over the storyboard again. Brother Zhang, arrange the location scouting."

She turned to Li Younan and, unusually, cracked a joke, "Younan, don't use our equipment as a parkour prop this time. We had a team that almost dropped the machine before."

Li Younan smiled too.

Stepping out of the media convergence center, the sun in Nanchang was still blazing, making the ground scorching hot.

The thought of leading a professional team to scale walls and leap across familiar city streets fills me with a little excitement.

The video shot this time is definitely of higher quality than the one shot in Xiamen.

After all, they are professionals.

(End of this chapter)