Chapter 12: All for the Ratings

With Park Young-kwan under arrest, the source of the knock-off "Legend" private servers had been effectively severed. However, it would still take a few months to gradually clear out the various operators he had scattered across the network. Gu Cheng couldn't be bothered to handle such trivial matters personally, as the progress of the cleanup would not be swayed by his will alone, whether he intervened or not.

Moreover, Gu Cheng had a deeper motive for his temporary "catch and release" strategy. When Zhou Hongyi and Park Young-kwan were running private servers and selling virtual gear, they were certainly infringing on the revenue of Legend Entertainment. However, because these operators lacked the technical capacity and legal standing to build their own payment systems, they were forced to rely on the "New Alipay" for their transactions.

At that time, Gu Cheng's Alipay company kept a tight grip on new user registrations, unlike the version of Jack Ma from three years later in another timeline, who allowed anyone to register to promote rapid expansion. Historically, in pursuit of rapid growth, Jack Ma had allowed non-real-name registrations. Consequently, when the era of big data arrived, his "user profiling" efforts were severely hampered, making it difficult to analyze the behavioral habits of the real people behind each account.

Gu Cheng, having come from an era of deep big-data cultivation, placed great importance on real-name authentication. He preferred to start slow and build a refined, meticulous system. Slow is fast. Given these strict registration requirements, Jia Wei had originally estimated only five to six million new users for the year.

However, the grey market spawned by Zhou Hongyi and Park Young-kwan injected fresh blood into Alipay. Players of official servers could use paper prepaid cards or have internet cafe owners top up their accounts, without needing their own Alipay. But private server players had no choice but to bind their bank cards to Alipay to pay the server owners for equipment. Those who previously didn't need Alipay—because they couldn't afford a 200-yuan "Judgement" sword or a 2,000-yuan "War God" set, or simply had no use for online top-ups—were now lured into the Alipay trap by high-end gear costing only a few dozen yuan.

Even if they were reluctant to hand over their ID numbers, bank information, and mobile numbers, they had to provide them to play on private servers—not to the operators, but silently to Gu Cheng. There were likely over a million such people. In early 2002, deep learning and big data analysis did not yet exist; even the most visionary minds in Silicon Valley had not grasped the future value of these clear data threads. Gu Cheng alone knew the potential of this data goldmine.

...

As the cleanup of the private server remnants proceeded, the drama "The Noble Family" was nearing its premiere. CCTV had gone all out with promotions, from trailers to highlight reels. Dong Jie and Liu Feifei were not yet famous, so they weren't the focus of the marketing. Instead, all the promotional hooks were aimed at Gu Cheng: "The cold, aloof heartthrob from 'Meteor Garden' returns to play a wealthy young master. A domineering, obsessive, and tragic romance in the Republic of China..." Such sensationalist copy was splashed across every medium.

Two days after Park Young-kwan's arrest, Director Li called Gu Cheng, inviting him to Beijing to attend a promotional press conference for "The Noble Family."

Before a film or television series is released, such press conferences are standard to attract viewers. Usually, the lead actors are brought in to discuss their experiences and say a few words to win over fans. If they could lead reporters to speculate about a romance, it would be even better for hype. To be fair, CCTV productions were relatively serious and rarely used scandals for publicity. Such events had been organized before, but Director Li, knowing Gu Cheng was a big star with a busy schedule, hadn't dared to disturb him until just a few days before the premiere.

Gu Cheng had acted in two dramas, but since "Meteor Garden" was filmed and premiered in Taiwan and imported to the mainland only after it became a massive hit, he had never actually participated in a mainland promotional press conference. He truly had zero experience in this regard. He decided to treat it as an ordinary commercial event and handle it with his existing experience.

Gu Cheng agreed, flew to Beijing that day, and arrived at the CCTV film and television department the next morning to face the entertainment media. The interview hall was arranged by CCTV, and the rules were strictly formal. Gu Cheng appeared in a sharp suit, and Chen Kun was also well-dressed. Dong Jie and Liu Feifei looked stunning, clearly having spent hours in makeup. An air of elegance filled the stage. Below, reporters from television stations, entertainment weeklies, and online media swarmed with cameras, the flashbulbs never ceasing.

"I didn't expect Gu Cheng to look so handsome in a suit; it gives him even more presence than his casual wear."

"The actresses are much prettier than 'Shancai' Barbie Hsu. Liu Feifei is definitely better looking than that country bumpkin Hsu. Although Dong Jie isn't as beautiful as Lin Chi-ling, who played 'Tengtang Jing,' her elegant and pure temperament is quite striking."

"I bet this show will crush the craze created by 'Meteor Garden.' At the very least, it will guide Gu Cheng's fans toward a new image."

"You can say that again! You don't know the inside scoop: this show was fast-tracked specifically to suppress 'Meteor Garden.' They might not have even had the budget to film it for another six months otherwise. After 'Romance in the Rain' failed to beat 'Meteor Garden' last autumn, the higher-ups were panicked and issued a political directive. I'm only telling you this because we're close, so keep it to yourself."

The actors hadn't even spoken yet, but the reporters were already buzzing with gossip. Gu Cheng felt bored, sitting stiffly for over ten minutes, smiling like a rare animal while being photographed. He really wasn't used to this. Only when the CCTV spokesperson announced the start of the Q&A session did he finally relax.

Director Li answered the official questions first, followed by the lead actors, and finally, the floor was opened to free questions. It was clear that the reporters had already had their chance with Dong Jie and Liu Feifei, so all the microphones and cameras turned toward Gu Cheng, leaving him overwhelmed. After twenty minutes of talking and two glasses of water, things finally seemed to be winding down.

"That should be the end of it," Gu Cheng thought, just as a female reporter who hadn't been scheduled stood up and was granted permission to speak.

"Hello, Mr. Gu. I am a reporter from Sohu Entertainment. I have a relatively personal question: we noticed that a few days ago, local news in Qiantang mentioned a celebrity anecdote from over twenty days ago. Someone filmed a wealthy individual driving a luxury car at 150 km/h on a road with a 50 km/h speed limit late at night. The whistleblower also captured the license plate, which was traced to your car. Traffic surveillance photos show a young man driving, with two young women in the back. Given that you had just turned 18 and a month old at the time, you couldn't have even obtained a driver's license yet. Was this unlicensed driving? Do you have any explanation for this incident?"

(Note: In 2002, there were no video surveillance cameras, but there were digital cameras for capturing traffic violations, taking only single photos. Storage technology and network speeds at the time did not support video.)

As soon as the question was asked, Director Li and the producers' expressions changed. Was Sohu Entertainment trying to cause trouble? How could they be so bold? Even though they were an online media outlet and didn't have to fear CCTV, they shouldn't be deliberately burning bridges and digging up such dirt.

On stage, aside from Gu Cheng, only Dong Jie and Liu Feifei had heard of the news. Dong Jie was more calculating and showed nothing. Liu Feifei, being young and naive, had called Gu Cheng to act spoiled about the matter, but Gu Cheng had ignored her, saying he would explain when the time was right.

On stage, Gu Cheng took a deep breath and answered calmly: "I have already accepted the penalty: a 5,000-yuan fine, and the cancellation of the driver's training I was enrolled in, with a one-year ban on reapplying."

He actually admitted it!

Director Li felt dizzy, regretting ever inviting Gu Cheng to the press conference. But the Sohu reporter wasn't finished: "Only a fine and a one-year ban? According to public security regulations, unlicensed driving with a 300% speed violation should at least result in a 5-day detention... Furthermore, this news was once exposed on the Netease news portal but disappeared without explanation. Was there pressure applied behind the scenes? Do you have anything to explain regarding your behavior of speeding late at night with two young women?"

The reporters were becoming increasingly excited, sensing a massive, career-making scoop. The CCTV staff, however, felt their hearts sink, fearing a full-blown scandal. They realized why Sohu was willing to offend CCTV to dig into this—it was a case that had been suppressed by money and influence on the Netease portal. If Sohu made a big deal out of it, they could gain an advantage in the competition between the three major portals. For Sohu, proving to netizens that they were more willing to tell the truth than Netease was worth offending CCTV.

"I can explain that..." Gu Cheng spoke slowly.