Chapter 10.010 Reaction

Chapter 10.010 Reaction

Netizens woke up to be shocked by the viewership data rankings posted by marketers on various platforms.

It came as no surprise that *Watchmen* topped the charts on its premiere day. Recently, no other drama has had the same level of momentum as *Watchmen*. What surprised people, however, was that a drama with almost no prior presence had entered the top ten of that day's rankings.

"It’s normal for *Watchmen* to hit over 10,000 views on its first day, but... *My Baby, The Noble Son*, what is this? I’ve never even heard of it!"

"*Watchmen* is still strong, crushing a bunch of prime-time dramas on various platforms. But the appearance of this *Noble Son* drama is quite strange."

On the list, *Watchmen*, which broke 10,000 views on its premiere day, firmly held the top spot. Second place went to *A Candy's Sweetness* from Yunxi Film and Television, a typical youth romance drama starring currently popular young actors and actresses. Due to its audience not overlapping with *Watchmen*, this drama was deliberately scheduled in this slot to compete with *Watchmen* by Yunxi Film and Television.

Of course, it couldn’t compete with *Watchmen*. But since the production cost of this drama wasn’t high, losing wasn’t a big deal.

Both Yunxi Film and Television and Dei Film and Television had shows on the list, and the drama aired during the prime time on Chenxi TV was also in the top ten. However, among all the prime-time dramas, the 6,000+ viewership of *My Baby, The Noble Son* stood out as particularly unusual.

Most drama fans’ first reaction upon seeing it was: What is this?

For dramas aired during prime time on various platforms, even if the cast was mediocre, avid drama viewers would pay some attention. But *My Baby, The Noble Son* seemed to emerge out of nowhere, mysteriously climbing up the popularity charts and even leaving behind *San Shan Half Lost*, a drama aired during peak hours by Qingping Film and Television. While *San Shan Half Lost* was indeed a poorly received drama, it wasn’t something an unknown production could easily surpass.

Moreover, *Noble Son* aired at midnight, 0 o'clock.

In other words, despite airing 4 hours later than other dramas, *My Baby, The Noble Son* still managed to reach over 6,000 views.

"Is this even possible? How did they do it?"

Not to mention that Chenxi TV is a second-tier platform with limited visibility. Even first-tier platforms like Grape Film and Television only see average viewership during late-night hours.

But typically, the data doesn’t lie.

The Chenxi TV team was also a bit confused.

While the platform wasn’t as clueless about its own dramas as netizens were, when the viewership data came in and it turned out that the drama ranking high on the list wasn’t one of their carefully prepared productions but a self-made web drama, the higher-ups of the platform couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

Their only knowledge about *Noble Son* was that it starred Lu Xu.

"Could it be because of Gu Sinian's strong promotion?"

After much thought, the Chenxi TV executives could only come up with this answer. After all, the promotional budget for *Noble Son* was practically zero. Its only presence came from Lu Xu, a former member of Verse, and it just so happened that *Noble Son* rode on Gu Sinian's popularity during the hot broadcast of *Watchmen*.

…

To some extent, the Chenxi TV team guessed a small part of it correctly.

The conflict between Lu Xu and Gu Sinian did draw some netizens to watch *Noble Son*. After all, it was normal for netizens to take a quick look at *Noble Son* while Lu Xu was busy liking and canceling Gu Sinian's negative news until almost midnight.

In addition, Gu Sinian’s fans were also involved. Since Lu Xu dared to criticize Gu Sinian’s acting, they couldn’t resist checking out some amusing moments from *Noble Son*.

However, casual viewers would only be curious enough to click on the first episode of *Noble Son*, not committed enough to make it to the second episode.

But based on the heat trend—the first episode had over 6,100 views, and the second episode reached over 6,700.

For a drama, such a trend is quite strange.

Take *Watchmen* as an example: the first episode garnered over 13,000 views, breaking Grape Film and Television's recent viewership records, while the second episode only reached over 11,000 views.

This is the norm for most series; the audience is filled with curiosity for the first episode, but the subsequent episodes fail to retain this group of viewers.

……

Curiosity drove netizens to search for information about *The Noble Son*. What they found first was the mockery from Gu Sinian’s fans towards the series.

In fact, as soon as *The Noble Son* was released on Chenxi TV, Gu Sinian’s fans started ridiculing the series.

At first, it was the cast they mocked, then Pan Lingfeng’s nickname “Horse Riding Noble Son,” and then the poor noble academy “Aier.”

At least *Watchmen* had one or two high-end product placements. *The Noble Son* had none. The noble academy didn’t look noble at all, and the uniforms gave off a cheap vibe. Pan Lingfeng, the noble son, didn’t even get to drive a luxury car, whereas in *Watchmen*, one of the “Watchers,” whose real identity is the son of a wealthy family, always appeared in luxury cars.

“Did they spend all the production budget on Lu Xu’s salary?”

“I’m speechless! Your ‘Horse Riding Noble Son’ is actually riding a real horse??? And the horse is even photoshopped.”

“I’ve never seen such a poorly funded crew. How can they even act with a straight face?”

The *The Noble Son* crew was endlessly criticized, from the costumes to the set; nothing escaped the ridicule from Gu Sinian’s fans.

Ling Ge Entertainment has a good relationship with several marketing companies. After *Watchmen* was broadcast, Gu Sinian’s fans and the marketers started interacting. The main fan accounts already had a certain level of attention.

The top fans desperately criticized *The Noble Son*, and the heat of these comments gradually rose. However, many drama fans became curious about *The Noble Son* after seeing the criticism.

Nowadays, most crews are well-funded. Lead actors often wear famous brands, and there are fashion bloggers responsible for compiling the actors' outfits in various dramas.

The *The Noble Son* crew, being so poor, was a rarity.

It was so poorly funded that many drama fans wondered what the point of the series even was.

——In fact, these mass-produced web drama crews under Chenxi TV are all equally underfunded. But usually, drama fans wouldn’t come into contact with this type of web drama.

If it weren’t for Gu Sinian’s fans digging into it, *The Noble Son* wouldn’t have attracted so much attention.

Expecting to see a low-budget production with subpar acting and cringe-worthy plots, drama fans clicked on *The Noble Son*.

However, although the title “Horse Riding Noble Son” was awkward, Pan Lingfeng certainly didn’t lack the demeanor of a noble son. Yang Shu, as the lead actor, was absolutely up to par in terms of looks. In the first two episodes, he displayed Pan Lingfeng’s reckless and brash but endearing personality.

This series was a school drama, and the protagonists of campus dramas are supposed to be lively teenagers.

In current youth dramas, as long as the budget is slightly sufficient, the lead actors are inevitably older actors. Yunxi Film and Television’s *A Candy’s Sweet* was like that. But the casting of *The Noble Son* looked very young.

Perhaps because the actors weren’t well-known, they were quite unrestrained in their performances.

Whether the acting was awkward or not, veteran drama fans knew very well.

Even though the plot of *The Noble Son* was a bit over-the-top, no one expected youth dramas to be realistic. As long as the plot was interesting enough and the characters were endearing, it was fine.

The name of the female lead, Zhong Baobei, was cheesy, but in her scenes, she fully displayed the vitality of the character.

Like a weed, she was brave, cute, energetic, and upward-looking, sparking adorable chemistry with the fools in her class.

For the audience, clichéd plots were also acceptable. There were some themes that were timeless.

Just like Tan Qi’s feelings——although there were many points of criticism in *The Noble Son*, the drama fans still unconsciously chased it to the second episode.

Then, they saw the appearance of the character Yu Wei.

It was a face that drama fans hadn’t seen in a long time, one that fit the character perfectly.

His melancholy seemed innate, with his eyes carrying a hint of vulnerability from the start. The moment his gaze fell on Zhong Baobei, his fragmented vulnerability seemed to mend itself.

He had found his own sun.

Some fans knew about Lu Xu’s past with Verse, while others had no clue, but this didn’t affect their impression of Yu Wei in the drama.

“It’s impossible not to be drawn to Yu Wei.”

“A pretty face without acting skills is just an empty vase. But if this vase can completely immerse you in the story, led by his gaze, just imagine how charming he becomes.”

“I’ve only rewatched Yu Wei’s turn in this scene ten times!”

“Yu Wei’s so damn handsome, I’m totally here for his looks. I fell into the fandom because of a GIF from the drama. Who can resist that adorable, vulnerable puppy vibe?!”

“At first, I thought it was a heavily edited still, but it turned out to be a GIF from the show. It’s mind-blowing.”

“I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night, so I watched the drama after stumbling upon a handsome picture. Honestly, The Noble Son is weird, but it’s got me hooked.”

“I’d take a weird, fascinating drama over a logical but boring one any day.”

In the comments about The Noble Son, 'Lu Xu is hot' kept popping up.

Verse has a large number of fans, but the viewership base is much larger than the number of Verse fans. The viewers didn’t really care about Lu Xu’s past with Verse.

As long as the plot and characters were appealing, it was enough.

Once these viewers were hooked, The Noble Son’s view count skyrocketed.

With *The Noble Son* also cracking the top ten on the trending list, marketers have been posting comparisons of Lu Xu and Gu Sinian’s roles in *The Noble Son* and *Watchmen*.

In *Watchmen*, Gu Sinian played a passionate young man, but his acting came off as overdone next to the lead, Yue Hui.

To showcase his range, Gu Sinian was wooden when calm and disturbingly exaggerated when emotional.

Within Verse, Gu Sinian’s looks are decent, but they’re just average in the broader entertainment world. Stage makeup could mask his flaws, but the more contorted his face looked on screen, the uglier and more out of place he seemed.

Even though Lu Xu played a so-called 'dumb role' in what Gu Sinian’s fans dubbed a 'dumb show,' he brought Yu Wei to life.

Yu Wei was handsome, gentle, yet somewhat melancholic.

Comparing characters from two different shows isn’t exactly fair, but Lu Xu definitely caught the eye more.

……

*Watchmen* crew.

Gu Sinian had noticed *The Noble Son*’s viewership made the top ten that day, but he wasn’t too worried.

Even if *The Noble Son* hit 60 million views, that was still only half of *Watchmen*’s numbers. What could *The Noble Son* possibly use to catch up?

Its shoestring budget, lack of promotion, and Lu Xu’s pretty face?

If looks alone did the trick, Lu Xu would’ve been Verse’s top star ages ago!

Gu Sinian was used to beating Lu Xu. He couldn’t say the same about others, but since Lu Xu had once been part of Verse, he had plenty of practice winning against him—plenty of practice coming out on top.

Still, Gu Sinian wasn't happy about *The Noble Son* being on the trending list. In his opinion, Lu Xu didn't deserve to be on the same list as him.

Lu Xu even made it to the trending list because of his role in *The Noble Son*!

Gu Sinian had always disliked Lu Xu partly because he wasn't as good-looking.

He had never supported Lu Xu's debut as a member of Verse in the first place. How fair was it that Lu Xu, who joined midway, could just ride their coattails and debut after they had trained so hard?

Let alone that in the early days of Verse's debut, Lu Xu's popularity had always outshone theirs.

That day, Gu Sinian kept refreshing discussions about *Watchmen*.

But maybe it was just his imagination—Gu Sinian kept noticing discussions about *My Baby, The Noble Son* mixed in with those about *Watchmen*.

This really ticked him off.

*Watchmen* was the best resource he had ever received, and it was also the best resource that Ling Ge Entertainment could offer to newcomers. People always said Gu Sinian was "getting special treatment," but only he knew how hard he'd worked to get these opportunities.

Ling Ge Entertainment had other artists besides Verse, too.

And as for Lu Xu—once Ling Ge Entertainment kicked him out, Gu Sinian had already written him off as competition.

Lu Xu simply didn't deserve to be compared.

Marketing for *Watchmen* was still going strong, with prime-time slots and a cast including two award-winning actors. This had already determined that *Watchmen* would always be a winner.

But...

Why did episodes three and four of *Watchmen* drop to just over 9800 views on the second day, while *The Noble Son* shot past 7000, hitting over 7200?