The TV series had a total of sixty episodes, with two episodes airing every day without fail, but the golden weekend timeslots were taken by other programs, so only one episode could be updated.
This made the fans following the series feel extremely anxious every day, wishing the series could be available for advanced viewing.
Unfortunately, this was not a web series, but a series aired on TV, so the audience had to wait patiently no matter how eager they were.
For more than thirty consecutive days, the TV series "Asking the Way" kept appearing in the hot searches in various ways.
The most eye-catching part of it was undoubtedly Zhen Yun's action scenes.
Although the script underwent major revisions, the overall tone of the entire series did not change. In the series, as the quintessential Mary Sue, Zhen Yun was either showing off or on her way to show off every day.
What is a main character?
She is the kind of existence that can encounter thugs and students from the same school fighting on her ordinary way to school, and then step in to beat them into submission with violence, gaining the allegiance of the school bully.
What is a great heroine?
Zhen Yun was wholeheartedly studying and living a good life, yet she always managed to attract the affection of the male lead and other male characters.
This was also the reason why "Asking the Way" was not expected to do well at first, after all... we are no longer in an era where a woman's self-expression is for the purpose of attracting the attention of the opposite sex.
The main character can have a love story, but what the audience hopes to see is that the main character is capable and strong in her own right, rather than relying on her significant other to become a pampered wife or the woman behind a successful man.
Gratifyingly, this point has been fully demonstrated in the series "Asking the Way".
Faced with the school heartthrob's confession, she said: "Have you finished your homework? You dare to start dating early?"
Faced with the school bully's aggressive declaration of authority, she said: "Are you itching for a fight? There are so many people here, don't force me to beat you up."
Faced with the wealthy young master's lavish spending, she said: "Hello, employer. I'm just the hired hand you hired, but if you keep harassing me, don't blame me for taking the other side's money to work for them."
In this way, the cool and dashing delinquent girl, after a series of punching henchmen, kicking bullies, and intimidating suitors, successfully became the woman at the top of the pyramid.
A perfectly good Mary Sue story somehow ended up being performed as a hilarious yet serious drama.
It wasn't until the day before the new school year that the TV series "Asking the Way" aired its final episode.
Previously, what concerned the fans the most was that this series might start strong but end weak. Fortunately, Old Shang managed to maintain its quality until the end. The grand finale not only tied up the previous nonsensical plot lines, but also elevated the meaning of this series to a new height.
Why would a delinquent girl be multilingual?
Why would an ordinary girl have exceptional fighting skills?
Why would she have to navigate between several men from prestigious families?
All of this was because of a tragic case from many years ago.
This tragic case resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, all of whom were undercover agents for the police. The most horrific casualties were a married couple who were brutally dismembered.
This couple were Zhen Yun's parents. Until their deaths, they could not reveal their true identities, only because... Zhen Yun was still alive.
Even in death, they did not disclose that they had a daughter who grew up in the martial arts world from a young age.
Later, this girl changed her name and identity, becoming an orphan who appeared to be pitiful and in need of state support, but in reality, she was secretly protected and jointly trained to be an all-around talented girl by her parents' comrades-in-arms.
In the seemingly peaceful school, she successfully met the other survivor from that tragic case, and then communicated with the school heartthrob and his politician father through a classmate.
Immediately after, with the help of their elders, she struck a deal with the wealthy tycoon, protecting his young son who had narrowly escaped harm multiple times, while the tycoon provided her with protection.
...
And those rumors linking her to influential figures were just smokescreens, although... several young men did develop feelings for Zhen Yun, but that was not important.
Until the year Zhen Yun turned twenty, with everything in place, the three parties of politics, police, and business joined forces, finally arresting the culprit behind the tragic case from years ago, and Zhen Yun became an undercover agent with the highest level of secrecy at the police station.
"Asking the Way" was not about asking for the way forward, but asking... about the path of justice in one's heart.
With this, the TV series "Asking the Way" welcomed its grand finale, and on that day, the hot search "Boarding students can finally leave home without regret" topped the charts.
That year, Ji Ruochu won awards such as Best Newcomer and Best Actress of the year.
From then on, Ji Ruochu successfully made a name for herself in the entertainment industry and firmly established her position, earning the title of "Prime Time Queen During Vacations" from fans.
As the name implies, it means that whenever there is a vacation, there will be a highly popular series airing.
However, talking about Ji Ruochu's rise to fame, while the general public was expressing their excitement for witnessing a prodigy, they also started to worry about her studies.
Of course, they were not concerned about her failing any classes, as the title of genius girl had long been established. What people were worried about was whether her involvement in the entertainment industry would prevent her from further advancing her academic pursuits.
After all... there are already plenty of celebrities in the entertainment industry, but true talents for the nation are scarce.
In response, Ji Ruochu never directly answered, maintaining that she would only film two productions each year during vacations, and do whatever she wanted to do during the rest of the time.
As a result, even though she never endorsed any products, never attended any commercial events, and rarely appeared in promotions for her series, her fan base continued to grow larger and larger.
At first, fans of other actors in the series had some opinions, implying through their words that "with such high ratings/box office, my idol must deserve the most credit."
Soon, however, fans who claimed their idol deserved the most credit had to endure being slapped in the face repeatedly as their idol's new series flopped.
Gradually, fans of various celebrities became more reasonable, occasionally even interacting amicably with Ji Ruochu's fans, especially fans of celebrities who did not yet have a representative work.
The first thing they did every morning was to get on good terms with Ji's fans, like courtiers trying to bewitch the king.
[Ji Sister, take a look at my little darling, delicate and easy to push over. No problem with running errands and such!]
[... With such easy pushover, wouldn't running errands be a waste?]
[Then??]
[At least let them help with washing hands and cooking!]
A passerby: ... What's going on here? Are they going to do it or not? So anticlimactic!
Originally, netizens and fans from other fandoms were just watching the commotion, until—
[Thank you, Ji Meimei, for the recommendation. If there's anything, give me a call, and I'll be there!]
This was a male actor who had been struggling as an extra in the entertainment industry for five years. Five days after he posted this update, the cast for another summer TV series was announced.
The female lead was Ji Ruochu, and this little-known male actor was playing the role of the female lead's brother, with only slightly less screen time than the male lead.
That day, the tenth hottest search was crowdfunded by the actor's fans—Expressing gratitude to Ji Meimei for her help!
It was also from that day onwards that Ji's fans became more cautious when trying to bewitch fans of other celebrities.
Ji's fans: Don't blame us for being exclusive and protective. It's because our Queen truly listens to her fans' suggestions!
Time passed amidst the laughter and joy of fans from various fandoms. In the blink of an eye, it was the year Ji Ruochu graduated.
It was also in this year that netizens learned that Ji Ruochu was already a second-year graduate student.
Netizens: [... Mind blown.]
One must know that at this time, Ji Ruochu was only eighteen years old, an age when most people are just entering university.
Yet Ji Ruochu had not only obtained her bachelor's degree but had also successfully become a graduate student pursuing her master's degree.
From then on, netizens and fans no longer expressed regret that "the genius entered the entertainment industry", because Ji Ruochu... whether or not she entered the entertainment industry, it didn't affect her studies.
Some netizens even jokingly said: Acting? That's just a way for the genius to relieve stress.
But... was acting really just a way for Ji Ruochu to relieve stress?
The answer was obviously no.
In fact, a long time ago, a few of her close friends and parents had asked her this question.
At that time, Ji Ruochu, who was reading a script, just smiled slowly, and then said:
"What's the big deal? Doing research is a breeze for me, studying is quite easy for me, what do I need to relax from? I'm just... building momentum for myself."
As for why she needed to build momentum, and what kind of momentum she would build later, Ji Ruochu didn't say. But after that day, Ji Mochen no longer slacked off, occasionally holding concerts and such.
After all, if his daughter said she wanted to build momentum, he naturally had to provide some support for his child.
Not only him, but even Ling Chujin, the strongest mother fan in the universe, became more focused on editing photos of her daughter.
Her account would post a set of her daughter's beautiful photos every ten days or half a month, showing her studying, doing homework, reading scripts... Fans in her comment section were screaming incessantly.
This state of affairs continued until Ji Ruochu's third year as a master's student, when it changed.
That year, CCTV's science program 'Battle of the Brains' made a powerful comeback.
That year, CCTV issued a call for submissions to Chinese people around the world.
It was also that year that Ji Ruochu made the world understand the terror of a genius.
Later, people in the industry called that year the "Year of Ruo".
