This year, "Super Girl" was rebranded as "Happy Girl" and made a comeback.
Renren.com, which had collaborated with Mango TV several times, naturally wouldn't miss this excellent opportunity.
In addition to the 18 regional divisions, Mango TV also organized an online division.
Both Renren.com and Weibo were selected for the online division.
Unlike previous seasons where those who reached the finals became big winners, the "Happy Girl 2009" discussions began to dominate various topics even before the Top 300.
The most popular contestant that year was probably Gong Mi, who resembled Cecilia Cheung.
This girl was full of tricks.
When the Top 300 first gathered, she arrived seven hours late with her assistant, putting on airs.
Before the competition even started, she announced her withdrawal due to physical discomfort, immediately turning to enter the entertainment industry and starring as the female lead in several films and TV series.
The only ones Chen Pingjiang could remember were Zeng Ge, Yu Kewei, Jiang Yingrong, and Liu Xijun; he had no impression of anyone else.
In contrast, Chen Pingjiang didn't know a single contestant from "Happy Girl 2011".
This season was the final glory of "Happy Girl".
Renren.com and its affiliated Weibo firmly captured this wave of popularity with their massive traffic and abundant capital.
Xiaonei.com and Sina Weibo looked on enviously.
There was nothing they could do; even though Renren.com's bid was lower than theirs, Mango TV still chose Renren.com.
Because Renren.com and Weibo could bring value and returns to the program.
The Weibo war had reached a point where NetEase had long fallen behind and closed its doors in disgrace.
Tencent wasn't much better; after an initial continuous splurge of money, it found the return on investment to be abysmal and slowly began to reduce its resource allocation to Tencent Weibo, now only exhaling with no inhale.
Sina's market share was also down to about 20% and showed a downward trend.
Initially, they were busy spending money to attract celebrities but neglected the construction of ecological content, which gradually led to the content on Sina Weibo being uninspired.
Sina's executives also tried to turn the tide, but the results were unsatisfactory.
Renren Weibo, on the other hand, was different; it gained recognition from officials and media, and even embassies of various countries opened Weibo accounts.
A myriad of niche accounts emerged, jointly building a complete ecological content, which also served as a powerful moat.
By now, the outcome was actually clear.
Xiaonei.com survived Renren.com's suppression for three reasons: first, it had social game players; second, it had its own user base—students; and third, SNS is inherently a social network for acquaintances, and migrating platforms comes with a cost.
But even so, it struggled significantly.
In contrast, what did Sina have?
They even searched around themselves and found no area where they could compete with Renren Weibo.
Investors from Sina contacted Chen Pingjiang through Shen Nanpeng, hoping Renren Weibo would acquire Sina Weibo.
Chen Pingjiang flatly refused.
Are you kidding?
He wasn't out of his mind; what value would Sina Weibo have without its users?
Meituan and Dianping merged because they had local merchant resources.
But this does not apply to the internet.
The nature of the internet dictates that in the same competitive arena, the Matthew effect will be particularly pronounced; it's either life or death, with no third path.
......
June 20th.
The University of Finance held its 50th-anniversary celebration, and Chen Pingjiang was invited to attend as a representative of current students.
Chen Pingjiang couldn't possibly miss such an occasion; if he didn't attend, the university leaders would probably block his company's entrance.
After all, Chen Pingjiang was currently the golden signboard of the University of Finance.
From 7 AM, vehicles and students began to flow in a continuous stream.
Students in unified volunteer uniforms moved through the University of Finance campus, welcoming guest after guest.
As Chen Pingjiang's Maybach 57S entered the campus gate, several security guards enthusiastically guided him to park.
Chen Pingjiang took the opportunity to first glance at Entrepreneurship Park 202.
Unfortunately, Entrepreneurship Park 202 no longer had many Renren.com employees; it had long become the headquarters of Renren Waimai, primarily responsible for managing food delivery in the Dongjiang university area and coordinating the Blue Knights.
After a tour, Chen Pingjiang shook his head; apart from the leading manager, he didn't recognize anyone else.
Soon after, Kuang Minghong and Zhai Fei arrived together.
Chen Pingjiang was curious,
"Dean Kuang, why are you here?"
He then turned to look at Zhai Fei.
Zhai Fei had already joined Renrengou.
As the former head of the external relations department and student union president in university, after being influenced by the "Renren Iron Army", he was now active in Renrengou's Dongjiang market.
Zhai Fei smiled and said,
"Boss, you can't call him Dean anymore; you should call him President Kuang. Strictly speaking, I haven't graduated yet, haven't even received my diploma, but I was called back to help this time."
"Oh, President Kuang! You've been promoted so quickly. I've been in university for less than three full years, and you've already moved up so many ranks,"
Chen Pingjiang teased Kuang Minghong with a smile.
Kuang Minghong appeared kind and benevolent:
"Others call me President, and I might accept it, but from you, I wouldn't dare. After all, it's all thanks to you."
"Isn't President Kuang busy today? Why are you here?"
Kuang Minghong smiled,
"I specifically came to pick you up. Secretary Ning assigned me the important task of accompanying you today, and he reminded me several times about it."
Chen Pingjiang waved his hand,
"Why be so formal? After all, I'm still a student at the University of Finance, and I know my way around."
"Hehe, normally it would be fine, but today, you deserve this treatment,"
Kuang Minghong said,
"Let's go, let's sit in the VIP room."
The University of Finance attached particular importance to this anniversary celebration, with colorful flags fluttering along the way.
When they reached the teaching building, two figures suddenly darted out like a gust of wind, startling Zhai Fei.
Li Fu, who had been by Chen Pingjiang's side, quickly stepped forward to block the figures.
Chen Pingjiang looked closely and realized they were student journalists.
The female student, holding a recording pen, tried to push past Li Fu who was blocking her, while shouting at Chen Pingjiang,
"Senior, Senior, I'm Chen Hui, a student journalist from the broadcasting station, and I'd like to interview you."
Chen Pingjiang was about to tell Li Fu to move aside and not make it difficult for the young girl, but he was surprised to find many eyes turning towards them, then quickly moving in their direction.
"Boss, let's go quickly."
Zhai Fei also noticed something was wrong and quickly walked ahead to clear a path:
"Classmates, please make way, make way, be careful."
Chen Pingjiang shrugged helplessly at the student journalist named Chen Hui, then quickly walked through the crowd accompanied by Kuang Minghong.
"Senior Chen is so impressive! I applied to the University of Finance because of him. It's a shame I always see him in the news; this is the first time I've seen him in person."
"He rarely comes back. His company is so big now, he has so many people to manage, and he's so rich. If it were me, I wouldn't bother coming back for classes either."
"Senior Chen, I love you!"
"Senior Chen, please sign an autograph for me!"
After narrowly avoiding being surrounded by the crowd, Chen Pingjiang finally breathed a sigh of relief upon entering the VIP room:
"Why are these junior students so enthusiastic?"
Zhai Fei wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned,
"On one hand, you are the typical exemplary individual and student representative set up by the school. On the other hand, you're handsome and rich, known as the 'nation's husband'."
Chen Pingjiang laughed heartily,
"You kid, you clearly know how to flatter people."
Kuang Minghong also felt a bit scared in hindsight:
"I didn't expect these students to be so crazy. Luckily, we reacted quickly and left early; it would have been troublesome if we had been surrounded."
"I'm not a celebrity, and this is on campus, not out in society. How dangerous could it be?"
"You say it so lightly, but if something happened, I'd be responsible,"
Kuang Minghong shook his head.
"Secretary Ning is currently greeting leaders from the provincial party committee; he'll be here shortly."
After the few of them chatted for a while, several more student volunteers escorted other guests into the VIP room, which was converted from a conference room.
Zhai Fei was discerning and quietly excused himself.
He was, after all, just an ordinary student, and this conference room was no longer suitable for him.
Among these people, some Kuang Minghong knew, and some he didn't, but only after they checked in on the attendance record did their identities become clear.
Among them were several company executives, scholars and professors, and also government officials.
But they were all of the less prominent kind.
The startup companies were relatively small, and the most impressive among them was merely the general manager of a small subsidiary of a state-owned enterprise.
Among the government officials, the highest-ranking was a division chief from the provincial government's general office.
As an ordinary second-tier university, the University of Finance had this level of influence.
If it were a C9 university, the scene would definitely be different.
Chen Pingjiang sat in this room, finding it difficult to keep a low profile.
"Mr. Chen, you are the pride of our school. We older alumni have benefited greatly from your success. At the provincial government's press conference last time, I sat below, marveling at your youthful vigor, junior,"
The division chief from the provincial government smiled as he came up to shake Chen Pingjiang's hand and exchange pleasantries.
"Director Li, you're too kind. In this setting today, there's no 'Mr. So-and-so' needed."
Everyone present was a seasoned individual in society and wouldn't be so undiscerning.
Before long, many people gathered around Chen Pingjiang.
As the biggest figure in this VIP room, Chen Pingjiang was undoubtedly the center of attention, with everyone eager to support him.
However, after only a few words, Kuang Minghong checked his phone and walked over to help Chen Pingjiang:
"Fellow alumni, please continue chatting. I'll take Mr. Chen to find Secretary Ning."
"Okay, okay, then you two go ahead."
"..."
Under everyone's envious gaze, Chen Pingjiang left the VIP room and headed to Ning Yongde's office nearby.
Everyone knew that there were provincial party committee bigwigs in that office, completely inaccessible to ordinary people; only Chen Pingjiang had the qualifications.
After arriving at Ning Yongde's office, Kuang Minghong escorted Chen Pingjiang in and naturally closed the door behind him.
He could enter the previous VIP room, but this door he could not enter.
"Oh, our star of the University of Finance has finally arrived! Secretary Liu and I have been waiting for you for a long time."
Ning Yongde's hearty laughter filled his ears, and Chen Pingjiang looked up to see Secretary Liu sitting on the single sofa next to him.
Secretary Liu was in charge of political and legal affairs; the two had not interacted before.
"This junior student Chen of ours is extraordinary! Old Ning, you've certainly mentored an excellent student."
Chen Pingjiang was surprised:
"Secretary Liu also graduated from our University of Finance?"
Ning Yongde nodded with a smile:
"From the class of '80."
Chen Pingjiang didn't expect such a prominent figure among the University of Finance's alumni.
(End of Chapter)