You were supposed to have a fake marriage with the diva, so how did you become her father?

Chapter 229 Welcome the Zhang Family

Meanwhile, at Weibo Technology headquarters.

Wang Huabing sat in his office, in a good mood.

Within four days of its launch, WeChat's gaming platform surpassed 200 million users, maintaining its position as the industry leader in daily active users. Meanwhile, TUTU's daily active users have reportedly plummeted to below 15 million, and half of its GG merchants have left.

It seems that when choosing a partner, you still need to choose one with strength.

Thinking back to his previous collaboration with Xinghua Entertainment, the other party didn't contribute anything except by sending a few celebrities to help him out.

In contrast, WeChat came with a large amount of capital, demonstrating its strength and making it the most suitable partner for him.

Wang Huabing felt no remorse for kicking Zhou Zhixiong out; all he felt was a sense of his own wisdom.

Just as Wang Huabing was feeling smug, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

"Mr. Wang," the assistant knocked and entered, "there seems to be some activity at TUTU today."

Wang Huabing said unhappily, "What kind of noise could there be?"

"I'm not quite sure," the assistant said. "Their entire tech department had a meeting today, I don't know what they were doing."

Wang Huabing scoffed, "A meeting? What's the use of a meeting? The users have all left; can a meeting bring them back?"

The assistant smiled in agreement and left.

Wang Huabing picked up his teacup and took a sip of this year's new Longjing tea.

It has a pleasant, refreshing fragrance.

He suddenly remembered Zhou Zhixiong.

The director of Starlight Entertainment whom he used and then discarded.

I wonder what he's doing now.

It must have been really tough.

Wang Huabing shook his head, no longer thinking about these unimportant things.

He's just an insignificant nobody, not worth mentioning.

...

three days later.

TUTU Technology Office.

Lu Ran stared at the backend data panel, his fingers unconsciously tapping the desktop.

Daily active users: 58,347,892.

It has increased by more than one million compared to three days ago.

Although the increase was not large, it at least stopped the downward trend.

"Mr. Lu!" The maintenance guy's voice came from the doorway, this time excited. "Starlight Entertainment has released an announcement!"

Lu Ran took the tablet; a Weibo post was displayed on the screen:

[Starlight Entertainment has officially joined TUTU! Its artists, including Lin Weiwei, Zhang Xincheng, and Chen Kaiwen, will successively open TUTU accounts to interact with fans directly. New dramas, songs, and variety shows will all premiere on TUTU. Stay tuned!]

The comment section has exploded:

"Holy crap? Is Starlight Entertainment abandoning Weibo?"

"Lin Weiwei is coming to TUTU? I need to download it right away!"

"Zhang Xincheng is here too? Is my love finally about to sprout?"

What is a TUTU? Please explain!

"Upstairs, TUTU is a super fun app! It has pets, games, and now even celebrities!"

Before Lu Ran could even process what was happening, the maintenance guy handed her a tablet: "Xinghua Entertainment released it too!"

[Star Entertainment has officially joined TUTU! Its artists Zhang Ruo, Li Yixin, Wang Chengcheng, and others will open personal accounts on TUTU to share exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. Their first co-produced drama series, "Jianghu Night Rain," will be exclusively promoted on TUTU. Stay tuned!]

The comments section was equally lively:

"Xinghua went too? They're up to something!"

"Li Yixin! My goddess!"

What kind of drama is "Jianghu Night Rain"? Please give me spoilers!

"TUTU is about to take off!"

As Lu Ran looked at the two announcements, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up.

Starlight and brilliance, we mean what we say.

Moreover, the timing was perfect—the WeChat gaming platform's red envelope campaign had just ended, and users were in a period of fatigue.

Announcing their entry at this time is a precise strike.

"President Lu," Zou Xin rushed in from the door, "Our download numbers have exploded! We've added over two million new users today, and the server load is picking up again!"

Lu Ran laughed: "Then add a server. Brother Zhou, keep an eye on this."

Zhou Mingzhe peeked out from behind the screen and adjusted his glasses: "We're already adding more. But Mr. Lu, the money in our account might not last much longer."

"Don't worry," Lu Ran said. "There will be further cooperation with Xingguang and Xinghua. GG Merchant will also be back."

He had barely finished speaking when his phone rang.

It was an unfamiliar number, and the location displayed was "Beijing".

"Feed?"

"Hello, Mr. Lu." A young woman's voice came from the other end of the phone, with a professional politeness. "I'm Lin Weiwei's agent. We'd like to activate a TUTU account as soon as possible. What's the procedure?"

Lu Ran paused for a moment, then smiled: "Please wait a moment, I'll have my operations team contact you."

After hanging up, another call came in.

"Hello Mr. Lu, I'm Zhang Xincheng's agent..."

Lu Ran handed his phone to Xiao Yang from the operations team: "You take this, it's standard procedure."

Xiao Yang took the phone and ran off excitedly.

For the next two hours, Lu Ran's phone kept ringing.

The talent agents from Starlight and StarHub called one after another, all asking how to open an account.

Some calls were from Google's online store, and their tone was much more polite than a few days ago.

"Mr. Lu, we didn't consider that matter well enough before... Do you think our cooperation can continue?"

"Mr. Lu, Huangmi Mobile wants to increase the budget to create a splash screen display on TUTU..."

"Mr. Lu, Perfect Diary would like to do a collaboration with TUTU..."

Lu Ran dealt with each issue one by one, feeling increasingly at ease.

The energy of the entertainment industry is finally beginning to show.

He opened TUTU and clicked on the newly established "Celebrity Circle".

Lin Weiwei has opened an account. Her first post was a selfie with the caption:

Hi everyone, I'm Lin Weiwei. I'll be chatting with you all here from now on~

The number of comments below has exceeded 10,000:

"Vivi's here!"

"How do I use this app? Please show me!"

"I just got a new rabbit, named Vivi No. 2!"

Lin Weiwei actually replied to this comment: "Weiwei No. 2? Then I'll have to go check it out!"

The comments section erupted in screams again.

Zhang Xincheng also opened an account, and his first post was a video:

"Hi everyone, I'm Zhang Xincheng. I heard TUTU has a really fun feature that lets you teach rabbits to say sassy things? I'm going to make my move on that rabbit."

The comments section was bursting with laughter:

"Let go of that rabbit, come at me!"

"Rabbit: Master, are you serious?"

"Go steal his vegetables! Let's see what his rabbit says!"

Lu Ran couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw these comments.

This is the effect he wanted.

It's not just cold, impersonal traffic; it's warm, interactive communication.

Celebrities and fans can truly have fun together on TUTU.

Although Lu Ran knew that it was just because they had just started working together, the celebrities were more active and there was a lot of novelty in it.

However, Lu Ran believed that with his abilities, he could make a group of celebrities linger and fall in love with TUTU.

"Mr. Lu!" the operations guy rushed in again, "The data has exploded again! Daily active users have surpassed 18 million!"

Lu Ran nodded, not overly excited.

This is just the beginning.

Once all the artists from Starlight and StarHub have joined, once the contestants from "Super Girl" have joined, once "Rainbow Cat and Blue Rabbit" is launched, once "Seven Heroes of the Jianghu" is launched...

Those were the real tuk-tuks.

WeChat bloggers, do you think gaming is the only way to succeed?

Do you think red envelopes can solve everything?

You don't know, the most valuable thing in this world is not traffic, but people's hearts.

It is the fans' love for their idols.

It's the user's reluctance to part with their pet.

It's the player's addiction to the game.

These things cannot be bought with money.

"Brother Zhou," he said, turning around, "the progress of 'Seven Heroes of the Jianghu' can be slowed down a bit."

Zhou Mingzhe was taken aback: "Slow down? Didn't you say you wanted to launch it as soon as possible?"

"No rush," Lu Ran smiled. "Let the bullets fly for a while longer."

Once the celebrities bring users back and users fall in love with TUTU again, launching "Seven Heroes of the Jianghu" will be even more effective.

Previously, they were urging people to meet deadlines, but now that they're not in a rush, Lu Ran feels that quality should be the priority.

In fact, based on the schedule, we could consider launching it in the next couple of days.

But now that this matter has been added, the launch time can be postponed by a week, continuously increasing the popularity of their Tutu Technology.

Zhou Mingzhe nodded thoughtfully, then pushed up his glasses: "Oh right, there's something I forgot to tell you."

"What?"

"The administrator of the 'Left-Behind Rabbits Alliance' group just posted something," Zhou Mingzhe said, handing over the tablet. "He said, 'Thank you to all the users who stayed. Now, victory belongs to us.'"

Lu Ran took the tablet; a pinned post was displayed on the screen:

We won.

The number of comments below has exceeded 10,000:

"We won!"

"My rabbit was worth raising!"

"The Left-Behind Rabbit Alliance will never disband!"

"If anyone tries to get me to go on Weibo again, I'll fight them!"

Lu Ran flipped through the messages one by one, and her eyes suddenly felt a little hot.

These users chose to stay during TUTU's most difficult time.

Now, TUTU wants to give them the best possible return.

He put down the tablet and took a deep breath.

"Brother Zhou."

"Um?"

"Get ready, we're having a press conference tomorrow," Lu Ran said. "To announce TUTU's new strategy—to build the largest fan community on the entire internet."

Zhou Mingzhe adjusted his glasses: "A press conference? For a company of our size, isn't holding a press conference a bit..."

"What's up?"

"A bit overconfident."

Lu Ran laughed: "Let us be arrogant. Anyway, we have the right to be arrogant now."

Outside the window, the sun is shining brightly.

The 88-story office building in the distance still stands there.

But Lu Ran knew that the people in that building must be feeling pretty bad right now.

He guessed right.

At this moment, the atmosphere in a conference room at Tencent's East China branch was so heavy it could be squeezed out of the window.

On the big screen is TUTU's growth curve for today—a steep upward line that hurts the eyes.

"Can anyone tell me?" a middle-aged man in a suit asked in a deep voice, "what's going on?"

No one answered.

In the silence, someone quietly turned on the TUTU.

On the screen, a rabbit is winking at him.

Next to the rabbit, a line of small print slowly appeared:

Welcome home.