Chapter 443: Chapter 227: Back on CCTV
Before Li Younan’s compilation of "Alone in the Wilderness" was broadcast, everyone who had watched the original "Alone in the Wilderness" program already knew about Li Younan’s astonishing pottery skills.
After all, he’s a master who can create pottery techniques even under wilderness conditions.
In a way, Li Younan is playing a completely different game compared to the other "Alone in the Wilderness" contestants.
It’s like some people play "Minecraft" as a survival game, while others play it as an art form. Li Younan is definitely playing it as art.
However, the original "Alone in the Wilderness" program didn’t give Li Younan much screen time overall.
After all, there were 10 contestants at the start, and even if Li Younan was particularly impressive, they couldn’t give him too much camera time.
So many times, the edited program omitted Li Younan’s process of making tools or hunting, focusing more on showing the results.
But what Li Younan’s fans are more interested in, or want to know more about, is precisely the process of how Li Younan creates those things.
When the compilation was broadcast, it immediately ignited external platforms and quickly climbed to the top of their video headlines.
However, something quite frustrating happened for Chinese fans, which was that Douyin didn’t simultaneously release it.
Many fans complained under the previous videos of Li Younan’s "Alone in the Wilderness" on Douyin.
Yet, the short video platform was also quite troubled, because externally it wasn’t clear that Li Younan’s compilation was technically outside the scope of their broadcast contract with the program’s producers.
After all, back then, the program producers paid a hefty sum of 500,000 US dollars to acquire the compilation rights, so of course, they couldn’t directly license it to Douyin.
This little mishap allowed another video platform to see an opportunity.
It’s widely known that the video platform that bought the "Wilderness Survival" rights is Bilibili.
Bilibili already has the most extensive audience base for such programs.
Thus, Bilibili and Douyin began an intense competition for the rights to broadcast Li Younan’s compilation of "Alone in the Wilderness".
While the compilation was airing externally, Bilibili and Douyin had just settled the score, and eventually, Bilibili surprisingly came out on top, successfully securing the rights to Li Younan’s compilation.
And shortly after Bilibili released the compilation, a piece of news instantly elevated Li Younan to an unbelievable level.
...
This news didn’t make it to the seven o’clock news broadcast, but on the subsequent Channel 13, it was covered extensively, detailing the restoration of the revolving vase.
"The Forbidden City successfully restores Qianlong pastel revolving vase, breathing new life into century-old treasure."
"Recently, the Palace Museum completed the restoration of a revolving vase from the Qianlong period, with pastel and gold depictions on hollow-carved landscape and figure scenes."
"This national treasure-level artifact combines ceramics, painting, and sculpting techniques. After a week of meticulous restoration, it has returned from a severely damaged state to its original appearance and is expected to become one of the Palace Museum’s centerpiece treasures in the future."
"It is understood that the revolving vase consists of three nested parts: an outer bottle with a hollow-carved landscape pattern, an inner bottle with pastel figure story illustrations, and a base carved with lotus patterns and inlaid with gems, which can display dynamic scenes when turned, representing the pinnacle of Qianlong period official kiln pottery craftsmanship."
"Before restoration, the artifact was severely damaged. The Palace Museum director revealed that the craftsmanship of this artifact is even more exquisite than a similar revolving vase previously auctioned for 220 million."
"The core difficulty of this restoration lies in the synchronicity of the craft. Palace Museum restoration experts explained that the hollow patterns on the outer vase and the painting on the vase are not independent of each other; they must be synchronized to ensure the unity of three-dimensionality and layering. Thus, the lead restorer must be proficient in painting, sculpting, and ceramics at an expert level."
While this news was broadcast, it never identified any specific individual, as the main subject of the news was the Palace Museum itself, which from a certain perspective, completed the restoration rather than a specific individual.
Yet, the camera gave a young restorer a close-up lasting over ten seconds, showing his restoration work in detail.
This news originally wouldn’t have attracted too much attention, but among Li Younan’s millions of fans, there were always some who would watch the news.
When they casually caught a glimpse of the young restorer looking strikingly familiar, things began to change.
"Why does this young restorer look so much like Li Younan!"
This news hasn’t ended yet.
"During the restoration process, the Palace Museum utilized a dedicated restoration workspace, using original techniques and materials for restoration operations, strictly adhering to the principles of restoring the old as the old and minimal intervention in artifact preservation. After a week-long effort, the restoration team completed the assembly, painting, and firing of all parts, achieving a seamless fit between components."
"When the inner vase successfully rotated, displaying a complete dynamic scene, all on-site staff were cheering with praises. The expert team participating in the restoration evaluated that this restoration accurately reproduced the essence of Qianlong official kiln craftsmanship, especially achieving technical breakthroughs in the collaborative restoration of complex crafts."
"In an interview, the director stated that the restoration not only revitalized the century-old national treasure, but also showcased the fusion of traditional restoration techniques and modern preservation concepts. Currently, the revolving vase has entered the subsequent maintenance phase, and related restoration footage will be included in the Palace Museum’s artifact protection archives, with the potential to be showcased to the public through a special exhibition."
Initially, people just thought the young restorer looked a bit like Li Younan.
After all, it’s quite unbelievable for a wilderness survival expert, who just participated in the "Alone in the Wilderness" program, to suddenly appear in the capital and take part in the restoration of a national treasure.
However, when people suddenly realized that Li Younan had indeed showcased his skills in sculpting, pottery, and even painting in the "Alone in the Wilderness" program, an unbelievable conjecture started to flood the comment section.
Someone clipped this piece of news and shared it in Li Younan’s fan group, asking: "This isn’t really you, is it?"
As discussions heated up, this piece of news quickly spread with an incredible speed.
For the journalists behind the news, it was something that made them feel both amused and unexpected. Who would have thought their news would become popular because of Li Younan?
Surrounding the segment of Li Younan in the news, everyone initially sought to verify whether the young restoration expert was indeed Li Younan.
At such a crucial moment, countless curious people wanted answers and kept tagging him in his fan group.
However, Li Younan was on an airplane and didn’t respond at all.
It was driving them crazy with anxiety.
Although the handsome young man in the video, shot up close with a high-definition camera for CCTV, looked just like Li Younan, the disparity in identity was too astonishing to believe at once.
Especially for Li Younan’s die-hard fans, they were even more eager to get confirmation.
Just then, someone suddenly found an announcement released by the Forbidden City that day, confirming that the young restoration expert in the video was indeed Li Younan—"Announcement on Appointing Li Younan as an Honorary Professor at the Forbidden City."
Everyone was stunned: The person who restored national treasure-level artifacts was really Li Younan?!
Li Younan, reply to the message already!
Actually, there’s no need to reply, it’s definitely Li Younan!
...
At this moment, Li Younan had taken a nice nap on the airplane and finally arrived at the airport.
As soon as he got off the plane, his phone regained service, and it was bombarded with notification sounds.
The messages were mostly from JK Long because Li Younan had told JK Long he would be returning before he left.
Li Younan picked up his phone with some amusement and saw that JK Long had sent a screenshot of a news segment: "Is this you? You’re amazing!"
What followed was a long string of admiration emojis.
Honestly, being admired and idolized by a girl is a very delightful feeling.
In the past, Li Younan thought it was great for two people to be evenly matched, but later he realized that his personality didn’t quite fit with girls like that.
At his core, he was still someone with a bit of a masculine instinct. Of course, this sense of masculinity wasn’t about controlling others, but rather about naturally wanting to be the one who protects others.
However, if that person were JK Long... Li Younan joked: "I still prefer your rebellious side."
A moment later, JK Long replied: "Have you landed already?"
"Hmph, you’ve already seen how I look, if I pretended to be Brother Long, wouldn’t that be too much of a show?"
"I was planning to help you edit videos you shot in the Forbidden City, but it looks like there’s no need for that now."
"Yeah."
"So, what are your plans next?"
It was already the end of October. Li Younan thought about how winter was approaching, so it wouldn’t be convenient to travel. He decided to stay home for a while and spend quality time with his mom.
Meanwhile, when his Unimog chassis arrived, along with the all-aluminum frame, he intended to find a qualified RV company to use their facilities and modify a doomsday vehicle.
Li Younan shared his thoughts with JK Long.
JK Long said: "So you don’t have any other plans in the meantime, right?"
Li Younan said: "Yeah, no other plans for now."
"Can you come to my place then?"
"Sure, what’s up?"
"Well, I’ve been learning to cook recently, and I want... I want to invite you over for a meal."
Li Younan couldn’t help but laugh and replied: "Oh, is Brother Long switching careers to become a chef now?"
There was no reply from JK Long for quite a while.
Li Younan imagined JK Long clumsily messing around in the kitchen, and for some reason, the thought of that scene made him laugh and put him in a good mood.
Meanwhile, JK Long had put down her phone because she had a delivery to pick up.
She had asked the courier to leave the package at her doorstep earlier in the afternoon, and now that no one was around, she ran in and out barefoot to bring the delivery inside.
She opened the box and a smile appeared on her face.
It was an adorable chef outfit.
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