Batur furrowed his brow and asked, "Can this really work?"
His wife and planner, beside him, nodded with confidence and said, "That’s how internet traffic works. You ride on the hype, do some stunts, and you’ll get traffic. Follow what I said, and it will be fine!"
Batur hesitated for a moment, remaining silent.
He, his wife, and a few friends run a weapon experience store that has a high-poundage archery range and various armors from different countries. They are also expanding to include a combat experience area.
In general, his store offers a wide range of experiences. Whether it’s taking photos in ancient armor, donning 1:1 replica weapons with armor for mock battles, or genuinely trying traditional archery to understand the prowess of ancient archers, it’s all quite interesting.
But such niche experiences need promotion, so he has also been a video blogger, running his account for over a year, garnering tens of thousands of followers, doing moderately well at best.
Most of his videos feature archery, and sometimes he wears ancient armor.
His sturdy build gives him an imposing presence in armor, but only one video really took off, while most similar videos left audiences jaded.
His wife patiently explained, "Contact him first; this collaboration benefits both parties. Since he’s a video blogger, he shouldn’t reject it."
Batur had never done such collaborations before, so he was still hesitant.
His wife’s idea was to shoot a video with the theme of ordinary people trying to pull a traditional strong bow to experience what it’s like.
He had previously shot two or three episodes, using a 100-pound traditional recurve bow, approaching people on the street to take on the challenge. If they succeeded in pulling it back, they were rewarded. This video was quite interesting, racking up two or three thousand likes and six-digit views, but the latest episode’s engagement had noticeably declined.
The main reason was the lack of highlights or stunts.
His wife analyzed the reason seriously: "People watch this kind of video out of curiosity. It’s generally expected that most ordinary people won’t be able to pull it back, so it becomes interesting if someone actually can."
"But that’s still not enough; if a person with no fame does it, it leaves no impression."
After watching Li Younan’s videos, especially the one where he shot a rat in Jiuzhaigou and hit bullseyes consecutively in Inner Mongolia, his wife had a sudden flash of inspiration for a collaborative stunt.
Li Younan is someone who can generate buzz.
After some persuasion, Batur finally agreed to his wife’s plan.
They started shooting the first video at their archery range.
His wife confirmed in front of the camera one more time, "Remembered all your lines?"
Batur nodded.
His wife signaled okay, saying, "Then let’s start."
Standing in front of the camera, Batur immediately focused his gaze on it, diving in while smiling, "Today we’re continuing our previous bow-pulling challenge, but today’s participant is not a random passerby we chatted with on the street. Let’s watch this video first..."
At this point, Batur paused to allow space for editing their plan, which was to insert clips of Li Younan consecutively hitting the bull’s eye and shooting the rat here.
After a two or three-second pause, Batur continued, "The guy you just saw in the video is also a very well-known travel blogger, and I believe many of you have seen his videos."
"From what we know, he has hardly dealt with archery before, yet purely relying on his talent, he can shoot so accurately so quickly — a true marksman talent back in ancient times."
"But the bow he’s using, as we can all see, is an easy-to-handle compound bow. So what would happen if this talented sharpshooter with precision meets a hundred-pound strong bow used by ancient warriors? Would sparks fly?"
"Would he be able to pull it back, or maintain such precision? I’m sure everyone is curious, right?"
Batur finished reciting his lines in one breath, and his wife gave an okay sign, then Batur came over to review the video.
His wife laughed beside him and said, "Everything is ready, all that’s left is reaching out. Go communicate."
Batur isn’t someone with a very active mind; most of the video managing is done by his wife.
He had a feeling of taking advantage of someone and felt a bit awkward about it.
However, his wife kept reiterating that this was something beneficial to both parties, telling him to push aside such odd thoughts.
With things at this stage, regardless of his hesitations, he had to do it.
Batur, feeling a bit apprehensive, sent a message to Li Younan: "Hey buddy, I want to invite you to a challenge game. Simply put, it’s about experiencing an ancient strong bow. Are you interested? Don’t worry, it won’t take much time. You can check out these videos; it’s roughly this kind of format."
After that message, he attached a link to his video homepage and sent it to Li Younan.
Without adding him as a friend, he could only send one message, and after sending it, Batur could only wait patiently.
But what Batur didn’t expect was that Li Younan replied not long after with just three words: "Sure, sounds good."

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