Brother Yang： I often think that when I had no money in the past, the pressure was too great to be an Internet celebrity

On December 18th, it snowed heavily in Hefei. At a gas station at the intersection of Xiyou Road in Shushan District, Master Chen (surname changed), a refueling worker, was refueling a Mercedes-Benz with a foreign license plate. Master Chen clearly felt that since December, there have been more cars refueling at the gas station, and sometimes there are long queues, including many vehicles with foreign license plates.

200 meters west of the gas station is the headquarters building of the Three Sheep Group, which is Douyin’s top stream "Crazy Little Brother Yang" Zhang Qingyang. On December 10, the Three Sheep Group held an opening ceremony here to celebrate the company’s official entry into the new building. Recently, the official data of Hefei City released: It is expected that the output value of the Three Sheep Network in 2023 will exceed 30 billion yuan, and the tax payment is expected to exceed 450 million yuan.

From the funny video joke shooter to the chairperson of the group company, after nine years, Xiao Yang has realized the transformation from an amateur to the head of a tens of billions of enterprises.

In the recent live broadcast, Xiao Yang denied that he is an Internet celebrity, and also said that he does not do what Internet celebrities do, and only wants to do his own company well. Recently, Jimu News reporters came to Hefei and Lu’an, Anhui to explore the growth path of Xiao Yang’s brother Zhang Qingyang.

Big and small Yang brothers, left is little Yang brother Zhang Qingyang (the picture comes from the Internet)

Place of growth

It is an hour’s drive from Lu’an City to Fengying Village, Guzhen Town. The village is close to the local provincial highway S244. When you drive through, you can see the rows of beige villas in the village at a glance by the brand new asphalt road. This is the hometown of Brother Yang.

On the morning of December 20, an old lady was drying clothes next to the village committee. When she mentioned Brother Yang, she was a little confused. She didn’t know who it was.

Fengying village committee

The aunt put down the clothes in her hand and pointed to the front right, "Their house is in the front row." Following the direction of her finger, walking through the square in front of the village committee, the house of Brother Yang’s hometown is in this row of small villas.

A neighbor, Mr. Qin (a pseudonym), said that the rows of villas were built a decade ago. "Their family was originally in the next village, but because of the demolition, the two villages merged into Fengying Village, and they moved here." Mr. Qin said that Xiao Yang’s grandmother used to live in the village, but later went to live in the town with his daughter, and his family had not returned to the village for a long time.

In Mr. Qin’s memory, the Yang brothers lived with their grandparents when they were young. Later, they went to other places with their parents, and then returned to Lu’an to live in high school, slowly getting away from everyone’s vision.

Village committee front square

"Their family is relatively low-key and not very public." The elderly in the village do not like to play with mobile phones. A few old ladies only heard from their younger generation in the past two years that the two brothers made money online and became celebrities, but when they returned to the village, they did not see much fanfare.

According to information posted by the Fengying village committee, the village covers an area of 8.2 square kilometers and has a total of 3,268 people in 958 households. The village has various industries such as water gardenia cultivation and animal husbandry.

An elderly person in the village told reporters that around the Spring Festival in January 2023, the two brothers sent "red envelopes" to some people in the village, "I heard that they also provided some subsidies to the village."

Brother Yang

In a car modification shop in the center of Hefei, several modified vehicles were parked.

In the office behind the glass door, the boss, Ah Guo (a pseudonym), was wiping and organizing his ten Luya fishing rods one by one. He especially likes fishing, and it was "Big Yang" who took him into the pit a few years ago. In early December this year, he also went to Hainan with "Big Yang" to enjoy a sea fishing.

"As brothers, I have nothing to say about Brother Yang." Ah Guo recalled that the contact with the two brothers was probably in 2018. At that time, a friend who played cars introduced him to the store and met Brother Yang.

Big Yang and his parents (the picture comes from the Internet)

At that time, Brother Yang liked to play with cars and drove a "Bumblebee", which was later replaced by a Ferrari and Corvette. "At that time, he was young and had time to play with cars, so he was not as busy as he is now." Because of topics such as car modification, Brother Yang would consult A Guo when buying and repairing cars, and they gradually became friends and brothers.

As a friend, Brother Yang was very loyal. Ah Guo was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Three Sheep Group, the "Brother Yang Concert", and also participated in the company’s team building activities. Ah Guo said that Brother Yang Zhang Qingyang did not particularly value money, nor did he have any airs, and he just got along with ordinary people.

In Ah Guo’s eyes, Big Brother Yang was more reserved, while Little Brother Yang was extroverted and full of ideas. He was a very active person.

According to Douyin Encyclopedia, Xiao Yang’s brother Zhang Qingyang was born in February 1995.

In public speeches, Brother Yang has said that he was particularly naughty as a child. When he was 2 years old, his parents went to Jiashan, Zhejiang Province to work, but because their grandparents couldn’t control them in their hometown, the brothers were finally taken to Zhejiang by their father.

Because he was good at using his brain, when he was in high school, Brother Yang and his brother would sell some small goods on weekends to earn a living. When he got to college, Brother Yang, who liked dancing, started shooting dancing and funny videos in an attempt to attract the attention of netizens and gain fans. Brother Yang’s personality also determined that after the two brothers established a company, he would basically handle the speeches, speeches and speeches on stage.

E-commerce Road

"Crazy Little Brother Yang" is the first personal blogger with over 100 million fans on the Douyin platform.

However, the number of fans on its homepage has always been displayed as "99.99 million +". Previously, Zhang Qingyang said in an interview that he did not want to be hyped because of the aura of hundreds of millions of fans, so he agreed with the platform to display it as "99.99 million +". At present, the number of real fans has exceeded 120 million.

Brother Yang’s social media account first saw a massive increase in followers during his freshman winter break. He and Brother Yang shot several videos of "giant firecrackers" at home, gaining tens of thousands of followers. After returning to school, Brother Yang’s video of "firecrackers frying ink" with roommates became his work of fame. After the video was released, the account increased fans 300,000.

By 2017, the account operated by the two brothers had 3 million fans.

Douyin fans 99.99 million + (Douyin screenshot)

In February 2018, the Douyin account "Crazy Little Brother Yang" released the first video. In November 2019, "Crazy Little Brother Yang" Douyin fans exceeded 10 million, and in 2020 fans reached 40 million. The biggest weapon to increase fans is the "Desperate Weekend" series of funny videos shot by Little Brother Yang and his family.

During college, the brothers, who had already made money through short videos, rented a house in Hefei and brought their parents back from Zhejiang to live.

In March 2021, Brother Yang founded Hefei Three Sheep Network Technology Co., Ltd. In September 2021, "Crazy Brother Yang" launched Douyin E-commerce LIVE.

Brother Yang clearly remembered that the sales of the first live broadcast reached 300,000 yuan. At that time, the account broadcast one every other day, the second broadcast sold for 500,000, and the third broadcast sold for 700,000… Sales continued to rise, and the popularity of the live broadcast room continued to rise.

In March 2022, Three Sheep (Hefei) Holding Group Co., Ltd. was established, with Zhang Qingyang as the chairperson.

Through the classic reverse delivery in the live stream, the video dissemination of live content slices has made the number of "Crazy Little Brother Yang" fans continue to rise until it exceeds 100 million, and the amount of goods is also increasing. According to statistics, in 2022, the output value of Three Sheep’s online live broadcast delivery will exceed 10 billion yuan, and the tax will be 250 million yuan.

Denying being an Internet celebrity

On December 20, just after the heavy snow in Hefei, citizens saw the long-lost sunshine.

Outside the Three Sheep Group, from Tiantangzhai Road to Xiyou Road, all kinds of vehicles were parked, stuffing the original four-lane road to only one lane left. Internet celebrities broadcast live at the entrance of the company, outsiders drive to clock in, and some people continue to send product categories to the company for selection.

Earlier, when Zhang Qingyang bought the office building of a technology company for 100 million yuan, netizens laughed that an Internet celebrity with goods had brought down the technology company. Brother Yang explained that the company had been closed down for many years, and the building was put up for auction after bankruptcy. In July this year, Zhang Qingyang called the building "more scary than buying" in the live stream. Zhang Qingyang promised at the time that their live stream building would become a landmark in the area and become an Internet celebrity clock in the area.

Sanjiyang Group Office Building

On December 10, the Three Sheep Group opened a grand opening in the new office building, and the company officially settled in the new building. The traffic outside the building is Ma Long during the day and the neon lights are flashing at night, which has indeed become the local Internet celebrity clock in the area.

At 7 p.m. on December 23, movie star Zhang Jiahui came to the live stream of "Crazy Little Brother Yang" to promote the movie "Raging Tide". 100,000 movie tickets were sold out within 30 seconds. The strong ability of the two Yang brothers to bring goods made Zhang Jiahui feel incredible.

"Internet celebrity" is the most basic cognition of Brother Yang, from shooting videos to increasing fans and becoming popular to selling goods. However, as the chairperson of the Three Sheep Group, Brother Zhang Qingyang denies that he is an Internet celebrity.

"Many people ask me to write books, endorse books, teach video courses, walk acupoints, live games, and most of them are tens of millions of yuan in compensation, but I refuse." Zhang Qingyang, the younger brother of Yang, said that he was indeed an Internet celebrity in the past, but now he no longer does what Internet celebrities do, and just wants to run the company well and support tens of thousands of employees.

Xiao Yang Zhenxuan

Standing in this position, Zhang Qingyang hopes that fans will spend money to buy products because of their company’s good products and services, and he doesn’t want fans to buy products just because they like him.

"I often think of when I had no money in the past, compared to the current days, the pressure is too great now, and I can go to the kindergarten to hold a parent-teacher meeting." In a live broadcast, Brother Yang lamented that he had no personal space and could not eat food stalls, but now he can only eliminate distractions and walk firmly.

A Guo, a good friend, said that Zhang Qingyang was not as happy as he used to be. "He is not a money-hungry person. He has earned enough money, but he can’t stop.