Chapter 36 Return to the Throne

Yingzi's eyes lit up as she listened, and Lingwei also tilted her head slightly, clearly intrigued.

Zhang Tao was about to continue whispering, "Later, didn't he... start to neglect his appearance? There were far fewer of those noisy comments around him. Now that his position is secure, he doesn't need to fuss over himself anymore, and he seems to have gotten used to that way of being."

I don't know what got into me today, suddenly..."

"Zhang Tao".

A chilling voice came from the head of the table.

Zhang Tao sat up straight with a start: "Here!"

Zhou Han looked at him, his eyes devoid of warmth: "You seem to have a lot of ideas."

"Wow, Director Zhou, I think your new idea is fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!"

Zhang Tao immediately put on a professional fake smile, pretended to pick up the script next to Ling Wei, and pretended to study it seriously.

Zhou Han ignored him and scanned the entire room once more.

Those who came into his line of sight all looked like elementary school students being called on by the teacher, hurriedly lowering their heads, afraid of meeting his gaze.

Finally, his gaze met Ling Wei's.

Ling Wei smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up with her right hand.

Zhou Han's fingers, which were resting on the table, twitched slightly. His fingertips unconsciously rubbed against the empty space; the familiar cigarette was gone.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he forcefully suppressed the inexplicable itch that surged within him. He looked away, his voice regaining its sharp edge from when he was working:

"Here is the work schedule..."

===========

It was another Friday, and Lin Xiao dragged her leaden legs and shuffled into her house with zombie-like steps.

A week of continuous overtime work has almost drained all her energy, and now she just wants her brain to shut down completely.

After dinner, she sprawled out on the sofa like a limp lump of mud, too lazy to even move a finger.

Her mother skillfully took the remote control and precisely locked onto Yaojiang TV.

"Mom, are you still watching 'City Chase'?" Lin Xiao hummed weakly, feeling like she didn't even have the energy to change the channel.

"Of course, it all depends on Shen Yicheng!" Mom said confidently, pushing the fruit plate on the coffee table toward her. "Here, have some fruit to perk yourself up."

Thinking of the suspense left at the end of the last episode, and Shen Yicheng's hands that were filmed looking incredibly charming, Lin Xiao reluctantly became a little interested and reached out to fork a piece of apple.

The show began with the previously recorded episode, "Escorting the Lucky Koi".

When Lin Xiao saw Shen Yicheng calmly sweep away the shared bikes after everyone else rushed out in a panic, and say to the production team, "I didn't say we couldn't ride bikes, did I?", she burst out laughing and straightened up a bit from her tired body.

"Uncle Chen is something else! He's starting to use his cunning."

Immediately afterwards, Feng Nuo pounced on the bicycle, two middle-aged men were fighting over a bicycle on the street, and finally a group of celebrities squeezed into the back of an old man's tricycle as it sputtered forward, which made her and her mother laugh so hard they almost fell over.

"Hahahaha! What's wrong with this show today? The style has suddenly changed!" Lin Xiao patted the sofa armrest, feeling all the frustration of the week being expelled with her laughter.

She found that the segment design of this episode was much more ingenious, highlighting intelligence and on-the-spot reaction.

In the dialect relay segment, idol Cheng Hao was completely bewildered by the Minnan dialect version of the Analects of Confucius, and his self-created alien pronunciation made the original speaker laugh so hard he squatted down. In the charity sale segment, the villainous-looking An Yao was assigned to guard the candy stall, but she made the children who came to visit tremble with fear, and in the end, she turned the charity event into a scene of "paying protection money".

The more she tried to soften her tone and say, "Eating too much sugar is bad for your teeth," the more frightened the children became, handing over all their pocket money and even offering her two apples as a way of begging her to let them go.

These seemingly simple tasks actually hit the sweet spot of each guest's unexpected charm, bringing out the most authentic and interesting side of each person.

The show ended amidst laughter and joy, but Lin Xiao felt a little unsatisfied.

She instinctively picked up her phone and opened the program's official Weibo account and discussion forum.

Sure enough, things have already gotten out of hand here.

Longtime variety show fans feel like it's New Year's Day:

[This episode is phenomenal! It has the pacing, the humor, and the emotional resonance! Zhou Han, you should have done this a long time ago!]

[I laughed so hard I crowed when I saw Teacher Shen riding his bike! How long has it been since I've seen such a brilliant move in "The Pursuit"? Director Zhou, please keep this up!]

The camera work in this episode was consistently excellent.

The most impressive scene was when Shen Yicheng rode a shared bicycle and was the first to arrive at the Lotus Pond.

He didn't look around anxiously; he simply let go of the handlebars, sat casually on the seat, and propped one long leg up on the ground.

In the background, the evening sky was turning from warm orange to deep blue, and the newly lit streetlights cast a soft glow on his silhouette.

Just then, the dilapidated tricycle carrying other guests drove into the frame from behind. In the back of the vehicle, someone was excitedly waving and shouting in his direction. The blurry but joyful figure blended into the distant city lights.

The whole scene is a perfect balance of movement and stillness, warm and vivid, as beautiful as a frame from a movie frozen in time.

Then fans spontaneously edited and shared the videos:

[I only clicked on it out of habit, but I laughed from beginning to end! The segment design is brilliant; each guest's unique traits are amplified. This is the kind of variety show I want to watch!]

This also attracted comments from passersby:

[Just wondering, has this show always been this good? Why did I only discover this gem today?!]

[To the ladies upstairs, to be honest, we longtime fans have only just begun to see the light of day.]

[This is from a GIF of An Yao 'collecting protection money,' hahaha! This woman is hilarious!]

[I'm just a casual viewer; I clicked on this post because I saw the scene of Teacher Shen supporting himself on one leg while waiting for his teammates. The scene is so cinematic!]

[Teacher Shen, hehe, my daddy-like boyfriend is waiting for me after class (drooling)]

It's you again, the injection lady...

Data is the most direct proof.

Preliminary data was leaked internally by Yaojiang TV on Monday noon.

On the night of its premiere, the live viewership ratings were still lower than those of Xinghu TV's "City Challenge King," ranking second.

However, the real reversal occurred on subsequent exclusive online streaming platforms.

Within 24 hours of its broadcast, the on-demand and replay data for this episode of "City Chase Order" easily surpassed that of "City Challenge King"; after 48 hours, its single episode's viewership had exceeded the total of the first five episodes of this season of "City Chase Order"; and after 72 hours, it overwhelmingly climbed to the top of the platform's monthly variety show popularity chart.

Even more frightening is that its bullet screen interaction volume, user collection volume, and social media secondary dissemination index are all several times higher than its competitors.

This time, there was no controversy, no suspense.

Zhou Han used solid data to achieve a remarkable comeback, delivering a resounding slap in the face to those who had been pessimistic about him and those who had plagiarized.