The pilot episode of the variety show "Don't Look Back When It Gets Dark" was a huge hit, attracting many sponsors, including the families of the young masters who had participated in the pilot episode.

Fahrenheit's milk tea beverage and snack gift pack.

Lei's new quarterly mobile phone launch.

Qin's waterproof cosmeceuticals.

Xiao's intelligent learning machine.

Since the young masters couldn't always have time to record the show, they recommended their own brand's celebrity endorser.

In other words, the guest lineup will be completely changed during the official recording, and the production team will also need to promote the new guests.

Actually, it's not just those rich young masters who don't have time to come; Yin Chengjue also can't possibly have time to record the show every episode. So, in addition to the celebrities who come to handle the endorsement work, Yin Chengjue also needs to recommend someone to fill his spot.

Huansheng Entertainment has no shortage of artists, but choosing who to select is a problem.

Yin Chengjue had no choice but to pass the buck to Shang Liu.

Shang Liu spent more time at Huansheng than Yin Chengjue, and with a quick glance, he had a candidate in mind.

"What does President Yin think of Shu Liubai? She happens to have some free time recently, and... she's got a lot to talk about," Shang Liu said.

Shu Liubai is an actress who became a sensation three years ago with a comedic period drama. However, the period dramas she starred in after her rise to fame were not so satisfactory, so her career has been declining in the last two years. In addition, she is quite straightforward and doesn't speak very tactfully, so the media often finds fault with her words and intermittently criticizes her and trends on social media.

But since none of the things she was criticized for were serious enough to cost her her job, she continued to live a life of both fame and infamy.

Of course, that's not the point. The point is that in her previous life, when Ming Qian led a large group of stars to jump ship when Huansheng Entertainment was in crisis, Shu Liubai was not among them. It wasn't because she wasn't popular enough, but because she was too straightforward and couldn't stand such things.

If these people left because the company didn't provide enough resources and they wanted to develop in places with better resources, that would be understandable. But the problem is that those who left were people whom Huansheng Entertainment had invested a lot of resources and effort in promoting. The company had poured its best resources into them, and yet they just turned around and went to find the next company after gaining fame. This kind of behavior is truly despicable.

“That works.” Yin Chengjue nodded. “Let her and Rong Yu look after each other, but they can only be a sibling couple.”

Shang Liu raised an eyebrow: "Humorous? It seems President Yin is quite concerned about that Rong Yu?"

Yin Chengjue gave Shang Liu a death stare.

"Ahem!" Qin Linlin cleared her throat. "Alright, alright, let's talk about business first. During the official recording, only Lei Miao and Wei Shu will be there. The others have other things to do and won't be coming. Liu Qingling, Yang Ji, and Rong Yu are the regular guests, along with three celebrities who will be endorsing and promoting their newly aired dramas, plus Shu Liubai. That makes a total of nine people."

Qin Linlin said, "The script I've written for the official broadcast is like this: the theme is family affection, the more tear-jerking the better."

"Huh? Another one of those tear-jerking plots? How cliché!" Qin Ke frowned with disdain. "Luckily I'm not participating. I'm terrible at that kind of thing."

Qin Linlin rolled her eyes at her brother: "Can't you just let me finish? Did I say I was going to use the cliché of 'true feelings and true love in the world'?"

Qin Ke shrugged: "What else could it be? Isn't that what family affection is all about? What's with all this talk about being deeply moving and tear-jerking? They just act however they can to get tears out of you. Isn't that how it is in TV dramas?"

Qin Linlin was so angry at his heartless words that she took a deep breath: "You... you really don't know how lucky you are. I really don't know what to say to you. Mom and Dad and my older brother are not some kind of monster. Why do you keep avoiding them every day?"

"Sigh! You don't understand! Forget it, I'm not going to talk about this anymore. Just continue with what you wanted to say earlier!" Qin Ke waved his hand, looking like he didn't want to continue the conversation with Qin Linlin.

Yin Chengjue and Shang Liu exchanged a glance, and could vaguely sense that Qin Linlin's decision to focus on the family theme this time was most likely because of Qin Ke.

Qin Linlin took a sip of milk tea before continuing, "Emotional appeal is secondary. I also want to create a backdrop, which is to showcase different ways of expressing family affection. So the detective storyline's cases will revolve around this theme, and the final treasure in the treasure hunt storyline will be the answer to the question of family affection. The mystery in the escape storyline will also be related to this theme."

Qin Linlin had clearly prepared her speech and began to speak fluently: "With sponsors, our funds won't be so tight right now, and we can choose better venues. I've got my eye on a villa deep in the mountains. The owner happens to know my dad, and he's willing to rent it to us for filming. We can also set up the set and add combination locks without damaging the villa's property."

"A villa? Are they going all out this time?" Qin Ke asked in surprise.

"Yes, this time I want to show the warmth and coldness of human relationships under the shadow of money and interests in the wealthy. The villa setting is perfect, and it even has its own restaurant. Our production team can prepare the ingredients in the restaurant, so when they get tired of playing, they can go down to the kitchen to cook a meal or something."

Qin Linlin clapped her hands, clearly thinking her idea was excellent: "We can prepare pots, pans, and all sorts of things for them, and then edit some videos of them cooking. Wouldn't that be a great gimmick?"

Qin Ke silently gave Qin Linlin a thumbs up.

"Then we'll set up some NPCs and create some supernatural elements... Oh right! I was thinking of creating a supernatural storyline. Let me explain: Initially, the nine of them received a letter instructing them to come here to inherit the villa owner's estate. So they came, but during their tour of the villa, they discovered a corpse."

Qin Linlin: "The corpse had several stab wounds, the fatal one being the one that pierced the heart. After they discover the first corpse, we can broadcast a message that they can begin to enter their respective roles and proceed according to their mission lines."

Qin Linlin continued, "After they begin their search, they will find that there is not just one body, and the manner of death is completely different. After all the bodies are found, they will discover that there are a total of nine bodies."

"Nine bodies?" Yin Chengjue raised his eyebrows, vaguely guessing what was going on.

“Yes, these nine corpses are actually the corpses of nine people. They died ten years ago, but they've been repeating the events of the day before they died.” Qin Linlin placed her hands on the table, interlacing her fingers, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes slightly narrowed, a strange excitement flickering in them: “We'll mark those dummy corpses, matching some of the marks on the guests. When they collect all the corpses, or even before that, they'll notice something, and then… their hair will stand on end!”

Qin Linlin chuckled, "The villa I rented looks super creepy! The atmosphere is definitely intense!"

Qin Ke was once again glad that he didn't go this time, while Yin Chengjue began to consider whether or not to let Rong Yu go.

Hmm, would Rong Yu be afraid of this?

Yin Chengjue recalled Rong Yu's previous performance and was not quite sure.

"Didn't you just say the theme was family? Why does the whole thing sound so creepy?" Qin Ke reminded him.

"Hey, the theme is family, that's true, but the search process also needs to have an atmosphere! Several guests, each with their own identities and the same goal, come to the villa to inherit the estate. Then, during the search, they discover the story of the villa's owner and what happened in the villa. Then, by connecting these stories with their own personalities and experiences, they create a perfect narrative. Isn't that great?"

Qin Linlin clapped her hands and said, "The story I designed for you before was not complete enough. It had many flaws and the logic was not rigorous enough. So this time I tried my best to improve it, making the plot of the whole episode more tight, with the content linked together and exploding one wave after another. The broadcast effect will definitely be better!"

"Have you figured out their stories and how to connect them?" Yin Chengjue asked.

Qin Linlin paused, a troubled expression on her face: "Ah, that's it, I haven't thought of that yet. Nine people, so we need nine different identities. One is the villa's butler, who's responsible for sending out invitations to the others; one is a lawyer, responsible for transferring the inheritance; one is a maid, responsible for cleaning the villa, since the villa needs to be kept clean and tidy; and the remaining five are a cousin, two are the villa owner's children from his first marriage, and two are illegitimate children he's kept outside the villa."

Yin Chengjue: "Is being an illegitimate child necessary? Nobody wants to have such a controversial identity, right?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, you just don't understand. What a show needs is discussion, controversy, and all sorts of different opinions." Qin Linlin said with a smile, "Besides, this is just a variety show. It's just about entering a role with an identity card. If the audience has controversy, it can actually prove that the person holding that identity card has good acting skills. After all, playing a villain is more memorable than playing cannon fodder. An excellent villain can even surpass the protagonist's position in people's hearts."

Yin Chengjue: "..." That makes so much sense, I can't argue with it.

Yin Chengjue said, "In that case, why not let those two illegitimate children become the housekeeper's or servants' children? The villa owner's mistress cheated on him, but the villa owner doesn't know it and thinks those two are his illegitimate children, so he dotes on them especially."

Yin Chengjue rested his chin on his hand: "The butler was bound by the law, which is why he sent a message to those people to come back. In fact, he also had his own plans, wanting to pass on this inheritance that belongs to the master to his son."

"But the servants found out about this secret. They used the evidence they had collected to threaten the butler, demanding that he give them half of the family fortune, or they would expose him..." Yin Chengjue said, then looked up and found everyone looking at him with a look of surprise and delight.