Chapter 132
In the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, its heat scorching the earth. Zhou Xiao sat at his desk, gazing at the green-yellow fruit in his hands, shaped like a large weight. Due to the lack of rain this year, the fruit was relatively small. But because of this, the quality of this year's pomelo harvest was better than in previous years.
Zheng Yongnuan had someone send this fruit this morning, saying the TV station was helping fruit farmers purchase a batch as employee benefits. The two sacks of pomelo piled in the kitchen and the one in Zhou Xiao's hand were purchased specifically for him by Zheng Yongnuan. Pomelo isn't expensive locally, and the two sacks were worth less than a hundred yuan, so Zhou Xiao accepted them.
Zheng Jinghua watched with delight, unconcerned about the gift itself. She cared little for the value of the gift. Seeing that her dinner offer had failed, Zheng Jinghua took Zhou Xiao downstairs to see her off to her car before returning home. Upon arriving, Zhou Xiao turned around and found Ms. Zheng engrossed in her pomelo-shaped thong, recording several short videos and sharing them in the family group chat.
Just as Zhou Xiao was lost in thought, staring at the pomelo in her hand, her phone on the table began to vibrate. She picked it up and saw the caller on the screen was none other than Qin Shi. Although she was a little curious about what she couldn't say on the messaging app, Zhou Xiao quickly answered the call.
Qin Shi's hearty laughter came from the other end of the phone. "Did Zhou Xiao have dinner yet? Have you been paying attention to the messages posted by those marketing accounts online these past two days? Why haven't you come to ask me?"
Listening to the barrage of questions, Zhou Xiao quickly sensed something in Qin Shi's smirking words. Since last night, not only on the forums, but also on Weibo's marketing accounts, they've created numerous hashtags related to #Ji Shao's profile suspected of changing to group profile#. Combined with Qin Shi's specific mention of this, Zhou Xiao suddenly felt that perhaps this was part of a plan.
Hearing Zhou Xiao's question, Qin Shi on the other end said directly, "Okay, I just came to ask if you are free during the National Day holiday. If you have nothing else to do, come and shoot a commercial for NINE STAR~"
"Is that something you can say?" Zhou Xiao asked curiously after hearing the other party's tone, "So is it true that the online rumor about individual information being changed to group information?"
Qin Shi on the other end of the phone seemed to be in a particularly good mood today. She smiled and said, "Your friend Ji Shao has been upgraded to a spokesperson, and the other members are all ambassadors." After saying this, Qin Shi and Zhou Xiao complained about Huayao Xingyu's various outrageous demands.
In short, considering that the vitality and freshness of NINE STAR members and the fruity series of XS can complement each other, and most importantly, the fans' purchasing power is still quite strong, the two parties finally reached a cooperation.
While discussing this, Qin Shi also cited Shujiu, the national beverage. XS wanted to sign Ji Shao, who took over all the members, while Shujiu wanted to sign Yan Shu, which is why they agreed to the sub-team. This is something that brands of their caliber would generally know. As for why? It's because during the negotiation phase, when Huayao Xingyu was asked by the brand to prove NINE STAR's commercial value, the other party specifically presented their achievements.
This year, National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival were combined, extending the holiday period. Many people had more time to travel. Zhou Xiao's family, however, was the opposite. They usually avoided major holidays to avoid the hurdles. Without any travel plans, Zhou Xiao accepted Qin Shi's invitation to shoot.
Her heart was already racing with editing videos. Zhou Xiao opened Ji Shao's super chat, where the top posts were currently dominated by fans checking in and sharing their McDonald's orders. In her small group, Qi Sisi was already beaming with joy over a NINE STAR-emblazoned family bucket. The reason for this was that after her, only regular buckets were available. For Qi Sisi, these were just small blessings in life.
Qi Sisi's experience was replicated at McDonald's locations across China. Later, a McDonald's staff member anonymously responded to the topic #On the Commercial Value of NINE STAR# on a certain forum, stating, "After our store manager learned of the NINE STAR endorsement, we specifically arranged for the store to stock five times the usual family buckets that day." However, they were out of stock by morning, even before the peak lunch hour. All they could do was apologize and go to the warehouse to stock up.
That evening, the group variety show went live on schedule. In the living room, his parents were watching the latest hit fantasy drama, while in his room, Zhou Xiao was video-conferencing with his friends in a small group. Among them, Dong Xiaoyu was typing away. When everyone suddenly stopped talking, she smiled helplessly, "Look, I'm just listening in. I have to reply to my boss's message later."
As she finished her words, the McDonald's theme song suddenly blared from a nearby video. The group variety show opened with the boys sitting on the carpet in the villa's living room, singing "McDang's Song." The long table in front of them was filled with McDonald's food. The living room had been decorated like a McDonald's party, complete with balloons, French fries, the McDonald's M logo, and the boys sprawled out on the carpet, laughing their heads off. The atmosphere was quite lively.
Zhou Xiao had only one thought in his mind at this moment: follow this template for future endorsement celebrations! The other people in the video conference were almost laughing their heads off, and the melody of "McDonald's Hamburger" kept looping in everyone's minds for a long time.
A raised-hand symbol also appeared in the upper right corner of the video, along with a few words: "Did you see me? Did you see me? Seeing me means that the teenagers have already posted their own solo renditions of McDonald's songs on Weibo~"
Seeing this, Zhou Xiao quickly opened a Weibo account and spotted Ji Shao's new post on the homepage. In the video, he was wearing a three-piece McD's-style suit: a yellow hat, a red and white striped long-sleeved top, and yellow overalls. Clicking on the video, Ji Shao was singing "McDangDang Hamburger"!
@NINE STAR-季韶V: I like you coming. Today I am the employee Xiao Shao who is singing the song of Maimen [salute] @麦当当V
@麦当当V: Online question: What rewards should be given to outstanding employees? 】
[Help! My son is so cute! You should try more Cantonese songs. Your pronunciation is very standard!]
Did you eat McDonald's today, Xiao Shao? I checked in for a McDonald's family bucket at noon. It was delicious [Picture]]
[[Saliva] @McDangDangV, you love releasing merchandise, don’t you? I want the one with the singing part!]
[Maimen members are very pleased and welcome our star members to join us]
[My M attribute exploded, I must eat a McDonald's family bucket today]
【……】
Just as Zhou Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud at the comments below, Dong Xiaoyu's faint voice rang out from the video conference, "By the way, are you still watching the group show?"
Zhu Jian, who had paused the video midway, coughed awkwardly and reopened it, "Come on, let's continue watching!"
The video then shifts to the studio, where nine members sit at a U-shaped conference table, selecting from nine Blueberry Video libraries. The nine films are presented on cards, which the PD flips open one by one. When he spots one, the members exclaim, "Oh!"
The camera also showed nine blockbuster movies, among which the one that attracted the most attention was the foreign blockbuster "Heartbeat"
The director team also added a bit of fun, letting the members choose their favorite finished film. If they matched, they would arm wrestle to decide ownership. Zhou Xiao watched Ji Shao's expression grow serious on screen, and felt a tinge of worry. The production team was so good at controlling the atmosphere and background music. Even though he knew what the members would ultimately film, it still made him nervous.
Of course, Ji Shao was the only one who filled out the "heart-pounding" form, so ownership naturally fell into his hands. Ji Shao stood up and took the card from the production team, smiling brightly as he accepted it. He cupped his hands and said to the people around him, "Thank you everyone, tonight's my treat!"
Qi Sisi on the other side of the screen said with some regret, "Why didn't anyone pick the heart-pounding one? I also want to see Ji Shao give it a try!"
Li Mo said with some emotion, "The program team is really a rip-off!" This caused everyone in front of the screen to nod except Qi Sisi, including Dong Xiaoyu who was distracted while "listening" to the video with her ears.
Before the members finished selecting their films, the PD beside them spoke up, "Do you know what our purpose is for gathering everyone here today?"
Zheng Shulin, lazily leaning back in his chair, raised his hand and replied, "Choose a captain!" The screen switched to the director, who was underlined, and a line of text: Someone who doesn't cooperate with the "troublesome" PD!!!
After Wu Yanyan's persuasion, Zheng Shulin finally sat up straighter. Everyone looked at the PD with a serious expression. "We'll be voting. See that blackboard up front? We'll announce the final captain by counting the votes!" The PD had barely finished speaking when Lin Nan, standing nearby, raised his hand and asked, "Will the voters be announced?"
The PD sitting in the corner saw everyone's eyes on him and shook his head decisively, "No!" At this time, the subtitles floated across the screen: "But there will be an interview later~"
After everyone wrote their names on the cards in their hands and put them into the box, Yan Shu, the lively host, simply coughed and cleared his throat and said, "Next is the sacred moment of revealing our NINE STAR captain!"
He reached into the box, took out one of the cards, and announced loudly, "Wu Yanyan, one vote!" Everyone sitting on the chairs applauded, and Wu Yanyan looked a little embarrassed.
"Ji Shao, one vote!" Ji Shao, who was sitting next to Chu Cheng, heard that his ticket was there, and subconsciously looked sideways at Chu Cheng beside him.
"One vote for Wu Yanyan!" "Wu... Hey, did someone make a mistake?" Yan Shu looked at the ticket in his hand in surprise.
"Who is it?" Chu Cheng below joined in the commotion. Ji Shao, who was sitting next to him, glanced at him.
"Okay, it seems that I am right. One vote for Yan Shu!" After crossing a number under his own name, Yan Shu turned around and took out another card from the box.
"One vote for Ji Shao!" "One vote for Ji Shao! Wow! Not bad, he surpassed me!" Everyone laughed when they heard Yan Shu's words.
"Chu Cheng gets one vote!" "Well, Ji Shao gets another vote! It's a tie with our Wu Yanyan! Now comes the most crucial vote!"
The camera panned back and forth between Ji Shao and Wu Yanyan, who happened to be sitting next to each other. Wu Yanyan looked a little nervous, while Zhou Xiao was overjoyed at Ji Shao's faint smile on the screen. "Ji Shao definitely doesn't want to be captain!" "I guess so too, hahaha." "Why not?" "Look at the last one, look at the last one!"
After pulling out the last card, Yan Shu's expression became solemn. He whispered first and then said in a high voice, "Let us congratulate Wu! Yan! Yan!"
Ji Shao, who was standing by, smiled when he heard Yan Shu's words. He turned around, hugged Wu Yanyan, and whispered congratulations, "Congratulations, Captain!"
The next scene is a behind-the-scenes look at the NINE STAR members filming a promotional video. Everyone has their moments of being called off during filming, with some stumbling over their words, forgetting their lines, and even their co-stars failing to perform. Seeing this, Zhou Xiao suddenly felt the importance Huayao Xingyu places on NINE STAR.
Take Ji Shao's filming of "Falling in Love," where he planted a sycamore tree for the female lead on the lawn under the scorching sun. The director had to do this scene many times. Coupled with the already hot weather, sweat quickly appeared on Ji Shao's face. He was about to pass this scene, but the director said, "With your body type, planting this tree shouldn't be too tiring to sweat."
Ji Shao stopped his agent who was speaking for him and quickly changed into dry clothes. Before reshooting, he smiled brightly and said to the camera that had been following him, "I also think I have enough strength."
After saying this, the cute little figure of Ji Shao beside him grunted and "pushed out" some data: the trailer was released online on September 14th, and as of September 15th, "Falling in Love" set a new record for search volume in the Blueberry Video library, reaching one million searches!
After watching the promotional videos shot by each member, there will be a data display like this. Zhu Jian's voice came from the video conference, "No wonder Huayao told us to prepare the necessary data when they notified us, it turns out they were just bragging."
Today's group variety show was particularly long. After the behind-the-scenes footage of the promotional video, the screen dimmed, revealing a large studio with two large jibs in the center. The NINE STAR members sat at the U-shaped Mai Mai dining table, which was filled with a series of classic Mai-style simulated foods.
Since the official trailer hadn't aired yet, the only footage available to viewers was some unrelated behind-the-scenes footage and promotional photos taken by the members. While Zhu Jian was considering whether to close the video, the final scene featured Ji Shao, dressed in a McDonald's employee uniform, standing at the restaurant's front desk, smiling at the camera and saying, "Blah, blah, blah, McDonald's loves you!"
"Help! Help!" "Woc!" "So cute!" "I want to be rubbed, I want to be rubbed!" Even Dong Xiaoyu, who was busy working, couldn't help but direct Zhu Jian to play it again in reverse when she heard it.
——【Forum】——[September 16 evening]
【Topic】I'm stunned! This is how Ji Shao chose "Falling in Love"
[Main Post] I thought everyone was choosing from the film library. The program crew is really good at making trouble. Who doesn’t know that Ji Shao’s fan page has a fan page called "Pan Ran Xin Dong"?
1L
The members are all nice, and none of them are stupid enough to pick on someone, otherwise there would definitely be a fight.
13L
When I saw Ji Shao win the award for "Falling in Love", I was overwhelmed by his handsomeness. Please, if there is a chance to win, please choose Ji Shao!
25L
Ah... is that so?
41L
Why didn't the director team consider including that drop of sweat! The promotional video you made yourself "intentionally" went in the direction of a promotional video, how come you killed our welfare!
68L
Reply to 41L: Hey, the production team should have it, right? Can they release the high-definition version for us to see?
97L
I used my real name and strongly requested that the sweating scene be shown!
121L
+1
…
【Theme】Attention! Attention! Maimen gather together!
[Main Post] Did you all watch the group variety show tonight? Does anyone have any thoughts on whether the McDonald's guy is really that handsome? [Saliva] If so, I might consider eating it for the next month.
1L
Beware of the enemy! This is a spy sent by Kaifengcai!
9L
Serious face, there is one, called Ji Shao
24L
I don't know when I can see the promotional video, I'm looking forward to it.
41L
There were two behind-the-scenes commercials released tonight. I actually wanted to see more interactions between the members, but why is there no post-production?
63L
Reply to 41L: Baby, look, the author has something to say! The NINE STAR post-interview is online!
…
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