Chapter 19 Fool
Chapter Summary: The final recording before the finals
Shang Jian comforted her, saying, "Mu Zhi, debuting as part of a group isn't necessarily the best path for development."
They had prepared a set of persuasive words, saying, "With your current popularity and buzz, a solo debut would be even better for your future development, which is also the company's initial plan. After the show ends, the company will give you a lot of support; becoming famous won't be a problem!"
Then, Mu Zhi was given a list of the drawbacks of signing a contract with the Owl platform.
For example: signing a 10-year contract is too long, the penalty for breach of contract is very high, being deeply tied to a platform means missing out on cooperation with other platforms, going solo is more free than forming a group, and being double-charged by the platform and the company, etc.
He spoke with great conviction. A newcomer might have been intimidated and persuaded by Shang Jian's words, and thus abandoned the idea of signing a contract.
They were even grateful to the company for its thoughtful oversight of their situation.
But upon closer examination, the logic is utterly nonsensical.
The Owl platform has definitely extended an olive branch not only to Mu Zhi, but also to all the trainees who participated in "Chasing the Light" and debuted as a group. They will definitely have to sign contracts with the platform, and the contracts will probably be the same template.
This has been the case for previous seasons; it's an unspoken rule in the industry.
Why do so many companies, big and small, send their artists to participate in talent shows?
Of course, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
This explains why the person in charge of the Owl platform acted so confidently when presenting the contract to Mu Zhi.
Although this contract is very exploitative for newcomers who haven't debuted yet, signing it is considered to have a "bright future." After debuting, they can enjoy a lot of resources provided by the platform, which the company cannot provide.
Therefore, the trainees who come to participate in the show are aiming to debut as a group.
The reason why Xinghe Culture and agent Shang Jian did not want Mu Zhi to sign this contract was simply because of "interests".
It's likely that they didn't discuss a debut spot with the Owl platform from the beginning. Even after Mu Zhi's later comeback, Xinghe Culture didn't take the initiative to contact the platform, and the Owl platform had to submit the contract to Mu Zhi.
The Owl platform definitely has issues with Xinghe Culture. Not wanting Xinghe Culture to become even more ruthless, the platform has decided after careful consideration to keep its artists under its control and ensure that all the money Mu Zhi earns goes into the company's pocket.
There's no need to share with the Owl platform.
Mu Zhi saw through the scheme but didn't say anything, playing along as an obedient "fool."
After hearing Shang Jian's words, he nodded in sudden realization: "President Shang, I am able to participate in the program thanks to the company's cultivation. I will follow the company's arrangements."
"As for the production team, I..."
Seeing Mu Zhi's troubled expression, he knew that she was just a young girl who had never seen the world and probably didn't know how to explain things to the Owl platform.
Shang Jian took a sip of coffee, a smile plastered on his face. "You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it. You can go back and focus on recording the show."
Mu Zhi nodded, thinking that this was the best possible outcome.
The agent politely declined the cooperation with the Owl platform, so that the company offended the platform, not her.
afternoon.
The program team assigned a task to the 12 trainees who advanced.
Contact the families of each trainee to record video messages for use in the ninth episode.
From the very first episode, as the contestants stepped into the spotlight and became known to more national producers, everything about them—their backgrounds, their former appearances, their past experiences, etc.—was dug up online.
For example, Zhou Jingzhu's identity as a wealthy heiress was revealed as soon as she appeared in the first episode, and she gained a lot of attention with the halo of "wealthy heiress".
This segment, designed by the production team, allows the national producers to better understand the trainees they support. At the same time, it highlights the importance of family support in the trainees' pursuit of their dreams, showcasing the culture of family affection.
The staff returned all the phones to the contestants.
When people tried to contact their families, their expressions varied; some were happy, while others were sad.
Mu Zhi was a little stunned, almost forgetting that she still had "family".
Thinking of the original owner's family, she pulled out a number from her phone that didn't even have a name in it.
I don't want to contact them.
The original owner agreed to sign with Xinghe Culture for a guaranteed monthly salary of 3,000 yuan. After failing to debut as part of a group, she blindly married a so-called rich man, ended up with huge debts, and became completely desperate about life, ultimately ending up tragically jumping to her death.
It is clear that the original owner's family was not something to rely on, but rather something she wanted to escape from.
The author of the novel "The Boss Spends Money to Spoil Her Debut" wrote this cannon fodder character with the same name to disgust Mu Zhi, so naturally he wouldn't give her a good family background.
The original owner's family was poor when she was a child. The four of them squeezed into a small, old, dilapidated house of just over 20 square meters. Her mother was a cleaner and her father worked on construction sites. When she was in junior high school, her family's house was suddenly demolished, and she was given a new house of more than 80 square meters and several hundred thousand yuan.
The family suddenly became wealthy. However, the original owner's parents complained to their daughter about being poor, claiming that they had borrowed money to afford the new house. They were worried that their daughter would try to take the family's money, and they even hid the fact that they had savings, which they planned to save for the original owner's younger brother to buy a house, a car, and a wife when he grew up. This was a very typical case of favoring sons over daughters, and they were unwilling to spend a single penny more on their daughter.
The original owner of this body had the opportunity to learn dance when she was a child because a relative ran a dance class and allowed her to learn with them for free.
From junior high school onwards, "Muzhi" had to work during winter and summer vacations to earn money to give to her parents. After graduating from high school, they wouldn't let her go to university and made her work to earn money. With the original owner's insistence, she completed two years of vocational school before starting to work.
Then he was discovered by a talent scout on the street and signed with Galaxy Culture...
She had kept her participation in the talent show a secret from her family. During the competition, her parents called her twice, and the first thing they asked was for money, inquiring about how much money others had given her for appearing on the show. They only cared about money.
The parents were someone who raised their child in poverty and demanded things from them.
After considering it, Mu Zhi decided not to contact the original owner's parents.
Anyway, companies usually review video footage like this for recording VCRs before sending it to the production team. So I called my agent, Shang Jian, and told him about the production team's request to record a VCR.
"Okay, I'll arrange it."
Presumably because Mu Zhi obediently followed the company's arrangements, her agent, Shang Jian, wanted to compensate her, so he readily agreed to leave the matter to him and told Mu Zhi not to worry about it.
After hanging up the phone, Mu Zhi went straight back to her dormitory.
I pushed open the door and was surprised to find Xia Xinyan making a phone call inside.
"Mr. Ji, I've already spoken to Grandma, and she's agreed to cooperate."
"Is this the village chief's phone number? Let me ask and send it to you right away, okay, okay..."
Xia Xinyan hung up the phone and turned around to see Mu Zhi had entered at some point. Her face showed a hint of panic as she tentatively asked, "You, when did you come in?"
"What just happened?"
Xia Xinyan bit her lip, wondering if Mu Zhi had heard her phone conversation. She thought that she hadn't revealed any information in the conversation. "No, it's nothing."
I went out of the dormitory to send messages.
From the few words Xia Xinyan uttered on the phone earlier, Mu Zhi sensed that she seemed to be discussing the recording of a VCR with someone. Her previous suspicions resurfaced; Xia Xinyan was participating in the program as an individual trainee.
Is he really an individual trainee?
The next day, the ninth episode of "Chasing the Light" was officially recorded.
There was no performance stage in this episode. According to the director, the last episode before the final was a vacation arranged for the contestants so that they could relax and prepare for their debut night.
The recording venue was outside the "castle".
The 12 trainees boarded a bus arranged by the production team and arrived at a farm in the suburbs. The farm had greenhouses growing strawberries, a variety of fruits and vegetables, and a pond where they could fish...
The production team booked the farm for a day, planning to send the trainees here for a relaxing vacation, filming scenes of them happily picking strawberries, fishing, and cooking, showcasing their vibrant and relatable side.
Director: "The kitchen is fully equipped with cooking utensils and ingredients. We'll have lunch here. You can cook whatever you want to eat."
After discussing it, the 12 trainees decided to make dumplings so that everyone could participate.
A group of people were making a ruckus as they headed to the vegetable garden to find ingredients.
Mu Zhi suggested, "Let's divide into three groups. One group will stay and knead the dough to prepare the dumpling wrappers; the second group will chop the meat to prepare the filling; and the last group will go and pick the scallions and chives."
This is more efficient, and we can eat earlier.
When the trainees were divided into groups, they were more willing to pick vegetables and prepare dumpling wrappers, and they didn't want to touch meat.
Mu Zhi: "Then I'll do it."
Zhou Jingzhu raised her hand: "Count me in."
Liu Cai also raised her hand: "Me too."
After the groups were divided, the dumpling wrappers and meat filling groups went to the kitchen to start working on them.
The refrigerator in the kitchen had meat in the crisper drawer. Mu Zhi took out a large piece of pork, which looked very fresh and must have been purchased by the farm owner that morning. She rinsed it under the tap.
Zhou Jingzhu leaned closer and said, "To be honest, I haven't cooked much, but I have the strength."
Liu Cai has no girl group baggage. She clenched her fist and showed off her toned biceps under her short-sleeved shirt. "I'm strong too, but I can't cook!"
Mu Zhi: "..."
Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai watched as Mu Zhi skillfully cleaned the meat, cut it into several pieces, and then into smaller pieces. They were eager to join in and help cut the meat.
After slicing, proceed to the meat chopping stage.
Mu Zhi held a large knife in each hand and rhythmically chopped at the pieces of meat on the cutting board, leaving Liu Cai and Zhou Jingzhu dumbfounded.
The radiant beauty on stage and the meat-chopping woman in front of you are completely unrelated.
"Little Zhi'er, I never knew you could cook!"
"Muzhi, you're really amazing!"
The original owner of this body had taken on the responsibility of cooking for the family since childhood, so of course she knew how to cook.
As for Mu Zhi's skill in chopping dumpling filling... she got lost when she was a child and was sold to a remote small county by human traffickers. She worked as a cook in her adoptive parents' dumpling restaurant from a young age, and the job she was assigned most often was chopping dumpling filling.
This act of chopping lasted for 10 years until her biological parents found her and took her back to their wealthy family.
Mu Zhi simply smiled at Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai's praise.
Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai volunteered to take turns trying the double-knife method to chop the meat filling, but they couldn't keep up after only two minutes.
In the end, it was mainly Mu Zhi who chopped the meat.
The meat filling and dumpling wrappers are almost ready, and the vegetable picking team has returned.
The dumplings need to be filled with two kinds of fillings: pork and cabbage, and chives and pork. After Mu Zhi finished chopping the pork filling, she glanced at the chives that Xia Xinyan and the others were washing while she was chopping the cabbage. She put down her knife and went over to them.
Picking out some of the larger leaves from the pile of washed chives, I pointed out, "These aren't chive leaves, they're daffodil leaves."
As soon as he said that, everyone gathered around. One of the trainees who was rolling out dumpling wrappers grew up in the countryside. After identifying them, he said, "Zhizhi is right. These are not leeks that cannot be eaten."
"We need to pick them out."
One of the trainees in the vegetable-picking group said shyly, "Oh, sorry, I picked these. I picked them from the stone trough next to the leek patch. They look similar to scallions to me..."
As he spoke, he looked at Xia Xinyan.
Xia Xinyan looked a little embarrassed and had no choice but to clarify, "Ah, it's my fault. Chunni asked me about it, but I was busy and didn't notice. It's my fault."
Everyone naturally said it was fine, just pick out the daffodil leaves and the matter would be over.
After preparing the dumpling wrappers and meat filling, everyone went to the large round table outside to make dumplings together.
Some people are skilled at it, while others are not.
Mu Zhi had been chopping meat filling at the dumpling restaurant for several years, so making dumplings was a piece of cake for her. She quickly became a teacher, teaching Zhou Jingzhu and Liu Cai as she made dumplings. She glanced at Xia Xinyan next to her, whose dumpling-making movements were clumsy, and realized that she couldn't even make dumplings.
She remembered that Xia Xinyan also seemed to have grown up in the countryside.
Around 2 PM, everyone finally had lunch. After eating dumplings at the farm, they took a car back to the "castle".
In the evening, the second part of the recording of the ninth episode of "Chasing the Light" was a door-to-door visit.
The show takes viewers on a tour of the various departments of the production team from the perspective of the 12 trainees, giving them a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes story of the program. Staff members who have frequent contact with the trainees are also featured in the video.
After wandering into the innermost room of the office building, the staff told them to go and meet the owner of the Owl platform.
Everyone believed it and walked in with honor, only to find that it wasn't the boss's office they had imagined; instead, it was decorated like a classroom.
A man was standing on the platform. He turned around when he heard the door open.
The next second, Mu Zhi was startled. The girls next to her screamed excitedly, like fans seeing their idol, with a chorus of "Ahhhhhh!" echoing in her ears.
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