Day 16
At the same time that both sides had booked their spots, the show officially began airing.
Liu Yu's shift today was a torture, her toes tapping the ground for a few seconds. Finally, when the shift was over, she exchanged a glance with her colleague, and they both immediately closed their laptops and ran away.
No overtime today! They finished all their work at super high speed during the day and spread the false news in advance that they were going to the next city to look at cars after work.
Message from the leader, no! Request from colleagues, no!
The two ran out together, hurriedly bought snacks at the convenience store, and then hid in Liu Yu's rental house together, turned on the huge TV and started projecting the screen.
"I get so excited when I think about seeing my son in 4K on the screen and even counting his pores." A colleague knelt down to open a bag of snacks and spilled a Coke because he was too anxious. Fortunately, the lid was not opened.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't talk about pores in front of such a beautiful girl. The little fairy boy doesn't have pores!" Liu Yu said as she secretly logged into her main account.
That’s right, as the leader of the fan club, Liu Yu now has more than 500,000 “soldiers” under her command - these are new fans who joined because of the bullying incident. Their old fans also have another group, which is mainly managed by Sister Chen, also known as “Lotus Pods Who Love to Eat Illusions”.
Of course, 500,000 is just a general number of fans, and Liu Yu's main job is to provide guidance. There are currently more than 10,000 fans in this "group", all of whom are experienced fans who are capable of producing peripheral products based on voting.
However, her colleague Xiaomei has been a little too obsessed with treasure hunting recently. Liu Yu did not dare to let her know her position, and only agreed when she came to her and wanted to watch the premiere together.
The beginning is naturally the promotional video that Xiufen and others have been polishing. Some people's figures appear back and forth in it, but they are basically unclear. They are either backs or close-ups of arms or legs.
But even so, Fu Xunyan was in there for less than a second, which was enough to show how poor he was in the early days.
Liu Yu clutched her phone tightly, waiting for Chen Lianqing to send her the cheering message and the high-definition photos he'd taken. Her input box was throbbing, and so was her heart. Her eyes were too busy, constantly watching the TV, then the screen, and being wary of colleagues coming over and noticing.
"Jiang Sulin is still so handsome. It's a pity that I didn't eat this kind of guy when I was in school. Now I find that older men are better." Xiaomei muttered while stuffing a piece of potato chips into her mouth.
The two of them spent a fairly interesting hour and a half together. Perhaps because the talent show had been suspended for four years, the trainees finally had time to accumulate their skills, so several of the performances looked quite good.
"Wow, that's Ye Lai!" Xiaomei slammed the table excitedly. "My sister loves their group so much. She even has a poster, and Ye Lai is her top pick. But it's such a shame for their group. They disbanded just because the leader wanted to go solo."
"Looking at Ye Lai, he's so handsome and capable, so why didn't he surpass that captain in popularity back then... Ah, that Zhou, Zhou Hengyu's face is okay, and his rap... Ah, why do so many people say he's a good rapper? I really don't like his voice, it's so high-pitched and loud."
Liu Yu took the time to nod, she agreed with Xiaomei's comments about Ye Lai and Zhou Hengyu.
Unfortunately, Fu Xunyan didn't seem to be in the first half of the show, and the two of them took a deep breath in anger. Fortunately, this rubbish show finally played a preview of the second half before going into the unskippable commercials.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
The screams shook the windows, and the two girls immediately helped each other cover their mouths, their eyes completely lit up with excitement.
"It's Fu Xunyan!"
The young man in the trailer stood there, sweat on his forehead dripping down his jaw to his collarbone, causing another wave of screams in front of the screen.
[Damn the production team! Who stole my son? Isn’t he standing right here?]
[…so beautiful that I am speechless baby]
[Who knows, I've already scrolled back ten times, and one minute took me twelve minutes to watch.]
[prprprOnly today will I admit that I am a slut]
[Hahaha, no one noticed Jiang Han? He looks good with a round face too - silly]
[Jiang Han: Peanuts for me! Peanuts for me!]
[Fu Xunyan speaks so culturedly. If it were me, I would only know how to speak like a teacher, but I can’t. Hehehe]
[Hey, it's not just a question of culture or not, Xunbao speaks very sincerely, I think he might be speaking the truth]
"If I didn't give it my all the first time... it would probably be as regretful as this song." Okay, next time I'm asked about my motto in a Chinese language exam, I'll answer this.
Meanwhile, the producer of "New Century" was also nervously watching the data on the screen. "Go Forward" had been tangling with them for a long time. Last week, because of Fu Xunyan's incident, the higher-ups finally made up their minds and suddenly moved up the premiere time, intending to take the initiative.
However, since the talent shows on small TV stations have been extremely flopped in the past two years, they are also unsure about the data.
"Ahhh, Sister Zhou! Sister Zhou!" Turning around, the producer saw the young intern brought by his assistant running towards him excitedly from a distance.
The girl's name is Lin Xinyi. She is from a wealthy family and is a second-generation rich girl. She is lively, outgoing and likable, so her impetuous and flustered behavior at this time did not make people feel annoyed.
Her eyes were filled with tears, a rare sight, and the papers in her hands were whizzing.
"Sister Zhou is out! The last episode just finished airing, and the online ratings are off the charts! It's the highest ratings for Pear TV this year, with a combined popularity of 34,000! It's 6,000 more than last year's hit variety show 'Unpleasant Friends'!!!"
"Really? Really?~"
"Ahhhh the producer wants to treat me to dinner!"
"Oh my god, I didn't expect that the most popular variety show of the year would be born right in front of me."
"Oh my god, ending it with Fu Xunyan at the last minute was pure genius! The number of people online suddenly increased by four million!"
The entire backstage was filled with cheers, and the noise even reached the trainee building next door.
Since their cell phones were really taken away this time and they couldn't communicate with the outside world, many trainees could only gather together to discuss what had happened, and countless speculations were circulating.
The entire production team of "New Century" now has a sense of unreality. In fact, they had a little premonition before the show started, because Fu Xunyan's popularity has been high in the social pages.
Because of his incident, the local area launched a crackdown on bullying activities, which exposed a lot of corrupt officials and led to continuous revelations in the subsequent period.
Including Principal Lin, who had directly expelled Fu Xunyan, was also brought down because he was found to have committed serious bribery.
However, idol auditions have become a more niche variety show theme in the past four years. In addition, Fu Xunyan was unable to accept other business invitations during the program, including variety shows, magazines, and movies, so the production team has always been pessimistic that this popularity cannot be transferred to the program.
But this group of staff obviously does not have the vision of the producer and the female PD.
Two days before the show aired, the producers asked investors to contribute an additional sum to purchase the company's publicity services. While this can't be considered fraudulent, it certainly constitutes a form of marketing.
Taking advantage of Fu Xunyan's popularity, they released some confusing and fabricated information - such as "the worst trainee was severely criticized on the first stage", "the mentor questioned him in public because he was dissatisfied with his attitude", "the trainees collectively bullied? They embarrassed Fu in public", etc., which really attracted a large number of viewers to the show to verify.
What does a popularity of 34,000 mean? It is equivalent to a 19.2% viewership rating for traditional TV variety shows, and is definitely a heavyweight program.
The staff of "New Century" were eager to hold a celebration party immediately. The frustration that had been suppressed by "Go Forward" for many days was finally released.
“‘Onward’ is definitely not up to our standards.”
"Isn't that right? Their previous estimate of the best popularity was only 26,000, plus all the recent buzz has been taken away by our Xiao Fu, so what do they have left?"
But some people also expressed concerns, saying, "I'm afraid they'll use our success to hype up some kind of idol talent show renaissance, and then we'll just be their foil."
His colleagues comforted him, "Don't worry, the strong are never afraid of riding on the popularity. We will have the first public performance soon, and then we will crush them with the quality of the performance!"
Putting aside the fact that "Go Forward" has not yet been aired, just the initial broadcast of "New Century" can indeed pick up many hidden gems.
Although Liu Yu is the leader of Fu Xunyan's fan club, she will not turn a blind eye to the kindness of other trainees. There is no harm in her posting some comments to praise them.
Especially Da Pei, Chen Chi, Bai Wen and those who had been classified into her own camp, Liu Yu was the first to receive praise from the other party's big fans, and immediately posted it on her personal account to show her friendly attitude towards the other three.
The photos of 204 taken before the broadcast also made the four of them popular in a small circle, especially the "Yanda Wensheng" CP with Dabae, which is considered a good CP in this session. However, these trainees don't seem to be very independent, so it is not very realistic to rely on CP to increase popularity.
Liu Yu also didn't plan to take the responsibility for marketing herself - being tied to a CP with certain people was a short-sighted approach. She had greater expectations for Fu Xunyan and didn't want him to become popular by relying on CP business.
The next episode finally began. Xiaomei stopped eating her snacks, quickly ran to the bathroom to wash her hands and held her phone reverently.
"I must send the barrage as soon as possible!"
Xiaomei failed, and many others failed like her.
Because the first scene of the next episode is simply - misleading.
Young men have a body shape between boys and men. They are youthful, beautiful, and full of vitality. They are not as childish and dry as boys, nor as overly burly as men. All the beautiful adjectives in the world can be used to describe them.
This is the case with Fu Xunyan on the screen.
First, a super-close-up shot. The 24-inch TV reveals only that captivating face, its upturned eyes like glittering stars. The stage lights gradually brighten, like the opening of a grand epic. The entire space, immersed in silence, suddenly becomes bustling with noise, making it hard to imagine it's just a love song.
The small mole on the tip of his nose, along with his decisive movements, outlines his cool and charming temperament. Sometimes he is like a good boyfriend hugging you and sitting on the warm windowsill, and sometimes he is like a goblin dragging you into the abyss.
"Wow, wow, wow" Xiaomei and Liuyu were so excited that they held hands and sobbed to each other.
So handsome! How can a man be so handsome?
"I've decided." Xiaomei, who has been a school beauty since she was a child, made up her mind, "From now on, this will be my white moonlight. I'll look for a boyfriend like this."
"Then you won't be able to find it." Liu Yu advised objectively.
"It's okay. If they are two points similar to Chunyuan, I will make an exception and admit them." Xiaomei still looked determined.
Liu Yu only realized her negligence after enjoying the entire performance.
Handsome guy misled me!
She hurriedly logged into the backstage, only to find the fan group had exploded, filled with lewd screams and outrageous comments. Liu Yu couldn't be bothered to calm them down, and hurriedly sent out the edited promotional post and pinned it to the top of the list, reminding her sisters to grab tickets for the next public performance.
"That will be the first time Treasure Hunt has seen us, so we have to go for it!"
Chen Lianqing was also making an effort. She worked as a photographer during the day and went to "New Century" at night. She understood Fu Xunyan's habits and was glad that he was not an extreme otaku. He would still go to the convenience store with his friends three days a week to rest.
So she watched the time and was always able to capture him.
Chen Lian was selecting photos. Fu Xunyan seemed to be not used to being photographed by the fans. He didn't even look back the first time, but he showed improvement after the second and third times, and would show a little bit of his profile.
Then he pointed to a nearby election officer, urging her to be careful not to get caught and have her equipment confiscated. "New Century" generally doesn't allow fans to share photos before the competition to avoid revealing their looks, but the show needs to generate buzz, so they're only half-hearted and stop anyone who takes too blatant photos.
Chen Lianqing found that she seemed reluctant to delete any photo. Even if it was a back view, Fu Xunyan's photo had a much more atmospheric feel than others.
This really seems to be a talent.
Chen Lianqing gave up and simply made a nine-square grid including the screenshots he had just taken and posted them all.
[New Century Sweetie: Ahhhhhhhh, sister, I’m hungry]
[Baby, I'm your favorite sack:! ! Sis! You're my god! This photo is absolutely amazing, so classy, it could definitely be used as a magazine cover.]
[Let’s debut as the center of Treasure Hunt! : Just one look at my treasure’s face and I can forgive my annoying boss and the garbage world.]
[Earth Crossing Line: Damn, Fu Xunyan’s strength is pretty good too. Those who say he’s not good enough are so embarrassed.]
[The Southernmost Point of the World: Yeah, from the initial uproar until now, my baby has been dedicated to getting slapped in the face, and it feels so good.]
[I'm praying for rain on Kilimanjaro: He's really strong. Even though the instructor said he wasn't good enough, I feel like that was all scripted excuses. How are his singing and dancing weak? And, don't you think his self-composed song is really amazing?]
[Australian Kangaroo: We don’t need to think about it, just look at Q Music, the song has already entered the charts, oh my god]
[New Century Sweetie: The trending search has already topped the entertainment category. Treasure Hunt has dominated both social news and entertainment right now. What a big deal.]
[Xiu-Fen, it's me: It's okay. At this rate, it won't be long before we reach number one on the overall rankings.]
Tonight, a large group of people are partying under the night sky illuminated by the city lights, and there is also a large group of people who are either ecstatic or anxious about the goods they see.
The former are ordinary people like you and me, and the latter are the manipulators hidden behind each trainee.
"Brother Li, it's a good thing we terminated our contract quickly." Li Pengcheng's subordinate Xiao Wang gave a complicated report, but soon his tone became more excited. "It's also because the new boss, Xiao Zhang, had no vision. He insisted on investing in 'Forward' and leaving our treasure hunt on the useless show 'New Century'. Who would have thought it would turn out so well?"
Li Pengcheng was serving food to his wife and children while on the phone, a smile on his face: "Yes, but Xiao Wang, you..."
"Ah, Brother Li, I know what you're going to say. My decision to resign was my own. Actually, I still think our team is more pragmatic. You know, Mr. Zhang has been taking on too much work since he took over... By the way, Brother Li, when will we connect with the new company?"
Li Pengcheng was not in a hurry at all. "Let's run the business ourselves for a while. Xiao Wang, you must hurry up with the publicity and promotion. The team we brought from the company, including you and me, consists of five people in total. Although it's barely enough for now, we must be vigilant against whether Xiao Zhang will get angry and hinder our operations, so we must pay attention."
"I will!"
"Then wait—after one public meeting, I'll release some news that he currently has no agency, and then we can find a new agency."
Li Pengcheng put down his phone. A program was playing in the background. He looked at Fu Xunyan's familiar yet unfamiliar face and sighed with a complicated feeling.
This is a big gamble, and I hope they can all get the results they want.
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