Chapter 15 Character Design
Qu Mingyuan's office.
Secretary Sun knocked on the door and came in. She first gave a macro-level report on the preliminary data since the project was launched, including feedback from several major sponsors. Everything was progressing steadily as expected.
Qu Mingyuan sat behind his large desk, his long fingers flipping through a document. Hearing this, he didn't look up, but simply nodded slightly: "Continue to follow up."
"Yes." Secretary Sun bowed slightly and turned to leave.
How's the live stream going?
A clear voice sounded from behind, and Secretary Sun immediately stopped and turned around, smoothly reporting the data: "As of now, the total number of viewers has exceeded five million, with the peak of interaction occurring in the first ten minutes. The main traffic is concentrated on the Nebula and Whale platforms."
Qu Mingyuan's gaze remained fixed on the document, and he nodded slightly in response.
Secretary Sun left the office, but returned a moment later, this time with a tablet in her hand.
"Director, this is the main entrance to the live broadcast room. I've taken the liberty of opening a different camera angle. If you need to understand the situation on site, you can switch to different camera angles at any time."
The office was so quiet that you could hear the faint sound of papers turning.
Just when Secretary Sun thought he wouldn't get a response, he heard a barely audible voice say, "Just put it here."
"Yes." Secretary Sun gently placed the tablet on the corner of the desk, adjusted the angle, and then neatly withdrew.
As soon as the door closed, Qu Mingyuan finally looked up from the documents. He took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and his gaze inadvertently swept over the tablet screen.
In the scene, Ling Wei is reaching into the mission box.
She was wearing a casual baseball uniform today, with her ponytail tied high. Qu Mingyuan's gaze lingered on the screen for a moment before he finally reached out and took the tablet.
Outside the door, Secretary Sun strode around the corner, finally unable to resist clenching her fist and silently pumping it – yes!!
He should have realized that someone who could get the director to make an exception and personally arrange the subsidy application must be someone he pays special attention to. Now that he has figured out what the leader is thinking, a promotion and a raise are just around the corner.
Mom and Dad, our ancestral graves are about to emit auspicious smoke!
Inside the live stream, Ling Wei's hand seemed to be casually rummaging through the task cards.
She had asked the system to show her what the task cards contained as soon as she learned about them, since some tasks had hidden pitfalls, while others could trigger different effects.
The system accurately reported the location in her mind: "The fifth one from the left."
Ling Wei flicked her fingertips, precisely pinched the card, deftly pulled it out, and held it directly in front of the camera.
"Let's see what tasks we drew?" she asked casually.
Zhao Xiaohe, who was standing next to her, leaned over and read out the words on the card word by word: "Call, Mom, Mom, and tell, I, am, on, TV!"
This was originally a simple and heartwarming interactive task, designed to bring the audience closer and win their favor through loving interactions between family members.
However, after the card was read aloud, the members of the Light Chasing Girls fell silent, exchanging glances with somewhat ambiguous expressions.
Off-site coordinator Xiaoqi sensed something was off and couldn't help but whisper through the camera, "What's wrong? Is there... a problem with this task?"
Ling Wei: "Would Grandma be okay? I only have one grandma at home."
Zhao Xiaohe scratched his head: "I was raised by my uncle. My parents passed away early."
Sha Jing spoke succinctly, her voice flat: "My mother started a new family with someone else when I was six years old. I... don't have her phone number."
When it was Ye Zhen's turn, her cool, fox-like eyes narrowed slightly as she asked, "Is stepmother any good?"
Xiaoqi: "..."
She suddenly felt as if an arrow had pierced her chest, and a strong sense of guilt welled up inside her.
The person who wrote this task card and the person who decided to put it in deserve to die!
Clinging to her last glimmer of hope, she looked at Lu Xiaoxiao, the seemingly carefree face of the team.
Lu Xiaoxiao blinked her big, innocent eyes, like a doe's, and said obediently, "I have a mother!"
Xiaoqi instantly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a sense of redemption for her conscience.
Then Lu Xiaoxiao took out her phone, skillfully dialed a video call, and the moment the call connected, she sweetly called out to the screen:
"Dean Mama!"
Xiaoqi: "..."
Please, you must be mispronouncing it. You should be calling her "Headmistress Mom" or "Academician Mom," right?
However, fate seemed not to hear her prayers. A gentle, middle-aged woman's voice clearly came through the phone, along with the background chatter of many children cheering her on: "Go, Xiaoxiao!" "Xiaoxiao is the best!"
The live stream chat exploded at this moment:
"My God! Five people can't even make up one biological mother?!"
"What kind of hellish difficulty mission card is this?! Production team, you know how to use precision strikes!"
"Damn! I came for their looks, but now I'm crying my eyes out! What a beautiful, strong, and tragic combination!"
"Dean Mom... I'm so upset! Xiaoxiao is such a little angel!"
"Zhenzhen's question, 'Is stepmother any good?' is both inexplicably funny and heartbreaking. She's clearly a pampered young lady..."
"Daughters, don't be afraid! I may not have a biological mother, but I'll have plenty of 'mommy fans'! From today onwards, I'm your internet mom!"
"Girls chasing the light, go for it, Moms! (This 'Mom' refers to all the 'Mom fans')"
Off-camera, Xiaoqi tried to salvage the situation with a dry voice: "I'm sorry... it was our oversight. We didn't do sufficient background research beforehand, and we didn't consider things carefully enough. I'm very sorry..."
Zhao Xiaohe waved her hand dismissively and said casually, "Oh, it's nothing! When I participated in talent shows before, the producers specifically told me to talk more about my family's difficulties, so the judges would remember them~"
She chuckled after she finished speaking, revealing two small dimples.
Ling Wei immediately coughed lightly and took over the conversation: "What the producer means is that real experiences are the most touching. Thank you all for your understanding and support all this time."
The comments section immediately erupted in laughter:
"Hahaha, Vivi's trying to save face!"
"Captain: This is so hard for me."
"Xiaohe is such an honest child."
"Help! What an adorable contrast!"
On the other end, Lu Xiaoxiao was interacting with the director and children on the other side of the screen with a smile on her face.
After practice last night, Ling Wei called them to the living room to give them pre-competition training: "The essence of idol economy is emotional economy."
“This competition has never been just about singing and dancing skills from the beginning.” Ling Wei looked around at her team members. “For ordinary viewers who don’t follow celebrities, it’s hard to make them really like you just by relying on stage performance.”
"The live broadcast stage of the variety show is the key. If the audience develops feelings of 'this kid is really good' for someone in the variety show, then when it comes to the stage performance, even if there are flaws in the performance, they will see it as something cute like 'not perfect but very hardworking'."
“This is the ‘family filter’,” Ling Wei emphasized. “What we need to do is create this emotional connection between audiences of different ages right from the very first step.”
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