Chapter 32: Some things are better to say hello
"Actually, I'm very happy to meet you again on 'Shan Hai'. This is my first time recording a reality show, and it's an S-level variety show right from the start. The guests are all well-known figures. I've only heard of many of them and don't know any of them personally, which makes me feel a little insecure. After all, we're semi-acquaintances, so it's great to meet each other. Frankly, I feel at ease being on the same team with you."
Ren Limeng looked at Shen Xingzhi's obviously deeper gaze and smiled faintly. She pulled back her body and leaned back on the sofa naturally. The moment Shen Xingzhi lowered his eyes, a hint of cunning flashed across the corner of her mouth, and then she immediately changed to a smiling face like old friends meeting each other, expressing her feelings in a slightly casual manner, invisibly narrowing the distance between them.
These words expressing emotions are just right, half true and half false.
The recording journey of "Shan Hai" has just begun. Not only can she not offend Chen Xingzhi, who has the biggest status in the show, but she also needs to establish a good relationship with him. This will benefit her in every way and is much more important than a hot search.
After two days of probing, although Ren Limeng still couldn't figure out Shen Xingzhi's thoughts, she became more and more suspicious. Shen Xingzhi didn't seem to be as confrontational as she had imagined. He just wanted to trick her and cause trouble. On the contrary, his ambiguous attitude revealed a lot of opportunities that she could take advantage of, and it would be a pity if she didn't seize them.
She didn't care whether he felt guilty or had any other feelings, it was enough for her to use him.
She would not accept his help for free, but that did not mean she had to stay away from him and work hard alone.
Recording a reality show is not like taking an exam in school. If you just do the questions without thinking, you will never get a high score. But she will not allow herself to return empty-handed.
She pays attention to the method and manner in everything she does. She is no longer the simple and frank Ren Limeng in school.
"You really think so?"
Without waiting for Ren Limeng's reply, Shen Xingzhi held his black phone between his right index and middle fingers and shook it gently, staring at Ren Limeng, and continued to ask, "Ren Limeng, don't you really want to seize this opportunity of trending?"
"Senior, thank you so much for your kindness. It's not necessary."
This time, Ren Limeng answered very quickly. She inexplicably felt that Shen Xingzhi seemed to be relieved. He leaned back slightly, his legs naturally apart, his left hand casually supporting the armrest of the single sofa, and his right hand gently stroking the phone. His eyes finally stopped focusing on her, and he lowered his head to glance at the phone.
"So... regarding the trending search, Senior Xingzhi, how are you going to handle it?"
Ren Limeng's tone rose slightly, and her voice, pretending to be gentle, sounded pleasant. "Do you need my cooperation to clarify?"
Shen Xingzhi raised his eyes, “No need.”
Ren Limeng sat on the side with an obedient look on her face, waiting for Shen Xingzhi to continue explaining, but Shen Xingzhi fell silent. He lowered his head and looked at his phone, with no intention of speaking again.
Then what?
There were only these three big words left in Ren Limeng's mind. It was difficult for her to comment on Shen Xingzhi's concise words!
She almost couldn't hold up the carefully painted smile mask on her face. If it were in the past, she would have stood up, grabbed his collar and shook him wildly, and asked him questions!
But adults must not only know how to read people's expressions appropriately, but also know how to advance and retreat appropriately according to the situation.
There was a hint of fatigue in Ren Limeng's smile. She gently pressed her right wrist with the fingertips of her left hand, trying to dispel the soreness after training, and did not speak again.
It was already past ten o'clock in the evening. She had practiced for so long before coming to the bar, and coupled with dealing with the hot search issues, she was already exhausted both physically and mentally.
But she knew that the toughest battle had just begun, and Dong Zhu was bound to be more difficult to deal with than Shen Xingzhi.
The "fifteen minutes" that Li Ming mentioned seemed to have a multiple deviation from the actual time unit. Ren Limeng glanced at the screensaver of her mobile phone. Almost half an hour had passed, and she and Shen Xingzhi were still the only two people in the room.
The communication issues had been resolved. Instead of sitting idle in the same room with Shen Xingzhi, she might as well go downstairs to ask the amazing drummer on the first floor dance floor for advice on drumming techniques, which might also help with her banggu performance.
Ren Limeng made up her mind and just as she was about to get up and put on her backpack, she saw Dong Zhu, who had arrived late, pushing open the door of the box with an apologetic look on his face.
"Teacher Shen, Li Meng, I'm sorry, I was delayed on the way. Sorry for the long wait!"
Dong Zhu came in with a smile on her face and greeted them warmly. Ren Limeng put down her bag calmly, as if she had stood up just to greet Dong Zhu. Shen Xingzhi was still sitting comfortably in his seat. When he saw Dong Zhu come in, he just nodded lightly.
Dong Zhu is not only the group director and person in charge of Chen Xingzhi's group, but also the second person in charge of the "Shan Hai" program team besides the chief director Yao Xin. She has led many popular variety shows on Orange. Her status on the Orange platform and even in the entertainment circle is not low. If the chief director of "Shan Hai" was not Yao Xin, the maker of many hit variety shows on the Orange platform, Dong Zhu has the ability and qualifications to directly become the chief director of an S-level variety show.
Dong Zhu can definitely represent the attitude of the program team and even influence some of the program team's decisions.
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, before Shen Xingzhi could speak, Dong Zhu got straight to the point. "Teacher Shen, Li Ming has already reported the matter between you and Li Meng to me. I understand your concern, but please trust the production team. I assure you that the trending searches for you and Li Meng are not marketing created by the production team. If you look at the editing of the first episode, Li Meng doesn't have many shots. Our platform doesn't intend to promote her forcefully."
Regardless of the number of guests, it's impossible for every variety show to evenly distribute airtime to each guest. There's a lot of knowledge involved in this, and Dong Zhu's example is very convincing. It sounds very sincere.
"oh?"
Shen Xingzhi smiled noncommittally, “Director Dong, you didn’t come here just to explain this, did you?”
"This is the most important point. I think I should explain it to you face to face. As for... the trending searches, Director Yao hopes to keep them. To be honest, the backend data shows that the discussion about you on Weibo has had an unexpectedly good effect on attracting traffic to the show. Many people started watching the launch of 'Shan Hai' out of curiosity about your scandal. It's better to let nature take its course than to spend a lot of money to remove the trending searches now."
There was earnestness in Dong Zhu's voice, and her earnest advice directly and deliberately ignored the fact that Shen Xingzhi might have lost more fans than gained viewers.
After the first season of "Shan Hai", other platforms have successively launched similar competition programs. With the constant innovation, variety shows are becoming increasingly difficult to produce. The second season of "Shan Hai" has attracted a lot of investment, and the program team is also facing great data pressure.
In fact, Dong Zhu was relieved in his heart. Chen Xingzhi's agent Xu Jiao was a difficult guy. Fortunately, Xu Jiao was busy with the signing of Hanxing's new male artist recently. She had no energy to pay attention to Chen Xingzhi and did not come to Lin City with the group.
It is always easier to diligently fool an artist who has only a vague understanding of the matter than to convince a professional agent, especially since she is the one doing it herself this time.
Ren Limeng didn't say anything. She pursed her lips and looked at Shen Xingzhi quietly. Dong Zhu's eyes swept over her and then fell on Shen Xingzhi for a long time.
Ren Limeng was not Dong Zhu's focus today. Moreover, in Dong Zhu's eyes, Ren Limeng's somewhat helpless expression was obviously the first time she had experienced such a situation. The little guy with the uneasy look was too easy to control and was not worth her time and attention at all.
"Director Dong, the production team spent a lot of money to promote the trending search, but they didn't let it take its course."
Shen Xingzhi stared at Dong Zhu with a meaningful look, without a trace of inquiry, which naturally made Dong Zhu suddenly startled. She immediately realized that she had underestimated Shen Xingzhi.
The hot search for the scandal between Chen Xingzhi and Ren Limeng was indeed not the marketing that the program team expected, but they did not miss this good opportunity and pushed it to a high position to attract traffic and build momentum for the "Shan Hai" program team.
"Shan Hai" attracts too much attention from platforms and advertisers, and the premiere cannot afford to fail, so their program team must also withstand it.
"Teacher Shen, was it Sister Jiao who told you this? I'm not sure. Maybe there's some misunderstanding? I'll talk to Director Yao about this later, but this trending search is definitely not a marketing ploy we came up with."
Dong Zhu's smile froze for a moment, but the arc of her mouth immediately became wider. She met Shen Xingzhi's cold eyes with feigned surprise, and without hesitation chose to play dumb, pushing all the questions to the chief director Yao Xin. Her evasive words were full of the art of language.
Ren Limeng, who was standing aside, watched Chen Xingzhi and Dong Zhu staring at each other calmly, and was greatly amazed.
Sure enough, it is not that easy to become a big name in the entertainment industry. There is actually something behind the program crew's involvement in tonight's hot searches. No wonder Dong Zhu didn't answer her calls at first, and now his attitude is so ambiguous.
"Director Dong, I believe in you, and I also believe that the original intention of the "Shan Hai" production team is to make this variety show a success. I hope there won't be such misunderstandings in the future. Although Hanxing is not the only one of the four major agencies, and my studio is not mature, it's still better to give a heads-up for some things."
Shen Xingzhi's tone was light, but his words suddenly exploded in Dong Zhu's heart like a thunderclap. Dong Zhu's smile froze instantly. She tried very hard to control the slightly twitching facial muscles so as not to lose her composure in the box, but the turmoil in her heart could not be calmed for a while.
Shen Xingzhi gave her some face and didn't pursue the matter relentlessly, but there was a hidden warning in his tone with seriousness. Dong Zhu could only smile bitterly and nod slowly.
Yan Baiwei's agency is another one of the Big Four agencies. When Dong Zhu met with Yan Baiwei during the day, she did intentionally hint and incite Yan Baiwei. She had already expected this hot search in the evening, but she didn't expect Hanxing's public relations to be so powerful that they caught Yan Baiwei behind the scenes in just a few hours.
The four major brokerage companies that Chen Xingzhi hinted at were to save face for the program team. Dong Zhu, who represented the program team, could no longer play dumb at this moment and could only sigh secretly in his heart.
Chen Jiao is actually more difficult to deal with than before. She can quickly figure out everything behind this. No wonder she didn't come to Lin City. It turns out that everything is under control.
However, she had worked with Hanxing so many times, and it was not the first time she had dealt with Shen Jiao. She had been able to get away with all kinds of tricks in the past, but this was the first time she failed. A trace of doubt flashed through Dong Zhu's heart. She looked at Shen Xingzhi who was playing with his mobile phone nonchalantly, and her eyes unconsciously showed a hint of respect.
When I think about it carefully, is it Chen Jiao who is more powerful, or... Chen Xingzhi who has planned everything?
Ren Limeng could hear that there was something behind Shen Xingzhi's words. Although she didn't know the whole story, just by noticing Dong Zhu's unnatural expression for a moment after hearing it, she could be sure that Shen Xingzhi was already aware of the whole thing and she didn't need to worry anymore.
She finally had time to find the band drummer she had been dreaming of!
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