4:10 PM, seventh floor of the Kiwi Fruit headquarters building.
“Good afternoon, Teacher Chen.” Director Liu Yang of the third group of 'the adventures' looked at Chen Fang's face with a mix of love and hate.
The show 'the adventures' wasn't very popular. Agreeing to Chen Fang's participation was, firstly, to give Jia Kang Entertainment face, and secondly, because being infamous is still a form of fame. With him, the show's hot search numbers could double. The first episode's content was traditional culture, so the audience shouldn't be able to scold the production team.
The Director, holding a file, pointed to a distant brown wooden door, “Let’s go to conference room 702. There are four people in a group. Only Zhao Jin has arrived so far; the other two will be here soon.”
Chen Fang had looked at the profiles of the other celebrities in his group that afternoon.
Zhao Jin started as a child star and is currently 19 years old, a sophomore at Capital Film Academy. She has participated in many TV dramas, often playing the role of a top student or a younger sister, and has won a New Generation Actor Award. She is considered a professional actress. Her participation in this variety show is clearly to increase her exposure, gain audience favor, and further secure film and television resources.
“Okay.” Chen Fang took two steps forward.
“Wait,” the Director quickly followed, a strange glint in his eyes, “I’ll go now too.”
The Director thought he had hidden it well.
But—
A clear voice echoed in Chen Fang's mind: 【Liu Yang Negative Emotion Value +101】
“Okay.”
Chen Fang agreed indifferently.
The Director was a good person, attentive to the artists' safety, and even enthusiastically thought Chen Fang was a pervert.
Chen Fang followed him to the conference room door, and they both opened it.
Inside the conference room, Zhao Jin, dressed in a light blue dress, sat at a table by the window, quietly reading. The setting sun cast a soft glow on her long black hair.
There was a sense of serene beauty, enough to instantly become the moonlight in countless boys' hearts.
Chen Fang stood at the doorway and slowly raised his hand.
“The light is so dim, it’s hard on your eyes to read. Turn on the light, it’s not like it costs your money.”
With a click, the light turned on, illuminating the conference room.
【Zhao Jin Negative Emotion Value +251】
Chen Fang was slightly stunned. No way? Is turning on the light wrong?
Forget it, if one person hates me, it's their problem. If a group of people hate me, then they must know each other. living is already difficult; if you can blame others, don't blame yourself.
Zhao Jin took a deep breath, forced a smile, and looked up.
Is it possible that the cameraman went to the restroom, but the video camera was still on, and she was posing as per her manager’s instructions!
She had just adjusted her angle, pulled out a strand of hair, and struck a pose, intending to provide a picturesque, glowing, atmospheric video for post-production.
Then Chen Fang burst in, bringing bright LED light that illuminated her face and dispelled the three-dimensional shadows!
Zhao Jin suppressed the resentment in her heart, stood up, and looked at them with a smile, “Hello, Director Liu, hello, Teacher Chen.”
“Hello.” Chen Fang nodded, sensing a hidden agenda in her smile. He caught a glimpse of her knuckles turning white on the hand holding the book. After a moment of hesitation, he sat down two meters away, diagonally opposite her.
Although he didn't know what she was angry about, a book was a good thing—when open, it could purify one's own mind; when closed, it could purify the other person's head. It was better to keep some distance.
Ten minutes later.
The photographer, Director, and other staff members arrived.
Soon, a slightly plump man walked in, smiling innocently, resembling Weslie from 'Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf', “Hello everyone, I’m Pan Pengpeng.”
Chen Fang remembered this person; he was a new comedian who was witty on stage but very socially anxious off stage. He was probably kicked out by his master to this show to toughen up.
“Please sit,” the Director said with a smile.
Pan Pengpeng looked at the empty seat diagonally opposite him, hesitated for a moment, then sat next to Chen Fang.
As soon as he sat down, a tall, well-built man in a casual suit walked in, looking aloof, “Good afternoon, everyone.”
With that, he sat down opposite Chen Fang and gave him a slight nod.
Chen Fang returned a smile.
This was an old acquaintance, Xie Yunxuan, who had debuted in the same music talent show as him, ranking 9th. He and Qi Jun, who ranked 2nd, both came from Guangying Entertainment.
Idols all have core personas to fulfill fan fantasies.
Xie Yunxuan's persona was that of a cold, high-achieving student who loved sports. Whether he was truly cold was unknown, but he was indeed a score-obsessed person. After every vote during the talent show, he would check the results countless times, even memorizing the votes of the top twenty in each stage.
However, he seemed to only engage in his own dark, twisted struggles and hadn't pulled any dirty tricks behind the scenes, at least Chen Fang hadn't discovered or heard of him causing trouble.
With everyone present, the Director began the meeting, saying:
“Before we discuss the theme, I’ll reiterate the rules.”
“For our first episode, we’re inviting 12 celebrities, divided into three groups, to spend half a month experiencing and learning a traditional culture that originated in the Qing Dynasty or earlier.”
“After half a month, the production team will initiate an online vote. The group with the highest popularity will directly advance to the second episode and each person will receive a mysterious reward.”
“The production team has provided 30 reference options for everyone. Next, on behalf of the production team, I will discuss and decide your cultural experience project with the four of you.”
The assistant handed four files to Chen Fang and the others.
Chen Fang took the file.
This parallel world was largely similar to his previous world. Historically, everything before 1900 was basically identical, but the early 20th century began to diverge.
While the political and technological fields were fine, the cultural field showed significant differences, and the closer to the present, the more pronounced the differences became.
Although his memory contained many music and literary works from this world, they felt like a strange, veiled distant relative to him.
In contrast, these traditional cultures on paper gave him a sense of hometown familiarity.
Chen Fang collected his thoughts and focused on the file.
On the paper, 30 cultures were broadly divided into five categories.
First were handicrafts, such as wood carving, sword forging, oil-paper umbrellas, bamboo weaving, and ancient soybean milk making.
Second were folk arts and performances, like shadow puppetry, Sugar painting, and iron flower smashing.
Third was traditional medicine, like cupping and traditional Chinese acupuncture.
Fourth were music and instruments, such as the morin khuur and Dong ethnic group's pipa songs.
Fifth were others, including ancient tea making and ancient soy sauce brewing.
Scanning to the end, Chen Fang couldn't help but exclaim, the production team must have a master of cultural programs in charge, right? To dare to list so many types and even propose filming 10 of them indicates extensive connections and rich experience.
It's just a pity that these things lack a gimmick, no wonder they need celebrities to attract attention.
Xie Yunxuan spoke first: “Teacher Zhao and Pan Laoshi don’t know music, do they? We don’t need to consider the fourth item, music and instruments. I think ancient tea making is quite good.”
Zhao Jin brushed her bangs, “We have to consider the audience size and aesthetic appeal, right? Ancient tea making… might have a relatively small audience.”
Pan Pengpeng flipped through the pictures, “As for aesthetics, what about iron flower smashing?”
“No, I…” Xie Yunxuan paused, “As celebrities, we have to be responsible to our fans, right? We can’t risk damaging our image.”
“How about Sugar painting? We can even sell them on the street after we make them.” Zhao Jin tilted her head slightly and smiled, “Sugar painting can be made into all sorts of shapes. We can make some interesting ones to create buzz. For example, this year is the Year of the Snake, so…”
A golden long snake appeared in Zhao Jin’s mind, and the latter half of her sentence just couldn’t come out.
Xie Yunxuan frowned slightly.
She really was an amateur, did she really think this was just about completing a task? Participating in variety shows is, of course, about showcasing one’s image, boosting popularity, increasing exposure, and even expanding one’s network. To put it bluntly, we go on variety shows to display our persona and selling points.
Sugar painting—what kind of persona can that showcase? Ha, she just thinks about eating, drinking, and having fun, with no business acumen whatsoever.
Seeing Xie Yunxuan’s expression, Zhao Jin slowly lowered her head, pursed her lips, and continued flipping through the materials.
The conference room fell silent.
Half a minute later, Zhao Jin mused that Chen Fang had the highest status here, and though he had fallen, his experience remained. She tentatively asked, “Brother Chen, do you have any thoughts?”
Chen Fang closed the file, “Our first task is to promote culture, and the second is to win votes in the competition. Every culture is a treasure, with no distinction of high or low. We just need to consider attracting the audience.”
Hearing his words, the Director's expression was complex.
To speak of utilitarianism so freshly and elegantly?
Chen Fang noticed his expression and shrugged, “These are my true feelings, aren’t they? It’s all the wisdom and hard work of our predecessors!”
“Yes,” the Director smiled helplessly.
Chen Fang continued, “Then we’ll directly consider attracting the audience. To attract the audience, we need contrast and a gimmick.”
The other three nodded.
“So… does anyone have any ideas?” Chen Fang blinked, looking at the three and the Director with an innocent expression.
Zhao Jin’s gaze swept over the cultural projects on the material, and suddenly her eyes lit up. She raised her index finger, “Traditional Chinese acupuncture?”
“In 17 days, we won’t even be able to locate acupuncture points, right? We can only observe, not actually perform the needling.” Pan Pengpeng looked troubled and turned to the Director, “Director Liu, may I ask what the other two groups chose?”
The Director shook his head mysteriously, his face clearly saying “no comment.”
Zhao Jin frowned and murmured, “It needs to attract a lot of people, have a gimmick, have contrast, and we need to personally experience and learn the culture within 17 days. It’s so difficult.”
“I have a very good suggestion,” Chen Fang said.
Zhao Jin and the others looked at Chen Fang.
Seeing his bright smile, Zhao Jin guessed he was about to suggest a project like dragon dancing. She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to propose a reasonable project.
However, the next moment, Chen Fang opened his mouth and uttered a string of words that stunned her—
“Corpse Driver, Xiangxi Corpse Driver.”
“Corpse Driver?!”
【Pan Pengpeng Negative Emotion Value +101】
【Zhao Jin Negative Emotion Value +201】
【Xie Yunxuan Negative Emotion Value +666】
【Li Fugui Negative Emotion Value +421】
A series of sounds rang out, and Chen Fang instantly felt refreshed.
My goodness, so many people haven't heard of Xiangxi Corpse Driver?
Then I must really fleece them!