Chapter 25 2/4

“What?!” An Baixing almost strained his vocal cords, shouting, “What do you mean by that?! Are we not friends now?! We share the same bed, progress together, and cross the river in the same boat for a hundred years! Sleeping together after a thousand years of companionship! Even the headband on your head was put on by me, and also, your fang fell off, and I helped stick it back on!”

After a series of scoldings, An Baixing, being the mature one, forgave Jinjiu for his slip of the tongue.

“Alright, I won’t dwell on the past. Now tell me, are we friends or not?”

Jinjiu hadn’t interacted closely with anyone for a long time. He wasn’t used to it and curled up in his coat, resembling a small mushroom.

His voice was small but firm: “Yes.”

“See! I knew it. How could anyone resist my charm?” Baixing contentedly put his arm around Jinjiu’s shoulder. “From now on, you stick with me. See, even though you’re first, my votes aren’t bad either. Maybe I can make a comeback in the finals.”

Baixing indeed had the qualifications to say such things. Even the chief director, Zhou Weigang, felt that his luck was extraordinary.

They started a seemingly insignificant program, but it unexpectedly caught the attention of Sheng Quan.

Out of the randomly selected contestants, barely enough to make up 80 people, surprisingly, more than a dozen performed well, and over five displayed outstanding talents.

Jinjiu was genuinely the first, but among the remaining four, one came for the sake of face, and the other three were genuine surprises.

Baixing was one of them. In the preliminary round, he merely showcased his talent, but during the closed training sessions, he grew rapidly.

Of course, Zhou Weigang felt that this might also be due to the fact that their backstage training mentors underwent a major overhaul after the program gained popularity.

Although the live broadcast only showed the program’s on-site scenes, once the competition was over, there would be recorded broadcasts.

This was a new approach generated by the intensely competitive entertainment industry in recent years. During the live broadcast, they gauged audience interest and effects.

If the effect was good, the recorded broadcast would be significantly extended. For example, training routines, how contestants practiced, whether there were conflicts among them, or how well they got along most programs also arranged some small games during training to add interest, although these couldn’t be broadcast live and were prepared for later editing into episodes.

“Your voice budget is on the rise, but Strawberry TV doesn’t object at all.”

Because its commercial value had far exceeded the budget, right after the preliminary round, numerous advertisers waved money to sponsor the program. After the semi-finals, another batch of sponsors with money to spare flocked in.

It was easy to imagine that when the preliminary rounds ended and their TV station broadcasted the recorded shows, it would be even more lively.

Making money was secondary; what mattered was that their TV station’s near-dead situation finally saw improvement.

Even though Strawberry TV has benefited from various aspects now, the fact is that most of the profit went to them. Sheng Quan’s biggest gain was only launching Jinjiu to stardom.

She might not mind personally, but Strawberry TV took it seriously.

In cooperation, how could one side benefit while the other didn’t? Only when both Sheng Quan and Strawberry TV obtained substantial benefits could they continue to collaborate smoothly.

So, no matter what requests Sheng Quan made, Strawberry TV would wholeheartedly strive to fulfill them.

Therefore, with such a compelling backdrop, when the finals approached, Zhou Weigang temporarily put aside all other matters and pursued one thing.

“Has the approval for the applied budget been received?”

The staff responsible for budget applications hurriedly replied:

“It’s been approved, and it’s the highest budget.”

“That’s good.”

Zhou Weigang breathed a sigh of relief. This was actually their negligence. When applying for the budget, they didn’t request too high an amount initially, fearing that the broadcasting authority wouldn’t approve a high sum.

Originally, this consideration was entirely reasonable. After all, applying for a high budget for such a small talent show might arouse suspicions of money laundering.

Who would have thought that the show would explode in popularity overnight?

As a result, it led to the joke of “Sheng Dong can only recharge 100,000 for voting results.” Fortunately, netizens currently treat this as a joke, playing along without blaming the program team for inadequate management or foresight.

Even Sheng Quan, although somewhat speechless at the time, didn’t make things difficult for the program team. She just requested that they quickly obtain the highest approval.

Zhou Weigang was confident about the approval. The soaring popularity of “Your Voice” and the fact that all the voting revenue would be used for charity—only a madman wouldn’t approve it

His face flushed with excitement, Zhou Weigang said to his good friend, “In just the preliminaries and semi-finals, the total revenue has exceeded two million. If it continues this way, we might even reach over five million in the finals.”

Even though none of this money would go into his pocket, he knew that by creating such a program, his future prospects were undoubtedly bright.

To be more accurate, the future of the entire program team was shining brilliantly.

His good friend was none other than the initially intended guest, Yu Hongdou.

Yu Hongdou had some fame and a steady fan base. Originally, she came over at Zhou Weigang’s request to help him boost the program by leveraging her popularity. Unexpectedly, the program that needed rescuing became an overnight sensation.

 Not only did Yu Hongdou not need to help boost the show, but she also gained popularity herself. With her existing talent, after two rounds of competition, she had attracted a large number of fans. Now, she too was beaming with satisfaction:

“It’s more than that. ‘Your Voice’ has become a hotbed of popularity. Just wait and see. What’s happening now is just the tip of the iceberg. During the finals, many people will be willing to spend a fortune to buy fame.”

“Indeed, this is a great opportunity to showcase oneself.” Zhou Weigang had to admit that she made sense. The nature of their program, which is charity-based, was initially a unique feature. However, when the program gained popularity, the intersection of hot topics and charity changed the situation.

Celebrities engaging in charity work have always been a hot topic. Normally, their donations might be around one or two million. But in this case…

Yu Hongdou concluded, “There will definitely be people donating more than ten million.”

“Not only for gaining fame, but if the donation amount is substantial, both the voter and the one being voted for will become the center of attention. Wan Sheng behind Ma Wei won’t miss this excellent opportunity.”

“As long as they allocate a large amount to Ma Wei, he will not only become the leader in votes, causing a sudden surge in popularity, but the people behind the voting arrangements will also immediately become the most eye-catching figures in the audience. If they buy some news releases to promote it, it’s a win-win deal.”