Chapter 302: Up Up You Go Variety Show
Truth be told, due to the rapid development of the Internet, many down-to-earth newspapers that focused only on digging out the truth would face the harsh reality of being eliminated from the market.
Time Entertainment, which had been contacted by Sheng Hua, was the best example. It enjoyed a good reputation in the industry but had a poor sales performance.
When Chen Ming, the editor-in-chief of Time Entertainment received this call from Sheng Hua, he was excited. After all, this was a great business opportunity to promote their company, as well as a good opportunity for him to launch a variety show with the t.i.tle “Up Up You Go”.
This was a win-win situation for both him and Sheng Hua.
Therefore, after Sheng Hua ranked the five candidates of the compet.i.tion, Fu Zhi, Jiang Zong, Gu Yan, Lu Yubai, and Xia Tian, according to their overall scores, Chen Ming immediately used their official account on Weibo to publicize the variety show and successfully created a commotion across the internet.
There were a lot of comments under the topic “Teaser for the upcoming five-day variety show, Up Up You Go”.
[This is so annoying. I don’t want to see Fu Zhi in a major international friendly match at all, okay?]
[Think about it, guys. Fu Zhi’s name was placed in front of Gu Yan’s. It seems like the a.s.sociation has decided to make Fu Zhi the team leader!]
[That Fu girl reminds me of the notorious Fu Corporation. I wonder how many evil strings she has pulled behind the scenes to become the team leader. I feel so bad for Gu Yan for having a leech like Fu Zhi around her.]
[Oh! This is so exciting! I can’t wait to see that Fu girl get her face slapped by Gu Yan!]
The crowd was divided on the matter of Fu Zhi occupying the leader’s role. What Chen Ming needed was the traffic brought by the teaser and the friendly match with Country R to get better ratings when he invited other celebrities or ordinary but talented people to the show.
The idea was good, but what made Chen Ming worry the most was the venue. It was a low-rated hotel, and it was too late to apply for more funds to build a temporary set.
Just as he did not know what to do, he received a loving phone call from the vice president of the FZ Research Inst.i.tute.
*
Therefore, while all the people were looking forward to the exchange match with Country R, Chen Ming took his team to Yu City to start the live broadcast on the condition of the five partic.i.p.ants the next morning.
Before the plane took off and arrived in the capital, the atmosphere was still warming up, and there were not many people in the live-streaming room.
Chen Ming would first give each partic.i.p.ant 10 minutes to introduce themselves. After all five partic.i.p.ants gathered, he would spend three more days shooting their daily life and one day filming the situation of the compet.i.tion.
Due to the hot topics on Weibo, Chen Ming personally took the reporters to the Lu Mansion.
“Just act normal. There are not many people in the live-streaming room yet, so don’t feel too nervous.”
Gu Yan nodded after she heard what he had said. Then, she hopped into a car and made a beeline for the airport.
Lu Yumo took out his worn-out little pinkish bike and insisted that Fu Zhi sit on the backseat no matter how many people asked him to drop the thought of taking her to the airport on that bike.
When she looked at Lu Yumo’s eyes, which were sparkling with excitement, there was nothing Fu Zhi could do. She let out a sigh and hopped onto the bike.
It took one about 40 minutes to go from the Lu Mansion to the airport by car. Lu Yumo had forgotten when was the last time he had ridden a bicycle. No sooner had he gotten halfway through the journey than he began to regret his decision and cried out loud, “Both of us should be crying in the BMW!”
Fu Zhi was speechless.
‘What a gold-digger!’
However, on second thought, Fu Zhi found this normal. After all, if he did not like money, then he would not be her brother anymore.
On the other hand, Chen Ming knew that Fu Zhi was the main focus, so he asked his staff to focus on Fu Zhi after the other four partic.i.p.ants finished their introduction.
Lu Yumo was pretty nervous, for this was the first time he was getting filmed while riding a bike. His movements stiffened, and all he thought about right now was how to make himself look good and handsome on camera. He’d immersed himself so deeply into his own thoughts that he had forgotten about his sister by the time they arrived at the airport.
Fu Zhi was looking at her phone. Xu Wei had already sent her luggage to the airport, so she said, “Mom said that after we—”
However, before she could finish her sentence, she felt a gust of wind whistle past her ear, followed closely by a long leg.
There were a lot of people in the airport, and many of them slowed down their pace at that moment.
Everyone in the live-streaming room had seen with their own eyes that while Lu Yumo had been getting off the bike, he’d swept his leg toward the back. Even though Fu Zhi had raised her arm to shield herself, she had still been kicked to the ground by Lu Yumo’s leg.
Fu Zhi was speechless, the netizens were stunned, and Chen Ming was shocked.
...
Was Lu Yumo cool?
Well, without a doubt, the way he got off the bike was pretty cool, but that was only if there was no one sitting in the back.
The live-streaming room fell silent, and after 30 seconds that felt like an eternity, a flurry of bullet comments filled the screen.
[Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!]
[Ha ha ha ha! What the f*ck is that! Oh my, I love this brother so much!]
[Did this dude forget that his sister was sitting in the back? What if she got a concussion due to the impact? Are you going to be held responsible if she loses the compet.i.tion?]
[This is so d*mn hilarious! Her family members are really one of a kind!]
[I’m really speechless. Why does this director only focus on Fu Zhi? How about the other partic.i.p.ants? I’m not here just to watch Fu Zhi! I’m going to exit this live-streaming room if he doesn’t stop featuring only Fu Zhi!]
Lu Yumo did not know what was going on in the live-streaming room. He only knew that he was going to die soon. He hastily went over to help his sister up from the ground and apologized. “Zhizhi! I’m so sorry about that! I didn’t mean it! I... I... I...”
Fortunately, Fu Zhi had been able to grab the back seat in the nick of time, so she had not fallen too hard on the ground. She looked her brother in the eye and, with a faint grin tugging at the corner of her lips, she said simply, “You’re done.”
“...”
Feeling aggrieved and sad at the same time, Lu Yumo did not dare say anything else and went to help Fu Zhi get her luggage.
The atmosphere in the live-streaming room had changed. It had been very tense, and everybody’s nerves had been tightly wound since the beginning, as they were worried about the condition of the partic.i.p.ants. However, after the interaction between Fu Zhi and Lu Yumo, the atmosphere slowly lightened up, and all of them began to tease Fu Zhi. That said, the lively atmosphere did not last long, and they all went back to throwing shade at Fu Zhi once again.
Sheng Hua gathered all the partic.i.p.ants and started a roll call.
“Zhi... Fu Zhi, why did you bring so many suitcases with you?” Sheng Hua’s expression changed when he saw the four big suitcases and the bag beside Fu Zhi.
Then, he looked at the other three partic.i.p.ants, especially Lu Yubai, and suddenly thought of something. The corner of his mouth twitched.
As if she knew the things going on in his mind, Fu Zhi said, “I promised to become the team leader, but you guys didn’t pay me a cent. I don’t have money to buy new clothes, so I had to bring all my belongings with me.”
Truth be told, the government had previously promised to give her half a million yuan, but she still had not received a single cent. She just did not feel compelled to urge the government to fulfill its promise due to their relationship, but the Physics a.s.sociation was a different case. She had no relationship with them whatsoever.
Lu Yubai laughed until he nearly pa.s.sed out. The corner of Sheng Hua’s mouth continued to twitch, and suddenly, he gnashed his teeth, pulled a bank card out of his wallet, and said exasperatedly, “I will pay you a deposit first, and the final payment and interest will be given to you after the compet.i.tion.”
The atmosphere in the live-streaming room became tense once more.
[How dare you ask for money? You should feel privileged for being chosen to honor your country. Please, I beg you to learn some good virtues from our country’s researchers. Nearly all of them are indifferent to fame and fortune!]
[She’s a good-for-nothing. All she’s ever good at is taking money from others, so how could you compare her to the likes of researchers? She disgusts me so much!]
[But... Master Sheng Hua seems to hold her in high esteem. Also, do you guys still remember the Han Wei incident not long ago? All news of the incident has been deleted, so maybe most people have already forgotten about it... Could I be the only one who thinks Fu Zhi is more capable than Gu Yan?]