Chapter 801: Targeted
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“That’s fine,” said s.h.i.+ Shulei, “They’ve fallen so far from grace. Even if they broadcast at the same time as us, we have nothing to fear.”
As soon as s.h.i.+ Shulei finished speaking, he was stunned for a moment. Grabbing Zhang Zhisheng, he asked, “Zhang, do you think the way I reacted just now sounded just like Ge Guangzhen?”
“ah?” Zhang Zhisheng did not know what s.h.i.+ Shulei was talking about.
“Aiya!” s.h.i.+ Shulei explained, “Wasn’t Ge Guangzhen arrogant like this before our show was broadcast, when we had just started recording? He thought we’d never beat him and looked down on us.”
“Tjust disparaged Singing Voice too, and thought it would not be be able to beat us,” said s.h.i.+ Shulei.
“think… it’s quite different.” For a moment, Zhang Zhisheng was not quite sure how to respond.
He pondered for a while, then said, “Back then, both variety shows hadn’t been broadcast yet. They were both at the recording stage. Ge Guangzhen became proud and confident solely on the basis that Singing Voice had done well for the first three seasons. He a.s.sumed that this season would do well too.
But we’re different. Right now, only the last episodes of both shows are left, and the disparity in results is as clear as day. Isn’t it obvious who will do better for the last episode’s final battle night?”
“Moreover, like Tan Mo said, each season of Singing Voice had been worse than the last. Yet Ge Guangzhen remained confident that we would not surpa.s.s him. That was not confidence, it was arrogance,” Zhang Zhisheng said, “It was completely different from you.”
In his heart, s.h.i.+ Shulei told himself that not only should he be careful of inflating himself in future, he should also be wary of Zhang Zhisheng’s sugar-coated words.
“Anyway, if I’m ever over-confident like this again, please remind me,” s.h.i.+ Shulei said. “No matter how bad a rival program is, even if it can’t be compared to our program at all, we mustn’t be so conceited. Ge Guangzhen is still learning his lesson! He must be the b.u.t.t of all jokes now.”
Zhang Zhisheng was thinking that he would not dare remind s.h.i.+ Shulei of such a thing.
s.h.i.+ Shulei glanced at him and said, “You need not have any reservations. Any time you remind me of this, I won’t get angry. Don’t worry. On the contrary, if you don’t remind me and I only realize it later, I’ll get angry then.”
“Just like this time. Fortunately, I figured it out on my own. Otherwise, that would be too scary,” s.h.i.+ Shulei said.
“..”. Only now, did Zhang Zhisheng nod, “Okay.”
At this moment, Liu Jingfu walked in.
“Director s.h.i.+, a.s.sistant Director Zhang.” When he saw that Zhang Zhisheng was also there, Liu Jingfu greeted him too.
“Til leave first then,” Zhang Zhisheng said.
“I’s nothing confidential. Since a.s.sistant Director Zhang is also here, why don’t you listen together? I had also planned to look for you, after speaking to Director s.h.i.+,” Liu Jingfu said.
So Zhang Zhisheng stayed.
Liu Jingfu began, “I have yet to receive the list of guest co-singers for the four partic.i.p.ating guests. But I heard that Singing Voice has made a last minute change to the format of its final battle night – to be exactly the same as ours. They usually invite guests only during a mid-season segment. But for
final battle night, they’re inviting another round of guests.”
Of course, Singing Voice could not be accused of copying I Sing.
If they were being honest, Singing Voice had actually come up with the idea of guest co-singers first.
But while both programs utilized guest co-singers, the formats were different.
However, Singing Voice had now selected the same format as I Sing.
And this had not been decided from the start.
It was changed at the last minute.
So it was very likely that I Sing had specifically been targeted.
s.h.i.+ Shulei thought to himself that even if Singing Voice changed its format to be identical to theirs, it would still be no match for them.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, s.h.i.+ Shulei was taken aback.
He did not have a good heart, he was being arrogant again.
He frantically recited silently to himself, “Don’t be arrogant, don’t be arrogant,” as he looked at Liu Jingfu and said, “If it was just this, you wouldn’t have needed to come to me.”
Liu Jingfu nodded, “Ge Guangzhen doesn’t want to seen as carrying our name and brand either. So although there will be guest co-singers, they will not be friends invited by the partic.i.p.ating guests. They will be invited as guest performers using the clout of the program team. They will perform
collaborations with the partic.i.p.ating guests, as well as solo. Ge Guangzhen has given them very generous appearance fees.”
“A few of the guests have a lot of fans. So it’s highly likely that they will draw away a large portion of our viewers during the live broadcast,” Liu Jingfu continued.
“Therefore, ‘d like to see the guest list on our side,” Liu Jingfu explained. “We’ll need to be prepared in order to determine the most appropriate promotional strategy.”
Before s.h.i.+ Shulei could instruct him, Zhang Zhisheng replied, “Tl chase them again.”
As expected, the guests had all encountered difficulties.
Peng Yunning told them, “I had initially invited Teng Xiaojia.”
Teng Xiaojia was a very popular singer. She had good singing ability, and had sung the theme songs of many recent movies and television series.
“She had already given me her word, but then went to sign a contract with Singing Voice,” Peng Yunning said helplessly. “She said they had made her a high offer, and she couldn’t refuse. What could I have said? I can’t possibly fall out with her over this.”
They would still need each other’s help in the industry in future.
Unless one party had deliberately schemed against another, they were not likely to fall out with each other easily.
“Have you found anyone else then?” Zhang Zhisheng asked.
“Ihave. I contacted Li Mengfei and she agreed to partic.i.p.ate,” Peng Yunning said. “I was just about to contact you. The program team had better quickly contact her and sign the contract, to prevent anything unexpected from happening again.”
Peng Yunning could see that Singing Voice had been deteriorating, and was being crushed by I Sing.
Singing Voice was now putting everything on the line.
It was planning to go all out for the last episode.
No matter what, it had to raise its popularity and reputation.
Otherwise, it could forget about having another season.
“Okay,” Zhang Zhisheng took note. “Thank you for your hard work. I’ll arrange for someone to contact her right away.”
After hanging up, Zhang Zhisheng had someone contact Li Mengfei.
Zhang Zhisheng then went to contact the other guests.
Other than Tan Jinsheng, whom he had yet to contact, the guest co-singers of the other three partic.i.p.ating guests had all been poached by Singing Voice.
One of the guests, s.h.i.+ Mengqiao, complained, “Is Singing Voice really planning a final battle night for its last episode? It looks to me like they’re trying to organize an annual gala event instead!”
s.h.i.+ Menggiao had also invited another guest. But like Peng Yunning, the second was not as good as the first.
It was difficult to find someone at such short notice.
The guest had to be well-known and available.
A less well-known guest would not be of any help to the partic.i.p.ating guest on the show. It would be as good as not inviting anyone.
Lastly, Zhang Zhisheng asked Tan Jinsheng.
He had high hopes for Tan Jinsheng.
With Wei Zhigian and Tan Jingi behind him, Tan Jinsheng could not possibly have had his invited guest stolen by Singing Voice.
Before contacting Tan Jinsheng, Zhang Zhisheng reported the situation to s.h.i.+ Shulei first.
“Ge Guangzhen did it on purpose. Out of so many singers, he deliberately targeted the invited guests of I Sing,” Zhang Zhisheng said angrily..