Chapter 73: Start of broadcast

The few-minutes short preview came to an abrupt end after everyone had gathered, causing everyone to antic.i.p.ate the official screening at 6pm on Sat.u.r.day night. If there were no incidents, the clip that drew the audience's anguished wailing wouldn't match the antic.i.p.ation for Sat.u.r.day night to arrive at all.

Sun Xiang sat in front of the television with red eyes as he watched the preview broadcasted on television. After mixing around in the entertainment industry for this long, he was very clear that given the lineup and program quality, the program would definitely be popular. Watching Mu Chen and Mu Sha, who were chatting cheerfully, some resentment involuntarily took root in his heart.

If Shengs.h.i.+ had told him that they had invited the film emperor and empress, he would have come over without saying anything. Just relying solely on Mu Chen's influence would have been sufficient to propel this program.

The more Sun Xiang thought, the more fretful he became. He gave his manager a call. "Didn't you say the investment was withdrawn? Didn't you say they might not broadcast according to schedule?"

Sun Xiang's manager was also regretful to the extent that his intestines turned green. Thinking back, the notice Shengs.h.i.+ gave them at that time clearly said that there could be a delay. How was it resolved so quickly? It couldn't be that they managed to invite Yu Tang and looked down on Sun Xiang for not having powerful enough influence? The more he thought, the more likely he felt that that was the case. He immediately gave Shengs.h.i.+'s Ma Yue, who had been in charge of notifying them, a call.

"At that time, we did indeed encounter the problem of having our investment withdrawn. The original sponsor was Panda Crackers, but now it's been switched to Big Fish Small Biscuits…" Ma Yue only said this much, leaving the remaining to Sun Xiang and his manager's imaginations.

Big Fish Small Biscuit was a company owned by Yu Tang's family. Since the sponsor was swapped at the last minute, any requests from the sponsor such as bringing along the younger brother to partic.i.p.ate in the program would have to be fulfilled. Just a single statement was sufficient to evoke all sorts of thoughts from others.

"Then it's Chu Qin who dislikes me and did it on purpose?" Sun Xiang fumed with rage.

Sun Xiang's manager had been in the entertainment circle for so many years; after a moment of rage, he suddenly calmed down and immediately tugged still Sun Xiang, who was jumping around in anger. "This matter isn't so simple."

What kind of person was Yu Tang? Would he unscrupulously partic.i.p.ate in such a program? Big Fish Group was a multinational corporation. Why would the director of the greater China region, as well as the heir to the family, be so free as to come and play? It was certainly because he was a friend of Chu Qin's and thus came to save the show.

Then, there was a problem with Ma Yue, who had been tasked with informing them. As an employee of Shengs.h.i.+, if he truly had the project's best interests at heart, he should have first placated the artists the moment something happened and not blurt out the truth directly, thereby encouraging their withdrawal. However, they had only conversed over the phone so there was no evidence. Moreover, if they went to speak to Chu Qin at this moment, they wouldn't be able to avoid losing face, as if going to complain.

When all was said and done, it was them who were short-sighted.

Regardless of how angry Sun Xiang and his manager were, the program would still be broadcasted according to schedule. After releasing the preview that had hooked the audience, the guests' photos were continuously released by the official Weibo.

Zhao Xu's popularity was still decent since he had retired last year and had just obtained the national champions.h.i.+p. He wore a singlet and carried his sister on his shoulder, who was dressed in a pink dance skirt. St.u.r.dy, nice-looking muscles were revealed; his image was entirely like that of a reliable older brother.

The broadcast of

was currently very popular. It was very well-received, and everyone called Wenqing Empress. Both of them were dressed in the drama's attire and took photos with their hands linked. Anyway, all of it was Shengs.h.i.+'s a.s.sets, so the props and clothes were available; it was very convenient. When the elegant, pleasant Wenqing stood together with the delicate and pretty Wenyu, it was particularly pleasing to the eyes. Many male viewers who disliked watching entertainment programs also wanted to watch the program after seeing them.

There was no need to comment on Mu Chen and Mu Sha. The two people were originally international figures; they were both dressed in evening attire of the same color, yet their hands held onto radishes. The expensive and the inexpensive, international and domestic - this immense contrast conveyed a strange sense of meng.

Yu Tang's entire body was clad in the emperor's clothes from

while Yu Lin was dressed in apricot-yellow crown prince attire. Yu Lin, whose legs weren't as long as Yu Tang's, was pa.s.sing a lollipop to Yu Tang. As the older brother, Yu Tang really opened his mouth to bite into it. The impact of having tradition intertwined with modernity - contrasting the older version with the smaller version, made a group of female viewers go meng and clamor continuously.

The hardest to shoot was the Zhong family brothers. The two director didn't often take photos and the Zhong family's big brother never had many expressions in the first place. During the photo-taking, Chu Qin also watched on from the side. As usual, Zhong Jiabin had facial nerve paralysis. He stood beneath the light in a rather imposing manner, his gaze deep and soulful. However, he was incongruous with the natural and free atmosphere of the photo-taking venue.

Zhong Yibin walked a circle around his brother but couldn't find a suitable spot for himself.

"Why not this - Elder brother will lower his head and look at his watch while Er Bing, you leap towards elder brother from the back," Chu Qin stroked his chin and pondered carefully before offering this suggestion.

Zhong Jiabin glanced towards Chu Qin in surprise. He had never been so intimate with his younger brother before, letting him pounce on him was truly somewhat of a problem…

This train of thought had yet to end when the Zhong family's big brother felt a weight on his back. A certain suit-clad Er Bing had really leapt onto his body, pressing him down till he leaned forward. At the same time, the photographer pressed the shutter. "Perfect!"

Therefore, what the fans saw was the impeccably attired elder director brother with facial nerve paralysis and the lively younger director brother playfully pouncing onto his elder brother. Against such a big yet spoiled younger brother, the elder brother's expression was vacant.

[Heavens, elder director Zhong is so handsome. Just a single photo is enough to attract fans!]

[Facial paralysis elder brother and lively younger brother. I'm done for. I'm starting to visualize all sorts of unimaginable things!]

While waiting for Sat.u.r.day's official screening, the fans of celebrities, Shengs.h.i.+'s fans, Yu Tang's fans, as well as the pa.s.sersby who were attracted by the publicity fervently kept guard by the television to wait for the program to start.

This one week's screening time only amounted to a short four hours but filming took an entire three days.

The group of five teams got onto the plane and arrived at a touristy ancient city.

This program's objective was to display the close relations between the siblings. This sort of affection that was built up from young through quarrels was less intense than the feelings between parent and child but was more cheerful and lighthearted. In fact, it had a greater number of qualities that made the program worth watching compared to an interactive program between parent and child like

.  This was only because siblings in Korea were numerous and it lacked a feeling of novelty.

Of course, the pretext for the higher-ups' review was to 'display sibling affection and promote a two-child policy[1]'.

After alighting from the plane, Chu Qin requested for the cash and valuable items on everyone to be handed over, though he did not confiscate their phones like the typical program. After all, there were three directors here, who would still need to deal with many things from afar.

"Welcome to Haitang Ancient City," Chu Qin was wearing a red baseball cap. He held onto a red flag while carrying the microphone, just like a tour guide. "This city should be alien to everyone. According to legend, the temporary imperial residence constructed by Emperor Jingyuan lay here. Is that right, emperor?" As he said this, he looked towards Yu Tang, who had on sungla.s.ses.

"It wasn't me who built it," Yu Tang replied seriously.

The camera gave him a close-up. His eyes could not be seen as the sungla.s.ses were s.h.i.+elding them, but his expression showed that he had replied very conscientiously.

"Emperor, there's no need for you to be so serious," Chu Qin had on a face of helplessness. "This ancient city still needs to rely on the jokes to make money."

"Hahahaha…" Several people failed to hold in their laughter and the 'emperor's fans' in front of the television exclaimed loudly.

[My emperor replied very diligently, hahahaha!]

[Too adorable aoaoao!]

[Qin Qin is so honest. Don't say that, hahaha!]

To tell the truth, this was the reality. Originally, this ancient city had borrowed that t.i.tle to attract tourists. Whether it was really built by Emperor Jingyuan had not been researched by anyone at all. Hence, Chu Qin dared to say it so directly.

After the jokes, Chu Qin started to introduce the first week's rules. There would be a theme every week and the main task was to find the golden chopsticks. For every main task completed, they would receive a golden chopstick. The sibling team which obtained the largest number of golden chopsticks in the following weeks would receive the ultimate prize.

The first week's theme was called 'self-reliance'. The main task for the first half of the period was for the guests to make sufficient money within a day's time, and to then use that money to ride a vehicle to the designated accommodation. Of course, there would also be many interim tasks during this period. There would also be prizes for successfully completing the interim tasks.

"Alright, we will first need to clearly split the teams into the Bun team and Quickly Run team," Chu Qin distributed tags to everyone. The elder brothers and sisters were in the Quickly Run team, and their job was mainly to complete tasks requiring physical strength and intelligence. The younger brothers and sisters were in the Bun team and their main task was to sell meng. Those in the Bun team would all receive a tag with a bun drawn on it, as well as a bag of 'Big Fish Small Biscuit' as rations.

"Okay, Buns come over to Chu Qin gege to receive the rations," Chu Qin beamed as he carried a container of small biscuits, beckoning at the members of the Bun team.

The author has something to say:

Small theater:

Qin Qin: Want older brother to give me something to eat

Er Bing: Qin Qin gege, I'll give you something to eat!

Qin Qin: Say things clearly, it sounds very weird if you say it like that

Er Bing: Qin Qin gege, eat the stuff below!

Qin Qin: ……

[1] China has had the one-child policy inst.i.tuted since 1979 to control the size of its population. However, in recent times, the policy has undergone revisions to make it more relaxed. For more information, check out this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-child_policy

Translator's corner: Have been sick the past few days so I haven't gotten around to replying the previous chapter's comments. I promise I'll get to them soon!