Hangcheng.
Zhelan TV headquarters.
The production team and several senior executives of the television station were discussing various matters concerning the upcoming recording and broadcast of the third season of The Voice.
The program's chief producer, and also the director of Zhelan TV, Chen Anxia, was the first to open the meeting.
"Let's talk about Bai Youlou. According to what I've heard, that kid has already appeared on several programs."
The moment the director spoke, most of those present, being shrewd people, naturally understood what he meant.
Even though Chen Anxia had not stated anything outright and had only brought up Bai Youlou, everyone could tell that he wanted to use him.
As for Bai Youlou, the The Voice production team had originally wanted to let him get eliminated in the first round and leave as quickly as possible.
But because the show only had contestants turn around after hearing their voices, they ultimately decided to let him finish singing two songs before sending him off.
At first, they had even considered having one of the mentors turn around and keep him for another round, even if he sang somewhat poorly, just to capitalize on the notoriety and traffic.
Recently, Bai Youlou had been taking Long Ziqiang from one major program to another, sweeping through them while promoting their film. That was no secret anymore.
Anyone with the right connections had heard about it, and they also knew that Bai Youlou seemed to have written many high-quality original songs.
To be fair, setting his character aside, everyone felt that this kid was genuinely impressive in some ways.
They had never seen a disgraced celebrity stir up so much commotion not long after something had happened.
He had directed and acted in a film, and had suddenly become talented enough to write songs.
But even so, the The Voice production team had not originally planned to let him stay on their stage for long.
The traffic brought by notoriety looked tempting, but it carried tremendous risks.
If things went wrong, they could easily end up shooting themselves in the foot.
The program's chief director, Jing Lei, was somewhat hesitant. "Director Chen, Bai Youlou's reputation is so terrible right now. If he stays on our stage for too long, it'll definitely attract a lot of controversy."
"Director Jing, the purpose of our program is to uncover good voices, not to find paragons of virtue. We can't turn a blind eye to someone's talent just because they've made a mistake, can we?"
That sounded like something a talent scout who had recognized a rare talent would say from the heart.
How noble—refusing to let convention stand in the way of recruiting talent.
But the same statement could just as easily be reversed: they could not forgive someone's mistakes simply because that person was talented.
So here was the question: which mattered more, talent or wrongdoing?
Neither mattered!
That was why everyone else in attendance was waiting for what came next.
Sure enough, Director Chen coughed lightly. "Our rival station has been developing very rapidly these past two years. The leadership still hopes that our flagship program can achieve better results. I heard the station next door is preparing another major move."
With that, the matter was elevated to the open and covert rivalry between the leading satellite television stations.
After Director Chen said this, naturally no one jumped out to voice any objections.
Zhelan TV had always been more willing to take risks than the other stations in this regard. Put plainly, they were bolder.
Things that other stations' programs did not dare to do, they dared to do. Notorious celebrities whom others did not dare to use, they dared to use!
Not only would they use them, they would make ruthless use of them!
A male idol who had once nearly reached top-tier status was now willing to lower himself enough to appear on a competition program featuring ordinary people. Combined with the massive notoriety-driven traffic brought by his controversy, that was enough for Zhelan TV to take a good gamble.
Of course, those were the benefits brought by boldness—or, to put it another way, by nerve.
From another perspective, this approach could easily cause trouble. Its by-products included chaotic management, excessive reliance on hype, and neglect of the program itself. More seriously, it could even create safety problems.
But with online platforms rising over the past two years, life had not been easy for the leading satellite stations either. Under such circumstances, Zhelan TV had become even bolder.
Sure enough, once they decided to make good use of Bai Youlou's notoriety-driven traffic, someone immediately came up with a "crooked idea."
"Aren't we still missing one mentor? Let's invite Dong Lu directly. The program's effect will definitely explode!"
Hiss~
The moment those words were spoken, the entire meeting room was stunned.
What a talent!
Even if you dared to invite her, Dong Lu would have to be crazy to come.
At the very least, Bai Youlou had a need to promote a film, which was why he could take the initiative to appear on programs everywhere. Dong Lu, on the other hand, had already begun fading from popularity before the incident and had basically adopted a "let it rot" attitude. Only a lunatic would go on a program to get mocked—and appear on one alongside Bai Youlou at that.
Still, although this guy's insane idea was absurd beyond belief, it gave everyone else some inspiration.
Zhelan TV was, after all, a leading satellite station with extremely extensive sources of information.
"Invite Zhen Dongjun!"
"Would he come? Hasn't he had enough of being cuckolded?"
"He already ran into Bai Youlou on the stage of Tomorrow's Star Show."
The others looked at one another, speechless. This guy really has something. He's truly suited to being a celebrity—he can even take his own pain points and hype them up like this.
After a round of analysis, and after learning that Zhen Dongjun had been tricked by Tomorrow's Star Show, angrily withdrawn, and paid the penalty, the The Voice production team immediately sent someone to contact him.
He could be considered half a singer. He had released several albums that had sold fairly well and had even been part of a group.
Versatile artists like him were not uncommon in the entertainment industry. If you went back ten or twenty years, it would not even be called crossing industries—it would be called being a multi-field artist.
Thus, Zhen Dongjun had achieved some success in the music world. Inviting him to be a mentor was not entirely absurd, and at least it was not completely unrelated.
In any case, the The Voice stage already had a megastar, industry veterans, and popular singers. If Zhen Dongjun could come, he would complete the final piece of the puzzle.
The hype specialist!
Not the usual kind involving a female celebrity, but a ridiculous CP between Bai Youlou and a fellow victim—a cuckold and a blondie!
Just imagining it was explosive! Wouldn't the traffic soar?
After broadening their horizons, the The Voice production team even felt that the programs that did not dare to use Bai Youlou were truly timid, especially Tomorrow's Star Show. They had failed to seize such a good opportunity.
As for whether Zhen Dongjun would accept—
They might as well give it a try. Their production team was still fairly sincere. They would not pull any surprise attack and leave Zhen Dongjun, the victim, awkwardly stranded onstage.
If they were going to do it, they would do it with a script!
That was where the program effect came from!
Once they confirmed that they would "make heavy use" of Bai Youlou, The Voice clearly began charging headlong in an increasingly uncontrollable direction.
As for Zhen Dongjun, who received the invitation, his feelings were rather complicated.
He had never imagined that, one day, the way he received a show offer would be so bizarre.
His agent was furious. "Brother Zhen, we can't accept this offer! If we do, we'll become a laughingstock! And wouldn't that mean everything we did with Tomorrow's Star Show was for nothing? They even paid us the penalty."
"Of course I know what will happen if I accept." Zhen Dongjun did not finish his sentence. He merely reached into his pocket and felt the USB drive inside, his expression shifting unpredictably.
"Then shall I turn them down for you?"
"Wait."
Zhen Dongjun rubbed his head and stared at the photograph of himself with his wife and child on the desk, as if he had fallen into a trance.
The next second, he smashed the photograph against the floor. The frame shattered into pieces.
"Bitch!"
"Brother Zhen." His agent wanted to offer a few words of comfort, but as he looked at the cracked frame, he genuinely did not know what to say.
Should he really say: If you want your life to go smoothly, you have to wear a little green on your head?
Lies did not hurt people. The truth was the sharpest blade.
That kind of dirty joke could only be made with someone who had not been cuckolded. Try saying it to a guy who really had been betrayed and see what happened.
But at that moment, as the agent looked at the smiling, radiant face of Dong Lu in the photograph, he suddenly felt that the face he had once thought bright and dignified now seemed inexplicably more flirtatious.
"Reply to The Voice. I'm accepting!"
He was really accepting?
The agent froze for a moment. For some reason, a line popped into his head, one he came up with on Zhen Dongjun's behalf:
Bitch, even when I go on a show, I can run into the man who slept with you!
Twice!
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