Did Tang Zhi Chu not know how he felt? Zhou Yun thought he did.
She didn't want to admit it, but the guy was smart. He was nothing like the adorably foolish Yang Jia Xing, a rich second-generation heir.
What Zhou Yun didn't understand was that, aside from his lack of cooperation at first, the two of them had gotten along pretty well.
If he knew, why was he going along with it?
Zhou Yun didn't believe for a second that this guy could like her.
"Are you setting me up?" Zhou Yun suddenly asked.
Tang Zhi Chu froze. "What are you talking about?"
Zhou Yun turned to look at Tang Zhi Chu. The shadow of branches crossed her fair face as they passed beneath a streetlight. Her wide eyes were filled with suspicion and wariness.
"Tang Zhi Chu, I made you climb that mountain for your own good. I wanted you to realize that your stamina is worse than a woman's and that you should work out more. Look, I didn't even make you join the cycling activity at the end. That wasn't unreasonable, was it?"
Zhou Yun would never admit she felt guilty, but she had to make things clear. Who knew if this guy might get even with her some other way?
"You can get back at me if you want, but play fair. Don't go too far!"
Tang Zhi Chu laughed and simply said, "Help me put together a dance routine."
While Tang Zhi Chu and Zhou Yun were on their date, the key creative staff of season seven of Heartbeat had gathered for a meeting.
Heartbeat had run into an unexpected problem.
Li Hong Zhou, the show's Chief Director, was listening to several producers air their complaints.
"Director Li, I've always said we should only invite people with simple backgrounds. Young people's love stories should start simply. We could always add other segments to make things more interesting. I'm worried we'll end up repeating history if things go on like this."
"Exactly, I feel the same way. But we've already started filming. We can't just scrap it and start over, can we? Honestly, there have been some surprises so far, but I can't see how we're supposed to wrap this up."
"The newcomers can't come now. Can six people carry the show? We should hurry up and find replacements!"
The reason they were arguing was that one of Heartbeat's new guests—the two men and women who were supposed to move into the house in the next couple of days—had been exposed in a scandal.
Dating shows traditionally had eight participants. They had run into a similar situation while making season four.
One of the women had been exposed as a homewrecker right after filming wrapped.
The entire production team had to work overtime, cutting every scene connected to her. In the end, the show was left a complete mess.
From season four onward, Heartbeat had been on a steady decline, gradually losing ground in the dating-show market.
This season had been a struggle from the start. When the project was first proposed, the higher-ups had rejected it. It was only after Chief Director Li Hong Zhou went around lobbying that it was finally approved.
But this season was different from the previous ones.
What had Li Hong Zhou done?
He had reached out to several major entertainment companies, hoping they would send people to the show. He needed their support; it was the only way the project could get approved.
That was how Chen Si Yang joined.
Since Chen Si Yang was coming, they couldn't just pick ordinary people, could they?
So wealthy heir Yang Jia Xing joined, along with Huang Ze Jun, the owner of an influencer agency, and Jiang Lan, a beautiful businesswoman in the food industry.
And Zhou Yun? She had a somewhat unusual background too.
What about Tang Zhi Chu? He did as well. DY had recommended him.
The other newcomers all had special connections, too.
It was precisely because of these connections that the higher-ups had taken notice and decided to go ahead with season seven. At the very least, those people could help promote the show, which would save them a lot of trouble.
But that left the producers in a difficult position. Quite a few of these people had special backgrounds and their own agendas. The people behind them had demands, too, and would even send someone to review the footage.
The producers couldn't arrange things or edit the footage however they liked.
That made their jobs difficult, and some of them were still completely overwhelmed.
So they were resentful toward Li Hong Zhou.
As it happened, less than a week after the production team announced the new male guest, someone exposed him as a sleazy womanizer who was dating several women at once.
The producers took the opportunity to gang up on Li Hong Zhou.
Li Hong Zhou stayed quiet at first. Once they had finished, he spoke up. "This show is difficult. I know that, and you know it even better. If we lose the show, I'll be fine. The higher-ups gave me two scripts to choose from, and I have a backup plan of my own. But I'm not ready to give up."
"You all know what makes dating shows great: they're cheap to produce and generate buzz on their own. How many shows have lasted seven seasons? Why can't we do it anymore? Have you really thought about it? Have we become timid? Scared? Too cautious?"
"When something goes wrong, everyone tries to pass the buck, and then we get more and more conservative. I remember you were the ones who said we should pick people who'd never been in a relationship for season five, right? And how did that go? Sure, it was safe. But what about the ratings? A bunch of people like elementary school students sat around talking about love. It made my skin crawl. If all we're supposed to do is avoid mistakes, then don't you think that's setting the bar too low?"
After Li Hong Zhou gave them a thorough dressing-down, everyone fell silent.
He looked around before speaking again. "I put this season together myself, and I'm not panicking. What are you all panicking for? Now that the show's already getting attention, true or not, send both newcomers packing. They can deal with their own problems. We'll just film with six people. Is that really so hard?"
One producer said quietly, "Actually, six people should be fine. It'll mean a lot fewer demands."
Another producer chimed in. "That could work. Zhou Yun asked Tang Zhi Chu out. That gives us a storyline."
The discussion started up again.
After going back and forth, they realized their original plan—building the story around a particular pairing—was falling apart. They were out of ideas.
The female lead was obviously Chen Si Yang, and they had originally planned to pair her with Yang Jia Xing.
There was no question about Chen Si Yang. Yang Jia Xing had a good background and a decent personality, too.
But then Tang Zhi Chu had made a surprise comeback. Not only was he getting closer and closer to Chen Si Yang, but Zhou Yun had also ditched Yang Jia Xing and started spending time with Tang Zhi Chu.
Li Hong Zhou rubbed his temples, then tapped the table. "Then let's focus more on Tang Zhi Chu and Chen Si Yang. Also, can any of you get Tang Zhi Chu to sing on the show?"
When he saw everyone looking at him in confusion, Li Hong Zhou sighed. "I just don't get it. Isn't Zhou Yun beautiful? Isn't Jiang Lan attractive? And don't even get me started on Chen Si Yang, who's already trended online just for her looks. How has he managed not to show off at all?"
That just didn't make sense to Li Hong Zhou.
In that kind of setting, and at his age, wouldn't a normal person show off his singing talent right away? Even if he liked men, there were Yang Jia Xing and Huang Ze Jun.
One of the producers interrupted. "Director Li, you can't blame him entirely. He hadn't even had a chance to show what he could do before he won Chen Si Yang over, and Zhou Yun came to him on her own. Honestly, we're just as puzzled."
"Don't even mention it. Some of the camera crew have come to talk to me about it several times. They're insanely jealous."
Li Hong Zhou glared. "Do you think you need to remind me? Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't care whether he sang or not. The problem is that DY keeps pressuring us. They have only one demand: Tang Zhi Chu has to sing a song on our show. Nothing's happened yet, and now they think I'm suppressing him. What, am I crazy? Why would I sabotage my own show?"
"Don't worry, Director Li. We'll think of something."
Thanks to everyone for the recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, and thanks to (Duì Wèi) for the 1,500-coin tip.
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