First Broadcast

They heard that when he had confronted the traffickers, one of the criminals had even pulled out a homemade gun...

Seeing the students in the classroom whispering curiously among themselves, Song Huaiyan smiled kindly. She gently patted Lu Heng on the shoulder and said warmly, "Everyone, give our new classmate a round of applause and let him introduce himself."

Lu Heng instantly came back to himself and said, "Hello, everyone. I'm Lu Heng, fourteen years old, from Lu Family Village in J City, Northeast China. I'm very happy to be here studying with you."

The students below all stared at Lu Heng with sparkling eyes. When they realized he had nothing more to say after that one sentence, they immediately cried out in disappointment, "What? That's it? You should tell us what you like, your talents and hobbies, that sort of thing."

"Exactly! That was way too perfunctory. At least tell us which celebrity you like."

"You know martial arts, right? You're even a year younger than us. How did you train to become so good?"

"Great hero, which school do you hail from? State your master's name!"

"Give us a performance! How exactly did you take down those traffickers?"

Lu Heng was slightly surprised. He had not expected these classmates to have such lively, uninhibited sides to them. They were nothing like in his previous life, when everyone had been busy studying, conducting experiments, and organizing their own club activities, rushing about so frantically that they seemed unapproachable.

Perhaps Lu Heng had remained silent for a little too long. Song Huaiyan, standing beside him, mistakenly assumed that the young hero was still not used to the environment here. She smiled understandingly, placed both hands on his shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze as though encouraging him, then suggested loudly, "How about this? Shall we have Lu Heng give us a talent performance?"

"Yes!" the students below answered in unison.

Song Huaiyan looked at Lu Heng with a smile. "What do you think?"

For an artist, performing was never something difficult. But a talent performance during morning class... Lu Heng glanced around the front of the classroom. The space was too cramped to move around in, so boxing was definitely out. That left singing and the like...

Lu Heng blinked. As someone reborn from sixteen years in the future, most of the songs in his head were popular hits from later generations. Even for somewhat older songs, he could not remember whether they had already been released by now. It would be troublesome if he casually sang a song that did not yet exist.

After thinking it over, Lu Heng said, "How about I sing a segment of Peking Opera for everyone?"

"Peking Opera?" The teachers and students throughout the room, Song Huaiyan included, could not help looking at one another.

They simply could not imagine Lu Heng singing opera with such an old-fashioned air!

First Broadcast

According to the production team's original plan, filming for the first episode of Exchanging Lives was only supposed to take around ten days. Including the travel time back and forth, it would not have taken more than half a month. This arrangement had mainly been made to rush the schedule, so the show could smoothly take over in early June from Shi Dian Talks Gossip, Huaxia TV's ratings champion talk show.

Unfortunately, no matter how thoroughly Wei Linxuan had planned things, he had never expected Lu Heng to expose a child-trafficking ring while waiting for a train at the station. Nor had he expected what appeared to be an ordinary trafficking case to involve such extensive connections, forcing the entire production crew to remain in J City for more than ten days while the police carried out their operation.

Although the company and production team had promptly adjusted their promotional strategy after Lu Heng signed on, allowing Exchanging Lives to explode in popularity before airing by riding the wave of the major trafficking case, the fact that the crew's stay in J City had delayed filming was indisputable.

According to the company's plans, Exchanging Lives was originally meant to replace Shi Dian Talks Gossip, which aired every Saturday night at ten on Huaxia TV. That program had been one of Huaxia TV's flagship shows and the national ratings champion among similar programs.

Shi Dian, the host, had studied broadcasting and hosting at Yanjing Media University. After graduating, he had turned down invitations from numerous media outlets and magazines, heading alone to a gossip newspaper in Hong Kong to work as a paparazzi reporter. Over four years, he rose from paparazzo to magazine editor-in-chief, then resolutely resigned and returned to the mainland, where he applied for a position as an entertainment producer at Huaxia TV.

A year later, the ambitious Shi Dian won the favor of the channel's executive producer, who promoted him to host Ten O'Clock Talks Gossip.

Thanks to his years as a paparazzo, Shi Dian knew the gossip surrounding most artists in the industry inside and out. He had also absorbed the sharp, cutting style of Hong Kong entertainment magazines. When commenting on entertainment news, he was not only quick-witted but also humorous and well-read, winning widespread praise and enthusiasm from viewers. His ratings climbed again and again, directly breaking the record for that time slot and claiming the top spot. Seeing this, the company simply renamed Ten O'Clock Talks Gossip to Shi Dian Talks Gossip, creating a win-win model of brand recognition.

Unfortunately, the good times did not last. During the turmoil when Star Entertainment spent heavily poaching talent, Shi Dian—every bit as hot as the industry's most sought-after hosts—was poached as well. He went to Starlight Television, under Star Entertainment, to host Shi Dian Talks News. Not only did he leave Shi Dian Talks Gossip hanging without a host, he openly went head-to-head with his former employer, catching Huaxia Imperial Entertainment completely off guard.

The replacement host they hastily found was not capable enough either. His clumsy imitation only turned what had been an entertaining gossip interview program into something as long-winded and boring as a lullaby. The ratings plunged again and again, dropping straight from first place to 0.12%, while its reputation among viewers suffered defeat after defeat. Considering media criticism and the impact on the company, Huaxia Imperial Entertainment had no choice but to swallow its pride and pull the program off the air.

The Exchanging Lives reality show Wei Linxuan proposed at this critical juncture was intended to replace the soon-to-be-cancelled Shi Dian Talks Gossip and officially premiere in early June.

There had originally been plenty of time to produce the program, but Lu Heng's unexpected complication had delayed the schedule. It was now May 26, yet filming for Exchanging Lives in Beijing was not even half complete. The company was deeply troubled over the replacement program, which was why Wei Linxuan had rushed back to Beijing overnight—to use the existing footage for an initial round of post-production editing and ensure that after Shi Dian Talks Gossip was taken off the air, Exchanging Lives could smoothly broadcast the first half of its first episode in the first season.

June 1 was not only the official Children's Day, but also the first Saturday of June. After dinner, most families across the country gathered in front of their televisions, watching dramas while waiting for Exchanging Lives to begin.