Chapter 160: You Dare Stop Even the Station Director? (A Double-Length Chapter)

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The next day was the day The Singer would officially begin recording.

After yesterday’s rehearsal, the production team was no longer particularly nervous. Having made every possible preparation, they waited patiently for ten o’clock to arrive.

Chen Qi had scheduled the recording for ten, with an estimated duration of three hours.

Shortly before nine, six brown vans assigned to transport the guests slowly entered the television station, one arriving roughly every three minutes.

“All departments, take note. Guest Number One is about to enter.”

As the first van drove into the station, Su Xiaoxiao’s voice rang out through the walkie-talkies of the staff.

“Copy!”

“Copy!”

The responses were brief and crisp.

Before long, the vehicle carrying Qin Mengxue came to a steady stop in front of the VIP entrance.

The cameraman who had been waiting there hurried forward.

The door opened, and Qin Mengxue stepped out and headed straight for the VIP passage. Guided by several men in black, he quickened his pace toward his waiting room.

Once they had escorted Qin Mengxue inside, two of the men in black closed the door and stood guard outside like stone guardians.

At Chen Qi’s instruction, they were not allowed to enter or leave at will until the recording was over.

Upon entering the waiting room and finding it completely empty, Qin Mengxue was a little bewildered.

They just dumped me here? Not even someone to explain things?

Curious, he looked around.

The waiting room could hardly be called luxurious, but it was clean and orderly.

The first thing he noticed was the monitor mounted opposite the sofa. It displayed a live feed from the recording studio.

Having participated in quite a few programs, he immediately understood its purpose. Being able to watch the other singers’ performances from the waiting room eased his mind somewhat.

At least he was not completely in the dark. He could learn who his opponents were as soon as they appeared.

He slowly sat down on the sofa. Seeing the tea, washed fruit, and beverages arranged on the table in front of him, he could not help smiling.

They had certainly prepared everything quite thoroughly.

Then, as if remembering something, he raised his head and looked around. Sure enough, he spotted the two cameras mounted on the walls, both aimed directly at him.

He smiled and waved at them, paying no mind to whether anyone was watching from behind the lenses.

In the recording studio, Chen Qi, who had been watching the monitors, smiled as well.

Because preparations had been rushed by the limited time, and because he was not on particularly good terms with the television station’s hosts, he had abandoned the management style used by the original Earth version of the program.

Giving up that approach had cost the show a tiny bit of spectacle, but it did not affect the overall result, so he simply let it go.

Let the singers be a little lonely. Perhaps they preferred the quiet.

…

“Guest Number One has arrived at the waiting room.”

Su Xiaoxiao, who was coordinating the singers, received the report soon afterward.

“Copy. All departments, prepare to receive Guest Number Two. Guest Number Two is expected to arrive in three minutes.”

“Copy!”

“Copy!”

Under Su Xiaoxiao’s careful arrangements, all six singers entered the building within half an hour.

Not a single mistake was made.

And no one knew who their opponents were.

“Boss, all six singers are in position.” Su Xiaoxiao informed Chen Qi immediately.

“Good. I know.” Chen Qi acknowledged her, then picked up his walkie-talkie and asked Qi Qi, “Qi Qi, how are things with the audience?”

Short-handed, he had assigned temporary duties to both Qi Qi and Zhang Yichi. There was no helping it. He simply could not bring himself to entrust such crucial work to outsiders.

“We’re still missing thirteen people.”

“Don’t wait for them. Start letting the others in.”

“All right.”

Soon afterward, the audience began entering.

These five hundred spectators were extremely important, because they would be scoring the singers. The power to decide who advanced and who was eliminated lay entirely in their hands.

They had been selected by Tang Yan of Tiantian Music.

Half a month earlier, Chen Qi had contacted her and asked her to use the company’s system to select more than five hundred active users from different age groups.

The reason he had asked for more than five hundred was that he feared some might be unable to arrive on time for one reason or another. The venue could accommodate a few dozen extra people anyway. He could simply arrange for only the first five hundred to have voting rights.

When Tang Yan heard that he was producing a program, she agreed without hesitation.

It was no difficult task for them—just a few lines of code.

Under their arrangements, invitation messages were sent directly to nearly a thousand active users in the capital, disguised as a special giveaway.

A chance to visit the television station and hear famous singers perform live, along with gifts and cash prizes!

Faced with such temptation, the overwhelming majority of those who received the invitation replied that they would attend.

…

“Does everyone understand the program’s voting rules?”

Outside the studio, Qi Qi, acting on Chen Qi’s orders, was making one final confirmation with the audience members, all of whom had already signed confidentiality agreements.

She had just finished explaining all the precautions.

“Understood!”

“Good. Please enter in an orderly fashion.”

She signaled to the men in black, and the entrance doors immediately swung open.

“Wow!”

“Wow!”

At the sight of the dazzling studio, nearly every audience member let out an involuntary cry of amazement.

Wasn’t this stage far too magnificent?

At that moment, the same question arose in everyone’s mind.

What kind of program was this? How had they not heard even the slightest rumor about it?

Many of them instinctively reached for their phones to take pictures, only to remember, once their hands reached their pockets, that all such devices had already been collected by the men in black outside.

…

While the entire production team was making its final preparations for the recording, the television station was equally bustling.

Everyone already knew that The Singer was about to begin official recording.

When the station staff discovered that Chen Qi had actually invited members of the public to attend, they were so furious that they gnashed their teeth.

Was this even something a human being would do?

Why were those people allowed to watch the recording while they were not?

Wasn’t this blatant discrimination?

Wasn’t it?

The people who had offended him were those hosts, not them. Why take his anger out on them? What had they done wrong?

Watching the emotionless men in black, the station employees were livid.

They were practically on the verge of tears.

If Chen Qi had not publicly spouted all those outrageous boasts, they might have let it go.

If he had not made those grand claims, they certainly would not have spared this lousy program a second glance. Even if he had invited them to watch the recording, they would not have wasted their time.

But he had said those things.

After whetting everyone’s appetite, he had blocked them outside the door…

Even more baffling was the fact that the program was now about to begin recording, yet Chen Qi had not mentioned the matter of a host again.

…

The deputy station director’s office.

The deputy station director was busy with something when her assistant reminded her that The Singer would begin recording in fifteen minutes.

After checking the time, she rose and headed toward the station director’s office.

She had arranged to watch the recording of The Singer with the station director.

Not long afterward, the two of them appeared on the floor where The Singer was being recorded.

Then they were stopped.

“Sorry. Please show us your identification.” One of the men in black reminded them without expression.

The deputy station director froze slightly and stared at them in astonishment.

The station director was stunned as well, but he quickly recovered and began surveying the surroundings with a genial smile.

Several employees passing nearby could not help twitching at the corners of their mouths when they saw the scene.

At that moment, they nearly wanted to give Chen Qi a standing ovation.

He had even stopped the station director from entering! That was truly impressive!

“This is the station director and deputy station director,” the deputy station director’s assistant rushed forward to explain.

“Sorry. Director Chen instructed us that no one may enter or leave without identification.” The men in black, who did not recognize either executive, remained dutifully unmoved.

They had been hired by Chen Qi from outside. They did not care who was station director and who was not.

Chen Qi was the one paying them, and Chen Qi was the only person they obeyed.

“You…” The assistant’s expression shifted at the cold response. She was about to reprimand them when the deputy station director spoke.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t make things difficult for them.” She smiled and waved a hand, then explained to the station director beside her, “It’s all for the sake of keeping the program confidential. Chen Qi said that much of the information cannot be leaked before the broadcast. He says those secrets are among the program’s biggest attractions.”

The station director smiled and nodded without saying anything. It was impossible to tell whether he was upset.

The deputy station director said nothing more. She simply took out her phone and called Chen Qi.

Two minutes later, many people watching from outside saw Chen Qi rush out from within like a gust of wind.

“Oh, Station Director, I’m terribly sorry. I had no idea you were coming.” Chen Qi immediately lowered his posture and apologized.

It was his first time meeting this exceedingly shrewd station director.

The deputy station director’s call had genuinely startled him. He had never imagined that the station director himself would come.

Seeing that Chen Qi’s attitude was beyond reproach, the deputy station director, whose heart had been hanging by a thread, quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Some of the employees gathered outside, however, looked thoroughly disdainful.

At that moment, they held Chen Qi in utter contempt.

They had thought he was so fearless that he would dare to keep even the station director outside. But it turned out he was just another spineless coward!

“It’s fine, it’s fine.” The station director smiled and waved a hand, apparently not taking offense.

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Chen Qi also secretly let out a sigh of relief and led them toward the studio.

As he passed the men in black, he could not help feeling both amused and exasperated.

Good grief, they had nearly gotten him killed.

If he had not personally hired every one of them, he might have suspected that Deputy Director Wu had planted them as undercover agents.

They had stopped the station director?

Did they understand nothing about human relationships and social etiquette?

To put it mildly, they had given him quite a fright.

Those powerful figures who had occupied high positions for years cared most about their dignity.

And they had done it in front of so many people. Did they want him dead?

The station director still held the power to decide who would get the coveted Friday time slot.

That was why, the moment he received the call, Chen Qi had rushed over with such immediate obedience.

Fortunately, before coming to this world, he had already spent two years learning to navigate society. Otherwise, if he had used the walkie-talkie to tell the men in black to let them through, he might have lost any chance at the Friday slot…

No matter how brilliantly a program was made, if certain aspects of the work were mishandled, it would all be for nothing.

After enthusiastically escorting the station director to the studio and arranging an excellent viewing position for him and the deputy station director, Chen Qi finally returned backstage.

The little incident had delayed things, and it was already two minutes past ten.

Chen Qi did not mind. This was not a live broadcast, after all. Starting ten or twenty minutes late was no great problem.

He even rested backstage for another two minutes before ordering the recording to begin.

“All departments, get ready.”

“Could the audience please remain quiet? The program is about to begin recording.”

“Ten!”

“Nine!”

“Eight!”

As the countdown began, the six singers in the waiting rooms suddenly grew tense as well.

They had been lounging casually against their sofas, but the moment they heard the countdown, they all unconsciously sat upright and instinctively turned their eyes toward the television screens in their rooms.

It was rather amusing. They had already completed the rehearsal for the program, yet they still did not know its actual rules.

“…Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the final second of the countdown elapsed, a surging musical score rang throughout the studio. At the same time, dazzling lights burst to life, shifting through several patterns within the span of a few seconds.

“Whoa—”

The audience almost instinctively cheered, swept up in the electrifying atmosphere.

Even the station director and deputy station director could not help looking up. Though they had seen their share of grand occasions, a trace of surprise still showed in their eyes.

Whatever else might be said, the stage effects were truly impressive.

“Did he really not arrange for a host?” the station director suddenly asked the deputy station director beside him.

“No.” She shook her head.

Since it had been agreed from the outset that Chen Qi would have complete authority over the program, and since she had not interfered in any of its affairs, she actually knew very little about it.

Fortunately, after asking that one question, the station director said nothing more. He merely turned his curious gaze toward the stage.

He seemed eager to see how Chen Qi intended to solve the problem of having no host.

And he was not the only one wondering.

The deputy station director, Su Xiaoxiao, and the entire production team of The Singer all turned their eyes toward the stage.

They, too, wanted to know how a program without a host would begin.

Amid the booming music and dazzling lights, the stage soon dimmed.

The entire studio instantly plunged into darkness.

The audience fell silent.

The quiet was so complete that one could hear a pin drop.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

At that moment, an unhurried set of footsteps echoed in everyone’s ears.

A spotlight suddenly illuminated the stage. In its faint glow, the audience could make out a figure slowly emerging from backstage.

Nearly everyone instinctively craned their necks.

The singers in the waiting rooms were no exception.

The two fixed cameras installed in each waiting room captured their expressions in full.

As every footstep from the stage seemed to strike directly against the audience’s hearts, the corners of the deputy station director’s mouth curved upward.

She felt that Chen Qi truly had a talent for suspense and atmosphere.

The opening itself appeared to require no particular technical skill, yet it had successfully aroused everyone’s curiosity.

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