Chapter 293: A Ratings Myth

After Zheng Quan returned to his office, he called Ke Ming at the first opportunity.

"Hello, Director Ke, are you busy?" Zheng Quan asked.

"Not too bad, not too bad. Does Director Zheng have something on his mind?" Ke Ming asked.

He had been coordinating with many companies and teams recently, drawing up a list of replacement Singers, which was no secret in the industry.

Therefore, this dog of a director knew very well why Zheng Quan had come knocking.

Zheng Quan's tone was cheerful, yet there wasn't the slightest smile on his face as he said, "Haha, naturally I'm calling to congratulate Director Ke on your new variety show being a big hit again!"

"Not at all, not at all." The dog of a director began to act humble.

As he spoke, he gave Zheng Quan an opening to continue the conversation, saying, "If we could have a Singer from your Pineapple participate, it might just be even more explosive!"

Of course, this kind of talk was just casual chatter; whether it could actually be negotiated was another matter entirely.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Quan immediately said, "Aside from offering my congratulations, I am reaching out to Director Ke because President Wang is interested in having one of the company's Singers participate in your program."

"Oh? And who would that be?" Ke Ming asked.

"Chun Xiao!" Zheng Quan said only two words.

"Hmm!?" Ke Ming was startled upon hearing this.

Chun Xiao!?

The most lackluster Diva in history, Chun Xiao!?

To be honest, this program is called *Masked Singer*, not *Masked Song King*, which indicates that its positioning is not aimed at big-name Singers.

If the first episode hadn't been explosive enough, Ke Ming would have at most invited a few second-line Singers.

This program is too flashy and gimmicky; it is simply not meant for big shots to play around in.

Big shots have popularity, status, and drawing power—what the hell do they need to wear a mask for!

The essence of this program lies in letting a bunch of minor Singers compete in masks, while we deliberately assign them the identities of big shots.

It saves money and is easy to use.

Ke Ming's budget this year will definitely be more heavily focused on pouring resources into the second season of *King of Love Songs*.

But if Chun Xiao wants to come, Ke Ming is absolutely ten thousand percent willing.

Even if she is a 【Diva in Name Only】, she is still not someone an ordinary first-line Singer can compare to.

"It's just that having such a big-name Singer condescend to participate in my variety show—why does this feeling seem so familiar..." Ke Ming thought to himself.

He remembered the Ordinary Heavenly King Zhao Xueqin who had previously come to participate in *King of Love Songs*.

At the thought that Pineapple was preparing to have Chun Xiao participate this time, a voice emerged in Ke Ming's heart:

"Congratulations to Luo Mo Studio!"

Ke Ming and Zheng Quan chatted happily and finalized some of the details.

But when Zheng Quan asked for the contact information for 【Earth】, Ke Ming immediately began playing dumb, stating that he didn't know who 【Earth】 was either.

"You know how it is, when we produce variety shows, we definitely contact the Singers directly, along with the teams and companies behind them. As for the Lyricists and composers, that's their business; we don't coordinate with them," Ke Ming lied through his teeth.

Zheng Quan pressed, "Then could Director Ke tell me in private which Singer 【Superstar】 actually is? Don't worry, I'm a person who keeps his mouth shut; I definitely won't leak it."

"This..." Ke Ming began to feel troubled.

Seeing that he was unwilling to say, Zheng Quan had no choice but to drop it.

"Looks like I'll have to think of another way," he thought to himself.

Ke Ming, meanwhile, thought: "If I told you that 【Superstar】 is Li Junyi and 【Earth】 is Luo Mo, would you still dare to let Chun Xiao participate in my program?"

"Hmm? Would you dare!?"

For the sake of tricking a trashy Diva... pfft, I mean, for the sake of making an excellent program! Even if I, Ke Ming, have to lose a little bit of my integrity, I won't regret it!

Of course, I definitely won't lose all of my integrity.

At the very least... I won't tell Luo Mo that Chun Xiao is coming to participate in the program, so I'll keep it mysterious for you all too!

Ke Ming felt he had balanced the scales perfectly.

"I really am a good director with principles," Ke Ming thought.

On the other side, our other up-and-coming director, Luo Mo, was preparing for the sequel to *Celestial Sword*, which is *Celestial Sword 3* from Earth.

The theme of *Celestial Sword 1* was 【Fate】, while the theme of *Celestial Sword 3* is 【Reincarnation】.

Whether it is the three-lifetime love between Jingtian and Xuejian and Long Kui, or that of Xu Zhangqing and Zixuan, everything revolves around the theme of 【Reincarnation】.

From a timeline perspective, *Celestial Sword 3* actually takes place before *Celestial Sword 1*.

It tells the story of 50 years prior.

However, this is the worldview and timeline from the game; the drama version didn't fully adopt it, making it feel more like an independent story.

After all, in *Celestial Sword 3*, Li Xiaoyao even made a "cameo" appearance, and logically speaking, he hadn't even been born yet in this timeline...

Luo Mo had already finished the script for *Celestial Sword 3*.

As the saying goes: I just used everyone else's Coffee-drinking time to type.

It's just that this world doesn't have the game as a foundation, so it certainly wouldn't be easy to call it *Celestial Sword 3*, or else it would feel strange.

Luo Mo would choose a different name when the time came.

Just like *Celestial Sword 5*, which didn't make much of a splash before, was called *Cloud of Mortal*.

Speaking of which, the ratings for that drama, compared to the previous ones, could be described as a cliff-like drop.

Aside from preparing for *Celestial Sword 3*, Luo Mo had two other things to attend to.

The first was to continue his life-simulation game—*Feeding the Diva*.

His relationship with Xu Chujing remained firmly in the ambiguous stage, and it had a tendency to become increasingly ambiguous.

The two of them actually both had a tacit understanding; it was just a matter of who would be the first to pierce that layer of membrane.

Luo Mo felt that this kind of thing should be done by the man.

It was just that this sort of thing required a catalyst, a suitable opportunity, and he was still in the midst of capturing that opportunity.

Aside from this matter, the second thing was to follow the National Theatre of China to conduct a stage play tour and polish his acting skills.

With Luo Mo acting as the go-between, the National Theatre of China also agreed to let Xu Chujing join in and participate in the tour.

For this reason, the stage play team even specifically assigned the two of them a couple's role.

The stage play everyone was performing was called "Tomorrow's Flowers".

In this romance-themed stage play, there were a total of three couples: a youth couple, a middle-aged couple, and an old age couple.

Yet the stage play team did not arrange for Xu Chujing and Luo Mo to play the youth couple, but instead had them take charge of the middle-aged couple's scenes.

In the past, after Luo Mo finished cooking at Xu Chujing's home, it was sometimes inconvenient to stay long, as he had no excuse.

Now, however, they could use the excuse of rehearsing lines to stay together until late at night with a tacit understanding.

In terms of stage plays, Luo Mo actually had a greater advantage than Xu Chujing.

Because he had rich experience in Opera, his foundation in lines and his ability to convey emotion were stronger than Xu Chujing's.

In the stage play, there were also many stage movements, so some physical contact was unavoidable.

"Let's take a break." After rehearsing for a while, Luo Mo was a bit tired.

Xu Chujing nodded. Wearing her loungewear, she sat cross-legged on the sofa, then turned on the television and started playing the latest episode of "Celestial Sword 5".

In this episode, Li Xiaoyao and Lin Yueru finally followed Jiu Jianxian to Mount Shu.

The past events regarding Jiang Ming on Mount Shu would also be unveiled from here on.

At the same time, the two of them would also go to the Lock Demon Tower to rescue Zhao Ling'er.

The Jiang Ming arc in "Celestial Sword 5 1" still left a deep impression on many viewers.

One reason was that Hu Ge had actually gone to audition for Jiang Ming at first, but later, because of a remark from "Little Aunt" Deng Jiajia: "Are you Li Xiaoyao?", he was chosen for the role of Li Xiaoyao by a twist of fate.

Another reason was that Jiang Ming was simply too strong; he went on a killing spree in the Lock Demon Tower, almost wiping out Mount Shu and nearly causing a generational gap.

The Sword Saint was still just a little brat at that time, so he did not enter the Lock Demon Tower and escaped a disaster.

Xu Chujing was watching the content of "Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan" with great interest.

Although the General Director and the lead actor were sitting right beside her, she would not seek out spoilers.

It was just that the romantic scenes inside made her feel slightly uncomfortable, and she usually skipped them at double speed.

Moreover, she had several times turned on double speed right in front of Luo Mo, pulling the ambiguous atmosphere to the max without concealing her attitude at all.

This plot segment of heading to Mount Shu could be said to be something viewers had been looking forward to for a long time.

Xu Chujing had also long been itching with anticipation.

And this plot segment was indeed filmed well, with a great feel, providing a large number of iconic scenes.

On Earth, Jiang Xin, who played the fox demon, could be said to be at her peak of beauty in this plot segment.

In recent years, the "Pure Desire Style" has suddenly become popular, but looking back at "Celestial Sword 5 1" now, if the fox demon in this isn't "Pure Desire Style", then what is?

It's the absolute ceiling of "Pure Desire Style", okay!?

Seeing Xu Chujing watching with such interest, Luo Mo really couldn't bear to tell her that from this plot segment on, it was going to be a non-stop tragedy.

"Celestial Sword 5" actually had quite a few tragic plot segments earlier on as well, especially the various human-demon romances.

But the main cast being "stabbed" one after another truly began from this Lock Demon Tower arc.

Start by "stabbing" the second female lead to practice the "stabbing" technique!

Luo Mo could already foresee that when Lin Yueru met her tragic end, as the screenwriter, he would probably be cursed to high heaven, right?

"I have to say, the internet is a double-edged sword."

"Because of the internet, anyone who isn't happy with me can come to various social media platforms to curse me a few times."

"But if there were no internet, and everyone had nowhere to vent, they would all be doing it for real!"

In his impression, things like mailing razor blades were just child's play.

For example, when Jin Yong was writing the Dragon Knight plot, his newspaper office suffered quite a bit.

The next day, "Celestial Sword 5" once again climbed onto the Weibo Hot Search list, and many media outlets spontaneously promoted it again.

The reason was simple: as the highly anticipated plot content gradually unfolded, and with viewers having developed the habit of watching, increasing viewership stickiness, the ratings for "Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan" on Octopus TV officially broke 1 yesterday!

The ratings reached as high as 1.09!

It overtook "Thirty Only", which was in its final stages.

Among the various data released by the 【Television Network】, "Celestial Sword 5 Qixia Zhuan" reached the top with a strong performance.

This show actually created a ratings myth on local television stations outside of the three major satellite channels!

(PS: First update, asking for monthly tickets!)

(End of this chapter)