Chapter 699: Keep Them Dragged Along

After hearing Director Chen's words, Li Dongliang nodded slightly.

The singing-based stage, he had basically given up on that.

Luo Mo had emerged out of nowhere a few years ago, and then led the music scene, which had been in constant decline, into a new era.

Li Dongliang's goal was to bring the standard of the singing-based stage at this year's gala up to the average level of galas before Luo Mo's debut...

As for programs like comedy sketches and dance performances, Li Dongliang was still quite confident.

After all, the resources that CCTV could access were the most top-tier in the entire country.

For instance, the comedy sketch Actors with the most fame currently, as well as those who perform crosstalk, were all under Li Dongliang's command.

Most of the most outstanding dancers in the country were the same; they all came to CCTV to sign up.

These people had originally been preparing for large-scale galas and the Spring Festival Gala all along.

It was just that some programs were selected, while others were eliminated.

Li Dongliang now even decided to play a little trick.

For some programs that had already been eliminated, he also planned to have people on his team contact them again to inform them: "There has been a temporary change; your program is currently still under consideration. Wait for our news."

——The Drag Strategy!

Naturally, Li Dongliang was no longer considering these programs at all.

But he just wanted to drag this group of people along, not giving Luo Mo and Ning Dan any chance to contact them.

These people of his were not as daring as Luo Mo.

On the CCTV side, even if they didn't give a definitive answer and just told them to wait on the sidelines, they still had to wait idly!

As for accepting invitations from other satellite channels... do you dare!?

Only by doing this did Li Dongliang feel his chances of winning would be high enough.

Luo Mo, this opponent, could not be judged by conventional logic.

Every time he stepped into a new field, everyone felt that this person was a novice and that there would always be a process, right?

Yet he could always soar into the sky!

Therefore, Director Li had to use some dirty tactics.

Zhejiang Province, Disabled Persons Art Troupe.

The members of this art troupe were all deaf-mute girls.

The troupe leader, Xu Cong, had a significant background and was one of the most famous dance choreographers in Huaxia.

Previously, Luo Mo had participated in so many galas and had watched their performances several times, leaving him with quite a deep impression of them.

This year, the Disabled Persons Art Troupe signed up for the selection for the CCTV New Year's Eve Gala.

But they were not selected.

Because their performances focused more on the 【person】.

And Director Li felt that this was an era for playing with stage special effects.

Special effects were what could bring the greatest visual shock!

Originally, after being regretfully eliminated, Xu Cong had planned to take these deaf-mute girls to find a satellite channel to perform on.

These deaf-mute girls had to put in double or even multiple times the effort of normal people to practice dance.

He did not want their hard work this year to be in vain.

Going to another satellite channel to perform was better than going nowhere, right?

They needed a stage; they needed a stage too much!

These girls mostly relied on the stage and relied on performing to make a living.

Some excellent dancers could earn a handsome hourly fee.

But they were deaf-mute, so they basically couldn't get that kind of work.

Not to mention being a guest on currently popular comedy reality shows.

These people with physical disabilities were already different from everyone else!

Just at this moment, Xu Cong received a phone call.

After the other side had only spoken a few words, Xu Cong's face was filled with wild joy!

"Good, good, okay, okay!" he said excitedly into the phone.

"There is still a chance, there is still a chance to go on CCTV!" Xu Cong was overjoyed.

"I have to tell the girls this good news!" Xu Cong, whose hair was already half-white, ran with small steps into the dance practice room.

Although the meaning from Li Dongliang's team was that they would only choose one program from those already eliminated to replace another, Xu Cong had confidence.

He felt that these girls were stronger than everyone else!

Time moved forward by two days.

On Luo Mo's side, he received a call from Ning Dan.

"Luo Mo, the Disabled Persons Art Troupe has declined our invitation," Ning Dan said.

"Hmm? Why?" Luo Mo was somewhat surprised.

He knew very well that with their standard, going to the Four Great Satellite Channels would also be easy.

However, this year's Octopus TV was different after all.

Could it be that they still chose to go to the Four Great Satellite Channels?

"Xu Cong said he really wanted to collaborate with you, and those girls all like you quite a bit; many are even your drama fans and movie fans. However, Li Dongliang's side contacted them and said that after rehearsals, they plan to replace one dance-type program."

"But which eliminated program will be used to perform the replacement is still to be determined," Ning Dan said.

Luo Mo frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"Is it truly like this, or is Li Dongliang deliberately stringing these people facing Elimination along?" Luo Mo thought to himself.

The former would be a normal phenomenon; discovering that a program is truly unsuitable during rehearsals and replacing it is normal.

But if it were the latter, then it would truly be full of Evil.

Take these deaf-mute girls, for example.

Because of their congenital defects, they naturally encounter many unsatisfactory things in life, and they naturally live much harder lives than many ordinary people.

They put in an unknown amount of effort into practicing dance.

In their eyes, the CCTV gala is one of the highest-standard stages.

Perhaps their lifelong pursuit is to perform on the CCTV stage a few more times.

That is their dream.

But if Li Dongliang and Director Chen are really using this method to play dirty tricks, then they are taking the dreams of these people facing Elimination and using them as pawns in their own hands!

Or rather, I view them as waste, but I must also lock them down so that you cannot have them!

"Do you want me to try communicating again?" Ning Dan said.

"Forget it, that side probably cannot withstand the pressure," Luo Mo said after pondering for a moment.

"Let's just wait and see for now," Luo Mo said. "There will be plenty of opportunities to cooperate in the future."

"Okay," Ning Dan said.

He wanted to see whether this Li Dongliang and Director Chen really had ulterior motives!

………

………

Time pushed forward by another half a month.

This half-month period was truly quite agonizing for Xu Cong and the girls of the Disabled Persons Art Troupe.

The uncertainty during this long wait was indeed very tormenting.

In the end, Xu Cong, who could no longer hold back, took the initiative to contact Li Dongliang's team once more.

On the phone, the people from Li Dongliang's team stated their position.

"Troupe Leader Xu, we have actually always been very fond of your program."

"However, could this duration be adjusted slightly?"

"You are experienced, so you should know that the Requirement for the gala's duration is precise to the second."

"Your stage performance is a bit over time."

"If we want to use your stage performance to replace another, we need to cut... 9 seconds," this person began to spout nonsense.

"Cut 9 seconds..." Xu Cong was stunned.

This kind of change in duration meant that the girls had to practice again and the dance had to be re-choreographed.

In this, a large amount of extra effort would have to be expended.

But the other party's tone and the meaning behind the words could be said to be very clear.

It sounded as if they were saying, as long as you can do it, we will choose you!

"Yes, we can do it!" Xu Cong gritted his teeth and said on the phone.

"Good, Troupe Leader Xu, the confidentiality work for this matter must be done well."

"I understand," Xu Cong said.

He did not feel there was any problem with this; participating in a gala naturally requires doing all the preliminary confidentiality work well.

He did not know that Li Dongliang's team was merely finding a new excuse to stall for time.

This was nothing more than a trick they were playing.

After all, without a proper excuse, it would not be easy to keep everyone waiting like this.

—It has to be realistic!

If you are going to put on a show, you have to do the whole thing.

This world is just like this; God is very cruel to these girls, closing their doors. Some people naturally do not have the ability to push open the door of fate, but we can close a certain window in your life.

Xu Cong urgently gathered all the girls together again, and then, they began to perform a new choreography for the dance.

He communicated with the girls using sign language, and everyone's expressions changed along with his signs.

Everyone felt it was a great pity to cut nine seconds of duration.

This meant that part of their previous efforts had all been in vain.

A whole dance stage performance actually does not last very long; being nine seconds shorter is equivalent to having much less exposure.

But if they could step onto the CCTV stage again, the girls were still very happy and excited.

They were all very strong people; otherwise, they would not have made it to today and achieved such accomplishments in dance.

Their life motto was—effort will be rewarded!

The only regret now was that Luo Mo had also contacted everyone, but there was temporarily no opportunity or condition to cooperate.

………

(PS: I have some things to take care of at home today and tomorrow. This chapter was written in my spare time. I will probably have to ask for leave for one day tomorrow. I will update more in the following days and try to make up for it.)

(End of this chapter)