Everything was calm, and no one knew that this was completely contrary to the original intention of the production team.
From the time the program aired until the early morning of the following day, the "Designer" program team held an emergency meeting in the conference room overnight to discuss new publicity plans.
Nobody knows that yesterday's episode wasn't actually finished airing!
According to the original plan, the first episode was supposed to end abruptly when Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing had a major falling out over the carpet incident, leaving the audience in suspense.
The paid articles and PR campaigns on Weibo and various forums are already prepared, and the subsequent marketing and promotion for the program will follow immediately.
With a beautiful ordinary person and a teenage idol feuding, plus Pei Xiyan, a popular celebrity who brings his own buzz, the show is sure to generate buzz.
But man proposes, God disposes. Last night, the station suddenly inserted an important local news story: a vicious murder had occurred in the city of Singapore. An order came down from above, and all the anchors who came to record the evening news were taken away to record their broadcasts. How could their small program team say no?
The last twenty minutes of the first episode of "The Designer" were abruptly cut short without warning. The producer and the station discussed continuing the broadcast, but it was not approved because the station was prioritizing its top-rated drama series in the 10 pm slot. They were only given the perfunctory permission to cut it a bit more and put it in the next episode.
The next episode is going to air. If the first episode was this bad, will anyone even watch the next one? The producer, looking at this mediocre premiere with absolutely no points of discussion, just wanted to personally take to the streets and fuck that stupid murderer.
A week passed peacefully, until the night the second episode of "The Designer" aired. Suddenly, a group of online trolls appeared on various forums and started flooding the screen with discussions about the first episode. They said things like Pei Xiyan and Yan Yuexing had good chemistry, Pei Xiyan was so cool and cute, Yan Yuexing was so adorable, and the non-celebrity was quite pretty but seemed to have a bad temper...
Although veteran forum members scoffed and told the low-quality program's paid trolls to get lost, this kind of expensive, viral discussion was bound to attract a little bit of attention.
Moreover, once the program officially aired at 8 p.m., this attention began to translate into real interest.
Ji Mingshu was completely unaware of this, because Cen Sen, who had agreed not to go on business trips but still went on them at the last minute, was not at home. Gu Kaiyang and Jiang Chun were busy with work and dating respectively, so she had no choice but to accept the invitation to go out to see a musical with a few of her "plastic" girlfriends.
People aren't really interested in musicals, but it's not right for them to party and act crazy every day. They need to show off their refined taste from time to time.
After a long musical performance, my drowsy friend next to me finally opened her eyes and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Ji Mingshu wanted to laugh, but she politely refrained from doing so and even took a selfie with her, letting her post it on her WeChat Moments.
Vivian: [I watched a musical with Shubao today, yay!]
Her post on WeChat Moments was full of pictures, but the text was very brief. Well, there was no other way but to keep it brief, since this girl was in a semi-conscious state the whole time. She probably didn't even remember the name of the musical they were watching, so you can't expect her to talk about the musical in detail.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ji Mingshu saw her tap send, and slowly took out her phone from her bag, preparing to give her a like and leave a "muah" comment.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I turned off airplane mode on my phone, WeChat started buzzing with messages non-stop.
And then Vivian suddenly stammered in surprise, "Xiao...Xiao Shu, my friend said you're trending on Weibo..."
Chapter 60
Ji Mingshu didn't say anything; she already knew without her friend's notification that she had been trending on social media for being criticized.
#Designer#
#Designer Ji Mingshu#
#Ji Mingshu Yan Yuexing#
Three of the top ten trending topics were occupied by Pei Xiyan and Feng Yan, who were forcibly dragged into the discussion by the production team. It's as if a home renovation show is going to such lengths to generate buzz, regardless of the cost.
Ji Mingshu pursed her lips, her face expressionless, but if you looked closely, you would notice that her hand holding the phone was trembling slightly.
The other girls who came to see the musical with her weren't sitting in the same row as her and Vivian. Now that the show was over, they came to find them and all knew about the trending topic. They gathered together and started talking excitedly.
"What's going on here?"
"Who is this Yan Yuexing? She looks like some unknown escort. Is she trying to create hype for our Xiao Shu?"
"It's definitely true without even thinking about it."
"Hey, isn't Junyi the sponsor of this show? How did it turn out like this? Has the production team gone mad?"
...
To be honest, these girlfriends may be fake, but when they stand with you and unleash a barrage of insults against others, it can be quite comforting.
Just like now, if it weren't for these girlfriends praising and criticizing her, Ji Mingshu would probably be so angry that she couldn't even walk steadily, let alone leave the theater and get into her private car normally.
On the way home, Ji Mingshu sat in the back seat looking at her phone the whole time. The driver looked at her in the rearview mirror and felt that something was wrong with her expression. He was worried that this little princess might make him change his route again if she got upset.
You know, last time this little devil said he was going to Xinggang International to get something, he didn't come back without a trace. Afterwards, Zhou Zhu gave him a good warning and said that if it happened again, his year-end bonus would be deducted.
With the Chinese New Year just around the corner, how can we afford to have our year-end bonus deducted at this crucial juncture?
The driver made up his mind that if this little rascal really threw a tantrum later, he would have to call Zhou Zhu first to clear himself of any wrongdoing.
Fortunately, his fears didn't come true. Although the young master's complexion worsened along the way, he still made it back to the Mingshui Mansion without incident. Whether he was in a good mood or not was none of his concern now that he had delivered the person safely.
[You idiot, your ancestors for nineteen generations have all died!]
[Go to hell! What kind of trash are you, acting all high and mighty in front of our Xingxing? You deserve a damn damn bastard!]
Your mother is dead, your father is dead, your whole family is dead!
On Weibo, comments and private messages were filled with such vile and abusive language. There were even fans who took screenshots of Yan Yuexing from the show, photoshopped them into her funeral portrait, and sent them to her.
Ji Mingshu sat on the living room sofa, the bright crystal chandelier stinging her eyes. She rubbed her eyes, and suddenly large tears fell.
Having been pampered for over twenty years, this was the first time she had been insulted by so many people with such vile words. She was furious, so furious she felt like she was about to explode, but along with her anger, she also felt a bit flustered and scared.
After sitting there for more than half an hour, she picked up her phone and called Cen Sen, but only a mechanical female voice said: The number you dialed is switched off.
Her stagnant thoughts, like rusty gears, were slowly propelled by the woman's voice.
Oh, he should be on a plane right now, from Beijing to Paris, it'll take about eleven hours, and there might be delays, you damn idiot.
She trembled as she put down her phone, wrapped her legs around herself, buried her head in them, and forced herself to calm down and stop thinking about the verbal attacks.
In just half an hour, many people called and texted her to check on her: Gu Kaiyang, Jiang Chun, Cen Yang, Li Che, Feng Yan... and even Pei Xiyan, who had just finished evening self-study and was reminded by her manager to watch the news.
But she didn't want to answer, look at, or reply to any of them. All she wanted to hear Cen Sen's voice and see Cen Sen was nothing more.
Meanwhile, Cen Sen had just arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport. It was afternoon in Paris, and the sky was bright with sunlight.
With the Chinese New Year approaching, he didn't want to go on a business trip, and Zhou Jiaheng indeed didn't arrange any business trips for him.
This time, however, it was Cen Yuanchao who called directly, asking him to fly to Paris to meet with investors and discuss the Nanwan project, a collaboration between Jingjian and the Ji family.
Nanwan is a near-land island free trade zone located east of Nancheng, covering an area of 25 square kilometers, with a very advantageous geographical location.
At the height of their power, the Ji family joined forces with the Su family to acquire the development rights for the Nanwan project and established the Nanwan Development and Construction Company. The Ji and Su families held 51% of the company's shares, while the remaining 49% was controlled by the Nanwan District Government.
With the cancellation of the marriage alliance between the Ji and Su families, the power structure within the Su family changed. The new leader believed that the investment cycle of the Nanwan project was too long and the risk index was too high, and decided to withdraw even at a loss by transferring shares.
The Ji family did not want outsiders to interfere and lose control, so they had no choice but to seek cooperation with their new in-law, Cen Yuanchao.
Cen Yuanchao was somewhat interested in the project. Moreover, unlike the Su family, the Cen family had a small financial loop and couldn't spare the energy to undertake such a large-scale long-term investment project. After assembling a relevant team and considering the project, Cen Yuanchao made the decision to take over the Su family's share and join forces with the Ji family to develop the project. In the early stages, they spent billions on infrastructure.
Such a large project with a long time span cannot rely solely on the two companies for sustained output. Therefore, the two companies have been looking for suitable investors without losing their initiative.
This time, a French-Chinese tycoon was interested in the project, so Cen Yuanchao specially asked Cen Sen to personally negotiate with him, since the future development of Nanwan and the entire Jingjian project would be handed over to him.
As usual, Zhou Jiaheng accompanied the business trip. After getting off the plane, he talked to Cen Sen about the itinerary in Paris, while still keeping his work phone on.
The phone rang less than ten seconds after I turned it on.
"Hello?" He answered the phone a step behind, but the more he listened, the uglier his expression became.
Cen Sen's phone was still on. He glanced at Zhou Jiaheng and, for some reason, a sense of foreboding suddenly rose in his heart.
As expected, after finishing the call, Zhou Jiaheng lowered his head and reported with a crestfallen face: "I'm sorry, President Cen, there's been a problem with the 'Designer' program that Madam participated in. I apologize, it's my fault."
Explain clearly.
As if on instinct, Zhou Jiaheng, the assistant, organized his thoughts into concise sentences. He briefly recounted to Cen Sen how Ji Mingshu was criticized and trended on social media after the second episode aired, and then whispered, "I will contact the production team and relevant media immediately to remove the news."
Zhou Jiaheng knew he bore an inescapable responsibility for this matter. Not long ago, after Cen Sen and Ji Mingshu reconciled, Cen Sen specifically asked him what he had said to the production team before and whether he had asked them to cut out all of Ji Mingshu's scenes.
He answered truthfully, "No." He only asked the production team to change the pairing of Ji Mingshu and Li Che, and also asked them not to make Ji Mingshu the focus of the filming.
To prevent the production team from misunderstanding and cutting out all of Ji Mingshu's scenes, Cen Sen even asked him to make a call to ensure that Ji Mingshu could appear on screen normally.
It was originally a trivial matter, but he thought a little too far ahead. In order to prevent the production team from going too far and changing the focus from no screen time to prominent coverage, he did not reveal Ji Mingshu's identity directly. Instead, he asked the production team to send him the finished product first.
At that time, Ji Mingshu's group had only produced a small portion of the program, which was the first half of the premiere episode.
Zhou Jiaheng watched the entire episode and found that the production team had not misunderstood his meaning and had not cut Ji Mingshu out of the show.
Moreover, Ji Mingshu and other amateur designers appeared on camera quite frequently, and their performances were average and normal.
He was relieved and didn't say anything more.
But he rarely came into contact with entertainment programs and never even considered the existence of such things as "devil editing".
Moreover, he has a lot of specific tasks to be responsible for every day, so he simply doesn't have time to browse through a large amount of original shooting footage and compare it with the final cut one by one.
So when he heard the news, his mind went blank.
Zhou Jiaheng had followed Cen Sen for many years, always being careful and never making a mistake. Yet, this small production team caused him to stumble twice, each time more serious than the last.
His heart was completely broken. He no longer dared to think about the year-end bonus. Now he just wanted to get rid of the production team, deal with the online public opinion, and finally find a place in a foreign country to die for a while.
However, Cen Sen was clearly not in the mood to deal with him at the moment.
After turning on his phone, Cen Sen called Ji Mingshu directly. After about three rings, Ji Mingshu answered.
There was complete silence on the other end of the phone; you couldn't even hear breathing, only a faint hum of electricity.
He seemed lost in thought, remaining motionless in the airport terminal.
The appointment with the investor was tonight. The investor had gone to great lengths to spare an evening to entertain him, and had told him in advance about the authentic French meal they had arranged, how they wanted him to experience the pure French atmosphere, and their expectations and sincerity for the cooperation between the two parties.
If he turns around and leaves now to rush back to the capital, there's no point in having any hope for this cooperation anymore.
After a long, long time, he suddenly said, "Mingshu, I'm sorry, I'll be right back."
Ji Mingshu kept her composure and comforted herself by saying that it was no big deal and that Cen Sen would definitely get justice for her when he found out. But when she finally received Cen Sen's call and heard him say "I'm sorry," she suddenly couldn't hold back and burst into tears.
She sobbed and cried, still managing to curse him intermittently, "What kind of husband are you... investing in a show and letting your wife get criticized... do you think you secretly hate me? Waaaaah, Cen Sen, you bastard! I didn't do anything... it wasn't like what was shown on the show at all, I, I didn't bully anyone! Hiccup..." She even started hiccuping as she cried.
"Yeah, I'm a bastard." He closed his eyes, his voice growing lower and hoarse. "Don't cry, be good."
Ji Mingshu wiped her tears with tissues while cursing him, and she cursed him for a full five minutes.
But when she heard Cen Sen lower his voice and tell Zhou Jiaheng to book a ticket back immediately, she suddenly remembered that Cen Sen had mentioned before leaving how important this collaboration was, and she choked up and cried out again, "No!"
"What?"
"Don't come back. Just stay in Paris and reflect on your actions!"
Cen Sen understood after only a moment's pause.