Superstar Aspirations

Translator: Vian

Editor: Shem

Unlike his previous life, the majority of this world's variety shows were broadcasted live. Aside from reality shows that required post-editing and couldn't be broadcasted live, all other entertainment programs had all switched to live broadcasting.

The first variety show that the "Vie for Supremacy" crew chose was China's most popular live game show called "Extremely Entertaining".

"Extremely Entertaining" had the highest ratings for variety shows within its timeslot, and was aired every Saturday night on Tomato Station. It was extremely well known. The show has three hosts, two men and one woman. All three were top entertainment hosts in China, and each also have their own personal variety shows.

Excellent hosts coupled with funny and interesting games and interviews, "Extremely Entertaining" was an absolute show that many big films would want to be on before being aired.

Just after finishing the filming for "Ambush", Rong Xu had arrive in Nancheng on the third day.

"Vie for Supremacy" had already wrapped up its filming two months ago, and including today, there was only two weeks left before it airs. During these two weeks, Rong Xu needed to follow the crew to participate in four programs, and couldn't return to B-City until next week.

When Luo Zhentao received the notice from the crew, he was very surprised and couldn't help but sigh: "It looks like Director Guo appreciates you very much. Xiao Xu, you’re just a supporting character, but he still arranged four programs to help you to gain publicity. This is a chance for us to increase your popularity, if you can perform well on the show, it’ll be very easy to gain more fans."

This point, Rong Xu was naturally clear on.

It was very easy to boost yourself up with variety shows. It could make you an instant hot topic and quickly gain you fans, but to be able to keep those fans still depends on yourself. That was why before coming here, Rong Xu especially looked up nearly all the episodes of this show from the past year to gain a general understanding on how the show goes and the hosts' styles.

But even so, when he arrived at the set, the show's assistant director bluntly handed him a script.

Luo Zhentao looked a bit awkward, but Rong Xu calmly received it. The other party apparently did not expect that he would be so calm, therefore, that assistant director then explained with a rare patient: "It is very easy for trouble to occur when live broadcasting, so the general process is fixed. There is still an hour before we start, you can rest over there in the lounge and memorize the script."

The elegant and bright youth slightly nodded his head and smiled: "Okay."

Looking at Rong Xu's appearance, a glint flashed through that assistant director’s eyes. He scrutinized Rong Xu for half a day, before laughing and said: "Actually, you do not have to remember it word for word. We are just worried that since you are a newcomer, it would not be good for you or the crew if you said something wrong during the live broadcast."

Rong Xu acknowledged it: "Thank you, I understand."

The assistant director smiled and left.

As it stood, even if he did not mention it, Rong Xu still knew. That if he were to say the wrong thing, it would not be good for this program.

The live broadcast requirements for any program were extremely demanding. For a newcomer like him who was participating in a live broadcast for the first time, it was only natural that the program crew was worried. He did not think there was any wrong with what they did, after all, no one would honestly believe that any programs had no script and just let the guests fully improvise.

After looking through the script, Rong Xu saw the overall flow of the show and the role of each guest.

When Luo Zhentao saw how quickly Rong Xu accepted the "unspoken rules" of the circle, he was a bit surprised, but did not say anything.

Quickly, an hour soon passed. Tang Menglan, Ye Qiao, and Dong Zheng all arrived at the TV Station one after another. They all smiled and greeted Rong Xu when they saw him, Tang Menglan was especially happy and hugged him, sulky saying with a look of resentment: "Xiao Xu, there was no one who would help me eat green peppers after you left. Those nutritious things had to be thrown away every day, such a waste ah."

Rong Xu raised an eyebrow, and retorted: "Tang jie, so you did know that they are very nutritious?"

Tang Menglan pretended to be surprised: "Did I say something like that?"

The two people looked at each other and laughed.

In this circle, the higher the coffee seat the stars were on, the better they got along. At least on the surface, because they all need to keep their composure. Only the likes of Han Yanghao who managed to come across a lucky break for a time would do such unscrupulous things to offend people everywhere.

After a while, the show officially started its broadcast.

"Extremely Entertaining" live broadcasting was divided into the live TV broadcast and online webcast. In consideration of ratings, the latter would be broadcasted an hour later than the former.

Director Guo was the last to arrive. Together with him was Song Mingfei who was also stuck in traffic.

This was the first time Rong Xu saw "Vie for Supremacy" three male lead. He gave the other a small friendly smile, but when Song Mingfei saw him, he looked blankly and only managed to nod back. Did not know if it was because he was exhausted from being stuck in the traffic jam, he did not smile much and his expression was also a bit stiff.

Rong Xu didn't think too much of it. After the host spoke the opening words, everyone entered the live studio one by one.

Rong Xu and Song Mingfei were the first to enter, followed by Ye Qiao, and finally Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng.

The lineup of "Vie for Supremacy" was too strong, even if the second male lead Ye Qiao was placed in "Ambush", his popularity would be no worse than Han Yanghao's. There was no need to mention Tang Menglan's and Dong Zheng's popularity, the seats off stage was filled with their fans. Rong Xu swept a quick glanced over and saw that there were fans holding up their names everywhere.

Suddenly, Rong Xu saw a few ten or so girls holding up "Rongrong", "Wanqi", and "Marshal" LED light signs on the left side. He was slightly surprised, but then smiled and waved over there.

At this moment across Mainland China, countless viewers gathered in front of the TV, watching "Extremely Entertaining". Among them were numerous girls who were extremely excited with their cheeks flushed. When they saw Rong Xu actually wave to his fans, the program crew panned the camera over to those fans. They slapped the table: "Ao ao ao! This program crew knows! Tease! Such a tease!"

In the next ten minutes of introductions, the crew gave Rong Xu several shots. In these shots, he was in a silent daze most of the time, but as soon as the camera appeared, he would immediately laugh, as if to hide his daze.

Soon, on "Extremely Entertaining" live broadcast’s Weibo, a few comments appeared.

【Hahahaha! How can Rong Xu be so stupidly cute! He was actually in a daze when others were introducing themselves and was even caught on camera! It's like being lazy in class and was caught by the teacher, he's too cute! Becoming a passerby fan~】

【The way he suddenly laughs is too amusing, he was obviously daydreaming, but still pretends to not know anything~ 】

【Ah ah ah ah My Marshal's stupidly cute appearance is also veeerrryyy nice! Kiss~Kiss~Kiss~Kiss~Kiss~Kiss~~~】

【*flips table!!!* When can I watch the online webcast ah! You said my family's Rongrong is being stupidly cute? I also want to see Rongrong's stupidly cute appearance ah! My mother forcibly took over the TV to watch her mother-daughter-in-law drama, I really want to watch "Extremely Entertaining" live broadcast ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!!!】

"Extremely Entertaining" first game was a team game, splitting up everyone into two groups to PK. The main attractions of this game was Ye Qiao and Song Mingfei, Rong Xu also got some nice shots, but there were still many fans who thought he had too little screen time.

When it was time for the second game, the main group the program pushed was Tang Menglan and Rong Xu. The program had divided everyone into groups of two; Ye Qiao and Dong Zheng were in a team, Song Mingfei was teamed up with one of the male host. All three team PK-ed against each other.

When the audience in front of the TV saw this scene, all couldn't help but felt that it warms the heart and delights the eye; extremely to look at. The bright and beautiful Tang Menglan, and the handsome and youthful Rong Xu. The age difference between these two was obviously not small, but when Rong Xu easily picked up Tang Menglan and ran at the fastest speed to the goal, for a second, even Rong X's fans were somewhat stunned.

【This… this handsome guy is our family's Rongrong?】

【Rongrong was still being so stupidly cute just now, but he's now suddenly bursting with so much boyfriend power! The contrast between my Rongrong is too cute~ If I could be held like this by Rongrong just once in my life…wu wu wu wu I'm willing to not eat meat for ten days!!!】

【Not eat meat for ten days? The curse above is too cruel! Then I want to make one too, I'm willing to not eat meat for a month! I want Rongrong to carry me, princess carry yo~~~~\(≧▽≦)/~lalala】

【……Upstairs is shameless!】

【+1】

Soon, the third game turned to Tang Menglan and Dong Zheng.

The fourth game continued to promote Tang Menglan. The majority of the shots were on this popular Royal Elder Sister. The Director was not stingy with giving her camera time, especially during the fifth game. Plain and simple, he let Tang Menglan become the main focus!

On the TV screen, the gorgeous and stylish actress was wearing a simple and plain T-shirt and loose jeans. She was holding a microphone as she stood in the middle of the studio stage, helplessly looking beside her: "Tian ge, can I volunteer for Dong Zeng to stand here instead ah?"

The host, Tian ge, laughed and hurriedly said: "Menglan stated her case, now asking the other party Dong Zheng. Would you like to take Menglan's place, standing in the middle of the stage, and accept our punishment?"

Dong Zheng's handsome face flashed a smile, he heroically took a big step forward and righteously said: "Tang jie is a woman, how can you let a woman be punished? Isn't it just singing, what does singing count as… Eh? Our punishment this time is singing?" Dong Zheng took a huge step back and went back to his seat, grinning as he said: "Tang jie, you should know that I'm tone deaf. As long as I open my mouth… the program's rating is guaranteed to drop by 0.5!"

Tian ge's face immediately went pale and panicked: "That's not good! Manglan, our show's rating is depending on you!"

The other two host made a weird pose and spoke in unison: "Menglan, do your best! Our bonus this month is depending on you!"

The audience erupted into laughter.

Naturally, it was only for the effects that Tang Menglan said something like that. In the fourth game, she lost, so she was asked to sing in the fifth game. The program had pre-arranged this. She had also received a script and knew that the fifth game was prepared for her. It's just that her script was much simpler than Rong Xu's, containing only a few short words.

The first game: Ye Qiao, Song Mingfei

The second game: Tang Menglan, Rong Xu

The third game: Tang Menglan, Dong Zheng

The fourth game: Tang Menglan, (Dong Zheng)

Penalty in the fifth game: Tang Menglan will sing.

——This was the script Tang Menglan received.

Tang Menglan was a senior in the circle. Even without a detailed script like Rong Xu's, she could still act well and would not make any mistakes.

The refusing from before was just for entertainment effects. When Tang Menglan reluctantly accepted the singing punishment, everyone on stage, all of the staff, the audience in the studio, and the audience in front of the TV all thought she would really start singing.

They saw Tang Menglan lift up the microphone and took a deep breathe, but just as she was about to sing, she suddenly stopped.

In front of everyone’s gaze, Tang Menglan grinned and turned to look at the host Tian ge, saying: "Tian ge, how about I sing a duet with someone? I'm still a little nervous by myself, if I sang out of tune… there would be someone to keep me in check."

Tian ge was surprised, but when he turned to glance at the Director off stage, he saw the Director slightly nodded, so Tian ge cheerfully laughed: "Of course you can. Who do you want to sing with Menglan? I'm tone deaf so don't look at me ah!"

Tang Menglan's hesitant eyes swept over everyone's body. She looked at Dong Zheng, Dong Zheng immediately put on a scared expression and hurriedly hid behind Tian ge. She looked over at Ye Qiao, Ye Qiao beamed and patted his chest with a 'choose me choose me choose me' face. Song Mingfei merely gave a small smile and looked at her.

Finally, Tang Menglan looked over to Rong Xu…

Tang Menglan: "……" Aren't you good, you're still in a daze!

Tang Menglan did not know that this was what the staff wrote in Rong Xu's script. His role was two words: Be cute.

Seeing Rong Xu still had on this stupidly cute look, Tang Menglan hooked up her lips and waved her hand: "Rong Xu, you can sing so nicely, how about you come up and sing with me."

The staff and hosts who thought Tang Menglan would choose Dong Zheng and wanted to promote the male-female lead CP: "……Excuse me?!"

Dong Zheng who originally thought Tang Menglan would chose him: "……"

Ye Qiao and Song Mingfei who knew they were only buying soy sauce, but never expected it to end up like this: "……"

The audience in the studio who were going frantic: "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! Sing! Sing! Sing! Sing!…"

The repeated "Sing!" cries filled and spread throughout the studio. In front of the TV, countless viewers excitedly covered their faces; online, Rong Xu's fans were crazily commenting, voicing out their excitement.

【Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah Rongrong is going to sing! Rongrong is going to sing! Ao ao ao~!!】

Because in the States one could only watch the online webcast, that was why compared to the audience watching the domestic live TV broadcast, a certain cutesy female fan was watching the one hour behind webcast while scrolling through their phone. Suddenly! She… He saw this comment!

Their phoenix eyes slowly widened, that fan quickly looked up to watch their computer screen, but they only saw on screen that "Extremely Entertaining" first game was starting.

That fan: "……"

A minute later——

【Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: Want to see! Want to see! Baby also want to listen to Rongrong sing wu wu wu T^T!!!】

The author has something to say:

Qin Orangeorange: Why can't Baby hear Rongrong sing the first, Baby is not happy, Baby is sulking!

Translator's Addition:

Vian: "Extremely Entertaining" is just bad naming sense heh…

Shem: it was funny (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

Mother-daughter-in-law drama – Apparently since the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law has always been a problem, they made a whole drama (sub?)genre out of it.

PK – Originally meaning ‘Player Killing’ in online games like MMORPG, the term PK is now also colloquially used in China and Taiwan as a verb form of the word versus in situations where there may actually be no avatar.

Boyfriend power – It came from girl's power. It your ability as a boyfriend, there was a whole list of actions for it when I looked it up on Baike.Baidu. It had had 'perfect dream boyfriend' all over it.

Buying soy sauce – Just passing by; has nothing to do with them

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