"The show is about to be recorded. You shouldn't go back, let's have lunch together."
Glancing at his watch, Gong Tao looked up and said to Wang Shu.
"That would be great! If Director Gong is treating, I couldn't ask for more!"
Upon hearing that Gong Tao wanted to treat him to lunch, Wang Shu's expression became very pleased.
Afterward, Gong Tao took Wang Shu to lunch and then arrived at the recording site of the program in advance.
Upon arriving, Gong Tao began to meticulously check and perfect all the details of the site, becoming busy, while Wang Shu, very consciously, went to the backstage lounge to take a nap.
When he woke up again, Xiao Su was already standing in front of him.
"You actually hid here to sleep! The director and I have been looking for you for a long time!"
Xiao Su also blinked her big eyes and said to Wang Shu.
"What are you looking for me for? Isn't it still early?"
Wang Shu rubbed his sleepy eyes and then got up, saying.
"This is the mask the director gave you. Other guests will arrive soon, and the director said that each guest should maintain a sense of mystery towards each other!"
Xiao Su casually handed a mask to Wang Shu. Wang Shu glanced at the mask in his hand; it was in the shape of a monkey.
"This mask is good!"
Wang Shu put on the mask with great satisfaction.
"How is it? Am I handsome?"
Wang Shu asked Xiao Su.
"What's so good about a monkey?"
Xiao Su looked puzzled. She didn't understand what a monkey had to do with being handsome.
"It seems you don't know the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. What a pity!"
Wang Shu sighed helplessly.
This world doesn't seem to have the Four Great Classical Novels, so the fame of the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven is not yet known.
"What is the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven? Is that your code name?"
Xiao Su was completely bewildered by Wang Shu's words.
She had never heard of the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. The director had asked her to inquire about what kind of code name Wang Shu would like to choose.
"You could say that. I'll be called the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven!"
Wang Shu said helplessly. With the mask he was wearing, the name "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven" was indeed fitting!
"Alright, then don't take off your mask. Other guests will be here soon. I'll go and register your code name with the production team now!"
After carefully reminding Wang Shu, Xiao Su ran off to the production team to register Wang Shu's personal code name.
After Xiao Su left, a woman wearing a fox mask soon entered through the door. This woman was voluptuous, with very impressive curves.
Paired with the fox mask, she looked even more like a captivating vixen.
"Hello, Monkey Brother!"
As Zhang Liangying, a guest for this episode, saw that Wang Shu was the only one in the lounge, she walked directly up to Wang Shu and greeted him.
"Hello, Big Fox!"
Seeing how enthusiastic the young woman was, Wang Shu smiled and responded.
Zhang Liangying was very confused why the person wearing the monkey mask called her "Big Fox." Wasn't she wearing a mask? Did she look old?
The reason Wang Shu called the woman wearing the fox mask "Big Fox" was mainly because of her proportions. He hadn't noticed from a distance.
But now that she was standing in front of him, Wang Shu could even feel that her proportions were much larger than his head.
Wang Shu guessed that this young woman must have always looked down and never seen her own toes.
When she turned around, Wang Shu suddenly noticed a small tail behind her skirt, and immediately became excited.
"Big Fox, I want to ask, is that tail a charm or an accessory?"
Wang Shu pointed to the tail behind Zhang Liangying and asked with a smile.
"What do you mean?"
Zhang Liangying was slightly stunned, not understanding Wang Shu's meaning.
"It's nothing, I just think your tail looks nice!"
Wang Shu gave an awkward smile and then sat back in his seat.
Afterward, several more guests wearing animal masks came into the lounge one after another.
Including Wang Shu himself and the "Big Fox" just now, all six guests had arrived.
However, the other guests did not directly greet the people in the room.
Instead, they quietly sat down after entering the lounge.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, the recording of the program officially began.
Gong Tao sat in the main control room backstage with full confidence, watching the images on the monitors.
Because this program was using a completely closed-off recording format, all guests had signed confidentiality agreements with the company.
Before the program ended, no personal information would be released, nor could any personal details be revealed.
Even among the contestants, their identities could not be revealed, the purpose of which was to ensure the fairness and mystery of the competition.
"Wang Shu, I wonder what other surprises you can bring me!"
Gong Tao's gaze fell on the monitor in the lounge, and he said with great anticipation, looking at the image of Wang Shu.
He had seen the Weibo hot search yesterday. He understood very well that Wang Shu was now a guarantee of viewership.
"I Am a Singer" directly halved its viewership last night because Wang Shu withdrew from the competition.
Although he was no longer working at Hunan TV, he had still been monitoring the ratings backend of Zhejiang TV for the program he had created.
Even when he saw the drastic drop in viewership last night, he couldn't help but sigh.
A program that once had great hope of becoming the top-rated show had now fallen so low, and it was very likely that in the next episode, it wouldn't even make it into the top twenty nationwide.
It should be known that at Hunan TV, if a variety show broadcast in prime time did not even make it into the top ten, it would be removed and its recording would be stopped.
Therefore, if "I Am a Singer" continued to perform the same way next week as it did this week, then this program might disappear directly.
However, this might not be a bad thing for him, as his first episode should also be broadcast around that time.
At that time, he would show those high-level executives at Hunan TV how they had driven away a viewership champion!
"Director, the program can begin!"
Seeing Gong Tao staring blankly at the monitor, the assistant quickly stepped forward to remind him.
Under the assistant's reminder, Gong Tao finally came back to his senses.
Then he picked up the intercom.
"All departments, attention! The program is officially starting recording!"
With Gong Tao's command, the stage lights instantly lit up, and the host, Hua Shao, also walked onto the stage.
Backstage, the draw for the first round of the competition also began.
According to the rules, the six starting contestants would be divided into three groups.
They would compete in pairs, and the winners would advance to the next round.
Wang Shu's opponent turned out to be the "Big Fox" sitting next to him!
"Little brother, we really have fate. You have to go easy on me!"
When Zhang Liangying saw that her opponent was Wang Shu, she couldn't help but deliberately act cute and say.
Her acting cute, instead of being charming, made her whole body tremble, which made Wang Shu's heart race.
Fortunately, Wang Shu's group was scheduled to perform third, so he had to wait until the first two groups had finished their competitions before it was his turn with the "Big Fox."
So he and Zhang Liangying sat back in their original seats.
"Little brother, can you tell me who you are?"
As soon as they returned to their seats, Zhang Liangying curiously turned her head and asked.
"No, it's better to maintain the mystery. It feels more engaging!"
Wang Shu said mysteriously.
"Then don't you want to know who I am?"
Seeing Wang Shu acting mysterious, Zhang Liangying deliberately smiled and continued to ask.
"Not really! It's more interesting with the mask on!"
Wang Shu answered decisively.
With the mask on now, he could still freely admire her good figure and imagine her face to be his ideal type.
If the mask were removed, that bit of fun would be gone.
"Little Monkey, you're such a bore!"
Seeing that the other party was not cooperating with her at all, Zhang Liangying turned her back dejectedly and leaned on her seat.
Initially, she just wanted to find out who the other party was, so that she could better understand her opponent and be more confident during her performance.
She never expected that the other party would not fall for her tactics and completely ignored her.
...
The competition officially began, and the audience was very much looking forward to this new competition format.
Because the programs they had watched in the past were all about singers performing directly on stage, but this time all the singers were performing in masks, which was completely different from before.
They were also very eager to know which familiar singer was behind each mask.
The scoring method for this program was also very unique.
Not only were eight professional guests invited, but also eight external professional guests, and then one hundred audience members' votes were added.
This maximized the fairness and impartiality of the program, and it was even fairer than Hunan TV's "I Am a Singer."
"I heard from my classmate that this program was made by the director who previously worked on 'I Am a Singer' at Hunan TV!"
"Really? No wonder 'I Am a Singer' suddenly became so bad. It turns out they changed directors!"
"Stop talking. The current 'Singer' program is crap. I forced myself to watch an episode last night and almost threw up!"
The audience below whispered.
On stage, the performance of the first group of singers had begun.
Because the singers on stage were all wearing masks, everyone started to boldly guess the real identity behind the mask as soon as the contestants came on stage.
According to the program's rules, if someone could successfully guess the person behind the mask, they would receive a grand prize package from the program, and the contestant who was guessed would have to remove their mask on the spot, revealing their identity prematurely.
This format was undoubtedly very disadvantageous for a contestant, as if their identity were exposed, their appeal in the audience's hearts would drop significantly.
Therefore, every singer on stage did not want to be guessed, so they did not choose to sing their own songs.
The two singers who came on stage in this group directly chose to cover Wang Shu's previous songs, "Father" and "The Ordinary Road."