The next day, at two in the afternoon.
The recording of "I Am a Singer God" continued.
However, unlike yesterday, the backstage today was filled with a group of new faces.
Wu Yifan sat prominently in the most conspicuous position.
The show had undergone a complete overhaul, and even the director now had to take orders from him.
"Let me show you what being a top star means. Even if I were the only one on this show, I could make its viewership explode!"
Wu Yifan looked at the crowded audience in the hall on the monitor and thought to himself.
Meanwhile, in the show's main control room, the new director, Xiao Gang, sat in front of the monitor with a confident expression.
In his opinion, the reason for the show's high viewership was simply that Hunan TV had given it the prime time slot.
With such a large audience base, it was hard for the show's ratings not to be high.
It had little to do with the director or the singers. Moreover, the singers who had withdrawn from the show before...
were either faded stars or unknown newcomers who couldn't bring much traffic.
But now, his show had Wu Yifan, a top star and member of the highly popular Asian idol group. The show's ratings would be a non-issue!
As the audience settled down, many of them began to look forward to today's show.
What they were most anticipating was what song Wang Shu would sing.
After all, yesterday's "Father" had moved them to tears.
As the show began, Wu Yifan, one of the rotating hosts, walked onto the stage with a microphone.
"Hello, my dear fans, I am Wu Yifan!"
Wu Yifan introduced himself on stage with his signature autotune voice.
Many audience members were stunned. How had this guy become the host today?
Didn't he just join as a replacement yesterday? He shouldn't be hosting so soon, should he?
"Today, I have some good news to announce: our show has officially been revamped. Four singers withdrew yesterday due to various reasons, so today we will welcome four new faces!"
Wu Yifan continued mysteriously.
"Four out of seven singers withdrew? What's going on?"
"What the heck? Four people withdrew? What's the point of continuing the show then?"
"I want to know who the four were. Did Wang Shu withdraw?"
When the audience heard from Wu Yifan that four contestants had withdrawn, they erupted in excitement.
It had only been one night, and it felt like a different show altogether, with four contestants withdrawing.
Many viewers began to have a bad feeling about this.
As the show progressed and eventually ended.
The smiles on the audience's faces gradually disappeared.
"Where is Wang Shu? Why isn't Wang Shu here? Did he withdraw?"
"What's happening? Zhang Ji and Deng Xiaoqi are also gone, and so is Zhang Bichen. Could it be that these were the ones who withdrew?"
"Then what's the point of watching this show? The most talented singers have all withdrawn!"
"I have to say, today's show almost made me vomit up my dinner from two weeks ago!"
"We've been tricked, truly tricked. A waste of my time. I'll never buy tickets for this show again!"
As the audience belatedly realized that the withdrawn contestants were the ones who had been ranked high in the show before, they all regretted their decision.
If the most popular contestants of a show all withdrew, what was the point of them being there?
A large portion of them came to this show to listen to excellent songs and see talented musicians.
However, today, they had listened to an entire afternoon of so-called rap, with unintelligible lyrics and deliberately inserted meaningless English.
They truly couldn't understand if the production team had suddenly gone mad last night.
Before the last performance even ended, many audience members got up and left. In the face of such noise, they didn't want to waste any more of their time and energy.
Only the fans of Wu Yifan and the newly recruited group of young idols were still cheering and encouraging their idols!
"Director, some of the audience members have left. What should we do?"
At this moment, in the main control room, an assistant director said to Xiao Gang.
Xiao Gang, who had been drowsily dozing off, opened his eyes and looked at the vast empty audience seats captured by the monitor.
"Where did they go? What's happening?"
Xiao Gang asked, completely bewildered.
The show had been full at the beginning, and now, in the blink of an eye, everyone was gone.
"I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but this has never happened on our show before!"
The assistant director replied.
"Forget it. Notify the cameras to focus on the young girls when filming the audience. Don't film anywhere else!"
Xiao Gang looked at the audience seats, pointed to an area with a lot of young girls, and said into the intercom.
"They're just a bunch of useless audience members. Don't worry about them!"
Xiao Gang said directly.
In his opinion, these audience members were unreliable. Since their show was broadcast on TV, the station only cared about their ratings.
Therefore, the live audience was not of much concern to them.
Besides, they still had five hundred public judges. As long as these five hundred public judges remained, it didn't matter whether they had an audience or not.
"But Director, many of the public judges have also left. It seems there are less than two hundred public judges left."
At this moment, his assistant reminded him.
"What did you say? The public judges left too?"
Xiao Gang was once again bewildered and looked at his assistant. The assistant then had the cameraman shift the lens to the public judges' seating area.
Indeed, the meticulously arranged seating for five hundred public judges now had only a scattered less than two hundred people.
Suddenly, Xiao Gang was dumbfounded.
"Let's pause the recording. With only over two hundred people, we can't proceed."
Xiao Gang said helplessly.
The requirement for this show was for five hundred public judges to score and evaluate.
With less than two hundred remaining, it was clear that the show could not continue, even though the last singer was performing.
However, the recording had to be terminated.
...
"Today's show was a complete disaster. I'm never coming here to waste my time again!"
"I can't understand it. It was such an excellent show, how did it become like this overnight?"
"The show 'I Am a Singer God' is truly ruined! What a shame!"
As Gong Tao, after completing his resignation procedures, walked out of Hunan TV with his belongings, he encountered many people loudly complaining on the street.
Gong Tao learned from their complaints that they were talking about the show "I Am a Singer God."
Although it was a show he had created, it no longer belonged to him.
From the moment Wang Shu was forced off the stage yesterday, he had understood that the show was about to face a Waterloo and plummet from its peak!
That was why he had chosen to resign. Now, it seemed his decision was absolutely correct.
After walking out of the Hunan TV premises with the crowd, Gong Tao couldn't help but look back at the magnificent building, lamenting the time he had spent there.
After twenty years of hard work, he had ultimately left.
After a moment of reflection, he opened his car door, got in, and turned on his phone.
He then opened his contact list, found Wang Shu, and called him.
"Director Gong, is there something you need?"
Wang Shu answered Gong Tao's call promptly.
"I was just wondering what you're up to lately?"
Gong Tao asked with a smile.
"I'm just messing around. What are your plans after leaving Hunan TV?"
Wang Shu was also curious about Gong Tao's plans after leaving Hunan TV.
"Jianghai TV has sent me an invitation. They want me to create a new show there!"
Gong Tao didn't hide anything from Wang Shu and directly told him about Jianghai TV's invitation.
"Then how much will you pay me for appearance fees this time?"
Wang Shu didn't offer any congratulations but asked directly.
"How did you know I would invite you? I haven't even joined them yet. Once I'm on board, I'll give you a satisfactory answer. But you can't go to other shows, alright?"
Gong Tao replied with a laugh. He understood that Wang Shu was a smart person, and calling him now was to reserve his schedule in advance.
Although Wang Shu wasn't a big star yet, in his eyes, this young man had an unlimited future.
"That's not certain. What if someone offers me millions to join them? But when someone tries to poach me, I'll contact you!"
Wang Shu replied with a smile.
Hearing Wang Shu's words, Gong Tao felt relieved and hung up the phone before driving away from Hunan TV.
...
Meanwhile, Wang Shu, lying on a patch of wasteland, placed his phone on the table in front of him.
"Yi Mou, do you think their training intensity is enough?"
Wang Shu asked Zhang Yi Mou, who was beside him.
Not far from Wang Shu, Wang Baobao and the actors Wang Shu had hired yesterday were undergoing intensive pre-filming training.
Each person had their strengths and weaknesses. Wang Baobao, with his Shaolin background, had an advantage in martial arts.
Therefore, Wang Baobao served as the martial arts instructor for these individuals, teaching them some basic combat skills for the intended lead actors.
The others had military experience, so they could provide Wang Baobao with training in military knowledge and theory.
According to Wang Shu's initial plan, these individuals were supposed to train for more than half a month. However, based on today's actual performance,
as long as the crew members arrived as soon as possible, filming could commence at any time.
In the evening, Wang Shu took the lead actors, who had trained all day, for a fast-food meal before letting them go their separate ways.
As Wang Shu was on his way back to his company, Xiao Su called him.