Chapter 57.2
The next morning, the guests were brought somewhere else by the program team to work for another day. Li Zhao was well-loved because he did a good job in farming. Once he finished recording and was ready to go home, they all invited him to visit their homes in succession.
The six guests lived in different cities. Li Zhao, Xiang Zhen and Zhang Kui lived in Beijing so the program set the same flight for them.
“Zhao Zhao, the story you told last night about that child having the dog bite you is really false?” Zhang Kui was still a bit bitter about this and emotionally hoped it was fake.
“Of course…” Li Zhao laughed. “It is fake.
It was because at that time, he not only barked at the dog but also fought it with a stick. The dog threatens based on its master’s power. Li Zhao understood the meaning of this idiom early on. (Use one’s position to bully others)
Still, he was smart since he was a kid. He was clever enough to beat a dog and fight a goose, he was really great. They got off the plane and their respective assistants came to pick them up. Zhang Kui and Xiang Zhen waved goodbye to Li Zhao. “Zhao Zhao, see you next time.”
“See you next time.” Li Zhao pulled on his face mask and pushed the luggage cart around. He didn’t see Da Ke but he saw Qin Xiao.
“Mr Qin.” Li Zhao pulled down the brim of his cap. “Are you here to pick someone up?”
“I didn’t come to pick someone else up. I came to pick you up.” Qin Xiao smiled. “Mr Ting knows that you are coming back today and came with me to pick you up.
“Thank you,” Li Zhao’s pace accelerated. “I troubled Mr Qin.”
“No need to politely say thank you.” Qin Xiao took Li Zhao to the parking lot. The car door was open and Yan Ting was sitting in the back seat.
“Ting Ting.” Li Zhao got on the car. “Didn’t I tell you that you don’t have to pick me up?”
“It’s fine. I was just passing by with my colleague.” Yan Ting handed the prepared yogurt to Li Zhao. “Go back and have a good rest.”
Li Zhao drank the yogurt and leaned on Yan Ting’s shoulders. “It is good to go home.”
Yan Ting reached out to silently help him. The driving Qin Xiao looked in the rearview mirror and saw Yan Ting carefully guarding Li Zhao’s movements.
***
The show Seclusion Mountain Forest hadn’t received high ratings compared to other variety shows. It was because the show didn’t like random hype so the guests’ unhappy expression packs had more presence than the show itself.
At 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, the official Weibo of the Seclusion Mountain Forest show issued a trailer in accordance with the old rules.
Seclusion Mountain Forest: In the beautiful and peaceful Qingxi Village, in what ways will the guests experience rural life? Everyone, please watch Seclusion Mountain Forest on the national channel at nine in the evening @Xiang Zhen @Zhang Kui @Zhang San @Li Shi @Qian Duoxi @Li Zhao
The official Weibo had less than 20,000 fans and half of them were zombie fans given by the Weibo platform. Usually, if they made a post, there were many netizens commenting. However, today was different. It finally had a small sense of existence.
“Li Zhao? Is that the Li Zhao I know?”
“23333, no, the country shows are completely different from Li Zhao. What is this magical match?”
“My mother really likes watching Seclusion Mountain Forest. When she was young, she was Xiang Zhen’s fangirl. I remember that there was no Li Zhao among the program’s guests?”
“Upstairs, I accompanied my mother to watch TV. The guest Da Liu was bitten by a dog during the recording of this program and had to withdraw.”
“This show is very interesting. There is no script and the content is very real. The guests don’t put on an image. Actors like Li Zhao who perform in idol drams will only hinder the other guests. Even if the crew wanted to find a small artist to improve popularity, it shouldn’t be this young man.”
“The upstairs is really funny. Can this person be called a small artist?”
The quarrelling of the netizens brought unprecedented attention to the show, causing the staff managing the Weibo to shed tears of excitement. As an official deserted Weibo, he finally realized the feeling of fans arguing in the comments area. This was really moving.
At nine in the evening, the show officially started. The Li fans and Li sunspots all sat in front of the television or opened the national channel’s webcast platform. The moment the show started, there were dark streets and sleepy staff members. The time was carefully shown at the bottom of the screen. It was 3:30 in the morning.
The barrage area became lively.
“At three in the morning, the program’s crew is as inhuman as ever.”
Once the show’s car drove into a luxury neighbourhood and mosaiced the community name, the netizens were excited again.
“The people who can live in this neighbourhood are either rich or powerful. I heard that the prices for the villas inside are really expensive.”
“I heard that this villa area doesn’t allow people to casually enter. The program group drove the car into the villa area. Which guest is so rich?”
Even at four in the morning, the area still had uniformed guards patrolling and the surroundings were terribly quiet.
“I think the breathing of the staff has become softer.”
“Hahahaha. Will this dog show have a guilty conscience?”
Then the saw the door of the main house of the luxury villa open. The person who came out was still in pyjamas and had messy hair. It was Li Zhao and the entire barrage area was full of exclamation marks!
“!! Is Li Zhao’s family so rich?”
“!!!!!”
“Li Zhao obviously has no experience with recording a variety show. He didn’t know the show would do a late night surprise raid.”
“Ahhhh, the show understands the curiosity of the audience. They even did a close up of the villa. Poor me, I want to offer to hold someone’s thigh.”
Once they discovered that Li Zhao denied ownership of the villa in front of the camera and said that a friend lent it to him, the mood of the netizens was very complicated.
“A good and honest guest. This was a great opportunity for speculation yet he didn’t use it.” No matter what circle, a rich and handsome person was always pleasing.
“I just want to have a friend who is willing to give a villa for me to live in. Unfortunately, my friends think the same.”
The barrage area was filled tightly with comments and almost covered the entire screen. Many netizens could only adjust the transparency of the writing to continue watching. The show was normal at the beginning until Li Zhao took the 15 yuan and squeezed into a dilapidated pig truck. Then the barrage area blew up.
“Unconscionable program. In order to save money, what did they force the guests to do?”
“How stinky is a pig truck? The average person certainly can’t imagine it.”
“Seeing Li Zhao laughing with the uncle, I want to take back my previous taunt that Li Zhao is a spoiled pretty boy. This isn’t a pretty boy, this is a mudslide.”
“Fuck this mother sow’s prenatal care, did Li Zhao forget that he is a guest on the show and not a veterinarian?”
“It seems that the program gave up on saving this latter part. There is only a string of ellipses.”
“I just want to now. For the show’s car following the pig truck, was the air particularly sweet?”
“In the first few episodes, they tortured the guests. Now there is finally a guest who can torture them. Hahahaha.”
The show interspersed this with the scenes of several guests. Everyone looked at the guests going around to the villagers to ask for food and laughed with amusement. Suddenly, the image changed and a black screen appeared. “However…”
The moment the scream lit up, there was the sound of a piglet screaming. The camera gradually moved upward and found the piglet’s four hooves making long marks in the mud. However, the pig-dragging man was a cold killer who pulled it forward. The camera zoomed in on this ‘cold killer.’
Li Zhao?!
The camera rewound to when the uncle invited Li Zhao to eat bacon. Li Zhao happily agreed and then dragged the piglet to the uncle’s house.
The caption: For bacon, I am willing to walk across mountains and water to lock you up in a pigsty.
“Hahahahaha.”
The barrage area went crazy. The show’s crew was crazy as well. It was because they saw the increase in the click-through rate on their webcast platform as well as a rise in the TV ratings, even surpassing a popular variety show in the same time slot.
The entire crew of Seclusion Mountain Forest, “…”
Who bought the ratings and bought it for the wrong show?
The author has something to say:
Baby Ting Ting carried his small gold coins and came to Baby Zhao Zhao’s charity sales stall.
Then he only saw the empty stall.
He ignored the heavy pocket full of gold coins and took a yogurt out of his backpack to give to baby Zhao Zhao. “I’m just here to pick you up and go home.”