Chapter 251: The Live Broadcast Dilemma
by xennovel“Only streaming the branch venue?”
There was a brief hesitation on the other end of the line.
“Mm!”
Han Lijun immediately explained, “Leader, at this Cultural Expo the opening ceremony only allocated a five-minute panoramic display and project presentation for Mingsha City. It really won’t affect the overall expo broadcast, so you see…”
“But Mingsha City hasn’t prepared any programs. According to the plan, the branch venue only has a short leader’s speech and a project performance. Even if you broadcast it, there isn’t much content.”
A voice quickly responded over the phone.
“Leader, don’t worry about that. Our station just wants to livestream the branch venue’s project performances throughout the event! Long Kingdom TV is coordinating everything – they have twenty-five projects while Mingsha City only has five. Even a branch venue broadcast won’t take up much time.”
“I think if one TV station can give a detailed live account of the branch venue, it wouldn’t hurt at all! After all, the main and branch venues are equally important in their own way.”
“What do you think?”
Han Lijun immediately replied, “No problem.”
“You have a point!”
There was silence on the other end until, after a moment, a voice spoke again,
“Alright, I’ll discuss it with a few other leaders shortly. Once we’ve decided, I’ll message you.”
“Thank you, Leader!”
Upon hearing this,
Han Lijun felt a surge of joy.
Following protocol, once the supervising leader said that, it essentially meant approval. The so-called discussion was just a formality.
“Is there anything else?”
“Leader, nothing else!”
“Mm!”
A few minutes later, Han Lijun arrived at the TV station’s editing department.
“Leader!”
As soon as Han Lijun appeared, the editing department staff hurriedly stood up, and Ren Long came over as well.
“Director Ren, contact Mr. Fang from Haofang Culture and check if you can reserve some guesthouse rooms for my team from December 29 to January 2 – five days in total!”
Glancing at Ren Long, Han Lijun continued,
“Reserve guesthouses? You mean our broadcast application has been approved?”
Ren Long was taken aback.
“If all goes well, our station will receive an official notice by tomorrow morning!”
Han Lijun nodded.
Nearly every staff member knew about the plan to livestream Mingsha City’s branch venue, and it was a consensus among the team.
Although some netizens online claimed that Mingsha City’s branch venue—with its traditional delicacies and Palace Festival—was already clearly outlined, and that the other project performances weren’t the focus, plus the traditional snack street was already open and some had even posted detailed historical records of the Fengshan Ceremony on forums, netizens felt that Mingsha City wasn’t really at fault!
They were simply not expecting much – that was all.
But they didn’t buy it! For nearly half a year, no new film projects had been launched in Mingsha City; even the drama co-produced with Yun Province was postponed – all for a traditional snack street and a fengshan ceremony? This isn’t Mingsha City’s style.
Moreover, as the saying goes, “When Mingsha is quiet, mischief is afoot!” Last time they quietly took over three months and ended up managing both the Protectorate of West Liang and the Qingming Scroll. Now it’s been five months!
So, when Yan City TV secured the branch venue project broadcast rights, who wouldn’t be excited? “Leader, that’s excellent. I’ll contact Mr. Fang right away!”
Coming back to reality,
Ren Long quickly said,
“Good!”
“By the way, besides booking tickets for the broadcast team, book an extra one for me as well.”
After a moment’s thought, Han Lijun reiterated,
“Book an extra one? You want to go to Mingsha City too?”
Ren Long paused.
“Mm! Once the Cultural Expo in Mingsha City is over, there shouldn’t be any major events, so we can also finalize one project there – whether it’s a martial arts drama or a xianxia drama, we need to secure one, right?”
Han Lijun glanced at Ren Long.
For five straight months, the dramas aired by Yan City TV had received mediocre ratings – often even lower than the reruns of Legend of Langya and Wulin Wai Chuan. Especially Wulin Wai Chuan; even after three reruns, it sometimes ranked in the top five.
“Leader, should I come along too?”
At that, Ren Long was delighted and quickly said.
Sometimes he and the editors discussed what type of drama Haofang Culture might launch next, aside from Yun Province’s ancient costume light comedy. Some editors speculated that, with the start of Xianjian combined with Mingsha City’s development plans, it would likely be a xianxia drama.
But he thought that wasn’t necessarily the case! Mingsha City isn’t short of quirky ancient architecture—it’s short on traditional guesthouses. If they continue building more traditional guesthouses, it certainly won’t be a xianxia drama! And if they do a xianxia drama, where would tourists stay? In a Heavenly Palace? On a Celestial Mountain? It’s unrealistic! Yet, as these thoughts raced by, Ren Long suddenly fell silent.
Han Lijun waved his hand with calm nonchalance,
“You? You don’t need to go! I’ll handle it!”
Time passed, and before long it was December 15.
At this moment, with only half a month left until the Cultural Expo in Long Kingdom, the term ‘Cultural Expo’ had become a buzzword. Everyone was talking about it both online and offline.
No particular reason,
simply because this was no ordinary Cultural Expo – it was a grand event showcasing Long Kingdom’s traditional culture to the world and a competitive expo vying for intangible cultural heritage with H Country.
At the Yun Province TV station office building, Cui Fangshan’s face was filled with gloom. “I really didn’t expect this.”
After a long moment, he looked up at Channel Director He Ruozhou.
“Leader, who would have thought that Yan City TV applied for the branch venue broadcast rights as early as half a month ago? Now, the higher-ups have granted it only to Yan City TV, leaving us out!”
He Ruozhou couldn’t help but smile bitterly and shake his head.
In fact, both he and Cui Fangshan believed that Mingsha City, having quietly held back for five months, was far more complicated than online speculations suggested. They wanted to livestream the branch venue.
But what happened? Yan City TV proved to be far wiser and quicker.
“Actually, we’re not the worst. The worst is Su Province TV! Originally, Mingsha City was expected to secure the broadcast rights – they were the most promising. But alas, they didn’t apply, thinking the higher-ups would assign them! Then suddenly, new regulations came out: only Long Kingdom TV and one local station are permitted to broadcast the branch venue. Now they’re completely dumbfounded!”
Cui Fangshan scoffed.
He truly couldn’t understand Su Province TV’s approach. If he had a Golden Phoenix on his side, he’d be stationed at Mingsha City every day. Even a quick broadcast of the internal news there would likely outperform their current ratings.
Instead, they seemed to be waiting for Mingsha City to offer an opportunity! Who is Mingsha City anyway? As soon as they speak, top-tier TV stations scramble to collaborate – how could it ever be Mingsha City’s turn?
“Sigh, perhaps they never expected their station to achieve high ratings.”
He Ruozhou sighed again.
“It might not be impossible.”
“By the way, have you contacted Mr. Fang in the past couple of days? Does it mean our ancient costume light comedy project will resume after the Cultural Expo?”
After a brief pause, Cui Fangshan straightened his back.
“Leader, I did contact Mr. Fang. He said that once the Cultural Expo is over, our project will restart immediately – and it won’t take long before it goes on air.”
Moving on to business, He Ruozhou quickly asked,
“Really?”
“Mm!”
“Then that’s great – this project has been long awaited.”
“You said it!”
Ding, ding, ding. Just as He Ruozhou was about to add more, the phone suddenly rang.
Glancing at it, He Ruozhou initially wanted to hang up, but Cui Fangshan signaled it was fine. He then left his office to answer the call.
After a few minutes,
He Ruozhou returned to his office.
“Leader, a friend just called saying there’s activity in Mingsha City!”
Settling down, He Ruozhou said,
“Activity? What kind of activity?”
Mentioning Mingsha City piqued Cui Fangshan’s interest immediately.
“My friend said that Mingsha City has begun setting up the expo zones. They’ve already installed exclusive directional signs for the expo at the city gate.”
“Installed directional signs?”
“Mm!”
“Well, considering the timeline, they really have! They can’t wait until the day before the expo to prepare.”
Cui Fangshan nodded.
“Leader, according to my friend, the newly installed directional signs for the project zones in Mingsha City have leaked a lot of information. Netizens are buzzing about it.”
“Leaked a lot of information? What information?”
Cui Fangshan’s expression shifted as he sat up straight and began pounding away on his keyboard.
“My friend said the directional signs in Mingsha City seem off! Weren’t there supposed to be five project zones? The food zone should be on the south side of the city gate, but the sign at the gate shows that the traditional food project zone, along with the others, is located deep in Qing Brick Avenue!”
After a brief pause, He Ruozhou continued,
“What? The traditional food zone is deep in Qing Brick Avenue? Not at the snack street? That can’t be! Are you sure your friend didn’t misread it?”
Cui Fangshan was stunned! At that moment, he even questioned his own ears.
The idea that Mingsha City’s traditional food and snack street—long recognized by everyone as the food project zone—might not be, was unbelievable.
Who would believe it!
In fact, far from Cui Fangshan, doubts were running high online.
On a top forum titled “Mingsha City’s New Directional Signs,” a post had already amassed thousands of replies – and the number was still growing.
“Are you sure you didn’t just see things?”
One comment alone had received over 50,000 likes.
“See things? There’s no way I could be mistaken! I’ve got these 1982-born eyes to thank for my clear vision.”
“But that’s just too—”
“Just wait. I’ll take a photo so you can see for yourselves.”
Soon enough,
The poster uploaded a new photo in the thread.
When netizens examined the photo, they were stunned!
Simply because
they assumed the sign in the photo was identical to the one described by the poster – all five project zone signs pointed deep into Qing Brick Avenue, with no separate sign for the snack street.