Chapter 117: 0117

Chapter 117

The reshuffled team performances for the third public stage were suddenly choked, with the level of brilliance taking a sharp dive.

Popular trainees were assigned to pull airplanes, while taller ones like Pei Zhiping had to squat more for the sake of overall dance unity. To give other trainees a chance to shine, their own parts were reduced.

After the third public performance, the audience more clearly felt the wall between trainees. There were reasons why some trainees were popular and others couldn't climb up from the bottom.

"Isn't 26 seconds of screen time in Pei Zhiping's 4.5-minute stage enough charity?"

"...What would satisfy you back-row fans? You're getting too demanding."

"Has resentment of the privileged made its way into talent shows now?"

"As a neutral viewer...not giving popular trainees screen time seems even more unfair."

"This is infuriating. Have you considered why they're popular? Because the show only edits in their highlights and broadcasts only them. How many other trainees do you even know? Why are you barking here?"

"The most sophisticated vote-rigging scheme in history. Impressive."

The stage performances should have been the focus, but after the third public stage, controversy over vote-rigging surfaced directly. The level of activity on hot search showed how popular this program was.

Those crying foul about Random Entertainment's vote manipulation made up 20%, while the remaining 80% thought they were being unreasonable. The logic was the same - they came for the popular trainees, so why was giving them more screen time considered vote-rigging?

"Title: Confused about why people say SJYL is rigging votes? Come in for a simple explanation!"

"Let's start with an assumption - if Shi Yusheng had been featured in the trainee preview instead of Pei Zhiping, and Pei was edited out completely, would she still be so popular after joining the show?"

"If Shi Yusheng was promoted as the show's main trainee, with coverage from her daily habits to her interests, would Han Lemi still be the fan-voted top pick?"

"If the mid-ranked trainees were the focus, would Xia Simiao, Pei Zhiping, Ji Wensu and the other top 6 still be the popular members?"

"The reason they're popular members is because the show was biased from the start!"

"The most sophisticated vote-rigging in talent show history - sophisticated because they don't manipulate data, only screen time. They know modern people just follow trends, liking whoever gets the most coverage."

"How is this not vote-rigging?"

Comments:

"...Your bandit logic is nauseating."

"I see what you mean."

"That's not how it works. Pei Zhiping is popular because she's unique enough in the entertainment industry cesspool. Not only is she beautiful, but her looks are distinctive. Besides Xia Simiao, who else among the dozens of trainees is as memorable as Pei Zhiping? On top of being beautiful, she's also first in skill - singing, dancing, rapping, lyrics writing, she's top-ranked in everything. How can you say such an excellent person is just viewers being blind?"

"Poor Shi Yusheng, caught in the crossfire and used to put others down [speechless]..."

"'Royal family' refers to those who can't be helped no matter what, those who make barely a splash despite massive resources invested. It's not about the four girls who trended on hot search after just 3 minutes of screen time on a show. They didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

"Cut it out. Only the initial seven had screen time in the trainee preview. If it's the same song performance, why didn't Xia Simiao overshadow Pei Zhiping? Is it because she didn't want to? Is it so hard to admit these four girls just have good public appeal?"

"I get what you mean...but at most this show is just filtering. The early episodes had pretty even coverage, with slightly more for the few popular trainees, which is understandable since many viewers came for them. After the first public performance, the filtering became clear - more popular meant more screen time. I actually think it's fine. Audience appeal matters more than skill or looks. Those at the bottom lack audience appeal, the production team can't force unpopular trainees into the final cut."

"Some people here really don't know pain until it happens to them."

"I think this is much better than manipulating data. At least the filtered results are who audiences like. If someone suddenly shot up at the end, I'd really vomit."

"So other trainees have to be NPCs? Just extras to help them debut?"

"Some people here love perspective-taking too much. Stop putting yourself in the shoes of bottom-ranked trainees. As a paying viewer, can't I choose who I like? Even if it's a customized version, I still love it."

The thousands of comments piled up within two hours, and the vote-rigging controversy reached Jiang Juyou directly--

In the tiered conference room, all staff of "21 Heartbeats of Youth" and A2 Group were seated.

Standing in front was Jiang Juyou in a heavy coat. Usually she'd take off her coat upon entering the company, but the fact that she still wore this thick coat showed how rushed she was.

All relevant personnel for this controversy were present, except Yang Siyu.

She was still abroad, busy meeting with producers, with no time to rush back.

"...So you're saying the general direction of the show is controlled by PD Yang?" After getting answers from the staff, Jiang Juyou fell silent for a long while. The room was quiet for about two minutes as everyone watched Jiang Juyou lower her head in thought, no one daring to make a sound.

Jiang Juyou looked at Yang Siyu, her eyes flashing with many emotions. She had too much she wanted to ask. When they first joined the company, their ideas and principles were so aligned. How had things suddenly changed?

"We're both in this industry, and we both know what show editing means. By focusing the show only on those few people, whether praised or criticized, their topics and attention will inevitably be higher than others. So what about those marginalized kids? Are they just supposed to go unnoticed that month?"

"Yes! In the first few episodes, you distributed screen time evenly, taking care of every child. But later, was it right to just put the camera on them?"

"Yang Siyu, you're manipulating the results."

Yang Siyu's brows also furrowed slightly. She knew Jiang Juyou had made up her mind about this, so no matter what she said, there wouldn't be a second conclusion.

She nodded at Jiang Juyou a few times, letting out a cold laugh. "As if you're not manipulating the results?"

"The result of your even-handedness was Sang Mo being buried in the first season, pushed out of the debut race. If you had let him grow, grow to the popularity of Ye Xing and Pei Luming, I guess you'd have to weigh your choices carefully, and at the final performance you wouldn't have chosen Chi Qiao, but Sang Mo."

"There are many such examples. So many popular trainees were eliminated by you. Did you really follow the audience's choice? The current popularity of Chi Qiao and Yao Shuo isn't because they're so excellent - it's because they debuted."

She calmly spoke the sharpest words, the sword piercing directly at Jiang Juyou, wounding her.

Yang Siyu lowered her eyes to compose herself, then picked up her coat and stood up. "I'll coordinate the work with others... Let's leave it at that."

Jiang Juyou, still sitting in her original position, stared at where Yang Siyu had just been sitting. She held back until the office door closed again, and only then did her tears fall.

Jiang Juyou turned her head, and as her eyes closed, tears fell into her black clothes, not even leaving a stain.

"...Juyou."

Jiang Juyou closed the dialogue box and wiped the tears from her face, but those teardrops were beyond her control, continuing to fall along the path they had just traced.

-

"Group Name: I'm Going to Fight You Lucky and Rich People"

"Liu Yue: @Jiang Liuxing, what's up with your sister lately?"

"Jiang Liuxing: ...She hasn't been home for several days."

"Zhou Keke: Have you called the police?!"

"Jiang Liuxing: It's because of work, she's been staying at the company. She's fine."

"Ling Cheng: I've been crazy busy lately too. I was happy about getting an offer before, now I'd kill for paid leave to bang my head against a wall."

"Liu Yue: @Ling Cheng [ears]"

"Ling Cheng: [covering mouth] Can't say, but you should know soon."

"Jiang Liuxing: Sigh..."

Because of her connection to Jiang Liuxing, Liu Yue knew about the current internal turmoil at Random Entertainment. Jiang Liuxing, on the other hand, knew because of her older sister. She originally didn't know, but because Jiang Tang kept going to the company during that time, and Jiang Juyou wasn't coming home, the perceptive Jiang Liuxing immediately sensed something was wrong. After asking her older sister, she learned what had happened during Random Entertainment's quiet period.

The allegations of vote manipulation had been clarified, and what was considered solid evidence of [makeup] was explained away due to video footage preserved from before filming began. The clamor for more screen time for the lower-ranking trainees was also resisted by casual viewers, as they didn't want to watch that.

Random Entertainment seemed to still be Random Entertainment, but it was also somewhat different.

The company's turmoil was shielded by Jiang Juyou, who bore it alone. The consequence was that she hadn't been home for nearly half a month, either in meetings or on business trips.

The five members of Timetrain studying peacefully, the female trainees out on tour, and the trainees waiting for their debut chance in the basement all had no idea such things had happened within the company.

Yang Siyu also came to work every day, even attending meetings with Jiang Juyou daily, occasionally smiling and chatting about things. The employees below thought everything was fine, only Jiang Juyou's small assistant knew they were maintaining a facade of cordiality.

"Useless... they're all useless..." the small assistant sat at her desk, cursing under her breath fiercely.

"What's useless?" Cheng Yuan heard as she approached.

The small assistant was startled, quickly standing up. "Nothing, nothing. Jiang is inside!"

"Thank you," Cheng Yuan nodded, then went in with her bag.

Cheng Yuan pushed open the door, and her first words upon seeing Jiang Juyou were: "Oh my, darling, you've gotten so thin you could be a female celebrity!"

Small assistant: My heart aches for the boss...