WS - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
A week is neither long nor short.
To Song Shiyue, it merely slipped by as she lingered at a few dozen StarNet restaurants.
But to Wang Mancang, it was obvious: if he didn't hustle Song Shiyue off to Wilderness Planet, where there was no StarNet food delivery, to earn money properly, then soon the only thing they'd have to bear would be that gambling debt...
A failed suicide attempt that leaves you with a bottomless pit for a stomach — I doubt anyone would believe that.
Wang Mancang no longer worried about Song Shiyue's digestion; he only worried whether their StarNet accounts would hold up.
Thankfully, this week was finally over.
On the day after the wall was repaired, Wang Mancang took Song Shiyue to formally sign the contract with The Wilderness Journey's production team, and she also shot a set of promotional photos for the show's posters.
In the StarNet era, everything moved so fast.
Song Shiyue seemed to have caught the very last train: she signed and took photos in the morning, and in the afternoon The Wilderness Journey's livestream page went online, with promotion rolling out across the entire StarNet.
An agricultural planet in the Mingtan System had been purchased and transformed. Over the past decade or so, although the outside world didn't know the transformation details, attention never truly faded. When The Wilderness Journey was greenlit over a year ago, even though they never publicly disclosed the show format or the participating artists, outside rumors never stopped, and within the industry even more so.
There's a kind of promotion called: the more you hide it, the more people get curious.
Even though The Wilderness Journey had no official promotion for so long, the speculation from all sides was enough to keep it in a highly watched spot.
And this time, as filming drew near, the moment the page opened, the homepage showing the promotional photos of several participants and several rows of black video windows was enough to set off a wave of discussions across the whole network.
The key buzzword "livestream" needed no explanation.
What mattered most were the few promotional posters on the homepage.
Ever since The Wilderness Journey was greenlit, even though it had never been stated it would be a livestream, everyone had always assumed that this would be a rather tough, suffer-fest variety show.
For a grueling show like this, those who usually go are either rising stars urgently in need of popularity, or fading ones needing a career boost.
But once The Wilderness Journey's StarNet page opened and the artist promotional photos were displayed, it slapped the public twice across the face.
Slap one: the hit traffic idol Mu Xingzhou.
Slap two: naturally, two-time Golden Planet Award Best Actress Yu Nianbing.
Let's start with Mu Xingzhou.
He debuted through a talent show at eighteen, and with a heaven-sent voice, became famous across the interstellar. In six years, he held three rounds of interstellar tours. Whichever planet he went to, the flights to that planet would invariably increase. It is said that for this reason, the Interstellar Space Administration reached a long-term, deep cooperation with his management agency in order to get Mu Xingzhou's schedule as early as possible.
It could be said that Mu Xingzhou had become synonymous with top-tier traffic.
It was really hard to find a reason for him to torture himself on such a wilderness show, unless he was being coerced by his agency.
Almost as soon as The Wilderness Journey's artist promo photos went up, Mu Xingzhou's agency website instantly crumbled. Even though a few minutes later Mu Xingzhou issued a statement saying he had voluntarily joined such an interesting reality show, a large number of uninformed fans continued to bomb the agency's website. It probably wouldn't calm down anytime soon...
And the other one to suffer was naturally Yu Nianbing's agency, Senxin Entertainment.
Although many in the industry thought Yu Nianbing was a bit cold in private and not very approachable, to her fans this perfectly matched their image of her.
Noble, aloof, untouchable and not to be profaned — making people willingly hold her up high, treasure her, and ache for her. She didn't need to respond warmly; she only needed to coldly accept — oh, no — to watch everyone's fervor and love for her. And on this point, Yu Nianbing did quite well.
It must be said, Yu Nianbing's fans' tastes were indeed a bit peculiar. But they loved her distant, detached coldness. On the contrary, when Yu Nianbing occasionally gave a slight smile, it made their hearts ache. It was like the little ice block they held in their palms had secretly melted a tiny bit, leaving them with a sadness that they hadn't protected her well enough.
It was like watching Yu Nianbing in a drama: when she was icy cold, all was well; but if the ice melted and her brows softened, it meant she had lowered her guard and someone could hurt her. Even if the ending was a happy one, the middle part was truly nerve-wracking.
For such a person, whom fans cradled with trembling hearts, afraid even the warmth of their hands would melt her, to go suffer on an unknown planet whose very name promised no pleasant days — how could the fans possibly accept that?
Senxin's website, of course, blew up immediately as well.
Both agencies faced a similar predicament, but while Mu Xingzhou came out to clarify within minutes, it took Yu Nianbing several hours to issue a statement. Unlike Mu Xingzhou's sincere one, Yu Nianbing's was clearly much more official. Many fans expressed disbelief, questioning whether Senxin staff had hacked Yu Nianbing's account to write that official statement. Thus, just as things were calming down on Mu Xingzhou's side, a new melee broke out on Senxin's.
With the two top-tier traffic draws Yu Nianbing and Mu Xingzhou leading, the other four participating artists didn't stir up much splash. But as the overall heat of The Wilderness Journey rose, the discussion about them also steadily increased.
This heat, once ignited, burned for a week.
On the day they were to board the spaceship and head to the Mingtan System, it was even hotter — scorching hot.
It was a fine day, with balmy breezes and not a cloud in the sky — truly a perfect day for an outing.
Wang Mancang carried Song Shiyue's small suitcase and saw her off to the spaceship station on Beichen Planet.
Though Song Shiyue repeatedly said the suitcase wasn't heavy and she could carry it herself, Wang Mancang still insisted on carrying it for her.
But how far could he carry it, really...
The furthest Wang Mancang could go was to the spaceship side; once she boarded, The Wilderness Journey's livestream would officially begin.
"Remember, no matter what happens, safety first. Stick close to where the team leader and bodyguards can see and grab you. Don't wander off alone. If... ahem... if you need to take care of personal business, make sure the privacy shield is on. If it takes a while, don't wait until the five minutes are up to press it again; hold it down early to extend the shielding time. And also..." Wang Mancang couldn't help repeating the things he had said over and over these past few days. As he talked, he pulled out a bag of flatbread, still warm to the touch, from his pocket and stuffed it into Song Shiyue's hands. "Eat a bit more before boarding. Once you're on the ship, the livestream starts. At every meal, stop when you're full — don't be greedy. But also don't deliberately eat less to maintain your image; that'll sap your strength."
Song Shiyue nodded habitually and swiftly unwrapped the paper packet.
Mm, a pack of solid wheat flatbread — clearly he was afraid she'd starve.
They were flatbreads, but coated with a thick layer of meat sauce. The bread was chewy and pliable, the sauce rich, fragrant, and slightly sweet — eating them gave a full-on carbohydrate satisfaction.
"Let's go, it's about time." Seeing Song Shiyue contentedly eat several pieces, Wang Mancang picked up the suitcase again and urged her on.
"Wait. I'm not finished." Song Shiyue stood still, earnestly eating the flatbread.
"..." Wang Mancang looked at the large bag of flatbread he had brought. "You're not planning to finish them all here, are you?"
Song Shiyue answered with action.
Wang Mancang silently set down the suitcase. So... from worrying about her eating too much to conscientiously buying a ton to feed her — how many days had it taken for this change to happen...
One could only say, thank goodness this corner didn't have much foot traffic. Wang Mancang shooed Song Shiyue further into a shooting blind spot, then stood blocking the way with his round belly, his two small eyes peering alertly through his sunglasses at their surroundings.
No matter how much flatbread there was, it would eventually be eaten.
No matter how much worry, eventually one had to let go.
Song Shiyue pursed her lips, reddened from the napkin, picked up her small suitcase, and followed the staff smoothly onto the spaceship sent by The Wilderness Journey production team to pick them up at Beichen Planet.
Yes, not only Song Shiyue, but two others would also depart from Beichen Planet.
Once aboard, Song Shiyue followed the staff through several turns and soon spotted Yu Nianbing in the spaceship's main hall.
Mm...
And there was another participating artist, Zhuang Jiachuan.
Well, maybe calling him an artist is a bit of a downgrade.
When he was very young, practically just entering the industry, Zhuang Jiachuan had the fortune to follow a great director and make a film with a strong script and crew that ultimately exploded in popularity, earning him that year's Golden Planet Award and making him the youngest Best Actor in the award's history. One could say he had once been a figure who amazed the entire interstellar.
Unfortunately, after winning that Golden Planet Award, he seemed to run into a streak of terrible luck, making five bad films in a row. The strangest part was that those films all had fairly large productions and some of the directors were quite well-known. Yet when the films came out, either the plot's logic was a mess, or the production had issues, or a participating artist was exposed for unforgivable personal scandals — in short, there was always one stave so short it nearly bottomed out the barrel, and no matter how long the other staves were, they couldn't stop the final product from being a disaster.
After those five flops, Zhuang Jiachuan stayed dormant for several years; at one point, there was no news of him on StarNet at all.
Then came his comeback a few years ago.
Regrettably, the Zhuang Jiachuan who returned no longer possessed the spark of that Golden Planet Award year. Although the films he made after his comeback didn't flop like those five seemingly cursed ones, they were merely mediocre.
And so, a string of lukewarm films after his comeback erased the last glimmer of Zhuang Jiachuan's former glory as the youngest Best Actor. For a long time after, Zhuang Jiachuan no longer appeared as a leading man in movies. Instead, he began to show up on television, though mostly as second or third male lead, hardly in a position to compete with the young traffic idols who emerged later.
According to the materials Wang Mancang had gathered, it seemed that in the past two years Zhuang Jiachuan had started directing himself; he recently wrapped a new film that hadn't made much of a splash online yet. Perhaps that's why he came to participate in this show...
When Song Shiyue, luggage in hand, reached a room in the ship that looked like a living room with sofas, a coffee table, and a large TV, Zhuang Jiachuan and Yu Nianbing were each holding a cup, sitting on the sofa, seemingly chatting about something.
Seeing Song Shiyue arrive, the three briefly introduced themselves and exchanged a few pleasantries.
Zhuang Jiachuan looked much like his recent photos in Wang Mancang's materials: cultured and refined, with a warm smile. Coupled with his late-thirties age, he seemed very gentlemanly and like someone who took good care of people.
And that indeed seemed to be the case.
After a few words, Zhuang Jiachuan offered to take her to the ship's dormitory area to put away her things, and casually picked up Song Shiyue's suitcase.
For some reason, Song Shiyue instinctively glanced at Yu Nianbing.
It might have been her imagination, but she felt that before Yu Nianbing opened her mouth, she seemed momentarily stunned by Song Shiyue's look.
"You remember what the notice said, right? Once we're on the ship, filming begins. So from now on, staff basically won't appear." Yu Nianbing took a couple steps toward Zhuang Jiachuan, then turned back and continued to Song Shiyue, "We've already stowed our luggage. Come on, we'll show you where to put yours, then we'll go find something to eat."
Song Shiyue caught the hint in Yu Nianbing's words: she was reminding her that filming had already started.
Still, she really wasn't used to this kind of filming...
Song Shiyue couldn't help looking around, then glanced back at the empty space behind her.
Compared to Earth, where everyone needed a cameraman toting a big camera following them, here the essentially invisible miniature cameras controlled by computer... were just a bit too amazing.
When the original host filmed sitcoms, they were mostly indoor scenes, using equipment that people held or controlled, which was much more compact than what Earth had, but at least you could see the actual devices and operation.
However, it was said that these computer-controlled, nearly invisible miniature cameras had been used for a long time in well-funded productions, especially for outdoor scenes or documentaries.
Out of curiosity, and because this reality show would be livestreamed entirely using this filming mode, Song Shiyue had asked Wang Mancang a few days earlier to take her to see one.
Where they went was, naturally, a set of Wanshan Entertainment's own ongoing production.
It was a wuxia drama. In the huge studio, only a few leads were fighting back and forth, while the director and staff sat in a corner watching a giant screen.
Judging from the display on the screen, there were a full eight camera angles filming those leads.
But when Song Shiyue reverse-calculated and looked toward where those cameras should be, she couldn't see a thing.
It wasn't until later, after watching a scene, that Wang Mancang temporarily borrowed a unit from the crew for Song Shiyue to inspect up close.
A silver box the size of a pinky nail, with even smaller semi-transparent little wings on each side.
This was a filming machine...
Recalling the shots she'd seen on the big screen — even distant views were incredibly clear — Song Shiyue could only say, technology truly is the primary productive force.
And the interesting part came after.
A staff member came over and demonstrated how the little machine worked. Song Shiyue watched with her own eyes as the silver-white machine became transparent in the staff member's palm; you had to look very hard against the light to make out the faint outline of the tiny device.
No wonder that with so many machines filming the leads simultaneously, you couldn't see any of the other cameras on the big screen.
The filming machines on Wanshan Entertainment's set were already that advanced, and it was said that The Wilderness Journey was using an even newer version. Truly worthy of a show backed by a conglomerate that could buy an entire planet.
Such incredibly advanced filming machines were naturally beyond what Song Shiyue could fully grasp with a few casual glances. She could only suppress her discomfort and obediently follow after Zhuang Jiachuan and Yu Nianbing.
Perhaps because this arduous program was just starting, the production team still had a shred of conscience: on the spaceship, each person actually got their own bedroom.
After putting down her luggage, Song Shiyue followed the two who had boarded earlier and meandered to the kitchen.
It looked like the staff had arranged something like a suite for them... even a kitchen included.
Mm... there were quite a lot of ingredients too. Song Shiyue closed the fridge with satisfaction.
As soon as the fridge door shut, Song Shiyue found herself meeting Yu Nianbing's gaze.
Inevitably, she thought of that chicken soup from the other night.
And of course, those boxes big and small piled outside Yu Nianbing's door.
At that time, even if you had beaten her to death, Song Shiyue would never have guessed that inside those boxes were pots and pans of various sizes, along with whole cases of potatoes and cabbages...
Still, she had guessed a little of it.
For instance.
That night, someone really did come back and stew a pot — oh no, many, many pots — of incredibly delicious chicken soup.
Though Yu Nianbing left that very night, it didn't matter; the chicken soup she left behind was enough for Song Shiyue to enjoy for two full days.
Even later, meeting again only today, Song Shiyue still clearly remembered the deliciousness of that broth.
"Today, let me cook for you two ladies in a bit." Zhuang Jiachuan had also noticed Song Shiyue checking the fridge and said with a gentle smile.
Two gazes turned to Zhuang Jiachuan simultaneously.
Neither held the delight Zhuang Jiachuan had imagined.
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