Chapter 54: Chapter 54: Stepping on Others to Climb Up
Mrs. Wang and Mr. Liu were so excited to hear that the show crew would help find their child that they were trembling and couldn’t utter a complete sentence.
The staff member liaising with them also had a child, and upon seeing them like this, felt heartache.
"Name, photo, video, the location where they went missing, you can tell us everything. We will help search during the live broadcast and also mobilize netizens across platforms to help."
Mrs. Wang couldn’t continue helping in the kitchen and hurried to find her daughter’s photo.
Her daughter went missing at the age of three and a half; it’s been almost four years now, and she may have changed a lot.
She didn’t have much hope, but as long as there was a glimmer of hope, she would try hard. After all, that’s her child!
The staff comforted her, "You have to believe that netizens are powerful. Even with just a photo from when she was over three years old, based on your child’s features, everyone might be able to draw what she looks like now."
During dinner, the show crew played photos of the Liu family’s missing daughter, detailing her characteristics, and posted on social media to pin her story.
Moreover, during the upcoming live broadcast, they will intermittently show the Liu family’s daughter’s photo.
Most viewers had no objections. Those who were already parents could only sympathize, feeling heartbroken. Those younger thought about having to be away from their parents and wished they could find the kidnappers and beat them up.
However, there were also discordant voices.
[This is a variety show; I’m here for fun, why bring up such a heavy topic?]
[Exactly, some people are seeking attention with just a few words, while it’s the staff who are busy.]
[A perfectly good variety show turned into this, aren’t you afraid of it backfiring?]
Director Qian really wasn’t afraid.
As long as the Gu Che combo was still there, this season wouldn’t backfire, and he even used the show crew’s permission to send a pinned comment.
[This is a childcare variety show; we want to see the children’s growth on the show. So focusing on the children is our responsibility. Precisely because we have strong influence, we should step up to bear some social responsibility, helping every abducted child find their way home.]
After dinner, the guests were about to go home.
"Second Brother, Miaomiao wants to talk to Director Uncle."
Gu Che said gently, "Go ahead, I’ll wait for you over there."
Tuanzi ran to Director Qian with little steps, showing a toothy smile.
Director Qian: "..." Don’t smile, he’s starting to feel scared.
"Uncle, you are truly a good person."
Director Qian coughed a few times, "Not a bad guy anymore?"
"No, no."
Tuanzi shook her head rapidly, then obediently asked, "Is there anything Uncle needs help with? Miaomiao will definitely help."
The director was quite interested in having her perform Xingyi Boxing, Eight Trigrams Palm and the like again.
These are the highlights.
Although these are included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, the promotion power is insufficient, the promotion methods are not interesting enough, and young people aren’t interested.
Gu Miaomiao’s appearance is an opportunity.
Not only because she knows these, but also because there are many who know them now, and more because she has inner strength, qinggong, and a mysterious past.
Young people aren’t interested in simple Xingyi Boxing or Eight Trigrams Palm, but if the performer has great martial arts skills and can fly around rooftops, who wouldn’t love it? Who doesn’t dream of martial arts?
Director Qian subtly hinted at a few things.
Tuanzi seemed thoughtful, rubbing her chubby cheeks, "Miaomiao understands now."
Director Qian was skeptical, "Do you really understand?"
"Understood, understood."
She agreed promptly, making Director Qian a bit uneasy.
Early the next morning, before dawn, Tuanzi got up.
Seeing that Second Brother was still asleep, she didn’t disturb him, tiptoeing out the door, seeing a batch of staff already preparing in the yard, she immediately flashed a radiant smile.
Staff: "..." Suddenly had a bad feeling.
The premonition quickly came true.
Tuanzi, with her chubby little face, eagerly invited everyone to do morning exercises together.
"We’ve always been doing Tai Chi Boxing before, today let’s practice Xingyi Boxing together."
Staff: "..." Can we refuse?
Puppy-dog eyes drooped immediately, Tuanzi looked at them innocently and pitifully, "But this is Director Uncle’s request, Miaomiao doesn’t want to break her word."
Staff: "..." Director is really a pain!
Soon a groggy Director Qian was also dragged over.
Facing Tuanzi’s enthusiastic invitation, he waved his hand repeatedly, "I’m old, count me out."
"But last night, it was Director Uncle who said he wanted to learn together?"
Tuanzi pointed to her martial arts outfit, "Miaomiao even changed into her clothes."
Director Qian: "I didn’t say that."
"You did!"
Tuanzi puffed her cheeks, "Brothers, sisters, uncles, and aunts must have all heard it."
She pointed her little finger at the camera, meaning, the audience must have all heard that conversation last night.
[Yes, yes, we all heard it]
[The director hinted at wanting more performances from Miaomiao, Miaomiao is just leading everyone in a performance, no problem]
[I think there’s something wrong with the show crew, why start the livestream so early, it’s Sunday, I want to sleep in]
[Go sleep, no one’s stopping you]
Most viewers couldn’t sleep anymore.
They wanted to watch the live broadcast, and nobody was going to stop them!
Pre-recorded broadcasts are boring, what if the scenes they wanted to see were edited out?
Early in the morning, the audience got up to watch the live broadcast, Tuanzi led the show crew’s staff to practice Xingyi Boxing.
By past nine o’clock in the morning, this scene, unsurprisingly, topped the trending search again.
And today, coincidentally, was the day the Shenzhen Xingyi Boxing Association released their promotional video.
Vice President Fan Cai, to prove his decision was correct, even teamed up with Zhang Xiafei’s agent to buy a trending search spot, ranked at 22nd.
The trending name included Zhang Xiafei and Xingyi Boxing.
People didn’t know Zhang Xiafei, but they learned about Xingyi Boxing from "Travel with Parents 2," so they clicked in and were dumbfounded.
[Is that it?]
[To be honest, I could do randomly better than him]
[It’s even an official promo video, I’m going to throw up]
[Having Gu Miaomiao do the promo would be better than him]
But soon, the agent’s hired influencers arrived, and the comments were mainly two types. One, praising the brother’s excellent performance, truly worthy of being the ambassador. Two, rejecting Gu Miaomiao trying to steal the spotlight.
At the same time.
Zhang Xiafei was a bit nervous.
On that day at the Shenzhen Xingyi Boxing Association, he encountered the Gu siblings, and upon learning the backstory from the vice president, he cursed his agent and Fan Cai internally, worried that Gu Che would hold a grudge and hinder him.
But nothing happened.
He breathed a sigh of relief and became a bit bolder.
When his agent suggested stepping on Gu Miaomiao to climb up, he hesitated for a moment and agreed.
Their team’s plan was this: if the promo video had a great response, they would subtly reveal the association once wanted Gu Miaomiao, but ultimately found Zhang Xiafei better.
If the promo video had a bad response, they would say the association originally wanted Gu Miaomiao, but Zhang Xiafei was better, and if Gu Miaomiao were the ambassador, the effect would only be worse.
No matter which scenario, the outcome is still that he is better and Gu Miaomiao is worse.
The agent also persuaded, "What does a kid know, it’s all others hyping her up. Are you still afraid of losing to a kid?"
By stepping on Gu Miaomiao, one could ride on the popularity of Gu Cheng and Gu Che.
Driven by the desire for fame over the last bit of worry, Zhang Xiafei agreed to the plan and continued monitoring the reactions from all sides closely.
He even thought, since Gu Che might hold a grudge and suppress him anyway, he might as well strike first; he’s just justifiably fighting back.