Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 363 Quancheng
The lunch was supposed to be a drinking contest, but in reality, only Dou Wei actually drank himself into oblivion.

Cui Jian and Guo Chuanlin were both good drinkers, while Zhang Yan habitually held back a bit of his strength.

He went back to the hotel to rest for the afternoon, and in the evening he went to see the president's assistant of Intel China. Since they were connected in the drama, he had to try to get some money out of the foreigner.

However, the two sides only met once this time to start building the bridge. Whether they can cooperate in the future will depend on repeated negotiations.

Zhang Yan took the opportunity to relax with Wang Luyao again that night.

Around 3 a.m., he was woken up by his alarm clock. After a quick wash, he and a few entourage boarded a train heading south and arrived in Jinan smoothly the next morning.

Shandong TV station attached great importance to Zhang Yan's arrival. At noon that day, the station director and two deputy directors jointly hosted a welcome banquet, and then specially arranged for the director of the production center, who had participated in last year's copyright auction, to be in charge of the reception.

Then Zhang Yan spent another day and a half sightseeing at famous tourist attractions such as Baotu Spring, Daming Lake, and Thousand Buddha Mountain before it was time to talk about serious business.

There's no way around it; this slow-paced approach is the norm now, especially when socializing with state-owned enterprises, where this approach becomes indispensable.

So it wasn't until the third day after Zhang Yan arrived in Jinan that the first test shoot of "Boys and Girls Rush Forward" was accepted under the supervision of the deputy director in charge.

Based on Zhang Yan's previous suggestion, the guests invited to this program are mainly from medical groups, totaling three men and three women, who will embrace this challenge with a broad mind.

To ensure safety, the audience members were all family members of TV station employees, and the prize was a brand-new double-door refrigerator provided by Haier Group.

The hosts were a male-female pair, one from Shandong TV and the other from Cao Ying.

When Cao Ying first came to Shandong, he seemed a bit dejected, but he seems to have adjusted his mindset in the last few days, appearing quite lively even before taking the stage.

This girl was just unlucky.

Zhang Yan was originally prepared to lend her a hand, but then Chen Hong became pregnant, and the gun he had in his hands flew away.

However, Cao Ying is indeed quite talented at hosting entertainment variety shows. It was originally agreed that the male host from Shandong TV would take the lead, and she would be responsible for assisting him.

As a result, after the first nurse was pulled out of the water by the staff, the male host's eyes seemed to wander, and he kept stumbling over his words.

Cao Ying had no choice but to passively take over the situation, while the male host was relieved and started echoing him with "uh-huhs".

Meanwhile, the spectators on the shore were in complete chaos. Some took the opportunity to feast their eyes, while others caused conflicts between couples or lovers. Some retired workers even loudly criticized the decline of morality and the unsightly appearance of the place.

Generally speaking, the local customs in Shandong are relatively conservative, so the vast majority of people criticize while secretly watching.

On the viewing platform.

Seeing this, the deputy director of Shandong TV was somewhat embarrassed and whispered to Zhang Yan next to him, "Mr. Zhang, isn't this a bit too much?"

"really."

Zhang Yan nodded slightly, then reminded, "Don't forget to give a slow-motion shot of the part from when you fall into the water to when you surface—if your station can't withstand the pressure after it airs, you can try covering it up with artistic fonts."

As he spoke, he sketched a simple drawing on the paper. The drawing depicted a nurse falling into the water, with two large "Oh my God" signs next to her. The last stroke of the character "天" (tian, meaning heaven/sky) obscured the large thunderbolt that had fallen into the water.

"Uh, uh..."

The deputy director mumbled a few words, then smacked his lips and silently looked at the next challenger.

If Zhang Yan had only said the first part, he would have had something to criticize, but since Zhang Yan also provided remedial measures afterward, he really had nothing to criticize.

After all, he also felt that if that scene had been shown in slow motion, it would have generated a lot of buzz—you can't expect to get high ratings without taking any risks, can you?
Because the second person to try the challenge was a doctor, the male host wasn't scared after falling into the water, but he still appeared quite serious, lacking the liveliness that Cao Ying had shown earlier.

The two hosts also used vastly different languages. The male host seemed to have never left the broadcasting studio, speaking with perfect diction; Cao Ying's language was much more down-to-earth, and his interactions with the challengers were more interesting.

After this happened several times, it became clear to everyone that Cao Ying was more suitable to host this variety show.

The deputy director couldn't help but praise, "No wonder everyone says that Director Zhang is a talent scout in the industry. This young lady has outshone the people we carefully selected in our station."

"The main difference is in their styles," Zhang Yan said modestly. "If this host were to host a political or quiz show, his performance would definitely be no worse than Cao Ying's."

The deputy director nodded slightly, then turned his gaze back to the challenge stage. He saw Cao Ying raise a male nurse's hand without any hesitation and excitedly announce that he was the first contestant to successfully complete the challenge on the show, while the male host next to her was still standing there reciting his lines. He finally couldn't help but shake his head vigorously.

"boss Zhang."

The deputy director asked earnestly, "Are you willing to part with Xiao Cao, who is fulfilling your dream?"

This is Shandong TV's first outdoor variety show, and Shandong TV naturally hopes that its own hosts will be in the center position—if they don't have the ability, then they might as well just recruit them.

As is well known, Shandong has a long-standing tradition of accepting imperial pardons and granting amnesty.

Zhang Yan hesitated for a moment but did not refuse. After all, he had just rejected Cao Ying's path of advancement and did not know what the other party's attitude was. So he said, "It mainly depends on Cao Ying's own attitude. Why don't you ask her opinion first?"

Upon hearing this, the deputy director stood up and said, "Since General Manager Zhang has said so, then I'll have a chat with Xiao Cao—Director Qi, please take good care of General Manager Zhang, I'll go and present the award first."

Actually, the award ceremony was originally to be presented by the deputy director and Zhang Yan together, which was also a symbol of the cooperation and friendship between the two parties.

But now that they're poaching talent, the deputy director doesn't want Zhang Yan present. Otherwise, Cao Ying will be hesitant to speak up, and all his efforts will be in vain.

When the deputy director arrived at the award stage, the male nurse had already circled the refrigerator several times, starting to figure out how to get it home.

After the deputy director came over, the production team re-recorded the scene of him happily walking towards the refrigerator after passing the challenge—fortunately, his emotions hadn't subsided yet. Although he wasn't as excited as the first time, you could still see that he was walking very cheerfully.

These days, male nurses may not be nuclear-powered donkeys, but they basically take on most of the heavy physical labor. So the young man was all muscular, making his vest look full, which explains why he passed the test on his first try.

The deputy director patted the other person's arm and said encouraging words, but his mind was mostly on Cao Ying. Watching her liven up the atmosphere up close, and then comparing her to the male host next to her, the difference was even more obvious.

"Little Cao."

After handing out the prizes, the deputy director greeted Cao Ying with a warm smile and asked, "How have you been doing in Jinan these past few days?"

"It's great. The crew members are very enthusiastic, and the scenery is also very nice." Cao Ying said, showing the bracelet on her left wrist: "This is a souvenir I bought at Thousand Buddha Mountain."

The deputy director immediately seized the opportunity: "Haha, would you be interested in staying and continuing to contribute to Shandong?"

"what?"

Cao Ying paused for a moment, then hesitated before saying, "You mean..."

"Of course, you should officially join Shandong TV. President Zhang said he won't stop you from changing jobs, as long as you're willing."

Don't worry, you'll be hosting both variety shows, and we'll definitely focus on developing you in the future, ensuring you have greater opportunities for growth..."

The deputy director was still making empty promises, but Cao Ying's gaze unconsciously drifted to Zhang Yan in the distance, wondering if Zhang Yan was intentionally giving up on him.
If that's the case...

She bit her lip lightly, interrupting the deputy director: "Director Shen, could I... could I talk to our General Manager Zhang first?"

"of course can."

Deputy Director Shen quickly said, "However, you must also have your own opinions. Our Shandong TV station is the third satellite TV station in China to be broadcast online, and it will definitely be one of the top provincial TV stations in the future!"

"I know, I know."

Cao Ying was just giving a perfunctory answer. Perhaps in the eyes of Deputy Director Shen, Shandong TV was a bigger platform than realizing her dream, but in her view, it was quite the opposite.

After all, Shandong TV might only be ranked second, but with General Manager Zhang at Tianjin TV, it's definitely the number one provincial TV station.

Even without mentioning Tianjin TV, the benefits and treatment of this state-owned enterprise are incomparable to those of Yuanmeng. Once you become famous and release a few songs for commercial performances, the gap will be even wider.

Therefore, Cao Ying doesn't think much of Shandong TV at this stage. Even if she were to switch jobs, she would probably go to CCTV.

(End of this chapter)