Perfect Superstar

Beijing Satellite TV is part of the first group of TV stations to be launched in China, so it has a fairly extensive and good influence both in China and in Asia. Relying on the huge advantages of the local TV stations in Beijing, its comprehensive strength has always been in the forefront of major TV stations.

However, in the past five years, with the increasingly popularity of variety entertainment programs, local satellite TV stations such as Xiangnan Satellite TV, Donghai Satellite TV, Jiangning Satellite TV and other local satellite TV stations have risen rapidly, occupying a large market share, while also seriously reducing the living space of Beijing Satellite TV.

Especially Xiangnan Satellite TV, which is famous for its expertise in producing variety shows, since 2008. Xiangnan Satellite TV has launched a series of popular talent contests, such as “Super Girl”, “Super Boy”, “All New Idol”, and so on, which not only has achieved great success, but also launched a number of well-known idol stars. Thus, making them ranked first among all the satellite TV stations!

What makes the Beijing Satellite TV unable to hold its face is that all the talent shows of Xiangnan Satellite TV will set up competition zones in Beijing. Each audition is crowded with thousands of people. The scene was so lively that it has reached the extreme.

Having their own territory becoming the place for their competitor to show off, this is simply hitting the face of Beijing Satellite TV face-to-face!

To make Beijing Satellite TV even more annoyed, Donghai Satellite TV, Jiangning Satellite TV and other latecomers have also learned the same, treating Beijing as a fat meat, each one eating full of mouthfuls.

Under such circumstances, Beijing Satellite TV, which has always been proud, finally could not stand the declining ratings year by year. After six months of planning and preparations, it launched its own talent show “Singing China” for the first time!

The ambitious Beijing Satellite TV even competed with the “Super Singer” of Xiangnan Satellite TV.

For this program, Beijing Satellite TV has also put out a lot of money, not only re-equipping the broadcast hall, but also expanding the backstage, which is much more spacious and comfortable than before, enough to accommodate hundreds of contestants and staff.

Tonight, there are only 35 contestants participating in the first qualifying round of the Beijing Division. In addition to the contestant’s relatives and friends, there are only about a hundred people.

Lu Chen is one of the 35 contestants in the first qualifying round, and is one of the few contestants who do not have a group of relatives and friends.

It is not that he doesn’t have any friends in Beijing, but Li Feiyu has to help him broadcast the competition live on the Internet, while Sister Na and Qin Hanyang are too busy because of the recent popularity of the Wandering band. They had not performed in the Forget Worries Bar for a long time, so Lu Chen didn’t bother them either.

As for others, most of them are not suitable, such as Ye Zitong. Although they have a good feeling for each other, they have not established a real relationship. And it wouldn’t be right for him to pull her to the scene and appear before the whole country, right?

Lu Chen came over alone with a guitar.

Relatively speaking, among the 35 contestants, Lu Chen’s state of mind is the most relaxed and peaceful. He leaned on the bench to rest and wait while observing the other contestants in his spare time.

Sitting on Lu Chen’s right is a middle-aged man with a shaggy beard, messy hair, personalized T-shirts and worn jeans, dressed as a typical street singer. He was holding his guitar with his head lowered, lost in his thoughts.

In front of him was a band group. All five members were very young, vigorous and energetic. They talked and laughed to encourage each other, and their expression was full of expectations for participating in the competition.

In the next row, TV staffs and cameramen were interviewing a contestant.

All contestants have to pre-record a short video, also known as VCR. The content of the video mainly describes their own situation, and when the show is officially broadcast, the director will select several excerpts into the live broadcast.

Speaking of the live broadcast, it is in fact not a real-time broadcast. The recording and broadcast time have a time difference of about an hour.

The advantage of this is that it is convenient to control the content of the program and to handle the editing.

Before, broadcast accidents would rarely appear, but now, the probability of it happening is high. Previous talent shows are often produced several days or even a week in advance. And If they dare to claim it as live when they broadcast it, people would just call it a monkey trick!

Although the production effect of recordings done a few days in advance is the best, the majority of TV viewers are not idiots. They want to see more real and direct content of the competition, and they increasingly resent the procedural and routine program form process, which has led to the great change in the situation of live competition.

The pre-qualification and semi-finals are advanced by an hour or so, and the elimination and final stages can last up to 30 minutes.

Even real-time live broadcast is available!

Of course, this is a big test for any TV station. Without enough strength and good enough behind-the-scenes team, it is impossible to play this kind of live talent show.

The on-site VCR of Lu Chen has just been recorded a moment ago and it took a few minutes.

It was a very simple thing, but a handsome man with delicate eyes was very nervous when facing the camera and the microphone. He kept stuttering when speaking, which made his group of relatives and friends look worried for him.

However, compared with another female contestant sitting 4 to 5 meters away to the left of Lu Chen, he was still good. The girl, who was 18 or 19 years old, was so nervous that she cried but dared not cry loudly. She just lowered her head and sobbed.

She also had her two best friends around her, but neither of them obviously knew what to say to comfort her. Their persuasion and encouragement for a quite a while had no effect, and they could not help but be at a loss.

Most of the other contestant in the vicinity felt funny and some even had a look of ridicule when they saw this.

With such poor mentality, you dare perform on stage?

Lu Chen heard them say a lot, and finally understand that the female contestant is probably having very bad luck. Today’s important day has not been very smooth which seriously affected her mood. Plus, she didn’t do well during the recording of her VCR earlier.

With all sorts of emotions accumulated, she was destined to collapsed before she can even prove herself.

Originally, in addition to increasing the interest of the program, the role of the group of relatives and friends was to support and encourage the contestants on the spot.

However, these two friends of her are really not qualified!

After thinking about it, Lu Chen got up and walked over and arrived in front of the female contestant.

He took out a bottle of peppermint gum out of his pocket and handed it to the crying girl. He said, “Don’t be too nervous. Have a piece of gum and you’ll feel better after chewing it.” (TN: This is the first time I encountered the term bottle of gum. Here’s a sample for those who don’t know what it is. Here)

The girl and her companions raised their heads in surprise.

Lu Chen smiled, reached out and opened the lid of the bottle and said, “try it!”

Scientific research has shown that the sincere and friendly smile of a handsome man or a beautiful woman can often dissolve people’s feelings of tension, fear, anxiety and unease, which is equivalent to a boost in morale, and this also effectively stimulate the secretion of dopamine and hormones!

Although the above content is pure nonsense, Lu Chen’s charming and warm smile really made the female contestant relaxed. She sheepishly wiped away the tears that spilled from the corners of her eyes, and a shy blush appeared on her beautiful face.

The girl hesitated for a moment, but still raised her small white hand and said, “Thank you...”

Her voice was light and sweet, and it sounded like there’s a freshly melted toffee in her mouth.

Lu Chen poured a piece of gum in her palm.

This is the privilege of a handsome man. If Lu Chen was a creepy fat man, or a thin otaku, it is estimated that no girl would want any candy from him.

Lu Chen asked her companions, “Which university are you from?”

So young and immature, and no relatives around, she is most likely an out-of-town students studying in Beijing.

The other party replied enthusiastically, “We are all from the Institute of Foreign Languages. We came to the competition with Xiaochu. You are also a contestant, aren’t you? Where are you studying?”

Lu Chen said with a smile, “I am also a contestant. I just graduated from Jianghai University this year.”

“It turned out to be a senior graduate!”

As soon as the other party’s eyes lit up, they immediately pushed the girl, “Xiaochu, ask senior for contact information. Maybe you both can reach the finals!”

In fact, she too very much wanted to ask for his contact information, but she was embarrassed to say it directly.

Lu Chen smiled and exchanged QQ number with the three of them and made friends with each other.

As a result, he came to know the name of the shy girl.

Mu Xiaochu.

_____

TN: The title of this chapter, which is in raw 众生相[zhònɡ shēnɡ xiànɡ], is translated more as “the idea that all sentient beings are produced by the skandhas”. From my research about this it talks about Buddhism and about Diamond Sutra. And I don’t get it. Anyway, anyone who knows about this, just comment about it.