Chapter 17: Suppression

The meeting began, and the faces of two middle-aged men filled the screen. They were the high-ranking executives from Penguin TV and Mango TV, each wearing a strained smile. The program had just aired, and they already had the firsthand data in their hands—what else could be said? As expected of Director Yang Yin, the debut episode was nothing short of explosive.

When Yang Yin's video feed connected, both men brightened instantly. They had long heard tales of Director Yang Yin’s voluptuous allure, and now, seeing her in person, she truly lived up to her reputation. No wonder so many young idols wanted to end up in her bed, though no one seemed to have succeeded yet. A woman like her must be particularly satisfying to conquer, but they both knew they had no chance—Yang Yin was famously formidable, and feared no one.

Yang Yin spoke first, “Gentlemen, are you satisfied with the ratings for the premiere?”

The Penguin TV representative replied with a grin, “Satisfied is putting it mildly. Only you, Director Yang, could pull this off. Within two hours, our first episode surpassed ten million views. That’s a record for music shows.”

The Mango TV executive chimed in, “Director Yang’s promotional skills are also top-notch. By the time the episode was halfway through, six of the top ten trending searches were about our show!”

Yang Yin’s full, rosy lips curved into a slight smile. Shaking her head, she said, “Not a single one of those top ten trending topics was purchased by our production team.”

“What?” both executives exclaimed in astonishment.

Yang Yin explained, “We did buy trending searches, but our highest ranking term only reached twentieth place.”

“So…” Yang Yin arched a brow, “it was contestant Xu Ze who brought our show into the trending topics.”

The two representatives struggled to hide their shock. The Penguin TV executive quickly asked, “Does Xu Ze have any background? Someone we don’t know about pushing him?”

“To our knowledge, no,” Yang Yin replied, shaking her head. “His parents are ordinary people. He hasn’t signed with any entertainment company. If there’s anything special, it’s that he’s a student at Tsinghua or Peking University.”

The Mango TV representative frowned. “Xu Ze’s ‘East Wind Breaks’ was impressive, but is it really that good?”

After all, their platforms had planned to promote Huang Minghao from Sacred Emperor Entertainment and Zhu Zhengting from Tidal Entertainment—these were their intended stars. Now, with Xu Ze’s sudden rise, he would inevitably siphon popularity away from them. Their platform had already signed promotional agreements with those two companies, promising to heavily promote their contestants during the broadcast.

You wonder how a streaming platform can promote contestants? There are countless ways: promotional posters, trailers, contestant highlight reels—beyond the main show, all sorts of edited clips can dramatically boost a contestant’s popularity.

The Penguin TV representative laughed. “Is that even a question? The data speaks for itself.” Then, as if something else crossed his mind, a touch of mockery appeared on his face. “Your platform’s pushing Huang Minghao and Zhu Zhengting, right?”

As a competitor, he kept a close eye on Mango TV’s moves. The past few days, their platform had been pouring on the promotion for those two—anyone with eyes could see their intentions.

Seeing that the Mango TV rep didn’t deny it, Yang Yin sighed inwardly. Clearly, Xu Ze would face suppression from the other side in the future. There’s only so much audience attention; to boost your own, you have to take from others. If you can’t win in the open, you resort to underhanded methods.

She’d seen it all before. Without connections, making it in the entertainment industry was almost impossible. She had always detested such tactics, so when negotiating with Mango TV and Penguin TV, she’d made it a point to emphasize that neither platform could interfere with the show’s content—she alone had final say over all editing.

But once the show was produced, the platforms’ own promotional methods were out of her hands.

At this moment, the Penguin TV executive patted his chest and said, “Don’t worry, Director Yang. We at Penguin TV won’t play Mango TV’s games. The more popular the contestant, the more screen time they get—strictly by the numbers.”

The Mango TV executive retorted sarcastically, “Even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. They’re not partnering with you anyway.”

The Penguin TV executive’s face darkened, wounded by the truth. He wanted to argue, but the facts were undeniable. As a newly established streaming platform, Penguin TV’s popularity lagged far behind Mango TV—of the total ten million views, Mango TV claimed eight million, while Penguin TV only contributed two.

Yang Yin shook her head, unwilling to continue this topic. She couldn’t intervene in Mango TV’s affairs, nor would she let them meddle in hers.

Meanwhile, in the office of Sacred Emperor Entertainment’s General Manager.

Wang Yihan stood with his head bowed before Shi Guoqiang.

“Tell me, why did you give a B?” Shi Guoqiang’s expression was icy.

His female secretary, sensing his foul mood, stood behind him without daring to approach.

“I felt some parts of his singing weren’t quite there, so…” Wang Yihan’s voice trembled.

“Not quite there? I thought he sang better than you!” Shi Guoqiang snapped. “Even if you can’t hear it yourself, couldn’t you listen to the other judges? Even a pig could tell from their comments that they’d all give him an A!”

“Do you have any idea how much the company has spent to build your image as a songwriter?”

“All the judges gave an A—except you gave a B. Do you think fans won’t notice?”

“I know I was wrong, boss. I’ll be more careful next time,” Wang Yihan mumbled, quickly changing the subject. “Boss, my new song’s numbers are still strong—it’s holding first place.”

Shi Guoqiang paused. “Of course it is. We hired a top composer and poured resources into promotion. If you weren’t first, who would be?”

He continued, “The company will move to suppress Xu Ze. You just keep appearing on shows and make sure you secure this month’s new song chart. Understood?”

“Yes, understood,” Wang Yihan nodded quickly.

“Get out.”

After Wang Yihan left, the secretary, knowing the boss was still irritable, deftly undid two buttons on her blouse. Luckily today she was wearing a camisole and stockings—otherwise, she’d have wasted another pair.

Meanwhile, Xu Ze, in the middle of a round of CS with his three roommates, received a call from the production team. They told him that many fans had left messages on the show’s official account, hoping he’d open a Weibo account. The show also hoped he’d interact with fans online to further boost the program’s popularity.

After hanging up, Xu Ze curiously checked the program’s Weibo and saw that the latest post had over 100,000 comments, all urging him to join Weibo.

“So intense?”

No wonder the production team had called him directly.

After some thought, Xu Ze decided to open a Weibo account. He was about to upload “East Wind Breaks” to the music platforms anyway—Weibo would be perfect for promotion.