Chapter 111: The Emperor Is Unhurried, Yet the Eunuch Is Eager

After a brief silence, the audience erupted into an even fiercer uproar.

“Why is someone like Su Chen still allowed to compete? I don’t agree!”

“Exactly! A disgraced performer like Su Chen can still stay in the contest? That’s disrespectful to every contestant and every viewer!”

“So the production team is openly shielding Su Chen, is that it? What fairness is there left? They’re all in on it!”

“If Su Chen doesn’t withdraw, I’ll hate Star of Tomorrow for the rest of my life!”

“Su Chen, withdraw! Su Chen, withdraw! Su Chen, withdraw!”

...

All Liu Shao had done was announce Su Chen’s name, and the audience had already become this unruly.

He could not begin to imagine what would happen if Su Chen himself were to walk onto that stage.

By then, the scene would probably be even more embarrassing than Zheng Huayu’s ending from the previous episode.

Liu Shao was utterly stunned. In all his years in the industry, he had never seen a program mishap of this sort, yet in Star of Tomorrow, things like this were happening as often as meals and water.

Seeing the situation spiral, he hurriedly relayed it to the director, Wu Tong, who was in the backstage area.

“Director, the audience is extremely agitated right now. Basically everyone is boycotting Su Chen. Do we still have him go on stage?”

“I’m worried that if contestant Su Chen goes on, I may not be able to control the scene here...”

Liu Shao did not finish, but his meaning was already very clear.

He did not think Su Chen should continue in the competition. At this point, not only was it bad for the show’s reputation, it was also unsafe for Su Chen himself.

And yet, just when Liu Shao was certain Wu Tong would tell Su Chen to withdraw, the director did no such thing.

“Su Chen must go on stage! Put him in the final slot!”

“As for the situation in the venue, that is your job to handle, not something to throw back at me. Do you understand?”

The firmness in Wu Tong’s voice was beyond what Liu Shao had expected, but since the director had spoken, as host he could only comply.

“...Understood.”

At that moment, Liu Shao even suspected that Su Chen must have some unspeakable connection to Wu Tong, or else the director would never take such a huge risk.

Or perhaps it wasn’t Wu Tong at all, but someone above him?

Of course, someone like that was not something a small-time host like Liu Shao could casually speculate about.

Meanwhile, after issuing his orders to Liu Shao, Wu Tong was in the backstage area, watching the rise in the live stream’s online viewer count.

He had not expected that, after the show had already run for three or four episodes, this episode would draw thirty percent more viewers than the previous one.

Normally, a show’s largest audience would be in its first episode. As the audience’s tastes shifted, or as anticipation faded, viewership would gradually decline with each passing episode.

But Star of Tomorrow was different. As the buzz around Su Chen kept growing, and as the production team kept stumbling into all sorts of unexpected developments, the show was drawing in more and more viewers.

That, in turn, had indirectly led to the current spectacle.

“The increase in viewers this episode compared to the last one is probably mostly people here for Su Chen.”

“This contestant Su Chen really does keep surprising me every single time.”

Wu Tong said this with feeling, but the assistant standing behind him still looked puzzled.

“Director, isn’t there some risk in letting a disgraced performer like Su Chen appear on stage?”

“There’s already an explicit rule from above forbidding any disgraced performer from appearing on stage in any form.”

“Sure, fortune favors the bold, but if we do this, won’t we end up ruining Star of Tomorrow?”

The assistant’s face was full of concern.

After hearing him out, Wu Tong simply glanced back and said, “Whether Su Chen is a disgraced performer or not, that has to be proven first.”

“When I say proven, I mean an official police statement, not a video clip.”

“Since no such statement has been released yet, why can’t I use him?”

“Even if one comes out later, it won’t be too late to have Su Chen withdraw. For Star of Tomorrow, the impact will be minimal.”

Wu Tong watched the data surge in the后台 with satisfaction and said smugly, “Besides, when the sky falls, there will be someone tall enough to hold it up. We’ve got Hunan Provincial Television behind us. If they tell me to keep going, then I keep going.”

“Anyway, if anything goes wrong, they’ll be the first to panic. As for you, you’re starting to look like the emperor isn’t worried while the eunuch is.”

Hearing this, the assistant gave an awkward laugh, though he did glean one piece of information from Wu Tong’s words.

Su Chen had a powerful figure backing him!

Wu Tong, however, still had more he did not say.

In fact, before this episode began, Su Chen had come to see him and shown him a video.

It was the complete footage of Su Chen’s alleged fight.

The story shown in that video could not be said to be exactly the same as the one that had gone viral online; in truth, it had nothing to do with it at all. They were as far apart as east and west.

As a well-known director in the industry, Wu Tong recognized at a glance that the video circulating online was an edited version of the one Su Chen had given him.

The editing was just too flawless—so flawless that it had fooled him too.

But once Wu Tong saw the full video, he immediately understood what Su Chen intended to do.

Su Chen also gave him an answer: he wanted to clear his name on the show.

In that instant, Wu Tong seemed to see waves of attention crashing in from every direction.

If such a massive reversal happened on Star of Tomorrow, it would absolutely propel this already explosive show to even greater heights.

So Wu Tong gave Su Chen the green light all the way, patting his chest and promising to protect him every step of the way.

What’s more, through this incident, Wu Tong also came to realize that Su Chen was anything but ordinary. To face rumors with such composure and calm, and even think of coming to the program to prove himself—

All one could say was that Xu Fangyuan had truly picked the wrong target this time. Su Chen was no little white rabbit.

At the same time, after receiving Wu Tong’s definite reply, Liu Shao began to guide the audience back into order.

It had to be said that Liu Shao truly lived up to his reputation. Very quickly, he shifted the audience’s attention away from Su Chen and back to the competition ahead.

“This episode will use the same format as the last one: a dual-theme competition!”

“Everyone, please look at the big screen. The themes for this episode are on the wheel!”

As Liu Shao spoke, two giant spinning wheels appeared on the screen at center stage.

One wheel was divided into five equal sectors, each labeled with a word: rock, folk, pop, love songs, and uplifting.

The other wheel was also divided into five equal sectors, labeled: answer, heaven, balcony, cat, and bed.