CH 16

Chapter 16: The anchor is on the homepage (1)

At 8 pm, the fans waiting in front of their computers and phones flooded into Jiang Fengchi’s live broadcast room right on time. The number of people in the room rose at a speed visible to the naked eye.

[Good evening, brother Fengchi!]

[Ah, Brother Fengchi is as handsome as ever!]

Netizens watched Jiang Fengchi appear on the screen with joy and couldn’t help but brush the bullet screen and Jiang Fengchi quickly reminded them of today’s topic as he greeted them.

Although it was live, Jiang Fengchi had not deliberately dressed himself up. He was casually wearing a sportswear jacket, his clean face very handsome in the light, and he looked even younger than he already was.

[Today’s the sport windbreaker!]

[QAQ, think about our Brother Fengchi a few years ago]

“We just finished the recording of today’s <Pick Eleven> and everyone’s performance was wonderful. Now let’s go take a look at what the contestants are doing, should we?”

Jiang Fengchi said softly as he started walking towards the villa of the Class A players. The netizens were praising the dormitory, sighing at the program’s wealth.

“Teacher Jiang, hello!”

As soon as he entered the dormitory, the girls who were chatting in the living room stood up nervously and greeted him. They looked a little confused and overwhelmed as if they didn’t know whether to come forward or not.

“Hello, ladies.”

Jiang Fengchi nodded to the group in the room, his eyes instinctively searching for Qiao Dai. When he did not see her, he slightly pursed his lips and withdrew his gaze, either in disappointment or pity, and turned back to the other players, his mind on something else. Why couldn’t he see Qiao Dai? Didn’t she know how much she needed to get in front of the camera to get more attention?

His concerns were purely professional, as a mentor worried about his student, and not as a man thinking of a woman. Jiang Fengchi had always been a serious and respectful person. He appreciated talented people and he had known he would like Qiao Dai at first sight. He liked that Qiao Dai was immaculate, like a sheet of white paper, and it made him wonder what would be her final appearance. A girl crossing mountains and rivers, coming from afar; there was no one in the circle like her. Thinking of the place Qiao Dai came from, of the aura she had on stage, and of the infinite future possibilities… Jiang Fengchi took a deep breath and could feel his blood boiling. He believed that as the program went on, more and more people would look forward to this girl’s growth, just like him.

Jiang Fengchi kept talking to the group in the living room but the atmosphere was obviously a little awkward. The players were nervous and too shy to speak and the discussion soon fell.

[Wow, so many beautiful sisters!]

[They seem to be a little bit shy.]

The viewers were joking about the situation. Wanting to ease their anxiety, Jiang Fengchi asked if they needed any help and after every girl shook their head, the ambiance became even stiffer. The staff following Jiang Fengchi frowned, they had not expected the Class A players would be so polite they would not even dare to talk to their mentor. The effect of the live broadcast was definitely not good, should they have Jiang Fengchi go to dormitory B instead?

At this time, Jiang Fengchi spoke again: “Nothing?” It was late and he looked around the room, not as embarrassed as the girls, before asking in a natural voice: “Then can you show me around your dormitory?”

“Yes, yes!”

Only then the girls realized they were acting too respectful. They quickly understood Jiang Fengchi’s subtle look and took him to visit the villa. The staff instantly relaxed; they would finally get some content. And the students who had been very nervous gradually relaxed. Jiang Fengchi would answer their questions and talk to them, which boosted their confidence and they discussed happily with their mentor.

The group was walking in a corridor when they heard a beautiful voice coming from the music classroom at the end. Jiang Fengchi slowly stepped forward with curiosity and approached the door in silence.

[It’s Ruan Tao.]

[Her voice is so beautiful. I am going to follow the draft now.]

Before Jiang Fengchi could answer, some fans had already recognized Ruan Tao and the live broadcast room was soon full of her name.

Looking at the rapid increase of comments, the staff was about to ask Jiang Fengchi to enter the room and interact with Ruan Tao; she was a good boost of popularity. But before they could speak, footsteps came from the stairs and someone asked: “Teacher Jiang, do you have time right now?”

Qiao Dai, who was living on the third floor, rushed downstairs when she heard Jiang Fengchi had arrived and stopped in front of him.

“Huh? Yes, yes, there is time.”

As soon as Jiang Fengchi turned around, his sight locked on Qiao Dai’s round eyes. They were shining like stars, full of expectation, which made people unable to refuse her anything.

Hearing Jiang Fengchi’s answer, the initially worried Qiao Dai relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. She almost turned in a circle on the spot before asking Jiang Fengchi with excitement and embarrassment: “Can I ask you for a favor?”

[Is the little sister so brave?]

[She will go far!]

The attention of the viewers was quickly attracted by Qiao Dai. They watched her appear without warning and wondered what she was going to do. When they heard her request, they started to laugh and admire her courage. The audience was aware that tonight’s live broadcast had most likely been organized and they had expected to see some contestant rushing to grab the spotlight. What they had not expected was the direct way Qiao Dai had used. Yes, this little sister was really courageous.

Truth was that the viewers were already a little tired of watching everybody being so polite; they wanted to see something more exciting. And right at this time, Qiao Dai had rushed over and had immediately aroused their curiosity.

“Yes, of course.”

Jiang Fengchi responded quickly, His eyes were on the girl’s face and his eyebrows raised instinctively. What had Qiao Dai planned?

Looking at Qiao Dai’ eyes and faint blush on her cheeks, Jiang Fengchi felt under a spell; she looked like a small animal and his soul gently moved. He took his eyes off her and walked a few steps out of the corridor before whispering: “Then, let’s go.”

He did not look at her expression but turned his head to interact with the audience instead to avoid his gaze lingering too long on the girl.

[Oh! We can watch some fun!]

[Quick, quick, we need to see!]

And Ruan Tao’s fans in the room could only watch the other viewers urge Jiang Fengchi to walk faster to the next destination. They looked at Jiang Fengchi leave the music classroom before even seeing Ruan Tao’s face.

Sounds of footsteps leaving were heard from the studio and Ruan Tao turned around. She quickly walked to the door and opened it. The corridor was empty and she was alone. Ruan Tao’s eyelashes trembled and she bit her lips; no one knew what she was thinking and she slowly raised her head to look at the third floor.

Ruan Tao’s fans in Jiang Fengchi’s broadcast could not stay quiet anymore.

[Stealing the spotlight, is that a palace trick?]

[+1, this seems to be a little shady.]

[At first glance I could tell she was a troublemaker, I don’t like it.]

Although there were several not very harmonious comments, this was Jiang Fengchi’s anchor room and most viewers were his fans. For them, whether it was Ruan Tao or Qiao Dai, it did not matter. After all, they had not come to watch any of the contestants but to look at Jiang Fengchi and no one cared about Ruan Tao’s fans.

Seeing that they did not manage to do any damage, Ruan Tao’s felt reluctant to keep trying to lower Qiao Dai’s image. But the ones that had caught up with today’s recording were very unhappy with this girl; she had sent Ruan Tao’s good friend Lai You to Class F and they started to worry she would get more heat and suppress their Ruan Tao. Just as they quickly typed more words against Qiao Dai, an alert popped up on their screen: [This account has been banned for violating the rules of the live broadcast room. Remaining time: 20 hours.]

Ruan Tao’s fans: ???

What the hell, they were directly blocked?

Although they were even angrier, their banned accounts did not allow them to continue to speak. They only stared at the screen and at Jiang Fengchi finally reach Qiao Dai’s room.

Damn, they were so angry!

Ruan Tao’s fans wanted to curse everybody, while the staff members, who were following Jiang Fengchi, gave him an OK gesture, letting him know the viewers trying to start a scolding war had been banned. Jiang Fengchi nodded to them, grateful.

When he had seen the first curses, he had been unhappy inexplicably. The production team had arranged him to broadcast live to increase the popularity of the show; they had not arranged him to only bring heat to one player in particular. It was his right to record whoever he wanted, who decided some needed to be under the camera while the other needed to stay in the dark? Therefore, he had asked the staff to block all the scolding accounts that were trying to slander other players.

Chapter 16: The anchor is on the homepage (2)

But about what had happened, Qiao Dai was blissfully ignorant.

“Teacher Jiang, thank you. You are a good person.”

Qiao Dai had led the crowd to her room and bowed politely to Jiang Fengchi. She had learned to express her gratitude to Jiang Fengchi in the “Language Communication (Introduction)”, “100 words of politeness” and “Daily polite expressions”.

Hearing Qiao Dai’s words, Jiang Fengchi was startled, as if frozen in time. Was it his illusion or Qiao Dai sounded like a primary school student? His heart was a little subtle, he felt like a kindergarten’s teacher for a short instant.

[Hahaha, why does this little sister talk like a child?]

[She sounds likes she came from Li Lei and Han Mei Mei1, hahaha]

[Right? It’s the kind of language communication primary students are taught, hahahaha]

For a while, the comments were full of people laughing. Between her way of talking and her adorable appearance, Qiao Dai did not give the sightless superficial feeling. She looked rather foolish and incredibly cute.

“It’s nothing, you’re welcome.”

Jiang Fengchi recovered after a while and followed Qiao Dai into the room. Although he had reminded the contestants to pack up any personal belongings before the broadcast, now that he looked at Qiao Dai’s innocent face, he was worried she had not understood his meaning. Jiang Fengchi deliberately restrained his sight and his eyes stared at the floor as if he was afraid to see something he shouldn’t.

[Is Brother Fengchi shy?]

As everyone was commenting about Jiang Fengchi’s embarrassed attitude, they saw his stunned expression through the camera a second later until their sight ended on… a children’s pool? They saw Qiao Dai and Luan Zhen sitting on the ground, panting and desperately trying to inflate it with a pump. The pool was only halfway done, was her so-called favor referring to this?

Until they saw the pool in Qiao Dai’s room, many viewers had been trying to guess what she had called Jiang Fengchi for. They had a lot of ideas but they had still felt she just wanted a separate shot with Jiang Fengchi and the so-called favor had been a cover. It was not until they saw the pool that they suddenly realized…

Teacher Jiang, a good person = Teacher Jiang, a tool person.

[Sorry, Brother Fengchi, I laughed.]

[Who else imagined something entirely different? Tell me I am not the only one.]

[How did she get such a big pool in the room?]

[Hahaha, everybody, look at our brother Fengchi. He looks so surprised, he never thought the plot would take this direction.]

All of the audience’s previous thoughts were smashed by the pool and any dark ideas instantly disappeared. Nobody had expected this and everybody was just laughing while the number of viewers kept increasing.

“Teacher Jiang, Luan Zhen and I have been trying to inflate the pool for a long time but it’s still not done. Can you take a look?”

Qiao Dai was kneeling on the floor with no care for the camera. She was carefully observing the pool, her eyebrows were slightly twisted, and her eyes were somewhat distressed. Why wouldn’t this pool get built?

“Oh, yes, yes.”

Jiang Fengchi was frozen on the spot for a moment, then quickly reacted. He rolled up his sleeves, walked to Qiao Dai, and squatted down next to her before seriously studying how to pump this children’s pool. How to do this?

Jiang Fengchi looked at the pump attached to the pool for a while; he thought that Qiao Dai had probably not connected it well enough. As soon as he reached out his hand, he heard a “click”; in a second, the pool collapsed, shocking Qiao Dai who rushed to cover the air from leaving.

“Ah, ah, the gas is disappearing!”

She stretched her hands and tried to plug the pump back in a panic. Jiang Fengchi also wanted to reach out and the two of them looked alarmed at once.

[Hahaha, this scene is so funny!]

[We are watching two elementary school students trying to inflate a pool]

[I can’t believe we are actually enjoying watching people build a pool in Brother Fengchi’s live broadcast room.]

The program team, who had been worried earlier about the data of the live broadcast, was stunned as they saw its popularity rapidly increase and at gifts being sent. The number of viewers kept climbing and many comments brushed the screen:

[So many people are watching people pump the pool, why is that?]

[I came from the homepage, what is this?]

[Y1s1, the anchor looks pretty good]

Although this live broadcast had been arranged by the program team, they could not arrange its position on the platform, which was decided in accordance with popularity.  And after the rapid increase of spectators, the room had been pushed to the home page, attracting even more people. Before entering the room, people were wondering which live broadcast could be so popular. After entering it, they watched Jiang Fengchi and Qiao Dai playing with a plastic pool like children until they realized it was the official broadcast of a women’s team draft. And the staff looked at the rising data, happier than ever.

They had been worried at first that letting the audience watch Jiang Fengchi trying to pump a pool would affect popularity. Who could have known that not only it did not have any bad impact, it had also attracted so many more people? The program team had made some publicity on their official blog but ending up on the front page of the live broadcast platform was completely unexpected.

The staff threw an excited look at Qiao Dai, thinking that she had a bright future ahead.  It was the first time for her and Jiang Fengchi to broadcast live and they had been sent straight up to the homepage. If she wasn’t a traffic treasure, what was she? Thinking of this, the program team wanted the two of them to build the pool a little slower, so they could continue to publicize the show.

***

At the same moment, some contestants from other dormitories were also watching Jiang Fengchi and Qiao Dai live. The trainees participating in the program would hand over any communication equipment to the staff in accordance with the rules, but they would get it back after each rating. Like that, they could surf on the Internet, check their own popularity, and watch the broadcasts of other dormitories.

“Oh my god, isn’t Class A’s broadcast really high? Let me count… 10, 100, … one billion viewers?!”

In Class F, the girls were huddled in a group and watched the broadcast of the first class, instinctively comparing it with theirs. They couldn’t help but say: “I envy them, Teacher Jiang is so popular everybody will watch them.”

Although the broadcast was still ongoing, the players in Class F were not very popular and most of the attention was on Song Yiqi and Lai You, who had been demoted after failing their challenges. Unfortunately, Song Yiqi had gone to see her friends in dormitory B, and Lai You was in such a bad mood, she had locked herself up in the room. The Class F broadcast had not gone very well and most people had simply gone straight back to their rooms to watch the other dormitories.

“No, this is just the calculation method of the platform, not the actual number of people.”

Hearing a popularity-related question, a player answered before glancing at the data on the screen and silently lowering her head. It was indeed not the number of viewers, but such data was already very powerful. Moreover, with such a number, it was impossible to be just because of Jiang Fengchi.

Live broadcast was a way to attract people’s attention but if the audience felt it was not interesting enough, they would leave after a glance or two. For the Class A broadcast to rush directly to the homepage, the content but had been very fascinating.

Looking at Qiao Dai’s figure on the screen, a contestant could not help but say: “Ah, Qiao Dai is really awesome.”

For a moment, no one refuted the room. Looking at Qiao Dai, they sighed in their heart; no wonder she was on the homepage, it was a broadcast yet she could behave so naturally in front of the camera as if there were no machine around. Just now, when they had been recorded, most of them had not known what to say. They had not grabbed the opportunity and now it was gone. Yes, there was no doubt Qiao Dai was the reason their broadcast was on the homepage.

The live broadcast was coming to an end. Although it was only the first day of the show, dark horse contestants were already starting to show signs and the gap between the girls was slowly widening.

***

“Wow, it’s finally done!”

Although the process had been a little chaotic, fortunately, everybody worked together to finally find a way to fill the pool of air. Qiao Dai looked proudly at the pool in front of her like they had not just built a children’s pool but a temple. She was full of joy and was acting like a kid waiting for some words of praise, which made people laugh.

“High five!”

Jiang Fengchi shook his head but when he saw Qiao Dai excitedly raise her hand at him, he instinctively reached his and clapped his palm against Qiao Dai’s in a small noise. Before he could even realize what had happened, Qiao Dai had already run over to Luan Zhen to high-five her too, just like a child.

“Well, Fengchi, you have worked hard. That’s it for today’s live broadcast.”

The staff was still looking at the data and was getting ready to write a detailed report. There were only a few minutes left before the end and the staff informed Jiang Fengchi he could prepare to conclude it. But as soon as they said it, a gift worth 10,000 yuan was sent with an eye-catching message: [Can the little sister wear a swimsuit?]

Jiang Fengchi frowned and his expression darkened.