Chapter 62: Value

In front of a wall of glowing monitors, Director Sun, short and stout in his chair, took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Soon, he instructed the broadcast director, "Let's respect the majority opinion of the audience and skip the part where they have to put the bracelets on each other."

Not long after *Love in the Mountains* began broadcasting, two female guests accidentally exposed that they had a prearranged script, with one playing the protagonist and the other the antagonist.

As for this Xu Zhaozhao, he hadn't wanted her in the first place.

Even though Starlight Entertainment had put all its prestige on the line and pleaded repeatedly, while he hadn't explicitly refused, he had also delayed giving a definite answer.

His plan was to tell Starlight Entertainment that her participation simply couldn't be arranged once the romance reality show started.

However, after signing her contract, one of the selected female guests suddenly accepted an offer for a new television series.

Faced with a choice between the reality show and the drama, she chose the drama without hesitation, thus terminating her contract with the reality show.

Though she had paid a considerable penalty for breaching the contract to do so.

Seeing that an issue had cropped up with the guest lineup just as the program was about to launch, Director Sun naturally thought of Xu Zhaozhao, whom Starlight Entertainment had so strongly recommended.

At first, he had assumed Starlight Entertainment was so persistently pushing Xu Zhaozhao onto the show simply to give a newcomer some exposure.

Never in his wildest dreams did he expect she was there to play the role of a green tea bitch and a foil.

Good grief, before he, a reality show director, could even introduce a script, the guests had written their own, complete with supporting actors.

On the night he learned the truth, Director Sun instantly developed a strong aversion to Chen Sisi.

What she did was tantamount to ruining his reputation.

He had always been a man of his word in the industry; if not for special circumstances this time, how could he possibly have allowed someone recommended by Chen Sisi onto a romance show?

Added to that was his prior agreement with the investors to discover and showcase the folk customs and culture of Ancient Tree Village and its surrounding areas as much as possible.

As a result, the reality show's public reputation collapsed right as it premiered, and he had no idea how to explain it to the investors.

Who could have predicted that just as Director Sun was racking his brains over this mess, he would unexpectedly notice the barrage comments weren't nearly as righteously indignant as he had imagined.

The viewers had turned into spectators looking for entertainment, constantly mocking and joking the moment Chen Sisi and Xu Zhaozhao started acting.

They even made a trending topic on Weibo almost immediately, hanging on the hot search list day after day.

Seeing such market feedback, Director Sun withdrew his decision to chase Xu Zhaozhao away and find another female guest to save the day, opting instead to let Xu Zhaozhao stay on the show.

Not only that, Director Sun strictly ordered everyone not to leak any information from the internet to any of the guests, so as not to interfere with the performances of Chen Sisi and Xu Zhaozhao.

In this way, the live stream of the romance show would keep attracting viewers to tune in because of its bizarre selling points.

Even so, the two of them still made it impossible to carry on with some of the show's original rules, forcing everyone to make adjustments on the fly.

Fortunately, these days, more people enjoyed watching catfights than watching people fall in love.

Right now, hardworking office workers all identified with Xu Zhaozhao, flooding the barrage with comments urging the production team not to make things difficult for her.

Therefore, he decided to follow the will of the people.

With the director making the final call, the broadcast director immediately said, "Since the guests have made a request, we should accommodate them..."

And just like that, the segment of helping each other put on bracelets was canceled, exactly as Xu Zhaozhao wished.

Seeing this scene, the person most thrilled was none other than Chen Sisi.

She had never liked Xu Zhaozhao stealing her spotlight, but alas, fortune seemed not to favor her.

Fortunately, Xu Zhaozhao hadn't forgotten her original mission and had canceled this scene, which resembled a token of love, all on her own.

Hmph, consider yourself self-aware!

Chen Sisi then cast an affectionate look toward Ke Hao.

Her Ke Hao was covered in sweat from exhaustion all for her sake.

At that moment, she regretted not fighting with all her might to win first place.

Had she known the reward would be so precious, she would never have let Xu Zhaozhao reap such a massive bargain for nothing!

"Great-great-grandfather, looking at it this way, it seems Xu Zhaozhao really doesn't like Little Uncle!"

In the Shen family villa, Su Chengyu scratched his head in agitation.

There was actually a woman who remained indifferent to his Little Uncle; this defied science!

"What's so surprising about that?" Shen Feifan said. "This Xu Zhaozhao's background and status are completely mismatched with Shen Mu. If she looks down on Shen Mu right now, it's simply because of Shen Mu's ordinary status."

"Once she finds out Shen Mu's true identity, I don't believe she won't be tempted."

There wasn't a single woman who wouldn't be tempted upon meeting his youngest grandson.

"Her looking down on Shen Mu right now is actually for the best; it saves Shen Mu the awkwardness of bringing her back for me to chase her away later."

After a few days of investigation, the private detective had already provided the dossier on Xu Zhaozhao.

A trainee from some small workshop, currently an entry-level actress at Starlight Entertainment, earning little money, and both parents deceased.

Speaking of her background, she was indeed a pitiful child, but it was equally true that she and Shen Mu were not a match...

Shen Feifan looked at Su Chengyu. "This romance reality show is almost ending, isn't it?"

Su Chengyu nodded. "Yes, Great-great-grandfather, there are three days left."

Shen Feifan fished out his phone.

"Shen Mu isn't young anymore. Previously, he was busy with company affairs, so I didn't have time to manage his marriage."

"Now that I've stepped back, I finally have the time. It's about time he settled down and started a family!"

Su Chengyu was startled. "Great-great-grandfather, are you going to arrange a blind date for Little Uncle? But will Little Uncle agree?"

"Marrying a wife and having children is the natural order of things. What's there to agree or disagree with?"

Shen Feifan said, "At worst, I'll contact more families with daughters and pick a few more options for him. He's bound to find someone he's satisfied with."

Su Chengyu fell silent.

Initially, his great-great-grandfather had been quite interested in Xu Zhaozhao.

However, the moment he learned about Xu Zhaozhao's penniless background, he immediately changed his mind.

Su Chengyu shook his head.

His great-great-grandfather valued marital alliances and firmly insisted on matching social status.

If his Little Uncle really had deep affections for this Xu Zhaozhao, another major battle between him and his great-great-grandfather seemed unavoidable.

Just imagining that scene filled Su Chengyu with anxiety.

Especially since this matter couldn't let his grandmother find out, otherwise, there would truly be no peace in this household.

After a day of exhausting labor, everyone returned to the small courtyard with very little energy left.

"Xu Zhaozhao, do you know that the bracelet the production team rewarded you with is very valuable?"

Chen Sisi asked after returning from her shower, looking at Xu Zhaozhao lying on the bed.

"How valuable is it?" Xu Zhaozhao asked, puzzled.

Chen Sisi wore an expression that clearly said, "I knew you were uncultured." "That's a top global luxury brand. A bracelet like that costs hundreds of thousands."

"What?" Xu Zhaozhao was utterly shocked. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Why would I lie to you?" Chen Sisi said with disdain.

She loved showing off in front of Xu Zhaozhao, who knew nothing, just to highlight her own sense of superiority.

Just you wait; she would definitely rely on her hard work and career drive to become the exclusive spokesperson for this brand.

Xu Zhaozhao had no idea her dreams had already grown so grandiose; her mind was completely occupied by the words "a bracelet worth hundreds of thousands."