msmithbooks Chapter 138 Su Xiaoxiao's Counterattack
Chapter 138 Su Xiaoxiao's Counterattack
Editing room of the "New Voice Battle" program in Lin'an City.
It was late at night, and the air was thick with smoke.
Editor Wang Yang stared at the dense timeline on the screen, his eyes as red as a rabbit's.
He clicked on the rough cut of episode 5 for the Nth time and fast-forwarded to Wang Bo's song.
"Director Li," Wang Yang turned to the assistant director sprawled on the sofa, "Can't we really extend Wang Bo's scene any further? The audience loves watching him!"
The assistant director waved his hand listlessly: "Director Zhao said that Qin Xiao is 4 minutes and 12 seconds, Xia Lizhi is 4 minutes and 5 seconds, and Wang Bo... is at most 3 minutes and 50 seconds. This is the art of balance."
"Balance my ass!" another editor couldn't help but curse. "Wang Bo contributed all the peak ratings, yet he's always ranked second or third in screen time every episode. Is this what you call balance? This is bullying the honest guy!"
"Keep your voice down!" The assistant director sat up straight. "What do you know? Wang Bo is too popular right now. We need to keep him in check, otherwise, how will the other contestants compete? The sponsors are also having issues. Qin Xiao has a sponsor backer, Xia Lizhi is with Orange Music, Li Xuan is with Starlight Media..."
"Why bring up Li Xuan?" Wang Yang rolled his eyes. "If you ask me, the production team is just a coward. They bully Wang Bo because he doesn't have a big company backing him up."
The assistant director sighed: "Alright, hurry up and edit it. It has to be submitted for review tomorrow afternoon. This episode must have Qin Xiao first in terms of screen time, Xia Lizhi second, Wang Bo... third is fine, fourth is also acceptable."
A chorus of groans filled the editing room.
At this very moment, the office of Xiaoyi Culture Media was brightly lit.
Su Xiaoxiao sat with her legs crossed in the boss's chair, and the tablet in front of her was playing highlights from the first four episodes of "The Voice of China"—"evidence" that she had her team work through the night to produce.
The video title is straightforward: "On the mystery of the top star's disappearance from the camera - Wang Bo's four-episode fantastic journey in 'The Voice of China'".
"Ms. Su, the copy is ready." Assistant Xiao Chen sent her a document. "As per your requirements, the data is detailed, the tone is objective, but every word is cutting."
Su Xiaoxiao opened the document and quickly browsed it: "According to publicly available data, the peak viewership for the first four episodes of 'The Voice of China' all occurred during Wang Bo's performance time, and Wang Bo accounted for an average of over 40% of online buzz, reaching a peak of 58%. However, the ranking of screen time is as follows—"
"Episode 1: Qin Xiao (5 minutes 12 seconds) first, Wang Bo (4 minutes 18 seconds) second."
「第二期：李轩（4分46秒）第一，秦骁（4分44秒）第二，王博（4分20秒）第三。」
「第三期（夏莉智踢馆）：夏莉智（5分08秒）第一，秦骁（4分50秒）第二，王博（4分30秒）第三。」
「第四期：秦骁（4分52秒）第一，夏莉智（4分45秒）第二，王博（4分30秒）第三。」
"Why has a contestant who contributed more than half of the show's viewership and whose performances sparked heated discussions across the internet never topped the list in terms of screen time? In some episodes, his screen time was even lower than that of other contestants with mediocre performances and far less popularity. Does this violate the basic logic of variety shows: 'promote whoever is popular'? Or does the 'New Voice Battle' production team have a unique 'unspoken rule' calculation formula?"
"Do you know why Wang Bo's song in the fourth episode had nothing to do with Lin'an?"
"Because the person who has benefited the most from Lin'an is actually oppressing a local, how can you expect that local to love Lin'an?"
Upon seeing this, Su Xiaoxiao's lips curled into a cold smile.
She continued reading, and found detailed data comparison charts, footage comparisons, and even screenshots of netizens' comments attached to the text.
Questions like "Why does Wang Bo have so little screen time?" and "Is the production team suppressing Wang Bo?", which used to appear sporadically, have now been compiled and are quite alarming.
"How's the video editing going?" Su Xiaoxiao asked, looking up.
"Almost done!" a colleague from the video production team shouted from the opposite workstation. "President Su, once we release this video, the production team will definitely go wild."
"That's exactly what we want—for them to explode," Su Xiaoxiao sneered. "Do they really think Xiaoyi Culture is some small company that's easy to bully? They're trying to intimidate us, do they think we're blind?"
Sitting on the sofa next to him, Su Yiyi asked with some concern, "Xiaoxiao, won't this direct confrontation affect Wang Bo's subsequent matches?"
"Sis, you're just too kind." Su Xiaoxiao stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the city lights in the early morning. "That's how the entertainment industry is. If you take a step back, someone else takes a step forward. Before, the production team did some underhanded things, and we turned a blind eye because we thought Wang Bo relied on his talent and didn't care about those few seconds of screen time. But now they've gone too far. In the fifth episode, they actually want to put Wang Bo in fifth place? Do they really think we're pushovers?"
She turned around, her eyes sharp: "Wang Bo's popularity is no longer something the production team can easily manipulate. This time, we're going to show them that Xiaoyi Culture's artists aren't to be bullied."
Su Yiyi thought for a moment and nodded gently: "You're right, we should fight for fair treatment."
"It's not just about fairness," Su Xiaoxiao walked back to her desk, "I want privileges—the privileges that top stars should have."
By midnight, the video and script were all ready.
Su Xiaoxiao personally reviewed it to confirm that every piece of data was accurate and every frame pointed to a clear direction.
She didn't use any exaggerated language; she simply presented the facts.
This calm and collected statement is actually more effective at delivering a powerful impact.
"Send it." Su Xiaoxiao pressed the send button.
At 1 a.m., the hashtag #WangBo'sLens# quietly appeared at the bottom of Weibo's trending topics list.
Initially, only a few entertainment accounts reposted it, and the comments section was filled with fans complaining.
"Finally, someone has spoken up!"
"The production team should have some decency!"
But an hour later, things started to get out of control.
A well-known data blogger reposted this video and added: "As a data analyst, I can say with certainty that this statistic is completely accurate. The way the 'New Voice Battle' program allocated screen time to Wang Bo cannot be explained by balance; it's clearly a deliberate suppression. The reason? Those who know, know."
This Weibo post was instantly forwarded tens of thousands of times.
Immediately afterwards, discussion threads began to appear on various entertainment forums.
"Let's have a rational discussion: Is 'The Voice of China' suppressing Wang Bo?"
"What exactly is the production team afraid of about Wang Bo? Are they afraid that his popularity will overshadow the other contestants?"
"Qin Xiao has a powerful backer, Xia Lizhi has overseas connections, Li Xuan may be incompetent but his company is willing to invest heavily... What about Wang Bo? Xiaoyi Culture is a small company, so it deserves to be bullied?"
"I'd always thought it was strange; Wang Bo's performances were always the most explosive, so why was he always in the background? Turns out there really was a problem!"
At 7 a.m., the hashtag #WangBo'sLens# had already climbed to fifth place on the trending topics list.
Countless netizens clicked on the video, and after watching it, they angrily joined the ranks of those condemning it.
The polymaths were even more formidable.
"The production team needs to explain! Why did our Brother Bo contribute the most but get the least screen time?"
"Bo Ge achieved the highest viewership ratings for the first four episodes, yet he never ranked first in screen time? What kind of baffling strategy is this?"
"If it weren't for this video, I wouldn't have noticed how unfairly the camera work was distributed! It's terrifying to think about!"
"It suddenly dawned on me why such a good person as Brother Bo never wrote about his hometown in his songs about the city."
"The fifth episode is about to air, and if the production team dares to reduce Bo Ge's screen time again, we'll boycott the show!"