Feature Shows Extravaganza - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: My Eyes

Translator: Henyee Translations

Editor: Henyee Translations

With Mr. Tao’s explanation, Meng Lang finally understood what had happened.

There were indeed some problems.

Thanks to Blazing Teens and Balala the Fairies, viewership ratings of Jiangchuan Children’s Channel had been rising steadily.

The directors of the channel were more than happy to see this. Higher viewership ratings meant more advertisement revenue. It was a good thing by all standards.

But the problem was that the channel didn’t make good use of the high viewership ratings. With time, the audience started complaining about Jiangchuan Children’s Channel, saying that the channel did nothing but rerun Blazing Teens and Balala the Fairies, and it was getting boring.

Without good content, the viewership ratings soon fell back to what they were before.

The directors soon made up their minds, deciding that the children’s channel would make a serious investment in high-quality content, introducing a series of children’s programs and purchasing the exclusive broadcasting rights of several cartoons.

It was supposed to be a good thing…

The management was vigorous and resolute in action, so it should have been just a matter of time before they saw an increase in the viewership ratings again. Unfortunately, Ping Pong Teens, one of the high-quality cartoons they purchased, hit a dead end when the production company went bankrupt.

With Ping Pong Teens coming to a premature end, Jiangchuan Children’s Channel was put in a difficult spot.

The channel started promoting Ping Pong Teens right after they closed the deal. The promotion was still ongoing, but the production company had gone bankrupt. Mr. Tao’s hair almost turned white overnight.

“That bastard Huang. He cleaned out the production company’s account and took off with his sister-in-law…

“What an asshole! We’ve made the time slot available for the show, then something like this happened. My superiors have been giving me hell. My only choice is to find something to fill the gap.”

Fill the gap?

“You’ve come to the wrong person!”

Meng Lang smiled bitterly. “Mr. Tao, as much as I feel sorry for you, I don’t have anything for you!”

Blazing Teens 2 had just set up its crew…

Explosive Boys still only existed in Powerpoint slides…

Magic Girls had just found its director…

Pengda had indeed started quite a few projects after it made some money, but the seeds had only just been sowed and the harvest was still ages away.

It took 10 months just to have a baby!

Other things would take even longer. Two to three years were normal time frames for movie and TV projects.

Mr. Tao waved his hands when he heard Meng Lang’s explanation. “I know that. I didn’t mean to use your new works to fill that gap.”

Then, what the hell did you mean?! thought Meng Lang.

Fighting back his temper, Meng Lang asked, “So, Mr. Tao, you’re here because…”

Mr. Tao rubbed his hands together anxiously and spoke in a shy voice. “Well… the schedule has been fixed and everyone knows that Jiangchuan Children’s Channel is going to be the first to broadcast Ping Pong Teens next month, but the production company has gone bankrupt, so I was wondering if you’re interested in finishing it off?”

Finishing it off?

Meng Lang was baffled, then asked, “Do you mean that you want Pengda to take over the unfinished project?”

“Yes! That’s what I meant!”

Mr. Tao looked at Meng Lang expectantly and made calculations with his fingers. “Sweet Potato Anime, the production company of Ping Pong Teens, was established three years ago and has a lot of talented employees in this line of work. Director Meng, if you’re interested in getting into animation, taking over this company would be a very sweet deal!”

So, the man was here to sell him a company!

Meng Lang shook his head and sighed. “Mr. Tao, thank you for your consideration, but we don’t know Sweet Potato Anime well enough, and making a reckless purchase may bring us trouble.

The former owner had taken off with all the money and his sister-in-law…

The talented and experienced employees were the most valuable assets of an animation company like this. Now that the company had gone down, Pengda would have gone crazy to take over the company.

Why couldn’t they just hire the employees?

Mr. Tao was correct about one thing — Meng Lang indeed had plans for setting up an animation department. He had even thought about making an independent animation company in the future.

But he was not a fool and wouldn’t be swindled by Mr. Tao into taking over that company.

Sweet Potato Anime didn’t sound promising at all, nor did Ping Pong Teens. No matter how well-made the show was or how high the viewership ratings were going to be, the winner was going to be some sportswear company.

Penda wouldn’t be able to make any money from peripheral products.

So, why on earth would they take over such a lousy company?

They could just hire all the key employees.

Mr. Tao left in disappointment without getting the reply he wanted from Meng Lang.

“Xiao Meng won’t buy it!”

Mr. Tao decided that he would try other production companies instead.

…

Zhonghai.

Two weeks before school started, Pan Da finally finished all the winter vacation homework.

All of it!

Including the diaries of the next 10 days!

“Dada, how did you do it? Teach me!” Hearing that Pan Da had finished the diaries of the next 10 days, Du Bishu was amazed.

That was incredible!

Was he clairvoyant?

Tossing his diary to Du Bishu, Pan Da said contemptuously, “It’s not that difficult. Just make something up.”

Make something up?

Du Bishu opened Pan Da’s diary, curious about what he had made up.

“February 15th, Monday.

“… Mom had me buy some vinegar for her, but I only realized that I forgot to take any money when I got to the supermarket. The cashier sneered at me and said: A pauper shouldn’t pretend to be a rich man! Look at your clothes, you’re never going to afford the vinegar!”

“She was so condescending that I had to show her what a real powerful man looked like. So, I casually revealed the Illusion Rings hanging on my belt…”

“Instantly, all the big brothers and sisters waiting at the cashier were astonished. They began to list all the merits of my yo-yo and drew in their breaths. I’ve seen that yo-yo at Walmart. It’s sold at 66 yuan without any discount!”

“The manager of the supermarket apologized to me before slapping that condescending cashier. With an indifferent face, I took the free vinegar the manager gave me and went back home…”

Du Bishu was speechless.

The teacher would have totally freaked out when she read this!

“I envy you so much… I can’t even make up such a story.” Du Bishu sighed.

“Forget about the diary. Check this out…” Taking back the diary and tossing it to one side, Pan Da dragged Du Bishu to his computer.

On the screen was a personal homepage belonging to someone nicknamed “Bad Azz”.

“Wow! This is great fun… [pic].”

That post came with a picture of a flickering, colorful Fairy Flute held in a chubby hand.

Du Bishu was confused at first. He didn’t know why Pan Da was showing him this until Pan Da scrolled down the page, revealing a familiar face in the photo album. He was immediately enlighted.

Shoot!

It was him —

Wang Jiaming, the bully of this residential area!

Who could have known? That abominable bully was into this…