Honestly, even the people from Dong Hua Station themselves didn’t plan on seeking out Lu Man at the very start.

If they had the money to pay for Lu Man, why not just directly hire a B-list actor instead?

A B-list actor might not have Lu Man’s professional skills in public relations, but they were popular at the end of the day.

 For example, Jiang Yuhan. She might only be a B-list actress, but that was because she didn’t have any representative film yet.

However, the television shows that she filmed before had good reviews and reputation, and the number of fans she had could equal that of an A-lister.

Her appearance fee would be 600,000 yuan. That would be even higher than Lu Man’s by 100,000 yuan. Even so, Lu Man also had a large fan base, had watched the show before, and would help to publicize the episode that she would appear in.

Therefore, Dong Hua Station hesitated as well before making their decision.

It was not until The Performer decided to play it bag[a] and aimed straight for their show that Classic X Files gritted their teeth and decided to look for Lu Man.

Honestly, it was because The Performer‘s production team themselves seemed like they were throwing all their eggs into one basket. Even with such a cheap sponsorship fee, Xing Ke Station would still be willing to give them the funds to invite Xu Jingfeng and Wu Guan.

“What all of you are offering is making me a little stressed,” Lu Man said as she smiled.

Despite her saying so, you could still see her confidence.

Lu Man read through the contract in detail. Once she found that there was no issue, she signed her name.

Chi Xingrui had brought the official stamp and stamped it on the contract as well.

Both parties can be said to have come to a deal.

“Assistant Director Chi, do you have any plans after this? Would you like to come to City B? I can treat you to a meal,” Lu Man said.

“No, it’s alright.” Chi Xingrui smiled as he declined her offer. “I’ve already booked the air ticket for tonight. I immediately have to rush back to Dong Hua Station. It’s almost the Lunar New Year. Before the New Year, our show will have to air the second episode of our fourth season. Right after that, I will be busy with the New Year’s Eve celebratory shows for the station, and right after that, I will have to start editing the third episode.”

Upon hearing that, Lu Man felt that he did indeed sound really busy.

“Oh right, your episode will be the third episode.” As Chi Xingrui spoke, he huffed twice. “Hmph hmph, The Performer sure is disgusting. Our show had just started airing two episodes, but they saw that our viewership ratings were doing well and they followed closely and decided to air at the same time slot as us.”

If they were already midway through their broadcast, that would have been fine.

However, they had just aired the first episode. The second episode would only be aired right before the New Year, and they hadn’t even started recording the third episode.

For the new season, before Classic X Files could solidify its audience base, The Performer decided to butt in and use their premiere episode to fight against their third episode. Could they get any more shameless?

Under normal circumstances, variety shows that were already airing would never be able to beat the premiere episode of another variety show.

 Therefore, they had no other choice but to seek out Lu Man.

They hoped that they could use Lu Man to spice up Classic X Files‘s viewership ratings.

 “It’s Sunday today,” Chi Xingrui said. “The recording for the third episode is scheduled for next Friday, the 22nd. Is the date alright? Because from the following Thursday onwards, the staff from the station would start going home while the remaining ones would be busy with the New Year Eve’s celebration show.”

“I can make it.” Lu Man nodded.

 “Oh right, for the last segment of the show, you have to find a secret guest. There is actually no limit to the number of secret guests you can have, but they have to complete the performance with you. As to whom you would look for, I’ll leave that up to you. Of course, it definitely would be better if they were someone unexpected. It would be best if the surprise was big or if they’re someone who’s quite hard to invite, like if it was someone who would rarely come onto variety shows,” Chi Xingrui said.

1Why was their show getting such good viewership ratings?

It was because the artistes they invited had a lot of connections. In the final segment, they would ask their friends to help out in the performance as a secret guest.

Some big-shot actors or children of actors would really be able to invite some heavyweight guests who would never usually go onto variety shows.

[a]I tried to Google what this meant but didn’t find anything relevant. Please help clarify or else use a more common phrase for what was meant. Thanks!