This celebrity is absolutely wicked.

Chapter 387 No Variety Shows? I'll Do It Myself

Jin Hong immediately stood up and said, "I'll take you to the lounge."

Jin Hong led Lu Ran and the other two into the lounge and then left.

He was still a little puzzled.

"What exactly is wrong with it? Is Lu Ran dissatisfied with the contract terms?"

Jin Hong was certainly aware of what Lu Ran had done before.

But that wasn't because Lu Ran was being targeted by the production team.

Things are different now; Lu Ran is now on the production team's side.

Can Dongsun Video's variety shows really target Lu Ran?

Unless the head of the variety show department has lost their mind.

These unspoken rules are all in Lu Ran's favor.

"What exactly does Lu Ran want? Now that he's standing up, does he still want to work himself to death and fight for something else?"

The atmosphere in the lounge was somewhat oppressive.

After a moment of silence, Li Quan spoke first: "I haven't finished reading the contract. The first few clauses are fine, even quite lenient. They don't even have many requirements for the masks we wear on our faces."

Li Quan had already considered and prepared for this beforehand.

Masked people wear masks, but if you wear a mask that covers half of your face, the audience can easily guess your identity.

The production team didn't require it; Zhao Long could have simply made a mask and used the gimmick of being masked to attract viewers, while also enjoying the benefits that other music variety shows typically offer.

Lu Ran looked at Zhao Long: "Zhao Long, do you want to participate?"

If it were Lu Ran himself, he definitely wouldn't want to go up and compete.

This isn't a singing competition, it's an acting competition.

But this was originally an opportunity he had given to Zhao Long; whether or not Zhao Long went was up to him.

Zhao Long shook his head: "I don't want to participate anymore. I'd rather not have a singing competition like this."

He wanted a real victory, not to watch a bunch of professional judges put on a show on stage.

He'll accept it whether he sings well or not.

Lu Ran: "As expected of someone from my Burning Studio, you have backbone. If you don't want to participate, then don't participate. I'll think of another way for you."

Lu Ran then looked at Li Quan.

Li Quan snorted: "Back when you participated in Future Singer, I cursed those royals in my heart. Now you're making my artists into royals. Aren't I just slapping myself in the face?"

Lu Ran stood up from the sofa: "Then it's decided. We're not participating in this Masked Singer competition!"

Zhao Long sighed, "It's better for me to farm."

Farming doesn't care about your status. As long as there's no natural disaster, if you treat your crops seriously, your crops will treat you seriously in return.

Afterwards, Li Quan went to Jin Hong's office alone.

This is something that should be handled by his agent.

Lu Ran called Zhao Long directly, and the two of them took the elevator downstairs.

There's no need to stay here any longer.

After waiting for a while, Li Quan also came down alone.

"Alright, things are settled. We're not a big problem without us."

For Jin Hong's masked singer project, the absence of Lu Ran and his group wasn't a big problem.

This show wasn't originally intended to select a true champion singer.

For the production team and investors, as long as the show makes money after it airs, that's all that matters.

Lu Ran said to Zhao Long, "Go back and practice your singing properly. Don't slack off. I have to find you a chance to show yourself. It's a pity, I was hoping you could go on stage in women's clothing."

He can't even get off the stage, so why is he wearing women's clothing?

Zhao Long also burst into laughter.

"Then don't leave tonight, I'll wear black stockings for you to see."

Li Quan immediately stretched out his arm to block Zhao Long: "Hey, hey, hey, you better stop right now."

Zhao Long: "Brother Quan, you're not jealous, are you?"

Li Quan: "You fucking bastard!"

Seeing the two of them, Lu Ran felt a chill and immediately hailed a taxi and ran away.

He didn't want to ride in the same car with those two anymore.

That evening, Lu Ran returned to the hotel where the Huang Feihong film crew was staying.

Zhao Long and Li Quan then returned to Qincheng.

Lu Ran had just lain down in bed when Shen Qingyi made a video call.

Lu Ran clicked to answer.

As soon as the video call connected, Shen Qingyi opened her big eyes and looked at it carefully, as if she were checking something, before revealing a satisfied smile.

"Good, good, the pajamas you're wearing are the right size."

Lu Ran was wearing blue and white striped pajamas.

Lu Ran glanced at Shen Qingyi's pajamas: "Why aren't you wearing any?"

Shen Qingyi immediately stood up, took a few steps back, and displayed her upper body on the screen.

"I've changed my clothes!"

She was wearing a pure white nightgown, with a circle on the front of the garment containing the character "囚" (prisoner).

Shen Qingyi was still very excited.

Lu Ran was speechless.

Are these your pajamas?
Is your house a prison?

Can't they just wear a nurse's uniform or something?
Shen Qingyi returned to the camera, displaying her cool and aloof face on the screen.

If you ignored her clothes, she would definitely be a cool and aloof goddess.

Mrs. Shen chuckled: "I'll get you one another day. I had a friend of mine order this."

"It's not necessary."

Lu Ran immediately refused.

“Yours is different from mine!” Mrs. Shen hurriedly explained.

Lu Ran: "What does mine look like?"

"Wait a minute!" After a while, Mrs. Shen held up a tablet computer to the camera.

A picture is displayed on the tablet's screen.

The picture shows a blue shirt with a circle drawn on the front, containing a single character.

The character is “卒”.

Lu Ran reached out and rubbed his face.

Wow, you can even combine them like this?

"I've had it custom-made; I'll give it to you another day."

Lu Ran smiled and said, "Thank you."

Mrs. Shen: "You're welcome."

The wealthy woman, Ms. Shen, continued, "Li Quan told me about the Masked Singer incident. What are your plans now?"

Lu Ran's original plan was for everyone to go and have some fun on The Masked Singer, but now it seems there's no need for that at all.

That would free up the schedules of these singers.

Lu Ran: "Actually, I just wanted to find a variety show that focuses on music in a normal way."

Shen, the rich woman: "The kind of variety show you want probably doesn't exist on the market."

Summer is the season with a lot of music variety shows.

There are many music variety shows on the market, but if you want to find a variety show that truly focuses on music, there really isn't one.

The production team had to consider the show's popularity, so when they first planned the show, it wasn't music-oriented, even though everyone said it was for the purest music.

Li Quan has already sent the compiled information to Lu Ran for review, and this is indeed the case.

At that moment, a thought flashed through Lu Ran's mind: "What do you think about me starting my own music variety show?"

The wealthy woman, Ms. Shen, exclaimed in surprise, "This is very expensive."

The studio alone costs a fortune, not even including the entire team.

Nowadays, variety shows get their money from sponsors, and Lu Ran doesn't have the ability to attract sponsors.

"Let me think about it. Music variety shows are too expensive and unnecessary. We can keep it simple and just have a pure music competition."

Lu Ran got more and more excited as he thought about it.

He hadn't originally planned to produce his own variety show; it would have been too time-consuming, and he still had to film.

Variety shows can be simplified.

"The most expensive part is the studio, so I don't want a studio. I'll just do it online. That way, the contestants don't have to come to the venue, which gives them more freedom. Also, the contestants don't need to show their faces, which can also help them hide their identities. That's the real masked contestant!"

Lu Ran said excitedly.

When Shen Fupo heard what Lu Ran said, her eyes lit up.

"That's right, the live streaming room is free to use, and it's not complicated to set up a dedicated live streaming room!"

This directly reduces costs.

"What if no one signs up to participate?"

Lu Ran: "Give us money! As long as you make it to the finals, you'll get money. The top three get even more prize money. It doesn't matter if the singers don't participate. I don't believe that with so many people in China, we can't find other singers?"

Lu Ran's mind immediately became active.

While some people might claim to be obsessed with sound cards when singing live, the reality is that sound cards aren't that extreme. Sound cards amplify both the strengths and weaknesses of a sound.

If someone sings badly and you want to make their singing sound better, what you need isn't a sound card, but audio editing.

I can’t speak for other things, but Lu Ran can still tell whether the audio has been edited or not.

If the audio editing is overdone, the sound will become electrified.

Professional reviewers can tell the difference.

Regarding fairness, Lu Ran believed he could still achieve it.

The wealthy woman, Ms. Shen, suggested, "Then why don't we skip the professional singer competition and just have everyone participate?"

Lu Ran: "The competition process has been simplified. We don't need singers to tell stories, nor do we need the judges to talk nonsense. Just sing, vote, comment, and move on."

Lu Ran and Shen Fupo got more and more into their conversation and chatted for quite a while before ending it.

In the following days, Lu Ran spent his time not filming but planning the competition.

That evening, the first episode of "The Masked Singer" officially aired, and Lu Ran watched the show.

Just as he predicted.

In the first episode, there were six singers, and the identity of the champion was guessed by the audience before the champion was even revealed.

Even so, one of the female guests pretended not to have guessed it.

The identities of the remaining five singers have been largely guessed by everyone.

Besides established singers whose voices are distinctive enough to be guessed by the audience, some singers deliberately make it so that the audience can guess their voices.

This eliminated the biggest suspense of the show.

Especially during the final unveiling of the King of Singers, the expressions on the faces of the guests were almost entirely staged.

After this episode aired online, netizens were almost unanimously criticizing it.

"I don't understand why the King of Singers would have to reveal his face!"

"The losers continue to sing on stage, while the champion singer can no longer sing."

"You sang quite well, but maybe you shouldn't have asked the observers to keep their voices down, otherwise it would have affected my listening."

"I feel that the masked aspect of this show is just a gimmick, and there seems to be no need for the masks."

"The gap in skill between the singers is too large; it's obvious that there are several non-professional singers and several professional singers."

"Each episode is two hours long, and a total of nine songs were sung. You can calculate what you did during the rest of the time."

The problem netizens are pointing out isn't just with "The Masked Singer"; many music variety shows these days have the same issue.

The Masked Singer simply amplified these shortcomings.

Seeing the online discussion, Lu Ran immediately started a live stream on his Douyin account.

A large number of people quickly flooded into the live stream room.

"Why did Director Lu suddenly start a live stream?"

"Weren't you filming a movie these past few days?"

Why didn't you participate in The Masked Singer?

After watching the barrage of comments from viewers, Lu Ran waited a while until the live stream had more viewers before asking, "I want to ask everyone a question: what do you think if I were to organize a singing competition?"

(End of this chapter)