Chapter 49: He raised the audience's aesthetic standards and tastes.

Inside the Television Station.

Before Jiang Zhe arrived.

Station Manager Zhao Ming, Wang Guosheng, and others were busy arranging tonight's content.

Earlier, after finishing the series of scripts and videos, Jiang Zhe had sent the video and content to the Chief Director.

The Chief Director took the opportunity to watch it once. Without any suspense, he believed that this night would still be Jiang Zhe's peak night.

"Does he have no limit? How does he know everything and how is he good at everything?"

In the broadcasting backstage studio, the Chief Director watched the content on the screen and the special effects produced by Jiang Zhe, praising him repeatedly.

When Jiang Zhe arrived, he immediately went to the dressing room to start applying makeup.

"Teacher Jiang, I think you don't even need makeup anymore; your skin is very fair, and your features are well-defined. Makeup foundation would actually affect your appearance on camera." Make-up Artist carefully looked Jiang Zhe over, finding him more handsome the more she looked; it felt as if cosmetics were defiling Jiang Zhe's face. "Sometimes I wonder if you are a man or a woman, how is your skin even fairer than someone wearing makeup!"

Jiang Zhe looked at himself in the mirror—three-dimensional features, sharp lines, no blind spots, and fair skin.

"Fine, then let's skip it; help me pour a cup of coffee, thank you!"

"Mm."

In Make-up Artist's view, Jiang Zhe's appearance already belonged to the top tier of humanity; only a young Leo or Keanu Reeves could stand shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Zhe.

Jiang Zhe possessed an ethereal aura, and his otherworldly charm was becoming increasingly apparent!

...

On this day of Jiang Zhe's normal break, Jiang Zhe's fans continuously drove the overall number of online viewers throughout the day.

Besides them, there were the viewers who had been waiting in the online live broadcast room.

"Can you believe it? I've never looked forward to the evening coming sooner."

"Same here, I've been waiting in the live room all day; it's all been boring and trivial news."

"I dare say, if Jiang Zhe resigns, then Suzhou TV Station will definitely revert to its original form in an instant."

"As far as I know, Station Manager Zhao Ming of the Television Station has already blocked a bunch of people who came to poach him; there are even some leaders from other cities who secretly went to Jiang Zhe's dormitory..."

"And then?"

"As a result, they couldn't even get in the door."

"How do you know so much? Station Manager Zhao Ming values Jiang Zhe too much, doesn't he?"

"Because I live in the same neighborhood as Jiang Zhe. I'm a family member. I even saw him tonight talking and laughing with Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi as they rode their bikes to work."

"I'm so envious, you can actually witness the real-life Jiang Zhe with your own eyes!"

"..."

While the viewers were discussing, the number of people in the live room was also steadily rising.

...

At this very moment.

In Su City, within every household.

This was the time when people had just finished dinner and returned from their walks, sitting in front of the TV preparing to watch.

A high school student shouted toward his parents' room.

"Dad, you know I'm a total failure in philosophy and science; I almost never scored above 60 before. But on the philosophy test a few days ago, I somehow got a high score of 90. This is all thanks to Teacher Jiang's teaching!"

"Mom, aren't you a philosophy teacher? Come quickly, tonight Jiang Zhe is going to talk about the 'Ship of Theseus'."

"The Ship of Theseus? Doesn't everyone know about that? What's there to talk about?" A mother's voice came from the room, sounding surprised.

"Mom, you don't understand. He already deciphered the Grandfather Paradox and the Bootstrap Paradox. Tonight he's going to decipher the 'Ship of Theseus'—the kind that's a complete and thorough deciphering!"

"What? Can someone really solve that paradox?"

"How could it be fake? Even the Bronze-ranked Professor Hua Yunfeng of Kyoto recognized him. Holy crap, Mom, Dad, what are you doing thumping around in the room?"

"..."

Since Professor Hua Yunfeng spread the word during the day, combined with the simultaneous trending searches on Weibo.

These news items pushed Jiang Zhe's popularity even higher.

The number of people watching in front of the television was also steadily increasing.

...

In the meeting room.

Old Zhao, Old Wang, and a group of leaders were discussing.

"How do you think Jiang Zhe's 'Ship of Theseus' will go tonight? Will it break the record again?" Old Zhao looked curiously at the people below.

Wang Guosheng thought for a moment and gave his opinion: "The Ship of Theseus—I made a special effort to learn about it today. Ever since Plutarch proposed it, the academic and philosophical circles have been debating whether the same ship is still the original ship. It's roughly a 50-50 split."

"Thinking on the negative side, if Jiang Zhe fails to decipher it, even if he just picks an answer at random, he would still get the approval of most people."

Hearing this, Old Zhao continued to ask: "Do you really think he can solve this paradox? If he fails this time, I suspect we will lose a lot, a lot of fans."

"After all, the purpose of the deciphering themes I chose is: failure is not allowed. Once he fails, his persona collapses, and his career will be over."

"Sigh, I also blame my momentary impulse. I wanted to advance so badly that I planned this program!"

Old Zhao said these words almost all the time.

It wasn't that he didn't believe in Jiang Zhe's strength, but that every time Jiang Zhe chose a topic, he picked those explosive and highly controversial paradoxes.

Old Zhao also blamed himself for choosing the [Grandfather Paradox] at the start.

Back then, he had just asked Old Wang to grab someone from the candidate room at random, just to have someone take the blame—really just to take the blame!

As a result, Jiang Zhe not only took the blame but even wiped it clean!

After that, Jiang Zhe raised the audience's expectations and tastes; if he were to fall short even once, the results would be unacceptable.

This was one of the drawbacks of deciphering paradoxes!

"Forget it, the program hasn't even started, and you're always saying such discouraging things."

At that moment, the meeting room door was pushed open.

"Good news! Right now, 1.2 million people are watching commercials in front of their TVs, and 500,000 people are watching commercials in the online live room; and the numbers are still increasing."

There were still 10 minutes left before Jiang Zhe's broadcast.

Old Wang had immediately run from the monitoring room to report the good news.

Old Zhao and Wang Guosheng were stunned upon hearing this.

Their previous evening news online audience was only 600,000.

Now, during the gap in the evening news, there were actually so many people waiting online?

This data meant that in Su City, for every 15 households, one person was watching in front of the TV.

When the program officially aired, this ratio would shrink rapidly!

This viewership rating was truly terrifying; even the so-called national news on local stations couldn't compare to the ratings of this show of Jiang Zhe's!

...

In the auditorium of Kyoto University of Science.

It was pitch dark here.

The dark red seats were filled with professors and students from the school.

Their eyes were fixed on the only place on stage emitting light: the big screen.

On the massive projection, commercials were playing.

All the professors waiting here were experts in various fields, more or less from different colleges.

There were people from biology, physics, astronomy, as well as niche fringe scientists.

Under Professor Hua Yunfeng's strong insistence and with Professor Feng taking the lead, they had only reluctantly agreed to come.

"I think Professor Hua Yunfeng is really making a mountain out of a molehill. This isn't something that can advance technology. Why did he invite me, a military industry scientist, to come?"

"I don't understand Professor Hua Yunfeng either. Ever since he and Old Feng watched that Jiang Zhe's program, they've clearly become his fanboys. How old are they? Still chasing stars, how embarrassing!"

"Actually, I'm very busy. I have papers, research, and lesson prep. I really don't get it—it's just a popular science deciphering program."

"..."

They were all scholars in related industries.

Maybe not the absolute top, but definitely not bad.

Dozens or even a hundred people watching a popular science deciphering program hosted by a young man from Su City.

This feeling was always a bit off, as if something was missing!

Amidst the people's discussions, a light piece of music came from the projector. Then, Jiang Zhe walked in from the backstage and sat down in the studio.

Looking at Jiang Zhe's otherworldly temperament and appearance, the female professors and students, as well as some of the male professors and students, suddenly felt their eyes light up.