Chapter 9: Ratings Explode

One must know that the New Year period is when Television Stations have their highest number of concurrent viewers.

During ordinary times, a typical local Television Station could hardly dream of having 20,000 to 50,000 concurrent viewers.

Currently, the only programs capable of reaching such numbers are brainless entertainment variety shows—specifically, Xiao Shiyi's program.

Who would have thought that a science mystery program could cause the concurrent viewership to skyrocket?

Besides this, Old Wang hadn't even counted the number of people in the subsequent internet livestream rooms.

Public Television Stations cannot accept donations, so those viewers were naturally excluded from the count.

Hearing the full report, Xiao Shiyi and Wang Lin stared at the large screen in shock.

"A local Television Station, and in the evening slot, reaching 800,000 concurrent viewers!!"

"I'm a late-night sci-fi host with new plots, new settings, and new characters, and my radio station is for listening—even I can't reach the viewership Teacher Jiang gets for a program people have to watch!"

They knew they would lose, but they didn't expect to lose so miserably!

At that moment.

Old Wang, the person in charge of ratings, continued to ask, "Station Manager, Teacher Jiang Zhe seems to be a substitute host. Is he going to become a permanent employee after this?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Station Manager Zhao's mouth couldn't stop twitching.

The results are already out, and you're still asking me if he's turning permanent? Is that a question a normal person asks? It's almost too late to start showering him with awards!!

Just as he was about to answer, another phone in his pocket rang urgently.

He picked it up and saw it was a call from the Suzhou Radio and Television Bureau. "Which leader from over there is calling?"

The superior unit of the Suzhou Radio and Television General Station is the Suzhou Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism.

He hurriedly pressed answer. "Leader, what are your instructions?"

"Zhao Ming, I am the head of Suzhou Radio and Television, Liu Guangyi."

"We noticed that the concurrent viewership for your evening program is a bit abnormal."

"If yesterday's program was a straight line, today's is a complete curve; but I haven't allocated any promotion funds to you, so what exactly is going on?"

These words clearly indicated that the superior felt there was something fishy about Suzhou TV Station's evening slot.

After all, some station managers, in order to keep a program running, would hire click farms to inflate traffic, which is an egregious behavior not allowed on public Television Stations.

As the words fell, not only Old Zhao but even the other leaders looked somewhat displeased.

The superiors don't give us funding, and we aren't allowed to achieve a miracle on our own, is that it?

In the eyes of the superiors, is the hard work of subordinates not considered hard work?

Is it only after the superiors allocate funds that we are allowed to get traffic?

This was the inner voice of all the leaders present.

Old Zhao put on a serious expression. "I perfectly understand your concern, Leader. It is because the program I lead has recently undergone a reform."

"Oh? A reform? How was it reformed?"

"Other Television Stations popularize various kinds of knowledge, but that knowledge is complex and difficult to understand; it's not interesting at all for the audience to listen to, so naturally, the ratings aren't high."

"Meanwhile, we have a new substitute host named Jiang Zhe, a very capable young man."

"His overall level is top-tier, and his lecturing is not weak in the slightest; tonight's ratings were pulled up by him single-handedly."

Once these words were out, there was silence on the other end.

After a long while, an incredulous tone came through.

"Wha... wha... what? Breaking the ratings of your so-called reformed program by dozens of times single-handedly?"

Hearing this, the stone hanging in Old Zhao's heart finally dropped. These leaders were the hardest to serve, and he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"Yes, Leader."

"Wait, you said he's just a substitute?"

"This..."

Without waiting for Old Zhao to explain further, the leader on the other side said excitedly, "If you are certain this is true, we are willing to give him a qualification to directly enter the Media Radio and Television Group; the development here will be much better than your nominal Suzhou General Bureau..."

Before the blatant attempt to poach him could finish, Old Zhao feigned a bad signal. "What? What? I can't hear you clearly. Rewards... no need for rewards. The signal is bad, I'm hanging up now."

After hanging up the phone, all the leaders said with righteous indignation:

"What kind of nonsense is this?"

"Things just started looking up on our end, and they f*cking try to poach him right to our faces?"

"I hate this bureaucracy the most."

Xiao Shiyi said, "There's no helping it. Gold will always be spent... no, will always shine."

Wang Lin drooled with envy. "+1!"

After everyone calmed down, Old Zhao and Wang Guosheng fell into deep thought.

This was Jiang Zhe's opportunity. Although they were unhappy with the superior leader's behavior, Jiang Zhe still had the right to be informed.

However, it wouldn't be now, but after the program ended.

At this time, Old Zhao personally made a call to the backstage manager to pass a message to Jiang Zhe, instructing: "If possible, let Little Jiang reveal the conclusion of the Grandfather Paradox tonight. The ratings can explode one more time before the program ends."

In Old Zhao's heart, he already believed that Jiang Zhe truly knew the conclusion to the Grandfather Paradox!

...

"Alright, time is almost up."

Jiang Zhe raised his hand to check his wristwatch. There wasn't much time left before the program ended, with enough time for about three phone calls.

Just then, the backstage manager's message came through his earpiece, "Teacher Jiang, we've received permission from above. During the Q&A session, you are allowed to extend the time. Station Manager Zhao wants Teacher Jiang to provide the answer to the Grandfather Paradox."

Hearing the instructions, Jiang Zhe gently tapped his earpiece to indicate he understood.

He faced the camera and flashed a smile.

"Since time is limited today, I will place the conclusion of the Grandfather Paradox within the Q&A session."

"Now, let us summarize today's core points."

"1: In the microscopic world, quantum delayed choice can change past behavior—the Quantum Delayed Choice Experiment. Why? Because in the microscopic world, the past, present, and future are not very strictly defined."

"For example: if before this television program, one of you was able to live in the microscopic world."

"What kind of scientific means would you possess there?"

"Suppose you are Xiao Ming and you live in the microscopic world. We don't care if the microscopic Xiao Ming is human-shaped or spherical; we don't care about that at all."

"He is just Xiao Ming, and he is watching television. Here is where it gets different."

"Xiao Ming can manage to watch a program from 10 days ago in his current state, and he can even send bullet comments in that 10-day-old program to communicate with people from 10 days ago while in his current state."

"If he gets bored, he can also tune into a program from 10 days in the future in his current state and communicate with people from the future, and so on and so forth."

"These are things that seem incomprehensible and unimaginable to us, but in the microscopic world—the restrictions of past, present, and future are not very great."

As soon as this was said, everyone gasped.

"Holy crap, life in the microscopic world is so happy!"

"Aren't they afraid of the world collapsing?"

"Host Jiang said it—collapsing or not doesn't matter; the microscopic world doesn't care about these rules of the macroscopic world."

"Microscopic is just great!"

"..."

"2: A grandson living in the modern era can use delayed choice to change the life or death of his grandfather in the past. As for how specifically to change it, current science and technology do not have such a machine; however, that won't stop me from decrypting the situation of the Grandfather Paradox later."

"3: The Double-Slit Interference Experiment, superposition, and the collapse of the superposition state—the Emperor, the Eunuch, and the Governor."

"Alright, next, please call the number at the bottom of the screen to ask me questions."

...

At this time, in the backstage monitoring room.

Old Wang watched the curve on the monitoring machine still rising, his face beaming with joy.

It could truly be said that Jiang Zhe, by his own efforts alone, had raised the salaries of the entire Television Station.

If this happened a few more times, wouldn't the advertisers go crazy? By then, the whole station would have to treat Jiang Zhe like a precious baby.

Soon, he calmed down. "Prosperity, in the end, is illusory. It's impossible for one person to turn the tide. I must be overthinking; this must be fake, I must be dreaming!"

Before he could continue his lamentations or believe that good luck wouldn't fall on his head...

The door to the monitoring room was suddenly pushed open.

It was a woman in a black suit from the Customer Service Department.

"Leader Wang, usually no one calls the Customer Service Department, but now it's gone completely crazy! The phones in the entire Customer Service Department won't stop ringing!"