92: Chapter 92 The Vice Minister personally called out names

Imperial Capital, Ministry of Culture office building, 7th floor.

Minister Xu Jianguo sat behind his desk, a scuff mark on the knee of his suit trousers.

It was left from kneeling and kowtowing last night.

He hadn't changed his trousers.

Three files were spread out on the desk, and the coffee on his left had gone cold twice, with only a single sip taken.

He usually drank goji berry tea from a thermos, but today he wanted to try the coffee his wife liked; it really didn't taste good.

The phone screen was open to WeChat, the latest message from his wife saying that she and their daughter had been checked and were fine.

He hadn't clicked on it.

Work.

Only work could keep him from thinking about the loved ones he had almost lost.

There was a knock at the door, three times.

"Come in."

Secretary Xiao Zhou walked in, clutching a kraft paper folder.

He was thirty, his hair combed meticulously, his tie tied so tightly it looked like it was digging into his skin.

"Minister, these are the variety show project approval materials submitted by various media companies and television stations this month.

Seventeen that were completely substandard have already been rejected in the initial review, and there are five left that need your final decision."

Minister Xu Jianguo took the folder.

"What kind of garbage were those seventeen?"

"Six dating shows, three celebrity parenting shows, two food exploration shows... and one called 'King of Extreme Bungee Jumping,' where celebrities jump off cliffs of different heights, ranked by the decibels of their screams.

The planner is named Wang Tiezhu."

"Make a note: from now on, anything submitted by Wang Tiezhu goes straight into the shredder."

"Understood."

Xiao Zhou retreated to the door, hesitating for a moment.

"Minister, Yaya and your wife doing alright?"

Minister Xu Jianguo's hand, which was turning the pages, paused for a beat.

"They're doing well, thank you."

Xiao Zhou nodded and closed the door.

The office fell silent again.

Yaya had had nightmares all night, rolling off the bed three times, and the last time she had wailed, demanding her mother.

His wife had held the child and comforted her for forty minutes.

He had stood at the bedroom door, listening for forty minutes.

He hadn't closed his eyes all night.

Minister Xu Jianguo rubbed his temples and opened the first project proposal.

——

Mango TV, "Actors' PK".

Thirty mid-to-low-tier actors, performing duels in front of a panel of judges, with eliminations each round.

He scanned two pages of the proposal and flipped to the guest list.

Out of the thirty people, twenty-four could be traced back through the connections of talent agencies—Huanrui, Huace, Jiaxing.

The remaining six, whose backgrounds couldn't be checked, were likely just cannon fodder to make up the numbers; they would be eliminated in the first round to serve as stepping stones for the twenty-four main acts.

It was a talent show promotion disguised as a competition.

However——

What if they actually managed to screen a few promising talents?

Minister Xu Jianguo drew a circle in the approval column and scribbled four words next to it: "The name must be changed."

PK.

For a program approved by the Ministry of Culture, having an English abbreviation in the title made it look like an esports tournament to outsiders.

——

The second one.

Northwest Local Station, "Love 100%".

Minister Xu Jianguo looked at the summary for three seconds.

The format was a copy of ByteDance's "Dating in Travel", with the location moved from overseas to domestic, and the cast changed from "celebrity plus ordinary person" to all entertainment industry figures.

It was ostensibly a dating variety show, but in essence, it was a bunch of faded celebrities acting out romantic tension in front of the camera—talent agencies got what they wanted, audiences who enjoyed shipping couples contributed traffic, and the Production Team would pocket the advertising fees and leave.

His pen dropped.

A red ink cross was drawn.

He added a note: "Aside from cashing in, I don't see any social value."

——

The third one.

iQIYI Video, "Super Brain: Peak Duel", Season 4.

Judged by academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a pool of top students from Peking University and Tsinghua University, with a transparent competition format; it had maintained a solid reputation in previous years.

He drew a circle, approved.

——

The fourth one.

Byte Group, "Brave Blue Friends".

Minister Xu Jianguo read it from beginning to end.

He flipped back to the first page and read it again.

It invited six to eight celebrity artists to enter a real fire brigade, to participate in a month of fully enclosed training as "Firefighter recruits"—physical fitness standards, equipment operation, rope rescue, live firefighting drills, and emergency response simulations.

At the same time, they would follow the fire brigade on duty, recording the real daily work of Firefighters throughout.

The concept was fine.

He placed the proposal on the desk and his gaze fell on the guest list.

Six names.

Three popular young actors, two singing and dancing idols from talent shows, one stand-up comedian.

Minister Xu Jianguo picked up his pen and wrote a line next to the list.

"The program concept is good, but the guests are too soft."

Firefighting was a job that required risking one's life.

The arms of these six people combined might not be as thick as a single fire hose.

Let them experience firefighting? The audience would be watching a show about suffering, not true grit.

There needed to be at least one or two people who, when standing at the entrance of a fire, wouldn't make people feel like they were just going through the motions.

Minister Xu Jianguo wrote a question mark in the approval column.

He set it aside.

——

The fifth one.

Still Byte Group.

"Busy Roommates".

Eight artists would move into a large villa in Pengcheng, living together as roommates for a month.

The entire process would film their real work states, living habits, and interpersonal clashes.

The location was adjacent to Hong Kong, with guests covering the four regions across the strait.

Minister Xu Jianguo flipped to the guest proposal list.

The first name: Jiang Rumu.

Top tier in the domestic entertainment industry, with over 100 million fans.

The second name.

Minister Xu Jianguo's hand, which was turning the pages, stopped.

Li Li.

He stared at these two characters.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

The images in his mind came crashing down——

The old residential complex at Sanyuan Bridge, the sixth-floor balcony, thick smoke pouring out from the gaps in the window frame.

The young man in the soaked white T-shirt had no equipment, climbing from the outer wall into the burning room.

Hanging by one arm outside the balcony, he pulled himself up.

After the fire brigade arrived, a Firefighter had said on the spot that in twelve years of service, he had never seen a civilian capable of doing such a thing.

And after that kid came down, his face was covered in soot, his knees seeping blood.

Minister Xu Jianguo put down the fifth proposal.

He pulled out the fourth one again.

"Brave Blue Friends", firefighting experience, lacking one or two people with real skills.

"Busy Roommates", Li Li's name was second on the guest list.

Two programs, same platform, Byte Group.

He picked up the desk phone and pressed the intercom.

"Xiao Zhou, come in."

Three seconds later, the door opened.

Minister Xu Jianguo placed the two proposals side by side on the desk and pointed to each with his index finger.

"Both are from ByteDance."

Xiao Zhou leaned over and took a peek.

"Yes, same platform, different Production Teams."

Minister Xu Jianguo's finger landed on the guest list of "Busy Roommates", on the two characters "Li Li".

"This person—the Sanyuan Bridge fire, the one who climbed in from the sixth-floor balcony without any equipment and saved a three-year-old child."

Xiao Zhou leaned forward half a step.

"Is it him? That video on the internet—"

"It's him."

Minister Xu Jianguo moved his finger to the guest column of "Brave Blue Friends".

"Isn't he more suitable for this?"

Xiao Zhou was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"Understood, I will contact ByteDance right away—"

"Wait a moment."

Xiao Zhou turned around.

Minister Xu Jianguo leaned back in his chair.

"Tell ByteDance—the fourth program, "Brave Blue Friends", the approval opinion is 'Approved in principle, guest lineup needs adjustment'. Give the fifth one the go-ahead as well, and let them figure out how to adjust the specifics themselves."

He paused for a moment.

"But if they are smart, they should know who to look for."

Xiao Zhou exited.

The door closed.

The office was left with only the low hum of the air conditioning vent.

Minister Xu Jianguo stacked the five proposals neatly and placed them on the corner of the desk.

He opened the drawer.

A photo was pressed at the very bottom.

Yaya's dusty little face, crooked pigtails, dried snot marks.

His wife next to her was smiling, making a 'V' sign with both hands.

That was taken last month.

Minister Xu Jianguo picked up the photo, his thumb brushing over his wife's and child's faces.

He brushed for a long time.

He didn't put it back, but placed it on the desk instead.

He used to think that displaying affection was inappropriate, but now he felt that everything was appropriate.

The phone on the desk rang again.

He picked it up.

"Minister, ByteDance called back, saying the guest adjustment plan will be submitted by the day after tomorrow at the latest—"

"No rush."

Minister Xu Jianguo looked at the cover of the "Brave Blue Friends" proposal on the desk.

"Tell them one more thing."

"Go ahead, sir."

"That Li Li—I want to see that he has signed the contract before I put the final approval stamp on it."

There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds.

"...Understood."

He hung up.

Minister Xu Jianguo picked up the cold coffee and took a sip.

It was bitter.

But it was actually quite fragrant.

No wonder his wife loved drinking it.