"Darling~ come..."

"Darling..."

"Darling..."

...

"Darling~ you've got a message~"

Chu Tian had just closed his eyes when he heard his phone ring. Especially with the notification tone Xu Qingqiu had recorded just for him, it left him slightly dazed for a moment. After all, having just ended the video call, hearing her voice again in the ringtone made him pause; his brain needed a couple of seconds to register that it was a message.

Who sends messages this late at night? And several in a row, too. Is it the end of the world, or what's so urgent?

Chu Tian could only open his eyes and pick up his phone to check.

[President Chu, the second episode has finished airing, and the preliminary ratings estimate is over 1.3! Our show is going to be a hit!]

[Have you seen the online comments? It's a frenzy right now! Everyone's guessing which singers participated, and the most heated discussion is about last episode's King of Songs and the current one.]

[I checked just now, and so far there are five hot searches related to our show, with two in the top ten.]

[If nothing unexpected happens, the ratings for the third episode will definitely reach 1.5, which means it's going to be a big hit!]

[Some people have already called me wanting to buy ad space, but our show has already been recorded. What do you think we should do?]

[President Chu? You haven't fallen asleep, have you?]

The messages were from none other than Hou Yichuan, that hapless fellow.

Looking at the string of messages on his phone, Chu Tian facepalmed in annoyance.

He hurriedly typed a message back to Hou Yichuan.

[I saw them. I was just checking the comments online. Well done. Regarding the ads, I just had an idea. We could use special effects for digital insertion, or place them during the concert in the final episode.]

He had no choice but to make something up on the spot. He absolutely couldn't let Hou Yichuan find out he hadn't watched the show.

Today was the air date for the second episode of King of Mask Singer. If the first episode was its debut, then the second was the real test. Whether the show could succeed and had potential would largely be determined by the second episode. If the show's quality was poor, viewers would surely tune out. But if the quality was good enough, the ratings for the second episode would certainly rise. Therefore, everyone in the company took it very seriously and paid close attention.

Hou Yichuan had thought that since Chu Tian was the boss and this was the company's first variety show, it would be best for him to stay at the company and witness this moment with everyone. After all, it was a critical time, and many people were still working overtime at the company. Having the boss present, whether for success or failure, would definitely make a difference.

However, Xu Qingqiu had to go on a business trip, and they were in their honeymoon phase. Chu Tian's heart had already flown off with Xu Qingqiu; how could he possibly stay put? There was nothing Hou Yichuan could do. What could he do when his boss was such a hands-off manager?

Although Chu Tian hadn't gone to the office, he was still supposed to be concerned. So, as soon as Hou Yichuan got off the plane during the day, he had specifically reminded Chu Tian to watch the show that evening.

But because Xu Qingqiu was busy until late, Chu Tian had been waiting for her. Afterwards, it was just the two of them.

His mind was filled with sweet thoughts of strolling the streets and shopping with her. How could he possibly remember the show?

And now, President Hou, that reliable old workhorse and rather unfortunate fellow, had actually remembered and was pestering him about it from afar!

What else could he do? Chu Tian could only spout a bunch of nonsense to fob him off for now and then quickly go online to check the reactions.

As expected, the online discussions were heated.

What surprised him was that the netizens had divided into two factions.

One faction focused on the show itself, mainly discussing which real singer was behind each masked nickname. They'd speculated about practically everyone in the music industry, but no one had definitive proof.

This was different from his previous life. Back then, when this show first premiered, it was met with a barrage of criticism, mainly because the singers were too easy to guess. As soon as a singer took the stage, their characteristic traits were obvious. And once they sang, it became even more apparent. And yet, the guessing panel below the stage would still put on all sorts of exaggerated and awkward performances.

What was worse, the unmasking process was handled carelessly. Lose, and you unmask; win, and you also unmask. Even before the grand finale, all the singers would have unmasked. By the end, they were all performing openly, which had nothing to do with wearing masks anymore.

So, what was the point of even having masks then? Were top-tier singers and rising stars on the same level? Was there any real comparison if they competed on the same stage?

Even if two singers were equally talented, how could they compete fairly with such vast differences in fame?

Never mind that; the scoring system was also deeply flawed. Initially, audience votes were counted, but by the end, it mostly came down to scores from a mentor panel.

How credible could such scoring be? How widely accepted?

With only a few people doing the scoring, was it based on looks, personal connections, or trying to please the director?

That's why, in this life, Chu Tian changed all these rules.

If you're not eliminated, you keep wearing your mask until you are either eliminated or ultimately win the championship.

If you're eliminated, you must unmask. No exceptions, no negotiations.

And what about the wildcard round? In the previous version, some unmasked singers could participate in it, which was also unfair. So, Chu Tian added restrictions for this too. The wildcard round isn't a dinner party or a chance for polite chit-chat with the singers. If they want to compete in the grand finale, how could there be no restrictions on making a comeback?

If a singer successfully makes it through the wildcard round, their total score in the grand finale will be automatically reduced by 0.5 points.

That's the price for failing once. If you're eliminated but want to make a comeback and win, fine. But you'll need to demonstrate a significantly higher level of performance and vastly outperform others. Only then will your victory be convincing.

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