Having gone through the filming of the first episode, the journey to the set was quite familiar now.
Upon arriving at the set, Charlotte Thompson had just sat down at the judges’ panel when a crew member came around distributing bottled water.
The girl appeared young, wearing a goose-yellow long skirt and khaki vest, with her long hair flowing freely over her back. All of her hair on the right side had been tucked neatly behind her ear, revealing a delicate, pale earlobe. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel·fire.net
Around her fair neck hung an identification card.
When she reached Charlotte, the girl looked at the name in front of the table and paused briefly, then looked up at Charlotte largely, a strange flicker in her eyes.
She hesitated for over ten seconds, holding the water bottle in mid-air without putting it down.
Coco, who was standing behind Charlotte, noticed it too. Although the crew member was slightly bending over, her positioning completely blocked Charlotte’s view from where she was seated.
Knotting her brows, Coco spoke in a rather pleasant tone: "Miss, could you please step aside a bit?"
The participants on the stage were all in position, and the first impression was usually quite important.
On hearing the words, the crew member finally reacted, a very slight smile curving up the corners of her lips.
She put the bottle of water heavily on Charlotte’s table. Charlotte, sitting close by, could clearly make out the meaning of that smile.
It was disdain and provocation.
Coco’s eyes widened in rage: "What kind of attitude is this..."
"Let it go, Coco," Charlotte tugged at her sleeve, maintaining a serene smile on her face. "The programme is about to start, let’s watch it together."
There were now five minutes left until the start of the show.
All the staff members were ready, adjusting cameras off to a corner, everyone in their respective positions.
It was not very far off, and the judges’ panel could clearly hear the conversations occurring over there.
The voices had not been intentionally lowered and could be easily heard.
"My Weibo account exploded today, loads of netizens mentioned me demanding a change in the show’s lead, threatening to stop following otherwise."
"Same here, there were comments on my daily posts too, which made me delete them."
"I heard that the platform was planning to do that, but the producer, Smith, disagreed. He said if they’re replacing Designer Thompson, he would stop working too."
Meanwhile, in the office.
Lincoln Smith was holding a stack of papers in his hand, just about to get up when he was stopped by the man in front of him.
"Producer Smith, have you thought it over? What if our viewer ratings take a nosedive after we insist on featuring Charlotte Thompson in the second episode?"
The man in front of him was middle-aged, almost forty, dressed in an immaculate suit without a hint of a crease.
Hearing this, Lincoln Smith scoffed, "The initial purpose of making this programme wasn’t about viewer ratings or popularity, it was just for the love of it."
He paused briefly before continuing, "Moreover, Miss Thompson is the first person of such a young age with such ample talent that I have ever come across. Her reviews are very helpful and also greatly assist in the ratings you mentioned."
Lincoln Smith’s grip tightened minutely on the papers he was holding. "Mr. Carter, I have one thing to say: the person is my invitee, insisting on replacing her is a slap to my face. Hence, if she goes, I go; if she stays, I stay."
Without waiting for Mr. Carter to say anything else, he left abruptly after throwing down one last sentence.
"The programme is about to start shooting, I should go to the set."
Not long afterwards, when Producer Smith rushed to the set, the programme had already begun filming.
The second episode of the programme incorporated numerous unique elements, and after the host had briefly introduced them, the film crew’s vehicles were all waiting outside.