Traffic Star Development Program

Chapter 51 The Stabilizing Force

Xu Wen paused for a moment, then said, "Xue Zhijian."

"Change to Xu Jiaying," Zeng Hao said. "Call again. This time, don't mention copyright cooperation. Say you're the contact person for the 'I Am a Singer' program and need to confirm an urgent matter with the copyright acquisition department regarding the exclusive authorization of songs during the program's broadcast." He pushed his chair forward a little. "They have a special copyright channel for handling program cooperation, which isn't open to ordinary people, but keywords related to the program can trigger a transfer. Give it a try."

Xu Wen went over these two sentences in his mind: "I haven't recorded 'I Am a Singer' yet. If I call under this pretext, what if the other party wants to verify it?"

"They won't verify," Zeng Hao said. "When the copyright acquisition team gets a call from the program team, their first reaction is to see it as an opportunity, not to verify it. You just need to make them feel that answering the call is worthwhile within the first thirty seconds, and they will naturally ask what you want to talk about. Then you can push the materials out."

"What materials?"

Zeng Hao picked up a blank sticky note from the table, picked up a pen, and said, "Go find the show popularity data that Xu Song gave me last week. It's the one with the average viewership and play count per episode in Singer Season 2." He wrote a few lines on the paper, "Then fill in these numbers, make it into a single sheet, and title it: 'Commercial Value Assessment of Exclusive Premiere and Popularity Linkage During Show Broadcast.' It shouldn't exceed one page, and the numbers should have a range. Don't write them out as absolutes. What he needs to see is the logic, not a promise."

Xu Wen took the note, glanced at it, and saw four lines written on it:

The historical average increase range of search volume per episode for the program —

Reference for first-month play count of exclusive songs in the same time slot —

The Cycle of Changing Copyright Commercial Value After Celebrity Program Exposure —

Conservative estimate for exclusive rights viewership in the first month: X billion views.

"What is X?" Xu Wen looked up.

"You multiply the lowest single-episode rating in the second season by the online streaming conversion rate during the same period, and then multiply it by a conservative coefficient of 0.8," Zeng Hao said. "You fill in the calculated number, then discount the lower limit of the range by 10%, giving him a number that he thinks is conservative but is actually already very good."

Xu Wen folded the note and put it in his coat pocket. "Should I call today or tomorrow?"

"Today," Zeng Hao said, "you'll have at most forty minutes to finish calculating the numbers. Once you're done, you can call immediately without waiting."

Xu Wen stood up, picked up the convenience store bag next to him, and casually placed it on the corner of Zeng Hao's table. "You didn't go out this afternoon. This is the drink you said you wanted to drink last time. I saw it at the convenience store and just bought it."

Zeng Hao opened the bag; inside was a bottle of iced green tea. He didn't say anything, just unscrewed it, took a sip, and said, "Go calculate the numbers."

Xu Wen went out.

There will be an assessment at 2 PM in the training room; it will be the formal evaluation on the last day of Wang Yuxuan's observation period.

Zeng Hao arrived at 2:55. When he opened the door, everyone in the training room was already there. The five of them were standing at their respective white tape positions. Teacher Zhao was in front, and Teacher Lin was standing against the wall, holding the small notebook that was used to record Wang Yuxuan's progress.

The dark cloth on the right half of the mirror was still hanging there, and the tape around the edge hadn't been touched.

When Teacher Zhao saw Zeng Hao come in, she didn't stop. "Get ready. Start at medium speed, three times. Begin the first time."

The music begins with a pure beat without vocals, in 4/4 time, at a moderate tempo, with a precise metronome.

Wang Yuxuan stood in the third position from the left. After completing the first round, his center of gravity was stable, and his feet landed accurately. He did not move backward even once from the start to the finish.

Teacher Zhao didn't say anything, but simply said, "A second time."

The second time was also steady, and Teacher Lin wrote a line down in her notebook.

On the third time, when they reached the third beat group, Wang Yuxuan did a turn. After coming out, his heel landed half a beat later than expected. It wasn't that he moved backward, but that his rhythm was slightly sluggish. He felt it himself, and in the next step, he actively adjusted his center of gravity forward and made up for that half-beat error.

Teacher Zhao called a halt, "Quickly, twice, the first time."

The music changes, the beat goes up, it's a faster version, but it's still purely beat-based.

On the first run, when we reached the fourth beat group, a shift backward appeared, but the magnitude was very small, about 60% smaller than when we first saw it three weeks ago, but the shift backward was still there.

The second time, the same as the fourth set, shifted back, with the amplitude basically the same as the first time.

Teacher Lin closed the notebook and looked at Zeng Hao.

Zeng Hao stood at the door without moving. "Stop."

The music turned off, and the training room fell silent. None of the five people spoke. Zhou Zhennan had his head down, Chen Linong's expression remained unchanged, Lin You held his water bottle in his hand, and Xu Kunkun was looking at his white tape mark on the floor.

Wang Yuxuan stood there, tightened the cap on the water bottle, then unscrewed it again, not looking at Zeng Hao, his eyes fixed on the mirror in front of him.

Zeng Hao took two steps forward and stood next to Teacher Zhao. "Wang Yuxuan, do you know what the problem was with those two quick repetitions?"

"The fourth group," Wang Yuxuan said in a flat voice, "hasn't fully regained their balance yet."

"Yes," Zeng Hao said, "You passed the medium tempo, but not the fast tempo, but that's not elimination." He paused for a moment, "Your medium tempo is the most stable among these five people. The problem with the fast tempo isn't technique, it's that the beat density exceeds your current muscle reaction limit. This takes time, not effort to speed up. So your position has been changed from main support to functional member, mainly responsible for on-stage stability. In the performance, you are the anchor, not the face."

Wang Yuxuan twisted the water bottle cap again, then left it there, saying, "Okay."

No superfluous expressions, no bowed head, that's good.

Chen Linong tilted her head slightly, Zhou Zhennan put the water bottle on the ground, and Teacher Lin wrote something in her notebook.

Teacher Zhao turned a page of the evaluation book.

Zeng Hao finished scanning the area and said, "That's it for today's practice. Tomorrow is a regular class."

The five people walked towards the door, with Wang Yuxuan at the back. When they were almost at the door, he paused at the threshold without turning around. "President Zeng, is the 'Sea-Stabilizing Needle' thing you came up with, or are you just saying it?"

"Just saying," Zeng Hao said, "but it's also true."

Wang Yuxuan went out.

Teacher Lin put away the notebook and followed Teacher Zhao out. Teacher Zhao turned around at the door and said, "I'll send you today's assessment record later. I added an extra note to Wang Yuxuan's page."

"Add what?"

"Resilience, A," Teacher Zhao said. "It's a separate criterion, not in the original scoring system; it's a dimension I added myself."

He went out and closed the door behind him.

Zeng Hao was the only one left in the training room.

He was the only one reflected in the mirror.

The right half is still that dark cloth, and the left half is the half where he is standing. The light is white and a bit bright.

He glanced at himself in the mirror for a second, then turned and went outside.

The corridor was quiet. The footsteps of the boys had faded into the distance. The elevator dinged in the distance, someone went in, and the doors closed.

He walked to his office, pushed open the door, and saw the bottle of green tea still on the table. It was half-empty and the cap wasn't on. He picked it up, took a sip, put the rest next to the trash can, sat down, and opened his memo.

Today's progress: Wang Yuxuan's performance evaluation has been finalized, his job reassignment has been announced, and there have been no objections.

My phone vibrated; it was Xu Wen.

It wasn't a message, it was a phone call.

Zeng Hao answered the phone, "What's wrong?"