Chapter 101: Have I Become A Blind Box?
“What do you think if I tune a Wei Yu voice AI based on your voice?”
“Not great.”
Obviously, Qi Luo An had also come across AI singing, which sparked the idea of creating a virtual songstress, but Yu Wei now had a shadow over AI singing.
Hearing an AI sing in your own voice was too torturous, unrelated to whether it sounded good or bad—it was purely eerie, like listening to a voice that was similar yet not quite yours, triggering the uncanny valley effect.
“Right, it would indeed be pretty strange if the voice was just like yours.” Qi Luo An had also acted on a sudden impulse, but after thinking it over, she probed again: “How about I add my own voice too, to make it more neutral?”
“?”
What was this, cyber baby-making?
But before Yu Wei could complain, Qi Luo An had already quietly withdrawn the message, clearly realizing the impropriety of her words.
It felt like it would be better to import his novel to create an AI Wei Yu instead…
Just as Yu Wei had guessed, Teacher Meng regrettably missed the fourth episode of Music Blind Box, and the program team said they would find a guest performer to fill in.
Plus with Tong Yulu’s exit, this episode should bring in two newcomers, and Yu Wei didn’t know exactly who they would invite.
The good news was that this episode had no special edition, meaning civilian contestants’ professions were not directly relevant, and the previous situation wouldn’t occur.
Yu Wei was the first to arrive today; the curved guest seats silently encircled the central stage, and from afar, they surprisingly seemed a bit desolate.
Staff were busy with something next to the guest seats; when he went over to look, he discovered that the program team was actually dismantling the camera position beside the guest seats.
“What are you doing?”
They recorded each episode twice in the broadcast hall, and the camera next to this seat was quite necessary—were they just dismantling it like that?
“We won’t need it for this episode; we’ll move it elsewhere to fill in for now.”
Won’t need it?
The few beside the guest seats were crucial no matter how you thought about it; they couldn’t just not let them sit because Meng Han wasn’t there…
Just as he was about to ask for more details, light footsteps sounded from behind, and a new female star took the initiative to greet him: “Wei Ge, so early?”
Yu Wei was among the youngest in the entertainment industry; this was the first time a colleague had called him “ge,” and he didn’t recognize the female star, but she was very distinctive.
Average looks, but great temperament—this kind of female star was rare in the entertainment industry, and she was even younger than him?
“Hello, I’m Yu Wei.”
“Shen Yutong.” The girl nodded slightly, her expression calm and certain. “I’m your fan.”
He didn’t believe it; everyone in the entertainment industry said that now—any Tom, Dick, or Harry claimed to be his fan…
“My favorite is your ‘Red Bean’; classical imagery and modern emotional expression perfectly fused, exhaustively conveying the impermanence of gathering and parting with minimalist poetic language.”
He had wrongly accused her; this was a real fan, and one with considerable talent at that. Yu Wei gave her a quick look-over and felt that this Shen classmate had a bit of a literary girl vibe, very bookish.
He had originally wanted to ask if she read his novels, but after thinking it over, he still didn’t have the nerve to speak up.
In the eyes of someone with a bit of literature, his books were somewhat unpresentable…
Shen Yutong didn’t rush to get close like other peers; although she stated she was a fan, she was very well-behaved, and after sitting down, she started doing her own thing.
Compared to the other peers, this one was terrifyingly steady.
Yu Wei was happy to have some peace until ten minutes later, when a familiar greeting startled him; looking up, he noticed it was Su Jian, whom he had seen on the previous program.
The representative of “other peers”—he had wanted to be his little brother on the program, extremely restless and impetuous.
But it was understandable; after all, time was running out for talent show remnants like Su Jian.
“Are you… here to replace Teacher Meng?”
Yu Wei hadn’t expected to run into both newcomers himself; one was a normal guest performer, the other a replacement.
He personally felt Su Jian was the replacement; after all, those temporarily pulled in as replacements were usually not great, and it was probably hard to find a better one quickly.
In short, it was just like his own fluke debut back then.
“How did you know?”
Su Jian was very excited to see Yu Wei again; after two months apart, he had already become so popular—this rate of rising status was incomparable to others.
If only he had fawned a bit more back on the program; if he had acted like a dog then, he could be a person now, right?
“Good thing Teacher Meng got sick; that’s how I got this opportunity.”
“Don’t say that carelessly.”
Yu Wei was speechless; after a few months, this kid’s emotional intelligence hadn’t improved at all. Luckily the program hadn’t aired yet, or this remark would get him blacklisted for three to five years.
Even if he really wanted to thank Old Deng for dropping gold coins, he couldn’t say it outright…
Shen Yutong next to him didn’t react much, clearly not caring about this new guest, just nodding simply in greeting.
“Boss, do you still need people for your novel?”
Su Jian was an impatient person; though he wanted to hide it, he couldn’t hold back once the words reached his mouth—ultimately, he still wanted to join Ren Huang Fan.
It was just a clumsy imitation of Tong Yulu.
No way around it; in the industry, Tong Yulu had become the model for being the first to eat the crab—so easily going viral, who wouldn’t want that?
Not to mention bottom tier ones like them—even prominent figures in the entertainment industry probably craved that traffic; after all, no one ever complained about too much popularity.
“Not really short on them.”
Yu Wei was recently fully focused on creating the movie plot for “A Lone Martial World”; the protagonist in the novel had already started filming, and he could breeze past it soon.
This movie’s plot was average; the highlights were the fight scenes and the setup, with kung fu masters of various styles, very suitable for learning.
As for roles that were short or not, entertainment novels truly had tons of roles, but with pitifully little screen time; some NPCs’ names appeared twice and then vanished from the book.
Arranging such roles for him would be meaningless—no memorable point, and important roles weren’t just there for the taking.
“Alright then.”
Su Jian sighed and didn’t push, blaming Tong Yulu’s good luck; if only he had come to this program earlier too.
Just as the on-site atmosphere was getting awkward, the program’s only remaining senior, Su Xinnan, finally arrived; she glanced at the three young faces and inexplicably felt a wordless helplessness.
With Teacher Meng there before, she hadn’t felt that old, but now, the disparity was especially stark.
Actually, swimming for two days last episode had exhausted her plenty, but she refused to admit she was old and had gritted her teeth to persist.
Now it seemed refusing to admit she was old wouldn’t work.
“When did Yutong arrive?”
“I just got here not long ago too.”
Shen Yutong proactively stood to chat with her a few sentences; from the looks of it, the two were old acquaintances with a deep relationship.
Younger than him yet with such connections—could she be a child star?
Once all four were present, the program team finally announced this episode’s special rules: this time, the guests were the blind boxes, to be drawn by the civilian contestants.
“Hm?”
Drew cards three times, and now he himself had become a card…
No wonder they dismantled the camera beside the mentor seats; so they would just wait backstage directly later, right?
The program team explained it this way: blind boxes were originally for creating musical randomness, and swapping identities had the same effect.
Most importantly, it was always stars picking civilians before, which had a subtle “gaze” feeling; this time they were inverting the identities to test the effect.
Yu Wei thought it was quite interesting; having stars pick people every time, even deliberately leaving one—thinking carefully, it really wasn’t great.
“Please everyone come up with a keyword for yourselves, best not to reveal personal identities.”
Stars picking civilians writing clearly wasn’t a big deal, since it was unknown anyway, but civilians picking stars—if written clearly, the blind box wouldn’t exist.
Not revealing identity information?
Yu Wei had originally planned to write something random, but seeing Shen Yutong next to him write “Poetry and Wine in the Years,” he decided to follow suit.
“Unfulfilled Storm,” a poem by Liu Yong.
Su Jian naturally looked to Yu Wei; his literature wasn’t high, so after racking his brains, he wrote “Moonlight Before My Bed.”
Su Xinnan had originally written a chocolate brand, but seeing the three of them write poems, she finally changed it to “The Sea is Wide and Fish Leap.”
After writing the keywords, they followed the director back to backstage, where labels were pasted one by one onto the blind boxes; Yu Wei was the gray box.
Soon, the program’s recording officially began; the four contestants came on stage one by one, two males and two females introducing themselves in turn.
The glasses guy was a tour guide; he came with his girlfriend, who was an ancient costume NPC at the scenic area and occasionally danced.
The remaining pair, a salesman and a realtor, weren’t a couple but already married.
It seemed the program team planned to split them into two teams this time…
“The Sea is Wide and Fish Leap—this must be Yu Wei; I’m his loyal reader!”
The realtor man chose the orange blind box without hesitation, but inside it wasn’t Yu Wei, but Su Xinnan.
Who said the one with fish must be him? Readers were good readers, but alas, not enough fate.
The ancient costume NPC girl selected the cyan blind box for “Poetry and Wine in the Years”; after her choice, Su Jian’s heart broke.
He had still been hoping to team with Yu Wei to curry favor with the boss more, but with choices on both sides, he and Yu Wei definitely wouldn’t be on the same team.
Finally, Yu Wei’s gray blind box was picked by the tour guide; honestly, this put some pressure on him, as being a tour guide required some ink and wasn’t easy.
The remaining Su Jian could only pair with the salesman, alongside Su Xinnan.
“Please welcome the four blind box guests on stage!”
After the host announced, Yu Wei and the other three came on stage one by one, standing behind the curtains matching their colors.
So the blind box unveiling process was like this…
Yu Wei looked at the curtain descending at a turtle’s pace and involuntarily thought of Qi Luo An who had directly yanked the cloth down back then.
Qi Luo An was right; this cloth was too slow, and standing behind it was truly uncomfortable.
He decided to recreate the famous scene.
Yu Wei had just raised his hand to start tearing when, glancing sideways, his peripheral vision caught a meaningful gaze.
Shen Yutong was quietly watching him, seemingly having predicted his action.
She knew who he had learned it from.
