Chapter 50

Chapter 50

At 8 PM, the latest episode of *Let's Travel Together* aired on television as scheduled.

The show is broadcast on both satellite TV and online platforms, with the online broadcast delayed by one hour.

As soon as the TV broadcast began, loyal viewers tuned in to watch.

Previously, Su Xingyao's fan-painting segment had gone viral, bringing significant attention to the entire production team. The TV station had high expectations for this episode's ratings.

However, *A Relaxing Weekend* had been engaging in negative comparisons and had sponsored numerous articles claiming that the content of both shows was similar, even before *Let's Travel Together* aired.

This led to some casual audience members, after watching *A Relaxing Weekend* first and learning about the supposed similarity, losing the urge to watch *Let's Travel Together* immediately.

As a result, the ratings at the start of this episode were quite disappointing, with only loyal fans tuning in, while casual viewers dropped off significantly.

The guests' performances in this episode were particularly outstanding, but the ratings were significantly affected by this malicious competition, leaving the TV station deeply frustrated.

Not only was the TV station upset, but loyal fans of the show were also quite annoyed.

While tracking the live ratings, they noticed that today's ratings for *Travel* were significantly lower than those of *Weekend* from the previous day.

"I've been holding back, but that show is truly disgusting."

"First, they smear our show, then they tie it to the guests, and they deliberately chose to air yesterday. It's really disturbing upon closer examination."

"It's a shame, Su Xingyao performed so well, but the show got negatively impacted by that other program's smear campaign."

"Heartbroken, who can relate?"

"These past two days, they've been intentionally linking Su Xingyao to his old CP. Thankfully, it backfired, or it would have been even more disgusting."

When the TV show aired, many fans would create threads on forums to discuss the plot, sharing their thoughts and complaints while watching.

Public forums allow anyone to participate in discussions and replies.

Just as fans were mourning the show's ratings, fans and paid commentators from *A Relaxing Weekend* quickly arrived.

"LOL, if you want to compete, you need to be strong yourself. If you're not good enough, don't blame others."

"Why don't you reflect on why the same theme was so well-received by the other show, while yours is ignored?"

"If your show isn't good, don't blame others for being better at filming."

As soon as the fans and paid commentators from *A Relaxing Weekend* arrived, the tone and comments in the thread became disorderly.

Even though *Travel* was disadvantaged by airing later, the other side still criticized the show's quality, leaving the loyal fans feeling frustrated and unable to respond.

After all, they were watching the show live—didn't they know if it was good or not?

Knowing that the content overlapped, the production team had gone to great lengths to add many innovative elements in post-production.

Although the other side kept disparaging the two shows as similar, claiming that watching one made the other unnecessary, the actual broadcast of this episode was quite different from the live broadcast seen by netizens, both in terms of editing approach and the presentation of the core content.

Apart from both shows highlighting intangible cultural heritage, there were virtually no similarities.

Their styles were entirely different.

"A Comfortable Life" simply presents how the guests cleverly uncover clues, work hard to finish tasks, and enthusiastically host live sales during their search for intangible cultural heritage.

On the other hand, "Let's Travel Together" puts more emphasis on how the guests interact with the locals.

Through the locals' descriptions and what the guests see, it slowly paints a picture of the small, historic yet lively county.

At the same time, the engaging exchanges between the guests and different local guides highlight the various facets of local intangible cultural heritage and the craftsmen's dedication.

The first show is more modern, detached, and commercial, while the second is more grounded and people-focused.

As viewers watch the ongoing episodes, they can't be bothered to argue with detractors, just focusing on hyping up the show.

"Guys, don't feed the trolls—just watch! This episode is clearly very interesting."

"Mr. Su's next-level skills are coming up soon, and it will be clearer on TV today. Folks, you can't miss this!"

Having watched the live broadcast, the audience knows that the episode's highlight is definitely Su Xingyao painting the fan.

Even though it has been discussed many times online, when watching it on TV, they realize that Su Xingyao's painting and calligraphy look even more stunning on a bigger screen.

Some fans even pull out their pre-printed national administrative maps and Xu Xi's peony paintings to compare with Su Xingyao's fan.

They're blown away by the incredible details in his work.

"The borders between regions are spot-on."

"I snapped a pic comparing my printout to Mr. Su's fan. You could swear both were printed."

"Mr. Su has captured the essence of Xu Xi so accurately."

"Watching it again, I still think Mr. Su is amazing."

"The key is that his task was the most difficult and time-consuming, yet he was the first among the six guests to complete it."

"Hahaha, what can we do? He's Mr. Su (the other guests are also great)."

In the last live broadcast, the show only aired up to Su Xingyao painting the fan.

The subsequent content was abruptly cut off.

After waiting for several days, they finally saw the progress of the other guests today, realizing that Su Xingyao not only paints with high quality but also at an incredible speed.

Most impressively, after quickly finishing his fan, he painted four more different fans based on the personalities and needs of the other guests while waiting for them.

In the end, due to his outstanding performance, he managed to create six fans, one for each guest to have their own exclusive fragrant fan.

"I really want to have a fan painted by Mr. Su."

"Feng Han's fan with advanced math formulas is something I really need!"

"Can we get a replica of Xu Xiang's administrative map fan?"

"Family... my dad just took a liking to Shi Hongyu's calligraphy fan and asked me to buy him a replica QWQ."

"My mom also fell in love with Cen Yi's peony fan TAT."

"Family, who understands? I'm crazy about Tong Anan's feather fan! Even though Mr. Su painted it on a folding fan, it looks so lifelike! The fan and the beauty are a perfect match!"

"But I still love Mr. Su's cat and dog fan the most. Who knew you could paint modern art on a folding fan? It's so cute!"

After completing their tasks, the guests all opened their folding fans and took a group photo with the president of the Xiangshan Fan Association at the entrance of the Xiangshan Fan General Union.

This round of group photos was like a massive marketing event, with most viewers who saw these fans absolutely thrilled.

"Is the production team really not thinking about releasing a co-branded version?"

"I really want to get my hands on one."

"Release it, release it now! The six fans hand-painted by Su Xingyao, I'll definitely buy them all."

After watching, the audience flooded the production team's page with comments.

Some even found the online store of the Xiangshan General Bank, hoping they could collaborate with the production team to release Su Xingyao's co-branded fans.

Meanwhile, the audience was frantically reaching out to the production team, hoping for the release of Su Xingyao's painted fans. The next second, they suddenly heard a familiar and sly voice from the TV.

Zhang Shanfeng: "Has everyone completed their mysterious tasks?"

As soon as Zhang Shanfeng's voice came out, the netizens stopped typing and commenting, and curiously watched the TV.

"What?? There's still a mysterious task?"

"Did I miss something? When was the task assigned?"

While the netizens were puzzled, the post-production revealed the answer.

On the TV screen, the post-production replayed the scene from the morning where Zhang Shanfeng assigned tasks and handed out phones to everyone.

Seeing this, the audience suddenly understood.

"No wonder I saw the guests constantly filming during the live broadcast. I thought they were taking commemorative photos, but it turns out it was a task?"

The show's ending suddenly brought such a surprise, and the audience was overjoyed.

They were glued to the TV screen and then noticed that the guests handed all their phones to Su Xingyao.

At the same time, Xu Xiang sweetly said to Su Xingyao, "Brother Xing Yao, you've worked hard."

Only then did everyone realize that the videos the guests took were actually left for Su Xingyao to edit!

"Wow... Su Xingyao can even edit videos?"

"I thought the post-production team would handle the editing, but the guests are doing it themselves?"

"??? Mr. Su, you can even edit videos?? That's just way too versatile."

"Ahhh, what format will it be broadcast in? Can I have the honor of seeing Mr. Su's edited video at the end of the show? I'm really looking forward to it!"

As fans, hearing that Su Xingyao would edit videos for all the guests was already thrilling.

But for casual viewers, although they also found it surprising, most didn't think Su Xingyao was that extraordinary.

After all, specialization is key, and no matter how versatile these artists are, they are still no match for professional editors.

So many people subconsciously thought that Su Xingyao would probably use the common short video editing style.

But who would have thought that the scenes they saw next would completely shatter their expectations.

On the TV screen, Su Xingyao collected the phones from the other five guests and sat down in front of the computer, beginning to export and compile the videos everyone had shot.

To highlight authenticity, the show team deliberately included clips of Su Xingyao sorting and editing the videos.

Then, a line of white text appeared beside it: [This is just the tip of the iceberg; Mr. Su spent a full six days handling the rest alone...]

Once this subtitle appeared, the screen froze for roughly five seconds.

Right after, the entire TV screen abruptly went dark.

Two seconds later, a fast-paced background music began to play.

The post-production team's distinctive subtitles appeared rhythmically in the dark.

[The following videos were all edited by Mr. Su Xingyao alone.]

[Get ready, viewers.]

[Don’t even blink.]

[Three]

[Two]

[One]

As soon as the countdown ended, the TV screen showed the quaint little street where the guests had been solving word puzzles.

The whole scene felt like a first-person view.

In the peaceful morning, an elderly woman sat leisurely at her word puzzle stall, and the camera tilted slightly upward, revealing a few word puzzle fans gently swaying in the breeze.

The fans served as a timer, swaying back and forth three times before a slender, pale hand came into view.

It grabbed a word puzzle and then pushed the fan forward...

All of a sudden, the entire scene appeared to accelerate.

In less than a second, the camera zoomed through the tranquil little street and arrived at the bustling cityscape.

Then, the hand reappeared, as if commanding the entire city.

The fingers gently made a rotating gesture, and the skyscrapers in the video swayed left and right in perfect harmony with the motion.

After swaying back and forth twice, all the buildings smoothly tilted to the right.

In a flash, all the skyscrapers and structures executed a complete 360-degree spin.

The entire city appeared to be controlled by this magical hand, with every landmark dutifully following its lead.

Following this stunning rotating transition, all the buildings returned to their original places.

But what came next was an entirely new scene.

The heart of Lvshui County's central square.

The scene paused on the square for barely a second.

The magician's hand once again "pressed" a switch on the screen, and all the buildings began to teleport rapidly to both sides.

At the end of the street, the entire road beneath was suddenly transformed by the magician's sleight of hand, turning into a moving walkway.

After capturing a panoramic view of Lushui County from above, the "walkway" began to rapidly descend.

Finally, it landed heavily in a place full of life.

The small white text beside the video labeled the location.

"Lushui Night Market"

Both sides of the night market were filled with Lushui County's specialty foods.

On the left, fancy jelly dessert, on the right, the signature crispy-skin duck...

The camera sped forward, quickly showcasing egg pancakes, dragon beard candy, brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, sweet noodles, crayfish...

A variety of foods were overwhelming to the senses.

After walking through the long night market, dozens of different foods were seen without repetition.

The magician's hand appeared again, taking a bowl of spicy and sour noodles from the vendor's stall.

Xu Xiang, entering the frame from the left, waved the freshly bought vibrant red roses at the camera.

The camera alternated between the spicy and sour noodles and the roses.

On the second pass, the bowl of noodles on the right had somehow already been emptied.

Even through the screen, the aroma of the noodles was palpable.

Before the audience could even salivate, the camera had already shifted focus to the vibrant flowers in Xu Xiang's hand.

The camera zoomed in on the rose petals, revealing a dazzling, pure red.

On the TV, the dazzling scene suddenly slowed down.

Just as everyone was guessing when it would stop, it rapidly reversed.

The scene that came into view was an endless flower field.

The small text appeared again.

"Sea of Roses"

After capturing a panoramic view of the sea of roses from the edge, the magician's camera glided through the flower field as if on a light rail.

The audience was instantly transported through the romantic sea of roses, as if riding a time machine made of petals.

The time machine quickly reached its end.

It was the "Painting Immortal Pond" of Lushui County.

The beautiful sculpture of the Painting Immortal Lady stood at the center of the frame. Following the direction of her hand, the camera zoomed in on the sugar painting grandpa's stall.

The grandpa deftly drew a lifelike golden dragon on the stone slab.

With just a bamboo stick attached, it could be picked up and eaten right away.

The magician, enticed by the golden dragon, eagerly helped the sugar painting grandpa with the bamboo stick.

But the basket was completely empty, not a single bamboo skewer to be found.

The magician, eager to find a bamboo skewer, could only slide back and forth on the screen as if swiping on a tablet screen.

Then he moved to a vast expanse of emerald green bamboo forest.

This is another tourist attraction in Lushui County, known as the "Lushui Bamboo Sea."

The stream and bamboo forest radiate a leisurely and relaxed atmosphere.

The magician began selecting the most suitable bamboo to prepare for making skewers.

As a result, the space of the bamboo forest was manipulated by him, shifting left and right, then compressing forward and backward.

Amid the continuous compression and stretching of space, several local residents smiled as they appeared in the shot.

They held traditional local fragrant fans, walking leisurely along the long paths through the forest.

Sunlight filtered through the bamboo, casting dappled light on the ground.

The magician's hand blocked the sunlight.

Re-entering the scene, he magically removed a fragrant fan from an auntie's hand into the frame.

The raised fragrant fan blocked the sunlight streaming through the bamboo.

But the camera, unseen, returned to the grand entrance of the Fragrant Fan Association, shaped like a giant fan.

Six guests waved their fragrant fans at the camera, with Tong Anan holding the golden dragon strung on bamboo skewers.

The camera continued to follow the guests as they got on a bus.

The bus started moving, and the scenery outside the window began to change rapidly.

Like a silent movie, the images on the window flashed by rapidly.

The images showed the fifteen steps of the craftsmen's process of making fragrant fans, from start to finish.

When the trip ended, the bus stopped, and the door opened.

An ancient city gate appeared before everyone.

The magician's slender, pale fingers appeared in the shot one last time.

On the paused screen, he slowly and steadily wrote seven words—

"Welcome, to Lushui County."

At that moment, the video ended.

The audience in front of the TV was utterly mesmerized.

After a two-second pause in breathing, their minds seemed to snap back to reality.

All thoughts were pushed away, leaving only one sentence.

Incredible!!!

After regaining their senses, netizens went wild with excitement.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!"

"How did he do that?? How did he do that!!"

"Su Xingyao, are you a magician?"

"Wow, this cinematography must be worth millions!"

"Incredible, Su Xingyao, are you a god?"

The audience, expecting just a simple spliced video, was blown away by the production team's final surprise.

Excited viewers couldn't wait to share their reactions online.

Major social media platforms were instantly flooded with discussions about the video.

"You can't miss Su Xingyao's edited video!"

"You'll regret missing this, I swear!!"

"This promotional video is absolutely legendary!"

"Su Xingyao, the Su family! He's a legend!"

"I wish I could watch it for the first time again to feel that excitement."

Suddenly, countless discussion threads popped up, drawing in viewers.

At first, people thought the production team had bought fake comments, but they quickly realized it was genuine excitement.

The glowing reviews piqued everyone's curiosity, and they rushed to watch.

The post-production team, anticipating the buzz, added subtitles asking viewers.

"[Want to watch it again?]"

"[Can't get enough, right?]"

"[How about one more time!]"

Viewers who'd already seen it were thrilled it was playing again.

New viewers, though confused, were excited to see what the hype was about.

On TV, the video played again.

But this time, the video had a twist.

After Su Xingyao's video, they added an extra segment.

"[Stay tuned!]"

"[There's more to see!]"

"[Surprised yet?]"

"[Let's watch Su Xingyao create a traditional fan!]"

After the subtitles by the post-production team disappeared, a curved line appeared on the TV screen.

Compared to the earlier fast-paced and imaginative video, the sudden slowdown in footage made everyone a bit uneasy.

Though slightly puzzled, the thought that this work was again by Su Xingyao instantly filled them with anticipation.

The scene lasted just two seconds.

As the camera zoomed out, the slender fingers from the previous video reappeared.

Along with them appeared a watercolor painting.

Upon closer look, the audience noticed that Su Xingyao had painted Feng Han and Shi Hongyu.

The two were busy making fan ribs in the workshop.

Fans of the two watching the TV couldn't help but scream when they saw this painting.

They never expected Su Xingyao to paint their idols making fan ribs.

The fans edged closer to the TV for a better view, only to find Su Xingyao's fingers rapidly enlarging the painting.

Just as everyone wondered what he was up to, the audience was surprised the enlarged painting stayed clear.

More astonishingly, enlarging a floating bamboo leaf revealed a new world.

Cen Yi and Tong Anan, learning seal carving from a master, were painted by Su Xingyao inside the bamboo leaf of Feng Han and Shi Hongyu's painting.

The image continued to zoom in, and the entire recording situation of the two became clearer and clearer.

The seal, tools, the following PD, and even strands of Tong Anan's hair were clearly visible as the image continued to enlarge.

But Su Xingyao's hand movements never stopped.

He moved his finger towards the camera that was following Tong Anan, and then a touch of color gradually appeared on the camera filming Tong Anan.

Su Xingyao's finger movements accelerated, and the content became clearer and clearer.

The camera footage transformed into Xu Xiang learning to paste fan leaves!

In just over ten seconds, the TV audience was amazed again by Su Xingyao's magic.

Initially, it seemed just a painting.

But no one expected Su Xingyao to embed so many details.

Each detail, when enlarged, revealed a clear picture within a picture.

It felt like stepping into a layered, mysterious space, and no one knew how many pictures within pictures Su Xingyao had hidden in this painting!

Stunned by the nested paintings, the audience could only gape at Su Xingyao's tablet.

They then saw Su Xingyao use picture-in-picture to reveal all fifteen stages of making the fragrant fan.

The post-production team thoughtfully added a small frame in the lower right corner.

Only after comparing did the audience realize that Su Xingyao had painted the six of them visiting each process of making the fragrant fan after the live broadcast.

After fifteen nested paintings, the final scene showed the six visiting a master painting on a fan in the ink workshop.

Finally, Su Xingyao dragged his fingers across the fan surface that the master craftsman was painting, and with a pinch of his thumb and index finger, he expanded the image.

The "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painting that the master craftsman was working on in the bottom right corner video was also clearly reproduced in the picture-in-picture!

In the TV station's backstage.

The TV director, who had been closely monitoring the ratings curve, suddenly leapt from his chair.

He couldn't believe his eyes and scrutinized the ratings curve several times in disbelief.

The curve showed that the previously declining ratings of "Let's Travel Together" had surged dramatically in the last few minutes of the show.

The rise was so rapid that it even broke the previously all-time high for the show!

Not only did it break the show's record, but the director, watching the still-climbing curve, was so excited his hands trembled.

At this rate, in just a minute or two, it could even surpass the highest ratings of any variety show this month!

Seeing the ratings double, the ecstatic director quietly credited the savior Su Xingyao and decisively gave instructions to the staff around him.

"Arrange a rerun immediately after the broadcast as soon as it ends! Make sure to replay Su Xingyao's segment several times in the highlights!"

No one had expected that "Let's Travel Together," which had been struggling with low ratings due to competition from rival stations, would make a miraculous comeback in the last ten minutes and become a sensation.

Not only the ratings, but even the online viewership, which was delayed by an hour, broke all previous records to reach a historic high.

The internet exploded with discussions about Su Xingyao's two video segments.

Many viewers couldn't wait for the show to release the original videos and started recording their TV screens with their phones.

Even these TV-recorded videos, once posted, quickly racked up extremely high views.

"Ahhhhh Su Su Su Su Su Su Su!!!!!! Mr. Su, my idol!!!"

"Mom asked me why I was kneeling watching the TV."

"Is this amazing video and picture-in-picture really created in just six days? I don't believe it unless you show me the project files."

"I can hear your scheming all the way in the Pacific."

"I heard you all talking about how amazing Su Xingyao's video editing is, but you're all amateurs, just screaming after watching. Unlike me, as a professional, I immediately bow in respect."

"Ahhhhh after watching Mr. Su's edited video, I am dying to travel to Lvshui County and visit all those places."

"Su Xingyao, I suggest you stop doing variety shows and go make movies."

"Forget movies! Go teach painting!!!!"

"The fan surface with 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' in the picture-in-picture is incredible. I compared it with their on-site footage, and it's exactly the same!"

"Absolutely incredible. Either the editing or the painting skills alone could dominate the entertainment industry, but Mr. Su released both at once."

"Is this what a master is?"

"Su Xingyao is a legend!"

"Everyone, show some respect, call him Su God."

"Wuwuwuwu I'm just a fangirl screaming for Su God."

"Where's the production team?? Where's the production team!! Hurry up and release these two videos separately, I want to replay them endlessly!"

The netizens were anxious and excited, and the show's official Weibo had already been overwhelmed with their messages.

This time, the eagerly awaited production team didn't rush to upload the two videos but instead posted several Weibo updates back-to-back.