Chapter 110 - Broadcast
Mu Chen was also looking at their movements with narrowed eyes. The production team for this show was particularly attentive and had even found a professional teacher of traditional etiquette to teach them the movements for standing, walking, and sitting, as well as salutations and receiving gifts. Personally, he felt that he had learnt them very well, but compared to the two in front of him, he was far inferior.
Song Xiao stepped onto the arch bridge, and there was a unique rhythm to his steps. When he raised his hands, the movement was slow and graceful, and his exchange of greetings with Yu Tang looked especially good, even better than the etiquette teacher’s movements.
“Supposedly, children of aristocratic families that are a hundred years old all learn traditional etiquette from a young age,” the director said mysteriously.
Qiao Su nodded. So that was it.
Mu Chen shot a glance at the director who was spouting random nonsense. He was acquainted with several people from century-old aristocratic families and had never met anyone who knew this. It wasn’t good to contradict the director, however, so he could only lean close to Qiao Su’s ear and whisper, “Don’t listen to Director Sun’s groundless nonsense, the Yu family is probably a special case.”
Qiao Su hadn’t been in this profession for long, and he didn’t know much. He was also a very honest and sincere person, so it was better to let this foolish child know so that when he met a noble child someday, he wouldn’t directly ask them to teach him ancient etiquette.
Director Sun looked at the two people on the bridge holding hands and looking at each other, then at the two next to him who were whispering to one another, and felt that something wasn’t right.
The wedding photos were taken by the professional photographer who had taken the drama stills, while the amateur photographer, Dugu An, was responsible for supervising him in case he misappropriated photos of the emperor and empress.
“Oh, heavens, too beautiful!
“That’s it, just like that!
“Perfect, come, one more, great, a little closer!”
The photographer had already completely forgotten that he was taking wedding photos for two men, and was only thinking about how beautiful all the pictures were. His shutter clicked nonstop.
After the photo-taking was done, Dugu An supervised the photographer as the latter touched up the images on the spot, then took away the laptop with the photos.
“Can I keep one? I swear I won’t divulge it, I swear!” the photographer said with tears in his eyes. These photographs were too beautiful, and he had choked the instant he opened the laptop to retouch them.
Dugu An looked at him expressionlessly, then mercilessly turned around and left with the laptop.
Because of Dayu’s formidable funding support, post-production for k2018;Golden Age of Jinghong’ proceeded very smoothly. The background music and main theme song had all been personally selected by Song Xiao. No one really objected either, and it was only when it came to the chief broadcasting channel that there were differing views.
“Since it’s a historical subject, it’s more upscale to go with the national station as the chief broadcaster.” This was the opinion Xinghai’s planning department head had given at that time. However, everyone knew that the reason this book had never been turned into a TV show was because the male empress didn’t conform to mainstream ideology.
Even if they had managed to film it and were permitted to show it, it would probably be very hard for the conservative national station to accept it.
“A regional broadcast station is also pretty good; there are a few entertainment channels now with very high ratings.” The marketing department’s principle had always been ‘money above all’, and they recommended two regional broadcast stations that had high ratings.
Song Xiao was still thinking about this when he returned to the house where the two of them lived. He preferred to air it on the national station. This was a serious historical drama to begin with, and should be given the place it deserved.
“Do you still remember what zhen said to you when you just entered the palace?” Yu Tang pinched and shook Song Xiao’s chin while the empress was still lost in thought.
“En?” Song Xiao was blank for a moment. He stared at the ceiling and thought for a bit. “From now on, you will dress zhen in the court robes every day.”
Yu Tang’s lips quirked. “Not that.”
Song Xiao thought about it seriously. “You will be given your official’s salary in one go at the end of the year.”
Yu Tang sighed. “If there are any difficulties, come find zhen.”
In this imperial palace, no matter what difficulties there may be, from the court being hard on you to even the candlestick falling, as long as you find something hard to deal with, you can always come find zhen. This was the promise Emperor Jingyuan made to his newly wedded empress.
Not long after that, the official account released the news that the timeslot for ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’ had already been confirmed. Who knew what Yu Tang had done behind the scenes, but the chief broadcaster really was the national station.
The national station had always been more low-key, and merely released a short trailer during prime time. It wasn’t anything exaggerated either, with only the four large words ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’ and the broadcast time.
At this point, those watching the national station broadcast were bored stiff and waiting for the advertisement to pass, when magnificent and imperious music suddenly rang out.
Mu Chen, in his black monarch robes, sat on the imperial throne and threw a memorial in the face of the cabinet minister. “Marriage alliance, marriage alliance! Whoever mentions marriage alliance again, come offer your own di daughter for it!”
The scene changed, and dressed in battle armour, the monarch personally rushed onto the battlefield, his lines said in the deep, melodious voice of the emperor: “Anyuan, wait for big brother!”
A small child, dressed in the apricot-yellow clothes of the crown prince, tilted his head to look up at Qiao Su, who was wearing a cyan, wide-sleeved robe, and said in a sweet and sticky voice, “I also wish to be a good emperor like imperial brother!”
The scene changed again to Qiao Su in a phoenix robe, ascending the jade stairs step by step as he and the emperor looked at each other over the distance.
After that, everything turned to sand as four forceful and vigorous words, ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’, appeared on the screen, along with a row of words below indicating the broadcast time.
It was only after the next advertisement played for a while that the audience finally regained their senses. It was really too marvelous! The elderly viewers were very happy to be able to watch the last part of the age of prosperity trilogy on screen while they were still alive. Meanwhile, the younger viewers who had long known about this ran to the official site to check if there was a complete version of the ad.
The official site hadn’t released the complete version yet, and had only reposted the one minute-long short clip that had been shown on TV; it announced that the complete version would be released in two days.
【Ahhhhh, the male empress really did appear ah, and he’s even that beautiful!】
【Yingyingying, film emperor Mu’s entire face is simply charismatic!】
【My Qiao is too beautiful, why are there saliva marks on my screen? Let me lick it clean!】
There were those who rewatched the short clip, and they didn’t let a single detail slip by them as they conducted various analyses.
Some said that the decorations and settings were extremely accurate to the period. Some online users took screencaps and discovered that the dragon jade ornament worn by the imperial younger brother was designed strictly in accordance with the design for Great Yu’s crown prince, and even the number of strings on the tassel were accurate. Some online users seriously calculated Qiao Su’s screen time and discovered that he had appeared for 13 seconds in the short one-minute ad. This meant that the male empress’s part wasn’t edited out in the slightest!
Three days later, when the entire clip was released, the online users fell into a state of ‘Ahhhhhh’ and ‘Liiiiick’, and expectations for this TV show reached unprecedented heights.
Because the audience had been abused by various crappy works and low-budget special effects, they were now especially hungry for an excellent TV show production to wash their eyes.
On the day of the broadcast, Yu Tang rejected an invitation to a dinner party that night and Song Xiao also ended his meeting early. The two of them bought fried chicken and beer, and returned home early. They then nestled together on the sofa and waited for the show to start.
“Watching our own story, doesn’t it feel weird?” Song Xiao asked Yu Tang as he nibbled on a piece of fried chicken.
Yu Tang unhurriedly sipped his beer and leaned over to take a large bite of Song Xiao’s chicken drumstick, crunching loudly as he didn’t reply.
Magnificent and grand music played on the TV. First, a long string of bells chimed in the hazy distance, then there was the sound of a deep bugle horn. Armoured cavalry and a frozen river appeared on the screen, and the musical drumbeats gradually sped up, followed by a deep and resounding male voice which rang out in song:
…
The surging yellow sand, the boundless snow field, paints a scroll of a battle campaign.
The towering mountains, the expansive blue sky, writes a book of a prosperous country.
…
Little Theater
Xiaoxiao: This show was filmed very well ba
Fish Tang: Lacking one thing
Xiaoxiao: What?
Fish Tang: Where is the emperor and empress’s wedding night ne?
Xiaoxiao: …Eat a river crab to calm your nerves