Chapter 48

"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Just as Xia Xi and Da He were reaching their limit of patience, the staff member from earlier finally returned. Although her attitude remained as polite as ever, Xia Xi couldn't help feeling annoyed.
After all, waiting was what Xia Xi hated the most, especially when it was such a long and inexplicable wait.
"What's going on with your show? Why did you just leave me and my agent here and run off?" Xia Xi's tone was full of accusation, and she looked at the culprit with clear grievance in her eyes.
"I sincerely apologize for my irresponsible behavior earlier." The staff member looked at the pitiful Xia Xi and apologized with genuine sincerity, though her eyes also held obvious helplessness and conflict. "But the director just gave us a new notice, the competition rules for Cross-Border Singing Joy have been changed. The director suddenly called us over for a discussion, which is why this unfortunate situation occurred."
Hearing this, Xia Xi was stunned. Anxious and somewhat disbelieving, she asked, "Cross-Border Singing Joy changed its rules? How could it be so sudden? Why were they changed? What are the new rules?"
"Please calm down first," the staff member said, seeing Xia Xi's agitation. "Actually, the changes are quite minor. You don’t need to worry too much."
Noticing that Xia Xi remained silent but was still frowning and staring at her, clearly waiting for an explanation, she continued, "You should already be familiar with the format of Cross-Border Singing Joy. Originally, the competition was planned as a pre-recorded show. We started with six guests, and each episode would feature a competition where the live audience and professional judges would vote. The rankings were determined by the number of votes, and the singer with the lowest votes would be eliminated. In the next episode, a new guest would join, and the cycle would continue, each episode following a '6 advance, 5 remain' format."
"Everything was originally agreed upon, but we didn’t expect that this morning, the director suddenly informed us that we would be doing a live online broadcast. He said it was specifically requested by the investor. The investor believes that online variety shows are currently trending, but live-streamed competition shows are rare. Most variety programs are heavily edited, lacking creativity and causing the competitions to lose their excitement and authenticity. He thinks audiences are gradually losing interest in such shows. Therefore, he believes that 'Cross-Border Singing Joy' must make changes to stand out among the many variety programs. We just went over to discuss the pros and cons with him, hoping he would reconsider, as suddenly changing the established rules would create a lot of complications. However, the investor’s stance was firm, and in the end, we had no choice but to follow his request and make the changes."
The staff member glanced at Xia Xi's expression and noticed she seemed lost in thought. With an inward sigh, she apologized once more, "If you have any concerns, our program team will do our best to address them. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused."
"If I were to terminate the contract and demand compensation for breach, would you agree?" Xia Xi blinked, her expression serious as she looked at the staff member. "Your program team changes plans so frequently and lacks credibility, do you think any other artists would still want to collaborate with you?"
"We are truly sorry," the staff member replied, a trace of worry evident in her expression. She nodded and said, "If you wish to terminate the contract, we will compensate you according to the terms stipulated in the agreement. As an additional gesture, we will arrange for you to appear as a guest on two episodes of 'Let Life Slow Down' as soon as possible."
"Of course, if you’re willing to stay and participate in 'Cross-Border Singing Joy' we would be more than delighted. We can draft a new contract for you, and other matters are all negotiable."
Hearing Fruit TV’s proposed solution for this sudden incident, Xia Xi couldn’t help but narrow her eyes. Although the situation was frustrating and the program team’s actions were far from ideal, she had to admit that their approach was impressively thorough. Even someone as discerning as her couldn’t help but give them a silent nod of approval.
Moreover, it truly reflected the strength of a major network, the compensation offered was a show like "Let Life Slow Down," which typically only top-tier celebrities could participate in. With such a popular program as compensation, most artists would likely have little to complain about. Whether they chose to stay or leave, the network had already paved a smooth path for them.
"Have you had time to consider it?" the staff member asked cautiously.
"You’ve already officially announced the list of participants for 'Cross-Border Singing Joy,' haven’t you?" Xia Xi’s expression turned slightly puzzled. "If an artist suddenly drops out of the show, how do you plan to manage the fans’ reactions?"
"What else can we do? We’ll just have to be honest about it," the staff member replied, looking visibly distressed. "Since our station made the last-minute changes, we’ll take responsibility. We’ll do our best to appease the fans. If that doesn’t work, they might criticize our credibility, but we’ll have to accept that and move on."
Xia Xi pursed her lips and glanced over at Da He, noticing his conflicted expression. After a moment’s thought, she turned back to the staff member and said, "This situation is just too sudden, there was absolutely no warning. I came here today expecting to record the show. Does this mean the recording will be postponed?"
"Yes, there might be some delay," the staff member replied earnestly. "But please believe me, the postponement won’t last more than a week. We’ll work overtime to get everything sorted out within about three days."
Seeing the staff member’s sincere expression, Xia Xi touched her nose and pointed toward Da He, who was standing in the corner. "Would it be possible for me to discuss this with my manager for a moment? I’ll give you an answer shortly."
"No problem, no problem, definitely no problem!" The young staff member, hearing that Xia Xi's attitude was still quite cooperative and open to discussion, immediately felt half of her worries lift. She probably thought that as long as it wasn't an outright refusal, there was still hope to persuade the artist to continue participating in the show. "Then you two discuss it first. If you need anything, just press the bell here, and I’ll come over quickly."
As she spoke, she looked at Xia Xi with eager eyes and pointed toward the lower left corner of Xia Xi’s poster, where a faint red button was located.
"Okay."
"Then I’ll go arrange other tasks now. I hope you can give me a reassuring answer as soon as possible."
Seeing Xia Xi nod at her, the young staff member left feeling quite satisfied.
Xia Xi: “...” Did I even agree yet?
"What are you planning to do?" Da He, who had somehow made his way to Xia Xi’s side, nudged her with his elbow and asked for her opinion. "Participate or not?"
"Is there even a need to consider it?" Xia Xi glanced sideways at Da He, her expression full of disdain. "Of course, I’m participating! After all, I’ve been practicing singing for so long. It wouldn’t be worth it if I didn’t join. I’m going to shine on that stage."
"Are you serious?" Da He’s expression was particularly skeptical, clearly not buying Xia Xi’s words.
"Of course, there are other reasons."