Chapter 176

Was Wei Sheng’s program proposal merely acceptable? It was far more than that.

After Y Province TV Station took his concept and sent a planning team to live and experience life in Yuan Stream Township, they spent nearly a week refining the idea. The result was a meticulously crafted production plan, complete with scripts for the first two episodes.

After reading through the proposal and scripts, both Wei Sheng and Zhou Mingxing couldn’t help but be impressed by Y Province TV Station’s newfound planning prowess.

This didn’t feel like the usual style of Y Province TV Station at all.

Ahem… not that they were saying Y Province TV Station’s past variety shows were all garbage. It’s just that when a student who usually barely scrapes by suddenly turns in a perfect exam, any teacher would naturally be suspicious.

They didn’t have to wonder for long. Y Province TV Station soon revealed the secret themselves.

“Well, you see, our province has beautiful mountains, clear waters, and a great environment. Every year, lots of writers come here for inspiration. To encourage them to showcase our province’s charm in their works, we’ve built several writers’ villages. After we finished the initial draft of the proposal and scripts, we invited two female authors who specialize in marriage novels to help polish them up. Haha!”

Wei Sheng: “…”

No wonder! Of course only women truly understand women.

The polished proposal exceeded even Wei Sheng’s expectations. If the ratings magnet himself had no objections, what was there to wait for?

Y Province TV Station immediately greenlit the project and launched the sponsorship campaign.

Wei Sheng’s good friend, Li Ji, was the first to swoop in and claim the title sponsor slot!

This time, President Li had learned his lesson from missing out on the hit show The Wage Earners. He wasn’t about to give any other brand a chance to “sabotage” his friendship with Wei Sheng. He went all in, dropping sixty million yuan to secure a bundle of ad rights, including exclusive title sponsorship and sole partnership in the condiments category.

He was determined to defend his (possibly imaginary) friendship with Wei Sheng to the death!

“More like defending Li Ji’s place in the shopping carts of housewives everywhere,” Wei Sheng couldn’t help but mutter.

He didn’t even need to think about it—most of the audience for this variety show would be married women with children. And what defines this demographic? They hold the purchasing power for one, sometimes several households!

Especially for daily essentials—rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea… for their own home, their in-laws’ home, their parents’ home.

Honestly, if President Li hadn’t jumped at the title sponsorship, Wei Sheng would’ve thought he’d taken a serious blow to the head.

Word got out that Wei Sheng was investing in a new show, and President Jiang from Xinyue Jiaren sanitary pads came to take a look. But before he could make a move, another top domestic sanitary pad brand swooped in and snatched up an ad slot with a hefty bid. According to competitive brand rules, Y Province TV Station couldn’t accept ads from another sanitary pad brand for the same show.

Then came a flood: a skincare brand, a makeup brand, a face mask company, a women’s milk powder brand, a women’s fashion label, a “kid-pickup scooter” brand, and a slew of household essentials. Who would’ve thought that Y Province TV Station—usually dead last among provincial TV stations—would suddenly become the darling of every major brand?

One skincare brand originally planned to offer 800,000 yuan, but when they learned that a higher-end competitor was also in talks with the station, they quickly upped their bid to 2 million. Their only request? That all female guests, as long as they weren’t allergic, use their skincare products during filming.

The sponsorship buzz grew so loud that other provincial TV stations started to panic. Everyone was scrambling to find out what kind of variety show Y Province TV Station was cooking up this time.

Good luck with that! You think you can just sniff it out?

To prevent leaks, as soon as the script was finalized, Y Province TV Station pulled the entire production team into Yuan Stream Township under the guise of “experiencing local life,” cutting them off from prying competitors.

But of course, they couldn’t keep it secret forever. A few days later, the show’s official title was announced, and an open call for female guests was launched across the internet.

Housewives Leaving Home?

What the heck? Are they planning to send a bunch of housewives into the wilderness for survival training?

Even the viewers themselves didn’t realize that their curiosity about the name was so strong, their fingers moved before their brains could catch up. They knew clicking would boost the show’s traffic and hype, but they just couldn’t help themselves.

The recruitment trailer was short—less than four minutes. After watching it, those interested could click through to the official Weibo page to view detailed application requirements. But within the industry, no one wanted to click any further.

Why bother? That trailer alone was enough to make them fume.

Who would’ve thought that after leaving J Province TV Station, Wei Sheng would actually keep his word and not collaborate with any other station on poverty-relief variety shows?

Yes, he really didn’t do poverty-relief shows anymore. Instead, he pivoted to something even hotter: marriage and family life.

Wait a minute—this wasn’t even your typical marriage-life variety show! The trailer made the show’s core message crystal clear: they wanted to rescue housewives who were suffocating under the weight of marriage and motherhood, and give them a chance to experience the simple joy of being themselves again.

Sounds easy? Just take a bunch of housewives on a fun trip through nature. How hard could it be? Surely they’d be easier to handle than those diva celebrities, right?

But if it were really that simple, why hadn’t any of their own planning teams thought of it?

Oh right, almost forgot—how could the planners make any real decisions? Most of the top executives at these TV stations are men!

And these “successful men” and “officials” who act like kings at home—do you think they’d ever understand the exhaustion of their wives doing housework, raising kids, and helping with homework?

So who was the genius behind Y Province TV Station’s new show?

Suddenly, several top-tier provincial stations were feeling restless. The show was already filed and registered, so they couldn’t just copy the idea. But maybe, just maybe, they could poach the creative team behind it?

But after some digging, they were stunned. There was no brilliant behind-the-scenes team. The entire concept and planning of this captivating, sponsor-magnet show had been personally spearheaded by Wei Sheng!

Even worse, not only did he provide the concept and direction, he was also one of the investors. How were they supposed to poach someone like that? What were they going to do—steal the boss himself?

Besides, they couldn’t even find him now.

Word was, the entire production team had been relocated to the filming site for “field research.”

Meanwhile, the guest recruitment announcement was causing a massive stir online.

Housewives who deeply resonated with the show’s concept were moved to tears by the carefully crafted recruitment trailer. Wiping their eyes, they clicked through to the application page.

When they saw that the requirements included being away from home for at least two weeks, without their husbands or children, and filming at a designated location with other guests, some mothers—whose children were still too young or who were too used to caring for their whole family—hesitated, then gave up on applying.

But others signed up without a second thought.

And then came the backlash. Accused of “encouraging stay-at-home moms to be irresponsible and abandon their families,” Housewives Leaving Home was slammed by male netizens and a few narrow-minded female ones alike, shooting straight to the top of the trending topics.

Higher than the show’s official recruitment announcement itself.

“I just want to ask Y Province TV Station,” one post fumed, “in a time when the whole country is encouraging young people to get married and have kids, why are you airing a show that clearly aims to tear families apart?”

“What’s their real motive? Isn’t it all just about money and hype? In today’s society, with tensions between men and women already so high, they drag out a bunch of miserable housewives in unhappy marriages, have them cry on camera about their husbands and mothers-in-law, then stir up gender conflict. Doesn’t that instantly bring in views and discussion? The show goes viral, and the ad revenue? Easily a few hundred million!”

“And this is supposed to be a provincial-level TV station? Just to rake in more ad money, they dare go against national policy? I’m just waiting for the day the broadcasting authority calls them in for a serious talk!”

It was one thing for men to be clueless about the struggles women face after marriage and childbirth. What was truly disheartening was seeing so many female netizens also stepping up to criticize the production team. They accused the show of deliberately blowing minor family issues out of proportion, using other people’s households as sacrificial fodder just to chase clout and profit.

“If my sister-in-law ever dares to sign up for a show like this, I’ll make sure my brother divorces her on the spot! What the hell is this? The man’s out there working himself to death to earn money, and you don’t even have to work. All you do is stay home with the kid and do some chores—how hard can that be? Acting like you’re some kind of martyr! If you’re so capable, why don’t you support yourself and the kid without relying on a man?”

“A woman gets married and has children, and she doesn’t stay home to take care of her husband and kids—then what does she want to do? Go out and work? Then who’s going to cook, clean, take care of the children, help them with homework? All that for a measly paycheck every month? Abandoning your home, your husband, your children—what’s the point of marrying a woman like that?”

“Exactly! I hope all men keep their eyes wide open. Any woman who’s ever been on a show like this is clearly not cut out for family life. If you’ve married one, divorce her immediately. If you haven’t, make sure to steer clear during matchmaking.”

The venom in these comments was staggering. What was even more shocking was that they were coming from women—women attacking and cursing other women, women just like themselves.

Thankfully, most women still stood with their sisters. Before Y Province TV Station even had a chance to defend itself, righteous female netizens had already clapped back on its behalf.

“Some women really do deserve to be abused and denied money by their husbands. If you don’t even want to be treated like a human being and insist on being a beast of burden, how can you expect others to treat you with respect?”

“Exactly! That lady upstairs nailed it. You know what? Don’t wait. Go home right now and tell your brother to divorce his wife. You two siblings shouldn’t ruin anyone else’s life—why not just live together? Your brother’s so noble, right? No woman out there is good enough to serve him. Clearly, only you can do the job yourself!”

“Here’s a joke for you: Housewives who are brave enough to sign up for this show—do you really think they’re scared their husbands will see it and divorce them? If that’s the case, then I’d say the show’s doing a public service. It’s helping a woman escape a miserable marriage and giving that man the chance to go find a new wife who’ll obediently stay home and play the perfect housewife. That is, assuming he can even find one.”

The debate raged on, with both sides refusing to back down. From Weibo to short video platforms, even private chat groups were caught up in the storm. Wherever men and women gathered, someone would inevitably bring up Housewives Leaving Home. One side praised it to the skies, the other cursed it to hell.

The result? The production team hadn’t even spent a cent of the millions they’d budgeted for promotion, yet the show had already dominated the trending charts for several days.

Even funnier, some clueless onlookers, seeing how fiercely the show was being criticized, got curious and tried to look it up. And what did they find? Damn it—it wasn’t even out yet!

All it took was a guest recruitment promo video under four minutes long, and it stirred up this much buzz and controversy. Housewives Leaving Home had truly gone viral before it even aired.

(End of Chapter)