That evening, the Zhang family's dinner was especially pleasant, filled with laughter from start to finish.
"Erniu, your mother and I talked it over. We're not going to the capital, and we're not going south to see the sea either."
Zhang Erniu was taken aback. "Dad, why? Didn't we already agree on that?"
Father Zhang said, "It's a bit hot this time of year. We're worried we can't handle it. We thought it over and decided to go somewhere cooler instead."
Mother Zhang nodded along. "Your father's right. Heading south in this heat would be torture."
Zhang Erniu: "So where do you want to go?"
Father Zhang thought for a moment. "How about BS Province?"
Zhang Erniu was a little surprised.
BS Province — the site of last year's major earthquake.
"That earthquake last year killed so many people. Houses collapsed, schools were destroyed. When I saw those kids on TV, it broke my heart."
"Later I heard that a lot of the schools have been rebuilt, and I think your company donated money to build schools too, right? We want to go see them."
"Your mother and I didn't get to help back then. Going to see those kids now would be like fulfilling a wish. Besides, BS Province has lots of mountains, so it should be cooler in the summer, right?"
Zhang Erniu's nose tingled, and he nodded. "Alright, let's go to BS Province then."
"Dad, Mom, don't worry — I'll make sure the tour guide takes plenty of photos for you. We'll capture all the new schools and new houses and bring them back to show everyone."
"Good! Good!"
After dinner and a shower, Zhang Erniu lay on his bed back home, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
He picked up his phone again, opened that multimedia message, and read it over and over again.
Five-star hotel.
Seven-day domestic tour.
Fully covered by the company.
Even after he drifted off to sleep, a smile still lingered on his face.
He wasn't the only one too excited to sleep — many Wanlong Club employees felt the same.
The next morning at work, almost everyone was talking about the company's plan to treat employees' parents and children to a trip.
"Yesterday my mom heard the company was treating them to a vacation, and she was so excited she didn't sleep all night. She got up at five in the morning to pack, and she's been trying on clothes."
"Haha, my parents picked the capital route. They said their lifelong dream is to watch the flag-raising ceremony. Thank you, Chairwoman!"
"I chose the BS Province route. My mom wants to see the rebuilt disaster area. She cried for days watching the news last year, so this is finally fulfilling her dream."
"Anyone else pick the island route? My mom said she's always wanted to go to the seaside and catch clams and pick shells."
"Guys, I'm using my saved annual leave for this — going on a trip with my family. The company pays, I put in the effort. Perfect!"
"......"
After all the lively discussion.
Nearly every employee who could get online would reply on the internal forum with the slogan that had spread from the big meeting.
【Wanlong Club! Invincible!】
Of course, because this travel benefit was arranged somewhat hastily, and with such a large number of employees' family members, the trips had to be organized in batches.
After all, trying to send over a hundred thousand people on vacation all at once would be impossible to arrange.
So it had to be coordinated based on parents' preferences and distance.
For example, some destinations might be too hot, risking heatstroke for the elderly, so those trips were postponed to September or October.
Priority was given to destinations suitable for the current season — like the mountain retreats in BS Province, or the northern seaside and grassland routes.
While Wanlong Club Group was buzzing with vacation preparations,
Season 1, Episode 1 of "Dragon Kingdom's Voice" officially premiered simultaneously on the provincial radio station and the LongKanShiJie platform.
The show was pre-recorded and used an unprecedented blind audition format — four coaches sat with their backs to the stage, deciding whether to turn around based purely on the voice.
In the current domestic variety show market, this was an incredibly fresh concept.
On the night of the premiere, the data team at LongKanShiJie was working overtime, all eyes glued to the numbers.
"How's the data looking?" Lin Muyang stood in front of the monitoring room, staring at the constantly changing figures on the big screen.
"President Lin, fifteen minutes in, views have surpassed three million!"
"Thirty minutes — eight million!"
"One hour — fifteen million! Still climbing!"
"What about the comments? How are the bullet comments looking?"
"Exploded! The comments are flooding the screen! The system is barely keeping up! And almost all of them are positive!"
On another big screen, dense bullet comments flashed across, an overwhelming number of them.
【Holy crap! What kind of amazing show is this? They're doing blind auditions? So creative!】
【That short guy sings so well — why hasn't the coach turned around yet? I'm dying here!】
【Ahhh! J Lun turned! J Lun finally turned!】
【The host's mouth is so fast — his ad reads sound like rap, he doesn't stop!】
【Haha, I noticed too. That guy's called Hua Shao, right? The way he rattles off ads probably left the sponsors stunned.】
【I don't know if the sponsors are stunned, but I do know I replayed the slow-motion dozens of times just to figure out what ads he was reading. Can you believe it?】
【Same here. I watched an ad segment over a dozen times just to understand it. Ridiculous!】
【.........】
The host, Hua Shao, was indeed an unexpected breakout after the show aired.
At the opening of the show, this young host delivered an astonishingly fast monologue, rattling off a sponsorship list of over a hundred characters in one breath so quickly that it left viewers dumbfounded.
"Wanlong Plaza, Wanlong Supermarket, Wanlong Convenience Store, YuYueFang Dining, HuangQuan Internet Cafe, QingYin Tea Drinks, WanHui Select, LongKanShiJie, Weibo..."
In one go — a dozen or more brands — all in ten seconds, not a single word wrong, not a single stumble.
Just absolutely insane!
Of course, the reaction to this kind of advertising was surprisingly positive.
【What kind of godlike speaking speed is this?】
【Is this guy a human gatling gun? It's just non-stop dakka dakka dakka.】
【I just tried to mimic it and almost bit my tongue. Too hard!】
【Hua Shao has a new nickname now — Dragon Kingdom's Fast Tongue!】
【That ad read was hardcore. Now I actually want to go grab a QingYin tea drink. Speaking of which, where do they sell that milk tea?】
【........】
As the audience marveled at the host's tongue, some eagle-eyed netizens from Pearl City had already spotted something interesting.
The title sponsor, co-sponsors, and partners of "Dragon Kingdom's Voice" were all Wanlong Club Group brands — without exception.
From food by YuYueFang, to drinks by QingYin, to shopping at Wanlong Plaza, from the online platforms of LongKanShiJie, Weibo, and WanHui Select, to the offline Wanlong Supermarkets...
One show had presented Wanlong Club's massive business empire in full view to the national audience.
Netizens immediately joked: "This isn't 'Dragon Kingdom's Voice' — this is 'Wanlong Club's Voice'!"
"Wanlong Club Group is way too bold! Producing their own show, advertising their own brands, and still making it this good — impressive!"
"Speaking of which, I heard from folks back home that this company was only founded about two years ago."
“Only two years? That’s terrifyingly fast!”
“........”
