Chapter 125: Everyone Is Stunned—Has Boss Wang Gone into Cheat Mode?!

At Mango TV, over 80% of variety shows are produced in-house. Only a small fraction of shows are outsourced to external companies when the station is simply too overwhelmed to handle them. The reality is that Mango TV possesses immense strength, boasting its own dedicated variety department and production company. This stands in stark contrast to Tomato TV or Blue TV, where the vast majority of variety shows are either outsourced or co-produced because they lack the capacity for independent production.

Even when Mango TV does involve outside companies, it is strictly on a partnership basis. For instance, in the variety shows produced in collaboration with Yunhai Media, the latter only handles stage design, construction, location setups, and auxiliary services like photography, lighting, and styling. The core creative elements—directors, consultants, post-production, and content strategy—remain firmly under Mango TV's control.

Therefore, handing full responsibility for "Where Are We Going, Dad?" to Yunhai Media was an almost unprecedented move. However, when Xiao Jiangxu held a meeting to announce this decision, he was met with a rare lack of opposition from his usually arrogant staff; instead, they were unanimous in their support.

"This is a great decision by President Xiao."
"I support the President's choice."
"I trust that Yunhai Media will surely make this show a success."
"..."

As long as the responsibility wasn't on them, they didn't care who was in charge. In their eyes, this show was a death trap for whoever took it on. Letting Yunhai Media handle it suited everyone just fine.

Seeing the consensus, Xiao Jiangxu nodded and said, "It’s decided then. However, all of you must still follow the directives of the person in charge to ensure this show is perfected."

"Understood!" they replied.

...

At Yunhai Media, the upper management of the variety department was in an uproar. News had arrived from Mango TV: the station had purchased the rights for the first season of "Where Are We Going, Dad?" for two million, and had allocated a budget of fifty million for its production.

If that news wasn't shocking enough, the most staggering revelation was this: Mango TV had handed full, absolute authority over the filming of the show to Wang Mo.

When the news broke, the entire management team was left reeling. Tang Tao, in particular, was stunned. His initial plan had been that if Mango TV outsourced part of the production to them, he would have let Wang Mo handle that portion—though he had been deeply anxious about whether Wang Mo could handle the pressure. He had even decided that if Wang Mo were to take charge, he would send a capable assistant to help him.

He never expected Mango TV to be even bolder than he was, handing the entire project over to Wang Mo.

"What is going on with Mango TV? Did Wang Mo cast some kind of spell on Xiao Jiangxu?" Tang Tao rubbed his temples, feeling more confused by the second.

At that moment, Wang Mo was silently calculating the figures. A copyright fee of two million for the first season was acceptable to him; after all, "Where Are We Going, Dad?" had no name recognition yet, and no one knew its potential. In his past life, Mango TV had purchased the rights for the first season from the Koreans for only a million. Of course, by the second season, the fees had soared into the tens of millions.

As for the fifty-million production budget, it was on the low side. These days, the cost of producing a variety show easily exceeded one hundred million, with some hits costing several times that. Fifty million was, in some shows, barely enough to cover the appearance fees of one or two guests. It seemed that in the eyes of Mango TV’s top brass, "Where Are We Going, Dad?" was at best a third-tier project, and they didn't place much value on it.

"Fifty million... it’s a bit tight. But if we’re frugal, it should be enough," Wang Mo mused.

The production costs for "Where Are We Going, Dad?" primarily fell into three categories: site selection and setup, celebrity appearance fees, and filming costs. If anyone else were in charge, even a hundred-million-dollar budget might not have been enough to produce anything worthwhile. But Wang Mo was different.

First, site selection and setup: Wang Mo had checked the geography of Blue Star and found it almost identical to his previous world. He simply needed to follow the blueprint of the first season from his past life, saving a massive amount of cost.

Second, celebrity fees: In his past life, besides Jimmy Lin, the other four celebrity fathers and their children were not particularly famous, and their appearance fees were quite low. Wang Mo only needed to find guests of a similar profile, and the total fees for all five would not even reach ten million.

Third, filming costs: This could not be skimped on. To capture every moment between the fathers and their children, dozens of high-definition cameras had to be used, but with his past experience as a guide, he could consciously manage the filming to avoid useless footage.

Because the funds were secured quickly, Wang Mo moved fast. A week later, he officially launched "Where Are We Going, Dad?" and began the preliminary work.

First was building the team. Although Wang Mo was the head producer, he only took the titles of Chief Planner and Chief Executive Producer. For the director, he chose a young man named Guo Chen from Mango TV, who had directed over five outdoor reality shows with extensive experience.

When Wang Mo asked him to be the director, Guo Chen’s first reaction was to refuse. But Wang Mo said only one sentence: "You are responsible for directing, I am responsible for the results."

Hearing this, Guo Chen agreed, though he remained deeply skeptical. Wang Mo was simply too young. Furthermore, when they first met, he had seen the young man reading a copy of *Basic Principles of Variety Show Production*. At that moment, Guo Chen’s heart sank.

With the director confirmed, half of Wang Mo's worries vanished. As for the rest—the chief consultant, executive director, lighting, writing team, and camera crew—he dumped the recruitment process entirely onto Guo Chen.

Guo Chen was dumbfounded. "President Wang, aren't you the head in charge? If you leave everything to me, what will you do?"

"I am responsible for choosing you," Wang Mo replied.

"..."

At that moment, Guo Chen felt like he had boarded a pirate ship with no way off. If he had known, he would have rejected the project. Now, he was the director but still under Wang Mo’s strict management. He felt like a total sucker.

However, Guo Chen soon changed his mind. Three days later, he had the team assembled and went back to Wang Mo. "President Wang, the team is ready. Now, we have two of the most difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating tasks ahead of us. First, location selection. We need six places, and it takes at least three months to scout the right ones. Second, the guests. This is the biggest headache. I can't imagine how we’ll convince celebrities to bring their children on a show, and finding five unique pairs will take at least half a year, maybe even a year."

Seeing Guo Chen’s distress, Wang Mo just smiled and pulled a piece of paper from his pocket. "Director Guo, I’ve already selected the locations."

"Huh?" Guo Chen’s eyes nearly popped out. He took the paper and saw the six locations: the first stop was Lingshui Village in the Mentougou District of Beijing; the second, the Tengger Desert in Shapotou, Ningxia; the third, Puzhehei in Yunnan... and so on.

Guo Chen stared in disbelief. "This... is this for real?"

Wang Mo snapped his fingers. "Director Guo, book the tickets. We leave for Lingshui Village tomorrow. I’ll show you the site and explain how to set it up and film it."

Guo Chen swallowed hard, his brain buzzing. But the real shock was yet to come. The next day, when they arrived at Lingshui Village, Guo Chen was astonished to find it perfectly suited for the show. It was near the airport, and the environment was neither too harsh nor too comfortable.

What left Guo Chen truly speechless was how familiar the supposedly inexperienced President Wang was with the place. As they walked, Wang Mo pointed things out: "Director Guo, we can set this as Room One, this as Room Two... we need to rank the rooms from worst to best. We can even label them—Spider Room, Scholar Room, Village Chief Room, and so on. We can bring in some sheep here for the kids to herd, put ingredients here for them to find..."

As Wang Mo spoke, a complete production plan formed in Guo Chen’s mind, and he could almost visualize the heartwarming scenes of the children herding sheep and gathering food. He felt a chill run down his spine. The task he thought would take months had been solved by Wang Mo in an instant.

"Is the President a local here?" he wondered. How else could he know this place so well?

On the third day, Wang Mo led them to the Tengger Desert. "Don't let the emptiness fool you. Kids love sand. We can camp here, have the dads build tents, ride camels, go on a treasure hunt at night, help workers bury straw grids, and go fishing in the lake. There’s so much to do, and it’s safe."

After seeing the environment and hearing the pitch, Guo Chen was completely won over. Finding one location might be luck, but finding two was pure skill. He finally understood why Tang Tao had entrusted this young man with the project.

In the following days, Guo Chen lived in a state of constant shock. Puzhehei, Jiming Island, Baisi Village, Snow Town... what he thought would take months was completed by Wang Mo in just one week. By the time they returned to Star City, everyone was still in a daze.

Was President Wang using some kind of cheat code? How did he do it?

Guo Chen’s heart finally settled, though the biggest hurdle remained: inviting the guests.

He approached Wang Mo. "President Wang, the locations are sorted, but what about the guests? That’s the core of the show."

Wang Mo laughed. "Don't panic. I have my own ways."