I am Really a Superstar 3

by Little Merger

Zhang Ye was originally a mundane college graduate with aspiring dreams to become a star, but unfortunately has below average looks and height. However one day, he woke up and suddenly found himself in a parallel world!It’s like the same world, but wait a minute…many brands, celebrities and even famous works from his world changed and are gone in this new world!

13. 1201

I am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1201: Those seven spots! - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1201: Those seven spots! Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1201: Those seven spots!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

It was the annual Mid-Autumn Festival again.

In the morning, Zhang Ye loaded up small and large packages into the car and drove to the studio. Without anyone's help, he carried everything and went upstairs.

All of the staff were present.

"Director Zhang!"

"Boss, what's with all that?"

"Whoa, why are there so many things?"

"Let me help you!"

"Just leave them there."

Everyone quickly came over to help.

He brought over a lot of things, and they weren't exactly cheap either.

There was an entire hamper containing Brain Gold products in it, prepaid gift cards with a value of 1,000 yuan each, mooncakes, and many other goodies.

Zhang Ye opened up a box and said to everyone with a smile, "Come, my comrades. I'm giving out these items for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone will get a share, so please distribute them among yourselves. All of you may go home after you've collected your items. Rest well during the holidays and send my greetings to your families. You've all worked hard recently." Zhang Ye was quite a stingy person and did not really earn that much, but he was still a very generous person. Be it the staff's welfare or salary, those who worked at his studio were earning more than the industry standard.

Zhang Zuo smiled and said, "You're handing out this much stuff?"

Little Wang grinned and said, "This isn't considered much!"

Little Zhou smiled. "Boss is the greatest!"

"Oh right, we still haven't congratulated our boss yet," Wu Yi suddenly said.

Everyone immediately responded.

"Haha!"

"Director Zhang, congratulations!"

"Congratulations on your engagement!"

"Who's our female boss going to be?"

"Yeah, Director Zhang, share with us."

Seeing them kick up a fuss, Zhang Ye felt rather amused. "I can't say right now, but everyone will know soon enough."

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At this moment, Chenchen strolled in. Old Rao's house was not far from Zhang Ye's office; it was only a few floors down. In the past, when Rao Aimin had to go out for some errands, she would always leave Chenchen with Zhang Ye. But it was even more convenient for her now. Whenever Rao Aimin needed to go out, she would send Chenchen straight up to Zhang Ye's office since there were surely going to be people around to take care of her.

Chenchen looked at all the gifts lying on the floor and said, "Zhang Ye, you're giving out things?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Yeah, why?"

Chenchen nodded. "I want a share as well."

Zhang Ye said in amusement, "You aren't even my employee."

Chenchen was not happy to hear that. She spoke like a little adult and said, "I come up here every day to help you supervise their work. Without me, your studio would have closed down long ago."

Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Looks like I should thank you then."

"You're welcome." Chenchen then opened up a box of mooncakes and sat and chowed down.

Everyone laughed hard.

The items were quickly distributed.

After chatting and joking around for a bit, everyone sat down for a meeting.

Zhang Ye sat at the head of the table and said, "Everyone, please enjoy your time off during this two-day holiday break. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, it'll be time for us to get busy again. I'll give everyone a heads-up, so be ready. On top of that, I want to announce something. When we get back from the holidays, I plan to officially begin my assault for a spot in the S-list!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Of course we must."

Ha Qiqi gave an easy smile. "You're already at the top of the A-list, so the next target is definitely a spot in the national S-list. Even without you saying, we know what to do. All of us have always been working hard in that direction. A few years from now, we'll be doing everything with that target in mind."

"Right!"

"Our target is to reach the top!"

Everyone expressed their stance.

But Zhang Ye said, "No, you guys might've misunderstood what I meant."

Ha Qiqi was taken aback. "Eh?"

Wu Yi asked, "Then what did you mean?"

Zhang Ye said with a smile, "I'm not talking about getting there in a few years' time. I'm talking about doing it immediately, right now."

Everyone exclaimed, "What's the time frame of 'right now'?"

Zhang Ye answered, "Within the next few months."

Everyone vomited blood and started sweating!

Within the next few months?

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Break into the S-list?

What the fuck! Are you dreaming?

How is it possible to get into the S-list in just a few months' time?

Ha Qiqi quickly said, "Director Zhang, you're still young and stand out more than anyone else. We're in no rush. You can slowly gain more experience and win more awards to add to your popularity score. All that cannot be done in just a month or two. If you're talking about doing so within a year or two, we might be able to fight for it and push our way up. But to get there within a few months? Even with the momentum of your current daily popularity growth, we still couldn't catch up, isn't that so?"

This was too hasty.

Everyone felt uneasy.

Zhang Ye said, "I know this isn't going to be easy—that's why we need to fight for it. I still have time to get there? I'm 26 and turning 27 this year. I may look like I'm still young and have plenty of time left, but don't forget that I still haven't exactly broken into the Asian scene yet. I don't even have the qualifications to take aim at the international scene. If I were to take a few years to slowly slog my way up to the top of domestic showbiz, how old would I be? I would be past 30! Furthermore, the scene is changing too quickly these days. You guys should have realized that there's a lot of 'fresh meat' out there who are getting more and more popular by the day. They're likely to gain more than half the entertainment industry's market share from here on out. Who can predict what will happen to the domestic entertainment industry in a few years? Who can say for certain? I've never depended on my looks to make a living anyway. If I just continue slogging ahead, then when the times and trends change, I might not even be able to get into the S-list after two or three years. Opportunities are not gained by slogging but by fighting."

Everyone fell silent.

Little Wang said, "But there's a Heavenly King who's on the downturn. If we wait another one or two years, it's highly possible…"

Zhang Ye shook his head and said, "I've never, ever had the mentality of getting lucky this way. That Heavenly King might not have a good product right now, but he might just suddenly become popular again around the world. Don't take those people in the S-list to be pushovers. If I were the type to wait for those at the top to slip up, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now. That's how cruel show business is. You've never experienced it before, so it's probably very difficult to understand. But I've always been on the front line witnessing these events, so I know. If I were to slightly lower my guard, I would probably get replaced by someone the very next day."

He gave an example. "Ning Lan is very popular, right? Back then, Sister Ning was also in first place in the A-list rankings, but what happened in the end? She was unable to squeeze into one of those seven spots. I've heard a few people in the industry saying that Sister Ning had been waiting for one of the Heavenly Queens to give up their spot. But after many years of waiting, that Heavenly Queen has yet to relinquish her seat to anyone."

Ha Qiqi took a deep breath. "Is this what you've decided?"

"Yes, that's how I've decided I want it to be." Zhang Ye nodded seriously. "In the next few months, I must definitely get into the S-list. It's not a joke; I am being totally serious here."

Everyone in the studio knew that if the media heard about this, it would definitely cause a huge uproar!

A total of seven people sat on the thrones of the Chinese S-list rankings, and they were the top seven celebrities of the entertainment industry. They were virtually unmovable, even by a lightning strike. Just think of it this way: Every time a change occurred in the S-list, it would cause a great shake-up and reshuffling of the entertainment industry. In this world, this could be considered the biggest event in the entirety of show business!

But today?

Zhang Ye was thinking of forcing his way to the very top?

He wanted to pull down one of those seven people standing atop the pyramid and replace them? And he wanted to do so within a short few months? How brave would he need to be to attempt that!

"Alright, let's do it!"

"We'll listen to whatever you say!"

"Whatever you say, we'll do!"

"Damn, I guess we can only fight!"

"I'll come up with a proposal and give it to you after the holidays!"

"How else can we have it? Since the boss has spoken, let's do it!"

Everyone echoed their compliance but were really quivering on the inside.

Is this doable?

Can they really do it?

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Chapter 1202: Project Proposal: Reach the Summit!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The mid-autumn festivities weren't over yet.

It was the last day of the public holidays 1 for the Mid-Autumn Festival. At noon, Zhang Ye celebrated the festival at his maternal grandma's place. Right after they finished lunch, his three sisters started pestering him with questions.

His second sister stamped her feet. "Brother, are you going to tell us or not!"

His eldest younger sister blinked. "Just who is our sister-in-law?"

His third sister said, "Brother, we're gonna get angry if you don't tell us!"

Zhang Ye laughed heartily. "Another time, I'll tell you guys another time."

"Then write a song for us to make up for hurting our feelings," his second sister said.

Zhang Ye said annoyed, "Write what song?"

His third sister said, "A song to praise your little sisters."

His eldest young sister nodded. "Heehee, good idea."

So Zhang Ye ad-libbed, "Sister, you ride on the prow / Brother will pull you along… ai, this song doesn't sound right." He changed songs and sang again, "Sister, bravely march forward / Keep marching and don't look back… ai, this isn't right either." After he sung those two songs 2 , he suddenly realized that these two songs had practically nothing to do with blood-related sisters.

Then, Zhang Ye's cell phone rang.

It was from the studio.

Little Wang said: "Boss, the project proposal has been completed!"

Zhang Ye said: "Aren't you all taking a break over the holidays?"

"You've only given us a few months to reach your target, so who would have the time to go on a break? Every one of us has been putting in overtime to get the proposal out. We're just waiting for you to look at it."

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "Alright, you've all put in a lot of good work. I'll be right over."

"OK, we'll be waiting for you." Little Wang hung up.

Zhang Ye turned around and said, "OK, I've got to go."

In the living room, his maternal grandma asked, "Where to? You're not staying for dinner?"

"I can't, Grandma. I still have some work waiting for me at the studio and will probably be very busy over the next few days. You and Grandpa have to pay attention to your health, alright? If there's anything, just give me a call. I'll be off now." Zhang Ye bade farewell to his grandparents and patted his little sisters on the head before hurrying downstairs.

…

In the afternoon.

At Zhang Ye's Studio.

It was pretty packed as everyone had squeezed into the conference room.

Zhang Zuo took out a copy of the proposal. "Director Zhang, please have a look."

"Alright." Zhang Ye took it from him and browsed through it. "Who wrote this?"

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Basically of us discussed it before coming up with it together."

The proposal had a very ambitious title. As Zhang Ye had set his sights on the very top seven spots of the entertainment industry's pyramid, the proposal was titled: Reach the Summit. It was even emblazoned in English at the bottom. They kept it locked up in the safe before Zhang Ye's arrival, and everything done until now made it feel like they were handling the American government's Apollo project with all the secrecy surrounding it.

Zhang Ye skimmed through it and felt quite satisfied with the proposal. In the past, he had always been battling alone and would often do as he liked, or flip-flop on his decisions as he wished. He relied only on instinct for everything he did, including his work. But it was different now. With a team, his work productivity increased since there were more people helping him handle all kinds of issues and projects.

"Very good." Zhang Ye nodded.

Zhang Zuo said, "Then shall I briefly outline the proposal guidelines?"

Interested, Zhang Ye said, "Sure."

Zhang Zuo bluntly said, "Actually, we aren't very confident about completing our 'Reach the Summit' plan, because every step we highlighted is rather difficult to achieve. Rather than calling it a proposal, it might be better to say that these are milestones. But since we're trying to take one of the seven spots, the proposal was written in a more idealistic manner. What's more, all of the steps highlighted have to be achieved to realize the plan. If anything is missed, there won't be a chance of bringing the plan to fruition. This proposal was written with us bravely aiming for the unthinkable."

Zhang Ye gave a smile and said, "That's how it should be done. We shouldn't be afraid to fail, but we should be afraid of not daring to dream."

Zhang Zuo heaved a sigh of relief at Zhang Ye's acknowledgment. He was really afraid that Zhang Ye would reject the proposal as it was too "absurd" in nature. He said, "For the first step of the 'Reach the Summit' plan, we hope that you take home the most coveted domestic literary award that will be announced in the next few days, the Yanhong Literary Prize."

The Yanhong Literary Prize was named after a person.

It was one of the three most coveted awards in the literary world and the winners were chosen once every four years.

Zhang Zuo said, "As we all know, awards weigh heavily in the Celebrity Rankings Index. In the calculation of a celebrity's popularity score, awards contribute in large part. What's more, this is one of the most coveted awards in the literary world, so it means even more. The effects of receiving it would be very positive, so you must get it. Although another top prize called the Qilu Literature Prize will be awarded very soon, that award is more skewed towards longer works like full-length novels and similar works. You don't have a chance of winning that one since you don't have any full-length novels, as Ghost Blows Out the Light isn't considered traditional literature. But it's different for the Yanhong Literary Prize, which is targeted more towards poetry and prose. You're definitely one of the hot favorites to win this award that will be given out to five people in total. Logically speaking, you have the best hopes of winning, because in the field of poetry, be it the quality or the number of works produced in the last four years, no one should be able to compete with you."

Ha Qiqi took out an invitation letter. "This was the fax our studio received this morning, sent over by the people from the Yanhong Literary Prize committee. They've included you in the list of nominees, which number 30 candidates in total. We've also compiled the list for you. The final results will be based on the votes given by the judges."

The most coveted literary award?

He really hadn't won an award like that before.

Zhang Ye said while looking through the list, "Alright."

Wu Yi said, "But there are a lot of variables."

Zhang Zuo agreed, "What we just talked about was based on the best possible outcome of our predictions and analysis. The greatest variable in this is your relationship with the literary world. You've never gotten along with them, nor have you been a member of the Writers' Association or any literary organizations. All this time, you've always been doing your own thing outside of the system, so I'm afraid that'll inherently affect your scores. After our final analysis, we came to the conclusion that your best chance of winning is 50/50. It's all going to be down to luck."

Of those in the top seven spots, their greatest difference with Zhang Ye was that they had a lot of distinctions. With so many distinctions, it meant they accumulated a lot of popularity. All of them had so many awards to their names that you could just pick one of them and they would easily have multiple honors, such as being the kings or queens of the silver screen or the equivalent. All of the highest honors were basically a dime a dozen to them. The reason why those seven people were so popular was that they had all the highest honors and awards, which added to their popularity. If Zhang Ye wanted to take one of their spots, he couldn't lose out on this aspect. He had already won the most coveted awards in hosting, mathematics, variety and documentary shows, but he had almost no achievements in the literary field that he was most famous for. In a way, this was really quite unacceptable.

He could only try to fight for it. This most coveted award in the literary field was incredibly valuable. Be it popularity, fame, or qualifications, it would undoubtedly be a huge help to Zhang Ye's quest in trying to reach the summit!

Zhang Ye said, "This is good. You guys only need to think of the plan, not how it's realized. No matter what the chances are, that's my business. You just need to be responsible for planning and leave the execution to me."

"How impressive, Director Zhang!"

"Understood!"

"I'll go and contact the media!"

"It's time to publicize this."

"I'll go and liaise with the judging panel!"

Everyone felt determined to complete the first step in the "Reach the Summit" plan!

1. In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated over a designated three-day public holiday.

2. 1st song from A Burlak's Love and 2nd song from the TV series Red Sorghum.

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Chapter 1203: 'I died for Beauty—but was scarce'!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The Yanhong Literary Prize winners were about to be revealed.

And soon, the winners of the Qilu Literature Prize would also be announced.

Being two of the most coveted awards in the literary world that were given out once every four years, a lot of people paid attention to it regardless of if they were from the literary or the entertainment circles. Many of them even predicted the results.

"Old Tao has high hopes of winning this time."

"He lost by a whisker for the last Yanhong Literary Prize."

"I hope Teacher Sheng can win the award. He turns 78 this year, and of the earliest batch of pioneers, he's the only one who hasn't won any of the most coveted awards in the literary field."

"Sun Fang is quite good too."

"Sun Fang is too young and has too few works to speak of."

"This year looks to be rather interesting."

"Why?"

"Haven't any of you seen the nomination list? Zhang Ye's one of the candidates for the award."

"Haha, Lord Zhang has finally made it into the list of candidates for the most coveted award in the literary field."

"Yeah, Zhang Ye debuted just after the previous Yanhong Literary Prize was given out. This is the first time that he's been included in the list of candidates for the most coveted award, but we'll have to see if the literary circle will want to award it to him or not."

"Right, there's so much suspense."

"If he can win this award, then Zhang Ye would be really awesome!"

"Yeah, he's already gotten the most important awards for hosting, mathematics, documentary and variety shows. If he added the literary field's most coveted award to his list of accolades as well, it would be damn impressive! But then again, this guy is already impressive! There are many people who have won high honors before. For example, Li Ke has won more than ten of the various Film Director and Best Picture awards in the country. But to be able to cross over into different industries and win the best awards in each of them like Zhang Ye did, there really hasn't been anyone like this before. Every one of his high honors would be as valuable as five such awards that other people have won!"

"Based on his works, Zhang Ye deserves to win this year's Yanhong Literary Prize for sure. Who's been in the limelight as much as him over the past four years in the field of literature? Whether it's in the field of poetry or prose, Zhang Ye doesn't have any opponents at all. That 'When You Are Old' he posted on Weibo two days ago has been shared so many times by so many people. The only problem now is whether those people on the judging panel of the Yanhong Literary Prize would want to, or dare to, award it to him. After all, no matter how well-received Zhang Ye's works are to the general populace, the final results still have to depend on the votes of those people from the literary world. Furthermore, it's been proven countless times in the history of all the greatest literary awards—the uncertainty of winning such an award is huge."

"Zhang Ye to compete for Yanhong Literary Prize!"

"Can Zhang Ye add a top literary award to his list of accolades?"

"All attention on the results of the Yanhong Literary Prize!"

"The Writers' Association extends another invitation to Zhang Ye! Will Zhang Ye finally join?"

"Winners of Yanhong Literary Prize to be revealed tonight!"

A majority of the attention from the media was focused on Zhang Ye as he was the most well-known person in the list of nominees. Who else was there to watch?

On Weibo.

Zhang Ye's friends all sent their blessings.

Songstress Zhang Xia: "Wishing Little Zhang good luck."

Singer Li Xiaoxian: "In the literary field, I'm Teacher Zhang's diehard fan. This humble fan hereby wishes her idol a great victory and to take a step up to the summit of the literary world!"

…

There was heated discussion among the public.

Meanwhile, everyone at Zhang Ye's Studio was thrown into chaos because the Writers' Association had sent over an invitation yesterday for Zhang Ye to join them as a member. Afterwards, one of the main judges on the panel of the Yanhong Literary Prize called a press conference to answer about the invitation.

Ha Qiqi said anxiously, "Director Zhang!"

Zhang Ye was doing his makeup and did not answer her.

Zhang Zuo was standing behind, urging him, "Why don't you just join?"

"Yeah, we have nothing to lose by joining." Ha Qiqi checked her watch and said, "We still have to go to the award ceremony venue tonight, but there won't be time if we don't answer them!"

But Zhang Ye just said to the makeup artist, "Don't overdo it, just some light makeup will do."

Wu Yi was also trying to persuade him close by. "Have you forgotten about our plan to reach the summit? This award is of great importance to us and you really have to win it. Now that their side is asking you to join them, that means this is their condition for you. It's a good thing since it means they've decided to give in and agree to let you in to the Writers' Association. It also means that the literary world has officially given you their recognition, so that would mean the Yanhong Literary Prize is in the bag!"

Zhang Ye continued ignoring them.

Little Wang dragged Zhang Ye's agent, Rao Aimin, over.

"What is it?" Rao Aimin said impatiently, "I was just making dinner."

Little Wang said gloomily, "Big Sis Rao, Director Zhang's throwing a tantrum again. Nothing that any of us says is of use. Please help us change his mind. Otherwise, the most coveted award that should be his will be gone for sure."

Rao Aimin acknowledged her.

Zhang Ye looked over. "Old Rao, come with me to the awards ceremony tonight?"

Rao Aimin sneered at him. "I finally managed to grab a few days of peace and you're already giving me things to deal with?"

"Alright then, I'll go by myself." Zhang Ye shrugged.

Ha Qiqi looked at Rao Aimin.

Little Wang gave Rao Aimin's arm a strong nudge.

Suddenly, a call arrived. It was from a member of the Yanhong Literary Prize's judging panel. This was the umpteenth time they were calling to check if Zhang Ye had filled out his application to join the Writers' Association.

Little Wang didn't know what to say. "We…"

Rao Aimin took two steps and said in an unhurried tone, "Pass it to me."

Little Wang quickly handed the telephone to her.

Rao Aimin said to the employee on the line, "Are you crazy or what? How can you be so annoying by calling so often? The judging panel should just do their job and vote, what's with all this nonsensical crap that you're giving me….Who am I? I'm Zhang Ye's agent! Whatever it is you want, speak to me!"

She broke that person off with a few lines!

Everyone at the studio was dumbfounded listening!

"Sister Rao!"

"Aiyo!"

We were hoping you'd persuade Director Zhang, but you're not helping matters like this!

They finally understood why Rao Aimin, a person who was not from this field, had ended up being Zhang Ye's agent. Their tempers were far too alike. Each of them was more bad-tempered than the other!

Zhang Zuo gave a bitter smile and said, "Director Zhang, this is the Yanhong Literary Prize we're talking about!"

Little Wang stamped her feet anxiously. "Why are you being like this, Director Zhang?"

Zhang Ye smiled as he got up and looked at them. "Because it would look really ugly!"

Because it wasn't beautiful?

Because it would look really ugly?

What kind of reason was that!

In the entire room, perhaps only Zhang Ye and Rao Aimin would understand what it meant by "looking ugly." Zhang Ye really wanted to reach the summit and win this important award of the literary world, but he couldn't let it become something that would work against him.

…

On the same night.

At the Yanhong Literary Prize awards ceremony venue.

Reporters from all the different media outlets and the nominees for the award, as well as many authoritative figures from the industry, were present.

When Zhang Ye arrived, he immediately got surrounded by reporters.

It was Elder Qian who came over to help him escape. "Little Zhang, come, come, come, sit over here!"

Elder Qian was a person of distinction in the literary world. At the couplet competition a very long time ago, Elder Qian was the judge and guest. Zhang Ye had known him for several years, and he could be considered one of the few friends Zhang Ye had in the literary world. At that time, Elder Qian had also invited Zhang Ye to join the Writers' Association, but was tactfully rejected by Zhang Ye's "Facing the Sea as Spring Blossoms."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "How are you doing, Elder Qian?"

"What do you think?" Elder Qian guffawed.

Zhang Ye said, "What do I think? It looks to me you wouldn't have a problem running the 10,000-meter race."

Elder Qian grunted, "You must be trying to kill me!"

Zhang Ye: "Haha! Oh right, are you part of the judging panel for the Yanhong Literary Prize?"

Elder Qian shook his head. "No, but I am the main judge for the Qilu Literature Prize, which will be given out sometime later. I was invited as a guest this time. Quick, take a seat."

Soon after, the awards ceremony began!

The winners' list was revealed!

A leader of the literary world announced, "I'll be announcing the final voting results of the 7th Yanhong Literary Prize awards. The five winners are respectively: Tao Chihao!"

Applause sounded from the audience!

Everyone in the writers' zone looked over at Teacher Tao.

"Sheng Nian!"

Applause rang again!

"Xue Li!"

Xue Li's jaw dropped in excitement and looked to be in disbelief!

"Qiao Huayi!"

Old Qiao smacked his thigh and laughed happily.

The final winner was about to be announced!

There was only one spot left!

The leader deliberately paused for a moment before saying loudly, "Chen Bang!"

The five award winners were revealed and made their way up on stage to collect their prizes!

However, the media and many of the writers were looking at one another in speechlessness. Some of them even drew in a deep breath!

Zhang Ye's name was not called!

The Yanhong Literary Prize really was not awarded to Zhang Ye!

But Zhang Ye just looked very calm and did not show any change in expression.

Elder Qian looked at him very startled. "Little Zhang, you didn't join the Writers' Association?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "No, I didn't."

Elder Qian facepalmed. "Aiyo, you sure are great. I thought that you had joined since I heard they sent the application form to you. All you had to do was to sign it!"

Zhang Ye said, "I didn't sign it."

"This is the once-every-four-years Yanhong Literary Prize." Elder Qian said, "Are you going to throw it away just like that?"

But Zhang Ye corrected, "Elder Qian, it's not that I don't want this award, nor did I throw it away. If that were the case, why would I be sitting here today? This is the greatest respect I can show to the Yanhong Literary Prize. Whether or not I get it, I've turned up and even dressed up to attend the ceremony." He pointed at what he was wearing, then laughed and said, "I've already given it my best and done what I had to do, but the prize did not choose me."

Elder Qian fell silent.

The young writers around him also fell silent.

Yes. Zhang Ye had done all he could. What was the role of a writer?

It was creation!

It was writing!

It was picking up one's pen!

Zhang Ye had done all that, so what else were they expecting of him?

The awards ceremony came to an end!

Before Zhang Ye could even leave his seat, he was mobbed by a swarm of reporters!

"Teacher Zhang, what do you have to say about not winning this award?"

"I heard it was because you offended the judging panel of the Yanhong Literary Prize, so does that mean that there won't be a place for you in the future issuings of this award? That you will be excluded from here on out?"

"Did you join the Writers' Association?"

"We received news that if you had agreed to join the Writers' Association and become a member, you would definitely have been awarded a Yanhong Literary Prize today!"

"Why didn't you agree to join the Writers' Association?"

"Teacher Zhang, will you be back to fight for the Yanhong Literary Prize in another four years?"

Zhang Ye did not accept their interview and walked off silently.

Online, the news had spread as well.

"What?"

"They're really not giving it to Zhang Ye?"

"Holy shit! The Yanhong Literary Prize is getting more and more pointless!"

"I've never even heard of three of the five winners before!"

"The value of this year's Yanhong Literary Prize is really too low!"

"Zhang Ye is not in the list of winners? Are you kidding me?"

"Zhang Ye's poems are not even good enough to win the award? Oh my God, just how high is the entry barrier of the Yanhong Literary Prize? Don't scare me like that!"

"Is there even a need to explain? They wanted Zhang Ye to join them, but Zhang Ye totally ignored them!"

"It's over. Even if Zhang Ye wants to have a go at the top award of the literary world, he has to wait another four years."

"Would the Yanhong Literary Prize's judging panel give it to him even if he waits another four years?"

"This is not cool at all!"

"Actually, Zhang Ye would've been capable of winning if he had just bowed down and joined the Writers' Association. They set the conditions for him, but it was just that he chose not to follow their wishes! Look at it now, it's all over for him!"

Countless citizens questioned this outcome!

Some experts and scholars raised their doubts to the Yanhong Literary Prize committee. There were even some people who slammed the decision and thought that this year's Yanhong Literary Prize had greatly damaged the reputation of one of the top awards in the literary world!

There were scoldings!

There were criticisms!

The Yanhong Literary Prize's judging panel was thrust to the forefront!

Later, when the committee officials realized the severity of the situation, they immediately issued a response to explain why Zhang Ye was not qualified enough to win the award. They came up with reasons like how he was too young, how he had not joined any literary organizations before, how some of his works were too radical in thought, were too aggressive and harsh in nature, etc, etc. In short, all they were saying was that with Zhang Ye's qualifications, he was not yet deserving to be awarded this year's Yanhong Literary Prize and that their judging panel was not biased against him.

Then, right at this moment.

Zhang Ye posted a poem on his Weibo.

" I died for Beauty—but was scarce 1 "

I died for Beauty—but was scarce

Adjusted in the Tomb

When One who died for Truth, was lain

In an adjoining Room—

He questioned softly "Why I failed"?

"For Beauty", I replied—

"And I—for Truth—Themself are One—

We Brethren, are", He said—

And so, as Kinsmen, met a Night—

We talked between the Rooms—

Until the Moss had reached our lips—

And covered up—Our names—

When this poem emerged, it shocked the entire literary world. The voices of controversy became even more intense!

When a few writers and poets who had been awarded previous Yanhong Literary Prizes saw this poem, they were rocked by a sadness stemming from the bottom of their hearts!

For beauty?

You died for beauty?

All of them understood what Zhang Ye was trying to convey. They knew that if Zhang Ye had agreed to join the Writers' Association, his name would surely be on the Yanhong Literary Prize!

But he didn't do so!

Because that would look really ugly?

For such a poem, for such a person, was he really unqualified to win one of the most coveted awards of the literary world? What was this top award set up for in the first place? What was its selection criteria? Was it meant to be a selection of works? Or was it meant to be a selection of people? Or perhaps, all of it was simply the product of the judges' personal preferences?

On Weibo.

The reaction of the people was completely one-sided.

"Zhang Ye is so cool!"

"What a good 'I died for Beauty,' it's making my blood boil!"

"Just based on this poem alone, which of the five winners of this year's Yanhong Literary Prize can compare to Zhang Ye? Huh? Tell me, which of them can compare?

"It's just an important award of the literary world, isn't it? It's not like the Yanhong Literary Prize is the only one out there!"

"Yeah, the Qilu Literature Prize that will be given out a few days later is the true highest honor of the literary world! It's much more valuable than the Yanhong Literary Prize for sure! Teacher Zhang, win that for us!"

"Fuck, the Qilu Literature Prize is only meant for full-length novels."

"I don't care, I'll give my support to Zhang Ye in any case! No two ways about it!"

"Teacher Zhang, we're cheering you on. Even if you didn't win this time, there are still chances in the future. There will surely be a place for you among the winners of the highest honors of the literary world! Just keep pursuing the beauty that you believe in! That's what we like about you!"

"Beauty—more important than anything else!"

"Furious approval of Zhang Ye!"

"The Yanhong Literary Prize's judging panel must be blind!"

1. http//editions/1/image_sets/235714 /humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-I-died-for-beauty-but-was-scarce-by-Emily-Dickinson

Chapter 1204: Zhang Ye's new novel!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

The uproar over the Yanhong Literary Prize had died down. This was how cruel it was at the level of the highest awards. Even if anyone had doubt, even if everyone was protesting for Zhang Ye, the award that was held once every four years was already given. No one could change the results. Those five names would be entered into the annals of the Yanhong Literary Prize, into the annals of the literary world, while Zhang Ye missed his only opportunity to do so. After several years, the majority in the literary field were still not acknowledging Zhang Ye, whom they viewed as someone who had come from an unconventional background.

Everyone thought the issue had blown over.

Everyone thought Zhang Ye had been felled by the thing called "beauty."

In the morning.

At the studio.

Several colleagues arrived at work in a listless mood.

"You're here?"

"Yeah, morning."

"Hai, have you seen Director Zhang's poem?"

"I've read it already. This industry is just cruel like that."

"After reading that poem, I feel that Director Zhang's decision was right. It's getting really ugly in the entertainment industry these days. There's so much compromise, betrayal, and out-of-control hype, so there's nothing wrong with doing things a little more beautifully!"

"But he threw away the most coveted award because of that."

"The plans to reach the summit have gone up in smoke!"

"Ai, we couldn't even complete the first step of the plan, so it'll only get harder from here."

"I don't think there's any hope of reaching the summit this year. Our Director Zhang has offended too many people and industries. The further he climbs, the more pressure there will be on him. He's paying off his past debts. There are probably a lot of people who are waiting for Director Zhang to fall, and many of them should be applauding as well. He wants to reach the summit? If Director Zhang drops his guard even for a second, just watch, countless people are sure to rush up to try to take a chunk out of him!"

Everyone was chatting among themselves.

Ha Qiqi had just bought breakfast and stepped into the office.

Then, footfalls came from upstairs. "Let them try. To be honest, I've never lost the many conflicts that I've had in all these years. I would really like to see who can take a chunk out of me."

It was Zhang Ye!

Zhang Zuo said, "Ah?"

Little Wang said in surprise, "Why are you here so early?"

"What do you mean by early?" Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I haven't left since I got back here yesterday. Quick, did anyone buy breakfast?"

Ha Qiqi unwittingly answered, "I did."

Zhang Ye jogged over to her and plopped down. He grabbed some soup dumplings and stuffed them into his mouth. After he ate a few of them, he even pretended to be polite and said to Ha Qiqi, "Have some too, Sister Ha."

Ha Qiqi was speechless.

What do you want me to eat!

You didn't even leave any for me!

Wu Yi asked curiously, "You didn't sleep the entire night?"

Zhang Ye inserted a straw into a cup and slurped on soy milk. "Yeah."

Seeing Zhang Ye in such a good mood, Zhang Zuo was feeling very curious. Based on Director Zhang's temper, he would've flown into a rage at a time like this. Why was he still acting so calmly? He probed, "Director Zhang, has our previous plan to reach the summit been canceled? Will the plan still be carri—"

Zhang Ye asked in surprise, "Why would it be canceled?"

Zhang Zuo smiled bitterly. "But we couldn't even achieve the first milestone."

After he finished drinking the soy milk, Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I've said before, you guys only need to think of the plan. As for how it will be realized, that isn't for you to worry about. That's my business."

As they spoke, it gradually turned into a meeting, so everyone sat down.

Ha Qiqi said, "Our first step of the plan was for you to win one of the most coveted awards in the domestic literary world so that you could polish up your credentials to help push your popularity higher. With the newly gained popularity from winning the award, the second step would be to publish another novel like Ghost Blows Out the Light. We would then try our best to make it a bestseller. You haven't written a novel in a long time, so that should help you increase your popularity within the literary field and bring it to new heights. In that way, we could've taken another big step towards the realization of our plan to reach the summit. But now that you didn't manage to win one of the most important awards in the domestic literary world, the next step would be—"

But Zhang Ye pointed upstairs and said, "I've already started on a new novel."

Zhang Zuo exclaimed, "You've already begun writing it?"

"Yeah, what else did you guys think I was doing all night?" Zhang Ye suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, hurry up and contact the publishing firm. We can already get the process started."

Ha Qiqi asked, "When will you finish writing it?"

Zhang Ye looked at the calendar and said, "I'll try to finish it in two days."

Two days?

Was he writing a short story?

"OK."

"Understood."

"I will go and liaise with the publishing firm!"

Nobody asked further.

Zhang Ye did not say anything else either. After he finished eating, he ran upstairs. Everyone heard his office door shut. Until evening, no one saw Zhang Ye take a step out from his office.

The next day.

It was past 5 PM.

The office door opened and Zhang Ye came downstairs sporting an unkempt look.

Everyone stood.

"Aiyo!"

"Director Zhang, you finally came out!"

"Quick, come and eat dinner. I've already bought something for you!"

"You nearly scared us to death! You didn't even open the door when we knocked."

But Zhang Ye laughed and said spiritedly, "Little Wang, print the draft out."

He had finished writing it within two days, but there was a heavy price to pay. Zhang Ye had barely gotten any sleep these past two days, as he spent close to 20 hours a day typing in front of the computer. He had always been like that and was someone who would work himself to death. Everyone knew his character.

Little Wang ran upstairs to print the draft.

20 pages.

50 pages.

100 pages.

The draft was printed out page by page.

Everyone in the studio was getting more and more dumbfounded as they watched.

Ha Qiqi said in a startled manner, "Why are there so many pages?"

Zhang Zuo quickly flipped through the printed pages to have a look. "Th-This many words?"

"There are around 200,000 words or so. I'm not sure since I didn't count," Zhang Ye said offhandedly.

200,000 words!

Everyone was shocked!

It didn't even take two days, but you've already written 200,000 words? Damn, there were fast writers around, but wasn't that still way too fast! Was a grave robbing novel that easy to write?

When everyone gathered around to read the draft, they were stunned again!

"What?"

"This, this isn't a grave robbing novel!"

"Director Zhang, what happened?"

"Is this a romance novel?"

"Or is it about marriage?"

"This doesn't fit with what we discussed, Director Zhang!"

Everyone in the studio looked at each other and felt that this was too risky. You can't be writing a novel about marriage just because you're getting married, right? This kind of novel does not have much of a market and is not easy to sell! Having written Ghost Blows Out the Light, the people had expectations of his new novel. As long as they gave it a similar title such as Ghost Blows Out the Light 2, the book sales wouldn't do too badly. So they couldn't comprehend why Zhang Ye would touch on the topic of marriage for his new novel!

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "This is it. Contact the publishing firm and get the book out there as soon as possible."

He said that with a lot of certainty, so they had to do as they were told.

After gobbling up his dinner, Zhang Ye was so happy that he even had some Erguotou to drink. Afterwards, he walked into the empty conference room and took out his cell phone to make a call.

It was a call to Elder Qian.

Du du. The call went through.

"Elder Qian, have you had dinner yet?"

"Oh, it's Little Zhang? I just finished eating, why? Is there something that you're looking for me for?"

"You mentioned that you were on the judging panel for the Qilu Literature Prize?"

"Yeah, what's the matter?"

"How does one qualify for the Qilu Literature Prize?"

"Why are you asking? The nomination for the Qilu Literature Prize depends on the literature in question. We go through the better literature that's published within the last four years, and every member of the judging panel is tasked with nominating one or two novels to the shortlist. These books will then be placed into the final selection pool and be voted on so that five winners will be chosen to receive the final award."

"Oh, then why don't you help me nominate a novel?"

"Whose novel is it?"

"Mine."

Elder Qian laughed aloud after being taken aback for a moment. "Your novels won't do. Be it that Ghost Blows Out the Light or Legend of Wukong, none of those books fulfill the requirements to get nominated, nor are they considered literature in the traditional sense of the word. The Qilu Literature Prize emphasizes more on literary merit, so I'm afraid I can't give you a pass on that."

Zhang Ye said in amusement: "Don't worry, it's my new novel I'm talking about."

Only then did Elder Qian take him seriously again. "Do you intend to compete for the Qilu Literature Prize?"

"Yes," Zhang Ye said.

"Are you serious?"

"Does it sound like I'm joking?"

Elder Qian did not quite understand. "But why?"

Zhang Ye answered with a laugh: "For beauty."

Why did he fail?

For beauty!

And why did he stand again?

Still for beauty!

Elder Qian stayed silent for a few seconds before saying: "What's the title of the novel?"

Zhang Ye placidly answered: " Fortress Besieged 1 ."

1. https/en./wiki/Fortress_Besieged

Chapter 1205: The Qilu Literature Prize Judging Panel

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this day.

The nominee list for one of the most coveted literary awards, the Qilu Literature Prize, was released!

The list was packed with several dozen names and novels!

Spring Returns, Han Dong

Love by the Lake, Liu Tianqi

River Maple, Li Duan

Fortress Besieged, Zhang Ye

And so on.

This was the grandest affair in the literary field. After the warm-up that was the Yanhong Literary Prize, the Qilu Literature Prize selection attracted even more attention.

The Yanhong Literary Prize, Qilu Literature Prize, and another literary award made up three of the most coveted awards in the literary field. Although they were supposed to be equal in standing, some basic differences in value and influence still existed between the three awards. It was headed by the Qilu Literature Prize since full-length novels were the most influential to the mainstream. So the Qilu Literature Prize was considered the most prestigious of the three highest awards in literature and also the most difficult title to achieve in the literary field.

Just like the Mao Dun Literature Prize, Lu Xun Literary Prize, Lao She Literary Award, and other literary awards 1 of Zhang Ye's previous world, it was clear that the Mao Dun Literature Prize was the most prestigious of all.

The Qilu Literature Prize was basically the equivalent to the Mao Dun Literature Prize back in Zhang Ye's previous world!

Online.

"It's finally here!"

"The Qilu Literature Prize, what a heavyweight!"

"I wonder who the winners will be this time!"

"Master Liu Tianqi should be able to win, right? The committee owes him one from the previous time!"

"That's difficult to say. Just look at the Yanhong Literary Prize awards. Everyone felt that Zhang Ye had a very good chance of winning, but how did that turn out? He didn't get anything at all, so it's really too difficult to make any predictions."

"Don't bring up the Yanhong Literary Prize anymore, ptui!"

"Haha, the officials on the Yanhong Literary Prize committee have been badly scolded the past few days."

"Yeah, even for someone like me who's not a fan of Zhang Ye feels that he has been wronged this time. When Zhang Ye got into fights, I criticized him. When he created trouble, I couldn't bear to look. But when he deserves the honor, I have to give it to him. We have to be reasonable here. His poetry and essays are truly deserving of the Yanhong Literary Prize!"

"Previous poster's view is very fair. I am not Zhang Ye's fan either. I feel that the seven Heavenly Kings and Queens all know how to behave better than Zhang Ye, but his results and contribution to the literary world cannot be denied."

"Eh, have a look at this, quickly!"

"A look at what?"

"Huh, why is Zhang Ye's name on the nominee list?"

"Ah? Damn, it's really there!"

"Zhang Ye? Fortress Besieged?"

"What is this? What book is this Fortress Besieged?"

"Zhang Ye hasn't written that book."

"You silly people, there are so many authors out there who are named Zhang Ye. I personally know of two literary figures named Zhang Ye."

"Hai, so that's how it is. I was surprised for a moment there."

"He really does have a common name."

"Haha, that's what I thought too! Would Zhang Ye know how to write literary fiction 2 !"

"I love Ghost Blows Out the Light the most!"

Everyone joked around some and did not take the appearance of this name too seriously after that.

Even the media reporters and industry insiders did not think too much about it. Zhang Ye's previous books were all famous, and everyone had really not heard of him writing a book titled Fortress Besieged.

The reporters were all busy working on their drafts, with some of chasing after interviews with several key authors, while others were writing reports to help the general public understand more about the literary awards.

Such as the following: The literary field's awards are unlike those given out in the film and television industry. In the film and television industry, there are all sorts of different top award ceremonies held in China, in Hong Kong, and also globally. It's possible for one person to win a lot of them, like Zhang Yuanqi, or even Ning Lan, who had won the highest honors in the film and television industry more than once. It's even possible to win the same awards repeatedly. Perhaps they would take the crown of Best Actress this year, and then win it again during the next year. Even though it rarely happens, it's still a possibility. However, it's different for the highest honors of the literary field. Here, although there are no hard and fast rules outlining it, there are some practices and traditions that have gained the consensus of the Chinese literary field. For one, an author could only win one of the highest domestic honors in their entire lifetime!

Take for example.

Once a certain person won the Yanhong Literary Prize, the future Yanhong Literary Prize committees would never let them be nominated again. No matter how good that person's future works are or how well they do, it wouldn't matter. This is due to the fact that they've won it before. Furthermore, once either one of the three highest honors were won, they would lose their qualification to receive any of the other two highest honors.

If they'd won the Yanhong Literary Prize before, they wouldn't have a chance of winning the Qilu Literature Prize.

If they won the Qilu Literature Prize, there wouldn't be a need to win the other awards anyway.

This was generally how it was.

The public was getting rowdy.

Especially in the literary field. It was as though they were in the opening of the Olympics. Many of the literary figures were currently very active, appearing on all the different major television stations and enjoying the attention that this grand literary affair was shining on them.

…

Meanwhile.

The members of the Qilu Literature Prize judging panel were almost coming to blows with each other!

Someone banged on the table and shouted, "I don't agree with this!"

Someone said with a darkened expression, "Why was Zhang Ye placed in the shortlist?"

Elder Qian explained, "I was the one who nominated him."

That person said, "Elder Qian, no one has read this book before, and it hasn't even been published yet, so how could you nominate it? This hasn't been done in accordance with the rules at all!"

Elder Meng, who had quite a good relationship with Elder Qian, banged the table and said, "Quiet down, all of you. This is a small room, you guys don't have to raise your voices for us to hear you. Let me say this, Elder Qian has not done anything wrong at all. The novel Zhang Ye wrote has already been allocated an ISBN number from the publisher, and all the formalities surrounding it have also been completed. Although it hasn't officially been put up for sale yet, the award's rules only state that all nominated works shall have an assigned ISBN number. There isn't any stipulation that the book has to have tens of thousands of copies published before it can be shortlisted for the award."

A female member of the panel said, "But no one has read this book before."

Elder Qian smiled and said, "I did."

Elder Meng sighed, "I did as well."

A middle-aged member of the panel asked curiously, "How was it?"

Elder Meng smiled wryly and said, "I don't know how to put it, but if you really want me to use a word to describe it, I can only say it was 'shocking.' You all can read it for yourselves to find out."

Shocking?

Elder Meng used the word "shocking" to describe it?

Just how high was that praise?

Zhang Ye? He could even write literary fiction?

Why does it not sound believable at all!

Someone mentioned, "But he's such a controversial person. Just look at what happened at the Yanhong Literary Prize award ceremony. They were criticized so miserably, so we better not get ourselves into such a mess as well."

Elder Qian looked at the several of them. "Is the Qilu Literature Prize given out for the person or for the book?"

One of them answered, "The book."

Elder Qian said, "I don't care what Zhang Ye's character is like. I'm not bothered about what kind of personality he has either. It also does not matter to me whether or not he's part of the Writers' Association. All I know is that in the current field of literature, there aren't any books that can compare with Fortress Besieged! No one else can write something as good as it!"

This was no longer a matter of high praise. This was the utmost affirmation that one could give a person or a book!

No one else can write something as good as it?

No other books can compare?

How is that possible!

After the meeting was over, everyone went their separate ways.

"Where's the book?"

"In the library."

"OK, I'll go and read it."

"Me too. I've already read all the other books that were nominated to the shortlist, so there isn't a need to go through those again. It's only this Fortress Besieged that I've never heard before."

"Let's head over together then."

"I'd like to see just what kind of a novel someone like Zhang Ye who used to write grave robbing and children's stories in the past can come up with."

…

The next day.

It was another scheduled meeting for the Qilu Literature Prize judging panel.

The meeting was presided by Elder Meng, who was carrying out the selection progress meeting.

Elder Meng said, "In another two days, we'll be announcing the winners of the award. Let's discuss them. By the way, has everyone read the nominated titles?"

There was silence across the board.

Elder Meng asked, "What's the matter? No one has anything to say?"

A female member of the panel said, "Was Fortress Besieged really written by Zhang Ye?"

Elder Meng laughed and said, "It wasn't written by me, that's for sure."

Elder Qian looked at her. "Little Yan, what's your evaluation of it?"

The woman took a deep breath and thought about it for a long time before finally saying, "For someone who can write a book like that, I don't think there's even a need for them to compete for any sort of award in the country! No author in China can write that kind of book. If I were to vote, I would surely vote for it. Not for Zhang Ye, but for the book!"

Another member of the panel said with a wry grin, "I haven't come across a book like that in many years. Reading it gave me an indescribable feeling. It's not even possible to call it 'shocking.' All I want to do right now is run home so that I can read and analyze Fortress Besieged a few more times. The knowledge and language in this book is simply profound!"

Someone said, "How is it possible that Zhang Ye wrote a book like that! For someone who used to write grave robbing novels and fairy tales, this is too great of a leap!"

All of them had given Fortress Besieged a read!

The first feeling that came to them upon finishing it was disbelief!

How were they going to vote?

Was there even a need to vote?

Elder Qian spoke, "When I first met Little Zhang for the first time, I said that if there was anyone from our country who could win one of the top international literary awards in the next 5 to 15 years, it would be Zhang Ye. From the looks of it, my prediction is slowly coming true."

"But the Qilu Literature Prize…"

"How can we possibly award it to him?"

"Zhang Ye is too controversial a person!"

"He's someone who operates totally outside of our domestic literary arena."

Elder Qian said, "You're all members of the judging panel and have the freedom to vote as you wish for whomever you think deserves to win the Qilu Literature Prize. No one can stop you."

"Hai."

"This is really tricky!"

Many of the judges on the judging panel got headaches due to this problem!

Zhang Ye had given them a colossally difficult decision to make!

1. https/en./wiki/Category:Chinese_literary_awards

2. https/en./wiki/Belles-lettres https/en./wiki/Literary_fiction

Chapter 1206: The release of Fortress Besieged!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the morning.

At the studio.

After catching up on two days of no sleep, Zhang Ye returned to work.

"Good morning, Director Zhang."

"Director Zhang, you're here?"

"Have you had enough rest?"

"Don't pull that many all-nighters in the future."

"Yeah, you scared us to death."

Everyone said a few words of concern to him.

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "The kind of life I lead is tiresome. I can as free as I want when I have downtime, but when I get busy, I'm especially busy. I'm used to this. Oh right, is there anything going on these next few days?"

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Nothing important, but tomorrow will be the launch of your novel."

Zhang Ye said, "Oh? They've finished printing it already?"

Ha Qiqi said, "The publishing firm put in overtime and finally managed to meet 200,000 copies for the first print run. We did not have much time to carry out any heavy promotions for the novel as it was too rushed. Otherwise, if we had had a month to prepare, the marketing would surely have been very effective. Since we couldn't promote it properly, we aren't really sure how the sales will do."

Zhang Ye said calmly, "It's fine. Just sell however much we can.

Ha Qiqi nodded. "Starting from now, we'll be following up with the promotional work for the novel. The money has already been paid, so we'll start seeing the ad campaigns today."

"Alright, great job," Zhang Ye said.

Zhang Zuo suddenly said, "Eh, are they going to announce the winners for the Qilu Literature Prize tomorrow as well?"

Little Wang was giggling as she looked at a monitor. Then she got stunned. "Eh? This nominee list!"

The nearby people instinctively looked over.

"What's the matter?"

"There's a Zhang Ye on the nominee list?"

"Haha, it must be someone with the same name."

"Let me have a look. Heh, you're right!"

"How coincidental, there's really an author with the same name as Director Zhang."

"Eh, the nominated novel is titled Fortress Besieged?"

"Whoa, what a coincidence! It even has the same title as Director Zhang's new novel?"

Having said that, everyone in the studio froze!

What?

The author's name was Zhang Ye?

And the novel's title was also titled Fortress Besieged?

What the hell! Coincidence, your sister!

Isn't this Director Zhang himself?!

Wu Yi was dumbfounded. "Director Zhang, did you get nominated for the Qilu Literature Prize?"

Little Wang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Surely not, right? What's with this?"

"Ah?" Zhang Ye said in surprise, "Didn't I tell you guys?"

Zhang Zuo exclaimed, "When did you tell us? No one knows about this!"

Zhang Ye sighed. "I must've been too tired. I've been sleeping so much the past two days that I forgot all about it. Yes, Fortress Besieged was nominated."

Ha Qiqi said in disbelief, "How could it be that your marriage-themed novel was nominated for the Qilu Literature Prize? Doesn't that award only shortlist literary fiction?"

Little Wang said, "Yeah, what's with this?"

Zhang Ye said in amusement, "Haven't you guys read the novel?

Everyone shook their heads. They had been too busy liaising with the publishing firm, readying the promotional materials, and handling other matters, so who would have the time to flip through the novel page by page and read it carefully?

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Didn't I say it before? We'll continue with the plan to reach the summit. If we can't complete the first step of our plan, then we'll combine it with the second step. It's probably a good thing that I didn't manage to win the Yanhong Literary Prize. If I did, I couldn't have been nominated for the Qilu Literature Prize. Comparing the prestige of these two awards, the Qilu Literature Prize is actually the more coveted of the domestic literary awards." With that, he spread his hands. "But of course, I don't know if I can win this time either."

The studio staff got very excited!

They thought he had missed out on getting a high honor of the Chinese literary field, but who could have expected that Zhang Ye's new novel would actually get nominated for the famous Qilu Literature Prize as well? This was excellent, great news for them! The only thing that made everyone feel a little doubtful was that Director Zhang had taken less than two fucking days to finish writing this novel that contained 200,000 words of pure bull…pure literature, so would he really be able to win the highest honor in the literary field?

Could he really do it?

Why did it feel like it was hopeless no matter how they looked at it!

Surely the Qilu Literature Prize wasn't that "cheap," right?

However—

Qian Zhongshu!

Fortress Besieged!

They couldn't possibly know what these four words stood for back in Zhang Ye's previous world!

…

Later that morning.

The promotions began.

On an ad page in the Beijing Times, the cover of Fortress Besieged, along with Zhang Ye's photo and a written introduction by him, were printed.

Fortress Besieged.

Marriage is like a fortress besieged.

Those who are outside want to get in.

And those who are inside want to get out.

—Zhang Ye's first novel, themed around marriage, will meet everyone on the bookshelves tomorrow!

On the other newspapers and some discussion forums, advertisement spots had also been purchased for the novel!

The official Weibo of Zhang Ye's Studio also posted an announcement.

Following, Zhang Ye's personal Weibo shared the announcement post and added simply: "My new novel will go on sale tomorrow at all major bookstores. Everyone, please join in and support me."

This news had come too abruptly!

It was so sudden that it left everyone in the industry, as well as the public, unable to react to it!

It was so sudden that many of the media reporters felt like they had a rude awakening!

"A new novel?"

"Why wasn't there any news about this beforehand?"

"Zhang Ye wrote another novel?"

"Eh, Fortress Besieged?"

"Why does it sound so familiar?"

"Yeah, it sounds familiar to me too. I seem to have seen it somewhere."

"Fuck! Look at the Qilu Literature Prize's nominee list!"

"Ah, yes. It's the Qilu Literature Prize, I remember it now!"

"Zhang Ye! Fortress Besieged!"

"Your grandpa! So it wasn't actually someone with the same name? Fuck!"

"Oh my God! Zhang Ye has been nominated for the Qilu Literature Prize!"

"The novel was nominated even before its release? Just what kind of novel is it!"

"Zhang Ye is getting married soon; is that why he's chosen to touch on the topic of marriage with a literary novel? But it's been proven in recent years that this sort of novel doesn't sell well. What's more, this is even literary fiction?"

"Zhang Ye will be competing for the Qilu Literature Prize?"

"That can't be, right? He's never written literary fiction before. In the past, he's only dabbled in genre fiction 1 . This is Zhang Ye's first time writing a full-length novel, so how could he possibly win an award for it? And we're talking about the Qilu Literature Prize here. Do you think the award is like the cabbages in the market? Anyone can get one if they want one? Aiyo, let me process this for a moment! This is mind-blowing!"

The power of the people was limitless.

Having missed out on the Yanhong Literary Prize, Zhang Ye was in the news. When his nomination for the Qilu Literature Prize was revealed, it spread through the Internet like wildfire!

"Come and see this, quickly! Zhang Ye will be releasing a new novel!"

"Is Face-smacking Zhang making a comeback?"

"I must buy a copy of it tomorrow and see how it is!"

"I don't like literary novels, they're too contrived! I can't understand them!"

"I don't like them either, but we're talking about Zhang Ye's novel. Even if I won't read it, I must still buy two copies and leave them at home. Can't help it, I'm a braindead fan of his, after all!"

"Hahaha, me too!"

"Supporting Teacher Zhang!"

"Supporting Face-smacking Zhang in his fight for the Qilu Literature Prize!"

"I'll reserve my judgment on how the novel is. I hope he didn't forcefully put something together just so he could release a book."

"I would buy the novel even if he wrote rubbish. I just want to see how Zhang Ye will write a marriage-themed novel. There might even be a description of Zhang Ye's wife that could help us guess her identity!"

"Zhang Ye is too crafty! He knew that people are paying attention to his marriage, so he came up with a marriage-themed novel. He's obviously just trying to make a quick buck!"

"Haha, then will you buy it or not?"

"Of course I…will buy it while holding back tears!"

"We'll find out tomorrow if his novel is any good! The release of Fortress Besieged tomorrow will also be the day that the results of the Qilu Literature Prize are announced. It's all going to happen on the same day!"

Even before its release!

Fortress Besieged was trending!

1. https/en./wiki/Genre_fiction (or commercial fiction)

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Chapter 1207: Fortress Besieged sells like crazy!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

On the day of the book's launch.

In the morning, a huge crowd had gathered at the Xidan Bookstore entrance. Over 200 people joined the long line and blocked off the main entrance of the building entirely.

"Don't push, don't push."

"Please line up and don't cut in line."

"They're about to open."

"Why are they taking so long? I've been here since 6 AM."

"Bro, I was here earlier than you. I heard that there were some others who came here even earlier than me."

"Ah? What time were they here since?"

"There was someone who arrived at 4:30 AM."

"Man, surely they couldn't have gone to such an extreme, right?"

"Why not? Who knows if we can even get hold of a copy of the book."

Everyone was chatting as they stood in line.

A passerby on his way to work was baffled at the sight. That person did not know what was going on, so he stopped in his tracks and had a look. "What are you guys lining up for? Did Hardshell Technologies release a new cell phone? Why didn't I hear about it? In any case, this isn't where the exclusive retail store is. It's over there. Why are you guys lining up at the entrance of the Bookstore?"

Someone in the line said, "We're lining up to buy a book."

That person said in surprise, "What book are you buying?"

A female student said, "Zhang Ye's Fortress Besieged!"

The passerby said in a startled voice, "What? Face-smacking Zhang has released a new novel?"

The girl nodded and said, "That's right. There're some rumors that this marriage-themed novel will contain some critical information about the identity of Zhang Ye's fiancée!"

"Damn, it's that interesting?" That passerby had a look of excitement in his eyes as he immediately ran to the back of the line and joined it silently.

It was finally the start of business hours.

When the main doors were unlocked and the passageway into the Bookstore was opened up, the staff were stunned by what they saw. They could only watch as shadows came rushing toward them. Some of the female staff were scared stiff and had their jaws drop. They did not know at all what was happening!

The crowd rushed straight into the Bookstore!

"Where is it?"

"Over there!"

"I can see the bookshelves!"

"I want a copy of Fortress Besieged!"

"Give me ten copies! Pack them up!"

Only then did the staff members realize what was going on. When they finally came back to their senses, the shelves where Fortress Besieged was placed were already emptied out. Only a bare promo board was left standing!

"Why are they all gone?"

"My God, I was here since 6 AM!"

"There must still be some stock left in the warehouse!"

An executive of the Bookstore was also alerted. He came downstairs dumbfounded by the happenings and quickly said, "Calm down, everyone, calm down. I've already gotten someone to transfer more stock from our warehouse. The books will be here immediately!"

…

Shanghai.

At Xinhua Bookstore.

"I want a copy of Fortress Besieged!"

"Give me two copies, thank you!"

"Fortress Besieged!"

"Why did they limit the amount that we can purchase?"

"Each person can only purchase one copy? What kind of rule is that?"

…

Tianjin.

At the Liberation Bookstore.

"Do you still have a copy of Fortress Besieged?"

"There aren't any left."

"What's going on? I lined up for a very long time!"

"We only received 200 copies, and they've all sold out. Why don't you all go down to West Street and ask around to see if they still have any stock left."

"They don't have anything left at West Street. I just came over from there!"

…

Throughout the morning.

Crazy scenes like these played out at major bookstores around the country.

Many of those working at the bookstores and booksellers were feeling a little dumbfounded. How was this called book buying? This was clearly book snatching! Fortress Besieged was available as a single volume book and had a very high word count. Together with Zhang Ye's reputation, the publishing firm had set a very high market price for the novel. But based on what they were experiencing, it seemed like everyone was buying the book as though it did not cost a thing. They did not even browse through the contents or flip through the pages and simply picked up the novel before heading straight to the cashier!

The media was dumbfounded!

Many of the onlooking passersby were also dumbfounded!

Is this what Zhang Ye's appeal is like? Is he really that awesome? In all of China, which author could cause such a scene on the release date of their books!

At 10 AM, Fortress Besieged was sold out at 13 bookstores across the country!

At 10:30 AM, Fortress Besieged was sold out at 35 bookstores across the country!

At 11 AM, Fortress Besieged was sold out at 57 bookstores across the country!

The stock of Fortress Besieged was decreasing!

Some of the booksellers who had gone out of stock even called Zhang Ye's Studio in their anxiety.

At the studio.

Little Wang was on the phone. "We don't carry any stock of the book here….Right, you can get in contact with the publisher and distributor….It's no use even if you tell me about it; we're not in charge of this matter." After hanging up, Little Wang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She told everyone, "A bookseller just called to ask for a thousand copies of the book."

Wu Yi said excitedly, "The demand is too explosive!"

Ha Qiqi laughed out loud and said, "Looks like we absolutely need not worry about the sales!"

Zhang Zuo came back in a hurry from outside and panted, "You guys should really go out there and have a look. It's crazy in the bookstore across from us! It's packed with people!"

Even Zhang Ye got butterflies in his stomach. "Surely it can't be that popular, right?"

Noticing his disbelief, Zhang Zuo quickly said, "It's true, you can go and have a look for yourself!"

Zhang Ye said, "The promo campaigns haven't even fully run yet and the release was done so hurriedly, so how could we have sold that much?"

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, "That's because you didn't consider your reputation. If it were some random dude, they definitely couldn't achieve this. But who are you? You're the best writer among the celebrities and the most famous person among the authors. Moreover, this marriage-themed novel arrived just in time to coincide with your own marriage too. On top of all that, the winners of the Qilu Literature Prize will be announced today. With Fortress Besieged also nominated for the Qilu Literature Prize, the popularity of the book has been pushed to a high point."

Then, Zhang Ye's cell phone rang.

Zhang Ye answered the call from Yao Jiancai.

"Old Yao, what's up?"

"Why can't I get a copy of your novel?"

"Ah?"

"My daughter intended to get it, but it was already sold out at all three of the bookstores she went to!"

"Hai, I didn't expect it'd sell so well on the first day."

"Don't say anything else, you just need to quickly get me ten copies of your novel right now."

"Whoa, I don't have that many copies on hand either. The publishing firm didn't bring over that many. I can at most spare you three copies. As for rest, we'll talk about it again when I get excess stock."

"Alright, three copies is fine too. I'll get my wife to go over to your studio and get it from you later. Mimi can't wait to get her hands on it."

"Alright."

Then the doorbell rang.

Little Wang, who was standing closest to the door, opened it.

Chenchen walked in. "Zhang Ye."

Zhang Ye said, "What are you doing here? I'm busy and don't have time for you."

Chenchen pouted and ignored him. Her little eyes looked over to the stack of Fortress Besieged books sealed and neatly placed in a corner of the studio. She walked over and put five copies into her arms.

Zhang Ye stared at her. "What are you doing?"

Chenchen said nonchalantly, "People want a copy of your novel."

Zhang Ye chuckled, "Who?"

Chenchen pointed downstairs. "Old Sun and Old Zhou. They said they didn't manage to buy it."

Old Sun? Did she mean Grandpa Sun?

Old Zhou? Was she talking about Uncle Zhou?

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "Take the copies then."

Chenchen hurried away.

A short while later, the little kid came back again.

Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, "What are you doing here again?"

Chenchen said, "Zhang Ye, give me another 20 copies."

However, Zhang Ye noticed an awkward bulge in her pocket and could not help but grow suspicious. "What's that in your pocket?"

Chenchen clutched her pocket. "It's none of your business."

"Hey, let me see." Zhang Ye went up to her and searched through her pocket.

"Leave me alone!" Chenchen wasn't having any of it, but Zhang Ye overpowered her with his strength. An item fell out from her pocket.

Everyone saw exactly 250 yuan in cash fall out!

Chenchen could only say, "I sold your books at 50 yuan each at the entrance of the neighborhood. It's higher than your market price. Zhang Ye, give me another 20 copies."

Zhang Ye was floored. "Your sister, are you replenishing your stock from me!"

Everyone burst into laughter!

She even knew how to markup the price?

They had never come across such a young scalper before!

But from this, it showed how popular Fortress Besieged was. It was really selling like crazy!

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Chapter 1208: How can such a person exist?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Later that afternoon.

At Eastern Publishing Firm.

The phone lines were constantly ringing, but the staff were no longer trying to answer every call!

"The stores are pressing us for more books again!"

"The Bookstore wants to order another 4,000 copies of Fortress Besieged!"

"There isn't any leftover stock that we can ship out from the first print. Increase the print run!"

"We've already contacted the production line to do so!"

"Aiyo, this release has gotten way too explosive, my God!"

"200,000 copies of the first print and we're already sold out?"

"How can that be possible?"

"Why would it not be possible? The various major bookstores have relayed the statistics back to us. The sales for Fortress Besieged have emptied their inventories by 70%. Going by this rate, we'll be out of stock by tonight! 200,000 copies sold in a day? In the publishing world, there has never been anyone who managed this before!"

200,000 copies for the first print run, this was really not a low figure!

For most new authors, a first print run of 10,000 to 20,000 copies was very common. Publishers would tend to only raise that figure to 100,000 copies for best-selling authors and would use that figure for a year's worth of projected sales. The publishing industry was experiencing a slump as the impact from various online publishers were having a great effect. If a novel could sell 100,000 copies a year, it would be considered a very popular title. However, no one at Eastern Publishing Firm could have expected that even with 200,000 copies of Fortress Besieged printed for its first run, it was still not enough to last them a day of sales!

This was crazy!

This was totally crazy!

Over there, a female editor was fast walking over.

Everyone looked at her with smiles on their faces.

"Little Li!"

"Well done!"

"You've made a great contribution again!"

"Editor Li, you're looking great!"

Someone even led a round of applause for her!

Li Mei was a little embarrassed. "It's all to the credit of Teacher Zhang for trusting us with his book. I didn't really do much at all."

Li Mei was the newbie from the publishing firm who had struck the deal with Zhang Ye back then. At that time, Zhang Ye had just fallen out with his previous publisher and many of the other publishers were trying to sign him. Eastern Publishing Firm stood no chance of getting him as they were not well-known and were considered a small-time publishing firm in the industry. So they just sent an inexperienced employee to handle the negotiation to try to convince Zhang Ye to sign with them. To the expectations of no one, Li Mei managed to convince Zhang Ye and even got along very well with his mother. Afterwards, all of his works related to publishing were given to Li Mei to handle. In these past two years, the relationship worked fine without any hiccups. Many of the other publishers kept trying to headhunt Zhang Ye in the hopes that they could get a slice of the pie. But they could not understand why Zhang Ye kept choosing to work with Eastern Publishing Firm only and never once gave the rights of his books to any of the other publishing firms. It was also the same for Fortress Besieged!

Li Mei had now become a very reputable person in the publishing industry!

Ever since then, Eastern Publishing Firm had gained a firm foothold in the industry!

At the editor-in-chief's office.

Li Mei cautiously knocked on the door and went in. "Editor-in-Chief, you're looking for me?"

The editor-in-chief looked at her and clasped his hands with a smile. "Little Li, you're here? Quick, take a seat. What would you like to drink? I have some rather good tea here."

Li Mei anxiously waved her hands at that. "That's not necessary, that's really not necessary."

The editor-in-chief laughed heartily. "Have you seen the sales figures for Fortress Besieged yet?"

"Yes." Li Mei was quite happy with the results too.

"You're really great!" The editor-in-chief said in a pleased tone, "I didn't think we could get it again, but who could've guessed that Teacher Zhang would still let us have the publication rights to his new book!"

Li Mei said, "Teacher Zhang is actually very easy to talk to. He's not as ill-tempered as rumored. As long as we do well in our work with him, he won't switch publishers so easily. He's not extremely particular about the royalty fees either. A little more or a little less doesn't matter to him. That's just how he is."

"It was you who handled his account well." The editor-in-chief said with a smile, "How long have you been working at the firm?"

Li Mei counted. "Over three years."

The editor-in-chief nodded. "Upper management has decided to give you a promotion."

Li Mei was taken aback. "Ah?"

The editor-in-chief smiled. "Starting from tomorrow, you will be in charge of the Distribution Department."

Distribution Department?

In charge of it?

Li Mei was stunned!

…

The sales for Fortress Besieged blew up!

During the day, many people opened the book to read it as soon as they got their hands on it.

Sometimes, a book wasn't a good read even though it sold well, because a myriad of factors affected the sales figure of a book, like the promotional material or the fame of the author. Fortress Besieged had sold so crazily well because of Zhang Ye's popularity. Just like if Zhang Yuanqi or one of those seven Heavenly Kings and Queens released a book, their sales would definitely not be bad. But as for how good the book really was, that depended on the content inside.

At Peking University.

Yao Jiancai's daughter, Yao Mi, came running back to her dormitory.

"I've got 'em!"

"How many do you have?"

"My mom sent three books!"

"Give me one!"

"I want one too!"

"I wonder if it's any good."

"This is our Chinese Department's teacher's book you're talking about, how can it not be good!" Even though she said that, Yao Mi wasn't very sure of it either. Zhang Ye was dabbling for the first time in longform literary fiction about marriage. Compared to the Ghost Blows Out the Light that he had written, it was an entirely different genre. Yao Mi did not really know how good this book was.

So they sat down in the dormitory and started reading it together.

They spent the next few hours reading.

All of a sudden, one of her roommates yelled, "Heavens!"

Yao Mi was also very surprised. "Th-This is such a good read!"

A girl next to her said, "What do you mean by a good read? That's such a plain description! It's simply not enough to describe this book!"

Yao Mi asked, "Then how would you describe it?"

The girl declared, "This is a fucking godly read!"

That's right!

It was a godly read!

The few of them felt a sense of extreme shock!

…

At Zhang Xia's house.

Grandma Zhang was sitting back in her chair and reading a book.

Her nearby son called for her to take her medicine several times, but she did not hear him.

"Mom."

"Ah?"

"It's time to take your medicine."

"Oh, alright."

"What are you reading? You look lost in it."

"Hur hur, it's called Fortress Besieged."

"Zhang Ye's new book? Is it good?"

Zhang Xia hesitated for a moment before giving the most appropriate evaluation she could think of. "It's not a matter of it being good or bad, it's a shocking read!"

Her son said, "Then I'll read it too."

But Zhang Xia laughed and said, "You're such a restless person and have been so ignorant about things since childhood, so I doubt you'll be able to understand the intricacies and cultured language contained in this book. Such a book can only be written by someone with great wisdom. Little Zhang is really surprising. If he ever decides to venture into the literary circle, he would probably shock a great deal of foreigners. I believe that they don't yet know about this great talent that has emerged in China."

After taking her medicine, Zhang Xia continued reading Fortress Besieged. She sat there reading for the entire day.

…

At a certain author's studio.

The author, Chen Xian, also received a copy of the book. Someone from his studio brought it back for him, but he threw it aside without reading it.

"Teacher Chen, about tonight's Qilu Literature Prize…"

"Just leave it to fate, it's out of our control."

"You have a very good chance of winning."

"Hopefully, but it's difficult to say until the very end."

"Do you think that Zhang Ye has any hopes of winning?"

"Well, can he write literary fiction?"

Chen Xian just shook his head. In the field of poetry, there was probably no one who could outdo Zhang Ye in the whole of the literary field. This had been verified time and again. But when it came to novel writing, especially longform literary fiction, no one would be afraid of Zhang Ye. That was because no one had ever seen him write anything like this before, so they did not take him seriously. It was only due to the controversy surrounding the Yanhong Literary Prize that the Qilu Literature Prize committee had nominated him. It was simply a nomination, so of course they wouldn't award the prize to him.

But when he received a call, Chen Xian felt a sense of unease come over him.

It was his old friend on the line.

"Old Yu?"

"Chen Xian, did you get a copy of Fortress Besieged yet?"

"I have one, what's the matter?"

"Have you read it yet?"

"Why would I want to read it?"

There was a two-second pause on the other end. "I suggest that you give it a read."

Chen Xian was startled. "…Alright."

After hanging up, he immediately found the book and flipped to the first page.

An hour later, Chen Xian's expression had completely changed. After he closed the book, he took a deep breath and tasted a bitterness in his throat, like he had taken some Chinese traditional medicine!

Could he write literary fiction?

Thinking of this question he posed earlier, he already knew the answer!

That's right!

He really could write it!

Chen Xian had been stunned. Even if he was one of those from the literary circle who denounced Zhang Ye several years ago, even if he was extremely biased against Zhang Ye, he was still very shocked by this book!

How can such a book exist?

How can such a person exist?

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Chapter 1209: Ascending to the altar!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At night.

7 PM sharp.

All the major bookstores across the country had sent in their statistics. The premiere release of 200,000 copies of Fortress Besieged was wiped clean at 6:57 PM. Not a single copy was left on the shelves in the market!

The publishing world was shaken to its core!

The industry was also in an uproar!

Who said that the publishing industry was in a slump?

Who said that physical books were already a thing of the past?

Faced with a book whose sales figures rocketed to the stars, many of the publishing firms hurriedly held meetings. A lot of authors who hadn't intended to read this book were now flipping through it in curiosity. Some netizens were even pleading to buy it off others by offering up to a 100 yuan for the book. It had become a very sought after book on the market!

Then, all kinds of book reviews started appearing!

Fortress Besieged dumbfounded the entire Chinese literary field!

Classic Quotes:

1. If the poem has any meaning, so much the worse for it.

2. You're not annoying, but you're completely useless.

3. Life, it's been said, is one big book. Should life indeed be so, most of us writers can only claim to be book critics. Possessing the book critic's skill, we need not read more than a few pages to churn out a pile of commentary and wrap up a book review in no time.

4. If a person does not go out to see the world by 20, he is a failure; by the same token, if he is still out seeing the world at 30, he is a failure.

5. Nothing happens on accident. The different masks we wear make it inevitable.

6. Husbands are women's careers. Not having a husband is like being unemployed.

And so on and so forth.

Every word contained in Fortress Besieged, every sentence, every line was crazily picked out by people who dissected and studied them until they couldn't help but call it wonderful!

On Weibo.

The netizens were passionate and excited!

"How godly! So godly!"

"Any sentence found in the book can be considered a classic!"

"It's so good that I'm crying!"

"Is this really what Zhang Ye's literary novel is like?"

"Damn, this is the most awesome book I've ever read!"

"I can see all the goosebumps that I'm getting!"

"Your sister, who said that there was a great reveal of Mrs. Zhang inside the book!"

"Pfft, previous poster, did you really believe that?"

"I also never expected that Fortress Besieged would actually be like this. I thought this was a pure romance novel. Isn't Teacher Zhang not yet married? Pfft, why do I feel like he's going to get divorced? Look at what he wrote in his book, describing marriage as a grave of love. I wonder if Teacher Zhang will get a beating from Mrs. Zhang tonight!"

"Hahaha, he deserves it if he does!"

"Supporting Mrs. Zhang Ye, make him kneel on a washboard!"

"What a godly book this is! And what a godly author!"

"Fortress Besieged is great!"

"Motherfucker, I've been pulled into Zhang Ye's fan base!"

"Me too. Fortress Besieged has fucking left me with no resistance. Zhang Ye's skill at indoctrinating people into his fan base is too strong! He silently creeps up and gets us hooked without knowing! But I think my parents are even more fanatical than I am. Those two don't usually pay attention to anyone in showbiz but became Zhang Ye's fans after reading Fortress Besieged!"

"My grandma too!"

"I never used to read literary fiction since I didn't think I could appreciate it. But Fortress Besieged really is different from other works of literary fiction! This book is a drug!"

"I'm addicted to it as well!"

"I've read many of the other books that were shortlisted for the Qilu Literature Prize, but none of them are comparable to Fortress Besieged. Could Zhang Ye really win this highest honor?"

"Who knows? He should have gotten the Yanhong Literary Prize, but his relationship with the literary world is just no good!"

"So what if it's not good? Just with Fortress Besieged, even if Zhang Ye fucking points right at those people from the literary circle and scolds them, he should still win the award! This book is really amazing. Even if they don't like him in the literary field, even if he has offended many authors before, they must still award it to him!"

"I suppose the literary field is dumbfounded!"

"Fortress Besieged is a killing blow!"

…

At the studio.

News from all over the place was being reported back.

Ha Qiqi and the others were constantly getting good news and feeling excited and inspired!

"It's sold out!"

"The number of reservations have broken records too!"

"Its popularity is growing exponentially!"

They sorted the information into a chart for Zhang Ye to look at. The number of Zhang Ye's Weibo followers soared yet again, as well as all other aspects of his popularity.

Even though this was not really an important statistic, it solved a problem. Most of Zhang Ye's newly gained followers were the middle-aged to the elderly and were more learned people. Fortress Besieged helped him attract a large number of new fans! This was certainly good news for him. There were always limitations for every celebrity's fan base. Some celebrities, like the Korean celebs, focused only on the younger crowd for their target audiences. Meanwhile, others like Dong Shanshan targeted male otakus, with a large number of them making up their fanbases. Zhang Ye's fan base spanned a relatively larger demographic. There were men and women, people in their teens, twenties, and even thirties. But attracting new male and female fans in their forties and fifties or even older was a very rare occurrence!

If a celebrity's fanbase demographic coverage was smaller, it meant their growth potential was limited.

A celebrity who only targeted young teens would probably end up as only an A-list celebrity. Even if they could attract half the country's teen audience as fans, that number would still be limited. Similarly, a celebrity who only targeted either men or women would also find their growth limited as they progressed further up the entertainment circle. Their fanbase would become saturated by their target audience as no new fans would join.

Therefore, the coverage of one's fanbase was very important!

Fortress Besieged had undoubtedly helped Zhang Ye open up a new channel of fans. This new group of fans was really important for him to raise his popularity. If he wanted to break past the A-list and take one of the seven spots above him, the first thing he needed to lose was an "imbalanced" fanbase. Otherwise, he would have already lost at the starting line!

It was almost 8 PM.

Weibo fell silent.

Everyone in Zhang Ye's Studio also fell silent.

This was because it was almost time for the Qilu Literature Prize winners to be announced. Countless people across the country switched on their radios and quietly listened in to Central Radio's broadcast.

Wu Yi was wiping off his nervous perspiration. "How nerve-wracking!"

Ha Qiqi clutched her chest. "Stop talking, you're making me nervous too!"

Little Wang couldn't listen and covered her ears.

Zhang Zuo and the others were staring at the radio in silence.

Zhang Ye was smoking at the window and waiting in anticipation as well. He had already done all that he could, even bringing that "atomic bomb" of the literary field, Fortress Besieged, from his previous world over to this world. Whatever happened next would depend on fate. Whether his plan to reach the summit could be carried out smoothly in the short term depended on the results of this award!

The awarding method for the Qilu Literature Prize was different from the other two literary awards. It was the top literary award among the three and also the most special. In all decades until now, the Qilu Literature Prize had been awarded based on tradition. The winners were always announced over the radio to the public, and there was neither an award ceremony nor any trophies given out. However, the voice announcing the results was always intriguing to all of those from the literary arena and was the most sacred moment for the literary field!

The broadcast started.

The people were heatedly discussing it.

Zhang Ye's parents had long since tuned in to the radio station on their cell phones.

Zhang Xia made her son take out a very old radio that he spent a long time fixing before getting to work again.

In the dormitories at Peking University, there were no sounds of games or music. Instead, from many rooms came the sounds of a century-old radio station.

Bzzt…Bzzt…

Static sounded for a moment.

Then the voice of the radio announcer came on without any unnecessary chatter. "Dear listeners, good evening. We will be announcing the five winners of the Qilu Literature Prize that is held once every four years. They will be revealed in ascending order of votes received—"

Zhang Ye extinguished his cigarette and came over.

Ha Qiqi almost stopped breathing.

Little Wang clasped her hands and prayed, "Let Director Zhang be on the list! Please!"

The radio announcer said, "Love by the Lake by Liu Tianqi."

Wu Yi exclaimed!

Ha Qiqi shushed him. "Quiet."

The judging panel had voted for the five winners, and the results were ranked in ascending order. The fifth place winner would be announced first, so there was no need to get too anxious.

The radio announcer said, "Spring Returns by Han Dong."

At Han Dong's home, his relatives all cheered!

"Second Uncle, it's you! It's you!"

"You got it! You've won!"

Han Dong also felt very excited!

The radio announcer: "Two Summer Days by Zhang Yi."

At Zhang Yi's home, her husband was howling. As a female author, winning the Qilu Literature Prize was the greatest affirmation she could get. When Zhang Yi realized she had won, she got so excited she had to take several aspirins to prevent a heart attack. Her hands were trembling!

The third winner had been announced!

There were only two left!

The radio announcer said, "Gentle Eyes by Zang Weiguo!"

At Zang Weiguo's home, his children and grandchildren reacted explosively around him!

When Zang Weiguo heard his name, he started crying. He finally won it. In the thirty years of hard work he put in, he had finally received this highest honor in exchange. Although he wasn't in first place, it was still enough to make him cry. He never thought that he would win first place and felt that it was a miracle that he could even win the Qilu Literature Prize!

There was only one spot left!

The winner with the most votes for this year's Qilu Literature Prize was going to be announced!

Little Wang was perspiring from the suspense!

Ha Qiqi was feeling extremely nervous!

Why wasn't it announced yet?

Why hadn't Director Zhang's name been mentioned yet?

Zhang Ye took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Wu Yi stamped his feet impatiently. Quick! Announce it already!

The entire literary world was waiting for that last name to be announced!

Many of the citizens had pricked their ears up and were wide-eyed as they waited to find out who it was!

When this last name was about to be announced, the radio announcer paused for a moment before saying with a magnetic voice, "Fortress Besieged by Zhang Ye."

Silence was the only sound in the studio.

Little Wang then screamed!

"Ah!"

"He said Zhang Ye! He said Zhang Ye!"

"It's us! We've won!"

"We're first in the vote!"

"We've gotten it! We've gotten it!"

Screams!

Shouts!

The studio erupted!

Little Wang and a few of the female staff all threw their hands up as they cheered. One of them even got so emotional she cried!

Everyone was hugging one another, screaming and shouting. This really had not been easy. They had won this award with great difficulty! Two days. Zhang Ye had used just two days to dabble in the field of literary fiction to gain the highest honor in the literary field this year by winning the most votes. This could only be described as a miracle and as a dream. Such a result could only be achieved by Zhang Ye!

Today, Zhang Ye had risen to the top of the Chinese literary world!

Zhang Ye and Fortress Besieged had ascended to the altar!

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Chapter 1210: Director Zhang's creative process is particularly arduous!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Presently.

Congratulatory calls were coming in one after another.

Zhang Ye had taken the top honors in the Qilu Literature Prize!

Further, the Qilu Literature Prize was the highest honor in the field of literature!

He had won this award in the most perfect way. It was a best of the best performance and the highest of the highest prizes he had won. It was flawless, and there was nothing else in the Chinese literary world that was a greater honor!

Elder Qian called. "Congratulations, Little Zhang!"

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "Elder Qian, how can you do this? If you already knew that my name was on the winner's list, why didn't you tell me earlier? I was cooped up for the entire day at my studio with my colleagues anxiously worrying for me. Everyone thought that I wouldn't have a chance of winning. In any case, how did I end up getting first place for this year's Qilu Literature Prize? Who voted for me?"

Elder Qian said: "I don't know, actually. The voting process is anonymous; we place our votes into sealed boxes which are then handed to a professional to take care of. Once the voting is done, it's out of our judging panel's hands. I, too, found out that you took first place when I heard the announcement over the radio."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me, it was the book that was good."

"Let me treat you to a meal someday."

"Haha, alright, I'll be waiting for it."

Following, a call from his mother arrived. She sounded very excited.

"Son, you're amazing!"

"Thanks, Mom."

"Your dad also sends his congratulations!"

"Alright, I'll continue to work hard."

Li Mei from Eastern Publishing Firm called as well.

"Brother Zhang, I'm calling to congratulate you on behalf of the publishing firm. The boss has asked me to convey his congratulations to you. And for me personally, I just want to say that you're really awesome!"

"Thank you."

"For the second edition's print run, we can add 'winner of the Qilu Literature Prize' to the cover. With this highest honor given to it, Fortress Besieged will fly even faster off the shelves!"

"Sure, I'll leave it to you all to plan."

"We've already started on it. Shall I send you the cover after we're done with the design?"

"There's no need, I trust you guys."

"Thank you, Brother Zhang!"

He received over a dozen calls!

Yao Jiancai, Zhang Xia, Dong Shanshan, Yu Yingyi, and many other close friends sent their congratulations!

The news was also reporting about it!

"Qilu Literature Prize winners' list announced!"

"Zhang Ye goes against all odds to take top honors!"

"Zhang Ye reaches summit by winning highest honor in literary field!"

"Yanhong Literary Prize suffers terrible face smacking!"

"The judging panel of the Yanhong Literary Prize expresses: No comment!"

"Fortress Besieged—a masterpiece on the topic of marriage!"

"Zhang Ye slaps the faces of the Yanhong Literary Prize committee: You want to ignore me today? Tomorrow you'll never measure up to my expectations!"

Congratulatory messages flooded Weibo!

"This is so impressive!"

"He really won it! And he even got first place!"

"Zhang Ye has ascended onto the altar!"

"He has taken yet another top honor! Zhang Ye's popularity is going to soar like crazy!"

"It's going to increase by a lot this time."

"Fortress Besieged is a well-deserved winner!"

"You're right. Even if Fortress Besieged won every domestic literary award there is, it wouldn't be an issue! Even if there are many people from the literary field who bear a grudge against Zhang Ye, this award must still be given to him! Alright, I won't say any more. I need to quickly get back to reading it again. I need to read it a few more times to grasp it fully!"

"So fast? I still haven't finished reading it!"

"I'll get back to reading it too! Congratulations to Lord Zhang!"

"Lord Zhang did not disappoint us!"

"The faces of Yanhong Literary Prize committee have probably turned green from anger!"

"Hahaha, those fools! When I think about that explanation the Yanhong Literary Prize committee gave, I can't help but laugh. They were saying that Zhang Ye did not have the qualifications to win the Yanhong Literary Prize and came up with all kinds of reason to justify it. But in the end? He won the Qilu Literature Prize and slapped them so hard their faces became swollen! The Qilu Literature Prize is much more prestigious than your Yanhong Literary Prize! If the most coveted literary award in the country recognizes Zhang Ye and even gave him top honors, how can you people say that he's unqualified to win the Yanhong Literary Prize? What a joke!"

"One of the headlines in the news put it really well! 'You want to ignore me today? Tomorrow you'll never measure up to my expectations!' Hahaha, that's so cool!"

"I need to give a Like to the Qilu Literature Prize committee. They must have resisted a great deal of pressure to award the prize to Zhang Ye! This should also be an official acknowledgment of Zhang Ye by the literary circle, right?"

"Who cares if they acknowledge him or not? All I care about is whether I can get my hands on a copy of Fortress Besieged tomorrow!"

"Me too! I've been listening to you people praising it to the high heavens, yet I haven't even laid eyes on it!"

"This is killing me! Damn it, I should just go queue up at midnight!"

"Does anyone still have the first edition of Fortress Besieged? I'll buy it for a high price!"

"My advice to everyone is to not buy it in a hurry. See whether you like it first, as literary fiction is not something that everyone can appreciate. You might not be able to understand it."

"Fuck, this is the highest voted book that won the Qilu Literature Prize! Even if I don't understand it, I still must read it!"

"The majority of people can't even buy this book anymore!"

The people were heatedly discussing this!

News about it was appearing everywhere!

Industry insiders were also starting to react to this news!

Some industry peers were lauding Fortress Besieged and marveling at it. A lot of plot and word analysis of Fortress Besieged also appeared. Of course, there was no lack of criticism either. Some authors who had always despised Zhang Ye joined forces to nitpick and find fault with the novel. This included two old judges on the Yanhong Literary Prize committee. However, no one took these people's words seriously. A lot of people did not even care about them. The Qilu Literature Prize had acknowledged Zhang Ye, so it was meaningless for this group of people to say anything!

Why did they give him the award?

There was no why!

The fact was that they had given it to him!

…

On that same night.

The Qilu Literature Prize money arrived. It was just 50,000 RMB, no more, no less.

The five Qilu Literature Prize winners were "showered" with attention without exception by the media reporters. Of them, Zhang Ye was the most heavily "showered" upon.

The reporters were clogging the entrance of the studio!

"Teacher Zhang!"

"Are you around?"

"We're reporters from the Morning Post!"

"We're reporters from Beijing Television!"

"Please accept our interview!"

The door was not open, but they could still be heard from inside the studio.

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Director Zhang, shall I go handle them?"

"Yes, I'll go and lie low." Zhang Ye was still on the line making calls. He spoke on the phone as he walked upstairs with a smile: "Teacher Su, thank you for your concern. Yes, the reporters are here."

The door opened and Little Wang ushered the reporters inside.

Ha Qiqi smiled. "Hi, everyone. Director Zhang still has some work to handle. I'm Zhang Ye's Studio's external communications manager, so you can all ask me questions if you have any."

The reporters immediately pushed their cameras and microphones to the front!

The Beijing Times reporter said, "Congratulations to Teacher Zhang for winning the highest domestic honor in literature!"

Ha Qiqi nodded. "Thank you."

A different reporter quickly asked, "Regarding the sales figures of Fortress Besieged, what kind of expectations did you all have?"

Ha Qiqi shook her head and said, "We really didn't have any expectations. We don't do estimates for such things, wanting to concentrate on completing whatever needs to be done, that's all. Director Zhang's own words for this book were to 'sell however much we can.' This is actually Director Zhang's first foray into writing this type of novel. It was an attempt at switching from genre fiction to literary fiction. So, to have gained the acknowledgment of the Qilu Literature Prize committee, that was something we hadn't expected at all."

A female reporter raised an audio recorder and asked, "We would like to know what the creative process for a literary novel is like. How long did it take for Teacher Zhang to conceptualize it? How many years did he take to produce it? Did he ever reach a bottleneck where he couldn't continue writing?"

The creative process?

How many years?

Ha Qiqi said, "The process was very arduous."

The female reporter asked curiously, "How arduous?"

Ha Qiqi cleared her throat and said, "It was particularly arduous."

Another television station's reporter followed up with, "So just how particularly arduous?"

Ha Qiqi said calmly with a straight face, "The process is not something that outsiders would understand, but just know that it was particularly arduous."

The corner of Little Wang's mouth twitched!

Wu Yi pretended to drink water and nearly even choked!

The studio's staff were all madly laughing on the inside!

Particularly arduous?

Particularly, my ass!

Arduous, my ass!

How was it arduous at all? When was there ever a bottleneck that made him unable to continue writing? Director Zhang just locked himself in his office and casually finished writing it in less than two days. He didn't even check for typos and sent it straight over to the publishing firm. If this was called arduous, what would it be like when it was not arduous?

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Chapter 1211: Another increase in popularity!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the morning.

After Zhang Ye woke up, he drove over to Old Wu's parent's place to bring them the good news.

When he passed by a bookstore at the road outside their alley, it was just opening for the day. Immediately, more than 30 youths who were lining up outside rushed in like they were going to attempt to rob the store!

"Fortress Besieged!"

"I want a copy!"

"Do you have any left?"

"What? Why not?"

"I was here since yesterday!"

"Boss, why didn't you guys bring in more stock!"

"I'm so tired of this. Why is it so hard for me to be able to read a book I want!"

"My dad ordered me to buy a copy home. Hai, how am I going to find a copy for him? Well, whatever, I guess I'll go elsewhere and ask around."

"The stock should stabilize by tomorrow. Right now, a lot of people are surely looking to buy Fortress Besieged for their book collection since it's just won an important award. But that'll slowly die down in several more days."

"Hopefully."

"Then I guess I'll wait another day or two."

Some of the bookstores were out of stock.

Some others were sold out the moment they opened for business.

On this morning, such events were unfolding throughout the country.

Zhang Ye walked toward the alley happy. Hearing all the praise and discussion by everyone about Fortress Besieged, he was feeling really happy for himse—for Comrade Qian Zhongshu 1 !

At the courtyard house.

Zhang Ye pushed open the door and entered. "Auntie, Uncle."

Li Qinqin had just come out to the courtyard to fetch some water. When she heard Zhang Ye's voice, she broke into a smile. "Little Ye, you're here? Go into the house quick, we're all waiting for you for breakfast. It's already been made."

Zhang Ye went up to offer his help. "Auntie, let me do it."

Li Qinqin said, "No, no, leave it to me. You're a famous author now."

"What famous author?" Zhang Ye laughed and said, "No matter what awards I receive, I'll always be your son."

Li Qinqin smiled. "I love hearing that."

Wu Zeqing also came out of the house. She smiled and said, "You're here?"

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Zhang Ye waved and said, "Hey, Old Wu."

Wu Zeqing said, "Quickly come in, my dad is getting steamed up over you."

In the Beijing dialect, to be steamed up means to be angry.

Zhang Ye was startled. "What's wrong with Uncle?"

In the house, Wu Changhe grumbled with a copy of Fortress Besieged next to his hand, "What do you think is wrong? My daughter hasn't even gotten married to you yet and you're already expressing despair about marriage?" He was wearing his reading glasses and holding up the book, flipping through the pages. Many of the pages were bookmarked and the contents highlighted, then underlined with red or blue ink. Clearly, he had done a lot of reading and research. "Look at this paragraph here, then this paragraph over here. You rascal, how did you come up with so many flirtatious and scheming plots? You're not sincere at all! You are totally not sincere at all!"

Zhang Ye nearly fainted. "Uncle, it's just a novel, none of it is real."

Li Qinqin chuckled and said, "Little Ye, don't worry about your uncle. He just has nothing better to do than nitpick. He didn't even put your book down once the entire night."

Wu Changhe harrumphed, "The book is good, but the author is really dishonest!"

Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Old Qian (Zhongshu).

Someone is scolding you.

Wu Zeqing said calmly, "He's writing satire. You're a person from the Go world, so don't go around involving yourself with the literary world. You don't understand them anyway."

Zhang Ye also explained, "Uncle, don't you worry. I'm full of hope when it comes to marriage and really don't have those kinds of thoughts at all. It's not like I went digging for some emperor's grave even though I wrote a grave robbing novel, right? It's only a novel. No matter how real it sounds, it's still made up."

He finally got past it with this explanation.

Everyone sat down to have breakfast together. After the meal, Zhang Ye quickly helped out with the chores like washing the dishes and wiping down the table in an attempt to impress his elders. Finally, he even used his future father-in-law's account to play a few games of Go on his behalf and thrashed several of the 9-dan experts from China Qiyuan. Only then did his future father-in-law start to look happier!

Hai, do you think life is easy for this bro!

Over the next few days.

Zhang Ye treated his friends and colleagues to meals every day. In total, he attended around seven gatherings. Although they said it was to celebrate him, it was actually just a chance for them to get together and catch up over food and drinks.

The sales of Fortress Besieged continued to hold up very well.

Every batch of books from each print run that Eastern Publishing Firm ran sold out the moment they left the presses. Moreover, the print factories were also putting in overtime every day in order to ship out the goods!

The Eastern Publishing Firm's staff were seemingly celebrating the new year every day. Everyone was walking on air and even felt like they would float into the sky if the windows got opened.

"Boss, we still don't have enough to meet demand!"

"Add another print run!"

"It's too popular! There's no sign of the sales slowing!"

"The demand for it hasn't reached saturation yet! Print more! Print however much more they ask for!"

"Teacher Zhang Ye is amazing!"

"That's right, add an additional print run for Ghost Blows Out the Light and Legend of Wukong. Use this opportunity where Teacher Zhang has climbed to the summit with that newly gained honor to sell another wave of those books!"

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"Alright, I'll get in touch with the printers right now!"

200,000 copies!

300,000 copies!

400,000 copies!

The sales figures were so explosive that it dumbfounded many book publishers and people in the literary field. Are you people fucking intending to break the record set by Ghost Blows Out the Light? Ghost Blows Out the Light was a genre fiction novel that was specifically written to appeal to the market. Bu Fortress Besieged? Yes, Zhang Ye was extremely popular, and Fortress Besieged had also won the highest honor of the Chinese literary world. But when you boil it down, this was just a literary novel!

Selling well on the first day? That was normal!

Still selling well on the second day? Acceptable!

But it was still selling like hotcakes on the third and fourth days?

Even with such a large supply of books, it was not enough to satisfy the crazed book buyers? And it was even difficult to get? This was too scary! There was no comparison between genre fiction and literary fiction when it came to artistic merit. Similarly, a literary novel could never compare in terms of sales to genre fiction. However, Fortress Besieged seemed to be the exception. Be it its literary standards, the praise heaped upon it, the award it won, or even its sales figures, all of it was top notch. It had broken many of the known stereotypes in the industry, and many of the analyses and experiences of experts were no longer applicable to Zhang Ye!

Quite a lot of literary figures were getting jealous!

Why?

Based on what?

He could win an award and the book was selling so well too?

Why could he enjoy the best of both worlds!

When the other four literary masters who had also won the Qilu Literature Prize learned about this, they got inspired!

Has literary fiction become popular?

Has spring arrived for literary novels?

On the day itself, the publishing firms they were working with reprinted and promoted their award-winning books on a large scale. This was standard industry practice as they wanted to bank on the momentum from winning the award to sell another wave of books. The publishing firms needed to make a living, and so did the authors. Who would ever think they had earned enough money? Seeing how insanely Fortress Besieged was selling, they wanted to get a slice of the pie too!

But when the four literary masters' books got restocked on the shelves, a lot of people were dumbfounded to find out that those winners' books had a completely different experience from Fortress Besieged!

One of the books had 50,000 copies reprinted, but only managed to sell one-third of the copies after two days!

Another one had a print run of 20,000 copies and still did not sell out after three days!

Nobody knew whether to laugh or cry. So it wasn't the market that had changed. There was no spring coming for literary novels. It was just Fortress Besieged that was on fire, it was just Zhang Ye who was on fire!

Zhang Ye was indeed on fire again!

Not only in terms of popularity, but also overall statistics!

In the latest updated Chinese Celebrity Rankings Index, on the day after Zhang Ye won the Qilu Literature Prize, he gained another increase to his overall popularity score. It wasn't just a gain in a single aspect of his popularity but an overall surge. This was the effect of winning the highest honor. It was a percent increase accumulated and gained toward the overall popularity score. Moreover, the Qilu Literature Prize was different from the other awards. The highest honors in the literary world could only be won once by an author in their lifetime. Thus, the value of such awards were even greater and the percent increase would similarly be greater. It was probably even greater than the combination of the popularity scores gained from the variety shows' highest honor and the documentaries' highest honor combined! This was also the reason for so many celebrities to chase after those prestigious awards. If they could accumulate enough of said gains, it would be a colossal number! Honors, awards, fanbase, number of works, fame, all of those contributed to the total popularity scores of every celebrity! The Chinese Celebrity Rankings Index was also an aggregate chart. If a celebrity wanted to ascend to one of those seven spots in the entertainment industry, it depended on their overall popularity scores!

And so, with the bonus from winning the award, and including the rising sales figures of Fortress Besieged, Zhang Ye's popularity sprang up by quite a lot again!

He was getting even closer to those seven spots!

The first and second milestones of the "Reach the Summit" plan had been reached!

1. https/en./wiki/Qian_Zhongshu

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Chapter 1212: A great harvest from the lottery draw!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this day.

The sun was shining and the autumn wind blowing.

Zhang Ye was finally done entertaining everyone and took half a day off to rest. The celebratory feasts, the gatherings, handling the reporters, holding autograph signing book events, all these activities had left him totally exhausted. Just the signing event alone required him to sign no less than 500 books. But as Zhang Ye wanted to quickly reach the position of the seven spots, and with his milestones of the plan to reach the summit fully lined up with barely any breaks in between, Zhang Ye could only give himself half a day off with only two milestones completed and the third and fourth ones coming up immediately.

He had no choice.

All of this was so he could reach the top in China.

Even though he called it a break, he actually intended to use this half day to do something very important. With this large chunk of free time and his game ring's Reputation Points reaching an astronomical figure that he only occasionally used to activate the Lucky Halo and buy Memory Search Capsules with, he had no idea how long he had not played the lottery draw. He hadn't added to his Stats and Special Category items for a long time. So he had to make the best of the time he had to restock. This was also to give himself a better foundation for what was to come in his plan to reach the summit. After all, to forge iron, one must be strong. Having more skills would not be a burden and he was still lacking in many areas. Who would ever dislike being good at many things?

His parents had been out since early morning, but he didn't know where they had gone. In order to get luckier, Zhang Ye showered and washed himself from head to toe. He washed just his hands alone five times until his skin almost came off.

It was about enough.

He took the opportunity to call Wu Zeqing as well.

It connected after only two rings.

"Old Wu, what are you doing?"

"I'm at work."

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

"I ate at home."

"By the way, give me a kiss?"

"What's the matter?"

"To give me some luck, come on now."

"Hur hur, but I'm working."

"Aiyo, just secretly give me a kiss."

"There're people around."

"Oh, then it's fine, go do your work."

A short while after hanging up, his cell phone text message tone sounded. Zhang Ye took a look and saw that Wu Zeqing had sent him a photo. It did not show her entire face, and even her nose could not be seen in the picture. All the photo showed was two red lips puckered in an elegant and graceful manner.

It was so tempting!

Zhang Ye's fantasies were stirred!

Di di.

Old Wu texted: "Is that fine?"

Zhang Ye typed: "Haha, that's good enough!"

"Why do you need luck?"

Zhang Ye replied: "I have important business."

Zhang Ye threw the phone onto the sofa and rubbed his hands together, then took a deep breath before opening up the game ring's interface to look at his total Reputation Points. It was ridiculously high! The long string of numbers dazzled Zhang Ye, and he didn't hesitate as he activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded). He was going to leave it activated all the time without caring about the idle time in between his lottery draws. This bro could afford it….Forget it, it was probably better to be more prudent.

Which lottery draw should he go for first?

Alright, Lottery Draw (Two) then!

He opened up Lottery Draw (Two) and a virtual slot machine appeared out of thin air. Zhang Ye did not even think before placing five additional stakes costing a total of 50 million Reputation Points!

Zhang Ye had known Lottery Draw (Two)'s additional stakes function for a long time. But he'd never used it much as he was reluctant to do so. He preferred to save the Reputation Points since he did not use to have much. Lottery Draw (Two) cost 10 million Reputation Points each time he played it, and the rate of getting an "Empty" Treasure Chest (Medium) was very high as well. If he was unlucky, he would have ended up with nothing at all. But now that he had so many Reputation Points accumulated, he was much more emboldened. Further, there was also the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) to bring up his chances. Without even batting an eyelid, 50 million Reputation Points were spent just like that!

The lottery draw began!

The slot machine started moving!

One spin.

Three spins.

Five spins.

Zhang Ye closed and eyes and did not watch.

Finally, the prizes were dispensed!

He heard some jingling sounds as five golden medium treasure chests fell out. Zhang Ye nervously and expectantly opened up the five treasure chests.

They were items from the Consumption Category!

All five were the same items!

[Spring Water of Health] 5: Heals physical injuries and sickness.

In Lottery Draw (Two), the chances of getting an item from the Consumption Category were very low. Zhang Ye could only remember getting the 1-Up item during his first try at the Lottery Draw (Two), but did not come across this category in his future draws. This was because the items in the Consumption Category for the Lottery Draw (Two) were all extremely precious items.

Spring Water of Health?

Heals injuries and sickness?

That sounded really awesome!

And this Spring Water of Health was probably part of a set with the 1-Up as well? The item description for the 1-Up was quite ambiguous. From what he could understand, if any fatal injuries were inflicted on Zhang Ye, the 1-Up should revive him. But whether he would be revived to a state where he was full of vim and vigor was another matter. That sort of godly item was quite unlikely to be found in the Treasure Chest (Medium), though it might be possible to gain such an item from the Treasure Chest (Large). However, now that he had gotten the Spring Water of Health in addition to his 1-Up, it was going to be the ultimate combination. The 1-Up would be responsible for saving his life, while the Spring Water of Health would restore him to full health. Boys and girls together, the work gets lighter.

The only issue was that the effect of this item was unknown.

Oh yes, weren't his own internal injuries still not completely healed? Those old injuries he suffered at the martial arts conference had flared up once during his participation in the King of Masked Singers. Although Zhang Ye closely followed the prescription given to him by Rao Aimin and took the medicine religiously for quite a period of time, he did not really dare to use his concealed power in all these months. He was afraid to aggravate his injuries again, and according to Rao Aimin, it was very difficult to fully recover from injuries that were inflicted by concealed power and would require long-term recuperation. So Zhang Ye was bound by his hands and legs most of the time when it came to situations that required him to do something with his powers. He was afraid that it would cause more trouble at a critical moment if he were to take action and then aggravate the injury once more.

This item had arrived quite timely!

After temporarily deactivating his Lucky Halo, Zhang Ye picked up a bottle of Spring Water of Health and gulped it down while pinching his nose.

Eh? Why does it taste so good?

It tasted sweet. Then he could feel his body heating up.

The aftereffects lasted about ten minutes before Zhang Ye slowly wondered if there was any recovery. He moved his arms around and found that he was in an extremely good state of mind. It was as though his whole person was shining, and that feeling was like waking up from a particularly fulfilling sleep without the need to go to work and being able to stretch once awake!

He moved his hands and threw several punches imbued with concealed power!

Huu!

Huu!

His punches even whooshed through the air!

Zhang Ye was ecstatic. He had recovered! His old injuries had really disappeared!

He wondered if this Spring Water of Health would work on anyone else other than him. It wasn't mentioned in the item description, so Zhang Ye wasn't sure. Oh, Rao Aimin's old injuries were even more serious than his, and then there was Qiu Yumei too. Could this thingy heal Sister Qiu's legs? If it could, then wouldn't that be defying all common sense?

Cold and fever.

Broken hands and legs.

Were all these included under injuries and sickness?

Eh, could it treat stuttering? Alright, that was enough thinking for now.

Zhang Ye was very excited. He really hadn't washed his hands for nothing. Old Wu's kiss was not for nothing either. Taking advantage of this lucky streak, he continued to play the lottery and activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) once more!

Come on!

Come on!

Keep going like this!

He was playing more and more rounds of the lottery draw. This fellow was completely unable to stop!

The accumulated Reputation Points were finally starting to drop!

[Fruit of Charm]

[Singing Skill Experience Book]

[Basics of Directing Skill Experience Book]

[Higher Mathematics Skill Experience Book]

[Lock Picking Skill Experience Book]

[Computer Programming Skills - Network Technology Experience Book]

[Computer Programming Skills Experience Book]

How coincidental. Many of the items he was getting from the lottery draw today were items he had gotten in the past. Zhang Ye was randomly adding additional stakes every time he played, so he had a lot of some items and very little of others. Like the Lock Picking Skill Experience Books. He had received this item not long after he gained the game ring system. Then the item was put to good use during the plane hijacking incident soon afterwards. At that time, he had "eaten" too few of those experience books, so it was now time to add on. It was the same for the Computer Programming Skills Experience Books and Computer Programming Skills - Network Technology Experience Books. Although he had "eaten" a lot of those, the Treasure Chest (Medium) skill experience books were not capped. He could continue "eating" more of them. Along with those, he was also able to strengthen his directing, singing, and higher mathematics skills. He also gained some Fruits of Charm that were very important for a celebrity like him, but it was unfortunate that there weren't much of them.

Of course, some totally new skill experience and Stats Category fruits were gained!

[Fruit of Alcohol Tolerance: Increase one's drinking capacity.

Zhang Ye received a thousand of these and ate them all!

[Flight Engine Manufacturing Skill Experience Book]

This skill experience book made Zhang Ye's balls ache, and he had actually gotten quite a lot of them too. Engine manufacturing? Why didn't you just give me an Excavator Repair Skill Experience Book instead!

Whatever, I'll just eat it!

Who knows if it might be useful later!

At the end of the lottery draw, Zhang Ye even dropped by the Merchant Shop and bought several hundred Taiji Fist Skill Experience Books at once. He could straight up buy this item as he had its purchasing rights. He had no need to use the lottery draw and could buy it whenever he wanted, except that it was a little bit costly. This book required a million Reputation Points each, and several hundred of them would mean he had to spend several hundred million Reputation Points all at once. His Taiji Fist abilities had gained a slight improvement again, but as for whether he could step up to the level of grandmaster was still to be seen.

Alright!

Enough spending of Reputation Points, that's all for today!

Zhang Ye did a simple inventory check of his Stats and Skills Category items and felt quite satisfied with it as he raised almost every aspect of them again. He could do everything with even more confidence now!

There was also quite a lot of items left in his inventory.

[Difficulty Adjustment Die] x 1.

[X-ray Vision Eye Drops] x 1.

[Pause Game] x 1.

[1-Up] x 1.

[Spring Water of Health] x 4.

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Chapter 1213: Semi-grandmaster!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Noon.

Jiaomen East.

At Old Rao's house.

The door was open. It seemed like Rao Aimin had just finished making lunch as the entire house was filled with the aroma of cooking. Chenchen and Yang Shu were both waiting at the dinner table when Zhang Ye showed up uninvited.

"Yo, Big Sis Rao, are you making lunch?" Zhang Ye eyes lit up.

Rao Aimin looked at him. "Have you eaten yet?"

Zhang Ye took a step into the house. "Not yet, what good timing!"

Rao Aimin's next words were: "Chenchen, shut the door!"

Chenchen actually listened to her and was really going to close the door.

Zhang Ye squeezed in through the doorway. "Hey, hey, hey, what's the meaning of this?"

His junior martial sister was still the one who cared the most about him. Yang Shu gave up her seat and brought over another stool for herself. She said respectfully, "Senior Bro, please take a seat here."

Zhang Ye gave her an approving nod. "OK!"

Yang Shu went to fetch a pair of chopsticks for him.

Zhang Ye spoke like a lord, "Get me a bowl of rice too. Make the serving larger, I'm starving."

"Alright." Yang Shu busily attended to his requests.

Chenchen could not look on and said in her childish voice, "Old Yang, don't spoil him."

Rao Aimin was shaking her head nonstop.

Only Zhang Ye and Yang Shu remained from the Taiji branch of martial arts in this world. Their predecessors were no longer around, and no successors lay ahead. In the whole wide world, only the two of them remained. Zhang Ye was Yang Shu's senior martial brother. As the senior martial brother, he was like a father figure to her. Moreover, Zhang Ye was like a semi-master to Yang Shu. The line of the Taiji branch of martial arts was broken and not something Rao Aimin could take over to teach. Other than Zhang Ye, no one could teach her. Zhang Ye was also the closest person to her in this world, which was why Yang Shu had always been very respectful to him as her senior martial brother. She would do whatever he asked, be it physical work or running errands.

At the dinner table.

Zhang Ye asked, "Yang'er, how's your kung fu practice going?"

Yang Shu put down her chopsticks and answered in earnest, "I did not disappoint you, Senior Bro. I've made some good improvement."

"Good." Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I'll teach you another couple of moves later."

Yang Shu became very excited. "Thank you, Senior Bro!"

Chenchen curled her lips. "Hur hur."

Zhang Ye pretended not to hear. He looked at Old Rao and said cockily, "Shall we exchange a few blows after lunch? You can take the chance to exercise a little and I can teach my junior sis a few new moves at the same time."

Rao Aimin dismissed, "With that skill of yours?"

Zhang Ye bragged, "I've made huge leaps recently. I'm no longer the old me."

Rao Aimin said in amusement, "Sure then, I'll give it a try."

Chenchen said, "My aunt hasn't fully recovered from her injuries yet."

Rao Aimin cut her off and said, "It's fine. I can win against him even with my injuries. How dare he challenge me!"

After lunch.

Zhang Ye sneakily went to pour a glass of water. With no one watching, he furtively opened up his game ring and retrieved a bottle of Spring Water of Health from the inventory. Then, he silently poured it into the glass. He wasn't sure if this thing would actually work on other people, but he could at least try. He wanted to see if it would heal Old Rao's injuries and at the same time test if his kung fu was good enough to match a grandmaster after he had "eaten" another several hundred Taiji Fist Skill Experience Books.

Yang Shu went to wash the dishes.

Zhang Ye walked over affably. "Old Rao, have some water."

Rao Aimin was taken aback, then said to Chenchen, "Go look out the window."

Chenchen asked, "Look at what?"

Rao Aimin said, "See if the sun rose from the west today. This kid actually poured water for me? Are you trying to poison me?"

Zhang Ye nearly vomited blood.

In the end, Rao Aimin still drank it.

Zhang Ye watched her. "How are you feeling?"

"A little warm." Rao Aimin then stared at him. "Hey, rascal, did you really try to poison me?"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "Why would I poison you? You probably ate too much and the food is burning off."

A space was cleared out within the apartment.

Chenchen hid away at the top of the stairs, lying on the staircase observing the fight downstairs.

Meanwhile, Yang Shu stood in a corner, watching without blinking.

Rao Aimin said uncaringly, "Let's begin."

"You first." Zhang Ye got into a stance.

Rao Aimin asked, "Should I hold back?"

Zhang Ye said, "Doesn't matter."

"Alright."

The most exciting moment was about to arrive.

Chenchen even placed a bet with Yang Shu. "Old Yang, who are you betting on to win?"

Yang Shu said firmly, "My Senior Bro!"

"It's definitely going to be my aunt," Chenchen said.

This time, it wasn't going to be a touch and go exchange of blows. It wasn't going to be fought using fanciful chopstick moves either. This was going to be the first official all-out duel between Rao Aimin and Zhang Ye. It might be a duel held in a living room measuring little more than ten square meters, and there might only be two people watching, but if anyone from the Chinese martial arts world learned about this, it would surely spark a big reaction from them. A lot of people would definitely wish they were here to see this, to see whose technique was the stronger one!

Zhang Ye vs. Rao Aimin!

Taiji Fist vs. Eight Trigrams Palm!

The hooligan of the Chinese martial arts world versus the evil tyrant of the Chinese martial arts world!

A man just below the level of grandmaster versus a Chinese martial arts grandmaster!

A duel that could probably be written in the annals of Chinese martial arts history was happening right here in this humble little apartment without any fanfare!

Bang!

They immediately went all out with their first exchange!

Rao Aimin slipped into the Eight Trigrams Step and aimed a palm strike at Zhang Ye's side!

Zhang Ye fended it off by dampening her blow and countered with a punch!

Rao Aimin raised her hand to block it!

There was concealed power imbued within Zhang Ye's palm!

Rao Aimin met it with a palm strike of her own!

The two of them hobbled back two steps, with no one getting any advantage over the other.

Rao Aimin smiled and said, "Yo, you've recovered from your injuries?"

Zhang Ye smiled. "I guess I have."

"You've got good moves. Come on then." Rao Aimin used her swimming body stance and stuck close to him.

Chenchen shouted from above, "Auntie, go on, hit him! Hit him!"

Meanwhile, Yang Shu silently watched with wide eyes. She was memorizing every move Zhang Ye executed. She knew that her senior martial brother was already starting to teach her!

There was another exchange of blows!

Bang!

Smash!

Both sides were going back and forth!

A closer look would reveal that Zhang Ye's advantage lay in his strength, reaction, and stamina. Together with his young age, he had all the advantages a man should have. But for Rao Aimin, her advantage was in her technique, experience, and control of rhythm. The most critical thing was that her concealed power was clearly much more ingrained than Zhang Ye's. So as the duel went on, Zhang Ye's strength was slowly getting sapped while Rao Aimin gradually gained the upper hand!

A duel involving Chinese martial arts was a very quick engagement of moves. Rarely would you see those huge battles involving hundreds of blows like in the movies or on television. Even if the martial artists didn't starve to death, they would probably die trying to hold their bladders! A quick duel would be over in just one or two exchanges. If it took longer than that, probably several dozen exchanges would leave either one of the opponents lying on the ground.

When Zhang Ye realized that things weren't looking good, he quickly pulled back. "Alright, alright, that's enough for now." Then he saw that his fists and several parts of his arms had turned red!

Hai.

He was still a step away from becoming a grandmaster.

No, it was a step away previously, but he was now only half a step away.

Zhang Ye knew he was still not good enough to beat Old Rao, and he wasn't just lacking by a bit. Although he still had many special techniques that he did not show, Old Rao probably hadn't pulled out any of her special moves either.

But Rao Aimin hadn't had enough. "Come, again!"

Zhang Ye snorted. "I'm tired, another day perhaps."

Rao Aimin pursed her lips. "You're no fun." She relaxed as well.

Then Zhang Ye looked at her. "How are you feeling?"

"What do you mean by how am I feeling?" Rao Aimin did not quite understand him but was gradually taken aback. She looked at her palm, then raised it and struck at the air with concealed power. There wasn't a sound or any movement, but the spectating Yang Shu knew that if anyone had taken her palm strike, even if it just brushed past them a little, they would probably have ended up with shattered bones!

Yang Shu said dumbfounded, "Master Rao, your injuries…"

Rao Aimin was also very happy. "Hey, did I make a full recovery from my injuries? How can it be so quick?"

Compared to the injuries suffered by Zhang Ye, Rao Aimin had nearly died at the martial arts conference. She took quite a few attacks of concealed power and suffered both internal and external injuries. If she wanted to recover to her previous skill level, Zhang Ye estimated it would take at least a year or so. On top of that, Rao Aimin would likely suffer a drop in her skill level in the two to three years that followed or even after her full recovery. She wouldn't be able to reach her peak level again. After all, she was a woman and her age was catching up as well. But surprisingly, after today's exchange with Zhang Ye, Rao Aimin felt that she had recovered from all her internal injuries and returned to the peak of her prowess.

Only Zhang Ye knew what was really going on!

It was the effect of the Spring Water of Health!

Besides him, this item could aid others to recover from injuries and sickness? Moreover, its effects were almost immediate and could even heal such heavy internal injuries. This must be some type of a miracle cure!

Zhang Ye laughed loudly, "You should thank me."

Rao Aimin sneered. "What has it got anything to do with you?"

Yang Shu added, "Congratulations, Master Rao!"

Chenchen ran down the stairs. "Aunt, this is great."

"Alright, I'm feeling happy today. I'll whip up a good meal for all of you tonight," Rao Aimin said evenly.

Old Rao's injuries were now healed. Zhang Ye's skill level had increased. With them both standing guard now, even if those experts from the "respectable" martial sects who were seriously injured by them made a full recovery and came seeking revenge, they would have nothing to worry about. Besides, there was also one more person who was close to achieving concealed power on their side, Yang Shu!

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Chapter 1214: The pie that is the Chinese language textbook curriculum revision!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the afternoon.

Ha Qiqi went downstairs to look for Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye was sparring with Yang Shu at Rao Aimin's apartment.

"Director Zhang, are you busy?"

"Not at all, I'm done here."

"Everyone has arrived and are waiting for you in the conference room."

"Alright, I'll be right over."

"I just received some news about something that cropped up over at Central TV."

"Did something happen? Come, let's talk about it back at the office."

His studio was located just upstairs. He didn't even need to take the elevator and only took a minute or two by stairs to get to. The conference room was packed with all the studio employees present.

Zhang Ye sat down. "Let's get the meeting started."

Everyone began reporting about the progress of their work over the past few days.

The sales volume of Fortress Besieged, the reputation gained from winning the highest honor, and a summary of the increase in popularity during this period, etc. Work was going well and the results were very delightful too. All of them had handed in an impeccable answer sheet, and the main contributor definitely had to be Zhang Ye. As expected, when the studio staff were all feeling hopeless about things, Zhang Ye managed to pull it off. He saved the entire "world" with a novel he had written and put back on track the plan they had for him to reach the summit. They were within sight of those seven spots at the top. What laid ahead of them now was only the latter half of the plan.

Zhang Zuo said, "We've already started preparing for the third milestone."

Ha Qiqi gave a wry smile and said, "Although we say that we're preparing for it, there isn't much that we can actually do."

Wu Yi said, "Yeah, whether we can hit the third milestone target or not, we can only leave it in fate's hands. There isn't much hope, but there's still a minute chance, I suppose."

Zhang Zuo analyzed, "The biggest issue is that Director Zhang's relationship with many of those in the education field is just average. The people from Peking University and Media College are definitely going to be supportive of Director Zhang, even though we can ignore and discount the effect that Media College has on this matter. This isn't something that they have much influence in, but Peking University still has a very large say. Then the remaining people could only be considered opponents of this milestone target that we have. Anyone who came out of Tsinghua University definitely won't put in a recommendation for Director Zhang's works. Many of the Redologists in the education field are still scolding Director Zhang every day. Then, there are also some others….Hai, there are just too many of them."

Everyone's heads hurt.

Zhang Ye asked, "It's going to happen soon?"

Zhang Zuo said somberly, "Yes, they'll be making a decision very soon."

Zhang Ye asked again, "Which day exactly?"

"I tried to find out but couldn't get any information," Zhang Zuo said.

Zhang Ye acknowledged, "Alright, I'll go check with my friends then."

Ha Qiqi said, "When we set this as our third milestone, we did have some hesitations as well. Honestly, even if we can't achieve it, it's fine. It's too difficult to achieve in the first place."

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Let's just give it a try."

Little Wang said loudly, "Yes, that's right. We definitely have to give it a try and see how it turns out. This is a great chance to go down in history, and it's also a huge sustainable source of popularity!"

All of them were discussing the new curriculum changes to the national textbooks and teaching materials!

That was the third milestone in the plan to reach the summit!

The nine-year compulsory curriculum revision of the textbooks and teaching materials was going to be implemented soon. The new content for the textbooks used in elementary, middle, and high schools involved changes in many aspects and also coincided with the educational reforms introduced over the past two years. The importance of such an exercise, its importance, and its politicality were all interconnected. The relationship between them was intricate and complex. In fact, rumors of revisions to the textbooks had been floating around since last year. Curriculum revisions were cyclical in nature, and they had reached the key point in time again. The curriculum revision was no secret, and everyone was prepared for it. However, no one expected it to be dragged out for so long until today, when some insider news finally got leaked.

The public still did not know, but many of the industry insiders had heard the news.

Zhang Ye's Studio was naturally concerned about it as they were hoping for a chance to get written into the textbooks!

It could even be said that the first and second milestones were completed in order to increase their chances of reaching the third milestone. By releasing a best-selling novel and winning a prestigious award, it wouldn't matter if others did not acknowledge Zhang Ye. With such achievements, Zhang Ye would become one of the leading figures in the literary field. The studio staff were all hoping that Zhang Ye would be able to get onto a page of the newly revised Chinese Language textbooks during this time his glowing achievements stood out. Even if it was going to be on the most corner spot of a page, even if only one of his works were chosen, that was enough for them!

Was this an important matter?

Yes, it really was a very important matter!

Thinking back to Beijing Television's Wang Shuixin whom Zhang Ye had fought with over the death of Father Wei, he had a poem called "Everything" that was listed in the appendix of a Chinese Language textbook. It wasn't even the main article, but Wang Shuixin behaved like he was some big shot. Those who could get their works into the official textbooks were either going to be the great ancients or a contemporary literary master!

The benefits were enormous!

A storm was probably brewing within the literary field!

But this only affected the Chinese language textbooks. Mathematics? Whoever could write a question that made it into the math textbook, that would just be it. There wouldn't be any attention given to the identity of the question writer, nor did anyone care. At most, the teacher who wrote that question could brag about it and tell their family and friends that it was they who wrote it.

Physics?

Chemistry?

English?

History?

Geography?

It was the same for those subjects. The Chinese language textbooks were the only difference. Any essays or poems that appeared in the Chinese language textbooks would be credited to the original authors. The students would even be required to recite some of them by heart! And what did that mean? Simply put, as long as a child was born and attended school in China, they would come across your work or have had to memorize it when they were young. They would definitely know your name, and this wasn't even by choice. There was simply no way of avoiding it, and they would have to know about it even if they did not wish to. You would then become known as a very great person to them from the time they were young!

If the highest honors in literature were an ICBM missile, then having your work chosen to be published in the Chinese language textbooks would make it an atomic bomb. The "radiation" effects would last for a very long time, or even affect someone for the rest of their lives!

As a literary figure, how important was this?

As someone from the entertainment industry, how important was this?

However, the other people from the entertainment industry had no chance of fighting for this opportunity. The only exception was Zhang Ye, as only he had the qualifications to fight it out with those big names in the literary field, to fight for that slim chance of having his work picked for the Chinese language textbook!

Textbooks for all six grades of elementary school?

Textbooks for all six grades of middle and high school?

Yes, perhaps there was even get a chance of getting one's works featured in the textbooks of both the first and second semesters of school!

It might sound like it was a lot or that there were many chances of getting one's work featured in the textbooks, but in reality, this was not so. The curriculum revision did not seek to change everything and would keep the majority of past teaching materials intact. For many of the ancients, their already included works would definitely not be touched. So the revision rate was not large at all. Excluding the predecessors' works that made it in, and excluding those sections where poems and essays were irrelevant, whatever was left of the pie was tiny!

Ten bites?

Eight bites?

That was probably all there was!

And those in the literary field who were fighting to get a bite? There were tens of thousands!

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Chapter 1215: A great opportunity!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The direction of the third milestone in the "Reach the Summit" plan was set.

Everyone's plan was just to wait? To ask around for information? To depend on luck?

But that was not what Zhang Ye was thinking. He had his own ideas and knew that he had to contend for an opportunity like this. Getting included in the Chinese language textbooks was a great opportunity. Only an idiot would not want this! Of course, Zhang Ye wasn't doing this for himself, he really wasn't. He was doing this for the great scholars from his previous world. If the essence of those scholars' wisdom from his previous world could not even make it into the Chinese language textbooks over here, then damn, what would that mean?

Wouldn't it be too goddamn insulting!

Wasn't it as good as getting pushed around!

Could he tolerate that? Of course he couldn't!

Even if he could tolerate it, would Old Li (Li Bai) tolerate that? Would Old Du (Du Fu) tolerate that?

And so, Zhang Ye hoped that he could seize a spot in the textbooks however small it was!

After the meeting, Zhang Ye went to call his Peking University colleague, Su Na. Teacher Su was from the university's Chinese Department and had maintained a good relationship with him. Her father was also someone in the literary field.

"Teacher Su."

"Yo, Teacher Zhang."

"What have you been up to recently?"

"Teaching, what else?"

"By the way, can I ask you something? The textbook curriculum revision will be implemented soon, have you heard about it?"

"Yes, I've heard. The literary field is stirring up because of it, so who wouldn't know? Why are you asking? Do you intend to contend for it too? That's right, Teacher Zhang, you're qualified to get selected!"

"Aiyah, please don't say that. How am I qualified? I'm still lacking by too much. I was just asking. Anyway, what are the requirements to get selected for the textbook curriculum revision?

"Didn't you say that you were still lacking by too much?"

"Yeah, but a person cannot have no goals. Otherwise, what difference would that be from being a salted fish?"

"Pfft, you can say whatever you like. In any case, I don't know much. I've heard some things from my parents, but I'm not exactly sure what the selection criteria is. That's something that the Education Department Textbook Revision work groups are handling. All I know is that they should probably be finishing the revision soon and should've prepared everything that needs to be prepared. I think it should be happening tomorrow morning. They'll be holding a meeting to discuss the specifics to tie up the changes. As for when they'll announce the changes and start the actual printing of the new textbooks, I'm not sure. For the mathematics and physics revisions, they might delay it until a later time because there's a bigger debate over them. They probably wouldn't be able to get it settled in the short term—that's what I heard from the Math Department. So yeah, that's about it."

"Tomorrow morning?"

"I think so."

"Don't just think so, are you sure?"

"I'm sure!"

"Alright, I got it. Thanks, you sure are well-informed."

"That's because you don't even come by Peking University anymore. If you came here to teach every day, what news in the education field would you not know?"

The call ended.

Zhang Ye went to find Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo. "I've found out that the curriculum revision for the Chinese language textbooks will be tied up by tomorrow morning."

Zhang Zuo said in anticipation, "I hope for good news then!"

Zhang Ye suddenly remembered something and looked at Ha Qiqi. "By the way, Sister Ha. You told me earlier at Old Rao's house that something happened at Central TV? What was it about?"

Ha Qiqi hesitated for a while before saying, "It's insider news. I learned of it from a former coworker at Central TV. It hasn't been announced yet, but it's been confirmed."

Zhang Ye asked, "So what's the matter?"

Ha Qiqi said, "Central TV Department 1 will be filming a second season of The Voice!"

Little Wang's ears were sharp and caught what they were saying. "What? How'd they get the copyright! Back when they signed the contract, the copyrights were all given to Director Zhang!"

Ha Qiqi shook her head. "It was just a figure of speech. In fact, they're going to film a new show and have already started prepping for it. The name of the show will be Sing! China, but to put it plainly, they just changed the name from The Voice to Sing!. In reality, it's just the second season of The Voice. The Voice was incredibly popular with the audience last year, and since Central TV Department 1 does not have any good reality shows lined up for this year, they're resorting to using The Voice again to carry the banner. They'll probably be putting together a new program team and invite a new panel of guest coaches, although I heard that there won't be many changes to the stage. The show's format will also remain the same."

Little Wang exclaimed, "That's considered infringement too!"

Wu Yi said angrily, "They're only changing how the show looks! Sue them!"

But Zhang Zuo said, "If they just change the segment where the guest coaches turn around in their chairs and make them stand up to turn around instead, or use some similar methods to block their views, it would really be very difficult to sue them. They can just claim that it's a new show with a new design. What can we do about that? We couldn't win even if we went to court."

A year had already passed since The Voice was broadcast. Counting the days, Central TV Department 1 could no longer continue sitting on it. Earlier, a lot of netizens were discussing whether there would be a second season of The Voice after Zhang Ye ended his contract with Central TV. Who would do it? And how were they going to do it? It seemed like there was an answer now. Central TV Department 1 would still carry on filming it. They would just ditch Zhang Ye, Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the rest of the old program team, then take the show and film it by themselves!

How devious!

But this was expected!

Zhang Ye was not at all surprised. "Let's put this issue aside for now."

What else could he do? Such things had happened even in Zhang Ye's previous world. Although they were no longer authorized to make the show due to not having the copyrights, there had always been striking similarities 1 in history and was difficult to enforce.

Forget it, just ignore them for now. The plan to reach the summit was still the most crucial of all.

…

Later that afternoon.

The news started to spread!

The curriculum revision for the elementary, middle, and high school textbooks was finally revealed. In fact, it was the Ministry of Education that held a press conference to announce this important news. For a lot of those in the industry, this wasn't really news. But to the majority of the public, this was the first time they were hearing about it.

A lot of information was made available through this press conference.

Like how there would be an increase in difficulty for the high school math textbooks.

And how the patriotic education in the elementary school textbooks would be enhanced.

Or the increase in vocabulary words used in the English language textbooks.

But of course, it was still the revision of the Chinese language textbooks that attracted the most attention. Every time there was a curriculum revision, the elementary and middle school Chinese language textbooks would get the most attention!

"Math is already so difficult, but they still want to make it harder?"

"No, please, no! Math is the only subject I'm bad at!"

"Hai, they shouldn't put so much stress on children."

"The Chinese language textbooks will be getting a major revision as well?"

"Whose essays do you guys think will get into the textbooks?"

"Hard to say."

"Right, any master in the literary field stands a chance of getting in. Isn't the prose by Master Liu super famous? There's been a heated discussion for the last two days, so it should probably get selected, right?"

"Who knows?"

"The winners of the last two Yanhong Literary Prizes should stand a chance, right?"

"Eh, does that mean that Zhang Ye has a chance as well?"

"Yeah, he probably has a chance as well!"

"Ahhh, I like Zhang Ye's 'The Answer.' 'Debasement is the password of the base.' I really love this poem, but maybe it'll be too dark for the younger people? It probably won't get chosen."

"'Ode to Young China' has a higher likelihood of getting selected!"

"Right, 'Ode to Young China'! How did I forget that!"

"That's right, I just remembered it too. It was even featured on People's Daily!"

"Zhang Ye's essays and poems are usually too aggressive in nature. If he really stands a chance of contending for one of the spots in the Chinese language textbook revision, 'Ode to Young China' is probably the most hopeful one!"

"Teacher Zhang, we'll be cheering you on!"

"Damn, if Face-smacking Zhang really gets selected for the textbooks, he'll be so awesome! Won't that fellow be soaring to the skies then?"

"He's already an author, poet, host, singer, mathematician, calligrapher, crosstalk comedian, skit actor, variety show director, documentary director, Go master, and so on and so forth, so would he still need to soar to the skies? That fellow is already fucking standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun!"

"Pfft!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"This is such a great opportunity, so let's see if Teacher Zhang can grab hold of it!"

1. https/en./wiki/Historic_recurrence#Striking_similarity

Chapter 1216: All of the Tsinghua University representatives meet with trouble!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Friday.

In the morning.

The alarm sounded and Zhang Ye climbed up from bed rubbing his eyes. He headed to the bathroom to wash up while calling out to the living room, "Mom, what's for breakfast? I'm not going to work this morning."

His mother asked, "Did you take time off to rest?"

Zhang Ye squeezed some toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "Yeah."

"There are only leftovers from yesterday, so make do with that," his mother said.

Zhang Ye said absent-mindedly, "Sure, anything's fine."

After breakfast, Zhang Ye kept checking his watch.

His father wondered, "What are you doing?"

Zhang Ye smiled. "It's nothing, I'm just whiling away the time."

His mother suddenly thought of something. "Did you see the news? They're reporting about the national curriculum revision for the elementary, middle, and high school textbooks. Do you have any chance with the Chinese language textbooks? Can any of your works get published?"

Zhang Ye spread up his hands. "How would I know?"

His father was also very concerned. He said, "Go ask around."

"I can't." Zhang Ye shook his head. "I could ask around about the voting process for the most coveted domestic literary awards, but for something like the curriculum revision process, I can't find out anything about it. That information is privy only to those in the Ministry of Education and a select few in the education community. It's no place for me to speak."

His father sighed, "I don't suppose there's much of a chance anyway."

His parents also knew that the curriculum revision was a huge event. Even if it were the most reputable and respected person in the literary circle, their names would not be easily made known to the public. The importance and sensitivity of such matters clearly went far beyond the selection process of the Yanhong Literary Prize or the Qilu Literature Prize. Any person, name, or essay that was shortlisted would cause a great discussion and have far-reaching effects in the education field, or even within society itself.

It was almost 7:40 AM.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye went back to his room and closed the door behind him.

His staff at the studio were all waiting for this slice of pie to drop from the sky, but only Zhang Ye was prepared to fight for it. Networking? That was not his style! This fellow had always preferred to be self-reliant!

There were two choices.

The Lucky Halo?

Or the Difficulty Adjustment Die?

After thinking about it, he felt that the latter was too precious an item. He only had one die left in his inventory. Moreover, the die was mighty powerful. Whether it be lowering or raising the difficulty level, it was overpowered. The effective duration of the item was also not fixed, so using it would be as good as wielding an atomic bomb. It couldn't be used unnecessarily. So the remaining option was clear and simple. Although the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) could not be compared to the Difficulty Adjustment Die in terms of its might, it was far more stable and dependable. It should be more than enough to handle this sort of situation. But of course, whether this plan would work was not guaranteed. He could only do his best and give it a try.

He activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded)!

The Reputation Points were getting consumed without stop!

-100,000!

-100,000!

A halo appeared over his head.

The bright pulsating glow rippled outward wave after wave.

…

Meanwhile.

The experts were busy chattering and analyzing things.

The netizens were also voicing their opinions.

The media outlets also set aside their headlines while waiting for the outcome of the curriculum revision.

Throughout society, everyone placed great hopes and expectations on this textbook curriculum revision. From a survey, everyone was happy to see the positive education reforms and changes that were going to be introduced. But as for the degree and depth of change the revisions would bring, no one other than those in the review commission set up by the Ministry of Education knew.

At an office somewhere in the Ministry of Education.

On the third level.

Inside the conference room of the Chinese language textbook revision work group.

"Old Qi, you're here?"

"Dr. Chen, good morning."

"So it's going to be decided today, huh?"

"It's already been dragged on for so long, so of course it has to be decided soon."

"In the past few meetings, they've nearly come to blows every single time, so how can we come to a decision?"

"Hai, hasn't it always been this way? Every time there's a textbook revision, it's always our Chinese language team that is the most 'lively.' We're always locked in a fierce struggle over the decisions. Didn't you also take part in the previous curriculum revision eight years ago? Let's see if the group leader will make the decision this time. If there's still no outcome, we'll have to turn to voting to decide it."

"Yeah, just look at the math group and the physics group. There's no resistance at all and their meetings are always carried out so harmoniously. Then look at our group over here. The only thing we're short of now is someone flipping the table."

"Scholars tend to scorn each other, and there are a lot of involved relationships."

"The main issue is the disagreements between the Peking University representatives and the Tsinghua University representatives."

"The Fudan University representatives are also not helping by muddying things further."

The meeting had not started yet, but people were gradually arriving.

The Chinese language textbook revision work group was mostly made up of doctorates and professors in the circle of Chinese Departments within the various well-known universities, as well as relevant educators in the industry. There were also representatives from the Ministry of Education, with the work group headed by a director from there. He was a very good person and a meticulous worker.

Several people from Peking University arrived.

Soon after, the Ministry of Education's Director Liu walked into the conference room with a big smile. He was the overseer of the Chinese language textbook revision work group. Although he was wearing a smile on his face, Liu Quancheng was actually feeling very down. It had been days and the mathematics and physics work groups had more or less wrapped up their revisions. Meanwhile, their work group was still arguing nonstop over several spots on the prominent pages of the textbooks. To be fair, the Chinese language work group had already finalized 80% of the content for the textbook revision, but the remaining 20% could not be finalized yet as everyone had their own ideas.

What a difficult task it was to lead this work group!

Whoever wishes to take this role in the future can come and take it, I've had enough!

Although he had such thoughts, Liu Quancheng could explicitly say such things. Many of the work group's members were distinguished people in the education field, and some of them were even teachers to Liu Quancheng's bosses at the ministry, or even his boss's bosses! All in all, the total age of the people in the room came up to over 2,000 years old, so of course he had to be courteous and polite to them. You wouldn't know which of them had direct access to the highest authorities, would you? The waters of the education field were too deep! As such, Liu Quancheng's opinion was very simple. He wouldn't offend anyone and just let them fight among themselves. He wasn't going to care at all.

An old academic representing Peking University looked at him. "Little Liu, are we going to have a vote today?"

Liu Quancheng nodded. "Old Master Chu, I think we should have the vote just to be sure. There are only that dozen or so spots left to decide on, so we have to get it done by today no matter what."

Old Master Chu used to be a dean of the Chinese Department at Peking University. He even became the vice president of the university later on, but that was more than 40 years ago. After his retirement, Old Master Chu was still involved in a lot of the decision-making processes regarding educational reforms and policies. So just by addressing the work group leader as Little Liu, that was enough for a director like Liu Quancheng to listen to him obediently.

Old Master Chu smacked his lips. "Why do we still have to vote? Since this is a reform, we have to be heavy-handed with the decisions. The world belongs to the young now; we have to show more acceptance and care for the younger generation of academics. We should allow their essays to be published and made known to everyone through the textbooks and not keep guarding those people who already have one foot in the coffin. Is there any meaning in doing so? Then what's the point of having a reform? By the way, I think Zhang Ye is pretty good, don't you?

An old man from Renmin University said, "I disagree. That Zhang Ye kid is too impulsive. 'Ode to Young China' must not make it into the textbooks, not even an excerpt."

"And who are you to say no?"

"It's not only me, many of the others disagree as well."

"Who are the ones who disagree?"

"Just wait for Old Hu and the others to get here!"

There!

Even before the meeting had commenced, they were arguing again!

Liu Quancheng could only sigh in his mind.

Old Hu and the others—that referred to the representatives from Tsinghua University. The reason why the curriculum revision had not wrapped up yet in the last few meetings was due to the representatives of Peking and Tsinghua University arguing every time they were about to decide on something. Especially when they touched on that fiercely contested spot in the seventh grade (middle school) textbook where an essay was to be featured, the arguments became even more intense. Three essays were shortlisted for it: Ji Hong's "Yangtze River," Li Yucheng's "Above the Storm," and Zhang Ye's "Ode to Young China"!

These three authors were respectively related to Tsinghua, Renmin, and Peking University. So the old comrades who represented these schools were all fervently arguing over which should be chosen. Later, the representatives from Fudan University joined the mix and started voicing their support for Peking University by agreeing that Zhang Ye's essay should be chosen. Seeing that, the representatives from Renmin University changed their tune and expressed their support for Tsinghua University's Ji Hong's "Yangtze River." The mess that followed was simply too chaotic!

Both sides stood by their views and were almost equal in numbers as well. As such, this was where it was most disputed since there was a possibility of either "Yangtze River" or "Ode to Young China" getting chosen.

Liu Quancheng mediated, "Teachers, when everyone has arrived, we'll decide by voting. We'll start off with the first grade elementary school textbook and vote on the disputed works one by one."

It was 7:55 AM.

In another five minutes, they would officially kick off the meeting. For now, they waited.

The few representatives from Renmin University looked at their watches and waited for the representatives from Tsinghua University to arrive. The reason why the representatives from Renmin University were supporting the Tsinghua University representatives was not that they had a good relationship with them. What happened back on the show Lecture Room, as well as Zhang Ye's lecture on Dream of the Red Chamber, had simply offended too many people at Renmin University. So when it was proposed that Zhang Ye's essay be used in the seventh grade textbook, and when the Fudan University representatives started supporting the Peking University's representatives call to include his essay, they knew that they couldn't allow it to happen. As such, they turned to supporting Tsinghua University's represented essay.

Why weren't they here yet?

Look at the time.

Two minutes had passed, but there were no signs of the Tsinghua University representatives!

Everyone started looking at one another.

At this moment, a phone rang.

"Hello, Old Hu, where are you?"

"I'm still at home."

"The meeting will be starting soon!"

"I suddenly got the runs, so I won't be able to make it in time."

"Ah?"

"Aiyo, I gotta hang up, I have to get back to the toilet."

Du du. The call ended.

Following that, another call came in for Liu Quancheng.

"Hello, Elder Chang?"

"Little Liu, has the meeting started yet?"

"Not yet, where are you?"

"Old Qing and I got stuck in traffic not long after we set out. We're on a viaduct and there's an accident ahead of us. We can't move at all, none of the cars can!"

Then came yet another call.

"Professor Xu, haven't you gotten off your plane? Didn't you catch the 5 AM flight from Shanghai?"

"I was just calling to notify you. There was a passenger causing trouble on the flight and the plane was late, so we were forced to land at Jinan Airport 1 . We won't be able to resume flying anytime soon!"

"Eh? Forced to land at Jinan Airport?"

No one had thought much of it when it was just the first call.

But after five or six calls, everyone felt like they had seen a ghost!

A stomachache?

Traffic?

The flight was forced to land?

The train was stopped due to a landslide?

All of the old comrades from Tsinghua University were not going to make it for the meeting?

Dammit! How can it be so coincidental?

Do you people from Tsinghua University have to be so down on your luck?!

Everyone has met with some kind of trouble?

Liu Quancheng was stunned for a very long time. "This…"

The representatives from Renmin University nearly vomited blood!

An old professor from Peking University said, "It's time, isn't it?"

Liu Quancheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Then let's get the meeting started so that we can vote."

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Chapter 1217: Zhang Ye's works get selected for the national Chinese language textbooks!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At 9 in the morning.

Back at home.

Zhang Ye deactivated the Lucky Halo. When he saw the consumed Reputation Points, he felt pinched and squeezed. He did not know about the progress of the meeting, nor how the discussion went. All he did was activate the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) at close to 8 AM and keep it on for close to an hour. The Reputation Point consumption rate of the Lucky Halo was extremely heavy, with 100,000 Reputation Points needed for every second it was activated. Even with the large amount of Reputation Points Zhang Ye had accumulated by now, it was difficult to bear. He was lucky that he had only used up a portion of his total Reputation Points during the lottery draw the other day and still had some left for today's purpose.

Just how did it go?

Only God would know!

Whatever! However it turns out, so be it!

Zhang Ye opened the door and came out of his room.

"What were you doing in your room?" his mother asked.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Handling some important business."

His father asked, "How did it go?"

Zhang Ye shrugged and said, "I suppose we'll find out tonight."

His mother rolled her eyes at him. "What are you being so secretive about? The most important issue at hand is the curriculum revision! That's right, isn't your girlfriend from the education sector? She was the vice president of Peking University and has even worked at the provincial education department. Why don't you check with her? You have to take the initiative."

But Zhang Ye said, "Aiya, don't bother her with such things. Mom, I'll help you to make lunch. After eating, I'll have to head to work." Since Zhang Ye had nothing better to do, he decided to help out with whatever chores there were around the house. In reality, it was to divert his attention from the national textbook curriculum revision so that he wouldn't have to keep thinking about it.

In the afternoon.

They were still discussing it on the Internet.

"The changes to the English language curriculum seem to have been set in stone."

"Yeah, I heard that the middle school textbooks will get more difficult."

"The revisions for the math curriculum aren't out yet."

"What about the Chinese language textbooks?"

"I don't know."

"Even though they're calling this a curriculum revision, the majority of the content will still remain the same. There won't really be much change, and this has been talked about before."

"Let's see whose essays will get chosen this time."

"It's gonna be amazing for whoever gets to have their work published."

"It's going to be more than amazing. They'll become famous."

Elsewhere.

Zhang Ye arrived at the studio.

He had just stepped into the office when Elder Qian arrived a moment later. "Is this Little Zhang's Studio?"

Little Wang opened the door to greet him. "Yes, may I ask who you are?"

Zhang Ye hurried outside when he heard the voice. "Aiyo, Elder Qian, what a rare guest."

Elder Qian chuckled, "I was nearby when I remembered you saying that you had set up your studio not long ago, so I came over to have a look. Am I welcome?"

"Of course you are." Zhang Ye told his studio staff, "This is Elder Qian, a most distinguished person in the literary field. If I'm not around when Elder Qian comes to visit, remember to give him the best reception."

Little Wang said briskly, "Understood!"

Elder Qian said happily, "Kid, don't try that with me."

"Come in, let's talk inside." Zhang Ye and Elder Qian went upstairs.

After glancing around the office, Elder Qian suddenly looked at him. "Is your relationship with Wu Zeqing quite good?"

Old Wu?

Zhang Ye was taken aback for a moment. "Ah, it's not too bad."

Elder Qian gave an "oh" in response.

Zhang Ye wondered, "Why do you ask?"

Elder Qian said, "Your old boss is pretty good to you. I have a friend in the education field I spoke with recently, someone from Fudan University who's also taking part in this education reform. Wu Zeqing contacted him some days ago to ask if he could help you out a little in the Chinese language curriculum revision. When Wu Zeqing was heading a department in the education sector, she had helped that Fudan University friend of mine out quite a bit. So he didn't reject her request. Later on, my friend came to ask me about what kind of a person you were. I told him not to believe the rumors out there and that you were really quite a nice person. He acknowledged that without saying anything else."

Zhang Ye really did not know about this. He said in surprise, "There was something like that?"

This Old Wu! Why didn't she tell me about this!

Zhang Ye had only found out about the exact time of the curriculum revision meeting yesterday, but who knew that Old Wu was already well aware of it way before he was? And she had even helped him pull some strings?

Elder Qian blinked and said, "You didn't ask Chief Wu to put in a word for you? Then you better thank her properly. She really went through a lot of trouble for you. It seems she values you a lot. Although Wu Zeqing has now gone on to oversee the entertainment industry, her network in the education field is still there. Quite a few Peking University alumni are also in the textbook revision work group. In recent years, you're the only professor from Peking University to have any involvement in the literary field, so they'd definitely support you. Together with Fudan University's support, you probably stand quite a good chance this time, especially with 'Ode to Young China.'"

Zhang Ye chuckled. "Then I'll hold you to your auspicious words?"

Elder Qian said emotionally, "Kid, you're really going to skyrocket soon."

Yes, he wanted to skyrocket in popularity. But before that, Zhang Ye's essay would have to be selected for the revised edition of the textbooks. Until the final moment, no one would know how it would turn out!

Zhang Ye was waiting to find out.

The studio staff were waiting to find out.

The education and literary fields were waiting to find out.

The media reporters were also eagerly looking forward to it.

…

At 7 PM.

The studio staff hadn't left work yet.

Little Wang said anxiously, "Will they announce it today?"

"I don't know." Wu Yi was browsing the news online. "There aren't any updates. The English language and chemistry textbooks' revisions have already been confirmed, but there's still no news about the Chinese language textbooks."

Ha Qiqi said, "Wait a little longer."

"Hey, there it is!"

"What?"

"Where, where?"

"Look at the news, the changes to the Chinese language textbooks have been finalized!"

In a flash, the studio staff all gathered around. Zhang Ye also ran down from upstairs to join them.

"Is Director Zhang's name in there?"

"I'm looking for it!"

"An excerpt of Sun Fang's novel has made it in?"

"Meng Han's poem will be featured in the eighth grade's second semester textbook?"

"Who else is there?"

"I'm still looking, don't rush me!"

"Ah!"

"I saw it!"

"Holy shit! There's Director Zhang's name!"

"An excerpt of 'Ode to Young China' has been selected! It's going to be in the middle school textbook!"

"Oh my God! He really made it in!"

"Director Zhang! It's in! We've made it in!"

"Wait, why is there another one?"

"Holy fuck!"

"'Tribute to the White Poplar'?"

"What's that?"

"When did Director Zhang write an essay titled 'Tribute to the White Poplar'?"

"I know this one! I've read it before! It was written by Director Zhang!"

"Th-This one made it into the elementary school textbook? We didn't only have one essay selected, two of them actually made it into the textbooks?!"

"Tribute to the White Poplar"?

Startled, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered it. This prose titled "Tribute to the White Poplar" was written back at the parent-teacher conference at Chenchen's school. At that time, the teachers wanted the children to write an essay, but Chenchen did not know how to and kept asking Zhang Ye to write one for her. This was also that very well-known essay that made it into the national textbooks back in Zhang Ye's previous world! Zhang Ye had still not made a name for himself when he brought over this essay to this world. On top of that, the circumstances in which it had been brought out made it relatively unknown here since there was hardly any publicity. That was why this essay was not well-known over here. In fact, many people didn't even know that Zhang Ye had written the essay. So Zhang Ye was astounded that "Tribute to the White Poplar" had made it into the elementary school textbooks. This was indeed an unexpected gain!

He was very happy for himse—

Oh, he was very happy for Mao Dun!

The studio staff started cheering!

"Director Zhang the Mighty!"

"This is so impressive!"

"He's made it into the national textbooks!"

"There won't be any more changes, right?"

"No, the announcement said the selected works are final! It's been decided!"

"I thought it was exceedingly lucky to have one work featured, but there were two in the end? How generous of the education field to give so much face to Director Zhang! It looks like he hasn't offended as many people as we thought he had!"

"That's great!"

"The third milestone in our 'Reach the Summit' plan has been achieved!"

"Yeah, we didn't even think that the third milestone could really be achieved!"

"And it was even achieved beyond our expectations!"

Everyone was shouting and screaming!

Zhang Ye was also quite happy with the outcome, but thought to himself, Do you guys really think that it was the education field's people who gave me face? If it weren't for my Lucky Halo and Old Wu's help, much less "Tribute to the White Poplar," even "Ode to Young China" might not've been selected!

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Chapter 1218: Skyrocketing!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Beijing Television.

Central TV News Channel.

Shanghai Satellite Television.

And everyone else. On the same night, every television station was reporting this news!

Which family did not have a child? Which child did not need to go to school? The issue of education had always been of the greatest concern to the public. The national textbook curriculum revision was an even greater issue for them. Any news that was relevant to the public would naturally be given the widest coverage by the media and television stations!

"Physics textbook compilation fraught with difficulties?"

"English language textbook will see increase in number of vocabulary words included!"

"Huge changes to Chinese language textbooks!"

"Both 'Ode to Young China' and 'Tribute to the White Poplar' have been selected?"

Zhang Ye might become greatest beneficiary of Chinese language textbook curriculum revision!"

The Ministry of Education uncharacteristically gives Zhang Ye their approval?"

"Expert analysis: Having works selected to be included in the national textbooks will have a major impact on Zhang Ye's popularity and status!"

There was a heated discussion on Weibo.

"He was really chosen!"

"And it's even two his essays as entries?"

"Has Teacher Zhang been on steroids recently or something?"

"Yeah, selling that many copies of Fortress Besieged and taking the top honors at the most prestigious domestic literary awards. And now, he even has his works selected for the national Chinese language textbooks?"

"In the future, Zhang Ye's best-selling books won't be Ghost Blows Out the Light or Fortress Besieged!"

"Huh? Then what will it be?"

"It's going to be the elementary and middle school textbooks, of course!"

"Pfft!"

"Zhang Ye has boarded a rocket ship and can't be stopped!"

"All the latest headlines have been about him!"

"What is he trying to achieve here? Putting in so much effort? He couldn't have set his sights on one of those seven spots in the S-list, could he?"

"That can't be. Teacher Zhang's still far from reaching the S-list. He shouldn't be able to get there without at least another few years of hard work, right?"

"That's hard to say. Just look, how much has Zhang Ye's popularity grown over the past few days? There might not even be a need to wait a few years to see that happening. Those at the top should really start being wary of him!"

"That's quite unlikely."

"Yeah, you're exaggerating."

"I don't think it will happen anytime soon either. After all, those seven spots are too difficult to reach, and we've never seen a change in the rankings after so many years. But then again, looking at the current entertainment industry, if there's anyone who can replace one of those seven Heavenly Kings and Queens, it should only be Zhang Ye. Just look at his domestic celebrity ranking. He's been sitting comfortably atop the A-list and has been widening the gap on those who were almost even with him in just what? A month? Two months?"

"Supporting Zhang Ye's climb to the top of the entertainment industry!"

Of course, there were also voices of doubt.

"What's with this?"

"Is he even qualified enough?"

"Is it really a good idea to put the essays of someone with a temper like Zhang Ye's into the national textbooks?"

"What the hell is 'Tribute to the White Poplar'? It's just an essay written in vernacular!"

Among those who questioned the decision of the Ministry of Education, the representative figures of the group actually turned out to be several executives from Central TV Department 1.

Central TV Department 1's Deputy Director Jiang Yuan: "Education is a serious matter, and so are the textbooks used to educate our children. Putting the works of a historically tainted celebrity into the teaching materials is irresponsible to our children!"

There was a wave of scolding below that comment.

"Get lost!"

"It's Central TV Department 1 that has a tainted history!"

"Are you done trying to slander Zhang Ye?"

"Enough is enough! It was you people who didn't handle the matter properly back then that led to Zhang Ye suing you in court. You guys lost the lawsuit, remember?"

…

At home.

When Zhang Ye reached home, he heard his mom talking on the phone with her old colleague in the living room.

"Yes, didn't you watch the news? It's being reported everywhere!"

"Really?"

"Yes, his works were really selected to be in the Chinese language textbooks. One of them is for the elementary school textbook, and the other is for the middle school textbook!"

"Your son is amazing. You and Old Zhang have taught him so well! Everyone is envious of you two."

"Hahaha, when your granddaughter starts school, my son's essays will be in the textbooks. She might even be asked to recite them…."

His mother was bragging to other people again.

Zhang Ye was used to this, and his mother could not be controlled by anyone when it came to bragging.

"Hai, my son is home now, I'm going to hang up!" After his mother put down the phone, she said excitedly, "Son, you were really chosen! You've done us proud!"

His father also said with glee, "This is a good thing! It's an extremely good thing!"

His mother said, "You'll become even more well-known."

"It's not a matter of fame." His father said sternly, "Doing something for the cause of education is what truly matters. Using this to gain popularity is unconventional, so don't be so short-sighted."

Mom winked at her son. "Ignore him."

Zhang Ye laughed.

Congratulatory calls were also starting to come in one after another.

Zhang Ye's friends were also feeling very shocked by Zhang Ye having two of his essays selected for the national textbooks. All of them expressed their incredulity while offering their congratulations to him.

Hu Fei wondered, "What kind of trick did it take to pull that off?"

Zhang Ye said, "Haha, magic?"

Hu Fei said in amusement, "Since when were you so loved in the industry?"

Zhang Ye sighed. "I suppose everyone did give me some face."

The industry's opinion of Zhang Ye was improving as they felt he had a lot of potential. In the past, Zhang Ye always went around scolding and offending everyone. Not many industries were able to accept him and the industry insiders mostly did not want to acknowledge someone like him. Even though he hadn't changed his temper much, a lot of the mainstream was slowly starting to accept him. In fact, some of them even accepted that extraordinarily foul temper of his!

It was the literary field before this!

Now it was the education field's turn!

Zhang Ye was stepping onto the right path, and his place in the industry was slowly stabilizing.

At night.

His parents were asleep.

The buzz on the Internet started to die down.

Zhang Ye was lying in bed as he took out his phone to call Wu Zeqing. His first call did not go through, but Old Wu returned his call after 15 minutes.

Zhang Ye asked: "What are you doing?"

"I just finished bathing. I had to work overtime today, so I got home a little late," Wu Zeqing said with a giggle.

Zhang Ye blinked and said: "Two of my essays were selected for the national textbooks."

Wu Zeqing laughed: "I know, I saw it on the news this afternoon. That's a good thing. Your essays are absolutely good enough, so they deserved to be selected."

Zhang Ye asked: "Did you help me out?"

Wu Zeqing replied: "No, how could I be of any help? I'm heading the SARFT, so I don't really know about all the happenings in the education sector anymore."

Zhang Ye was amused. "You really didn't do anything?"

"Hur hur, you must've been chosen based on the quality of your essays," Wu Zeqing said.

Nonsense!

Elder Qian told me about it. You obviously asked your friend from Fudan University to help me out!

Zhang Ye knew what she had done. He understood that Old Wu knew that he wasn't someone who wanted to depend on others for help. Every time Old Wu asked if he needed her help on anything, he would always say "No, I'll handle this on my own." After knowing each other for many years, and being in a relationship for a long time, Wu Zeqing understood his temper quite well. This was why Old Wu had quietly handled this matter and even pretended not to know anything about it.

Perhaps this was the greatest tenderness of all?

Even one's own wife would probably not go this far for her husband?

And if you think about it, Zhang Ye found out about this by chance. If he didn't know Elder Qian personally? If Elder Qian didn't receive a call from his friend and find out? Then Zhang Ye would probably have never found out about what Old Wu had done for him!

And for similar things like this, how many times had it happened in the past?

How much more had Old Wu done for him without him ever knowing?

Zhang Ye felt warm and fuzzy inside. He and Old Wu were both the type that wasn't good at expressing their feelings. It was very difficult for them to say the words "I love you." Zhang Ye didn't know how to be romantic and wasn't good at getting into the good graces of a woman. Meanwhile, Old Wu wasn't the clingy type, nor did she know how to be all lovey-dovey. The way they expressed their affection for each other was very different from most other couples. But! Zhang Ye felt that it was great this way.

Yes.

It really was great.

Chapter 1219: Zhang Ye's new show is coming! (First Half)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

Zhang Ye's Studio was still in a celebratory mood.

The public also took some time to appreciate Zhang Ye's soaring popularity.

But it was at this time that something unexpected happened.

—These were troubled times.

—Gossip flies when a person gets popular.

These two sayings were the most apt descriptions of the entertainment industry. There were a lot of unrest and activities constantly going on. No one could predict what would happen next!

Central TV Department 1 announced without warning in the afternoon that they were going to begin production on the second season of The Voice. In fact, they were already midway through production, so it wouldn't be long before they met the audience again. In the announcement, it was even revealed that they would stick to the old ways and continue making the show in the same style as the first season of The Voice. There would be an all-new panel of guest coaches joining the show and an all-new production team of professionals to help recreate this classic reality show. They would bring the audience a most fresh and awesome audio sensory experience.

When the news got out, many people were shocked!

There was amazement all over Weibo!

"What?"

"Season Two of The Voice?"

"That's great, it's finally returning!"

"What so great about that? Isn't that show copyrighted to Zhang Ye?"

"Right, it was this exact matter that embroiled Zhang Ye and Central TV Department 1 in a lawsuit, so what's with this? Has Teacher Zhang made up with Central TV Department 1? Did he give them authorization to film the show?"

"That's impossible!"

"Look at what they said in the announcement. They mention that it's headed by an all-new production team!"

"Right, Zhang Ye couldn't have authorized them. Who doesn't know what his temper is like!"

"The Central TV Department 1 executives were even scolding Zhang Ye on Weibo last night on his essays getting selected for the Chinese language textbooks! They couldn't have made up so quickly overnight!"

"Then why does Central TV Department 1 still dare to call their show The Voice?"

"It's copyright infringement, right?"

"I'm utterly confused as well!"

No one in the industry expected that Central TV Department 1 would actually go against the grain and act so brazen. They even said they were already halfway through production?

At Zhang Ye's Studio.

Ha Qiqi said angrily, "What the heck are they trying to do!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Old Ha, didn't you say their show would adopt a name and format change?"

"Yeah," Ha Qiqi said, "that's why I don't understand what's going on either!"

Zhang Ye did not even hesitate and said, "Send them a cease and desist!"

And so, the law firm representing Zhang Ye's Studio immediately issued a Cease and Desist Letter to Central TV on the same day and sent someone to liaise with the courts.

The incident blew up!

Zhang Ye and Central TV Department 1 were going to go to court again?

However, the way things developed caught everyone by surprise!

Just as countless people's attention focused on this incident, Central TV Department 1 quickly deleted that promotional Weibo post and updated it with a new one. The official Weibo account of Central TV Department 1 announced that due to copyright issues, their new show would drop the name of The Voice and be known as Sing! instead. There would be some changes to the format of the show as well. At the end of the post, it even hinted that although the name was changed, the spirit of the show would still be the same.

Video publicity!

Advertising campaigns!

The promos went into full swing!

The name of Sing! was quickly made known to everyone too!

It was at this moment that everyone realized what was going on!

Central TV Department 1 knew that there would be a problem with the copyright, so they hadn't planned to produce the show as the second season of The Voice. Right from the start, they were planning to change the name and modify the trademarked segment where the coaches turned around in the chairs. By having a different look for the show, they were intending to continue doing The Voice as it was. But as they were afraid the audience would not be convinced if they just announced this new show and inadvertently suffered a drop in viewers and notability of the show, they billed it as the second season of The Voice. Seizing the opportunity to publicize Sing! while the media's attention was all on Zhang Ye, it was their way of telling the audience that this was not an entirely new show, but in fact, the second season of The Voice! If this wasn't their intent, Central TV Department 1 couldn't have possibly reacted so quickly. It didn't even take a day for them to come up with another name for the show? And change the format of the show's segment? Even the publicity video was readily released after the announcement? It was impossible that they could do all that so quickly! They were riding on the name of Zhang Ye and The Voice!

Moreover, they had already deleted that previous Weibo post, so it wouldn't affect them much even if Zhang Ye's Studio sued them in court. There was no loss for them!

Some of Zhang Ye's fans started cursing.

"Fuck!"

"How can they be so despicable?"

"Damn, I've lost my faith in humanity!"

"They were scolding Zhang Ye on Weibo just last night but are now using his name and show to promote themselves? This is what Central TV Department 1 is? How can they do that?"

"What they're doing is really shameless!"

"If you all want to make Sing!, then go ahead. But why did you have to do it this way? Even back then, you were in the wrong first, no? The Voice is Zhang Ye's baby. You didn't want to pay Director Zhang for the copyright and even tried to steal it from him to sell it off. After that, he was even shipped off to the Documentary Channel while you continued to raise a ruckus about him until Central TV was forced to terminate his contract. In this past year, you've continued scolding Zhang Ye on the Internet and criticizing him at various public events. But in the end? This was what you resorted to doing? Haven't you gone too far!"

Of course, some people didn't mind.

"Anything is fine as long as we get a second season of The Voice!"

"Right, I like this show so much. They mustn't shelve it!"

"Counting the days, it's about time the second season began. I'm really looking forward to it!"

"It's just a name change, we'll still watch it anyhow."

"Yeah, there are too few good singing shows, and The Voice and King of Masked Singers are the two most representative works in the genre. Since King of Masked Singers only ended a few months ago, I doubt there'll be a second season anytime soon. So there's only The Voice left to look forward to. I don't care if they change the name to Sing! They can call it Dog Shit for all I care! I'd still watch it!"

"Hurry up and start broadcasting please!"

"Just don't destroy the reputation of The Voice."

"I watched the promo vid and found it quite good!"

There was a lot of controversy!

A lot of attention was given to it too!

But this was exactly the effect Central TV Department 1 was going for. They knew that even though some people would scold them, those same people would still come and watch the show when it was broadcast. This was because there was no one to compete with their show, nor was there anyone who could compete with them. Among the singing shows, they would sweep away everyone else. As long as they could hold viewer attention on the show's premiere and make them realize that it was basically The Voice with a different name, then the viewers would give their recognition to it. They wouldn't possibly just give up on the show just because Zhang Ye wasn't the director or the host. Other than Zhang Ye's diehard fans and some hot-blooded youths, not too many people were so principled and bothered by such things. In the end, what the people needed was entertainment, not some impossible to emulate person standing on stage speed-reciting some advertising messages!

The Voice was already an established show!

Therefore, Central TV Department 1 no longer had a need for Zhang Ye!

The host?

The director?

The guests?

It would all be the same whoever held those roles!

1. In 2016, contractual disputes arose between Talpa Holding, the owner of the show's format and franchise, and Canxing Production, the show's production company. It was revealed the former had inked a joint venture with another production company, Talent International, to produce the upcoming seasons of the show. In response to the dispute and to prevent copyright breaches, Canxing Productions launched Sing!, a rebranded version of the show which the producers claimed to come with an original format, though it still shares several similarities with The Voice of China.

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Chapter 1220: Zhang Ye's new show is coming! (Second Half)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Later that afternoon.

At Zhang Ye's Studio.

Everyone was sitting in a meeting.

"They planned it all out!" Wu Yi said furiously.

Little Wang said, "Central TV Department 1 deliberately did it this way!"

Ha Qiqi said in anger, "By issuing our Cease and Desist Letter, we inadvertently helped them publicize the show and helped them let everyone know that The Voice has a new name. If we knew that this would happen, we shouldn't have played their game! We should've let them promote it longer with the name of The Voice before suing them!"

But Zhang Ye said, "That would be pointless. Even if we didn't say a thing, they would've come up with some other excuse. They aren't stupid."

Zhang Zuo slapped his thigh. "I'm pissed off!"

Ha Qiqi said indignantly, "Those people will really stoop to anything to achieve their goals? Why isn't Central TV Documentary Channel like that? We've worked with Central TV Sports Channel too. They're all very nice people, respectful, and professional in their work. But why does it have to be the largest channel that behaves like this?"

Everyone kept cursing for a long time.

Then, Zhang Ye's cell phone rang.

It was Chen Guang's wife, Fan Wenli.

Zhang Ye said: "Hello, Sister Fan?"

Fan Wenli asked: "Zhang'er, do you know about Sing!?"

"Let Central TV Department 1 do what they want. It doesn't matter to me," Zhang Ye said.

"Well, they just contacted Old Chen and me to ask whether we would like to return to the show as guest coaches." Fan Wenli's words seemed to hold a deeper meaning. "Do you think it will do well?"

Zhang Ye knew what she was getting at. "It should do well. Even without me, it shouldn't affect them much. The platform is already there, so even without any new breakthroughs in the show, the viewership ratings should still be quite good with them retaining the same format. Just go back with Old Chen, hur hur. You don't have to make your decision with me in mind."

Fan Wenli said: "Alright then, I'll think about it for a while longer."

Zhang Ye said graciously: "Sister Fan, there's no need to think too much about it. If the appearance fee is good enough, just go ahead. You can earn the money and gain publicity on TV at the same time. Only a fool would not accept."

Fan Wenli laughed and said: "Alright, I know what to do then."

Zhang Ye understood that Old Fan had called him to give him a heads up. The other party must have given her an offer she couldn't refuse, and she probably still had some feelings for The Voice. However, due to the rocky relationship between Zhang Ye and Central TV Department 1, she was slightly hesitant and probably felt bad about accepting the offer. But Zhang Ye did not think of it this way. Old Fan did not work for him, after all. She was just a friend and coworker, so if she had the chance to gain more fame and money, who was Zhang Ye to stop her? How could he? He couldn't be so particular about such things.

But to his surprise, Chen Guang called shortly afterwards.

The moment the call connected, Old Chen said: "Zhang'er, did Wenli call you earlier?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "What's the matter?"

Chen Guang said: "I'm telling you, however much that copycat version of The Voice offers me, I won't be joining them! What nonsense is that? Without you heading The Voice, I won't acknowledge them! But Wenli might be tempted to join, so I argued with her earlier. That woman is too short-sighted! She makes me so angry!"

Zhang Ye said: "Whoa, come on, did you two have to argue over this? It's not even a big deal."

Chen Guang said: "I can't control what she does. The Sing! program team has gotten in contact with the former guest coaches, but I've already spoken to Grandma Zhang Xia, and the two of us definitely won't accept. I didn't check with Sister Zhang, but I doubt that anyone other than you can move her. She probably won't accept the offer either. Only Wenli is keen on returning to the show. I'll speak to her again!"

"Don't."

"I'm terribly sorry."

"Aiya, that's enough."

The call ended.

The studio staff were looking at him.

Ha Qiqi asked, "Are both Teacher Chen and Teacher Fan going to join the production of Sing!?"

Little Wang said anxiously, "Then the show will be even more popular. With the old guest coaches holding the fort, Sing! will be able the shed the 'copycat' tag more easily."

Zhang Ye waved it off. "It's not like that. Sister Fan will probably join, but Old Chen isn't."

Zhang Zuo said, "That's not so bad then. What about Sister Zhang? Could Sister Zhang also…"

Zhang Ye said, "They can't get her to join."

Zhang Zuo heaved a sigh of relief. "Fortunately for us."

Zhang Ye turned serious and said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. We should discuss our fourth milestone in the 'Reach the Summit' plan."

The staff each had a copy of the document and information in their hands.

Zhang Zuo spoke, "The first three milestones have been successfully completed. It wasn't easy, but they've helped to build a very strong foundation for the latter part of our plan. For the fourth milestone, we need to create a reality show. We're thinking that since you have a foundation and made your name in this area, a lot of viewers will accept any new show that you come up with. At the very least, it would be propped up by the celebrity effect for a while. Besides, even though the popularity we received from the domain of TV shows is quite large, there's still a lot to be gained and could be expanded upon."

Ha Qiqi nodded and said, "Right. We've analyzed that the popularity you gained in many of the industries that you dabbled in has reached saturation. For example, in the field of Go, it would be pointless for you to beat any additional top players. All of the popularity that you could gain from there has already been earned. And in the field of literature, the previous three milestones you reached by winning the highest honor in the domestic literary field and breaking book sale records have also helped to peak your popularity. There isn't much you can improve on in those areas. There's only the domain of TV shows that we still have a lot of room to work in. There are tons of viewers in this area and the market is huge. Since everyone is receptive to your works, why don't we aim to bring up your popularity in this field to its highest? By making another show that can outdo The Voice, A Bite of China, and King of Masked Singers?"

Zhang Ye said, "What are your suggestions?"

Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo gave each other a look.

One of them said, "We were originally going to suggest that you produce a singing show since that's what you are most familiar with. But things have changed. With Central TV Department 1 bringing out The Voice, a signature show, and us being from the old program team, we know full well how popular and loved this show is. So with this condition, it'd be difficult if we were to do a singing show as well."

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Why's that?"

Zhang Zuo said, "We can't fight fire with fire. If it were anyone else's show, that might be fine. We could probably still take them head on and fight it out! Who's afraid of whom! But The Voice was the most successful show we created, and it's going to have a second season. There'll be too many diehards around. If we really take them head on, it can only be a lose-lose scenario, and no one will be happy in the end. Moreover, our show's popularity would likely fall behind since The Voice has already accumulated a year's worth! Stripped to the waist, our new show is sure to suffer. Our objective isn't to compete with Central TV Department 1. We're looking to reach the summit of the entertainment industry. If both we and Department 1 suffer, the ones who'll lose more will be us!"

Ha Qiqi suggested, "Why don't we make a reality show instead?"

Wu Yi nodded and said, "A reality show is a pretty good idea."

"Yeah, there hasn't been much competition for reality shows recently!" Everyone was chipping in with their suggestions.

Zhang Ye looked at them and said, "Who says that if we film a singing show, we'll definitely end up suffering along with Central TV Department 1?"

"Ah?"

"What do you mean?"

Everyone was stunned.

Zhang Ye said, "The suggestion for a reality show isn't bad either." Thinking, he suddenly looked up and smiled. "I have an idea about a reality show combined with a singing show. Are you guys interested in hearing about it?"

A singing show?

A reality show?

Could these two be combined?

Everyone was stunned again. "What show?"

Zhang Ye narrowed his eyes and said, "I would like to call it: I Am a Singer."

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Chapter 1221: Signing the new show!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

That evening.

The people from Beijing Television rushed to the studio.

Two station heads and several staff members, including Hu Fei, had been sent over by Beijing Television to negotiate the contract after they received the news. They attached great importance to this matter. It was Zhang Ye's new variety show after all, so who in the industry wouldn't? Many of the television stations in the country would vie to get him!

One of the station heads shook hands with him. "Teacher Zhang."

Zhang Ye smiled. "Station Head Wang."

"Zhang'er, what kind of show are we talking about?" Hu Fei asked anxiously.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Don't be so anxious, Brother Hu. Let's sit down and talk."

Ha Qiqi had printed out several copies of the proposal they drew up and handed it out to the Beijing Television people. They eagerly started flipping through it the moment they got one from her.

Zhang Ye said, "Everyone, please take a look at the proposal."

I Am a Singer.

This was a very special show back in Zhang Ye's previous world. It was special in that it was different from many of the previous singing shows that came before it. For example, The Voice and King of Masked Singers were both used singing elements to sell the show. There was very little interaction between the contestants to display, the most being their intro clips or conversations with their mentors. But I Am a Singer was different. The show had elements of a reality show and did not require the contestants be masked. All of the contestants were famous singers the viewers would recognize, and the truest side of these singers could be seen on the show. There would be scenes of the singers planning and practicing their songs, the slapstick draws to decide the appearance order, the celebrities going on about their private lives, singers making mistakes in their hosting roles, and comic relief provided by host-managers who attempted to "sign" their favored singers, among other things. There were many more variety elements, and the competition was more intense. No one in this world had ever attempted a show of this type before.

Actually, the analysis by Zhang Ye's team was quite right. They knew that it wouldn't be the wisest choice to film a singing show at this time. Central TV Department 1's Sing! was bearing down menacingly on the industry, and anyone who knew they were coming would back away. No one wanted to encounter Sing! at this time, and even many of the better reality shows would probably choose to avoid it. They were all afraid their attention would get taken away by the appearance of the show, much less those other similar singing shows around.

This wasn't a good choice!

Or rather, this was the worst decision to make!

Zhang Ye also understood what kind of show would be the most suitable and safest to make at this time, but it was just not in him to do so. If he wanted to be safe, he wouldn't have taken Central TV Department 1 to court. If he was wise, he wouldn't have tangled with the SARFT! In front of a potential "face slapping," everything else was secondary!

Aren't you people looking to challenge me?

Aren't you people trying to show me who is better?

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Fine! Then I'll go all out and take you all on!

When the people from Beijing Television finished reading the proposal, they were astounded.

Hu Fei was the closest with Zhang Ye, having worked together on many occasions. Lecture Room and King of Masked Singers were both handled by the two of them. As such, he spoke first, "Zhang'er, how confident are you of this show? What I mean is, are you sure that this show can outperform The Voice?"

Zhang Ye shook his head. "I'm not sure."

Deputy Station Head Wang blinked. "Even you're not confident?"

But Zhang Ye just laughed and said, "What I mean is, if it were against my original version of The Voice, it would be quite difficult to put a finger on whose viewership ratings would be higher. It might not be able to outperform the ratings for The Voice, but if it were against that copycat show called Sing!, which is headed by an entirely different program team, director, host, and guests..."

The people from Beijing Television looked at him. "How will it do?"

Zhang Ye thought for a moment before replying calmly, "I'd beat them by ten blocks!"

Hu Fei laughed. "You sound really confident."

Zhang Ye said, "I guess so."

Deputy Station Head Wang was chuckled a little as well.

Then the Beijing Television people had a short discussion among themselves.

Finally, Deputy Station Head Wang nodded and said, "Teacher Zhang, we'll take your show. We'll do it like before, so let us know the production budget you require. We'll start with a base of 100 million RMB with no upper limits, and you may allocate the staff as you wish in your role as the executive director while Old Hu takes the executive producer role. You'll head the entire show's production with Old Hu as your assistant."

Hu Fei smiled and said, "When I asked you to be the executive director for King of Masked Singers, you said no. This time, you better not reject me, alright? I'll be your assistant, hur hur."

Zhang Ye blinked. "It's settled just like that? Aren't you guys going to consider it for longer?"

Hu Fei said happily, "It's a show by you. There's no need to consider any further!"

These words were undoubtedly the greatest trust they could give Zhang Ye.

A staff member of Beijing Television suddenly asked, "Director Zhang, are you going to participate in the competition?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "If I'm going to be the executive director, I won't be participating."

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Hu Fei said in surprise, "You won't be taking part? What a pity."

Zhang Ye spread up his hands. "If I participate in the competition as the executive director, how will the others see it? They'd definitely say that it's rigged and unfair. We have to handle this with the show's interest in mind and not screw it up with such controversies." He added with a laugh, "And besides, I'd definitely lose with so many elite singers taking part. That'd be too embarrassing for me."

Hu Fei said, "But what about your screen time? You've worked so hard to come up with a show like this. Surely we can't have you miss out on the benefits, right? It's not like you care about the money anyway."

Zhang Ye said, "Don't worry, Brother Hu. As the executive director, the screen time I'll get is much more than you can imagine."

Deputy Station Head Wang nodded to himself. In the field of show production, Zhang Ye was a very professional and responsible man. This was also what he admired most about Zhang Ye, who handled the situation in an unbiased manner. He was very clear about such things and wouldn't bend the rules just because he could benefit himself. Even though what he said might sound simple, the truth was that there weren't too many people in the entertainment industry who would do things this way anymore.

The contract discussion was settled very quickly.

Then everyone began talking about the subsequent production issues that lay ahead.

Hu Fei asked, "How should we design the stage?"

Zhang Ye replied, "Modify the King of Masked Singers' stage a little?"

"That's fine, but it'll be very difficult to invite the singers. That's going to be an issue."

"That's right. We won't be inviting anyone who isn't good enough. All we target must know how to sing well, and it doesn't matter if they are has-beens. We don't care about the popularity of the person, just their singing skills."

"But this is a competition and no one likes to lose. It's especially true for singers who have been famous for a long time. In King of Masked Singers, they could at least hide behind a mask. Even if they got eliminated there, they could choose to not reveal themselves and leave the stage. The audience would never find out who they were, so it wouldn't be embarrassing to lose. But it's different for I Am a Singer. This is a serious elimination competition, so will the famous be willing to come on the show? Even if we double the appearance money, they might not…"

"I'll take care of that."

"Alright, then I have no other issues. What about you guys? Do you have any requests?"

Deputy Station Head Wang looked at Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye chuckled. "My request is simple."

Deputy Station Head Wang said, "Feel free to request whatever you need."

Zhang Ye said, "I only have one request. Whichever day Sing! broadcasts on, I want to broadcast on that day as well. Whichever time slot Sing! broadcasts on, I want the same time slot as well!"

The people from Beijing Television didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Deputy Station Head Wang said, "Alright, let's sign the contract!"

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Chapter 1222: The lineup of singers!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At night.

The people from Beijing Television left.

Ha Qiqi gave a wry smile. "Director Zhang, are we really going to do this?"

"We have to do it!" Zhang Ye insisted.

Wu Yi said loudly, "Damn, let's do it then!"

Little Wang cried out, "Yeah, who's afraid of whom!"

Zhang Zuo felt fired up. "Let's do it! We'll show Central TV Department 1 who the real big brother of the variety world is! Let's beat them once and for all!"

Tong Fu added, "At most, we'll get taken down along with them!"

Ha Qiqi glared at him. "That mouth of yours! Don't jinx it!"

Tong Fu quickly spat away his words and corrected, "What I meant was, we'll make a clean sweep!"

They had fought alongside Zhang Ye to the death, but their characters had become meeker ever since they joined Zhang Ye's Studio. This was because as staff of the studio, they had to behave in consideration of Zhang Ye. Their highest priority was to do things in his interest, so they had to be more cautious when handling any issues. However, their old passion was still burning as strongly as ever. When they got pushed into a corner like now, they would still follow Zhang Ye and hop around and swear back in anger!

Come on then!

Only one shall remain standing!

After work, the studio staff gradually left the office.

But Zhang Ye did not go and instead remained behind to make some calls. Sing! was currently approaching anyone they could, probably because the guest coaches' roles had still not been filled yet. There were a lot of singers in the music industry, but only a small group of them were truly great singers, so there weren't really that many to choose from. If they could sign someone away, Zhang Ye would have one less person to choose from. The showdown between these two shows was not just a battle of the television station's capabilities, it was also a battle of funding and resources. He had to handle this pronto!

His first call went to Chen Guang.

The call connected.

"Zhang'er."

"Old Chen, did I wake you?"

"No, I was just arguing with my wife."

"Oh, come on, stop pretending already. How would a submissive husband like you dare to argue with her? Even if you had the courage of ten brave men, you still wouldn't do so. Old Fan is just going to join Sing!, that's all. Do you really take me to be so petty? Shouldn't you know me by now? So drop the act. If you really feel bad, how about giving your support to my new show? I just need you to say yes."

"Huh? A new show?"

"Yup."

"Why didn't I know about it?"

"It was finalized today. It's going to be called I Am a Singer."

"What? A singing show?"

"What do you think?"

"Whoa, this is quite a big deal. I'll have to give it some thought first."

"What do you still have to think about? This is a golden opportunity others don't even have a chance to take. Would I ever shortchange you? I've saved you a spot on a good show, so stop worrying and come."

"Hai, but I've never taken part in a competitive TV show before, so aren't you putting me in a difficult position?"

"Are you coming or not?"

"The competition on such shows is too much pressure!"

"Alright then, hand the phone to Old Fan. I'll speak to her regarding her joining Sing!"

"No, don't. I'll go, alright?!"

"That settles it then."

"Hai, I'm paying for my wife's mistakes!"

He had convinced one!

And it was even one of the biggest names in the music industry. Someone who was more famous than Fan Wenli, and a music legend whose singing prowess was top notch. Chen Guang's name was representative of an era, and more importantly, it was not a bygone era. This was his time, and having the support of someone like him was definitely a huge boost to I Am a Singer. Thinking about it, the issue of Old Fan joining Sing! no longer mattered. Securing Old Chen in exchange was definitely a much better deal.

Zhang Ye was on cloud nine. Then he made a call to another big name!

It was to Xiaodong, the leader of the famous Asian girl group, Spring Garden!

"Sister Dong, it's me."

"Zhang Ye."

"What are you doing? Why is it so noisy over there?"

"I'm preparing for our concert that'll be starting in several days."

"The nationwide tour? Then will you be free from the end of October until November?"

"Eh? Why?"

"My new show will be starting soon, so how about showing me some support? It's going to be a singing competition with all the big names joining. Please come on the show if you're confident in yourself."

"But I'm not confident in myself!"

Zhang Ye had no response.

"Heehee, can you summarize the show?"

Zhang Ye gave her a simple explanation, then said, "Li Xiaoxian has been on King of Masked Singers and proved that she's not only capable of singing idol pop, but has great singing skills. As a result of the show, she's gotten really popular all over China. As the leader of Spring Garden, how can you lose to her?"

"Teacher Zhang, are you trying to goad me? Xiaoxian might have gotten very popular, but didn't she still lose to you all the same?"

"I won't be taking part this time."

"You won't be taking part?"

"Yeah, it's because I know that you're very skilled at singing. Who in the industry doesn't know that? So what do you think? Are you interested in joining my new show? I'm sincerely inviting you. Just tell me the price."

"It's not a matter of money, I'm just not confident in myself. Who else will be joining?"

"That's confidential for now. But I can reveal this to you: None of them are your equal. Their popularity and singing aren't as good as yours. If you join, you'll definitely dominate the stage."

"Ah? Really?"

"Yep."

"Then I'll join! I'll join your show!"

"Great! Is Amy close by? I'd like to invite her as well."

After hanging up, another two people were just about in place!

Xiaodong indicated that she would be joining!

While Amy was seriously contemplating it!

Zhang Ye could lie through his teeth without blushing or his heart pounding. He had to trick whoever he could into joining the show!

After that, he called Grandma Zhang Xia. She was someone nobody would have expected him to approach. The moment the call connected, he started introducing the show to her.

Zhang Xia was very surprised on the other end of the line. "You're asking me to join?"

"That's right."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm very sure."

"But I sing bel canto. Who would want to listen?"

"There are many ways of singing bel canto. What's more, it's not like you only know how to sing bel canto and folk songs, right? I don't believe that you don't know how to sing pop songs. Sometimes, one needs to adapt and blend in a little for the audience to be convinced. The development of bel canto singing has reached a bottleneck, so I believe it's time for you to step up to a new challenge."

"The stage belongs to the younger generation. Would I even be suitable?"

"No one is more suitable than you."

"But I'm so old and don't have the strength for such things anymore."

"You're only required to sing one song per week, so it really won't tire you much."

"Then let me consider it for a bit."

"Grandma Zhang, my dearest grandma, do you still need to consider it when we have this good a relationship? Just rest assured and boldly step up. This is definitely going to be the right choice. Would I possibly do you any harm?"

"That's hard to say."

Zhang Ye was speechless.

"Alright, alright, I'll tentatively give you my you."

"Great, thank you for your support, Grandma Zhang. By the way, are there any other good singers you could recommend to me? It doesn't matter if they're no longer active. You're the veteran here and have a lot more contacts and friends around. Why don't you recommend me a few people so that I can go and pay them a visit? Oh, and the appearance fees will definitely be the highest in the industry."

"Let me see who there is."

He secured another one!

Zhang Ye was starting to feel the pressure on him lightening. He had secured more than half of the lineup of singers. His social network was mediocre at best, and he didn't have that many friends. But of those he had, they all had great relationships with him. Those who understood Zhang Ye's temper knew what kind of person he was, which was why they gave him a lot of respect most of the time. This was why Zhang Ye could invite some of the celebrities most television stations could not.

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Chapter 1223: Central TV Department 1 turns green with anger!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this day.

At Central TV Department 1.

The Sing! program team started work early in the morning.

Jiang Yuan, the Deputy Director of Department 1, had come to check on their work. This was the tenth time he had dropped by to Sing!'s production office in recent days. For any of the other shows, the higher-ups would usually just check how everything was going at the start of production before approving the show's executive director and staff to handle the rest of the work. It wasn't feasible for the executives to come over every day to check on how everything was progressing. But Sing! was obviously different. Central TV Department 1 had a great deal of expectations for the show. The executives were also paying a large amount of attention to it with a "can't lose" attitude and determination. This was because it would be Central TV Department 1's biggest variety show this year, and it would have to get the results expected of it by sweeping away the rest of the variety show industry. That was the command issued from the top, which Central TV Department 1 would have to execute!

"Boss!"

"Director Jiang."

"Good morning, Director Jiang."

Jiang Yuan walked in with his hands behind his back.

The program team staff immediately stood up to greet him.

"Good morning, how's everything going?"

"Everything is proceeding smoothly."

"Has Fan Wenli agreed to join us yet?"

"We've already signed the contract with her. She's been secured!"

"Good, very good."

"But Chen Guang and Zhang Xia won't be joining. As for Sister Zhang, we've just contacted her manager, Fang Weihong. She says that Sister Zhang doesn't have a free slot in her schedule."

"It's good enough that we have a guest coach from the first season of The Voice. How about the promo work? Are you guys going all out on it?"

"We've already gotten started."

"How's the public's response?"

"The people are really looking forward to it. There are a lot of discussions regarding the show, and the Weibo topicality has already reached 200,000. That's never happened before!"

"Hur hur, that's good. Great job, everyone. As long as we get to the top spot of the nationwide viewership ratings, I'll personally apply to management for everyone to get recognized for their contributions!"

"Thank you, Director Jiang."

"We guarantee that we'll do a good job!"

"In the current climate of the variety show industry, no one is a match for us!"

"Yeah, the latest variety shows that Shanghai TV and Hunan TV did are no competition for us. After all, The Voice is exceedingly well-known for a TV show. After a year's break, the previous viewers will surely be anticipating it even more. Once the show starts broadcasting again, we've reason to believe that the old viewers will return and that there will be an influx of new viewers as well. Based on past experience, Sing! should do even better than the first season of The Voice in terms of viewership!"

Everyone felt loose and relaxed as they talked and laughed without pressure.

Why?

Because they had no opponents!

Not a single one!

Within the industry, in the entire satellite television market and variety show industry, there weren't too many shows as hot and phenomenal as The Voice. With its reputation out there, even if they filmed the show with their eyes closed, even with a change to the show's name, there would be no lack of viewers. The people would sit down at their televisions and wait for the show to be broadcast. This was the charm of having reputation and also the result that accumulated popularity could bring about. In the whole of the country, there was no one who could stop them! Unless some other phenomenal variety show were to suddenly emerge at this time, they would not be stopped. But no matter how they saw it, it was impossible for that to happen. King of Masked Singers had just ended a few months ago, so the second season couldn't possibly happen so soon. With such circumstances and without any opponents, they were simply invincible.

In this situation, the program team staff were all humming a song inside their heads.

How lonely it is to be invincible!

How empty it feels to be invincible!

The executive director of Sing! was even more exultant and in high spirits.

However, when they remembered that "Invincible" was written by Zhang Ye, they felt like they shouldn't be singing it in fear of bringing bad luck upon themselves. Zhang Ye's name was basically taboo in Central TV Department 1, and no one would dare mention it in front of the higher-ups without good reason. His name represented the biggest enemy Central TV Department 1 had and was also a sore spot that could never be healed.

Everyone went back to discussing the follow-up production.

They talked about issues like the recruitment of the guest coaches, who were still missing two people.

Everything was progressing smoothly, and they could almost see Sing! sweeping across the entire country. However, it was at this moment that a staff member came running in panic!

"Something's happened! Something's happened!"

"What's wrong? Why're you in such a rush?"

"What's happened?"

"Aren't you the one who's responsible for inviting the guest coaches onto the show? Which celebrity has declined to join us this time?"

"If they don't wish to join us, so be it. What are you so alarmed about?"

Everyone looked at that employee, unsure of what had happened.

He didn't manage to invite someone as a guest coach?

Then just approach someone else. There were so many others in the music industry anyway. With their reputation and offering price, there shouldn't be too many people who would reject them. So was there any need to worry about having no big names for their guest coaches?

But for some reason, that employee was looking really flustered. Just as the program team members were looking at him impatiently and wondering what was going on, he brought them an earth-shattering piece of news!

Flustered, the employee said, "I just found out from a big shot of the music industry that other than us, another television station has approached him as well!"

Jiang Yuan was amused. "There's someone else who dares to produce a singing variety show at this time?"

The program team's executive director also smiled. "Who has the balls? They dare compete with us?"

The employee wiped away his sweat and said, "It's Beijing TV!"

An assistant director was taken aback. "Them?"

Another assistant director said, "So what? Must we make such a fuss?"

But the employee's next words gave everyone a fright!

Pulling a long face, he gulped and replied, "It's Zhang Ye's new show and Beijing TV has secured the rights to broadcast it! They intend to broadcast it at the same time as us!"

"What?"

"Say that again?"

"Zhang Ye is producing another singing show?"

"They're going to broadcast at the same time as us?"

Jiang Yuan blanched!

The executive director was dumbfounded!

A few of the assistant directors looked infuriated!

The entire program team of Sing! fell silent!

Then, this news galloped through the internal departments of Central TV!

…

Central TV Department 1.

"What?"

"Zhang Ye is coming back with a new show?"

"Holy shit! Damn!"

"Is he crazy? Why does he want to clash with Sing!?"

"Oh my god! That madman!"

"This is bad! This time, it's really bad!"

"No opponents? Looks like we've just gotten ourselves an opponent, fuck!"

"Is this for real? Isn't he busy receiving awards? Isn't he trying to get into the Chinese language textbooks? Isn't he off writing novels? Then why has this great demon king returned to the variety world?"

"He's doing this on purpose! He's definitely doing this on purpose!"

…

Central TV Sports Channel.

Yu Yingyi and her colleagues were also shocked at the news!

"Fuck, I have a bad feeling about this!"

"Me too, why do I have a feeling that Department 1 is going to flop hard!"

"Zhang Ye is back?"

"Pfft!"

"Teacher Yu, why are you laughing?"

"Did I laugh?

"You did."

"Alright, I did. It's just that I am absolutely tickled by the way that my old classmate is behaving!"

…

Central TV Documentary Channel.

Zhang Ye's old colleagues here also didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Central TV Department 1 is gonna be in serious trouble this time!"

"They're too arrogant! It's good that this has happened!"

"Director Zhang has returned! Let's see how they'll deal with this!"

"I bumped into an assistant director of the program team from Central TV Department 1 yesterday. You should have seen that condescending look on his face thinking that they're unbeatable. I can't help but laugh at it now!"

"Me too, hahahahaha!"

"Good one, Director Zhang!"

"Beautifully played!"

"The faces of those people from Central TV Department 1 have probably all turned green!"

"What else! Bumping into Zhang Ye, who wouldn't turn green!"

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Chapter 1224: The battle begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Meanwhile.

Beijing Television.

The program team for I Am a Singer was officially up and running.

Zhang Ye stood in the newly set up office with his arms wide open as he gave each of his old colleagues a hug.

Xiao Lu gave him a bear hug and exclaimed, "Teacher Zhang! I've missed you so much!"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "It's only been two months, hasn't it?"

"But it still feels like ages ago!" Dafei also went up to hug him!

Hou Ge laughed heartily. "We can work with Teacher Zhang again!"

His twin brother, Hou Di, laughed and said, "I really like working together with Teacher Zhang. There's nothing else that I can say except that I feel really happy and great!"

Zhang Ye said hello to all of them one by one. "How was the previous show you guys made? I heard that it wasn't too well-received?"

Hu Fei stared at him. "Kid, must you bring up that touchy subject?"

Zhang Ye laughed, "Haha."

Han Qi was on the list of the program team staff as well. During King of Masked Singers, she was The Clown's liaison with the program team, or more appropriately, his manager. She was also a diehard fan of Zhang Ye's, so she was very excited to see him again. "Director Zhang, please don't bring that up. The show did abysmally and we suffered a great loss because of it. In the end, the final viewership ratings did not even cross 0.4%. We had to end broadcasting after only a month when the show was canceled by the station."

These days, it wasn't easy producing a reality show either.

Zhang Ye reassured everyone, "Don't worry, I'm back. So let's all work together and pull off another big one!"

Dong Shanshan arrived from outside at this moment. "Now that you're here, we don't have anything more to worry about. But what's this about me hearing that your new show doesn't require a host? What's that all about?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "That's how the show is set up. We'll have the singers take turns hosting the show. I didn't actually say that there wouldn't be a hosting position, Shanshan. You came at just the right time; I was going to look for you about something. Of course I'd have a good role lined up for you! Do you think that you can help lead the team of singers' managers for the show?"

Dong Shanshan gave him a look. "Of course! Did you even have to ask?"

Everyone laughed.

Dong Shanshan was the most popular host at Beijing Television. She was holding up two of the station's shows that were doing rather well in the viewership ratings. Based on her current status, it was actually quite a mismatch of qualifications to use her as one of the singers' managers in the show. But since she was Zhang Ye's old classmate, and based on their friendship, she agreed to it without a second thought. Zhang Ye also desperately needed someone as popular as Dong Shanshan to help him firm up the show. Other than her, no one could do it.

After a while, most of the program team staff arrived.

They sat together and delegated the roles according to the program proposal.

Then Zhang Ye started briefing them. "This show, it has the ability to advance Beijing TV within the industry. For example, there will be a regular cast of seven managers assigned to the singers during the show's run. This time, it won't be done like how we did it on King of Masked Singers, using the program team staff to liaise and wait on the singers' requests. I will need a dedicated team of real hosts to handle the job. Brother Hu, could you please take care of that for me and see which hosts are available and interested in taking the roles? Shanshan will be their team leader, which is definitely the best position there is. As for the remaining spots, I'll need to trouble you to give me some recommendations. I want the slightly more popular variety hosts that we have right now, but at the same time, they shouldn't be overly popular. I just need them to be someone the viewers are familiar with."

Hu Fei smiled and said, "I'll take care of that."

The show's segment where the host-managers played a part was a very important one. Although it might look like a sideshow, they would actually get a lot of screen time. It would help increase their popularity quite a bit and should be a good role to take. Just like in I Am a Singer back in Zhang Ye's previous world—there were quite a few hosts who became very popular overnight after getting paired with the singers as their managers. After I Am a Singer was broadcast here, it would definitely raise the standards of all of Beijing Television's hosting lineup, as well as bring about an increase in their influence. It was just that they couldn't see this effect since they were unsure of how it would work, although they would definitely understand what he meant after the premiere episode.

Zhang Ye continued assigning the roles for the program team.

"We can start prepping for recording."

"Right now?"

"Yes, right now."

"But it's still so early in production, and the stage hasn't been set up either."

"This new show is a little different from the other singing variety shows. Most of the time, we'll just be filming the singers' activities in front of the camera and behind the scenes. There's even a need to capture a portion of the ongoings in their private lives, like going around with the singer as they pack their belongings in preparation for the show. This is why we need to get everything planned out and ready beforehand as there are a lot of reality show elements."

"A reality show? Would that work?"

"Director Zhang, wouldn't that make it overly complicated?"

"Yeah, wouldn't that easily scatter the audience's attention? Isn't this supposed to be a singing show?"

"You guys will understand when the filming's done."

"Alright!"

"Understood!"

"Just assign us accordingly!"

Can it really work?

If Director Zhang says so, then it definitely will!

The advantage of working with his old team was that they could all trust him and had a tacit understanding of things. Whatever role Zhang Ye assigned the staff, they would all give 200% and wouldn't question why they had to do it that way.

After the roles were all delegated!

The rest of the tasks would be handled by Zhang Ye himself!

Grabbing people!

Racing against time!

Grabbing advertising sponsorships!

The battle with Central TV Department 1 was only just beginning!

…

On the very same day, the news leaked.

But of course, this couldn't really be kept secret. The media outlets and newspapers were all blown away by this news.

"Zhang Ye Returns!"

"Zhang Ye's New Show: I Am a Singer?"

"A showdown between giants in the singing variety show genre?"

"Archenemy of Sing! approaches!"

"Sing! likely to face enormous challenge!"

"I Am a Singer: A mantis trying to stop a carriage! 1 "

"Central TV Department 1 and Beijing TV battle for the title of variety big brother?"

"The battle between Central TV Department 1 and Zhang Ye restarts!"

"Experts predict Sing! to score a resounding victory!"

On Weibo.

The netizens were also screaming in excitement!

"Damn, this is beautiful!"

"Zhang Ye has returned again!"

"Heavens!"

"This is so exciting! The more chaotic it is, the merrier I am!"

"Hahahahaha, this is going to be really interesting!"

"It will be an epic battle for sure! It's gonna be the ultimate slaughter!"

"I Am a Singer vs. Sing!, who does everyone think will win? I think Sing! has the upper hand since they already have a reputation. They have a viewer base of over a hundred million people. Even with a name change, the TV station behind it remains the same. They'll still be doing the same thing, so a lot of people should be able to accept it, right? With this dominance, Zhang Ye's new show that appeared from nowhere should be at a disadvantage no matter how I look at it!"

"That might not be true. Sing! is still not exactly the second season of The Voice. They've changed the program team, director, host, and I think even the guest coaches are not the same. Whether everyone can accept it is still not guaranteed. We still can't be sure of whether the viewers are convinced by the reputation of The Voice or the reputation of Zhang Ye. I, for one, am convinced by Zhang Ye alone. The Voice was created by him and is a very strong representation of him. So I'll only look at who makes the show, not what the show is! In my opinion, The Voice will only be The Voice if Zhang Ye is in charge. Any other versions are imitations!"

"Why didn't Zhang Ye just go ahead and record the second season of The Voice? He holds the copyright to it, after all."

"There should be a limitation clause in the contract that Zhang Ye signed with Central TV Department 1. Although The Voice's copyright and naming rights are with him, as long as he isn't working with Central TV Department 1 to create the show, he isn't allowed to authorize it to any other TV network. This should've been written into the contract. That's why Central TV Department 1 has chosen not to use the name of The Voice, and that applies to Zhang Ye too."

"So what is I Am a Singer gonna be like?"

"I don't know!"

"Let's just wait and see. They have begun fighting!"

"Let's see which is better!"

"Yeah, it's time for a showdown!"

"The rising wind portends the coming storm!"

"I can already see a bloody clash happening!"

1. overstating one's abilities and trying to do what is beyond one's power. https/blogs./chinese/chinese-idioms-vol-5/

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Chapter 1225: The fight for advertisers!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

In the morning.

At a restaurant serving stews.

It was relatively quiet at this time as everyone was at work. The restaurant had just opened for the day, and no customers had entered yet. Then a young man wearing sunglasses walked in from outside.

The restaurant owner had sharp eyes and recognized him. "Ah, Zhang Ye!"

Several of his employees' eyes lit up. "Zhang Ye?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Are you open yet, boss?"

"Yes, yes, we're open!" The boss was ecstatic. "We warmly welcome you, Teacher Zhang. Why do you have so much free time today? Talk of you making a new show is all over the news!"

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, "Yeah, I came here to meet someone for business."

The boss said, "Why is a person of your status coming to our small restaurant? You've really graced us with your presence. Please, come in and have a seat."

Zhang Ye found a place to sit down. "I've eaten here before and found your stews quite authentic. But I wasn't famous at that time, so you didn't recognize back then."

The boss started trembling in excitement as though he was shot with adrenaline!

Zhang Ye's eaten here before?

He even likes the taste of our food?

If this got out, wouldn't their restaurant become super popular?

Soon after, the CEO of Brain Gold, Wu Mo, also arrived. "Yo, Brother Zhang, you're already here? Have you ordered yet?"

"Not yet. I was waiting for you, wasn't I?"

"I want a large bowl with extra tripe please."

"Sure, I'll have the small one without any vinegar, but please add extra garlic sauce."

The boss personally went into the kitchen as he said, "Alright, please look forward to it!"

He was pretty attentive to the situation too. After he whispered something to his employees, they went over and shut the doors. He closed the entire restaurant for Zhang Ye.

The stews were served.

The two of them talked as they ate.

Zhang Ye chewed on a pork lung. "Do you want to take the title sponsorship of I Am a Singer?"

"Your new show?"

"Yes."

"Is it good?"

"Of course it's good. Why else would I offer it to you?"

"To be honest, I'm really quite interested."

"Then let's talk."

"How much is the title sponsorship fee?"

"200 million RMB."

"Whoa, are you asking for my life?"

"That's already very low; it's a fair price."

"You call that low? Which variety show have you ever seen asking for 200 million RMB for the title sponsorship? 150 million was the highest, and that's even the record created by King of Masked Singers!"

"If you're not interested, I'll go to someone else?"

"Make it a little cheaper."

"You won't make a loss on 200 million yuan. Your company is the leader of the health supplements industry, so what's 200 million to you? You'd earn all that back within half a year. Become the title sponsor for I Am a Singer and I guarantee your sales figures will double. I only asked for a 100 million from you for the first season of The Voice, but look at how much you earned from that."

"Aiya, we can't compare things like this."

"Do you want it or not?"

"Alright, I give in!"

"I'll get someone to send you the contract later."

He finished eating his bowl of stew.

Zhang Ye got up and asked, "Boss, how much?"

"That'll be a total of 45 yuan," the boss shouted.

Zhang Ye took out his wallet and placed the money onto the table before turning to leave.

Wu Mo was speechless. "You're leaving just like that?"

Zhang Ye waved with his back facing him. "I'm really busy. There's still a pile of things waiting for me to do."

Wu Mo rolled his eyes and said annoyed, "Great, a deal worth 200 million RMB and all I get in return is a 25 yuan bowl of stew. And you're even leaving first? Real great." He lowered his head and continued eating by himself.

Zhang Ye no longer needed to be as polite with him. Brain Gold had become the leading health product in the market by leaps and bounds and was the top brand in the industry. It was earning more and more money now, and Zhang Ye could partly be credited with that. Whether it was him endorsing Wu Mo's company product in the commercial at the beginning, or Brain Gold becoming the title sponsor of The Voice later on, all of it brought great benefits to the Brain Gold Company. It turned a small company on the brink of bankruptcy around and launched it into the leading health product brand in the entire country. This was also the reason for the good relationship between Wu Mo and Zhang Ye. Of course, the key reason was that Wu Mo was Wu Zeqing's nephew. When Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing got married, Wu Mo would have to address him as his uncle-in-law based on their statuses. As such, Zhang Ye was not as polite with him as before.

It was just that Wu Mo did not know about all of this as of yet.

…

Elsewhere.

Central TV Department 1.

The Sing! program team staff had all been on guard since yesterday. Everyone was kept extremely busy in their panic, not because they were easily flustered, but because their opponent was too formidable. When faced with this person called Zhang Ye, none of the program team members dared to neglect their duties!

"We've tied up the advertisement sponsorship deal with Donghe!"

"Good! Well done!"

"Lele Mineral Water's advertisement sponsorship has been confirmed too!"

"Has the title sponsorship been settled yet?"

"We're waiting for their decision. The other party is still haggling over the fees!"

"If they don't want it, find someone else!"

"There's no one else. Those who can offer more than a 100 million in title sponsorship fees number no more than twenty corporations!"

"I heard that I Am a Singer is also fighting for advertisers!"

"How can a new program team like theirs possibly compete with us?"

"But many of the advertisers have already been snatched away by them. Like the one we locked up earlier. They've also been pried away by I Am a Singer!"

"How shameless!"

"How can they behave like this?"

"Isn't that against the industry's rules?"

Suddenly, an assistant director from the program team walked in and announced in excitement, "We've got it! The title sponsorship has been finalized! 160 million RMB!"

"Ah!"

"This is great!"

"160 million? What an astronomical figure!"

"That has broken the record!"

"We'll crush I Am a Singer this time!"

"Hahahaha, this title sponsorship fee is even higher than what King of Masked Singers got!"

"It's a totally unprecedented amount in the industry!"

"Release the news straight away!"

"Yes, Boss!"

The news got out!

The industry was shocked!

The public was amazed!

Sing!'s title sponsorship was sold for 160 million RMB?

The title sponsorship fee might look like it had nothing to do with the quality of a show or had no relation to the viewership ratings it would get. But in actual fact, it was a very important symbol and an indicator of things, as those with the ability to sponsor such an amount were very smart people. The title sponsorship fee would also reflect how optimistic the sponsors were about a show. Since they were willing to pay over a 100 million for it, that meant they expected it to reap a figure that would far exceed what they put in.

Sing! was highlighted in the news once again!

The program team of Sing! also became famous as a result!

Quite a few industry insiders and netizens were heatedly discussing this record-breaking astronomical title sponsorship fee!

But just as Central TV Department 1 was preparing to celebrate their first victory, Beijing Television's official Weibo released even more shocking news!

I Am a Singer's title sponsorship had been sold to Brain Gold!

The title sponsorship fee: 200 million RMB!

The industry insiders were flabbergasted!

The citizens were also stunned!

"Holy fuck!"

"Has the Brain Gold Company gone mad?"

"200 million yuan? Does their fucking money grow on trees?"

"Yeah, it's like this sum doesn't mean a thing to them!"

"Wasn't Brain Gold the title sponsor for the first season of The Voice? What's the meaning of this? They won't be continuing their relationship with Sing!? They're giving their support to Beijing TV?"

"Can they really recoup an investment of 200 million yuan?"

"Who the hell knows? That sum is insane!"

"The record's been broken again?"

"Central TV Department 1's 160 million RMB title sponsorship fee had already given me such a shock. Then, in the blink of an eye, this news about the 200 million RMB title sponsorship fee was released? Oh my god! Do they not need to leave some money for rainy days?"

"Central TV Department 1 has been slapped in the face hard!"

"Pfft, looks like Zhang Ye has outdone them again!"

"Sing! still couldn't beat I Am a Singer in the end!"

"Did they really spend 200 million RMB on that, the fuck?"

"Unbelievable!"

The media was shocked!

Central TV Department 1 was also dumbfounded!

Many on the Sing! program team were left cursing and swearing!

"Based on what!"

"200 million?"

"Is Brain Gold crazy!"

"They're gonna go bankrupt!"

"For a new show with no indicators of past performance, they actually paid that much for the title sponsorship?"

Nobody could understand and all felt a sense of frustration. They felt like they had been played by Zhang Ye. They had rushed to announce their title sponsorship fee had broken the record. But just 30 minutes later, they were slapped by I Am a Singer's program team. This was clearly a huge blow, and many of them could not accept it!

Why?

Based on what?

They were all asking this in their heads.

A deputy director from Central TV Department 2 happened to pass by and bump into several program directors of the Sing! program team.

The executive director of Sing! sighed, "Director He."

Deputy Director He asked, "What the matter?"

The executive director said, "Nothing."

Deputy Director He was on rather good terms with him as he had brought this director up within the station. "If you say it's nothing, that means there's something."

The executive director hesitated for a moment before saying, "I just don't get how we're losing."

Deputy Director He could see that they were feeling really bad. He shook his head and couldn't help but say, "Don't forget who your opponent is: the best director of the television variety world who's also the record holder of the top viewership ratings and title sponsorship fee. He's the gold standard in the country's television variety circle. If I have to be blunt, just the name of 'Zhang Ye' alone is valued at 200 million. There's nothing to be ashamed of even if you all lose to him."

The executive director gave a bitter smile.

Zhang Ye?

What a legend indeed!

This sort of person was truly too difficult to deal with!

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Chapter 1226: I Am a Singer's promotional video!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The fight for advertisers came to an end!

In the following days, the battle for publicity officially began!

Many industry insiders and onlookers were watching this unfold with their hearts in their mouths!

"Wow, take a look at People's Daily!"

"Damn, I Am a Singer has taken out an entire page in People's Daily!"

"How lavish was that? How much did that cost?"

"I wonder how many days they'll advertise in the Party's newspaper 1 ."

"Hey, everyone. Quickly take a look at Beijing Daily, Shanghai Daily, and Huadong Morning Post. The ad pages have all been bought out by Sing! What the fuck!"

"Tianhe Discussion Forums' ad spot on the main page is running an ad for I Am a Singer!"

"TT Messenger's pop-ups are all filled with Sing! ads!"

"These two program teams must have gone fucking insane!"

"I've never come across such hardcore promotions before!"

"How wealthy! They're way too fucking wealthy!"

"I take my hat off to them. They're taking the fight all across the country!"

"This has got to be the biggest publicity battle in the history of variety shows, right?"

"How much hatred do they have for each other? It seems like they're really trying to do each other in!"

"Let them fight it out. Sing! has already lost the fight for advertisers, so let's see who'll win in the battle for publicity!"

In the various major forums!

In the various major newspapers!

On the various major chat apps!

Without an exception, all of them had become battlefields between the two shows!

The publicity battle was so widespread that even those in the music and film industries were alarmed. As they were preparing to promote their new albums, concerts, and films, they discovered they couldn't get any good spots for publicity in the media. Almost all of the critical advertising spots had been bought up by Sing! and I Am a Singer! All along, the film industry had been acknowledged as the heaviest spending industry in the entertainment circle. Be it their actors' salaries, promotional budgets, or production investments, they were the highest among the related industries. But who could have thought that the film industry would be shocked and outdone by two variety shows!

Just how many advertisement spots had they bought?

How much money had they spent on buying all those spots?

10 million?

20 million?

Just these sums spent would have been enough for the film industry to produce a budget idol film. Could they really be that well-off? And this was just the beginning? Could it be that the variety shows' production fees would go over 200 million RMB? What was 200 million good for? It was enough for them to hire the best director in the country and the best A-listers to make a film for the Chinese New Year holidays! Thinking about that, the film industry's people were unable to keep calm!

This was too much!

This was too frightening!

…

Actually, even Beijing Television couldn't keep calm.

At I Am a Singer's program team office.

Hu Fei said nervously, "Zhang'er, we've already spent over a 100 million!"

"OK, it'll be fine." Zhang Ye replied calmly, "Let's keep buying ad spots!"

Hou Ge exclaimed, "We're still buying more? Don't we have enough?"

Zhang Ye shook his head. "We're still far from enough. Since Central TV Department 1 wants to fight us in this publicity battle, we must not let them to oppress us. We'll battle them. Isn't it just a matter of who can dump more money! Don't worry about it, everyone. The money we spend now will come back multiple times over. If we're going to do this, we must up our stakes!"

Dafei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "But the stakes are getting too high!"

It was indeed a little too much!

But all of it would be worthwhile!

I Am a Singer's greatest weakness was that it did not have any accumulated popularity to fall back on. In Zhang Ye's previous world, during the first three seasons of I Am a Singer, the reputation of the show declined season after season. But because it had accumulated its popularity and became very well-known to a lot of people, the viewership ratings got better and better with every season. The total online views of the show even managed to double. But Zhang Ye did not have the luxury of time over here. That was why they had to carry out such intense promotions for the show. He was going to spend as much as required just to up the promotions. He wanted to give I Am a Singer the most explosive viewership ratings right from the start of the first season and make it an instant hit!

All that he had done were child's play compared to this. Whether it be The Voice, A Bite of China, or King of Masked Singers, their production budgets were all too limited. The promotional budget in those shows were all raised by scrimping and saving on other production costs. But Zhang Ye did not intend to have it this way for I Am a Singer. Beijing Television had placed their trust in him and given him an unlimited budget. After pulling in Brain Gold's 200 million title sponsorship fee and other advertiser sponsorships, it gave him the freedom to spend without consideration. Further, there was still the online video hosting site's exclusive broadcast rights fee that was yet to be sold!

So why not play a big one this time!

Zhang Ye couldn't wait any longer, and neither could the plan to reach the summit!

I Am a Singer was not only a show that Beijing Television had a lot of expectations for, nor was it just a show that Zhang Ye wanted to use to face-smack Central TV Department 1 with, it was also the fourth milestone in Zhang Ye's "Reach the Summit" plan. Zhang Ye wanted to use I Am a Singer to fulfill the potential popularity he could achieve from the variety world so that he could ascend onto the altar!

Zhang Ye said, "Oh yes, earmark 2 million RMB from the production budget."

Xiao Lu asked, "Alright, what will it be used for?"

Zhang Ye said, "To film a promo video."

Hou Ge was taken aback. "A promo video? How many minutes will it be?"

"Around one minute." Zhang Ye's answer was shocking.

Everyone in the program team gasped. "Just one minute? Two million RMB? Director Zhang, isn't that too much?"

Zhang Ye said, "I'll personally take charge of the production of the promo video. I want to have the best equipment, the best production staff, and the best special effects!"

"Uh…"

"Alright then!"

"Whatever you say."

…

Several days later.

The promotional video for Sing! was released!

Just watching it, it was clear that it was a big production and a lot of money had been spent on it. The style and colors used were basically a continuation of the approach used in The Voice. Although it wasn't really anything new, the video was still beautifully produced.

The netizens were all praising it!

"That's pretty good."

"Eagerly awaiting the broadcast!"

"The promo is really nice!"

…

A day later.

I Am a Singer's promotional video was officially released!

Many people paid special attention to it, because everyone knew what kind of a show Sing! was since they've watched The Voice before. But they had no idea what sort of a singing show I Am a Singer would be. Even many of the industry insiders did not know anything since Beijing Television had not revealed much information about it. Zhang Ye's program team also requested to work on the show under a veil of secrecy and did not even want to reveal the list of participating singers. It was as though they were trying to remain mysterious right until the very end. So in the absence of any information, everyone was curious and looking forward to seeing the promotional video!

At 8 PM.

The promotional video would get its first broadcast on Beijing Television.

Zhang Ye's parents turned on the television.

Chen Guang and Fan Wenli were both sitting in the living room in wait.

Xiaodong and Amy were watching eagerly.

Many people in the industry had tuned in to watch right on time.

The background music played soothingly as an image appeared on screen!

Then Zhang Ye's magnetic voice sounded.

"The sound of a person falling.

"Is much louder than a group of people living.

"A moment of despair in someone.

"Carries the significance of dying once.

"Does life gets renewed, or does it end?

"All of it decided by the choices of every moment and every second.

"Music is not the goal, but a state of living.

"Please doubt me!

"Mock me!

"Hurt me!

"I shall greet life facing backwards.

"Why do we sing? So that we stop being afraid.

"Music is fearless.

"I…Am…a…Singer!"

A short 52-second promotional video ended!

But those who caught this promotional video the moment it was broadcast were all left with shocked expressions for a very long time. The images, colors, special effects, and voice over were all superb!

I Am a Singer's promotional video shot up to trending on the search engines!

Praise and shocked reactions were all over Weibo!

"That was fantastic!"

"How is this a promo!"

"Right? It was too artistic! The visuals in it can all be used as my desktop wallpaper!"

"It's so exquisite, concise, and artistic all at once. It's awesome!"

"Zhang Ye's amazing at creating stuff like that!"

"You can immediately see how good it is!"

"That voice over paired with the visuals and music made my heart race!"

"It's much better than Sing!'s promo! They've been flung two streets away!"

"Pfft, it looks like Sing! has lost the publicity battle as well!"

"They can't complain about that! Zhang Ye is Zhang Ye, after all!"

"I'm looking forward to I Am a Singer even more now!"

"Based on just this promo alone, I'll catch the show when it broadcasts!"

There were heated discussions everywhere!

Many of the industry insiders could not help but give it a Like!

A famous advertisement director declared on Weibo: "A wonderfully produced promotional video!"

A program director from Shanghai Television: "I've watched it six times already. This is truly art."

A little-known film director: "By creating such an artistic promotional video with an attitude of seeking perfection, the show they come up with shouldn't be bad."

The promotional video was on fire!

No one expected how hot it was getting!

It was so hot that it didn't make any sense!

Comparatively, Sing!'s promotional video was looking more dismal by the second!

This was not to say that Sing!'s promotional video was bad. But things did not stand up well to comparison. Once they were compared, the shortcomings became glaring! To be exact, this wasn't a case of Sing! losing to I Am a Singer. It was just that the gulf between the director of the Sing! promotional video and Zhang Ye was too wide!

As well as the difference in the production budgets!

How much was spent on the former's promotional video?

Tens of thousands?

Hundreds of thousands?

And what about the latter?

A full two million RMB was put into it in order to create it!

…

At Beijing Television.

Inside I Am a Singer's program team office.

Xiao Lu laughed loudly. "We've won! We've won again!"

Hou Ge said, "This video is so wonderful!

Dafei said, "Two million? Totally worth it!"

"We're trending at number three in the searches!" Han Qi said, pleasantly surprised!

Hu Fei gave Zhang Ye an acknowledging nod.

Zhang Ye smiled back. This promotional video 2 had been carefully chosen by him and came from the fourth season of I Am a Singer back in his previous world. Zhang Ye kept the video's artistic direction mostly intact but added in his own ideas and special effects for the images and music. This was to give the viewers a greater sense of visual impact with a more powerful feel. Every frame and detail was repeatedly hammered out. Otherwise, it couldn't possibly have cost two million yuan to produce!

Everything was now ready!

There was only the official recording left to film!

The highest title sponsorship fee in the industry, the highest production budget in the industry, the highest promotional budget in the industry. There were too many of "the highest in the industry" contained within this show called I Am a Singer. Zhang Ye had given his full effort so he wouldn't have any regrets later. He vowed to make I Am a Singer a classic, landmark variety show!

1. The paper is an official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party

2. https/youtu.be/GHvXmYBCw9U

Chapter 1227: We have never lost before!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The venue was being prepared.

The promotions were ramped up.

The troll armies were flinging insults at each other.

Day by day, it was getting closer and closer to the broadcast of the two shows.

On the day that Central TV Department 1 suddenly announced their broadcast time for Sing!, Beijing Television swiftly followed with an announcement for I Am a Singer's broadcast time!

The same day!

At the same time!

Not a second earlier or later!

When this news was released, everyone in the industry was shocked!

Meanwhile, the netizens were feeling pumped up and delighted by the news!

Lately, these two shows were the most anticipated variety shows with no others coming close. In the history of the variety world, there hadn't been any shows that carried out such widespread publicity campaigns like it didn't cost a thing. Everyone knew that it would be the best choice for these two most anticipated shows to broadcast at different times so they could avoid directly competing with each other. But Zhang Ye did not do that as he chose to broadcast at the exact same time and on the same day as Sing! It was just like what had happened with A Bite of China. This was Zhang Ye and he had always done things in this way. He would either choose not to fight at all, or go all out if he did!

The countdown began!

The desperate struggle between the two shows was finally starting!

Who would lose?

And who would win?

No one could predict it!

…

Noon that same day.

At home.

Zhang Ye's parents were busy preparing lunch.

When the doorbell rang, his mother tossed off her apron and wiped her hands clean. Then she hurriedly went to open the door with a smile on her face. "Coming, coming."

Wu Zeqing was standing outside. "Auntie."

His mother smiled and said, "Ai, Little Wu, come in quickly."

"Little Wu, you're here?" His father also came out of the kitchen with a smile.

Wu Zeqing smiled. "Uncle, you're busy?"

His father said, "Lunch is almost ready. Go and call Little Ye over."

Wu Zeqing asked, "Where is he?"

"He's lying in his room. He's been tired out by work the past few days," his mother said happily.

"OK, I'll go and get him." Wu Zeqing went to his bedroom and pushed open the door. "Little Ye?"

Zhang Ye was lying on the bed and mumbled, "You're here?"

Wu Zeqing smiled. "Is the show going to be broadcast soon?"

Zhang Ye said, "I was actually planning it for a little later but had to match Sing! pushing forward their broadcast date. I had to put in some overtime at work as a result. The good thing is that just about everything is ready. We'll begin officially recording I Am a Singer's first episode tomorrow. Hai, I haven't really had much sleep the past few days. The executives at the station are the ones who chased me home so I could rest well today. How could I rest? I can't even sit still for long."

Old Wu said, "Alright, let's have lunch first."

They started eating.

The whole family was seated at the dining table eating lunch.

But Zhang Ye was preoccupied with his thoughts. He didn't even take two bites before putting down his chopsticks.

His mother stared at him. "Eat."

Zhang Ye whined, "I have no appetite."

Wu Zeqing could sense what he was thinking about. "Are you feeling nervous?"

"Not exactly." Zhang Ye sighed, "But I'm under a lot of pressure."

His father said, "You? Under pressure?"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "Of course. Do you know how many people I'm supporting?"

Zhang Ye was the type of person who was very mentally strong. In normal circumstances, he would hardly feel any stress and was more carefree. But now that he had reached this position where his popularity was getting higher and higher, the people who depended on him for their livelihoods were also increasing. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't possibly feel no pressure. What if he lost this battle? What if he didn't manage to do well? How would he answer to Beijing Television? How could he recoup the 200 million in title sponsorship fees that Wu Mo had pumped in? What about his staff at the studio? The higher he climbed, the more he couldn't afford to lose. He was no longer a general without an army. It was just that he rarely displayed any of such worries and stress in front of others.

Zhang Ye had been in such situations in the past. Back then, it was always Wu Zeqing who pointed him the way forward. So he looked at her. "Old Wu, you oversee the entertainment circle and have come across many shows. You have read the content approval report for I Am a Singer, right? I'll tell you about the specifics of the show segments again. Let me know what you think of it after and whether it can win against that copycat version of The Voice. Listen, the show will have seven designated singers…"

Before he could finish.

Wu Zeqing cut him off. "I don't want to listen to that."

Zhang Ye was taken aback. "Why not?"

"Because I don't have to listen to it." Wu Zeqing smiled and grabbed some food for him. She said, "Who are you? You're Zhang Ye, the best program director in the industry. The shows you produce will definitely be number one in the country. This is something that you don't even have to have a doubt about—no one can beat you, none of the major satellite channels, not even Central TV Department 1. As long as you put your mind to it, as long as you do it seriously, no one in the industry is a match for you."

Zhang Ye cheered up. "Phew, about that, can you not worship me to such an extent?"

His mother rolled her eyes. "Rascal, stop being conceited."

"What you need now is rest and a good meal." Old Wu grabbed some more food for him and said, "The battle will officially start tomorrow, so eat up."

Zhang Ye smiled. "OK, I got it."

Old Wu was truly capable!

It only took her a few words to bring Zhang Ye's fighting spirit back up!

Everyone knew that Zhang Ye was one of the toughest people in the entertainment circle. But no one knew that behind this toughness, there were times he would hesitate and doubt himself. There were also moments of weakness and confusion. Luckily for him, he had Wu Zeqing by his side. She always pulled him up in those critical times.

Zhang Ye didn't actually think that he was a very strong person. It was only when Old Wu was beside him that he could feel invincible and indomitable!

After lunch.

His cell phone rang. It was a video call.

As Zhang Ye had been forced to go on leave today, the I Am a Singer program team would only hold a video call with him to seek his instructions when something cropped up at work.

The video call connected.

Everyone started updating him on their work.

Zhang Ye acknowledged them one by one.

Finally, Xiao Lu said nervously to him: "Teacher Zhang, will we really be able to do it tomorrow?"

Many of the others in the video call kept quiet. Each and every one of them had the same expression as Zhang Ye had earlier. There was anticipation, tension.

Zhang Ye thought for a moment before giving them a long speech through the phone's video camera. "I know that we're really disadvantaged right now. On number of contacts, Central TV has a better network than us. On influence, Central TV's influence is much greater than ours. On the size of the audience base, Central TV has many more viewers than we do. On the show, Sing! has a greater accumulated following and popularity. That's why for our battle with Central TV Department 1, it would be bullshit if I said that I'm not feeling pressured."

Xiao Lu gave a wry smile.

Dafei had a frown on his face.

Hou Ge was breathing hard.

Han Qi kept rubbing her hands together to hide her unease.

Zhang Ye smiled. "But we have an advantage too."

Advantage?

What advantage could we have?

Everyone stared at Zhang Ye in the video call.

Zhang Ye emphasized each word he said. "Our advantage is: We! Have! Never! Lost! Before!"

Xiao Lu was inspired!

Han Qi raised her head!

Hou Ge and the others were jolted!

Those words were so domineering!

Only Zhang Ye would dare to speak like this!

In the entire industry, only Zhang Ye could say something like this!

Yes! They have never lost before!

To be precise, it was Zhang Ye who had never lost before!

Talk Show?

The Voice?

A Bite of China?

King of Masked Singers?

He had never lost!

And that was their greatest advantage!

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Chapter 1228: Recording begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

It was a rainy morning.

At Central TV Department 1, in the recording studio for Sing!

"Camera 1."

"Ready."

"Lights."

"They're all working fine, Director."

"Is Teacher Fan Wenli here yet?"

"She's getting her makeup done."

"Good, get ready to roll the cameras!"

The audience had already entered the studio. In the huge venue, there were no empty seats. Many of the audience members could not calm themselves as they kept looking at the stage and exchanging whispers from time to time. It was still very much the same setup that Zhang Ye had created back during the first season of The Voice. However, the logo had been slightly modified and the colors of the stage were also a little different. The four guest coaches' chairs also no longer looked like the rotating type of seat. They were now blocked at the front with a screen so that whatever was happening on stage could not be seen by the guest coaches sitting in them. It also looked like the screen could be raised or lowered. As for the rest of the structures, they were virtually untouched.

"Are they recording yet?"

"Hurry up, I can't wait any longer!"

"I'm really looking forward to it. I hope there'll be more contestants similar to the common folks we saw in Season One, like Qian Pingfan, Luo Yu, and Old Master Zhou Danian. Those contestants on Zhang Ye's The Voice were all shockingly good!"

"Yeah, brilliant talent walks amongst the common folk!

"I don't find the ordinary people who sing to be any worse than pro singers."

"Right, some of them can sing even better than pro singers."

"Ah, it's starting. Someone's coming out!"

"Is that the host?"

" Murong 1 ?"

"Murong is the host?"

"She's that really popular Spring Festival Gala host for Central TV!"

"But speaking fast isn't really her style, is it?"

"I don't think she can speak at Zhang Ye's speed."

"Hai, what a pity. Sing! can replicate everything except for the hosting role. They really couldn't find anyone to stand in for Zhang Ye. That fellow is simply too unique in the field of hosting. This is probably what I find most regrettable about Sing! After all, that image of him reading those advertising messages of a few hundred words in a single breath left a very deep impression on everyone. I don't think that most people can accept it now that that has changed."

"Yes, that's true. Hai."

"I find it weird that the guest coaches will no longer be turning around in their chairs too."

"Sing! isn't the same as The Voice after all."

The cameras started and the recording officially began.

As everyone discussed the show while recording happened, Zhang Ye's name kept coming up. It wasn't that they insisted on bringing him up, but that his name was just unavoidable whenever The Voice was mentioned. It was like an eternal monument.

…

Meanwhile.

At Beijing Television.

Recording for I Am a Singer also began. In fact, their filming for the show had started ten days earlier. As the show consisted of reality TV elements, they had to follow the singers around with cameras, as well as document the behind-the-scenes activities at the television station and the program team's planning. For example, it was depicted in the program team's meeting how they invited the singers to the show and how the competition's rules were drawn up. Then there was also the assignment of tasks to Dong Shanshan and the others during a meeting between the seven host-managers. All of it was completed earlier and would be edited into the final broadcast cut to inform the audience about the rules so they would be fully familiar with how the show worked and understand the course of the competition.

And today was the official live studio recording of the show.

The staff members were standing by in their positions between 4 and 5 AM. Those who had worked with Zhang Ye before knew very well that he was usually very nice to others and an easy-going person who rolled with the punches. But when it came to work, Director Zhang was extremely demanding and paid very close attention to the details of a show. This was why no one dared to be careless with their roles.

The walkie-talkie beside Zhang Ye crackled.

"Director Zhang, Director Zhang, Singer #1 has arrived."

"OK. Follow them and document the arrival in video. Ensure that everyone sticks to the route."

"Director Zhang, Singer #3 is almost at the station."

"Get Singer #3's car go around again and wait for ten minutes."

"Understood, we won't let the singers bump into each other."

"How's the prep work going at the studio?"

"Everything is A-OK here!"

"Check again that the equipment is all set to go."

"Roger."

"In half an hour's time, let the audience into the studio."

"Copy that, Director Zhang."

The singers gradually arrived, albeit separately, in order to keep things confidential. This wasn't just a formality that they were preaching as the singers were really clueless about who the other participants were. Whether it was the contract talks, the rehearsals before the competition, or arriving at the station, all of it was carried out in isolation of the others. It was only when the singers got onstage that the other singers would know who they were through a television in their waiting rooms. This was done to increase the entertainment of the show.

Backstage.

This area had been redesigned into a very welcoming two story activity zone. On the second floor were seven rooms, with the logo of I Am a Singer and a room number pasted on the door. There was no indication of the singers' information, and only Zhang Ye knew which singer was going to be behind each door.

Room #1 was Xiaodong, the group leader of Spring Garden.

Zhang Ye pushed the door open and stepped in. "Hey, Sister Dong."

Xiaodong was just looking around the room when he came in. "Director Zhang, there are cameras everywhere in here?"

"That's right." Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Are you feeling OK?"

Xiaodong forced a smile. "I'm a little nervous."

Zhang Ye said, "But you're an Asian star. What big occasions have you not seen before?"

Xiaodong said, "I've never been in a competition with so many peers before! Tell me, who else joined? Hurry up and reveal a little to me. I walked around earlier, but why didn't I see anyone in the other rooms?"

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, "You're the first to arrive and also the first who'll find out who the other singers are. I Am a Singer will be using the competing singers as show hosts as per what we have discussed beforehand. So unless you get eliminated, you'll keep hosting until the finals begin, OK? But of course, with your ability and popularity, even if anyone gets eliminated, it won't be you. The other singers aren't as good at singing as you and less popular as well, so you can perform without any worries. Just let yourself go." He had said this before to Xiaodong. Otherwise, she couldn't have possibly agreed to join the show so easily.

Letting Xiaodong host the show was something Zhang Ye had given some thought. Whether it was her image, popularity, or eloquence, Xiaodong was the most suitable candidate for this role.

Xiaodong felt a little more at ease. "That's good then. I'm just afraid of losing. That'd be really embarrassing."

Zhang Ye handed her the hosting cue cards. "Here's the information about the singers. The host lines are also in there. Look through it and don't go outside the room anymore. The other singers will be arriving very soon."

"Don't worry." Xiaodong giggled as she took the cards from him.

After she did that, Zhang Ye turned around and closed the door. Then he quickly walked away.

But before he was even gone for five seconds, Xiaodong let out an angry roar from inside Room #1. "Zhang Ye! Get back in here! What's with this list of singers?"

In the activity zone, a few cameramen looked at Zhang Ye.

Xiao Lu blinked in confusion, not understanding what had happened to Xiaodong. She even gave Zhang Ye a look to indicate to him to get back in there to find out what was going on.

But no one expected Zhang Ye to not even turn around. When he heard that angry roar, this fellow even picked up his pace and walked away like he did not hear a thing!

In Room #1.

Xiaodong was so shocked she nearly fainted!

Seeing all of those names on the list of singers!

Chen Guang!

Amy!

Zhang Xia!

Xue Kaiqi!

He Huan!

Zhao Wuliu!

Xiaodong felt like she had just died!

What were all of these famous singers in the music scene doing here?!

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Chapter 1229: How did I fall for your nonsense!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the morning.

At the venue of I Am a Singer.

After the 1,000 audience members were admitted into the studio, they got so excited that they couldn't stay seated.

"What time does it start?"

"I heard that there won't be a professional host for this?"

"Zhang Ye's not hosting?"

"It seems like he won't participate in the competition nor host the show."

"Really? Then what'll he be doing?"

"I think he's just the executive director. Who knows what he's thinking?"

"This is his show, so he'll figure out a way to appear onscreen. Just wait and see. I know this guy too well. He'll definitely have given himself a good role."

"What about the judging panel?"

"It doesn't seem like there's one either."

"Huh? Are they going to base it off our voting?"

"That's right. I think it's because they didn't want a judging panel to sway the audience's decision, so they decided to do away with it."

"No host, no judging panel, no interactions, just seven singers competing onstage? The professionalism and authenticity of this show are clearly much greater. It'll also be a stern test of the singers' skills. However good they are, it'll be shown as is. Everything is going to be as real as it gets without any sensationalism mixed in!"

"That's what will make it exciting!"

"I'm just worried that there won't be any good singers participating."

"Yep, that's what I'm worried about too."

"At least they could wear a mask on King of Masked Singers. Even if they lost, they could still choose not to reveal their identities. But there's no such thing on I Am a Singer, so will the big names really join? If you win? That would be expected! But if you lose? Then that would be too embarrassing. They might even suffer a drop in their popularity as a result. The risks are huge, so who would willingly come and participate? Even the appearance fees shouldn't be able to move them too easily, right? But then again, if the singers who join the show are only newcomers or little-known singers, it would be too boring. In that case, I'd rather watch Sing!"

"Yeah."

"Let's see how it goes."

Who would show up?

Which singers would be participating?

The audience was completely clueless and couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

All of a sudden, the lights dimmed.

The audience was startled for a moment before breaking into a round of enthusiastic applause.

Counting down to the start of recording.

Three.

Two.

One.

The entire studio fell quiet.

Everyone stuck their necks out in the direction of the moon gate at the back of the stage.

Meanwhile, the other singers and the team of host-managers led by Dong Shanshan were also watching this via the televisions in their rooms.

A female host of Beijing Television asked, "Who'll be the first singer?"

A young male host said, "I don't know, who's come?"

Some of them looked at Dong Shanshan. "Shanshan?"

Dong Shanshan shrugged. "Don't look at me, I don't know a thing either."

They really didn't know anything. As the host-managers to the singers, they did not take part in the pre-production of the show. There were also cameras pointed at them inside the room as there would be a segment later where they would fight to "sign" the participants. They really had a big role to play in this show. This footage would be included later by Zhang Ye in the final broadcast cut.

In Room #3.

Zhang Xia was sucking on a throat lozenge.

The staff members were doing her makeup.

In Room #4.

Xue Kaiqi said to herself, "Who could they be? Why can't I see anyone yet?"

In Room #5.

Chen Guang was watching in curiosity with wide eyes.

In Room #7.

Zhao Wuliu sat down like an old hand and hummed with crossed legs. "The first person to make an appearance will have tons of stress. I wish them luck."

Every participating singer was extremely concerned with who their fellow competitors were.

Of course, the live studio audience felt this way as well. Some of them stood up impatiently, wishing they had binoculars to see what was happening onstage.

Suddenly, the lights shined!

A figure appeared in the moon gate.

"Someone's coming out!"

"Who is it? Who?"

"Dammit, I can't see anything!"

"The backlight's too strong!"

"It looks like a woman?"

"It's a female singer?"

"She seems a little petite!"

"She's stepping out!"

"She came out!"

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

When she walked out into the light, the crowd screamed!

"Ah!"

"My God!"

"It's Xiaodong!"

"It's Sister Dong!"

"Ahhh! My Sister Dong!"

Applause thundered!

The audience was exhilarated to see her and found it a little unbelievable that she was here at all. They thought there wouldn't be any big names participating in this show and that those who joined would all be newcomers. But who could have expected that the first singer to make an appearance onstage would turn out to be an Asian star? She was the leader of the Asian idol girl group, Spring Garden's Xiaodong!

Backstage.

Zhang Xia was taken aback. "Xiaodong?"

Amy already knew that Xiaodong was participating, but she didn't know that she would be appearing first!

Chen Guang was eagerly rubbing his hands. "This is going to be interesting."

Xue Kaiqi said in surprise, "Xiaodong is here too?"

He Huan said, "It's her?"

Zhao Wuliu's eyes narrowed.

The host-managers' room blew up!

A female host shrieked, "I'm a fan of Sister Dong!"

A male host said, "Oh, they've really upped the ante!"

"Xiaodong has actually joined the show! How can that be!" another female host said in disbelief.

"She's so successful, why would she come and join this competition?"

"I want to become Xiaodong's manager!"

"Get lost! Sister Dong is mine!"

"Hahaha, let's see who ends up being able to sign her!"

"The rules mentioned that if the singer gets eliminated, their managers will get eliminated along with them. Xiaodong is for sure a safe choice! Anyone else might get eliminated, but she'll surely be able to stay on!"

The host-managers were starting to get their own ideas.

Onstage, Xiaodong bowed slightly to the audience before turning to the music director, Bai Yuanfei, and giving him a nod to signal that she was ready. Then she took a deep breath.

The music played.

The more attentive audience members were surprised. They realized the audio setup of I Am a Singer seemed even better than the King of Masked Singers' setup. What was going on? Did they upgrade the equipment again?

Unbeknownst to them, Zhang Ye had to withstand a lot of pressure as he negotiated with the upper management of Beijing Television for a very long time before they finally approved of his extremely high budget equipment for the show. The audio setup and other related equipment used on King of Masked Singers were the highest-end equipment available to the industry at the time. But Zhang Ye had sought to get all of them upgraded again. Even when compared to other countries' music shows, the equipment used here was definitely the very best there was. In this area, Zhang Ye had spared no expense. The extra funds in the production budget they had compared to Sing! were all spent on this! It was obvious from this just how persistent and determined Zhang Ye was in his work. He would either not do it, or do it to the very best by producing the most professional show in the industry!

It was a familiar melody.

Eh?

This song?

It was "Woman Flower"!

The audience was very surprised to hear it. A lot of people had never heard Xiaodong perform solo before, much less cover a song!

All eyes in the studio fell on her. Then, Xiaodong closed her eyes, perhaps to steady her nerves or something. Thereafter, she kept her eyes closed for the entire time.

The melody played on.

Xiaodong raised her microphone.

"I have a flower.

"It grows within my heart.

"A bud waiting to bloom for the longest time.

"Every moment,

"waiting for a sincere person

"to come to me in my sleep."

Just a few lines were enough to enchant everyone in the studio!

Chen Guang praised, "That was great!"

He Huan sighed, "You'd know that she's a great singer the moment she opens her mouth."

Xue Kaiqi was getting even more nervous now. "She sang with such heart."

But the greatest reactions came from the live audience. The impression they had of Spring Garden was that they were an idol group. They felt that their success was only due to their pretty faces and the youthful songs they sang as a group! Singing skills? Talent? Nobody had ever paid that much attention to them until several months ago when one of their members, Li Xiaoxian, had donned the mask of Sunset Glow to take part in King of Masked Singers and shocked everyone with her singing. It was then that the audience first realized that the group wasn't only about looks. Even when performing alone, they could still sing great. Xiaodong's singing today had proven that once again. A lot of people were mesmerized as they listened. They had never seen Xiaodong perform like this before. With her singing skill, perhaps even Li Xiaoxian would sound average next to her?

It was no wonder that Xiaodong was the leader of their group!

"Woman Flower, swaying in the red dust.

"Woman Flower, wavering softly in the wind.

"Only hoping for a pair of gentle hands.

"To sooth the solitude in my heart."

Woman Flower.

That's right.

This song reminded them of something they did not wish to remember. Everyone always had a misconception whenever they saw how youthful Xiaodong looked. Xiaodong hadn't changed much all this time, and Spring Garden was still that youthful and energetic Spring Garden they had always known. But the fact was that Xiaodong had debuted many years ago. This woman who had been skipping and dancing around on stage for the past ten years had been through a lot. She was no longer that young. In terms of seniority, Xiaodong might even have entered the industry earlier than Fan Wenli and Chen Guang.

The music ended.

The audience stood up and clapped!

Sighs!

Laments!

Reminiscence!

Enjoyment!

All kinds of emotions were stirred!

"Xiaodong!"

"Xiaodong!"

"Xiaodong!"

Countless people were shouting her name!

Xiaodong finally opened her eyes and bowed once more to the audience. "Phew, thank you."

The applause went on for a very long time.

Chen Guang was clapping from backstage as well.

Zhang Xia and Zhao Wuliu couldn't help but applaud her too!

But to everyone's surprise, Xiaodong did not leave the stage after her song. She looked into the audience and said, "Hello, everyone. I am a singer—and my name is Xiaodong."

Applause rang out again!

There was even whistling!

Then Xiaodong flicked her hand and made a stack of cards appear out of nowhere. When she saw the confused looks on many of the audience members' faces, she smiled and said, "At the same time, I'm also the part-time host for the first season of I Am a Singer. For here on out in the competition, I'll be taking over as the host. Please treat me kindly."

"Wow!"

"Xiaodong will be hosting?"

"Hahahaha!"

"That's really new!"

"Beautifully played! I've had enough of watching Zhang Ye host!"

The audience responded enthusiastically!

He Huan said, "So that's how it is!"

Chen Guang laughed, "Haha."

Xiaodong's first cue card was already clenched in her hand. She looked down at it and read aloud, "First off, we'd like to thank the leading brand of health supplements, the Brain Gold Company, for being the title sponsors of our show. Thank you to Hubei Pharmaceuticals…"

A bunch of advertising messages were recited amateurishly. She even stuttered as she read her lines. But the audience was highly receptive as they laughed along endlessly. This was how tolerant the audience was of an amateur. If it were Zhang Ye standing onstage, if he even breathed while reciting the advertising messages, the audience would have scolded him for sure, let alone stuttering. This was because Zhang Ye was a professional host while Xiaodong wasn't. She was only standing in for the role as a guest, so no one really thought much of her mistakes. In fact, they found this to be really fun.

"Phew, I've finally completed that task," Xiaodong said.

The audience laughed, "Hahahaha."

Xiaodong smiled and said, "You guys don't know how nervous I just was. I debuted so many years ago and have been singing for so long, but I've never felt the way I felt today. Because this isn't your usual show, nor is it a concert, and it's definitely not a karaoke box. This is the battleground we'll fight our peers. The singers will compete to get ranked over two weeks of competition, and the last place singer will be replaced by another singer. Frankly, that just means that they'll be eliminated from the show! As for who decides whether we stay or go, it'll be none other than you, the 1,000 lovely audience members we have in the studio. Each of your votes will decide whether the singers will stay on the show or leave. So please be very, very, very careful about who you vote for."

Elimination?

Yes, it was that cruel!

They were all singers, so who could afford to lose?

Xiaodong seemed to sense the audience's doubts, so she said, "Some of you might ask me, why did you come to take part in the show if that's what the rules are? Isn't this as good as digging a hole for yourself to fall into?"

Right!

Why did you come?

The audience was very curious.

Xiaodong nodded. "Then I'll reveal the reason to you guys right now. I agreed to come on the show because Zhang Ye called me one day." She imitated Zhang Ye's voice. "He said, 'Come quickly, I have a good show that I want you to take part in.' But I told him, 'I don't want to go, I'm not confident about taking part in such competitions.' Then he said to me, 'It'll be fine, the other singers are not your equal. Their popularity and singing skills are not as good as yours. If you join, you'll definitely dominate the stage.' When I heard that, I immediately agreed, 'I'll join! I'll join your show!'"

Everyone was laughing away.

Xiaodong waved the cards in her hands and went on, "Then, around half an hour ago, when I received the list of singers and looked through it, I wanted to say this to Director Zhang—" Xiaodong roared, "Director Zhang! Show yourself! How did I fall for your nonsense!"

Chen Guang chuckled, "Pfft!"

Zhang Xia belly laughed!

Zhang Ye, who was coordinating the recording in the wings, let out a hollow laugh just as the cameras swiveled to him.

The audience erupted with laughter!

"Hahahaha!"

"Xiaodong was scammed!"

"Aiyo, I'm dying of laughter!"

"Zhang Ye is such a trickster!"

"Sister Dong! How could you believe Zhang Ye's words in the first place?"

"Hahahahaha!"

But at the same time, everyone was insanely curious!

If Xiaodong was the first singer, who would appear after her? What kinds of people were the other six singers? Who could they be to cause Xiaodong to get so "flustered" and "scold" Director Zhang for it?

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Chapter 1230: The seven starting singers are revealed!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Who else was there?

The audience would find out very soon!

When the second singer came out through the moon gate, the entire studio audience stared with eyes wide. They were so surprised that their jaws nearly dropped to the floor!

"Oh my God!"

"Holy shit!"

"Who did I just see?"

"Zhao Wuliu!"

"It's Zhao Wuliu!"

"He's such a godly singer!"

"Aiyo, it's really him!"

"What a surprise! This gave me such a shock!"

The music played and Zhao Wuliu started singing.

The moment he opened his mouth, many of the audience members felt like they had been transported back 20 years!

Zhao Wuliu: A singer from the earliest batch of pop music singers in the Chinese music industry. He could be considered to be from the same generation of singers as Grandma Zhang Xia. In the field of artistic singing, Zhang Xia was definitely one of the top few performing artists. But back then in the field of pop music, Zhao Wuliu was one of the leading figures who had been extremely popular all over the country. He was a definitive A-lister of his era. Now that times had changed, with the entertainment industry's pace picking up, the number of A-list celebrities had grown much faster than 20-30 years ago when there were only a handful of them. At that time, Zhao Wuliu was at the forefront of the A-listers, and anyone who was slightly older would definitely know of him. He was one of the earliest pop music idols in China. But at some point in time, Zhao Wuliu stopped appearing on everyone's televisions. There were also no updates about him for a very long time. After all, he was already in his forties or fifties, and the times had changed. There were rumors that he had bid farewell to the music scene, and some media outlets even claimed that he had taken seriously ill.

It blew up backstage as well!

Zhang Xia said in surprise, "Whoa, it's an old friend!"

He Huan exclaimed, "This is a truly godly singer!"

Chen Guang stared wide-eyed. "Senior Zhao?"

Xue Kaiqi was also quite shocked. "Teacher Zhao is making a comeback?"

Amy yelled, "Can the program team be any more resourceful? They could even get Senior Zhao to step out from retirement! What's there still left to compete for? I grew up listening to Senior Zhao's songs!"

The host-managers' room exploded again!

"I'll choose Teacher Zhao!"

"Step aside, Teacher Zhao is mine!"

"I'm telling you, don't any of you try to steal him from me!"

"Little Yan, didn't you just say that you wanted to be Sister Dong's manager?"

"I've changed my mind, alright!"

"Let's not fight over this. Whoever can convince the singers to choose them will get them!"

"Let's listen to the performance first. He's singing so well!"

"He still sounds exactly the same as years ago!"

…

In the wings.

The third singer was preparing to come out!

The audience's expectations were raised to the highest point!

"Even Zhao Wuliu has joined. Who else will there be?"

"The next person is coming out!"

"I can't see who it is! Who is it?"

"Looks to be around 1.7 meters tall? A man?"

"Eh, that silhouette looks really familiar!"

Finally, that person walked out through the moon gate!

The audience let out another incredulous exclamation!

"Old Chen!"

"Chen Guang!"

The big brother of the music industry!"

"What the heck! What's with this level of awesomeness!"

"Even Chen Guang has come!"

"What kind of lineup are we going to see? I'm already dazed!"

"Did they have to go this far?"

Zhang Xia shook her head and gave a wry smile. "I did guess that Little Chen would come to support Zhang Ye's show. Little Chen is going to be difficult to handle. I've heard him sing live for so many years and he hasn't once made a mistake. When we're talking about singing skills and experience, as well as being able to perform well in a live setting, there aren't too many singers who can stand up to Little Chen."

Xue Kaiqi put her head in her hands. "This is over, it's another godly singer!"

Chen Guang started singing. The moment he opened his mouth, he sang a high note that made everyone's hair stand on end!

Chen Guang was not a relic of the past nor a retired singer. He was one of the hottest singers and a supporting pillar of the music industry. To say that he was the "Music Industry's Big Brother" might be a little controversial since everyone's evaluation and standards were different. But if it was said that Chen Guang was one of the top three male singers in the music industry, no one would raise any objections. Be it his popularity, singing skills, experience, or qualifications, Chen Guang would definitely be hailed as one of the most outstanding singers. Even his wife, Fan Wenli, was not comparable to him.

…

Then came the fourth singer's turn to take the stage.

"Amy!"

"Wow!"

"It's my Amy!"

"Two members from Spring Garden joined the show!"

"Pfft! Amy and Xiaodong must've both have been scammed by Zhang Ye to join his show! Looking at this lineup, I think Amy is done for! Will she get eliminated?"

"Get lost, Amy's singing is very good!"

"Listen, it's really quite good!"

"I've never seen Amy perform solo before. Her singing is really nice!"

Amy's performance style was more of the bubbly type. Her voice was less recognizable than Xiaodong's, and her singing was also lacking when compared to Li Xiaoxian's, but she was very good at bringing up the atmosphere. She especially knew how to use the music to interact with the audience by choosing a song that was more exciting. In just a short time, she was able to excite the audience. There was even a rap portion in the song she performed so well that Xiaodong and Li Xiaoxian probably couldn't outdo her. Her rapping was definitely her most powerful weapon of all!

…

The fifth singer came out.

"He Huan!"

"Aiyo, it's Old He!"

"It's the Prince of Love Songs!"

"The best love song singer-songwriter in the country!"

"Didn't he just release an album last month? I heard it sold like crazy!"

"The love songs he writes are all quite nice! And his singing is great too!"

"In the genre of love songs, He Huan will sweep away all competition! Even Chen Guang is no match for him, right?"

"Yeah, because Old Chen hardly ever sings love songs!"

"What are all these godly people doing here!"

"Who else has come?"

"My heart can't take this anymore!"

…

The sixth singer made her appearance!

"Xue Kaiqi?"

"Am I seeing this correctly?"

"It's her!"

"The Princess of Love Songs, Xue Kaiqi?"

"Princess Xue was so popular at one point! She was at the same level as Fan Wenli! After she got married and gave birth, she left the industry!"

"I'm not really familiar with her."

"You don't even know Xue Kaiqi? Five years ago, she could release an album and it would get at least 30 million plays on the Internet! It's just that her popularity has dropped since she hasn't been releasing any new songs."

Both the Prince and Princess of Love Songs are here?"

"How exciting!"

"Listen, does it sound like her voice isn't in the right condition?"

"She's probably just nervous."

"I think it's pretty good, it sounds pure to me!"

"'Time' was the song that shot her to fame. I won't get sick of it no matter how many times I listen to it!"

…

Only one was left!

Who could the seventh singer for the final performance be?

The answer was soon revealed!

Zhang Xia came out from behind the moon gate with a smile on her face. Everyone knew who she was. As a constant presence on the annual Spring Festival Gala on Central TV, she had also been appearing on television variety shows recently because of Zhang Ye. Based on her relationship with him, it shouldn't have been surprising for her to come onto I Am a Singer. But to the contrary, the audience was even more surprised to see her than the other singers when she appeared in front of them!

Grandma Zhang was taking part in the competition?

How could she possibly face off against the others?

She wasn't even a pop singer! Rather, she was a songstress who sang bel canto! She was someone who took the artistic route at a higher level of performing arts. She had also won so many art awards that it would fill an entire wall cabinet. Be it her songs or her singing, she was a singer who could easily perform at the Great Hall of the People 1 or any other world-class theater. If the competition was assessed through artistry, then there wouldn't be a need to compete. The other six singers on this stage couldn't beat Zhang Xia even with their combined strength. But since the judging criteria was going to be based on mainstream pop music, surely Zhang Xia couldn't match up to them, right?

But very quickly, they learned they were wrong to think that way!

The moment Zhang Xia raised her microphone, everyone was astonished and astounded!

"These days, seasons fly by,

"flowers bloom aplenty.

"Winds wander, clouds float by,

"nature shut behind the door.

"To be plucked uneasily,

"I slowly realize.

"Bloomed already, but no one coming is completely expected."

It was Zhang Ye's "Wild Rose"!

This version that Zhang Xia sang was not bel canto. Instead, she sang in mezzo-soprano 2 . And from the way that it was sung, it was definitely a technique used for pop singing!

It sounded so good!

So good that it shocked everyone!

Backstage.

The singers who had finished performing were all gathered inside a waiting room.

Amy's jaw dropped!

Zhao Wuliu was a little startled!

Chen Guang sighed in admiration!

Xue Kaiqi was gasping for air!

He Huan was even funnier as he bowed in respect of Zhang Xia's performance!

The audience was also very surprised. This was the most shocking performance that many of them had heard today. It was only when this famed songstress of thirty years dropped down a level to sing pop music that they realized how shockingly good she was at singing!

Screams!

Applause!

And there was even crying!

Compared to Zhang Ye's version of "Wild Rose," Zhang Xia's version was less angry. She sang more reserved, with a greater subtleness and more sadness.

At this point, all seven singers had finished performing!

"It's time to vote!"

"Who are you going to vote for?"

"It's too hard to choose!"

"Yeah, all of them sang really well. Fuck!"

"I'm utterly convinced today! I have no way to describe the shock that I'm feeling!"

"These are what you call pro singers!"

"What do you mean pro singers? These people are more fucking professional than the professionals! Just bringing any of them on would be enough to scare everyone!"

"I'll vote for Zhang Xia!"

"Me too, I'll vote for Zhang Xia as well. There's no two ways about it!"

"I still think Old Chen sang better!"

"I'll give my vote to Zhao Wuliu. Oh, those feels!"

"I think Sister Dong and Grandma Zhang Xia are the ones who surprised me the most!"

The audience was still immersed within the seven songs, unable to snap out of it for a very long time!

It was exhilarating!

It sounded really amazing!

It was way too extravagant!

So this was Zhang Ye's new show?

The biggest stage with the highest-end equipment, with the best variety show director, the big brother of the music industry of twenty years ago, the big brother of the current music industry, the top love song singer-songwriters, the country's leading girl group members, and one of the top three artistic singers in the country!

What kind of a lineup was this?

This was a lineup that could sweep the entire "world"!

Compared to King of Masked Singers, which became popular beyond imagination, even that show would not have come close to what they had seen here!

The audience did not know what the final tallies were as the votes would be counted by the program team separately. Just as everyone was leaving Beijing Television wishing that the show hadn't ended so quickly, they suddenly remembered Sing!, which was being recorded at the same time at Central TV Department 1. Since they couldn't attend that recording, they didn't know how Sing! was doing. But they could finally understand why Zhang Ye dared to pit I Am a Singer against Sing! by choosing to broadcast on the same day and time as them. They couldn't help but start questioning, what if Central TV Department 1 found out what sort of show I Am a Singer was. If they knew that I Am a Singer had invited this group of singers, would they still dare to broadcast Sing! at the same time as I Am a Singer?

The answer to this was unknown.

The outcome of that would only be revealed after the broadcast.

1. https/en./wiki/Great_Hall_of_the_People

2. https//watch?v=v78dz51jkYA