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!

14. 1231

I am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1231: Where'd that rapidfire host go? - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1231: Where'd that rapidfire host go? Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1231: Where'd that rapidfire host go?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The audience left.

The votes were being counted.

The singers went back into their respective rooms.

And at this moment, the hosts' battle to sign the singers began. When Executive Producer Hu Fei announced the start of this segment, the hosts yelled and rushed out of the room like sprinters. He squeezed past him, she pushed her, she tripped him over, everyone was trying to run out except for Dong Shanshan. She just walked behind them with a smile on her face.

"Who pushed me!"

"Stand aside!"

"Grandma Zhang is mine!"

"Damn, someone even tripped me?"

"Hey, you guys are too devious!"

"Behave, people! Watch how you're acting, my comrades. We're recording a show here!"

These several hosts were not the big names of Beijing Television who hosted the Spring Festival Gala on their satellite channel. Instead, they were the younger bunch of hosts who were lesser known to most viewers. This was specifically requested by Zhang Ye, as Dong Shanshan alone was enough to hold the group together. The others would then focus on "entertaining" with their antics and could behave without any restraints. That was why the younger and less popular hosts were more suited for these roles. This segment might look like it didn't add any value to the show and was carried out without proper planning, but it was in fact carefully planned out by Zhang Ye with the dozen odd host-managers 1 over many meetings before the actual recording took place. He knew exactly how this segment would proceed, which was what his role was all about. The importance of the executive director could easily be seen here! This was also why Hu Fei and Beijing Television had desperately wanted Zhang Ye to be the executive director back when they were filming King of Masked Singers. When it came to ability, experience, results, and attitude, there wasn't any other variety show director in the industry who could match Zhang Ye's professionalism.

The host-managers were playfully laughing and fighting as they rushed into the singers' waiting rooms that were not labeled. When a male host who ran the fastest pushed open one of the doors, he let out a surprised squeal and quickly entered, wanting to close the door. But two female hosts rushed up to the door behind him and quickly pulled at the door to stop him from closing it.

One of the female hosts asked, "Who's inside?"

The male host shouted, "There's no one in here!"

"Who are you trying to fool! Open the door!" the other female host said with a laugh.

Behind them, the other hosts also rushed over to help pull open the door!

"Ah!"

"Grandma Zhang!"

"It's Grandma Zhang!"

Inside the room, Zhang Xia laughed as she looked at them. She was really amused. "What are you all doing?"

In the end, all of the host-managers managed to get in and were each holding a contract in their hands.

The male host who got into the room first ran over and knelt down in front of Zhang Xia. "Grandma Zhang, I'll introduce myself first. My name is Big Lei, But you can call me Little Lei too. From now on, I shall be your manager on the stage of I Am a Singer!"

Zhang Xia smiled. "Hello."

"What do you mean by 'from now on'?"

"Step aside, Big Lei!"

"Grandma Zhang, please sign with me!"

"Didn't you say that you wanted to be Teacher Zhao Wuliu's manager?"

"I've changed my mind, alright!"

"Grandma Zhang, ignore her. Sign with me instead! She's two-faced!"

Another female host was even more aggressive. She went and hugged Zhang Xia. "Grandma! My dearest grandma!"

Zhang Xia reacted in surprise. "Wow, you're even recognizing me as kin?"

Zhang Xia was the most wanted singer right now. After she sang "Wild Rose," Zhang Xia turned into the host-managers' favorite singer to sign as it would mean they wouldn't have any worries of getting eliminated!

At this moment, Dong Shanshan came into the room.

"Sister Shan, don't you steal her away from us!"

"Shanshan, it's too crowded in here! Don't come in!"

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "You want to sign me as well?"

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Yes, Grandma Zhang."

Zhang Xia was spoiled for choice. She said, "This is going to be difficult. Who should I sign with? I can only choose one of you."

"Sign with me!"

"Me! Me! Me!'

"My dearest grandma!"

Everyone rushed forward and started selling themselves.

In the end, Dong Shanshan only needed to say a few words to defeat everyone else. She tucked her hair behind her ear and said, "Grandma Zhang, they've all introduced themselves, so it's my turn. My name is Dong Shanshan, and I'm a college classmate of our I Am a Singer's Executive Director Zhang Ye. Back at school, we sat in front of and behind each other. He copied my assignments and stole my eraser too, so you should understand that I'm the one who has the best relationship with the program team leader among these people. In the future, if you have any requests or needs, you can notify me directly. Everything will be OK and I'll get it done for you."

Zhang Xia pointed at her the moment she heard that. "It's you then, Shanshan! Let's sign the contract!"

Dong Shanshan gave a triumphant smile.

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The other host-managers nearly fainted!

"You can do that?"

"Sister Shan, that was so shameless!"

"What the hell!"

"I have to give you that introduction!"

Since Zhang Xia signed with Dong Shanshan, they had to switch their targets. The group dispersed amid the hubbub to go fight for their second-choice singer!

…

Half an hour later.

The seven singers and their host-managers were taken to a small recording studio by the program team staff. There were 14 chairs and some recording equipment in there.

The singers got seated.

The host-managers were up to their usual antics again.

Dong Shanshan laughed and said, "Has everyone been paired with their favorite singers?"

The host-managers all said things like "yeah," "yup," and "that's right."

Dong Shanshan's tone changed as she smirked. "How can that be? How could it be that fortuitous!"

Everyone burst out laughing!

Chen Guang, Xiaodong, and the others were also tickled!

"I suppose this is where they're going to announce the results, right?"

"Phew, I'm getting a little nervous."

"Grandma Zhang, you're feeling nervous?"

"Your singing really convinced me."

"Old Zhao, we haven't met each other in a long time, have we?"

"That's right, Big Sis Zhang."

"Nice to meet you, Teacher Zhao Wuliu. I'm a fan."

"You're Amy, right? It's our first time meeting today."

"Yup, yup, I was still a little kid when you were famous."

"And I listen to Spring Garden's songs very often. They're really good."

Everyone began chatting. This was their way of easing the tension that had built up. All of these big names here today, which were not famous or have not been popular before? What big occasions had they not seen? Yet for some reason, even an old hand like Zhao Wuliu and national bel canto songstress Zhang Xia got sweaty palms. It was because this wasn't a performance. To them, this wasn't simply a variety show either. It was a competition with winners and losers, a place they could be eliminated from. The results of their performances today were very important. If they didn't do well in this qualifier, then they might just get eliminated in the knockout round 2 . No one hoped it would happen to them, so they were anxious and nervous and held expectations for the results that they would get.

All of a sudden, they heard footsteps.

Zhang Ye's figure finally appeared in front of them. He was dressed in formal attire and walked in at a very slow pace. He had a very serious look on his face as he said, "Hello, everyone. I am the executive director, Zhang Ye."

The atmosphere had an imposing air to it.

"Director Zhang."

"Are the results out yet?"

"Please announce them."

"Huu, I'm sweating!"

"Me too!"

The host-managers were chattering.

Zhang Ye stood still and said calmly, "First off, thank you to the staff from the Beijing Notary Public Office for supervising the entire counting of votes. The results of the count have been inputted into this 8-inch tablet that I'm holding that's running on the latest multi-core technology." Pausing, he picked up a bottle beside him as the camera zoomed in on him. "Before I announce the results, let me take a sip of this Honey Sweet fruit juice to soothe my throat." After he sampled it, he said, "Mmm, that was delicious. Actually, I'm more nervous than any of you. That's why I still have to drink this Brain Gold, the leading health supplement brand in the country, to improve my state of mind." A crew member next to him handed him an item. Zhang Ye opened the packaging and said in surprise, "Oh, there's even a gold bar in here? So it's true that there's a chance of winning a gold bar from this new gift box packaging of Brain Gold products?"

Everyone burst out laughing!

Xiaodong said, "Director Zhang is such a professional!"

Zhang Xia said, "Was that an ad?"

A female host-manager said, "That definitely wasn't an ad!"

Another host-manager said, "That's right, there was no hint of any advertising!"

"Yeah, totally no hints!" Another male host-manager laughed as he glanced over.

No hints? Your sister!

That was too fucking laden with advertising messages!

A lot of viewers had become very sensitive and negative towards product placement in shows. But that was still dependent on who was doing it. Zhang Ye's methods had always been different from others'. This fellow could come up with all kinds of creative ways to bring in an advertisement and even use it to make everyone laugh. This was also the reason why even though I Am a Singer's advertisement sponsorship fees were very expensive, many companies were willing to work with them. Zhang Ye's professionalism was well-known in the industry. As long as he had the chance to do it, Zhang Ye would flash an advertisement onscreen. This was unlike the other television stations and other media where they were always covering up their advertising motives for fear that the viewers would realize it.

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Zhang Ye said, "Next up is the announcement of the rankings. But before that, I'd like to ask everyone what you all think about this competition?"

Zhao Wuliu smiled and said, "Everyone here are experts."

Zhang Xia said, "The audio setup is pretty good."

Xiaodong said, "I just feel that there's too much pressure."

He Huan gave a wry smile. "If I'd known earlier who the other six were, I don't think I would've agreed to join."

Amy said, "Teacher He, I should be the one saying that, alright!"

Zhang Ye smiled. "First of all, let me thank all of you for coming on behalf of the program team. All of you have been famous singers for a long time, so by being willing to take a step down to join I Am a Singer's knockout competition, I know how difficult of a choice that was to make. But you still came anyway, which is why I want to thank all of you. Of course, since this is a competition, then there must be a ranking. Honestly," he glanced at the tablet in his hand and continued, "when I saw this ranking, I was a little surprised. So, for the first one, I would like to announce the fourth place singer."

Surprised?

Why was he surprised?

The singers and their managers' hearts pounded from the suspense!

Who would be in fourth place?

This was a very conservative spot that signified an alright performance and was acceptable.

Zhang Ye looked at the tablet. "In the first episode of the first season of Brain Gold's I Am a Singer, the singer in fourth place is…" He paused.

Everyone was staring in wait with wide eyes.

One second.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Nothing fucking happened!

"Director Zhang?"

"Did you fall asleep?"

"Why aren't you announcing the results?"

"Aiyo, I'm dying from the anxiety!"

The host-managers could not bear it!

Zhang Ye apologized, "Sorry about that, I got distracted. I was thinking about how much that gold bar I found in the Brain Gold gift box would fetch on the market. Could you excuse me while I go and sell it off?" He then went to turn around to leave.

Xiaodong was stunned. "Hey, where are you going?"

Amy was dumbfounded. "Director Zhang, who's going to announce the rankings if you leave now?"

Dong Shanshan giggled, "Pfft!"

Zhang Xia was tickled as well. "Director, please hurry up."

Zhang Ye smacked his lips. "Well, alright then. I guess I'll announce the rankings first. The singer in fourth place is…" After another long pause, he said, "Xiaodong—"

Xiaodong was just about to react.

But Zhang Ye said in an unhurried tone, "What place do you think you're in?"

What the!

It's not me?

Everyone was crying out from the torture!

"Director Zhang!"

"Come on!"

"Can you announce it once and for all?"

"Ahhhh!"

The cameras had been recording for 15 minutes by now!

But as it stood? Zhang Ye was still rambling and not a single spot had been announced!

Everyone nearly vomited blood!

Zhang Ye had once shocked everyone on the stage of The Voice by speaking like a machine gun. Everyone in the industry was so amazed by him that they claimed there wouldn't be a second person in the field of hosting who could speak as fast as him in the entire world!

But now?

What the hell is this?

Where'd that rapidfire host go?

Aren't you being too damn long-winded?!

1. The number of host-managers here includes those who will be used for the replacement singers.

2. Every 2 episodes, a knockout round is held https/en./wiki/I_Am_a_Singer_(Chinese_TV_series)#Competition_rules

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Chapter 1232: The exciting premiere!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the day of the broadcast.

Since early in the morning, rumors were running wild over the Internet.

"Sing! is pretty good!"

"Yeah, I was at the live recording. It was really good!"

"Well, I thought it was just so-so."

"It's a continuation from where The Voice left off, but there isn't anything new. The host has changed, and the guest coaches are different too. I can only say that it was not bad, but there isn't really anything surprising about it."

"I think Sing! is going to end up in a tragedy!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I Am a Singer has invited a bunch of people that none of you can imagine. I was there on the day of the recording. Everyone was totally shocked!"

"Ah?"

"Who was there?"

"Yeah, tell us quickly!"

"I'll just reveal one, Zhao Wuliu!"

"That's impossible!"

"Haha, keep bullshitting!"

"You went overboard with your bullshitting, didn't you?"

"Zhao Wuliu is such a godly person in the music industry, how could he have possibly joined a variety show?"

"Damn, Zhao Wuliu was really there. There was also Chen Guang and He Huan too!"

"Chen Guang? The big brother of the music industry going on a program to face off against other singers? You're really too imaginative! With Old Chen's status and ability, he's more suitable as a coach. He would never strip away all pretense and go into battle! You must also be dreaming to claim that He Huan was there. He's the Prince of Love Songs, someone who can write and sing. He's so popular in the music industry; do you think he's gone mad? To go onto the show and battle his peers? Does he even need to do that? Those who join the show are gonna be either has-beens or newcomers! That's why you should be careful if you want to brag. Don't say things that others will find unbelievable if you really want to brag."

"They're just making things up. I went to the recording and Huo Dongfang was there on the show!"

"Ah? Has Sect Leader Huo crossed industries?"

"Old Huo's singing is not bad, so there's a good chance that he could've joined the show."

"Li Xiaoxian was also there."

"Surely not, right?"

"Didn't she just participate on King of Masked Singers?"

"She was really there and she sang very well!"

"Wow, that might really be true. After all, Li Xiaoxian has worked with Beijing TV before."

"Zhang Xia was part of the lineup."

"Get lost! Why would Grandma Zhang face off against a bunch of pop singers? Are you an idiot or do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Fuck, you're the idiot!"

"I'm so annoyed by these people who weren't even there at the recording trying to mislead people here!"

"I...$amp;%$%…#@!!"

There was no official confirmation from Beijing Television either. Zhang Ye and the program team staff also stayed silent. Sometimes, maintaining a veil of secrecy would invite a greater fanfare. However, the 1,000 audience members who attended the live recording couldn't be stopped from revealing this information. Someone would definitely expose something about the show. But Zhang Ye and the program team didn't bother stopping them, although they stopped short of confirming anything themselves and just let everyone say what they wanted to say. As a result, the waters became even murkier!

The names of Zhang Xia, Zhao Wuliu, Chen Guang, He Huan, Xiaodong, and the others were all mentioned. Simultaneously, many other names were brought up, like Huo Dongfang, Li Xiaoxian, Sun Han, Liao Yiqi, Sun Xiaoguo, etc. Those who revealed these names even said they had attended the live recording and were seated in the first row, claiming that they had seen those artists singing onstage with their very own eyes. So things got more chaotic as the industry insiders became utterly confused by the claims made by those Weibo accounts that had jumped on the bandwagon or were just trolling for fun.

Who was there?

Just who had gone onto the show?

…

On the set at a film location.

Huo Dongfang's cell phone rang.

"Old Huo, good on you!"

"Ah? What?"

"Stop pretending, remember to do your best! The viewership ratings on Zhang Ye's show won't do too badly for sure."

"What are you talking about, Old Liu?"

"Didn't you participate in I Am a Singer?"

"What? But I didn't?"

"Huh?"

"I'm filming a movie!"

…

Central TV Department 1.

Sing!'s program team.

A summary of the news going around on Weibo had been reported back to them.

"Sect Leader Huo has joined their show?"

"That's OK. Huo Dongfang's singing skill is only average. At most he would be considered an outsider crossing industries to guest star on the show. Although he's very popular, he isn't a professional singer!"

"Hur hur, Zhang Ye has also sunk to a low."

"Yeah, he's also starting to use big names to attract now."

"But what use is that? Our platform of Sing! is much more professional than theirs. When the audience sees it, they'll know whose participants can sing better. The talents are still among the common folk. Just look at those contestants we had lined up for the first episode. Their singing is all so good that even most pro singers aren't a match for them. With that to compare with, so what if they have Huo Dongfang? So what if they have Sun Xiaoguo? Singing show still have to depend on singing!"

"Li Xiaoxian has joined Beijing TV's show again?"

"No worries. Li Xiaoxian's singing might be good, but she ain't among the best. We have Teacher Fan Wenli holding the fort for Sing!"

"But what about Zhao Wuliu?"

"And Chen Guang? He Huan?"

"Oh, come on! Those are definitely just rumors."

"Yup, I Am a Singer would never be able to invite them!"

"Hur hur, and there's even talk of Zhang Xia participating too. Those who believe that must have brains of mush, hahaha. Anyone with a brain knows that that's made up! Just hearing that list mentioned by those people which consist of Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, He Huan, Zhao Wuliu, Xue Kaiqi, and Xiaodong, you would immediately know that it's fake! The people on that list would constitute half of the music industry's big names. If they're really on the show, then which show wouldn't be swept aside? Would the others still need to continue broadcasting? That's why it's impossible!"

"Right!"

..

On that night.

It was the countdown to the broadcast.

Zhang Ye was at the studio with the television on. The staff had all gathered together here, and his parents had come as well. They made a lot of dumplings in the afternoon and insisted on making something for Zhang Ye's staff to show their appreciation, so they followed Zhang Ye to the office in the evening. There were two steaming pots in the open kitchen as the dumplings cooked inside the bubbling water.

"Come, come, let's eat!" Zhang Ye's mother brought out a plate of steaming hot dumplings.

His father added, "Eat up. We've prepared pork and leek dumplings, as well as three delicacies 1 ones.

Ha Qiqi went over to take the plate from her. "Thank you, Auntie and Uncle."

Little Wang said, "Auntie, let me do it!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Ah, this is so delicious!"

Wu Yi said, "This makes me think of the dumplings that my mother used to make for me."

Tong Fu exaggerated, "This is so good that I'm gonna cry!"

Zhang Ye's mother said, "Then have more. We still have enough to fill several more pots."

Zhang Ye ate as he said, "Hey, it's starting soon. Change the channel to Central TV Department 1."

"OK." Little Wang picked up the remote control right away.

But his mother stared at him. "What are you watching Central TV Department 1 for? Watch Beijing TV instead."

Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I have to study my competition to know how they're doing. I oversaw the recording of I Am a Singer and edited it as well. I've already watched the first episode more than seven times!"

"But I haven't seen it yet!" His mother rolled her eyes.

In fact, the studio staff had not watched it either. They were on Zhang Ye's private team and did not take part in the production of the show, so of course they hoped to watch I Am a Singer at the first possible chance. In the end, Zhang Ye had to glumly take his plate of dumplings and head to the conference room. He sat there by himself with the television on as he ate while he watched. The rest remained outside and waited for I Am a Singer to begin. They were joined a little later by Chenchen, who had come upstairs to scrounge on the dumplings.

The broadcast began!

Zhang Ye watched Sing! and started roasting the show.

"Whoa, they even copied the logo?"

"Heh, the sound isn't that great! They're still using the same set of equipment that I was using back then? It's already been a year; that equipment is outdated. How can they be so thick-skinned and continue using it?"

"What's with the host? There's nothing about her that stands out."

"The first contestant doesn't seem like much!"

"Man! The fight between the guest coaches isn't intense enough!"

"Ai, childish! The director is simply too childish!"

Behind the closed doors of the conference room, he talked to himself about everything. Zhang Ye tore Sing! to pieces. In any case, this fellow didn't have a single good thing to say about it and despised everything he saw. But in all fairness, this show wasn't even badly done. It was still pretty good. Although they copied Zhang Ye's version of The Voice entirely, they managed to reproduce it quite faithfully to the first season of the show. All they were missing were some bright sparks of creativity.

At this time, his parents' exclamations came from outside!

"Xiaodong!"

"It's Xiaodong!"

Not long after.

"Heavens!"

"Zhao Wuliu!"

"He…he really went?"

…

Central TV Department 1.

Sing!'s program team was also dumbfounded!

"Huh?"

"What the heck is this?"

"Who can tell me what just happened?"

"They...How did they…"

"Impossible! This is impossible!"

"How on earth did Zhang Ye do it?"

"How could he possibly have invited those people!"

…

Meanwhile.

It blew up on Weibo!

"Holy fuck!"

"Quick, go and watch I Am a Singer!"

"Xiaodong really joined the show!"

"Zhao Wuliu has too!"

"Next up is Chen Guang!"

"They've gone mad! These people must've gone mad!"

"What those people claimed was really true!"

"My titanium dog eyes are blinded!"

"How eargasmic!"

"Listening to this made me cry!"

"The sound quality is way too good!"

"This sound quality really can't be reproduced by any other show!"

"The singing is so good! This lineup should account for half the music industry's big names, right?"

"They sang so well that I'm finding it hard to believe this is true!"

"Sing! is gonna be screwed! Compared to I Am a Singer, don't the contestants on Sing! all seem like children coming out to play?"

"Ah! Zhang Xia is the final singer!"

"Fuck! She sang 'Wild Rose' to such a godlike level!"

"An artist! This is what you fucking call an artist!"

"In the face of Grandma Zhang, even Zhang Ye's version of 'Wild Rose' can't compare!"

"I have a feeling that I Am a Singer is going to blow up!"

"The idea behind I Am a Singer and its format are simply too good!"

"The pressure is now on Sing!"

"That might not necessarily be true. Sing! has an existing audience base, so it's hard to say how its viewership ratings will do."

"Based on the quality of the show, I Am a Singer has defied the Heavens! Just by getting those seven people onto the same stage, which of their competitors would not be swept away?"

"They're about to announce the rankings!"

"Damn! What is Zhang Ye doing!"

"This cheat!"

"Zhang Ye, fuck your grandpa!"

"I wish I could snuff him out by sitting on him!"

"Why is he still not announcing the results?"

"My God! The total time needed for the seven singers to perform only took twenty-something minutes. But your announcement of the results have used up another twenty minutes of the time, and only two singers' spots have been announced so far?"

"Zhang Ye! You're dead meat!"

"Pfft, this is so funny!"

"What fastest talking host in the history of TV? He's should be called the most long-winded executive director in the fucking history of TV instead! Zhang Ye, do you believe I won't smash your home's windows?"

"Ahhh, this suspense is killing me!"

"Who on earth is in first place?"

"Zhang Ye! You've pissed off the entire audience!"

The audience was shouting in anger and hating this. But even amid all the scolding, no one changed the channel. In fact, they were all watching with anticipation and excitement as they waited for Zhang Ye to finish his teasing. Even though they knew he was doing this on purpose, everyone still continued watching because this was the most crucial moment in the show!

When the fifth contestant of Sing! made their appearance, I Am a Singer was still on the ranking announcement segment. When Sing!'s seventh contestant came out, I Am a Singer was still announcing the rankings. By the time Sing!'s broadcast had ended, I Am a Singer…was still announcing the rankings!

Just think about that!

What kind of a goddamn bloody situation was this!

All of the viewers wanted to smash a brick into Zhang Ye's face through their television screens!

After finally making it through all the "hardship," the rankings for the first episode of I Am a Singer were finally out!

First: Zhang Xia.

Second: Chen Guang.

Third: Zhao Wuliu.

Fourth: Xiaodong.

Fifth: He Huan.

Sixth: Xue Kaiqi.

Seventh: Amy.

The tally was not shown to maintain a certain level of suspense. It would only be announced during the next episode after the knockout round took place.

1. https//dim-sum/dumplings/seafood-dumplings/three-delicacies-potstickers-guo-tie

Chapter 1233: A viewership rating that would terrify anyone!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

Early in the morning.

On the roads, in the subway, at the breakfast stalls, heated discussions were happening.

"Did you watch it yesterday?"

"I watched both shows!"

"Me too. I caught Sing! first. But after that, I switched over to I Am a Singer."

"Hahaha, the rankings announcement segment was such a scam. That Zhang Ye could probably get away with murder by killing us with all that suspense. He really stole the thunder last night. A singing show ended up with him getting even more screen time than the singers who performed onstage. I was wondering why Zhang Ye didn't participate in the show himself, so that's where the Easter egg was. But then, this show is really good, haha! I just loved how he teased those singers and their host-managers!"

"This segment is ingenious. I don't think other shows would even dare to attempt it!"

"Yeah, the creativity of this show is really on another level."

"Sing! was pretty good too."

"It was, but that show was also created by Zhang Ye. No matter how well Central TV Department 1 does it now, they're still feeding on the scraps that were left over by Zhang Ye."

"True that."

At the same time.

Dozens of morning newspapers went on sale.

"Sing! puts up a good performance."

"Central TV Department 1 continues its work on a classic!"

"I Am a Singer causes a sensation!"

"A great half of the music industry's big names are in attendance!"

"Zhang Ye's new variety show is as amazing as ever!"

"I Am a Singer: A shocking work of art!"

"The gap in the audio sensory experience was obvious. I Am a Singer has a world-class audio setup!"

"Zhao Wuliu makes a comeback. The once popular God of Songs has been revived!"

"Songstress Zhang Xia shoots to fame overnight with a career rebirth!"

"Amy on the verge of elimination?"

"Xiaodong's solo performance showcases her incredible singing!"

"Viewer survey: Chen Guang and Zhang Xia favorites to be grand champion!"

"Zhang Ye's ample screen time makes audience laugh and curse!"

"Zhang Ye's new nickname: The most long-winded executive director in the history of TV!"

"Zhang Ye's popularity to climb again?"

"Whose viewership ratings will be higher, Sing! or I Am a Singer?"

…

Beijing Television.

At I Am a Singer's program team office.

Everyone was here today. Executive Producer Hu Fei had asked Xiao Lu to buy some newspapers that reported about their show to the office. But when Xiao Lu arrived at work, she was carrying more than 20 morning newspapers in her arms. She had probably bought a copy of every paper at the newspaper stand because they were all reporting about their show.

Furthermore, the songs sung on the show had also charted on the biggest music chart in the country!

On the latest Top Chinese Music Chart.

The calculation of yesterday's statistics:

#1: "Wild Rose" - Zhang Xia

#2: "Don't Say You Know Me" - Zhao Wuliu

#3: "Hope" - Yan Yi

#4: "Fire" - Zhang Yuanqi

#5: "Protect" - Chen Guang

Many of the songs performed on I Am a Singer had appeared on this chart. Of course, there were also the songs performed on Sing!, like the #3 song on the chart, as well as others like the Heavenly Queen's song that was just released a week ago and another new song from a Heavenly King. These were the top 20 songs for the day based on the statistics calculated yesterday.

Hou Ge said excitedly, "We've made it!"

Hou Di cautiously reminded, "We still have to see how the viewership did."

"Even without seeing that, I know that we've made it!" Hou Ge said, "I was worried that the segment where Director Zhang announced the rankings had dragged on for too long. During the broadcast yesterday, I even timed it on my watch to see exactly how long it took. Well alright, the announcement went on for nearly 30 minutes! Hahaha, but who could have expected that the viewers would be so accepting of it. The draft report even showed that the viewers doubled at that point in time!"

Xiao Lu giggled loudly. "I was also worried about that. But in the end, I was proven wrong by Director Zhang!"

Dafei said happily, "That's right, when has our Director Zhang ever gotten it wrong before?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Hey, hey, enough with the adulation."

Han Qi said in admiration, "Teacher Zhang is so amazing."

Hu Fei smiled and said, "It's not like you guys haven't witnessed the amazingness of Teacher Little Zhang before. I'm not at all surprised that the show got a good reception, but what I'm more concerned about now is the viewership ratings for our premiere episode. This is different from King of Masked Singers because we didn't have any competition back then and dominated the market. But with Sing! sharing the same broadcast slot with us, the viewers would definitely be divided. That makes it really difficult to put a finger on how we'll do."

Yes.

The viewership ratings were the most important factor!

It was also the area in which they and the whole of Beijing Television were most concerned about!

Chen Guang called over.

"Zhang'er, what's the viewership ratings?"

"Don't be so anxious, Old Chen. It's not out yet."

"When will it be released?"

"I'll let you know."

A short while later, Dong Shanshan and the other host-managers arrived at the office. The first thing that every one of them asked about was the viewership ratings.

Zhang Ye was also starting to feel the pressure. He had depended on his reputation and influence to form his team. After spending over the 200 million RMB that Beijing Television had allocated for the production budget and taking another 200 million from Wu Mo for the title sponsorship fee, he rounded up Dong Shanshan and the other hosts of Beijing Television, invited Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, Zhao Wuliu, Xiaodong, and the others, as well as carried out the task that his studio had prepared for him to reach the summit. If he messed up on the viewership ratings, he wouldn't be able to answer to anyone.

…

Central TV Department 1.

Sing!'s program team staff had also arrived at work very early. Both anxiety and anticipation were written on everyone's faces as they waited for the viewership ratings to be released.

"Is it out yet?"

"Hurry up already!"

"May the Heavens bless us!"

"We don't ask to break 2% for the premiere, but please, just let us do better than I Am a Singer!"

"Right, it's good enough if we can do better than them!"

"It will definitely be higher than their viewership ratings. A show that only spends half its time showing singing performances and the other half showing some long-winded ranking announcement, its viewership ratings couldn't possibly be high at all!"

"We'll definitely win this time!"

"Zhang Ye's legend of the viewership ratings will be broken soon!"

Everyone in the industry knew about the legend of Zhang Ye.

He had never lost before!

He was always first in the viewership ratings for similar shows!

He was always first in the viewership ratings for the same broadcast slot!

He was always the first in the viewership ratings of the entire country!

Even for the documentary he filmed, it had swept aside all of the other television shows in the country. This was why so many people in the industry were waiting to see who could cut short Zhang Ye's legend in the viewership ratings. Without a doubt, Central TV Department 1's Sing! had the best chance to do so, even if Sing! was originally Zhang Ye's idea to begin with.

On Weibo.

"I place my bets on Sing! winning!"

"Get lost, my bet is on I Am a Singer!"

"For Zhang Ye's shows, it can lose in other areas, but it will never lose in the viewership ratings!"

"The only one who can curb Zhang Ye is the SARFT. Now that the SARFT has turned their attention away from him, that means that no one in the entire industry can win against that guy, not even Central TV Department 1!"

"1 to the previous poster!"

"Brilliant analysis by the previous poster!"

"If Zhang Ye had made the second season of The Voice, he might stand a chance of beating I Am a Singer. But with Central TV Department 1's Sing! being just a renamed version of The Voice and having no new content, it'll be really difficult to beat him!"

"Anything can happen, let's see how it turns out."

"The two shows are quite good, so I don't think the viewership ratings will differ by much."

Finally, at 10 AM, the nationwide viewership ratings for yesterday were released!

But the results dumbfounded many industry insiders and netizens. A lot of people could feel their hearts turn cold and a chill rise from within!

How could that be possible!

How could it be like this!

Th-This didn't make any sense!

The netizens were shocked!

The industry insiders were terrified!

Many people were unable to accept the results!

The rankings of the nationwide viewership ratings for yesterday:

First: I Am a Singer, with a viewership rating of 2.43%!

Second: Celebrity Guess, with a viewership rating of 0.84%!

Third: Sing!, with a viewership rating of 0.82%!

The entire industry blew up over this news. I Am a Singer was first in the nationwide viewership ratings? Alright, that was still acceptable. After all, this was Zhang Ye's show. After all, he was the best director in the industry! But what was this about Sing!? How could Sing!'s viewership ratings only put it in third place? It didn't even pass 1%? It only managed a meek 0.82%? It wasn't even a match for a reality TV show like Celebrity Guess?

Didn't the reviews say that it was quite good?

Didn't they say that it was very good?

So why were the viewership ratings so low?!

Many people in the industry were terrified. What was that nonsense about the viewers and popularity of these two shows getting split and shared evenly? It turned out there was no such thing! I Am a Singer had snatched away most of Sing!'s viewers! During yesterday's broadcast slot, I Am a Singer's viewers were three times as many as Sing!'s! What was there still left to play for? What was there still left to compete on?

Had Zhang Ye's influence reached a tipping point?

That whoever went up against him would be left for dead?

Whoever went up against him would be finished?

Sing! couldn't do it?

Central TV Department 1 couldn't do it?

Was there really no one in the industry who could defeat him?

This question was finally answered today.

That's right. It seemed there was really no one at all!

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Chapter 1234: The people of Central TV Department 1 are made to cry!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At Beijing Television.

It was pure jubilation in the program team office!

Even the staff from the other program teams came over to congratulate them. Everyone was looking at Zhang Ye with a strange compelling sense of admiration!

Xiao Lu screamed, "We've won! We've won!"

Hou Ge put his arm around Dafei's shoulder. "It's 2.43%!"

Hou Di shouted, "That's so awesome, Big Bro!"

Hou Ge said, "Yeah it is, Little Bro!"

Dong Shanshan waved a thumbs up at Zhang Ye.

Everyone followed suit and gave Zhang Ye a thumbs up.

"Director Zhang!"

"You're awesome!"

"You're the best!"

"Central TV Department 1 has lost badly this time!"

"They didn't even pass 1%!"

"We must have snatched away all of their viewers!"

"I will only respect Director Zhang in this lifetime!"

"I could never have freaking expected this outcome!"

"Ahhh, this is great!"

"Producer Hu, Director Zhang, looks like treat's on you two this afternoon!"

"Haha, that's for sure. Let's have a celebratory feast later!"

Hu Fei was also feeling very excited. All of his worries and anxiety disappeared the moment the viewership ratings chart was released. Thinking back on their own analysis about having no audience base and the issue of the show's popularity getting divided, it was laughable now! They had Zhang Ye on their side! What did they have to worry about!

Zhang Ye was already making some calls.

He gave Chen Guang a call first.

"Hello, Old Chen."

"Is it out yet?"

"It's out. 2.43%, we're in first place."

"What? It passed the two-point mark? How much did Sing! get?"

"0.8-something."

"Ah?"

"Don't blame me for that, tell Old Fan not to come looking for me."

Then he called Xiaodong.

"Sister Dong, the viewership ratings are out."

"Boss Zhang! I saw it! I saw it already!"

"Alright then, that's all. I just wanted to tell you."

"Do you have to tell anyone? The entire entertainment circle has already blown up over the results! Everyone in the industry is talking about you. They're saying that you're the undisputed leader of variety shows. Not even a Heavenly King or Queen could beat you in this field. Haha, thank you so much, Boss Zhang. Because of your show, this girl has grown in popularity again. I only just got off the phone with Grandma Zhang Xia. She says that she didn't expect her song to get so popular. She wanted to give you her support for the show at first, but who could've guessed she would benefit from you instead. Grandma Zhang is already preparing her second song. She's really motivated for the show!"

"You should also prepare yourself."

"That's for sure, I'm going to vie for the top three!"

Next, he called Amy.

"Amy, do well on your second song."

"Aiya, I'm so stressed out!

"Haha."

"The show has gotten so popular, so I can't get eliminated just like this. I won't talk anymore, Director Zhang. I have to start choosing my song to prepare for the performance. This time, I'm gonna give it my all!"

Every singer was getting really motivated. In a basic sense, weren't they participating on this show just because of popularity? With the viewership ratings doing so well, everyone would get very excited!

Zhang Ye's Studio also found out about this news instantly.

Zhang Ye called Ha Qiqi. "Everything's proceeding according to plan. Let everyone know so that they don't have to worry."

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, I knew that there wouldn't be any problems!"

For the "Reach the Summit" plan to succeed, it was necessary for this step to proceed smoothly. From the viewership ratings of the premiere episode, as long as Zhang Ye didn't make a mistake in the production of the show from here on out, the viewership ratings would only get higher and wouldn't suffer a drop. Further, Zhang Ye's screen time on I Am a Singer was unexpectedly large and the amount of attention he received was as much as the singers themselves. As such, the popularity he could gain from the field of television shows would surely be maxed out now!

As Zhang Ye continued making several more calls.

The Beijing Television executives arrived at the program team office. It was usually Hu Fei who welcomed them since Zhang Ye wasn't good at dealing with higher-ups. The moment the executives came into the office, they simply made a promise to the entire team that their year-end bonuses would be tripled! This was the most practical reward that anyone could receive, so they applauded it loudly!

…

Online.

The netizens were also exclaiming in surprise.

"I really didn't expect this!"

"Yeah, the disparity is too great!"

"How the hell are they going to compete like this?"

"I Am a Singer is too awesome!"

"It's another phenomenal variety show! The premiere has done so well even with Sing! as its competitor. If they could knock Sing! out later, the viewership ratings could even break records again! King of Masked Singers won't be able to hold its viewership ratings record!"

"Sing! isn't that bad, I actually found it quite good. But the problem for them is that they had go against Zhang Ye, so it's quite unlucky that they had to lose this way. Judging from the show trending online, their viewership ratings should definitely be able to pass 1% at the minimum. But because of I Am a Singer broadcasting at the same time slot, all of the viewers were taken away from them. Those viewers would then catch the rerun of Sing! on television or over the Internet. This statistic does not take that into consideration for the viewership ratings; that's why the disparity is so large."

"How terrible."

"I really sympathize with Central TV Department 1."

"How did it turn out like this?"

"My God! How scary!"

"Yeah, which shows would dare to take on Zhang Ye during the same time slot in the future! Even Sing! has died a bloody death!"

"Central TV Department 1 have only themselves to blame for being so arrogant. They were hyping up their show using Zhang Ye's name and even deliberately said incriminating things about him. Using someone else's work and still stabbing him in the back was what caused Lord Zhang to get so enraged. So he created a new show and took them on in response. Otherwise, Sing! would definitely have dominated the market without any competition. Hai, it's happened so many times, so why won't they just learn. Why do they keep thinking that Face-smacking Zhang is so easy to be trifled with?"

"I Am a Singer was indeed wonderfully made!"

"They invited all the right people!"

"Zhang Xia's song was spectacular!"

"Zhao Wuliu gave us such a surprise!"

There was a flurry of discussions!

Zhang Xia was on fire!

Zhao Wuliu was on fire!

Xiaodong was on fire!

Zhang Ye was on fire!

Dong Shanshan and the other host-managers were on fire!

Everyone that was related to I Am a Singer had become really popular with the rise of the show!

…

Meanwhile.

Central TV Department 1.

There was an eerie silence in the program team office of Sing!

How could this be!

How could it happen!

Was there a mistake somewhere?

Could the result have been miscalculated?

How could their show's viewership rating be so low?

A young woman who was holding the viewership ratings chart in her hands suddenly puckered her lips as she started tearing up uncontrollably. When another woman on the program team beside her saw that, her eyes reddened as well.

Terrible!

They had lost too terribly!

An assistant director saw it and immediately said, "What's with this? Huh? What's with this? How far are we into this? Don't start panicking so soon. The viewers only watched their premiere episode for the fun of it to see what it was all about. They've never heard of a show like I Am a Singer before, so they went to have a look for themselves. By the next episode, our audience will have returned and the viewership ratings will surpass theirs. So if we work hard on the second episode's recording, we'll definitely be able to beat them!"

Another assistant director added, "Right! I Am a Singer has a major flaw in their format, which is how they eliminate the participants too quickly. Those singers are all big names in the music industry and have many fans. Whoever gets eliminated will surely cause a stir within their fanbase. They'll definitely be unsatisfied with the results and protest it. At that time, their viewership ratings will definitely fall, so don't worry too much!"

Really?

Could that be possible?

Only then did everyone regain a glimmer of hope!

Right!

They hadn't lost yet!

It was only the first episode!

There was still plenty of time!

There were still a lot of chances!

They just had to buck up and do their jobs seriously so the show would get better. Only then could they really compete against Zhang Ye's team. This was just like a soccer match. The winner wouldn't be decided until the final moments of the game. So all of them took a deep breath and encouraged themselves: Come on! There isn't much time left for Team China 1 ….Uh, there isn't much time left for us!

1. Reference to Liu Jianhong's soccer commentary that's usually memed by the netizens or most commentaries whenever the Chinese soccer team plays https/zhidao./question/1883360136377152148.html

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Chapter 1235: The second episode of I Am a Singer!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the second week.

It was only two days away from the broadcast of the second episode.

"I'm so looking forward to it!"

"Time is really dragging by, hurry up and broadcast it already!"

"I like Grandma Zhang Xia!"

"Sing!'s Little Huang is pretty good too!"

"Let's see if Sing! can catch up in the ratings this time."

"Yeah, if they can't do it by the second episode, then it's all over for them."

"I'm getting worried about I Am a Singer. Don't forget that the second episode will be the knockout round. All of those singers can sing so well, so I won't be able to accept whoever gets eliminated. But for now, doesn't it look like Amy will be the one who most likely gets eliminated? I wonder how many votes she has now. She was the last place singer during the first episode. In my opinion, this will be the only opportunity for Sing! to overtake them in the ratings. If I Am a Singer does not handle this issue well, their success will only be a flash in the pan."

"You can do it, Amy!"

The online discussions were unending.

Elsewhere.

Beijing Television.

The second episode's recording of I Am a Singer was about to begin.

The singers had gradually arrived throughout the afternoon and were rehearsing in solo practice sessions. Meanwhile, Executive Director Zhang Ye was not present onsite. Instead, he was in a room by himself making a call.

"Teacher, please come."

"Director Zhang, do allow me to think about it first."

"You don't need to think. Our stage is only missing a singer like you."

"But my songs are not suited for competing with others."

"There's nothing that's unsuitable. Our audience is a very inclusive bunch and will embrace all kinds of music."

"You're making this difficult for me, Director Zhang."

"Teacher, did you watch the first episode of our show?"

"Yes, I did."

"Grandma Zhang Xia has become very popular overnight, and the audience is very receptive to her performance, so that shows the inclusiveness of our show's stage. As long as it's something good, everyone will be interested in it. Of course, I know that you don't lack popularity, nor do you care about that. But if you can bring more people your art and let them appreciate it, that would also be a virtuous thing to do. Please don't hesitate any longer. This is my fourth time calling you and your agent, so I'm sure you know how sincere I am in inviting you."

"Well, alright then."

"Then it's settled, Teacher?"

"I'll give it a shot."

"Great, here's to working well together!"

After hanging up, Zhang Ye snapped his fingers!

It had taken an entire week, but he had finally worked it out. This really had not been easy.

On the Internet, all the discussions were about the knockout round of I Am a Singer. The netizens were all worried that the program team would not be able to handle this segment properly and screw it up. But of course, anything that the viewers could think of would already have been anticipated by Zhang Ye. He knew in his heart of hearts that such eliminations would not really pose much of an issue. If there was one show doing this, then another two or three shows would follow suit. In the future, such elimination formats would definitely get mass adopted by every other show out there. The discussions and doubts would only serve to propel their show's popularity and viewership ratings; it would never decrease the popularity of the show. However, he would have to be very cautious about this knockout round and handle the process very carefully. That was the most important thing of all right now, and Zhang Ye's plan was to make use of the replacement singer option. He needed a very experienced and big name singer so that the viewers would not dwell on who got eliminated and instead turn their full attention to the replacement singer. It would surely help to cut down on the later negativity. As they say, ring out the old, ring in the new. This was exactly what it meant.

Once he came out of the room, Xiao Lu and the others looked to him.

"Director Zhang, how did it go?"

"Did he agree?"

Everyone was asking.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "It's done."

"Ah!"

"That's great!"

"Director Zhang is awesome!"

"You've got such great influence!"

Everyone could finally heave a sigh of relief knowing just how important this first replacement singer was.

But Zhang Ye laughed and said, "It's not because of my influence but that our show has gotten good viewership ratings. With this access pass, it was much easier to handle the negotiations."

Hu Fei came over. "Zhang'er, we're about to start recording."

"Alright, Brother Hu. I'll be right over." Zhang Ye started getting busy.

The atmosphere of today's recording was quite different from the first episode. Everyone from the program team was in great spirits. But whether that was due to the heaven defying viewership ratings or because of the management's promise that their year-end bonuses would be tripled, no one really knew.

The singers were also giving it their all. Amy and Xue Kaiqi, who were the two bottom place singers in the first episode, were going all out in hopes that they could avoid the "relegation" fight, so of course they had to give everything they had. They were no longer thinking about first and second place anymore. All they wanted was to be able to remain in the competition. Meanwhile, the better ranked singers from the first episode like Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, and Zhao Wuliu were all not too worried about getting eliminated. However, the pressure on them was just as great since they were hoping for a shot at first place.

…

Two days later.

The second episode was broadcast.

All over the country, countless viewers were watching TV and waiting in anticipation. Some of them chose to watch Beijing Television, while others had switched to Central TV Department 1. As for how many people were watching and what the ratio of viewers was between the two channels, no one really knew. They would have to wait until the broadcast was over before the viewership ratings would get released.

In front of the television.

"It's starting!"

"They've picked the order of appearance already."

"Ah, Amy is so unlucky!"

"Pfft, Amy's host-manager is so funny! She got picked to sing first!"

"This is going to be dangerous."

"Xue Kaiqi didn't get a good lot either. She'll perform third?"

"Wow, Xiaodong is such a good friend!"

"Sister Dong picked number five but gave up her slot to Amy!"

"Even at such a crucial moment, they're still so sisterly!"

"Xiaodong's coming on to sing."

"Haha, Xiaodong's hosting is quite good. At first, I felt that Sister Dong was too unprofessional as the guest host. But ever since I saw how Zhang Ye did the rankings announcement at the end of the first episode, I suddenly found Sister Dong to be very professional! This is what it means to be a host, no nonsense, no long-windedness! She would outdo that fraudster Zhang Ye by at least ten blocks! I suggest that Sister Dong take on the role of announcing the rankings at the end as well. Zhang Ye, I've had enough of you! You're so full of deception!"

"Agreed!"

"Hahaha, seconded!"

Xiaodong.

He Huan.

Xue Kaiqi.

Everyone eventually had their turn on stage.

"Wow!"

"That was such a great performance!"

"Amy is in godly form today!"

"No one can even come close to her rap!"

"I still think Chen Guang was better. He's really got it in him and can perform so flawlessly every time! Actually, I felt that Chen Guang should have been first in the previous episode. It's probably just because he's a very popular singer at the moment that everyone has become too familiar with his singing. Since everyone knows that he can sing well, there's less to look forward to for his performances!"

"It's Grandma Zhang Xia's turn!"

"Oh my God!"

"Fuck!"

"The moment Grandma Zhang started singing, I knew that first place would go to her!"

"Grandma Zhang is the biggest dark horse on I Am a Singer!"

"Yeah, who would've thought that an old-fashioned songstress could actually sing such songs!"

The performance segment was over.

Very quickly, it was time for the rankings announcement again.

When Zhang Ye strolled up, then read the advertising messages at an unhurried pace, and leisurely chatted with everyone, the TV viewers started cursing and swearing again!

"Get lost!"

"Zhang Ye, your sister!"

"Why is it this again?"

"Pfft, I've got to give it to you!"

"Can't you just fucking announce the rankings!"

"Aiyo, I'm dying of anxiety!"

"Teacher Zhang, can you stop doing that please!"

"You crawling bastard!"

To crawl means to be very slow in the Beijing dialect.

After rambling on for almost half an hour, the rankings were finally squeezed out like how one would milk a cow.

The combined rankings over the two episodes were:

First: Zhang Xia

Second: Chen Guang

Third: Zhao Wuliu

Fourth: Xiaodong

Fifth: He Huan

Sixth: Amy

Seventh: Xue Kaiqi

The Princess of Love Songs who was ranked last would have to leave this stage.

Amy's eyes reddened as she gave Xue Kaiqi a hug.

Zhang Xia gave Xue Kaiqi a pat on her back with a sigh.

Everyone came forward to bid farewell to Xue Kaiqi. It was a pretty emotional scene, but this was not done for the show's effect, nor was it scripted. After meeting several times and getting along so well, everyone had become familiar with each other. Moreover, many of them already knew each other before this and could be considered old friends, so they really could not bear to see her leave.

On the Internet, the netizens erupted!

"It's a conspiracy!"

"What a shady show!"

"My Princess!"

"How could they have eliminated Xue Kaiqi?"

"I like her so much!"

"This is so cruel. Xue Kaiqi indeed didn't sing very well during the first episode, but she's definitely capable of more than that. It's just that she hasn't returned to the stage for a very long time, so why didn't they give her a chance to prove herself?"

"Yeah!"

"Director Zhang is so cold-hearted!"

"Dammit, I'm not watching this anymore!"

"Fuck, surely you guys don't have to take it so personally, right?"

"I think the votes are a pretty accurate reflection of the audience's choice. Xue Kaiqi hasn't performed onstage for too long, so she didn't seem too comfortable standing there? So she got a little nervous? Hai, but I'll still miss her anyhow."

"I don't want her to go!"

At this moment, Zhang Ye spoke on the television.

After everyone had finished shedding their tears and saying those sad words, and when Xue Kaiqi finished her emotional crying, Zhang Ye suddenly said, "Oh, right. There's one more thing that I forgot to mention. Before the grand finals take place, we'll have a revival round. The previously eliminated singers will have the chance to return to the stage to battle to be the grand champion. Teacher Xue, are you willing to accept this invitation?"

Zhang Xia was stunned.

Amy was dumbfounded.

Xue Kaiqi said in surprise, "Of course I'll accept!"

Chen Guang was floored. "Director Zhang, why didn't you mention this earlier?"

Zhang Ye slowly took a sip of water and even purposely flashed the bottle's logo at the camera before answering, "No one asked."

Dong Shanshan laughed, "Pfft!"

All the host-managers were shocked!

On Weibo, everyone was exasperated!

"So there's going to be a revival round?"

"Zhang Ye, fuck your grandpa!"

"You're such a scammer!"

"Damn, you should have said so earlier!"

"Yeah, you made me cry over the elimination for nothing!"

"I have never come across such an unreliable executive director before! You should have mentioned those rules earlier!"

"Hahahahaha!"

Chapter 1236: I'll give in, alright?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

The viewership ratings were published!

The rankings of the nationwide viewership ratings for yesterday:

First: I Am a Singer, 2.77%

Second: Sing!, 0.91%

These top two ranked shows in the nationwide viewership ratings were not only the top two shows for the day and at the same time slot. They were as good as the top two ranked shows for the weekly and monthly nationwide viewership ratings! Sing!'s viewership ratings had increased by a little, but it wasn't really much to speak of. Meanwhile, I Am a Singer's viewership ratings rose by so much that it could be said to have taken a step up. It was only into its second week of broadcast, but the viewership ratings were galloping towards the 3% mark. Things were going strong for them!

Seeing this result, a lot of people reacted differently.

The industry sighed.

The media smacked their lips.

The public got into debates.

"Sing! is still not doing well!"

"I Am a Singer is too strong!"

"There's nothing that they can do about it."

"No one in the entertainment circle can curb Zhang Ye!"

"It really is a good show, so it was well-deserved that they got such a result. Sing! was just unlucky to be broadcasting at the same time slot as I Am a Singer. Otherwise, they shouldn't have any problems passing 1.5% in the viewership ratings. We can only see how Central TV Department 1 will react now. Are they going to put up a relentless fight? That might just be possible. After all, the two sides are very caught up in battling each other, and they've got some history between them as well."

"Let's wait and see how they'll fight."

"There isn't much time left for Sing!"

…

Central TV Department 1.

At the Sing! program team office.

"Why is it still like this?"

"Why did it increase by so little?"

"We've lost again?"

"Goddammit, I can't accept this!"

"Come on, everyone!"

"Yeah, it's not over yet!"

"They've eliminated Xue Kaiqi, so their viewership ratings will definitely fall!"

"That's right, this is our chance!"

"Let's do our best for the third episode!"

…

A week later.

The third episode of I Am a Singer was broadcast.

The replacement singer was the final performer.

When the figure standing behind the moon gate appeared onstage, countless TV viewers were pleasantly surprised and whooped in disbelief!

"Ah!"

"This is?"

"Teacher Huang Cheng!"

"It's Teacher Huang!"

"Why is he here too?"

"Even he has come?"

"This lineup is making me piss my pants!"

"Did they have to go this far?"

"It's Huang Cheng! The famous musician!"

Huang Cheng and Zhang Xia were both considered artists even if they each had a different style. Zhang Xia was more of an artistic folk singer who sang bel canto while Huang Cheng belonged more to the global stage as an artistic singer. He was particularly good at jazz and the like and had won global music awards on more than one occasion. He had performed on some of the biggest stages in the world and was even nearly nominated for the most prestigious global music award. Of course, that last honor was something that only the Chinese media had publicized. As for how close he had gotten to being nominated, that was undetermined.

If the Chinese music scene had to identify someone who was closest to the global stage of music, then that person would definitely not be Zhang Yuanqi, Chen Guang, nor Zhang Xia. It would have to be Huang Cheng!

So for an artist like him to come onto the stage of I Am a Singer, the viewers were of course very surprised. It seemed even an artist like Huang Cheng could not resist the charm of performing on such a stage. This was the biggest musical stage in the entire country and a place where professional singers had gathered. And today, Huang Cheng was also here!

Amy said in a daze, "It's another heavyweight?"

He Huan said respectfully, "This is a singing master."

Zhang Xia smiled. "Another old friend has come."

With great effort.

Word by word.

Zhang Ye finally finished announcing the rankings with an effort that was akin to squeezing out the very last bit of toothpaste.

First: Huang Cheng

Second: Zhang Xia

Third: Chen Guang

Fourth: He Huan

Fifth: Amy

Sixth: Xiaodong

Seventh: Zhao Wuliu

Perhaps due to this being Huang Cheng's first appearance on the show and also the fact that he had sung quite well, he took first place with his stage debut. The audience was very respectful to him. Meanwhile, Xiaodong did not get ranked well because she had been picked to sing first and that might have affected her results. Actually, there weren't really any problems with her singing. Zhao Wuliu coming in last place was the most surprising of all. He had clearly done very well in the first two episodes and was also given a lot of attention by everyone, but who could've guessed that the votes for him would drop in the third episode. Perhaps it was due to the initial surprise of his appearance waning and the fading feelings that made the audience more rational and demanding of the singers' performances. This was a good thing, and it showed that the audience was becoming more and more professional with their voting. This was a singing competition, after all. The singers weren't here to compete on their popularity nor their seniority, and this was also an important point that I Am a Singer was targeting to achieve as the show went on.

The viewership ratings were released very soon this time.

First: I Am a Singer, 2.85%

Second: Sing!, 0.90%

I Am a Singer was still building up its popularity, but Sing!'s viewership ratings were flat and had even dipped slightly. It was obvious where this was going.

…

Elsewhere.

Central TV Department 1 could no longer just sit around!

Sing!'s program team staff were all starting to panic a little!

"What should we do?"

"This…this…"

"Director, our advertisers have some very strong words about this!"

"The title sponsor has already called us five times!"

"It doesn't make sense that our viewership ratings are so much lower than theirs!"

"There must be a mistake somewhere!"

The entire office was thrown into chaos!

From the director to the staff members, everyone was feeling very pressured. Of this outcome and these results, they simply could not give an explanation to anyone!

The executive director sat there silently with a dark look!

"Director!"

"Director, give us some ideas!"

"What are we to do now?"

"Director!"

Everyone looked over to the executive director.

He suddenly banged on the table and stood up. Then, under the startled gaze of the office, he turned around and exited the office to head straight to the management office of Central TV Department 1!

Zhang Ye?

I Am a Singer?

I'm scared!

I'm totally scared of you, alright?

I'll give in!

I'll give in to you, alright?

You guys are great! You guys are awesome! You're the best director in the variety show industry! I can't win against you people, alright! Even if I can't afford to offend you, do you think I can't choose to avoid you? I fucking admit defeat! I fucking don't want to play around with you guys anymore!

On the same day.

Central TV Department 1 made an announcement that shocked the entire country!

Due to technical issues, Sing!'s broadcast time would be changed to 9 PM on Sundays!

The industry burst into an uproar!

Technical issues?

Technical issues, my ass!

This was Sing!'s program team admitting defeat!

That wondrous Zhang Ye was really ruthless! He could even force Central TV Department 1 to change their show's broadcast time? When both sides were engaged in a heated battle, such decisions would almost never happen. This was because even if one of them were to lose, they would still have to hold on and get through it. Who didn't want to keep their dignity? But obviously, Central TV Department 1 could no longer hold on. This was their most anticipated show of the year, which they had poured in large sums of money to make. Just the advertising contracts alone were worth over a 100 million RMB. If they continued fighting with Zhang Ye and Beijing Television like this, they wouldn't be able to bear the losses!

The netizens were dumbfounded!

"Ah?"

"They changed the broadcast time just like that?"

"Fuck! They're not going to fight each other anymore?"

"I could never have expected this!"

"Zhang Ye, that jinx! He's caused all this trouble for Central TV Department 1 again!"

"How painful are their faces?"

"But what else could they do? Even if it's painful, they have to take it!"

"Yeah, this is better than getting beaten hands down week after week, isn't it?"

"Central TV Department 1 has finally learned to be smarter this time!"

"They can't be blamed for that. Most people really can't win against Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye is on fire once again!"

"Without any more competition, I Am a Singer will skyrocket in popularity!"

"Yeah, even by broadcasting at the same time and period with the competition, they could still reach almost 3% in the viewership ratings. Without Sing! in their way, what kind of viewership ratings will it get?"

An epic war in the variety world had come to an end just like that!

It had ended once again with the victory going to Face-smacking Zhang!

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Chapter 1237: The fifth step of the 'Reach the Summit' plan!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Sunday.

Noon.

The aroma of cooked food filled the entire studio.

Everyone had gathered here today, including Zhang Ye.

"Director Zhang, let's eat."

"We ladies have cooked some food for everyone, so have a taste of our culinary skills."

"Director Zhang, are we allowed to drink today?"

"Feel free to!"

"But Director Zhang, should we really be drinking during working hours?"

"It's the weekend, so let's not be so uptight about the rules."

"Alright, I'll go get the beer then."

"Come, come, everyone, let's eat!"

"A toast to I Am a Singer for getting number one in the nationwide viewership ratings again!"

"We've already celebrated that last week. This time, we should be celebrating our defeat of Sing! After battling with Central TV Department 1 so many times, we've finally beat them into submission!"

"Right, let's toast to that!"

"Cheers!"

"Hahaha, let's drink!"

A celebratory feast was being held at the studio today. After Central TV Department 1 announced the time change for Sing! yesterday, the fourth milestone in their "Reach the Summit" plan could be said to have been completed ahead of time. Without a strong competitor, and without Sing!'s presence to spoil the show by taking a share of their show's popularity, they were virtually unstoppable now. Honestly, the studio's staff felt terrified at the beginning. Everyone knew that doing a singing show wasn't the best choice to make at the time. Even if the viewership ratings were not bad, as long as there was Sing! to clash with, they would still lose out on quite a bit of the popularity, which would in turn affect the progression of their plan. But this outcome was undoubtedly for the best, and they probably had been more frightened than hurt by anything. The most important thing was that Zhang Ye's screen time on I Am a Singer had turned out to be much more than they had expected, and the segment was also getting a lot of attention from the viewers. Therefore, with a large amount of attention and popularity generated for the show, it corresponded into a transfer to Zhang Ye. This was their main objective for this milestone, and it was more important than anything else.

At midnight, the Chinese Celebrity Rankings Index was updated.

Chen Guang had been pushed to the forefront of the B-list.

The once-popular Zhao Wuliu had returned to the rankings and was now among those in the D-list.

He Huan's rank rose by six places.

Amy was moving further and further up the B-list.

Xiaodong was in a similar position to Chen Guang as they both closed in on the A-list.

Grandma Zhang Xia had the greatest increase in popularity among their entire group. Her jump in the rankings astounded everyone. In just the timespan of one night, Grandma Zhang got promoted into the B-list. Even though everyone knew Zhang Xia because she was a familiar face to many people through her constant presence on the yearly Spring Festival Gala, she had always been considered just a C- or D-list celebrity due to various other reasons. The older generations all liked her a lot, but there weren't too many from the younger generation who were her fans. This was also the cause of Grandma Zhang's prior lukewarm popularity.

But with the aid of her performances on I Am a Singer, Zhang Xia's songs and singing had destroyed everyone's mindset of her. Together with the somewhat fashionable gray hair of hers, many of the younger people turned into a fan of the old lady. This was what contributed to Zhang Xia's overnight shot to fame. Of course, this explosion of popularity was also due to the accumulation of decades of hard work by Zhang Xia, as well as her image. With all these conditions coming together, it brought about her miraculous rise in the Celebrity Rankings Index. This wouldn't have been possible if it were any person other than her.

As for Zhang Ye?

His rank remained the same.

He had been sitting in first place on the A-list for a very long time.

Some people simply gave it a quick glance, then skipped right past his name. But if anyone observed more thoroughly, they would have clicked on Zhang Ye's name and discovered that his popularity score was no longer the same as it was when he first reached the top of the A-list. The increase was slightly more than twofold, and he had shaken off the other A-listers behind him. Meanwhile, the gap between him and the seven S-list celebrities was no longer as large as before! While the public and the media still hadn't realized it, Zhang Ye was quietly creeping up to those seven spots!

After lunch.

The studio's staff sat down together.

Zhang Ye asked, "How far are we?"

Ha Qiqi, who was holding a statistics report in her hand, said, "We've caught up by quite a bit, but we're also still lacking by quite a bit."

Zhang Zuo laughed and said, "Perhaps it's because those seven spots have not changed in too many years, so everyone's mindset is that no one up there will be replaced anytime soon. That's why the media did not pay any attention to it. We should take this opportunity to score an unexpected victory and take them all by surprise."

Wu Yi sniggered. "Yeah, they still haven't realized it."

Tong Fu said excitedly, "Are we going to implement the fifth step now?"

Ha Qiqi nodded. "Yes, I think it's time."

"Yeah, I agree." Zhang Zuo looked at the calendar and said, "Based on the time frame that we identified, we can probably go ahead and start now."

Ha Qiqi asked, "Director Zhang, is your show recording schedule going to be busy?"

Zhang Ye smiled. "It's not too bad since everything is already on track, so I could spare some time."

Ha Qiqi blinked. "Then you should be prepared to get a little busier from here."

Zhang Ye acknowledged, "Yeah, I was the one who called for the 'Reach the Summit' plan to be implemented. From that moment on, I knew that we wouldn't have much time to rest. So how could I not be prepared for it? Which brands have we identified as targets? Are there any that I'm familiar with? It would be easier to deal with those that we're worked with before. For those that we haven't, it might be a little more troublesome to handle."

Ha Qiqi took out a document and handed it to Zhang Ye. "While you were working on the show, we got in touch with these companies. Of course, it's just preliminary contact for now. We still haven't had any in-depth discussions with them. As there are too many rumors going around about you, some of which are quite negative, we have to start a familiarization process with them. There are some brands who are very interested in working with you. But most of the major brands already have a fixed celebrity spokesperson, so it might not be easy to approach them. Especially for those brands that are endorsed by the Heavenly Kings and Queens. I believe those will be the most difficult to take down. We can only try our luck and see how it turns out."

Zhang Ye said, "Make a list then."

Ha Qiqi said, "Alright."

Try our luck?

This wasn't Zhang Ye's style!

They would either go big or go home!

The "Reach the Summit" plan was a proposal that was drawn up to aid Zhang Ye in his goal to achieve S-list status. It involved a chain of steps, and the first step was done to pave the way for the second step, the second was done to lay the foundations for the third, while the fourth step to make a variety show was to service the fifth step's target. It was done to help Zhang Ye gain the maximum popularity and get continuous increased exposure in the television show industry. That would help increase his onscreen appeal so that the fifth step could be completed more smoothly!

And the fifth step of the plan was: fight for endorsements!

So why did they choose this time period to take action?

Because many of the major brand endorsements were due to expire during this period of time. There were at least seven or eight suitable lucrative endorsement deals whose contractual obligations with their celebrity spokespersons were expiring or had expired. Some of these endorsements might be renewed, but others had not been confirmed for renewal. That was why this window of time was extremely important for them!

For some of the ordinary endorsement deals, there shouldn't be a need for A- or B-list celebrities to fight for them. Some of the lousier endorsement deals might even get rejected by celebrities who were a little more famous. They wouldn't take the deal even if it paid a lot. Only some of the has-been celebrities or newcomers to the industry would be willing to earn this sort of money.

But for some of the bigger brand-name endorsements, even the A-list celebrities would have to fight for them. This wasn't simply about money, as some endorsements were a great help to raise the names and public presence of those celebrities. Citing an example, a big spender leading health supplement company like Brain Gold had already thrown out over tens of millions of yuan to the various major television stations to buy their commercial spots and did not even feel a pinch. Just the title sponsorship fees for I Am a Singer had already cost them 200 million RMB. Every time a 15-second Brain Gold commercial finished broadcasting, there would be a shot of Zhang Ye onscreen. He would be shown on Beijing Television, Shanghai Television, and even Hunan Television.

Why?

Because Brain Gold had bought the commercial spots on all of those stations!

Because Zhang Ye was the spokesperson for Brain Gold!

He could get paid and get the help of a corporation buying commercial spots while gaining more exposure himself. As such, who wouldn't want to fight for it?

But some of the smaller companies and brands didn't have the capacity to do so. In fact, some of the shoddier and more inferior brands might even bring down the image and popularity of a celebrity. If anyone saw it, they would surely react by thinking, Whoa, you're even taking this lousy ad? Just how badly are you doing that you'd need to accept it? That would cause the common folk to lower their perception of said celebrity, and they might really start wondering if the celebrity was really that hard up for money. It would then cause the celebrity's endorsement value to drop and lower their market influence. As a result, the other brand names would have a lower valuation of the celebrity as well and wouldn't look to use them even if they had a good advertisement campaign coming up. Therefore, the waters of the endorsement industry were very deep. The brands with potential were all fought over, while nobody cared for the lesser ones. There was just no uniform reception them.

And this time, Zhang Ye was getting ready to dip his hands into the endorsement industry!

Do not underestimate the popularity brought by advertising exposure. One or two of them might not mean much.

But what about three?

Five?

Or eight?

Just imagine, when the people turned on their televisions each day, every channel would be showing Zhang Ye. As long as the television was on, there would be a commercial with Zhang Ye in it. As long as they visited an online video hosting site, there would be advertisements with Zhang Ye's picture. What kind of a concept was that? That was the power of forced advertising, and it would be enough to increase Zhang Ye's popularity by a great deal!

This was the fifth step of the "Reach the Summit" plan!

If they could complete this step, the plan to reach the summit would surely be nearing its completion!

They were approaching the day they could finally be crowned with success!

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Chapter 1238: Isn't this advertising message a little too casual?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Monday.

Later that morning.

A crowd of guests arrived at the studio.

Little Wang opened the door. "You all are?"

The leader of the group smiled. "We have an appointment with your Manager Ha."

"Chairman Ma." Ha Qiqi came over to welcome them with a big smile. "You even dropped by personally? Come in quickly. Our studio isn't that big, so please make do with the space."

"It's a pretty nice place," Chairman Ma said as he looked around.

He was a vice chairman, but salutations generally wouldn't carry the word "vice" in it.

Ha Qiqi invited them to take a seat. "Director Zhang is taking a call upstairs, so please wait for a little while."

Chairman Ma said with a laugh, "That's fine, there's no need to be so courteous. It's not the first time I'm meeting Teacher Zhang anyway. We worked together on a second-tier ad during The Voice, so we're quite familiar with each other. My company understands Teacher Zhang very well as a person. We can only say that he is, as you Beijingers put it, 'fair and just.' That second-tier ad couldn't be called great, but after our company's people watched the show, we realized that Teacher Zhang would always chip in a few more words for us during the intermissions. That greatly increased the exposure of our products, and we weren't even charged an additional cent for it, so that was a really nice touch."

Ha Qiqi said, "That's right, Director Zhang has always been like that. Everyone has been so supportive of him and spent so much money as well, so the least that he could do was make it worthwhile for you all."

Chairman Ma nodded and said, "That's why when we heard that you all were interested in taking an endorsement, Chairman Xu got me to come down personally to see you right away. The timing is perfect since the previous two-year endorsement deal that we had just expired." He pointed behind himself and said, "We even brought our lawyer over. If we can negotiate this deal successfully, we can sign the contract immediately."

Ha Qiqi said, "Sure."

At this moment, Zhang Ye came downstairs.

"Yo, Chairman Ma."

"Haha, Teacher Zhang."

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I had a call from the television station."

"I know that you're busy with your new show, it's fine."

"So how's the endorsement deal going?"

"How can it? Ha, we're just waiting for you to give us the nod."

"Chairman Ma sure is easy to work with. We haven't even discussed the payment yet."

"Just name a price."

"Are we going to use my advertising proposal?"

"It would be best if we could use yours. Who in the industry doesn't know about those classic ads that you came up with? So many advertising agencies have turned them into teaching material. To be honest, we wanted to hire you as the spokesperson for our dairy product because we would also like to use your advertising proposal."

"In that case, the endorsement fees might have to be a little higher."

"That's not an issue as long as the proposal is good!"

The endorsement deals in the Chinese market usually lasted for two years, while some were even one-year deals. As for the price, based on Zhang Ye's worth in the market, a year's worth of endorsement fees should probably be in the upper range of several million. It could be 6 million RMB or 8 million RMB. But even the best offer would not pass 10 million a year, and that was with the condition that Zhang Ye come up with the advertising proposal.

Zhang Ye's endorsement fees with Brain Gold were actually much higher, but that was because it was a different situation. The Brain Gold Company did not base their valuation of Zhang Ye on his market worth. Brain Gold had gotten to where they were now because of an advertisement made by Zhang Ye. As an almost bankrupt company with the worst health supplement products in the market, they became the country's leading health supplement brand within just two years. To say they had achieved this due to Zhang Ye was not an overstatement at all. It could almost be said that this was a miracle that was single-handedly performed by Zhang Ye, so their endorsement fees for him were definitely much higher. But for the other companies that already had a mature presence in the market, their endorsement fees would still be based on the market rates.

Due to their previous cooperation, the negotiations between the two parties proceeded very smoothly.

The endorsement deal was for two years and valued at a total of 15 million RMB.

An additional term specified to the dairy company was: The budget spent on advertising each year must not be less than X amount.

While the condition for Zhang Ye was: He couldn't endorse similar brands during the contractual period and had to provide them with a full advertising proposal.

The contract was signed.

Then Ha Qiqi took out the advertising proposal Zhang Ye had spent two minutes writing in the morning and showed it to the dairy company.

Chairman Ma took it from her in anticipation.

The company staff around them also came forward to have a look at it.

But when they saw it, every one of them was speechless.

Chairman Ma said, "Teacher Zhang, there's only going to be one sentence for the advertising message?"

Zhang Ye nodded. "That will be the only sentence."

Chairman Ma wiped his sweat away and said, "Is it really going to be only this sentence?"

Zhang Ye nodded and said, "The core catchphrase will really only be that. I'm just providing the standard proposal for a 10 to 15 second TV commercial. I can also supervise the filming of the commercial, but for all the other matters like the follow up to the ads and Internet marketing, that will have to be handled by your company's advertising team." It wasn't possible for him to take charge of the soft marketing content and guerrilla marketing content. First, he didn't have the time to do so, and second, there was no need for it either. Their company would have a dedicated advertising team to oversee such matters.

Chairman Ma said, "That's for sure, but…"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Don't worry about it; there won't be any problems."

"Then…alright," Chairman Ma said.

The dairy brand company's employees looked at one another.

Fuck!

W-Would this really work?

Wasn't this advertising message a little too casual?

Chairman Ma was feeling extremely skeptical. But because of Zhang Ye's results and achievements in the industry, he didn't think that he should bring it up. As such, he could only take his staff with him and return back to their company.

After they left.

Little Wang immediately cheered, "That was too easy! We've successfully negotiated with one company!"

Wu Yi said happily, "What an auspicious start."

Zhang Zuo was the manager of internal communications of the studio, so when Ha Qiqi and the others were holding a meeting, he didn't come out to join them. When he finally came downstairs, he said, "They're one of the top three dairy brands in the country and have always had quite a good reputation. The quality of their dairy products put them at the higher end of the market, so it'd be good to get more of such products to endorse. It's a good thing that Director Zhang worked with them before this, or it wouldn't have been so easy to get it finalized."

Ha Qiqi flipped through her notes and said, "Director Zhang, I've also made an appointment with the next company. I'll be heading over to meet with their manager this afternoon to chat with them."

Zhang Ye asked, "Which industry are they in?"

Ha Qiqi said, "They're the number one reader app in the industry."

Little Wang immediately said, "I know it, I know it; I use that app to read books too."

Zhang Ye also seemed to have an impression of it. "I think Sister Zhang is their spokesperson, right?"

"Yes, it's Heavenly Queen Zhang's endorsement." Ha Qiqi blinked. "But I think the contract has expired."

Zhang Ye still had principles even though he was out to grab endorsements. Since it was his good friend's endorsement deal, he would have to ask her about it first. If she intended to continue endorsing them, he would definitely not get involved.

"Let's see, I'll go make a call first." Zhang Ye then went upstairs to call Zhang Yuanqi on her cell phone.

The call finally connected after ringing for a very long time.

There was definitely no one with Old Zhang as she didn't answer in a very friendly tone.

Old Zhang said, "What?"

Zhang Ye asked, "Busy?"

"I'm on set, hurry up and talk."

"Sure, I'll make it short. Are you endorsing that reader app? The one with the highest readership in the industry."

"Yes."

"Has the endorsement deal expired? Are you looking to continue working with them?"

"You want the endorsement?"

"That's why I'm asking you first. If you are, I won't go for it."

"I won't be continuing with them. That company has too many requests; it's too troublesome for me."

"Alright, I understand."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye said to Ha Qiqi, "Go ahead with the negotiations. Old Zhang won't be looking to renew the endorsement."

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Sure thing, that'll be good. Otherwise, we really couldn't snatch it from a Heavenly Queen."

Zhang Yuanqi was already someone at the summit, so her team surely had set their sights on the international market. Their goals would be different from Zhang Ye's and were surely of a different level too. As such, many of the things that she might find troublesome would not be troublesome for Zhang Ye. This was the number one reader app in the market, so it already had an air of culture to it. It would be a very good advertisement to feature in and had a good quality to it as well. Zhang Ye was an author himself, and being involved in the literary arts, such an endorsement fit well with his identity and was thus more suited for him. For the app reader company, this would also be true. In the realm of reading, even though Zhang Yuanqi was a very popular figure, the effects of her endorsement definitely would not be that much better than Zhang Ye's endorsement. There might even be a chance that her influence in this area was not going to be better than Zhang Ye's. As a result, the negotiations to get this endorsement were still very open and should be quite easy for them to take.

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Chapter 1239: Fighting a Heavenly King for an endorsement!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

One!

Two!

Three!

In just a few days, the staff of Zhang Ye's Studio secured three major endorsements in the market. The progress of their work was going very smoothly. After ensuring that I Am a Singer's recording would be able to carry on normally, Zhang Ye began focusing more effort on the advertisement endorsement projects that he had taken. In recent days, he had met up with many brand-name companies' representatives and written up so many advertising proposals that he nearly used all of the best advertising ideas from his previous world. They had thought that the fifth step of the "Reach the Summit" plan could be completed without a hitch, but there were still several hard nuts to crack along the way.

Fortunately, Zhang Ye had some ideas of his own to deal with that.

It was for a jewelry brand of diamond rings that the studio's staff had been working hard to seal the deal with to no avail. This was the largest brand name of diamond rings in the country, even if its revenue could not compare to those of the mass market jewelry chains. However, they were not targeting the mass market but the higher end luxury market. Their customers were all people from the upper class. Just a single diamond ring could easily go for the higher end of tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan, so of course they could not go the mass market route. But the brand's image was very good and also the reason Zhang Ye's team had identified it as a potential target. Additionally, the company's endorsement contract had expired a month ago, so they were thinking about how they could take it.

At the studio.

Ha Qiqi frowned and said, "Director Zhang, we still can't convince them."

Zhang Ye looked at her. "Is it too difficult?"

"Yeah," Ha Qiqi said, "they might've identified someone else. During this month of endorsement blackout, they've probably made contact with quite a few celebrity teams. All they have to do is decide who they want to represent their brand."

Wu Yi said, "Could they be thinking of not getting a celebrity spokesperson?"

"That's shouldn't be the case." Ha Qiqi said, "They're not short on money."

Zhang Zuo suggested, "Why don't we lower our asking price?"

Zhang Ye said emphatically, "That won't do."

Ha Qiqi agreed, "Yes, we cannot lower our asking price."

Lowering one's asking price in order to grab an endorsement deal was a pretty sensitive affair. In the past, there had been cases of celebrities lowering their endorsement fees. A male celebrity who was worth around 2 million in the endorsement market had offered to lower his asking price due to getting into gambling and was hard up for money. In the end, he lowered it to 800,000 RMB a year and managed to take quite a lot of endorsement deals. However, he had broken the industry rules. Ever since then, no other brands dared to approach him, and his popularity fell by a lot. Some of the companies who signed him for a much higher amount criticized him badly for this behavior. You're charging others 800,000 RMB a year, but 2 million RMB for us? What's the meaning of this? Do you think we're suckers?

Hurting the market.

Soiling one's own reputation.

These were the risks of lowering one's asking price.

In the entertainment industry, reputation was the most important thing there was. With Zhang Ye's current status and popularity, there wasn't a need to lower his asking price in order to get a deal. That would be too low for someone like him. The entertainment industry's number one person below the S-list had to lower his worth to fight other A- and B-listers for endorsements? It wouldn't be good if this got out. A lot of matters in the entertainment industry were not simply about money and couldn't be solved by simply adopting a business mentality.

Ha Qiqi said, "I haven't spoken to them in-depth yet, nor have I let them know about our intentions. That would make us look like we're trying to push a sale and lower our worth. But they haven't revealed anything to us either. Why don't I try to speak with them again to find out what their intentions are? Otherwise, we can switch our target to a different company and not waste our time trying to convince them. Hai, but then the other jewelry brands' endorsement deals have not expired yet, so that's real unfortunate."

Tong Fu said, "What about the mass market jewelry brand chains?"

Ha Qiqi shook her head. "That won't do. If we take too many smaller brands, it would be quite meaningless. We won't be able to bring up our endorsement profile."

Zhang Ye thought about it for a moment. "Let's lay all our cards on the table then."

"OK." Ha Qiqi said, "How though?"

Zhang Ye said a few words to her.

Ha Qiqi was stunned and her jaw dropped. "Are you sure?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Of course I'm sure."

Ha Qiqi said happily, "Aiyo, you should have said so earlier."

…

Later that afternoon.

At a certain jewelry company.

In the lobby on the eleventh floor.

Ha Qiqi brought Tong Fu along with her.

The female receptionist stood up. "Hello?"

Ha Qiqi said, "I'm here to look for Director Cui."

The receptionist asked in an official tone, "May I know if you have an appointment with him?"

"I do. My name is Ha Qiqi," Ha Qiqi said.

The receptionist lowered her head to check the appointment schedule before saying, "Hello, Manager Ha, your appointment is at 3 PM. Director Cui is currently in a meeting, so please wait—"

As she was speaking.

Director Cui and two young men came walking over side by side and seemed to be heading for the conference room.

Ha Qiqi went up to him. "Director Cui."

Director Cui was taken aback. "Manager Ha, you're here so early?"

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, "What Manager Ha? I'm just an errand girl for Director Zhang."

The two young men beside him probably recognized Ha Qiqi as well, so they started looking somewhat wary of her. She was Zhang Ye's Studio's external communications manager, so who in the industry wouldn't recognize her?

Ha Qiqi and Tong Fu also recognized them. The short-haired young man did not look familiar to them, but Ha Qiqi the other young man who had a ponytail. This guy was also pretty well-known in the industry and was the younger cousin of a Heavenly King. He was also one of several managers of that Heavenly King. When she saw him, Ha Qiqi instantly knew what was going on. She understood just why the jewelry brand's representatives had been hesitating with their decision. It was because there was a big name celebrity among their choice of spokespersons, someone with a place among the top seven spots, an S-list celebrity much more famous than Zhang Ye.

Fighting a Heavenly King for an endorsement?

Ha Qiqi suddenly found this rather exciting.

Meanwhile, Director Cui felt a little awkward. "This…"

Every celebrity would have a "territory" of their own. In the industry, almost every brand's endorsement had already been taken by a celebrity. For example, Chen Guang, who endorsed a cell phone brand that focused on sound quality, had been doing so for three years now. The money was good and the advertisement coverage was wide as well. It was a quality endorsement deal and was where Chen Guang's territory was. If any other celebrity tried to snatch this endorsement from him, they would offend him for sure. A lot of celebrities had had relationships turn sour because of such endorsement deals. A quality endorsement deal was the livelihood of a celebrity and also a source of their long-term income.

Director Cui clearly understood this and was hoping that the two parties wouldn't bump into each other, but to his surprise, he still couldn't keep that from happening. In truth, he had already made up his mind. Faced with deciding between a Heavenly King and several A-list celebrities, he was of course more inclined to choose the Heavenly King. Disregarding any other factors, his fame alone was enough for him to make the choice. However, he also considered using Zhang Ye since he was also very popular. Further, he was constantly at the forefront of the news in recent times and had an exposure that was definitely comparable to the Heavenly Kings and Queens'. He also coveted the advertising proposals that Zhang Ye was famous for. The only factors holding him back were that Teacher Zhang was considered an oddity in the industry and had an image that fluctuated between high and low at times. He was just afraid that he might kick up some issues again in the future that would affect the image of their brand, and thus, the hesitation.

Director Cui said, "Manager Ha, why don't you—"

Ha Qiqi laughed. "Let's talk together, Director Cui. We're already here and we all know each other."

The Heavenly King's cousin was shaking his head in his mind. We're already here, so what do you have to discuss?

Director Cui couldn't offend both of them, so he looked at the Heavenly King's cousin for direction."

The Heavenly King's cousin shrugged. "Anything is fine."

"Well, alright then. Please, follow me." Director Cui ushered them into a conference room. When everyone got seated, he had an assistant serve them tea.

The Heavenly King's cousin was obviously prepared for the meeting.

The moment his assistant sat down, he took out a document and started rambling. His introduction was all about how great they were and the positive results of their past cooperations with other brands. In short, all of that was mentioned so they could talk about the endorsement fees. Naturally, they hoped to get as much out of it as possible.

For a full five minutes, only he was speaking.

Director Cui occasionally nodded at him even though he already knew all of it.

He was a Heavenly King.

Had a pretty good reputation.

And was extremely popular as well.

But his asking price wasn't so high that it was unacceptable.

Although Zhang Ye's side's asking price was much lower, their company had enough of a budget for it. Several million yuan for a one-year endorsement was not exactly much to them. That was why even if Zhang Ye's asking price was only 8 million RMB while the Heavenly King was asking for almost double at 14 million RMB, they didn't really mind. What they cared about was how much the celebrity's endorsement could increase their revenue. For all brand endorsements, this had always been the ultimate objective. But of course, not minding didn't mean they would pay however much the celebrities asked for. It still had to be cost-effective since no one's money would just appear out of thin air. They would pay whatever the celebrities were worth, and on that point, the difference in value between an S-list and A-list celebrity was clearly going to be larger, even if that A-list celebrity was the top A-list celebrity.

Director Cui already had an idea of who he would go.

The Heavenly King's cousin asked, "Director Cui, if everything's fine, let's discuss the contract.

Director Cui smiled and said, "We'll still have to negotiate the price, but yes, we can talk about the contract."

The Heavenly King's cousin nodded and then looked at Ha Qiqi and Tong Fu. "What about the others?" What he meant was for them to leave. Discussing such an important issue as the contract would have to be done in private.

Director Cui also looked at Ha Qiqi. "Manager Ha, why don't…"

A sensible person could see what was going on.

However, Ha Qiqi did not move from her seat.

Director Cui blinked several times at her.

The two people on the Heavenly King's management team frowned.

But then, a single sentence from Ha Qiqi dumbfounded everyone in the room. She calmly said, "Teacher Zhang is getting married soon."

What?

Getting married?

Director Cui was taken aback. "When?"

Ha Qiqi said, "Within the year."

Director Cui gasped excitedly. "A-Are you sure?"

"I'm a 100 percent sure," Ha Qiqi said with a smile.

Director Cui's breathing quickened as he said, "Please wait a moment. This news is too sudden. I need to make a call first." He wasn't the head of the company, just the head of the advertising department. As such, he had to seek instructions from the higher-ups.

The two on the Heavenly King's team were stunned!

Within just two minutes, Director Cui returned with around eight other staff members. The moment he came in, Director Cui said, "Manager Ha, about Teacher Zhang's endorsement, can we talk about it?"

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "But of course. That's what I'm here for, aren't I?"

Director Cui had gotten clear instructions from the company's CEO!

He was to sign Zhang Ye!

At all costs!

…

Outside the company.

The Heavenly King's cousin and his assistant headed downstairs dejectedly. They had let it slip out of their hands. It gave them the impulse to curse and swear. It made them feel furious and, at the same time, not know whether to laugh or cry!

Your sister!

You can even do it like that?

This is the first time I've seen anyone snatch away an endorsement like that!

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Chapter 1240: A Heavenly Queen's agent genuflects!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

They held a meeting at the studio.

Little Wang said in surprise, "Sister Ha, did you really seal the deal?"

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, "I really did. Even the contract has been signed."

Tong Fu was overjoyed and said, "You guys didn't see the expressions on those two bros' faces. I suppose we've terribly offended them, hai."

Wu Yi said, "Why do you still look so happy when you've offended others?"

Tong Fu said, "Well, it was fair competition."

Some people could not understand. "Sister Ha, how did you do it?"

Someone else said, "Yeah, haven't we been unable to convince them all this while? And we were even up against a Heavenly King for this endorsement? It's not that I'm lauding the enemy and belittling our own master, but I'm making an objective observation here. Be it popularity, image, or honors, uh, I don't think that we have any fight, do we?"

Zhang Ye came down from upstairs. "It's because I'm getting married."

"Ah?"

"What?"

"Damn, really?"

"Congratulations, Director Zhang!"

"Didn't you just get engaged?"

"You're getting married this soon? That's great!"

"I knew it!"

"Yeah, so it's the jewelry brand that wants to get your favor!"

"Pfft, that's such a lethal tactic that leaves the jewelry company with no grounds to reject you!"

"When I learned that they were offering to us 10 million a year for the endorsement, I thought that they must have gone crazy. So it's because of this. They're preparing to make full use of your wedding to create publicity. I suppose they'll be the designated jeweler for your wedding then? No wonder the jewelry company is willing to pay so much."

It finally dawned on everyone!

This was a surefire kill!

This tactic was too fucking ruthless!

Yes. Their Teacher Zhang did not have any advantages over the opponent. His popularity and image were not as good as that Heavenly King's. By comparing them side by side, Zhang Ye would definitely lose out to him by quite a bit. However, Zhang Ye was about to get married, which was the only thing no one in the entire entertainment industry could outdo. The identity of Zhang Ye's fiancée was still being actively discussed in the industry. The citizens were making wild guesses. In fact, even the studio's staff did not know who she was and were incredibly curious. The topicality of such discussions had previously reached a high. And now, once Zhang Ye announced that he would be getting married, just how much attention would it get? No one dared to imagine it. The Heavenly Kings and Queens were either single or secretly married, so how were they going to fight with Zhang Ye over the jewelry endorsement?

Even a Heavenly King would have to kneel to that!

This advantage Zhang Ye had could crush everyone else!

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Everyone, it's good enough that you know about it, but please don't spread the news for now."

Zhang Zuo immediately asked, "Do you need our help with your wedding?"

"Not for now," Zhang Ye chuckled. "Me and my fiancée's parents are handling it for now. We haven't agreed on a date yet, but it'll be within the year. It won't be long now, so if I still need everyone's help at that time, I'll let you know in advance. Don't worry, none of you will be able to run off. Everyone's mission now is to take all of the endorsements that we've identified. Whichever of those major brand names that can be taken, take it. Every single one counts. Just do it without any restraints. Be it a Heavenly King or Heavenly Queen, I'm not afraid of offending anyone."

"OK!"

"Understood!"

"Director Zhang, congrats once again!"

"Thanks!"

After saying a few words.

Ha Qiqi took out a copy of a document. "This will be the toughest nut to crack."

Zhang Zuo frowned. "Is it that sanitary ware brand?

Ha Qiqi gave a wry smile and said, "Yes, this will be the most difficult deal to get. It's almost impossible, so I really don't know where to start with them. Director Zhang, do you have any suggestions?"

Zhang Ye said, "Give me a brief introduction to the brand."

Ha Qiqi said, "This is the biggest sanitary ware brand in the country..."

As the leader of the industry, this sanitary ware brand mainly promoted its toiletries in the market. It had an extremely high market share in the Chinese market, and even its expansion into the foreign markets was pretty good. In Southeast Asia, their brand awareness and market share were also very high. This product did not sound like it was something very good, nor should the celebrities be too willing to endorse a brand like it. Toiletries? Sanitary ware? It just didn't sound like it was something great. But it was quite the opposite. The competition to endorse this brand was the most intense of all the Chinese brand names. In the past six years, this brand had been fronted by a Heavenly King or Queen, and even some Asian megastars!

First, this brand was targeted at the high class.

Second, their company was supremely wealthy.

Third, they were not afraid of spending money. The advertising volume of this brand could easily be described as shocking. Not only did they flood China with advertising, they also did so for all of the Southeast Asian countries they had a presence in. This would also greatly boost the exposure of the endorsement stars as a result!

Therefore, this sanitary ware brand was identified as the most important piece of the fifth step in the "Reach the Summit" plan. It was also the endorsement project they placed the most emphasis on!

Zhang Ye asked, "Who was their previous spokesperson?"

Ha Qiqi replied, "It was a Korean celebrity, one of the Asian A-list superstars."

Zhang Ye asked, "What about now? Do we have other competitors?"

Ha Qiqi said in anguish, "Yes. Back then, we put in a lot of effort on this project because in the one year that the Korean celebrity endorsed them, there hasn't been any significant growth in the domestic sales of the sanitary ware brand. I found out that they wouldn't be renewing the endorsement contract as a result, so I thought that we would surely stand a chance of getting it. But who could've expected that there would be an intruder when one of the Heavenly Queen's agent suddenly joined the bid as well? When I mentioned that you were going to get married soon, the company's representative did not seem to react. I suppose that isn't enough to move them, so I didn't go into any further detail with them. It looks to me that they've already decided which Heavenly King or Queen to use for their endorsement."

Zhang Ye blinked. "It's not Old Zhang, right?"

"No," Ha Qiqi said, "Sister Zhang won't take such endorsements."

Zhang Ye nodded. "Alright then. If it were Old Zhang, I wouldn't want to fight her for it. But for anyone else, they're all fair game. We'll just have to see who's more capable."

Ha Qiqi said, "But the problem is that we don't stand out at all."

Zhang Ye said, "It's a toiletry brand, right?"

"Yes, it's a sanitary ware company that mainly focuses on their toiletries," Ha Qiqi said.

Zhang Ye thought for a moment before saying, "How about this, give me an hour."

Ha Qiqi was taken aback.

An hour?

What are you planning?

Nobody understood.

Zhang Ye went upstairs, and the sound of someone singing could be heard after a while.

When everyone heard that, they were even more confused about what Zhang Ye was doing.

…

On the same night.

Ha Qiqi arrived at Shanghai by plane.

The moment she got off her flight, she called the deputy director who was in charge of the sanitary ware company's brand management.

"Director Bai, it's me."

"Oh, it's Manager Ha. Hello."

"Regarding your company's endorsement deal, we've communicated with you about it before. Can we have an in-depth discussion about it this time?"

"About that, Director Ha, I'm really sorry. We've long heard of Teacher Zhang Ye and have been wanting to work with him as well, but I'm afraid this time…we've essentially made a decision. We can only hope to work together with you all next time. Is that alright?"

"Hur hur, Director Bai, then would it be fine if we just have a meal together?"

"Aiya, I'm afraid I can't today."

"But I'm in Shanghai. Surely you wouldn't just turn me down, would you?"

"Ah? You're in Shanghai?"

"Yeah, I just got off the plane."

"Aiyo, alright then, I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Thank you very much, Director Bai."

An hour later.

At the headquarters of the sanitary ware company.

Ha Qiqi spotted Director Bai, as well as that Heavenly Queen's agent.

"Director Bai."

"Manager Ha, sorry to trouble you for coming all this way."

"Hai, it's all for business."

"Let me introduce you."

When he finished introducing both parties.

Ha Qiqi and the Heavenly Queen's agent shook hands with each other.

The Heavenly Queen's agent smiled and said, "Boss Ha, I've long heard of your great name."

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "You're too kind. It's me who's long heard of your great name."

The agent grinned and said, "Teacher Zhang has been rather active these days, huh? I heard that he's taken quite a few endorsements recently. He's even taken an endorsement that another Heavenly King had his eyes on."

Ha Qiqi giggled. "It's just fair competition. We've always advocated a win-win situation for the parties involved."

The Heavenly Queen's agent gave her a look. "Right, fair competition. I like those words."

Just from the simple conversation they had, hostilities flared.

Ha Qiqi and the people she brought with her were standing on the left side, while those from the Heavenly Queen's team were standing on the other side.

Director Bai bluntly said, "Since everyone's here, I'll cut to the chase. First off, thank you for thinking so highly of our brand. This is the greatest recognition we can get, and I'd like to thank all of you on behalf of the company. Next, we have given a lot of consideration to the endorsement deal, though the final decision will still have to be approved by the company's CEO. That's why we'll just eat and drink today, not talk shop. Since all of you are here, we're all friends today."

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Sure, we'll do as Director Bai says."

The Heavenly Queen's agent also smiled, apparently confident that they had already won. They were not feeling any pressure.

This was the company's reception room.

On the large round table the dishes were quickly served.

Director Bai was actually in a predicament. He hadn't expected that the two celebrities' teams would follow up on the endorsement deal so closely. At first, he wanted to meet with Ha Qiqi alone but hadn't expected that the Heavenly Queen's agent would be so thick-skinned to follow. He felt that it wouldn't be nice to say anything about it, so he was forced to allow all of them to sit together. He was really afraid that the two parties would clash.

But surprisingly, Ha Qiqi was holding up pretty well.

She ate.

And drank.

And did not refuse any food or toasts that were offered to her.

All the while, she made no mention of the endorsement contract.

This impressed Director Bai, and he couldn't help but start wondering what she was planning. Honestly, the moment their main office received the quote from the Heavenly Queen's team, they decided on hiring her. Although the asking price was high, she had the fame to back it up. There was no reason for them not to work with her. As for Zhang Ye, they also found it rather tempting to hire him. Teacher Zhang was always talked about, appearing in the headlines every other day and had a very high public exposure. But even considering all of those points, they still felt that Zhang Ye's status in the entertainment industry was not comparable to any of those seven S-list celebrities.

The Heavenly Queen's agent did not talk about business.

Ha Qiqi was steady as a rock.

As it turned out, it was Director Bai who couldn't hold it in. He smiled and said, "I Am a Singer has been doing quite well."

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Director Bai watches it too?"

Director Bai laughed and said, "Of course I watch it. Everyone in the company, including my family, watches it. Why isn't Teacher Zhang thinking of participating? He sings really well too."

Ha Qiqi said, "He can't compare with those great singers."

"How modest." Director Bai asked, "Has Teacher Zhang released any new songs recently?"

Ha Qiqi suddenly said, "Now that you mention it, Director Zhang has written a new song."

Director Bai got interested as he liked Zhang Ye's songs a lot. "Oh? What kind of song is it?"

Ha Qiqi looked at him. "How about I let you give it a listen?"

Director Bai said in surprise, "I can listen to it ahead of release?"

Ha Qiqi said, "Director Bai is no stranger, so of course you can."

Those on the Heavenly Queen's team looked at her.

Then they saw Ha Qiqi take her cell phone out and plug in earphones. She increased the volume before handing it to Director Bai. "Just press play and see how you like it."

Director Bai said in anticipation, "Alright, I'll have a listen!"

Getting a chance to listen to Zhang Ye's new song first? That was quite an honor for him!

Director Bai looked down at the screen and pressed play. Then he got startled.

Eh?

This title?

" Toilet 1 "?

A song existed with this title?

Through the earphones came the sound of singing. Perhaps due to the volume being too loud, even those who were sitting close by could hear it. The people on the Heavenly Queen's team pricked up their ears too.

As a result, the first verse that was sung stunned all those in the room!

"I have a toilet at home.

"There is a hole in the throne.

"Above the hole a smile's always shown.

"Smiling at how helpless we are alone."

This is?

This is?

Director Bai got the goosebumps!

The people on the Heavenly Queen's team were all dumbfounded!

"Every house has a toilet.

"Everyone has to use it.

"After every use you feel relaxed and carefree.

"Guaranteed to make you infinitely happy.

"Every single toilet is a hero.

"With just a simple flush,

"It can flush away all of your sorrows.

"No matter how much your pain,

"No matter how deep your loss,

"For you, it will take all of it away!"

A female employee on the Heavenly Queen's team let out a "pfft" and spat out all the fruit juice in her mouth onto the table!

Fuck, aren't you shameless?

Zhang Ye, aren't you too goddamn shameless?

"Every single toilet is a friend.

"You can trust it with all your heart.

"You can't do without it in your life.

"My secrets are too many.

"My dreams are too grand.

"But slowly, you will understand.

"My beloved toilet bowl!"

The song ended.

A toilet is a friend?

A toilet is a hero?

Everyone looked flabbergasted!

The Heavenly Queen's agent was even more at a loss and nearly fell out of her chair!

Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Director Bai, this song isn't too bad, right?"

But Director Bai got really excited. It was simply too good! It was so apt! This...Wasn't this song written with their sanitary ware brand in mind? Could there even be a more suitable song than this one?

They had to get it!

They most definitely had to get this song!

Director Bai stood up then and there. "How much does this song cost?! We'll buy it!"

But Ha Qiqi shook her head. "Director Zhang never sells his songs. We only talk about working together."

Working together?

The endorsement?

The Heavenly Queen's agent got mad. "Director Bai! We've already agreed on the endorseme—"

"Manager Ha," Director Bai said firmly, "could we step aside to talk?"

Ha Qiqi said, "No problem."

The Heavenly Queen's team nearly fainted!

"Director Bai!"

"What's the meaning of this?"

"What's going on?"

"Didn't we already come to an agreement?"

"Director Bai, surely you can't do things this way, right?"

…

Half an hour later.

The Heavenly Queen's team left the sanitary ware company headquarters cursing and swearing!

"What the heck was that!"

"How could they be so unethical!"

"No one snatches endorsement deals the way they did!"

"The fuck was that! Zhang Ye's team is too goddamn immoral!"

"Shameless! Shameless to the max!"

"That guy's a real hooligan!"

Everyone felt as though their lungs were going to explode!

Every single toilet is a friend?

Friend? Your grandpa!

Every single toilet is a hero?

Hero? Your grandma!

Do you have a shred of moral integrity left in you?

Do you even have a bottom line that you don't cross?

Even a toilet can become a hero, so why haven't you ascended to Heaven yet!

As they cursed and swore, the Heavenly Queen's agent also started to feel a little amused. That song had really left her with nothing to say. She was so convinced that she could have no complaints! The client was marketing their sanitary ware brand, after all. Zhang Ye had mythologized the toilet into a hero, and even ended the song by fucking calling it "my beloved toilet bowl"? Faced with such an unconventional advertising jingle, who could possibly take the endorsement from him?

A Heavenly King?

A Heavenly Queen?

An Asian megastar?

Whoever came would surely kneel in defeat!

Whoever came would even have to kowtow to him!

This time, they had really underestimated Zhang Ye's team and totally underestimated Zhang Ye's level of shamelessness. He was really the greatest wonder of the entertainment circle and didn't play by the rules. All of his tricks were more devious than the last! But thinking about it again, so what even if they hadn't underestimated Zhang Ye this time? Could they have written a song like that? Even if they did, would the Heavenly Queen go and sing it? That would be impossible! Even if the Heavenly Queen was paid 100 million RMB in endorsement fees, she couldn't possibly go and sing it. It was the same for all the other S-list celebrities, and maybe even the other A-list celebrities. None of them could be as thick-skinned as Zhang Ye and do so!

They had lost, but they couldn't complain!

Just on this point alone, they were forced to accept the loss!

This was really something that only Zhang Ye could have done. Moreover, it was done in that usual shameless style of his and was something that no one else could have copied!

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Chapter 1241: The advertisements will roll out soon!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the car.

The Heavenly Queen's agent called to that Heavenly Queen.

She said: "We didn't get it."

A very nice-sounding female voice at the other end of the line said: "Who got it then?"

She sighed and said: "Zhang Ye."

The voice on the other end said: "How did we lose it?"

She said: "It was my fault."

After giving a simple explanation of the entire story.

The other end of the line: "OK, I understand. Forget it then."

Yes, they could only forget it. If not, what else could they do?

They'd already gone as far as praising the toilet as a hero and a friend!

But what about them? Surely they couldn't hug the toilet and shout, "You're so awesome, my dearest brother," could they? They could only swallow this and find a chance to regain what they'd lost another time!

…

The next day.

The sanitary ware brand's contract agent and lawyer flew to Beijing with Ha Qiqi to sign an official two-year endorsement deal with Zhang Ye.

"Happy to be working with you, Teacher Zhang."

"Happy to be working with you too."

"Could we quickly start on the production and recording of the commercial?"

"Sure, I'll leave the arrangements to you all."

"You're the director, so why would you need to leave the arrangements to us?"

"Well, alright then."

"We'll support you with funding and manpower. As for the production work, we'll leave all the decisions to you."

"Sure, that won't be a problem."

After he was done over here, Zhang Ye hurried to the television station.

…

Four.

Five.

Six.

On this day, Zhang Ye's team closed six long-term endorsement deals.

Among these contracts, some of them went quite smoothly, others not so much. The crossing of swords and clashes between these celebrity teams was something better off not mentioned to an outsider. The infighting between celebrities was always like this, fighting with their popularity, fighting with their qualifications, and fighting with their image. Such fights were generally bloodless but were even more bloody and terrible than bloodbaths.

In the morning.

Zhang Ye received a call from Zhang Yuanqi's manager.

The moment it went through, Fang Weihong said with a laugh: "Teacher Zhang, you're snatching endorsements now?"

Zhang Ye said: "No, I'm not."

"Save it, I've already received news on my side." Fang Weihong wondered: "I heard that you've snatched two endorsement deals that a Heavenly King and Queen were very confident of getting? How did you do it?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "Personal charm probably?"

Fang Weihong half-jokingly said: "I'm telling you now, don't you dare think about those endorsements that Sister Zhang has on hand."

Zhang Ye said: "Well, of course. In any case, I couldn't get them even if I wanted to."

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"Then I have nothing to worry about." Fang Weihong asked: "But I am really curious about how you did it. How did you secure the top sanitary ware brand's endorsement? Your team is really quite capable. There's something that I found a little strange as well. Two days ago, I bumped into that Heavenly Queen's management team at the bar that Teacher Zhou runs. There were a few young ladies who seemed to have drunk too much and were cursing at something. They mentioned something about a toilet, something about a hero, and what's that about a toilet being a good friend? Man, that scared me and I had to turn around while pretending that I didn't know them. Have those people gone crazy? What kind of a hole did you push them into? It looked like they were having a mental breakdown? They even called a toilet their friend? Isn't it just a sanitary ware ad? Did they really have to be so professional in their work?"

Zhang Ye was really amused. "Who knows what they were thinking?"

Fang Weihong said: "You should stop bringing harm upon others."

Zhang Ye said: "It has nothing to do with me, Sister Fang."

That song was called "Toilet," and was a very classic song back in Zhang Ye's previous world. The singer was the world-famous Andy Lau, Wah-zai! Back then, the song was also specially written for a certain sanitary ware brand in the market and proliferated through China. It wasn't common for an advertisement's song to get too popular, but "Toilet" was one of those that did. So when the mention of a sanitary ware endorsement came up, this song immediately came to Zhang Ye's mind.

Naturally, this news couldn't be contained.

The media gradually became aware of it.

"Zhang Ye's team takes a reader app endorsement deal!"

"Zhang Ye lands a deal to endorse one of the top three dairy brands in the industry!"

"Zhang Ye's team seizes a large share of the endorsement market!"

"The largest jewelry brand in the country has announced its next celebrity spokesperson—Zhang Ye! "

"A Heavenly King and Queen's teams are outdone by Zhang Ye's team in a battle of endorsement deals!"

"According to rumors, Zhang Ye's jewelry brand endorsement fee is valued at 10 million RMB per year!"

"Zhang Ye to hold his wedding within the year? A jewelry brand signs him on at all costs!"

"A Heavenly Queen's team misses out on the biggest sanitary ware brand's endorsement!"

"The most popular sanitary ware brand lands Zhang Ye!"

"A storm is brewing in the endorsement market!"

"Will Zhang Ye be the king of endorsements this year?"

"Stealing food off the plates of a Heavenly King and Queen?"

The industry was quite startled.

"Zhang Ye?"

"Why did he snap up so many endorsements?"

"What is Zhang Ye up to?"

"It's rare to see anyone take so many endorsement deals within 10 days!"

"Even a Heavenly King and Queen could not outdo him?"

"That isn't right, Zhang Ye should not have the ability to compete with those S-list superstars! How could so many of the major endorsements be taken by him?"

" No one grows fat in one sitting 1 . Taking so many endorsements at once, can he manage them all? If the ads are rolled out too closely, it could counteract the effect, unless the quality of those ads are really good. But with so many endorsement commercials to shoot, no matter how famous he is in the advertising industry, he shouldn't be able to make them all classics, right?"

"Yeah, he's biting off more than he can chew."

After meal topics such as these were widely discussed across the industry.

However, Zhang Ye's team was still continuing to take more and more endorsements, as though they were never-ending!

Countless industry insiders were watching helplessly as many of the recognized quality endorsement deals got taken away by Zhang Ye's team one by one. At first, everyone was only feeling shocked but did not think much of it. But as it carried on, everyone could no longer sit still!

Isn't this too much?

Aren't you fucking taking way too many deals, bro!

Do you intend to leave anything for the other celebrities?

Without a doubt, this year's endorsement king would be Zhang Ye. Be it the number of brands that he was endorsing, or the total sum of endorsement pay he stood to receive, or even the number of endorsement deals he had signed, Zhang Ye was far ahead of the other celebrities. Even the people in the top seven spots of the entertainment industry did not have more endorsement deals than him!

There were voices of doubt everywhere!

Some of the A- and B-lists celebrities came forward as well.

On the Weibo of A-list film star, Jiang Hanwei: "Greed: The original sin." You might wonder if he was mocking Zhang Ye in his post.

There was also an agent of a B-list celebrity whose endorsement deal was snatched away by Zhang Ye who publicly criticized him. He didn't put it too offensively since he just said it to soothe his anger.

But Zhang Ye's fans blew up!

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His troll army rushed over to that person's Weibo!

"Who are you criticizing?"

"Who the hell are you!"

"We're the only ones who can scold Zhang Ye! Who do you think you are?"

"It's all fair competition, what are you being so sour about!"

"My large saber is again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again unable to endure the thirst!"

Even Big Saber Bro made a flashy appearance!

It has been too long since there was a fight and the hordes of fearless fans were all crying out in excitement of an impending scolding battle. Some of them couldn't wait for it to start, but nothing happened in the end!

Zhang Ye replied to that person almost immediately on his Weibo as well.

Zhang Ye's temper had become much better these days. He bluntly said to that agent: "Are you sure you want to have a go at me?"

A scolding battle?

A challenge to a fight?

When it came to arguing?

Even a seven-year-old child picked up off the streets would know that Zhang Ye had never lost one before!

Two minutes after Zhang Ye's reply, that B-list celebrity's agent sneakily deleted his Weibo post and made no mention of it anymore. It seemed he understood how powerful Zhang Ye's mouth could get. There had always been people in the entertainment industry having a go at Zhang Ye, but the only celebrity to have never lost in any scolding battle was Zhang Ye!

The agent admitted defeat.

So Zhang Ye did not carry it on.

Tongues in the industry were set wagging, while the other celebrities could only look on in envy. But with this minor episode, several of the brands that had signed endorsement contracts with Zhang Ye started to get a little worried.

…

That dairy brand's manager.

"Teacher Zhang."

"Yes?"

"Aren't you taking a few too many endorsements?"

"It's not that many."

"Will it affect the production of our commercial?"

"It won't."

…

The brand-name jewelry company.

"Director Zhang, can you give us a guarantee that the quality of our commercial will not be affected?"

"Don't you worry about it."

"But with just one line for the ad's catchphrase, isn't it a little too casual?"

"For a ten-second commercial, one line is more than enough."

"I'm just afraid that with all the endorsements you're taking, it'll affect the attention given to our brand."

…

All of the brand-name companies were feeling very unsettled.

Zhang Ye's team could only reassure them one by one.

Just how would Zhang Ye's commercials end up looking? This was something that no one knew. His studio staff could not predict it, and neither could the brand-name companies!

Only Zhang Ye knew that it wouldn't be a problem!

The commercials that he was going to make for them were market tested back in his previous world. Every one that he was going to bring out was a resounding classic of the advertising industry. It might not look outstanding and could even be billed as simple-looking, but the actual effects that it would bring were definitely on the level of a weapon of mass destruction like an atomic bomb. Simply tossing out one into the market would get it written into the annals of the advertising field. But Zhang Ye couldn't tell them that.

The commercials were about to get broadcast on the widest possible scale.

Once these commercials were rolled out to the market, all their doubts would be cleared up.

1. Just as no one grows fat at one sitting; no success can be attained with one single effort.

Ads by Pubfuture

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Chapter 1242: Attack of the advertisements!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this morning.

The alarm was buzzing.

Zhang Ye climbed up from bed and shouted outside his room.

"Mom, turn on the television."

"Why?"

"It's broadcasting soon."

"What? It's today?"

"That's right."

"For which brand?"

"The mineral water brand."

His parents were watching the TV in anticipation.

After the morning news, Zhang Ye's first commercial played.

This was a commercial for one of his many endorsement deals. It was one of the last ones that they had taken but took the shortest time to produce. The mineral water company's commercial spots had been scheduled long ago, so they just needed to deliver the final product for broadcast. As such, this was the first commercial to get released. This was still a pretty good time slot as there were people who had just woken up and turned on their televisions, while some others might be packing their children's bags to get ready for school, and others who watched the news while eating breakfast. After the news broadcast, the image onscreen switched to the commercial. When everyone saw Zhang Ye on television, many of them were slightly taken aback.

It opened on a classroom, and Zhang Ye was teaching a class. He was writing on the blackboard when a mischievous student sneakily opened a water bottle under the desk to have a drink of water. The squeaking of the plastic cap made Zhang Ye very angry and he chided the student. But after the class was over, Zhang Ye unexpectedly took out a bottle of the same mineral water, looking like he couldn't wait to drink it.

An advertising message appeared.

" Family Spring 1 , a rather sweet thing."

The advertisement ended.

Then the next commercial played.

His mother was stunned.

His father was dumbfounded.

Zhang Ye said with a grin, "Dad, Mom, what do you think?"

His mother pointed at the television. "Was that it?"

"Yeah." Zhang Ye said, pleased with himself, "It's quite good, isn't it?"

His mother was floored and said, "What crap is this?"

His father smacked his lips. "Family Spring's mineral water is a well-known brand. I've drank it too, but how is it sweet?" His expression then changed as he looked at his son and said, "Did you add sugar to it?"

Zhang Ye was floored!

What the!

Why would I add sugar to it!

Whatever, I really can't communicate with you two!

At the same time, two of the largest online video hosting sites in the industry started pushing out the Family Spring commercial. As long as anyone played the movies or videos on their website, there would be 30-60 seconds of unskippable video ads that were pre-rolled, with the first ad being the Family Spring commercial that lasted for 15 seconds. The television stations also repeated showings of the commercial at 8 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, and at intervals of every two hours!

The commercial had been rolled out!

The volume at which it was played during the first day was extremely high!

The people of the advertising industry all had their attention on it, as did the competitors in the bottled water industry.

Zhang Ye was already one of the legendary figures of the advertising world. Not mentioning the few public service announcements he produced, just talking about the Brain Gold commercial alone, it was a real miracle. His commercial had launched a near-dead health supplements supplier into a leading corporation with the largest share of the health supplements market. Simply calling it a miracle of the Chinese advertising industry would be an understatement, since it was actually much greater than a miracle. And with this halo, Zhang Ye could command a much higher endorsement fee than his market value, which allowed him to fight the Heavenly Kings and Queens for the endorsements!

Now that he had come up with a new advertisement?

Who wouldn't want to gather around to analyze it!

As such, those people from the advertising industry and field of marketing all rushed over to watch it. But when they saw the commercial, they were all somewhat speechless. Their reactions were just like how Zhang Ye's mother had reacted!

What?

Was that it?

It was that simple a tagline?

What about that brainwashing technique that you used in your Brain Gold commercials? Where has that gone? What kind of a commercial is this? Isn't this just a normal TV commercial?

Some people were feeling disappointed.

Some people rewatched it over a dozen times.

But there was no sense of shock!

It was not amazing!

For a commercial like that, they could easily write ten such advertising proposals within a minute!

Some discussions were going around on Weibo.

"It's Zhang Ye's new ad!"

"Have you guys watched it?"

"I saw it this morning!"

"A rather sweet thing? Bullshit! It's not sweet at all!"

"Hahaha, yeah, I purposely went out to buy a bottle to try it just now and didn't find it sweet."

"How is it not sweet? I found it to be somewhat sweet after I had a sip of it."

"Yeah, I bought a bottle too and found it to be a little sweet as well."

"Get lost! Where on earth can you find bottled water that is sweet! That's juice!"

"Taste it carefully, it's actually sweet!"

It was originally a random thread but nearly turned into a fight. No one could have expected that when a poll was posted the two groups of people would get locked in a fierce struggle over whether Family Spring's bottled water was really sweet or not. The poll results also surprised a lot of people as 30% of the voters said that Family Spring's bottled water was actually rather sweet. In fact, it really did seem that it was slightly different from the other brands of bottled water. And just like that, this advertisement went viral!

…

At a small supermarket in Beijing.

A couple were on their day off today and had come out to the supermarket to do some shopping.

"Darling, we don't have any more water left at home."

"Let's get a pack then."

"Eh, Family Spring? Isn't this the water that Zhang Ye was advertising this morning?"

"Yeah, it is. Everyone says that it's a little sweet."

"Let's get this then."

"Sure, let's buy it and have a taste."

So the couple called out to a supermarket employee for help. "Do you have a pack of Family Spring Bottled Water? We'd like to buy it."

The supermarket employee apologized, "The packs are sold out."

The wife said, "Ah?"

The employee said, "We only have individual bottles left."

…

At a streetside stall.

A teenage girl skipped over. "Auntie, give me a bottle of Family Spring."

The lady boss said, "Family Spring? We're out of stock."

The teenage girl said in surprise, "But I just saw you stocking up on it yesterday."

The lady boss was puzzled too and said, "I'm also not too sure why. But all morning, anyone who came to buy bottled water almost exclusively bought Family Spring. Only one other brand has been sold."

The teenage girl asked, "Is the water really sweet?"

The lady boss thought for a moment. "I think it's a little sweet, tangy sweet."

…

At night.

At the studio.

Zhang Ye had just returned to the office after filming a commercial.

Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others were all feeling perturbed and were talking among themselves. They didn't even notice Zhang Ye had stepped in.

"The commercial's been broadcast."

"Yeah, I wonder what the reception is like."

"It's pretty good. There's been quite a bit of discussion online."

"By reception, I mean the product sales."

"I really don't know about that. The commercial did seem a little too simple, ahem."

"They paid Director Zhang quite a bit for the endorsement, a premium sum even. If the commercial was not done well and causes their sales to drop, it would really look bad on us."

"That's true, we're only afraid of that happening."

Everyone was whispering among themselves.

Zhang Ye laughed from behind them. "Don't be worried about that."

"Aiyo."

"Director Zhang, you're back?"

Zhang Ye said, "Let's just do whatever we can do. There's still a lot of endorsement projects that we have to shoot. Is the advertising proposal that I wanted ready yet? Let me have a look at it."

Zhang Zuo brought it over. "Here, Director Zhang."

Everyone busying themselves again.

All of a sudden, the studio's phone rang.

Ha Qiqi was the closest to it, so she picked it up. "Hello, this is Ha Qiqi."

The person on the other end of the line sounded jubilant. "Manager Ha, it's me!"

Ha Qiqi's heart skipped a beat. "Oh, it's AGM Li. Hello, how are you?"

AGM Li was the assistant general manager of Family Spring. "You guys did it! You guys really did it!"

Ha Qiqi did not understand. "What's the matter, Manager Li? What do you mean?"

AGM Li exclaimed: "It's only the first day, but our products all across the country have practically sold out! Sales increased by 42% compared to the same timeframe last year!"

"Ah?" Ha Qiqi was stunned.

Sold out?

Could the sales figure have increased by that much?

Surely not, right?

AGM Li belly laughed. "Just how did you all do it? You guys are astounding! You must thank Teacher Zhang for me. Our GM called for an urgent meeting earlier and was saying that he wanted to add another year to the endorsement contract with Teacher Zhang. There's still room for discussion about the pay, so just name however much you all want!"

Ha Qiqi said: "AGM Li, didn't we just sign a two-year endorsement deal?"

AGM Li said: "How are two years enough? From now on, our company's endorsement won't be using anyone other than Teacher Zhang. We wouldn't mind signing an 18-year contract with him either!"

The call ended.

Everyone asked, "What's the matter, Sister Ha?"

Ha Qiqi swallowed before announcing, "Family Spring's mineral water has sold out!"

"Ah!"

"Really?"

"This is great!"

"Sold out on just the first day?"

"Fuck! Could it be any godlier than this?"

"But that water isn't sweet at all!"

Hearing their weird comments, Zhang Ye also laughed.

The commercial broadcast on television was originally from Zhang Ye's previous world and was a very old commercial for Nongfu Spring on Central TV. It was also after this commercial that Nongfu Spring became popular all over the country! If there was a ranking for the classic advertisements of Zhang Ye's previous world, this advertising tagline of " XX Spring, a rather sweet thing 2 " would surely be in the top ten. It was a marketing legend that was on par with the Brain Platinum commercials of his previous world!

Simple?

This advertisement was not simple at all!

Just those words in that tagline alone were worth ten thousand taels of gold each!

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Chapter 1243: The ad upgrades!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

A lot of people were waiting to see Zhang Ye make a joke of himself. Those from the celebrity teams who had had their endorsement deals snatched away by him, Family Spring's competitors in the industry, his foes, and even many of the insiders of the advertising and marketing world did not have any optimism regarding Zhang Ye's endorsement this time.

"He has taken too many endorsements."

"Yeah, that's why the quality isn't there."

"If the first ad is so average, I wonder how bad the rest are going to be?"

"Hai, Zhang Ye's reputation is going to get crushed."

"He asked for it by being so greedy."

"Family Spring is going to crash and burn."

"Yeah, what's the use of giving Zhang Ye such a high endorsement pay?"

"This advertisement is really too crappy. It's like something an intern would churn out."

However, the opportunity to see this joke happen did not come to pass. What came instead was an ear-ringing slap!

A lot of media outlets published news.

"Family Spring Bottled Water all sold out yesterday!"

Zhang Ye continues writing the legend of his ads!"

"Reporter's research: Family Spring Bottled Water sells like crazy!"

"Is Family Spring Bottled Water really sweet?"

"The phenomenal effect of Zhang Ye's new advertisement!"

"Family Spring's sales soar!"

"Family Spring to become the best-selling brand of bottled water in the fourth quarter?"

The other bottled water brands were stunned!

The people in the advertising world were stunned!

What was happening?

Sold out?

Are you fucking kidding me?!

A bottled water advertisement with only one sentence claiming that it was a rather sweet thing had helped it sell like crazy? Going by this logic, wouldn't an advertisement selling salted duck eggs just need a "rather salty" to take its sales figures to the moon? This didn't make any sense at all! This was nowhere in line with what they had learned from their advertising experience and logic!

Based on what?!

They simply couldn't believe this!

Meanwhile, the competing brands were starting to get anxious as if facing a formidable enemy. As similar bottled water brands, if Family Spring could sell one extra bottle of water, that would mean one bottle less of sales for them. This was unlike a health supplement product like Brain Gold. It wouldn't mean that anyone who bought a Brain Gold product would not buy other health products to supplement their iron or calcium intake. But the bottled water industry was different. This was the most direct kind of market war there was!

The netizens were amused.

"Pfft!"

"The legend continues?"

"It's like I saw a trace of Brain Gold in it from a few years back!"

"Family Spring has earned big bucks this time."

"The money they spent on Zhang Ye was not at all wasted!"

"I kinda liked that ad. 'Family Spring, a rather sweet thing.' That image and aftertaste immediately come to mind when you hear it. I even went out and bought two packs of it last night."

"I couldn't manage to get any yesterday."

"This bottled water has become really popular."

"The key is that it has a good taste. It's really quite nice."

"Haha, I bought it because of Zhang Ye. Can't help it, I'm a diehard fan of his. I'll buy whatever he endorses."

With that advertisement, he once again shocked the industry!

And that wasn't all. On the third day of the advertisement run, it received an upgrade!

Family Spring probably had some leftover stock of bottled water and needed to clear everything before introducing the ones with new packaging. Over the past two days of crazy sales, they cleared out most of their leftover stock. When the new packaging was introduced, in addition to Zhang Ye's picture on the labels, there was something new. The television commercial also had an additional line at the end.

"Family Spring, a rather sweet thing.

"For every bottle of Family Spring Bottled Water purchased, one cent will be donated to children in poor, rural areas."

All the other advertising content remained the same, except for the addition of this advertising tagline. On the product labels, details of this public welfare activity were printed in small text. As a result, even after Family Spring increased their bottled water shipments, they sold out again in just one night. All of this left everyone in disbelief and shock. It was as though Zhang Ye had used some sort of sorcery to achieve it!

No one had ever used such a move in the past!

It wasn't even something that the advertising industry had thought of!

After they saw this commercial, many of the advertising industry insiders were dumbfounded!

So it could even be made this way?

So an advertisement could actually be made this way?!

The public reception was great.

"Not bad!"

"They're a brand with a conscience!"

"This is it, I'm only going to drink Family Spring Bottled Water from now on!"

"Yeah, we can even do charity while we're at it."

"Right, it's the same no matter what we drink. Besides, this water really does taste slightly sweet."

It sold like crazy in Beijing!

It sold like crazy in Shanghai!

It sold like crazy in Shenzhen!

All over the country, sales soared!

It was as though Family Spring had suddenly risen above two of its largest competitors and occupied the entire market overnight!

Zhang Ye had created a legend once more!

Yet another advertising miracle was born!

The staff of Family Spring were all laughing like crazy!

The brands and companies that had worried if Zhang Ye had taken too many endorsements were now feeling reassured. They were increasingly looking forward to their own advertisements releasing to the market. There was only one thing left that they wanted to say: Teacher Zhang really lives up to his name!

…

After several days.

The advertising industry had come back to its senses.

In a lecture hall, a very experienced advertising director stood at a lectern, giving a lesson to nearly a hundred interested fellow professionals. "I'm sure that everyone here has seen this commercial that was just played. I believe that all of you have watched it maybe ten, twenty, or even thirty times over."

The seated audience nodded.

Only that?

Some of them had even watched it more than forty times!

The advertising director laughed and said, "When a lot of people see this commercial the first time, they find it to be very ordinary and possibly even quite unprofessional. It doesn't introduce the branding culture of Family Spring, nor does it mention how good the quality of their water is. Instead, it just says that it's 'a rather sweet thing.' Isn't that totally nonsensical?"

The crowd nodded again.

Yes, in what way was this advertisement any good?

Then the director said, "Then I can tell you all right now. 'A,' 'rather,' 'sweet,' 'thing'—just these four words are worth 15 million each!"

The audience burst into an uproar!

"Huh?"

"15 million?"

"Fuck!"

"Each word is worth 15 million?"

"Isn't that too much of an exaggeration?"

"The credit should go to Family Spring for having good quality water. It does seem to taste a little sweet."

When the director heard that, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Is the water seriously a little sweet? For that reason, I specially consulted with some experts in the water industry. I can clearly and confidently say that sweetness only comes from the presence of sugar. But for all of the bottled water brands in the country, including Family Spring, it's impossible that there could be any sugar or substitute sweetener in them. Zero, zip, zilch, there's not a single trace of sweetness to it!"

The people in the industry all looked at one another.

The director said, "After watching the commercial, I also went to buy a bottle of Family Spring Bottled Water to have a taste. It did seem to have a teeny bit of sweetness to it at the time, and I'm sure that everyone here also had a similar experience to mine. But in fact, that was just a bias we had, the most basic kind of psychological suggestion that we fell for. Family Spring's mineral water source comes from the Jade Lake, which is a basin fed by the mineral water that passes through the mountains around it. It is a naturally occurring mineral water that is collected through the self-cleaning and purification processes of the Jade Lake. Zhang Ye must have seen this information back then and thought of this: 'How can we let the consumers intuitively become aware of the origin of Family Spring's mineral water and learn about the brand? How can we form a beautiful impression of a sweet spring? How can we turn that image they have into consumption?' To achieve that, it would require a simple visual marketing concept to spread the idea. And Zhang Ye is really worthy of being hailed as the smartest person in the world. He very quickly came up with an idea using those four words—A! Rather! Sweet! Thing!"

Someone questioned, "Isn't that false advertising then?"

The director waved his hands. "You can't look at it that way. Sweetness does not equate to sugar content. Sweetness does not require the water to have sugar in it. Describing water as sweet is just synonymous for it being good quality water. Just like how stinky tofu is very smelly, but there are many people who say that it smells really good. Would that be considered false advertising too? Sweetness doesn't only convey the idea that this is a product of quality, it also makes the people think of the sweet and refreshing taste of mineral water. As such, one would naturally find it somewhat sweet after drinking. Therefore, there was no introduction of Family Spring's branding in their commercial, no mention of how clean their water is, nor how much better they are than the other brands out there. This is because there isn't a need for any of that. Just by using 'a rather sweet thing,' it covered all of those points!"

Carefully thinking about it, everyone gasped in realization of the message behind it!

A copy of a report with some figures was placed on the projector.

The director pointed at it. "I did a rough calculation of the sales and net profit for Family Spring. This is the miracle that Zhang Ye's ad has created over the past few days!"

Everyone was startled!

"That much?"

"This…this…"

"Their sales nearly doubled?"

The director said, "So do you all still think that those four words are not worth 60 million in total?"

The industry's professionals could only smile bitterly.

Worthy!

It was way too worthy of that sum!

The four words being valued at 15 million each was even sounding a little too low now!

The director looked at the people in the audience. "After the ad got an upgrade, there was an additional line in the advertising tagline saying that a cent would be donated to children in poor, rural areas for every bottle of water purchased. Zhang Ye can even think of that way to advertise? Is one cent a lot? What's the value of one cent these days anyway? Besides, that money wouldn't be contributed by Family Spring at all. They won't have to run those public welfare activities, just like the other major corporations that donate several million yuan to keep up their public image. In fact, Family Spring does not even have to fork out a single red cent. They're just using the money in the consumers' pockets to do charity. For every cent the consumers donate, it increases the profits of Family Spring. The greater the sales, the greater the donations, the more they earn. Zhang Ye is really too smart of a person, and he's really too good at this. This is not just some simple ad that he's made! You all think that it's simple because you all are not on the same level as Zhang Ye!"

Some people were taking notes.

Others were looking up and listening to the lecture in earnest.

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Chapter 1244: The battle for the advertising field's top spot

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At Tianxi Purified Water's headquarters.

The company's upper management called for an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures on how to deal with Family Spring's domination of the market. There were looks of worry and anger on everyone's faces.

The issue had developed too quickly and they'd suffered a heavy loss in recent days. Their market share has fallen dramatically, and going by this trend, it meant their net profits for the year would fall drastically. This was something that they and their shareholders couldn't let happen. And the reason for all of this was not due to their product having a quality issue. Every other bottled water supplier was still selling the same products as before, but Zhang Ye's endorsement advertisement had created a shocking reversal of trends in the industry! The most depressing thing was that Zhang Ye's team had actually come knocking on their doors. They were even approached first as their company's endorsement deal was expiring. However, they felt that Zhang Ye's asking price was too high and thought that he didn't really have a good reputation, so they ignored it and did not even meet with them. Instead, they renewed Jiang Hanwei's contract as their celebrity spokesperson.

8 million RMB a year?

And you even want to call the shots on the advertising proposal?

Anything that we say will not be taken into consideration?

Do you think that you're an S-list celebrity!

Even an A-list big name like Jiang Hanwei was only asking for 3 million a year, and he was willing to do as they said and wouldn't order them around like Zhang Ye had wanted. Although that decision put them in a rather complicated mood, they did not regret it.

"It has been so many days, haven't we thought of any ideas?"

"Family Spring's momentum is too strong!"

"We can't steal the market share away from them!"

"Zhang Ye's advertisement was too good!"

"Boss, what do we do now?"

"You're asking me? I should be asking you! Am I paying you all to do nothing? Our new ad will be on the air soon. Have you all thought of an advertising strategy yet?"

"We did, but none of them work."

At this moment, someone knocked on the door and came in.

"Boss, we've convinced her!"

"You've managed to convince her?"

"Yeah, she's downstairs."

"Quick, invite her in!"

"Boss, who is it?"

"Haha, Li Xiaoxiao has been headhunted by us."

"What?"

"That famous Ms. Li?"

"Wasn't she with BMW China?"

"She left that job."

"She's a god-tier person! A god-tier person of the advertising industry!"

Li Xiaoxiao, female, 32 years old.

—A legendary marketing planner of the advertising field. She handled over a dozen advertising accounts of medium to large corporations in the country and had a proven track record that would amaze anyone. A lot of the advertisements she spearheaded were classics, and she was recognized as the best person in the advertising industry. Of course, that opinion was with the exclusion of Zhang Ye, who was not considered a professional in the industry.

Countless companies had tried to headhunt her, and even many overseas brands had thoughts of getting her to join them. She was a talented individual who was highly sought after by all in the world of advertising. Therefore, no one could understand why she would choose to join Tianxi Purified Water. They knew where their company stood, at least, and didn't think that their advertising director role would be more attractive than BMW China's. If they really had to come up with a reason, then there could only be one possibility!

She wanted to pit herself against Zhang Ye!

She wanted to compete in the same product market with Zhang Ye to determine who was better!

…

Two days later.

As the advertising industry was still worshiping and learning from Family Spring's advertisement, and just as Family Spring was continuing its expansion in the market, something unexpected happened!

Jiang Hanwei's commercial was broadcast on television!

"Six levels of filtration!

"Eight stages of processing!

"Eleven steps of purification!

"Tianxi, the clearest, purest water there is!"

On this day, Tianxi Purified Water came out crushing everything in its path. The advertisement took only a day to boost Tianxi Purified Water's sales by a large extent all over the country. 10%, 15%, 20%, the sales kept climbing until it even rivaled that of Family Spring's!

This was too sudden!

So sudden that even the industry's personnel and Family Spring were stunned!

The advertising field burst into an uproar, but also simultaneously went crazy from the excitement!

"Who came up with Tianxi's ad?"

"It's amazing!"

"They broke down the purification process into numbers? That's had a great effect on the brand's image!"

"I heard from somewhere that it was Li Xiaoxiao!"

"What? It's her?"

"Aiyo, no wonder!"

"The number one goddess of the advertising field has defected to Tianxi?'

"Is she crazy? She could have taken her pick from so many of the other big companies that were after her!"

"Yeah, Tianxi doesn't seem to be the best choice for her to make."

"Unless she wants to try her hand at competing against Zhang Ye?"

"Oh damn, that might be possible!"

"How exciting! This is definitely something to keep our eyes on!"

"Quickly come and see, the gods of the advertising field are fighting! The two greatest gods have finally matched up!"

It was yet another phenomenal advertisement!

Normally, it was very difficult to have one phenomenal advertisement per year, so who could have expected that two such advertisements would make an appearance within the same week of each other? Further, these two advertisements were even for competing brands. This was truly something major!

Zhang Ye vs. Li Xiaoxiao?

The two gods of the advertising field were going to face off against one another?

Instantaneously, the excitement in the entire industry peaked!

"Who do you guys think will win?"

"I don't know."

"Li Xiaoxiao has the advantage. She's a professional."

"That's true. Zhang Ye's just someone who meddles around in every industry that he wishes to. But that's also an achievement in and of itself!"

"Going by results, Li Xiaoxiao has a lot of successful projects to her name."

"But going by effect, Zhang Ye's has had much greater success."

"Let's not blindly analyze this. We're not at that level yet, so it doesn't matter what we say here. Li Xiaoxiao has made her move, so let's just see how Zhang Ye will respond."

…

At Zhang Ye's Studio.

Family Spring's advertising team's manager and team members all came over.

"Teacher Zhang!"

"Have you seen Tianxi Purified Water's ad yet?"

"Please give us some ideas on how to deal with it!"

"The sales of Family Spring Bottled Water have already taken a hit!"

Taken a hit?

How was that possible?

Zhang Ye had been kept busy with work these few days and had too many things on his mind, so he didn't pay much attention to such matters. So he said, "Slow down, what ad are you talking about? Let me watch it first."

Ha Qiqi and the others came over and sit down.

When the advertisement played, Jiang Hanwei's figure appeared.

After watching, Ha Qiqi and the others were all secretly in awe of it. This advertisement was incredible!

Simple!

And back to the basics!

This was definitely not the work of just anyone!

Processing, purification, and many levels of filtration had been put forward, yet how many people would really understand the inner workings of such things? Was this really that difficult? In the water purification industry, how many were not able to achieve this? There could even be others who had a more complicated process than theirs. But that's just how advertisements worked. If you said so? Then people would believe you. Once the public saw it, they would think your purified water was the cleanest of them all and be very reassured. This was the power of advertising.

And it even looked a little familiar?

This commercial was just like Robust Co.'s 27 1 levels of filtration commercial back in Zhang Ye's previous world. The core message was essentially the same.

Zhang Ye looked up and smiled. "Who made this?"

Someone from Family Spring said, "Li Xiaoxiao, a godly person in the advertising field. This ad has impacted our sales greatly, so much so that the higher-ups are unable to sit still. They had us come over to look for you to see what you could do about it. Are we just going to compete normally, or will we fight back, or should we adopt a different strategy altogether? A lot of people in the industry are guessing that Li Xiaoxiao joined Tianxi because…because she wanted to challenge you!"

Challenge me?

Why would she challenge me!

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

It was very competitive in the advertising field!

This was a brutal war without smoke, fire, or blood. Everyone would pass each other by, and if you weren't careful, you might just suffer a terrible defeat. It was a place where only the best could survive!

In truth, Zhang Ye already had a "script" in place for Family Spring. Their sales were soaring, and even if Tianxi Purified Water were to come in to take a share of their market, it wouldn't do much to hurt Family Spring. Family Spring's branding had been built up, so it wouldn't matter even if they ignored them. At most, they would just sell fewer bottles of water and lose out on several tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan. Zhang Ye didn't have to bother himself with this at all. He had already done a great job for them, as well as fulfilled his part of the agreement with Family Spring.

But he didn't ignore it. He decided that he had to do something about this.

Li Xiaoxiao?

Challenging me?

If I don't respond to the challenge, wouldn't that be uncharacteristic?

Alright then.

As you wish.

Chapter 1245: We're only the porters of nature!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The trend in the market for bottled water in recent days could only be described as ever-changing. At times, Family Spring's sales experienced a surge; at other times, Tianxi was pushing aggressively in the market. The two brands were going all out for their television commercials while fighting each other for the market share. It was like a close swordfight with sparks flying all around!

The common folk had headaches.

"Which one should I buy?"

"Both of them seem to be pretty good."

"Their commercials are being played all over the place."

"I still prefer Tianxi. It's cleaner since it goes through so many levels of processing!"

"Are you saying that Family Spring's water isn't clean?"

"It's not as clean as Tianxi's water."

"But Family Spring's water has a sweetness to it."

"They added sugar in it."

"Pfft, previous poster, please don't make me laugh."

"Zhang Ye and Jiang Hanwei are once again on opposing sides."

"Ah, I've only just realized it now that you mention it!"

"Those two have been fighting way before this. At Xiaodong's birthday party, Zhang Ye even crashed into his car on purpose. I even heard that Jiang Hanwei was chased away by Zhang Ye's female agent at the party? I wonder if that was true. Then, on King of Masked Singers, when Jiang Hanwei appeared on the show to support Flowing Time, he clashed with Zhang Ye again. And now these two foes have met again. Is there a clash in their eight characters of birth? They keep ending up going against each other wherever they go? This time, they've been matched up in the ads that they star in!"

"Hahaha."

The people were only here to enjoy the show.

It was the industry insiders who really knew what sort of a level this contest was at. It was a matchup between Zhang Ye and Li Xiaoxiao, a competition between Family Spring and Tianxi Purified Water, and also a challenge between mineral water and purified water! Whoever was the number one person in the advertising industry would be revealed very soon!

At Tianxi's headquarters.

In the advertising department's office.

Li Xiaoxiao was seated, looking as confident as could be.

"Director Li, that was amazing!"

"The sales for yesterday have been released. They've increased by 20%!"

"We're gonna catch up to Family Spring soon!"

"With you here, everyone's feeling much more confident!"

"You're the true number one person in the advertising field! That's for sure!"

"Yeah, what is Zhang Ye anyway? He's just a broadcast host who hasn't learned anything about advertising, so how can he possibly compare to a trained professional like you!"

Everyone was in a good mood.

Li Xiaoxiao said calmly, "Don't be happy too early. Family Spring might still have some tricks up their sleeves. If they increase the promotion of their public welfare activities, or if they increase the donation amount per bottle, we will use plan A to handle them. If they emphasize promoting the 'sweetness' of their water, we will execute plan B in response…"

There were four plans in total!

To handle every possibility they had worked out!

Li Xiaoxiao was very meticulous. Otherwise, she couldn't possibly be sitting in her current position. She had thought of everything that the opponent might try, then drew up plans to respond to each of them.

She was now waiting. She was waiting for Zhang Ye to make his move!

The advertising field was also waiting. They were waiting for the curtains of this grand battle to raise!

Jiang Hanwei also started updating his Weibo more frequently with promotional posts of him giving out Tianxi Purified Water to his celebrity friends!

…

The next day.

The sun was shining brightly.

The day was a peaceful one.

At 10 AM sharp, Family Spring started their commercial run on the television stations.

No one had expected that an advertisement that would soon be written into the annals of the advertising industry would appear so suddenly!

Quite a few industry insiders had gathered around anxiously to watch!

"It's here!"

"The new commercial is here!"

"Zhang Ye has made his move!"

"Quick, come and watch, it's beginning!"

"Let's see what he can come up with."

"I reckon there's nothing he can do."

The advertising field was watching.

The public was watching.

The people from the other brand name companies were also watching.

The commercial had changed!

In a valley.

In the woods.

There was a creek.

Ethereal music played.

Zhang Ye's voice slowly drifted out of the television.

"Water is the source of life.

"The quality of water dictates the quality of life.

"We don't produce water. We're only the porters of nature!"

The advertisement ended.

It was just a short 15-second spot.

Those who saw this commercial the moment it came on were dumbfounded. They could not react at all for a full few seconds!

"Holy shit!"

"This…"

"This commercial…"

"Oh my God!"

That classic advertising tagline of Tianxi Purified Water's commercial had instinctively popped into their heads!

Processing?

Filtration?

Sifting?

Handling?

Purification?

But Family Spring just said, "No, we do not produce water, we're only the porters of nature!

Face-smacking!

The ultimate kill!

A headshot!

This commercial was just too goddamn ruthless!

So this was Face-smacking Zhang!

This was that Face-smacking Zhang who had left countless fellow peers gnash their teeth in hatred of him!

…

At Tianxi's headquarters.

Everyone from the advertising department was speechless!

Li Xiaoxiao was stunned!

Tianxi's CEO had a shocked expression on his face!

There were even a few female employees whose eyes reddened as they started crying in distress. "They…they…How could they do that!"

"Director Li!"

"Director Li, what should we do?"

"This…this!"

Li Xiaoxiao looked at them and suddenly picked up pen and paper. She lowered her head and started writing.

Everyone was filled with hope!

She still had a plan?

Right! We must fight back!

Director Li is the best advertising professional in the industry!

However, Li Xiaoxiao looked up and handed that piece of paper to the deputy CEO of Tianxi. Everyone panicked at what she said. "Sorry, I've lost. This is my resignation letter."

There was no plan at all!

They had nothing left up their sleeves!

This was checkmate!

This was a knife plunged into them in "extra time"!

They had no way of turning this around to counterattack!

…

Soon after.

News of Li Xiaoxiao stepping down from her position at Tianxi Purified Water spread throughout the industry. Everyone was extremely shocked and were finding it hard to accept or believe!

That was Li Xiaoxiao they were talking about!

A godly person who made her way through the ranks of the advertising industry!

"What's going on!"

"How did it turn out like this?"

"Holy shit!"

"I don't even know what to say!"

"Even Goddess Li couldn't slay him?"

"It would be acceptable to us if there's no one in the variety world who can win against him, but there's even no one who can rival him in the advertising field? I really can't believe it! How can it be like this! If Li Xiaoxiao had fought Zhang Ye over the course of many rounds and they'd pushed each other to the limits before she conceded, I would probably be able to accept that. After all, they're both elites in the industry. But what about now? They only crossed swords once! Just that once!"

"Hai!"

"I'm kneeling!"

"Family Spring's commercial was simply too awesome!"

"Not only was it awesome, it was also goddamn face smacking!"

"Speaking from emotion, I'll definitely side with Li Xiaoxiao since she's my senior. But from a professional point of view, Family Spring's commercial was indeed incomparable. Just based on that advertising tagline alone, I'm convinced!"

"The waters of this industry run so deep."

"Yeah, after seeing these two gods clash, I realize that I still have a lot to learn!"

Just this single face-off!

Without even needing a second move from Zhang Ye, his opponent had already lost!

All because of that nuclear bomb of an advertising tagline: "No, we do not produce water, we're only the porters of nature!"

With just this simple tagline.

It made Li Xiaoxiao genuflect!

It made Tianxi Purified Water genuflect!

It made all the other brands of drinking water genuflect!

It made everyone in the entire Chinese advertising field genuflect!

They were all convinced!

So convinced that they could do nothing other than prostrate!

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Chapter 1246: All the advertisements roll out!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

In the morning.

On the way to the studio, Zhang Ye received an unexpected call.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello, Teacher Zhang, I am Li Xiaoxiao."

"Li Xiaoxiao?"

"You might not know who I am."

"But Teacher Li, I do know you."

"I'm honored."

"Sorry about the advertisement issues. I was just entrusted with the duty since I receive pay from Family Spring, so I had to do my best."

"Teacher Zhang, you don't have to say that. If anyone has to apologize, it should be me. I was the one who threw down the glove, and the media was also guessing why I had suddenly joined Tianxi Purified Water. I can tell you right now that I did so because of you. I've long heard about you and was hoping to pit my skills against yours. The results have proven that Teacher Zhang is still a level higher. I've lost, and I've lost convincingly too. There's nothing else I can say to that."

"Teacher Li, you're too modest."

"Shall we have dinner some day you're free?"

"Sure, I would be more than happy to."

"Then it's agreed. I must really get some guidance from you, Teacher Zhang."

"You're too generous with your praise."

"Are your other ads going to roll out soon?"

"They'll be released throughout the day."

"Alright, I'll wait for them then. I quite anticipate them, actually."

Li Xiaoxiao was a big shot in the advertising field, so Zhang Ye was pretty polite when speaking to her. He knew that she was a very capable woman and had true skill to back her up. He never expected she would call him. She even spoke to him in a very calm manner and didn't confront him over the advertisement face-off between the two of them. A person of such character was surely going to gain the respect of Zhang Ye. She was not like him. Even if she said that she would like to get some guidance from him, Zhang Ye didn't dare think he could do so. He wasn't up to the task of dishing out advice to a big shot like Li Xiaoxiao. Because nobody here knew that Zhang Ye was actually the biggest porter in this world!

He wasn't a porter of water.

This guy would port anything he could!

…

At the studio.

Ring ring ring, ring ring ring.

The phone was almost blowing up from the constant calls! All kinds of endorsements had found their way here. There were thirty Chinese companies seeking a deal, and even three foreign ones approached them. This wasn't strange at all. Family Spring's advertisement had gotten really popular, and anyone with eyes could see why. Zhang Ye's reputation for his 15 million RMB per word had spread all over the industry. Even if the common folk could not see this, how could the major brands not notice?

"Director Zhang!"

"You're finally here!"

"This is the list of companies that approached us; take a look."

"There's really too many of them!"

"Are we going to accept their offers?"

Zhang Ye flipped through it and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Accept their offers? Accept, my ass!

If he really took all of these projects, his schedule would be booked all the way until next year!

But with so many endorsement projects being offered to him, it was quite a pity not to take them. As such, the studio staff got busy again and started sifting through all the leads. Of the offers that could support the bottom line of their fifth step in the "Reach the Summit" plan, they selected three top corporations in the Chinese market and accepted their endorsement deals. As for the smaller enterprises and brands, Zhang Ye could only reject them for the time being. He really could not take those projects. Sometimes, it wouldn't be helpful to take too many endorsements since such deals were more about quality over quantity. Zhang Ye already had so many endorsements that not even the top three Heavenly Kings and Queens could beat him by combining their endorsement deals.

So that would be it. He would not be taking any more of them.

He would have to make do with the endorsements he had on hand.

After that, following Family Spring's advertisement, Zhang Ye's other endorsement advertisements were gradually released into the market!

…

On the same day.

In the Beijing subway.

The billboards on the waiting platforms were replaced.

A poster showed Zhang Ye holding a cell phone as he smiled while reading a book on it. Beneath him were several sentences making up the advertising message:

"Reading a book is like reading oneself. The more you read, the better you understand yourself.

"I've taken a liking to a character because what he says reminds me of myself."

In the Shanghai subway.

"Reading a book is like reading oneself. The more you read, the better you understand yourself.

"Reading about and understanding the protagonist's every hesitation, I feel as though I can calmly make better choices at the crossroads in my life."

Shenzhen.

Tianjin.

Nanjing.

Every poster was different.

The passengers would all stop in their tracks as they passed by to read them.

Some passersby uploaded pictures of the advertisements online.

"Wow, Zhang Ye's new ad has arrived all over the subway stations!"

"Line 1 has fallen!"

"Line 5 has fallen!"

"It's everywhere in Line 13 as well!"

"It's even on the outdoor advertising light boxes!"

"Damn, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen's subways have all been invaded by Zhang Ye!"

"The guy's picture in the ad actually makes him look pretty classy. He really has the air of a man of culture."

"Extra, extra! Teacher Zhang has taken an endorsement for the number one reader app in the market!"

"This ad is pretty good. It's really quite classy!"

"Haha, I'll use this app to read my books from now on."

"I've just realized that Lord Zhang doesn't look that bad. In fact, he's looking more and more charming!"

The advertising world was very certain of one thing: Endorsing a reader app was extremely difficult. But Zhang Ye had managed to do it in a new and refreshing way. For such a boring and rigid thing like a reader app, Zhang Ye had managed to bring out the elegance and feel of a book. It raised the classiness of the reader app. Although this reader app's market share was already the top in the industry, that was just a statistic. Zhang Ye added a lot of value to the brand that it never had before!

And this value was precisely what money couldn't buy!

…

At night.

Beijing Television.

After the broadcast of an episode of a hit spy-thriller, a dairy commercial was shown.

It was a very gentle scene with a beautiful, scenic backdrop.

The blue sky overlooking the vast plains.

Zhang Ye, a piano, and a little girl.

A piano melody was playing in the background as Zhang Ye lovingly soothed the little girl.

There were no spoken lines. Right at the end of the commercial, an advertising tagline appeared onscreen: "Not just any milk can be called Jiali Milk."

On Weibo.

This tagline was instantly mentioned everywhere.

"Pfft!"

"Such showmanship I give full marks!"

"Is it really that good?"

"It doesn't look bad!"

"It's so full of warmth. I'll give it a Like!"

"It's yet another classy commercial!"

It was shared like crazy!

It was parodied!

Everyone was having fun!

This commercial was very weird in a sense. Even those people in the advertising field who saw it could not figure out what made this advertisement so good after analyzing it for a very long time. There was just nothing in it that they could pinpoint as good. But the response of the market still let everyone know that this was yet another phenomenal marketing advertisement!

Because on this day, Jiali Milk was sold out all across the country!

The people were shocked and astonished.

"Fuck."

"I can't get it anymore!"

"Why are they out of stock?"

"I wanted to try it!"

"Is this milk really that good?"

"Whatever Zhang Ye endorses, it always ends up getting sold out!"

"So impressive!"

"I'm utterly convinced!"

…

A picture of elegance.

The greenery of the grass.

A pure white wedding dress.

Zhang Ye was holding a woman's hand and putting a ring on her finger.

" A Diamond is Forever 1 ."

The jewelry commercial was rolled out.

A heated discussion took place on Weibo.

"Is Zhang Ye really getting married?"

"Who is that woman?"

"She can't be seen; they only showed her hand!"

"A second after I watched this commercial, I noticed my fiancée staring at me deeply and realized—the 100,000 RMB that I have left in my bank account is gone!"

"Zhang Ye, I hate you! My wife is now saying that she wants this brand of diamond rings! Your sister! The cheapest one-carat diamond ring already starts at the upper end of tens of thousands of yuan!"

"This commercial is too ruthless!"

"A Diamond is Forever? As a woman, I was instantly taken by that sentence! I will definitely buy this brand in the future when I get married!"

"This commercial is really too lethal on a woman!"

"My wife has fallen!"

"Ditto."

"Ditto 1!"

…

At a school.

In the laboratory.

There was a doctor.

And a microscope.

"You can wash away the visible stains.

"But can you wash away the invisible germs?

"Scientific research has shown…"

This was a commercial for a brand of soap!

It was inspired by Safeguard 2 's soap commercial back in Zhang Ye's previous world.

It got boisterous again on Weibo.

"The fuck!"

"My hands are still so dirty even after I've washed them?"

"Is that really how it is?"

"I'm so scared that I quickly went to buy a box of it to wash my hands with!"

"Haha, luckily for me, I'm already using this brand at home!"

…

In a rather large bathroom.

A set of clean-looking sanitary ware was on display.

Zhang Ye's singing came on.

"Every single toilet is a hero.

"With just a simple flush,

"It can flush away all of your sorrows.

"No matter how much your pain,

"No matter how deep your loss,

"For you, it will take all of it away!

"Every single toilet is a friend.

"You can trust it with all your heart.

"You can't do without it in your life."

The sanitary ware commercial made its shocking debut!

This was the first time that Zhang Ye's new song was released in the form of a commercial. Moreover, there was also a full version music video commercial that could be viewed on the official website of the sanitary ware company and on the various major online video hosting sites.

When this commercial was rolled out.

The industry was dumbfounded!

The public was stunned!

"A toilet is a hero?"

"A toilet is a friend?"

"Laughing out loud!"

"Genuflecting to the thickness of Zhang Ye's skin!"

"A hero? Fuck, why don't you just present the toilet with a war medal! Why don't you just present the toilet with a Red-Banner Pacesetter 3 award!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"I was really made to kneel to this commercial!"

"That was way too unconventional!"

"Just based on Zhang Ye's total lack of shame, I've got to buy one of those!"

"My large saber is again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again unable to endure the thirst! Buy! Buy! Buy! Anything that Zhang Ye endorses, I'll buy!"

On this day, sales of the sanitary ware brand's products surged!

However, the most amazing thing was that this totally unconventional new song named "Toilet" that Zhang Ye had created actually managed to chart on the largest Top Chinese Music Chart in the country. It charted at number 10 for the day even though it was just a song for a commercial! At a time when I Am a Singer and Sing! were the most popular singing shows being broadcast, the daily top 20 spots on the chart were basically monopolized by songs that were performed on the shows. For a sanitary ware's commercial song to actually get into the top 10, just what kind of a concept was that? Even those from Beijing Television and Central TV nearly vomited blood when they saw the music charts!

What is this!

This fellow really has too many tricks up his sleeves!

One…

Five…

Ten…

One after another, the advertisements were dropped onto the public's consciousness like a carpet bombing run!

For the next few days, all of Zhang Ye's endorsement advertisements continued being shown!

Zhang Ye was appearing in all kinds of different styles and looks on television, in the subway, at the bus stations, on the online video hosting sites, etc. At different times, he would look refined and suave, dashing, or charming.

The advertisements blew up!

The products sold out!

Zhang Ye's name was once again getting heard all over the country!

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Chapter 1247: A sprint to the S-list!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this afternoon.

His mother was munching on melon seeds while watching a television drama.

His father did not enjoy watching soap operas, so he sat beside her reading the papers.

Just as the television drama was getting exciting, the image onscreen suddenly switched. Zhang Ye's voice gently came from the television, "You can wash away the visible stains, but can you wash away the invisible germs?"

Wash, your sister!

How many days have they been showing this!

My skin is peeling from washing my hands so much!

His mother said in an impatient manner, "Why are they showing commercials at such an important moment!"

15 seconds went by very quickly.

Just as his mother was looking forward to the drama returning, Zhang Ye's face appeared again. "At important times! How can you catch a cold?"

Pfft!

His mother said, fuming mad, "Why is it another commercial!"

His father said with a smile, "Can't you watch something else then?"

So his mother changed channels to Zhejiang Television.

"A Diamond is Forever."

Change channels!

"There could be a gold bar inside when you open your Brain Gold gift box!"

Change channels!

"Every single toilet is a friend…."

Change channels!

"Family Spring, a rather sweet thing."

Change channels!

"I Am a Singer is brought to you exclusively by our title sponsor, the leader in health products, Brain Gold…"

Advertisements!

Advertisements everywhere!

And coincidentally, every channel was currently showing the commercials with Zhang Ye in them during this time!

His mother got mad. "I'll just stop watching TV, will that do? I'll use the computer instead!"

As she spoke, she powered on the computer and launched the Internet browser, wanting to read some news. However, instead of reading the news, a pop-up appeared. Zhang Ye's smiling face appeared onscreen. "Our goal is—No! More! Tooth! Decay!"

No more tooth decay?

I'll beat you up until your teeth decay!

His mother went into his room angrily and dragged Zhang Ye out of bed. "Why is it all your ads?"

Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, "Mom, I was sleeping."

"Get up! What are you still sleeping for?" His mother said, "When I turn on the TV, you're on it. When I power on the PC, you're on it again. You're on the cell phone browser pop-ups, you're there too when I'm taking the subway, just how many endorsements have you taken? Those who know will understand it's just ads, but those who don't will think that you've taken over the planet!"

Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Aiya, that's because the brand name companies have just renewed their endorsement deals and launched the new ad campaigns. They're definitely going to advertise harder and more frequently at the beginning. It's just going to be for a month or so since this is the only time that they can really build on their brand names. When they've established their brand's presence, the advertising frequency will surely drop. Enough, Mom, I'm not talking anymore. I've been so busy filming commercials these days, and when I can finally get some rest, you're shouting and keeping me awake. I'm going back to sleep now."

If even Zhang Ye's own mother was feeling this way, how would the public feel?

…

Online.

The netizens were all complaining!

"Your sister!"

"I'm going to have a mental breakdown!"

"Me too. The moment I switched on the TV this morning, I changed channels five times and every channel was showing fucking Zhang Ye's face on them. Oh my God!"

"This scammer!"

"Yeah, I keep seeing him wherever I go!"

"Zhang Ye has propped up half of the entire country's endorsement deals all by himself!"

"Half? You must mean all!"

"There really isn't anyone else who can get so much exposure like he is!"

"There shouldn't be any person in the country who doesn't know who he is, right?"

"That's right. I traveled back to my family home in the countryside two days ago. The moment I stepped into town, I saw a huge billboard that was newly built with the words 'Family Spring, a rather sweet thing' written on it. My place is just a small town, so I was really shocked to see that. Can you guys imagine how many grass mud horses galloped through my mind at that moment? This ad has spread into cities and villages across the country!"

"I've been seeing that commercial about having no tooth decay these days while watching the TV series on Shanghai TV. It always gets shown when they head into the commercial breaks. I've been forced to watch it more than 20 times already. I don't even have any tooth decay to begin with, but whenever I see that commercial, I can feel a fucking toothache in my mouth!"

"Hahahaha!"

"I'm cramping up from laughing!"

"Zhang Ye, that guy, has really angered the masses!"

But even if they scolded and shouted about this, the facts proved that even with this level of advertising intensity, the people were still able to accept it. Moreover, even if it wasn't Zhang Ye's commercials being shown at that time, it would still be impossible for the ad spots to stay empty. Some other commercials for some other brands would still be shown, so wouldn't it be all the same no matter whose commercial they were going to see? Further, every one of Zhang Ye's commercials was ingenious. There were profound ones, elegant ones, exquisite ones, brainwashing ones, and unconventional ones. If it was impossible to escape from the advertisements, then everyone would rather watch some interesting advertisements.

The ones who were kept the busiest were those in the advertising industry.

In recent days, the professionals in the advertising field were holding meetings almost every day to study and research Zhang Ye's advertisements!

…

In a classroom.

"Here, everyone have a look at the projector. Let us talk about Zhang Ye's latest endorsement for the toothpaste product. We mentioned previously that we would be talking about the sanitary ware commercial today, but after we had a quick discussion about it after we went back yesterday, we've decided not to talk about that anymore. That's because it's a commercial that cannot be replicated at all, not even by Li Xiaoxiao. She doesn't know how to write songs, and neither would the professionals in the advertising field know how to write such songs. Since only Zhang Ye can make a commercial like that, we'll skip talking about it."

…

At a gathering in the advertising industry.

"Everyone, have a look at the information in your hands. Let's first analyze that diamond ring commercial of Zhang Ye's. 'A Diamond is Forever'—this advertising slogan is amazing!"

…

At a university.

In an upper-level advertising and marketing class.

"Students, we will not be referring to the textbooks today. Instead, let's talk about the ten endorsement ads of Zhang Ye's. If anyone told me in the past that there was a god in the field of advertising and marketing, I will definitely scoff at them. But today, I suddenly have some hesitations. If there really were a god in the world of advertising, then in this age that we live in, Zhang Ye is probably the one who is closest to it."

…

Zhang Ye's advertisements had created a huge commotion!

The common folks only wanted to watch the buzz, but those in the industry were all crazily researching and learning from the ads!

If the two Family Spring advertisements had awed them, then the series of Zhang Ye's advertisements that rolled out afterwards would make the entire industry go crazy over them!

The toothpaste advertisement?

The industry was knelt to it!

The cold medication advertisement?

The industry was knelt once more!

The toilet advertisement?

The industry fell to both knees!

The attitude of the advertising field towards Zhang Ye was no longer just admiration. It had turned into worship!

If he only occasionally came up with a classic advertisement, everyone wouldn't think much of it. That was because there would always be several such classic advertising and marketing cases every year. But to continuously come up with phenomenal advertisements one after another, and they were even for the most explosively marketed products in the industry, there were no other creatives who could do something like this, be it domestically or overseas!

It was only Zhang Ye!

Only Zhang Ye could achieve something like that!

…

The news was spreading all over!

"No more tooth decay has become a popular catchphrase!"

"An advertising slogan was all it took for a diamond ring to become the standard accessory for weddings!"

"Jiali Milk goes out of stock again!"

"Zhang Ye reaches the pinnacle of the advertising endorsement field!"

"Zhang Ye—The leader of this year's advertisement endorsements!"

"Zhang Ye's endorsement pay surpasses that of the S-list celebrities'!"

A refreshing breeze in the advertising world!"

"Zhang Ye: Advertisements are also a form of art!"

"Is Zhang Ye's wedding date imminent?"

"Breaking insider's news: Zhang Ye currently preparing for his wedding!"

"Why is Zhang Ye's endorsement pay exceeding his market value? It's all down to those unique advertising proposals!"

"A brand name's evaluation of Zhang Ye: Zhang Ye is the most dedicated and professional celebrity in the industry. We are honored to be working with him!"

"Zhang Ye's advertisements 'flood' the entire country!"

"An exposure rate that defies the Heavens! Zhang Ye's popularity soars again!"

Everything was going smoothly!

With this, the "Reach the Summit" plan's fifth step was complete!

However, the next task was to return to step four and carry it out well—the recording of I Am a Singer. If luck would have it, he would very soon be able to make his first attempt at those seven spots of the S-list!

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Chapter 1248: Xiaodong can't host anymore?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Wednesday.

Later that morning.

The barrage of advertisements finally came to an end. The volume of over a dozen of Zhang Ye's endorsement advertisements had finally normalized and were no longer shown as often as before. With that task complete and the popularity gained, Zhang Ye turned his attention back to I Am a Singer. In recent days, he had been too busy taking various endorsement deals and filming their commercials. That was too much of a distraction for him, so with that task complete, he had to get back to producing the show properly.

At Beijing Television.

Zhang Ye arrived at work.

"Director Zhang."

"Morning, Director Zhang."

"You're here already?"

"Have you eaten yet?"

"Director Zhang, do I get a discount for the diamond rings if I mention your name?"

The moment Zhang Ye came back, everyone was laughing and happily joking around with him.

The advertisements were also brought up by a lot of them. They teased him for a long time, but Zhang Ye didn't get angry and even played along with them.

Hu Fei also arrived at the office. "Director Zhang, you're here?"

Zhang Ye nodded and said, "Brother Hu, shall we start the meeting?"

Hu Fei nodded. "Alright, is everyone here?"

Zhang Ye turned to Xiao Lu and said, "Go and gather everyone up."

"Got it." Xiao Lu obeyed.

Five minutes later, the conference room was fully seated with the staff of the program team. The new episode's recording was scheduled for tomorrow, and the program team would always hold a meeting prior to it so they could communicate any issues and establish a direction for the recording. This was standard practice here. The atmosphere in the meetings was always good, with Zhang Ye usually assigning the roles and tasks while Hu Fei would add on with whatever was necessary. Everyone else would take notes and record the meeting, have discussions, and raise questions while Zhang Ye answered them.

Today was no exception.

Zhang Ye said, "Everyone has been working hard these days. I Am a Singer's recording is already halfway done, and we've achieved very good results so far. Let's have a look at the projector. These are the viewership ratings for our show against Sing!'s after their broadcast time was changed."

I Am a Singer:

Episode Four's viewership rating: 3.08%

Episode Five's viewership rating: 3.22%

Episode Six's viewership rating: 3.19%

Sing!:

Episode Four's viewership rating: 1.58%

Episode Five's viewership rating: 1.62%

Episode Six's viewership rating: 1.55%

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "As all of you can see, Sing!'s viewership ratings have obviously gone up after they changed their broadcast time. 1.5% is a very outstanding result in the industry and would also deserve quite a good ranking in the all-time historical viewership ratings. But compared to us, they're still lacking by far. With them stepping aside, we don't have anyone competing with us in the same time slot. Our viewership for every episode is now at a stable 3% or above, but I think that we can still do better."

Hou Di said, "But, Director Zhang, we've already broken the record."

Xiao Lu clicked her tongue and said, "Take it even higher? Wouldn't that be very difficult? It feels like we're already at the limit."

However, Hu Fei replied, "In the past, no one thought that current TV variety shows could surpass the 2% mark. But Director Zhang did it. After that, when everyone thought that the 3% mark could not be broken, Director Zhang did it again. There has been a general consensus lately in the industry that 4% has to be the limit and that it is definitely the ceiling for variety shows. But I don't believe that's true. I'm of the same mind as Director Zhang on this; I feel that we can still take it even higher."

Hou Ge analyzed, "Then we can only seek to increase the excitement of the show. The audience is starting to become used to the rules and routine of our show, as well as getting familiar with the seven singers onstage, so they might be beginning to experience short-term fatigue with regard to our show. In the previous episode, we just completed a knockout round with the latest replacement singer getting eliminated immediately. He has a large fan base, so it actually affected our show quite a bit. As such, the viewership ratings for episode six were slightly weaker, even though it was still basically the same as episode five's viewership ratings. If we really want to push it another level higher, the choice of the new replacement singer for the next episode will be critical."

Dafei said, "So who do we get for the replacement singer?"

Han Qi said, "We don't have that many options in our hands."

This was a difficult choice.

Who should they send first?

Who should they keep for later?

All these decisions had to be weighed carefully.

The singers on the current stage were divided into two tiers now.

The first-tier group: Chen Guang, Zhang Xia. This was the most solid group, and the two of them were consistently ranked in the top three. They were truly excellent singers. Xiaodong could probably be considered as part of the first-tier group as well since she also occasionally got rather good results. But that was still rather dependent on the songs she sang. She was not exactly solid in this area.

In the second-tier group, there were Huang Cheng, Zhao Wuliu, and Amy. Huang Cheng was someone who went by the artistic route, so the style of his songs was more niche. During the episode he first joined as the replacement singer, he got a very good ranking. However, his later songs only received lukewarm responses, with his results fluctuating. Like him, Zhao Wuliu's results were also very rocky, with him ranking high at times and low at other times. This was not a problem with their singing but because there were too many good singers on this stage. Everyone were bringing out their best tricks as they fought each round with their all, so the results were more across the board. It was really difficult to pinpoint who was better than the other.

Surprisingly, Amy was the most solid performer of all. He steadiness came from the fact that she was always ranked in the last two places, either sixth or seventh. Every time she was faced with the knockout round, she would always be the one in the most danger. However, she was always able to return from the dead and survive to the next round. As such, after three knockout rounds so far, Amy was still around even though she was part of the starting list of singers for the show. As the show progressed, this also became a highlight of the show that the viewers were delighted to see.

Hu Fei gave it some thought and said, "For the new replacement singer, we will require a truly skilled singer. I hope that this replacement can break into that first-tier group and create some competition for the others."

Zhang Ye nodded. "That's what I feel too. Looking at the list of replacement singers, I would probably be more inclined to…" As he was speaking, a phone rang. It was Zhang Ye's cell phone. He had forgotten to silence his phone and did not intend to answer it since they were in a meeting. But just as he was about to reject the call, he saw the caller ID and was slightly taken aback. He really had to answer this call, so he said, "Sorry, I'll have to take this call."

Hu Fei said, "It's fine.

He exited the conference room.

Zhang Ye pressed the answer button and said: "Hello."

It was Wu Zeqing's secretary, Bai Li, on the other end.

"Teacher Zhang, are you busy?"

"It's OK, Secretary Bai, just speak."

"There's something that I need to give you a heads up on. Chief Wu is currently in a meeting and can't get away, so she got me to give you a call. Someone has reported your show."

"A report? Who?"

"It should be someone from Central TV Department 1."

"What was the report about?"

"That you've appointed an amateur host for the show."

"You mean Xiaodong?"

"Yes."

"That's just a guest role. She only has a couple of lines and shouldn't really be considered the show's host, right?"

"Strictly speaking, that is indeed not allowed. There's an article that was issued by the SARFT that prohibits an unlicensed host from hosting a show. It's just that this rule wasn't so strictly applied back then and was always something that we turned a blind eye to. Furthermore, the definition of 'host' is not that clear."

"Yes, I do know about that article."

"But the execs are watching this very closely because someone has reported you all. With the article brought up, Chief Wu can't really do much about it either. Because of your show getting too popular these days, the higher-ups are more cautious about how to handle it. They're currently holding a meeting to sort it out, but be prepared. The outcome should likely be decided by today, although it's already definite that I Am a Singer will no longer be allowed to have a guest in the host role. You'll probably have to change it."

"But we'll be recording tomorrow."

"Hai, I know."

"Is there really no room for discussion?"

"There isn't any. If there were, with the good relationship you and Chief Wu enjoy, do you think that she wouldn't speak up for you all?"

"Alright then, I understand. Thanks, Secretary Bai."

"You're welcome, Teacher Zhang."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye felt rather speechless. He understood quite well that this matter was indeed going to be difficult to handle. If the article had not been passed yet, Old Wu could certainly veto its passage. Or at least, she would be able to delay it until after I Am a Singer was finisher since there weren't even that many episodes left to record anyway. But the problem was that the article already existed. It had been passed a year ago, although it hadn't been enforced and there were also no precedents. But they had been reported on now, and the whistleblower was even Central TV Department 1. Importantly, the head of Central TV was a party member of the SARFT. Even if he was not higher ranked than Old Wu, he was still a member of the SARFT's Party Committee. He still had the right to speak against some issues and would be able to use the article to make sure this issue did not get ignored.

Blame me!

If only I had considered this more carefully beforehand!

In the meeting room.

Zhang Ye returned.

Hu Fei said, "Let's carry on then."

But Zhang Ye said to the others, "Let's adjourn the meeting."

Everyone was stunned.

"Adjourn?"

"Why?"

"What happened, Director Zhang?"

Zhang Ye did not say anything to them but told Hu Fei, "Brother Hu, let's go to your office."

Hu Fei immediately knew that something must have cropped up, so he quickly left with Zhang Ye and headed back to his office.

In the office.

Zhang Ye said sternly, "I've just received news that Xiaodong cannot host the show without a 'license.'"

Hu Fei was surprised. "Where did you get the news from?"

"The SARFT." Zhang Ye said, "It was Central TV Department 1 that reported us. It seems the program team of Sing! hasn't admitted defeat yet, nor are they willing to take it lying down. We've already forced them to change their broadcast time, so now that they've managed to find something against us, they'll definitely try to counterattack and take us on again!"

Hu Fei said heavily, "Then what do we do now? How are we going to carry on with the recording tomorrow?"

Zhang Ye sighed. "I'm still thinking about it."

Hu Fei said, "Why don't I try to get the Station Head to talk to them?"

"That won't work." Zhang Ye shook his head. "Is our Beijing TV more powerful than them?"

Hu Fei said, "Or we can let Dong Shanshan take over the hosting role."

Zhang Ye said, "How can she? She still has the role of the host-manager to handle."

"Then let me get a host from the station."

"That won't do either, it's too abrupt. The original direction of the show was for it to have no outsiders and only for the singers to host it themselves and also perform. The viewers are used to that, and at the same time, it's our selling point for the show. If an unfamiliar face were to suddenly come in and take over the hosting as a professional host, even if we can carry on with the show's recording, what of the show's effect? The effects are going to be really bad, and then what of the viewership ratings? Will we still be able to aim for 4% if we do that? Our show's reputation will surely drop as well!"

Hu Fei said anxiously, "But there's no more time, we're recording tomorrow!"

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Chapter 1249: What are you all looking at me for!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

That same day.

There were still ongoing discussions about I Am a Singer on Weibo.

"They're going to record the seventh episode soon!"

"I'm really looking forward to it!"

"It was such a pity that He Huan got eliminated."

"Yeah, the results of the fourth episode were really too unexpected."

"Has the next replacement singer been revealed yet?"

"Not yet, no one knows who it is."

"I'm always most anxious to find out who the next replacement singer is after every knockout round."

"This show is a blast! Zhang Ye is really fucking amazing!"

"I Am a Singer's viewership ratings are through the roof. Sing! has completely been dismantled."

"Hurry up and get the new episode out. I can't wait anymore."

"Hahaha, let's see if Amy will get eliminated in the new round!"

"Amy is truly an undying goddess!"

"Pfft, everyone is always saying that she'll be eliminated soon, but she always manages to stay alive!"

"There's not going to be another show as awesome as this in the entire history of variety shows!"

It was trending #1 on Weibo, was the top searched term, and the songs performed on it filled the Top Chinese Music Chart! Counting all of the variety shows in recent years, there was really none that was more popular than I Am a Singer. The Voice was not, A Bite of China was not, King of Masked Singers was not, and Sing! was even more not so.

But at this moment.

The SARFT issued a shocking announcement!

—After investigating a report, Beijing Television's I Am a Singer was found to have flouted the rules of using a non-professional host according to Article 21. They are required to rectify this immediately, and all unlicensed hosts will be prohibited from taking any hosting roles on any variety shows moving on.

The announcement was very long, but that was the gist of it.

The SARFT was penalizing I Am a Singer!

At the same time, it was also sending out a warning to all the other variety shows in the industry!

With that, all the people in the country were alarmed!

"What?"

"Heavens! Immediate rectification?"

"So does that mean the show will be taken off the air?"

"How's that possible!"

"I know about that regulation! There was indeed something like that!"

"But why has it been fine until now? All the other shows were untouched?"

"Didn't you read what they said? Someone made a report! They got stabbed in the back!"

"Damn, do they have nothing better to do?!"

"Needless to say, it must be Sing!'s program team who made the report!"

"It's over, they're gonna get taken off the air!"

"Surely not, right? I love this show so much!"

…

Central TV Department 1.

Many of the people here went crazy at the news!

"Ha?"

"Immediate rectification?"

"Hahaha, serves them right!"

"This is such good news!"

"If their show gets suspended, our Sing!'s viewership ratings can definitely break 2%! It might even go higher than that!"

"This is what you call retribution!"

"We can finally enjoy seeing them in a predicament!"

"Hurry up and suspend them already!"

"They might not get taken off the air, but that should be enough to throw a spanner in the works."

"If they don't handle it well, their viewership ratings will surely drop like crazy."

…

At Beijing Television.

It was very chaotic.

Zhang Ye was on the line with Old Wu, who had just gotten out of her meeting. He brought up a suggestion to use loopholes to get past the order since something like that had worked in his previous world. "Old Wu, if we register Dong Shanshan as the host for our show, but only in name, and then continue letting the singers host in their capacity as guests or participants, would it work?"

"I'm afraid not."

He raised several more suggestions but all were rejected.

In the end, Zhang Ye felt rather hopeless when he realized that there were no loopholes that he could take advantage of. Or to be precise, he was left without any loopholes to take advantage of as everyone at the top had it in for him and his team.

Over there.

The calls also arrived one after another for Zhang Ye.

Xiaodong asked: "Zhang'er, what's going on?"

Zhang Ye said: "It is exactly what you see."

"So I won't be hosting for this upcoming episode?"

"Yeah, we're trying to think of ways to minimize the impact of this."

Zhang Xia also called.

"Little Zhang, are we going to be taken off the air?"

"No, that's not going to happen."

"Then what does the immediate rectification mean?"

"It's just on the matter of the hosting issue. I'll be able to handle that."

"Alright, it's been hard on you. Are we still going ahead with tomorrow's recording?"

"Of course. Everyone should prepare for recording per usual. We'll start at the agreed upon time after everyone is finished rehearsing. Nothing will be affected, don't worry."

"Alright."

Although Zhang Ye was telling everyone not to worry, the participating singers were still very worried. He was reassuring everyone but had not yet thought of a way to solve the problem.

Beijing Television was also trying their best to pull relations and even the Station Head had seemingly gone over to the SARFT and stayed there for a full two hours before stepping out. Later on, she didn't even say anything after she got back, so it could be assumed that there was not much hope. Even if Beijing Television was quite a major station, they did not exactly have much power or authority to speak of.

The singers were all waiting.

The industry was also waiting.

They were all waiting to see how Beijing Television would handle this.

I Am a Singer's program team was cursing and swearing now.

Xiao Lu shouted, "They better not let me find out which bastard made the report!"

Dafei said in a rage, "This is too sinister! They're so vicious!"

"Why couldn't they have just worked and improved on their own show? Why must they pull others down with them? Do they really think that if our show dies, their show could step up?" Hou Ge also said angrily, "It wasn't easy to have a variety show that could surpass 3% of the viewership in China. We haven't even managed to make a name for ourselves overseas and have already been backstabbed by one of our own!"

Han Qi scolded, "Villains!"

The program team's staff were all really mad!

Hu Fei said anxiously, "The deadline is tomorrow. Let's think of a way to deal with this first!"

So far, it looked like Zhang Ye was the one who was the most tolerant. It wasn't because he was big-hearted, but that he had been through too many of such incidents before. What kind of situation had he not seen before? There were many more incidents that were even more serious than what had just happened. So he said, "Yes, listen to Brother Hu. Everyone, calm down and try to think of a something first."

Xiao Lu said dejectedly, "There's nothing that we can do. If we bring in a new host, it will affect the show's quality. The singers we have don't have hosting licenses either, so they can't take the stage role. What options are we left with?"

Hou Ge said, "Yeah, if we don't want to affect anything and keep making the show as before. Unless the replacement singer for this week can host as well, we could let him do it. But wouldn't that be too far-fetched? Those singers who can sing well in the music industry are all professional singers. Like they'd have a hosting license as well! Why would they go and take the test to get a hosting license? Do they have nothing better to do? And even if we get a host to cross over, their singing won't be good enough for them to take to stage. So that's where the problem lies. There isn't anyone so wondrous that they would have both a hosting license and be a professional singer at the same…."

Hou Ge suddenly went quiet.

The entire program team office fell silent!

Hou Ge was stunned as he slowly turned around to look at Zhang Ye.

Hu Fei blinked several times and turned his head in the direction of Zhang Ye as well.

Xiao Lu looked over.

Han Qi looked over.

Dafei looked over.

Hou Di looked over.

Everyone was staring at Zhang Ye and did not say anything. They just kept looking at him.

Zhang Ye was dumbfounded!

What the heck!

What are you all looking at me for!

Zhang Ye flatly refused, "No! Absolutely not!"

No one said a thing as they continued looking at him.

Zhang Ye nearly fainted then and there. "Don't you all even think about that! It is absolutely impossible!"

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Chapter 1250: Ah, I've been hacked again!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The atmosphere within the program team turned very strange. Everyone's gaze was now on Zhang Ye and their eyes had a weird and subtle look to them.

A professional singer?

One who had a professional host license?

There really was someone as wondrous as that!

And he was sitting right in front of them!

That's right! How could that have slipped their minds!

Hu Fei finally spoke, "Director Zhang, why don't we have a meeting?"

Zhang Ye immediately put his hand up. "I'm not going to have a meeting. Don't even think about it, Brother Hu!"

Hou Ge said eagerly, "Director Zhang, I think it's better to have the meeting."

Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Why should we have a meeting? I'm telling you now, you guys are barking up the wrong tree. You guys are really barking up the wrong tree! Do you guys think that I'm superhuman? Do you really think that I can split myself up into that many of me?"

"But there's really no one else that we can choose from." Xiao Lu blinked.

Zhang Ye said, "Our country lacks everything but people."

Dafei said, "But a professional singer who also has a host license, there really isn't anyone other than you."

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "Impossible!"

Hu Fei coughed and said, "There really isn't."

Han Qi nodded in confirmation. "Yes, there's only you."

Hou Di added, "Whether locally or abroad, you're the only one."

Zhang Ye was speechless.

Hu Fei came over. "Director Zhang, let's chat."

"I'm not going to chat with you." Zhang Ye quickly said, "There is no room for discussion."

Hu Fei pretended to be heartbroken as he said, "Our show is facing such a difficult time, so how can you bear to stand there and do nothing? This isn't the Director Zhang I know."

Zhang Ye pointed at his own chest. "Don't say that. This is who I am and who you know, don't doubt that."

Hu Fei had no reply.

Han Qi also tried to persuade him. "Just do it, Director Zhang. With your skill, which of the other singers are your equal?"

Your sister!

Aren't you thinking too highly of me!

"Any of them can be my equal!" Zhang Ye said, "Grandma Zhang, Old Chen, Sister Dong, Old Huang, which of them are not top singers in the music industry? So why would I participate in the competition? I already said it clearly at the start: I will never participate in the competition. Besides the issue of capability, I'm also not allowed to take part in it. If I lose, my popularity will definitely drop. If I win, the show's popularity will definitely drop. I'm the executive director of the show and I oversee everything on I Am a Singer. From the rules to the voting process, all of those were planned and decided by me. As the guy who wrote the rules, even if I went on stage and competed, there's nothing to be proud of if I win. The viewers would definitely say that it was corrupt. So I'd be in a really difficult position since I'm neither allowed to win nor lose. So tell me, how can I possibly participate in the competition?"

Hu Fei exclaimed, "We have to take it one step at a time, so let's get this issue resolved first."

Zhang Ye had almost gone crazy. He facepalmed and said, "Alright, even if I join against my will, I only have one head and one pair of hands. Oh, and I also have to oversee the entire show's planning as the executive director, announce the rankings, practice and rehearse the song, and compete as well." He stared with wide eyes and said, "Even if I grew another head and pair of limbs, they wouldn't be enough to do all that! Are you guys trying to exhaust me to death?"

Hu Fei smacked his lips and said, "Can't you put in some overtime?"

Zhang Ye said, "How is this putting in overtime? You're asking me to put my life on the line!"

Xiao Lu begged, "Teacher Zhang."

Zhang Ye said firmly, "I won't join."

"Teacher Zhang."

"Director Zhang."

"We're depending on you."

"There's no one other than you."

"Director Zhang."

"Please put in some overtime, please."

Everyone chimed in and kept begging him.

Zhang Ye was getting dizzy from hearing everything they had to say. He had joined a singing show before. Back on King of Masked Singers, it was he who put on a mask to participate anonymously and knew how it felt to be a contestant. That feeling of having no appetite because of the pressure, having to practice his songs over and over every day, having to change the song at the last minute due to being unsuitable, and then being required to rearrange the musical arrangement as a result, the rehearsals, and sound testing, there had never been a day where he could sleep soundly while competing on King of Masked Singers!

But now?

As the executive director?

The overall planner?

The vote counter?

The host?

And they still wanted him to become a contestant?

Are you guys fucking asking me to do everything?

Zhang Ye was having none of it. In fact, he got even angrier at Central TV Department 1. Fucking hell!

…

At night.

On Weibo.

"There's reliable info that it was Central TV Department 1 who made the report!"

"Are you serious?"

"I have a classmate working at the SARFT, so I'm sure of it!"

"Damn, I knew it had to be them!"

"They're too wicked!"

"Yeah, the thing is, Central TV Department 1 also used unlicensed hosts for two of their shows at the beginning of the year! So they can do it? But others aren't allowed to? What do you call that? It's obviously a double standard! So how could they report on others? They're using the authorities to slap their enemies? This is using public resources for their own gains!"

"They make me so angry!"

…

Central TV Department 1.

Everyone had gotten off work and were still talking about the matter on the way out.

"Was it really us who reported them?"

"I think so."

"Haha, well played."

"Let's see what I Am a Singer can do about it."

"How much do you think our viewership ratings will increase by?"

"If they really get taken off the air, we should be able to gain an increase of 1%, at least."

…

And right at this moment, a Weibo post from Zhang Ye sent shockwaves around the country!

Zhang Ye's Weibo: "Dropping a notice here for everyone. To comply with the SARFT's rectification request, there will be some changes made to I Am a Singer's time slot."

The day.

And broadcast time.

Were exactly the same as Sing!'s!

The industry exploded!

"Holy shit!"

"Has Beijing TV gone mad?"

"They're gonna broadcast at the same time again?"

"Looks like the fight is on! They're back at it again!"

"Hot damn! Beijing TV is so domineering!"

"This is Zhang Ye's reply to them!"

"Hahahaha, Central TV Department 1 is gonna cry!"

"They'd just managed to avoid I Am a Singer, but Beijing TV has come chasing after them again?"

Elsewhere.

Central TV Department 1 also blew up!

The calls were going out one by one!

"Hello, Boss?"

"Come back quickly!"

"Ah? Back where?"

"Back to the office, where else! Immediately!"

Many of those who had already knocked off from work were asked to come back to the office!

Then, when they found out that I Am a Singer was again going to broadcast at the same time as them after arriving back at the office, all of them paled!

"How is that possible!"

"Zhang Ye, that madman!"

"He's always been a madman!"

"Is he thinking of taking us down with him?"

"Aren't they going to continue aiming for the viewership ratings record? If they start broadcasting at the same time as us, true, I'll admit that we have more to lose, but they won't get away unscathed either. Then they won't have any more chances of breaking the viewership ratings record! That's totally not worth it. Anyone with half a brain would not do it like this! How can Beijing TV allow Zhang Ye to behave so recklessly? Even if they allow it, the advertisers would not take such a loss!"

"But Zhang Ye is really capable of doing something like this!"

"Right, you cannot determine what he'll do by using logic!"

"It's over! We're done for this time!"

"I Am a Singer was instructed to fix their problems immediately. They probably couldn't come up with any other way to deal with it, so they didn't want us to have it easy either! They'd rather we suffer along with them! And have everyone die together?"

"That fucking hooligan!"

"Zhang Ye is really such a goddamn hooligan!"

Everyone was running around like a chicken with its head cut off!

Especially the program team staff of Sing! They were nearly in tears!

It was starting again!

This nightmare called Zhang Ye had returned again!

Soon after, several key executives of Central TV Department 1 also returned to the office in a panic. They immediately called for an emergency meeting.

Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Naixiong.

Several of the directors were cursing and swearing at Zhang Ye during the entire meeting. They were all very familiar with Zhang Ye as he had spent a long time at Central TV Department 1. After such a long time, that fellow was still that same old bastard he was before!

The key personnel of Sing!'s program team moped. After the meeting, they immediately carried out the executives' instructions and reorganized some of the tasks for the new episode's recording. They could no longer do it as they had done before. There had to be some changes made so that their show could get a boost. Only in this way could they take on Zhang Ye's rage and not die too ugly a death for the coming episode. Along with those changes, they also began preparing themselves for another change in the broadcast time. But that was not the best way out. The previous change to their broadcast time had already taken them a great deal of effort to convince the higher-ups of the station. So if they were to change it again? That would really be too troublesome. Even if they applied to get it changed, it might not be approved. They couldn't always be the ones having problems like this!

But they still gave some foreshadowing of what to expect on their official website.

Before long, Sing!'s official Weibo posted: "Due to technical difficulties, Sing! does not rule out changing its broadcast time in the near future. We would like to remind everyone to stay updated with the latest news on our official website."

The netizens were stunned.

"Pfft!"

"Changing the broadcast time again?"

"They're changing it again?"

"Sing! is terrified again!"

It was very chaotic at Central TV Department 1!

Calls!

Overtime!

Meetings!

Discussing plans!

The industry was also alarmed by Beijing TV's decision!

However, the development of the matter did not turn out as everyone thought!

One hour after Zhang Ye's post on Weibo, and just as Central TV Department 1 had descended into chaos, even to the point that someone was already meeting with the higher-ups regarding another change to the show's broadcast time, and with Zhang Ye getting pushed into the trending searches and his Weibo post making it into the Weibo headlines, the post was suddenly deleted by him.

After that, he posted again.

Zhang Ye's Weibo: "Ah, I've been hacked again. The show's broadcast time won't be changed. Please do not believe the rumors, everyone. Go by your own judgment. Changing the broadcast time of a show is a very complicated process. We'd have to submit it to the station and the SARFT to get it approved before it takes effect, so how can we possibly just change it as we wish?"

Hacked?

Rumors?

The public was dumbfounded!

The industry was dumbfounded!

Central TV Department 1 was dumbfounded!

Someone at Central TV did not believe this and immediately called a friend at the SARFT.

"Hello, Old Xu!"

"What's the matter?"

"Did I Am a Singer change their broadcast time?"

"Change what time?"

"Didn't they submit an application for it?"

"An application for what? What are you talking about?"

"I...()%…%$@@!!!"

It was very clear now!

Central TV Department 1's people were all left cursing at someone's ancestors!

Zhang Ye!

Fuck your grandpa!

You're too fucking wicked!

When the netizens realized the truth, they were rolling on the floor in laughter!

"Aiyo, holy fuck!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"I can't take this anymore, I'm crying laughing!"

"Zhang Ye is such a trickster!"

"What a fucking bastard he is!"

"Hacked? Your sister! Only a fool would believe you!"

"Sing!'s program team has suffered a huge loss of face this time!"

"Yeah, I heard that everyone went back for overtime in preparation of taking on this formidable enemy. They even rushed out an application to the higher-ups to change their broadcast time. But in the end, they just got pranked by Zhang Ye!"

"This move by Zhang Ye is way too wicked! But it was so beautiful at the same time!"

"Yeah, to deal with such people, it's better to act more bastardly!"

"Only Zhang Ye can come up with such trickery! If it were anyone else who attempted that, they would surely be scolded to their graves and simultaneously offend the entire industry. Only Zhang Ye could come out of something like that unscathed, since everyone already knows what kind of a person he is! Besides, he doesn't have any more people that he can offend. Everyone who can be offended has already been offended!"

"My wife and I are laughing so hard!"

"What a comedian!"

"Things would get really boring without him in showbiz!"

"The funniest thing is that this fella even put on a show. He told everyone not to go around spreading rumors and go by their own judgment of things. Aiyo, my dearest Teacher Zhang, can you not be so hysterical?"

Quite a few netizens were praising him!

A lot of people in the industry were at their wits' end because they were angered to the point of laughter!

This weirdo!

This jokester!

This hooligan!

Holding the sun, the moon, and the stars in the palm of his hand!

There really was no other person like him in this world!

Report chapter CommentsI am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1251: The replacement singer makes his appearance! - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1251: The replacement singer makes his appearance! Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1251: The replacement singer makes his appearance!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

On the day of the recording.

In the morning at Beijing Television.

"Eh, where's Director Zhang?"

"I don't know."

"He was around a bit ago."

"Brother Hu, Director Zhang fell asleep backstage."

"Director Zhang didn't sleep all night."

"Aiya, the audience is already here. Tell him to persevere and work some overtime."

"Alright, I got it. I'll go and wake up Director Zhang then."

The audience had already been admitted into the studio.

The singers were all standing by.

Only the director was not here yet.

Zhang Ye got woken up, then forced himself to go wash and freshen up with some cold water. When he came out, he bumped into Xiaodong and Amy in the corridor as they came over to greet him.

Xiaodong asked, "Can you save the show?"

Zhang Ye nodded. "I've handled it."

Amy gave him a look. "Director Zhang, you're so bad. I saw your Weibo post yesterday, hahahaha. Central TV Department 1 must hate you to the bone!"

Zhang Ye laughed, "I got hacked."

"Yi!" Amy jeered.

A ways away, Zhang Xia spotted the three of them while heading to the bathroom.

Zhang Xia came over and asked, "Little Zhang, has the replacement singer arrived yet?"

Zhang Ye answered, "I suppose so."

"Who is it?" Amy immediately asked.

Zhang Xia also asked curiously, "Do I know who it is?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Probably."

Xiaodong said, "What about me?"

"You probably know too," Zhang Ye said.

He didn't disclose much and quickly turned to head back to the front to get back to work.

Half an hour later.

The studio was packed and the audience was deep in discussions.

"Did you guys see Weibo yesterday?"

"I did, hahaha, it made me laugh my ass off!"

"Zhang Ye is itching for a beating! That was so ruthless!"

"He's a total quack."

"But that was such an outlet. Central TV deserved it for starting the fight."

"That's right. I wonder how I Am a Singer will turn things around today. The singers can't host anymore, right? Who will do it then? Dong Shanshan? Zhang Ye?"

"Who knows? But if they do it that way, the rules will have to be changed."

"I still prefer having the singers host."

"Yeah. If they change the rules now, it'll affect the viewership ratings."

"The issue is that everyone's gotten used to the singers guest hosting the show. It's been ingrained into the minds of the viewers."

Onstage.

The band was in position.

The staff were in position.

Counting down:

Three.

Two.

One.

Recording began!

The audience was already intently staring with wide eyes, wanting to see just how the show would deal with the change. Then they saw a person holding a microphone walking onstage from below. Cries of surprise rang out. Everyone was taken aback, with some of them laughing loudly. In an instant, everyone stood up and applauded thunderously!

It was him!

It was indeed him!

The singers backstage were also quite happy.

Zhang Xia said with a smile, "In the end, it's still Little Zhang hosting."

Chen Guang said, "I coulda guessed. It was either gonna be him or Dong Shanshan."

Xiaodong said happily, "He's both the executive director and the host. It's so hard on Teacher Zhang."

Zhang Ye stood onstage. He smiled and said, "Hello, everyone. Welcome to the stage of I Am a Singer, brought to you exclusively by our title sponsor, the leader in health products, Brain Gold. I am your host for today, a host with a 'license' to 'operate.' I've been awarded the highest honor in the hosting world—I'm a true blue and legal host. Oh, some of you might be curious about where Sister Dong has gone? Well, Sister Dong is illegal and had been reported to the authorities by someone. She's currently busy trying to get a host license."

"Pfft!"

"Hahaha!"

Laughter rang out in the audience.

This guy! He doesn't forget to get the jabs in when he comes on!

Zhang Ye continued, "So when Sister Dong found out that I'm the stand-in host today, she specifically came to look for me and repeatedly reminded me about one thing. She told me that I must let everyone know about this. As it's a very important matter, can those of you with a pen please note it down?"

Everyone was stunned.

What was it?

What was so important?

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Everyone pricked their ears up.

Zhang Ye cleared his throat as his expression changed. Suddenly, he spoke speedily, "Thank you to the leading health supplement brand, Brain Gold Company, for being the title sponsors of our show. Thank you to Hubei Pharmaceuticals' strong support for us. If you're going to use a tablet, use Lilai's eight-inch tablet with multi-core technology. Honey Sweet fruit juice, so sweet that you can feel it in your heart!"

The audience burst out laughing!

Was that it?

This was what you meant by something important? Your sister!

Wasn't that just the fucking advertisements!

The singers backstage were also laughing hard, especially Xiaodong. While not knowing whether to laugh or cry, she was also quite impressed. She suddenly thought that the SARFT's issued article was not without reason. Seeing Zhang Ye's hosting and looking at her own hosting, there was obviously a gulf in their styles. That was the difference between a professional host who had won the Golden Microphone Award and a guest host like her. Be it the rhythm, humor, adaptability, enunciation, or stage control, she was still lacking by too much.

These lines by Zhang Ye fired up the audience!

Zhang Ye calmly said, "So then, let us get today's competition started. Today's first performer will be the replacement singer for this week, so let's hand the stage over to him."

Applause sounded.

Backstage, the singers all stuck out their necks in wait. Who could it be? Was it an old friend? They were all hoping that it wouldn't be someone too strong, because the people who were performing on this stage were already great singers.

The audience also turned to face the moon gate.

Who was it?

Why couldn't they see anyone?

But there were also some people in the audience who weren't paying attention.

"They changed the rules in the end."

"Yeah, what else could they have done?"

"Hai, Central TV Department 1 is really too wicked."

"Let's just keep watching."

"Yeah, Zhang Ye's hosting is still pretty good. Even if it's not a singer hosting, so be it."

"But it's still such a pity."

"With a singer as the host, the interactions backstage are more interesting to watch."

"This will definitely affect the quality of the show."

Some musical instruments were brought up onto the stage.

The microphone stands were put into place.

Gradually, around 20 men and women appeared. The men were all wearing black suits while the women were dressed in white. It looked like they were a backing choir? Or was it going to be a choral performance?

The audience could not understand.

Amy wondered, "What's all of that for?"

Zhang Xia said in anticipation, "Just who has come?"

Xiaodong smiled and said, "This is a pretty large ensemble. What are they going to sing? Could it be a bel canto singer? A friend of Grandma Zhang's?"

Everything was set and ready.

The lights dimmed.

Many of the people in the audience were getting too antsy to stay seated.

"Where's the singer?"

"Come on out!"

"But there's no one at the moon gate?"

"Eh, why is Zhang Ye still standing on stage?"

"Haha, that silly fool!"

"Teacher Zhang, please leave the stage."

"Why's that idiot still standing there like a fool?"

Everyone started poking fun at him.

The next second, orchestral music played!

With that, everyone was stunned. What's going on? What is happening? Why has the music come on? But where is the singer? The replacement singer hasn't appeared yet?

Zhang Ye, who was still onstage, slowly turned around to face the audience. He raised the microphone in his hand while looking very annoyed and exhausted. It was as though he was not fully awake.

Crows squawked through the sound system 1 .

"Caw, caw."

Then Zhang Ye actually started singing.

"Night has crept up on Chaoyang Park.

"The plaza dancers are all ready to start.

"I catch a glimpse of the trees outside.

"And wonder if this is all there is to my youth?"

The male backing choir sang, "As petals fall off flowers."

The audience was so shocked they all stood up at once!

Oh my God!

Zhang Ye!

The replacement singer is Zhang Ye!

Oh my God! Why didn't I think of it earlier!

So the rules had not been changed!

So they were still sticking with using singers as hosts!

It was Zhang Ye who had come to the rescue!

What the heck! This is going to be interesting!

Amy was dumbfounded. "No!"

Xiaodong nearly collapsed. "We're done for!"

Zhang Xia facepalmed. "Oh! Surely this isn't happening, right?"

Chen Guang had a headache now and forced a smile. "An extremely strong challenger has joined us this time. Before I agreed to come on I Am a Singer, I thought that whoever joined the show would be fine as long as it wasn't Zhang Ye."

Zhao Wuliu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Why is it Director Zhang? If he decides to sing seriously, he's going to be more than a handful for everyone here. This is really a tough opponent."

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The singers all reacted in a similar fashion!

But the audience was really happy to see him and became very excited!

Zhang Ye sang abashedly, "I have a boss named Hu Fei."

The male choir sang, "Named Hu Fei."

Zhang Ye sang, "Who shows up at 6 PM every day with the eyes of a German Shepherd."

The female choir sang, "A German Shepherd."

SFX: "Woof, woof!"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes as he sang, "Holding in his hands a steaming mug of coffee."

The male and female choir chorused, "Hey, hey, hey."

Zhang Ye sang, "Do you think we should hold a meeting?"

In the wings, Hu Fei, who was hearing this song for the first time, nearly spat out a mouthful of blood!

Beside him, Hou Ge, Xiao Lu, and a bunch of other staff burst into laughter. Hahahahaha! They could feel Zhang Ye's emotions through his singing! This fellow was still angry about it! He was reluctant and loath to be the replacement singer! It was only because of Hu Fei and them forcing him that he got dragged onstage!

…

The next day.

The episode was broadcast.

On the television at Zhang Ye's place.

"I said, 'It isn't convenient.

"'I still have to pick up my old man from the airport.

"'Haven't seen him in more than thirty years.

"'He hails from remote Siberia.'"

His parents were dumbfounded!

Haven't seen him in more than thirty years?

How old are you this year, you rascal!

…

Central TV Department 1.

"You've had nothing to do all day.

"I even caught sight of you streaming.

"Could it be that you don't have a family?

"I beg of you, please don't speak those words!

"—Sweetheart,

"Let's! Work! Overtime!"

When everyone here saw the latest episode, they were floored!

…

All over the country.

Zhang Ye's Peking opera style singing was heard in every household!

Some people were really excited!

Some people were dumbfounded!

"I can feel myself getting drained.

"I have become dog-tired.

"Gone 18 days without removing makeup.

"Worn monthly contacts for two years and a half.

"My life is a mess, and I'm getting fat."

…

Very quickly, this song turned the Internet upside down!

Countless netizens were left kneeling to Zhang Ye!

"It's Zhang Ye who has come!"

"When I saw that the replacement singer was him, I immediately got goosebumps all over!"

"It's so awesome; this song resonates so much!"

"Is it good? Pfft! Why is it so funny!"

"Hahahaha, when my family heard this song, everyone cramped up from laughing so much!"

"It was really well sung! I also don't wanna put in overtime!"

"Zhang Ye really must have been forced into this!"

"I'm kneeling to this song!"

"What a divine tune!"

"I'll fucking give him 10 out of 10 for saving the show like this!"

"I like Zhang Ye so much!"

"This bel canto singing is really nice!"

"Haha, this guy is even scolding his executive producer, Hu Fei!"

"Pfft, I think that's exactly how Zhang Ye feels. He definitely didn't want to be the replacement singer and must have been forced into it. That's how 'I Feel So Drained' came into existence!"

Executive director!

Vote counter!

Host!

And now, a contestant?

Pfft!

Anyone else would also feel drained if they were put into that situation!

This course of action would kill Zhang Ye from exhaustion!

In the history of making television shows, there hadn't been anyone who took on so many roles at the same time. If he didn't feel drained, then who would feel drained?!

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Chapter 1252: Reactions!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

On Weibo.

In the forums.

Tieba.

On the music sites.

"I Feel So Drained" kept getting played!

"So what now, Boss? (hahahahahahahahaha)

"So what now, Boss? (hahahahahahahahaha)

"So what now, Boss? (I bet you're happy now!)

"I really have to pick my old man up!

"You'll be on my blacklist once I quit!

"Who needs to sleep? It's such a waste of time!

"Who needs to eat? When PowerPoint is life!

"Please no overtime!

"Please no overtime!

"Please no overtime!"

On the Top Chinese Music Chart, the performance of "I Feel So Drained" was very strong. On the day of the broadcast, it charted in the top ten. By the next morning, it went up to second place on the daily "Most Listened" chart. Its momentum was really strong, and it wasn't likely there would be a change to its ranking today. Even the songs performed by Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, Xiaodong, and the others during the seventh episode did not rank higher than this song. This astonished countless industry insiders!

Because this song Zhang Ye performed did not do well on the show.

During the rankings announcement segment on yesterday's episode of I Am a Singer, Chen Guang performed as expected and took first place, with Zhang Xia coming in second, and Xiaodong in third place. Meanwhile, Zhang Ye only took fifth place and was considered to be in the lower tier of the rankings. However, that ranking was totally disconnected with the popularity of the song. The song that was ranked fifth on the show was now crushing all the other contestants' songs on the Top Chinese Music Chart. This was also something that had never happened before on the stage of I Am a Singer.

The netizens were very happy about this.

"This song is such a joy."

"The lyrics reflect the feelings of the people!"

"This is the first time I've heard Zhang Ye write a song like that!"

"My heart aches for Zhang Ye. He really is going to get drained!"

"Well, an able man is always busy."

"You can feel the sadness behind the humor. It's a really good song that mirrors the thoughts of the middle class!"

"I feel that Zhang Ye should have gotten first place!"

"Yeah, the audience was too unsupportive. If it were me, I definitely would've voted for him."

"The crucial thing is that this song has all the characteristics of a viral song. It's not something that one would perform for a singing competition."

"Yeah, 'I Feel So Drained' wouldn't get a good ranking on that type of platform, so it's already great that it came in at fifth place. After all, Zhang Ye's popularity is still a factor. If not, it might not have even gotten fifth place. In the end, I Am a Singer is a stage where singers are assessed by their singing techniques and depth of skills. Previously, be it Zhang Xia or Chen Guang, they instilled such a mindset into the audience. So there's no hope for such songs of getting first place. However, I must say that this is the song that I like the most!"

"Me too!"

"You don't need to analyze good songs!"

"Supporting Zhang Ye!"

"Sing properly for the next episode, and you'll definitely place well."

"Yeah, if Zhang Ye chooses to get serious, even Chen Guang and Zhang Xia will have to be careful of him!"

"Teacher Zhang, we're cheering you on! We love you to death!"

The viewers were all very accepting of his performance and recognized his skill.

Reviews appeared in the media.

"Zhang Ye appears as a strong replacement singer!"

"The executive director saves the day but is burdened with multiple roles!"

"The debut of a divine tune and its spread across the country!"

"Zhang Ye's spirit of humor!"

"Chen Guang takes first place!"

"Zhang Ye's rank is not ideal. Will he face elimination in the next episode?"

"I Am a Singer's viewership ratings take top spot again!"

"I Am a Singer takes nationwide number one with viewership rating of 3.36%!"

"Zhang Ye's new show to hit 4% in viewership?"

"Viewership ratings of Sing! suddenly plummet!"

"Sing!'s latest viewership ratings: 1.02%!"

"Central TV Suffers Badly!"

"Sing!'s continued slump drags down Central TV Department 1!"

"Beijing TV confirms: I Am a Singer's grand finals to be broadcast live. A real possibility viewership could hit 'ceiling' of 4%!"

News of this was everywhere in newspapers, on television, and in news reports.

But the man at the center of all this had only just woken up.

At home.

In his bedroom.

The moment Zhang Ye opened his eyes, he ached all over and his head felt swollen and huge. This was unavoidable. He hadn't slept much the past two days as he needed to get his song ready for competition and practice it with the choir. After that, he had to oversee the recording of the show, perform onstage, and oversee the vote counting. And if you thought that he would be free immediately after the show finished recording? No! Post-recording, Zhang Ye needed to personally edit the footage. Along with other related work, he hadn't caught a wink of sleep in days. When he finally got home yesterday, he instantly fell asleep.

He really was dog-tired!

Still though, he needed to scan the news to see what they had written about him and see the viewers' reactions to his performance.

So Zhang Ye lazed in bed as he picked up his cell phone to browse the news. This song was an especially famous divine tune from Zhang Ye's previous world. It was called "I Feel So Drained" and was performed by the Shanghai-based Rainbow Chamber Singers. This song was originally a chorale, so Zhang Ye had to make some changes to it for the competition. The choral parts were either reduced or changed to a backing part while he took the role of the main vocalist for it. It seemed like reactions to it were quite good?

That's good then.

As long as everyone likes it, it's good enough for me.

Zhang Ye gave a bitter laugh as he thought to himself that at least this was not a wasted effort.

Di di.

Di di.

The chat app on his cell phone wouldn't stop beeping.

Zhang Ye opened the app and saw that someone had mentioned him.

Goof Group.

Ning Lan has invited Zhang Xia.

Zhang Xia: "Hello, everyone?"

Xiaodong: "Hello, Grandma Zhang."

Amy: "A warm welcome to Grandma Zhang!"

Everyone came out.

Zhang Xia: "@ZhangYe where are you?"

Chen Guang: "Haha, he's probably dead tired in bed."

Zhang Xia: "It's been tough on Little Zhang."

Ning Lan: "The song Zhang Ye sang left me in stitches!"

Huo Dongfang: "@ZhangYe I burst out laughing too yesterday."

Director Li Ke: "Director Zhang really knows how to be funny!"

Fan Wenli: "Old Chen and the others are probably under a lot of pressure now. With Director Zhang as the replacement singer, it's truly a nightmare."

Chen Guang: "Haha, I'm not afraid of him. At most, let's have a sing-off to decide things."

Xiaodong: "Although I don't wish to face him, I actually look forward to 1v1ing Director Zhang once."

Zhang Xia: "He didn't sing properly in this episode, so his ranking wasn't that good. It probably won't be so for the next episode."

After reading all of that, Zhang Ye chose not to appear in the chat, just smiling to himself.

Sing properly?

He shook his head lightly.

There were some things he couldn't say.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Ye called Wu Zeqing. As he had been too busy over the past two days, he didn't have time to update Wu Zeqing on how things were progressing for him.

Du du.

The call connected.

"Old Wu, what are you doing?"

"Hur hur, I'm at the office."

"Did you watch yesterday's episode?"

"I did, you sang very well. I rather liked it."

"All's good as long as you like it. Have you been busy these couple days?"

"A little."

"Whoa! You always used to answer that it was manageable whenever I asked if you were busy. Now that you're saying it's a little busy, does that mean you're very busy?"

"Yes, I do have something that I'm handling at the moment."

"What is it? Do you need my help?"

"No, I can handle it."

"Does it have something to do with me?"

"You'll find out in a few days."

"A few days? Alright then, you're making it sound so mysterious."

At this moment, another voice came from the other end of the line.

It sounded like Secretary Bai. "Chief Wu, they're fighting back!"

Fighting back?

What fighting back?

What happened?

Zhang Ye was startled. "Old Wu, what's the matter?"

Wu Zeqing gently said: "It's nothing, I'll go and handle it. I have to hang up now. Oh yes, my parents asked you to eat with them when you're free, don't forget."

"OK, I won't."

The call ended.

Zhang Ye thought of all kinds of scenarios but could not figure out what she was trying to do. Old Wu was too high in the organization, so Zhang Ye could help her out with her problems. As an average person, he wouldn't understand these political matters. Therefore, he'd rather not think too much about it and just trust Old Wu to properly handle her own matters.

Wu Zeqing had never made him worry about her.

And neither would she need him to worry about her.

The door opened.

His parents probably heard him talking on the phone from outside.

His mother came into the room. "Yo, you're finally awake?"

Zhang Ye got off the bed and grabbed his belly. "I'm starving. Mom, can I have something to eat?"

"Of course, let me make something for you." His mother knew that he had been working really hard in recent days, so she didn't bicker with him and quickly went out to the kitchen to make lunch.

Then a call came.

It was from Hu Fei.

Zhang Ye answered in annoyance: "Brother Hu?"

Hu Fei said: "Director Zhang, it's time to work overtime!"

"…Are you doing that on purpose?"

"There's really overtime to put in. We've sold the exclusive online broadcast rights, but someone has been reporting the past few episodes that we've recorded. The authorities have notified us to rectify the previous six episodes with Xiaodong as the host. If we can't do that, we'll have to delete all of them. So please come back quickly. If we can't appeal it, you'll have to make up for six episodes of recording."

Zhang Ye's face darkened. "They're even attacking the online videos?"

"Yeah," Hu Fei said: "Central TV is too ruthless!"

Fuck!

Are they purposely causing trouble for us?

Zhang Ye immediately said: "I'll go back immediately! We definitely can't delete the videos. The exclusive online broadcast rights were sold for 10 million RMB, so how can we possibly let the online video hosting site take such a huge loss. If nothing else works, I'll rerecord them myself. Episode by episode, I'll edit and replace them all. Just wait for me to get back!"

"OK!" Hu Fei then stayed silent for a while before suddenly saying: "It's been hard on you."

Zhang Ye laughed bitterly. "Just serving the people."

He went out to the living room.

His mother had already started cooking.

Zhang Ye called out to her, "Mom."

His mother said, "The food will be ready soon."

"I'm won't be eating anymore. Something has cropped up at the office, so I have to go back immediately," Zhang Ye said.

His father frowned and said, "Go back after you've eaten."

But Zhang Ye was already putting on his clothes. "There's no time, it's really urgent. Oh right, I probably won't be coming home for the next two nights. There's too much to do, I'll be off now!"

Bang!

The door closed.

Their son disappeared from their sight.

His parents looked at each other as their hearts ached for their son.

Before their son became famous, they kept hoping that he could become famous and earn his own keep so that he would do well in life. When he really became a celebrity, they were truly happy for him, and for themselves too. As his parents, they would also look good and have something to be proud of. But as their son became busier and busier, even to the point of risking his life for his work when working two days and nights in a row became the norm, they suddenly felt quite bad. "I Feel So Drained" had touched them deeply. It was supposed to be a funny song, but when they heard it for the second or third time, their eyes reddened. No one knew what Zhang Ye was sacrificing so much for. Only his parents understood why!

He never cooked for them.

He rarely did the chores.

He hardly had any time to accompany his family.

He didn't even spend every day together with his fiancée.

Perhaps he had fallen short in his duty toward his parents, his girlfriend, his friends, and many others. But his parents both knew that their son has never fallen short in his duty toward the audience. He could skip sleep, work overtime every day, and get arrested and be placed in jail. He would do all kinds of things just to get a laugh from the audience!

This was who their son was.

Angering them at times!

Making them feel like giving him a beating at times!

Causing their hearts to ache for him at times!

But also, making them proud!

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Chapter 1253: Old Wu's big action!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

No one went home for the next two days.

Beijing Television was basically working around the clock to catch up on work.

Of course, it was mainly Zhang Ye who did the work, so the others were not that tired.

The first episode.

The third episode.

The fifth episode.

All the footage with Xiaodong as the host had to be edited out and replaced with Zhang Ye's hosting. As it was impossible to invite the audience again, nor get the singers to rerecord the episodes, the production work had become extremely complicated. They had to consider a lot of factors so that the edited footage would not look disjointed. If they could just cut all the parts where the guest-host appeared, that would have been easy to handle. Unfortunately, it couldn't be done this way. There were too many advertising lines and none of the guest-host lines could not be missing. All of these changes had to be managed by Zhang Ye, which made it an even more difficult task. They had to rerecord everything from the start, episode by episode.

"Let's do it one more time."

"Director Zhang, this is fine."

"No, the angle wasn't right."

"Then take a break first. We've been recording all night."

"There's not enough time; let's get this line over with."

"Director Zhang."

"Please rest!"

"There's no time for rest. I have to rehearse my song tonight. The arrangement is still not done."

"But you can't carry on like this."

"I was thoughtless about the host role and could have planned it much better. Besides, the people who reported us only did it to target me, which inadvertently affected the show as well. So I must accept this responsibility. Hur hur, enough, it's no big deal. It's not like I've never had a bigger workload than this in the past. Don't you guys know what kind of a constitution this bro has? I'll still be buzzing with energy even after working three days and three nights in a row!"

No one knew whether to laugh or cry.

You're still in the mood to crack jokes?

Didn't you say that you were drained?

And that you didn't want to put in overtime?

Bullshit! You're a workaholic through and through!

Even if we refuse to let you put in overtime, you'll still risk your life for work!

To his old colleagues at Beijing Television, Zhang Ye was an iron man. He wasn't like some bosses who would stay low as much as they could, or come in late and knock off early. Everyone on the program team knew that if as they met with any trouble, if the show met with any trouble, they would never have anything to worry about. Because as long as they looked up, Zhang Ye would definitely be standing there.

Let's carry on recording then.

Everyone got back to work and took the initiative in trying to get all of the tasks completed in the hopes that they could help share some of Zhang Ye's burden. As they worked, they were cussing their hearts out in their minds at Central TV Department 1! If it weren't for that bunch of people reporting their show and resorting to underhanded methods by privately using public services for personal gain, they wouldn't be in such a sorry state.

Online.

Many netizens also realized that something was wrong.

"Look!"

"Ah, I Am a Singer's online videos have been altered!"

"There are no longer any scenes with Xiaodong. She's been replaced by Zhang Ye."

"There are even two episodes that are unavailable? Hasn't the ban on those two episodes been lifted?"

"They've been reported again?"

"It's Central TV again?"

"Fuck! Are they finished yet?"

"I heard that someone from Korea has already been in contact regarding the copyright for I Am a Singer. I think they should be interested in buying the copyright, so this is a good chance for something locally produced to make an international splash! It's going to be a first in history! The Voice's copyright deal did not go through, because the American company that came to negotiate for it was thwarted by Central TV Department 1, who wanted to sell it off without Zhang Ye's knowledge. And now they're doing this? I beg of you, please! Can you people please leave I Am a Singer alone?"

"Isn't there anyone who can keep Central TV in check?"

"This is so infuriating!"

Quite a number of people were raging at this!

Even a clay figurine retains heat!

An hour and a half later, they finally finished rerecording all the lines.

Zhang Ye went to the bathroom to wash his face and freshen up. Luckily, he could still hold up since his physical stamina exceeded that of a normal person's. Then he took a deep breath and dried his hands before texting Wu Zeqing.

"Are you still busy?"

Old Wu replied very quickly: "Almost done."

"Just what is it?"

"Hur hur, you'll find out very soon."

"Let me know if there's anything I can help with."

"That's not necessary; we just need a bit of luck."

Zhang Ye had been pondering for the past two days about what was keeping Old Wu busy. No matter how much he thought about it, he could not guess what Old Wu was trying to do. But he knew that Wu Zeqing must have been busy fighting for him!

Was she going to find trouble with Central TV Department 1's executives?

Or was she going to pick on Sing!?

He couldn't figure it out. Old Wu was afraid that he would think too much about this, so she didn't reveal anything at all.

The matter was going to be resolved soon?

It just needed a little bit of luck?

I might not be able to help you in other ways, but luck?

Sure, I'll give you some of that!

Zhang Ye tucked his cell phone away without further ado and brought up his game ring's virtual interface. He activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) and an angelic halo appeared over his head. A bright, pulsating glow rippled outward!

-100,000!

-100,000!

His Reputation Points decreased rapidly!

But since it was to help Old Wu, he didn't feel the pinch at all!

Five minutes!

Ten minutes!

Twenty minutes!

Zhang Ye continued working and even went over to the station's management office for a while. When he was done there, he instinctively sensed that something was amiss. However, he could not put a finger on what was wrong.

Hu Fei was just approaching from the opposite direction.

Zhang Ye immediately asked, "Brother Hu, what's going on?"

Hu Fei was also confused. "I don't know either."

"It feels like something is amiss." Zhang Ye said, "Several of the station heads aren't around, and the only deputy station head I saw around was making seven or eight calls in his office. Even when he was speaking to me, his mind was elsewhere."

Hu Fei analyzed in a low voice, "I sense that something has happened, but it should not be about our station."

"Then where?" Zhang Ye said startled.

…

At this moment!

Astonishing news spread throughout the industry!

Central TV's Station Head had stepped down from his position at the station due to work reassignment orders and the incoming Station Head was going to be a deputy chief from the SARFT that they'd never heard of before.

Central TV was going through a leadership change!

There was an uproar in the industry!

The media was stunned!

"This is too sudden!"

"It's really too sudden!"

"Is the news from a trusted source?"

"It's already been verified. It's true!"

"Who has the power to do something like that?"

"Holy shit! Who has the power to touch Central TV's Station Head?"

The industry was in utter disbelief!

…

At Beijing Television.

Xiao Lu cried out, "Damn!"

Dafei went slack-jawed. "Wh-What is going on?"

Hou Ge was beyond surprised. "Who has the power to do that? Even the big brother of Central TV has been removed from his post? Because of what? Could it really just be a normal job reassignment?"

Hou Di said excitedly, "If it was just a normal reassignment, how could it have happened without any warning?"

Hu Fei said in shock, "No wonder I felt like something was going to happen! So something big did happen!"

…

Shanghai Television.

"This?"

"The higher-ups have begun infighting?"

"They definitely have!"

"Why though?"

"Who took the first shot?"

"Who knows!"

…

At Central TV.

A lot of people blanched!

Especially those from Central TV Department 1, they all looked as pale as ghosts!

"Why is this happening?"

"How did it turn out like this?"

"That's impossible!"

"Where's Director Jiang? Director Jiang must know what's going on!"

"Director Jiang is on leave."

"What about the other deputy directors?"

"They are all on leave!"

"Th-This is a huge problem!"

"It's a shakeup!"

"With the station going through a leadership change, there'll definitely be some reshuffling in the ranks. Let's just pray that everything will go fine for us!"

…

The media reports went out.

The reassignment was also quickly confirmed by the authorities.

On paper, this transfer looked like a normal reassignment. But anyone would know that it was not that simple. They could all smell the bloody infighting even if no one had the inside scoop, even if nobody knew exactly what had happened between the higher-ups.

On Weibo.

"Did they really replace him?"

"It's good that they did that. I hope that this will change the culture of Central TV."

"Yes. They shouldn't keep picking on Zhang Ye like this. Rather, isn't it better to think of ways to join hands to better the industry? If they could work together and go global, isn't that much better?"

"Was it because Sing! performed so badly that they decided to replace the Station Head?"

"Previous poster, you're too naive. Would such a small matter call for the removal of a Station Head?"

"Then what could have happened?"

"Let's not make wild guesses. It doesn't matter anyway."

This was a huge move!

Later, even the industry did not dare discuss this matter!

…

The truth?

The inner workings?

Perhaps only Zhang Ye knew exactly what had happened.

This fellow was also shocked by the outcome. He had thought that Old Wu would only look for trouble with Sing! After all, they did take his original copyright and made some slight modifications to it in the first place. Or she might have taken it up with Central TV Department 1, since they had also used non-professional hosts in their shows. Their double standard for the regulations was definitely something she could pick on. But never could Zhang Ye have expected that his expectations were too low. He had really underestimated Wu Zeqing and was too petty!

Old Wu did not go for Central TV Department 1!

Neither did she go for Sing!

Instead, Old Wu directly "asked" their leader to step aside!

Zhang Ye called her.

"Hello." Old Wu's voice was still as gentle as ever. He could not hear a trace of anything unusual in her voice.

But Zhang Ye's tone was one of amazement. "Are you alright?"

Old Wu laughed. "Me? What could happen to me?"

Zhang Ye said: "What were you doing? That was too risky!"

Old Wu said: "It wasn't risky. It was just a difference in our political views. My relationship with Old Yu has always been quite good. I've also talked with him on many occasions and know what he's like. He's just more conservative, a little stubborn, and always keeping an eye on what he's guarding. We've entered a new era, though, be it for the entertainment industry or for the TV stations. Being stubborn doesn't help with advancing things. The first time, it was about your copyright for The Voice. I didn't say anything about it at the time. Then, when they infringed on your copyright by modifying it, I did not say anything either. But I cannot allow them to carry on misbehaving for a third time. Therefore, this change was necessary. If he can't perform? If he doesn't want to help advance the industry? Then we'll change him out. We'll replace him with someone else who can bring us forward."

That was so well-put!

Just look at her consciousness!

Just look at her awareness of the issues!

Just look at what level she was on!

When Zhang Ye heard that, he actually got quite embarrassed. That was because he knew that he was also one of those people that Old Wu mentioned as not having any aspirations and would only guard their own interests. But it didn't matter. Even if his aspirations were low, it was fine as long as his fiancée's horizons were much broader than his!

Wu Zeqing said: "We were lucky this time. It just so happened that another deputy chief sided with me on this issue. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been that easy. Political struggles are always rather complicated. That was also why I didn't wish to inform you about it beforehand."

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "It's a good thing that you didn't tell me about it. Because even if you did, I wouldn't have understood."

Wu Zeqing smiled. "If you still wish to understand, I'll teach you step by step in the future."

"Aiyo, please don't." Zhang Ye quickly said: "I'm not meant to understand such things, hur hur. If this bro had any talent for politics, would I have offended so many people in the industry over the years? Heh, this is just how I am. My thinking has always been that of the ordinary folk. I can't change it."

Central TV was undergoing a leadership change!

There wouldn't be anyone finding trouble with him from now on!

Old Wu had fixed things from the front line, while Zhang Ye supported her with his "luck" from behind the scenes!

The cooperation between this couple was seamless!

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Chapter 1254: The eighth episode's knockout round! (First Half)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On this day.

At noon.

It was the day of eighth episode's recording.

At Old Wu's parents' house, Zhang Ye was playing Go with Wu Changhe in the courtyard after lunch.

"Uncle, hurry up and make your move."

"I'm still thinking, what are you rushing me for!"

"I have to attend my show's recording this afternoon. I barely squeezed out some time to come over for lunch."

"Alright, alright, I'll make my move here, a stretch."

"Then I'll play a push through over here."

"Hey, no, don't play it there!"

"Why would I not play it there?"

"You shouldn't make the move over here. Make a stand over here instead."

"Why would I play a stand there! That would make my group dead!"

"Are you gonna play a stand or not?"

"I'm not!"

"Then I won't play that move anymore!"

"Damn, you're trying to cheat!"

"Who's cheating? Ah? Who are you accusing of cheating?"

"Place it back down! You can't take back your moves!"

"Well, I'm taking it back, so what!"

The two men had only just started on the game, but they nearly came to blows!

Beside them watching, Li Qinqin didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These two grown men's tempers were really the worst when they came together.

In the end, it was still Wu Changhe who lost. He said angrily, "I wasn't in my best form today. I'll definitely slaughter you next time! Just you wait!"

Zhang Ye bade farewell and headed out of the house, saying in doubt, "I'll slaughter you twice!"

"I'll slaughter you thrice!"

"I'll slaughter you five times!"

"I'll slaughter you ten times!"

"I'll slaughter you fifteen times over!"

Li Qinqin sent Zhang Ye to the door and closed it after he stepped out. However, even after the two of them were out of each other's sight, they still shouted over the courtyard door. Now Li Qinqin did feel like laughing.

…

Later that afternoon.

At the recording studio of I Am a Singer.

When Zhang Ye arrived, Hou Ge and Dafei immediately came looking for him.

"Aiya, Director Zhang, where have you been?"

"We were all waiting for you."

"Surely you guys have to allow me to eat lunch, right?"

"Please have a look at this document."

"Alright, I got it."

"We're starting the recording at 2 PM?"

"Yes, there's no change to the time."

As the core leadership of the program team, and with all of the multiple roles that he was juggling, Zhang Ye couldn't even step away for a bit. Every little thing that went on in the program team would require his attention. He had only just come back from lunch but was busy immediately. Even his plan of taking a siesta was wrecked!

But the sense was that everyone was in a good mood today. With the leadership change at Central TV, the main culprit behind their torture was finally gone. There was going to be a reshuffle over there, so I Am a Singer's program team staff were all excited and motivated. They knew that no one would be picking on them in the near future.

Backstage, he bumped into Zhang Xia and Chen Guang.

"Zhang'er." Chen Guang waved.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Old Chen, how's the rehearsal going?"

Chen Guang said confidently, "Everything is great."

Zhang Xia asked, "Little Zhang, how's your preparation going?"

Xiaodong also came to join in on the fun. "Director Zhang, what will you be singing today?"

Zhang Ye blinked. "I finished rehearsing, but I'll keep the song a secret for now."

Chen Guang said warily, "Are you going to bring out your killer move? Looks like I had better perform to my best."

"Oh, come on. You're speaking like you haven't been putting your best foot forward the whole time." Zhang Ye chuckled.

Xiaodong giggled. "I've also prepared a good song for this episode. It's bound to give all of you a scare. Director Zhang, you had better be careful. Don't lose."

Zhang Ye said, "Sure."

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "I'm just looking forward to seeing what new song you'll come up with this time. I'll go and practice a little bit more, so I'll see all of you onstage? Good luck!"

"OK."

"See you onstage."

"Do well, everyone."

Soon after, recording began.

They picked lots first.

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Before we pick lots, I suggest that we welcome the new singer onto the show. Director Zhang came onto the show too suddenly last week, and everyone was unable to react. Director Zhang stayed onstage the entire time and didn't come to join us last week, so since we're all here now, let's give him an official welcome."

"Welcome, Director Zhang."

"Hahaha!"

"Welcome!"

"Director Zhang, please have mercy on us all."

Everyone was applauding to welcome him.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Alright, thank you, everyone. But save the plea for mercy. I was one of the lower ranked contestants on the last episode, so it'd be great if I don't get eliminated today."

Xiaodong threw a jab out. "However low you're ranked, would you be any lower than Amy?"

Amy replied, "…Sister Dong, can I hit you?"

Everyone laughed.

The lot picking segment began. There were cheers and cries.

Xiaodong had picked #1.

Chen Guang was #2.

Zhang Xia got #3.

As for Zhang Ye, his luck was pretty good. He managed to pick #7, which meant that he would be the last one to sing.

Today was the eighth episode, as well as the knockout round that took place every other episode. The singers might all look very relaxed as they joked and laughed, but it would be a lie if they claimed they weren't nervous. The ones who did well would have to maintain their momentum and try to aim a little higher to not disappoint the viewers. Meanwhile, those who didn't do so well the previous episode would have to give their all in order to stay in the competition. They would have to pull out all the stops with their performances, or they'd soon be bidding farewell to this largest and most popular stage in the country.

Everyone wanted to stay until the end!

Everyone wanted a chance to be part of the grand finals!

For this reason, every one of the singers would do their very best!

At the front of the house.

The studio was packed full.

"I'm really looking forward to it!"

"Let's get started quickly!"

"Gogogogo!"

"I really like Zhang Xia!"

"I super love Xiaodong and Amy!"

"I only like Zhang Ye!"

"Haha, I'm also looking forward to Zhang Ye's new song!"

"Is he really not going to sing the same song twice?"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye has never sung the same song onstage."

"With Sing! as good as dead, there's only I Am a Singer to look forward to now!"

"The viewership ratings peaked last week. It's the knockout round this week, and with Zhang Ye joining the show, it's definitely gonna go one step further. I wonder how it'll do."

"The song that Zhang Ye sang last episode was a real piece of work!"

"Hahahaha, but it was very nice to listen to!"

"He's definitely going to sing properly this time."

"Yeah, it's the knockout round, of course he has to do his best!"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye's ranking at the moment puts him in a dangerous spot."

"Teacher Zhang, we'll be cheering you on!"

Even before the singers came out, the audience was very excited about the show. Quite a lot of people were shouting the names of the singers they liked and cheering them on.

The lights converged to a spot on the stage.

Zhang Ye came out smiling, holding a microphone.

The applause burst through the roof!

Standing still, Zhang Ye looked at everyone as he articulated, "Hello, everyone. Welcome to the stage of I Am a Singer, brought to you exclusively by our title sponsor, the leader in health products, Brain Gold. I am the executive director, Zhang Ye. Oh, and the host. Oh, and also a participating singer—hai, let's not talk about that. If I say any more, I'm going to start crying."

The audience laughed.

Zhang Ye said, "Today is the knockout round, and one of our singers will soon exit this stage. That person could be either me, Teacher Amy, Teacher Zhao Wuliu, or Teacher Chen Guang. On this stage, anything is possible. So, as the new replacement singer looking to avoid elimination, I've decided to seek the advice of our highly experienced Teacher Amy on how she successfully avoids elimination every round."

Avoiding elimination?

Highly experienced?

The audience was cramping up in laughter!

Backstage, Amy nearly fainted!

Zhang Ye said solemnly, "Teacher Amy told me something that I thought was very beneficial."

What did she say?

What did Amy say?

The audience was dying to know.

Then Zhang Ye said, "To summarize what she said to me—" Suddenly, his expression changed as he took out a cue card and said, "Thank you to the leading health supplement brand, Brain Gold Company, for being the title sponsors of our show. Thank you to Hubei Pharmaceuticals' strong support for us. If you're going to use a computer tablet, use Lilai's eight-inch tablet with multi-core technology. Honey Sweet fruit juice, so sweet that you can feel it in your heart!"

Pfft!

Fuck you!

Was that it?

You're doing it again!

The audience doubled over in laughter while jeers rang out. "Yiiiii!"

That feeling and atmosphere made it seem like they were watching a crosstalk performance!

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "There, I've brought out those ads in the most inconspicuous of ways, so my job here is done. So then, shall we hand the stage over to our seven singers? Let's welcome the first singer."

Pfft!

Are you really inconspicuous?!

Chapter 1255: The eighth episode's knockout round! (Second Half)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

After the laughter died down, the audience got settled.

It was time for today's first singer to take the stage!

"It's Xiaodong!"

"Sister Dong will be performing first!"

"I'm so looking forward to it!"

"Go Xiaodong!"

When Xiaodong came out through the moon gate, applause rang out.

Xiaodong smiled and bowed to the audience. Then, she composed herself a little as she gripped the microphone. However, she found that her palms were all sweaty, so she forced herself to calm down. Then she turned to Music Director Bai Yuanfei and the rest of the band and nodded at them.

The music played.

Xiaodong's emotions poured into the song at once.

She sang lightly.

"My heart—

"is beating with her.

"In a—

"dream, I hold you close."

It turned out to be an English song!

It was a song that was rather niche with the audience but very popular and highly praised by those in the music industry. Almost everyone in the music industry knew this song—with the exception of Zhang Ye, since he wasn't originally from this world, so he naturally did not know that this song had won a grand prize overseas.

"How nice!"

"It's so touching!"

"She's singing her heart out!"

"I don't usually get to hear Sister Dong singing in English."

The audience responded very well to her performance.

The second to go on stage was Chen Guang.

The moment he opened his mouth and sang, the audience was taken aback again.

"I know,

"someday,

"that you'll be by—

"my side."

The audience was absolutely amazed!

"Wow!"

"This is so good!"

"Old Chen's vocals are great!"

"He's singing an English song too? How nice!"

"Old Chen's singing is amazing. Even if he's not the top singer in the music industry, he's definitely got to be one of the top three!"

"Old Chen is playing to our emotions with a sentimental song as well. I was so touched!"

The third singer made her appearance.

It was Grandma Zhang Xia.

She actually lined up a very old Japanese song for her performance today. This Japanese song was very well-known in their country, and many of the older generation knew how to sing it. But with some changes made to it by Zhang Xia, the arrangement of the song became completely different.

"Look up at the starry sky.

"As the spring breeze races through the fields."

The audience was transfixed by her singing.

Many of those in the audience who were above the age of 60 even teared up when they heard the melody of the song.

"This is so awesome!"

"Her singing is so good!"

"How eargasmic!"

Following that.

Amy was the fourth to come on. She chose to perform a Korean song that was the claim-to-fame song of a famous Korean girl group. It was a song that many people knew how to sing along to, and it was very popular all over Asia.

Then it was Huang Cheng's turn. He brought out an Italian classic!

Zhao Wuliu followed next and unexpectedly sang an English rock song!

The singers were all at their wits' end.

While Zhao Wuliu was performing, the singers who had finished were all sitting together backstage.

Zhang Xia said bitterly, "It's another foreign song?"

Xiaodong said in a speechless manner, "How could it be such a coincidence?"

Chen Guang sighed and said, "All of us thought of doing the same thing!"

The show was into its eighth episode now, so they had performed too many times on this stage. The audience was becoming familiar with their singing and understood them better. As such, their expectations slowly increased. It was possible that their singing was still as good as before, but the audience was longer surprised by it. So they would naturally find that their singing only sounded average. Having come so far, it was the deadliest factor for them. As a result, everyone thought of breaking the mold and sought to change things up by singing in a different style. But who could have thought that all of them would have the same idea and choose to sing a foreign language song on the same episode!

The audience was also somewhat startled.

At the beginning, everyone was quite pleasantly surprised. But that surprise turned to numbness. No matter how good the singing was, they couldn't stand to keep listening. If it was just one foreign song, then fine. But two songs? Four songs? Six songs? From the first singer to the sixth singer who performed on stage, they were all singing foreign songs? This made them weary, and some people could no longer appreciate the performances onstage. They were finding it tiresome.

"Man!"

"Really?"

"How did that happen?"

"Is performing a foreign song the theme for today?"

"How boring."

"Yeah, surely they can't just sing foreign songs today, right? What the hell is this?"

In the wings.

Zhang Ye found Hou Ge. He said with a frown, "What's with this?"

Hou Ge wiped his sweat away. "It wasn't supposed to be this way at the beginning. Later, three of the singers requested to change their songs at the last minute. There was no time by then, and since you said to give the singers the most freedom of control that they could have, the program team didn't want to influence the choice of their songs. As such, we didn't raise any objections and thought that it would be alright."

Zhang Ye said, "You call this alright?"

Hou Ge said, "It was my fault, blame me."

Dafei added, "We didn't thoroughly consider things."

"Next time there's a 'collision' of songs on such a big scale, you must inform me immediately." Zhang Ye was also negligent on his part as he did not check the song list for this episode.

They were all foreign songs?

How could that be acceptable!

In the end, I have to be the one to save the day again!

Do you guys think it's been easy for me in recent days?!

Onstage, Zhao Wuliu's performance came to an end.

The audience still applauded, but it was obvious that it was perfunctory. There was no enthusiasm and the applause was scattered and soft.

Zhang Ye went up onstage. "Thank you for the wonderful performance, Teacher Zhao. You're indeed a veteran of the music industry. You still sang as well as ever, so I believe that the pressure on the next singer will surely be enormous."

The next singer?

Isn't that you!

You're the only one who hasn't performed yet!

You aren't going to sing another foreign song too, are you?

Zhang Ye looked at the band and nodded to signal that he was ready.

The lights dimmed.

Zhang Ye took a deep breath and looked into the audience. His expression slowly became serious. Honestly speaking, he didn't really like the songs the other singers performed. English songs? Japanese songs? Korean songs? Italian songs? But there was not a single Chinese song? What is this? What is this development? This is a stage in China, a Chinese show! Do we not have our own stuff? Do we not have our own content?

Alright then, let me do it!

I'll plant this flag deep!

Let me tell all of you what it means to have a Chinese style!

Let me tell all of you what a song of the Chinese is!

Come on! I'll show every one of you the most authentic Chinese style song from my previous world!

Backstage.

The camera focused on Zhang Ye's expression.

Xiaodong was startled. "Zhang Ye has gotten serious!"

Zhang Xia also turned solemn. "He's getting real serious."

Amy gave a wry smile. "I think we're all in danger now."

At the front of the house.

The audience was also slightly taken aback!

"Everyone, look at Zhang Ye's expression!"

"He's angry!"

"Yeah, he's an ultra-nationalist to begin with!"

"What is he going to sing?"

"I'm really looking forward to hearing it!"

"Go Teacher Zhang! Show them what you can do!"

"Right, foreigners are scum!"

"Let's hear some music that we can call our own!"

"It's all on you, Teacher Zhang!"

Instantaneously, the audience's expectation overflowed. With the folk music accompaniment playing, they got even more excited. Some people were even prematurely feeling their emotions run high as they stood to their feet!

The air seemed to freeze!

The next moment, Zhang Ye elegantly brought the microphone close to his lips. A deep, faraway look appeared in his eyes. Without any warning, he sang 1 at the top of his voice.

"The vast horizon is my love!

"At the foot of rolling green hills flowers bloom!

"Whichever rhythm that is the most rocking!

"Whichever singing that is the most! Happy!"

Chen Guang was dumbfounded!

Zhang Xia was dumbfounded!

Xiaodong was dumbfounded!

Amy was dumbfounded!

Zhao Wuliu was dumbfounded!

The audience was also dumbfounded from listening!

However, Zhang Ye sang higher as he crescendoed.

"Winding rivers gush from the Heavens!

"Flowing into a sea of dazzling colors!

"The hottest folk songs are what we hope to find!"

"Singing as we travel is the most! Carefree!"

"If we sing, we want to sing to our! Hearts'! Content!"

Pfft!

Some people burst into laughter!

Everyone in the audience was floored!

The fuck! What kind of song is this?

Are you fucking doing that again?

Can you be more serious? Please!

…

The next day.

The show was broadcast.

"You are the most beautiful cloud in my sky!

"Let me do what it takes to have you stay!

"Have! You! Stay!

"Slowly singing in the hottest ethnic trend!

"Let love sweep away all of the dust!

"You are the most beautiful cloud in my heart!

"Filling a glass of fine wine to have you stay!

"Have! You! Stay!

"Forever singing in the hottest ethnic trend!

"Is the most beautiful gesture in the whole sky!"

Zhang Ye's singing and dancing were being showcased on television.

Countless viewers were dumbfounded for a moment by this scene before they burst into laughter. Some people were even laughing so hard they couldn't breathe!

The most rocking?

I'll rock your sister!

Have you stay?

Get lost!

Hurry up and leave!

"I'm kneeling!"

"Lord Zhang, you've really made me kneel to you!"

"Can you not be this funny?"

"Fuck! Where's my Chinese style? Was that it?"

"Aiyo, I'm dying of laughter!"

"Just look at Chen Guang, Zhang Xia, Xiaodong, and the others' expressions when they're on camera. Hahahaha, I can't take it anymore! Please allow me to laugh a little more!"

"They must've thought that Zhang Ye would sing some earth-shatteringly emotional song. Just look at the anticipation and wariness in their eyes. But it crumbled in an instant!"

"This song is awful!"

"But it's a very nice listen!"

"It's not only nice, it's too goddamn catchy!"

"I'm done for! I've been brainwashed by Zhang Ye!"

"Me too, my head is totally filled with this song!"

"No one can save this joker!"

"Hahahaha! Who'll put down that troll!"

With this episode's broadcast, Zhang Ye defeated all of the viewers, industry insiders, and singers!

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Chapter 1256: 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' sweeps the country!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

The entertainment sections of the newspapers were all reporting on I Am a Singer.

"I Am a Singer's viewership ratings hits a new high!"

"Viewership ratings of 3.49%—a legendary variety show!"

"Zhang Ye performs yet another divine tune live!"

"'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' tops the daily Top Chinese Music Chart!"

"Zhang Ye nearly gets eliminated!"

"Zhao Wuliu becomes the next eliminated singer!"

"Zhang Ye and Amy barely manage to stay in the competition!"

"Voting for Zhang Ye continues to be sluggish?"

"Zhang Ye ranked sixth in both the latest episode's knockout round and in the overall ranking over two episodes!"

"Experts are starting to doubt Zhang Ye's singing ability!"

Today, the country had been bombarded with news of I Am a Singer. Be it the topicality of discussions, or the viewership ratings, or on the music charts, they were number one in every aspect.

…

Back at home.

"The Hottest Ethnic Trend" was playing on a loop on the computer.

When Zhang Ye woke up, he opened the bedroom door and looked outside. "Who's playing the song?"

His mother looked back. "It's me, son. You're up already?"

"I got woken up by the noise you were making." Zhang Ye laughed bitterly. "I was so comfortable and dreaming that I was lying on soft and fluffy clouds until a crowd of aunties suddenly flew up there and started dancing. It scared me awake. So it was because you were playing 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend.'" To him, it was exactly this image he would think of whenever he heard this song.

His mother wondered, "Dancing? What are you talking about?"

Zhang Ye coughed and said, "Nothing."

Beside them, his dad said, "Your mom has listened to this song more than a dozen times since early in the morning."

"That's because I like it." His mother said excitedly, "This song is soooo good, son. That 'Exaggerated' or 'Wild Rose' that you sang before can't even compare to this one! This song of yours is really nice. In the future, you should sing more of such songs. It's exactly what I love to hear!"

Zhang Ye laughed, "Sure."

His father said in annoyance, "How is this good?"

"As if you know a thing." His mother stared at his father and said, "This song is really good and my son sings it very well too. People on the Internet are claiming that my son's singing has declined and that he's lost his touch at writing good songs. Ptui! What the hell do they know? This is what a good song is. Is mainstream art not considered art? No?"

But his father just said, "What are you singing next episode?"

"I haven't thought of it yet," Zhang Ye said.

His father said, "Why don't you start singing seriously?"

Zhang Ye laughed in response. "Dad, I'm already singing very seriously. Do you know how many days it took me to rehearse this song? I practiced it for three straight days and went through a dozen arrangements over a dozen rehearsals. It might sound simple when you're listening to it, but it isn't simple at all. Since I'm going onstage, every song that I sing must be sung properly. I would never hold back."

Did this song require any skill?

You even needed to practice it for three days?

And go through that many versions of the arrangement?

His father could not understand it, so he didn't say anything else.

Zhang Ye said, "I need to head over to the office today, so I won't be having lunch at home. I haven't been there in quite a few days."

His mother continued listening to the song. "Shoo, go then."

…

Jiaomen East.

A familiar tune was reverberating through the neighborhood.

Deng, deng deng deng deng, deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng.

Deng, deng deng deng deng, deng!

Zhang Ye was startled. He even had the sinking feeling that he somehow returned to his previous world!

A group of aunties were standing there twisting about.

They were even led by someone who shouted out instructions every now and then.

"This movement should be done like this."

"Auntie Zhou, raise your hands a little higher."

"Big Sis Chen, you're not letting yourself go. Your movements are too limited."

"Right, that's very good."

"Everyone, follow my lead."

"I'll be teaching the seventh step next."

Zhang Ye's jaw dropped!

Dammit! The song was only released yesterday!

But today there are already dance moves for it?

Isn't this too fast?

Zhang Ye suddenly had a bad feeling about this. Was the plaza (square) dance careers and industry of this world going to achieve prosperity and reach a peak because of him?

Upstairs.

In the studio.

Everyone was here today, so it became noisy in the office when Zhang Ye arrived.

"Director Zhang!"

"Ah, Director Zhang!"

"The boss has returned!"

"Hahaha, we've all heard your new song!"

"Awesome!"

"Amazing!"

Everyone was feeling extremely excited.

Zhang Ye asked, "Can you guys get any more exaggerated than this?"

"Oh, we can." The moment Ha Qiqi came up, she chuckled and said, "While we were watching the episode last night, we got rather worried when we heard your performance. It was a little…you know. You didn't get a good ranking either at sixth place, which meant you were second to last and barely survived the knockout round. But to our surprise, when the Celebrity Rankings Index got refreshed after midnight, your popularity score actually went up by a little. We were all stunned. At your current level, even gaining a little bit of popularity is a huge deal. Your 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' was several times more popular than your other popular songs like 'Exaggerated,' 'I Am What I Am,' 'Wild Rose,' 'I Really Love You,' amongst others. It was unbelievable!"

Zhang Zuo gave a wry smile. "Yeah, it was really frightening."

Wu Yi added, "All of us misjudged it!"

Little Wang said excitedly, "This song was amazingly good. With it, we've gained a surprisingly large number of middle-aged to senior citizen fans. This was something that had never happened in the past. Our influence in the middle-aged and senior citizens group has always been the poorest, but this song has totally made up for that and brought in a lot of new fans. It has increased the pie to a much larger size. This has an even better effect than increasing the cohesiveness of those long-time fans and will contribute greatly to the increasing of your popularity!"

Everyone knew how advantageous it was to expand one's fan base. If your fanbase started at 100 million, even if you were to convert all of them into diehard fans, there would still only be 100 million of them. But expanding one's fanbase was different. It could turn that 100 million fans into 200 million fans, or even 300 million fans. With the fanbase expanding, the increase in one's popularity would no longer be as simple as growing by severalfold. A celebrity's development space and potential would become much greater as a result!

Every celebrity and their teams knew this, but it was not something that most of them could achieve. A lot of people would not be able to go further once they reached a certain extent. For example, a singer like Chen Guang was already standing atop the music industry. Based on his fanbase numbers, his popularity had peaked, and it would be much harder for him to go any further. But Zhang Ye could do it. His fanbase was still expanding and extending. This time, he had extended his reach into the middle-aged and senior citizens group. This was undoubtedly inspiring and exciting news and proved that Zhang Ye's popularity could still grow much higher!

All of the studio staff were jumping for joy at this news!

This song's popularity had truly surprised them. And that spread of the other song, "I Feel So Drained," was also something they had not expected!

It had actually gotten that popular?

However, Zhang Ye was not surprised. It was because he knew how good this song was back in his previous world. Disregarding the song's depth and meaning, or even any other points, just its popularity and spread were things that practically no other song could match. Jay Chou? Andy Lau? Eason Chan? Whoever came its way would be left kneeling!

…

After handling some matters in the office, Zhang Ye left in a hurry again. There was still a load of work waiting for him at the television station. There was really no time for him to take a break.

Downstairs.

Zhang Ye took the elevator down.

When the elevator door opened, he bumped into Yang Shu and Chenchen.

Chenchen glanced at him and waved. "Hi, Zhang Ye."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You're so rude. You should be calling me Uncle Zhang."

Chenchen laughed, "Hur hur."

Yang Shu looked off. She only gave Zhang Ye one look and respectfully called him "Senior" before walking off without another word.

Zhang Ye said, "Junior Sis, recently how've you…"

However, Yang Shu had already walked up the stairs and did not seem to have heard him.

Zhang Ye was taken aback. He looked at Chenchen and asked, "What happened with your Auntie Yang?"

Chenchen pouted. "Old Yang is angry with you."

"Ah?" Zhang Ye was baffled and asked, "What is she angry at me for? I don't think I offended her?"

Chenchen didn't go up the stairs. She just strolled into the elevator. "How would I know about the things between you adults?"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "What does a little adult like you not know? Alright, I'll go upstairs and see how she's doing." He followed her back into the lift and went upstairs again. His junior martial sister had always been very polite and respectful to him. She would always listen to him about almost anything he said, so Zhang Ye was rather concerned now that she was blowing him off.

At Old Yang's apartment.

The door was unlocked and could be pushed open.

Zhang Ye went inside while blinking. "Little Yang, what's the matter?"

Yang Shu was wiping down the table and did not say anything.

"Who got on your nerves?" Zhang Ye intentionally put on a stern face. "Tell me and I'll go seek justice for you!"

Yang Shu finally looked up at him and said, "Senior Bro, can you not sing such songs anymore?"

Zhang Ye was taken aback. "Why not?"

Yang Shu didn't bother holding back the moment she decided to speak up. "If I may be disrespectful, Senior Bro, I have to criticize you! Since this morning, all the nearby neighborhoods have been taken over by 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend.' Those uncles and aunties who used to learn Taiji Fist from me have also started telling me that they don't wish to continue the lessons. All of them went to join the plaza dancing clubs instead! Our Taiji Fist group has suffered a great loss, Senior Bro! There are only the two of us left in our Taiji branch of martial arts. You are the current generation's senior brother and the leader who represents us, so how could you go and aid others! How am I going to teach Taiji now that there isn't anyone left!"

Ah?

Was that it?

Zhang Ye was floored. "I was wondering what the big deal was!"

Yang Shu scowled and said, "This is a huge deal!"

"Aiya, Little Yang, you must set your sights further than this." Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "You're a young lady, yet you always go out to the streets to give out pamphlets. What are you always eyeing those retired old men and women for? If they want to dance, let them dance. They're dancing to my tunes anyway, so that'll increase my popularity. When your senior bro gets to the S-list and takes the place of one of those seven spots, my influence will grow. At that time, we can start a Taiji Fist martial arts school to give lessons, or even set up a company to do it. At that time, would we still lack for people? At worst, I'll film a film or a TV series, alright? I'll use it to promote and spread Taiji Fist. At that time, will you still be afraid that people won't know about Taiji Fist? So don't be too anxious, just wait until I reach the top!"

"Ah, really?"

"Of course!"

"Senior Bro, you have such great vision!"

"That's of course. How else could I be your senior!"

After a little bullshitting, he finally placated Yang Shu.

…

On this day.

"The Hottest Ethnic Trend" swept the country!

However, no one could have realized that this was just the beginning!

No one could predict that in another few days, this song would actually reach a state of hysteria!

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Chapter 1257: The plaza dancing craze!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the same day.

In the afternoon.

At Beijing Television.

"Director Zhang, the advertisers are asking if you could add a few lines for them in your script."

"I can't do that, they're not the title sponsors."

"Director Zhang, this is the song list for this week."

"Is it confirmed?"

"This was submitted by the singers, so there could still be changes."

"Alright, I got it."

"Director Zhang…"

"Director Zhang…"

Bringing over a show from his previous world untouched was a very big advantage. This was because the show would have already gone through a market testing phase in his previous world. But there were also disadvantages. For example, like now, due to all of the show's tasking, planning, and content being totally controlled by Zhang Ye, he needed to guarantee that the show would be 100% done according to how he pictured it. As such, it required every small detail to get Zhang Ye's approval before it could be implemented. This no doubt increased his workload by a lot.

He had to run around resolving issues.

He was busy wherever he went.

Finally, even Zhang Ye himself could not take it anymore. He found a sofa and lay down. He did not even sit; he just laid totally flat, looking extremely fatigued. His eyes were closed and it looked like he had fallen asleep, but at the same time, he didn't look asleep. He looked like he was paralyzed.

Xiao Lu brought over a document to him. "Director…"

Just as she was about to wake him up, Hou Ge, who was standing close by, stopped her. "Shh."

"Huh?" Xiao Lu looked at Hou Ge.

Hou Ge gave a wry smile. "Let Director Zhang rest for a bit."

Xiao Lu nodded and looked at the sofa. She felt a little bad for him but also wanted to laugh. After some thought, she suddenly took out her cell phone and opened the camera. After focusing for a long time, kacha, she took a picture of him.

Afterwards, the picture spread within the program team.

"Hahaha!"

"Zhang Ye's posture is the best!"

"Too funny!"

"Let's post it on the Internet."

"Alright, let me check with Brother Hu if we should do that."

When Hu Fei saw the picture, he immediately said, "Post it! Post it using the show's official Weibo account! Let everyone see how hard our program team's people are working!"

Soon, I Am a Singer's official Weibo posted the picture, with a caption: "A scene from behind the scenes. You've worked hard, Director Zhang." It was supposed to be a simple interaction with fans as well as a publicity post to promote their show a little. But the people of Beijing Television could not have expected that this picture would actually turn the entertainment industry upside down!

It was shared like crazy!

The netizens were all getting a laugh out of it!

"Aiyo!"

"Look at how ugly Zhang Ye's posture is!"

"Hahahaha! I'm dying!"

"Just looked at how he's lying down! There's really no one else who can look like that!"

"It looks so terrible!"

"I can see how this fellow must be burnt out!"

"His body must be drained!"

Out of the blue, countless netizens gave this posture a name: the Zhang Ye Sprawl!

Everyone was having fun parodying this. They Photoshopped the picture with other pictures and posted them online. It had almost become a movement that everyone was taking part in. Later, quite a few celebrities from the entertainment circle even joined in!

Zhang Xia posted a picture of herself in the "Zhang Ye Sprawl"!

"Pfft!"

"Even Grandma Zhang has joined in!"

"Hahahaha, Liked!"

Chen Guang also posted one.

"Old Chen's posture is too ugly!"

"I'm cramping up from laughing!"

And Yao Jiancai.

"Old Yao, you had better stop it!"

"How is this the Zhang Ye Sprawl? It's more like a Coffin Sprawl! I can see at a glance that you're not far from being in one soon!"

Ning Lan.

Huo Dongfang.

And many other celebrities were all imitating Zhang Ye's sprawl and posting their selfies to join in the memeing. All of a sudden, the Zhang Ye Sprawl had gone viral across the country!

The person at the center of it was the last to find out.

When Zhang Ye saw his inelegant picture being spread like crazy all over the Internet, he was dumbfounded. He was exhausted in the afternoon and had no idea that his picture was taken. The gesticulations of Beijing locals were already more ungainly to begin with, so he just lay down in the most comfortable position he could get into. But who could have guessed that it would become a meme? There were this many memes of him? So many celebrities had come to join the fun as well? Whoa! Even Zhang Yuanqi posted one of herself?

The people on Weibo went crazy!

"Ah!"

"Even the Heavenly Queen is here?"

"Hahahaha!"

"I think the Heavenly Queen's 'Zhang Ye Sprawl' is much more elegant and beautiful!"

"Zhang Ye is on fire again!"

"How does he keep doing this!"

"Because he's a wonder!"

The Zhang Ye Sprawl?

Wasn't this the same as the Ge You Sprawl 1 ?!

Zhang Ye didn't know what to say anymore. Hai, whatever makes you guys happy, I guess.

The picture of him in utter exhaustion had gone viral and made it into the Weibo headlines and the headlines of the major entertainment news outlets. He had gone viral all over the country, to the point where even his popularity score had jumped by a bit. This was really something that could happen to no one but him!

Meanwhile.

The explosiveness of "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" had finally arrived!

This storm had come too suddenly and strongly. It could only be described as a state of hysteria!

…

In a neighborhood in Shanghai.

"The vast horizon is my love!"

"At the foot of rolling green hills flowers bloom!"

…

In a plaza in Shenzhen.

"Whichever rhythm…"

"…that is the most rocking!"

"Whichever singing is the most! Happy!"

…

Beijing.

"Singing as we travel is the most! Carefree!"

"If we sing, we want to sing to our! Hearts'! Content!"

…

Sweeping!

Spreading!

In just a few days!

The wave of the plaza dance hysteria had swept across the entire country!

Beijing fell!

Shanghai fell!

Shenzhen fell!

Nanjing fell!

Hangzhou fell!

And to what state did the hysteria reach?

It reached a point where if you stepped out into the neighborhood, you'd hear "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" playing, to the point where if you went out, you'd see groups of aunties dancing their plaza dance routines!

The industry was shocked!

The people were stunned!

This was a change that had dumbfounded everyone!

This was way too crazy!

Th-This was simply insane!

Overnight, China had been overtaken by a plaza dance song called "The Hottest Ethnic Trend"!

Weibo was turned upside down!

"Heavens!"

"They've all gone mad! Mad, I tell you!"

"The aunties have all emerged!"

"At 7 AM and 7 PM, they're always so punctual!"

"My home has fallen!"

"The neighborhood I live in has fallen too!"

"Zhang Ye, your sister! Just what have you done!"

"Zhang Ye, you cheat!"

"That guy has opened up a door to a new world for the aunties!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"This is causing such a huge public disturbance! I'm on the verge of tears! Zhang Ye, come out!"

"Teacher Zhang, come out!"

"I really want to give him a good beating!"

"Is there a spell in this song?"

"There must be! And it's definitely a fucking spell that only works on the aunties!"

"Oh my God! The aunties have all gone mad!"

The media was fighting to get their first reports out!

The people had already started heated discussions!

In the end, even experts and government leaders stepped in. This had obviously already turned into a societal matter. No one could have expected that a song could actually bring about such a crazy situation. This was really something that was very difficult to imagine since it was only a song, a song that Zhang Ye had casually sung onstage!

Why was this happening?

How did it become like this?

The happiest people were those aunties who were retired and had nothing to do at home. All of them were very excited and were even praising Zhang Ye. Plaza dancing had always existed, and it was a very popular activity in many places as well. But there were only signs of this activity happening. It wasn't commonplace yet, nor did it happen on such a wide scale. With the release of "The Hottest Ethnic Trend," it was as though a bomb's switch had been flicked and it went off so explosively that the entire situation got out of control!

Plaza dancing had finally been unified and become popular all over the country!

In the past, the aunties would often get into arguments over what songs they wanted to dance to. There had been ongoing battles over the types of songs they preferred, with the list including folk songs, modern songs, and classic songs. They had never been united before!

Should they dance to this?

Or that?

Some of the groups in the neighborhoods would even get into fights over the topic!

But now?

There was no need to fight anymore!

"The Hottest Ethnic Trend" had arrived!

Deng, deng deng deng deng!

Deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng!

Deng, deng deng deng deng, deng deng!

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Chapter 1258: You call this a love song?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

A few days later.

On the day of the ninth episode's recording.

The audience was joking and chatting as they entered the studio.

"The Zhang Ye Sprawl has gone viral."

"Yeah, everyone's imitating it now."

"And 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' is causing a stir around the country."

"Let's see what Zhang Ye will be singing today."

"Yeah, he's definitely going to sing a proper song today, right?"

"Right. If he doesn't do that, that fellow will definitely get eliminated this round."

"Yep, the ninth and tenth episodes are going to be the last qualifying rounds before the grand finals take place. When these two episodes are done, it'll be time for the revival round. It's almost coming to an end."

"Do you guys think that Zhang Ye will advance to the grand finals?"

"If he sings the way he has been, don't even think about it!"

"Actually, I don't think he isn't singing properly. He's actually performed quite well, but you have to take into account who he's up against. Who are all those people with him on this stage? Xiaodong is more popular than Zhang Ye in the Asian scene. And I don't even have to mention Zhang Xia and Chen Guang. Those two are both top singers, pros amongst pros. Even if Zhang Ye gives it his all, he probably can't beat them. He won't even be able to match their singing skills, so this is very normal."

"But he beat Fan Wenli during King of Masked Singers."

"That was because they were masked. Everyone had already guessed the identities of the other masked singers except for The Clown, which was the decisive factor of why he could win. People are curious creatures, after all. Besides, even if Fan Wenli's singing is good, she's still lacking when compared to Chen Guang and Grandma Zhang. Surely you guys agree with that too, right? Moreover, Zhang Ye only won because of the songs that he sang during the King of Masked Singers. All of those songs had very deep meanings and were written well in advance. The audience only voted for him because of the songs. But such good songs are getting harder to come by and more difficult to write these days. Even for Zhang Ye, it's impossible that he can churn out a good song every other day. It would already be ridiculously amazing if he could produce three to five classics per year. So I feel that he overdrew his quota during King of Masked Singers. Just look at 'I Feel So Drained' and 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend.' What kinds of lyrics are those? Even the melody of the songs are so simple. From that, you can get a sense that Zhang Ye's talent has been totally spent. Since he isn't willing to sing the songs that he's sung before, nor those of others, how can he perform well? However, that's also understandable."

"That makes sense."

"True, how can it be so easy to always write good songs?"

"That might not be. We'll see what he sings today."

"Right, we'll know how it goes after today."

"In any case, I'll listen to whatever Zhang Ye sings. I just like him!"

"Who cares if he's lost his touch? It's good enough as long as the song is nice!"

"He's written a song that's become popular all over the country, and you're saying that he's lost his touch? Are you kidding me? It's just that Zhang Ye isn't singing seriously!"

…

Backstage.

Recording had already begun.

The singers were all gathered at the lot picking place and were surrounded by the program team staff and cameras.

"Let's welcome the replacement singer to the show."

"Welcome!"

"Thank you, seniors."

"Who's going to pick first?"

"Not me!"

"How about Grandma Zhang?"

"Me? I'll wait a bit."

Nobody wanted to be the first to pick a lot, so everyone was laughing and joking. The replacement singer for this episode was a C-list celebrity who could also be considered a newcomer to the music industry. He had only debuted two years ago.

Zhang Xia laughed and said, "Amy survived last week's knockout round again."

Amy laughed out loud. "That's because I've been proclaimed as the undying goddess."

Xiaodong mocked, "Well, you're more like an ever-LAST-ing angel!"

Amy did not like hearing that. "Heehee, but I wasn't in last place the previous week."

"So you guys are talking about me now?" Zhang Ye said in amusement. Zhao Wuliu was in seventh place the previous episode and got eliminated from the competition as a result. Excluding him, it wasn't wrong to say that Zhang Ye's sixth place put him in last place.

Huang Cheng laughed and said, "It was a really close call for Director Zhang."

Zhang Ye smiled. "Yeah, I was hanging by a thread."

Everyone actually had very serious questions regarding Zhang Ye's songs choices for the past two episodes. However, they did not think it would be nice to bring it up. What could they say? How could they ask? Could they ask if he couldn't come up with good songs anymore? Ask if he had run out of inspiration? Or ask if his singing had deteriorated? And why he couldn't sing like he did in the past? There was just no way to ask something like that!

Chen Guang looked quite relaxed. "The difference was only a dozen-odd votes, so that was really close. If Director Zhang were eliminated, we would be left without a host."

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Guang. "What are you going to sing today, Little Chen?"

Chen Guang laughed. "Can I keep it a secret for now?"

Amy immediately said, "No, you have to say it now!"

Chen Guang gave it some thought. "I can only say that it's a rock song; I can't reveal the name yet."

Xiaodong blinked. "What about you, Grandma Zhang?"

"Me?" Zhang Xia said, "I'll be singing a love song."

Amy went on to ask Zhang Ye, "Director Zhang, what kind of song will you be singing today?"

Zhang Ye was taken aback but gave a surprising answer, "I'll be singing a love song too."

Everyone was stunned.

A love song?

He was finally going to show what he was capable of?

Truthfully, they hadn't really heard Zhang Ye sing love songs much even though that was his most powerful weapon of all. But whenever he did sing one, it would always be an earth-shattering performance. Like the duet he performed with Zhang Yuanqi, "Love of a Lifetime." It didn't sound like much when you listened to it for the first time, but it would slowly grow on you until you found it to be amazing. In fact, even a lot of industry insiders wrote great reviews of "Love of a Lifetime." They claimed that it was China's best love song this year with no other song coming close!

And today?

Zhang Ye was going to sing a love song again?

Was it going to be a new song too? Or would it be one of his old songs?

Originally, everyone was most concerned about Chen Guang and Zhang Xia's performances. Because these two singers were really strong, everyone wanted to defend against them by trying to find out in advance what they were going to sing so that they could prepare themselves. But when Zhang Ye mentioned that he was going to sing a love song, everyone was caught by surprise and started putting their guards up against him as well. One of the most important reasons for this was that the issue of Zhang Ye's wedding was really too attention-grabbing. Everyone was so curious about who his fiancée was since no one had seen her before. The paparazzi also couldn't find out anything about her, so it could be said that the entire country was still trying to figure out her identity. And to sing a love song at this time, was Zhang Ye going to dedicate it to his fiancée? Or perhaps reveal something about the course of their relationship? If that was the case, could you even imagine the stir that it would cause!

He might even be able to get first place because of it!

Zhang Ye smiled and went forward. "If no one is picking first, I'll go ahead."

He picked out a ball and unwrapped it.

Everyone looked down at it and was amused by what they saw!

"Hahaha!"

"Wow, Director Zhang."

"Seems like your luck isn't that great."

Zhang Ye did not know whether to laugh or cry. The number "1" was written on the ball. "OK, I'll be going onstage then."

The others also picked lots to determine their order of appearance.

Amy said, "I'll head back to the waiting room first. I can't miss out on listening to Director Zhang's love song."

Chen Guang said, "Let's go together."

Xiaodong gave a bitter laugh and said, "Director Zhang will surely be difficult to deal with today."

The tiger was finally baring its fangs, so what should they do?

…

In front.

The audience gave thunderous applause!

"Zhang Ye!"

"He came out!"

"It's starting!"

"I'm so looking forward to it!"

Zhang Ye stood onstage with a smile and said, "Welcome to this episode of I Am a Singer. For this episode, we will be welcoming a new replacement singer. Many of you are very concerned about who he is, and I've interviewed him backstage. He wanted me to pass a message to the audience…"

Before he could finish, the audience was already laughing like crazy!

"Yi!"

"He's at it again!"

"Only a fool would believe you now!"

"There's no need to pass the message, we're not going to listen!"

"Hahahaha!"

"We already know about your tricks and routine!"

Everyone hooted.

The staff in the studio also laughed. Everyone already knows about this approach of yours!

But Zhang Ye just blinked and said, "The replacement singer wanted me to tell the audience: He will try to sing to the best of his abilities."

The audience was taken aback.

Try to sing to the best of his abilities?

Only that?

Eh, why wasn't there any advertising lines this time?

It didn't seem right! What happened to your advertising routine?

While everyone was caught by surprise, Zhang Ye's next words floored everyone. "But his agent wanted me to tell the audience this—" He lowered his head and brought up the cue card. "Thank you to the leading health supplement brand, Brain Gold Company, for being the title sponsors of our show. Thank you to Hubei Pharmaceuticals' strong support for us. If you're going to use a computer tablet, use Lilai's eight-inch tablet with multi-core technology. Honey Sweet fruit juice, so sweet that you can feel it in your heart!"

The audience burst out laughing!

The singers backstage also erupted with laughter!

"Pfft!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"I should have known!"

"He's full of tricks!"

"Zhang Ye, that's enough!"

"When it comes to such tricks, I really have to give it to you!"

It had already been proven that Zhang Ye's tricks could never be predicted by them.

After some hilarity, the atmosphere in the studio was warmed up.

Zhang Ye said, "Next up will be the performances. First up, our first singer will be performing a rare love song. So let's hand the stage over to him."

The audience looked at him doubtfully.

A love song?

What about that?

What was so rare about singing a love song?

But a second later, the lights dimmed.

Zhang Ye did not leave the stage but stayed at center stage in silence. At this moment, the audience finally realized it. Zhang Ye was singing first? And he was going to sing a love song?

The audience burst into an uproar.

"Wow!"

"A love song?"

"This is gonna be good!"

"Is he going to dedicate this to his fiancée?"

"I'm looking forward to hearing it!"

"Zhang Ye is gonna use his ace in the hole!"

"I have a feeling that he'll be getting first place this episode!"

"He's finally going to sing properly!"

"If he sings 'Love of a Lifetime,' he can definitely get into the top three today!"

"It's finally not going to be some viral tune! Singing a love song is the correct choice!"

"Viral tune? How can he have that many viral tunes up his sleeves!"

It was all quiet onstage.

The audience was also quiet.

Zhang Ye slowly closed his eyes as the image of Wu Zeqing floated into his mind.

Backstage.

Zhang Xia watched intently.

Xiaodong had her eyes glued to the screen while she was getting her makeup touched up.

Amy was feeling very nervous and full of anticipation.

What kind of performance would Zhang Ye, who had bared his fangs, give? They were all very curious to find out!

Onstage, Zhang Ye opened his eyes. Under everyone's gaze, the music suddenly came on. A strong beat ripped through the stage in an instant!

The audience was shocked. They suddenly had a bad feeling about this!

This music?

This beat?

Surely not, right?

In the end, everyone lurched the moment Zhang Ye opened his mouth 1 !

"I planted a seed in the earth.

"And it finally bore fruit.

"Today is a glorious day.

"Plucked a star as a gift for you.

"Grabbed the moon as a gift for you.

"Making the sun rise every day for you.

"I turn into a candle and light myself to be a lamp for you.

"Give my everything to you as long as you are happy.

"Because of you, my tomorrows have become meaningful.

"Life may be short, but I'll love you forever—

"Stay! By! Your! Side!

"You are my-a small-a, small apple!

"However much I love you, it'll never be too much!

"Your small blushing face warms my heart!

"It lights my fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Zhang Xia: "…"

Huang Cheng: "…"

Chen Guang: "…"

Xiaodong: "…"

Amy: "…"

The audience: "…"

Your sister!

Is this a love song?

You call this a fucking love song?!

Teacher Zhang! How did I fall for your nonsense!

Get lost!

Get lost already!

Chapter 1259: The father of plaza dancing?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

The show was broadcast.

Countless people were sitting in nervously at their televisions to catch the latest episode of I Am a Singer. When they learned that Zhang Ye was going to sing a love song, their reactions were exactly like how the live audience had reacted yesterday. They were all full of anticipation and surprise as they wanted to know just what kind of new love song Zhang Ye would come up with. And then—there were no more thens!

It crumbled!

It had once again crumbled!

The moment Zhang Ye opened his mouth, people across the country were stunned!

The expressions on people's faces were as excited as you would expect.

It lights your fire? Fire? Fire? Fire? Fire? Fire?

I'll fucking set your house aflame! Flame! Flame! Flame! Flame! Flame!

Teacher Zhang, that's enough! Do you believe that I won't set your house aflame!

"Lmao!"

"What a joker!"

"Aiyo, I give in! I really have to take my hat off to him!"

"Why does he still have more of those songs?

"'Small Apple'?"

"This must be the fucking sequel to 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend,' right?"

"I want to go and give him a good beating, what do you guys think?"

"Me too!"

"Motherfucker, let's go together!"

"Does he think that the aunties do not have enough songs to dance to?"

"This had better not become yet another plaza dance tune in the making!"

"Surely not, right? The plaza dance scene has already been overtaken by 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend.'"

"Hopefully so, but I have a bad feeling about it!"

"It's impossible that this song can go viral. Zhang Ye has lost his touch."

"Yeah, that's what I think too. 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' only became that popular by a stroke of luck. It was pure fortune that drove its popularity. Another miracle like it isn't going to happen. Just look and you'll know. Zhang Ye's ranking on this episode of I Am a Singer was sixth place. He only managed a few more votes than the replacement singer, so it's quite possible that he'll be facing elimination soon. And with the reception of the song only being lukewarm, Zhang Ye has totally gotten it wrong this time."

"The key was that the rookie replacement singer did not do as well as he could have. He still isn't that popular yet. How else could such a terrible song like 'Small Apple' not be in last place!"

"Hahaha, I think it's a great song!"

"Yeah, it's really nice and catchy, but it's not suitable for a competition."

But some people were still extremely excited!

Like Zhang Ye's mother!

Like Chen Guang's mother!

Like Xiaodong's mother!

Like Zhang Yuanqi's mother!

The aunties were all astounded and felt like they had discovered a gem!

There were all kinds of analysis and reviews online. Some were critical, while others poked fun or laughed at it. The opinions were divided, but the general consensus from the majority of the people was that they did not feel optimistic about the chances of this song in the market.

But reality once again slapped everyone in the face!

On the very next day, the plaza dance moves for "Small Apple" were released!

…

Beijing.

In a certain neighborhood.

A couple was leaving the house in the morning to go to work. The moment they stepped out, they were shocked by the scene outside.

"You are my-a small-a, small apple!

"However much I love you, it'll never be too much!"

"No, that posture is wrong!"

"Follow me and repeat it!"

"One, two, three, four."

"Two, two, three, four."

…

Shanghai.

"Listen to the beat!"

"Yes, wave your hand, place it down, then wave your hand again!"

"Everyone, let's do it together!"

"It lights my fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!"

…

Tianjin.

In a certain town square.

On one side of it.

Deng, deng deng deng deng!

Deng deng deng deng deng deng deng deng!

On the other side was.

"Life may be short, but I'll love you forever—

"Stay! By! Your! Side!"

…

There were countless versions of the dance!

There was a Chenhua Neighborhood version!

There was a Shanghai version!

There was a Beijing Xicheng District version!

There was even a certain Shenzhen street version!

Every district's movements might differ slightly from each other, but the songs were the same. They were all playing "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" or "Small Apple." Further, the popularity of these two songs were practically on par with each other, with 50% of the plaza dancers dancing to either one of them!

Countless young men and women nearly broke down when they saw the sight before their eyes!

The media was dumbfounded!

The experts were stunned as well!

"Yet another viral song by Zhang Ye!"

"'Small Apple' stuns the people!"

"A new song for plaza dancing: 'Small Apple'!"

"'Small Apple' spreads across the country overnight!"

"If you didn't hear the song, 'Small Apple,' this morning when you opened your doors, you must definitely be living in the faraway suburbs. The cities have all been invaded by 'Small Apple'!"

"The suburbs have also been invaded this afternoon!"

"Yet another miracle!"

"The sudden rise of 'Small Apple'!"

"The 'Small Apple' craze! All the aunties go crazy!"

"China has entered the era of plaza dancing!"

"Plaza dancing to become a norm in the future!"

"Leaders of the local governments have expressed plans to support and promote a fitness dance for the elderly!"

"How did 'Small Apple' manage to go viral?"

"Mother of Heavenly Queen Zhang Yuanqi publicly declares: 'I like Zhang Ye's songs very much!'"

"An expert with the Center of Gerontology and Geriatrics expresses: Thank you, Zhang Ye, for contributing to the leisure activities of senior citizens!"

There was news all around!

It sent shockwaves all over the country!

A lot of people thought "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" had already spread out of control and that no other song would be able to surpass it, nor would such a miracle be replicated. But to their surprise, Zhang Ye, the bastard, had actually brought it to the next level. He had come up with a song that could match "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" in terms of its viralness—"Small Apple"! If the folk song before this could not prove anything, then with the appearance of "Small Apple," it was enough to officially declare this: China had truly entered the era of plaza dancing! No one could stop it!

But the person who started it remained very calm.

"The Hottest Ethnic Trend" had already gone viral!

So would it still be long before "Small Apple" caught up to it?

These two songs were considered the number one heroic couple of plaza dancing back in his previous world!

The only opponent of "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" was "Small Apple"!

"Small Apple" had only one opponent, which was also "The Hottest Ethnic Trend"!

Other than that, they had practically no rivals at all!

Zhang Ye, though, was at his wits' end. In the end, plaza dancing was still gloriously brought to life by this bro. Perhaps this was what you would call fate? I'm really not to blame for this. Everything was destined and this was a product of the societal development in this world. This bro was only acting as a catalyst for it.

…

On the same night.

Zhang Ye's name was actually brought up on Central TV's News Simulcast!

Ever since Zhang Ye got involved in a lawsuit with Central TV Department 1, Central TV no longer made any references to Zhang Ye's news. There was practically no mention of him on News Simulcast, and they would remain silent even if he made any major news. But today, News Simulcast was reporting about the topic of plaza dancing and the male and female news anchors actually read Zhang Ye's name aloud in front of the entire country's viewers. This was clearly a big change from before. Central TV had recently gone through a leadership change, and it seemed like the effects were widespread. Just this incident today was enough to see that. It looked like the newly appointed Central TV Station Head had nothing against Zhang Ye. They would report on any news that was trending without bias.

On News Simulcast.

There was an interview with a passerby.

But this interview resulted in making the entire country's people erupt with laughter!

The female reporter walked into the plaza dance community and raised her microphone to ask, "Auntie, what type of dance are you all dancing?"

The auntie answered with a smile, "We're plaza dancing!"

The female reporter asked, "And what is this song that everyone is dancing to?"

That auntie answered, "This is 'Small Apple.' 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' will be played afterwards. We're all dancing to these two songs over and over again."

Beside them, there were over a dozen aunties chattering.

A plump auntie said, "This song is especially good."

A grey-haired auntie said, "Yes, I fell in love with it the moment I heard it."

A skinny auntie said, "We're all retired and usually at home, but there's finally something for us to do now."

A 60-year-old auntie said, "Yeah, we sisters are really happy to be able to dance together."

An auntie wearing a colorful shirt said, "I was arguing almost every day with my husband when I was at home because I had nothing to do. But it has gotten so much better now. Every morning and evening, I can come out to take part in plaza dancing. I practically have no worries anymore!"

The female reporter asked, "Did any of the neighbors complain about any disturbances?"

The leading auntie of the group walked over. It was obvious she was the head of the group. She said, "There were some complaints, but we're not unreasonable people. When they say that we're being too loud and affecting their sleep, we turn down the volume and try not to affect them. But of course, there are also some fellow sisters in the neighborhoods who are pretty unreasonable and cause a nuisance to the people. That's why we would like to take the chance to remind everyone here. When we're entertaining ourselves, we have to be considerate of other people's feelings too. We cannot build our happiness upon others' misfortunes, am I right?"

The female reporter laughed and said, "Well said!"

The leading auntie proudly declared, "That's right. We're preparing to treat plaza dancing as a career and make it an industry that we can develop further."

An industry?

You can even make it into an industry?

The female reporter didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She said, "Any industry has to have a founder first. There's always an ancestral founder, so is there one for plaza dancing as well?"

That leading auntie was taken aback at that. Clearly, she had never considered this question before. Thus, she answered instinctively, "Of course there is. The father of plaza dancing is Zhang Ye!"

The interview ended right there.

This was an excerpt of the content on News Simulcast today!

The public was cramping up with laughter after watching this!

Coincidentally, Zhang Ye was also watching News Simulcast with his parents today. When he saw that interview, Zhang Ye very nearly fell on his butt!

Father?

Who the heck is your founder!

What the fuck has this got anything to do with me?!

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Chapter 1260: The founder imparts his moves!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Back at home.

His parents were also dumbfounded!

His mother turned to the side and asked, "Since when did you become the father of plaza dancing?"

Zhang Ye nearly vomited a mouthful of blood. "How would I know?"

His father: "…"

A phone call arrived at the next moment.

It was Yao Jiancai who called first.

The moment Zhang Ye answered it, he heard a guffaw from the other end.

"Hahahahaha!"

Zhang Ye was annoyed. "What is it, Old Yao?"

"Did you watch News Simulcast just now? Hahahaha! You're great, you're really great, kid! Aiyo, you're killing me. Let me laugh a little more!"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "You better not go overboard."

"I can't, this is really too funny!"

Soon after, another call came in.

It was from his university classmate, Yu Yingyi. "Hello, father of plaza dancing."

Zhang Ye was speechless. "Go away!"

Yu Yingyi laughed loudly. "Your popularity amongst the middle-aged and elderly women is skyrocketing. My mother even called me today to ask me to get an autograph from you. She said that the aunties in her neighborhood have become your diehard fans. Keep this in mind. When I'm a little less busy, I'll be looking for you, so don't forget to sign a few more autographs for me!"

Zhang Ye said in spite: "No, I'm not giving you any."

The calls kept coming one after another.

His old friends and old classmates were all calling to mock him.

But there was nothing that Zhang Ye could do about it. He was completely speechless. Plaza dancing had also gained notoriety back in his previous world and its reputation was really bad. Zhang Ye didn't mind joking around or singing a song or two for others, but if he had to get linked to the legacy of plaza dancing, this fellow would definitely try to get away as far from it as possible. This was not something that he wanted to get blamed for! But out of nowhere, someone bestowed the title of the founder upon him. This left Zhang Ye with no place to hide. He had really been wrongfully given this title!

Abracadabra!

Please let this matter blow over quickly!

Hopefully, no one will take this joke seriously!

…

However, the development of this matter went precisely the opposite of how Zhang Ye hoped it would turn out!

What was News Simulcast?

It was the show with the highest viewership ratings without counting the Spring Festival Gala. If the total viewership ratings were combined, no other shows would dare to claim that they were number one if News Simulcast said that they were number two. The Central TV Spring Festival Gala only happened once a year, but News Simulcast was broadcast every day. And it was even a mandatory broadcast that played on all the satellite channels across the country. Comparing viewership ratings? Comparing viewership numbers? Even I Am a Singer or King of Masked Singers would have to step aside. The gap was simply too wide!

That part of the interview spread like wildfire in the blink of an eye!

On Weibo, the netizens were all laughing like mad!

"Quickly go and watch News Simulcast!"

"The interview segment today was so lit! It was lit af!"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Aiyah, I can't take it anymore!"

"Founder?"

"I somehow got tickled by that!"

"That auntie is such a comedian!"

"Teacher Zhang has created a new industry! This is cause for a nationwide celebration!"

"Pfft, but thinking about it, those two songs of Zhang Ye's have indeed gloriously spread the name of plaza dancing. Even my mother who doesn't usually go out went out to dance, so just think of how great his influence is. Calling Zhang Ye the father of plaza dancing? I don't find anything wrong with that at all!"

"Teacher Zhang has gained yet another nickname!"

"A founder has to be offered joss sticks by future generations, right?"

"That's right. A hundred years from now, every neighborhood's plaza dance groups will have to offer three joss sticks to Zhang Ye's photograph to remember him before they start their dance routine."

"Rofl!"

"Hahaha, you guys, that's enough!"

"I really have to take my hat off to him. Why is it that when anything involves Zhang Ye, it always somehow becomes a joke of some sort. Just this morning, 'Small Apple' and 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' were playing below my place. I got woken up by it and was feeling quite angry about it, but when I saw that interview on News Simulcast, all my anger fucking disappeared. I laughed for such a long time at it. In all of showbiz, only Zhang Ye can make me feel that way!"

"He's the biggest joker in the entertainment industry, after all, so the people and issues surrounding him would naturally become funny as well. Perhaps this is what Zhang Ye's personal charm is. Based on looks, he can't compare with Huo Dongfang or the others. Comparing age, he isn't like those pretty boy celebs out there. About his physique, Jiang Hanwei could easily fling him several streets. But when it comes to being funny, even if all the other celebrities in the entertainment industry combined forces, they wouldn't be a match for him!"

"Congratulations to Zhang Ye on his promotion to the father of plaza dancing!"

"Congratulations to Teacher Zhang on becoming the spiritual leader of the aunties!"

"Where's the applause?"

"Tossing flowers!"

The netizens were all gloating and laughing like mad!

Just a simple news interview had firmly placed the label of "father of plaza dancing" onto Zhang Ye. Even the media was using this title for their headlines.

…

The next day.

In the morning.

When Zhang Ye got up, he could already hear his mother playing "Small Apple" on the computer. He couldn't help but get annoyed at that, so he pushed the door open and said, "Mom, can you please stop playing that?"

His mother smacked her lips. "Why?"

Zhang Ye said, "I get a headache whenever I hear that song."

"Did you get possessed?" His mother sneered.

Zhang Ye harrumphed. "In the future, don't ever mention plaza dancing to me again."

His father said, "But you're already looked upon as the founder by so many people."

"Whoa!" Zhang Ye reacted as though his tail had been stepped on. He said startled, "Just stop mentioning those words! Don't ever bring it up again! I've contracted a disease. If I hear those words, my entire body will start trembling. So don't ever mention them to my face again. Dad, Mom, I'm off to work now. Bye!"

But Zhang Ye could not have expected that the moment he got downstairs, he would immediately be surrounded by his neighbors!

"Little Ye!"

"You've finally come out!"

"We've been waiting for you for so long."

"Quick, give us some pointers."

"Yeah, everyone's moves are not uniform at all."

"What are the standard moves for 'Small Apple'?"

"Can you teach us the moves for 'The Hottest Ethnic Trend' as well?"

A group of aunties had completely surrounded Zhang Ye. There was no way out for him.

Standard moves?

Whoever said that there were any standard moves!

Zhang Ye said dumbfoundedly, "Auntie Liu, Auntie Sun, Grandma Zhou, what are you all talking about? How would I know how to plaza dance? I can't possibly teach you all anything."

Auntie Sun said with a straight face, "But you're the founder of this industry. If you don't teach us, who'll teach us?"

Auntie!

My dearest auntie!

Can you not bring up the fact of who the founder is?

Zhang Ye really did not want anything to do with this. He just wanted to get out of here.

But the group of aunties was not going to allow him to get past them. They all had their hands on their hips as they stared at him.

"Little Ye, Auntie really has to lecture you!"

"Little Ye, everyone is feeling so excited now. We're all so happy that we can come out every day to dance. It's a different world these days, with things like the Internet, cell phones, and computers. We don't know how to use any of them. We're just a group of middle-aged and elderly people with few leisure activities to keep us occupied. There's really too little that we can do. But now that plaza dancing has been popularized despite the difficulties, it has helped to enrich the lives of us old folk. This is great, and if the others don't wish to support it, then so be it. But you're the creator of it and our spiritual leader, so how can you not show your support?"

"That's right, Little Ye."

Who's your spiritual leader?

What spiritual leader!

Zhang Ye raised his hands in surrender. "It's not that I don't support it. I'm actually especially supportive of this cause. I even have both my hands up in support of it, but I'm only a small-time host and at most an amateur singer. What could I know about dancing!"

But nobody was having it.

"You've even flown a plane before!"

"And gotten the highest award in mathematics too!"

"You can play Go and even Xiang Rong is no match for you!"

"So what would you not know?"

They were all saying things.

Zhang Ye couldn't rebuke any of them!

His mother probably heard the ruckus from upstairs and came down looking cheerful too.

Zhang Ye really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. These were not just any people, they were all decades-old neighbors, and many of these aunties saw Zhang Ye grow up. Some of them had cooked for him, and some of them even brought him home from school when his parents couldn't. What kind of relationship was that? It was close to the point of being relatives! No matter how thick Zhang Ye's skin was, he couldn't just ignore these neighbors.

Finally, he gave in. "Alright, but I'll only teach it once for both songs. I still have a load of things to do at the TV station, so I have to get going as soon as possible."

"No problem!"

"We learn really fast!"

The aunties were in high spirits!

But Zhang Ye appeared despondent with a listless expression.

If he really didn't know how, then it wouldn't have been so bad. He could still come up with an excuse and push this off. But the problem was that Zhang Ye really knew the dance routine of the songs. In his previous world, the State General Administration of Sports had pushed out 20 standard plaza dance moves. Zhang Ye did not learn them, but that didn't stop him from seeing it almost every day, for months and even years. Just bringing up "The Hottest Ethnic Trend" and "Small Apple," he could remember the moves to these two songs even with his eyes closed. There wasn't even a need to use the Memory Search Capsules!

Search it from his memories?

Are you kidding?

This would be the greatest insult that you could give to the people living in his previous world!

The coaching began.

"For the first move, do it this way."

"Right, that's very good."

"The second move will be like this."

"No, that's not it, Auntie Sun."

"Auntie Zhang, that's really good. Everyone, please learn from Auntie Zhang."

"When it gets to this part of the song, you must all remember to turn around."

"Aiya, Auntie Zhou, you've gotten it wrong again."

"Auntie Chen, this move that you did was wrong. It's totally unlike what I taught you. Can you be please concentrate?"

"Yo, you all did pretty well this time. Auntie Chen and Auntie Zhou, you both deserve praise!"

"Dancing is the most beautiful activity in the world, so you must learn how to relax your movements. Yes, just imagine that you're surrounded by blue sky and are dancing within the fluffy, white clouds. Don't relax your standards just because this is plaza dancing. That would be the greatest mistake of all! You have to treat it like art. Who says that plaza dancing cannot be beautiful? The dance of the people is always the most beautiful! The efforts of the people, that's what art is! Right, this is it. Very good, everyone is doing quite well!"

His mother was learning as well.

Zhang Ye always took things very seriously. Coupled with the fact that he was also a university teacher, he lost track of time as he taught everyone the dance moves. An hour passed, but he was still teaching the steps for those two songs to everyone. Further, he was beginning to teach them in much greater detail, and he was even giving everyone a lot of attention. For some of the moves, when some people just could not get them right no matter how they tried, he would give them a hard stare. He turned into a professional dance teacher!

Time went by very quickly.

They finally finished learning the moves for the two songs.

The aunties were all celebrating.

"It's awesome!"

"I still prefer the moves that Little Ye taught us!"

"That's right, they're logical and look good as well!"

"He's very professional!"

"That's true. Our Little Ye is the father of plaza dancing, after all!"

All of a sudden, Zhang Ye had a realization. He got stunned for several seconds before he looked up into the sky and nearly burst into tears!

Oh my God!

What the fuck am I doing!

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