Chapter 849: Zhang Ye's Talk at Media College!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

There were rumors on the internet.

WeiboGossip#5: "Zhang Ye makes a huge commotion at Hebei Television".

"—Someone has exposed that Zhang Ye brought some people with him to Hebei Television's Beijing Production Department yesterday and made a commotion there. It sent their entire workplace into chaos with many involved in the conflict and even leading to an investigation on a head of a department. The trigger for this case is still unknown, with questions posed to those working at the facility not being answered as they stay tight-lipped on the matter."

This piece of news did not attract too much attention.

First off, compared to Zhang Ye's previous incidents, this was just a small thing that would not register a blip on most people's radar. It was not a headline that was as attractive as a documentary helmed by him that had swept the entire country's viewership ratings. Secondly, this news was also unconfirmed and served more as a rumor. Even the mainstream media did not report on this news, with only that Weibo account's revelations the source of it. Therefore, the veracity of this news was taken with a pinch of salt.

However, there were still some people who paid attention to it.

"Teacher Zhang has stirred up trouble again?"

"I wonder if it is real or not."

"I think it should be real. A guy like Zhang Ye is really capable of doing such a thing!"

"I guess it must be someone who has provoked him again. Don't we all know what Zhang Ye is like by now? He has always done things according to his own set of rules. It's impossible that he would go and cause a commotion at another television station for no reason!"

"I also trust Teacher Zhang's character. I like him so much!"

"Previous poster, does Zhang Ye have any character at all?"

Suddenly, a few industry insiders also voiced their opinions!

For some reason, an old host who had already retired suddenly made a comment: "It seems like there's no bottom line for young people these days. How can there be so many people supporting someone like Zhang Ye? He can even be proclaimed as an 'artist' by his bunch of braindead fans? Since when has the title of artist gone for so cheap? Since when did the Golden Microphone Awards give out their trophies so casually? A person like that can get the highest honor in the television hosting industry? He can get the highest honor in the academic awards too? And even win two of the highest awards for two television shows? What a joke! Are the judges these days treating awards like a child's game? Are the common folk all idiots these days?"

Some of the netizens were having none of it.

"Fuck, what the heck are you saying!"

"Who's the braindead one?"

"Does that mean only you can be an artist? What kind of works have you produced in the first place?"

"I've watched the shows you hosted. It was all just lousy entertainment to satisfy yourself. Who the hell would bother watching it!"

"If you think someone is good, you say that he is an artist, but if you don't like them, they're not an artist? What kind of logic is that? Based on what do you think you can control what us commoners like? I just fucking want to like Zhang Ye! I just fucking think that Zhang Ye is an artist! Can you do anything about me?"

When this old host gave his criticism, a lot of people jumped out to critique Zhang Ye as well!

Crosstalk comedian Tang Dazhang's Weibo: "I will never ever admit that a person like Zhang Ye is an artist. He's too vulgar and undisciplined!"

Someone from a television station: "I've been wanting to say this for a long time, but I also think that it's just the common folk who are supporting him and find him to be good. But if you were to ask any industry insider, which one of them would admit that he's an artist? He can fool the people, but the true measure of an artist is still set by the industry insiders. Only an industry peer would know whether a person is truly qualified to be called an artist or not, so what would a layman know?"

The attacks on Zhang Ye were trickling in!

...

Later that morning.

Zhang Ye also saw those comments, but did not even bother with them. He was already used to having peers scold him every other day. It might even get uncomfortable if there wasn't any criticism. After he finished breakfast, he put on a down jacket and sent Chenchen to school before heading to Media College.

At the university.

The moment he arrived, Su Hongyan found him.

"Little Zhang."

"Ai, Teacher Su."

"There will be a broadcasting lecture later. Since you've just been employed by the school, I think it's appropriate for you to make an appearance. The school has already discussed it. They won't wait for next year to present you to everyone, so it'll be done today instead! It'll be a chance for you to greet everyone and officially meet them for the first time. Are you fine with that?"

"Yep."

"Great."

"What time?"

"9 AM? We'll set aside 10 minutes for you to give a talk."

"Sure."

When Teacher Xue who was right next them heard this, she came up to them smiling. "It's the first talk by Professor Zhang. I should go and listen in too"

Su Hongyan chuckled, "Whoever's free, let's all go together. It's also a show of support for Little Zhang."

A female teacher agreed, "Sure."

An associate professor also agreed, "Count me in."

There was also a broadcasting teacher who said, "I heard that when Teacher Zhang gave his lectures at Peking University, no one ever skipped a class of his. In fact, in every class he gave, there weren't even enough seats since students from other faculties would come and crash the class. It's obvious that Teacher Zhang is very good at teaching, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Zhang Ye replied humbly, "It's only a meeting session with the students. Please don't flatter me like that."

...

Very quickly, news of the talk spread to everyone!

"Teacher Zhang is giving a talk today!"

"It's at the lecture hall, do you want to go?"

"Of course we have to go! I'm a braindead fan of his!

"I'm going too! It's such a rare opportunity!"

"Why are you guys still talking about it? Hurry up and go to the lecture hall to reserve your seats! But I doubt there're any seats left anyways. The students from the School of Directing and School of Acting are going too!"

"Ah? Then we better hurry up!"

The students quickly ran over upon hearing the news. From freshmen to sophomores, even the upperclassmen. All of them went to attend the talk!

Media College.

Lecture Hall 1.

When Zhang Ye, Su Hongyan, Teacher Xue, and the rest of the others arrived, they were all startled by what they saw. The first thing they felt when they reached the hall was that it was way too active here. There were crowds of people gathered at the lecture hall entrance as they formed lines and tried to get in!

"Stop pushing!"

"Dammit, is there no more space?"

"School of Acting majors! What are you guys doing here!"

"Teacher Zhang has acted in movies before. Can't we come and get some pointers?"

"Wah! Zhang Ye is here!"

"It's Zhang Ye!"

"Look, quick!"

"Aiyo, I finally got to see him in real life!"

"How handsome!"

Some of Media College's female students even screamed due to their excitement!

For a B-list celebrity to have this sort of charm was no surprise at all.

When a number of teachers saw this, they knew that the talk would be canceled if it went on like this, so they quickly went up to maintain the order. After ten minutes, they managed to control the situation and got everyone settled inside the lecture hall. At this moment, the entire lecture hall was filled with people, in the aisles and even in the hallways outside it.

Su Hongyan, Teacher Xue, and a few other staff members from the School of Broadcasting did not want to take the seats from the students, so they just stood around near the doors.

The head of Media College's Academic Affairs was here.

The dean of the School of Broadcasting was here.

Finally, a vice president of Media College also entered the lecture hall with a smile.

Clearly, the school's authority had placed a significant importance on this first talk that Zhang Ye was going to give after his appointment. The most important reason they had for inviting Zhang Ye to join was exactly because they knew he had the capability and charisma to attract people. Staff from the school's Office of Public Affairs also came along, carrying their camcorders into the hall.

At this moment, Su Hongyan went up on stage and held a microphone to announce, "Students, please quiet down. Let us now invite Associate Professor Zhang Ye up on stage."

Zhang Ye walked onto the stage and took the microphone from her. "Thank you, Teacher Su."

Su Hongyan smiled and went back down. Although Zhang Ye's talk was arranged on short notice, she never worried that Zhang Ye would not be able to do well.

Clearing his throat, Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Hello, students."

This was immediately followed by a round of enthusiastic applause.

Zhang Ye said, "I'm very honored to be standing here today and even more honored to be here as a teacher of Media College. Everyone should know that I was also a student of Media College a few years back. Therefore, being able to take an appointment here—or to say it better, being able to come back here—feels like a homecoming. Even though I've been working for the past two years, I feel as though I have never really left this place. This is where I belong and I will never be able to leave it in my entire lifetime."

The students applauded again!

When Su Hongyan and some of the other teachers and administrators heard this, they also nodded and clapped.

Zhang Ye continued, "I only came here to have an official face-to-face meeting with everyone, but I did not expect it to be so grand. I feel really flattered by this. I believe everyone already knows that I will be a teacher at the School of Broadcasting starting today. You may address me as Teacher Zhang, Zhang Ye, or even Senior Zhang. We're all family, so there's no need to be overly courteous with me. I'm not rigid about things like that."

In the audience.

A student heckler shouted, "Can we call you Old Zhang then?"

Zhang Ye replied, "Sure you can."

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Ye looked at his watch and said, "We have six, seven minutes left, and I've said all that I needed to. Why don't we have a Q&A session for the rest of the time. What does everyone want to know about? You may ask anything about the classes or even the arts. Since it's our first meeting today, I'll be more casual about it."

When they heard that, more than a dozen people immediately raised their hands. There was even someone who stood up to raise their hand while jumping up and down!

Zhang Ye just randomly pointed to the person who raised their hand the highest. "That student in the tenth row, furthest to the left. Yes, you."

That person said excitedly, "Hello, Senior. What classes will you be teaching us in the future? Will you be around every day? Can we look for you at any time if we have problems?

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I've been brooding over it every day, but the classes will definitely be related to broadcasting. If there's a chance, I'll give my email address to everyone to submit their questions to. I'll try to reply to them one by one if I have the time to do so."

Countless hands shot up again after that.

Zhang Ye picked another person. "You, please."

It was a third-year student. "Professor Zhang, I'm from the School of Directing. Will you only be teaching at the School of Broadcasting? Will you be teaching any directing courses? Almost every one of us have watched The Voice and A Bite of China and we would really like to learn from you, so I'd like to know if there'll be a chance to do that."

Zhang Ye looked into the audience. "This would have to depend on the administrators' approval. I haven't received any news about this yet, but if there's a chance to do so, I would love to share my experiences with everyone."

One by one, they asked questions.

The atmosphere was really good, but time was almost up.

So Zhang Ye said, "Let's have the last question then. Let me see, OK, how about this student here?"

He pointed at a girl.

That girl pushed up her glasses and hurriedly asked, "Teacher Zhang, I saw on Weibo this morning that quite a few industry veterans were criticizing you. They claim that you were not qualified to be called an artist and that you've strayed off the artistic path. I'd like to know: What do you think being an artist should be about? If someone with your sorts of results and contributions still doesn't make you an artist, then what would? When we all graduate, which path should we take? And how should we proceed? What if we keep getting ignored by the industry insiders, then what?"

Zhang Ye looked at her. "That's a rather deep question."

Everyone perked up their ears to listen. They also wanted to know how Zhang Ye would answer this sensitive question.

Thinking for a bit, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered those words that Guo Degang from his previous world had said. He laughed as he recited, "Then I'll use the simplest of ways to answer you. Actually, what is an artist? Whoever lives the longest is an artist! In a group of 100 peers, if they all scold and curse at you, then all you have to do is to outlive the 99 of them and you will be the artist! When Tomb Sweeping Day comes around, you can stand at their graves and sing them a song of sayonara!"

This explanation of being an artist by Zhang Ye dumbfounded the hundreds of students in the audience!

Scolding and cursing?

Whoever lives the longest?

Outlive the 99 of them?

Stand at their graves during Tomb Sweeping Day?

And sing a song of sayonara?

"Pfft!" One of the students started to burst out laughing!

Then followed by a second, a third, and a tenth!

"Hahahaha!"

"Aiyo, Teacher Zhang is so sarcastic!"

One of the teachers nearly fainted on the spot!

Su Hongyan facepalmed!

Teacher Xue: "..."

Media College's head of Academic Affairs: "..."

Media College's vice president: "..."

These words sounded really powerful, yet simultaneously also felt very wicked!

Weren't you just speaking seriously a while ago? Why did it take just a few lines for you show your true colors!

Many of the Media College teachers and administrators didn't know whether to laugh or cry when they heard this. They suddenly started worrying if inviting this guy here to be a teacher was really going to be fine.

Just how many people would he offend on behalf of Media College!

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Chapter 850: Invitation to the Spring Festival Gala?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the same day, Zhang Ye's talk at Media College was uploaded!

The official website of Media College also posted a video clip of the talk. It was a way of promotion for the school, especially in this time when the entrance exam was being held. It was a big boost to them that Zhang Ye had chosen to join their institution, but of course, the last question that Zhang Ye had answered was edited out by the Office of Public Affairs as it should not be made public at all. But with so many students and teachers attending the talk earlier, there would surely be someone who recorded it with their phones. This incident was definitely not something that could be covered up.

Captioned version.

Full version.

Graphical presentation version.

They all appeared like mushrooms sprouting after the rain!

"Then I will use the simplest of ways to answer you. Actually, what is an artist? Whoever lives the longest is an artist! In a group of 100 peers, if they all scold and curse at you, then all you have to do is to outlive the 99 of them and you would be the artist! When Tomb Sweeping Day comes around, you can stand at their graves and sing them a song of sayonara!"

The views on these videos were exponentially rising!

A lot of netizens were having such a good laugh at it!

"No wonder he's in crosstalk!"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye's mouth is hilariously sarcastic!"

"Sayonara? Aiyo, I died from laughter!"

"This sort of scolding has totally moved to a new level!"

"That line will become a classic. It's something that only Zhang Ye could come up with!"

"This interpretation of what makes an artist is super cool!"

"Hahahaha! This terrible nature of Zhang Ye is what I like most about him!"

Answering to the verbal criticism of him by a bunch of older veteran industry insiders and peers, Zhang Ye had come up with this response to them. You guys said that he would never, ever be qualified enough to be an artist? But being young, he would almost definitely outlive all of you. When you're all dead and unmoving, none of you will be able to criticize him anymore. At that time, wouldn't he then become an artist? Who could still doubt and criticize him then? At that time, he could just sing whatever he liked in front of any one of your graves!

You can bully the old but not the young!

Zhang Ye used the most wicked of ways to beautifully epitomize those words!

To a lot of Zhang Ye's own fans, this was a justifiable retort and a reasonable counterattack. But to those who had criticized him earlier, this was undoubtedly a provocation and disrespect for the veterans!

All of a sudden, another large wave of scolding battles started again!

All at once, the industry voices were calling out and denouncing Zhang Ye one after another!

"Insolence! How extremely insolent!"

"Strip him of his Golden Microphone Award!"

"He's totally disrespecting all of the industry veterans!"

...

In the blink of an eye.

It was already New Year's Day.

The new year had begun with a wave of scolding aimed at Zhang Ye, but on this same day, Zhang Ye had advanced yet another spot in the B-list Celebrity Rankings!

His position had risen again!

After winning a few of the highest awards, and with A Bite of China's continued popularity in the broadcasts, Zhang Ye's award acceptance speeches and his talk at Media College both helped to push his popularity higher. This was a period of time where Zhang Ye was experiencing a major rise in his popularity with the continuous coverage of him and his news through shows, TV, the news, Internet, and many other outlets, all of which contributed to a stacking effect toward his popularity score. At this moment in time, nobody and no criticisms could stop the continued rise of Zhang Ye's popularity. Even if he did not do anything else and just laid around at home, his popularity would still continue to increase by the day!

From morning, Zhang Ye was kept busy with answering calls.

From an old colleague: "Teacher Zhang, happy New Year."

"Thank you."

It's been a while. We should catch up over lunch someday."

"Sure, let's contact each other again about this. We can either eat at home or out, anything's fine."

Then, a call from Ha Qiqi. "Director Zhang, have a wonderful New Year."

"Happy New Year to you, Sister Ha."

"What are you busy with?"

"Hai, I'm just sitting at home. I haven't been up to anything for the past two days except for going online and scolding people."

"You're still arguing with them? Wasn't that incident from a few days ago?"

"They keep pestering me with their scolding, but since I'm bored with nothing to do at home, why should I just do nothing about it? So I scolded them back. It's good practice, anyway, for a better year at work."

"Damn, I really give it to you. You're such a 'warrior.'"

"Ah? Am I?"

"Of course. You always get spirited whenever it comes to scolding people."

Next was a call from his other assistant director, Zhang Zuo. "Director Zhang, happy New Year to you and your family."

"And the same to you. What are you doing? Are at home making your dinner meal?"

"Of course not, I'm at the office clocking overtime today."

"Oh? Didn't I give everyone a break? And it's January 1st today too, so there shouldn't be any overtime?"

"It's because there isn't enough manpower for the Spring Festival Gala, so a lot of departments sent their people over to help out. It was actually Old Ha who was supposed to go, but I saw that she was a little tired lately, so I volunteered in her stead. There's still over a month to go, but the rehearsals for the Spring Festival Gala has already started. There's so many things going on around, so it's kinda busy here."

"Who's the director this year?"

"The director is Xiao Hu, same as last year."

"What about Central TV Department 1's Xu Yipeng? Didn't they say that he had a high chance of becoming the director for this year's gala?"

"He's still the assistant director but his is a hopeless case now. Don't you know yet? Rise to the Dance's recent viewership ratings have dropped below 1%. The show's popularity keeps falling and it's proven that even if Central TV tries to push him up, he still doesn't have your ability. Oh yeah, Chen Ye is still the Spring Festival Gala host this year. The host positions have now maintained status quo for the past three gala events already and still have not been refreshed. But there's been a change to the director for the language performances segment. I guess they're looking to make some changes to the show's presentation since I've heard the new director was asking around to see if he could invite you and Teacher Yao Jiancai to perform a crosstalk. But his suggestion was immediately shot down by someone in the management when he suggested that. The rumors are that if it were only Yao Jiancai, it would be fine, but anything that was broadcast live must not have you in it. Hmph, no wonder the Spring Festival Gala is getting worse and worse by the year. If they continue on this way, there won't be any viewers left at all!"

Listening to Zhang Zuo ramble on for the longest time, Zhang Ye finally got a much better understanding about the situation concerning this year's Central TV Spring Festival Gala. Actually, he already knew that he had no chance of appearing on this year's Spring Festival Gala. Since he had taken Central TV to court and fell out with Central TV Department 1, what chances would he still have? He was long since prepared for this, so he did not concern himself much with the ongoings for the event. Now that he heard the update from Zhang Zuo, it seemed like this year's Spring Festival Gala would be rather vibrant too.

After hanging up, Zhang Ye also made a few calls himself.

He gave a call to Hu Fei.

He gave a call to Yan Tianfei.

He also made some calls to his old bosses to offer them his New Year greetings.

Later in the afternoon, his relatives started arriving.

Zhang Ye went out to welcome them. "Yo, First Uncle, First Aunt, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, Third Aunt."

His first uncle laughed and said, "Little Ye, whoa, you became even more handsome!"

Zhang Ye said with a laugh, "Not bad, right?"

"Brother!" His three sisters rushed into the house altogether. They had all rented a car together and were helping their grandma and grandpa over.

Zhang Ye waved at them. "Everyone has arrived?" Then he quickly went forward to greet his grandparents. "Grandma, Grandpa."

Their family's youngest generation only had one boy, and now that he had grown up to become such a superstar, Zhang Ye's maternal grandma was very happy to see him. "Ai, Little Ye, come quickly and let Grandma have a look at you!"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Look all you like, Grandma."

His grandma held onto Zhang Ye and did not let him go as she kept talking to him.

His mother said, "We already said that we would go over to your place instead since it's so inconvenient for you two to come so far. Isn't it troublesome?"

His grandpa chuckled and replied, "That wouldn't do. Who doesn't know that there's a celebrity in our family now? All of our neighbors and the children there know who Little Ye is and would definitely come over to our place to have a look if they knew he was there. If that happened, could we still eat in peace? It's better to come here instead."

His third sister was already asking for someone the moment she got here. "Where's Chenchen? Where's Chenchen?"

Zhang Ye pointed to the bedroom. "She's in there playing games."

His third sister called out excitedly, "Chenchen, Auntie is here. Come out quickly and greet everyone." She was even referring to herself as auntie now, but it wasn't actually wrong since she and Zhang Ye were in the same generation of the family.

"Hur hur." Before the door was even open, Chenchen's humorless laughter could already be heard.

His third sister pulled his second sister with her and ran into the bedroom to play with Chenchen. At times, a sudden loud chatter could be heard coming from inside there.

The eldest sister was considerably more mature among the young ones, so she came over to Zhang Ye and said with a laugh, "Brother, I saw that you've been scolding people again on the Internet for the past few days."

Zhang Ye snickered. "Did you back your bro up then?"

The eldest sister smiled and replied, "Of course. I joined in and scolded them too."

"You're a good one!" Zhang Ye declared, satisfied.

His first aunt laughed and said, "Other than scolding people, Dandan has not learned anything from you."

"Of course she has to learn that!" Zhang Ye said unashamedly. "As people, we always have to ensure that we have a skill or two. It's good that she's learned that, otherwise she might get bullied when she enters society."

His mother seethed, "Alright, you. Don't go around teaching them the wrong things."

His grandma glanced at her daughter and remarked, "What do you mean by teaching them the wrong things? If my grandson says that it's good, then it's good."

His mother: "..."

Everyone laughed.

During lunch, everyone started to chat about the upcoming Spring Festival Gala.

His second uncle asked, "Little Ye, are you taking part in this year's Spring Festival Gala?"

Zhang Ye chuckled, "Of course not. The host positions have long since been decided on and the program plans have also been finalized. I won't be involved, and neither would they possibly invite me to attend it."

His third aunt asked, "How about the other stations?"

"Other stations?" Zhang Ye was slightly taken aback. "I don't know about that."

His third aunt said, "You're too controversial and have sued Central TV before, and coupled with the strict criteria that they have in their organization, you definitely won't be able to appear on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala. But what about the other television stations' Spring Festival Galas? Based on your popularity, you're definitely qualified enough to appear on them. Some of the more popular television networks these days also have very good viewership ratings for their Spring Festival Galas. They're at least twice as watched as your A Bite of China, since no television shows should ever be able to outdo a Spring Festival Gala's viewership rating!"

Zhang Ye said, "A provincial station's Spring Festival Gala viewership rating might be high, but they do not necessarily want to invite me to appear on it. You say that my popularity is good and that I have the achievements to back me up, but my reputation is awful. These days, the provincial stations all broadcast their Spring Festival Gala live, so even though it may seem that they are very active in the scene, none of them would actually risk inviting me to appear on the show. Moreover, I'm still a staff member of Central TV."

Just as he was talking about this, a call suddenly came in.

It was from Dong Shanshan. "Have you eaten?"

Zhang Ye stood up and walked toward his bedroom. "Yes, I'm having lunch at the moment."

"I want to ask you something." Dong Shanshan said with a laugh, "Do you have any conflicts during the Spring Festival?"

Zhang Ye was a little stunned. "Spring Festival? I'm on leave during that time."

Dong Shanshan snapped her fingers at that. "It's good as long as you have nothing scheduled. Is your contract with Central TV a hosting and program-based contract? You can't work for other television stations in the capacity of a host and program director or planner, but that doesn't mean that you can't appear in your other capacities, like…as a crosstalk actor?"

Zhang Ye said surprised, "What are you planning?"

Dong Shanshan laughed and said, "Beijing Television has just decided that they wanted to invite you and Teacher Yao Jiancai to join us for this year's Beijing Television Spring Festival Gala. They got me to check with you and see what you think about it, but mainly wanted to know about your specific contract terms with Central TV to see if they could find a loophole. So then, are you interested?"

Zhang Ye blinked. "Who decided on this?"

"Someone from management."

"Are you sure? Are you serious about letting me appear on a live broadcast?"

"Of course we're sure. The station head has already given her approval!"

Beijing Television's station head?

That friendly-looking old lady?

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Chapter 851: A class reunion

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

On the morning of January 2nd.

Media College's class reunion.

Location: Suburbs of Beijing, Yizhuang.

This was Dong Shanshan's new place, a small two-story terraced villa. Located near a park, the surroundings here was very quiet and secluded. There were few people seen around here in the neighborhood.

Zhang Ye pressed the doorbell.

The door opened, revealing Dong Shanshan's incredibly beautiful face.

When Zhang Ye saw the way she dressed, he remarked, "You're still wearing a skirt in the middle of winter?"

Dong Shanshan who was dressed rather sexily just smiled and said, "It's been a long time since we've had a class reunion, so I must make an effort to dress well. Come on in, it's warmer inside."

Zhang Ye asked, "How many of them have arrived?"

"We're just short of you." Dong Shanshan said, "The others are already here."

Upon passing through the doorway, he came into the living room. Although the area could not be compared with those luxurious villas, it wasn't bad either. The floor space of this villa was not big, but at least it had all the basic facilities that a villa should have. At the front was a small garden that was very eye-catching and would definitely look more attractive when the flowers and plants bloomed in spring.

After walking in through the front door, a few figures appeared in front of him. They were watching television at the moment.

Wang He smiled and stood up. "Yo, look who's here?"

Zhang Ye smiled and returned, "Who do you think is here?!"

Beside Wang He, Ma Xufei laughed and slapped the sofa's arm, then came forward in welcome. "Zhang Ye!"

Zhang Ye saw him and said happily, "Old Ma, you're here too?"

"I've always been in Beijing since our graduation, so why wouldn't I be here?!" Ma Xufei went over and gave Zhang Ye a bear hug and then said, "We haven't seen each other in two years already!"

Zhang Ye asked, "So you've been in Beijing all this while? I thought you'd returned to your hometown! Why didn't you keep in touch?"

Ma Xufei laughed and said, "You are getting so popular now, so who'd try to contact you!"

"Don't wander off topic. Are you blaming me indirectly?" Zhang Ye rolled his eyes.

Dong Shanshan pointed at Ma Xufei and said, "I only managed to contact Old Ma a few days ago. He's really difficult to find as his number has changed several times already."

Ma Xufei laughed heartily at that. "I was busy with work, really busy with work."

At this moment, another person walked over and lightly punched Zhang Ye's chest. Then he said, "Zhang'er, you're really popular now. I see your face on the news so much that I've gotten sick of it!"

Zhang Ye chuckled, "Old He!"

He Kui said, "Great, you still know me?"

Zhang Ye quipped, "If you still didn't show your face, I'd really have forgotten about you!"

"You're the one who hasn't shown his face in forever!" He Kui laughed and added, "During the year we graduated, Shanshan, the others, and I organized a party. We were unable to contact you. And you were the only person who did not join us."

Zhang Ye also lightly punched He Kui's chest and commented, "You still look so fit!"

He Kui replied, "Well, I've been training every day."

From across the room, Yu Yingyi came up to him. She gently tucked her hair behind her ears and asked in a sweet voice, "Zhang Ye, do you know who am I? Can you still remember my name?"

Zhang Ye glanced at her with a smile and said, "I can even write your name out backwards, Classmate Yu Yingyi."

Yu Yingyi blinked. "Not bad, you really still remember my name."

Zhang Ye said, "Our class only had so many people. Do you think I have Alzheimer's? Also, how can I possibly forget a beautiful girl's name? Even if it's after 20 years, I will still remember your name, much less just two years."

Yu Yingyi said in satisfaction, "You really know how to spin things!"

"Have to." Zhang Ye smiled.

Everyone sat together on the couch in the living room.

Dong Shanshan announced, "Everyone is here today, but it's just the six of us, so we can just consider it a mini class reunion. I've tried to contact all the others, but some of them were uncontactable, while most of the others are not in Beijing anymore and therefore could not make it. We will organize another large reunion some other day. As for today's reunion, it's nothing much except for us to catch up on our friendship together, while also having a housewarming for my new home."

Ma Xufei clapped and complimented, "Congratulations, school belle. Best wishes for your new home."

"We must celebrate this for sure." He Kui smiled and said, "Besides, I think we should organize such activities more often since we have a place to hold our reunions now."

Dong Shanshan agreed without hesitation. "Sure, just come to my house whenever we have a reunion."

Zhang Ye looked around and said, "The house looks quite nice. When did you buy it?"

"I bought it a few days ago and moved in immediately. It's a resale," Dong Shanshan answered.

Zhang Ye smirked. "Weren't you asking me to help you look for a house? I've been waiting for your call about it, but I didn't know you already bought it. What a friend you are, Classmate Shanshan."

Dong Shanshan's mouth twitched and she laughed. Then she looked at him and said, "Oh come on, have you even had a moment's free time in these past few days? You've been arguing with people on the Internet every day for how many days now? When I saw the way things were going, I thought I should just forget it and look for a house by myself."

Zhang Ye: "..."

Yu Yingyi laughed loudly. "Zhang Ye is still that temperamental guy from before!"

Dong Shanshan shook her head and said, "His temper is etched into his bones. I don't think he can ever change that in his entire lifetime."

"Stop ridiculing me. I still haven't asked you how much this house costs." Zhang Ye quickly changed the subject.

He Kui guessed, "It looks like it's at least 10 million?"

"Less than that." Dong Shanshan replied, "It's cheaper out here in the suburbs and it only cost several million."

He Kui tutted, "That's still very expensive."

Dong Shanshan smiled and explained, "I got a loan since I could only afford the down payment."

Zhang Ye said enviously, "You sure are rich."

Yu Yingyi glanced at Zhang Ye and said, "As a B-list superstar, you can still say that Shanshan is rich? Aren't you embarrassed?"

"I really don't earn as much money as her," Zhang Ye denied, waving his hands as he admitted honestly.

Ma Xufei said in disbelief, "Who are you trying to bluff? Among all of us, you are supposed to be the richest."

Dong Shanshan said, "I think Zhang Ye is not lying, but it's not that he's poor, it's just that that he doesn't have any intentions to make money. From the time since he debuted until now, he has never accepted any commercial events and he's the only such person in the entertainment industry. His income mainly comes from his endorsement fees, and the fixed salary and bonuses as a host. It would be a wonder if he were rich, but me? My contract with Beijing Television is more flexible since I can accept a commercial event every other day. With each event, I can earn about 100 to 200,000 RMB. That's how I managed to pay off the down payment."

He Kui said, "Wasn't Zhang Ye like this in university too? The way he thinks and does things are always very different from others."

Wang He said, "Anyway, both of you are really popular now. How much viewership did A Bite of China get?"

"The viewership rating for the latest episode is not out yet," Zhang Ye responded.

Yu Yingyi said, "We were watching it just now. It's a really good show."

A Bite of China was currently playing on the television in the living room. It was the rerun of the latest episode. Zhang Ye's deep and magnetic voice was emitting from the TV.

He Kui said, "I feel hungry just from watching this. What are we having for lunch?"

Dong Shanshan pointed to the kitchen and said, "I've already bought the ingredients, so why don't we all whip something up ourselves?"

Yu Yingyi suggested, "Sure, I'll be the main chef then."

"OK, we'll help you out."

"As long as you guys don't cause trouble."

"Damn, are you looking down on us?"

"Among us, I think only Old Ma and I know how to cook. As for the rest, it's still a question mark right now."

Everyone was very excited and could not stop talking since the long-awaited class reunion had begun. Actually, while they were still at university, even though they met and attended classes together every day, they did not talk as much as they were talking now. Instead, it was after graduation that their relationship became much closer.

...

It was bustling in the kitchen.

Yu Yingyi seemingly took it all on and chased the others out of the kitchen.

With some free time, Dong Shanshan called Zhang Ye over to the side and said, "Where's the contract?"

"It's here." Zhang Ye took out the contract from his bag and handed it to her.

Dong Shanshan sat down and started flipping through the pages one by one. This was the contract signed by Zhang Ye with Central TV back then. As the contractual terms were quite complicated, she had to carefully look through it bit by bit.

About 20 minutes later.

Dong Shanshan flicked her finger on the contract in satisfaction and said, "Alright, I've understood it quite clearly. The contractual terms are more or less the same as what our station thinks. Your contract is more flexible and it definitely won't be a problem for you to appear on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala."

Zhang Ye grinned. "Great."

Dong Shanshan stated, "It looks like we finally have a chance to perform together on the same stage for once."

"Huh?" Zhang Ye asked, "You're the host?"

Dong Shanshan nodded and said, "The station informed me about it two months ago. They reserved a host spot for me in this year's Spring Festival Gala, so it's considered a very good opportunity."

Zhang Ye exclaimed, "The station seems to be rather supportive of you! You're doing really well then."

Dong Shanshan gave him a haughty, teasing look and replied, "If your temper were better and you didn't offend so many people, you could also do whatever you wanted in any television station. Who wouldn't support you then?"

Zhang Ye threw up hands in resignation and said, "That's the problem. This has always been my character."

Suddenly, Dong Shanshan recalled something and was tickled by it. "Actually, that temperament of yours is also quite a good thing. A few days ago, I attended a commercial event for a big company's anniversary celebrations. After that, there were some issues with the agreed payment and they insisted on paying me 50,000 yuan less. Everyone ended up being unhappy after arguing over the matter for a long time. Later on, I don't know where they got the news that you were my classmate from university, but by the next day, they immediately paid up the rest of the money. From this, you should know just how bad your reputation is in the industry. There aren't many who could stay calm upon mention of your name."

At this moment, the rest of their classmates who came over heard this as well and started teasing Zhang Ye.

"Zhang Ye's name is this useful?"

"Hahahaha!"

"Alrighty then, I'll make good use of your name someday."

"Right, the next time I go to a restaurant, I will mention your name and maybe I'll get a discount."

Zhang Ye said, "If you don't mention my name, you would be charged 500 yuan, but if you do mention my name, you would be charged 1000 yuan."

Dong Shanshan was amused by that. "Why do you have so little confidence in yourself?"

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "How can I still have any confidence when you're all talking about me this way?"

"Alright, alright, hurry up and deal with the proper matters first." Dong Shanshan said, "Go and confirm with Teacher Yao the proposal. After both of your schedules are confirmed, I will inform the station."

"OK."

Zhang Ye walked away from the others and gave Yao Jiancai a call.

The call connected.

"Old Yao, where are you?"

"I'm at home, what's the matter? Are we going to have a drink together?"

"Maybe some other day, let's discuss the serious matters first. Are you free this Spring Festival?"

"We've already wrapped up filming for the previous movie, so I'm free during Spring Festival."

"That's good then. Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala has sent us an invitation, do you want to go?"

"What act will we perform?"

"It's definitely going to be a crosstalk performance."

"I'll go if you're going. It's been some time since we have worked together!"

"Alright, so it's settled then?"

"It's no problem for me. It's a good thing to appear on a Spring Festival Gala. And besides, Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala has one of the better viewership ratings among the provincial channels, so why wouldn't I go, right? As long as you have a good piece to perform, I'll definitely do it!"

"You don't have to worry about the performance, I'll handle that."

"It's settled then!"

To a celebrity like Yao Jiancai, there was no chance at all for him to appear on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala because he was not popular enough. Old Yao's current popularity was more or less at the level of Dong Shanshan's, but he would surely be overtaken by Dong Shanshan soon. As for the other provincial channels' Spring Festival Galas, they also celebrated it in very grand ways every year. Those celebrities who did well on those Spring Festival Galas could sometimes even attract a similar level of attention to those cast on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala. But Yao Jiancai's key problem was that his main profession was acting and not being an idol. In addition, he was also quite old and there were hardly any acts he could perform for the gala, so how would he get cast on a Spring Festival Gala? By displaying his acting skills on stage? No one would watch that. Then how about singing? He couldn't sing either. Therefore, there wasn't an invitation for Yao Jiancai to appear in any of the Spring Festival Galas.

It was the same for Zhang Ye. Singing? His singing was not good, but what about his main profession as host? He was still mainly a variety show host and not the type of host who could do hosting for a Spring Festival Gala. Even if he hadn't fell out with Central TV, they were also unlikely to get him to be the host of the Spring Festival Gala, much less get him to do a personal performance. What could he perform? A poem recitation?

However, with Yao Jiancai and Zhang Ye grouped together, the situation has become entirely different!

The crosstalk of this young and old pairing was just too famous!

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Chapter 852: Too much to drink!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the afternoon.

Lunch was ready and the few of them were already starting to drink.

"Yingyi's culinary skill is rather good!"

"I'm just average. Come and have a taste."

"Come, I suggest we toast first."

"Right, it's rare for us classmates to gather together, so we must definitely finish this first toast. There mustn't be a drop left!"

"You guys drink the white wine, while we girls will have the red."

"OK, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Let's have parties more often in the future. I really miss all of you a lot!"

After a bite of the food, Ma Xufei lamented, "Back then, our class were full of talent. In the entire school, we had people who were able to do all sorts of things. He Kui had already entered the student council by the second year, while Yu Yingyi's talent stood out since freshmen year. She was able to come up against anyone and surely had a performance lined up for her during the school's New Year Gala. Then, there were also Wang He and Dong Shanshan, both top of the class straight-A students who always either got first or second every year in school. They had already been shortlisted by television stations before they went on to finish their final year of school. Meanwhile, Zhang Ye was already a legendary figure in the school itself. He would always maintain a low profile and didn't mix much with others, but at crunch time, he was someone who would challenge the teachers' decisions. He was constantly criticized by the school authorities and had only managed to stumble towards graduation in the end. That Zhang Ye could successfully graduate with his certificate was in my opinion a real miracle."

Zhang Ye didn't like what he heard. "Was I as bad as how you described me?"

"It can only be worse, not better," Ma Xufei replied with a laugh.

He Kui also said, "I wouldn't have believed it if you told me that after our graduation, Zhang Ye would be the one who is doing the best among us. I thought that this guy would even find it hard to secure a job."

Zhang Ye didn't know how to react. "It was indeed difficult to find a job back then."

Ma Xufei commented, "But you've still made it somehow."

Wang He observed, "Of the students from our class, I suppose it's Zhang Ye who has gone the furthest in his career?"

Yu Yingyi said, "Rather than just talking about our class, even if we include the three classes before us at Media College, it's still just Zhang Ye alone who has gone that far. He's even gone back to our alma mater and gotten appointed as an associate professor there."

Zhang Ye shook his head. "I'm just walking ahead of everyone by a little. It'll be harder to go further in the future. If there are no significant changes, I believe I'll have reached my potential as a top B-list celebrity. With my looks, how can I ever match you guys? I'm too limited by that."

He Kui remarked, "Being the top of the B-list celebrities is already a very high position."

Dong Shanshan asked, "I've only really been in contact with Zhang Ye for the past two years, so what have the rest of you been up to?"

Yu Yingyi suddenly giggled and blinked a few times. Then she glanced at Zhang Ye and said, "Well, I'll likely become Zhang Ye's colleague in a few more days."

"Ah?" Zhang Ye was a little surprised.

Dong Shanshan smiled and inquired, "You're joining Central TV?"

Everyone looked at Yu Yingyi.

Yu Yingyi smiled and answered, "Yes. I've been working at an online video hosting site and doing commentary work for sports. I cover mainly basketball—both the NBA and CBA—while I also did some coverage on soccer a few times. I think I can be considered to have a little fame within the industry and have also gained quite a lot of experience, so I contacted someone over at the Central TV Sports Channel and was given an interview chance last month which I did quite well at. When my contract with the online video hosting site ends next week, I'll be reporting to Central TV Department 1 for my new job, so you guys must tune into Central TV Department 5 more often in the future. I might just be doing the coverage at that time."

Zhang Ye congratulated, "That's great."

Ma Xufei also quickly offered his congratulations. "That's a good thing!"

"The Sports Channel is a good place," Wang He also said with a smile.

Yu Yingyi shrugged and said with a smile, "This job of mine has its pros and cons. The pros are that the competition is not so fierce since I'm a female commentator. In the field of sports commentary, there aren't too many women around. You can count them on your fingers and you would find only a few in the entire country who are considerably more well-known. Therefore, it wasn't difficult for me to find this job as almost every place would want me if I applied. But the cons are equally as much as the pros too. A woman in the sports commentary field has limitations since I am not a professional athlete, so it takes more work for me to learn and research the professional terms used. You guys wouldn't be able to guess how many matches I watch every day. I can't get the names of any of the players and coaches wrong, including the rules as well. If I were to say something wrong, there would be netizens criticizing me the very next day saying things like 'See, I told you that a female commentator wouldn't do. They don't understand sports at all.' So there's a lot of pressure on me. Just like how Zhang Ye mentioned just now, it's very difficult for me to advance any further even if I want to."

Wang He looked at her. "Why did you choose to go into this profession?"

"I guess it's because I like it." Yu Yingyi threw up her hands.

Dong Shanshan smiled and said, "Yingyi has always liked watching ball games since university. She's always watching the overnight games and drinking beer with the boys, so to have chosen a sports commentary job is in my opinion not strange at all."

Yu Yingyi said happily, "I would have liked to be doing television hosting like you guys too, but the competition there is really too intense and I'm also not as beautiful as Shanshan, so I thought I'd just forget it." Saying that, she raised her glass and said to Zhang Ye, "Come, I will separately give a toast to Zhang'er. Since we'll be working in the same organization soon, let's keep in touch often."

"Sure." Zhang Ye clinked glasses with her and drank up.

Dong Shanshan sarcastically remarked, "Yingyi, I suggest you steer clear of him at work. Almost no one at Central TV has not been offended by Zhang Ye before. Be careful that you get dragged in by him as well."

Yu Yingyi also quipped, "Oh yes, then I better pretend to not know him."

Zhang Ye: "..."

Everyone was laughing along at that.

The lunch party lasted until past 4 in the afternoon, so they just continued on with dinner after that. As there wasn't enough food, Yu Yingyi and Dong Shanshan went about to cook a few more dishes. They were finally done making dinner too.

Wang He had a little much to drink and was speaking with a slur. "Le's 'ave muh! We won't go home 'til we're drunk!"

"Yes, if everyone gets drunk, just stay over at my place tonight." Dong Shanshan had also had quite a lot of red wine and her face was extremely flushed. "I have a lot of rooms at my place here anyway, so feel free to stay over. Those who drove here won't have to drive back home then."

Yu Yingyi suggested, "Why don't we go sing karaoke?"

Zhang Ye agreed without hesitation. "I'm fine with anything."

Dong Shanshan snapped her fingers. "We can sing at my place. My TV has a karaoke function included!"

He Kui and Ma Xufei shouted, "Sing!"

Zhang Ye volunteered himself. "I'll take the first song!"

They drank more alcohol as they sang, this time downing beer instead!

...

At 9 PM.

Everyone at the villa was moving around unsteadily from drinking too much.

Wang He had gotten drunk early on and had gone to the bathroom to throw up. He Kui was a little better as he went to pat Wang He on the back as he threw up. But witnessing what Wang He had thrown up grossed him out and He Kui couldn't control himself as he also threw up after Wang He was done.

Ma Xufei was still on the mic, though it was better to describe him as howling rather than singing.

Zhang Ye could no longer stand properly. "I'm tired from the singing."

Dong Shanshan said with a breath laden with the smell of alcohol, "All of you stay over tonight!"

"Sure. Even if you want us to leave, we won't be able to leave," Yu Yingyi replied in a drunken state with many bottles of beer in front of her. She probably had more to drink than any of the men today.

Dong Shanshan divvied up the rooms by saying, "We'll all stay in the rooms upstairs. Where's He Kui and Wang…He?"

Yu Yingyi answered, "In the bathroom throwing up."

"They'll both share a room." Dong Shanshan said, "Zhang Ye and Ma Xufei will share another…room. Yingyi, you sleep together with me. My bed is bigger so we can sleep on it even if we lie down horizontally."

Ma Xufei said, "Let's sing a little while longer!"

Yu Yingyi grabbed a microphone and said, "Alright, I'll sing with you."

Zhang Ye couldn't hold it any longer and hiccupped from drinking too much. He clutched Dong Shanshan and said, "I can't drink any further. I have to sleep now. Is there anywhere I can bathe? I need a bath."

"Is upstairs," Dong Shanshan slurred. "It's in the bath…room upstairs. There isn't one…in the one downstairs."

"Alright. You guys keep going." Zhang Ye stumbled upstairs.

Dong Shanshan told him from behind, "Rest early after you shower. We still have to go to Beijing Television for the Spring Festival Gala dress rehearsal tomorrow."

"It's tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"OK, I understand."

Upstairs.

In the bathroom.

Zhang Ye had just taken off his clothes when Yao Jiancai called.

"The dress rehearsal's tomorrow?" Yao Jiancai proposed, "Then why don't we do some short practice?"

Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Ah? Now?"

Yao Jiancai said, "Are we going to wait till the last minute then?"

Zhang Ye said, "I haven't even prepared what to say yet. I drank a little too much today."

"That's good timing. Alcohol will give you inspiration." Yao Jiancai laughed. "We still have to come up with a routine by tomorrow no matter what anyway, or else we would seem to unprofessional if we were to go for the rehearsal without any preparation, wouldn't we?"

Zhang Ye said helplessly, "Alright then, let me think for a bit."

After talking for more than ten minutes, they hadn't actually come up with anything at all. Zhang Ye was feeling too dizzy at the moment and sometimes didn't even know what he was talking about. After hanging up, Zhang Ye stepped into the bathtub and soaked in it. He applied some body wash and closed his eyes, feeling extremely relaxed.

Outside, Ma Xufei's singing had stopped.

Zhang Ye stood up unsteadily from the bathtub and wash himself clean before drying his hair and body. Then he put on his underwear and stepped out of the bathroom. It was all dark, but he only roughly remembered that he had left the lights on before he went in to bathe, so he didn't care much about this. His eyes were already closing and even the moonlight shining through the windows was spinning around. He slowly made his way to the bed and then flipped open the blanket and snuggled right into bed.

The bed was very soft.

The blanket was also very warm!

Was this a battery-operated electric mattress?

When Zhang Ye's head hit the pillow, he fell almost immediately asleep. After a while, he felt as though the bed was really crowded like there was something on both sides of him. He turned around and put his hand over to the left side and smelled a light fragrance with his nose. It was like somebody was there.

A shoulder jerked and moved around a little. "Cut it out."

Hearing that, Zhang Ye impatiently turned and faced the other way. He placed his legs in a position that he found to be most comfortable and laid down. But there was yet another hint of fragrance that he could smell, a fragrance that was quite different from the left side. The smell of alcohol was heavily mixed into this light scent.

Then he also a voice over on this side.

"Don't push me. I can't drink anymore…I said I can't drink any…more, go find someone…else to drink with you!" This voice kept murmuring over and over again without stopping.

In the end, the sound kept buzzing in Zhang Ye's ears and it irritated him so much that he turned around again, annoyed, preferring to face the left side and sleep instead.

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Chapter 853: What a mess!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next morning.

Daylight broke. No one knew what time it was. A cell phone had been ringing noisily somewhere, either on a bed or table, for some amount of time.

Ring, ring, ring.

Ring, ring, ring.

Suddenly, a sleepy female voice started mumbling.

"Whose phone is that?"

"Shanshan, Shanshan."

"Your cell phone is ringing."

On the other side of the bed, another female voice replied sleepily, "That's not my cell phone's ring tone. It should be yours. Quickly turn it off. Hu, I want to sleep a bit more."

"It isn't mine either."

"Then whose is it?"

"Just turn it off first."

"Where is the phone?"

The two of them were talking.

Suddenly, another voice sounded from the bed, "Huh? That sounds like my cell phone. Who the hell is calling so early in the morning?!" Zhang Ye lifted up the blanket that was covering his face as he ranted impatiently.

Dong Shanshan shouted beside him, "Hurry up and turn it off. I need to sleep!"

"OK," Zhang Ye replied subconsciously.

Suddenly, the entire room went quiet!

Yu Yingyi was immediately jolted awake at the other side of the bed. She felt shocked as she sat up straight from the bed and looked dumbfounded at Zhang Ye who slept together with her and Dong Shanshan in the same bed.

Dong Shanshan also finally realized what was going on as she looked at Zhang Ye, then rubbed her eyes as though to confirm again.

"Zhang Ye?"

"Zhang Ye?!"

Zhang Ye was the last person to react. He looked shocked at Dong Shanshan to his left and glanced at Yu Yingyi to his right. He was the most startled one among them and nearly fell off the bed in shock. He exclaimed in panic, "Aiyo, my god! Why are the two of you are sleeping in my bed?"

Yu Yingyi nearly fainted. "That's what I should be asking!"

Dong Shanshan looked at Zhang Ye and said, "This is my bed!"

"Didn't you tell me to sleep in this room?" Zhang Ye stared.

Dong Shanshan said in a speechless manner, "Who said you could sleep in this room? Yingyi and I were to sleep in my room. I arranged for you and Ma Xufei to sleep in another room. Didn't you come up first and bathe?"

Zhang Ye said very assured, "Yeah, I crawled into bed right after bathing. How would I know which room was for Ma Xufei and me? I thought this was our room."

Dong Shanshan rubbed her forehead. "You mean you couldn't even feel that there were two human beings in the bed? And you still had the cheek to crawl into the bed?"

Zhang Ye defended. "But neither of you said anything when I crawled into the bed too, right?"

Dong Shanshan returned, "Yingyi and I had too much to drink, so how would we know that someone had crawled into the bed after us?"

"I drank a lot too and didn't know that there were people in the bed either." Zhang Ye countered, "I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed!"

Yu Yingyi smacked Zhang Ye in annoyance and stated, "Aiyo, you're really great, huh. I really have to give it to you." Then she told Dong Shanshan, "Shanshan, let's stop reasoning with him already. Hurry up and put on our clothes!"

The two of them were not wearing many clothes.

But Zhang Ye had even less on.

Only when Yu Yingyi mentioned it did Zhang Ye start to feel embarrassed. But he still gave a quick glance at the both of them and that set his heart racing, though he quickly curbed it by thinking other thoughts by looking in the direction of the foot of the bed. But there were also some rather inappropriate things that he saw lying over there, like a pair of stockings that were thrown there by someone, as well as red and purple underwear. Some were lying on top of the blanket, some were on the floor, and there was also a piece hanging off the ledge of the foot of the bed. The other clothes were entangled within the blanket where Zhang Ye's feet were. He could feel the clothes there when he wiggled his toes.

Zhang Ye withdrew his legs quickly and sat up to put on his clothes in a hurry. "Where are my clothes?"

However, Dong Shanshan pushed him back down and said, "Stay under the blanket for now and let us get dressed first."

Yu Yingyi was putting her clothes on. However, with Zhang Ye still beside them, she could not stand up straight and wear her clothes in the open. She was grabbing hold of the blanket to cover herself while putting on her clothes with the other hand.

Noticing this situation, Zhang Ye simply covered himself with the blanket and said, "You two go ahead and put on your clothes first."

Initially, he thought that it would be total darkness under the blanket and he would not be able to see anything. This action was also to tell Dong Shanshan and Yu Yingyi: You can put on your clothes without worry of me watching. But when he covered himself with the blanket, he found out that he could still see through it judging by the light rays coming in. Dong Shanshan was sitting at the other side of the bed while Yu Yingyi was in a half-sitting and half-bending position at the other end of the bed. She was still holding onto the blanket but Zhang Ye could still see everything from where he was. It even looked like he could see everything more clearly than before.

Fine, he decided to close his eyes instead.

Zhang Ye had a rather good sense of consciousness this time.

Thinking about it, last night's matter was really too coincidental. Zhang Ye had talked on the phone groggily with Yao Jiancai for a long time before he went to bathe. Dong Shanshan and Yu Yingyi who he reckoned to be drunk as well did not know there was someone else in the bathroom, so they fell asleep after getting into bed. When Zhang Ye came out of the bathroom, he just lifted up the blanket and crawled in without even thinking. At that time, he thought that the warm feeling he had was because it was an electric mattress.

Hai, this was all fated.

Next to him, he heard the two women gossiping about him.

Yu Yingyi remarked, "This rascal is terrible."

Dong Shanshan replied, "I think he did it on purpose."

Yu Yingyi agreed, "Hmph, I think the same as you."

Zhang Ye could no longer bear to listen. "Hey, can you two not be like that?"

Suddenly, the thud of approaching footsteps came from outside the room. Then someone knocked on the door.

Dong, dong, dong.

"Shanshan? Yingyi?" It was Ma Xufei's voice.

Wang He also said, "Are you two awake yet?"

Yu Yingyi was stunned. Then she said to the door, "I just woke up, what's the matter?"

Behind the door, Wang He said, "There's a cell phone downstairs which I think is Shanshan's. It was ringing for a long time, so I had a look at it and saw more than a dozen unanswered calls. I brought it up for Shanshan."

Dong Shanshan immediately said, "Place it outside first. We haven't put on our clothes yet."

Wang He said, "Uh, alright then."

Another set of footsteps could be heard coming upstairs. Then, from outside the door, someone asked, "Where's Zhang Ye?" It was He Kui's voice.

Ma Xufei answered, "I don't know. I don't remember seeing him since last night. I went to bed after singing and didn't see him beside me when I woke up in the morning."

He Kui inquired curiously, "Then where did he go? His car is still parked outside."

Ma Xufei asked, "Shanshan, Yingyi, did the two of you see Zhang Ye?"

Yu Yingyi thought to herself, Of course we saw him. This guy was sleeping in the same bed as us for the entire night. "We didn't see him."

Dong Shanshan laughed. "I think he took a taxi back home by himself last night."

Ma Xufei acknowledged, "I see. Alright then, what are the two of you going to do then? Shanshan, don't you have something today? I recall that you told Zhang'er that you have a rehearsal today for the Spring Festival Gala?"

Hearing that, Dong Shanshan was startled. "Aiyo, what time is it now?"

Wang He said from the hallway, "It's already 9.30 AM."

"Oh no! Oh no! I'm running late!" Dong Shanshan could no longer be bothered with Zhang Ye's presence as she leaped off the bed. She jogged to the front of the wardrobe and pulled open it. Taking out a random skirt, she immediately slid it over her legs.

When the people outside heard that, they said, "Then you should hurry up. Attending your job is more important. Us guys will just leave first. Let's have another reunion some other day if there's time. We're all in Beijing anyway."

"We're leaving, Shanshan."

"Yingyi, we'll see you again at the next reunion."

The three of them went downstairs and left.

Yu Yingyi knew that Dong Shanshan was in pressed for time as the Spring Festival Gala was the biggest annual event of a television station. It was also the first time that Dong Shanshan got to be the host for a Spring Festival Gala, so no matter what, she must not be delayed any longer. After she put on her pants, she hastily handed some clothes to Dong Shanshan.

"Is this OK?"

"Anything is fine, anything is fine!"

"Don't worry about your hair, I'll help you to comb it."

"Thanks, Yingyi."

"Don't worry about it. Hurry. I hope you can still make it on time."

"I definitely won't make it in time! The rehearsal was scheduled to start at 9 AM!"

While Dong Shanshan was putting on her clothes, she remembered something. She looked at the direction of Zhang Ye who was still covered by the blanket. "Don't just sit there, get up quickly. Don't you have to go to the dress rehearsal too?"

Zhang Ye could only uncover his head as he coughed and quickly started looking for his clothes. In the end, he remembered that he'd left his clothes in the bathroom last night, so quickly went to the bathroom to change. After he put on his clothes and came out, Dong Shanshan and Yu Yingyi were also ready. When the three of them faced each other, Yu Yingyi felt the most embarrassed, followed by Zhang Ye, then Dong Shanshan. As Zhang Ye had slept in the same bed with Dong Shanshan before, even though he had a girlfriend now, it was not that embarrassing between them. However, Yu Yingyi was different. Having spent the night with their faces so close to each other, how could she not feel awkward?

As Yu Yingyi was an easygoing person, after the awkward moment, she said, "Alright, we'll settle the score with Zhang Ye in the future. Both of you hurry up and leave first!"

Dong Shanshan quickly picked up her bag and said, "Alright, let's go!"

"Hurry!" Yu Yingyi urged.

Dong Shanshan's cell phone rang. She rapidly dragged Zhang Ye downstairs while she answered the call. "Hello, Brother Hu."

Hu Fei questioned in a slightly angry manner: "Where are you?"

Dong Shanshan said: "I'm about to arrive. I'm stuck in a traffic jam now because of an accident ahead. The cars aren't even moving."

"The dress rehearsal has started already. Everyone is waiting for you."

"I'm sorry, Brother Hu, I'll be right there!"

"Hurry up, the execs are getting impatient!"

Dong Shanshan really could lie without blinking an eye.

Then, Zhang Ye's cell phone started ringing as well.

The moment he answered the call, the angry voice of Yao Jiancai surged out at him. "Little Zhang, you must have overslept, right? What time is it already? How many times have I called you? Why are you not here yet?"

Zhang Ye used the same excuse as Dong Shanshan and said: "It's a traffic jam….A traffic jam! I'm about to arrive!"

Yao Jiancai shouted: "What do you mean 'about to arrive'? I can hear the sound of your footsteps going down the stairs!"

Zhang Ye said embarrassed, "Help me delay a little bit. I'll be there very soon."

"All the other celebrities and actors have already arrived. It's just you left now. Some of the Beijing Television's execs have already come over to ask me, but I don't even know how to explain to them. Ai, you are making us seem too unprofessional. Besides, we haven't even practiced our lines together, so how are we going to perform later?"

"Let's do it spontaneously."

"Anyway, just hurry up!"

"Sure."

As they had too much to drink last night, they could not possibly drive in their current condition. As a result, Zhang Ye and Dong Shanshan decided to get a taxi and frantically rushed to the television station.

Dong Shanshan was holding up a compact to touch up her makeup in the taxi. She said, "I'm in deep trouble because of you."

"Ah? Why are you blaming me?" Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"I will be getting chewed out by them later." Dong Shanshan said worried, "If anything goes wrong, I might just get excluded from hosting the Spring Gala Festival this time."

Zhang Ye also knew that Dong Shanshan's transgression this time was not exactly light. As she was still a newcomer and not a veteran host yet, how could she be late by almost an hour for such a major gala rehearsal? This was really unacceptable. Zhang Ye was fine with it since it wouldn't make a difference to him. He didn't have much of a reputation anyway, so what was the big deal even if he got there late? Furthermore, with his current status and diverse abilities in the industry, Beijing Television would definitely not take it up with him over such a trivial matter. However, it was different for Dong Shanshan. They wouldn't dare reprimand Zhang Ye, but why wouldn't they reprimand her?

Zhang Ye said, "Don't worry about it. I'll help you explain later."

Dong Shanshan looked at him. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"I'll let you know when we get there," Zhang Ye simply said.

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Chapter 854: Crosstalk routine: I Want to Get on the Spring Festival Gala!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Later that morning.

News regarding the Spring Festival Gala continued to get published.

The latest rumor online regarding the Central TV Spring Festival Gala show list was leaked. From the looks of the show list, it was rather authentic and unlikely to be made up by netizens. This was most probably the actual show list for this year's Spring Festival Gala.

Songs:

Sun Hang – "Homeland".

Zhang Xia, Li Qixi – "A Taste of Home".

Zhang Yuanqi – "In the Sunlight".

Language Acts:

Gong Qing, Ci Xiufang, Xiaohai – Sketch: "Why is it You Again?"

Tang Dazhang, Li Yan, Guo Binzi (feat. 60 participants) – Crosstalk routine: "A Family Reunion".

The netizens were ridiculing them in the comments section down below.

"Why is it always these familiar names?"

"That's right, the majority of them are the same people."

"Sister Zhang is doing a solo this time? She's not partnering with Grandma Zhang?"

"A 60-person crosstalk routine? I've nothing I can say to that!"

"Pfft, has Tang Dazhang brought his entire Crosstalk Society along to participate in the gala? Is he moving his entire family over?"

"What are they trying to do? 60 people doing a crosstalk together? Are there crosstalks done by so many people at once? Aiyo, why is it so comical!? Was Tang Dazhang driven mad by Zhang Ye last year? I'm not surprised that Tang Dazhang will be appearing on the Gala since he is a regular performer there, but how are they going to perform a crosstalk with 60 people? Are they forcefully trying to come up with something innovative? Is this even innovation? Wouldn't it get messy with so many people performing on stage? Moreover, isn't it meaningless to have so many participants? It's not like we're competing on who has more people!"

"Who knows what Tang Dazhang and his people are thinking."

"Why did the Spring Festival Gala program team even allow this to pass?"

"The Spring Festival Gala is getting weirder and weirder by the year!"

"Where's Zhang Ye's name? Why didn't they include my favorite Zhang Ye?!"

"Hur hur, our Teacher Zhang Ye did not even make it to the list. Central TV's Spring Festival Gala simply must have not approached him. It's too bad that Zhang Ye offended so many people, otherwise he might've really had the chance to appear on the Spring Festival Gala this year."

"A 60-person crosstalk routine will simply be unbearable to watch. Tang Dazhang's crosstalk routines are really not enjoyable to listen to at all. Every year, his opening line is always 'We meet again, my friends' and that totally annoys me! They should have just invited Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai instead. Their crosstalk routines are so fucking fun to watch! I've already listened to 'I Will Reject the Three Vulgarities' ten times!"

"If Zhang Ye is not involved in the Spring Festival Gala, there'll be nothing interesting to look forward to!"

"That's right, there won't be any fights to see anymore."

"Pfft, above posters, you're really amazing."

...

Beijing Television.

At the rehearsal venue, the hall was packed with people. It was quite chaotic. There were lion dancers, people practicing acrobatics such as somersaulting, while some were facing away from the others and doing their vocal warm-ups. There were many familiar faces among them. A lot of them were celebrities who were frequently featured on television, although they were not very popular. The dressing and waiting rooms were all fully occupied!

When Zhang Ye and Dong Shanshan arrived, it was already 10 AM.

Hu Fei and Yao Jiancai anxiously came over to them. "Little Zhang, Little Dong! Aiyo, you two have finally arrived. Hurry up, this way!"

They went to a standalone waiting room.

Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala had invited quite a number of big names this time. Zhang Ye might not the most popular celebrity among them, but he was definitely one of the more popular ones in this group of guests. With his current status, the television station would definitely not force him and Yao Jiancai to wait in the hall. Instead, they prepared a place for them to practice separately from the others.

Hu Fei was the assistant overall planner for Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala this year. As a result, he had a lot of work to handle at the location and was kept busy the entire morning. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead as he said, "You two are really something to drop the ball at such an important time. Don't bother explaining, the dress rehearsal is starting soon. Hurry up and get prepared!"

Dong Shanshan heaved a sigh of relief. "It hasn't started yet?"

Hu Fei replied, "The equipment needed some additional tuning, so the rehearsal was delayed by an hour. If the two of you came another fifteen minutes later, it would really have started and you wouldn't be able to explain your way out of it."

Zhang Ye laughed. "See, our timing was perfect."

Hu Fei stared daggers at Zhang Ye. "Don't make me angry. Oh right, I informed Teacher Yao a while ago. Considering that we only invited the two of you to appear on the show at the last minute, we understand that time might be a little tight. Therefore, the execs have instructed that you may perform anything for today's rehearsal and say whatever you like. As long as you use up the 11 to 12 minutes allocated to the two of you for the actual Spring Festival Gala performance, there won't be a problem. We still have to confirm the actual duration allocated for it after we calculate the overall time during this rehearsal. Therefore, it's still not too late to go back and fine-tune the crosstalk routine that you two have planned for the actual day."

"They are so trusting of us?" Zhang Ye asked in surprise.

Hu Fei returned, "You're a former employee of our Beijing TV, so how could the station not know what you're capable of? The execs are very assured of your creativity and spontaneity. When the final performance has been worked out, it won't make a difference regardless of whether the station approves it today or on the actual day. Furthermore, we have to consider that a lot of people from the station are present today and there are also invited guests as well. The crosstalk routine by you and Teacher Yao is the main highlight of our Spring Festival Gala this year, so the station head wishes to keep it under wraps and doesn't want reveal it in advance."

"Alright, I understand." Zhang Ye knew what to do.

Just say whatever we want?

Then today would be an easy day.

At this moment, the back door opened.

"Director Chang."

"Director Chang!"

A middle-aged man led a group of people in from outside. Zhang Ye knew that this person was the executive director of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala this year—Chang Xiaoliang.

Chang Xiaoliang nodded at Hu Fei first. "Old Hu, have you already informed Teacher Zhang and Teacher Yao?"

"I've told them already," Hu Fei replied.

Chang Xiaoliang greeted Zhang Ye. "Hello, Teacher Zhang."

Zhang Ye smiled and shook hands with him. "Hello, Director Chang. I've heard a lot about you."

"Same here, same here." Chang Xiaoliang explained, "We gave you such late notice this time because we only managed to get an approval from the station at the last minute."

"It's fine. Old Yao and I are only the icing on the cake for this event."

"You two have provided us with timely assistance."

"Please don't put it that way."

The two of them exchanged some pleasantries.

In actuality, Chang Xiaoliang was not speaking without facts. Based on Zhang Ye's present popularity and status, appearing on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala might still be a little difficult, since that would depend on work relationships, censorship rules, and other factors. Like at last year's Spring Festival Gala, even Heavenly Queen Zhang Yuanqi and veteran songstress Zhang Xia had nearly missed out from appearing on it. However, it was not an issue for Zhang Ye to get onto a provincial station's Spring Festival Gala. He could basically choose between any television station's gala to appear on if he wanted. This time, the fact that he had chosen to appear on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala was naturally helping them out. If you looked at the other provincial stations' Spring Festival Gala, they had to spend a lot of money just to invite some A- or B-list celebrities to join their shows! To show their sincerity, an executive director of a gala had even personally flown to Hong Kong to invite a big name celebrity who was based there. But what about Zhang Ye? He did not even ask about the appearance fee and just agreed after getting a call. He was basically giving face to Beijing Television Station, so Chang Xiaoliang also treated Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai with great respect.

Likewise, Zhang Ye needed this opportunity. Though he was well qualified to appear on a provincial station's Spring Festival Gala, the key was that no one dared to invite him. They feared that he would stir up trouble or that it would affect their interpersonal relationships in the industry. No matter how popular Zhang Ye was, he still couldn't appear on a provincial station's Spring Festival Gala. Beijing Television had only dared to invite him because they were an old employer of his. Having spent much time working with him before, they had both fought and helped each other along the way. Therefore, the station was willing to put more trust in him than the other television stations since they had a deeper bond so to speak.

As such, this was a win-win situation, with both sides taking what they needed.

In the back, two assistant directors were criticizing Dong Shanshan as they looked at her in anger!

One of them said, "Little Dong, what's the matter with you? How could you drop the ball on such a big occasion? We planned for the rehearsal to open at 9 AM, but look at what time it is now! Do you still have any discipline?"

Dong Shanshan was just about to speak.

However, Zhang Ye, who wasn't too far away from them, interjected, "It was my fault."

The two assistant directors looked at him in a rather stunned manner.

Zhang Ye said in embarrassment, "I went to look for Shanshan this morning to ask her for some updates about the Spring Festival Gala and then had a discussion with her about the shows, so we got delayed as I had forgotten about the time. Actually, we could still make it on time, but because of a car accident that happened, we got stuck in traffic and came late."

"Discussing the shows?" one of them questioned.

Zhang Ye bluffed, "Well, we weren't discussing the crosstalk routine, but just got engrossed in the discussion when we exchanged some views about skits. I thought that Shanshan should be able to perform well in a skit. Don't they always have hosts these days who make guest appearances in a skit? Oh right, Shanshan and I were classmates in university. During our school days, we always liked to discuss such things and couldn't stop once we started talking about it."

Chang Xiaoliang wondered, "Teacher Zhang can write skits too?"

Zhang Ye said lightheartedly, "Just a little. We were just randomly talking about it."

Chang Xiaoliang said excitedly, "I would really look forward to a sketch from you."

"Ha, the show lineup has already been fixed, so we'd have to wait for next year," Zhang Ye said.

Chang Xiaoliang nodded. "Sure, there's still plenty of opportunities to work together in the future."

The two assistant directors looked at Dong Shanshan and couldn't say anything more. Zhang Ye had already volunteered to take all the blame, so what else could they say? Surely they couldn't start reprimanding Zhang Ye, right? He was an associate professor at Beijing University and Media College, had won the highest honor in hosting, and was a popular B-list celebrity. Moreover, Zhang Ye's status as a TV show director would not be any lower than Chang Xiaoliang, a renowned gala director of the industry. Zhang Ye was also the director of the current number 1 viewership rated show in the television industry. He was even someone who could speak directly to the station head of Beijing Television, so how were they qualified to reprimand him? As a result, Dong Shanshan was let off lightly from the big trouble that she had gotten into.

Zhang Ye and Dong Shanshan glanced at each other with a tacit understanding.

Someone came in from outside again.

"Director Chang, we're starting the countdown!"

"Is everything ready?"

"Everything's ready."

"Good, the dress rehearsal will officially begin in ten minutes!"

Then Chang Xiaoliang led his team quickly over to the stage area.

Hu Fei turned around and said, "Teacher Yao, Little Zhang, your show will be scheduled at the beginning, roughly at the seventh or eighth spot. Someone will lead you to the stage later."

Everyone dispersed.

Only Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai were left in the waiting room.

Zhang Ye asked, "Shall we practice our lines?"

Yao Jiancai replied, "Didn't they say we can just say whatever?"

"Damn, are you really going to just say whatever?" Zhang Ye chuckled. "No matter what, we should still try to put on a good show."

Looking at his watch, Yao Jiancai said, "It will be our turn to go on stage soon. Do you think we can still make it in time?"

Zhang Ye said, "Then let's just practice briefly."

Yao Jiancai was suddenly amused by something he thought of. "Oh, have you seen Central TV's Spring Festival Gala show list yet? Tang Dazhang is bringing his people from the Crosstalk Society to perform at the Spring Festival Gala."

"What about that?"

"What about that? It's a 60-person crosstalk routine. Have you even heard of something like that before?"

"Pfft! Are you serious?"

"Have a look yourself! They claim that they're being innovative!"

After browsing through the news for a while, Zhang Ye was amused by it for a long time. Zhang Ye suddenly remembered a segment from a classic crosstalk routine from his previous world by Guo Degang.

Zhang Ye looked at Yao Jiancai. "They said that we can say whatever we want for today's rehearsal?"

Yao Jiancai blinked several times. "They said they would be fine with it even if we said whatever we wanted."

Zhang Ye grinned. "I understand then."

"You've thought of a bit?"

"Yes."

"Oh, what is it called?"

"—'I Want to Get on the Spring Festival Gala!'"

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Chapter 855: Dress rehearsal in progress!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Backstage, Zhang Ye told Yao Jiancai that he wanted to rest his eyes momentarily to sort out his thoughts. Instead, he was quietly opening up his game ring to access the Merchant Shop where he bought two Memory Search Capsules. After eating them, he closed his eyes and began sorting out some of Guo Degang's crosstalk segments in his memory.

Frontstage, the dress rehearsal began.

The music drifted all the way to the backstage and the gala hosts' voices followed soon after.

"Happy New Year, everyone!"

"I am Wu Sha."

"I am Da Meng!"

"And I am Dong Shanshan."

"Here's us wishing you a prosperous New Year!"

...

Online.

Other than Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, the other provincial channels' Spring Festival Galas were also garnering much attention. Some provincial channels' Spring Festival Galas were more topical than Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, and had an even more luxurious lineup too.

For example, Mango TV.

"Wow, Mango TV managed to invite Huo Dongfang!"

"Sect Leader Huo is almighty!"

"I heard they spent quite a sum of money on that! How generous!"

"I heard that Central TV's Spring Festival Gala originally wanted to invite him, but who could have expected that Sect Leader Huo would go over to Mango TV instead. Look at the show list, they even managed to get Teacher Big River to come out of his mountain seclusion too!"

"Doing a count, there are three A-list and seven B-list celebrities so far!"

For example, Liaoning Television.

"Aiyo, it's so dazzling that I'm going blind!"

"Is Liaoning TV going all out this year as well?"

"They even invited a Heavenly King? Hasn't this Heavenly King already stopped attending galas since a long time ago?"

"Right, he has been developing his career in Hong Kong all this time. This is going to be the first time that he'll appear on a Spring Festival Gala in the Mainland!"

"Holy shit, the Heavenly King's fans are already getting very excited!"

For example, Beijing Television.

"Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala has begun their rehearsals!"

"Damn, why are Zhang Ye's and Yao Jiancai's names on the show list?"

"What? Are you serious?"

"Why would I lie to you? Go and see for yourself!"

"Ah, it's really true! This pair of seasoned partners were invited to appear on Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala?"

"Hahahaha, I knew that Zhang Ye wouldn't sit idle this year! Even though Central TV's Spring Festival Gala did not invite him, there are still other television stations who will invite him!"

"Isn't Zhang Ye a staff member of Central TV?"

"His contract is flexible, so it shouldn't be an issue!"

"Since Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai are teaming up, they will be definitely be doing a crosstalk routine!"

"I'm really anticipating it!"

"Fuck, I'm definitely going to watch Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala this year!"

"Beijing TV is really awesome for bringing out a weapon of mass destruction like Zhang Ye. It will definitely be very lively at the provincial stations' Spring Festival Galas this year. What an intense and close battle for views!"

"That not necessarily going to be the case. Zhang Ye might be a top B-list celebrity but his popularity is still not comparable to an A-lister."

"Although his popularity cannot be compared to theirs, but the awesome thing about Zhang Ye is his shows. No matter how popular a Heavenly King or Queen and some A-list celebrities are, the most they can do when they're on a Spring Festival Gala is just sing some songs or dance. There's nothing special about those performances since they only depend on their popularity to attract the audience's attention. However, it's different for Zhang Ye since he performs in the most popular segment of the language shows. Who wouldn't want to listen to crosstalks or watch a skit during Chinese New Year? Therefore, on such a special occasion like the Spring Festival Gala, Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai could definitely beat out three or four A-list celebrities. Even the Heavenly Kings and Queens are not their match. This was determined by the environment and atmosphere of the event. The stage of a Spring Festival Gala will forever be ruled by the language shows!"

"Beijing TV has beautiful execution!"

"It's been such a long time since we've heard Old Zhang and Old Yao's crosstalk routines! I'm definitely going to watch it!"

"I wonder what kind of crosstalk the two of them will perform for this year's rehearsal. Is there any great person who is at the rehearsal venue? Can someone do an audio recording of it for us?! Begging for a recording!"

"Ditto!"

"It'll be great if we can listen to it early."

At this moment, a Weibo user suddenly posted: "Shh, I'm at the venue now and the dress rehearsal has already started. The third show is being rehearsed now and it's not too long until Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai's crosstalk. If there's an opportunity, I'll secretly record a part of it and post it. Keep it a secret and don't go spreading this around yet."

"Wow!"

"Thank you so much!"

"My hero, please accept my worship!"

"Be careful not to get found out!"

...

Meanwhile, when the news of Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai performing a crosstalk for Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala was exposed, voices of doubt from the crosstalk world were growing! Then, some of the disciples of the crosstalk world's leading figure, Tang Dazhang, and members of the Crosstalk Society started calling for a boycott. After last year's crosstalk and skit competition organized by Central TV, the denouncements and criticism by the crosstalk world against Zhang Ye had never stopped. It seemed like they were never going to give up doing so.

One of Tang Dazhang's disciples: "Beijing TV has stooped to a new low!"

Tang Dazhang's junior brother: "It's definitely foolish to invite Zhang Ye to perform crosstalk!"

An old artist of the crosstalk world: "Zhang Ye's crosstalk is not innovative at all. It's a degeneration of the art of crosstalk. Why would anyone actually invite him? This year's Spring Festival Gala will surely have to depend on Old Tang's crosstalk routine. Old Tang consulted with me on his routine. I've briefly seen it as well. It's really quite good, so everyone can look forward to it."

The netizens immediately started criticizing in response.

"No matter what Zhang Ye does, you'll always sing a different tune anyway."

"A 60-person crosstalk routine? Forgive me if I'm not looking forward to it!"

One of Tang Dazhang's disciples who was slated to perform in the 60-person crosstalk routine for this year's Spring Festival Gala posted: "Teacher's crosstalk this year will be a really boisterous one. It's also a subversive creation of his. There will even be a collaboration with Jingyun Dagu actresses during the performance. Good or bad, you will know after watching it."[1.]

...

Beijing Television.

It was almost time.

A staffer pushed open the door and said, "Teacher Yao, Teacher Zhang, it almost your turn."

"OK." Yao Jiancai stood up and walked out of the waiting room with Zhang Ye. On the way to the stage, Old Yao handed his cell phone to Zhang Ye to show him the criticism on Weibo. "There's really no end to it between the crosstalk world and you."

Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, "There's even a Jingyun Dagu performance in Tang Dazhang's crosstalk?"

Yao Jiancai said, "It’s even going to with female actresses."

"Alright then." Zhang Ye laughed helplessly. "I guess they've won."

While waiting for their turn behind the stage, the two of them continued practicing their lines. Actually, they were just doing simple practice as Zhang Ye would rarely follow his lines during a crosstalk routine. Sometimes, when he thought of a joke, he would just directly throw it out to Yao Jiancai. As Yao Jiancai was very experienced and had a strong foundation, he would always manage to follow through each time. The two of them matched very well with each other and were truly the seasoned partners they were.

Up front.

On the main stage, it was busy as a large-scale acrobatics performance went on.

Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai were going to perform on a different stage that was smaller. As the next act was theirs, two microphones stands were already set up onstage.

Dong Shanshan was also standing by to announce the next act.

Nowadays, many of the Spring Festival Gala events employed two performance stages, a main stage and a secondary stage. As they were all broadcast live, many of the performances required larger props in greater quantities, and with just the brief moment of small talk by the hosts, there wasn't enough time to change the stage setup for the next performance. Therefore, using two stages was definitely more suitable in such cases.

There were quite a few people seated in the audience. Compared with those empty seats, the number of people seated here was definitely not as much. But there were still over a hundred people who came, like those from the approval board, the executives and staff of Beijing Television, and some of the more popular celebrities who had finished their dress rehearsals. They were all seated in the audience to watch the next dress rehearsals.

In the audience, Zhang Ye could see his ex-colleagues like Hu Fei, Xiao Lu, Dafei, Hou Ge, and Hou Di. He also noticed some familiar faces like Executive Director Chang Xiaoliang and a friendly and kind old lady—the current station head of Beijing Television who Zhang Ye had crossed paths with when they worked on the "Quit Smoking" PSA from back then.

Suddenly, the music stopped.

The acrobatics performance on the main stage ended!

The cameras focused over on Dong Shanshan as she started chatting with the male host beside her.

The male host said, "The acrobatics performance just now was really exciting."

Dong Shanshan replied, "That's right, I was shuddering in fear as I watched them. I was really worried for them as they performed their stunts."

The male host remarked, "Haha, they're all professionals, so they definitely won't have any trouble."

Dong Shanshan smiled. "However, our next two performers always seem to get into trouble."

The male host paused for a moment, then said, "If you have to put it that way, I won't refute it."

The station head and staff in the audience were all laughing.

The station head smiled and said, "Who wrote that into the script?"

A deputy station head smiled as he shook his head.

Chang Xiaoliang answered, "They decided on the script themselves. I only scanned through it once."

Xiao Lu whispered to the person beside her, "It's Teacher Zhang's turn!"

Dafei said excitedly, "I've been waiting for this all morning!"

Hou Ge was waving his cell phone around as he laughed and commented, "Look, those crosstalk world people are scolding Teacher Zhang again."

Hou Di said, "I wonder what kind of segment Teacher Zhang will perform this year."

"Today's just a rehearsal to work out the show's lineup duration. To keep the actual performance a secret, we've told them that they can say whatever they want when they go on stage. What they'll be joking about will just be a 'fake performance,'" Hu Fei explained.

Xiao Lu said in surprise, "Then wouldn't it be boring to watch?"

Dafei also lost his excitement and said, "Damn, why is it not the real performance used for the Spring Festival Gala?"

Hu Fei laughed. "If you want something interesting to watch, you have to wait until the actual day of the Spring Festival Gala."

No one had noticed that someone in the audience had secretly placed their hand into their pocket, pressing some buttons blindly to activate the audio recorder. The person did not care whether it was going to be a real or fake performance. As long as it was Zhang Ye's crosstalk, it would definitely be a mistake to not record it.

Translator's Thoughts

Legge Legge

TL Note:

[1. Jingyun Dagu: storytelling in Beijing dialect with drum accompaniment]

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Chapter 856: You're really saying whatever just because we said you could say whatever?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Onstage.

The spotlights shone. Everyone had their attention on the two who were about to come on stage.

Although it was only a dress rehearsal today, all of the cameras, lights, stage effects, and staff were exactly as they would be for the actual Spring Festival Gala event to be held on the first day of the Spring Festival. Other than the audience being different, everything else was kept as it would be for the event. For Zhang Ye, this was his first time performing crosstalk at such a large-scale gala, so he felt rather awed. It was the same for Yao Jiancai since this would be his first time appearing on a Spring Festival Gala and his first time rehearsing for it. Old Yao even appeared to be rather nervous at all of this.

Applause rang out.

Xiao Lu, Dafei, and the others also made a lot of effort to clap as loud as they could.

Even the station head was smiling as she clapped. The atmosphere at the venue was almost similar to that of the actual day of the Spring Festival Gala.

Only then did Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai step up on stage, walking past Dong Shanshan and the male host. Dong Shanshan even gave him a smile as they passed each other. The earlier delivery of the hosts' lines was not made known to Zhang Ye prior, as they made a subtle jab at Zhang Ye between the two performances.

However, how would someone like Zhang Ye take this lying down just like that? No one had expected it, but he began his counterattack the moment he got on stage.

Yao Jiancai had just positioned himself in front of the microphone and delivered his lines with a wide smile, as per his discussion with Zhang Ye earlier. "Happy New Year, everyone!"

But Zhang Ye's first sentence had already deviated from the script. He looked angrily to the left and the right and said, "Don't be so anxious to do your New Year greetings. Where is the security team? Where's the security team?"

Yao Jiancai was stunned. "Why are you calling security?"

Zhang Ye turned around and faced Dong Shanshan and the other host. "Take them away!"

Everyone watching immediately laughed when they heard this.

Dong Shanshan adorably winked at him several times.

The male host was taken aback a little as he threw his hands up to plead innocence.

Yao Jiancai asked, "What have they done that you want them to be taken away?"

Zhang Ye returned, "What did they mean by saying that 'those two always seem to get into trouble'? Who were they referring to?"

Yao Jiancai laughed. "That's right! We never get in trouble!"

Zhang Ye spoke in a serious tone, "When we get introduced in the future, please remove the words 'seem to'!"

"Ah? That means we always get into trouble?" Yao Jiancai sighed.

Dong Shanshan giggled!

The male host couldn't hold in his laughter either!

Everyone in the audience also laughed.

Chang Xiaoliang knew that this couldn't have been prearranged and was definitely a spontaneous reaction from the two crosstalk comedians. He couldn't refrain from offering his praise. "His reaction was too quick, dropping those jokes on the spot onstage!"

The assistant director added, "Teacher Yao also took the joke well. They're indeed seasoned partners, so understanding of each other."

Xiao Lu clapped excitedly!

After such an opening, Yao Jiancai finally became more relaxed and was no longer as tense. He had been brought into performance mode by Zhang Ye's joke, which made him feel a little ashamed of himself. He might be much older than Zhang Ye, but when they were onstage, he still had to depend on Zhang Ye to dictate their rhythm.

Offstage.

Someone from the a