I am Really a Superstar

A teacher who was beside Bai Yi was dumbfounded, but managed to open his briefcase to take out a crumpled newspaper of this morning’s Morning Post and quickly flipped to the third page of it!

He couldn’t possibly have remembered it all!

I won’t believe this!

Suddenly, many of the teachers surrounded him, including Bai Yi and a few others who doubted that Zhang Ye had really remembered it all!

When Bai Yi suggested to Zhang Ye to recite the passage from the third page of the Morning Post, he was just saying it in jest. Even he did not know what was on it and he only said it to prove his point that no matter how good Zhang Ye’s memory was as a host, there would still be times when he couldn’t possibly remember everything. But who knew that such a situation would happen, as Zhang Ye recited the passage in whole, word for word? Bai Yi completely had no response to this!

Zhang Ye continued speaking very quickly, without a pause, as though he were a newscaster reporting the news in the studio, “…The total print run as compared to the year before was essentially flat. Nationwide newspaper print run totaled 48.24 billion, essentially a flat increment compared to last year. Among these, central-level newspaper print runs were at 8.8 billion. Local papers numbered 40.16 billion print runs. The total breakdown for the provinces are as follows: Guangdong, 4,360,210,000; Zhejiang, 3,462,800,000; Shandong, 3,163,150,000; Jiangsu, 2,857,380,000; Shanxi, 2,194,270,000; Henan, 2,142,260,000; Hubei, 1,982,020,000; Sichuan, 1,699,200,000; Hebei, 1,642,440,000; Liaoning, 1,632,320,000.”

When Zhang Ye finished reading the first passage, everyone was shocked. Then, when he went on to give the statistics accurately, “shocking” was no longer a valid description for what they were feeling now! They immediately verified it with the newspapers in their hand!

4,360,210,000 print runs?

It was correct!

3,462,800,000 print runs?

It was correct too!

You can even remember such random statistical numbers?

One of the teachers drew in a deep breath and said, “He’s got it all correct! Not a single word was wrong!”

Su Na also cursed in her heart. Even though she knew that Zhang Ye had a good ability at going off-script, she did not expect him to be this good! Was it photographic memory?

There were actually still a lot more passages in the report, but seeing everyone’s reactions, Zhang Ye did not go on any further and just said to Bai Yi, “Teacher Bai, is that good enough for you?”

Bai Yi choked a bit and did not say anything.

Zhang Ye laughed. “I suppose my memory’s quite good, right?”

When everyone heard this, they could only think to themselves that this was more than good, this was heaven-defying!

The teachers, who were about to take the 3rd year female student away, could only look at each other, unable to say nothing. What else was there left to say anyway! Even if they knew that Zhang Ye was trying to shield the student suspects, they could no longer say anything. Zhang Ye had proven himself to have an amazing memory. Having read the newspaper just once in the morning, he could recite it word for word to them. But what could they do? They probably couldn’t even repeat the headlines after having just read the newspaper. None of them here could do anything close or similar to what Zhang Ye had just done! With him affirming that it wasn’t that girl who spat at the buses, who else could say anything? Who else could stand up to show Zhang Ye that they had a better memory than him?

And so, the matter was dropped.

Zhang Ye turned to the 3rd year female student and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “It’s all good now, you may go back.”

The girl was incredibly moved and could only muster up the words, “Thank you, Teacher Zhang! Thank you, Teacher Zhang!”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “It wasn’t you who spat at the buses anyway, I was just saying what should be said. Don’t thank me, go back to your dorm and get some rest.”

The girl nodded furiously and left soon after. She was initially still wondering if Teacher Zhang had really made a mistake and did not recognize her, but those doubts were all cleared by now. For a person who could regurgitate what he read just once in the morning newspaper, which was even random statistics and numbers, how could he possibly have made a mistake in recognizing the perpetrators? Teacher Zhang Ye must have known that she was the one who spat and he definitely did not get it wrong, but he still lied to protect her. This…

The situation with the Japanese delegation also seemed to have been resolved. Through the bus windows, a head of the school could be seen talking with a member of the Japanese group. Both of them had smiles on their faces and showed no signs of tension. The matter was probably dealt with and settled amicably as the head of the school waved, as if signaling to those at the front of the buses to give way so that the buses could continue to where they were headed. The crowd scattered. The buses started their engines again with the head of the school and a few of Peking University’s teachers still in it and headed for the hall.

Bai Yi could only look on at the crowd of dispersing students as he did not manage to get even one of them for punishment. He felt a little aggrieved by this and started feeling some hatred towards Zhang Ye as well. He knew Zhang Ye was giving him trouble on purpose!

Because the welcome ceremony was about to begin, the teachers quickly made their way to the hall.

Professor Zeng came up to him. “Little Zhang, let’s go.”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Sure.”

“Did you do that to protect the students?” Professor Zeng asked him in a quiet voice.

Zhang Ye answered him in a consistent manner, “No, why would I help them? They did not do anything at all.”

Professor Zeng nodded and pursued no further.

Su Na came up from behind and secretly gave Zhang Ye a thumbs up. “Good job! Your memory is too godly!”

“Hai, it’s so-so,” said Zhang Ye, who knew clearly that it wasn’t his memory but the effect of the Memory Search Capsule that he had bought from the game ring’s Merchant Shop immediately after being challenged by Bai Yi. The duration of the capsule was 5 minutes, but could be canceled by Zhang Ye at anytime. It wasn’t necessary for him to use the whole 5 minutes if it was just a small fragment of memory like the report in the newspaper that he needed to search for. All it took was a few seconds. It was a piece of cake for him.

……

Throughout the campus.

Rumors of Zhang Ye began spreading.

“How crazy! Teacher Zhang’s memory is so good that it’s out of this world!”

“That’s secondary. I suppose we all understand the same thing? Teacher Zhang was protecting us!”

“I know that. The senior who spat at the bus did it while I was standing beside her, so it was definitely her. And the freshman who was pointed out by Teacher Bai as the cause of the incident, he was definitely the person who let the basketball slip out of his own hands. Yet Teacher Zhang kept insisting that it wasn’t them. Honestly speaking, this is the first time I’ve met a teacher like that!”

“Yeah, when I heard Teacher Zhang Ye say that it was not them, I nearly choked up. Damn it, Teacher Zhang, you’re really too loyal!”

“That’s what a good teacher ought to be!”

“This incident was so maddening! Luckily for us, Zhang Ye was on our side!”

“As the old saying goes, ‘adversity shows who the true friends are.’ I can finally understand that now. We are all clear about those who treat us well and those who are hypocrites!”

“Shh, be less loud when you all discuss about this matter in the future. We cannot betray Teacher Zhang’s loyalty to us and spill the beans this way. Be careful of what you say. The walls have ears!”

“Yes, yes, yes, tell that to the others as well, we need everyone to keep this a secret!”

“Don’t worry about it then!”

“You think we need you to tell us that?”

“That’s for sure! Even if they have a knife to my neck, I will not say anything!”

“I will acknowledge Teacher Zhang Ye from now! He’s really an interesting guy!”