I’m Really a Superstar

Two days later.

Sunday morning.

Zhang Ye was not woken by an alarm, but woke up naturally. He comfortably stretched his back and got up from bed. The door to Dong Shanshan’s room was open. She had been busying herself with her new program for the past few days. She must have went to work, but there was a slightly warm breakfast placed on the table.

There was soybean milk.

There was fried dough sticks.

Clearly, they were specially brought back by Dong Shanshan for him.

Zhang Ye felt warmth in his heart. After washing up and eating breakfast, he enjoyed a hot bath. Only after coming out did he lay on a couch to watch the news on TV. Zhang Ye had been so busy for the past two days that he did not even know himself. Describing everything in disorder was not even enough. The props required his attention. The costumes needed to be reserved by him. The proposals needed to be written by him. He also had to take on the role of Director. The good thing was that he had managed to finish the final stages of the work required. Today was the first day’s recording of “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show”. Yesterday night, Zhang Ye had come home very early and slept soundly for once. There was no way around it. He needed to ensure that he was in a good mental state when he recorded. If he was sloppy, how was he to record the program?

The morning news aired.

“Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets have plunged once again!”

“This month, there have already been three cases of people committing suicide due to stock speculation!”

“From the analysis of industry experts, it is only a matter of time before the market index drops below 1,500 points.”

“The entire country has launched a green campaign. No driving, only taking public transport, so as to emulate foreign countries.”

“People in first-tier northern cities are experiencing an acceleration in their pace of life. Many people cannot endure this pace and are choosing to leave the northern cities.”

Zhang Ye watched this without blinking. He paid great attention to this as he was looking for some news elements to decide on the joke segments he was to use today. After all, a talk show kept pace with the ongoings in society. He needed to resonate with actual events, so as to tickle the funny bones of people. Hence, Zhang Ye naturally could not just casually use the talk show joke segments from his world. He had to find similar events in this world. Well, if his unit’s Leaders knew that this fellow, Zhang Ye, had not determined his program’s content until the day of the f**king recording, they would probably sit on him and crush him to his death! However, this was Zhang Ye’s style. He had always done his work in such a manner. He had many things on his mind, but they could not be used haphazardly. It had to match the situation and time. It had to be just right in order to maximally expound his knowledge!

The news ended. Zhang Ye had a rough plan of the program’s content. He did not take notes and already knew how he was going to do the first episode.

Checking on the web, the live tickets to “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” had already finished balloting. Other than the staff that were in the live audience, the rest were lucky members of the audience who were allocated tickets through an online application. The people just needed to provide identification on entry. It was very fair. It was also a way to interact with the netizens. This way, it could increase the program’s cohesion and attractiveness.

A total of 60 lucky winners were chosen.

“Haha, I got it. I’m too lucky!”

“What did you get? A lottery ticket?”

“The live tickets to ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’!”

“Heh, what’s there to celebrate about? It would be a wonder if that talk show thing is any good. I wouldn’t want to go even if you gave me the tickets. Am I to go there and sleep?”

“Upstairs, I may admit that the ‘I’ll speak for myself’ commercial was done pretty well, and the buzz it stirred up was pretty big, but a new program still depends on its content. What’s the value to watching a program that just takes joke segments from the internet? Aren’t they taking the audience as fools!? Hur hur. It’s not that you are luckily getting the tickets, it’s because too few people applied. Whoever applied would get it!”

“Don’t say it that way. I actually would love to go there and see how how terrible that talk show is, so that I can trample on it when I get back!”

“Upstairs, you are hero. You are risking your life to scan for landmines!”

“Haha. I’m also looking forward to Zhang Ye’s new program. I actually want to see how many people will curse at him. That Zhang Ye, he sure is one of a kind. He has pretty good qualifications, so why doesn’t he carry on lecturing on history? Why must he do some program that the world has never seen? He’s just seeking death! I actually liked Zhang Ye quite a bit in the past. But now, I have turned from fan to anti-fan. This program has disappointed me too greatly. In the future, my daily mission is to curse at Zhang Ye while eating and sleeping! Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned . Zhang Ye has really made a huge mistake this time!”

“Hai, what a pity.”

“He is being irresponsible!”

“Right, making a program just by using a few jokes on the internet? This is really treating the audience as fools! Only an idiot would watch that talk or whatever show!”

With the buzz of “I’ll speak for myself” gone, many antis of Zhang Ye appeared once again. The criticism and doubts of his new program appeared once again!

Zhang Ye was already used to it and did not mind.

But suddenly, a verified account on Weibo posted a message!

It was Deputy Station Head Jia from Beijing Radio Station back when he worked there. He was a person who suppressed Zhang Ye in every possible way. The reason why Zhang Ye left the radio station was directly attributed to him, as they had tore all decorum. Deputy Station Head Jia said, “It looks like it was a very good decision for our radio station not to keep Zhang Ye back then. Some people become blindly arrogant after obtaining a bit of results, thinking that they are the smartest person in the world. They believe that they can kickstart a program that has never appeared in this world. I find it all very funny now. Weiwo is also quite a large WebTV company in the industry. I really do not understand… Why would you allow such a trash program to be broadcast? Do you not have the most basic level of judgment and appreciation towards the arts? Anyone who has eyes would know that that talk show will not succeed!”

Following that, Beijing Radio Station’s radio announcer, Jia Yan, added onto the thread. He was Deputy Station Head Jia’s relative. “A program like this can be called a talk show? I think calling it joke show would be more appropriate. Is this a new program format? Although they have not released a lot of official information about the program, I can in no way see any new format that lies in it. Linking all the jokes together is considered skill? Even an elementary school student can do it!”

Then, Beijing Radio Station’s child of the Station Leader’s friend, Zhāng Yě, appeared. He was the person whose Silver Microphone Award was stolen by Zhang Ye due to the Lucky Bread. His tone was bad, too. “All smokes and tricks, playing to the gallery. To insist on being the number one in this world, I advise everyone not to watch ‘Zhang Ye’s Talk Show’. This sort of program wastes both your time and energy. It’s not worth watching!”

“Propping!”

“Supporting Teacher Little Yě!”

“Well said. This sort of program is trash!”

Many Weibo fans of those people replied to the thread.

Zhang Ye laughed instead of turning mad. Seeing these familiar names, he would have forgotten them if they did not stand forward again. Zhang Ye had turned extremely popular after he job-hopped to the television station, and this bunch of people had remained silent. Now, with Zhang Ye job hopping again to make another new program, this bunch of people tried to kick him while he was down when the tide of comments were against his “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show”?

It was just a few trivial people!

Zhang Ye did not even bother replying to them. They were still the same words that he had said back when he left Beijing Radio Station. Don’t be ready to shout, just wait and see!

Ring, ring, ring. A phone call came in.

Zhang Ye was slightly surprised. The caller was Beijing Television Station’s Hu Fei, who was also his old Leader. “Hello, Brother Hu. Why did you call me?”

Hu Fei asked, “Are you really planning on doing that talk show?”

Zhang Ye chuckled, “That’s right. You don’t think much of it, too?”

“Kid, you sure are too bold.” Hu Fei did not say that he was pessimistic of it, but it was clear from his tone. He was just being euphemistic.

Zhang Ye said in amusement, “I’m not good at anything. I am just a bit more bold.”

Hu Fei was tickled by him, “All the best then. I’ll watch it on time tomorrow. Xiao Lu, Dafei and company have been supporting you all along. Don’t let us down.”

Zhang Ye said indifferently, “I won’t.”

After hanging up, Zhang Ye left upon looking at the time.

……

9:30 A.M.

Weiwo company’s Studio 7.

In the makeup room backstage, Zhang Ye sat in front of the mirror, allowing a female makeup artist to apply his makeup. This was actually the first time that Zhang Ye was putting on makeup. In the past, he would at most have his hair styled. Back in the Radio Station, it was not required, as his face was not seen. When he was in the television station, Zhang Ye was lecturing on a historical program, and since he did not have a dark face, it did not matter. But this time, it was different. It was an entertainment program. There was a lot more to a host’s image. Since this was his first recording, he naturally needed to dress up.

The female makeup artist asked, “How do you want it done?”

Zhang Ye casually said, “Just make me into something like Takeshi Kaneshiro.”

“…Who is Takeshi Kaneshiro?” The makeup artist asked with bewilderment.

“Uh, then do it such that I look like a Korean idol.” Zhang Ye smiled after noticing that the makeup artist was at a loss of whether to laugh or to cry, “Just joking. Relax.”

She said, “Then I’ll do it simple?”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.” Zhang Ye trusted a professional’s perspective.

As he was doing his makeup, a person rushed over, “Teacher Zhang, what color should your clothes be? Or should it be a western suit? Should I bring them all here?”

Zhang Ye said, “Since it’s the first episode, get me something more bright-colored. Red or green would do, to make it seem more festive.”

“Alright, I’ll bring it over.” The staff member hurried away.

The voice of a Field Director that had been newly transferred over echoed in his headset. “All teams, we are 30 minutes away from the audience’s entry. Make haste!”

Even if Zhang Ye was all-powerful, he was also unable to take on every role. For example, about seven makeup artists, a Field Director and miscellaneous staff were arranged by Director Wang over the past two days to take up their roles. The person with absolute authority over the program team was Zhang Ye. He was also the only person in the the senior and middle roles. He had seven people under him, but the gap between their responsibilities was very huge.

“It’s done,” the female make-up artist snapped her fingers.

Zhang Ye looked into the mirror, but on first glance, he did not seem to have transformed. However, the transformation could be seen on camera due to the lighting. “Alright, I’m going!”