I’m Really a Superstar

On the same day.

The second night of the new year.

Zhang Ye had finally managed to taste Rao Aimin\'s Red Braised Pork at her house. It was really tasty and he couldn\'t stop eating. His mouth didn\'t even have a chance to stay closed as he devoured it all like a wolf, regardless of having just recovered from an illness, like he had not eaten for several days. Zhang Ye had always looked forward to the landlady\'s cooking. Ever since he went to Shanghai to work, he had not tasted her cooking. He would often salivate at the thought of her dishes. This, together with having drawn a really good item in the lottery this afternoon, led to him being in an extremely good mood, which, in turn, increased his appetite significantly.

"It\'s too delicious! This food is all for this bro! I\'m reserving this dish and leaving the rest of the dishes for you two. No one is gonna touch my Red Braised Pork!" Zhang Ye pulled the plate over to his side of the table.

"That’s mine." Chenchen snatched it back.

Zhang Ye held onto the plate, "Don\'t fight with me over this."

"It\'s you who is fighting with me for it." Chenchen said solemnly.

Zhang Ye stared at her, "Hey, how can you snatch this food from a sick man?!"

Chenchen contemptuously said, "And you aren\'t giving in to a child, you are nothing like the adult you should be."

Zhang Ye said, "You, a child? You are more of an adult than an actual adult!"

"....Hur Hur." Chenchen gave her trademark sneer again.

Rao Aimin was annoyed and rebuked, "I\'m watching TV, can the both of you rascals keep it down!"

Zhang Ye continued to eat, Chenchen continued to fight to have the dishes she wanted, while Rao Aimin was busy scolding the two of them. The three of them merrily had their meal as they bickered around. It was the new year after all.

After eating, Zhang Ye took out his laptop to watch "Zhang Ye\'s Talk Show". A new episode had been released, as four other episodes were released together with it. His fame and popularity, as well as his game ring\'s reputation points had been steadily increasing with each passing day, but with this scheduled run of releases, the last episode would likely be in just a few more days. Hai, such a large stockpile of episodes were put online in such a short amount time, Zhang Ye wondered what kind of strict policy the SARFT was going to be announcing. He did not even know how he would go about his job from now on and could only take it one step at a time. He needed to get as many reputation points as possible before deciding his next move. Otherwise, should the SARFT policies really be detrimental to his talk show and, forcing him to be unable to broadcast any of his shows, it would definitely be a huge loss.

"What?" Rao Aimin frowned.

Zhang Ye clapped his hands together to signal that he was about to announce something. He said, "Comrades, please be quiet. The renowned variety show that has gathered popularity throughout the nation, A new episode of \'Zhang Ye\'s Talk Show\' is to be broadcasted now. Please enjoying viewing it in silence." Zhang Ye did not help to wash the bowls, and just lay down on the sofa like it was his own home.

Rao Aimin glanced at him, "The bowls?"

Zhang Ye said, "I\'ll do that in a while. Let\'s watch first."

Rao Aimin had spent an entire day and night taking care of him. Now that he had recovered, it was time for him to pay up. However, Zhang Ye would delay it if he could delay.

Chenchen said, "Zhang Ye, you\'re so lazy."

Zhang Ye stared at her, "The one who is least qualified to say that would be you!"

The new episode started playing. Zhang Ye appeared on screen as he spoke confidently.

The joke segments came one after another as Zhang Ye watched and laughed out loud. He was even impressed by his own program. What a good show!

But when he looked to the young and old duo beside him.

Rao Aimin watched for a while and yawned.

Chenchen also followed her aunt\'s expression with a deadpan look and yawned.

From beginning till the end, the two of them had not laughed once. Zhang Ye was speechless. He admitted that the style of talk show was satirical and not simply making jokes just to get laughs. If it had to be funny, it couldn\'t be done in ways similar to crosstalks or skits. A talk show had its own unique charm that could combine a society\'s current affairs with humor with satire. In this world, only Zhang Ye could do it in this way. No one else had been able to recreate this style and soul. How could such an outstanding program make the two of you so sleepy! Do you even need to yawn!

He groaned a little, but did not take it up with them. Forget it, any form of art would never be able to force everyone to accept or like it. It wasn\'t his talk show that was not good, but that these two had such an elevated sense of humor. A high end talk show like this was not something that was suitable for a martial arts family like that, who\'d spend all day training and fighting.

Chenchen banged on the table, "Change the channel. Change the channel. Change the channel."

Rao Aimin also said, "You, this rascal, go and wash the bowls. Don\'t try to escape!"

Zhang Ye could only succumb to them. He switched off the computer and turned the TV back to a random news channel before angrily going off to scrub the bowls.

They don\'t know what true art is!!

You both really don\'t understand art!

Halfway through the washing, his cellphone rang in his pocket.

Zhang Ye answered the unknown number saying, "Who is this?"

It was a girl\'s voice on the other end, "Is this Teacher Zhang Ye? I am a staff of Zhang Yuanqi\'s team. Sister Zhang wanted me to notify you that the single "Woman Flower" would be released tonight around 7:30 PM. She also hoped that you could help promote it a little by posting about it on Weibo."

"I will do that." Zhang Ye said.

The girl said, "Thank you then. I won\'t disturb you any longer. Happy new year."

"Happy new year to you too." Zhang Ye hung up and finished washing the bowls before going back outside.

The two of them were still watching the news. Zhang Ye turned his computer on again and logged onto Weibo. He forwarded Zhang Yuanqi\'s new Weibo post about the release of her new single. He was also full of anticipation regarding this release of "Woman Flower". On the night of the Spring Festival Gala, as "Woman Flower" was performed with a time limit, it had cut to fit their stage time, not the original full length song. This time, it was also Zhang Yuanqi\'s solo take on the song, and the accompaniment was also redone. Therefore, he was not worried that people who had heard it during the Spring Festival Gala would not listen to it. Whether this single would shoot up the charts mattered to Zhang Ye too, as his reputation was closely related to the outcome of the single’s release. The talk show was about to finish broadcasting, and the students at Peking University were on winter break. His sources of reputation were drying up. It wasn\'t easy breaking into the C-list, so he didn\'t want to fall back down. To Zhang Ye, every reputation point and chance to gain publicity mattered deeply.

"What are you doing making so much noise over there." Rao Aimin glanced over.

"There was something I needed to do. What\'s the matter?" Zhang Ye asked.

Chenchen pointed at the television, "Watch, it\'s Lee Anson."

"Eh?" Zhang Ye looked to the TV screen and was slightly stunned, "Lee Anson\'s concert has been moved to an earlier date? It will begin tonight?"

Rao Aimin looked at her watch, "It\'s already begun."

The news had reported that, due to the adverse effects of Lee Anson pushing down a fan during the new year\'s, it had caused his popularity to drastically decrease in China. Refunds for his concerts had reached an unprecedented 35%. The originally scheduled solo concert in Suzhou on the 6th had been bumped forward to the 2nd, and according to the observations of the reporters who were at the Suzhou concert venue, Lee Anson\'s solo concert was only about 45% filled. This meant that other than those who got refunds, there were many members of the audience who did not seek a refund nor turn up. Some organizations and companies who received complimentary tickets also did not appear at the concert venue.

Zhang Ye knew that Lee Anson\'s marketing team was making public relations maneuvers to save the situation. If they let this situation carry on, the number of refunds might continue increasing. Hence, they needed to immediately come up with a response and display, and they did so by bumping the concert’s date forward. If he did not guess wrongly, Lee Anson probably had to go onstage with injuries. Even if his wounds had healed, he would have to go up with some bandages. This would garner sympathy, and was also a form of saving face. Lee Anson and company were probably trying their very best to prevent the loss of fans. After all, China was their "main battleground".

Was it effective?

Zhang Ye shook his head in silence.

What that darn grandson did didn\'t matter. It was more important to pay attention to Old Zhang\'s single release.

At 7:30 PM, Zhang Yuanqi\'s new single was released on the dot. The was no exclusive release this time. On Weibo, a few music platforms, and even the sales of the single CD, were all opened. Online shops also removed the pre-order of this single, as there were more than enough physical copies.

"Landlady Auntie."

"What?"

"The single for \'Woman Flower\' has been released. Could you and Chenchen give it some likes and play it?"

"Zhang Yuanqi\'s solo?"

"Yes."

"That song isn\'t too bad."

This was a song written for women. Big Sis Rao also looked like she liked it very much. Although she uttered the words \'not bad\', in actuality, that was just how she was. She hardly ever said that something was \'good\', so a comment saying that it was “not bad” actually meant that she approved of it.

Rao Aimin played "Woman Flower" and listened.

When Chenchen heard it, she seemed uninterested and just sat there, continuing to eat sunflower seeds.

Zhang Ye looked at Rao Aimin as he listened to the melody. He suddenly said, "Big Sis Rao, I have not mentioned it to you yet, but regarding the incident this time, thank you. You looked out for me, and even got someone to get me out of the police station, so let me know if there\'s anything I can do for you in the future to repay you. I won\'t talk about impossibles, such as getting you the stars and moon, but as long as it\'s something I can do, I will certainly try my best.

Rao Aimin glanced at him and said without holding back, "Chenchen and my laundry have begun to pile up, go wash them for me later."

Zhang Ye coughed, ".....About that, why don\'t we talk about getting the stars and the moon instead!"

"Woman Flower", when sung by Zhang Yuanqi, really sounded too beautiful. One could tell from listening that Zhang Yuanqi had let herself go for the song. It sounded very different from the version performed at the Spring Festival Gala. As Zhang Xia had been a soprano singer all her life, Zhang Yuanqi had wanted to match Grandma Zhang Xia by singing a pitch higher in their duet. Although it sounded good, compared to the original, it lost a little flavor. It lacked the sorrowfulness and the feeling of the passage of time. However, when it came to her own solo version, Zhang Yuanqi did not go for that same high pitched delivery while singing, but instead went lower in pitch. Zhang Ye knew that this was the exact pitch that Anita Mui had sung for her original version. If Zhang Yuanqi did not sing it this way, Zhang Ye would probably not have bothered thinking and analyzing all of it. Looking at it now, Old Zhang\'s music and artistic levels were really of very high standards. As one of the greats of the movie industry, she had not disappointed. Even more, she fully deserved the tag of once being labeled the Queen of Music of yesteryear. Her ability was there for all to see.

If Zhang Ye had to give his review on this single?

He could only sum it up in a single word — Perfect!

Grandma Zhang Xia would also be releasing her version of "Woman Flower" in a few days? However, it looked as if the pressure on her would be immense. With such a big mountain called Old Zhang in front of her, it would not be easy to create an even better cover of the song.

Rao Aimin listened to the song again.

Zhang Ye also followed suit and played it another time.

However you listened to it, it was sung so perfectly!