I’m Really a Superstar

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Afternoon.

In the music recording studio, the four coaches started familiarizing themselves with the song.

Zhang Ye got the music arrangement teacher to stay behind and found another two staff members to come over to help with setting up the equipment. Then he finally said, “You all can start rehearsing. I need to leave first as there’re a lot of things to handle at the stage.”

Zhang Xia put down the score. “Wait a moment, Little Zhang.”

“Ai, Grandma Zhang, what is it?” Zhang Ye asked.

“Just now, when we arrived, we heard that there are contestants who’ve already qualified from the preliminary auditions and are secretly rehearsing and having their songs arranged over at the other studio?”

Zhang Ye said, “Yes, they started rehearsing a few days ago. The main issue is with the screen time. It’s impossible for every song to take up four or five minutes, so we had to make appropriate adjustments. Besides, every one of them is a talented singer, so they have higher standards for themselves. Likewise, our program has high expectations of them. That’s why the songs have to be rearranged to suit them. The workload for that is very heavy. We’ve been working on it several days now so that everyone can get a once over of the process.”

Zhang Xia requested, “After we’ve finished rehearsing this song, we want to take a look at the contestants.”

Zhang Yuanqi did not have this request, as she was standing apart from the others, taking a call which was probably work related.

Zhang Ye blinked a few times. “All of you are so busy. Why would you all want to see them? They are still in the transitional phase, so you all won’t be able to see much anyway.”

Fan Wenli smiled and replied, “What Grandma Zhang meant was that we would like to have a look at the conditions and quality of the contestants. The rumors in the media and outside world are rife with the preliminary audition process, with so many of them irrelevant and baseless. So we’d like to see for ourselves to understand the situation regarding the contestants in order to mentally prepare for the recording with them.”

Chen Guang agreed, “Yes, I’m really looking forward to seeing them for myself as well.”

Zhang Ye shook his head and rejected, “No, that’s not allowed.”

Chen Guang asked, “Even we aren’t allowed to have a look?”

Zhang Ye said, “That studio where they are rehearsing is a secure environment. Other than our own program team’s staff, no one else is permitted to enter.”

“We’ll just stand far away and watch for a while.” Zhang Xia said, “Do you think that we would leak information?”

Zhang Ye waved his hands. “I really cannot allow that, Grandma Zhang. If you saw them now, there would be no more suspense. When the program’s being recorded, there won’t be the impact of seeing the contestants for the first time either.”

They tried to argue about this matter for a little longer.

But Zhang Ye did not agree to their request. There wasn’t even room for negotiation.

Actually, at this moment, no one knew what the final presentation of The Voice was going to be like and the sort of stage setup the program was going to have. The kind of lighting? The kind of contestants? The hosting style? Nearly everyone didn’t have a clue, including the program team’s staff. The only person who knew was Zhang Ye. As the executive director and overall producer of The Voice, he knew what sort of news to release to hype up publicity and the sort of news that needed to be kept confidential. There must be some suspense. Everything could only be revealed on the day of the program’s recording and not a day earlier. They were just like important cards held in Zhang Ye’s hand. If he used them up too early, it would become meaningless.

……

Outside.

After he came out of the music recording studio, he quickly headed toward the stage of the main recording studio. As the four teachers were already veterans in the music industry, he was only responsible for providing the song and could not help in any other way.

The moment he left, text message appeared on his cell phone.

Di di.

Old Zhang: “Where did you go?”

She was probably done with her call.

Zhang Ye replied after reading: “I left. Have to help out in the main recording studio.”

Old Zhang: “This song doesn’t count. Write me another.”

Zhang Ye was confused. “Why doesn’t it count?”

Old Zhang: “It doesn’t suit me.”

Zhang Ye typed: “Heh, this song isn’t divided between gender or age. If you don’t like it, I’ll give it to someone else. I noticed Chen Guang’s eyes were gleaming when he listened to the song, but since he heard I had written it for you in advance, he didn’t try to snatch the song away.”

Old Zhang: “I’ll keep this song but you have to write another for me.”

Zhang Ye replied: “Impossible. I endured so much pain just giving this song to you. Are you treating my songs like they are cabbages you can get from the market for next to nothing? This is art and needs to be treated with great care. Anyway, I don’t have any songs available now. We can talk in the future if there’s a suitable song for you. Let’s stop talking. I still have a lot to do here.”

There were no more replies from her after that.

Zhang Ye exited from the messages interface and saw two missed calls. One was from an hour ago while the other call was half an hour earlier. As he just caught up with work, he hadn’t heard them. Both calls were from Chenchen’s physical education teacher, Luo Yu. He thought for a moment and decided to call her back.

Du du. The call connected.

Luo Yu said: “Teacher Zhang, you’ve finally called back.”

Zhang Ye said: “What’s the matter, Teacher Luo? You were looking for me?”

Luo Yu said: “There are no classes in the afternoon today at Experimental Primary School. All the parents have already picked their children up, but I saw that Chenchen was still at school, so I guessed that you probably forgot about her. When I tried calling you, you didn’t pick up either. In the end, I decided to act on my own and brought Chenchen to Central TV along with me. I am rehearsing with the music arrangement teacher in the studio now, but I’ve handed Chenchen over to AD Ha Qiqi. They’re over at the stage area.”

Zhang Ye exclaimed loudly: “Aiyo, how absent-minded could I get. I forgot it was Friday today. Thank you very much, Teacher Luo. Sorry to have troubled you.”

“It’s nothing, I was coming to Central TV anyway,” Luo Yu said.

“Then I’ll go look for the kid.” Zhang Ye hurried up and headed to the main recording studio.

……

At the recording studio.

Dust filled the air.

This place was not much different from a construction site right now because Zhang Ye had requested that the stage and the audience seating undergo a major overhaul. Everyone was very busy with their tasks.

Without any effort, Zhang Ye found Chenchen immediately. He saw the little kid standing in the middle of the crowded stage, waving her small arms around like Zhang Ye and taking charge of the current work.

“Little Wang, why are you on your cell phone again?” Chenchen said in her childish voice.

Little Wang almost cried at this. “Young ancestor, I was just looking at the news.”

Chenchen pointed to a place nearby. “They’re moving those boxes over there. Go over and help them now.”

Little Wang said helplessly, “Alright.”

Chenchen swept her gaze around and found another person. She rudely addressed, “Wu Yi, go and take charge of the workers. They’re not doing anything at all.”

Wu Yi glanced to the corner, and sure enough, there were a few workers lounging around and smoking. He immediately went over. “Stub out your cigarettes. Smoking is not allowed here!”

But Chenchen still wasn’t done. She called to a youth, “Little Li.”

The youth rolled his eyes.

Chenchen said, “Have you finished compiling the statistics Zhang Ye told you to do last week?”

That youth looked like he was both crying and laughing. He replied, “I submitted it to Director Zhang on Monday.”

Chenchen nodded her head like a little adult. “OK, you’ve done well.”

A female editor in her thirties jokingly asked her,” Little Leader, I have completed all my tasks at hand. What should I do next?”

Chen Chen said, “Nothing, you may have a ten minute rest.”

The female editor said, “That’s great, thank you Little Leader, hehe.”

During these past few days, Zhang Ye had been bringing Chenchen along to Central TV with him to work and she began to become well-acquainted with everyone on the program team. This little kid was really getting a kick out of being a leader, and from time to time, she would take charge and give some instruction. In the program team, Zhang Ye was known as the leader, while Chenchen was affectionately know as the “Little Leader.”

Zhang Ye walked up to her with a straight face.

“Leader.”

“Director Zhang.”

“Teacher Zhang.”

The people who were nearby greeted him when they saw him.

Noticing the situation, Chenchen also stopped ordering people around and slowly walked toward the audience seating. But before she could get away, Zhang Ye dragged her back.

“You little imp!” Zhang Ye glared and said, “Why are you making trouble around here again?”

Chenchen argued with reason, “I was helping you supervise them.”

Zhang Ye said, “Who are you supervising? I’ve already warned you not to do so, yet here you are, getting a kick out of ordering people around, aren’t you? Go! Go into my office and do your homework there! I’ll take care of you later!”

Chenchen smirked and walked away quite carefree.

Zhang Ye barked at her as she walked off, “I’ll check on your homework in the afternoon, so you better do it well!”

A female director standing off to the side laughed, “That kid is so cute.”

“Oh, you think so?” Zhang Ye was tickled. “Even she can be considered cute? She drives people nuts. You might not know, but I feel my head will explode at any time. That kid’s way of thinking and train of thought is completely different from normal kids. You never know what she’s thinking.”