Chapter 972

The next day.

At home.

Breakfast was ready.

Zhang Ye did not need to be woken up today. He had gotten up early by himself and washed up before coming out to the living room. When the steamed buns and millet congee was served, he immediately sat down at the table and started eating heartily.

“Mom, the congee tastes quite good!” Zhang Ye praised.

His mother was rather speechless. “Why do you sound like you’re in a such a good mood?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “It’s not too bad.”

His mother stared at him and said, “But everyone says that you’ve gotten into big trouble this time!”

“I only spoke the truth, did what I wanted to, and did what I had to.” Zhang Ye smiled and said, “I have a clear conscience regarding it, so what do I have to be afraid of?”

“Well said!” When his father heard that, he nodded vigorously. “That’s my son!”

His mother rolled her eyes. “What’s so good about that? Just look at it.” She picked up a dozen newspapers that she had bought just this morning and threw them onto the table. “That documentary of yours has caused chaos everywhere! Those corporations, the people from the relevant industries, and the experts, which of those people are not cursing at you now? With the way it’s going, in another three to five years’ time, everyone in the entire world will have been offended by you at least once!” Taking a breath, his mother continued, “But fortunately, your popularity still went up!”

On top of the pile of newspapers that were thrown onto the table, a bright red headline read, “Zhang Ye’s Popularity Ranking Rises”!

During yesterday’s midnight update of the latest Celebrity Rankings Index, Zhang Ye had used an unprecedented way of releasing his documentary to push himself off the bottom of the A-list Celebrity Rankings. In just one night, he rose up one place and even got within distance of the next spot above his new ranking. He was now getting closer to Jiang Hanwei, the martial arts star who had been popular since over a decade ago. He might not even be that far off anymore! Jiang Hanwei had taken over a decade to reach his current position. Including the time he took to get into the industry, he might have even taken 20 years or more! But what about Zhang Ye? He only took two years to get to where he was today!

What sort of notion was that?

This was something that had dumbfounded the entire entertainment circle!

In one night!

In just a single night!

Zhang Ye had gotten even more popular again!

From a certain perspective, Zhang Ye’s Documentary on Air Pollution in China, which was released yesterday, had already greatly surpassed his previous documentary—A Bite of China—in terms of popularity and attention! Some industry insiders had given their evaluations about A Bite of China after it ended its broadcast run. They said that there would be no other documentary after A Bite of China that could surpass it, not even if it were another documentary made by Zhang Ye. However, in a short span of two months, Zhang Ye had used this new documentary to shock the industry and country again.

Could a documentary even be released this way?

Such a dogmatic public service documentary could even attract such topicality?

Every point that it raised was too shocking!

Every point that it raised was never seen before!

…

At Central TV.

Although Zhang Ye was suspended, he still came to work.

Compared to the sensation and controversy caused by the documentary, Zhang Ye’s popularity ranking rise was no longer able to attract any attention. Today, everyone was still discussing that documentary. In their discussions, Zhang Ye’s name kept coming up, as well as the name of Central TV.

“I really have to give it to him!”

“He even dares to publish that documentary without any scientific basis to back it up?”

“Zhang Ye’s way of thinking is totally different from everyone else!”

“But the way he put it yesterday sounded so convincing. I was there at the press conference and listened to Teacher Zhang talk about the subject onstage. It really terrified me so much that I’m unable to describe that feeling. I guess this is probably what it means to be charismatic. He’s really such a unique celebrity of the entertainment circle that I doubt there will ever be another like him! As of yesterday, I became Teacher Zhang’s fan!”

“There are definitely some issues with what he has brought up. It’s just not scientific at all.”

“Then why are you still wearing a face mask today?”

“Uh, I was scared into doing so.”

“And that is to Zhang Ye’s credit!”

On his way to work today, Zhang Ye had a smile on his face. This was because he could see many people on the streets wearing face masks. He felt an indescribable feeling. Was it satisfaction? Or was it gratification? Zhang Ye just felt that his words had been effective in scaring the people awake, so perhaps that was the reason for the smile on his face. Even if he were to get more criticism, he believed it would be worth it.

Yan Tianfei also came to work today.

In the hallway outside Department 14, Zhang Ye and Yan Tianfei bumped into each other. When their eyes met, they both suddenly laughed out loud.

Yan Tianfei said, “I knew that you would not let me down, Teacher Little Zhang.”

Zhang Ye said, “Thank you, Director Yan.”

“You’re welcome,” Yan Tianfei said.

Zhang Ye said, “If it weren’t for you, the management would not have allowed me to hold the press conference.”

Yan Tianfei said cheerfully, “We’ve worked together for so long now. Do you think that I don’t know what you’re like? We have an unspoken understanding of each other.”

Zhang Ye had earlier asked Ha Qiqi and the others to request for approval from the management regarding the press conference. The reason he wanted to hold it was because the people and media had their concerns about it, so he wanted to give a proper explanation to them. But that reason to hold the press conference was actually quite far-fetched, and since Zhang Ye and Central TV’s relationship was in such a bad state, why would they allow him to do it? Why would they need to give him face? So this matter was actually handled by Yan Tianfei. It was he who helped Zhang Ye fight for the press conference to be held. That allowed Zhang Ye the chance to stand onstage and deliver the documentary! Before the press conference, in all of Central TV, perhaps only Yan Tianfei knew what Zhang Ye might be planning. Just as Old Yan had said, there existed an unspoken understanding between the two of them.

In the office.

The colleagues all gathered around.

Ha Qiqi said angrily, “Director Zhang, our documentary…was still deleted in the end!”

Zhang Zuo added, “A document was issued from above to affirm your contributions toward public service, but the reason for taking down the video was that it lacked proper scientific evidence.”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Alright, I understand.”

Little Wang hesitated for a moment before saying, “Will you…get into any trouble? The people you have offended this time are all people who have much at stake. They will…”

Zhang Ye said happily, “You make it sound like the people I have offended in the past were all just ordinary folk or something.”

When he said that, Little Wang gasped, but also grinned.

This was Director Zhang. He would never let anything, no matter how big, bother him. He only cared about whether he could say what he wanted, but as for the consequences, he never considered them at all.

The tone of events was set!

It was set the moment the documentary was taken down!

How intense would this game get? How serious had the matter become? What were the executives’ attitudes toward it? What were the relevant departments’ feelings about it? A lot of people still did not know as they could only get a glimpse into what was happening through the news reports. It was difficult to get an overall picture and discover the truth behind it. But there was one thing that everyone found out immediately, and that was the attitude of Central TV. A document released by Central TV caused a commotion once more!

On the same day.

Central TV had called for an emergency meeting.

After the meeting, Central TV made a decision and publicly indicated that they would disavow Zhang Ye’s documentary due to its imprecision. They made it clear that the release had nothing to do with Central TV and that it was Zhang Ye’s personal decision to do so. Finally, Central TV announced that they would terminate Zhang Ye’s one-year contract with them with immediate effect!

In plain speech, he was fired!

Actually, Central TV was just afraid of trouble. They had truly been terrified by Zhang Ye and finally realized something. Freeze him? Ban him? Those actions were totally meaningless. As long as Zhang Ye remained in Central TV, this fellow could cause a million other problems for them. Furthermore, all those problems would be on an extremely shocking scale. Hold him back by keeping him with them? Fuck your grandpa! It’s better that you just hurry up and leave! Every second that we keep you, we’ll just be living in constant fear!

This lunatic!

This was the craziest guy of them all!

Right now, Central TV just did not wish to see Zhang Ye a moment longer!

But the netizens were enraged!

“What the hell?”

“Firing Teacher Zhang at a time like this?”

“Everyone knows that Teacher Zhang’s contract is coming to an end and he will be leaving soon. But to fire him at this point in time? What’s the meaning behind that?”

“They’re such fucking bullies!”

“Fuck! What has Zhang Ye done to you guys?”

“Central TV’s reaction is too extreme, isn’t it? No one at the top has said anything yet, but you people already can’t wait to draw a line between yourselves and Zhang Ye? Are you trying to place all the blame on him?”

“I could turn a blind eye when Central TV wanted to forcibly take away the copyrights of The Voice! I could turn a blind eye when Zhang Ye was frozen! When Central TV transferred Zhang Ye to the documentary channel? I could still turn a blind eye to that! But I’m unable to do so anymore this time! Teacher Zhang should be allowed to leave in a blaze of glory! He should be able to strut out of Central TV’s gates with his chest held high! By doing this, you’re making it look like Teacher Zhang has done something wrong! It’s like you’re painting him as a failure! What is this? What the hell is this?”

“Damn, I’ll never tune into Central TV’s channels anymore!”

The netizens’ reactions were very strong!

It was the same for the people of Department 14!

“Director Zhang!”

“This…this…”

“How could they do this!”

“They did this on purpose!”

But only Zhang Ye did not seem angry. Instead, he looked rather happy. “I was going to leave anyway, but I was waiting for my contract to expire. It’s great that it was terminated in advance, so it’s time for this bro to quickly find another job!”

Ha Qiqi flatly said, “I’ll quit too!”

Zhang Zuo said, “Me too!”

Little Wang shouted, “Let’s all quit together!”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Just continue working for now and wait for my message. If there’re any good projects coming up, I’ll contact everyone. At that time, we can whip up another storm and score another big one, haha!” With that, he turned around. “Alright, I’m off.”

After he packed his things.

Zhang Ye leisurely walked out of the office.

Outside Central TV, group of reporters were already camping there as they’d received the news in advance.

“He’s coming out!”

“Zhang Ye is coming out!”

“Teacher Zhang!”

“Were you fired?”

“What do you have to say regarding this incident?”

“I heard that you’ve already been banned?”

“A lot of the TV stations that contacted you before to join them after your contract ran out seem to have all withdrawn their offers now? There’s no more news about it? Is it true that you have been banned again?”

“What are you planning to do for your next project?”

“If there’s no job that comes knocking on your door, what will you do?”

“Teacher Zhang, what is your opinion of Central TV?”

“Do you feel very wronged over how things turned out?”

“The documentary has been taken down and you were fired by Central TV too. What would you like to say most at this moment?”

A lot of them were pointing their microphones and audio recorders at Zhang Ye while surrounding him and not letting him leave.

Zhang Ye knew that if he did not give them a response here, he wouldn’t be able to leave. He turned around to look at the Central TV Tower, then looked at the reporters with a smile. “Who told you guys that I feel wrong? Who said that I feel bad because of this?”

Today’s weather was a little odd.

Clearly, spring had already arrived, but the skies were constantly downcast. There were even some snowflakes drifting down gently, and mixed among them was some rain falling from the sky.

It was snowing?

It felt like a farewell to Zhang Ye!

Zhang Ye smiled and suddenly thought of a poem from his previous world.

He looked at the reporters, then looked up at the gloomy sky that seemed to be starting to clear up. Zhang Ye softly opened his mouth.

“Vast snow clouds darken the skies.

“The blowing north winds drive the geese and snow.

“Worry not that close friends won’t appear on the road ahead.

“Who in these lands don’t appreciate you?”

This was Zhang Ye’s current mood.

This was the poem he was gifting himself.

“Sending off Dongda” from his previous world had been changed to “Sending off Myself” by him!

Zhang Ye then swaggered away.

He left the group of reporters frozen in place!

Worry not that close friends won’t be on the journey ahead!

Who in these lands…don’t appreciate you?

Dongda – also known as Dong, the eldest, or Dong Tinglan. The poem is a jueju, or Chinese quatrain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jueju & http://www.ebridge.cn/new/languages/lan.php?sno=391