The next day.In the morning.
On the return flight.
The Chinese celebrity team was still discussing yesterday"s events.
"Has the Red Cross given the reward to you yet?"
"Not yet, but I"m not exactly antic.i.p.ating whatever it might be."
"Hur hur, it"s good enough to garner all of that popularity from yesterday."
"Yeah, your popularity must have blown up this time."
"You"ve shot to fame with just one appearance in Asia."
"Haha, Zhang"er, don"t forget to treat us all when we get back."
"You"re the only one who experienced a popularity boost."
"Yeah, and it"s popularity in Asia too. It"s much harder to climb in the Asian rankings than our rankings back home. The changes are often and huge since there is a lot of compet.i.tion over here. Like for Spring Garden, it would already be a very good result if we don"t drop off from our monthly ranking. It would take the best of our efforts just to maintain our position. We"re totally unlike Teacher Zhang who has it so easy. He can just go abroad for a short trip, sing a song or two, do some calligraphy, and then see his popularity in Asia shoot up."
"You can"t say that he has it easy either. The key is that Zhang"er has already acc.u.mulated enough with his past results and achievements. Just naming any one of his achievements overseas would be enough to shock a bunch of people, like his status of being the world"s best player in Go, or his world-cla.s.s mathematician t.i.tle. With those serving as a foundation, once he makes his appearance in Asia, his popularity would naturally follow. And those past achievements that Zhang"er got were achieved with pure hard work from him. He hasn"t had it easy along the way, and it"s not a path that just anyone could copy."
"Teacher Zhang, are you seriously planning to develop your career in Asia?"
"This is good momentum. I think within the next year or two, Teacher Zhang will have a chance of making it into the Asian S-list rankings. After that, he can start thinking about fighting for a spot among the international celebrities."
Everyone chipped in with their views on the matter.
The international stage?
I better concentrate on getting to the top of Asia first.
Zhang Ye did not think that far ahead and knew that he would have to take this step by step.
Soon after.
Their plane landed.
The Chinese celebrity team"s people were bidding each other goodbye as they walked out, ready to part ways. The various celebrities" a.s.sistants or staff were also here to pick them up.
Sungla.s.ses.
Face masks.
Caps.
The three essentials that a celebrity should carry were worn by everyone.
However, the moment they pa.s.sed the security check, the situation outside at Arrivals spun out of control!
It was crowded with people!
The entire place was packed tight as sardines!
"Ah!"
"It"s them!"
"They"re out!"
"I see them!"
"Ahhhh!"
There were people all around. All of them were fans!
Screams filled the airport"s arrival hall!
Zhang Yuanqi laughed and said, "Well, it looks like the news got out."
Xu Meilan said helplessly, "Let"s wait it out. It"s not safe to step out at this time."
Xiaodong, Amy, and the others also stopped in their tracks. None of them dared to walk any further.
Jiang Hanwei wondered, "Why are there so many people here?"
Only Zhang Ye smiled like it didn"t matter to him. "You guys stay around then. This bro will take his leave first." Then he swaggered out.
Ning Lan laughed and said, "Aren"t you afraid that your fans will prevent you from leaving?"
Zhang Ye waved it off and said confidently with a laugh, "My fans? My fans would never come to receive me at the airport."
But when Zhang Ye strolled, the situation that unfolded before him was not quite what he had imagined it to be. His eyes blurred at the sight as he saw everyone behaving as though they knew him very well. All of them were crying out for him and pounced forward like a pack of hungry wolves!
"Zhang Ye!"
"It"s Zhang Ye!"
"He finally came out!"
The majority of them did not even cast an eye on the other celebrities of Chinese celebrity team and went straight for Zhang Ye. It seemed like most of the people out here were waiting for him!
Zhang Ye was dumbfounded!
Eh?
What"s with this?
A girl screamed, "Teacher Zhang, I like you so much. I"ve been reading your poems since I was young, and I"ve listened to all of your songs as well. Please give me an autograph!"
Zhang Ye said, "Ah, OK."
A youth darted over. "Teacher Zhang, you"ve brought so much pride to our country"s people and shown the might of China. Please give an autograph to me!"
"Ah, sure."
A young woman squeezed her way forward as she roared, "Teacher Zhang, your—your hairstyle looks great today. Please give me an autograph!"
Zhang Ye was speechless.
A student said, "Teacher Zhang, your shoes look great. Can I have your autograph?"
Zhang Ye became even more speechless.
What was with all of this?!
What do my shoes have anything to do with getting my autograph!
For a moment, it was jampacked. Everyone was behaving like they had gone crazy!
"Ah! I got it!"
"I got it too!"
"It"s Zhang Ye"s signature!"
"Hahahaha! I"m rich!"
"Stop squeezing!"
"Teacher Zhang, sign one for me too! Please give me an autograph!"
"d.a.m.n, who"s pus.h.i.+ng me?"
"Don"t cut in front of me, wait for your turn!"
"f.u.c.k, I was here first!"
"Teacher Zhang, please give me an autograph as well! Just one character of your name is fine too! My family is waiting for me to bring home the bacon!"
Bring home the bacon?
What has my autograph got anything to do with you bringing home the bacon?
Zhang Ye stopped thinking about it and continued giving autographs to them.
The large crowd of people had blocked the entire hallway. Yang Shu, who had arrived from outside, could not make her way in and was stood there in a fl.u.s.ter!
A distance away.
The Chinese celebrity team members were all dumbfounded.
Ning Lan checked left and right before attempting to walk outside. Her studio"s staff had already arrived and the path was now clear for them to pick her up.
When Chen Guang saw this, he also stepped out.
Xiaodong, Li Xiaoxian, and Amy also made an attempt to leave.
No one cared about them!
Absolutely no one had spotted them at all!
Xiaodong turned around and said to the other celebrities, "I think it"ll be fine for us to leave now?"
Jiang Hanwei rolled his eyes. What in the world was this?
Big Qi laughed helplessly. "So they"re all here to receive Teacher Zhang?"
But of course, the two Heavenly Queens, Zhang Yuanqi and Xu Meilan, did not step out so easily. With their popularity, they would definitely get stopped by fans if they did. It was not even necessary to try it.
Xu Meilan asked, "Didn"t he say that his fans wouldn"t come to receive him at the airport?"
Zhang Yuanqi smiled and said, "Do you think they"re here to receive him? They"re all here to make money."
"Make money?" Xu Meilan asked curiously.
Amy was amused. "Sister Lan, don"t you know?"
Xu Meilan asked, "Know about what?"
Amy burst out laughing and said, "Back here in China, people are already offering up to 100,000 yuan each for Lord Zhang"s autographs. What"s more, there was even a successful transaction at that price!"
Chen Guang said in surprise, "What?"
Jiang Hanwei stared with wide eyes. "His autograph?"
Xu Meilan also said in shock, "100,000 yuan each?"
d.a.m.n!
Whose autograph had ever cost so much?
Even an international superstar"s autograph wouldn"t be able to fetch 100,000 yuan, would it?
It might be possible if there was a limited quant.i.ty. Like how some international superstars never autographed much. If a copy of it were to make it to the market, it could be possible that it would sell for 100,000 yuan since that would be a rare piece of memorabilia. But this wasn"t the case for Zhang Ye! This fellow had signed so many autographs for others that the streets were flooded with them. He basically never rejected anyone who asked him for one, after all, so how could it f.u.c.king fetch 100,000 yuan each? Just how valuable was his writing! That even his autograph had been squabbled over to a sky-high price!
The Chinese celebrity team members weren"t about to wait for him and headed back home separately.
Before they left, they gave Zhang Ye, who had been surrounded by the "pack of wolves," a look while laughing. That fellow was still signing his autograph for them one by one. They wondered when he would finally finish autographing for all of them.
Zhang Ye"s writing was really on fire all across Asia!