The next day.9 AM.
Zhang Ye headed to Media College again for the second day of the entrance exam.
"Professor Zhang, you"re here?"
"Yes, Teacher Xue."
"Professor Little Zhang, good morning."
"Professor w.a.n.g, good morning to you too."
"We"re colleagues now."
"Yes, and I"ll still be depending on everyone"s care."
When he arrived at the exam hall, the other examiners were all exchanging greetings with Zhang Ye. Yesterday, everyone still addressed him rather casually, with some calling him Little Zhang, while others addressed him as Teacher Little Zhang. But today, everyone seemingly added the t.i.tle of Professor when they addressed him. Zhang Ye taking up the temporary position had been announced on Media College"s official website. A spokesperson of the school authorities even gave a media interview about it, which was the main reason why everyone addressed him a little differently now.
Of course, when Su Hongyan arrived, she still called him Little Zhang. Even if Teacher Su tried to address him as Professor Zhang, he would not dare to be called that by her since she was his former teacher.
The interview round started.
They were kept busy all morning, a whole three hours.
...
In the afternoon.
They were finally done with the interviews.
Su Hongyan did not say anything and just left the exam hall quietly.
Zhang Ye was looking through his notes about the examinees and by the time he looked up, he could not see her anymore. He had intended to get lunch with Teacher Su at first, but he didn"t expect Teacher Su to move so quickly. "Eh, where did Teacher Su go?"
A female teacher said, "Did she leave already?"
Another examiner replied, "She seemed to have left after answering a call."
Zhang Ye also stood up to leave. Curious, he looked around after he went downstairs and suddenly spotted Su Hongyan somewhere far away. There was another person with Teacher Su, a rather young man who was around Zhang Ye"s age. Although he couldn"t make out his features, from what he could see, that person should be rather good-looking. On top of that…he even seemed somewhat familiar?
Is he?
He instinctively walked over to them.
From a distance away, he could hear Teacher Su"s conversation with that person.
Teacher Su: "Sure, I"ll help ask around."
That person: "Thank you. I"ve troubled you again."
Teacher Su: "Have you ever not given me any trouble?"
That person laughed dryly.
Teacher Su: "But I can"t guarantee anything. Although it"s been a year already, if the other party still wants to bite onto it, it"ll still be very difficult for you to find work in this industry."
That person voiced, "I understand. I"ll just take it as it comes. This is the most pressing matter that I want to settle now that I"ve come back."
Teacher Su smiled and said, "Actually, that old cla.s.smate of yours has a bigger influence than me in the industry. You should"ve sought his help on this matter and exchanged some tips. After all, that kid has started bigger troubles than you and has offended much more people as well. In this aspect, he is definitely much more experienced than you. In the past two years, you could say that he"s been the most reckless person of all."
That person shook his head and replied, "You must not tell him about this."
Suddenly, Zhang Ye"s laughter rang out. "Don"t tell who?"
Teacher Su and that person were startled.
Zhang Ye looked at that person at the same time that person looked at Zhang Ye. They stared at each other for at least two seconds.
Zhang Ye laughed. "I was just thinking who this familiar person could be. If it isn"t Cla.s.smate w.a.n.g He. What"s the matter? You came to Beijing but did not even bother to say hi to me? Not even a phone call? If it weren"t for Shanshan who told me, I wouldn"t have known that you were already back. What"s the meaning of this? Are you avoiding me?"
w.a.n.g He chuckled. "Would I have to avoid you? Have we ever been on such good terms to warrant that?"
Zhang Ye thought about it and then nodded with a chuckle too. "That"s true, we"re not really on good terms."
w.a.n.g He glanced at him. "You"re still that same old you, totally unchanged."
"But you"ve changed," Zhang Ye said sarcastically. "I heard that you offended someone and then ran back to your hometown after that?"
w.a.n.g He"s eyebrows twitched. He brushed it off with a sort of smile and said, "That wasn"t running away. What I did was beat a strategic retreat and reorganize my defenses."
Zhang Ye seethed, "Oh alright, just stop bragging. If you ran away, then you ran away. What retreat and defense are you even talking about? You"re just sugarcoating it!"
w.a.n.g He retorted, "Enough about me. Didn"t you also get banned by the SARFT! You were the top artist on the SARFT"s blacklist last year!"
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "But they couldn"t keep me down, could they!? But what about you?"
w.a.n.g He glanced at him again. "Am I not back now?"
The two of them said things one after another. After not seeing each other for two years, the first thing they did was to start with a fight. This scene seemingly brought them back to their days in university. At that time, these two also argued in such a way every day, bickering their days away. It was even a highlight of their cla.s.ses.
Su Hongyan had not forgotten this. When she heard them bickering, she felt like she was transported back several years. "You two!" She broke out into a laugh.
Suddenly, Zhang Ye looked at w.a.n.g He and threw open his arms.
w.a.n.g He also laughed. He spread his arms and walked over.
The two of them gave each other a great bear hug!
Zhang Ye lamented, "We haven"t seen each other in two years. I kinda missed you!"
w.a.n.g He laughed and said, "Without you around, there was no one for me to argue with. How boring it got for me too!"
Zhang Ye declared, "It"s good that you"re back now."
w.a.n.g He replied, "Yes, I"m finally back."
Su Hongyan smiled happily and said, "Are you both done reminiscing about the old days?"
w.a.n.g He laughed. "Yes, we are."
"Let"s go and find a restaurant where can we sit and catch up," Su Hongyan suggested.
...
There was a small restaurant just outside the back gates of Media College. It was slightly rundown and there weren"t many customers either.
The three of them sat down and randomly ordered some dishes before starting to discuss the serious issues.
Zhang Ye sipped the hot tea and said, "I overheard a little of what the two of you were talking about. Dong Shanshan also briefly shared with me what happened. w.a.n.g He, just what kind of person did you offend?"
w.a.n.g He looked quite unwilling to share. "Let"s eat first."
But Zhang Ye stated, "If I didn"t know about it in the first place, that would be fine. But since I already know about it, then there"s no point in hiding it. Quickly tell me what happened. We can try to think of a solution together."
Su Hongyan also urged, "Go on, Little w.a.n.g."
w.a.n.g He pondered for a moment before explaining, "It was an incident that happened back when I just graduated. At that time, a lot of television stations and other hiring businesses were already headhunting us before we graduated. Among our batch of broadcasting majors, my results were considered to be quite good since I was first or second in our cla.s.s, around equal to Dong Shanshan. Therefore, both of us found jobs before we even got our diplomas. I ended up going to Hebei TV, but of course, it wasn"t some high-flying department there. My results were good, but they weren"t the best among our faculty. We did not have any connections either, so to be able to just work in a television station as an host intern after graduating was already considered great. Many of the other Media College graduates could not even be a host intern. They were mainly running errands for their employers and wouldn"t get any screen time for at least year or two, so I was rather c.o.c.ky at that time."
Zhang Ye whined, "Get to the point and stop boasting. I was one of those graduates who you claim to have been running errands."
w.a.n.g He said, "Fine. The main issue happened after I started working. I was interning at the Hebei TV Headquarters for three months when my boss there felt that I had good overall potential, and transferred me to the Production Department that"s located in Beijing. There were quite a few well-performing shows on Hebei TV that were produced over at the office in Beijing. Many television stations place their production departments and resources in Beijing since this location is convenient and has more access to additional resources."
Zhang Ye asked, "Who did you offend then?"
w.a.n.g He said, "The head of Hebei TV"s Production Department located in Beijing, their leader Guan Yunhai. He"s also a station lead of Hebei TV, and is one rank lower than a deputy station head even though he"s on the salary scale of a deputy station head. You could say that he"s a leading figure in the television circle."
Zhang Ye frowned. Someone on a similar level to a deputy station head?
Su Hongyan added, "I met Guan Yunhai once before. He"s a highly qualified veteran who has worked at Central TV and Anhui TV before. It was only later that he went to Hebei TV and was later made the head of the Beijing Production Department. You should know who he is if someone mentions him in the industry."
Zhang Ye nodded at that. He seemed to have heard of that name before too.
Su Hongyan said, "I"d asked someone to put in a good word for w.a.n.g He back then, but before it could even happen, nothing was heard about the case anymore."
Zhang Ye asked, "So what really happened? Did you uncover his family"s secret?" The latter sentence was Beijing slang that roughly meant: "Did you steal his wife?"
Su Hongyan understood and rolled her eyes. "You"re already an a.s.sociate professor. Watch what you say."
w.a.n.g He smiled bitterly. "You know what? It really has something to do with that, but it"s not me. His mistress was my boss, the head of our department and a former host. Although she"s already fallen out of the B-list rankings, she"s still rather pretty. When I first joined the station, I did not know anything at all. I didn"t know my way around to the people and only did what the lead ordered. After all, I was only an intern, so whatever the boss asked, I would just do it diligently. It was only after some time that she began trusting me. Once, when she attended a dinner function, she brought me along as well. I was just there to drive her around and whatnot, but when she had a drink too much, she gave me an address in her drunken state. It wasn"t her home address but somewhere else, so I just sent her there. Afterwards, I gained even more of her trust and she got me to pick her up many more times to go to that address. She even specifically told me not to tell anyone, and it was only later on that I found out that that was not Guan Yunhai"s place but the home of another lover of hers."
Zhang Ye was left almost speechless at this. "It"s this complicated?"
w.a.n.g He said, "You don"t say. There was one time when everything just came together and we got caught by Guan Yunhai. Me, that woman, her lover, and Guan Yunhai just found ourselves together somewhere. There was even a fight there, and it was only then that I realized that Guan Yunhai was her lover too. Don"t you think that I was really unlucky to have that happen to me? What has all this got to do with me? As a result, Guan Yunhai hated me because I was the one who always chauffeured my boss to her lover"s house. Moreover, as it involved such a secretive issue, Guan Yunhai did not make a big fuss out of it and just straight-up had me fired. He even released word in the industry that my character and work abilities were flawed, so that meant whoever hired me would be going against him!"
Su Hongyan shook her head. "What a corrupt person."
w.a.n.g He gave a helpless laugh. "Teacher Su, you"ve always taught at Media College, and the culture here is definitely different. But for many other places, this is how it is. The industry is really messy and complicated."
Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, "Is that how you ended up in this situation now?"
"Yes." w.a.n.g He threw up his hands in resignation. "After that, I tried to apply for several more positions at other television stations but without an exception, none of them got back to me."
Su Hongyan said, "Television stations usually inquire with the previous employers of a host who makes a move from their previous jobs. They would then meet with a roadblock at Guan Yunhai"s side and wouldn"t risk hiring w.a.n.g He. Since he is not a famous host, there is no need for them to take this risk."
After listening to all the details, the entire situation was quite clear to them.
Zhang Ye remarked, "You can"t be a more innocent party when it comes to this affair."
"Right?" w.a.n.g He furiously shook his head. "But who can I go to for justice?"
Suddenly, a call came in.
w.a.n.g He had a look at his phone and said, "It"s from Shanshan."
He answered it.
Dong Shanshan"s voice could be heard saying: "w.a.n.g He, I"ve already asked for you."
w.a.n.g He said: "Thanks, how was it?"
Dong Shanshan sighed. "I"ve told Brother Hu and a department head over at Beijing Television about it. They were willing to give you a chance for an interview at the beginning, but then later they said to forget about it. They said that your résumé is not good as Hebei TV has given you a bad review."
w.a.n.g He kept quiet for a moment. "Alright, I understand. Thanks, Shanshan. I"ll buy you dinner some other day."
Dong Shanshan replied: "There"s no need for that. I wasn"t of much help anyway."
"I"ll still have to." w.a.n.g He said: "I appreciate that you tried to help."
Dong Shanshan said: "I feel that it"s better if you tell Zhang Ye about this. He has a much bigger influence than me, perhaps he can help you think of a way. If you don"t want to, I can help you speak with him. I briefly mentioned it to Zhang Ye over the phone yesterday, and he seemed quite worried about your situation as well, even though he might not say so."
When Zhang Ye heard that, he laughed and said: "Shanshan, are you making things up about me again?"
Dong Shanshan was a little startled: "Yo, you guys are together right now?"
w.a.n.g He laughed. "I b.u.mped into him at Media College."
Dong Shanshan laughed: "Alright, then I feel more relieved. You can ask him for help. I"ll be hanging up now."
They ended the call.
Su Hongyan asked, "Beijing Television said no?"
w.a.n.g He nodded. "Shanshan has already asked for me. They said no."
"It"s already been a year. Why is he still not letting this go?" Su Hongyan frowned.
w.a.n.g He laughed very helplessly. "He"s trying to get rid of me once and for all. It"s fine, I was already prepared for such a result anyway."
Hearing this, Zhang Ye said, "OK, isn"t this just a small issue? I"ll help you handle it."
w.a.n.g He looked at him. "Are you sure you can do it?"
"Heh, what"s with that doubting tone? I"ve not having any of it. Just wait and see what I can do." Zhang Ye took out his cell phone and called Department 14"s Director Yan Tianfei.
Du du.
The call connected.
Yan Tianfei: "h.e.l.lo? Little Zhang, haha, I"ve just seen your news. How did it happen? You got appointed as an a.s.sociate professor again? This time at Media College? Don"t forget to treat us when you"re back after the new year."
"For sure," Zhang Ye agreed.
Yan Tianfei asked: "What"s the matter?"
Zhang Ye answered: "It"s about an old cla.s.smate of mine, also from Media College. He"s been looking for a job as a host recently. Do you think you can make some recommendations for him? There"s no doubt about his abilities, I can guarantee that."
Yan Tianfei granted without hesitation: "It"s not a difficult request, so sure, just send me his information. Since our department does not have a hosting position, I"ll help you ask around with the other departments of Central TV."
Zhang Ye said, "Alright, thank you so much then."
Zhang Ye also thought that this issue would be settled just like that, but the outcome was totally beyond his expectations!