It was late at night.
These days, it started getting dark earlier, so it was actually only 9 PM.
His father knocked on his door, “Little Ye, your Mom and I are going to bed.”
“OK, good night.” Zhang Ye switched off his computer and replied his father through the closed door.
His father asked, “Do you want breakfast tomorrow morning? What time will you wake up at?”
Zhang Ye laughed, “Yes. I have to teach a morning cla.s.s tomorrow, so I will definitely be up early. Wake me up around 7 or 8 AM. I want to have tofu pudding.”
“Alright. I will get your Mom to buy some tomorrow morning.” Dad replied.
Suddenly, Zhang Ye’s cell phone rang. It was an unknown number.
Zhang Ye picked up, “h.e.l.lo, who is this?”
“Teacher Zhang Ye, I’m a program producer from Beijing Television Station,” said a man’s voice. He could not decipher his age from the way he sounded, but he thought he might be 30 something or even 40 something.
Zhang Ye acknowledge him without changing his tone when he heard that he was from Beijing Television Station. He said in a smiling tone, “h.e.l.lo, for what reason would you be looking for me for?”
That person replied, “A program slot was recently freed up on Beijing Television Station and we will have a new program up around the end February, so there’s still one to two months of preparation time. We feel that Sinology has been a subject of interest recently, we would like to do a program similar to ‘Lecture Room’, but it would not be aired on the Arts Channel to test the market. Rather, we intend for it to premiere on the Beijing Television channel (Satellite Channel) itself. As for the lecturer, we have not yet decided on who yet. After much discussion though, we feel that you are the most suitable. Teacher Zhang, you are an ex-employee of Beijing Television Station and we hope you understand that we were forced to do what we did the previous time…..”
Zhang Ye interrupted him saying, “I understand all of that, don’t worry. I’m not that petty.” Zhang Ye was very clear about this. What Beijing Radio Station did to suppress him was something that he would remember for life. He could never forget that, but regarding his sacking at Beijing Television Station, Zhang Ye did not actually care about it, because he had really disrupted a live broadcast. He had been prepared to get fired and understood that the station was just handling business as business. These two matters were clear to Zhang Ye. He wasn’t someone who did not speak reason, but….”But I’m not intending to do such programs for now.”
That person said, “You can speak about other things, that’s fine. Like ‘Water Margin’ or ‘Journey to the West’, all that is fine. Hmm, let’s put it this way, as long as you are the lecturer, we will agree to anything you want to speak about!” Putting it in this manner could be said to be the greatest acknowledgment to a host.
Zhang Ye thought over it for a bit, but still declined, “My schedule for the next few months are full, so I might not be able to afford the time. Let’s talk about it in the future.”
That person did not force it, “Sure, then let’s keep in contact.”
After hanging up, Zhang Ye was very clear. Beijing Television Station did not get Hu Fei to invite him, because it was clear that Hu Fei did not wish to be the bridge. Because of the incident of Zhang Ye’s sacking, Hu Fei did not feel comfortable with it. This was why somebody else was given the task instead. Zhang Ye had not thought about his direction after this. After all, he was still a staff member of Weiwo Video and he did not plan for future programs, nor did he give it any thought, so it would be better to decline Beijing Television Station for now and leave that option open for the future.
At around 10 PM in the evening.
Zhang Ye was about to go to bed when he received another call. It was w.a.n.g Xiaomei from the Beijing Radio Station. She was also helping someone to contact Zhang Ye. Jinshi Television Station was hoping to invite Zhang Ye over to do a discussion forum-like program and even promised to give in to all Zhang Ye’s demands should he come over. They would even pay for the breach of contract fee to Weiwo Video if he agreed to it!
“I’ve done my part.” w.a.n.g Xiaomei said.
Zhang Ye replied, “Teacher Xiaomei, help me reject them.”
w.a.n.g Xiaomei asked, “You aren’t even considering their offer?”
Zhang Ye answered, “It’s not that I’m not considering, but maybe at a later date.”
“Alright, I’ll help you pa.s.s the message. You can discuss with them in the future.” w.a.n.g Xiaomei said.
Zhang Ye laughed, “Sure, don’t burn the bridges though. I still have to consider, but now is not the time. I’ve got a lot on my plate to handle at the moment.”
He washed up and brushed his teeth.
Zhang Ye lay in bed preparing to sleep, but couldn’t fall asleep.
The things that happened in the past two days had caused his mind to be too active. He had also slept very well. As such, tonight he was tossing and turning in his bed, feeling wide awake.
Picking up his phone, Zhang Ye couldn’t help but look through his fan club’s Tieba. He saw several congratulatory messages from Big Saber Bro and a few other of his hardcore fans. Zhang Ye replied to them and then remembered something else, so he went over to take a look at the Celebrity Rankings of this world.
It was as follows:
Zhang Ye: D-List Celebrity.
D-List Celebrity Ranking: 59.
This time, he had managed to raise his ranking by several dozen spots. Thinking back to when there was no Talk Show, Zhang Ye had just been promoted to the D-List Rankings and hovered around the last spot, but as of today, after a few episodes of “Zhang Ye’s Talk Show” and two public lectures on ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, his ranking had already increased by quite a bit. Then checking on Peking University’s official website, he saw that the first lecture had already garnered 19 million views and the second lecture was already at 11 million views after being posted this afternoon. Good G.o.d! This was even more popular than his Talk Show performance, but it wasn’t all that surprising since his Talk Show’s target audience was the younger crowd, whereas his lectures about ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ could be enjoyed and watched by viewers of all age groups. As one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels, the attention it had was naturally also higher. Now that Zhang Ye’s ranking hovered around the middle of the D-List Celebrity Rankings, when his public lectures were completed, and with the broadcast of his already completed Talk Show, Zhang Ye felt that he might even get into the C-List rankings. Although it got harder as he went higher, it was not impossible.
As for his Reputation points.
Zhang Ye quickly brought up the interface of the game ring.
His total Reputation points: 16.28 million. This figure was still quickly increasing, visible to the naked eye.
When he saw this, Zhang Ye got off his bed. This time, it would be even harder for him to fall asleep. He lit up a cigarette and couldn’t help smiling to himself. He had not thought that it would acc.u.mulate to such a number. He had not checked it for the past few days at all. When he was doing his Talk Show, the Reputation points acc.u.mulated had all been spent on buying Memory Search Capsules. He did not have any points left after that, so the 16.28 million Reputation points now were all gained from his lectures of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ This was a surprise to him. When Zhang Ye first came on board as a lecturer in Peking University, he hadn’t thought that something like this would happen. It looked like his choice to speak about ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ this time had caused a commotion bigger than he had bargained for. Of course, he also understood that this was just because the information from the first two lectures was too shocking to everyone. Later on in the next few lectures, everyone’s expectations would become higher and thus his Reputation points would not increase as quickly as they were now!
But this was more than enough!
He had gained fame and riches now. He felt that he had really made the right choice to develop himself at Peking University!
Who said that being a lecturer would require him to leave the entertainment circle? This was never the case. Like in his previous world, Yi Zhongtian, Liu Xinwu, and Yu Dan, didn’t all of them gain fame by lecturing? Their names and reputation were more than comparable to any small time celebrity!
This path was right!
To other celebrities in the entertainment circle, this path would have definitely been a dead end because none of them had this sort of ability like Zhang Ye, who could cross over into the education world and still do what he wanted. To Zhang Ye, this was not a dead end, but a very suitable path that would aid his short term development!