Monday morning.
Zhang Ye went to the police station to record his statement. It didn’t take too long. After taking care of the issue, he finally arrived at work.
“Ah, Teacher Zhang!”
“Why did you come to work?”
“Didn’t Brother Hu give you time off?”
“How’s your injury? Where is it? Is it serious?”
When he arrived, Hou Ge, Dafei and the others surrounded him and asked him many questions out of concern.
Zhang Ye folded up his sleeves to show them, “Thank you for your concern, everyone. I’m fine. It has almost recovered and shouldn’t affect work too much.”
Xiao Lu was shocked, “Such a big wound?”
Hu Fei also came over, “It’s a knife injury? That’s dangerous!”
Zhang Ye answered, “It’s already healing up. A few more days and it should be totally fine.”
Hu Fei pointed at him and said in earnest, “You… It’s not that I want to criticize you. Even if you were being a good samaritan, there should be a limit. Do you understand? You have a good heart and intentions, but this is out of your abilities. You are in the literature field and were a radio host. Your kung fu hangs off your mouth and is written with a pen. Yet you dare to pick a fight with criminals? And even two of them? With knives? You really don’t value your life!”
Zhang Ye smiled. “It was Chenchen house. I was worried that her aunt was tied up. She’s very good to me, so I had to help. Besides, they were going to attack Chenchen. I was right there, so I couldn’t have not done anything. Even if I had to fight for my life, I couldn’t let a child get hurt.”
“So that’s how it was!” Hu Fei understood. He squeezed Zhang Ye’s shoulders, “Well done!”
Xiao Lu had a face full of admiration, “Teacher Zhang is really an ethical man! He’s a role model for the people! Our role model!”
Dafei took the initiative to get some water from the water cooler, “Teacher Zhang, don’t exert yourself. Today, leave everything to us. If there’s anything you need, I will get it for you!”
Zhang Ye quickly said, “I appreciate your kindness, but it’s okay. I can move around. It’s just a little injury. Hur hur. When I was slashed that day and bleeding, I didn’t even raise an eyebrow. In the end, I fought with all I had and captured the two thieves. When the police arrived, they wanted to call an ambulance for me, but I rejected it. A small injury like that needs an ambulance? What a joke! Wouldn’t that be an insult to me? It’s a small injury, so don’t worry!”
Xiao Lu was stunned, “You are that fierce?”
Zhang Ye boasted, “I’m not bad at all. I’m pretty alright.”
After chatting, Hou Ge suddenly asked, “Teacher Zhang, did you watch yesterday’s ‘Lecture Room’?”
Zhang Ye replied, “I had some things to handle yesterday, but I did catch a bit of it. It was okay; it didn’t have many problems.”
Hu Fei laughed and said, “Yesterday, I had everyone come to work earlier to discuss the second episode’s editing and the issues for the third episode. We would like your opinion on how to edit it, such as which parts to cut away and which parts to keep. After hearing about your injury, I did not ask you further. I discussed with everyone else and we decided to do it similar to the first episode, keeping it fully. However you said it, we will keep it as it is. When we saw the comments on the internet later on and asked some professionals for their opinions, everyone said this episode was as good as the first one. It was not draggy. Every part had a hook that kept the viewers interested. It’s basically a textbook for history cla.s.ses!”
Dafei said “Yeah, an ex-colleague, who is also an old friend of mine, called me. He said that my editing and treatment of the show were very good, and even the netizens said so. Hur hur. But they don’t know that I didn’t even have to do any changes. Not a frame was cut. Your lecture was too good, and the rhythm was too well controlled, so there was nothing irrelevant to remove. Teacher Zhang, you are really making my job obsolete. In all my years of editing, even the best ones had to be edited a little. But I have never seen an episode where after a program has been recorded, no additional editing was required!”
Xiao Lu happily said, “If not, Teacher Little Zhang would not be called Teacher Little Zhang!”
Zhang Ye thought to himself. Of course, there was no useless footage. He did not know how Yi Zhongtia gave the lecture, but the “Lecture Room” he watched was the edited product; it was the essence, so of course there wasn’t anything that could be cut.
“Right… How was the rating for the 2nd episode?” Zhang Ye asked, “Did it maintain or go up?”
“We still don’t know. In a while, we will. Wait a while.” Hu Fei looked at his watch, “It will be soon.”
Everyone went back to their seats, but no one did any work. They were all anxious to know the ratings. The beginning few episodes were the most important to them. From the ratings, it would show the potential and momentum of the program. Many in the station were also focused on it; the ratings were the decisive factor in many decisions.
Five minutes…
Ten minutes…
A person suddenly came.
It was Editor Wei. Zhang Ye had seen him once before. It had been the day when he arrived early and saw him, a pretty old man, cleaning the office for them. He had even asked for an autograph from Zhang Ye. Later, he found out that Editor Wei had offended w.a.n.g Shuixin and was given menial tasks to do.
Hu Fei apparently knew him, too, “Brother Wei, why are you here?”
Editor Wei smiled. “The director wants you and Teacher Little Zhang to go to the meeting room. Maybe something is up.”
“They could have just gotten someone else to notify us. There are many other younger staff in your department. Also, a phone call would have sufficed. You are poor in health, so don’t keep running around.” Hu Fei said.
Editor Wei laughed, “Don’t take me for an old man. I’m fine. My health is good!”
Hu Fei said, “I will speak to the Leader afterwards, to transfer you over to our program team. You have to bear with so much working at your department. There’s no need for that. I can’t bear to watch it go on like this.”
“Thanks, but it’s okay.” Editor Wei said.
After chatting for a while, Hu Fei brought Zhang Ye along with him.
Behind, Editor Wei followed them out. He ran into several of his team’s colleagues. Everyone was very polite and greeted him.
“Uncle Wei,” a girl said.
Another youth said, “I went home a few days ago and bought some tea back with me. I’ll bring some for you later.”
Behind, a woman said, “Oh, yes. Our department has saved a lot of bottles. When they wanted to throw them away, I didn’t allow them to. I will put them under your desk later.”
Editor Wei said, “Thank you. I will go get them from you instead.”
“No need, no need. Let me bring them to you.” the woman said.
In front, Zhang Ye witnessed the scene and asked curiously, “Editor Wei is so well-liked?”
Hu Fei sighed “That’s only natural. Every time the station holds a donation drive, Brother Wei always donates the most. Which colleague here has never received kindness from him? As long as anyone asks, he would help, no questions asked. He even takes the initiative to help everyone clean up, change the water dispenser, and fix the air conditioners.”
Zhang Ye asked, “Then what’s the matter about the bottles?”
Hu Fei explained, “Brother Wei usually sells old bottles. Sometimes after work, he would go rummage through the trash outside. You must think that he does not have enough money, right? Of course he doesn’t. The money he gets from those are either donated out or to sponsor some children who can’t afford to go to school. Previously, one of the children he sponsored graduated from a university. That child came to the television station immediately after the ceremony with his family to kowtow and thank him. The child even calls him Father Wei. When I saw it myself, I was so touched. I heard that Brother Wei supported more than ten children through school with his salary and money that he gets from selling bottles! He’s such a great man. How can anyone not respect him?”
Zhang Ye frowned, “Then why is Uncle Wei not appreciated?”
Hu Fei sighed, “Don’t mention it, or I will get angry. I will only tell you briefly, but don’t tell this to anyone else. It’s w.a.n.g Shuixin’s son. He came to the television station some years ago and flirted around. He was being very touchy with a few women, when Brother Wei saw it and used a chair to chase him away. In the end, Director w.a.n.g removed him from his position and used him like an a.s.sistant. He has him send doc.u.ments, move stuff around, and does not leave him any dignity.
Zhang Ye’s expression changed, “There’s such a thing?”
“I just know about it. Don’t spread this around.” Hu Fei said.
After hearing this, Zhang Ye’s impression of w.a.n.g Shuixin became worse. This old bast**d!
In the small meeting room.
There were quite a few people who attended. The Arts Channel’s section and different program teams in charge all attended.
w.a.n.g Shuixin, who was seated in the centre, pressed his hands together and smiled. “Old Hu, you’re here? Take a seat. Let’s officially begin the meeting. Let me first announce the ratings for this weekend’s ‘Lecture Room’. ‘Lecture Room’’s first episode garnered 7.72%, slightly lower than the estimated 7.8%. As for the second episode’s ratings… It’s 8.06%!”
The meeting room was in a state of shock!
“It broke 8%?”
“Breaking 8% on the second episode?”
“This… How did the rating get so high?”
The other program teams’ personnel looked at each other.
Zhang Ye snapped his fingers secretly under the table. In his previous world, “Lecture Room” had a highest rating of only 0.5%. That was at its peak, but of course that was the national rating. If we were to use total viewers, the 8% that the BTV-Arts Channel had would surely not even be near to the 0.5% viewership. But it should not be compared that way. To be fair, one had to use Beijing area’s viewership as a comparison. In that way, Zhang Ye’s version of “Lecture Room” far exceeded Yi Zhongtian’s “a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms” ratings in the Beijing area. This was without a doubt!
Why was it higher than the original version?
What reasons caused this?
Zhang Ye a.n.a.lyzed the causes to be due to the numerous modifications to the culture of this world. This world had less knowledge of the Three Kingdoms compared to his previous world. It could even be said that they were far lacking in their understanding. Everyone did not have a clear understanding of this historical period. Their understanding of it was all from “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, so when “a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms” was released, the shock and uproar it created was bigger and that caused it to be more well received!
“I called for everyone today regarding a matter.” w.a.n.g Shuixin looked at them and said “I would like to single out praise for the team behind ‘Lecture Room’. Through their hard work, our Arts Channel’s overall rating for the weekend was also pulled up. We are already firmly in third place overall in the whole of Beijing Television Station. We were even in 2nd place on Sunday. But for the weekdays, our results are always in limbo. What’s the problem? We have done some research. Yes, we are lacking a signature program. We were unable to capture the attention of the audience, to make them think of watching the Arts Channel when they turn on their televisions. We want to change that through an outstanding signature program, to pull in more viewers and bring up our ratings!”
w.a.n.g Meng, the person in charge of the Music Charts program asked, “What is your direction?”
The Entertainment News director asked, “You want to add a new program? But there are no good ideas.”
“No.” w.a.n.g Shuixin said, “What I want is to extend the broadcast of ‘Lecture Room’ from Monday to Friday as well, for a total of seven days a week!”
Jiang Fen was shocked, “But…..”
w.a.n.g Meng didn’t quite agree too, “But there’s no program slot available!”
w.a.n.g Shuixin explained, “If there are no slots, then we make one.” He took a chart out to give a look, “I noticed that at 3-4 P.M. on weekdays, there’s a skit and crosstalk segment. Its ratings have always been low, as it’s an old program with old material. Those skits and crosstalk have been repeated again and again, and there’s nothing new to it. The audience is also tired of watching those. To obtain the rights, we have to pay for the copyright, making us lose more than we gain. I don’t think that there’s any need to keep such a program running. With this slot opened up, and pushing the segment at the weekday 1 o’ clock by an hour, we can let ‘Lecture Room’ carry on broadcasting from 1 o’clock to 2. What does everyone think?”
No one said anything. Since the Leader had decided on it, they had no grounds to reb.u.t.t.
“Old Hu, can your side make it?” w.a.n.g Shuixin asked.
Increasing the program’s time, and especially with an increase with five days, Hu Fei naturally agreed with both hands, “I have no problem. I’m not sure about Teacher Little Zhang…”
Zhang Ye immediately said, “I have no problems, too. The program is in my head, so I can do it at any moment.” Increasing the program’s time also meant accelerating Zhang Ye’s acc.u.mulation in his reputation, so he naturally did not object to it. It was more tiring, but all that mattered was he become famous!
An Arts Channel’s Leader asked, “How many episodes of ‘a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms’ are left remaining?”
Zhang Ye gave some thought. Many things in the original ‘a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms’ could not be used. As the world’s culture had changed, for example, there was no point talking about famous people like Lu Xun or Qian Xuesen. There was definitely need for some reduction, but it could not be that much, “No matter what, there should be ten plus episodes.”
That Leader nodded, “Alright, ten plus episodes is the best. If you have more to say, then please do so. You are the highlight of our channel.”
w.a.n.g Shuixin looked at Hu Fei, “Old Hu, when ‘a.n.a.lysis of the Three Kingdoms ‘ is done, quickly find a lecturer to take over as soon as possible. We must let this segment be long-lasting, and it must be well-done!”
Hu Fei said, “I got it!”
“Alright, then it’s decided. You are dismissed!” w.a.n.g Shuixin got up and left.
The other segment teams said after the meeting was dismissed, “Old Hu, Teacher Zhang, congratulations.”
“Hai, with such ratings, you really make us die of envy. If our segment can break 8…no, breaking 5 would do. I would be so happy that I’ll wake up in the middle of sleep!” a supervisor said.
w.a.n.g Meng laughed out heartily, “Then pull Teacher Zhang over to your side.”
Hu Fei stared at them, “I’m telling all of you, no one is to dare touch Little Zhang. I will really have a falling out, so don’t even think about it!”