The next day.In the morning.
When Old Wu"s family woke up, they discovered that Zhang Ye had already left.
Li Qinqin asked, "Did Little Ye go back last night?"
Wu Zeqing said, "No, he stayed with me in the west wing room."
Wu Changhe said, "Where"d he go then? Breakfast is already prepared."
"What did you two talk about last night?" Li Qinqin asked, "I noticed that you two spoke deep into the night."
Wu Zeqing smiled. "Nothing, we were just discussing the child."
At this moment, a car parked outside.
Then Zhang Ye came in carrying big and small bags of items.
One bag.
Three bags.
Five bags.
And there were several large boxes as well.
Li Qinqin was startled to see so many things. "Aiyo, where did you go?"
Zhang Ye chuckled and said, "Mom, I went out to buy some diapers for the child, as well as some clothes. There are clothes for when it turns six months, a year old, and two years old. I thought they looked pretty nice, so I bought everything." He opened a package and said, "Look at how good these diapers are. Don"t trust those foreign brands. I bought our homegrown brands because they are as good as any others. Oh yes, Mom, don"t shop at Lotte Mart in the future. That place is run by Koreans, so there"s no guarantee of quality."
Wu Changhe said, "All of the Lotte Marts in Beijing were shut down by you yesterday, so it"s not like we can go even if we wanted to. Hey, why"d you buy so many things?"
Zhang Ye said excitedly, "You can never be too prepared, so I bought a lot."
Li Qinqin didn"t know whether to laugh or cry. "It"s still early. The baby hasn"t even been born yet."
"It"s not early anymore." Zhang Ye said, "Everything has to be prepared beforehand."
Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "Just let him buy what he wants. It"s better to be ready in advance."
Li Qinqin hurriedly beckoned and said, "Alright then, quickly bring the items into this wing."
When he finally unloaded all of the things from the car, Zhang Ye suddenly facepalmed and exclaimed, "Heyo, look how me, I"ve forgotten all about the baby stroller and crib. How about I go to the shop to pick them out tonight. I"ll bring it back here if I find a good one."
Li Qinqin gave a wry smile. "It"s the same even if you buy it another time."
But Wu Zeqing said, "Get a lighter stroller. It"ll be easier to carry up and down."
"Sure thing, understood." Zhang Ye said, "Then I"ll be going to work. I"ve made an appointment with someone already."
Li Qinqin pulled him back. "Don"t go yet. Eat breakfast before you leave."
Wu Zeqing said, "Let him go. He still has a lot of work to see to."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Right, I"ll come back for dinner tonight."
Li Qinqin said, "Hai, then drive carefully."
"I will, Mom." Zhang Ye rushed off.
…
10:30 AM.
At the studio.
When Zhang Ye arrived at the office, the person he had an appointment with was already here.
It was Beijing Television"s Hu Fei, Zhang Ye"s old boss.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Brother Hu, you"re here?"
Hu Fei pointed at him. "You called me to schedule this appointment in the middle of the night, yet you made me wait here for you?"
"Hai, I went out to buy some things in the morning, so I got delayed." Zhang Ye had Hu Fei take a seat. "With so many types of diapers and baby products to choose from, it was all a blur to me."
Hu Fei smiled in delight as he looked at him. "Alright, you"ve really changed now that you"re becoming a father. Having known you for so long, I"ve never seen you go out to a shopping mall to buy things for yourself." With a pause, he asked, "So what is it? You didn"t want to mention it over the phone either. What"s there to be so mysterious about?"
Zhang Ye smiled. "I have a contract here."
Hu Fei was startled. "A contract?"
Zhang Ye looked into the distance. "Little w.a.n.g, where is it?"
"It"s all printed." Little w.a.n.g hurried over with the copy of the contract.
Zhang Ye took it from her and pushed it to Hu Fei. "Have a look."
Hu Fei put on his gla.s.ses and went through the contract with a suspicious look. Almost immediately, he was stunned and raised his head in surprise. "Zhang"er, what"s the meaning of this?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "It"s the authorization agreement. I won"t be heading King of Masked Singers or I Am a Singer in the future. Counting the days, it"s also about time that King of Masked Singers starts production on its second season. For the second and even the third season of I Am a Singer, I will be authorizing the show to Beijing Television from now on as well. After signing this contract, there won"t be a need to seek my agreement to go ahead with the production of the shows."
Hu Fei immediately pushed the contract back to him. "There"s no need for this."
But Zhang Ye said, "It"s necessary. I want to arrange everything first."
Hu Fei said in a speechless manner, "It"s not like you won"t be around anymore. You"re just temporarily leaving the entertainment circle to take care of your child, I can still find you whenever, can"t I? Let"s talk about it when the time comes."
Zhang Ye said, "Let"s get this matter settled first. Only then will I feel at ease."
Hu Fei thought that it wasn"t too appropriate. "But—"
"No more buts." Zhang Ye finished speaking and took out yet another thick stack of doc.u.ments with at least 20 pages. "These are the show outlines and drafts for the next few seasons of King of Masked Singers and I Am a Singer. Read up and use them if they"re suitable. Otherwise, it"s fine even if they"re not followed."
Hu Fei looked through everything page by page and said with a sigh, "Actually, you"re more suited to be the executive director than anyone else."
Zhang Ye did not say anything, nor did he know how to say it.
He also wished that these shows could be properly produced, but he didn"t have any time left to do it.
Zhang Ye said, "Brother Hu, I only have one request."
Hu Fei said, "Speak."
Zhang Ye said, "As long as Dong Shanshan agrees, you must keep her as the host of the shows."
Hu Fei looked at him and said in seriousness, "I"ll promise you that. As long as I"m still around, be it for King of Masked Singers or I Am a Singer, the choice of host will always be Dong Shanshan and no one else. For the outlines that you"ve provided me with, I"ll get the program team to follow them strictly. These two phenomenal variety shows will definitely not be ruined in our hands."
Zhang Ye smiled. "Great!"
…
Noon.
Another group of people arrived at the office.
It was a group personally led by a deputy station head of Central TV.
Zhang Ye was also very surprised by this. "Station Head Zhou, you came down personally?"
Deputy Station Head Zhou said with a serious expression, "Of course I did. I definitely have to handle such matters myself."
"Please, take a seat," Zhang Ye welcomed.
Deputy Station Head Zhou and the rest of the group were all very solemn.
Zhang Ye"s relations.h.i.+p with Central TV was a very complex one. They had a honeymoon period once, and he had also worked with them before. Later on, they fought, which resulted in Zhang Ye being forced out of the station. Then when Central TV changed its leaders.h.i.+p and invited Zhang Ye to head the Spring Festival Gala, the two parties" relations.h.i.+p took a turn for the better again. The complexities were not explainable in just a few sentences.
Zhang Ye called out to his people. "Old Ha."
Ha Qiqi came over. "I"m here."
"The contract," Zhang Ye said.
Ha Qiqi gave a bitter smile at this point but still handed out the contract to them.
Zhang Ye pushed it towards Deputy Station Head Zhou. "Please have a look at it first."
Deputy Station Head Zhou and his staff from the legal department started looking through the doc.u.ments and found that the contract was written very clearly. The several of them gave each other a look and then lightly nodded.
The production authorization agreement for The Voice!
The production authorization agreement for A Bite of China!
The authorization agreements that Central TV had been hoping to get for such a long time were unexpectedly given to them by Zhang Ye just like that!
Deputy Station Head Zhou looked at him. "What do you want for them?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I only have one request."
"Speak," Deputy Station Head Zhou said.
Zhang Ye said, "Don"t screw it up."
Deputy Station Head Zhou pondered it for a moment. "Alright, I"ll promise you that."
Zhang Ye put his hand out with a grin. "Then please sign it."
Both parties signed off.
And the contract was established.
Deputy Station Head Zhou felt very emotional and excited. He deeply understood how important the authorization agreements in his hands were. The authorizations to make those two shows were what they needed most right now. That copycat of a program, Sing! China, was just something that the team of the previous Central TV leader had created when they were left with no choice. Even a hundred Sing! China shows would not be as good as the trademarked name of The Voice! Right now, they could finally start producing the second season of The Voice officially!
Deputy Station Head Zhou held Zhang Ye"s hand and said, "I won"t say anything else, Teacher Zhang. But if you need anything from Central TV in the future, just say the word. On behalf of Central TV, I thank you for your magnanimity."
Was he being magnanimous?
Zhang Ye shook his head slightly. He really wasn"t a magnanimous person.
These cla.s.sic shows from Zhang Ye"s previous world had not been brought to this world by him so that they could be destroyed in his hands. Whether it was the grudge from before or those disagreements they had between them, it was no longer important to Zhang Ye. Since he was going away, he could not possibly take the shows along with him. Surely he should leave a little something for the people of this world.
This was also one of the last things that Zhang Ye could do.