At the entrance of the party venue.
Many people were stunned!
Yan Tianfei"s face sank. "What did you say?"
That staff member repeated, "Teacher Zhang Ye will not be allowed to attend the annual staff party."
Ha Qiqi was extremely irritated by this. "Why not!"
Zhang Zuo was also infuriated. "Why can"t our Director Zhang attend?"
"It"s just something that the station heads have instructed." That staff member said, "We"re just following orders, so we don"t know the reasons. Sorry about it, Teacher Zhang, but we"ll be taking back your pa.s.s."
Zhang Ye was amused by this. "And if I were to insist on going in?"
Several of the staff members were startled.
One of them said, "About that…"
Zhang Ye calmly said, "Are you guys going to attempt to drag or carry me out?"
One of the other staff members had already subconsciously taken a step backwards. Who hadn"t heard of the notorious Zhang Ye before!
Yan Tianfei said loudly, "Get your manager out here!"
Actually, one of the managers of the venue this year was watching them all this time from not too far away. He knew that this issue would be tricky to handle, so he had chosen to hide away for the moment. But seeing that an argument was about to break out over here, he couldn"t ignore it anymore and came over quickly. "Old Yan, what"s the matter? Why are you in such a bad mood?"
Yan Tianfei replied, "What do you think!"
That manager said, "I was also just notified a moment ago."
Yan Tianfei"s temper was very well-known in Central TV. He did not intend to tone it down and was shouting loudly so that everyone around them could hear. "You could"ve informed us at any time, but chose to do so when we were just about to enter the venue? Who are you guys trying to impress? Who are you trying to repress?"
That manager said, "The instructions are from the station heads!"
"I don"t give a d.a.m.n whose instructions those are!" Yan Tianfei directly scolded, "What is the meaning of doing something like this on such an occasion? Who are you trying to shame here? Is this how things should be handled?"
The manager said, "Old Yan, why are you shouting at me?!"
Yan Tianfei pointed at him. "I will just shout at you as I like, so what!"
That manager was getting angry too and started arguing with Yan Tianfei at the entrance!
With their shouting, everyone"s attention was diverted to the incident. Many of the other department heads and staff had not entered the venue yet and were still gathered outside. They could see everything right in front of them. Even those Central TV staff who already went in had stuck their heads out to have a look when they heard the ruckus from inside.
More and more people gathered to see the commotion.
Director Jiang Naixiong from Central TV Department 1.
A deputy director from Central TV Department 5.
Zhang Huo from Central TV"s Variety Channel.
Everyone"s attention turned to this incident at once.
"What happened?"
"What is happening?"
"Zhang Ye has been stopped outside the entrance."
"Ah?"
"I heard that the station has instructed that he"s not allowed to attend the event!"
"It"s the staff party today, and takes place only once a year. Surely they won"t do that, right?"
"Why not? Can"t you see that they are almost fighting out there because of this!?"
"Aiyo, looks like they really are!"
"They"re really not allowing Zhang Ye to attend the party?"
The staff were all whispering.
Yan Tianfei roared, "Old He, don"t you play me for a fool. Little Zhang is the executive director and supervisor of Department 14"s only program team, so why can"t he go in? Ah?"
That manager said, "Are you saying that I"m making this up?"
But at this moment, Zhang Ye surprisingly removed the pa.s.s around his neck and threw it with a grin to one of the staff. Then, he turned to Yan Tianfei and told him, "Director Yan, forget it. I"m not attending the party if they don"t want me there. I can always go home and catch up on some sleep instead."
However, Yan Tianfei exclaimed "This is not going to be an issue!"
"Director Zhang, don"t go!" Ha Qiqi was also getting impatient.
"Right, Director Zhang!"
"If you leave, we"re leaving too!"
"We"ll just not attend the party together!"
"f.u.c.k! Aren"t you guys oppressing us like this?!"
The people from Department 14 were shouting and yelling!
It wasn"t that Zhang Ye was in a good mood today. With his character, if he met with such matters, he would have already taken it head on by now. Zhang Ye wasn"t afraid to tear a hole in the sky and take all responsibility for any fallout if it only affected himself. But as this incident was specifically targeted at Zhang Ye, and since his own program team along with Yan Tianfei also stood up for him, he knew that he shouldn"t give them more trouble.
However, Yan Tianfei grabbed Zhang Ye by his shoulder and stopped him from leaving.
Seeing this, Zhang Ye was truly touched. With so many people standing up for him, there was no reason for Zhang Ye to take a step back anymore!
Suddenly, a person appeared.
An a.s.sistant of a deputy station head.
That a.s.sistant also behaved rather self-importantly, talking loudly to the people around him as soon as he appeared. "Why are you all standing here and watching?! The event is about to start soon! Hurry up and go inside!"
Only then did some of the staff start moving inside, though they walked in very slowly, turning back to look with every step they took as they were still curious about what would happen here.
The a.s.sistant went up to the people of Department 14. "Director Yan, don"t you know what occasion it is today? With so many people around, don"t you think we should save some face for ourselves?"
Yan Tianfei looked at him coldly and said, "If I save face for you, then who would save face for me?"
The a.s.sistant said, "This decision was made by the heads during a meeting. The reasons for it were simple. First, Zhang Ye did not get consent from the station and partic.i.p.ated in the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal at Beijing TV, which is against regulation. Second, as one of Central TV"s staff, Zhang Ye insulted the production team of Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala and its performances, which is also against regulation. Considering that these two regulations were flouted, the station has meted out their punishment to Zhang Ye. His bonus for this month and last year"s end-of-year bonus will be forfeited, as well as having his basic salary reduced by one grade. He will also be internally disciplined and barred from attending this end-of-year party. That"s all!"
Salary reduction?
Bonuses forfeited?
This punishment was considerably hars.h.!.+
Moreover, a lot of the people around also understood quite well that due to A Bite of China, Zhang Ye"s bonuses were definitely of a different grade than a normal staffer"s bonuses. It was surely in the range of a six-figure or even seven-figure sum. To anyone in any department, this was surely a sizable sum of money.
Yan Tianfei was just about to say something.
But Zhang Ye was already responding, "I have three points to raise too."
The a.s.sistant looked at him. "What?"
"First off," Zhang Ye asked him, "Who are you?"
Someone in the crowd couldn"t hold it in and laughed.
That a.s.sistant"s expression suddenly changed!
Who am I?
You don"t know who I am?
That a.s.sistant felt intentionally slighted by Zhang Ye, but actually, Zhang Ye really did not know who he was. He could not even recognize most of the deputy station heads, much less an a.s.sistant of theirs.
Zhang Ye said, "Second, my contract gives me the freedom to do whatever I want. I can partic.i.p.ate in any performances at a provincial TV station"s Spring Festival Gala without needing consent from anyone. No one has the right to interfere with that. Third, all crosstalk routines are fict.i.tious, so if you wish to say that I was pointing out our organization, then I can"t do anything about that either. But in the event that you insist that I was really insulting Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala and some of its performances, then that would just be my way and technique to present my routine. If you think that those are problems, I would like to pose the question back at you. The production team of Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala and some of the performances along with the performers have slandered me on Weibo and other public, online channels before, so would those be considered as going against regulation as well? Should they be punished too? There"s no reason that other people can"t smear my name by making unfounded accusations against me, but I can"t casually make some remarks during a fake performance, right?! Isn"t this what we call a double standard?"
Before he had performed the routine called "I Want to Get on the Spring Festival Gala," Zhang Ye did not actually plan to use it for his fake performance at all. But with the continued scolding from the crosstalk world, and faced with criticism from some people at Central TV as well as their Spring Festival Gala production team"s "accidental leak" that their event would never, ever invite Zhang Ye to perform at it, he finally decided to do that crosstalk performance. Having been trampled on publicly by all these people, he had no reason not to strike back!
You can scold me, but I can"t say anything about you?
Do you think you are kings or something?!
That a.s.sistant said, "I will repeat it again: This is the station"s decision and whatever you say now does not matter to us. You are barred from attending the annual staff party!"
Yan Tianfei confronted, "Why was I not informed about the station"s decision first?"
The a.s.sistant said stiffly, "They might not have managed to inform you in time, but we"re informing you of it now!"
Yan Tianfei replied, "I am Zhang Ye"s direct superior. You want to forfeit his bonuses? And discipline him too? Did you all even let me know about this beforehand? Did I agree to it? If I don"t agree, then no one shall be allowed to forfeit Little Zhang"s bonuses! None of you have the authority to prohibit an exemplary employee from attending the annual staff party!" He repeated loudly again, "It doesn"t matter whose instruction it is!"
If Zhang Ye was known to have the worst reputation in Central TV, then Yan Tianfei"s was undoubtedly the second worst. A lot of the old-timers of Central TV knew about Yan Tianfei"s temper and were not surprised by what he had just said. After all, it wasn"t as if Old Yan had never taken shots at the station heads before!
In the crowd, there was a deputy director from Department 11 who was on rather good terms with Yan Tianfei. He was also the director who had allowed his department"s HD video cameras to be loaned to them for the filming of A Bite of China.
After listening for a while, Deputy Director Cha also spoke up, "a.s.sistant Hao, you shouldn"t blame those from Department 14 for being so agitated. After all, this matter was indeed handled improperly. A Bite of China is currently the highest viewers.h.i.+p rated show in the country and has broken so many records, even winning the most prestigious award for doc.u.mentaries. Director Zhang has to be credited for all that no matter what. On the issue of disciplinary actions, getting criticized in a circulation is fine, but those things must be kept separate and his contributions must still be rewarded, right? The Spring Festival is coming soon. Surely there"s no need to bar Director Zhang from attending the annual staff party, is there? That would be too cold and unfeeling."
Another department"s supervisor at the back agreed, "Right, just how bad is this enmity that you"re denying him from attending the annual staff party? You even resorted to chasing him away here, in front of everyone?"
Yan Tianfei did not have many friends, and Zhang Ye had even fewer. Therefore, only a few people from the middle and higher management who were in the crowd came forward to speak up for them, while the majority of the others tried to mediate the situation.
A supervisor at Central TV Department 3 said, "Cut down on the arguing. This is difficult for everyone to witness."
A head of the International Channel said, "Old Yan, Teacher Little Zhang, calm down, both of you. The heads are all in there. This argument won"t lead to anything good either."
Central TV Department 1"s Director Jiang Naixiong and Deputy Director Jiang Yuan also emerged from the venue.
Jiang Naixiong questioned, "Old Yan, are you making light of the punishments meted out by the station?"
Yan Tianfei looked at him and said, "What does it have to do with you?"
Even though Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala was broadcast on Central TV Department 1, it had nothing much to do with Department 1. Each year, the Spring Festival Gala would have it"s own independent program team made up of staff from the different departments of Central TV. There were even some staff who were contracted from external agencies.
With those words, Jiang Naixiong was provoked. "How can you speak in that manner! The punishments were already meted out, but you"re all still arguing over it out here!"
They gradually started to argue again!
The situation outside the venue of the annual staff party was getting out of control!
At this moment, Deputy Station Head Zhou got wind of the situation and came out with a dark look on his face. "What"s going on? What are you all arguing for? Look at the time now! Why aren"t you all going inside yet?"
Yan Tianfei said, "It"s not that we don"t want to go in, it"s just that we"re not being allowed in!"
Deputy Station Head Zhou frowned. "Who"s not letting you in?"
Yan Tianfei declared, "By not allowing Little Zhang to attend the annual staff party, it"s as good as not allowing all of us from Department 14 to attend the party!"
Ha Qiqi said, "Right, we won"t partic.i.p.ate!"
Zhang Zuo shouted, "Wherever Director Zhang goes, we go!"
"How unreasonable!"
"We"ll stick together with Director Zhang!"
"Director Yan is right!"
"By not letting Director Zhang enter, it"s as good as not allowing us to enter!"
With those words from Yan Tianfei, everyone from Department 14 had a common enemy to stand up to. Everyone also felt very aggrieved about the situation. This was really oppressing them!
From behind, another deputy station head came out and said expressionlessly, "What are you all doing? What the h.e.l.l are you all doing? Old Yan, you"re a veteran of the station, but why is your thinking and awareness so lacking?"
Yan Tianfei said, "Indeed, my awareness is really lacking! Little Zhang has already been with Central TV for half a year now. I don"t think I need to mention how well his shows like The Voice and A Bite of China have done, but look at what happened. He still keeps getting plotted against by people internally at the station! Getting suppressed from everywhere! He has credit but no rewards, and he"s even getting punished in the end? When Teacher Little Zhang was still with Central TV Department 1, I couldn"t interfere. But now that Little Zhang is part of Department 14, I must definitely do something about it!"
Everyone could see that Yan Tianfei was totally infuriated today. Otherwise, he wouldn"t have said all that during such an occasion!
Zhang Ye looked at them and said, "Actually, I"m fine with not attending this annual staff party. But it should not be handled this way. You are barring me from attending the event just because I made some satirical remarks about Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala in my crosstalk routine? Alright then! It"s fine that I get barred, but since that"s how it is, then we have to apply the same standards to everyone. There should be a lot of people from the station who have discredited me before, or doubted and criticized A Bite of China and our staff from Department 14. A lot of those people are also attending the annual party, right? Then I want all of them to come out right now! Every one of them should not be attending the party! Only then would it be fair, right? So get them out here now!"
"That"s right!"
"Why is it that others can scold us and get away with it?"
"If there"s a punishment, then everyone should get punished together!"
"Why are you guys only targeting us from Department 14?"
"What did we do? We"ve done our jobs well but we"re still in the wrong?"
"Weren"t there a lot of people who criticized us back then? I saw quite a few of them swaggering into the venue just now! But why are you excluding Director Zhang when it"s his turn to enter!"
The people of Department 14 were raging.
Zhang Ye looked at that deputy station head and the others who were blocking him from entering the venue. "Don"t stare at me that way. It was you who mentioned discrediting colleagues and sister channels first, so I just brought it up by the by." Saying this, he took out his cell phone and browsed through the Weibo archives one by one, naming people as he did. "Chen Hefei, employee of Central TV Department 1, publicly insulted the works of Department 14 last December. Xu Dong, employee of Central TV Department 1, comprehensively dismissed all works of Department 14 and verbally attacked them. Wu Xia…"
Everyone look at one another not knowing how to react.
Some of those whose names were mentioned by Zhang Ye were standing in the crowd with ghastly expressions.
When he finished naming people, Zhang Ye said, "So how would you guys deal with those employees?"
No one answered him, no one could answer him at all. When it came to arguing, clearly none of those present were a match for Zhang Ye!
The incident was getting blown up. Many of the station heads could no longer pretend like nothing was happening. At this moment, the venue entrance was full of people watching and not going inside the venue! With the situation playing out this way, someone had to step in for sure. If it was not properly handled, it might incur the collective dissatisfaction of Department 14. On such a grand occasion like the annual staff party, what would it look like if the director of the hottest performing Department 14 led his people to boycott? Refusal to enter the venue? This internal conflict was undoubtedly too big, and ignoring how the media would report it, the matter of who would take responsibility for this was the bigger question! Importantly, the current Department 14 was no longer the vulnerable Department 14 of the past. They were the department with the highest viewers.h.i.+p rated show in the entire country now!
Shortly, another station head appeared. He pulled Yan Tianfei to the side and spoke with him. This station head was on closer terms with Yan Tianfei and had a better relations.h.i.+p with him than the others. Yan Tianfei did not speak to him impatiently, although his emotions still ran high!
Deputy Station Head Zhou took this opportunity to head back into the venue.
Inside, several of the heads held an impromptu meeting.
"How should we handle this?"
"Just chase Zhang Ye away! Who cares what he says!"
"Do you think we can chase him off? The people at Department 14 are protesting very strongly against this, especially Old Yan!"
"That Old Yan is getting too out of hand!"
"The one who"s most out of hand is Zhang Ye. He"s even arguing against the decisions of the station? So what if we are punis.h.i.+ng him? Do we still have to give him a reason? And still explain it to him?"
"We should just ignore him. The production team of the Spring Festival Gala are discriminating against Zhang Ye because of that crosstalk. A few of the directors and planners have all come to complain about him! We have to appease those people"s feelings too! Why are we barring him from attending the annual staff party? It"s simply because there are many who do not want to see him! Even though the Station Head did not say it explicitly, his impression of Zhang Ye shouldn"t be good either. No one wishes to spend the New Year with this person giving off such an unsettling feeling."
"But what would happen if we don"t allow him into the venue? Old Yan and the others from Department 14 are having none of it! This affair will get blown up and it"ll no longer just be a problem of being unsettled anymore!"
"Forget it, let"s just allow Zhang Ye to attend the party."
"He won"t be performing anyway, so long as he doesn"t make trouble, it"ll be fine!"
"I suppose that"s the only way for now."
After about five minutes of discussion, the station finally relented and allowed Zhang Ye to attend the staff party.
The atmosphere outside calmed down a little.
And Yan Tianfei led his people in.
Around them, many people were whispering.
"They still relented in the end."
"f.u.c.k, I thought they would start a real fight."
"The station barred Zhang Ye from attending because they did not wish to see him on this joyous occasion. But that Zhang Ye doesn"t seem to get it and still insists on attending? If I were him, I would have turned around and left. I wouldn"t want to get hated on in such a way."
"That"s why you can"t be a celebrity."
"Zhang Ye is terrible too. He has the skill and talent, yet his relations.h.i.+ps are so poor! They barred him from attending just so that they did not need to see him. This is a never-before-seen situation and a first-of-its-kind punishment meted out by Central TV. Only something like that can happen on Zhang Ye!"
As he pa.s.sed by them, Zhang Ye"s ears p.r.i.c.ked up and he heard their whisperings.
A lot of people do not wish to see me?
Heh, Zhang Ye"s eyes narrowed to a slit.
You can"t avoid seeing me even if you want to!
This bro is definitely not going to let you all have any peace today!