Today.
Zhang Ye had officially departed from Central TV.
The poem he recited when he left had caused a sensation throughout the country!
When a video was released and the news reported about it, the netizens, who were enraged by Central TV"s sacking of Zhang Ye just a moment ago, all started cheering for him in the next moment!
"That was so cool!"
"Yeah, Zhang Ye was really cool there!"
"Worry not that close friends won"t appear on the road ahead? Who in these lands don"t know about you?"
"How domineering! Teacher Zhang"s brazenness just shot through the roof! Hahahahaha!"
"Right, this is Central TV"s loss!"
"Those idiots! Where else can you find celebrities such as Zhang Ye!? How could there still be people so anxious to suppress him all the time? Freeze him? Fire him? I"m laughing so hard! What a useless bunch of idiots!"
"I really like this poem a lot!"
"Composing a poem when he departs from a job has become routine for Teacher Zhang."
"How charming!"
"This is who Zhang Ye is!"
"That"s right, this is exactly who Zhang Ye is!"
"Teacher Zhang! There must be someone in this world who understands you. Who in the world could possibly not appreciate a person and celebrity such as you?
"We are all your close friends!"
"Right, we all are!"
"Teacher Zhang, thank you!"
"Thank you, Zhang Ye, for letting us know the truth!"
"We all know how much you have sacrificed for the benefit of so many people! We all will remember everything that you did! We are not eloquent as you, so there are some things which we do not know how to properly say to you. But if you see this, I would like you to know that a lot of people have always been extremely grateful to you. You"ve helped and inspired a lot of people—we salute to you!"
"We salute to you!"
"We salute to you!"
"We salute to you!"
In an instant, Weibo was filled with these four words!
The "Salute to Zhang Ye" post on Weibo reached the front page and stayed firmly in the headlines. Numerous people followed up by posting their comments of "We salute to you" on Weibo as well!
This showed the people"s grat.i.tude for Zhang Ye!
Since they couldn"t really do much for Zhang Ye, they could only express their grat.i.tude to him.
Expressing grat.i.tude might seem like a simple gesture. But at times, the weight behind it was immense!
At a newspaper firm.
This was the first newspaper firm that decided to publish the video of Zhang Ye"s press conference and reported on it. At the time, they had a huge disagreement internally and there was an argument about the news for a long while. In the end, it was the chief editor who gave his approval to publish the news.
The editorial department had already seen that Weibo post.
The chief editor smiled at one of the editors and said, "Didn"t you say that the people were all ignorant?"
That person looked slightly embarra.s.sed.
The other people from the editorial department kept quiet as well.
The chief editor pointed at that Weibo post and said, "Just look at this. The people are actually not stupid at all. There"s no need for others to tell them who has treated them well or done things for them. They all know it themselves."
A reporter sighed. "But Chief Editor, there are still some things that we cannot say without proper consideration, and not everything should be told to the people. Like the example of the smog news this time. You have seen for yourself. The entire country is in disarray, the commotion online has blown up, and a lot of departments in the government offices had to call for an emergency meeting during the night. In the end, Department 14"s doc.u.mentary was still taken down. The people might know the truth now, but a lot of officials were dismissed and many businesses got shut down. Meanwhile, Zhang Ye had to take on all the pressure himself and got fired, and someone might even take revenge against him. His future is probably over and he still has to bear the criticism from his doubters. Tell me, did Zhang Ye win? I don"t think he did. In fact, he has lost!"
The chief editor thought for a moment, then looked at that reporter. He smiled and said, "At least this time, the truth has won, hasn"t it?"
When everyone in the editorial department heard that, they gave it some thought.
Yes.
At least the truth has won!
At a villa.
At Chen Guang and Fan Wenli"s home.
Chen Guang thumped the table and praised, "This poem was written so well!"
Fan Wenli nodded. "But the trouble that Little Zhang has caused this time might only be beginning. The doc.u.mentary has been taken down and he has departed from Central TV as well, so it looks like things ended, but it is actually far from finished. A lot of people are probably staying silent for now, but who knows when they"ll jump out to attack Zhang Ye again."
Chen Guang said, "Hai, I"m actually very similar to Zhang Ye. I"m also very righteous and unafraid of trouble. But why am I not as popular as him?"
Unexpectedly, Fan Wenli"s response stabbed into him like a knife.
Fan Wenli giggled and said, "Because you don"t know how to compose poems."
Chen Guang could say nothing.
Fan Wenli smiled and said, "He was clearly fired from Central TV. But in the end, Little Zhang used a poem to announce his departure to the world and left coolly like a winner instead, making the entire country"s people cheer for him. He is the only person in the entire entertainment industry who is so talented and has such charms. Can you even compare?"
Chen Guang coughed. "Forget it. I"ll just stick to writing my new song."
At night.
At home.
The moment he opened the door when he reached home, his mother asked, "It"s time for you to look for another job?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You already know about it?"
"You don"t say." His mother pointed at a stack of newspapers on the table and said, "I bought a newspaper by the by and there"s news about you. You"re still in the mood to compose a poem?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Wasn"t leaving my job just a matter of time anyway? It"s fine that they made it sooner."
His mother said, "I"m just afraid that it won"t be easy for you to find another job now!"
"Never mind that. Things will eventually sort themselves out," Zhang Ye said indifferently.
His mother asked, "I also heard that there are people looking to take revenge on you?"
Zhang Ye shrugged. "Let them come! I"ll be waiting!"
Having just said that, his cell phone started ringing.
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring. It turned out to be Chenchen"s number. That little rascal had previously taken the latest model of a high-end phone from Zhang Ye and even made him buy her a SIM card afterwards.
Zhang Ye answered the call. "What"s the matter?"
On the other end, Chenchen"s voice sounded neither fast nor slow. "Zhang Ye, my aunt asked you to make a trip here."
Zhang Ye asked: "What for?"
Chenchen said: "Someone smashed the windows at your place."
Zhang Ye was startled. "Which place?"
Chenchen said: "The place where your junior martial sister is staying."
Only then did Zhang Ye manage to react. "What? Dammit! I"ll be right there!"
The call ended.
His mother asked anxiously, "What happened?"
"It"s nothing. I have to head out for a while!" Zhang Ye did not explain to his parents nor did he want to let them know. He quickly drove away and headed straight for Rao Aimin"s place.
It was only a ten-minute drive.
When he arrived, police vehicles were already parked downstairs.
"Ah!"
"Little Zhang is back!"
"Teacher Zhang!"
"You"re finally back!"
Many of the neighbors and residents who knew Zhang Ye from the time he lived here had gathered in the area and formed a crowd to catch a glimpse of what had happened. When they saw him, chatter broke out.
Several of the policemen also looked at him.
An old policeman called out, "Teacher Zhang."
Zhang Ye walked over briskly. "Hi, what"s going on here?"
The old policeman asked, "You are the resident of the apartment?"
Zhang Ye immediately said, "Yes, I rent the place."
A moment later, he spotted Rao Aimin and his freeloading junior martial sister, Yang Shu.
Zhang Ye shouted, "Are you alright?"
Yang Shu asked, "Who are you referring to?"
"You, of course," Zhang Ye said.
Yang Shu said, "Oh, I"m fine."
He was just glad that no one was hurt. Zhang Ye looked up and saw that both the windows at his rental apartment were completely shattered. It looked very serious!
Zhang Ye immediately cursed, "f.u.c.k their grandpas!"
If it were any other public figures cursing and swearing openly in public, people would sure have taken videos of it and posted them online. It would definitely cause a heated discussion and some news too. But as it was Zhang Ye who did the cursing, the people around did not even have look surprised and just watched calmly. It would definitely be big news if it were any other celebrity who cursed, but since it was Zhang Ye? That would not even be news. Even if they sent videos of him cursing to the media outlets, no one would run a story on it.
The policeman tried to placate him. "Teacher Zhang, please don"t worry. No one was hurt and there wasn"t much monetary damage either. We have already caught the culprits and will investigate the matter properly!"
Zhang Ye was stunned. "You caught the culprits?"
"They are over there." The policeman pointed.
Zhang Ye noticed three young men being handcuffed and led into police vehicles by the cops. From what he remembered, very few people would stroll around the area at night. In addition, the neighborhood was not in an enclosed location. There were several exits and the security guards did not conduct 24-hour patrols either. The three of them could have easily ran off after smas.h.i.+ng the windows, so how did they get caught?
Zhang Ye asked, "Were they caught by the neighbors of the neighborhood?"
The policeman gave him a strange look. "No."
A different young policeman gave an admirable look at a woman and said, "She was the one who caught them. When we arrived, two of the three criminals were already beaten unconscious and the other one laid on the ground, unable to get up."
He followed that gaze to Yang Shu.
Ah?
It was Yang Shu?
Zhang Ye was shocked. "You were walking around the neighborhood at the time?"
Yang Shu looked at him and said, "No, I was at home."
Zhang Ye said in surprise, "Then how did you catch them?"
Yang Shu pointed to the windows upstairs and said, "I was watching TV at home when the windows suddenly got smashed by someone. I looked out from upstairs and saw these three people trying to get away, so I jumped down and went after them."
When the people around them heard that, they were all floored!
What?
You jumped out from the windows?
d.a.m.n, how many floors is that!
Zhang Ye nearly vomited blood. "Do you not want to live anymore?"
Yang Shu explained, "There are those air conditioning units hanging out from the windows outside, so I used them to break my fall as I made my way down."
Rao Aimin shook her head repeatedly and said, "This junior martial sister of yours is really reckless!"
Yang Shu was puzzled and justified, "I had to catch them no matter what since they smashed Senior Bro"s windows. Otherwise, how was I going to answer to him?"
Chenchen came over quietly and glanced at Yang Shu. "Are you dumb?"
Yang Shu stared at her. "You"re the one who"s dumb."
"You"re definitely the dumb one!" Zhang Ye got angry. "They"re just 2 f.u.c.king window panes. I can buy four of those with 50 RMB! Are you out of your mind? You actually jumped down from such a high place? What if you fell and broke your leg? Huh?"
But Yang Shu said stubbornly, "I would still catch them even if that happened! What gave them the right to smash your windows?"
Zhang Ye said, "You could have at least taken the stairs!"
Yang Shu gazed at him. "If I went by stair, they would surely have gotten away."
Zhang Ye was exasperated by her.
Several policemen wryly smiled. One of them said, "Comrade, my dear…big sis, can you please act according to your abilities the next time you play hero? What you did just now was really too dangerous! Y-You"re risking your life that way!"
Yang Shu replied, "But I was acting according to my abilities."
The police were speechless.
Hai, just what sort of person was this!
Teacher Zhang Ye was already a wondrous enough person, but who could have thought that the resident in his apartment was also such a f.u.c.king wondrous person as well!
You"re even brave enough to jump down from such a high floor?
And actually f.u.c.king did it too? And you"re even fine after all that?
The criminals with bruised and swollen faces were sitting inside the police vehicle and crying silently. They had truly been dumbstruck today. They just thought of escaping after smas.h.i.+ng the windows and that was exactly what they did that. But they never could have expected that at the next second, someone would actually jump out of the windows and catch up to them, even giving them a good beating. The three of them still looked like they had seen a ghost!