An uproar broke out at the annual party"s venue!
The employees were whispering to one another as everyone was stunned by the results of the lucky draw!
"Zhang Ye"s on a crazy streak!"
"He should have at least left one for us!"
"His luck is too scary!"
"It"s too amazing! This is the f.u.c.king first time that I"ve seen someone winning 20 prizes consecutively at this event. What"s the probability of achieving something like that?"
"Fortunately, these prizes are not really considered big."
"Yeah, there are still many prizes up for grabs later."
"Did something go wrong with the system?"
"That might be possible!"
"Pfft, why do I feel like laughing!?"
"Me too. Just look at the expressions of those people on the Spring Festival Gala production team. Their faces are as dark as the bottom of a pot!"
"The more they don"t wish to see Zhang Ye, the more Zhang Ye appears swaying in front of them. He even managed to appear on the big screen 20 times. You know, Zhang Ye nearly could not partic.i.p.ate in the party because of everyone"s complaints about him!"
Over there.
Jiang Naixiong said in a low voice, "What the heck is going on!"
"I don"t know!" Jiang Yuan said angrily, "Why is it all him?"
Xu Yipeng from the Spring Festival Gala production team cursed. What an inexorable fellow! You can"t even leave people in peace during an annual staff party! Why is it all you?!
Over at the heads" table.
Deputy Station Head Zhou immediately asked, "Did something go wrong?"
When another deputy station head saw the Station Head"s expression, he was afraid that the Station Head would fly into a rage, so he immediately said, "Get a technician to take a look and settle it quickly!"
On the stage, the female host coughed and said, "Looks like Teacher Zhang is on a roll today. I"ve never seen anyone win so many prizes consecutively after hosting so many annual parties!"
The male host said, "I suppose there was some system malfunction."
Chen Ye asked, "Then would the results be counted?" This question was asked in a slightly devious manner.
When many of the Central TV staff in the audience heard that, they naturally echoed along with that opinion.
"That"s right, it shouldn"t be counted!"
"The system is faulty, so we should restart the draw!"
"Let"s do a redraw!"
"Yeah, let"s do it over again!"
"The system malfunctioned, so it was an unfair draw earlier!"
"Redraw!"
With Chen Ye suggesting that possibility, coupled with the att.i.tude towards Zhang Ye by people like the station heads, Central TV Department 1, as well as most of the Spring Festival Gala production team, those factors contributed to everyone joining in to protest against the results as those who did not win naturally hoped to have another chance at the draw.
The Spring Festival Gala program team staff also said, "Let"s do a redraw!"
However, the staff of Department 14 could not accept this!
Ha Qiqi shouted, "You can still change the results after the draw is over?"
"This is the first time I"ve heard of something like this!" Zhang Zuo immediately became furious. "What is the meaning of this?"
Little w.a.n.g cried out, "Are you guys bullying us? You"re bullying us, right?"
Tong Fu shouted, "If that"s the case, what the h.e.l.l are you holding a lucky draw for? You can redraw after the results are decided, and if the draw results do not suit your desired outcomes, you can also redraw again? Then you might as well specify the prize winners beforehand! You can just give the prizes to whomever you like! We should just stop having a lucky draw!"
Yan Tianfei"s expression turned cold as he looked up to the stage.
Everyone was waiting for the station heads" decision.
The station heads began to discuss. Because of this system malfunction, the annual party was delayed for several minutes and caused an awkward silence onstage.
Zhang Ye sneered in his mind but did not show it on his face.
Perhaps not wanting to hold a discussion for too long or perhaps they considered that it was not worthwhile to mess up the entire annual party"s proceedings over Zhang Ye"s matter, they felt that it was unnecessary to cause any further delay over 20 prepaid gift cards of 500 yuan each, totaling only 10,000 yuan. The station heads made a decision and one of the heads nodded in the direction of the stage. He signaled with his hand indicating that the draw result was valid.
Chen Ye"s lips twitched a little and he could only announce reluctantly, "Will the winner come onstage to receive the prizes?"
Zhang Ye smiled as he turned his head and said, "Little w.a.n.g?"
Little w.a.n.g immediately stood up. "OK, I will go and collect the prizes!"
Zhang Zuo said, "That"s right, how could they even think of voiding the outcome?"
Ha Qiqi said, "They only dare to say that because it was Director Zhang who won it. If the people from the Spring Festival Gala production team won it, I don"t believe anyone would dare to ask whether the results were counted or not!"
Wu Yi said, "What sort of people are they! The system malfunctioned and you are blaming it on us?"
The female host announced, "The next performance will be a group song performed by the Central TV Finance Department! Everyone, please give them a round of applause!"
With this minor incident over, everyone enthusiastically applauded and did not seem to take it to heart. In any case, the system malfunction would only happen that one time and there were still many other, bigger prizes coming up.
Little w.a.n.g returned from collecting the prizes with a handful of prepaid gift cards. "Director Zhang, here!"
Zhang Ye did not take it and said, "Everyone, take one each."
Little w.a.n.g exclaimed, "Is that appropriate?"
"Just help yourselves to it." Zhang Ye smiled generously.
Little w.a.n.g giggled. "Then I shall not stand on ceremony. Thank you, Director Zhang!"
"Then I"ll take one also and not stand on ceremony with Director Zhang." Huang Dandan smiled as she took a prepaid gift card from the stack.
The others did not make a move for them.
Ha Qiqi said, "Leave me out."
Since they did not want it, Zhang Ye didn"t persuade them. He just kept the remaining cards for himself and placed them on the side.
Zhang Zuo smiled and said, "Although it was a system malfunction, it"s still a winning start! It"s a good omen!"
"Look at our Director Zhang"s luck!" Tong Fu gave a big thumbs up. "It"s so awesome!"
Yan Tianfei also laughed. "By winning these 20 prizes, do you know how much misery you have caused to the people here!"
Zhang Ye said, "Is that so?"
Yan Tianfei said with a laugh, "You"ll know when you see their expressions."
Zhang Ye had temporarily stopped the Lucky Halo"s usage when the lucky draw was done. Actually, if the value were to be weighed, then the amount of reputation points that Zhang Ye consumed was clearly too precious for that and could not be measured by money. The consumption rate of the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) was very high and not a small figure at all. Furthermore, what he got in return at the end were merely 20 prepaid gift cards with a total value of 10,000 yuan. This did not seem like it was worth it after all! Needless to say, this was a losing deal for sure!
However, Zhang Ye did not think of it that way. To him, there were some things that he definitely needed to do and some faces that he definitely had to smack. The more the others did not want to see him, the more this guy wanted them to see him! This was the happiest and most enjoyable thing to Zhang Ye! He had always been a man who had risen above vulgar interests! His concept of something interesting was quite different from most people! The more unhappy that others felt, the more happy he would be!
Therefore, could happiness be measured by money?
It couldn"t!
He wouldn"t feel a pinch no matter how many reputation points he needed to spend!
The singing on stage was surging with emotion.
"Let"s shout together!"
"Let"s move forward together!"
It was an extremely popular military anthem of this world. The people from the Finance Department probably rehea.r.s.ed it many times as they were very synchronized and also sang quite well too. It garnered great applause from those in the audience who also joined in the singing with wide grins.
Off in the wings of the stage, the technicians were tinkering with the computer system.
Chen Ye watched from the side. "How is it?"
One of the technicians said, "It"s almost fixed."
Chen Ye urged, "Hurry up, the performance will be ending soon!"
That technician said, "The parameters were likely not set properly, let me reset it."
When the performance ended, the system was fixed as well. They had managed to fix it just in time!
"There definitely won"t be problem this time." The technician even tested it a few times to make sure that there were no problems. The results from the testing were all different and did not point to the same person.
Chen Ye nodded and signaled to the other two hosts that he was ready over here.
The curtains were drawn.
The hosts reappeared on stage.
The female host said with a bright smile, "Next, it"s time for the much antic.i.p.ated lucky draw segment again."
The male host looked at the screen and said, "Alright, let"s take a look at the prizes for the second round draw." The screen was already showing an image. "Oh, I believe Jiajia will definitely love this prize."
It was cosmetics!
An entire set of cosmetics and skincare products!
The set consisted of a facial cleanser, facial cream, eye gel, CC cream, mascara, etc. It definitely wasn"t cheap!
The female host said in antic.i.p.ation, "These prizes are for us ladies, so if you win, please remember to give it to me."
The male host laughed. "I can"t do that. I"ll be giving it to my wife instead."
"Just look at how stingy this person is," the female host observed.
Everyone laughed.
The female host said, "Then I can only hope that I have the luck to win it!"
The male host said, "There are a total of 20 sets, so everyone will have their chance. Now, let me hand the microphone to Old Chen."
Chen Ye took over the hosting. He smiled at the audience and said, "Next, I will still be overseeing the lucky draw segment. The previous system malfunction has been fixed by our technicians, so, everyone, please don"t worry that the system will go wrong again." After pausing for a while, he pointed at the screen and said, "Just to mention, the prizes for this round were suggested by Deputy Station Head Zhou"s wife. We also want to thank her for giving so many suggestions for the prizes tonight."
Deputy Station Head Zhou, sitting in the audience, smiled.
Some of the female staffers were already getting very excited!
"Wow, this set of cosmetics is a very reputable brand!"
"Everyone says that this brand is very good!"
"Yeah, but it"s rather expensive and I could never bear to buy it in the past!"
"A set like this will cost at least 3 to 4,000 yuan, right?"
"This is just the smaller package, so it only costs around 3 or 4,000 yuan each. If it"s the big version, it will cost around 6 or 7,000 yuan! Deputy Station Head Zhou"s wife definitely knows her products well! I like this set of cosmetics!"
"It"s mine, it"s mine!"
"Get lost, I"ll definitely win it!"
"I want to give a set to my wife too!"
"That"s right. I remember that a few months ago my wife told me she wanted to buy a set of this brand"s cosmetics, but she could not bear to get it as it was too expensive!"
Not only the women, even the men at the venue were all eager and excited. The second round of the lucky draw prizes were truly the bigger prizes of the night. Just one set alone would cost several grand!
Over at Department 14"s table.
Little w.a.n.g"s eyes lit up. "I like this! I like this!"
"I"ve been waiting for this prize since the start," Huang Dandan said with excitement. "Too bad there"s only 20 sets to go around. I wonder if I can win it! Hocus pocus! Grant me a set, please!"
Ha Qiqi said amused, "Then you"d have to look for Director Zhang."
Huang Dandan chuckled. "Sister Ha, wasn"t it due the system malfunction earlier? I also would like to look to Director Zhang for this, but I think all his luck has already been used up."
Ha Qiqi said, "That"s true."
Wu Yi joked, "Who knows if system will malfunction again?"
Off at the side of the stage, Chen Ye had already hit the activation b.u.t.ton to start the lucky draw. Just like before, the staff photos started flas.h.i.+ng incessantly in the 20 lucky draw slots on the big screen.
"Ah, that"s my picture!"
"I saw mine too!"
"It was just flas.h.i.+ng across!"
"If only it had stopped there just now!"
Everyone"s emotions were lifted higher and higher. As no one else other than Zhang Ye had won in the first round, everyone"s expectations of winning a prize in this round naturally became greater!
Chen Ye looked towards the station heads" table. "Sir, please."
The Station Head gave a half-smile and then looked next to himself. "I"ll leave it to you all."
A station executive said, "This is a prize chosen by Old Zhou"s wife, so why don"t you go first?"
"Hur hur, alright then. I"ll call for the first winner." Deputy Station Head Zhou looked at the big screen and purposely waited for a while before shouting, "Alright, you may stop now!"
Chen Ye immediately hit the b.u.t.ton. "Let"s see who the first lucky winner is!"
The result of the first lucky draw slot was out!
A photo appeared boldly in that slot!
When Chen Ye saw the photo, he immediately showed a shocked expression!
Deputy Station Head Zhou was dumbfounded!
Jiang Naixiong and Jiang Yuan were dumbfounded!
Everyone was dumbfounded!
Central TV Department 5"s Yu Yingyi could not help but laugh again. "Pfft!"
Little w.a.n.g screamed, "Aiyo, what is this!"
Huang Dandan was also shocked!
Zhang Zuo was stunned and said, "This…"
Wu Yi said with a dumbfounded look, "Holy s.h.i.+t, it"s Director Zhang again!"
The first prize of the second round went to Zhang Ye again!
Zhang Ye laughed as he said, "Looks like my luck today is pretty good."
Yan Tianfei also looked at him in a speechless manner and then shook his head. He laughed to himself for a long time, finding it all too comical. Zhang Ye was clearly the most unwelcome and unwilling to be mentioned person at the venue. When the heads were giving their speeches up on stage, they did not even want to mention his name and the names of the shows The Voice and A Bite of China. It was obvious what kind of att.i.tude they had for Zhang Ye. But look at what happened. During the lucky draw, Zhang Ye was chosen over and over again as his photo kept coming up on the big screen. This was too much of a mockery!
Chen Ye felt a sense of restlessness from his pent-up feelings.
All the station heads looked at each other in shock. d.a.m.n, just what the h.e.l.l is happening? Why is it this b.a.s.t.a.r.d again?
This guy"s luck is too d.a.m.n amazing!
Out of the few hundred people here, why was he the first winner who got chosen again?!
The two male and female hosts were also in disbelief onstage!
This silence lasted for about 20 seconds until the next station head called to stop the draw for the next prize. Everyone believed that the system had been fixed and that this was probably just a coincidence!
They did not believe that he could possibly go on to win another 20 prizes again.
That would be bulls.h.i.+t!
Deputy Station Head Li: "Stop!"
Chen Ye hit the b.u.t.ton.
The photo appeared—Zhang Ye!
Everyone was stunned!
Deputy Station Head Qi: "Stop!"
—Zhang Ye!
Deputy Station Head Zhao: "Uh, stop!"
—Zhang Ye!
Chief Chen said, "Stop!"
—Zhang Ye!
Everyone: "…"
The results for the 20 prizes were revealed!
Zhang Ye!
Zhang Ye!
It was all Zhang Ye!
Just like the first round, Zhang Ye had swept up all 20 prizes in the second round for himself!
With this, even the Station Head was not looking too good anymore.
Deputy Station Head Zhou was infuriated!
Several of the station heads had expressions of disbelief on their faces!
f.u.c.k!
What is going on?!
What the f.u.c.k is going on?!
The people in the audience went totally silent!
The Central TV staff stared blankly at the big screen as ten thousand strings of "f.u.c.k you" flashed across their eyes! Why?! Why was him again?! Didn"t the system get fixed already? How did it still turn out like this?!
"Heavens!"
"What is happening?"
"This…this…"
"f.u.c.k, not even a single prize was left for us to win!"
"Your sister, what the heck is going on here?"
"Could it be that Zhang Ye"s luck is really that good?"
"He could even win 40 times in a row at a randomized lucky draw? Luck your grandpa! How could this be a matter of luck!? Even if he saved the entire world from destruction in his previous life, he shouldn"t have such good karma!"
"40 prizes! He has already won 40 prizes consecutively!"
"Are there any other names in the pot other than Zhang Ye"s for this lucky draw?! Before the results were determined, the flas.h.i.+ng of those names onscreen suggested that it was a proper draw, so why did only one name appear when the sequence was stopped?"
The surrounding seven or eight cameramen who were responsible for the recording the event were trembling in fear!
It was insane!
Could it get even any more insane than that?!
Everyone onstage and in the audience were silent.
At this moment, they could only hear a familiar voice speaking in the last row.
Zhang Ye looked at his a.s.sistant as he smiled and said, "Little w.a.n.g, please go and collect the prizes."
Little w.a.n.g said, "Ah?"
Zhang Ye said, "We won the draw."
"Got it!" Little w.a.n.g stifled her shock and quickly walked to the front. "Where are the prizes Director Zhang won?"
Chen Ye: "…"
Little w.a.n.g repeated, "Go on and hand it to us."
Chen Ye said angrily, "There"re still some problems with the system, the prizes—"
Little w.a.n.g had been Zhang Ye"s a.s.sistant for some time now and her temper had been influenced for the worse. She did not care who Chen Ye was and just said bluntly, "It"s your problem that the system has problems. I only know from the lucky draw results that Director Zhang is the winner of the prizes. The 20 sets of cosmetics and skincare products, it"s these right? I"ll be taking it away then." Saying that, Little w.a.n.g dipped down and picked up a box from the prize rack without waiting for anyone to answer her.
Huang Dandan followed closely behind and picked up another box.
Wu Yi went to take the third and fourth boxes, carrying two by himself.
Under everyone"s gazes, the 20 sets of cosmetics packed inside four boxes were taken away by the people of Department 14.
Everyone was staring at them with all kinds of expressions!
Deputy Station Head Zhou"s hand was slightly trembling!
Chen Ye was cursing in his heart!
The people from the Spring Festival Gala production team had gone over to the station heads" table to protest. Two a.s.sistant directors took the lead and raised their doubts at the results. They were questioning if there was a problem with the system that ran the lucky draw sequence!
Several of the Central TV technicians were sweating profusely as they went onto the stage to retest the equipment.
"How did that happen?"
"It shouldn"t be like this."
"B-But it does not appear to have a problem at all!"
"Why did it always pick the same person to win then?"
"It"s not like it"s impossible, but that probability is way too low!"
"Let"s restart it and try again!"
The female host immediately rescued the situation by announcing the start of the next performance.
The curtains were drawn back up and the performance began.
Zhang Ye opened up a box immediately after he got the prizes. He did not care about what the others thought nor bothered about the angry stares from the surroundings. He directly took out a few sets of the cosmetics and skincare products to give them away to his female colleagues. "Here, it"s for all of you, just take it!"
Little w.a.n.g was overjoyed. "Ah, thank you, Director Zhang!"
"Director Zhang is the greatest!" Huang Dandan laughed heartily as she took a set and hugged it in her arms.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Sister Ha."
Ha Qiqi coughed several times before saying, "I didn"t need the prepaid gift cards, but I will not stand on ceremony with you for the cosmetics." She took a set for herself as well.
Zhang Ye added, "Director Yan, why don"t you take a set for your wife?"
Yan Tianfei smiled and said, "It"s alright. She doesn"t usually put on makeup anyway."
After taking some time to give out the prizes, he was left with about a dozen sets or so. Then, Zhang Ye just casually put the boxes aside.
Through that all, a majority of the people present had been looking at Zhang Ye. n.o.body was even paying attention to what was being performed onstage at this moment!
A few older employees marveled at the series of events.
"That"s who Zhang Ye is. No matter where he goes, he always stands out. He is the focus of everyone"s attention and no one can hold back that splendor of his!"
"He"s such a G.o.dly person!"
"How on earth did he manage to do that?"
"Who knows!"
"I only know one thing. All of this is too d.a.m.n face-smacking!"
"That"s right, the station heads even had a disciplinary meeting earlier to bar him from partic.i.p.ating in the annual party, but that did not work and they had to place him at a corner table instead. But so what? Even though he was banished to the corner, he"s still making everything circle around him! Everyone was running in circles around him!"
"He is truly deserving of the nickname of "Face-smacking Zhang"!"
"Look at how the people from the Spring Festival Gala production team are blowing up over the matter!"
"As someone who has fought a lawsuit with Central TV before, insulted the Central TV"s Spring Festival Gala, and was even avoided by the station heads, he somehow managed to win 40 of the prizes that were meticulously thought out for the Central TV annual party! How is that just face smacking? It seems like their faces were bashed so hard that they got swollen!"
"There"s such a strange aura surrounding Zhang Ye today!"
"You make it sound as if he was normal in the past!"
"f.u.c.k, indeed. He has always been such an abnormal person all the while!"
"There"s no logical way to explain all his deeds!"
This was also the first time that Yu Yingyi, Zhang Ye"s old cla.s.smate from Media College, had witnessed his glory firsthand. She was astonished by it and felt that her old cla.s.smate was really a little too awesome! If it were anyone else who won this many prizes, they would probably not dare to go and collect the prizes. It was more likely that they would take the initiative to ask if there was a malfunction with the equipment. But Zhang Ye? He directly instructed his a.s.sistant to "go and receive the prizes"!
This was what was truly awesome about it!
By saying that, he was basically smacking the faces of a lot of people from Central TV!
Other than Zhang Ye, who else would dare to say such words at the Central TV annual party? Other than Zhang Ye, who would dare to cause such a mess at the Central TV annual party?
In the entire entertainment industry, there was really no one else who had such an aura and charisma!
All sorts of discussions were going on at the venue.
However, Yu Yingyi turned a deaf ear to her surroundings as she lowered her head and took out her cell phone. With a wry smile, she texted Dong Shanshan: "Shanshan, I"ve finally witnessed Zhang Ye"s awesomeness today!"
Dong Shanshan replied very quickly: "Has something happened again?"
Yu Yingyi: "I"m attending the annual staff party right now and a lot of things have happened."
Dong Shanshan: "Hur hur, it"s not like this is the first time you"ve heard of his awesomeness."
Yu Yingyi: "Even though I knew about it previously, I never expected that he would be more awesome than what they mentioned on the news before! You aren"t here and did not see the looks on those station heads. Those bros" faces all turned so green that they looked even greener than a cuc.u.mber!"