During the weekend.
The promotions for King of Masked Singers were already progressing as planned.
News of heavyweight big shots joining the show, being called a new variety show that would subvert all other singing shows, and all sorts of topics related to the show were constantly generated as the netizens grew more and more hyped!
"Who"s joined the show already?"
"When does it begin broadcasting?"
"Quickly begin recording the show!"
"I can"t wait any longer!"
"Is Zhang Ye really not going to be the host?"
"Will there be any A-list celebrities joining?"
"Don"t leave us hanging!"
"King of Masked Singers? This t.i.tle leaves everything to the imagination!"
"They"re really going to let established singers compete against each other on the same stage? To see who is better?"
"d.a.m.n, that"s so ruthless!"
"Isn"t Beijing TV taking things too far this time?"
"Yeah, they might really have taken it a bit too far! But I"m still looking forward to it!"
"That"s right, I really want to watch it! Chen Guang versus Fan Wenli? A Heavenly King verse a Heavenly Queen? Will such a situation really happen? I can"t bear it just thinking about it! Hurry up and start broadcasting already!"
"The most interesting thing is that everyone will be wearing a mask, so no one will know who the person behind it is!"
King of Masked Singers" format and t.i.tle gradually surfaced. Even before the show got broadcast, while it was still in the production stage, the popularity of this show was already greater than the numerous television variety shows that were currently broadcasting! There was more discussion about it than all the others combined! A situation like this was typically not seen in the industry! When many of the industry peers saw this, they could only shake their heads and smile bitterly, or stare in amazement at the happenings.
Envy?
They had nothing to be envious about!
Because Zhang Ye"s production was just too creative to begin with!
Dragon Television.
"We should have invited him to join us if we knew it would be like this!"
"Yeah, this show is truly going to be spectacular!"
"Just from hearing of it, I know it will become famous!"
"Did you think that Zhang Ye would be so easy to recruit?"
"That"s right. He only went over to help them produce the show because he has friends at Beijing TV and past ties with the station."
Zhejiang Television.
"Zhang Ye is content to just work behind the scenes?"
"Who knows!"
"He couldn"t possibly come up with such a good show and just give it up to Beijing TV so easily, can he?"
"He can"t host even if he wants to, since the higher-ups" att.i.tude toward him is still uncertain. That air pollution doc.u.mentary brought him a great deal of popularity and reputation, but it has also disrupted his career."
"Hai, if only we had gotten this show instead!"
"King of Masked Singers? Only a daring person like Zhang Ye would come up with such a show!"
Heated discussions regarding this topic started appearing online.
It was widely discussed within the industry as well.
At home, Zhang Ye was practically doing nothing. He had already finished his detailed pre-production work for the show and was essentially not involved with the rest of the production. Yesterday, Hu Fei had wanted to inform Zhang Ye about the ident.i.ties of the masked singers who"d joined, but was turned down. Zhang Ye didn"t even want to hear or know about them. This was because he did not want too much pressure and distractions for himself. If he knew who the other compet.i.tors were, he would probably start overthinking things, so it was better to know nothing at all.
Later that morning.
Old Rao called.
"Little Zhang, come over and babysit the kid."
"Where are you going?"
"To get a filling, tsk."
"Do you have a toothache?"
"It"s been hurting for two days now. Cut the c.r.a.p and get over here on the double."
"I"m still busy with my work."
"You"ve been staying home every day with nothing to do. What are you busy with?"
"Can"t I watch a movie? Get my junior marital sister to take care of her instead."
"You talking "bout that hothead? For only two smashed window panes, she risked her life by jumping down from this high a height. How can I be at ease letting her babysit my kid?"
"True, she is a little hotheaded."
"Get over here."
"Fine, fine. I understand. You just go on ahead."
After informing his parents, Zhang Ye headed straight to Old Rao"s place.
When he arrived, Rao Aimin was already gone. For some reason, Yang Shu was at Rao Aimin"s house as well. She was practicing her martial arts in the first story living room by herself, going "hoo ha, hoo ha," enraptured in her training!
When she saw Zhang Ye, Yang Shu quickly cooled down with an ending stance. She took a deep breath and respectfully greeted, "Senior Bro."
Zhang Ye smiled wryly. "You don"t have to be so polite. I"ve already said that you can just call me by my name."
Yang Shu nodded. "OK, Senior Bro. Then can you lend me some money?"
Ah?
Asking to borrow money again?
Zhang Ye said in exasperation, "I think it"s better for you to be more polite."
Yang Shu said nothing.
Zhang Ye asked, "You"ve run out of money again?"
Yang Shu made a noise of acknowledgment. "I haven"t found a job yet."
Annoyed, Zhang Ye said, "You can"t just keep staying at home doing nothing. What do you wish to do? Tell me."
"I would like to spread the art of the Taiji Fist so that it may flourish and bring glory to my ancestors."
"How will you spread it?"
"I don"t know. I will listen to Senior Bro"s teachings."
Why would you listen to me!
This bro does not have such aspirations!
However, Zhang Ye had only one junior marital sister, so he couldn"t just ignore her. He pulled out all of the cash in his wallet, totaling over 3,000 RMB, and gave it to her.
Yang Shu didn"t treat Zhang Ye as a stranger, but rather as family. She took it and pocketed it. "Thank you, Senior Bro."
At this moment, Chenchen came down from upstairs.
Zhang Ye looked up. "What were you doing upstairs?"
Chenchen gave him a look. "Zhang Ye, help me do my homework."
Zhang Ye sneered. "I refuse."
When Yang Shu heard this exchange, she said, "Senior Bro, teach me Taiji Fist."
Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, "We"ll talk about that another time."
Chenchen said, "Zhang Ye, do my homework for me!"
Yang Shu said, "Senior Bro, teach me some unarmed fighting techniques!"
The two of them kept it up one after the other, giving Zhang Ye a terrible headache.
The phone suddenly rang.
It was his other cell phone that was ringing!
"Alright, that"s enough! Be quiet!" Zhang Ye said impatiently, "I need to answer this call before I can listen to the two of you again. Do you think things are easy for me?!"
Zhang Ye walked a distance away from them before answering the call.
It was the same woman"s voice from a few days back on the other end of the line.
Han Qi carefully said: "h.e.l.lo, Teacher. I"m Han Qi from the King of Masked Singers" program team. You can just call me Little Han. From now on, I"m your main liaison with the program team. If you require anything, you can find me anytime."
Zhang Ye pinched his throat and said: "OK."
Han Qi said: "Welcome aboard. Then…the rules of our show state that every partic.i.p.ant must fas.h.i.+on a mask, so do you have any kind of designs in mind that you would like? And what about your stage name? We will construct a mask according to your specifications."
Zhang Ye blinked a few times. "I need to think about it."
Han Qi said: "Understood. You may call me anytime when you"ve thought of it."
"OK."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye fell into deep thought.
A mask?
A stage name?
He had to make sure to get it right as it was incredibly important.
What should he use?
What should he be called?
Zhang Ye couldn"t think of one no matter how he tried, so he waved Yang Shu and Chenchen over. "Here"s a task for the two of you. Help me think of something. If you had to label me as something, what would your impression of me be?"
Chenchen chuckled. "A dummy!"
Zhang Ye stared at her. "I"m gonna spank you."
Chenchen looked at him. "But you really are a dummy."
Zhang Ye harrumphed. "Answer me properly and I"ll help you do your homework!"
Chenchen immediately changed her tune and replied, "A hero!"
Dummy?
Hero?
Isn"t your turnabout too d.a.m.n fast?!
Why are you so fake!
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes and looked to Yang Shu. "Junior Sis?"
Yang Shu thought for a long time before saying, "I think that you have a chivalrous spirit for the country and its people."
These words from his junior martial sister had actually embarra.s.sed Zhang Ye some!
Chivalrous?
He was not worthy of the description.
In truth, Zhang Ye had never had a high appraisal of himself. He did not feel that he was a hero, nor did he have anything to do with the word "chivalrous." He was just a celebrity who made people laugh, earned some money with a clear conscience along the way, stepped in whenever he saw injustice, and scolded people if he was forced into a corner by them. He would make trouble from one industry to another, so he was actually a disliked personality who offended and angered many people wherever he went.
Then why not this?
His stage name would be "The Clown."
If this world did not wish to let him say anything!
If this world was unwilling to let him appear!
If this world could not accommodate his pride!
If that is the case, then I shall transform into "The Clown." Donning my war robes, putting on my mask, changing my ident.i.ty, I will turn everything upside down once more!