I'm Really a Superstar

At Old Rao's house.

The live broadcast of King of Masked Singers was showing on the television.

Yang Shu, sitting on the sofa, was staring with her mouth agape!

Rao Aimin was stunned!

Chenchen was also so shocked that her jaw had fallen to the floor!

Yang Shu said "Th-This is my senior bro?"

...

At Peking University.

It was almost summer break. The teachers from the Chinese Department were having a dinner party.

When "I Am What I Am" was performed on television in the restaurant's private room, when The Clown who was on screen suddenly ripped off his mask, the entire room fell silent. Before the song was finished, no one moved their chopsticks. Everyone looked like they had seen a ghost as they kept staring straight at the television!

"Zhang Ye?"

"It's Professor Zhang!"

"How could The Clown turn out to be him! Damn!"

...

At the SARFT.

In Old Wu's office.

Secretary Bai Li pushed open the door and came into the room. "Chief Wu, something has happened!"

"What's the matter?" Wu Zeqing was working overtime to handle some documentation work. When she heard Bai Li, she did not even look up as she continued writing something calmly with her head lowered.

Bai Li said in horror, "Zhang Ye is on TV!"

Only then did Wu Zeqing slowly look up. "Oh?"

Bai Li said anxiously, "Take a quick look at King of Masked Singers!"

Wu Zeqing picked up the remote control and immediately turned on the television.

The figure of Zhang Ye appeared on screen!

Then Wu Zeqing laughed. "OK, I see."

But Bai Li could not laugh at all, because Zhang Ye was currently on the ban list. As the tone had been set long ago, these people were supposed to be restricted from appearing onscreen for a certain amount of time! But who could have expected Teacher Zhang Ye to take on another persona and appear on the most popular, currently running variety show while hiding behind a mask? Further, he revealed himself during the live broadcast. This was something that no one had expected at all!

...

At an entertainment company.

Fang Weihong stared at the television in shock!

A lot of her surrounding colleagues were also stunned!

Today, they were waiting for The Clown to take off his mask and were discussing whether they would be able to poach him to their company. The proposal was already written and the offer had been decided on as well. All that was left was for The Clown to reveal his true self. As long as they knew who he was, they could find and approach him!

But when Zhang Ye's face appeared behind the mask, their office fell silent!

Silence!

Then, Fang Weihong threw the proposal straight into the trash can and said, "There's no need to try to poach him anymore." Since it is him, there would be no talent agency that could ever poach him even if he was a free agent!

Her colleagues gave bitter smiles as they knew that their proposal was written in vain!

It was Zhang Ye?

The Clown fucking turned out to be Zhang Ye?

Oh my god!

What's happening with this world?

They felt as though that this world had gone crazy in this moment!

...

On television, the live audience was screaming in excitement!

On Weibo, the reactions were about the same as well!

A fan club that had kept a low profile ever since their idol went silent suddenly came alive and appeared again. This fan club that had previously made people tremble in fright countless times in the entertainment industry was called—Zhang Ye's fan club!

"Zhang Ye!"

"It's Teacher Zhang!"

"Oh my god!"

"Comrades, so Teacher Zhang did not disappear after all!"

"Fuck, when did our Old Zhang pick up singing?"

"I'm so surprised! This is so fucking surprising!"

"How could it be Zhang Ye! Goddammit!"

"I'm so shocked!"

"Is this for real? Is this really happening?"

"I love you to death, Teacher Zhang! I've been wondering why The Clown's bad temper felt so familiar!"

"I should have known! He even admitted defeat just so that he could eliminate Li Yu? How many people like him are there in the entertainment industry who dare to fall out and pick a fight with someone like that!"

"I've only been a braindead fan of two people in my entire life. One is Zhang Ye and the other is The Clown. In the end, the two of them are actually the same person! Can you guys imagine the shock? Can you? This is too unbelievable! Teacher Zhang, I love you to death! You're fantastic! You're really fantastic!"

The acting leader of Zhang Ye's fan club, Big Saber Bro, who had disappeared for a long time, suddenly appeared again!

Big Saber Bro: "My large saber is again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again unable to endure the thirst! Brothers and sisters! Follow my lead!"

In an instant, Li Yu's and Flowing Time's Weibo were filled with condemning voices!

Previously, they had not known about The Clown's identity. But now that they knew who he was, they definitely had to seek an explanation about the issue from back then. If they did not receive one, then they would scold them until they gave one!

Elsewhere.

Many netizens were shocked by what they were seeing.

"Fuck!"

"Zhang Ye's fan club has been revived!"

"They've started their insulting again!"

"These people are fucking warriors just like Zhang Ye!"

"Hahahaha, I haven't witnessed such a sight in such a long time. It feels pretty nostalgic to me!"

"Yeah, an entertainment circle without the presence of Zhang Ye's fan club is definitely incomplete. After such a long time without seeing them banding together for something, I really do miss them!"

"This Zhang Ye is amazing!"

"I thought that Teacher Zhang didn't know how to sing? Was he just pretending in the past?!"

"How devious of him! He's way too devious!"

"That's right, I've never before seen someone as awful as him!"

"But it's really such a nice song! I've realized that I've also become a braindead fan of Zhang Ye's! What should I do!"

...

At the King of Masked Singers' venue!

The song ended!

The live broadcast was still ongoing!

The entire venue was still going crazy!

Thousands of audience members began chanting Zhang Ye's name in unison as the atmosphere reached its climax. There was no way to calm them down!

"Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

The live broadcast was coming to an end!

Dong Shanshan was not feeling any calmer than the audience. She raised her microphone and said loudly with a smile, "Thank you, everyone. With Teacher Clown's song over, the King of Masked Singers grand finals has come to a perfect ending. Tell me, do you guys still wish to watch and listen to these teachers' performances again?"

The audience shouted:

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

Dong Shanshan announced loudly, "If so, I would like to send out an invitation to everyone on behalf of Beijing Television and the King of Masked Singers program team. King of Masked Singers will be holding a live concert next Saturday night! Contestants like The Clown, Petal Shower, Sunset Glow, Flowing Time, King of Oddity, and Spinach, whom you all like so much, will be appearing at the live concert! Then, I welcome everyone to join us for the event! At that time, let us witness the glory together!"

There was still more?

There was still going to be an episode showing the live concert?

When the audience heard, they became exceedingly excited!

"Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye!"

"Fan Wenli!"

"Liao Yiqi!"

Everyone was madly shouting the names of the contestants they liked!

Counting down: three, two, one!

The live broadcast signal was shut off!

The night of the King of Masked Singers' finale had officially come to an end!

Zhang Ye, who had just gotten off from the stage, was immediately surrounded!

Yao Jiancai chided him with a laugh, "You sure are good, Little Zhang! Why didn't you tell me you joined the competition? You're a real puzzle! A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma!"

Zhang Ye felt a little embarrassed. "Ahem."

Fan Wenli smiled and said, "Director Zhang, it's been a while."

Zhang Ye was amused and said, "It hasn't been that long. We meet each other every week."

Chen Guang asked with great surprise, "Were all the songs that you sang onstage written by you?"

"Yes." Zhang Ye grinned and said, "Please excuse my poor writing."

Zhang Xia pointed at him and said, "You're just great! I never expected that it would be you! You even pretended to be a northeasterner? Pretended to be a Hong Konger? And even pretended to be Hokkien?"

Zhang Ye said awkwardly, "Grandma Zhang, that was because I didn't dare to reveal myself. The air pollution documentary problem hasn't been dealt with yet. I'm still banned, unlike all of you."

At this moment, Dong Shanshan suddenly rushed down from the stage to question him.

"You!" Dong Shanshan shouted at him loudly.

Zhang Ye rubbed his nose. "Yo, if it isn't Teacher Shanshan."

Dong Shanshan pointed at him and said, "When I called you that one time, I asked you if you were The Clown. You even denied it back then and swore that you were not him, didn't you?"

Zhang Ye smiled sheepishly. "Did I? I've forgotten already."

Li Xiaoxian laughed and said, "Was that song of yours really dedicated to Teacher Shanshan?"

Xiaodong exclaimed, "Didn't they explain it online? That Shanshan's birthday was not on that day?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "We've been classmates for so many years and were even seated in front and behind of each other, so how could I not know when her birthday is? Her recorded date of birth on her household register is the wrong date."

Dong Shanshan rolled her eyes. "Then why did you claim that I never told you about it before?"

Zhang Ye said innocently, "But it's true that you never told me about it. I only knew because I overheard when you were telling another classmate back in school."

Dong Shanshan asked, "…Then how did you suddenly learn how to sing?"

Zhang Ye laughed, "That's a secret."

Zhang Yuanqi also walked up to him and said with a smile, "How many favors do you owe me this time?"

Zhang Ye replied nervously, "Isn't one more than enough?"

Zhang Yuanqi said, "I guessed it was you."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "But you weren't very sure about it."

"Right, because I've heard you sing on the spot before," Zhang Yuanqi said.

Zhang Xia also remembered the day Zhang Ye wrote "Woman Flower" and sang it on the spot for her and Yuanqi backstage during the Spring Festival Gala. They really did not find anything flattering about his singing skill and voice at that time. Coupled with "A Letter to Home," which he sang on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala, no one had expected that Zhang Ye would know how to sing. This was also the reason why no one thought of him as a possibility! As such, when everyone saw The Clown after he took off his mask, that shock was really too great to handle!

Over there!

The Beijing Television staff also rushed up to him all at once!

Dafei shouted, "Director Zhang!"

The moment Hou Ge came up to Zhang Ye, he gave him a bear hug. "How could it be you!"

Xiao Lu came over!

Hu Fei came over!

Han Qi also excitedly ran up to him!

"Teacher Zhang!"

"You were so amazing!"

"We were trying to guess who The Clown was! Why is it you! How could it possibly be you!"

"Did you really win?"

"I was wondering who could have written so many heaven-defying classics!"

Han Qi's eyes reddened a little as she got very excited at seeing her idol. "Teacher Zhang, I like every one of your songs! I love them to death!"

Zhang Ye looked at her and said with a smile, "Thank you, Little Han. Thanks for all your hard work these past several days." Then he gave the group a fist and palm salute. "Everyone, I'm sorry that I had to hide this from you. I was afraid that if my identity was exposed, the show would be dragged down by me, so I had to keep it a secret. If there's anything that I did wrong, I'll treat everyone to dinner as an apology at a later time! Haha!"

All of a sudden, someone wrapped their arms around Zhang Ye's waist and lifted him up!

Then a lot of people from Beijing Television surrounded Zhang Ye and raised him up high!

They threw him up in the air!

They caught him!

They threw him up in the air again!

They caught him again!

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

"Cham-pi-on!"

Today!

He was a national sensation!

Translator's Thoughts

Legge Legge

Let's start easing towards the next arc...no hangovers..and keep commenting!