I'm Really a Superstar

At 9 in the morning.

Back at home.

Zhang Ye deactivated the Lucky Halo. When he saw the consumed Reputation Points, he felt pinched and squeezed. He did not know about the progress of the meeting, nor how the discussion went. All he did was activate the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) at close to 8 AM and keep it on for close to an hour. The Reputation Point consumption rate of the Lucky Halo was extremely heavy, with 100,000 Reputation Points needed for every second it was activated. Even with the large amount of Reputation Points Zhang Ye had accumulated by now, it was difficult to bear. He was lucky that he had only used up a portion of his total Reputation Points during the lottery draw the other day and still had some left for today's purpose.

Just how did it go?

Only God would know!

Whatever! However it turns out, so be it!

Zhang Ye opened the door and came out of his room.

"What were you doing in your room?" his mother asked.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Handling some important business."

His father asked, "How did it go?"

Zhang Ye shrugged and said, "I suppose we'll find out tonight."

His mother rolled her eyes at him. "What are you being so secretive about? The most important issue at hand is the curriculum revision! That's right, isn't your girlfriend from the education sector? She was the vice president of Peking University and has even worked at the provincial education department. Why don't you check with her? You have to take the initiative."

But Zhang Ye said, "Aiya, don't bother her with such things. Mom, I'll help you to make lunch. After eating, I'll have to head to work." Since Zhang Ye had nothing better to do, he decided to help out with whatever chores there were around the house. In reality, it was to divert his attention from the national textbook curriculum revision so that he wouldn't have to keep thinking about it.

In the afternoon.

They were still discussing it on the Internet.

"The changes to the English language curriculum seem to have been set in stone."

"Yeah, I heard that the middle school textbooks will get more difficult."

"The revisions for the math curriculum aren't out yet."

"What about the Chinese language textbooks?"

"I don't know."

"Even though they're calling this a curriculum revision, the majority of the content will still remain the same. There won't really be much change, and this has been talked about before."

"Let's see whose essays will get chosen this time."

"It's gonna be amazing for whoever gets to have their work published."

"It's going to be more than amazing. They'll become famous."

Elsewhere.

Zhang Ye arrived at the studio.

He had just stepped into the office when Elder Qian arrived a moment later. "Is this Little Zhang's Studio?"

Little Wang opened the door to greet him. "Yes, may I ask who you are?"

Zhang Ye hurried outside when he heard the voice. "Aiyo, Elder Qian, what a rare guest."

Elder Qian chuckled, "I was nearby when I remembered you saying that you had set up your studio not long ago, so I came over to have a look. Am I welcome?"

"Of course you are." Zhang Ye told his studio staff, "This is Elder Qian, a most distinguished person in the literary field. If I'm not around when Elder Qian comes to visit, remember to give him the best reception."

Little Wang said briskly, "Understood!"

Elder Qian said happily, "Kid, don't try that with me."

"Come in, let's talk inside." Zhang Ye and Elder Qian went upstairs.

After glancing around the office, Elder Qian suddenly looked at him. "Is your relationship with Wu Zeqing quite good?"

Old Wu?

Zhang Ye was taken aback for a moment. "Ah, it's not too bad."

Elder Qian gave an "oh" in response.

Zhang Ye wondered, "Why do you ask?"

Elder Qian said, "Your old boss is pretty good to you. I have a friend in the education field I spoke with recently, someone from Fudan University who's also taking part in this education reform. Wu Zeqing contacted him some days ago to ask if he could help you out a little in the Chinese language curriculum revision. When Wu Zeqing was heading a department in the education sector, she had helped that Fudan University friend of mine out quite a bit. So he didn't reject her request. Later on, my friend came to ask me about what kind of a person you were. I told him not to believe the rumors out there and that you were really quite a nice person. He acknowledged that without saying anything else."

Zhang Ye really did not know about this. He said in surprise, "There was something like that?"

This Old Wu! Why didn't she tell me about this!

Zhang Ye had only found out about the exact time of the curriculum revision meeting yesterday, but who knew that Old Wu was already well aware of it way before he was? And she had even helped him pull some strings?

Elder Qian blinked and said, "You didn't ask Chief Wu to put in a word for you? Then you better thank her properly. She really went through a lot of trouble for you. It seems she values you a lot. Although Wu Zeqing has now gone on to oversee the entertainment industry, her network in the education field is still there. Quite a few Peking University alumni are also in the textbook revision work group. In recent years, you're the only professor from Peking University to have any involvement in the literary field, so they'd definitely support you. Together with Fudan University's support, you probably stand quite a good chance this time, especially with 'Ode to Young China.'"

Zhang Ye chuckled. "Then I'll hold you to your auspicious words?"

Elder Qian said emotionally, "Kid, you're really going to skyrocket soon."

Yes, he wanted to skyrocket in popularity. But before that, Zhang Ye's essay would have to be selected for the revised edition of the textbooks. Until the final moment, no one would know how it would turn out!

Zhang Ye was waiting to find out.

The studio staff were waiting to find out.

The education and literary fields were waiting to find out.

The media reporters were also eagerly looking forward to it.

…

At 7 PM.

The studio staff hadn't left work yet.

Little Wang said anxiously, "Will they announce it today?"

"I don't know." Wu Yi was browsing the news online. "There aren't any updates. The English language and chemistry textbooks' revisions have already been confirmed, but there's still no news about the Chinese language textbooks."

Ha Qiqi said, "Wait a little longer."

"Hey, there it is!"

"What?"

"Where, where?"

"Look at the news, the changes to the Chinese language textbooks have been finalized!"

In a flash, the studio staff all gathered around. Zhang Ye also ran down from upstairs to join them.

"Is Director Zhang's name in there?"

"I'm looking for it!"

"An excerpt of Sun Fang's novel has made it in?"

"Meng Han's poem will be featured in the eighth grade's second semester textbook?"

"Who else is there?"

"I'm still looking, don't rush me!"

"Ah!"

"I saw it!"

"Holy shit! There's Director Zhang's name!"

"An excerpt of 'Ode to Young China' has been selected! It's going to be in the middle school textbook!"

"Oh my God! He really made it in!"

"Director Zhang! It's in! We've made it in!"

"Wait, why is there another one?"

"Holy fuck!"

"'Tribute to the White Poplar'?"

"What's that?"

"When did Director Zhang write an essay titled 'Tribute to the White Poplar'?"

"I know this one! I've read it before! It was written by Director Zhang!"

"Th-This one made it into the elementary school textbook? We didn't only have one essay selected, two of them actually made it into the textbooks?!"

"Tribute to the White Poplar"?

Startled, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered it. This prose titled "Tribute to the White Poplar" was written back at the parent-teacher conference at Chenchen's school. At that time, the teachers wanted the children to write an essay, but Chenchen did not know how to and kept asking Zhang Ye to write one for her. This was also that very well-known essay that made it into the national textbooks back in Zhang Ye's previous world! Zhang Ye had still not made a name for himself when he brought over this essay to this world. On top of that, the circumstances in which it had been brought out made it relatively unknown here since there was hardly any publicity. That was why this essay was not well-known over here. In fact, many people didn't even know that Zhang Ye had written the essay. So Zhang Ye was astounded that "Tribute to the White Poplar" had made it into the elementary school textbooks. This was indeed an unexpected gain!

He was very happy for himse—

Oh, he was very happy for Mao Dun!

The studio staff started cheering!

"Director Zhang the Mighty!"

"This is so impressive!"

"He's made it into the national textbooks!"

"There won't be any more changes, right?"

"No, the announcement said the selected works are final! It's been decided!"

"I thought it was exceedingly lucky to have one work featured, but there were two in the end? How generous of the education field to give so much face to Director Zhang! It looks like he hasn't offended as many people as we thought he had!"

"That's great!"

"The third milestone in our 'Reach the Summit' plan has been achieved!"

"Yeah, we didn't even think that the third milestone could really be achieved!"

"And it was even achieved beyond our expectations!"

Everyone was shouting and screaming!

Zhang Ye was also quite happy with the outcome, but thought to himself, Do you guys really think that it was the education field's people who gave me face? If it weren't for my Lucky Halo and Old Wu's help, much less "Tribute to the White Poplar," even "Ode to Young China" might not've been selected!