I'm Really a Superstar

Zhang Lu was dumbfounded, “Let life be beautiful like summer flowers?”

“Death like… autumn leaves?” The young editor recited it in a daze.

“The words are written so nicely! This poem is even better!” An old editor gave his kudos.

“Teacher Zhang Ye is indeed talented! I believe it today!” the only woman there said.

Zhang Ye put down the brush and smiled at the female editor, “Could it be that you didn’t believe it in the past?”

The woman’s face turned red and she quickly waved her hands, “No, no such thing. I never saw it with my own eyes in the past, so I did not feel as strongly. Hai, I chose my words wrongly. Tonight, Editor-in-Chief Zhang will treat you to dinner. I will punish myself with a cup of alcohol as to atone for my sins.”

Zhang Ye immediately said, “It’s fine. I’m not that particular. Hur hur, I was just joking.”

Zhang Lu was still looking at the words, “Was this really thought up on the spot by you? It’s absolutely impressive. Using this poem for the preface is extremely apt! The mood written in it is indescribable!”

The people from the publishing house were giving their kudos. Some even applauded and were not stingy with their praises towards Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye hurriedly answered with a few modest words. This poem was just a simple sentence. In terms of word count, it was even shorter than “A Generation”. However, the fewer the words, the more apparent his skill was. It was not easy to write it. A saying went that the philosophy at the highest level can be described with the simplest words. It was probably this principle. This poem actually had a great origin. It was a poem from his world’s famous Indian poet, Tagore, in “Stray Birds”. The translation was by Zheng Zhenduo. It was a very famous poem in Zhang Ye’s world. Actually, even “See Me or Not” and “This is also Everything” were not as famous as this poem. Be it the original version or the translated version, just a short sentence had a strong mood leap out of the paper!

Why did he use this as a prologue?

Why did Zhang Ye use this sentence as a prologue?

Firstly, Zhang Ye wanted it to resonate with the works in the compilation. The poetry he liked and the poems he used from his world were all more open and free. Be it being indifferent, or cursing, or moving, or taking death lightly, or a life full of vibrancy, this poem that came from “Stray Birds” was perfectly apt. It was as if it summarized all his works at once. Secondly, this poem also reflected Zhang Ye’s character and ideals. It could also be said to describe his wishes.

Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.

This sentence might seem slightly artistic, but in simple words, and using the words great men used to commemorate Comrade Liu Hulan, this poem could also be said to be—A great life! A glorious death! Actually, Zhang Ye also wanted this sentence of the greats as a prologue, but it was too blunt, nor was he that great and glorious to praise himself. Hence, his world’s famous poem from “Stray Birds” came out!

……

Back home.

Zhang Ye began doing the comments and notes.

This was indeed a heavy workload. If he had to make up something, it would not only take more than a day, even a month would not be enough. It would bound to be full of errors, too. Zhang Ye then took a look at his Game Reputation. Once it crept up slowly to 200,000 points, he bought 2 Memory Search Capsules from the Merchant Shop to look through the analysis and notes of those poems back in his world.

After staying up the whole night and day, he finally finished and delivered them to the publishing house.

……

Today.

It was almost nighttime now. Autumn was almost over and the nights fell earlier.

Zhang Ye looked on as the sun set. He lay in bed without moving. His arms were sore and his neck was aching. There was no part of him that was not tired. He had spent the past two days writing up his comments. Even though all the content was already in his head and with the Memory Search Capsules, he could retrieve all the information fully intact, it was still a lot of work. He also had to work on modifying the script and comments until late at night before everything was completed. For the whole of today, Zhang Ye lazed in bed without moving. He even skipped running, which he had been doing daily for the last few days. He needed a break.

Ring, ring, ring.

Zhang Lu from the publishing house called.

Zhang Ye, who had been lying down all day, had some life injected into him. He reached out to answer the call, “Hello, Editor Zhang.”

“Teacher Zhang, you have worked hard.” Zhang Lu was smiling widely on the other side, “I have read through the comments and notes last night. Everything is good. We got the typesetting done today and the illustrations are also ready. I just got out from the printers. The first edition has already been printed. If nothing goes wrong, we will be using this edition for release. They will be released for sale in the next few days. But before that, I think you should have a look at it first. It’s your compilation after all. Are you at home now? Is it convenient?”

Zhang Ye politely said, “Why don’t I look for you instead?”

“No need. I am around the area. Shall I go over to your place?” asked Zhang Lu.

“That’s fine, too.” It did not matter to Zhang Ye. He wanted to to quickly see the finished product, too. Compared to “Ghost Blows Out the Light” and the fairy tales, this compilation might not be comparable to them in terms of sales; there was nothing to even compete with. But “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” had immeasurable value. But in terms of literature, in terms of it’s meaning, “Ghost Blows Out the Light” would not even stand a chance against this!

What did the compilation represent?

It represented fame! It represented reputation!

It could be said that once the compilation was released, Zhang Ye would have made his mark in the literary world. No one could refute him as his place had already been recognized by the market and audience. Whichever poet or author they might be, they all had to be tested by the market before they could claim to be a writer. Otherwise, it would only be considered as self-praise. Literature was not only for other literary persons, but for the masses, too. Take for example Wang Shuixin. Although he was quite a bigwig in the country’s poetry circles, if he wanted to publish a compilation of his poetry, it was unlikely that any publishers would work with him because, if they did, they might not even make much profit. Even worse, the publishers might even take a big loss!

It was time to get up.

Zhang Ye showered before cleaning up his house.

Ding dong, the bell sounded. He went to open the door, “Editor-in-Chief Zhang, come….” even before he could complete the sentence, he was slightly shocked, “It’s you?”

There was a strange person standing at the door.

Wearing a hat, aviator shades and a face mask.

If it were anyone else, they would have jumped in shock, thinking that this was some criminal. But Zhang Ye was familiar with this person. This sort of situation had already happened a few times, “Sister Zhang? Why are you here?”

Zhang Yuanqi’s beautiful eyes hidden behind her sunglasses looked at him, “You don’t welcome me?”

“Of course I welcome you.” Zhang Ye said listlessly, “Please come in.”

Zhang Yuanqi was dressed to the nines today. A bright red dress paired with red heels of at least 10 cm or more. She was even taller than Zhang Ye.

Was she not afraid of the cold?

Zhang Ye closed the door, “Where did you go to?”

Zhang Yuanqi kicked off her heels while leaning against the door. She let out a breath and said tiredly, “Movie premiere.”

Kicking off her heels?

Barefooted?

What sort of image was she giving! What Heavenly Queen!

“White Maiden 2? The premiere was today?” Zhang Ye knew about it as he had paid attention to her news.

Zhang Yuanqi nodded, “I got a cab while everyone was still busy. Do you have water?”

“Let me see.” Zhang Ye looked a little, then threw an unopened bottle of water to her, “It’s the last bottle. Leave some for me. I’m thirsty, too.” He was not so polite anymore since he was quite familiar with the Heavenly Queen already. “Oh, give me a call first in future if you are coming. At least let me get prepared.”

Zhang Yuanqi looked at him, “My phone’s with my manager. Where can I put it in this dress of mine? Oh, you need to go downstairs. I have not paid for the cab yet.”

“Ah?”

“I did not bring my purse.”

“….You’re really great.”

Zhang Ye could only quickly make his way downstairs.

The cab driver had been waiting for the longest time. Seeing Zhang Ye coming to pay up, he said angrily, “You are keeping me from doing my job! Dare to take a cab when she didn’t even bring money! Is that your girlfriend? How could she….” At this moment, the cab driver was surprised, “Aiyo, aren’t you Teacher Zhang Ye?”

Zhang Ye gave a wry smile, “That’s me.”

The cab driver stuffed the money back to him, “Then I don’t want it.”

Zhang Ye a little stunned said, “How is that? Take it, take it.”

The cab driver looked at him, “Who doesn’t know about you going broke to save a fan’s life? And after that, seeking justice for Father Wei and losing your job? If I were to take your money, I would be cursed to death by my other cab colleagues! Don’t want, don’t want! I’m leaving!”

“Don’t! Hey! Driver!” Zhang Ye chased after him.

The cab driver had sped away after making a turn.

Zhang Ye felt a little warm inside and shouted out to the cab, “Then thank you!”

The car windows rolled down and the driver put out his hands to give Zhang Ye a thumbs up. Then the cab disappeared into the distance.

Back upstairs.

The windows were open. Zhang Yuanqi probably heard everything.

Zhang Yuanqi was sitting cross-legged on the chair, reading a book. She looked up and said, “You have some reputation, don’t you?”

Zhang Ye said, “Don’t kid me. If you removed your face mask, you would be free to walk all over the country. How could my little reputation compare to you?”

Zhang Yuanqi muttered, “I will pay you back next time.”

“Forget it. I did not expect you to anyway. Just don’t steal my song next time.”

Just as they were chatting, the doorbell rang!

Holy sh*t! This was going to be bad!

Zhang Ye acknowledged the knocking, but suddenly realized something. He looked over to Zhang Yuanqi, “Uhm, so someone is coming over from the publishing house. You….”

Zhang Yuanqi frowned, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“You did not inform me earlier either!” Zhang Ye looked left and right to find a place.

Zhang Yuanqi reached for her sunglasses and face mask.

Zhang Ye did not know whether to laugh or to cry, “It’s already dark. Who wears this at home at this time? It’ll look odd!”

An open apartment like this could not possibly hide anyone. Zhang Yuanqi simply slid into the chair with her back facing the door. She continued to read like nothing was wrong, “This will do!”

The bell sounded again.

Zhang Ye could not delay anymore. He was worried that if anyone saw the Heavenly Queen at his home, it would be a mess. Hesitating for a moment, he still opened the door, but stood at the entrance. It looked like he did not intend to ask them in, “Editor Zhang, yo. Editor Chen and Editor Sun are here, too?”

Three people had came over; two men and a woman.

Zhang Lu smiled. “We were just passing by after work. We came together in a car.”

The female editor standing behind had sharp eyes. She spotted the woman’s figure in the apartment, “Eh! That is…..”

Zhang Ye paused for a moment. It’s done for. This time it’s bad! The Heavenly Queen had been recognized!

The female editor the laughed and said, “Is that Teacher Zhang Ye’s wife? Just from her back, I can tell that she is beautiful! Teacher Zhang is really blessed!”