I'm Really a Superstar

On television.

The studio went silent for a second.

Then, the host quickly reacted by asking, "The name of this poem is....?"

Zhang Ye laughed a little and answered, "It's called The Road Not Taken."

The host praised, "Teacher Zhang can really come up with impromptu gems like that. Everyone could not understand your decision before, but after hearing your poem, I believe it is enough to make them understand."

The female guest commentator was so moved by the poem that she looked very emotional and had an expression of sadness as she said, "Teacher Zhang, in the past, after I’ve heard your poems and speeches or read your essays, my blood would always be surging with adrenaline. It's really rare to hear such a style of poem like today’s."

The male guest commentator said, "Yes, we don't usually get that from you."

The other middle-aged commentator added, "I'm still getting used to it."

Zhang Ye said, "Yes, even I myself need to get used to this."

Having unexpectedly contacted Zhang Ye, interviewed him, and even received one of his newly composed works on the live broadcast of Talking Point, the host was already very satisfied. In his ear piece, the director's voice sounded and he stopped probing with further questions to Zhang Ye. He simply said a few words of thanks to Zhang Ye and hung up the call. Since Zhang Ye had refused to compromise and had already chosen his path, with the SARFT as their overseeing authority, it wouldn't do any good if they got too cushy with Zhang Ye. They did not continue to give him any more coverage and stopped right there and then.

……

Talking Point was an above-average viewership rated program and was broadcasted live throughout the entire country via BTV-1's satellite channel. Today’s broadcast was shown on many television screens in countless of homes.

Those who watched the live broadcast also heard this poem.

On the television station's forums and Weibo, the discussion about this topic started to heat up!

"Good poem!"

"What a great 'I took the one less traveled by'!"

"This is truly the depth of a master!"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye has really livened up literature!"

"Some literary people might not even be able to compose a poem with such an artistic mood in their whole lives, but when Teacher Zhang does it, he does it with little to no effort. It's just like cabbage being sold at the market. Whoever wants some will get however much they want!"

"The meaning behind this poem simply means to say that he is taking the path less trodden on! Since Teacher Zhang Ye debuted, every step that he took, his personality, his temperament, all of these could be interpreted from his poems!"

"Support Zhang Ye!"

"Right, no matter which path you choose to walk on, we will walk along with you!"

"Hah! F**k them! Have any of us from Zhang Ye's fan club ever been afraid of anyone before!"

"Who's afraid of who! Come on! If you all don't intend to lift the ban, then don't! In the short life of a man, what's most important is that we live to the fullest! Even if Teacher Zhang Ye is unable to return to the entertainment circle, we will still wait!"

"Agreed! We will wait until we die!"

"+1!"

"Stubbornly waiting until Teacher Zhang, the King returns!"

Of course, there were also a lot of people who disagreed with his decision.

"What a thorn!"

"Zhang Ye's definitely finished this time!"

"Yes. With him proving Dale's Conjecture, he should already be enjoying the fame and limelight. But he ended up not grabbing his chance to get his ban lifted and pushed his luck instead? You might be unstoppable right now with all the headlines focused on you solving the mathematical conjecture, but surely you can't expect to ride this wave all your life, right? It will surely die down after some time, then what will you do? Do you really not intend to return to the entertainment business anymore? If you plan to do so, then at least show the right attitude? Even if you keep pressing it, will you be able to outdo the authorities? If they do not lift your ban, then what can you do?"

……

At the SARFT.

"Supervisor, Manager Chen!"

"What are you running for?"

"The management wants me to inform you all that the newly appointed Deputy Chief Wang is headed here to inspect our department!"

"Ah? He's here so early? Didn't they say that it would be in the afternoon?"

"It's the welcoming banquet that would be held in the afternoon, but Deputy Chief Wang has already arrived in the morning. He has already reported officially to take over his duties. He intends to go around to understand more about the departments that he would be overseeing and is already on his way right now. He will be here very soon!"

"Alright, we understand!"

"Clean up the area a little!"

"Supervisor, should we report about Zhang Ye's incident?"

"If he asks, then we will report it. We won't be able to hide it anyway!"

……

Soon after.

The SARFT issued another statement.

To begin, they issued the statement announcing the change of appointments, with Wang Changlei as the new Deputy Chief of the SARFT.

Then, very quickly, the next statement was issued as well. It's unknown under whose order this came from, nor whether if it was due to the live broadcast earlier on BTV-1 or because of the strong support for Zhang Ye on the internet, but the department responsible for implementing the measures of not airing any broadcasts involving banned artists was the one who issued this statement. First, it gave its approval to the banned artists who had submitted their applications online and processed it with quick efficiency. A total of 4 artists had their bans lifted with immediate effect. Next, it repeated and emphasized about the controls on banned artists and how all media outlets are to strictly enforce it without any letup!

Judging from the contents, it seemed like this statement was issued specifically with Beijing Television station's BTV-1 in mind.

The statement also mentioned that any banned artists who did not compromise or had intentions to revolt would be punished even more harshly, as if they were referring directly to Zhang Ye.

"It's beginning!"

"The battle is starting again! "

"The battle has become even more exciting now! It doesn't look like the end is in sight!"

Many of those netizens who were joining in to see the action were cheering on the excitement.

At this moment, the battle of the suppression of banned artists had begun again. It was building up to a climax and it seemed like Zhang Ye's future was looking dim.

……

At the resort.

The air was clean and not as stuffy as the outside.

"Not a bad poem," Wu Zeqing said as she walked to the sofa and took a seat. She elegantly put down her tea cup and continued, "You're going up against them again?"

Zhang Ye coughed. "You saw it on Weibo?"

Wu Zeqing nodded. "I saw it."

Zhang Ye wanted to explain to her why he did that, but before he could say anything, Wu Zeqing had already moved on to another topic, not bothered by the issue at hand.

She smiled and said, "How much have you written for your novel already?"

"Oh, I've almost finished it," Zhang Ye said.

"You didn't get lazy, right? Let me check it." She sat down beside him.

Zhang Ye opened up the document for her with a smile. "I started writing since this morning. Other than updating Weibo and answering a few calls, I did nothing else. Why don't you take a look at it first?"

She said, "Big Sis will read it on the phone. You continue writing."

Zhang Ye was a little taken aback. "Write it right now?"

She asked, "Why can't you write it now?"

"....Alright." Zhang Ye nodded.

Whenever Zhang Ye was involved in some trouble, his friends or relatives would always come and ask him about it. They always wanted to know what was going on before criticizing him a little. This had always been the case and everyone was the same, except for Wu Zeqing. She was clearly not the same as them as she did not ask anything regarding Zhang Ye's refusal to submit an application to get his ban lifted. Instead, she chose to supervise him as he wrote the novel and encourage him. This saved a lot of explaining on Zhang Ye's part, and with that, it also comforted him greatly.

With Old Wu, he never had to speak unnecessarily. No matter what he did, as long as he felt it was right, as long as he determinedly stuck with it, Old Wu would surely give her full understanding and support.

Write on!

Zhang Ye began to type away noisily!

Beside him, Old Wu, who had finished reading his latest post, stood up and went to use the suite's phone to make a call to the reception desk. She got them to send some food up, not cooked but raw food. This was also a service that the resort provided and Old Wu began cooking in the kitchen. Her well-honed culinary skills of washing then cutting the ingredients was done slowly and calmly. This was the charm of a mature woman.

One chapter!

One chapter!

One more chapter!

At 12:35 PM, Zhang Ye finally snapped his fingers and laughed out loudly as he posted the last chapter of the main story. Other than the spin-off, this novel had been completed!

Old Wu, who was preparing the soup, raised her head up when she heard this. "You're done with it?"

Zhang Ye stretched his body and said, "I've finished it! It's completed!"

"Are you hungry?"

"I'm very hungry!"

"Hur hur, alright, wait a little while more."

"Thanks for the trouble, Old Wu."

"It's no trouble."

Old Wu lit the stove and started frying some vegetables.

Zhang Ye rested on his chair relaxingly clicking on the mouse as he browsed through the comments online.

......

On the blog's comment section.

"Wau!"

"Legend of Wukong is completed!"

"Old Zhang's really impressive today! I've already finished reading!"

"With so much happening in these past two days, it seems like Teacher Zhang was not affected by it and wrote his novel at such a fast speed. Just by this, I have to give Teacher Zhang my Like!"

"Teacher Zhang has such high productivity! Look at the other authors who take a few months at least to finish a book of a few hundred thousand words, some take longer and stretch it to a year or even a few years! But see how good Teacher Zhang is, coming up with such an elite piece of work in just a matter of days? And it is of such a high standard too?"

"I'm really very impressed with Zhang Ye. No matter how bad his temper is, he is still doing something with his pen, his mouth, his hands and can deliver elite pieces of work after work to the people. His poems can stir the people, giving them strength. His essays can move the people, making them think. His crosstalk and talk show performances can make everyone laugh and lift their moods, his novels can bring happiness and sadness to everyone, letting them forget their troubles. Regarding Zhang Ye, while many people have mixed feelings about him, it cannot be denied that he has always been serious about his work. But what about the others? Like people from certain authorities? What are you all doing? All you know is how to talk about how this is not allowed or that is not allowed, talking about how Teacher Zhang Ye should be banned because he is not correct about something. But I would like to throw the question back to you all. What are you all correct about? Eh? What do you all do everyday from morning until night? Eh?"

Then, someone began to compile a list of quotes from Legend of Wukong!

Quote 1: "I want for the sky to not cover my eyes! / I want for this land to not bury my heart! / I want for all living beings to understand me! / I want for all those Buddhas to vanish from my life!"

Countless people started replying to this.

"This one's good!"

"This phrase is great!"

"This is the most classic one! I love it!"

"Zhang Ye's temper could be seen clearly from this. He is exactly the type of person who would dare play a different tune to the heavens and earth! He was using his novel to let the people know about his intentions!"

Quote 2: "Even if the Heavens oppress me, splitting the skies, crumbling the earth beneath my feet, I was born free, so who dares claim dominance over me!"

"That was a great one too!"

"I loved that phrase!"

"Awesome!"

Quote 3: "If the gods aren't greedy, why do they not tolerate a little criticism? If the gods aren't evil, why do they put the fates of so many within their grasp?"

"There's so many hidden meanings in these quotes!"

"I've read this phrase a few times over! Zhang Ye's meaning was clear for all to see!"

"It's only Zhang Ye who dares to do something like that. Most people wouldn't dare write something like this at all!"

"These words are Zhang Ye's questions! Right, if you all had no greed, why would you not be able accept a little criticism? You just assume that it is disrespect? You take it as insubordination? If you were not evil, why do you always force people to obey your orders unconditionally? They can't even air any grievances?"

"Well scolded!"

"This is really satisfying! That's exactly what I'm furious about!"

"I can finally see it, that this Legend of Wukong has been Teacher Zhang Ye's roar of anger from the beginning till the end! This is his retort! Zhang Ye finished his novel right after the SARFT had just released their statement and made their stand. He is announcing his intention of warring against them!"

"Although it's not evenly matched, I will still support Zhang Ye with all I've got!"

"Right! I support Face-smacking Zhang!"

"Everyone, use your actions to support Teacher Zhang! Using a quote from Legend of Wukong: 'I might be a pig, but. I. will. not. let. you. freely. slaughter. me'!"

"Well said!"

"We won't let you slaughter us!"

With the statement issued by the SARFT, Zhang Ye had immediately begun his retort!

The battle had become even more exciting now!

The situation was headed for a deadlock!

Translator's Notes: Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support IRAS by submitting a vote at Gravity Tales Vote Page. The top 3 novels at the end of the month will get a free sponsored chapter!