I'm Really a Superstar

In the following few days.

The Peking University incident was getting increasingly worse!

Although the television media tried to do damage control of any negative broadcasts of the incident, with some television stations not even mentioning a word of it and some stations glossing over the details, but with this incident being such a serious and unprecedented one, it was of course impossible to totally cover it up. At least on the internet, it was still actively discussed everywhere. It had already been a few days since the incident happened at Peking University’s Centennial Hall, but whenever it was brought up, it still attracted heated debates from everyone.

“Support Zhang Ye!”

“Count me in!”

“Face-smacking Zhang showed his prowess!”

“Support Teacher Zhang’s ‘Three Central Themes to Patriotism’!”

“F**k, it’s already been several days, why is everyone still talking about it? This is all I’ve been seeing on the internet for the past few days! Is there nothing better to talk about than this? If you all have the time, why not send me some erotic pictures instead? That is the more important thing that we should be doing! We have to sort our priorities well, comrades!”

……

The next morning.

Zhang Ye woke up and was fumbling around in his bed trying to light a cigarette to kick start himself, but when he remembered that “World No Tobacco Day” was just around the corner—his previous world’s “World No Tobacco Day” was on a different date to this world’s—and with the increased airing of those gross “quit smoking” public service commercials recently, just the thought of them had made him lose the desire to smoke. He threw aside the cigarettes and yawned lazily. Leaning against the headboard, he took out his phone to check on Weibo to see what the netizens were discussing.

There are still people who are scolding me?

Oh, there are more people who support me.

Zhang Ye browsed through everyone’s comments and was suddenly delighted when he saw a group of his fans giving him yet another nickname: Speech Demon!

What kind of nickname was that!

Did they have to make it sound so terrible!

Suddenly, he received a call from the Eastern Publishing Firm.

There was a feminine voice at the other end. It was the editor of the publishing house, Li Mei, who had been to Zhang Ye’s house before. “Teacher Zhang, it’s me, Little Li. Are you still sleeping?”

Zhang Ye sat up and chuckled. “No, I just woke up.”

Li Mei said, “Your novel Legend of Wukong will be on sale at all major bookstores starting from today.”

Naturally, Zhang Ye knew about this matter. “How are the sales figures?”

“I’m at Books Building right now, but the exact sales figure has not be tallied yet since they have only just opened for business a short while ago. From my onsite observation, I can only make an estimation, but in any case, the dozen or so youngsters walking past the shelf where your novel was displayed seemed to have come here specially for your Legend of Wukong. There were some people who bought it immediately without even browsing through the book, while there were also some others who read it in the store. The display area is already surrounded by quite a lot of people now.”

“That’s not bad.”

“It’s only because it is your book.”

“Hur hur, you’ve worked hard. Come to my place if you are free. My mom keeps nagging for you to come over.”

“Sure, sure, I miss Auntie too. Teacher Zhang, l’ll go busy myself with work for now. I was just getting someone to communicate with the staff of Books Building and the other major retail outlets. Since you have entrusted the copyrights of Ghost Blows Out the Light, Zhang Ye’s Compilation, and those fairy tale stories to us, we’re thinking of setting up an exclusive display counter for you because the second print of the books is almost ready. With so many people coming to buy your books, it will be quite convenient for them to find your books.”

“Alright, you’ve worked hard.”

“Listen to what you’re saying. This is part of my job.”

Li Mei’s tone was a joyful one. As she was the one who won the copyright for Legend of Wukong from Zhang Ye by fending off other major publishers, Li Mei’s reputation in the industry grew overnight. Her current task was to handle publishing matters for Legend of Wukong, or to be more precise, she was Zhang Ye’s assigned editor now. Books like Ghost Blows Out the Light and his other books came under her charge. Li Mei would handle him on a one-on-one basis and need not deal with any other authors. She would only need to be responsible for Zhang Ye, a decision made by the publisher’s upper management. Since Zhang Ye was the type of author who could write anything and still have a best seller; it was only natural he be accorded such special treatment.

After the call ended, Zhang Ye wanted to know how he was doing in the Celebrity Rankings. Although the Peking University incident caused a lot of controversy and he received a lot of criticism over it, there were still a lot of people who supported him. As such, he felt that it would gain him quite a bit of fame. As a result, he checked on his ranking.

The Celebrity Rankings Index was updated.

Next page…

Next page…

C-list Celebrities:

1. Shi Yu.

2. Zhang Ye.

3. Chen Fanghua

As expected, his ranking rose as his popularity score surged!

Just a few days ago, after Zhang Ye proved the mathematical conjecture, his popularity soared and that pushed his Celebrity Rankings placing to the front of the C-list. At that time, he was still ranked fourth or fifth place on the C-list Celebrity Rankings due to fluctuations, but today, he had reached second place. Importantly, as the rankings moved closer to the top of the index, it became harder to move up since the popularity scores between each place increased exponentially. As the number of people lessened, the gap would widen. Thus, even if Zhang Ye had only risen to second place from fourth or fifth place, the gain in his popularity score was in actual fact very large!

He was finally in second place, so that meant that Zhang Ye only needed to move up one more spot and then squeeze pass the last rank of the B-listers by overtaking that celebrity’s popularity score. He could end up being well ahead of completing his goal of becoming a B-list celebrity which he had set earlier this year.

He was just a step away!

He was really just a step away now!

Of course, even though it was just a step away based on the rankings, if Zhang Ye analyzed the popularity score needed to move ahead, then he was still far behind. In the B-list celebrity rankings, which of these artists were not people who were well-known to all in the country? Even the lowest ranked B-list celebrity would not be a pushover. That was why Zhang Ye was not blindly optimistic about his chances. He knew that there was a long road ahead and it would not be easy, especially since he was taking an unusual route to his goals. For others who were born with it, he would need to work a hundred or thousand times harder to achieve it.

Out in the living room, his mom shouted for him.

“Son!”

“Yes.”

“Wake up! It’s time for dinner.”

“Coming!”

Zhang Ye went to wash up before sitting down at the dining table with his parents.

Mom peeled an egg and then gave it to him. “Here, for you.”

“Thanks Mom.” Zhang Ye took it and ate it.

His father’s eyes narrowed as he said, “He’s already an adult and you’re still peeling eggs for him? Why can’t he peel it for himself? All these years and you have never peeled any for me.”

His mother rolled her eyes and said, “My son is an associate professor now, so of course he gets special treatment.”

Zhang Ye said in amusement, “Don’t mind, Dad. Let me peel for you, let me peel for you.”

When his father took the egg from his son, he nodded and said, “That’s more like it.” He then opened his mouth to swallow it before asking, “How’s work these days? Any job offers?”

His mother switched on the television.

Zhang Ye responded, “Nothing yet.”

His mother cocked her head. “Why not? No one contacted you yet?”

Zhang Ye threw his hands up. “Yes. It’s already been a few days but there’s been nothing at all.”

“Heh, these bunch of people have eyes but cannot recognize Mount Tai.” His mother said unhappily, “In the past, there were always companies who tried to headhunt you, wanting you for this or that, but now that you’ve gotten more famous, they don’t come looking for you anymore? Son, is the Peking University incident causing this? Are they going to ban you again? That can’t be. Didn’t your new novel go on sale today? I still saw your Brain Gold advertisement last night and it wasn’t banned!”

His father said, “After creating such a big mess, he is already very lucky to not get banned. Why would you think that anyone from the television stations would come to find him? Those people are probably in a wait-and-see mood at the moment.”

Indeed, Zhang Ye could also see this. In fact, because the speech had helped to increase his popularity quite a bit and gained him a number of new fans, he also did not get banned but was only suspended from teaching. Looking at it on the surface, it did not affect him much and even seemed like he was thriving as he continued doing whatever he wanted. But actually, it was not as simple as it looked. After all, the incident had involved some sensitive issues and no one would know whether Zhang Ye would really escape any punishments. He might be safe today but if a television station invited him to host a new program today and the authorities clamped down on him the next day, then the television station would definitely have wasted their resources on him. It might even implicate them somehow. So, to many people right now, Zhang Ye was a ticking time bomb who might suddenly explode at any moment.

That was one reason. Another reason was Zhang Ye’s short fuse. Once again, this Peking University incident had made more people aware of that. Even if there were no political reasons involved, Zhang Ye was still a ticking time bomb. No one even knew when or where he would explode and cause some disastrous results. And so, incorporating all these reasons, everyone had grave worries about him! There were no doubts about his abilities and no one could deny his capabilities. Everybody could recognize them. However, the most worrisome factor was his terrible temper. Only the most courageous television stations would ever think of recruiting Zhang Ye.

This was the overall situation right now.

Zhang Ye was in an awkward plight.

……

On the internet, there were also plenty of people who were concerned about Zhang Ye’s whereabouts.

“Where has Teacher Zhang disappeared to for the past few days?”

“Where did Zhang Ye go?”

“Has he started on a new job yet?”

“His classes have been suspended, so I can’t even view Zhang Ye’s lecture videos online anymore. I’ve already read Legend of Wukong on the internet and Teacher Zhang has not had any other recent works, so why are there no updates on his activities?”

“Wasn’t he unbanned?”

“Yea, he was unbanned.”

“Really, are there really no television stations that will take Teacher Zhang?”

“What are the television stations thinking? Hurry up and sign Zhang Ye. Teacher Zhang has done so many programs and is proficient at being a host and program planner. Every one of his new programs had excellent ratings without fail, so what are you all still hesitating for? Even if you give him a salary of 8 million, you wouldn’t be making a loss! So why haven’t any of the television stations made a move yet?”

“Pfft, how unpopular can you get, Teacher Zhang?”

“I hope that Zhang Ye will host a variety show this time, he’s too humorous!”

“Don’t! I hope Teacher Zhang will continue to do an academic program like ‘Lecture Room’. I am anticipating these type of programs which can increase my knowledge.”

“I prefer music programs.”

Countless netizens were enthusiastically anticipating Zhang Ye’s next work.

……

Meanwhile, at home.

After waiting for some time now, Zhang Ye received an offer for an unexpected job.