I'm Really a Superstar

Later that afternoon.

The entire Central TV was fervently gossiping.

Now that Zhang Ye had fallen out with Central TV Department 1, his position within the organization was rather awkward as well. With the source of this news quite confined, he was almost one of the last to find out about it. In fact, it was brought to his attention by his subordinates.

The door was pushed opened without even a knock!

Both Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo came rushing in!

"Director Zhang!" Ha Qiqi said anxiously, "We have been transferred out!"

Zhang Ye's eyes shifted to her. "What do you mean transferred out?"

Zhang Zuo quickly said, "There was an internal email sent out just now. You and the whole of our The Voice program team will be transferred over to Central TV Department 14 starting tomorrow. We will be starting work over there and will no longer be under Central TV Department 1! Starting tomorrow, our personnel files will all be under the charge of Department 14, including our social insurance!"

Zhang Ye's heart skipped a beat. "Are you two sure?"

"It's been confirmed; just check your email!" Ha Qiqi said.

Zhang Ye was a little worried, so he immediately logged on to check. Indeed, the transfer orders were already passed down!

Ha!

That's great!

Messing around and stirring up trouble indeed worked wonders!

At the time Zhang Ye had gone around on Weibo blasting those Central TV Department 1 shows, he initially did it out of spite towards those who had taken a dig at him when he was down. He did not consider other factors, though as an afterthought, he realized that Central TV Department 1 could actually do nothing about him. Since they already intended to freeze him, then there were only limited ways to deal with him now, perhaps even unable to do anything about him. Having had that experience, a light bulb went off in his head and he thought that he could resort to making trouble several times more to see where it would lead. Since his situation with the department was already beyond repair and his reputation was also trashed, there wasn't much to lose. His main goal was to see if he could force a way out for himself, to break out of the present deadlock that he was in—he had never given up hope that he could still make another show all this while!

Who knew that he would actually succeed!

He really made Central TV Department 1 unable to bear with his antics anymore and force them to transfer their team out!

He heard Zhang Zuo ask, "Director Zhang, what do we do now?"

Ha Qiqi also asked, "Is this actually a good or a bad thing?"

"I've heard of Department 14's Director Yan Tianfei before. He is considered a veteran of Central TV and can have a rather bad temper at times. Director Yan's relationship with the station, including Central TV Department 1 and many of the other departments, isn't too good either. Even if Central TV Department 1 wants Director Yan to continue adhering to the cold storage policy they had for us, I don't believe that Director Yan will listen to them, so that would mean that we might get to start making shows again?" Zhang Zuo commented as he thought through it all.

However, Ha Qiqi did not think it was going to be promising. "But Department 14 is…"

When Zhang Zuo heard her, he suddenly felt discouraged as well. "True, Department 14 is indeed a little…ahem."

When Zhang Ye heard that, he said to the two of them, "Do our other colleagues know about this yet? Why don't you two go outside first and reassure everyone. Let me understand the situation first before I go outside to talk to you guys."

"OK."

"Understood."

They proceeded to leave the office.

Zhang Ye did not say any more because he did not know what Department 14 did exactly. He did not ask Ha Qiqi or Zhang Zuo either as he did not want to appear too unprofessional in front of them. He'd rather check it himself on the computer. Logically, no matter what happened, Jiang Naixiong, Jiang Yuan, and the others hated him to the bone, so they couldn't have possibly transferred him to another broadcasting department. Only then would they be able to carry out the cold storage treatment in its entirety. Variety channel? Impossible! International channel? No way! Even if it was the sports channel or the children's channel, there was no way it would happen! As all of those channels used a host, no matter how poor the viewership ratings were, Central TV Department 1 would never transfer him to such a place. They would never have allowed Zhang Ye to have a chance to appear on screen. Otherwise, why would it be called cold storage treatment?

So where was it?

What sort of a place was this Department 14?

Upon checking, Zhang Ye was first stunned, then suddenly realized that Department 14 was just a label for whatever was being broadcasted. The channel's full name was: Central TV Documentary Channel!

No wonder. It was no wonder Central TV Department 1 would so reassuringly in transferring him over. It was because Department 14 was just a channel used for broadcasting documentaries. On further checking, Zhang Ye suddenly understood everything. In this world, the Central TV Documentary Channel did not have any hosts at all. It wasn't because they did not hire any, rather there was no position open for anyone. The usual work flow at Department 14 was also a fairly straightforward one.

Only a very minor portion of their documentaries were self-produced, like the ones in which they sent a correspondent and cameraman to the stadiums, or to document behind-the-scenes footage of whichever team were the championship winners, which they would then come back and edit it into a documentary to broadcast on their channel. Otherwise, on visits to a heritage site or tourism spot, they would send a reporter out there to get some footage and document the trip before getting it approved and aired. For additional program resources, they would either partner with other media companies or buy copyrights from overseas television stations to broadcast those programs, afterwards airing reruns over and over again. In any case, with just over a dozen documentary series, they could fill the channel's programming schedule for at least half a year, with each documentary probably being repeated five or six times. That would be just the lower range of times it was repeated.

This was the current situation of Department 14: lack of manpower, lack of financial resources, show quality was low, viewership ratings were even lower!

If someone wasn't extremely bored, they would never switch to this channel. Even if they did, they would move onto the next channel within a second without any hesitation.

Yes, but if there was really a need to state an advantage of Department 14, then it had to be its wide area of coverage. As it was a domestic channel, the documentary channel was placed close to the front of the television channels' order. When the television was tuned into channel 1, Central TV Department 1's shows would be on. When it switched to 14, Central TV Documentary Channel's shows would be on, so this was considerably at the front. Like Department 1 and Department 2, Department 14 also had nationwide coverage, so most provinces and autonomous regions would be able to receive the broadcast. Whether or not the audience would tune in, at least the signal still reached them. This was also the one and only advantage that Department 14 had.

After understanding most of it, Zhang Ye's heart started pumping harder!

Not long after, he walked out of his office.

"Did Director Zhang say anything?"

"Nothing much."

"Aiya, are we really going to be transferred over to Department 14 then?"

"I heard that it's a godforsaken place there. If we go there, our careers are as good as over."

"At least it's better than staying at Central TV Department 1, no? We're obviously being put into cold storage if we stay here!"

"How is it better? I don't see much of a difference if we go to Department 14. That's as good as getting frozen. Besides, the salary and benefits are also a grade lower, so it's much worse there!"

"I'll just follow what Director Zhang says."

"Yeah, wherever Director Zhang goes, I'll go!"

"At most, I'll quit!"

"That's right!"

As Xu Yipeng and Chen Ye had led their people out for a meeting, Zhang Ye's team were the only ones left in the office area. They were busily talking and discussing the latest transfer orders from management.

Zhang Ye came out. "Little Wang, close the doors. I want to talk to you guys about something."

Only then did everyone fall silent as Little Wang went to close the main office door.

Ha Qiqi said, "Director Zhang, go ahead and speak. We're only waiting for your instructions now!"

Zhang Ye nodded and said, "Regarding the transfer orders, everyone should know about it already, right? To me, I don't actually have a better choice than this. But for everyone here, if all of you were to submit your resignation letters, I think that the management would accept it. You guys still have a chance to leave if you want to."

Zhang Zuo interrupted, "Director Zhang, you've already brought this up too many times!"

Zhang Ye raised his hand, signaling to let him finish speaking. "Even if I have, I will still say it. After all, this is not a small matter. We've been working together for a long time now, so you guys know what my temper's like. I've always spoken in a very direct manner and never hidden behind any doublespeak. If you resign, there will surely be employers ready to take you in. Our reputation as the team behind the nation's top-rated variety show is not for nothing, so they can't wait to employ any of you if you choose to leave here. That would not be the end of the road and you might even have a better future. If you guys feel that those other TV stations are not offering you something better or are unsatisfied with it, I can represent you and negotiate with them. In the industry, I still do know some people and I'm sure they'll give me some face as well."

Ha Qiqi said unhappily, "Director Zhang, aren't you looking down on us by saying that!?"

Little Wang called out, "I'm not leaving in any case!"

Wu Yi also shouted, "Right, I'm not leaving either! We've not done Central TV any wrong! So why should we leave with hanging our heads?"

"Director Zhang, don't say anymore," Zhang Zuo said firmly. "If you go, we go. If you don't go, then we won't go anywhere either. We'll stick together!"

"Right!"

"Together!"

"Stick together with Director Zhang!"

A female staffer who didn't usually talk much remarked, "When our team was formed, all of us came from different places, some from Department 5, some from Department 10. We did not know each other then, but after all these months, I feel a sense of belonging in this group. Everyone is also getting closer to each other. Director Zhang, it was you who united us. In the past, when I was at Department 10, I was getting bullied every day, condescended to by the leaders and ostracized by my colleagues. But at our program team, I feel so at ease every day that I can't wait to come to work every morning. I feel more motivated spending my time at the office than resting at home. We don't care how the Central TV Department 1 executives treat us; all we know is that you're good to us. When we were paid less than what we deserved, you fought for us to get our proper share. When we were bullied, you rolled up your sleeves to go scold the other program teams. We can see all of that. We're a team. So wherever you go, we will follow!"

"That's right!"

"Well said!"

"That's just how it is. We won't be leaving!"

"Me too!"

Everyone was getting more and more agitated, expressing their desire to stay.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye felt rather touched. "Alright, in that case, I won't say anymore!"

Ha Qiqi immediately asked, "Since everyone is staying, then…"

Zhang Ye smiled. "Then we will naturally go together to Department 14 and achieve some results!"

"Achieve some results? Uh, but that is the documentary channel. We all…" Zhang Zuo hesitated.

Ha Qiqi lost all her morale as well. "Yeah, what kind of results can we achieve at that department? First, that channel's viewership ratings are too low. Second, no one watches documentaries to begin with. Furthermore, we have experience when it comes to variety shows, but documentaries? None of us have done one before!"

Everyone said that they would stick with Zhang Ye, but that was all based on their instincts of loyalty. However, they did not think that they'd be able to achieve any results over at the documentary channel!

Zhang Ye gave a slight smile but did not answer them.

Who said that a documentary channel couldn't have a show that could shock the entire nation? Even if it was a godforsaken place, as long as he had the authority to make a show, then Zhang Ye would find a way to make the flowers bloom there as well!