I'm Really a Superstar

The next day.

There were rumors on the internet.

WeiboGossip#5: "Zhang Ye makes a huge commotion at Hebei Television".

"—Someone has exposed that Zhang Ye brought some people with him to Hebei Television's Beijing Production Department yesterday and made a commotion there. It sent their entire workplace into chaos with many involved in the conflict and even leading to an investigation on a head of a department. The trigger for this case is still unknown, with questions posed to those working at the facility not being answered as they stay tight-lipped on the matter."

This piece of news did not attract too much attention.

First off, compared to Zhang Ye's previous incidents, this was just a small thing that would not register a blip on most people's radar. It was not a headline that was as attractive as a documentary helmed by him that had swept the entire country's viewership ratings. Secondly, this news was also unconfirmed and served more as a rumor. Even the mainstream media did not report on this news, with only that Weibo account's revelations the source of it. Therefore, the veracity of this news was taken with a pinch of salt.

However, there were still some people who paid attention to it.

"Teacher Zhang has stirred up trouble again?"

"I wonder if it is real or not."

"I think it should be real. A guy like Zhang Ye is really capable of doing such a thing!"

"I guess it must be someone who has provoked him again. Don't we all know what Zhang Ye is like by now? He has always done things according to his own set of rules. It's impossible that he would go and cause a commotion at another television station for no reason!"

"I also trust Teacher Zhang's character. I like him so much!"

"Previous poster, does Zhang Ye have any character at all?"

Suddenly, a few industry insiders also voiced their opinions!

For some reason, an old host who had already retired suddenly made a comment: "It seems like there's no bottom line for young people these days. How can there be so many people supporting someone like Zhang Ye? He can even be proclaimed as an 'artist' by his bunch of braindead fans? Since when has the title of artist gone for so cheap? Since when did the Golden Microphone Awards give out their trophies so casually? A person like that can get the highest honor in the television hosting industry? He can get the highest honor in the academic awards too? And even win two of the highest awards for two television shows? What a joke! Are the judges these days treating awards like a child's game? Are the common folk all idiots these days?"

Some of the netizens were having none of it.

"Fuck, what the heck are you saying!"

"Who's the braindead one?"

"Does that mean only you can be an artist? What kind of works have you produced in the first place?"

"I've watched the shows you hosted. It was all just lousy entertainment to satisfy yourself. Who the hell would bother watching it!"

"If you think someone is good, you say that he is an artist, but if you don't like them, they're not an artist? What kind of logic is that? Based on what do you think you can control what us commoners like? I just fucking want to like Zhang Ye! I just fucking think that Zhang Ye is an artist! Can you do anything about me?"

When this old host gave his criticism, a lot of people jumped out to critique Zhang Ye as well!

Crosstalk comedian Tang Dazhang's Weibo: "I will never ever admit that a person like Zhang Ye is an artist. He's too vulgar and undisciplined!"

Someone from a television station: "I've been wanting to say this for a long time, but I also think that it's just the common folk who are supporting him and find him to be good. But if you were to ask any industry insider, which one of them would admit that he's an artist? He can fool the people, but the true measure of an artist is still set by the industry insiders. Only an industry peer would know whether a person is truly qualified to be called an artist or not, so what would a layman know?"

The attacks on Zhang Ye were trickling in!

...

Later that morning.

Zhang Ye also saw those comments, but did not even bother with them. He was already used to having peers scold him every other day. It might even get uncomfortable if there wasn't any criticism. After he finished breakfast, he put on a down jacket and sent Chenchen to school before heading to Media College.

At the university.

The moment he arrived, Su Hongyan found him.

"Little Zhang."

"Ai, Teacher Su."

"There will be a broadcasting lecture later. Since you've just been employed by the school, I think it's appropriate for you to make an appearance. The school has already discussed it. They won't wait for next year to present you to everyone, so it'll be done today instead! It'll be a chance for you to greet everyone and officially meet them for the first time. Are you fine with that?"

"Yep."

"Great."

"What time?"

"9 AM? We'll set aside 10 minutes for you to give a talk."

"Sure."

When Teacher Xue who was right next them heard this, she came up to them smiling. "It's the first talk by Professor Zhang. I should go and listen in too"

Su Hongyan chuckled, "Whoever's free, let's all go together. It's also a show of support for Little Zhang."

A female teacher agreed, "Sure."

An associate professor also agreed, "Count me in."

There was also a broadcasting teacher who said, "I heard that when Teacher Zhang gave his lectures at Peking University, no one ever skipped a class of his. In fact, in every class he gave, there weren't even enough seats since students from other faculties would come and crash the class. It's obvious that Teacher Zhang is very good at teaching, so I'm really looking forward to it."

Zhang Ye replied humbly, "It's only a meeting session with the students. Please don't flatter me like that."

...

Very quickly, news of the talk spread to everyone!

"Teacher Zhang is giving a talk today!"

"It's at the lecture hall, do you want to go?"

"Of course we have to go! I'm a braindead fan of his!

"I'm going too! It's such a rare opportunity!"

"Why are you guys still talking about it? Hurry up and go to the lecture hall to reserve your seats! But I doubt there're any seats left anyways. The students from the School of Directing and School of Acting are going too!"

"Ah? Then we better hurry up!"

The students quickly ran over upon hearing the news. From freshmen to sophomores, even the upperclassmen. All of them went to attend the talk!

Media College.

Lecture Hall 1.

When Zhang Ye, Su Hongyan, Teacher Xue, and the rest of the others arrived, they were all startled by what they saw. The first thing they felt when they reached the hall was that it was way too active here. There were crowds of people gathered at the lecture hall entrance as they formed lines and tried to get in!

"Stop pushing!"

"Dammit, is there no more space?"

"School of Acting majors! What are you guys doing here!"

"Teacher Zhang has acted in movies before. Can't we come and get some pointers?"

"Wah! Zhang Ye is here!"

"It's Zhang Ye!"

"Look, quick!"

"Aiyo, I finally got to see him in real life!"

"How handsome!"

Some of Media College's female students even screamed due to their excitement!

For a B-list celebrity to have this sort of charm was no surprise at all.

When a number of teachers saw this, they knew that the talk would be canceled if it went on like this, so they quickly went up to maintain the order. After ten minutes, they managed to control the situation and got everyone settled inside the lecture hall. At this moment, the entire lecture hall was filled with people, in the aisles and even in the hallways outside it.

Su Hongyan, Teacher Xue, and a few other staff members from the School of Broadcasting did not want to take the seats from the students, so they just stood around near the doors.

The head of Media College's Academic Affairs was here.

The dean of the School of Broadcasting was here.

Finally, a vice president of Media College also entered the lecture hall with a smile.

Clearly, the school's authority had placed a significant importance on this first talk that Zhang Ye was going to give after his appointment. The most important reason they had for inviting Zhang Ye to join was exactly because they knew he had the capability and charisma to attract people. Staff from the school's Office of Public Affairs also came along, carrying their camcorders into the hall.

At this moment, Su Hongyan went up on stage and held a microphone to announce, "Students, please quiet down. Let us now invite Associate Professor Zhang Ye up on stage."

Zhang Ye walked onto the stage and took the microphone from her. "Thank you, Teacher Su."

Su Hongyan smiled and went back down. Although Zhang Ye's talk was arranged on short notice, she never worried that Zhang Ye would not be able to do well.

Clearing his throat, Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Hello, students."

This was immediately followed by a round of enthusiastic applause.

Zhang Ye said, "I'm very honored to be standing here today and even more honored to be here as a teacher of Media College. Everyone should know that I was also a student of Media College a few years back. Therefore, being able to take an appointment here—or to say it better, being able to come back here—feels like a homecoming. Even though I've been working for the past two years, I feel as though I have never really left this place. This is where I belong and I will never be able to leave it in my entire lifetime."

The students applauded again!

When Su Hongyan and some of the other teachers and administrators heard this, they also nodded and clapped.

Zhang Ye continued, "I only came here to have an official face-to-face meeting with everyone, but I did not expect it to be so grand. I feel really flattered by this. I believe everyone already knows that I will be a teacher at the School of Broadcasting starting today. You may address me as Teacher Zhang, Zhang Ye, or even Senior Zhang. We're all family, so there's no need to be overly courteous with me. I'm not rigid about things like that."

In the audience.

A student heckler shouted, "Can we call you Old Zhang then?"

Zhang Ye replied, "Sure you can."

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Ye looked at his watch and said, "We have six, seven minutes left, and I've said all that I needed to. Why don't we have a Q&A session for the rest of the time. What does everyone want to know about? You may ask anything about the classes or even the arts. Since it's our first meeting today, I'll be more casual about it."

When they heard that, more than a dozen people immediately raised their hands. There was even someone who stood up to raise their hand while jumping up and down!

Zhang Ye just randomly pointed to the person who raised their hand the highest. "That student in the tenth row, furthest to the left. Yes, you."

That person said excitedly, "Hello, Senior. What classes will you be teaching us in the future? Will you be around every day? Can we look for you at any time if we have problems?

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I've been brooding over it every day, but the classes will definitely be related to broadcasting. If there's a chance, I'll give my email address to everyone to submit their questions to. I'll try to reply to them one by one if I have the time to do so."

Countless hands shot up again after that.

Zhang Ye picked another person. "You, please."

It was a third-year student. "Professor Zhang, I'm from the School of Directing. Will you only be teaching at the School of Broadcasting? Will you be teaching any directing courses? Almost every one of us have watched The Voice and A Bite of China and we would really like to learn from you, so I'd like to know if there'll be a chance to do that."

Zhang Ye looked into the audience. "This would have to depend on the administrators' approval. I haven't received any news about this yet, but if there's a chance to do so, I would love to share my experiences with everyone."

One by one, they asked questions.

The atmosphere was really good, but time was almost up.

So Zhang Ye said, "Let's have the last question then. Let me see, OK, how about this student here?"

He pointed at a girl.

That girl pushed up her glasses and hurriedly asked, "Teacher Zhang, I saw on Weibo this morning that quite a few industry veterans were criticizing you. They claim that you were not qualified to be called an artist and that you've strayed off the artistic path. I'd like to know: What do you think being an artist should be about? If someone with your sorts of results and contributions still doesn't make you an artist, then what would? When we all graduate, which path should we take? And how should we proceed? What if we keep getting ignored by the industry insiders, then what?"

Zhang Ye looked at her. "That's a rather deep question."

Everyone perked up their ears to listen. They also wanted to know how Zhang Ye would answer this sensitive question.

Thinking for a bit, Zhang Ye suddenly remembered those words that Guo Degang from his previous world had said. He laughed as he recited, "Then I'll use the simplest of ways to answer you. Actually, what is an artist? Whoever lives the longest is an artist! In a group of 100 peers, if they all scold and curse at you, then all you have to do is to outlive the 99 of them and you will be the artist! When Tomb Sweeping Day comes around, you can stand at their graves and sing them a song of sayonara!"

This explanation of being an artist by Zhang Ye dumbfounded the hundreds of students in the audience!

Scolding and cursing?

Whoever lives the longest?

Outlive the 99 of them?

Stand at their graves during Tomb Sweeping Day?

And sing a song of sayonara?

"Pfft!" One of the students started to burst out laughing!

Then followed by a second, a third, and a tenth!

"Hahahaha!"

"Aiyo, Teacher Zhang is so sarcastic!"

One of the teachers nearly fainted on the spot!

Su Hongyan facepalmed!

Teacher Xue: "..."

Media College's head of Academic Affairs: "..."

Media College's vice president: "..."

These words sounded really powerful, yet simultaneously also felt very wicked!

Weren't you just speaking seriously a while ago? Why did it take just a few lines for you show your true colors!

Many of the Media College teachers and administrators didn't know whether to laugh or cry when they heard this. They suddenly started worrying if inviting this guy here to be a teacher was really going to be fine.

Just how many people would he offend on behalf of Media College!