I'm Really a Superstar

On this day.

The holidays were over and it was back to work again.

Actually, the New Year holidays were only for a few days and everyone else was already back at work earlier. But as Zhang Ye had to attend his Spring Festival Gala rehearsals and attend to some miscellaneous matters, he applied for more time off and had just returned to the office today. At his level, with his popularity, it didn't really make a difference whether he came to work a day later or a day earlier anymore.

At Central TV.

At the Documentary Channel department.

When Zhang Ye returned to work, Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others all came to greet him.

"Good morning, Director Zhang."

"Good morning, everyone."

"We listened to your crosstalk performance from a few days ago. It made me laugh so hard that I cried!"

"Hur hur, it was just a fake performance."

"That fake performance of yours was much more wonderful to watch than those real performances at Central TV's Spring Festival Gala!"

"Director Zhang, did you win Weibo's most unpopular celebrity award again this year? I heard that the recorded votes were 50% more than what was cast last year. You have set yet another record again!"

It was very lively in the office.

After chatting for awhile, Zhang Ye asked them for the latest updates of A Bite of China. After easily handling some of his work, he had nothing more that he needed to do. In the Documentary Channel, their workload was usually much greater at the start and tapered off close to the end. They would be very busy at the start, with most of the work concentrated at the filming stage and the promotional period after that. Once the show was broadcast and went on schedule, there wasn't much for them to do anymore.

It was close to the Spring Festival and everyone at the office was either chatting or playing games. They were all in a good mood.

At this moment, Ha Qiqi looked at her watch and suddenly said, "It's almost noon. Who wants to get changed into their formal attire?"

"Me, me, me!" Little Wang raised her hand.

Huang Dandan giggled. "Then I will get changed too."

Zhang Zuo laughed. "Isn't it a little early still?"

Ha Qiqi said, "It's not early anymore. It will be official starting at 4 PM, so it's better that we get changed earlier."

Hearing that, Zhang Ye was a little stunned. "What's starting?"

Zhang Ye's assistant, Little Wang, was startled and smiled wryly. "The Central TV annual staff party. Director Zhang, didn't I tell you about it two days ago? Don't tell me that you didn't bring your suit?"

Only then did Zhang Ye remember. "Hai, I forgot about it."

Little Wang immediately said, "There's still time. I'll go to your place to fetch your suit for you at noon."

At the end of the (lunar) year, every company's annual party was held, some in early December, and others not until the end of January. Central TV's annual staff party this year was held somewhere in between those dates, and according to this year's process, today's internal party was held for all staff of Central TV, with the individual departments' annual parties held a few days later. However, due to the significantly large staff of the Central TV network, most venues would not be able to hold so many people. Therefore, even though the annual party was "supposedly" held for all staff, the truth was that every department only had a quota of about a dozen or so seats. Including all the station executives of Central TV, this would cover the "entire" strength of Central TV.

For a larger department like Central TV Department 1, which had more leadership positions, their quota of about a dozen were essentially for the executives only. The other, lower rung staff would basically not have a chance to attend the party. However, it was different at their Documentary Channel as they did not have that many people. Including Zhang Ye, there were only a few executives, so the rest of the quota were left for the normal staff of the department. This was the advantage of being in a smaller department.

Tong Fu said happily, "I heard that this year's annual party will be very grand."

"Yeah, it seems like they have arranged a lot of events for everyone." Little Wang was also looking forward to it. She had been working at Central TV for quite a number of years already, but had never had the chance to take part in the annual party before. She had only participated in the smaller annual parties held individually by the departments, but thanks to Zhang Ye this year, she was finally able to experience the Central TV annual party for once.

Zhang Zuo laughed and said, "If Director Zhang were to go onstage and perform, it would surely add more excitement to the event."

Zhang Ye self-deprecated, "The problem is that no one has asked me to."

"They would have to dare to ask first." Ha Qiqi didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Outside, Yan Tianfei and his secretary walked into the office.

"Little Zhang, you're here?" Yan Tianfei laughed heartily.

"Director Yan." Zhang Ye stood up and went over to him. He took a look at Old Yan and remarked, "Whoa, you look really spirited today."

Yan Tianfei replied with a laugh, "I just had my makeup done. You guys remember to go and get your makeup done too after you have changed. The Number 1 and 2 Makeup Studios were specially opened up today for everyone to get their makeup done there."

Zhang Ye said in surprise, "It's going to be that grand?"

Yan Tianfei laughed. "This actually has a lot to do with you. Previously, Central TV was going downhill with our programming. Not only were we not getting much viewership for our variety shows, even News Simulcast suffered a great drop in their viewership ratings. That was why they did so much last year, including hiring you. Whether it's your The Voice or A Bite of China, they are both the number one viewership rated shows of their time slot. Our Central TV has already had such a low profile for so many years. Now that it has once again been truly recognized as the big brother of the industry, they must surely want to make the celebrations grander again. Of course, there are also other reasons for it, but this should be one of the highest profile annual parties that Central TV has held in many years."

Little Wang sniggered, "Director Yan, so are we also going to hold our department's annual party in accordance with the station's direction?"

Yan Tianfei laughed. "No problem!"

His secretary also laughed and said, "Director Yan mentioned earlier that we could vote on how to hold our department's annual party and what prizes to have for the lucky draw. We will let everyone decide on it. Because of Director Zhang's A Bite of China, our Documentary Channel is the richest department in all of Central TV now!"

"Wow!"

"That's great!"

"Long live Director Yan! Long live Director Zhang!"

"I vote for a cell phone."

"I prefer a cash prize since that is more practical, haha!"

All of a sudden, everyone's emotions were running high!

Yan Tianfei said, "On the subject of lucky draws, this year's Central TV's annual party's lucky draw prizes are really generous. There are laptops, cell phones, cosmetics, all delivered here in boxes. It's even rumored that there are several cash prizes worth 50,000 and 100,000 yuan or more."

Little Wang was shocked. "A cash prize of 100,000 yuan?"

Huang Dandan was dumbfounded. "Ah, that's even more than my annual salary!"

Yan Tianfei said happily, "Let's see who's lucky enough to win the top prize this year. I really hope it's someone from our Documentary Channel!"

"Hai, the chances are too low."

"Yeah, there's not much hope since there's too many people in the pool."

"But there's still a small chance of winning."

Everyone was enthusiastically discussing the lucky draw prizes. To an ordinary staffer, whatever performance and dinner there was, that was just a secondary concern. The majority of the people would only care about the lucky draw segment, as it was the only time they could get their hands on something practical, with everyone having an equal chance at winning. It only depended on luck!

Later that afternoon.

Everyone at Central TV was preparing for the annual party. In the hallways, elevators, and makeup studios, executives who were dressed formally in suits and ties or colorful and flowery dresses could be seen everywhere.

"Sister Hong, you're looking quite beautiful today."

"Thank you."

"Wow, Brother Liu is so handsome."

"Well, clothes make the man."

"Heh, this is my first time dressed in a suit."

"I heard that today's lucky draw prizes are particularly generous."

"Yeah, I heard so too. I was just looking to change my cell phone."

"I'm so looking forward to the annual party later this afternoon!"

Suddenly, more than a dozen people came into the Number 2 Makeup Studio to get their makeup done. The staff who had just gotten their makeup done were laughing and chatting happily as they prepared to leave, but when they saw the group that just entered, they suddenly hushed. Many of them blinked several times at the group and stayed quiet for a long time.

"Uh, Teacher Zhang."

"Director Zhang."

Some of them politely greeted him.

Zhang Ye smiled and nodded at them, then went to sit with Ha Qiqi and the others to have his makeup applied.

Several of the female makeup artists looked over to Zhang Ye with a change in their expressions. With his reputation, even if those people were not frontline staff of the television station, they would have heard of his name before!

After they left the makeup studio, the staff were abuzz.

"So that is Zhang Ye? This is the first time I've seen him this close up."

"You guys heard the crosstalk from a few days ago?"

"What do you think? No one at Central TV does not know about it."

"I heard that the station execs were all infuriated by it!"

"Hur, how could they not be? Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai dragged Central TV's Spring Festival Gala into their crosstalk and insulted it, so how could the leaders be happy about it?"

"Actually, I thought it was nothing. Teacher Zhang still knows his limits. If you listened to it carefully, the crosstalk was mainly aimed at Tang Dazhang and the crosstalk world, as well as their mass crosstalk performance that was planned for Central TV's Spring Festival Gala. As for Central TV's Spring Festival Gala event itself, he only made a slightly snide remark about it which didn't seem that much to me."

"It was still a snide remark!"

"But Zhang Ye has created two hallmark TV shows for Central TV that helped it regain the top position in the industry, and look at where that led. During The Voice, how did the station execs treat him? Weren't they turning on him by forcefully trying to take his copyright from him? Then what about during A Bite of China? They kept obstructing him back then, and even with the heaven-defying viewership ratings of A Bite of China now, none of the station execs gave him any acknowledgment or said anything good about Zhang Ye. They did not even invite him to join the Spring Festival Gala. Not only that, the Spring Festival Gala production team even released news that they would not consider him for future galas. What was the meaning of that? If that happened to anyone else, they wouldn't take it lying down either. To think that they wouldn't even allow Zhang Ye to make some remarks to vent his frustrations?"

"Hai."

"We shouldn't poke our nose into some of these matters."

"Zhang Ye doesn't spare anyone with his comments either. If he just gives in sometimes and apologizes, things wouldn't get so tense and the situation wouldn't come to such a standstill."

"If he gave in, then he wouldn't be known as Zhang Ye."

"Yeah, that's right."

"Stop talking about this and let's go already. The admissions for the annual party will be starting soon."

"Let's go!"

"I will surely win the laptop prize today! Haha!"

...

4 o'clock in the afternoon.

After the makeup was applied and everyone changed into their formal wear, everybody gathered at the entrance of the party venue before the doors opened for them to enter.

The entire event was held at Central TV, where an internal department had opened up a place for everyone. It wasn't the venue that was used for the Spring Festival Gala, but was probably a secondary or backup location for it as it was a rather large area.

Yan Tianfei arrived.

Little Wang was helping Zhang Ye adjust his suit.

Finally, a staff member ran up to them to inform them that it was the Documentary Channel's turn to enter. When Yan Tianfei gave his signal, everyone shuffled to the entrance of the venue with their passes hung around their necks.

But suddenly, something happened.

In this jubilant atmosphere, after two venue staff members noticed the Documentary Channel's staff, they were slightly taken aback and strode up to them and held out their hands to stop Zhang Ye. "Sorry, please wait a moment." Then, they turned to Yan Tianfei and said, "Director Yan, the station executives have instructed us just now that Teacher Zhang Ye will not be allowed to attend this annual staff party!"

What?

Bar Zhang Ye from attending?