I'm Really a Superstar

Da Hong Pao has become famous!

The calls were arriving one after another.

That night, Zhang Ye was taking a dump in the bathroom when Hu Fei called.

Zhang Ye answered and said: "Hey, Brother Hu. I'm still going through the crosstalk in my mind. Give me another two days. When A Bite of China wraps up, I will get the crosstalk proposal written properly for sure. I will definitely get it out in time."

Hu Fei said: "I'm not calling to hound you over the crosstalk routine."

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "What is it about then?"

"Nothing much. I'm just calling to give you my New Year greetings in advance," Hu Fei equivocated.

"Oh, thank you." Zhang Ye said: "Have a happy New Year too."

After dragging out the conversation for some time, Hu Fei finally said: "I heard that all of those Da Hong Pao trees have been bought by you? The country still had to inform you before they could start on their tea research?"

Zhang Ye chuckled: "Brother Hu, if you have something to say, just say it. Why be so courteous with me?"

"Alright, then I will just say it. Hai, but actually it's not me." Hu Fei felt a little embarrassed and said: "You know the executive director of Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala, right? Director Chang usually enjoys drinking wine and tea. After he heard about this Da Hong Pao tea, he has been itching for a taste for the past two days. Hur hur, you might not know this, but Director Chang has asked me more than three times in the past two days about this matter. He knows that we were old colleagues and had a good relationship, so he requested that I ask if you have any excess tea leaves to spare. If you do and are alright with it, can you sell a few grams to him? He doesn't need much as he knows that the tea leaves have already been speculated to over 10,000 yuan per gram. So it will be good enough as long as he can make a cup of tea from it, perhaps like three or four grams? Director Chang said that he will pay according to the market price."

Zhang Ye laughed upon hearing that and said: "Come on, Brother Hu. Why are you mentioning the money? Are you putting me down? Aren't they just some tea leaves? I'll bring some for you guys when I go over soon."

Hu Fei immediately said: "You're truly a loyal friend! About the payment, we'll talk about…"

"If you still mention the payment, I won't give you the tea anymore." Zhang Ye laughed and said: "Anyway, it won't be much, just five grams, but that should be enough to make a cup or pot of tea. Just don't mention paying anymore. You can have a taste when the time comes as well."

Hu Fei laughed heartily: "OK, then I won't stand on ceremony with you."

"It's nothing," Zhang Ye said generously.

A moment later, a call from the executive director of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala, Chang Xiaoliang, arrived. "Teacher Zhang."

Zhang Ye was still taking a dump. "Hi, Director Chang."

"Thank you," Chang Xiaoliang said with gratitude.

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "Please don't be so polite with me. It's just a small matter."

Chang Xiaoliang stated: "To us tea lovers, this is a big matter. Have you seen how high the price has been speculated online? Da Hong Pao is so hard to come by now that you can't buy it even if you had the money since there is demand but no supply. Do you know many people would kill for a sip of it right now!"

Zhang Ye replied: "It's not that bad. If you come over to my place, you can drink all you want."

Chang Xiaoliang said: "Then I won't mention paying, but consider that I owe you one."

"You don't have to do that, Director Chang," Zhang Ye said.

They had only gotten to know each other recently and were not actually that close. Therefore, Chang Xiaoliang approached Hu Fei to convey the message on his behalf. But when he heard that Zhang Ye readily agreed to his request, Chang Xiaoliang felt a little embarrassed and decided that he must give Zhang Ye a call personally to thank him.

Five minutes later.

Another call came in.

It was Dong Shanshan. "Zhang'er, what are you doing?"

Zhang Ye said bluntly: "I'm taking a dump in the bathroom."

"Whoa, I was wondering why it was so smelly," Dong Shanshan joked.

Zhang Ye laughed and said: "You can even smell it over the phone?"

"I need to discuss something with you." Dong Shanshan did not beat around the bush. "I would like to buy some tea leaves from you, can you give me a price?"

Zhang Ye asked: "Hur hur, how much do you need?"

Dong Shanshan answered: "Just five or ten grams would be sufficient. I can't afford to buy too much since I still have to pay for my home loan."

Zhang Ye wondered: "I didn't know that you liked to drink tea."

"It's for a gift." Dong Shanshan said: "There's a female manager at the station who has always taken extremely good care of me. The reason I was chosen to host the Spring Festival Gala was because she had suggested it, so I can be considered indebted to her. This manager of mine likes drinking tea and her birthday is coming soon. I definitely must express my gratitude."

Zhang Ye understood. "Alright, don't talk about buying or not buying. How could I ask you to pay? I'll give you ten grams for free. You can give it to whomever you like."

"Thanks, old classmate."

"You're welcome."

"Muuu–ah!"

Over the phone, he could hear the sound of her lips smacking as she gave him a kiss.

Zhang Ye was amused and hung up.

However, right at the next moment, his phone rang again.

This time it was from Yan Tianfei. "Little Zhang, what are you busy with? Are you resting now?"

When he heard that, Zhang Ye replied: "I'm not resting yet. Director Yan, I'll give you ten grams of Da Hong Pao tea leaves and bring them to the office tomorrow after I've packed them into smaller packages."

Yan Tianfei was stunned. "How did you know that I was planning to ask you for the tea leaves?"

Zhang Ye could not help laughing. "I've already gotten a few calls; everyone was asking about the tea leaves."

"Hai, to think I was hesitating to call you for over an hour just now." Yan Tianfei laughed and said: "I should have just called earlier if I knew."

Zhang Ye said: "Even if you did not say it, I was already planning to bring some for you tomorrow."

Yan Tianfei immediately spoke: "OK, thanks. I'll be trying out the tea that an emperor drank and see how it tastes. Oh right, I have a piece of calligraphy by a calligraphy master of our current generation. I've had it for some years now, so I'll bring it over as well. Let me give it to you in exchange for the tea leaves."

"There's no need to, Director Yan."

"That won't do. That's that then."

Following that, a few more friends and relatives contacted him.

Zhang Ye did not reject any of them. As long as they asked, he readily agreed to give them some tea leaves. However, it was definitely not that much and was limited to just five to ten grams per person. The tea was naturally very rare and precious to others since it could not be bought even with money, but none of that mattered to Zhang Ye as this fellow had brought the Da Hong Pao tea leaves back to Beijing from the Wuyi Mountains in a gunnysack. It was the entire stockpile of tea leaves that the monks at the nameless monastery had harvested over the years. Whether it was ten grams or a hundred grams of tea leaves, it was just a drop in the bucket to him. Even the excess spillage from the gunnysack alone would weigh more than that. Just that little box that he had used to randomly keep the excess tea leaves and placed underneath the coffee table would have around 150 to 200 grams of Da Hong Pao in it!

...

The next morning.

At the office.

When Zhang Ye arrived, he was immediately surrounded.

Little Wang exclaimed, "Director Zhang, our A Bite of China is famous again!"

Huang Dandan also said excitedly, "The country has even initiated a project because of it!"

"This Da Hong Pao was discovered by our A Bite of China!" Ha Qiqi laughed and said, "No matter what happens in the future, we have definitely leave a mark on history!"

Tong Fu yelled, "Our work today will benefit all our future generations!"

When Zhang Ye saw this group of people boasting about themselves to the skies, he was amused. "Our work today will benefit all our future generations? It's not that great of an achievement! Alright now, stop bragging about ourselves like that."

AD Zhang Zuo said excitedly, "At least the news surrounding A Bite of China will be surely soar over the next few days!"

Ha Qiqi made a noise in acknowledgement. "The show will be ending after the last two episodes are broadcast in a few days' time. I wonder what the viewership ratings will be."

"How is Rise to the Dance doing now?" Zhang Ye asked curiously. That show had once competed fiercely with them and even tied in the viewership ratings for their premiere episodes.

Zhang Zuo laughed as he shook his head. "They have totally waned. Rise to the Dance's season finale has just concluded and the viewership rating of the last episode was only 0.45%. Xu Yipeng and Chen Ye's program team can be considered to have totally failed their objectives. I heard from a friend that Central TV Department 1 is already planning to disband their program team or replace the main bosses. Otherwise, who would bear the responsibility of their failure?"

Ha Qiqi stated, "Letting Director Zhang go will surely be their lifelong regret."

Zhang Zuo laughed, "I bet they're already regretting it!"

Zhang Ye said, "Don't bother with them. We're approaching the end of our documentary's broadcast, so let's just do the things we're supposed to and see if we can rely on the momentum generated by our Da Hong Pao episode to rewrite the record of the viewership ratings again!"

"Understood!"

"Got it!"

"We must do so, Director Zhang!"

...

Several days later.

The last two episodes of A Bite of China were broadcast on the Central TV Documentary Channel!

"For the Chinese, the habit of eating breakfast developed during the Han Dynasty some 2,000 years ago. Since then, most Chinese people have eaten three meals a day. While breakfast has become an almost a universal custom around the world, in China, it has sparked a variety of lifestyles and philosophies."

Next, the caption appeared.

Finale: The Three Meals.

Episode Director: Zhang Ye.

In front of their televisions, many of the viewers who saw the captions on the last episode suddenly felt a sense of emptiness.

"For city dwellers, breakfast has to be quick and easy. Tianjin people know this best of all."

"They start with mung bean batter and spread it into a wonderful, round shape on the pan—thin and even without breakages. Eggs make it nutritious. Then they deep fry the batter until it's golden brown. They're fritters with fruit filling, tender on the outside and crisp on the inside, both sweet and salty. Two minutes is all that's needed to enjoy them."

"It's human nature to want to enjoy good food. But everyone has different and sometimes opposing ideas about good food. We all make choices about what we eat. Today, the Chinese are seeing an amazing abundance of food, as well as extreme shortages of resources. If they turn to their ancestral wisdom for answers, they may find this advice. Big a mansion may be, but a bed is all one needs to sleep at night. Rich a man may be, but three meals a day are all one needs to live."

The ending music started to play.

A Bite of China ended![1.]

...

At Central TV Department 14.

It was already nighttime, but no one had left yet.

The moment A Bite of China ended, the colleagues who were watching their own show in the office stood up together and started clapping!

Bba bba bba!

"It's ended!"

"We were absolutely the best!"

"Thank you, Director Yan!"

"Director Zhang, you've worked hard!"

"We're the best!"

"Oh! Let's give a cheer for ourselves!"

"We will surely enter the annals of history together with A Bite of China!"

Little Wang who had not been seen around all this time suddenly appeared at the entrance of the office and started humming a tune. She pushed a small cart with a cake on it. There were even some candles lighted and placed on it.

Yan Tianfei laughed loudly. "There's even a celebration planned?"

Zhang Ye threw up his hands. "I didn't know about it either. They were the ones who organized it."

Ha Qiqi said happily, "Director Yan, Director Zhang, please blow out the candles and cut the cake!"

Zhang Ye asked, "Is there any alcohol?"

"Of course there is. We've already prepared everything!" Little Wang and Huang Dandan took out the alcohol as though they were performing a magic show!

It was champagne!

Yan Tianfei laughed and said, "I was still intending to not drink for a few days. But alright, I'll make an exception today. Let's celebrate together with everyone! Come, pour the champagne!"

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Let's celebrate the successful ending of A Bite of China!"

"Oh, hooray!"

...

The next day.

The latest nationwide viewership ratings for television shows were released!

A Bite of China used the viewership rating of its last episode to shock the entire country once again! It had given those previously doubting voices and critics another loud slap!

The last episode's nationwide viewership rating was 2.98%!

Little Wang screamed, "Ah!"

Zhang Zuo was so excited that he nearly threw his mouse. "Oh my god!"

"We're too awesome!" Huang Dandan shouted loudly, "We're simply too awesome!"

The entire A Bite of China program team was screaming!

Central TV was dumbfounded!

The industry was dumbfounded!

Everyone was stunned!

Disregarding all those years when television enjoyed a monopoly on home entertainment, and after the birth of the modern Internet era in recent years, when had there ever been a television show that could achieve such a level of popularity? When had there ever been a television show that could achieve such a viewership rating? In this present market environment, they had in fact very nearly breached the 3% viewership rating mark of the old days!

And it was even a documentary!

Xu Yipeng was silent!

Central TV was silent!

Many of the industry insiders were also silent!

They could use a thousand or ten thousand reasons to attack and criticize Zhang Ye, but this result that Zhang Ye achieved had truly left them with nothing to say!

2.98%!

2.98%!

Looking at the viewership ratings charts, many of the industry insiders' first reaction was: Has this world gone crazy?

How can a documentary turn out to be so fucking popular?!

[1. A Bite of China Season 2 Finale - https://youtu.be/7JL02LzfP8A]