I'm Really a Superstar

On the same day.

The news was already reporting on this matter.

"Zhang Ye's new documentary has been banned!"

"Nothing to follow up with after A Bite of China!"

"A documentary on air pollution? Barred before broadcast!"

"The decline of Zhang Ye?"

"Central TV Documentary Channel no longer able to replicate the miracle of A Bite of China!"

"Why did a public service documentary get barred from broadcast?"

On Weibo, many netizens were not having any of it!

"What is this?"

"Barred from broadcast? Fuck! I didn't even get to watch it!"

"What is this about it getting barred before its broadcast?"

"I've been looking forward to Zhang Ye's new documentary all this while. Although this documentary was not directed by Teacher Zhang, it was still made by him. Why is it gone?"

"Give me back my documentary!"

"Central TV is so awful!"

"I think there's some news that you guys might be still be unaware of?"

"What news?"

One of the program team members of A Bite of China was diagnosed with lung cancer several days ago!"

"Ah?"

"What?"

"Hai, she's just twenty-something. Teacher Zhang did not plan to be involved with this documentary initially as he was already about to leave Central TV. But he came back to take charge of it because that team member's lung cancer was seemingly caused by the smog."

"Surely that can't be true?"

"Can smog really cause lung cancer?"

"Are you serious? Don't scare me like that, alright?"

"An employee of Department 14 has been diagnosed with cancer. Why is Central TV still barring them from broadcasting the documentary? They really aren't sympathetic, are they? Would Teacher Zhang agree to that?"

"This makes me want to watch the documentary even more now! The news has often talked about being more aware of the smog and saying that the air pollution is harmful. But why do they not explain to us why it is harmful? Or tell us how they're going to govern and manage it? What's the meaning of that! Everyone's in a fog! They know that there is the smog, but no one knows what the hell it is! Was Teacher Zhang trying to tell us? And then got barred from broadcasting it?"

This topic was heatedly discussed on the Internet!

A lot of people were cursing at Central TV, but there were also a lot who did not know what had happened!

In this world, the study of PM2.5 was still in its infancy. There were a lot of things regarding it that most citizens did not understand, with about 95% of them not even knowing that they should have the habit of wearing a face mask outside on a smoggy day. Nobody thought much of this issue and were not nervous about it. This was also the reason for Zhang Ye and Department 14's urgency in making this documentary. But now it was all in vain!

...

At Central TV.

In the Documentary Channel's office.

It was almost time to knock off, but no one was preparing to leave yet. Everyone stayed behind and kept cursing and scolding. There were even some people who talked about wanting to quit their jobs!

"This is too much!"

"Dandan is gonna get surgery soon!"

"How are we going to explain it to Dandan? How do we break this to her?"

"We can't just leave it as that!"

"Right! We must think of a solution!"

Ha Qiqi dropped something heavily onto the table and said, "I'll go see the station head again!"

"Let's go together!" Zhang Zuo couldn't stand it anymore either!

"Let's go together!"

"Yeah, together!"

Everyone responded angrily!

They asked themselves if they had done anything wrong to deserve this!

They asked themselves if any of their statistics were not obtained from a professional institute!

But why did it end up with the station head accusing them in this way? And punishing them too? Why could they not inform the citizens of where the smog originated and how harmful it could get? Why couldn't they let the citizens know the truth?

They did not understand!

So they were very angry!

Across the room, Zhang Ye had just come out from his office.

"Director Zhang!"

"Come with us!"

"Let's go and see the head!"

"I don't believe that we can't justify our position!"

The people of Department 14 were in a state of frenzy.

But then, Zhang Ye looked at everyone and said, "Don't bother looking for him. There's no point in doing so either. Without approval from the station, we'll never get the go-ahead to broadcast our documentary."

Ha Qiqi said, "But!"

"No buts." Zhang Ye waved his hand. "It's time to leave and go on home, everyone. There's no need to contemplate the documentary issue any further."

Zhang Zuo stared at him wide-eyed. "Are you saying we should just let it be?"

Zhang Ye said, "What else can be done? The footage has already been taken away by the station's people."

Little Wang could not believe that Zhang Ye was saying something like this. "Director Zhang, what's with you? This, this isn't your style. If this were the past, you'd definitely…"

Zhang Ye said, "I'd definitely what? The station has already indicated to us that our documentary would cause more harm than good. I have nothing I can do, so we can only leave it as is for now. Everyone, let's stop kicking up a fuss already and head on back home."

Ha Qiqi was angered by this. She shouted, "Director Zhang! Then who's gonna be responsible for Dandan's cancer? Dandan's been laying in her sickbed without airing a single grievance. All she wants is to prevent what happened to her from happening to anyone else! She just wanted our documentary to inform the citizens so that they'd know about the harmfulness of the smog! Yes, I accept that the station head's words were right. Even if some of the statistics we obtained were genuine and from official institutes, but there are no scientific grounds to them! Statistics are just statistics and can only be used for scientific interpretation. They can't be considered scientific fact! But even if it really turns out to be wrong, even if the smog is actually not harmful at all, we still want to make this matter public! We still want to scare the people into thinking! To make them learn about the smog and let them be afraid of it. Even if we have to face a lifetime of criticism, we're willing to accept it!"

"Right!"

"All of us are willing to accept it!"

"We're not afraid of getting scolded! In the past year, haven't we already been scolded a lot?"

"Director Zhang, we cannot just let this be!"

"This documentary is the fruit of everyone's labor!"

Zhang Zuo stared straight into Zhang Ye's eyes. "You promised Dandan personally! You said that you'd make sure everyone gets to see this documentary!"

Tong Fu clenched his fists. "Director Zhang!"

Zhang Ye looked at all of them. "Are you guys finished?"

No one spoke.

Zhang Ye nodded. "OK, if you are, then head on home. Let's not bring this up again. Go back home and pack up your feelings. We still have to prepare for the next documentary, maybe something about gourmet or animals. Any subject is fine."

Ha Qiqi suddenly asked, "Is this coming from the bottom of your heart?"

Zhang Ye threw up his hands. "Then what do you want me to do?"

"Director Zhang, I was wrong about you!" Ha Qiqi turned around and left!

Zhang Zuo hesitated for a bit before giving a long sigh. He walked off as well!

Zhang Ye abruptly said, "There's something else. Right now, there's a lot of attention on our documentary from the media and the people. There's huge ruckus online, so we can't just stay quiet and offer no explanation about it. We'll apply to the management for a venue to hold a press conference regarding this issue. It'd be best if the venue is a large one so that we can fit in all the media outlets and reporters for the press conference. At that time, I will personally go onstage and give an excuse for the barring of our documentary from broadcast."

Ha Qiqi did not even turn her head. "Got it!"

Zhang Ye felt reluctant. "This will be very important."

Zhang Zuo turned around and said, "I'll write a report for it tonight."

"OK." Zhang Ye nodded.

Little Wang said angrily, "You still intend to clear it up? Give an excuse? What's there to excuse! What's there for us to explain! We did not do anything wrong in the first place! Director Zhang, why, why are doing this!"

Tong Fu looked at Zhang Ye. "Are you still the Director Zhang I know?"

Little Wang pulled at Tong Fu. "Let's go!"

Gradually, everyone left the office!

Everyone wore the same expression of disappointment!

Soon, Zhang Ye was left in the office by himself.

Outside, it had turned dark. Smog blotted out the moonlight. When he looked out through the window, the night looked gloomy in a rather depressed and somewhat lonesome manner.

Zhang Ye quietly walked over to the office's main door and closed it. Creak. The sound of the door closing was particularly loud in the silence of the office. He walked back in, and suddenly bent over and turned on a computer, then another, and a third one. These computers had previously been used to store the data for the air pollution documentary, but were wiped clean after the people from Central TV's management came over in the afternoon.

He turned them on.

Typed on the keyboard.

Zhang Ye performed a series of complicated operations on them. If there were any technicians present, they would know that Zhang Ye was recovering the files and data that were still retained on the hard drives!

Five…

Ten…

Twenty…

Little by little, the data were restored!

One by one, the sections of video and interview material reappeared on the screens!

All of a sudden, Zhang Ye thought of those words Ha Qiqi uttered to him before she left. He couldn't refrain from chuckling, and felt quite proud of her at heart. Make the people learn know about the smog? Let them know so that they would be afraid? Even if they had to face a lifetime of criticism, they would accept it?

Well said!

That's my team!

You're all good people!

However, this is no trifling matter. This is a major issue that will tear a hole in the sky! How could I let you guys face these criticisms? How could I let you sacrifice yourselves? All of you are still powerless right now. If you guys offend someone, or if someone tries to find trouble with you guys, how could you handle it? You have wives and kids, husbands and parents. When it comes to handling the pressure from such criticisms, can any of you truly bear it?

Forget it.

It's no coincidence that I'm not afraid of trouble, have never been afraid of offending others, and am always very controversial. So I don't care if I'm charged with another count. I'm your boss. If anything happened, could I let you guys take the blame? All of you have really underestimated me, Zhang Ye!

So let me bear the burden of these criticisms instead.