I’m Really a Superstar

Lunchtime.

Many people came to speak to Zhang Ye.

“Teacher Zhang, let’s go. Let’s go for lunch.”

“I have to congratulate you in advance. You might break a record tomorrow!”

“That’s right! If it all goes well tomorrow, your programs will definitely break 2% and 3%. At the very latest, it should happen the day after tomorrow. Don’t forget to give us a treat when that happens. I would not believe if your bonus money is less than 20,000 this month. Haha! Speaking of which, Little Zhang’s two program segments are in the channel’s top three, and also in the station’s top 20. This is already a record in itself! Imagine our old comrades from the past; only a small handful of them could have done the same.”

Everyone was praising him.

Except for Tian Bin, Jia Yan and a few others, everyone else in the Literature Channel was friendly towards Zhang Ye now. If Zhang Ye could really wield his prowess and break a few station, or even national, records by bringing up his listenership ratings, then everyone in the Literature Channel would also stand to gain. There was a rule in the station that not only gave out rewards for individual performances, but also for team performances. Their whole channel’s employees could all gain an increase in wages of 10% to 20% due to Zhang Ye’s performance. When Wang Xiaomei’s segment broke 4% the previous time, everyone received a reward of about 1,000. It all depended on what record Zhang Ye could create now.

Zhang Ye smiled wrily, “Don’t expect too much. This time was just a coincidence that the results shot up by so much. It may not continue on.”

“Shouldn’t it be possible?” Big Sis Zhou was a little unsure now.

Zhang Ye waved it off, “There are no guarantees.”

Auntie Sun smiled. “We will just see tomorrow’s results. Let’s not give Teacher Little Zhang too much pressure.”

Wang Xiaomei took her lunch box and prepared to go to the canteen. She obviously had wanted to bring her lunch back to the office to eat, but the canteen didn’t have takeaway boxes. Wang Xiaomei gave a glance at Zhang Ye when she was passing him and suddenly stopped in her tracks, “Did you put on makeup today? Or use skincare products? Eye cream?”

Zhang Ye was stunned, “No?”

Big Sis Zhou wondered, “Hey, I also felt it when Teacher Xiaomei said that. It’s not makeup, but why does Teacher Little Zhang feel a little different today?”

Someone asked, “Really?”

Another asked, “Nothing changed, right?”

Auntie Sun said, “How could there be no changes? When I saw Little Zhang today, I felt it immediately. Shouldn’t this be a case of when everything is going well, the spirit is also refreshed? Haha. Look, it’s like he has become more handsome. His eyes are also discharging electricity every moment. Little Zhang doesn’t have a girlfriend, right? Auntie can introduce one to you. Do you want me to?”

Zhang Ye’s assistant, Xiaofang, also laughed, “Teacher Zhang did become more handsome.”

Zhang Ye finally understood why the question of makeup was brought up. They were actually talking about the effects brought about by the Fruit of Charm. “Even my eyes can discharge electricity? Damn, that’s too exaggerated!”

Xiaofang nodded furiously, “For real!”

She said nice words and had good taste. Zhang Ye was feeling very proud right now.

…

Afternoon.

The letters from the listeners had arrived.

Zhang Ye was once again the one who received the most letters within the channel. There were over 400 letters, more than Wang Xiaomei by a hundred. It wasn’t hard to guess why. Zhang Ye had two programs, so the letters were also a combination of both of them. Besides, a children’s program would definitely get more letters than an adult’s program. Therefore, it cannot be said that just because of this, Zhang Ye could replace Wang Xiaomei as the channel’s top host. He couldn’t do it, because he was a guy.

The letters were written by a mixture of both adults and children.

“Please speed up the narration!”

“’The Wizard of Oz’ is really interesting, but it’s too slow!”

“Uncle Zhang, could you read it faster? I can’t wait any longer!”

“The program duration is too short. Comrade Zhang, I hope the program duration can be extended, or that the speed could be increased. It’s making me so eager to listen!”

A lot of listeners put in their suggestions.

Zhang Ye thought about it. He also felt that the suggestions were valid. When he was narrating “The Wizard of Oz”, he had maintained the speed and softness of when he had read “Little Bunnies Be Good”. After all, this was a children’s program and he wanted to take care of them, so he narrated it very slowly. But the letters this time made him reconsider. The speed could definitely be quicker. Because “The Wizard of Oz” had a more mature theme and suited a larger age group, it would not be suitable to use style of “Little Bunnies Be Good”. The children might still accept this, but the adults definitely would not have the patience. They might like the story itself, but if it was too slow with its emphasis on every word, the adults might not continue to tune in.

Some changes were required!

Three chapters per segment was possible. Adding one chapter wouldn’t be too difficult!

Zhang Ye had Xiaofang contact the recording studio for a booking. He stayed inside the studio for the whole afternoon to prepare the recordings for tomorrow and the day after. Zhang Ye had already recorded tomorrow’s broadcast this morning, but for the quality of the program, Zhang Ye did not think twice about deleting the recording from before. He re-recorded a full three chapters for tomorrow and almost doubled the speed of narration for them. He had set very high standards for himself. He only finalized it after a few recordings.

…

The next day.

Friday.

Everyone had arrived early. Zhang Ye was in the spotlight today. Everyone from the Literature Channel also thought so and were waiting for history to be rewritten, but were unsure if it could happen. Yesterday’s result was a special case. That rating had been brought about by the attention from the Mid-Autumn Poetry Meet event.

Zhao Guozhou also came in very early today. When they saw him coming in at 9:10 A.M., they all saw the smile he had on his face.

He got it?

He broke a historical record?

They listened to Zhao Guozhou announcing, “Today I will not be reading the listenership ratings in order of ranking. First, I would like to announce yesterday’s 3rd placing, Zhang Ye, ‘Late-night Ghost Stories’. The listenership rating is…..” pausing on purpose to pique everyone’s curiosity, Zhao Guozhou continued on, “Everyone applaud! Ghost Stories’ listenership rating is 2.01%! Maybe some people have already expected it. Yes, the program has broken the 2% rating barrier. Not only has it broken the listenership rating record for late-night programs of the same period, it has once again refreshed the historical record for the midnight segment in the country. It has replaced the Central Radio Station’s ‘The Sound of the City’’s legendary ‘Zero Point Night Chat’ from thirteen years ago, which had a 1.99% listenership rating! Now! This legend belongs to us! It belongs to our Beijing Radio Station!”

Whew!

Thunderous applause!

“Haha!”

“Too awesome!”

“Too impressive!”

“I think our channel is about to defy the Heavens!”

It has even exceeded the late-night segment, “The Sound of the City”‘s rating. It may not seem like much, exceeding it by only 0.02%. What was 0.02%, right? However, it was not that simple. Maybe only people in the industry would be shocked by this news. Why would it be shocking? Because it was too shocking!

This was a listenership rating from thirteen years ago. What sort of position did the radio station have back then? It had half dominance, and was already in decline, but it had not been completely taken out by television. A large number of people still maintained the habit of listening to the radio. It was completely different from the harsh broadcasting environment of today. The audience size differed by tens of times! But even so, “Late-night Ghost Stories” had managed to replace “Zero Point Night Chat”‘s record! What sort of value was this!? To people in the industry, this was something impossible!

However, Zhang Ye had managed to do it!

“Ghost Blows Out the Light” had managed to do it!

“Late-night Ghost Stories” had managed to do it!

People had reason to believe, that although they were unable to tell for sure at this moment, that the people on “The Sound of the City” had definitely received this news. They were definitely in a state of shock. They might have never expected that someone could break a listenership record from more than ten years ago in such a broadcasting environment!

Big Sis Zhou wailed, “Teacher Little Zhang, say a few words.”

Zhao Guozhou also smiled. “Little Zhang, tell everyone your mood?”

“Very excited.” Zhang Ye stood up and spoke, “I’m really very excited. I had never expected to have such a result, either. Actually, back when I created ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’, everyone should know that it was due to extenuating circumstances. I had braved myself to narrate that one episode, so as to not have a live broadcast incident. To have reached the point of today’s result, I need to thank everyone for your help. Thank you for the Leader’s trust. This is not my achievement alone, but is also the hard efforts of our team.”

Zhao Guozhou gave a deep nod, “Well said.”

Everyone gave another round of applause and gave their congratulations.

Zhao Guozhou opened up the form in his hand, “Let me carry on announcing. First place is still Teacher Xiaomei’s ‘Talk About the World’. Listenership 3.77%.” With a pause, he said with a smile, “I know everyone is very concerned with the next listenership rating. Yes, it’s still Little Zhang’s segment. Second place, ‘Old and Young Story Club’. Listenership…3.17%!”

Ah? 3.17%!

Compared to yesterday’s 2.98%, it had jumped even more?

It can’t be! Why is it jumping higher every day!?

Even if the Mid-Autumn Poetry Meet had attracted many new listeners, it shouldn’t have jumped like that, right? Could it be the charm of a serialized story? A serialization had managed to consolidate the listeners further? This was definitely the case! People were still awed. Back then, people had questioned Zhang Ye’s use of a fairy tale serialization. Even Teacher Feng and several experienced old comrades had rebuffed his method of telling such a story. However, Zhang Ye had ignored their reproach and carried on going forward. He had used facts to tell everyone that others might not be able to do it with a serialization, but in his hands, it was possible!

Zhao Guozhou was extremely pleased as he looked warmly at Zhang Ye, “‘Old and Young Story Club’ has broken 3%, and it has broken way above 3%. We still need to give Teacher Little Zhang another round of applause. Our Literature Channel will have four segments that have broken 3% from now on. Our Beijing Radio Station only has 25 segments that have broken 3% in listenership ratings, too. So everyone remember this name, ‘Old and Young Story Club’!”

What was originally in last place had now become a star program that had broken through 3% in its listenership rating in just a week! This miracle could not be said to be not great! The Literature Channel’s colleagues had witnessed the entire process. Even now, a lot of them could hardly believe it. This was not a miracle anymore!

It was a divine act of God!

As changeable as the clouds and rain, a divine act of God had made it come back from the dead!

Everyone even had the thought that according to the rate at which the listenership ratings were increasing, could “Old and Young Story Club” have a chance at catching up to “Talk About the World”?

People were shocked by their own thoughts!

It can’t be, right? No matter how ridiculous it was, it can’t chase up to Wang Xiaomei’s segment, right?