I’m Really a Superstar

After the first segment ended.

The four coaches had all taken their seats.

Right now, other than the lights, there was only Zhang Ye left on stage. As he was the program’s executive director and host, if there were any conflicts or incidents during the recording, they would be handled by Assistant Directors Zhang Zuo and Ha Qiqi, although Zhang Ye had already specifically instructed them on what to do. Numerous scenarios had already been thought of and run through with them. So Zhang Ye being onstage and hosting did not have too many worries that there would be any problems occurring. Besides, this was not a live broadcast. At most they would just do a reshoot. But they would still have to avoid that because they needed to allocate some time to do the post-production and captioning work so that they could meet tonight’s broadcast time of 9 PM. Time was of the essence, therefore, if they could finish the recording with a single run, it would be most ideal.

The music stopped.

Next up was the segment in which Zhang Ye would be reciting his lines as the host.

Jiang Yuan looked to the stage.

Wu Mo was looking at Zhang Ye.

The audience all kept their eyes peeled on the stage.

The four coaches and program team’s staff also had their full attention on Zhang Ye.

If it was said the program team had expected the just played opening theme song to be performed like it was, due to them having rehearsed it before, then starting from here on out, none of them had an idea of where the direction of the show would be headed. They knew the general direction and rundown of the program, but as for how the recording would turn out, they were all in the dark. Zhang Ye did not speak his lines in front of anyone beforehand, the coaches also hadn’t seen any of the contestants before, while the contestants and their families backstage as well didn’t quite know the rules of the show. For all these days, they had only been practicing and rehearsing, to say nothing of the audience and the other departments of Central TV, even their internal program team’s staff were unclear of many details about the show.

And so, all of the attention in the studio was now fully on Zhang Ye, because he was the only person who knew everything about this show like the back of his hand as well as the one who controlled the entire development of it. Whether it was the audience or the program team, everyone was eager to know what Zhang Ye could make of this show that no one was optimistic about!

Another person who was looking forward to the outcome was Zhang Ye himself!

Standing in the center of the stage, he was in fact the most excited person in the entire studio. He looked below the stage, glancing at the lights under his feet and then looked to the side where a hand making a victory sign was holding the logo of The Voice of China. All of these looked vastly familiar to him. Zhang Ye had really taken the entire stage of The Voice from his previous world and recreated it in this world to a similarity of 90%!

He thought back to his previous world, when he was still watching The Voice with his parents in front of their TV. At that time, he was just a normal student who harbored dreams of becoming a star like any other similarly aged kids. But today, he was standing on this same stage, albeit in a different world, and had become the host who was getting all the attention and taking center stage. Destiny was really something that no one could predict at all!

Momentarily sighing, Zhang Ye quickly gathered all his thoughts and put them away. It was time to begin. This was just his debut show on Central TV, but he already had this ultimate trump card called The Voice in his hand. In such a situation, if he could still screw up the show, then he should just find a thick wall and crash into it to end his life!

“Hello, everyone.” Zhang Ye held the microphone and spoke into it, “I am your host, Zhang Ye.”

The audience suddenly broke out into applause that was as loud as what they gave to the four coaches.

Zhang Ye smiled at the camera and said to the audience, “Welcome to the global premiere of the country’s most professionally organized mega-scale singing talent show, brought to you exclusively by health product leader Brain Gold!”

Mega-scale?

The most professionally organized in the country?

Global premiere?

Hearing the usage of those descriptions, everyone in the audience was shocked!

In the current era of variety shows, at most they would claim that the show was brought to you by a professional team, that it was powerfully debuting or powerfully broadcasted live from a location. Never had anyone claimed that it was a global premiere or something like that. However, if those words were scrutinized carefully, there was nothing wrong with it either. It was indeed globally premiering on Central TV Department 1’s channel, so there was nothing to nitpick, though it could be labeled as a little bit of wordplay. “Powerful Debut” versus “Global Premiere,” the difference was obvious just by listening to those words. A global premiere was on a much higher level!

The several leaders of Central TV Department 1 all looked at each other.

The eyes of the other Central TV program teams’ supervisors and their staff also lit up at these words. They nearly clapped in admiration. This Zhang Ye might always look like a troublemaker, but there was nothing anyone could criticize about his ideas. What a stroke of genius! Using the words “Global Premiere” was a really great idea. This had to be noted down for future programs!

Wu Mo also nodded very agreeably as he whispered to his upper management beside him. He really liked the phrase “by health product leader Brain Gold.” It was really well said!

What they didn’t know was that the phrases “global premiere,” “product leader,” and whatnot were all overused terms in Zhang Ye’s previous world. It’s just that no one in this world had started using them yet, that was all!

Zhang Ye continued, “As a good singer, the most important thing is your voice. Regardless of looks, age, or occupation, everything will be judged based only on your voice alone. The four coaches will use all their experience to help you, to find your true voice in the spirit of true music. Our stage of The Voice is looking forward to your arrival.” He pointed at the camera lens with his finger, “You just might be China’s next generation of great singers!”

Applause rang again!

Little Wang was below stage, acting as the applause leader. When she gave the signal, the audience cooperated very well.

Zhang Ye held the microphone, smiling. “Today, we have eight people who will be joining us onstage. Who could they be? What kinds of voices will they have? What songs will they choose to perform?”

Many of the audience members sat up straight, waiting in anticipation. Yes, just who would these people be? How well would they sing?

Zhang Ye laughed a little and said, “Alright, next up is the segment that is the most, most anticipated.” Then he paused for a moment. “—Advertisements!”

When that was said, everyone collectively fainted!

“Pfft!”

“How did it turn out to be advertisements!”

“Hey, what ‘most, most anticipated’!”

“That’s so funny, that Teacher Zhang!”

“He really catches you off guard with what he says! I thought that there was going to be a contestant appearing already!”

“Who would anticipate advertisements!”

In The Voice from Zhang Ye’s previous world, the host did not add such flowery language in his opening announcements and focused more on the contestants and coaches. However, since Zhang Ye was the executive director of the program now, he could easily make the necessary adjustments to his role as the host. He had spent so much effort to remake The Voice here, so did anyone really think that he would just sit back and quietly take on the duty of doing announcements? How’s that possible!

When they heard the word “advertisements,” Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others stared with their eyes wide open. They looked very concerned, because Zhang Ye had previously said some weird things to them that left them very confused. From the sound of it, Director Zhang meant that he had some tricks hidden in his lines to be delivered? From what they could see on the host’s script, the first half of it was already said. Only the latter half which was a string of advertisement messages was left. After that, they would move on to the recording of the main event on the stage where there wouldn’t be any more lines from the host!

Some people in the audience were already yawning.

Advertisements?

Whether they appeared in a movie, TV drama series, or other programs, these were the segments viewers hated the most. Advertisements were not something people were interested in looking at, so of course less was better.

Some people were whispering in the audience.

“Say it quickly.”

“Yeah, say it and be done. We’re waiting to see who the contestants are.”

No one took this to be of any importance, including Wu Mo and Jiang Yuan.

The coaches were also whispering and conversing among themselves already, talking about their expectations of the type of contestants they liked.

Previously, someone online had made an observation. For such singing talent shows, the host was basically the most non-existent part of the program. All they needed to do was announce the next segments and deliver some advertising messages, so anyone could do what Zhang Ye was doing. This was the consensus many people in the studio had as well, so they ended up hoping to focus more on the contestants and did not pay any attention to Zhang Ye’s lines as the host.

He saw the audience looking incredibly listless, yet his was a face of calm. He suddenly took a deep breath that lasted a good two seconds, like he was filling his lungs fully with air!

Some in the audience were tickled by this scene. What’s he doing?

Chen Guang was at a bit speechless. Are you powering up into your final form?

Ha Qiqi was also quite confused. What’s the deep breath for?

Nobody understood what was going on, but immediately in the next second, when Zhang Ye opened his mouth, everyone looked as though their tails had been stepped on and became so shocked their gallbladders nearly fell out!

Zhang Ye spewed, “I-will-not-accept-any-gifts-this-year The-only-gift-I-will-accept-is-Brain Gold There’s-no-need-to-watch-any-TV-shows-this-year The-only-TV-show-you-need-to-watch-is-The Voice The-authentic-health-product The-authentic-The Voice Welcome-to-the-broadcast-of-The Voice of China-brought-to-you-exclusively-by-our-title-sponsor-leader-in-health-products-Brain Gold Drink-Mount Zhou Mineral Water-to-show-your-support-for-The Voice The-most-favored-student-of-the-four-coaches-for-this-season-of-The Voice-will-get-a-chance-to-join-Mount Zhou Mineral Water’s Music Dreams Tour Text-to-support-your-favorite-singers-and-you’ll-get-a-50-yuan-book-voucher-from-EveryRead.net We-thank-EveryRead.net-for-their-generous-support-of-our-singers-of-The Voice For-any-of-our-contestants-as-long-as-they-get-acknowledged-by-at-least-three-coaches-they’ll-win-a-10,000-yuan-Music Dreams Scholarship Sponsored-by-Brain Gold. We-also-give-our-thanks-to-Beijing Dahua Hotel-for-sponsoring-the-accommodations-for-the coaches-of-The Voice of China!” 1

A flurry of words!

A single breath!

200 words!

When this advertising message finished, the entire recording studio was as silent as the dead of night!

Chen Guang was so shocked that his jaw almost fell off!

Fan Wenli stared with eyes wide, showing a shocked expression as well!

Wu Mo’s body had already slanted to the side so far that he nearly fell off his chair!

Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others also very nearly burst their blood vessels!

The audience was all dumbfounded!

The coaches were dumbfounded!

The program team staff were also dumbfounded!

One of the audience members even jumped out of his seat in shock. It was as though he had seen a ghost from the way he was staring at the onstage Zhang Ye!

For a few seconds, the entire studio was enveloped in silence. Everyone in the venue had no clue on what to do, having been scared silly by Zhang Ye’s glib delivery of the lines!

Not until after a long time did the audience suddenly burst out exclaiming and screaming!

“Heavens!”

“Oh my god!”

“What did I just hear?”

“F**k me! What sort of a tongue do you have!”

“How could an advertisement even be done in this way? An advertising message could even be recited in such a way!”

“Zhang Ye, you’ve won! I throw myself on the ground and submit to you! That mouth of yours is too damn crazy! Is that even a human being’s mouth? Is that even a human being’s tongue that you have??”

1. The original Hua Shao advertising slogan recital can be viewed here. Watch the whole thing!