The next day.
Early in the morning, employees started streaming into the entrance of Central TV for work.
"Did you hear about yesterday?"
"Heyo, who wouldn't know about that!"
"Yeah, it was even on News Simulcast. I'm sure everyone in the country already knows about it!"
"Director Zhang has no chance of staying on in Central TV Department 1 any longer. But come to think of it, Central TV Department 1 has also gotten themselves into a sticky situation now, so no one is better off than the other! I heard that the leaders were all flipping out! Some of of the leaders in Central TV Department 1 seem to have taken the matter into their own hands, so it seems like they will be punished as well!"
"Right, this is as good as perishing together!"
"How many people can be as bold as Zhang Ye!"
Everyone who came to work today were all discussing this incident with fervor.
Suddenly, someone screamed in surprise.
"Look, Zhang Ye's here!"
"Are you sure?"
"What?"
"Aiyo, it's really him!"
"Why did Director Zhang come to work today?"
"I don't know!"
"Ahem, could Director Zhang be here…to work?"
"How's that possible!"
"He's already fallen out with the station, why would he still come to work!"
Everyone couldn't be more surprised by his appearance.
But then they saw Zhang Ye slowly making his way into Central TV Tower and headed for the elevator to go upstairs. From the looks of it, he behaved no differently from usual. In fact, everyone even had an odd feeling that Zhang Ye looked happier than usual, with a grin on his face like nothing was troubling him.
"Did Director Zhang come back to stir up even more trouble?"
"I think he might be here to pick a fight!"
"Maybe he came to talk it through with Central TV Department 1?"
"Come on, let's go and watch!"
Some of the Central TV staff hurriedly followed along and entered the elevator together with Zhang Ye because they felt extremely curious and wanted to see what would happen next. However, it surprised all of them when Zhang Ye did not go to the leader's office. Instead, he headed straight for The Voice's program team office.
Inside.
Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the rest were anxiously discussing and holding an emergency meeting.
Little Wang was going around in circles, asking, "What do we do now, what do we do now!"
Ha Qiqi also had a look of despair. "I think this new program is definitely going to change hands and be given to another program team."
"Not only the program." Zhang Zuo despaired, "Even our program team's leader is going to be changed. Director Zhang won't be leading us anymore!"
Wu Yi said angrily, "How did it end up this way!"
After he said that, Zhang Ye stepped into the office. "Yo, you're all here?"
When they heard this voice, Ha Qiqi and the others turned their heads in surprise!
"Director Zhang?"
"Ah?"
"You…why are you here?"
Clearly, they couldn't react to his appearance at the office.
Zhang Ye stood there, blinking as though nothing had happened. "What do you mean by why am I here?" He looked at his watch. "It's already time to start working. If I don't come to work, where would I go?"
Zhang Zuo, Ha Qiqi, and the rest were all dumbfounded by this answer!
The Central TV staff outside were also taken aback by what they heard!
Work??
You've already scolded the leader, made trouble in the Finance Department, and even brought Central TV Department 1 to court. There's already "blood" all over your hands, yet here you are talking about coming to work??
Everyone fainted all at once. Only at this moment did they realize that Zhang Ye was indeed no normal person. His thought process and handling of matters weren't done in accordance to a typical person's logic. However, if you consider things, if Zhang Ye was really just like any other person, he couldn't have possibly brought Central TV to court in the first place! To have met such a wondrous person, this was more than Central TV Department 1 had asked for. As the saying goes, the powerful are afraid of the reckless, the reckless are afraid of those who aren't afraid to die, and those who are not afraid to die are afraid of the shameless! So here we have Zhang Ye, who is reckless, not afraid to die, and totally shameless as well. As a result, he is afraid of no one!
In just a short time, the news of Zhang Ye coming to work like usual had spread all over Central TV.
Everyone vomited at least three liters of blood when they heard that!
"Aiyo, what the heck!"
"Zhang Ye is really tickling my funny bone!"
"Pfft, Zhang Ye is indeed Zhang Ye!"
"His shamelessness is what I admire the most about him. How thick can his skin get?"
"You really can't predict how this guy will act using common sense!"
Actually, for Zhang Ye, he was taking the most logical steps regarding the matter. Although Central TV Department 1 were the ones who came to him to discuss the contract, it was Central TV that he signed the contract with. Zhang Ye did not have much of an opinion about Central TV, and neither did he have any direct conflicts or disagreement with them. It was Central TV Department 1 he had an issue with that made his heart turn cold. In the petition he filed to the courts, he had written in Central TV Department 1 as the defendant. To Zhang Ye, when he filed the lawsuit against Central TV Department 1, it should not have affected him from coming to work at Central TV. Those two were different matters with no conflicts!
On Zhang Ye's "punctuality" and "professionalism," Central TV was silent. Meanwhile, Central TV Department 1 also did not seem like they were making any moves, because at this moment, both Jiang Yuan and Jiang Naixiong were called to a meeting by the deputy station head!
Upstairs.
At a main conference room used by the management.
Lining the conference table were genuine leather sofas. Seven or eight people were seated in them. Among this group of people were Department 1's Director Jiang Naixiong and Deputy Director Jiang Yuan. The middle-aged man sitting at the end of the table was Central TV's deputy station head. He was the second-in-command and had an air of authority about him.
The deputy station head said, "Old Jiang, why were you so stupid!"
Jiang Naixiong explained, "A problem really occurred with the payroll system, who would have—"
The deputy station head interjected, "Don't try to play dumb with me. Was it really only an issue with the salary? How do you explain the copyright to The Voice? Do you think that the station does not know about it?"
Jiang Yuan quickly tried to take the fall on his leader's behalf. "It was me. I was the one acted without authorization. I did it because the contract with Zhang Ye was way too unreasonable and we had not given it enough thought before that. When I realized that it could cause our station a large financial loss, I wanted to make up for it and get the contract changed. I did all of that in the interest of the station, but the matter with the salary wasn't really done on purpose. It was truly a system error."
"Don't bother explaining to me!" The deputy station head became even more angry listening to them. He pointed to the outside and said, "Go and explain it to the media reporters! Go and explain it to the people!"
Both of them stayed silent.
Another executive beside them was also very angry. "The entire country is now talking about Central TV! Delaying salaries, forcefully stealing an artist's copyrights! They're all making jokes out of us! When I left my house this morning, there were already several reporters camping at my doorstep! They asked for an explanation on why we delayed Zhang Ye's salary payment. How would I know!"
Jiang Naixiong sighed, "We were not diligent enough and brought about this damage to our station's reputation."
The deputy station head reprimanded, "It's not that you guys weren't diligent, it's because you two were stupid! Now look at this! You two have totally 'gained' face for Central TV! Look, just look at all of the newspaper headlines talking about us! How glorious! We're the talk of the town!" Slamming a fist on the table, he shouted, "I've been utterly embarrassed by the two of you!"
Jiang Yuan muttered, "We couldn't have expected Zhang Ye to sue Central TV."
The deputy station head said, "You think you can get away just by saying that? Just what were you thinking!"
The executive beside them added, "What kind of a person is Zhang Ye? At the Central TV-held crosstalk competition, he caused enough trouble to turn everything upside down. He even got the competition to be ordered off-air! He even risked scolding SARFT! Is this the first time you learned about this person?"
The deputy station head said, "You two have put the station in a very disadvantaged position now!"
They called for a meeting, but it was in fact just a grilling session to criticize and admonish them.
Central TV Department 1's director and deputy director were given a severe dressing down by the two station executives!
Online.
The effects of the incident were still spreading.
Central TV Department 1's famous Spring Festival Gala host, Chen Ye, publicly issued a statement: "The salary was only issued a day late. Was there a need to bring it up and make it a legal issue? Isn't this making a mountain out of a molehill? There are many departments within Central TV, so it's surely understandable if one person's salary is disbursed a few days late due to some miscommunication or problem. It's happened to me before, but if everyone went to court over such a small thing, then we should all just stop doing everything. Everyone can find something to complain about and file a petition in the courts!"
He was purely playing dumb and feigning ignorance.
When Zhang Ye's fans saw this, they surrounded his Weibo immediately!
"Idiot!"
"Bootlicker!"
"Was it simply because of the salary issue?"
"Why did you not bring up the issue of the copyright as well?"
"Teacher Zhang has never offended you before, right? You made rude remarks the previous time when Teacher Zhang squeezed you out of the B-list rankings. Now you're at it again? Are you getting addicted to this? You're getting all excited now, aren't you? So what if you have hosted the Spring Festival Gala before, what are you boasting for! On fame, talent, and knowledge, which one of those traits are you better than Teacher Zhang at?"
"Idiot Chen Ye! Next poster, please maintain this formation!"
"Idiot Chen Ye! Next poster, please maintain this formation!"
"Unconditionally supporting Teacher Zhang!"
Suddenly, Big Saber Bro appeared out of nowhere: "F**k, I've been too busy at work for the past few days and didn't have any time to come online. How did such a big incident happen? Everyone, charge! Follow me and let's return the scolding! Killllll! My large saber is again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again again unable to endure the thirst!"
Immediately, Big Saber Bro popped up all over the place!
On Central TV Department 1's official Weibo, Big Saber Bro flamed: "You dare to fire Teacher Zhang? You motherf**king idiots!"
The netizens: "…"
A Zhang Ye fan hurriedly reminded: "Big Saber Bro, they didn't fire Teacher Zhang. They only stopped paying his salary."
Big Saber Bro: "Ah? He didn't get fired this time? What salary are you talking about?"
Another Zhang Ye fan said with some embarrassment: "There's also the copyright."
Big Saber Bro asked: "What copyright?"
"Aiya, it's difficult to explain with just a few words here and there. Just go and read the news," a fan said.
As Big Saber Bro talked to them, she did not idle about and continued with her scolding of Central TV Department 1: "Why should I read the news? I don't care if it's about some salary or whatever copyright, I will scold them regardless! After scolding, we can talk about it again! Charge!"
Zhang Ye's fans: "…"
Chen Ye's fans: "…"
Weibo netizens: "…"
When some of the other celebrities in the entertainment circle saw this, they didn't know how to react. They could only look on and think to themselves, this is what you call a goddamn hardcore fan! Just coming online without a clue as to what was happening, without even bothering to find out about the situation, the first thing the fan did was charge into battle and start scolding. This was totally what you would call a fan's role model!
A flame war broke out online!
It added more fuel to the fire that was the incident!
Right now, the entire media and entertainment circle's focus was on this lawsuit between Zhang Ye and Central TV Department 1. How the lawsuit would develop, what Central TV Department 1 would do to fight back, and whether Zhang Ye would accept an intervention. Everyone wanted to know who would emerge the victor in this first ever court case between Central TV and one of its artists. This was the very focus of everyone's attention!