Saturday.
When Zhang Ye checked the Celebrity Rankings Index in the morning, his name had changed again as expected. He had quietly moved ahead by 1 spot as he slowly crept to the front of the B-list rankings. The rise this time did not come easy and he only jumped a spot up as a fraction of the popularity score was gained from the popularity of A Bite of China, while the larger part of it had come from yesterday's awards and that acceptance speech which had already been spread around the entire country.
Zhang Ye's popularity score was recently surging up due to the attention given to him by the media and the citizens. It was precisely because of moments like this that Zhang Ye could gain a great increase in his popularity score with everything that he did. By just adding a little fuel, the fire would burn brighter, so he took advantage of this rare opportunity to push his popularity further up. This was just like how the stock market functioned. Once a stock gathered enough momentum, its market capital would become greater. When its market capital got greater, the market perception would further drive the stock price higher. But if the stock price stopped rising, or even dropped, it would be extremely difficult to gather back that momentum to push it back up again. It was similar in the entertainment circle as well. Many of those celebrities who became popular overnight was based on this same concept, so that was why this current opportunity that Zhang Ye had was very rare.
His fans were accumulating!
His popularity score had gone up another level! It was getting higher and higher!
Zhang Ye was in a good mood as he hummed a little tune while on his way to work. "O-o-o-o-h. Yalasuo-o-o-o-o. That is the famous Qingzang Pla—"[1.]
Oh alright.
It doesn't seem like he could go that high with his pitch!
At Central TV.
When Zhang Ye's car arrived, a lot of staff from the other channels started commenting.
"Zhang Ye is here!"
"I really didn't expect that he would win this year's Golden Microphone Award!"
"Yeah, it's just his first nomination and he's won it despite all the pressure and doubt against him? I really thought that the judge panel would not give the award to such a controversial host no matter what."
"But don't you think that acceptance speech really made your blood course with excitement!?"
"Haha, I heard that after the awards ceremony ended, Central TV Department 1's Teacher Fang Gang was left cursing his mother! Teacher Zhang Ye really is too 'naughty!'"
"So what if he cursed his mother? Even the station heads could not suppress Zhang Ye, even the SARFT could not do anything about him, so what can Teacher Fang Gang and Teacher Xu Siyu do? At the most, they can curse at him under their breaths. They can only submit to their humiliation since they were unlucky enough to meet with this reckless character!"
"Pfft, those two were really unlucky."
"They must have said something bad and offended Zhang Ye when they were seated together earlier. Our department has loaned some HD video cameras and equipment to Zhang Ye before, so I've talked to him a few times before. I kinda know him and didn't find his temper to be bad at all. He was quite polite and didn't put on any airs either, so I found him to be quite well-mannered. But if you offend him, then he wouldn't be that easy to talk to anymore."
"Yeah, I've also come into contact with him once and had quite a good impression. Actually, he's not really as much of a troublemaker as they make him out to be. One time, I was in the elevator and saw Zhang Ye coming toward it from several meters away. I held the door for him. He quickened his pace and even thanked me after that. After speaking to him, I didn't find him to be a bad-tempered person. Instead, I thought that he was someone who's rather humorous and easy to get along with."
Upstairs.
Department 14's office.
Zhang Ye was still humming the little tune as he walked into his program team's office. He was just about to greet his colleagues when he suddenly realized that there was no one around at Section 3. The computers were on and there were a lot of documents on the table too, but there was no one here.
Where is everyone?
Isn't it already time to start working?
Could it be that I got here too early?
When he just thought of that, he suddenly heard the shuffling of feet coming from behind him. More than 30 colleagues of Department 14 came rushing up to him with Little Wang and Huang Dandan leading the pack. The two of them were holding a rather large cake in their hands as everyone sang a cheerful tune together.
Ha Qiqi was there.
Yan Tianfei also joined in.
Zhang Ye was overwhelmed. "Whoa, I didn't even know that it was my birthday." He didn't usually celebrate his birthdays, but it wasn't his birthday today anyway.
"Director Zhang!"
"This is a surprise!"
"Haha, congratulations on winning the Golden Microphone Award!"
"We're also celebrating the winning of the two coveted television show awards for A Bite of China and The Voice!"
"Surprise!"
So it was for that. Zhang Ye only just realized what was going on. "Thank you, thank you."
Yan Tianfei said with a smile, "We didn't get to celebrate before this, but since everything came together, hur hur, they just spontaneously organized it. Since it is such a happy event, I definitely had to come and join in the fun as well. Teacher Little Zhang, the Golden Microphone Award that you have won this time has also brought a lot of pride to us at Department 14! In the future, when we introduce our department or have a recruitment drive, we can finally say that our department has a host who was awarded the highest honor in the industry!"
Zhang Ye sighed. "I could only achieve this because of your guidance."
"Oh come on, we're a family yet you're still saying such polite words." Yan Tianfei roared with laughter. "Come, come, come. Slice the cake!"
Everyone had discussed in secret to buy the cake and organize the surprise party for Zhang Ye, making him feel rather touched.
After slicing the cake, everyone stood around and enjoyed it while chatting and laughing.
After the surprise celebration, everyone got back to work and continued with whatever they were doing.
It was already coming up to the new year. By the previously arranged work schedule, A Bite of China's program team did not have much to do. It was also the last working day of the year before everyone went on a break for around seven days. By the time they needed to come back to work, it would already be January of the new year. This was the break that Zhang Ye had asked the department to give them.
Ha Qiqi smiled and said, "Director Zhang, where will you go during your break?"
"I don't know, probably just stay at home?" Zhang Ye replied.
Zhang Zuo suggested, "It's the new year soon. Why don't we hold a celebration with just our program team tonight?"
Zhang Ye nodded. "Sure, why don't you guys organize something? I'll sponsor the event."
Little Wang exclaimed, "Director Zhang is so generous in aiding a worthy cause!"
Zhang Ye patted his pockets and said, "I've only got a hundred yuan left anyway, so it's fine as long as it doesn't exceed that amount."
"Yi!"
"Psh!"
His colleagues laughed and booed at him!
Ring ring ring. A phone call came in.
Zhang Ye read the caller ID and blinked several times before hurriedly saying, "You guys keep working. My teacher is calling." Then he went back into his office and answered the call.
It was Su Hongyan's voice on the other end. "Little Zhang, what are you busy with?"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I'm working overtime today, Teacher Su."
Su Hongyan cheerfully laughed along. "There's something I'm calling you about."
"Please do tell."
"It's our Media College Entrance Exam. It has been brought forward by a bit. Are you going to be free? Come back to your alma mater and make a contribution."
"What can I contribute to?"
"If we offer to make you an examiner, would you want to come back?"
"Examiner? Me?"
"That's right."
"Whoa, am I even qualified?"
"You've won the Golden Microphone Award. Why are you still afraid that you're not qualified?"
"I'm just afraid that I would hold up the examinees."
"There are always alumni members who come back as examiners or even as a teacher for the freshmen courses. There are many who are given the title of a teacher, so it's no big deal in your case. This has been a tradition of our school since a long time ago. No matter how experienced we teachers are, it's only in the area of academics and education. We have our limitations, so there are times where we need hosts like you who fight at the front lines to add your valuable experience here."
"Sure, I understand."
"Then it's settled. Come by early tomorrow as there will be some other things to talk about when we meet."