Chapter 1093: The Superstar's Crew!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The next day.
Early in the morning.
The weather was clear and there were clouds drifting across the sky outside the window.
Some people went to bed early last night and did not know about what had happened after midnight. It wasn't until this morning when they woke up that they realized that something big had happened in the entertainment industry. It was already everywhere in the newspapers!
"Zhang Ye joins ranks of superstars!"
"Third ranked A-list celebrity!"
"Shooting to fame overnight! An unprecedented rise!"
"The popularity score that took the entire rankings system down!"
"Zhang Ye's ban lifted!"
"King of Masked Singers: Zhang Ye's best move!"
"Zhang Ye returns!"
"Zhang Ye's friends offer congratulations!"
"Many in industry speechless and have yet to express thoughts!"
It was also as lively over on Weibo!
"What?"
"Zhang Ye rose to third in the A-list rankings?"
"Damn, what happened while I was asleep?"
"Congratulations, Teacher Zhang! This is such exciting news!"
"Zhang Ye the Mighty!"
"Teacher Zhang, work harder and move up further, to the S-list!"
"Pfft, I think it's better to forget about the S-list. He only just experienced a breakthrough in his popularity, but it hasn't stabilized yet. Let's wait for Teacher Zhang to consolidate his position first. Only then will he be considered to be among the superstars."
"This is so awesome!"
"So there are actually so many people who like him?"
The country was still in a state of shock!
Everyone was discussing this turn of events, be it on the television, newspapers, or online. Even in the streets, the discussions were all about Zhang Ye.
...
At his parents' house.
Zhang Ye was actually quite calm at this moment.
His phone had woken him up early in the morning and it hadn't stopped ringing since.
His old classmate, Yu Yingyi:
"My superstar classmate, how are you?"
"Ha! Are you poking fun at me?"
"Can I ask you how you're feeling right now?"
"I just feel like sleeping for a while longer. I've been tired out by all that has happened in recent days."
"You've gotten really popular now. You're the most popular host in the country right now. There has never been a professional host who has ever reached the level you're at now. This has never before happened in the history of hosting either. Haha, you've really done the bunch of us old classmates proud this time, and also brought glory to us broadcast hosts!"
"Whoa, are my contributions that great?"
"Of course, so you should treat us to a meal."
"Hai, was that what you were really after, woman!"
Ning Lan's call:
"Congratulations."
"Thank you, Sister Ning."
"Please have mercy on me. You're right behind me in the rankings."
"Oh, come on. I can't possibly surpass you."
"You say that. I'm just afraid that you'll suddenly pass me the moment I take my attention off you. I've decided to take on another two film projects this year. The momentum of your popularity is way too strong."
"I'm still far behind you in terms of our popularity."
"It's not that great a difference anymore. Are you trying to blindside me and then suddenly deal me a heavy blow?"
"Damn, am I such a person?"
"Did you think you had a good reputation? Haha!"
Liao Yiqi.
Chen Guang.
Fan Wenli.
Yao Jiancai.
Dong Shanshan.
Zhang Zuo.
Ci Xiufang.
More than a dozen friends called to offer their congratulations.
After a full hour of receiving calls.
Zhang Ye was no longer feeling sleepy. He hummed a ditty and got out of bed to wash up. Looking out into the living room, he shouted twice and found that his parents were not home. His mother had probably dragged his father out somewhere to boast. He smiled at the thought of that but was actually already quite used to it. Then he checked the fridge and took out some leftovers to reheat for breakfast.
What was different about being a superstar?
To him, it didn't feel like there was any difference.
Just look, he still had to eat leftovers.
He was not exactly prepared for this surge in his popularity either. He might seem rather calm now, but he was really not prepared for it. He had suddenly reached third place on the A-list rankings? If this had happened to anyone else, they would also be in for a shock. Thinking back now, Zhang Ye had set a goal for himself this year to see if he could climb up into the A-list rankings. But he never thought he would only need a few months to get there. And who would have thought that he would even make it to third place after just another few months of being on the A-list rankings! He had as good as jumped several rungs, each time further than the last. It was no wonder that the industry insiders and netizens found it difficult to accept since even Zhang Ye himself was quite stunned by it!
At this moment, Rao Aimin called.
To return a very big favor, Old Rao had now taken on the role of Zhang Ye's agent. Although Old Rao had quite an unreasonable personality, did many things quite half-heartedly, and also possessed a sharp tongue, she still handled many of Zhang Ye's matters diligently. At least, she had never let him down when it came to his work.
Old Rao: "What are you up to?"
Zhang Ye laughed. "I just finished eating."
"You're still in the mood to eat? I haven't slept a wink since last night!" Rao Aimin immediately started scolding: "Did you have nothing better to do than go onto King of Masked Singers? Why did you have to go and sing? Now that you've become so popular, I'm starting to get all kinds of inquiries. Do you know how many calls I've taken in these past few days? Huh? Over 200! Seven film crews invited you to take part in their productions, eight television stations wanted to cooperate with you on some shows, nine music companies were hoping to sign a contract with you, and 60-plus commercial performance leads came knocking on your door. There were also some other calls which I don't really remember anymore!"
Zhang Ye hurriedly said: "It was hard on you, hard on you."
Rao Aimin said impatiently: "Are you gonna take any of those offers?"
"Not for now. I want to rest up for a period of time first." Zhang Ye said: "Besides, I haven't thought of what I want to do next, so let's wait it out for now."
"Alright, I understand then." Rao Aimin even instructed at the end of the call: "Don't get any more famous than you already are. It's good enough. Don't overdo it."
Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Eh?"
Rao Aimin suggested: "If you're free and have nothing to do, go and scold more people and get into more fights. Make yourself less popular. Alright, I'm hanging up!"
Zhang Ye said: "It's only for a while. It'll get better as soon as the popularity dies down."
An agent requesting for her celebrity client to not get too famous? To go and scold more people? Get into more fights? What the fuck, what kind of requests were those? In the entire industry, perhaps only Rao Aimin would say something like that!
However, Zhang Ye was not angry about this. Old Rao was never really an agent to begin with. She was just an amateur agent who did things according to the mood she was in. He got Rao Aimin to be his agent simply for the reason of "protection." He had made too many enemies and offended too many people. If he had appointed someone else to be his agent, Zhang Ye would definitely be worried about them. What if something were to happen or his enemies wanted to take revenge? If that happened, Zhang Ye would have brought harm onto others. But if it was Old Rao, he wouldn't have to worry. She had more or less fully recovered from her injuries by now, so not even several dozen people would be able to get close to her. Further, she could help Zhang Ye turn down some work as well. This made things much simpler for Zhang Ye. Otherwise, he would have had to handle everything and answer all the calls by himself. Even if there were 25 hours in a day, it wouldn't be enough, so he could only trouble Old Rao with this for the time being.
Ring, ring, ring.
It was a call from his junior sister.
Yang Shu said: "Senior Bro, do you need me around today?"
"I don't. What are you planning to do?"
"Then I won't go over to your place. I'm teaching shadowboxing now."
"Don't get into trouble with the Urban Management Bureau 1 ."
"Ah, OK."
Right now, Zhang Ye's team was simply a motley crew of people.
The four of them could basically be labeled as the oddest team of people in the entire entertainment industry.
The star, Zhang Ye: The publicly acknowledged most wondrous person in the entertainment industry.
The agent, Rao Aimin: A martial arts grandmaster without a proper job. A well-known hooligan of the martial arts world who hopes daily for Zhang Ye's popularity to drop.
The bodyguard-cum-chauffeur, Yang Shu: A rash woman who only thinks of making Taiji Fist famous again. Often found giving out pamphlets to the elderly in the closest neighborhoods and asking them to take up Taiji shadowboxing, dealing a blow to the town square dance group that was just starting to get popular!
Logistics, Wu Zeqing: The only normal person among all of them.
Hai.
This was what made up a superstar's crew. Sometimes, Zhang Ye even felt that it would be too embarrassing to speak of this to others.
It would be a long road ahead.
There was still much left to do.