Chapter 1280: Turmoil in the industry!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At home.
The outside world was in an uproar.
But Zhang Ye was still sleeping soundly in bed.
The bedroom door was pushed open and his mother came inside looking shocked. "Son! Son! Are you serious? The news is reporting that you're making a push for the S-list?"
Zhang Ye was woken up. "Ah?"
His father also came into the room. "Is it true?"
"Yeah." Zhang Ye sat up from bed. "The media has already reported about it?"
His mother said, "They just reported about it, and the outside world has turned upside down!"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I didn't think that they would find out so soon."
His mother said excitedly, "So are you serious? Why didn't you tell us about it?"
"I told you all about it earlier. I said that I was preparing for a big job, but you insisted that I was going to rob a bank." Zhang Ye rolled his eyes and said, "I've been planning this for a long time. In the past few months, all the work that I did was to support this plan. In truth, it's still not complete yet and I'm still short of a few steps. But if they've already found out about it, I guess there's no other way to it. Hai, I knew that it couldn't be kept under wraps for long. No one is that silly and it looks like I can't sneak up to them anymore, hur hur. Since they've found out, I'll just carry out the plan more openly. I've already gained enough popularity anyway. Even if they make preparations against me, I doubt they can get me off their tails in the short term."
His mother pointed at him. "Son, Mom is optimistic that you can do it!"
But his father said, "Can you really go up?"
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I'll give it a shot."
His mother said, "Go for it. Show them what my son is capable of!"
"Alright." Zhang Ye shrugged. "After we're done with the wedding, I'll make sure to put up a good fight against those seven people."
His mother said happily, "Your wedding might even be able to add quite a bit of popularity for you. If they knew who your wife is, they'd surely be surprised!"
Surprised?
That wouldn't aptly describe it at all!
Horrified should be the word!
He wondered how many people would be horrified when they found out!
"Mom," Zhang Ye said calmly, "keep it on the down-low."
Ring ring ring, ring ring ring.
His friends started calling.
The first call was from Ha Qiqi. It sounded very chaotic on her end.
"Director Zhang, we can't keep it under wraps anymore!"
"I know, I've seen the news."
"The media has broken through and called us a dozen times so far!"
"You guys handle it, sorry for all the work."
Followed by Chen Guang.
"Damn, are you really doing it?"
"Doing what, Old Chen?"
"What are you even saying! You've kept it too well-hidden!"
"Haha, but I didn't hide it at all."
"You're so aggressive. Wenli and I just caught the news and were stunned by what we saw. It was only then that we realized that your popularity has grown to such a level. You're really great, aren't ya? This is such a big deal, but you managed to keep such a straight face about it. This is such a huge deal, getting to the summit of show business. The entire industry has blown up over it!"
"What do you mean by getting to the summit? I'm not even close yet."
"You call this not close?"
"Don't listen to the hot air that the media is blowing. I'm still lacking by quite a bit in the popularity score."
"So all the more you should be putting in more hard work to give yourself a boost."
Yao Jiancai also called.
"You're aiming for the top?"
"Can't I?"
"Of course you can, you totally can!"
"Haha, I'll give it a shot and see how it goes."
"You won't have a problem doing it. I purposely went to check out the rankings just now. Although there's still a little more to go, it's not really that far anymore. This is definitely the closest anyone has gotten in recent years to those seven people. Keep working at it and make it happen. You'll be really great in the future when you get to the top domestically!"
"I'll see what I can do."
Zhang Xia.
Xiaodong.
Amy.
Ning Lan.
Zhang Ye's cell phone was exploding with calls!
The media also nearly caused a stampede over at Zhang Ye's Studio!
The media and industry could not be blamed for having such a huge reaction. The main issue was that Zhang Ye's issue had come up too suddenly. It was so sudden that no one was prepared for it!
The S-list!
There were only seven spots among those at the top of the entertainment industry!
If someone was coming up? Then that would mean that someone else would be going down. This was the rule of this world's Celebrity Rankings Index. Whether it was the S-list, the A-list, or the B-list, this rule would apply at every level since they couldn't have an unlimited amount of celebrities in them. A celebrity wouldn't simply get promoted the moment they reached a certain popularity score. The rankings index would always take into consideration factors like how the public's attention span was limited, and how the development of the entertainment industry was not stagnant. The difference in popularity scores from ten years ago and now was very different. If they had implemented a fixed system back then, with the crazy development of the entertainment industry by today's terms, there would have been at least several dozen S-list celebrities at present, if not a hundred of them. It couldn't be done this way, so the Celebrity Rankings Index needed to have a fixed quota at each level, not depend on a fixed boundary of popularity scores dictating who would get in. It had rationale.
Zhang Ye thought about what it was like in his previous world and felt that it was rather similar in a way. Although it wasn't as clear-cut as this world's way of doing it, there were still pretty well-defined S- and A-list celebrities back there. The evaluation criteria were all dependent on the media's, industry's, and one's own judgment and feeling of how popular a celebrity was. Similarly, the number of S-list celebrities in his previous world was also not unlimited. If they really counted them, there would only be a handful. Although the number of S-list big names would gradually increase and looked like there wasn't a cap to it, but if you were to look back on it later, those initial S-list celebrities would definitely have lost quite a bit of their popularity from before, and might even end up dropping from the list? Or become has-beens? Or disappear from the public's view? With new people coming in, the old would have to go. In terms of this point, the two worlds were essentially the same.
If you wanted to rise?
Then you'd have to fight for it!
There were only those few spots. Whoever could get one would mean that they were the more capable people!
And the current Zhang Ye had undoubtedly declared war on those seven people!
The media was stirring with activity!
"Zhang Ye Declares War!"
"Can Zhang Ye reach the top?"
"The battle for the S-list officially kicks off!"
"Great changes are coming to the entertainment circle!"
"Industry experts are not optimistic of Zhang Ye's chances to get into the S-list!"
"Will the teams of the Heavenly Kings and Queens call for an urgent response?"
"The biggest thing to happen in the entertainment industry this year!"
There was also an uproar on Weibo!
"I nearly vomited blood from the shock!"
"This is so impressive!"
"In just the blink of an eye, Zhang Ye has come to this step?"
"Yeah! To think that I was just listening to Zhang Ye's radio broadcast of Ghost Blows Out the Light not too long ago. At that time, I started liking him quite a bit. After following and scolding him so much over the years, damn, this jokester has actually reached a point where he has a chance of getting to the top of the entertainment circle when no one was expecting it? Hai!"
"Hahaha. Fighting and scolding his way up to here over three years, this fellow has gone through really big changes in the entertainment circle. It's wonderful."
"Supporting Zhang Ye reaching the top!"
"Go Teacher Zhang!"
"I don't think anything will come out of this. In the end, it will have all been for naught."
"Yeah, no one's been able to touch those seven people's positions in so many years."
"Let's take it one step at a time and see how it turns out!"
"If those Heavenly Kings and Queens are willing to come out to garner some popularity, they'll easily pull away from Zhang Ye. It really won't be easy."
"But he has a very good chance too!"
"Supporting Zhang Ye!"
The netizens were arguing!
There was a heated discussion going on in the industry!
The entire country was talking about this news!
At this moment, Zhang Ye received a call from Zhang Yuanqi.
Looking at the caller ID, Zhang Ye smiled and picked up. "Hello, Old Zhang."
Zhang Yuanqi said: "Are you really coming up?"
Zhang Ye acknowledged: "Yeah, I have to find something for you all to do."
"How confident you sound!"
"Haha, do you have any suggestions?"
"No, but I do have advice for you."
"Oh?"
"Of the seven of us, none of us are pushovers. If you really want to bring one of us down, it definitely won't be as easy as you think."
"You're saying it as though I'm a pushover."
"True, then all the best to you."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye stopped thinking about this issue.
About an hour later, Zhang Ye received a message. It was sent by Zhang Yuanqi's manager, Fang Weihong. When he saw it, he was slightly taken aback. It contained the recent schedules of the six S-list celebrities other than Zhang Yuanqi. There was the screening dates of their movies, as well as a forecast of where they could increase their popularity score. All of the information was detailed very clearly. There were even the actions taken by their teams after finding out about Zhang Ye's intention to make a bid for the S-list, like the increase in their activities, consideration of variety shows' invitations to them, etc.
This was clearly insider's news!
Then a call from Fang Weihong arrived.
Zhang Ye hurriedly picked it up. "Sister Fang."
Fang Weihong laughed and said: "Did you see it yet?"
Zhang Ye said: "I saw it, thank you."
But Fang Weihong said, "Don't thank me, it was Sister Zhang who got me to collate the information and send it to you. Your social ties in the industry are terrible, and everything you do is always an uphill battle. You don't really get along with the higher-ups of the entertainment industry either, so your information must naturally be very limited. This is a critical moment in your bid to get into the S-list, so see if that will be of any help to you. In the future, if you need this sort of news again, you can ask me."
Zhang Ye was stunned. "Sister Zhang wanted me to have it?"
"Yes."
"We were just talking on the phone and she didn't seem like she was optimistic about my chances."
Fang Weihong was taken aback. "She's not optimistic of your chances? Did she say that?"
"No, but it sounded that way," Zhang Ye said.
Fang Weihong shook her head and said: "Well, for me, I once asked Sister Zhang about this. It was about a year ago when I asked her how long she thought the seven people of the S-list could hold on to their spots. Would it be a year? Three years? Or five years? Sister Zhang told me at that time that there wasn't much of a chance for there to be any changes to the S-list in the short term. So I asked her again, what if changes really happened. Who would be the one to go down? And who would rise up? Guess what she said?"
Zhang Ye listened.
Fang Weihong laughed and said: "Sister Zhang said that if changes really happened, she wasn't sure about who would be going down, but she was sure that the person to come up would definitely be—you!"
Zhang Ye was stunned. "Me?"
He really hadn't expected this.
Was Old Zhang's opinion of him so high?
After hanging up, Zhang Ye stared at the information on his cell phone that Fang Weihong had sent to him. He felt rather touched, but moved his hand to it and deleted the message. He would remember this for sure. Whoever was good to him, he knew full well. But he didn't need this information. Neither was he the type who would want to make use of his opponent's information and study them. Most times, Zhang Ye preferred to be more direct about things, rather than beat around the bush.
Wherever they were going?
Whatever they were doing?
However they would garner more popularity?
Who cares about all of that!
I will just be relentless!
Life and death are destined. Everyone pits their skill!