The next day.
Early in the morning.
It was only after waking up that a lot of people realized that there was a change to the Asian Celebrity Rankings Index.
When many of the Japanese and Koreans saw it, they suddenly became quite enraged!
Anger!
Yelling!
Annoyance!
Many of them nearly vomited blood!
…
Japan.
Online.
“Damn!”
“What’s happening?”
“How did this bastard’s popularity go up again?”
“Could there be some error in the data?”
“So many people are scolding him, but why is his Asian popularity score still increasing?”
“He’s even overtaken Touji-sensei! That’s one of our country’s new generation of movie stars we’re talking about! So how can his Asian popularity not be higher than Zhang Ye’s?”
“Motherfucker, this is infuriating!”
“His Asian popularity score should’ve been wiped clean overnight!”
“Ahhhhh, just what the hell is going on!”
…
Korea.
Online.
“My God!”
“Everyone, come and see this!”
“Did it really go up?”
“I’ve been scolding him all night, so how could he have risen in the rankings again?”
“How is that possible!”
“H-How did he manage that!”
“This fellow’s popularity can still rise after he scolded others the way he did?”
“Is there any justice in this world?! This doesn’t make any sense!”
“Protesting it!”
“Seriously protesting it!”
…
Only in China was everything going on as normal.
Only the Chinese netizens did not find it surprising.
“Hahaha!”
“His popularity went up just as expected!”
“I knew it, there’s no running away!”
“Look how the Japanese and Koreans are reacting. They’re cursing the shit outta him.”
“Pfft, they must be so confused. How could such a hated celebrity that keeps scolding others rise in popularity? We can’t blame them though. They’ve never encountered Zhang Ye before and do not know how he had scolded his way to the top of Chinese showbiz. The more he scolds, the higher his popularity. The worse his reputation, the higher he climbs on the celebrity rankings! This has already become Zhang Ye’s modus operandi!”
“Haha, they don’t know what’s going on? Actually, we are also not sure of it. We just know that Zhang Ye scolded and fought his way to becoming a Heavenly King in the country. We’re already accustomed to all of this.”
“Teacher Zhang has moved on to scold people on the Asian stage.”
“Yeah, he has scolded his way out of the country this time.”
“This is the Zhang Ye that I know!”
“That’s right, this is the true glory of Face-smacking Zhang!”
“That fellow is probably gonna get banned again.”
“Hehe, it’s not like he hasn’t been banned before, right?”
“I just love seeing Zhang Ye start trouble!”
“Of course. Who doesn’t love watching the world burn as long as it doesn’t affect them?”
“I’ve really got to take a good look at how this battle is going to turn out. Zhang Ye has always been going up against his domestic peers, but it’s different this time. He has started bringing his battles to Asia and the level of fighting has shot straight up!”
…
Elsewhere.
Jiaomen East.
At Zhang Ye’s Studio.
“Good morning, Director Zhang.”
“Your popularity has gone up again.”
“”Did you see it yet, Director Zhang?”
“This is such an unexpected result. Although we don’t know if there will be any big moves in reaction from the Japanese and Koreans, we’ve gained quite a bit of popularity this time.”
“Right, every ranking rise counts!”
“In any case, as long as the popularity comes in, we can worry about other events when they happen!”
Everyone was busy discussing and the atmosphere was rather relaxed.
After all, having been through so much with Zhang Ye, everyone had gotten used to such situations. Every time Teacher Zhang stirred something up, it would always be a bigger incident than the previous one. Once, twice, a year, or two years, it had always been this way. No matter how psychologically weak they were or how bad their mental fortitudes were, there was still nothing they couldn’t handle!
Little Wang.
Little Zhou.
Tong Fu.
The young ones had all been well-trained.
Seeing everyone’s expressions, Zhang Ye felt very relieved. That’s right, this is how it should be. This is what my team should be like. Zhang Ye was actually not surprised by yesterday’s rise in popularity. It was a live broadcast to all of Asia, so what kind of exposure would that get? Just based on this fact alone, it should be obvious that the attention on it would not be sparse. Furthermore, the topicality that came afterwards gave an even greater boost to Zhang Ye. As for him scolding people? As for his reputation? The reputation of a celebrity was not something that could be reflected in the Celebrity Rankings Index. It would definitely have an impact on it, but no one could say for sure how large its effect was. Otherwise, if a celebrity were to be ranked according to their reputations, Zhang Ye would never have even made it into the Z-list rankings, much less become the Chinese S-list Heavenly King that he was now!
See, the reason for his soaring popularity was very simple.
And that was also why Zhang Ye had never been afraid of being scolded ever since the day he debuted.
Rather, more than half of his popularity came from him being scolded!
Later that morning.
A meeting was held.
Everyone expressed their views and discussed the measures that the Japanese and Koreans might take.
“A warning would be the best situation to deal with.”
“Yeah, it won’t be too bad if we were to only receive an official warning.”
“I’m only afraid if it’s something slightly harsher than that.”
“Yeah, the worst outcome would be either Japan or Korea banning Director Zhang. That’s not really something we can manage.”
“Hopefully that won’t be the case.”
“Right, at least Director Zhang still has his status as the philanthropic ambassador to back him up.”
“Let’s hope that that will serve as a protective talisman then.”
“But regarding the fake news, their motives and goals were so obvious to begin with. With this ‘Rivers Run Red’ poem, will they really let things rest?”
They analyzed.
They thought about it.
They studied the situation.
And finally, they could only wait.
Meanwhile, Zhang Ye carried on doing what he had to do. He wasn’t affected by the situation at all.
At around noon, a piece of explosive news arrived anyway. This news had spread from Japan and Korea. It was a little worse than the worst case scenario that the staff of Zhang Ye’s Studio had predicted!
Not only in Japan!
But also Korea!
Both sides released the news after the other!
Regarding Zhang Ye’s misdeeds and remarks, the Japanese and Korean authorities had taken three measures:
Banning him from performing!
Banning his ads!
Banning him from entering the country!
When the news was revealed, it immediately spread all across Asia!
This was a first!
It was the first time that Japan and Korea had joined hands in banning an individual celebrity!
There had never been a similar incident in history. Zhang Ye was the first person to be sentenced to such a punishment!
Japan was shocked!
Korea was shocked!
China was shocked!
Asia was shocked!
Unprecedented incidents like this would usually attract the most attention from people!
And besides, everyone knew that the relationship between Japan and Korea was not that good either. Historically speaking, these two countries had not been that friendly towards each other. But now they had actually come together and issued a restriction notice on the same Chinese celebrity? What did this mean? Only a scourge like Zhang Ye had the ability to make two countries that were not on friendly terms with each other gain an unexpected solidarity against him!
At the earliest moment, the Asian Charity Association expressed their objections. What was the meaning of this? We can’t do anything about you not letting him perform in your countries. But to restrict our appointed Asian philanthropic ambassador from entering your borders? Restrict his advertisements? Then how are we going to carry out our future plans? How will our charity work ever be able to progress? Are you all going to take responsibility for it?
The Red Cross Society was enraged!
The coordinator called them directly!
Several of the administrators at the Asian Charity Association were alarmed!
Finally, the Japanese and Korean authorities made a response due to pressure. They explained that the prohibition on entering the country was not an outright ban and would depend on the nature of the work that Zhang Ye was going over for. If it was for charity events and there was a guarantee from the charity that he was there on behalf of, they would still approve of his travel visa. As for the ban on the advertisements, they also relented by not prohibiting the PSAs that were made in conjunction with charities from being shown. What would be banned instead were Zhang Ye’s commercial advertisements and promotional activities. In other words, the PSAs that Zhang Ye had starred in and directed could still be broadcast in Japan and Korea as usual. Any other types would not be allowed.
However, the Red Cross Society still did not accept it. They continued issuing letters in writing to express their objections to this matter and brought up the unfair treatment that the Japanese and Korean authorities had shown towards their philanthropic ambassador!
The Red Cross Society was extremely friendly towards Zhang Ye. They did not care what his temper was like, nor his past misdeeds. All they knew was that Zhang Ye had really given a lot to the cause of charity. Be it money or him as a person, he had really given it his all. So they would of course do their utmost to help him as well.
And besides, this matter made their charities look very bad as well. You people are cooking up all that fake news about our philanthropic ambassador so soon after we appointed him? And then banned him over that? Whose face are you all trying to smack here? Moreover, the donations that Zhang Ye had garnered and the money from selling that calligraphy piece of his would be channeled to charity causes within Asia. That included both your countries as well, so it was not like you wouldn’t be benefiting from it!
But look at you guys?
Fake news?
Banning?
Backstabbing?
Weren’t all of these actions too ugly?
Wouldn’t all of these make people’s hearts turn cold?
The various Asian charities started taking on the Japanese and Korean authorities!
…
Japan.
The media was cheering.
“Great!”
“Well done!”
“They should have banned him long ago!”
“I support this!”
“Let’s see how he can keep on being arrogant!”
“We’ve finally managed to vent our anger. Otherwise, I would surely have been driven to my grave by him!”
“Let’s wait for his Asian popularity to start dropping, hahaha!”
“Will his popularity really fall?”
“It definitely will. With all these restrictions in place, it’s as good as cutting off all his opportunities here in Japan and Korea. So how will he maintain his popularity? Do you think that he’s some kind of god?”
“I’m glad to hear that!”
…
Korea.
Quite a few people were also jumping with joy.
“Great!”
“He deserves the ban!”
“The Asian Celebrity Rankings Index is finally going to get some peace!”
“He’s such a black sheep!”
“He can mess around in his own home country, just don’t let him do it here in Asia!”
“Hahaha, he can’t come here anymore even if he wants to!”
“Let’s see how many rankings he’ll drop this time!”
“He most definitely will tumble down the Asian A-list rankings!”
“Or rather, it will surely be much more than that. Hahahaha, he will definitely drop down to the Asian B-list rankings!”
“Right, and then we’ll make his name disappear from the Asian popularity rankings!”
“This scourge has finally been suppressed!”
…
China.
Online.
“Damn, they made such a ruthless move?”
“He got banned by both countries?”
“Pfft, they’re giving Zhang Ye too much face!”
“Yeah, the trouble that this fellow stirs up is always bigger than the previous incidents that he was involved in!”
“No one else in history is as capable of causing trouble as him. He even attracted the authorities of two countries to come for him. To get such a level of attention, there’s really no one else!”
“He’s just a vermin that appears once every thousand years!”
“Surely it’s not only once every thousand years, right? More like once every ten thousand years!”
“Teacher Zhang is really out of luck!”
“Lord Zhang will be made to kneel for sure!”
“Motherfucker, these Japanese and Koreans are so shameless!”
“This move of theirs was indeed quite despicable. They were clearly the ones who provoked him first. Those fake news reports were all cooked up by them in the first place. But when Teacher Zhang scolded them back for it, they switched to shifting the blame? If they dare do that, then don’t touch the donations that Teacher Zhang helped to raise! I suggest that the Asian Red Cross Society should restrict the distribution of donations to these two countries!”
“The Red Cross Society is still on Zhang Ye’s side. A few of the administrators have already taken a public stance against the Japanese and Korean authorities! The other volunteers and staff are also showing their support for Zhang Ye!”
“These charities are truly honorable!”
“That’s true. Zhang Ye is the ambassador for their philanthropic causes after all!”
…
The incident blew up!
This was probably one of the most interesting times of all in the history of the Asian entertainment industry!
Zhang Ye’s Studio had once again become the epicenter of happenings in Asia!
At the studio.
Ha Qiqi said helplessly, “As expected!”
Little Wang was floored. “This is really the worst of the worst outcomes!”
Wu Yi said, “With this, Director Zhang’s development in Asia will become much more difficult. Japan and Korea are both countries with huge entertainment industries. Now that they’ve closed their doors on us, Director Zhang’s path to reach the summit of Asia has been cut off. How are we supposed to carry on like this? What’s there still left for us to play for?”
Zhang Zuo said, “It should be reasonable to say that such official restrictions on a celebrity’s appearance are usually not indefinite. It’s just that we do not know how long it will take before the ban gets lifted. If it’s only for a short duration, that would still be acceptable. We can just wait it out and everything will turn out fine in the end. But if it’s a long-term ban lasting a year or two, we might really be left with no choice!”
“Director Zhang!”
“What should we do?”
“Tell us, how we should handle this?”
Everyone turned to look at Zhang Ye.
However, they only saw him with a sneer on his face.
Banned from performing?
Why would I perform in your countries!
Banned my ads?
Did you think I’m crazy enough to take advertising deals in your countries?
Banned from entering your countries?
Did you think that I like traveling there? I’m getting along just fine in my own country!
Strictly speaking, the measures that Japan and Korea had implemented were just restrictions on Zhang Ye and were not an outright ban on him. Just based on these three restrictions, Zhang Ye did not think that it would do him much harm at all. He had no intention of going over there to further his career anyway. He was still going to base himself domestically on the Chinese market.
But he couldn’t just swallow it!
Besides, Wu Yi and the others were right too. With Japan and Korea closing their doors, it would make Zhang Ye’s attempt to reach the summit of Asia a very difficult task. This was definitely unacceptable, and he would surely have to get back at them for it!
How long had it been?
How long had it been since he was last banned?
For a moment, Zhang Ye actually started reminiscing as his emotions welled up.
Then Zhang Ye narrowed his eyes was instantly filled with fighting spirit!
Come on!
Let’s do this!
I’ll let you all know why everyone refers to me as a vermin that only appears once every ten thousand years!