Chapter 863: Winning 20 prizes in a row at the annual staff party's lucky draw!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Everyone entered the venue.
A soft and soothing piece of music was playing through the audio system.
The venue for the annual staff party was very spacious as it was really a venue meant for galas. Only the audience's seating arrangement had been modified. At the moment, it was set with round tables and chairs. A rough estimate would put the numbers at around close to 30 tables, with each one holding up to eight people. So there would be slightly more than 200 people present here today and the party could be considered rather grand. On both sides, there were even specially set up cameras recording the entire annual staff party, which was the grandest one to be held in recent years.
"Where are we sitting?"
"This way, please."
"What about us from Department 3?"
"Supervisor Zhou, Department 3's table is in the second row."
The venue staff were leading the guests to their tables to get seated.
When Yan Tianfei and Zhang Ye led their department in, a person rushed up to them and led them to the side. "Department 14's table is over here, please come with me."
In the end, they didn't have to walk far at all. That staff member had led them to the rightmost corner of the venue where a lone table stood. This position could only be described as isolated and far away from the stage. Even a person with good eyesight would not be able to see the faces of anyone on the stage clearly from here. They would see at most a blurred figure and would surely have to look at the big screen next to the stage to know clearly what was happening on stage. There was no placard on the table either. But very quickly, someone walked up from behind them and placed placards on two of the tables over here. They had clearly made a last minute change to their department's seating location.
Ha Qiqi held in her anger and asked, "This is where we are going to be seated?"
"Yes," coughed that staff member.
"Are there no other tables?" Yan Tianfei's secretary asked with a dark expression.
That staff member said, "Uh, it's all been arranged and there's no spare tables left." Then he turned around and left.
Yan Tianfei waved it off and said, "Let's sit down."
Everyone took a seat and looked around them, looking extremely disgruntled.
Their tables were surrounded by two walls. One of the walls was a solid wall, while the other was a doorway between the venue and an emergency exit. There was even wind coming into the venue from there that made it rather cold for them.
Little Wang said angrily, "What kind of treatment is this?"
Huang Dandan added, "This location is way too isolated!"
"I know now that we're this unwelcome by the station!" Wu Yi said unhappily.
Zhang Ye said, "It's not you that they don't welcome, but me."
They knew that Zhang Ye was speaking the truth. As the people at the station did not want to see him, they had decided to bar him from attending the annual staff party instead. Even though they had relented now and Zhang Ye was allowed to take part in the party, they didn't want him to enjoy it in comfort. It could be seen from the change of Department 14's table location to this isolated corner, placing them so close to the emergency exit as if this were the only way that they could keep him out of sight and out of mind.
Yan Tianfei said, "Teacher Little Zhang, don't worry about the bonuses. Once the event is over, I will help you settle it. I dare them to forfeit your bonuses!"
Zhang Ye laughed, "It's OK, Director Yan."
But Yan Tianfei said, "What's OK? Your year-end bonus alone already amounts to several hundred thousand yuan!"
Yan Tianfei's secretary added, "That punishment itself is already unreasonable!"
"It's really OK." Zhang Ye said, "Director Yan, I needed those words from you, but don't trouble yourself with it anymore. If they want to deduct the year-end bonus, let them do it. But they ought to know that it's not going to be that easy to take my money from me."
Yan Tianfei was taken aback. "Oh?"
Zhang Ye suddenly asked, "Oh yes, how will the lucky draw be held later?"
Ha Qiqi exclaimed, "Director Zhang, are you hoping to win something?"
Zhang Ye laughed. "I was just asking."
"The chances are too low, especially for those grand prizes." Zhang Zuo shook his head continuously.
Yan Tianfei's secretary had attended quite a number of these staff parties before and knew much better. "It's just a normal lucky draw format. Everyone has a chance at winning and the draws are held between each performance. The computer will randomly select a winner to decide who wins the prize."
Zhang Ye nodded in understanding.
The others thought that Zhang Ye was only casually asking about it and did not take it to heart.
After a while, the tables beside them also got seated.
One of the tables was for the International Channel, while the other was for the Agriculture Channel, but at least their table positions were located closer to the center than Department 14's table. When they saw Yan Tianfei and Zhang Ye, those people looked a little odd and had complicated expressions on their faces. Based on Department 14's outstanding results for this past year, they should have been seated further to the front, yet they ended up being placed at a corner over here. As it could be seen, results were not everything that mattered in Central TV. What was more important was to follow in the same direction as the executives.
"Eh? Who is that?"
"Someone from Central TV Department 5?"
"There's a newcomer at the Sports Channel? How pretty!"
"I've never seen her before either."
"I heard that her name is Yu Yingyi. She's the newly hired sports commentator and host for Central TV Department 5. She's a rather well-known personality online."
Outside.
Everyone from Central TV Department 5 gradually arrived.
Yu Yingyi was among them. When she came in, she immediately started to scan her surroundings. Her gaze fell on a table in the corner and she asked in a rather startled way to the colleague beside her, "Why are the people of Department 14 seated all the way over there?"
That colleague gave a wry smile and said, "You were at the makeup studio earlier, so you did not see what happened. There was nearly a fight outside at the entrance just now and it's already quite a surprise that they let those people from Department 14 into the venue, much less be seated over there."
Yu Yingyi immediately asked, "What happened?"
"It's all because of that Zhang Ye." Her colleague explained the entire situation to her.
After listening to it, Zhang Ye's old classmate was at a loss for words. In the past, Yu Yingyi often found out from the news and media how bad Zhang Ye's relationship with Central TV was, while Zhang Ye had also mentioned it himself before. However, as she had never seen it for herself, Yu Yingyi did not truly understand how bad it was. But now, she finally knew what it was like and realized that almost everyone at Central TV had very bad opinions of Zhang Ye. Hai, just how did this old classmate of hers survive in the industry all this while!? As for Central TV, why would you people keep finding fault with someone who had produced two of the top viewership rated television shows in the country and was also the host and executive director of those shows! And just how unpopular could Zhang Ye be to get barred from attending the annual staff party in this period of the Spring Festival?
Across the way, Zhang Ye also spotted her. She was dressed in a long red gown today that looked very beautiful and made her stand out from the crowd. Slightly startled by her attendance, Zhang Ye realized that Yu Yingyi had finally joined the Central TV Sports Channel officially. He took out his cell phone and texted her a message.
Zhang Ye: "I saw you. Turn around and look at the last row."
Very quickly, Yu Yingyi replied: "I already saw you earlier."
Zhang Ye: "Then why didn't you call out to me?"
Yu Yingyi: "Didn't you say to pretend to not know you?"
Zhang Ye: "Damn, and you seriously pretended to not know me?"
Yu Yingyi: "That was necessary!"
Zhang Ye: "…"
Yu Yingyi: "Hahaha."
Just as he was happily chatting with his old classmate, Zhang Ye suddenly and intuitively felt like he was being watched. He raised his head to look around and actually found some unfriendly gazes upon him!
Central TV Department 1's Jiang Yuan was staring at him coldly.
And so was Xu Yipeng.
Of the seven or eight people at that table, more than half were looking with disgust at Zhang Ye, muttering some words seemingly discussing him. From their expressions, it didn't look like they were talking nice about him at all. There was also another table in the front row where some people were frowning and looking in the direction of Zhang Ye and Department 14's table—those two tables generally consisted of staff from the Spring Festival Gala's production team!
Jiang Yuan said, "How could they seriously allow him in?"
Xu Yipeng said, "Who knows what the management is thinking!"
"That Zhang Ye! I'm eternally against him!" A planner of the Spring Festival Gala's production team said, "No one says things like how he says! Why did he scold our Spring Festival Gala show?"
A female producer of the production team stated, "That crosstalk definitely went over the line. I believe that no one here today wants to see him around either."
Someone said, "Didn't the Spring Festival Gala's production team already complain to the station heads about Zhang Ye? His bonuses for this year have been forfeited anyway, and even if that isn't much of a pinch to him, some justice has still been served."
Another person said, "How is that considered as justice served? He should be fired outright!"
"Stop talking about him already, it's affecting my mood!"
"Right, let's not mention that bastard!"
Actually, it wasn't only them who were discussing this. With all that commotion at the entrance earlier, who wasn't talking about it! Some of those who had arrived later and did not witness the incident quickly found out about it from others.
At a table in the front row.
This was the table where the station heads were seated.
A staff member came to give them an update about the event proceedings. "Sir."
Deputy Station Head Zhou asked, "How's it going?"
That person quickly replied, "All the arrangements have been made. We've placed Zhang Ye all the way in the corner in the back row."
Several of the station heads turned around to have a look.
A deputy station head made a noise in acknowledgment. "The Station Head will be here soon. He has also seen that Beijing TV Spring Festival Gala crosstalk and I heard that he was infuriated by it. So you better ensure that none of us will see Zhang Ye today."
That person guaranteed, "You definitely won't notice him."
"Oh, the Station Head is here."
"Go on and greet him."
The station heads stood up.
"Station Head."
"Station Head."
The Station Head gestured with both hands to calm them down and said with a smile, "Take a seat, quickly."
With the leader's arrival and the venue seated to capacity, the annual staff party officially began!
There were three hosts taking charge of tonight's staff party, two men and one woman. One of the male hosts was Central TV Department 1's Chen Ye.
Chen Ye said with a big smile, "Good evening to our leaders, and my fellow colleagues!"
The female host said while also smiling, "Welcome to the venue of this year's annual staff party. I am your host, Jiajia."
The other male host said, "I am Hao Dong!"
Chen Ye followed, "And I am Chen Ye."
Then they said in unison, "We'd like to wish every one of you an early 'Happy Spring Festival!'"
Applause rang out from the audience!
Jiajia said, "Next up, let's welcome the Station Head onstage to make a speech!"
The Station Head smiled and took the draft of his speech with him, walking slowly onto the stage. "Welcome, everyone! Seeing everyone so spirited and vibrant, I feel very pleased. This year has been a brilliant year for Central TV as we have groomed so many talented staff and had many excellent TV shows emerge from our station. The results are very encouraging and for all to see…"
By this point, the people of Department 14 could not help but start whispering.
Huang Dandan declared, "Aren't a majority of those excellent shows he's harping about produced by Director Zhang!"
"Yeah." Little Wang spat with disgust, "But so what? Director Zhang's year-end bonuses were forfeited and he nearly couldn't attend the staff party too. They even placed us all the way here in the back row!"
Tong Fu said, "Of this treatment, I really have no words to describe it!"
Chen Ye inadvertently glanced over to where Zhang Ye was from the stage and felt rather good about it. It was all because of A Bite of China that Rise to the Dance was doing so badly in the viewership ratings even though it started off with good momentum. It was because of Zhang Ye's show that their viewership ratings had been siphoned away, so how could the Rise to the Dance program team not hate him? Seeing the supposed hero that was Zhang Ye being relegated to a table in the corner, Chen Ye understood the station's attitude about this issue. A lot of people could also see this clearly—no matter how capable Zhang Ye was, he would not command an important position in Central TV! Zhang Ye frustrated people every day at Central TV so much that even the station heads could not bear to see him!
You have offended the station heads.
Offended Central TV Department 1.
Offended the Spring Festival Gala production team.
How could you still survive then? You can't redeem yourself anymore!
On the stage, the Station Head's speech was almost over. Throughout, whether it was praise, recognition, or specific mentions of outstanding employees, he did not bring up Zhang Ye's name whatsoever. Following that, another station executive gave a speech onstage. It was the same as earlier, with Zhang Ye's name not being mentioned. It was as though everyone was purposely avoiding his name and did not want anything to do with him.
The performance segment of the annual staff party officially started after that.
Chen Ye announced, "For the first act, we have a tap dancing performance by Central TV Department 1!"
Applause thundered!
The opening dance began!
"Wow, it's quite good!"
"Haha, even Old Sun is participating?"
"They're dancing quite well!"
"Great!"
Everyone in the audience was laughing and cheering!
This was what the annual staff parties were like. Many of the performances were not too professional and were full of mistakes. But since it was held in the company of colleagues, it made it very interesting to watch and the staff participation was also very strong.
Amid the warm applause, the tap dancing performance ended.
The station heads were also laughing and clapping, nodding in approval.
Central TV Department 1's Director Jiang Naixiong said with a laugh, "We're not too bad, right?"
Beside him, another department's director said, "Not bad, not bad at all."
"The kids rehearsed a month for that," Deputy Director Jiang Yuan remarked.
At this moment, the hosts reappeared onstage.
Jiajia, the female host laughed pleasantly and announced, "Alright, next up is the segment that everyone has been waiting for. It's time for the lucky draw. We'll be holding them after each performance. There are limited prizes, so let's see who has the best luck!"
"Right." The male host smiled and said, "So let's have a look at the first round of lucky draw prizes. Please look over to the big screen next to the stage."
On the big screen, the image of a bunch of prepaid gift cards appeared.
The female host said in astonishment, "Wow, they are prepaid gift cards for an online shopping site."
The male host said, "Each prepaid gift card has a value of 500 yuan and there are 20 cards to be won. It will be a one-time draw, so let's see who can be the luckiest. Over to you, Old Chen!"
Chen Ye smiled and said, "Alright, leave it to me then."
Chen Ye was already standing in front of a computer off on the side of the stage. This was today's lucky draw equipment, with the computer randomly picking out the prize winners.
The system's interface was shown on the big screen as well.
Everyone in the audience was getting very excited!
"It's finally starting!"
"It's mine, it's mine, it's all mine!"
"There's a value of 500 yuan in it, that's already quite a sum!"
"Yeah, this year's entry level prizes are already at such high quality? Then the prizes later will be even better for sure!"
"I'm so looking forward to it!"
"Let me win one of those cards! I didn't get anything at all in last year's lucky draw!"
At Department 14's table.
Ha Qiqi said, "It's time for a showdown of luck."
Little Wang and a few others who were still annoyed by the earlier incidents were not paying much attention to the prizes.
Zhang Zuo seethed, "We're really down on our luck today. I doubt we'll win anything."
Yan Tianfei was not too concerned with it either. He was still figuring out how he should fight for Zhang Ye's bonuses as he knew that Zhang Ye would not take this lying down just like he wouldn't!
Only Zhang Ye did not say a word and looked like he was tapping at something in midair. No one seemed to understand what he was doing.
Ha Qiqi and the others looked at Director Zhang strangely for a while and then focused back on the stage.
Game ring:
Merchant Shop.
Lucky Halo (Upgraded), activate!
Zhang Ye did not hesitate at all and carried out a series of actions. He looked at his reputation points decreasing and did not even blink. Ever since the last time his reputation points were depleted, Zhang Ye had not used his game ring much. He had been amassing his resources and accumulating his reputation points all this while. After a long time, his popularity kept increasing and his reputation points right now had reached a terrifying amount. It was very high and more than enough to satisfy his usage requirements!
-100,000!
-100,000!
His reputation points were deducted at an alarming rate of 100,000 points per second!
Near the wings of the stage, Chen Ye was already pressing the lucky draw activation button with a big smile. "Alright, let's begin!"
The 20 screen slots were activated, with each one representing the lucky draw prize winners. At this moment, the images that were flashing across each prize slot were photos and names of the staff. In the third slot, Ha Qiqi's staff photo and name flashed by for a split second before changing to someone else's. The 20 lucky draw slots were independent of each other, therefore each photo and name that flashed in each one was different from the others. The sequence was fully randomized!
Everyone's attention was focused on the big screen.
Chen Ye held up his microphone and asked, "Shall we invite the heads to call for when to stop the sequence?"
The female host laughed. "Then we must surely invite our Station Head to call for the first lucky draw prize."
The Station Head smiled and picked up a microphone. "Let's take turns calling to stop the sequence. Hur hur, let me do it first then." Looking at the big screen, he gently said, "OK, stop."
Chen Ye immediately hit the stop button!
The first winner of the prepaid gift card was drawn!
But when they saw that it stopped at Zhang Ye's photo, a lot of people were somewhat stunned by it!
Pfft!
Why did it turn out to be him!?
Yu Yingyi was amused by this and covered her mouth as she laughed!
Both Ha Qiqi and Little Wang also burst out laughing in unison.
Yan Tianfei couldn't help but laugh as well!
The people of Department 14 were all laughing!
The first photo and name that appeared on the big screen was Zhang Ye!
Zhang Zuo laughed loudly and lauded, "Director Zhang, congratulations!"
"A good start, it's a good start!" Yan Tianfei's secretary also congratulated him.
Chen Ye's face darkened and wondered how it could be so coincidental. Why did this guy pop up the more they did not wish to see him!
That was what the other Central TV staff were thinking too. It was too much of a coincidence, but when they thought about it, even though the chances of winning were slim, it was still much better than the lottery. There were only a few hundred of them here today, so the probability of winning was definitely there, but it just coincidentally ended up with Zhang Ye winning it.
Jiang Naixiong shook his head. What dogshit luck!
The Spring Festival Gala production team were also frowning and speechless at this.
The Station Head looked at the big screen and did not say anything and just handed the microphone to the deputy station head beside him.
That deputy station head then proclaimed at once, "Stop!"
Chen Ye reacted a moment later and immediately hit the stop button!
The second prepaid gift card had a winner at that moment, but when the photo was displayed on the big screen, everyone was dumbfounded again!
Holy shit!
Why was it still Zhang Ye?
How could there be so much of a coincidence?
The deputy station head who had just called to stop the sequence was also stunned. He unconsciously handed the microphone over to the next deputy station head.
Deputy Station Head Zhou took the microphone and said, "Stop."
Chen Ye pressed the stop button.
It was still Zhang Ye's photo!
Another station head said, "You can press stop now."
The fourth slot also showed its result!
Zhang Ye's photo was once again displayed there on the large screen!
"Stop!"
—Zhang Ye.
"Stop."
—Zhang Ye.
"Alright, stop."
—It was still Zhang Ye!
The station heads took turns and consecutively shouted stop 20 times. Chen Ye also pressed stopped consecutively 20 times. Under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone, the first batch of 20 prepaid gift cards were all won by Zhang Ye!
With this, no one could manage a laugh anymore!
Not even the people at Department 14's table could do so as they all stared at Zhang Ye with their mouths agape!
What the fuck!
What the hell happened?
How could your luck be so damn good!
The station heads' expressions were all looking much worse than the last. The people over at the Spring Festival Gala production team's tables also turned slightly green with anger. Motherfucker! You actually won all 20 prizes? How many drugs did you inject before you came out today!?