I'm Really a Superstar
chapter-821

Monday morning.

The cell phone near the headboard started ringing.

Zhang Ye woke up and saw that it was a call from Yan Tianfei.

"Director Yan?"

"Little Zhang, are you up yet?"

"Yes, I just got up."

"Do you know Xu Wenzong?"

Xu Wenzong?

Zhang Ye found that name familiar, then suddenly remembered that Wu Zeqing had mentioned this name to him just yesterday. He was Tang Dazhang's family member, but he pretended not to know and just said,"I don't know, who's that?"

Yan Tianfei replied,"Oh, he's the honorary vice president of the Television Association, and also one of the judges for this year's television awards ceremony. I've only just received news that A Bite of China did not actually get picked for the nomination of the most prestigious award for documentaries. It was Vice President Xu who blocked it initially. However, the selection committee later picked the nominees again somehow and nominated A Bite of China for the award. What's more, Xu Wenzong's position as the chief judge for this year has been stripped as well."

Zhang Ye blinked."Ah?"

"Do you know what's going on?" Yan Tianfei asked.

Zhang Ye continued to play dumb."If you don't know, how would I know?"

Yan Tianfei said,"That's true, but I was just wondering who helped us from the inside. I've been trying to find out for the entire day without any news, so I thought you might have some idea."

Zhang Ye coughed and responded,"I don't know either."

From the time that Yan Tianfei found out about this incident, he kept wondering who had helped them. Who helped A Bite of China? No matter how he pondered, he simply couldn't connect anything together. Old Yan knew very clearly about his own social ties. He was a veteran of the television station industry, had a lot of experience, and knew a lot of people, but none of them were especially close to him. Not mentioning the SARFT or the Television Association, even within Central TV, he did not have many friends. Then he thought of Zhang Ye. Without needing to ask, this kid's social ties were even worse than his own. He would end up offending people wherever he went. Having been the top-ranked person on the SARFT's blacklist, he had even been banned by both the Shanghai SARFT and SARFT Headquarters, so logically speaking, it was all the more impossible that anyone would help him, right?

So who could it be?

Why was this matter so bizarre!?

After hanging up, Zhang Ye felt awake. He got up from bed and brushed his teeth and washed his face. Regarding his relationship with Old Wu, since he did not even tell his parents about it, then he would certainly not be telling anyone else. It was still not the correct time yet, and he absolutely couldn’t reveal this trump card so easily. Wouldn't it be really boring if he revealed it now?

"Dad, Mom, I'm going to work."

"Eat breakfast before you go."

"I'm not eating, I'll eat at the office."

...

At a certain house in Beijing.

This was Xu Wenzong's home, and at this moment, his family had come to visit him.

Tang Dazhang looked grumpy."Brother Xu, what happened?"

Tang Dazhang's wife said,"Brother, based on what did they remove you as judge?"

"You ask me, I ask who!?" Xu Wenzong said as his tone turned cold,"This is positively bizarre! Until now, I still don’t know who did me in!"

Tang Dazhang said angrily,"This is too much!"

But Xu Wenzong did not seem to be the least bit angry. He only felt his heart turn cold, and was even quite startled.

It was because he knew very well that, as the Television Association's Vice President, as a veteran in the circle with such a wide network, it was odd that he couldn't even find out who did that to him. He saw no signs nor did he have any warning about it, so even after the axe fell, he was still in the dark as to who had done that to him. As such, he could undoubtedly be certain that the person who dealt with him was definitely not someone who he could afford to provoke, because he was not even qualified to know who it was!

Which person from the SARFT was it?

Which one of those who held the most power in the SARFT was it?

Xu Wenzong did not dare to think about it. He could only stay silent; there was only silence.

...

At the office.

With the hyping and publicizing from the news media, everyone already knew of the intense competition between Central TV Department 1 and Central TV Department 14 with their Rise to the Dance and A Bite of China fighting for top spot in the viewership ratings. Internally at Central TV, the atmosphere was also rather strange. The staff of the other departments watched as the events developed while the station heads kept silent on the matter as sparks flew between the two departments involved in this battle, with everyone on both sides giving their all!

Central TV Department 1.

Everyone was giving their all.

"This advertising spot must be secured!" Chen Ye commanded firmly!

"Director Chen, I was just informed that it has been bought by A Bite of China," a staffer said with a bitter smile.

Chen Ye insisted,"I don't care how you do it, just get it done by the end of the day!"

"Then…then I will try my best." That staffer could only bite the bullet and accept the order.

Over at the other side, Xu Yipeng said,"The audience who watched the first episode has given us quite a lot of suggestions, some which can be ignored, but there are many that are worth studying. Old Chen, Old He, let's have a meeting to study those suggestions first, then re-edit the footage for the second episode to get rid of all the shortcomings of it and learn from the experience. I need the second episode's viewership rating to be much higher than the first episode's! We need to give our audiences nothing that they can pick on!"

"Yes."

"OK, Director Xu."

Previously, they had never thought that a documentary could be their opponent and even looked down on A Bite of China. But now that they were faced with Zhang Ye's heaven-defying abilities, they had no choice but to put Zhang Ye and his documentary on the same level and treat them as worthy competitors. In fact, they were even considering it their greatest enemy. The Rise to the Dance program team who had lost its arrogance was clearly still very formidable. They had the industry's largest platform behind them—Central TV Department 1. They had the best team as well as the most excellent director and host; they even had a huge production budget to support them, and together with the trio of big shot celebrities in Huo Dongfang, Fan Wenli, Shen Lili, once they took their opponents seriously, once they had their enemy in sight, the strength that they would muster up was undoubtedly going to be a force to reckon with!

Lose?

They wouldn't lose!

Nor did they have any reason to lose!

Simply because they were Central TV Department 1!

Simply because they were the industry's number 1 variety show!

...

Central TV Department 14.

Everyone here was full of fighting spirit as well!

"Did you secure the advertising spot yesterday?"

"Director Ha, we were going to sign the contract, but we haven't heard anything from them since!"

"What happened?"

"I don't…ah, they've just replied. It's Rise to the Dance, they are also in negotiations with them!"

"What? We can't allow it to fall into their hands, continue negotiating! This advertising spot is critical. We must ensure it stays in A Bite of China's hands for this entire week! We can't have it any other way!"

"OK! I will definitely secure it!"

"Central TV Department 1 has already run out of money and their 200 million in advertising revenue has also gone back into the production budget of the show. Meanwhile, our advertising revenue has just come in! All the money is in our hands now! They wish to fight with us for the advertising spots? Dream on! Right now, in the whole of Central TV…no, of all television stations in the entire country, we’re the richest program team around!"

At this moment, Zhang Zuo, Ha Qiqi and everyone else were brimming with confidence. Unlike Rise to the Dance, they did not have the most influential platform to broadcast on, nor did they have the pull factor of big name celebrities. Even the production budget of A Bite of China was just a mere 10 million RMB—of which more than half was spent on the catering, accommodation, transportation, travel, and hotel rooms. The actual amount used for filming was in fact much less than that. But…

They had Zhang Ye!

So wasn't that more than enough?