Back at home.
At the dining table, the family of three was eating dumplings.
Zhang Ye only found out about the news of the SARFT releasing the new banned artists list when his eldest younger sister called to inform him about it. As such, he quickly went online to have a look and was immediately overjoyed.
His mother asked, "Why is your sister looking for you?"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "The SARFT has lifted my ban."
"When did this happen?" His mother put down her chopsticks when she heard this.
"Just a while ago. My name is no longer on the list." Zhang Ye was in a very good mood. He picked up his chopsticks and stuffed two chives into his stomach.
His father stopped eating and said, "Then does that mean that from today onwards, no one will be able to stop you from going on TV, doing programs, or publishing?"
His mother said happily, "Of course. Since the ban has been lifted, who can still stop me? That's great, it's been so many days and my son has finally been released. Little Ye, did Chief Wu help you? "
"Of course," Zhang Ye said.
His mother rapped on the table. "Chief Wu is really a good friend! Why don't you invite her over for dinner later? I'll personally cook to thank her properly. "
His father interrupted, "Come on, Chief Wu is such a high-ranking official. Why would she come over to our house for dinner? Do you think she owes you a meal?"
"That's true, it's really hard to invite her over," his mother said.
His father looked at his son and said, "Remember to thank Chief Wu later."
Zhang Ye sighed and said, "I know, you two don't have to worry about it."
...
Later that afternoon.
He had just lifted his ban when a phone call came in.
He did not recognize the number, but it was a woman's voice.
"Hello, is this Teacher Zhang Ye?"
"That's me. Who is this?" Zhang Ye went back to his bedroom to answer the call.
"Hello, Teacher Zhang. My name is Li Mei. I'm from Eastern Publishing Firm." The other party's voice sounded a little cautious. She seemed to be quite young.
Zhang Ye suddenly realized, "Publishing firm? Oh, is something the matter? "
Li Mei adjusted her tone and said softly, "It's like this, I would like to ask, do you still have the copyright to 'Legend of Wukong'? We just finished a meeting, and we really want to publish your book. I wonder if we would have the honor of working with you. Oh, you might not know much about our publishing firm, so let me give you a brief introduction. We might not be that famous in the industry, and our scale is not comparable to Beijing Education Publishing Firm or other places, but our funding and marketing capabilities are definitely not inferior to any of the big publishing firms out there. If you hand over 'Legend of Wukong' to us, I can guarantee you that we will definitely do our best to promote and operate the book. "
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "The copyright hasn't been sold yet, but I would like to wait for a while. There's no rush."
"Teacher Zhang." Li Mei said anxiously, "If you have time, can we meet up for a chat? I know you're busy. Anytime is fine. It's your time. "
Zhang Ye rejected it. "We'll talk about it later."
As soon as the call ended, the people from Huanan Publishing House called again.
It was a man. "Teacher Zhang, we've read your new novel and really liked it. Can we discuss the simplified Chinese copyright for 'Legend of Wukong'?"
Zhang Ye still said, "Let's not talk about it today. We'll talk about it later."
That person immediately said, "You can raise the price and I'll submit it to the higher-ups. If it's okay, then we'll sign the contract. We will immediately start our marketing efforts to promote your book. Right now, there are so many topics about you in the country and it's currently trending. We would like to take advantage of this and release Legend of Wukong. The sales will definitely go up a lot, but if this drags on and the popularity drops … that would be such a pity. Can we meet up if it's appropriate?"
Zhang Ye left some leeway and said, "Let me think about it."
That person said, "Alright then. If you have the intention to publish your book, please contact us first. We might not be the best in the industry, but we are definitely the most professional and veteran publishing team."
He received four or five calls in a row, and they were all from the publishing firm.
Zhang Ye gave them a few perfunctory replies before hanging up.
There were also some publishing firms that did not have Zhang Ye's contact details, so they left messages through Weibo, Tieba, etc., expressing their desire to publish Legend of Wukong. Some of the publishing firms even offered to buy back the copyright for Ghost Blows Out the Light, as well as the resale rights for Zhang Ye's Compilation, which had been returned to Zhang Ye due to the breach of contract. Some of them even offered to buy back the copyright for Ghost Blows Out the Light, as well as the resale rights for Zhang Ye's Compilation.
Zhang Ye did not reply to them. It wasn't that he did not want to publish his book, it was just that he did not have much money left and was still waiting for the rice to be cooked. But after the previous incident, Zhang Ye's trust in the publishing firms had been greatly reduced. The two publishing firms that he had a good relationship with in the past, now that he had been banned from publishing, both of them approached Zhang Ye to ask for compensation. Although Zhang Ye could understand them since the SARFT was their superior and they could not just ignore their orders, Zhang Ye still felt uncomfortable about it. Especially towards Beijing Education Publishing Firm, he still remembered this debt. Even if they had their reasons for doing this and were just pandering to the higher-ups, they shouldn't have asked for compensation of several million RMB, right? Hur, they had really gone too far!
In the end, speak of the devil and he will appear.
At around 2 PM, the Editor-in-Chief of Beijing Education Publishing Firm, Zhang Kui, called. The moment he called, he revealed his identity.
Zhang Ye smiled. "Is there something you need from me?"
Zhang Kui was the one who had advocated for the compensation from Zhang Ye. The reason why things had escalated to such an extent was mainly because of the ban. Their publishing firm had thought that Zhang Ye would definitely disappear from the entertainment circle and would never appear again. That was why they wanted to make a final profit and recover some of their losses. After all, a lot of the copies of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" that had been printed had been taken off the shelves and returned. But in fact, their publishing firm knew that they did not suffer any losses and had instead earned quite a bit. "Ghost Blows Out the Light" was extremely popular. Their final action of asking for compensation was just to squeeze every last drop of blood out of Zhang Ye. They wanted to squeeze every last bit of value out of him.
But who could have expected that things would develop beyond Zhang Kui and company's expectations. After Zhang Ye was banned, not only did he not leave the public eye, his popularity surged and he appeared on camera every day. Just two hours ago, the SARFT had even removed Zhang Ye's name from the list of banned artists. This was clearly something that Zhang Kui did not expect. If he had known this would happen, he would not have gone to such extremes back then!
Zhang Kui had many thoughts running through his mind, but he still chuckled and said, "Teacher Zhang, we might have had some misunderstandings in the past. Actually, when we asked for compensation, it was to give the higher-ups an explanation. You should be able to understand that we had no choice in many matters. The ban at that time was the most severe in history, so no one dared to slight it. Hur Hur, it's all good now. Congratulations to Teacher Zhang for returning to the entertainment circle. We had already guessed that with your ability and capability, you would return sooner or later. We can continue working together again. "
Zhang Ye gave a faint smile. "Continue working together?"
"Yes." Zhang Kui muttered to himself, "The 3.5 million RMB compensation was just a formality. Now that your ban has been lifted, we can naturally return the compensation to you. The copyright of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' will be signed back to you by Publishing Society. We will also continue working together on your new work, 'Legend of Wukong'. We will work together to promote 'Legend of Wukong' and make it popular. I will personally take charge of this matter."
Zhang Ye understood what he meant.
This Beijing Education Publishing Firm wanted the copyright of 'Legend of Wukong'. As long as he handed over the publishing rights of 'Legend of Wukong' to them, they would return the compensation and even take back the simplified Chinese copyright of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'. In other words, if Zhang Ye did not sign the contract with them for his new work, and if the copyright of 'Ghost Blows Out the Light' was not returned to them, then the 3.5 million RMB compensation would naturally not be returned!
They were using money to dangle Zhang Ye and force him to sign the contract!
Zhang Ye was still thinking about when he could settle the score with them, but he did not expect that they would come to him first and even try to coerce him? They even wanted the copyright of his new work?
Ha!
Zhang Ye directly said, "Editor Zhang, do you know why I transferred the 3.5 million RMB to you without any hesitation when you asked for it back then?"
"Oh?" Zhang Kui was taken aback. Actually, this was something that their publishing firm had been wondering about all this while. Logically speaking, if it were anyone else, they would not have agreed so readily. They would either not pay up or try to haggle over the price. They had never seen Zhang Ye pay up so readily before.
"Because." Zhang Ye said, "The losses that your publishing firm will face will far exceed this 3.5 million RMB! That's why I gladly paid up at that time! " This fellow had a vengeful personality. Back when he was pursued by Beijing Education Publishing Firm to such an extent, it was not Zhang Ye's style not to return the favor. You have taken what I owe, but I don't need you to spit it out. I don't lack this bit of money either. I will let it rot in your stomach and make you suffer for the rest of your life!
Zhang Kui's face sank. He clearly did not believe him. Losses? What losses could they possibly have? Even if they could not get the rights to 'Legend of Wukong', they would at most not earn any money from it. How could there be any losses? Hur, this is ridiculous!
The call ended.
......
On the other side.
Beijing Education Publishing Firm.
Zhang Kui laughed it off and began to handle his work for the day. He did not take Zhang Ye's words to heart. Although it was a pity to lose 'Legend of Wukong', their publishing firm would not stop just because they could not get the rights to the book.
However, things were clearly not as simple as Zhang Kui thought. He had never expected that Zhang Ye's words would come true so quickly and so quickly!
An hour later, Beijing Education Publishing Firm received a rectification notice from the higher-ups and a shocking review notice!
The entire publishing firm was in chaos!
"How can this be!"
"What? This … "
"Why did this happen!?"
More than a dozen of their publications had been ordered to be taken off the shelves!
"Widow's Spring".
"Breasts".
"Tang Dazhang's Crosstalk Collection — Audio and Video Products".
"100 Crosstalk Selections — Audio and Video Products".
And so on and so forth. All of them had been axed. Furthermore, most of them had just been released. Even Tang Dazhang's crosstalk collection had just been bought by them. They had just spent a lot of resources and funds to promote it. The CD had even been printed and packaged, but it had not been released yet. How could it be banned just like that? They looked at the instructions given by the higher-ups. Some of them were because the novel's content contained sensitive information, while others were because of plagiarism and prohibited words in the crosstalk segments!
An emergency meeting was held!
The publishing firm's upper management were all present!
Zhang Kui was really anxious this time. "What's going on? Is there really such a problem? "
A female deputy editor said anxiously, "I just got someone to check on it. The reason given by the higher-ups for taking down the books does exist, but it's very minor. Besides … in the past, things of this level have always been fine since the other publishing firms are doing it. Why is it suddenly being censored this time?"
Another person asked, "What about the other publishing firms? Have they received the takedown notices? "
A youth said, "I just checked. The other publishing firms are fine. The ones who received the rectification notice and the large-scale takedown notice are our publishing firm!"
Everyone was stunned. "This …"
Zhang Kui said loudly, "Immediately get in touch with the higher-ups and see if there's any room for negotiation. These novels and audio products must not be taken off the shelves! No publishing firm would be able to bear such a loss! If necessary, we can follow the higher-ups' instructions and edit out some parts, but we must ensure that they are sold normally! "
A middle-aged man who was in charge of this matter immediately went to handle the public relations. But ten minutes later, he returned to the meeting room with a gloomy expression.
A higher-up said, "How is it?"
The person-in-charge took a deep breath and said, "No, those works that have been singled out must be taken off the shelves. Even if they're modified, there's no room for discussion. Besides … it has to be carried out today!"
Zhang Kui was stunned. "Even if they're modified?"
The person-in-charge shook his head. "As for when it will be approved, we'll have to wait for further notice. But an acquaintance secretly told me not to get our hopes up."
Zhang Kui angrily slammed the table. "Based on what!"
A middle-aged editor said, "Isn't this bullying!?"
"The higher-ups have a new leader. A new official will definitely take action. Are we … being used as an example? But why does it have to be us? "
The meeting room was filled with repressed and grumbling voices. Everyone was panicking!
These were more than a dozen excellent works, especially those crosstalk compilations. After the crosstalk competition, although the competition had been halted, Zhang Ye's wonderful crosstalk that surpassed this era had brought the crosstalk industry to a whole new level. It was getting more and more popular and received more and more attention. Hence, they had spent a large sum of money to make a batch of crosstalk audio and video products. But before they could even sell a single CD, they were banned? This was nightmarish news for their Beijing Education Press!
They were done for!
They had suffered a huge loss this time!
Just counting the works and CDs that they had on hand, they had lost more than a million. And this was just a small amount. There were also the copyrights, publicity fees, and all the resources that had been used. This loss was immeasurable. It was more than a few million! They were going to lose tens of millions!
And it was not just a loss of money. Their reputation, credibility, and the gold-plated reputation of their publishing firm would also plummet. It was obvious that this incident would cause them to lose a large number of authors. Why? Because everyone else's publishing houses are fine and doing well. Only your Beijing Education Publishing House has a problem? They had been banned by the censorship department? This clearly gave the authors a sense of unease. Everyone would think that their publishing firm's PR was not up to par. It was too dangerous to publish here. If they banned someone else's crosstalk CDs today, would they ban their own works tomorrow? They might not even get them to sign a contract with them for their next works! Hence, this loss of credibility was several times more serious than the monetary loss. This had shaken their foundations!
How could the losses be just heavy?
The female deputy editor was suddenly stunned. "Could this matter be related to Zhang Ye being unbanned? Our publishing firm was a little too harsh on Zhang Ye back then. "
"Zhang Ye?"
"It's him?"
"Right, the new Leader used to be from Peking University!"
"Is it really Zhang Ye settling scores after the fall? How does he have the power to do so!? "
A few of them were very anxious!
Zhang Kui also recalled Zhang Ye's phone call and the "bold words" that Zhang Ye had said. Now that he thought about it, Zhang Kui's heart turned cold. He did not know if this matter was planned by Zhang Ye, but he knew that it was definitely related to Zhang Ye!
The female deputy editor sighed and paused for a moment before sighing again. "I had suggested before that we should have left some leeway. Even if Zhang Ye had been banned, we still could not … He's too strange a person. We can never use common sense to judge him. Hai, it's too late to say anything now."
Back then, when they asked for a huge penalty fee, it was indeed their publishing firm's fault. From the looks of it now, their publishing firm might have made a fatal mistake. Because they had gone too far, they did not even have any leeway now!
"What should we do?"
"If they are really taken off the shelves, we won't have the funds to operate anymore. We won't be able to make up for these losses. After a period of time, we will definitely lose a large number of authors!"
"Damn it!"
"Chief Editor Zhang, please think of something!"
If they could not make up for the shortfall, all of them would have to bear the responsibility!
Zhang Kui did not say a word. He knew that there was no other way. At this moment, he was feeling a tinge of regret. That one wrong move had brought a devastating blow to their publishing firm. His future might have been ruined because of this. Without even asking, he knew that the position of chief editor would definitely be changed in the future. The cause and effect of all this was because of that 3.5 million RMB penalty fee? Now that he thought about it, what the hell was that amount of money! It was only 3.5 million RMB! This was a sum of money that no large publishing house would pay too much attention to. As a result, because of this, their current tangible and intangible losses added up … might be more than ten times more than that sum of money!
Was it worth it?
Of course not!
But when decree # 43 was first issued, who could have expected that Zhang Ye would not be affected at all and would even return to the entertainment industry! If they had known this would happen, they would not have asked him for the penalty fee. Why did they ask for money from him? If they had helped him in his hour of need, not only would their publishing firm not have suffered such a huge loss, the new book of "Legend of Wukong" would definitely have been signed to their publishing firm and they would have earned a lot of money from it. But what happened to them? They ended their relationship with Zhang Ye early on and even added insult to injury, resulting in the current situation!
Zhang Kui slammed the table again and said, "Try to recoup our losses!"
"What do you mean?" the female deputy editor asked.
Zhang Kui's face turned fierce and said, "We will recoup as much as we can from the copyright fees!"
… …
At another location.
Tang Dazhang was watching television at home. Ring, ring, ring. A phone call came in.
"Hello, Teacher Tang. I'm Little Yan from Beijing Education Publishing Firm."
"Oh, hur hur, how are you, Little Yan? Why are you looking for me? Is the crosstalk collection going to go on sale? "
"No, uh, your crosstalk collection has encountered some problems. The relevant authorities have already issued a notice to take it down, so … so we are contacting you to discuss the copyright fees."
"Taken down?"
"Yes, I just received the notice."
"You want to recoup the copyright fees?"
"Yes, we …"
"It's your problem that it wasn't published. What has it got to do with me?"
"After all, it was your work that had a problem, which led to it being taken down. You can't possibly let our publishing firm bear all the losses, don't you think?"
"There's no need to mention this matter. It's impossible."
"Teacher Tang, you are also a leading figure in the crosstalk world, this …"
"I've already said that this has nothing to do with me. It's impossible for me to return the copyright fees to you."
"It's stated in the contract. If that's the case, I can only speak to the legal department and leave it to the lawyers to resolve."
"Alright, I'll be waiting!"
After hanging up, Tang Dazhang's face darkened. Did he not check the almanac these past few days? Why was he so unlucky? He was already in a bad mood when he found out that Zhang Ye's ban had been lifted in the afternoon. Now, something even more vexing had happened! There might even be a lawsuit? Damn! Who did I offend these past few days!?
At the same time.
Some of the crosstalk actors who had their copyrights purchased by Beijing Education Publishing Firm also received phone calls, asking for a refund of the copyright fees.
One of Tang Dazhang's disciples said, "What? Impossible! "
An old crosstalk actor who had previously boycotted Zhang Ye said, "Don't even think about it!"
And the author of "A Widow's Spring", who was also a writer who had always doubted Zhang Ye in the literary world, was also on the list of books to be taken down. He was already angry enough that his new book had been banned, but now the publishing firm wanted him to return the advance payment? Of course he wouldn't agree to it!
A war of words from all sides!
All sorts of arguments!
The Beijing Education Publishing Firm and Tang Dazhang's group had started fighting. This matter had even made it onto the news of the media in the afternoon. Some newspapers had even published it in inconspicuous corners. It was said that it had reached the point of a lawsuit. It was likely that it would not end anytime soon.
… …
At home.
Zhang Ye had also seen the news. Seeing this bunch of people who had previously caused trouble for him were now scolding each other at the top of their lungs and biting each other, he threw up his hands and no longer paid attention to it. He felt that it was too boring. He hummed a tune as he sat in front of the computer and continued writing the side notes for "Legend of Wukong".
This debt, ah, can be considered to be settled with them!
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