A few days later.
Friday morning.
At work, Yan Tianfei's secretary came looking for Zhang Ye.
"Director Zhang, Director Yan asked me to inform you not to forget about tonight's National Television Awards Ceremony." The secretary smiled and said, "Director Yan said that you have to wear a suit. You have at least two nominations on your side, one for A Bite of China and the other for The Voice. Furthermore, both of them have a high chance of winning an award, so we mustn't neglect them."
Zhang Ye smiled. "Sure."
Ha Qiqi said, "We have a suit here."
"Right, let's pick one for Director Zhang later," Zhang Zuo said happily.
Zhang Ye waved it off. "Forget it, I'll just wear this suit. Director Yan has to come along as well. I'm just a foil."
The secretary suddenly whispered, "The station is having a meeting right now. There's another matter to discuss. The selection for this year's Golden Microphone Awards has already entered the nomination review phase. Director Yan reckons that Central TV Department 1 will definitely not recommend you, so Director Yan will definitely have to submit your nomination. It will be the same as usual, with each station nominating their nominees. In the end, there will only be ten nominees for the Golden Microphone Awards.
Zhang Ye asked, "I haven't worked for three years yet, right?"
"But you have a lot of shows." The secretary said, "In the past, Ghost Blows Out the Light, Lecture Room, Zhang Ye's Talk Show, The Voice, and A Bite of China, you're already considered a veteran in this industry. The three years of experience required to be nominated is not a hard and fast standard, so you can make an exception."
In the past, when Zhang Ye had just debuted, he had worked at the Beijing Radio Station. It was there that he had won the first award in his life. It was also an extremely important and meaningful award to him — the National Broadcasting Newcomer Award, which was also known as the Silver Microphone Award in this world. It was only then that Zhang Ye could be considered to have truly entered the industry and gotten on the right track. After a year, the National Broadcasting Awards would be held again. Zhang Ye was also looking forward to it. No matter how many fields he had crossed, his main profession was still broadcasting.
The Golden Microphone Award.
— A national award!
— And also the highest award in the broadcasting world!
As long as one was still a host, there was no one who did not look forward to receiving this honor. This was the highest affirmation for a broadcasting host!
Ring, ring, ring.
Dean Pan from Peking University's School of Mathematical Sciences called.
Zhang Ye went to the side to answer. "Hello, Dean Pan."
Pan Yang smiled and said, "Professor Zhang, it's almost the end of the year, so it's about time for the domestic academic awards to be announced. I've just received a notification that the selection committee from the Chinese Academy of Sciences has approached Peking University to ask for your information and photo. They wanted me to inform you that you've been nominated for this year's National Outstanding Contribution to Mathematics Award. I'll send you a form so you can print it out and fill it out before sending it back to me. This is one of the most prestigious mathematics awards in the country. You didn't accept the Abel Prize last time, so let bygones be bygones. But for this National Outstanding Contribution to Mathematics Award, you have to fight for Peking University and win it!"
Zhang Ye said in exasperation, "Another award?"
"What do you mean 'again'?" Pan Yang glared at him.
Zhang Ye hurriedly said, "It's fine. Thank you, Dean Pan. I will definitely cooperate well, so don't worry."
Dean Pan said in satisfaction, "That's good then. When the date for the award ceremony is set, I'll contact you again. Our Mathematics team just held a meeting and everyone analyzed it. We estimate that the chances of you winning the award are around 80% to 90%. If we were to talk about this year's major event in the mathematics field, it would be your proof of Dale's Conjecture. If we don't award it to you, no one else will."
It was the end of the year and the awards were piling up.
Zhang Ye filled out the form and took out the one-inch photo. By the time he was done, it was already noon. After lunch, there was nothing else for him to do at work. He went online to check the latest Celebrity Rankings and found his current position. Only then did he realize that his popularity score, which had not changed much over the past few months when he was out of town filming his documentary, had shot up like a rocket in the past two weeks!
From his original position in the middle of the B-list rankings, he had moved up by two places all of a sudden. He was now a bona fide top-tier celebrity in the B-list rankings. One had to know that in the B-list rankings, the difference in popularity scores between the celebrities who were ranked next to each other was quite large. It was already extremely difficult to move up by one rank, so what more advancing by two places in such a short period of time? Furthermore, A Bite of China had only broadcast its fourth episode and it looked like its popularity was still growing. Zhang Ye was getting closer and closer to the A-list rankings!
This was Zhang Ye's well-laid plans!
Previously, when Zhang Ye was being frozen and suppressed at Central TV Department 1, his popularity was on the brink of collapse. He took a risky move and relied on Plants vs. Zombies to barely maintain his popularity. Coupled with Zhang Ye's actions of writing his poem and giving up on the Abel Prize, it gave him two precious months of time to regroup and produce A Bite of China. Looking back now, all of Zhang Ye's hard work had not been in vain. A Bite of China did not disappoint him and had really helped him turn the tables around with a stunning comeback!
His popularity, which had stagnated for two to three months, had finally exploded. Zhang Ye was once again on the upward trajectory of his career. This was undoubtedly good news and made Zhang Ye very excited.
Other than him, there were also some changes in the rankings for this episode. Not mentioning the D- and E-list public figures, there was a C-list male singer who had been exposed for lip-syncing at a concert a few months ago. It seemed like the concert staff had even gotten into a conflict with some of the fans and that male singer had scolded them. This incident was then exposed by the media. In the latest rankings, that male singer who was originally at the bottom of the C-list rankings had now dropped to the D-list rankings. It was estimated that it would be difficult for him to recover in a short period of time.
In the B-list rankings, there were also some minor changes, but the overall changes were not big. Chen Ye's ranking had risen by one place. No matter how much of a foil Rise to the Dance was, these two episodes still had a viewership rating of more than 1%. Fan Wenli and Chen Guang's popularity scores did not change much. They were still in their original positions, with one in the middle of the B-list rankings and the other in the lower reaches of the B-list rankings. The gap between them and Zhang Ye's popularity score had also gradually widened.
As for the A-list and S-list rankings?
There were no changes. It was still the same people and the same rankings. At that level, it was very difficult for a celebrity to move up another rank.
Zhang Ye purposely browsed through the popularity rankings of a few of his friends.
Yao Jiancai's new movie had been released and his popularity score had increased.
Zhang Yuanqi was firmly in her spot as an S-list celebrity and no one could shake her.
Dong Shanshan was the one who had risen the fastest among Zhang Ye's friends. With the long-term airing of Do You Remember and the good viewership ratings, Dong Shanshan was already at the forefront of the D-list rankings. She was still a distance away from becoming a C-list celebrity, but not too far away. This was the advantage of her looks and figure. Dong Shanshan had the looks of a celebrity and was also well-endowed. She was the most standard type of celebrity potential, so as long as she was given a chance to shine, she would be able to grab hold of it. This was a natural advantage that others could not even be envious of.
That was about it.
Zhang Ye browsed through the list for a long time before closing the webpage.
Di di. The notification of the chat app on his cell phone suddenly rang. When he opened the app, he saw that it was not a chat message but an invitation to join a group.
Group name: Goof Group.
Invited by: Water Radish.
What?
You're the goof!
Zhang Ye immediately rejected the invitation.
But not long after, the invitation came again!
Zhang Ye was speechless and chose to reject it again.
In the end, the invitation came for the third time. This time, it was accompanied by a message: Your sister! Teacher Zhang, hurry up and join us! I'm Ning Lan!
Ning Lan?
That Ning Lan?
Zhang Ye was taken aback. Of course he knew this name. She was a rather popular female celebrity and an A-list one at that. He had just seen this name on the Celebrity Rankings Index earlier. Ning Lan had starred in at least eight out of ten movies with box office earnings exceeding 100 million RMB. She debuted ten years ago and had won the prestigious Best Supporting Actress Award in her first year of debut. In all these years since her debut, she had acted in even more movies and television series than Zhang Yuanqi. In total, she had acted in 50 to 60 shows and was a famous movie maniac in the industry. Her popularity had been built up by her movies and shows, giving her a unique status and popularity in the film industry today. Ning Lan and Zhang Yuanqi were best friends and had a very good relationship.
Zhang Ye did not dare to reject the invitation this time. He clicked confirm with a skeptical attitude.
Immediately, he was added into the "Goof Group."
The group was quite lively.
Huo Dongfang: "Who is this?"
Dongzi: "Who did Sister Ning add into the group?"
Liao Henan: "Am I your dad? Who is this? "
Fan Wenli: "Ahem, it's Zhang Ye."
Chen Guang: "Damn, it's Director Zhang! That's such a good name! "
Then a system notification popped up. Administrator Ning Lan had changed the name of "I'm Your Dad" to "Zhang Ye."
Zhang Ye hurriedly replied with a "Hi, everyone." Then he looked at the group members' names and felt a little confused. There were only about 50 people in the group, which wasn't a lot. But without exception, every one of them was a big shot celebrity in the entertainment industry. Zhang Ye had met Huo Dongfang, Fan Wenli, and Chen Guang before, while the lowest rank was a B-list celebrity. Moreover, Zhang Ye even found Zhang Yuanqi's name in the group.
There was no manager.
There was no assistant.
There was no management agency.
This group was made up of only celebrities!
No matter where they went, this line-up would probably scare a lot of people to death. It was too grand. Even the grandest awards ceremony or gala in the industry wouldn't be able to gather so many big names. For example, that former Heavenly King had already retired and no longer appeared in public, but his name was still quietly sitting in the group.
Ning Lan sent a depressed emoji and sent a message: "It really wasn't easy to get Zhang Ye into the group. Come, come, let's welcome our new member. Let's welcome the famous host, producer, director, mathematician, writer, calligrapher, lyricist, and composer, Teacher Zhang Ye into the group!"
Fan Wenli sent a smiley emoji: "Applause!"
Liao Henan: "Hur hur, welcome."
Dongzi: "So it's Zhang Ye. You're so welcome!"
"A Bite of China is great! My child and I watch it every day! "
A lot of people who were online came out!
Zhang Ye was flattered. "Thank you for welcoming me. What is this group?"
Ning Lan explained with a smile: "This is just a small circle of friends that we usually chat in. The members are all rather well-known people in the industry. This group has been established for many years, so we don't easily add new members."
Don't easily add new members?
Then why did you add me today?
Zhang Ye knew that with the growth of his popularity, he was already qualified to enter the top circle of the entertainment circle. Looking at the list of members again, many of the B-list celebrities were not in it, and Chen Ye was not there either. Even Chen Ye, the newly appointed host of the Spring Festival Gala, was not qualified to join?
Ning Lan paused for a moment, then sent another message to the group: "But speaking of which, it's really hard to find Teacher Zhang's chat account. Logically speaking, it should be very easy to get your contact details since you're such a famous person. We should be able to find it by just asking around, but I and a few other moderators couldn't find your chat account even after asking all of our friends. We couldn't even find your contact details. I even called a host friend of mine at Central TV, but he didn't manage to get your contact details either. Teacher Little He said that you've been at Central TV for more than half a year, but he hasn't even seen you before. It was only after Wenli and Old Chen came online that I managed to get your contact details. I just want to say, Zhang Ye, just how bad are your relationships with others?!"
"Pfft!"
"Hahaha!"
The people in the group were cramping up with laughter!
For a big shot celebrity of this caliber to have such bad relationships with others, there was no other person other than Zhang Ye in the entire entertainment circle!
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