The next day.
It was the morning of the second day of the New Year.
Zhang Ye had slept enough and woke up on his own. When he looked at his watch, he lifted his blanket and yawned. He shouted towards the living room, "Mom, what are you eating?"
His mother's voice came through the door.
"It's up?"
"Ah."
"Let's eat dumplings."
"What kind of stuffing?"
"Chives, do you like them?"
"Hey, just make do with it."
"Not bad? It's up to you whether you want to eat or not! "
After chatting for a while, Zhang Ye grabbed his socks and began wearing them. He also switched on his cell phone, which he had switched off to charge last night. Yesterday's events were too chaotic and there were too many messages. His friends were calling him one by one, so Zhang Ye could not care less about it. He decided to switch it off before going to bed. But when he switched it back on in the morning, his cell phone immediately received countless text messages. Most of them were sent in the middle of the night.
Dong Shanshan's message: "You were really in danger yesterday. But congratulations, old classmate."
Yu Yingyi's message: "Zhang'er, congratulations in advance! I watched the whole scolding battle. Amazing! "
Yao Jiancai: "Why did you turn off your phone? Hahahaha, you're awesome. This war of words really wasn't fought in vain! Your popularity really came from scolding people! "
Hou Ge: "Teacher Zhang, congratulations in advance."
Fan Wenli: "Although I don't know the exact value, I congratulate you in advance."
Chen Guang: "When the data is out, our old team of The Voice will have a feast."
Congratulations?
What's there to congratulate?
What kind of data will it be?
Zhang Ye did not understand and replied, "What do you mean? What are you talking about? "
The other party might have slept late and had not woken up yet. His cell phone did not ring for a long time, so Zhang Ye did not want to wake them up. He got out of bed and brushed his teeth before going to eat.
Chenchen was playing games on her new phone.
Zhang Ye sat down and smacked her on the head, "You only know how to play!"
Chenchen ignored him and said to the kitchen, "Grandma, Zhang Ye hit my head."
Zhang Ye was so angry that he was amused. "Heh, you've even learned how to snitch?"
Chenchen looked at him. "… Heh heh."
"What are you doing?" His mother immediately appeared with steaming hot dumplings. She glared at Zhang Ye and said, "Don't keep hitting the child's head. Be careful that I don't hit you."
Zhang Ye was speechless. "She plays games every day."
His mother's words made Zhang Ye choke. "That's still better than you getting into fights every day!"
Zhang Ye: "…"
His mother harrumphed, "Did you get into an argument with the sporting world last night?"
Zhang Ye nodded in acknowledgment.
Chenchen smirked. "Zhang Ye, you're so childish."
"Look." His mother said, "Even Chen-chen knows she's childish. You're already an adult, yet you're not as sensible as a child. All you know is to curse!"
Zhang Ye quibbled, "It's a job requirement."
The sound of a key rang and the door opened. Dad had returned from outside.
Zhang Ye looked over. "Dad, where did you go?"
"I went to buy the newspapers." Dad was holding a thick stack of newspapers in his hands.
Zhang Ye exclaimed, "You're sweeping up the goods?"
His father went into the house and took off his shoes. He said, "I usually buy all the news about you. Today, I saw that more than 20 newspapers had you on them, so I bought them all at once."
Zhang Ye said, "Let me see."
His mother urged, "Eat first, the dumplings are getting cold!"
Taking the newspapers, Zhang Ye stuffed a dumpling into his mouth and ate it as he read. When he saw the news, Zhang Ye was tickled by it and nearly spat out the dumpling in his mouth!
"Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala wins the viewership ratings for the first time in history!"
"A Letter to Home tops the Top Chinese Music Chart!"
"Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai's crosstalk, Everything Is Great, receives rave reviews. The audience cries at the venue!"
"Catered to the table tennis team!"
"The biggest scolding war of the year began last night!"
"Zhang Ye's verbal battle with the sporting world! Earth-shattering! "
"The Sports-related Tieba forums were wiped out last night!"
"Tang Dazhang's Tieba forum accidentally 'damaged'!"
"Zhang Ye says:" Aiya, my account was hacked! "
"The account thief bears the most wronged scapegoat in history!"
"Up until now, the SARFT has yet to issue a punishment!"
All of this happened yesterday. Traditional newspapers and periodicals were not that real-time. Zhang Ye had only performed at Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala last night. At that time, the newspapers had already published the news, and only the online media could follow up on it faster. The traditional newspapers and periodicals could only summarize yesterday's news in the morning newspaper.
When he turned on the television, the news was also about Zhang Ye.
"Last night, following last year's mass condemnation of Zhang Ye by the crosstalk world, the sporting world has also declared war on him. Many sports stars and coaches, such as Liu Yifeng, Han Li, Li Qi, Tang Hechang, and others, have started firing at him. The scolding war has spread to Weibo and dozens of Tieba forums …"
Ring, ring, ring.
His cell phone rang.
It was Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala's executive director, Chang Xiaoliang.
Quickly swallowing the dumpling in his mouth, Zhang Ye answered the call in a daze. "Ai, Director Chang."
On the other end of the line, Chang Xiaoliang's laughter was very hearty. Just by hearing it, one could tell that he was in high spirits. "Hahaha, Teacher Zhang, you're awake?"
Zhang Ye put down his chopsticks. "Ah, I'm eating."
Chang Xiaoliang got straight to the point. "Our Spring Festival Gala's viewership ratings were released yesterday!"
"How was it?" Actually, Zhang Ye had already read about it in the newspapers.
Chang Xiaoliang said: "Without a doubt, it was first place. In fact, it exceeded the viewership ratings of Liaoning Television's Spring Festival Gala by a lot. In third place was Mango TV, in fourth place was Dragon TV, and Zhejiang TV was ranked fifth."
Zhang Ye laughed. "That's great."
Chang Xiaoliang said: "Have you seen the viewership ratings for your acts?"
"Have they come out yet?" Zhang Ye asked with concern.
Chang Xiaoliang nodded and sighed. "The viewership ratings for both of your acts were the highest on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala, and even among all the other provincial stations' Spring Festival Galas last night. The nationwide viewership ratings for your crosstalk, 'Everything' is Great, 'was 3. 77%, and 'Playing It Up' was 4.01%. Both of you have broken the previous records for the provincial stations' Spring Festival Gala! You might not know this, but a lot of people in the industry were shocked when they saw your viewership ratings. They even regretted not inviting you to their station's Spring Festival Gala this year! "
Zhang Ye was also shocked. "It's that high?"
Even a show as popular as A Bite of China only had a nationwide viewership rating of 2.98% for its highest episode. But Zhang Ye's acts on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala had actually broken 4%? Although it was still incomparable to Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, which had viewership ratings in the teens or even in the twenties or thirties, no matter how fiercely others scolded or how ugly the acts were, Central TV's Spring Festival Gala was still Central TV's Spring Festival Gala. Its status would never be shaken. But for the other provincial stations' Spring Festival Galas, the viewership ratings for both of Zhang Ye's acts could be said to be heaven-defying. There was no one who could compete with them!
"We've won the viewership ratings!" Chang Xiaoliang said with a sigh, "For me, I've successfully completed my mission for this year. I didn't let down the station heads' trust and expectations for us!"
Zhang Ye said: "Congratulations, Director Chang."
Chang Xiaoliang was taken aback, then laughed. "You're congratulating me? I should be the one congratulating you instead. "
Zhang Ye thought of something and said: "Oh yes, when a group of people congratulated me in advance this morning, what did they say? I couldn't understand it even after looking at it for a long time. "
"You still don't know?"
"Know what?"
"You didn't see the Celebrity Rankings Index?"
"Uh, I went to sleep after scolding them yesterday, so I didn't see it."
"Just look at it. I think you're not far from the A-list."
"Ah?"
After hanging up, Zhang Ye quickly browsed through the updated Celebrity Rankings Index at midnight yesterday. When he looked at it, he realized that his name was not in any of the rankings. When he actively searched for Zhang Ye's name, a message popped up. It read: Zhang Ye: Ranking Pending.
Pending?
It wasn't displayed anymore?
Zhang Ye was suddenly enlightened. He finally understood why everyone was congratulating him in advance.
This world's ranking system was quite mature and professional. The system automatically recorded a celebrity's comments, popularity, value of their works, awards they had won, etc., and used that as the basis for the rating, it would give a celebrity an overall score before ranking them. But a computer was still a computer, so there were times when it would get stuck. For example, there had been more than one C- or D-list celebrity who had become an instant hit after appearing on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, instantly rising to the B-list rankings. At that time, there was a chance that the system would get stuck. This was because the popularity score on that day was too large and the peak was too high. The system would not be able to handle it at times, so it would show that the ranking was pending. The next day, it would have to be manually assisted by the system to recalculate the data and produce the most accurate ranking display.
In any case, it was definitely a good thing that the ranking was pending. It meant that the popularity score and exposure that Zhang Ye had generated in a single day was too large. After the manual evaluation, it would definitely soar!
Zhang Ye's previous ranking was at fourth place on the B-list rankings, and he had only just risen to fourth place. There was still a huge gap between him and third place. On the B-list rankings, especially for those at the forefront of the B-list rankings, the amount of popularity and exposure needed to jump up each rank was quite large!
With the surge in popularity this time, how many ranks would he rise?
To third place on the B-list rankings?
Or second place?
Could he possibly be first place?
It might even be possible …
Zhang Ye was extremely excited and did not dare to think about it. "Dad, Mom, let me tell you something. Haha, my popularity score is going to rise again, and it might even skyrocket this time!"
His mother was also very excited. "Are you serious?"
When his father heard that, he said in a speechless manner, "You can even increase your popularity score by scolding people?"
"Don't forget." His mother said at this moment, "When our son rose from the C-list to the B-list rankings, didn't he do it by scolding people?"
His father said, "… That seems to be true."
Zhang Ye nearly fainted. "I even performed two performances yesterday, a crosstalk and a skit. The viewership ratings for both of them broke the record for the provincial stations' Spring Festival Gala in recent years! Why does it have to be scolding people? "
Chenchen was eating a dumpling beside him. She looked up at him and laughed, "Hur hur."
His mother asked, "When will the rankings be released?"
Zhang Ye said, "It should be soon. It will definitely be released during the day."
His mother got happier and more excited as she thought about it. She said, "You were already in fourth place on the B-list rankings. If you continue to move up, wouldn't you be even closer to the A-list rankings?"
…
Meanwhile.
The outside world was also paying close attention to Zhang Ye's popularity score!
The media reporters were all perking up!
Many of the celebrities in the entertainment industry were also watching intently!
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
