A few days later.
Everything was fine.
His house at Jiaomen had new glass. After the police carried out an investigation, they managed to find an official and two or three companies behind the people who smashed the glass. Among them, Lu Yuhu, who worked for the Ministry of Public Security, was also involved. It was Rao Aimin who had called him. That was why the matter could be investigated so quickly, and the relevant personnel were arrested and detained. In the past few days, no one came to seek revenge on Zhang Ye. Maybe they were waiting for a suitable opportunity, or maybe they were scared off by Zhang Ye's "Deathbed Poem", or maybe the attention from the media and the people was too great, which caused those people to retreat. They did not dare to provoke Zhang Ye again during such a sensitive period.
In short, the smog incident gradually subsided.
There was nothing that could be discussed for a lifetime.
There were fewer curses.
There were fewer arguments.
The heat dissipated.
There was no more news.
There was also no mention of Zhang Ye or the China Air Pollution Survey that had once caused a sensation in the entire country on the Weibo Topics homepage. The live video of the air pollution survey had also disappeared from the internet, as though it had never appeared before.
However, a lot of people knew that even though the source of the documentary had disappeared, what Zhang Ye and this documentary had left behind for the people would never disappear. Everyone's awareness of environmental protection and the importance they attached to the smog were no longer the same as before. Every day, when they were out on the streets, going to school, going to work, the first thing a lot of people would do was open their windows to check the weather or pick up their cell phones to check the PM2.5 readings for the day. After that, they would decide how to go to the office, whether they could go to the park, whether they should wear masks — all of this was left behind for the people by Zhang Ye.
Some people might not be thankful to Zhang Ye.
Some even scolded him.
But Zhang Ye did not care. To him, this was enough.
…
At home.
These few days were the most leisurely he had this year. When he woke up in the morning, he would go for a jog, stroll around, and come back for breakfast. Occasionally, when he was in the mood, he would brew a pot of Da Hong Pao tea, watch television, surf the internet, and water the plants. He was as comfortable as he could be. He was as relaxed as he could be. He was now a free man without a job. Naturally, he could do whatever he wanted.
He was carefree and content, but his mother wasn't having it.
His mother scolded, "Hurry up and find a job."
"There's no hurry." Zhang Ye lowered his head to drink his tea and smacked his lips.
His mother said, "You might not be anxious, but I am."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "What are you so anxious about?"
His mother angrily grabbed the opened box of Da Hong Pao tea leaves from the table, took it away, and locked it in a drawer. She said angrily, "If you still don't go to work, you'll finish all the tea in our house! Do you have any idea how much you'll spend on this cup of tea? "
His father rolled his eyes.
Zhang Ye nearly fainted. "Oh, so you're feeling sorry for the tea leaves?"
Mom: "Stop drinking, hurry up and go to work."
"Alright, alright, I got it." Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner.
Look for a job?
It was easy to say!
The situation that Zhang Ye was facing now was pretty much the same as before, but also a little different. Back when Zhang Ye was banned, it was also like this. No company dared to hire him, and no television station dared to take him in. It was the same now, but the only difference was that the current attitude of the entertainment circle towards Zhang Ye was very strange and unclear. Many television stations and movie studios wanted to hire him, but no one dared to take the risk. That was because no one knew what the higher-ups would think of Zhang Ye. At this moment, there was not a single organization or official statement saying that they would ban Zhang Ye. The SARFT had not said a word about it, but Zhang Ye's documentary had already been taken off the shelves. Any news related to him had also been censored. This action inevitably sent a signal, so not only Zhang Ye, but the entire entertainment circle did not know what was going on. They might as well just watch from the sidelines.
Zhang Ye gave Rao Aimin a call. As his agent, Zhang Ye had basically handed over all of his affairs to Rao Aimin to handle.
"Hello, Old Rao."
"What is it?"
"Has anyone contacted me regarding work matters?"
"Not many."
"Then aren't there still a few?"
"If a television station wants to hire you as a behind-the-scenes assistant and doesn't allow you to appear onscreen, would you accept it?"
"Then what should I accept!"
"If an animated movie wants you to do the dubbing, they'll pay you quite a bit, but they have a condition. If there are any problems or the higher-ups do not approve of your on-screen dubbing, they will find someone to replace you. You will only be paid 10% of what you were promised. Would you accept it?"
"Accept it, my ass!"
"That's why, that's it then."
"Just these two?"
"What else do you think? They don't even have the business to hire you anymore! "
"Damn, have I really done that badly?"
"You've poked a hole in the sky this time. Everyone is praising you and paying their respects to you, but are you really going to let those movie companies and television stations pay the bills for you? Do you think they're stupid? Right now, the higher-ups' attitude towards you is very ambiguous and there's no definite conclusion to it. Everyone else is just waiting and watching. "
After hanging up, Zhang Ye felt very helpless.
In the past, Zhang Ye had wanted to stop making documentaries after he left Central TV, nor did he want to take on hosting jobs for the time being. After being in this field for so many years, he was getting tired of it. Moreover, his popularity had basically reached the peak, so it would be very difficult for him to advance any further in the hosting field. Just based on popularity alone, he was already near the top of the hosting field. His room for further development was limited, and the audience was probably getting sick of watching him, so Zhang Ye was in urgent need of a change. He wanted to do something that he had never done before in order to increase his popularity. At the A-list level, every step forward was fraught with difficulties. If he only relied on being a host for a show, then doing another show before becoming a host, even if all of his shows became extremely popular, that would be the best he could achieve. This world's entertainment industry was pretty much the same as Zhang Ye's previous world. Among the Heavenly Kings and Queens, there was no place for a host. That was not a field that a host could compete for, much less a plain-looking celebrity like Zhang Ye?
He had a bigger goal and could not stay where he was, nor could he live off what he had already earned!
He needed to change.
But now, forget about changing, he couldn't even maintain his current status. No one was even looking for him to take on the hosting job anymore, so how was he supposed to make a breakthrough and change?
Ring, ring, ring.
A call from Xiaodong came in.
When Zhang Ye answered, he could hear the cheerful laughter of several people on the other end of the line. It was probably the three members of the famous domestic idol group, Spring Garden.
Xiaodong said: "Teacher Zhang, thank you!"
Zhang Ye wondered: "What's the matter?"
The other member of the group, Li Xiaoxian, said: "The demo version of our new song has been released. It's the song that you wrote and composed, 'Superstar.' It was released yesterday, and as of today, 10 million people have already listened to it! It's at least twice as many as the title song of our previous album! "
Amy said: "Heehee, the official version will be released in a few days."
Zhang Ye smiled and said: "Congratulations then."
Xiaodong took the cell phone from him. "Teacher Zhang, when the official version is released, we might need you to record a short video for us. It'll be a congratulatory message, the inspiration for writing the song, and so on. You'll have to help us out when the time comes."
Zhang Ye smiled and said: "It's definitely not a problem for me to help, but you guys better not use my video to promote it. I'm in quite a bit of trouble right now, so I don't want you guys to get involved."
Xiaodong said worriedly: "Is the smog issue really that serious?"
Zhang Ye said: "I haven't found a job yet. What do you think?"
Xiaodong: "Uh."
Li Xiaoxian: "If there's anything you need our help with, just let us know."
Zhang Ye said: "No one can help you with this matter. Hur hur, thank you for your kind intentions."
Online.
Spring Garden's new song was getting quite a response!
"What a nice song!"
"Xiaodong is so cute!"
"I like Li Xiaoxian! Gentle and quiet! "
"The song is really good!"
"When will the official version be released! I can't wait! "
"The melody of this song is amazing! Although it doesn't have much substance, it's full of youthful energy! It matches Spring Garden's temperament too well! Who wrote this song? Or was it their personal lyricist, Qi Hailong? It doesn't seem like it. A song of this standard doesn't seem like something Qi Hailong would do! "
"Ah, it's Zhang Ye!"
"What Zhang Ye?"
"He wrote the lyrics and music!"
"Damn, Zhang Ye wrote the song for them?"
"That's such a rare thing! Teacher Zhang rarely writes songs for others. His songs are usually only available to Heavenly Queen level superstars like Zhang Yuanqi! Besides, Zhang Ye might not even want to give them to him! "
"This song doesn't seem like Teacher Zhang's style, does it?"
"What style of work doesn't Teacher Zhang have? Haha! "
"That's true, Zhang Ye is too awesome!"
"I heard that Zhang Ye hasn't found a job yet?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen any updates from him in many days."
"Hai, the smog incident this time has affected him too much!"
"Hehe, actually, with Zhang Ye's standards, he should be quite good at singing too. What do you guys think of my suggestion? Why don't we get Teacher Zhang to join the music industry! "
"That's a good idea, but you're overthinking it."
"Pfft, with that lousy voice of Zhang Ye's, how can he sing?"
"But he's even entered the Top Chinese Music Chart before."
"Wasn't that a special situation during Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala? That 'A Letter to Home' relied on touching the audience, the lyrics, and the crosstalk environment at the time. If you really want to analyze Zhang Ye's singing and voice, it's really unlistenable. Besides, Teacher Zhang isn't that handsome, so that won't do."
"Yeah, I can still accept a host with Teacher Zhang's looks. But a singer like him? I don't think there's a chance. The people won't buy it. Besides, Zhang Ye has always been a joker. Scolding people and talking nonsense are all his trademarks. Can he stand onstage and sing quietly? Definitely not! "
"Don't talk nonsense. Zhang Ye won't join the music industry."
"Haha, I was just making a hypothesis and joking. Of course I know that Teacher Zhang won't come!"
"But if Zhang Ye really comes, then the music industry will really get lively!"
"Yeah, wherever Teacher Zhang goes, there'll be chaos! All the facts of the past tell us — no industry can withstand Zhang Ye's torment! "
Because of Spring Garden's new song, the netizens were having a great time chatting!
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