Chapter 199: “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” Signing Event!
Two days later.
Xidan, Beijing Book Building.
In front of a long table, Zhang Ye was sitting there smiling with an autograph pen. He was surrounded by the staff of the publishing house as well as the Book Building’s employees. Some of them were selling the books while others were helping maintain order. The banner was very conspicuous. It was the grand opening of Zhang Ye’s new book, “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” signing event. Of course, the adjective grand was just added on. There were not that many people, but there wasn’t that few either.
“Teacher Zhang!”
“Please sign this for me!”
“Let’s take a picture together!”
“Ah, I finally met him in person today!”
“That’s right, he’s much more handsome than on TV!”
“Teacher Zhang, I’m your hardcore fan!”
“Don’t squeeze. I came first. I want the autograph first!”
This event was organized jointly by his publishing house as well as the Book Building. This morning, anyone who bought “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” could get his signature by queuing up. As a result, he became busy, “Thank you, thank you for everyone’s support.” This was the first time he was having close up interactions with his fans. Zhang Ye was also feeling very excited. Once upon a time, he could only see someone’s signing event from far away. All he saw was other celebrities being surrounded by people. Now, Zhang Ye had also obtained this opportunity. He had finally reached the point of giving others his signature. He could not help but sigh for everything seemed like a dream.
“Teacher Zhang, please sign on my clothes.” A youth dressed like a shut-in looked he liked Zhang Ye a lot. Even his clothes were printed with Zhang Ye’s poem — ‘If you do not leave me, I will always be at your side until the end of life.’ This was the slogan of Zhang Ye’s fan club. It appeared like he was one of them.
Zhang Ye did not hesitate. He was very grateful for the fans who had supported him all this time. He quickly changed to a watercolor pen and signed his name on the youth’s back.
After him, there were even more fans who gave a wide variety of requests.
Some wanted the autograph on their hands.
Some wanted the autograph on their necks.
Some even wanted Zhang Ye to sign on the clothes on their chest!
It was a woman in her twenties with average looks but a particularly hot body. She probably came with friends. There were many girls around her giggling. The woman with a hot body blinked at Zhang Ye and then pointed at her chest.
Zhang Ye nearly spurt out blood!
Big! So big!
The big breasted woman came over and pointed at her chest, “Teacher Zhang, please sign here.”
The staff of the publishing house were at a loss whether to laugh or to cry. However, they had organized many events like this, so they had encountered this several times. They were not surprised for there were all sorts of fans.
Zhang Ye was decisive. He stood up with the watercolor pen in hand. But he was still embarrassed to really sign on her breast. He signed on her collar bone. He still took note of possible ramifications. After all, there were so many people watching. However, even though he did so, his hand still slipped. The female fan’s breast was too big, so it was hard to gauge the distance. After he finished writing the word “Ye”, the final stroke went vertically down, but with Zhang Ye’s pen trembling, the vertical line flicked all the way to the fan’s huge breast. With that slip, the pen tip clearly had fallen into an area full of flesh.
“Thank you.” The female fan was very happy as she showed off her clothes to her girlfriends.
……
Afternoon.
The signing event had ended.
Zhang Ye drove to his parent’s home. He felt like he was covered in sweat. The morning was like a war. It had tired him out. However, what was worth mentioning was that the sales of the compilation was not bad. It had lived up to the price of the publishing house buying off his royalties. And he had seen many of his passionate fans today. He could converse with them face to face instead of through the internet. It was a good feeling.
At home.
He first took a shower before he ate.
Mom brought the dishes out, “Eat, eat. Look how my son is starving. Seriously, that publishing house… You were busy all day, but they did not prepare a meal for you?”
Zhang Ye grabbed a mantou and gnawed on it, “They were also busy. They probably could return only in the afternoon.”
“Look at your table manners.” Mom laughed, “You are already a superstar and you can even hold a signing event. Pay attention to your image and have the bearing and demeanor of a celebrity, understand?”
Dad also said, “What celebrity? Is there a need to act at home?”
Mom rolled her eyes at him, “What do you know? Celebrities are all fake.”
Dad educated his son, “Don’t listen to her. Don’t let fame go to your head. You should be what you are. Don’t be cocky.”
“Dad, I understand.” Zhang Ye naturally understood.
Mom curled her lips and ignored her husband. She sat down and scooped food for her son, “Eat more.”
Knock, knock, knock. Someone was knocking on the door.
“Who is it?” Mom went to open the door.
It was their neighbor, Auntie Liu. She smiled. “My husband said he happened to see Little Ye come home around the corner just now. Eh, Little Ye is eating?”
Zhang Ye put down his chopsticks, “Auntie Liu!”
“He just came back. He had a signing event in the morning.” Mom said proudly.
Auntie Liu chuckled, “I came here for this matter. All of you know my husband likes to write. He especially loves Little Ye’s poems. He is embarrassed to come over, so he got me to ask. Is there any more of the Compilation?”
“There are plenty.” Mom spoke for her son.
Auntie Liu said, “That’s great. By the way, Little Ye must sign it for me. This book needs to be properly kept.”
Zhang Ye of course did not disagree. He stopped eating, got a book of “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” from his bag and signed on it. After sending Auntie Liu away, he returned to his meal.
Mom was extremely pleased, “Look at my son. He doesn’t let me down!”
Dad switched on the television, “That’s because I educated him well. If he had learned from you, who knows what would happen?”
“Hey, enough of that. What did you teach him? Since he was young, wasn’t I the one getting him to study?” Mom cut him off and said to Zhang Ye, “Son, how many books do you have? Leave them for me and sign all of them. Neighbors would probably come these few days, so I definitely have to give them a few books. I also need to give some to my colleagues. Give me how many you have. Don’t hide them.”
“Got it.” Zhang Ye was done eating.
Today’s signing event had given Zhang Ye the sweet taste of being a celebrity. It made his decision on becoming the number one celebrity of this world even more firm with the hot sales of “Zhang Ye’s Compilation” and with the movie, “The Great Pugilistic World” done filming. They were in the midst of promotion with a few promotion picks with Zhang Ye dressed in ancient costumes at the corner of the poster. His name was also listed on the cast list. With the popularity of the video “Little Qingshan’s Zen Exchange”, his exposure had once again increased these few days. The decrease in his popularity the past few days had finally stabilized.
But it had only stabilized. It was not enough!
Zhang Ye did not want to stay on the same spot. He needed to find a move that allowed his popularity to increase and last for a long while. He was frowning with urgency about this!