Chapter 661 What do you do when you catch a cold?
The next morning.
The sun rose.
It was not the time for most Central TV staff members to start working yet, however seven or eight people had already arrived at the of outside the TV station tower. They did not go upstairs. They instead headed to the basement recording studio.
“Sister Qi, you’re this early?”
“Little Sun, you’re here too?”
“Yeah, I left early yesterday and so decided to come earlier today. Seeing Director Zhang and the others work so hard, I felt quite bad that I went back home to sleep yesterday.”
“Achoo!”
“Yo, Sister Qi, you caught a cold?”
“Probably caught it yesterday.”
“Me too, I have a cold as well because I didn’t sleep well.”
As they were talking, they made their way to the recording studio of The Voice.
But the moment they stepped in, every one of them were shocked by what they saw. The place was brightly lighted with many of the spotlights switched on. The stage also appeared quite different from when they had left yesterday. A lot of the lighting equipment had already been installed and the area was cleaned up too, except for some construction waste that was left at the corner. The entire recording studio looked very clean and orderly. There were also some newly made admission passes placed on the audience seats, though they were not placed in plastic holders with a lanyard attached yet. But it was as good as done!
This progress was too fast!
This change had left them a little unable to react to it!
But what surprised them most was that the recording studio was not empty. Someone was still working busily—Executive Director Zhang Ye!
“Director Zhang!”
“Teacher Zhang.”
Only then did Zhang Ye, who was still busily doing some work on the computer, react and raise his head. When he saw them, he asked in surprise, “Ah, why are you all here so early? Did you all sleep?”
Ha Qiqi who had caught a cold said in a nasally voice, “How is this still early? The sun has already risen outside!”
“Ah? Is that so?” Zhang Ye looked at his watch and realized that it was already 6 AM. As they were in the basement, there were no windows, so after working for the entire night, he had lost track of time.
An editor said, “Did you…?”
Little Sun said, “Did you not sleep the entire night?”
Zhang Ye said, “I rested my eyes for a while, so it’s fine.” Then he called them over and said, “You all came at the right time. I’m working on the publicity video right now and need some help. Let’s make the most of today and get it all done.”
Ha Qiqi ran up to him. “Quickly rest for a bit first and leave the rest to us!”
Zhang Ye did not argue with that. He really was unable to endure any much longer, so he said, “Alright. If there’s anything, call me. I will be in the back, at the makeup area.”
“OK, OK, OK.”
“Quickly rest then.”
After everyone began working on their tasks, Zhang Ye was finally able to leave and rest.
When Zhang Ye went backstage, he found Chenchen still sleeping soundly. He pulled the blanket back over her and then laid down on an adjacent sofa. He found a shirt to use as his blanket and pulled it over himself before falling asleep almost immediately.
One hour.
Two hours.
After a little more than two hours of sleep, Zhang Ye woke naturally without an alarm. He looked at his watch and got up to go back to the recording studio, showing the “ironman” side of him once more by continuing to direct the work environment.
“Director Zhang, why aren’t you sleeping more?”
“I’ve slept enough.”
“But it’s only been a short while.”
“No problem, two hours of sleep is good enough. I have to continue with work.”
“But—!”
“Little Wang, give me the details that I requested.”
“…Fine.”
A new day had dawned, meaning that the deadline to broadcast was closer by another day. T-minus 5 days!
Actually, at this time, it was supposed to be the period when they all went full speed ahead with the preparations. However, possibly due to overworking yesterday, everyone’s energy and spirit was depleted. Along with those who had worked late into the night, and did not get enough rest or sleep, it had caused an incident which affected many people. Three of the staff were out with a cold, another one was having gastric problems, and yet another one was sent to the hospital for an IV drip due to fever and had to take half a day off. Finally, as it approached noon, everyone could no longer hold back their tiredness and another two staff members caught the cold. Although it did not affect them badly, there were still symptoms of dizziness and a heavy head. It affected the progress of their work and looking at it, it would become worse by tomorrow as the cold virus spread.
Seeing that they couldn’t take it any longer, Zhang Ye halted work and shouted, “Everyone, stop what you doing and gather. I want to say something. Little Wang, I remember that there are some disposable face masks in the rest area, can you get them and bring them here so that everyone can use them?” This was meant to restrict the cold from spreading. If everyone had ample rest like they usually did, then there would be nothing to worry about. However, for today, it looked like every one of them would catch the cold since their immunity levels had dropped.
The face masks were brought over and distributed to everyone.
Then Zhang Ye said, “I know that everyone is feeling very tired, and there are a lot of you who caught the cold. It’s the same for me. If you give me a bed right now, I really wish that I could sleep in it for a full day without waking up. But we know that’s not possible since we still have a mission to complete. Our program team even bears a heavy responsibility. Right now, anyone can fall except for us!”
Zhang Zuo said, “Director Zhang, we understand.”
Wu Yi, also one of the people with a cold, said, “Right, we can bear with it.”
Zhang Ye then related an incident to everyone. “In the past, those who know me would know that when I recorded my talk show in Shanghai, due to various reasons, I had to finish recording the entire season’s episodes in a short period of time. At that time, I also felt that I couldn’t finish it on time. Other people’s programs could only record 2 episodes a week, but I had to finish 50 episodes in 4 days!”
4 days?
50 episodes?
Everyone listened to him seriously. They’d heard of this incident before since they were all industry insiders, so there were guaranteed to be some rumors and news going around. But they did not know the details and this was the first time they were truly hearing about it. 50 episodes in 4 days, this scared the shit out of everyone! As industry insiders, every one of them found this truly unbelievable!
Zhang Ye said, “I was in a really terrible state at that time and had a lot of stress. I thought to myself that it was impossible, that I couldn’t do it, yet I’m sure you all know what the outcome was. That’s right, I finished recording all the episodes. I managed to do it. I recorded the program from morning until night, then the next day, I did the same again. Every day, the audience in the studio kept changing, wave after wave, taking at least three or four groups of audiences per day. The staff were also on shift duty, resting a day and taking over duties from the other group the next day. Only I did not have a replacement to switch with. I couldn’t rest, but I persisted all the way and finished recording. Do you know how I did it? I think it was due to my determination and perseverance. Regarding something like perseverance, it can really be a wonderful thing at times. If you didn’t have it from the beginning, you probably wouldn’t be able to do it, but if you did not doubt yourself from the start, then you could definitely achieve it! Human beings are the strongest animal in this world, so don’t ever look down on humans, don’t look down on yourselves! Everyone’s potential is far greater than what you can imagine!”
Everyone nodded again and again.
Zhang Ye looked around at all the gathered men and women. “I’m saying this because I want to tell everyone that: we cannot stop! That we can still make another push!”
“Understood!”
“Received!”
“We have such willpower!”
“Don’t worry about it, Director Zhang! We guarantee that we will complete this mission!”
Everyone made their stand.
Zhang Ye nodded satisfied and asked, “So, what do we do if we catch a cold?”
Ha Qiqi sniffed in her mucus and answered, “Bear with it!”
Zhang Zuo said, “Hold it back with willpower!”
Wu Yi said with determination, “Use our perseverance to fight the disease!”
Each person sounded more determined than the previous!
But Zhang Ye was slightly shaking his head.
Was it wrong? Everyone was feeling unsure. What were they supposed to rely on?
Tenacity?
Character?
With that very breath that existed deep in the bottom of their hearts?
Zhang Ye declared, “What else can we do when we catch a cold? Of course we have to take our medication! How can you persevere when it comes to such things!”
Everyone collectively “fainted” on the spot!
Oh! And there you were talking about perseverance and determination for an entire day, yet when it came to the question, it totally had nothing to do with it at all!