Chapter 905: Zhang Ye's live interview!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
On the same day, the news was out!
The newspapers, television, and online media were all fighting to cover this piece of news!
"Zhang Ye promoted into the A-list!"
"The latest Celebrity Rankings Index!"
"The A-list Celebrity Rankings have finally been updated!"
"Zhang Ye surprisingly breaks into the A-list!"
"Can Zhang Ye maintain his ranking as an A-lister? Let us wait and see!"
"A raffish celebrity creates a miracle that won't be replicated by anyone!"
"A journey: How Zhang Ye walked his path to fame!"
"Zhang Ye: A prodigy not recognized by his industry peers!"
"Feats or faults, leave it to the future generations to judge for themselves?"
In fact, Zhang Ye was ascending to cloud nine looking at all these headlines!
The A-list Celebrity Rankings had stayed unchanged for a long time. It had always cycled between the same few people moving up and down on the list without any new entries. After all, even if one were to shoot to fame overnight, they would at most get onto the B-list. This would be in the most extreme of circumstances where a celebrity shot to fame. But to get onto the A-list? This was something that required results, with a need for background and an accumulation of popularity. A celebrity who shot to fame overnight would never be able to hold onto the status of an A-lister, which was why this ranking had been stable for such a long time. Most outsiders could never break into it!
But today, Zhang Ye had broken the stalemate. A celebrity with average looks, someone who could never depend on his looks to make a living, this person had actually managed to stumble his way to a new height. In the eyes of many, this was a miracle. If it was just the B- or C-list rankings, this would have been acceptable. But in the ranks of the A-list, which celebrity did not depend on their looks to make a living? Even if they depended on their talents and other factors, their looks were definitely still outstanding. This had become one of the prerequisites of the A-list, but with Zhang Ye's appearance on it, it had surprised everyone. For someone who had just debuted for less than two years, someone who only looked a little better than average, he had somehow been promoted into the A-list?
Although he was still ranked last.
Although his popularity was still unstable as of now.
In the afternoon, Zhang Ye received a call and left in a hurry.
...
At Central TV.
The heavens were kind today with clear skies.
When Zhang Ye arrived, Yan Tianfei's secretary was waiting for him at the entrance. The secretary was already walking up to welcome him when he spotted Zhang Ye's car arriving from afar.
"Teacher Zhang, congratulations! Congratulations to you!" the secretary said.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Thank you very much."
The secretary immediately said, "The interview will be done on Central TV Live News. Please come with me."
Zhang Ye nodded and followed. "Alright. It won't take long, right?"
The secretary replied, "At most ten minutes, but it's a live broadcast."
"Alright, I understand," Zhang Ye said.
The secretary laughed. "I was afraid that you wouldn't come."
Zhang Ye shrugged and remarked, "If it's a live interview with Central TV, why would I not come?"
Right now, Zhang Ye needed to solidify his position and popularity. Having just been promoted into the A-list, the newcomer clearly could not compare with the other A-listers as he wouldn't have their foundations of fame. In the short term, he couldn't compete with them, so there was no need to think about surpassing them. But for the people behind him, their popularity did not differ much from his. That previous A-lister Zhang Ye had replaced was currently at the top of the B-list rankings, so it could be said that he might still return to the A-list at any time and push Zhang Ye back down the rankings. At this time, it was Zhang Ye's most unstable and vulnerable period. He needed to solidify this place he had fought so hard for!
Since there was an interview?
And it was even a live interview on Central TV?
Then of course he had to come. Otherwise, that former A-list celebrity might just come up with something and Zhang Ye would return to the B-list the next day, becoming the most short-lived A-lister in history.
Besides, it wasn't easy to secure this interview either!
There were a lot of going-ons behind it.
After receiving news of Zhang Ye getting promoted into the A-list, Central TV News Channel contacted Department 14 and communicated with them, hoping to arrange for a short live interview with Zhang Ye. According to convention, whenever a celebrity was promoted into the A-list, it was always considered a major event. Therefore, Central TV—being the big brother of television stations—couldn't possibly miss out on reporting such news, so they would usually arrange for a one-on-one live interview with that celebrity on the day of. But the reason why this was delayed until the afternoon was mainly because of the rather awkward relationship between Central TV and Zhang Ye. Having gone through a lawsuit, having fought and scolded each other, the people of the Central TV News Channel could not make the decision to do this interview. They had to urgently seek out the heads to communicate their intentions and hold a meeting to discuss it. It took until the afternoon before this live interview with Zhang Ye was approved, although that would be considered a good thing even with all the setbacks.
Suddenly.
In front of him, his colleagues all appeared!
"Director Zhang!"
"Director Zhang!"
"Teacher Zhang!"
Ha Qiqi, Little Wang, Tong Fu, and Huang Dandan were all here!
Zhang Ye was surprised by them and said with a smile, "Whoa, why are you all back at work on the second day of the new year?"
Ha Qiqi smiled. "We're not. We knew that you were going to come for a live interview, so we came back specifically for that. We wanted to congratulate you and to also cheer you on."
Little Wang gave him a thumbs up and said in admiration, "Director Zhang, you're so awesome! When I heard about you becoming an A-list celebrity, I was totally stunned by the news!"
"Director Zhang, treat us!"
"Yeah, you have treat us!"
"Treat, treat, treat!"
"Zhang Zuo and Wu Yi will be coming over in a while too!"
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Alright, don't leave then. After the interview is done, I'll treat everyone!"
...
The outside world.
The news had long since been released.
"Zhang Ye's going to appear on Central TV's live broadcast!"
"What time?"
"It's almost time!"
"Ah, then I must definitely catch it!"
"Uh, didn't Central TV and Zhang Ye have a falling out?"
"But this is such big news. They still have to invite Zhang Ye for an interview no matter what. He's an A-list celebrity now, a big shot in the entertainment industry, so how can he still be treated like he was before? Even if Central TV dislikes him, for such a big piece of news, they would definitely have to report it!"
"It's only a ten-minute live interview? Back when Huo Dongfang rose into the A-list, he gave an interview for half an hour! They even made a special program to cover him!"
"But the key here is that it's Zhang Ye!"
"Pfft, with his relationships, how can he possibly be compared to Sect Leader Huo?"
"Hahaha, it's already considered very good that he has ten minutes!"
"Let's see if Teacher Zhang can use this chance to solidify his position. The original A-lister who was knocked down to the B-list is hot on his heels. The difference in the popularity scores is just tens of thousands!"
"Teacher Zhang, we're cheering you on!"
"You must definitely hold onto your position!"
A popularity score difference of tens of thousands of points might sound like a lot, but at this level, it would be considered very little. It could just be the difference of one song, a commercial, an interview, or an incident on Weibo. Their popularity scores were very close. Whoever would be in the A-list tomorrow was still an open question!
The interview was about to begin!
His parents turned on the television.
Zhang Ye's relatives and neighbors also tuned into Central TV News Channel.
At home, Yan Tianfei switched on his television.
Chen Guang and Fan Wenli were watching.
Zhang Xia was watching.
Ci Xiufang was watching.
Dong Shanshan was watching.
Yao Jiancai was watching.
Peking University's Teacher Su Na was watching.
Central TV Department 1's Jiang Yuan, Xu Yipeng, and Chen Ye were watching.
The peers of the crosstalk world were watching.
Those from the sporting world were watching.
Zhang Yuanqi and her manager were watching.
Even Wu Zeqing was watching.
Zhang Ye's relatives, friends, colleagues, fans, even his foes, those who liked him, those who disliked him, many of these people were waiting and watching their televisions at this moment, waiting for Zhang Ye's first appearance since getting into the A-list Celebrity Rankings. They wanted to know just what he would say after getting promoted into the A-list.
...
On Central TV News Channel.
Central TV Live News began its live broadcast!
The host was a woman in her thirties. Her name was Zhang Ya, which was a rather strange name. She was a veteran host of Central TV who had even hosted News Simulcast for a period of time. She was also one of the few remaining people at Central TV who had never had any conflict with Zhang Ye. Therefore, her interviewing Zhang Ye today came as no surprise at all.
A long table.
And two chairs.
The two of them sat facing each other.
Zhang Ya put on her signature smile and announced, "We're very happy to be able to invite my colleague to today's Central TV Live News—welcome, Teacher Zhang Ye."
Zhang Ya smiled and said, "Hello, Teacher Zhang Ya."
"Speaking of, we were probably family 500 hundred years ago," Zhang Ya said with a smile.
Zhang Ye nodded. "Right, I heard of your great name long ago."
Zhang Ya asked, "Oh? Teacher Zhang knows of me?"
Zhang Ye chuckled. "I often watch your news shows, so in my mind, you're just like the stars in the sky!"
Zhang Ya said in surprise, "Wow, do I shine that brightly to you?"
"Hai." Zhang Ye then followed with, "Whether there's one star more or one star less, it doesn't make any difference to me."
"Pfft!" Zhang Ya, host who had anchored news shows, had always done her job with only two kinds of expressions, with a serious look or a professional smile! But today, in this process of the live broadcast, Zhang Ya had giggled because of Zhang Ye's words!
The people watching their televisions were also entertained!
"Hahahaha!"
"Aiyo, Zhang Ye is really amazing!"
"It's a live broadcast and he's still talking that way?"
"It feels like he's performing a crosstalk instead!"
"Of course! How can Zhang Ye's interviews be like the others? Hahaha!"
"I like this! I like him so much!"
"That flamboyance can only come from someone like him!"
His mother also said in a speechless manner, "That rascal, he isn't afraid to say anything!"
On TV.
Zhang Ya laughed for a long time before finally giving a helpless expression. "I've finally had a taste of Teacher Zhang's eloquence today."
"It's just a joke, just a joke," Zhang Ye cracked.
In fact, after being together at Central TV for so long, Zhang Ya and Zhang Ye were coming face to face for the first time officially. To say that this was her first humbling experience with Zhang Ye, that was really the truth and she really did learn a little from Zhang Ye. She had interviewed countless celebrities and done countless news reporting in the past. Even for the celebrities who had just risen into the A-list, she had interviewed two of them before. When those newly promoted A-listers came here to Central TV Live News, they would tend to be serious and polite, or keep thanking their fans and family. But this was truly the first time she had come across someone like Zhang Ye who immediately cracked jokes the moment he spoke. At that instant, she wasn't too prepared and couldn't help but lose her composure. She could only smile wryly as she thought of how Zhang Ye was really different from other stars!