Chapter 1317

Meetings!

Debates!

Disagreements!

Voting!

Two days!

The higher-ups spent two entire days discussing it!

At this time, the Spring Festival Gala was becoming a very pressing issue. The previous appointment of the executive director had already been dragged on for too long. In fact, it was one of the latest appointments in all the past years. In the end, that executive director did not even take a few days before he decided to step down from the role. After another period of dragging on, they finally invited Zhang Ye to take charge of the Spring Festival Gala. The timing was so tight that every minute and second was extremely precious and couldn’t be wasted. Yet the higher-ups spent these two days cooped up in a meeting to decide on the possibility of implementing an advertising format for the Spring Festival Gala. From that, it showed how important this matter was!

No one dared to make the decision!

No one was willing to bear this infamy!

But now, Zhang Ye had stepped up. He would be responsible for all the consequences. Further, he even submitted such a shocking advertising proposal and had also worked out the preliminary negotiations with the other party. After the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee saw this proposal, they were all astounded. And even the executives above these executives could not help but feel impressed by Zhang Ye’s idea when they learned about it—he was truly a prodigy at advertising and marketing. If they adopted this advertising plan by Zhang Ye, not only would they be paid the advertising fees, it could even drive up the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings and popularity!n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Should they go ahead with it?

Could they allow such a precedent?

The higher-ups were hesitating!

For such an important matter, even the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee executives were unable to make a decision about it. It would require someone even higher up, or even the higher higher-ups to approve of the plan!

…

In the office of the Spring Festival Gala’s production team.

Zhang Ye was busy preparing the set design proposal.

“Director, this won’t work.”

“It will work if I say it does.”

“But this would cost too much money.”

A bunch of stage designers were arguing back and forth.

Zhang Ye was actually waiting as well. He had already been waiting for the past two days. Without money, all these set design proposals would have been done for naught. It wouldn’t get translated onto the set at all.

Were they still undecided?

Was it really not possible?

He was getting really anxious.

Suddenly, Ha Qiqi ran in. “Director Zhang!”

Zhang Ye looked at her. “How goes it?”

Ha Qiqi exclaimed excitedly, “It’s been approved! They’ve approved it!”

Zhang Ye immediately said, “How did they say it would be done?”

Ha Qiqi quickly explained, “There can only be a maximum of five advertisers and we mustn’t exceed on that number. Of the advertisement money received, 1 billion yuan will be disbursed to us for our operating expenses. The leader has requested that every single yuan be used wisely. As for how the money should be spent, you can decide on it as long as you submit the requests for approval!”

Instantly, the Spring Festival Gala production team’s staff screamed!

“What?”

“The higher-ups have really approved it?”

“This is great!”

“Ahhhh!”

“We finally have money! We’re rich!”

Some of the women on the team got so emotional that they almost cried!

There was a time when these people on the Spring Festival Gala production team were laughed at and called the poorest production team in the industry by their peers. They had the biggest gala stage to work on, but didn’t have the budget of a large scale variety show. They couldn’t afford to buy or get anything done, didn’t manage to have their plans approved, and even had to miserly calculate if they had enough money left when ordering equipment. If they spent a little more than it looked necessary, they would get criticized by the media for recklessly spending the taxpayers’ money. As a result, the higher-ups became very cautious and managed their spending very carefully. Who could understand what they went through? It was simply unbearable to look back upon that!

However, it was different now!

Their executive director’s proposal had been approved by the higher-ups!

This would mean that they would be getting the funding very soon, and it wasn’t just 100 million or 200 million they were talking about. It was 1 billion RMB! And it was even money from sponsors, so they wouldn’t have to worry about others wagging their tongues about how they spent it! They were about to turn from the poorest production team into the richest one in the world!

What did that feel like?

They felt as though they were soaring to the skies!

Zhang Ye also suddenly became very confident. “Old Ha, quickly contact the advertisers. Make an appointment with them to get the contracts signed so that we can immediately execute the advertising proposal!”

Ha Qiqi replied, “OK, I’ll get to it immediately!”

Zhang Ye said, “I only have one request for them!”

Ha Qiqi said, “What is it?”

Zhang Ye said, “That they disburse the advertising fees within a week!”

Ha Qiqi said, “Alright, I’ll talk to them about that!”

Everyone got down to business!

Some of the people were full of energy, while others had a bitter look on their faces.

Director Zhang was playing with fire this time. Was the Spring Festival Gala really going to advertise now? What kind of a result would that garner? Right now, no one dared to make any predictions!

…

In the outside world.

The media was getting restless.

It has already been two days, but there was still no sign of any activity regarding the Spring Festival Gala. They had spent the past few days waiting for Zhang Ye’s first move since his appointment as the executive director. However, there was still nothing that came out of that. A lot of the reporters could not believe this. This was Zhang Ye they were talking about, the well-known hooligan of the entertainment industry. If it were any other executive director who stayed quiet after their appointment, they might still believe it! But to see Zhang Ye not making a move? That was just impossible! He didn’t pick a fight with anyone? He didn’t scold anyone? When had this fellow ever been so composed? This was not his style!

Beijing Times.

The editorial department was abuzz with conversation.

“The Spring Festival Gala production team is too quiet.”

“Yeah, it’s so quiet that it’s scary.”

“Why do I feel like a storm is brewing?”

At this moment, someone ran in!

“Not good!”

“What’s the matter, Little Li?”

“I just got back from Central TV. Something big has happened with the Spring Festival Gala!”

“What is it? Say it quickly!”

“Zhang Ye is—”

“What did he do?”

“He’s turning to advertisements!”

“What?”

“Holy shit!”

“I knew it, I knew that something big would happen!”

…

At Xinhua News Agency.

“Something has happened! The Spring Festival Gala is going to advertise!”

“Get lost, that’s impossible.”

“It’s true!”

“Hur hur, who would dare advertise during the Spring Festival Gala?”

“Zhang Ye dares!”

“Damn, are you serious?”

“It’s verified to be 100% true! This news has been confirmed!”

“What?”

“Has Zhang Ye gone crazy?”

…

People’s Daily.

The editorial department was in utter silence!

“Holy fuck!”

“This—”

“This is crazy!”

“This is insanity!”

“They’re going to have advertisements on the Spring Festival Gala?”

“Heavens!”

“This year’s Spring Festival Gala is going to be chaos!”

“That’s what they get for appointing a reckless man like Zhang Ye to take charge of the gala!”

…

The media was stunned!

The industry was puking blood!

After two days of waiting and inaction, the first thing that Zhang Ye did for the Spring Festival Gala had stunned the entire country’s citizens! Zhang Ye was indeed still that same old Zhang Ye. When he didn’t make a move, everything was fine. But the moment he did, it would always be earth-shattering. The Spring Festival Gala was going to have advertisements in it? Other than him, who would even toy with that sort of idea!

The people were dumbfounded!

“Are you serious?”

“Oh my God!”

“Zhang Ye is too bold!”

“He fucking has the courage of a lion!”

“I knew that there would be trouble the moment they said he was taking charge of the Central TV Spring Festival Gala. Just look at this. It’s only been a few days, but the Spring Festival Gala is going to take advertisers? If this continues for another two months, the Spring Festival Gala will surely get dismantled by Zhang Ye! Aiyo, goddammit, there have never been advertisements on the Spring Festival Gala before!”

“Pfft!”

“Zhang Ye is such a scammer!”

“This is great. He’s dragged the Spring Festival Gala down!”

“He’s capable of causing trouble everywhere he goes!”

“This has turned into something big!”

“How could he bring what they do on variety shows onto the Spring Festival Gala!”

“If the Spring Festival Gala has advertisements on it, how much would the advertising fees cost? Just having a brief moment of screen time would cost at least a 100 million, right?”

“What a scammer this Zhang Ye is! They appointed you to be in charge of the Spring Festival Gala so that you could improve it, not earn money for it. Aiyo, this is so funny!”

“Hahahahaha!”

“Zhang Ye is indeed very unconventional!”

“The higher-ups too, why would they approve a proposal like this?”

“Yeah, the higher-ups are really giving a lot of face to Zhang Ye.”

“This year’s Spring Festival Gala will definitely be different from the previous years.”

“That’s right. With Zhang Ye around, how can there not be any controversies?”

“The world can’t stop our Lord Zhang!”

“Just let him do it. The past years have always been too traditional because everyone was so concerned with their statuses. It’s not bad to have Zhang Ye introduce some chaos into the equation. Who knows, he might just be able to come up with a few tricks. Furthermore, this year’s Spring Festival Gala bears his name. It won’t matter how much of a mess it gets into. Zhang Ye will be totally responsible for it. He must have considered the consequences before going ahead with this plan.”

People were praising it.

People were sarcastically poking fun at it.

People were scolding it.

People were criticizing it.

Zhang Ye’s actions had caused a great uproar in the country!

The news also started being reported about in the nation!

Even the Asian media outlets started picking up on the reports. For a world-class stage like the Spring Festival Gala, there was also a lot of attention given to it in Asia. Besides, Zhang Ye was also an A-list celebrity in the Asian Celebrity Rankings, so even if he was still not that appealing to people in Asian countries, he was still known to many of them!

He was getting a mixed reception!

There was a continued controversy about this!

But there was an opinion that seemed pretty unified across all the media outlets!

All of them unanimously agreed that Zhang Ye was: the most daring executive director in the history of the Spring Festival Gala!

Daring to advertise also required courage!

Further, on a stage like the Spring Festival Gala?

This was a decision that no any ordinary person could make!