Chapter 1325 - The second approval session begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Days passed.

The competition was getting intense on the Celebrity Rankings Index.

—A Heavenly King achieved great success at a global new year countdown concert!

—A Heavenly Queen’s latest holiday movie’s box office earnings reach a new high!

—Another Heavenly King’s suspected relationship was exposed but later proven to be a case of mistaken identity!

The end of the year 1 was approaching, and the artists were starting to compete with one another. Sometimes, the ranking of a celebrity at the end of a year would be an indicator of their net worth in the coming year. If they wanted to raise their net worth, endorsement pay, or film commissions, their position on the Celebrity Rankings Index was the most important criteria. The competition amongst the celebrities still boiled down to their popularities overall.

But common folk were still concerned with the changes in the S-list rankings. Since Zhang Ye was making a move to reach the summit, one of those seven S-list celebrities would have to step down. Judging from the packed schedules of the Heavenly Kings and Queens, it could be seen that they were responding to this matter. In fact, their response was very intense too, and this further illustrated that Zhang Ye was truly becoming a threat to them. They were finally unable to sit still. The battle had begun.

In recent days.

A certain Heavenly King’s popularity rose again.

A certain Heavenly Queen had reclaimed her spot at the pinnacle of the film industry.

Those seven people had more or less taken another step.

It was the same for Zhang Ye. Wearing the halo of the Spring Festival Gala, a lot of attention was also given to him. Even though he didn’t have any new works to speak of, even if he didn’t appear in front of the audience, Zhang Ye’s popularity still did not drop. In fact, it continued to climb steadily. During this period of time, it was all about the Spring Festival Gala.

Would it be a success?

Or would it be a failure?

Would Zhang Ye be able to reach the summit?

Was there going to be a change in the entertainment circle soon?

All of that would have to depend on this year’s Spring Festival Gala!

…

On this day.

It was the day of the second approval session.

The news reports were updated like a bombing run. Some of the news had only just been received by the media. The secrecy surrounding the Spring Festival Gala had always been very high, so it was very difficult for the media to get hold of the latest updates surrounding it.

“The second approval session begins!”

“The Spring Festival Gala’s production enters its final stages!”

“Who will be chosen for the finale act?”

“According to a news source, Zhang Yuanqi will be joining the cast of this year’s Spring Festival Gala!”

“Major insider news: Zhang Ye redos the program list!”

“Zhang Ye personally plans out over 40 acts for the gala!”

“Will Zhang Ye be able to manage the dance choreographies?”

“Will the magic programs also be personally created by Zhang Ye?”

“After tonight, the final program list for the Spring Festival Gala will be revealed!”

After many of the citizens saw the news, they were scared silly. Like the media, it was the first time they’d heard of such a thing!

“What did they say?”

“Holy fuck!”

“40 acts?”

“Dancing? Singing? Skits? Crosstalks? Magic? Acrobatics?”

“All of them? All of the acts were rewritten by Zhang Ye?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“They must be mistaken, right!”

“Impossible! This is probably fake news, right?”

“Teacher Zhang is planning something again!”

“My titanium dog eyes are blinded! Does it have to be this exciting!”

“They’re really playing it big!”

The media turned their attention.

The public was in an uproar.

The industry insiders also expressed their views.

“This is too rash of Director Zhang.”

“Yeah, who the heck comes up with all the acts by themselves?”

“He wrote all of the 40 acts by himself? Isn’t that too exaggerated?”

“But from another perspective, this shows that the guy is amazing.”

“Yeah! Other than him, who would dare to do it like this?”

“Does he know anything about dancing? Why is he even doing the choreography for the dances?”

“Of course he does. Isn’t he the founding father of plaza dancing? The version of the dance that the aunties these days are all dancing to for ‘Small Apple’ and ‘The Hottest Ethnic Trend’ were all choreographed by him.”

“Pfft!”

“Can you even call that a dance?”

“He should just leave those matters to the professionals. Why is he taking on everything himself? Does he feel that of all the dance choreographers and skit writers in the country, no one is better than him?”

The controversy was no small matter.

It was very shocking.

There had never been an executive director who wrote all the acts in any of the previous galas. Just how confident and crazy would a person have to be to do something like that?

…

At Central TV.

The venue of the second approval session.

The main stage was still not fully set up, so they had to use Broadcasting Studio 3 as a temporary venue.

Backstage.

“Teacher Qi, is everything alright?”

“Everything is fine!”

“Have you changed that move we discussed?”

“We’ve already rehearsed the changes!”

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you all then. Big Sis Ci, please don’t change the lines, alright?”

“I got it. I tested it after that time and felt that the lines you gave were still better.”

“Little Hu Die.”

“Here, here, I’m here, Director Zhang.”

“Don’t you screw up.”

“Don’t worry. I-I’ll definitely complete my task!”

“The second approval session is about to begin. Management will be coming to observe as well, so do your best, everyone!”

Zhang Ye gave his instructions to them one by one. Today was the most crucial day of all, and he was suddenly getting anxious as well. It was make or break. Zhang Ye was also not 100% sure if they would succeed. He had drawn up all the acts and given the performers a chance, so the rest of it would be up to them to perform to their best onstage.

Little Wang ran in and shouted, “Director Zhang, Sister-in-law has arrived.”

Backstage, the looks in the eyes of quite few people turned ambiguous.

Zhang Ye coughed. “So what if she has arrived. Why are you shouting that out?”

When he stepped outside, he saw the executives from the management.

Other than the executives on the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee, the officials above them from the Ministry of Culture and the SARFT were also here. Clearly, the negative news reports about the Spring Festival Gala had unsettled them quite a bit. Someone had probably snitched on them and made the higher-ups worried about the event, leading to this joint inspection of the second approval session’s acts. More than a dozen people had come to take part, including the Ministry of Culture’s deputy minister and the SARFT’s deputy chief.

Wu Zeqing was among them.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Old Wu.”

Wu Zeqing also smiled and walked over. “Here, I brought you a jacket.”

“Hai, you shouldn’t have.” Zhang Ye took it from her.

“It’s quite cold these days. You should wear more.” Wu Zeqing said, “Put this on.”

“Alright.” Zhang Ye put on the jacket.

Old Wu helped him adjust the collar and then gave him a glance before saying with a smile, “Alright, you look much more spirited this way.”

Zhang Ye whispered, “What’s with the group of people behind you? Why are they conducting a surprise check? Are they worried about what I’m doing?”

Wu Zeqing said, “Someone has some opinions regarding the acts you’ve planned. They have objections about the performers that you’ve invited as well.”

Zhang Ye said in amusement, “Alright, then I guess I’ll just have to open their eyes today and show them what we have planned.”

An executive on the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee called for him.

“Director Zhang.”

“Yes?”

“When are we beginning?”

“They’re almost ready.”

The leaders got seated in the first row.

Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and a few others anxiously came to look for Zhang Ye.

“Are the acts really going to be OK?” Zhang Zuo asked.

Ha Qiqi said, “I’m not really that confident either.”

Zhang Ye said, “We’ll have to see how they perform.”

The executives were already chattering among themselves.

Deputy Minister Zhou from the Ministry of Culture was the highest ranked official and was seated in the middle.

“The stage is not complete yet?”

“We’re almost done.”

“Is the program list really not acceptable?”

“Hai, those performers are really somewhat…”

“Then why didn’t you all intervene?”

“Director Zhang was very insistent on it. Besides, it’s not exactly easy for the organizing committee to intervene either.”

“Alright, I understand. Let’s have a look at the acts first then. The Spring Festival Gala is an important affair. It’s political, so it must not have any flaws. If the acts don’t work, then they’ll be pulled from the list!”

Deputy Minister Zhou’s words set the tone for today’s approval session.

It wasn’t until when Wu Zeqing came back with a smile on her face that they stopped discussing.

Deputy Minister Zhou had led a team here today for a “surprise attack” to check for problems with the acts. Too many people had feedback to him regarding the bizarre acts that Zhang Ye had come up with. As for what exactly the problems were, Deputy Minister Zhou did not have any details. However, since so many people had complained about it, he knew that there must be a reason.

He was really curious to see just what kinds of acts they were talking about.