Chapter 1355 - The Spring Festival Gala's viewership ratings are out!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Noon.

In his bedroom.

The two of them were putting their clothes back on.

At this moment, Zhang Ye’s mother called to hurry them up.

“Mom.”

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready to leave.”

“Why are you so slow? Your aunt and cousin are waiting.”

“We’ll be there immediately. We just finished watching the rebroadcast of the Spring Festival Gala.”

“Hurry up.”

“Got it.”

The call ended.

Wu Zeqing chuckled. “Never does a word of truth come out of your mouth.”

“Heh, then what should I have said?” Zhang Ye got dressed very quickly. When he saw that Old Wu was still only half-dressed, he said, “I’m gonna head downstairs to warm up the car.”

Old Wu said, “OK, I’ll be right behind you.”

Zhang Ye threw on a jacket, then opened the door and left. As he made his way downstairs, he had a spring in his step and felt like he was floating. The feeling was amazing. Having worked at Central TV without much rest for the past two months, he was finally relieved of a great deal of the tiredness. He felt very spirited as well, and his eyes glistened with life. He felt “powered up” again and even started humming the melody to “The Hottest Ethnic Trend.” This sort of life was so enjoyable.

He had a harmonious family.

His work was going well.

His career was thriving.

And his wife was so beautiful.

He wouldn’t exchange this life for anything!

Downstairs.

Zhang Ye walked to his car. But before he could even reach it, 20to 30 people suddenly appeared in the seemingly empty neighborhood. It was just like magic, and Zhang Ye got a big scare from it.

Three reporters materialized from behind the car.

Five reporters sprang out from behind the tree in the garden.

Six reporters came out from the corridor beside.

It was as though this were an illusion where people appeared out of thin air.

“Teacher Zhang!”

“Director Zhang!”

“We’re from the Morning News!”

“Can we interview you for a moment?”

“Teacher Zhang, can we take up a few minutes of your time?”

“We’re from Youth Daily!”

“We’re from Xinhua News!”

The reporters from the news outlets surged forward in a chaotic fashion. They had probably been camping there for a very long time. But this wasn’t unexpected since Zhang Ye had become the most watched person in the entertainment industry ever since he took responsibility for the Spring Festival Gala. The news related to the Spring Festival Gala was overflowing, yet the most important person related to it had not once given an interview during the entire duration. Zhang Ye did not give any interviews, nor could the reporters find him. Even when the Spring Festival Gala ended last night, many of the reporters did not go back home and just waited at the main entrance of Central TV. In the end, they still couldn’t catch him leaving. As a result, they could only descend on his place to wait for him. With the Spring Festival Gala doing so well this year, who wouldn’t want to get a first-hand interview with Zhang Ye?

As Zhang Ye was in a good mood, he answered with a smile, “All I have is five minutes, so ask quickly.” He opened the car door and started the engine.

The reporters got excited and immediately shoved their cameras and microphones at him.

“Did you plan out all 40 of the acts? How did you manage to do that?”

“I just wrote them all.”

“Director Zhang, there’s news that you’ve already been earmarked internally to be the executive director for the next Spring Festival Gala.”

“Your info is not reliable. I don’t know anything about it.”

“Which act are you most happy with for this Spring Festival Gala?”

“I’m happy with all of them.”

“People say that you saved the Spring Festival Gala. What do you have to say about that?”

“Hur hur, it was not me who saved the Spring Festival Gala, it was everyone who didn’t give up on it. That’s the most important reason of all.”

“What were the biggest problems you encountered while directing the Spring Festival Gala?”

“The biggest problem? It would have to be that I only had 24 hours in a day. If only I had another 10 hours each day, I could’ve gotten a better night’s sleep.”

“The Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings will be announced soon. Are you looking forward to it?”

“I guess.”

“What are your expectations?”

“Aiyo, that’s difficult to say.”

At this moment, the click clack of high heels came from the corridor.

Wu Zeqing had come downstairs.

When the reporters saw her, they restrained themselves.

“Chief Wu.”

“Uh, Chief Wu.”

The reporters all subconsciously carved out a path for her to pass.

Wu Zeqing smiled at them. “Is the interview done yet?”

This question left the reporters too embarrassed to say no.

“It’s already done.”

“Thank you, Director Zhang.”

“Chief Wu, happy New Year to you.”

“We won’t hold the two of you back then.”

“Then we’ll get going.”

In fact, they still had a ton of questions to ask. It wouldn’t be enough to ask a 1,000 questions in an interview with Zhang Ye. But with Chief Wu’s arrival, the reporters could only obediently take their leave.

…

At Central TV.

A lot of people had come back to work overtime today.

This included many of those in the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee and production team.

Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo also rushed over early in the morning in anticipation of the result.

“Have the viewership ratings been released?”

“Not yet.”

“It should be out soon.”

“Yes, the stats department said that they’re going through the calculation of the results right now.”

“Will we be able to surpass 20%?”

“That won’t be a problem for sure!”

“Yes, I also don’t think that 20% will be difficult to achieve. But anything more than that is harder to say.”

…

At the SARFT.

“It’s still not out?”

“Chief Liu, it’ll be out very soon!”

“Let’s hope that it will be a good result.”

“Yeah, how the Spring Festival Gala does this year will all depend on the viewership ratings.”

“If we’re talking about word of mouth and the response from the viewers, then this year’s Spring Festival Gala has clearly been a big success. But the end result is still dependent on the viewership ratings. It’s something that we cannot avoid no matter what.”

“That’s right.”

“Little Qi, notify me once the viewership ratings have been released. The higher-ups are also waiting to know about it.”

“Understood, Chief Liu.”

…

In the crosstalk world.

“I hear that the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings will be released very soon.”

“It should be really high this time around, right?”

“That might not happen. For the past few years, they were all hovering around 20% or so. The lowest it went to was around 19%. This perennial weakening is not something that can be improved overnight.”

“Haha, it will be fun to see if the viewership ratings are not ideal this time.”

“My guess is that it won’t be too good.”

“Me too. That Five Cards of Fortune Collection campaign was too scammy. Just take a look online. There are still countless people scolding Zhang Ye over it. The viewership ratings will definitely be put in doubt too.”

“Yes, however high it might get, it definitely won’t cross the 25% mark!”

“25%? I think you’re already overestimating it.”

…

At a dinner event in the directing circle.

Li Ke and about nine well-known directors were seated together at a table. They also started discussing this matter.

“How much do you all think it’s going to get?”

“27%?”

“I think it might only be 25% for a more conservative guess.”

“It should be around 27% to 28%.”

“Will it be able to reach 30%?”

“That’s not likely to happen.”

“It will be difficult, but it’s not impossible.”

“If it does hit 30%, then Zhang Ye will truly be godly!”

…

At a newspaper firm.

“It’s not out yet?”

“No, they still haven’t released the figures.”

“Make the necessary preparations. Leave the exact figure blank for now and get the rest of the content filled in so that we can publish it the moment it gets released!”

“Uh, Chief Editor, then what kind of viewership ratings should we phrase it with?”

“Write one for 20% and another for 30%. We’ll have two drafts on standby.”

“What if it hits 40%?”

“40%? You must be dreaming, right?”

“Damn, you’re right.”

“Stay vigilant and be prepared for any news!”

…

On Weibo.

“How much will it get?”

“Yeah, this is taking so long! Why haven’t they released it yet?”

“I also wanna know how many people got pulled back into watching the Spring Festival Gala by Zhang Ye!”

“I’m sure that the viewership ratings will hit 40%!”

“Previous poster, please wake up!”

“Hahaha, it’s a little overblown to claim that it will hit 40%. But I believe that 30% is still possible.”

“That scammer, I’ll curse his ratings to not even hit 20%! Just thinking about those five deceptions is making me angry again!”

“Pfft, Zhang Ye also successfully used the ‘collection of the five deceptions’ to scam my family of our viewership ratings. I hope the fellow doesn’t even get 10% for the viewership ratings, otherwise it’ll be very difficult to ease the hatred I have for him!”

“That’s right! Let’s fucking curse the viewership ratings to a historical low!”

“You’re extremely right! Zhang Ye has always liked breaking historical records, so let’s give him a chance at it this time as well. Please condemn this jinxed scammer to an eternity of infamy!”

“Sincerely wishing for the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings to make a new historic low!”

“Sincerely wishing for the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings to make a new historic low!”

“Sincerely wishing for the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings to make a new historic low!”

The group of netizens were making a commotion with their jokes and laughter. A large number of them were even Zhang Ye’s fans. These people had always been unafraid of trouble. Wherever there was a commotion, Zhang Ye’s army would be there as well. From that moment on, a discussion and forecast of the Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings were set off on the Internet. Regarding the final results of the Spring Festival Gala that Zhang Ye directed this year, they were all very concerned and wanted to know how it had done!

The release of the viewership ratings was impending!

There was a very tense mood at Central TV!

The executives were feeling very nervous!

The media was also waiting impatiently!

The people were very eager to find out!

Everyone was just waiting for a number!

The entire world’s Chinese population was waiting for an outcome!

…

At 12 o’clock sharp.

It wasn’t released yet.

At 1 o’clock in the afternoon.

It wasn’t released yet.

At 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

It still wasn’t released yet.

Many people were almost going crazy over this!

“Holy fuck!”

“Why isn’t it out yet?”

“Didn’t they say that it was going to get published soon?”

“Yeah, how long has it been already?”

“Is the statistics agency even working?”

“Their work rate is really poor!”

…

At the statistics agency.

In the office.

“Boss, this—”

“That’s impossible!”

“But the numbers show that there’s nothing wrong!”

“Calculate it again! Use the Band II signal statistics!”

“Yes!”

Not long after.

“Boss, we’re still getting the same number.”

“Impossible! Calculate it again!”

“Uh, OK!”

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

They calculated it over and over again!

They used all kinds of methods to calculate it again and again!

The end results were still the same. This left the entire office’s statisticians a little dumbfounded. They stared at the figures and were feeling at a loss at what to do. They thought that there could only be two possibilities. One was that the computer had gone crazy and caused all of the equipment to go haywire at once, and the second was that all of them at the office had gone crazy!

How was this possible!

How the fuck was this possible!

Several of the leaders were stunned on the spot!

Everyone in the office stared wide-eyed at one another!

A minute later, someone finally spoke up.

“B-Boss.”

“Yes?”

“Are we going to publish this?”

“…Just publish it.”

…

Past 3 in the afternoon.

At Central TV.

A group of people were sitting there impatiently and having tea.

Suddenly, the employee responsible for liaising with the statistics agency came rushing in after pushing the door open. “It’s out! The Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings are out!”

Ha Qiqi flew over.

Everyone else stood up!

“How much is it?”

“Quickly speak!”

“Did it reach 30%?”

“Did it?”

That employee panted, “Everyone, everyone, you have to see this for yourselves! My God!”

Ha Qiqi was the closest, so she snatched the viewership ratings form and lowered her head to read it. She then screamed, “Holy shit! This—this—”

Zhang Zuo ran over and grabbed it. “What are you shouting for. Let me see—what the!” His hands trembled and he dropped the piece of paper!

A third person rushed up. “Just how much is it? Let me have a look—damn! Damn! Damn!”