Chapter 74: The Awardee’s Name has been Messed Up!

Friday.

Afternoon, there was a clear sky.

Today was the day of the live broadcast of the Golden Microphone Awards. Countless numbers of people crowded outside the Beijing Television Station’s Grand Theater. They were lining up with their entry tickets.

The moment that Zhang Ye came, he saw his colleagues.

“Little Zhang, over here!” Big Sis Zhou waved from the group.

“Big Sis Zhou? Auntie Sun?” Zhang Ye blinked before walking forward.

Auntie Sun let him cut in line. She thickened her Beijing accent, “Come over quickly. There’s no need to line up behind everyone.”

Zhang Ye did not feel bad about cutting in line, since he was nominated. He did not need to line up and could just show his work pass to enter. “Why is everyone here?” He really did not know that there would be so many people coming, as he had not gone to work the past few days. He had been fired from “Late-night Ghost Stories”, and “Old and Young Story Club” was still halted, so he did not have any work to do. Zhao Guozhou also took into account Zhang Ye’s mood, so he made an exception to let Zhang Ye take a few days off.

“These are tickets from the unit. There are many seats in the Grand Theater. Almost all our colleagues are here. Look – Tian Bin and his wife are right in front. See them? They are near security, and Teacher Xiaomei came early and is already inside. We actually came late.” Big Sis Zhou said laughingly.

Auntie Sun said in a comforting fashion, “Little Zhang, just relax today and don’t think about anything else.”

Big Sis Zhou also cheered him on, “Right. It’s alright if you don’t get it this time. There are still chances in the future. Just treat it as watching a show.”

Zhang Ye said untruthfully, “I understand.”

“That’s good. Let’s go.” It was their turn to go through security.

Throwing his lighter into the trash can, Zhang Ye passed through security and entered with them.

This was the largest venue that Beijing Television Station had. It could accommodate a thousand people. The seats for Zhang Ye’s unit were arranged to the right of the front rows. It was pretty good. After all, their radio station was part of the Beijing Broadcasting Television Station. It was their turf, so they naturally had priority treatment. It was much better as compared to the other broadcasting stations from the other provinces. This was the home turf advantage.

“Teacher Little Zhang, you’ve come?

“Sis Zhou, you are too slow.”

“Little Chen, Little Xu, why are you so early?”

The tickets for the Literature Channel were all in serial, so they naturally all sat together. Some came alone, while some brought their lovers. Some even brought their children.

After greeting each other, everyone sat down.

Right in front was the Beijing Radio Station’s News Channel’s seats. Zhāng Yě was sitting in the first row. Clearly, it was for him to easily go onstage to receive his award. He had already made his preparations. At this moment, he turned around after being reminded. He looked at Zhang Ye and raised his hand with a smile to attract Zhang Ye’s attention, “Zhang Ye.” He was the same age as Zhang Ye, but had entered the station half a year earlier, so he did not use the salutation of “Teacher”.

Zhang Ye looked over, “Oh?”

Zhāng Yě laughed, “Why aren’t you sitting in front? The both of us are nominated for our station.” There was not too much of a problem with these words, but people felt uncomfortable hearing it.

Everyone knew that Teacher Zhang Ye did not sit in the first row for nominees because he knew he would not win. Yet you had to rub it in? Aren’t you doing this on purpose!?

Zhang Ye said coldly, “There’s no need.”

“Oh, suit yourself, then.” Zhāng Yě turned around.

Jia Yan also happened to arrive at this moment. With his ticket in hand, he did not sit at the Literature Channel’s area, and instead went to the News Channel’s seats.

“Zhāng Yě.”

“Hi, Jia.”

“There was heavy traffic; that felt crappy.”

“Sit over here. I reserved a seat for you.”

Jia Yan and Zhāng Yě sat together. They chatted happily, as if there was no one else around them. Ever since Zhang Ye’s matter was made known and Jia Yan got his program, many people felt demoralized, seeing the Station Leader’s insidious schemes. Many people from the Literature Channel had excluded him from their circles, so Jia Yan decided not to make himself unwelcome. Since the colleagues from the Literature Channel did not value him, he did not value them, either. After all, with Deputy Station Head Jia, he could ignore anyone.

Once upon a time, when Jia Yan just came, everyone was very polite and friendly to him. After all, he was a relative of the Leader. In contrast, Zhang Ye had been excluded for a period of time. But now, the situation had reversed itself. There was really a reason of degree. Some methods were too damaging. It may be Zhang Ye this time, but could it be someone else from their Literature Channel the next time, in order to make way for Jia Yan? Forced to their deaths by the Leader? People could not help but have such thoughts after this matter!

Big Sis Zhou said to Zhang Ye, “Ignore them.”

“Those without abilities won’t be jumping for long.” Xiaofang also said hatefully.

An old editor sighed, “Hai, the internal affairs of the unit is getting more messy these days.”

This year’s Silver Microphone Award for their station was definitely Zhāng Yě’s. There was no question that it would be Jia Yan’s next year. So what if Zhang Ye had the ability? He could only bow down before others. Of course, those were the thoughts and judgments of others, and not Zhang Ye’s. Zhang Ye had not given up!

Compromise?

Yield?

Endure?

That was completely not his style!

He could only develop himself further in the television station by winning the Silver Microphone Award. But what did he need to do to win this award that he absolutely needed? Zhang Ye did not know. He was out of methods at this moment. Find Zhang Yuanqi? Impossible. The Heavenly Queen also had no way to change today’s outcome. The jury was decided on a majority. Three votes out of the five judges would make it effective. Other than Zhang Yuanqi, who was a new judge, the other judges respected the rules. So no one would vote for Zhang Ye. So it was meaningless if Zhang Yuanqi helped Zhang Ye alone. Besides, Zhang Ye had already used her favor, so he could not seek Zhang Yuanqi’s help anymore.

He was at a loss!

There was no way out and no way back!

Zhang Ye had to admit that he was really backed into a corner. However, he needed to find a way out despite this impossible situation, for he could not swallow his anger!

Routine methods were definitely ineffective. Zhang Ye opened his game ring’s interface, hoping to find a method to break this quandary. These few days, with “Old and Young Story Club” halted, he could only count on “Ghost Blows Out the Light” to increase his Reputation. However, that was all there was. Hence, he did not have much Reputation. If he played the Lottery…

Hey! I almost forgot!

There was an item in the inventory that had not been used!

Zhang Ye suddenly thought of it. He opened the game inventory and indeed, there was a shiny little thing inside. Lucky Bread! This was something that he had received a few days ago. He had eaten the Fruits of Charm that he had received from the Additional Stakes right there on the spot, so he had nearly forgotten about this item!

Let’s try it out!

Let’s try it as a last resort to save a hopeless situation!

The Silver Microphone Award was about to be announced soon, so Zhang Ye had no other choice. He could only bet on this!

He took out the Lucky Bread from his inventory. Holding an Ice World mineral water in his hand, which was a famous mineral water brand of this world, he pretended to drink the water, but was actually secretly eating the Lucky Bread. People could not see the items obtained from the game ring’s Lottery, but people could still see Zhang Ye’s actions. If he were to stuff thin air into his mouth and even chew, people would think he was crazy, so he had to have some cover up actions. Gulp. The last mouthful of bread was finished!

Lucky Bread in Effect!

Player's Luck state Increased!

Countdown of five minutes begins!

…

At the same moment.

In the back, resting area three, inside the hall.

There were five staff arranging the trophies and certificates to be awarded today. Yesterday, the results were actually decided, so the certificates and trophies were quickly produced. There were Golden Microphones and Silver Microphones. They were all placed on a table. The door was locked. It was a strictly confidential process. However, although it was so to speak, confidential, this sort of thing was impossible to keep a secret. Anyone in the industry would be able to understand who would win or lose. Furthermore, it wasn’t the election of a President, so it was not that strict.

“Name – Liu Feng.”

“Over here.”

“Alright, place it in front. The certificate has to correspond to it. Don’t mess up.”

“Don’t worry. It can’t go wrong.”

“Zhāng Yě, this is one of the winners of the Silver Microphone. Take it in front and send it over in a while.”

“Alright, it’s ready.”

But just as the few staff were arranging the order according to the name list, without any forewarning, a female employee accidentally knocked into a certificate. Pa Da, the certificate flipped, pushing down a mineral water bottle that was mysteriously placed on the table. The cap covered the top, but it was not tightly sealed, so momentarily, water spilled onto that certificate. It was all very sudden!

“Ah ya!” The female employee hurriedly wiped the certificate with her sleeve.

“Don’t rub it!” An old comrade beside cautioned, but it was too late.

With this rub, the paper on the certificate turned into a mess. The words could no longer be read.

A youth quickly came over to help, quickly wiping the water off the table and onto the ground, so as to not to affect the other certificates. However, the floor was made of glazed tiles, so with water it became very slippery. The youth nearly slipped, but although he did not crash to the ground, he had still pressed on the table with his hand to stabilize himself, and thus he had touched the corresponding trophy to that certificate. The trophy crashed to the ground amidst their panicking eyes!

The trophy shattered!

The Silver Microphone Award trophy was different in quality compared to the Golden Microphone Award. It may be a Silver Microphone Award, but it was actually made of something similar to crystal. It was in the shape of a microphone. And since the toughness of crystal was not that much stronger than glass, it ended up shattering. Even its real mother wouldn’t recognize it!

“Ah!”

“Bad, bad!”

“What are you doing!? How can you be so careless?”

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t know that it would turn into such a mess!”

Everyone began running helter-skelter. After that mishap, there was no other way, as there was such a huge mess!

“Uncle Ping, what do we do? There’s still another hour before the Silver Microphone will be awarded!” The female employee was worried. She had never expected that they would screw up such a simple job!

The Silver Microphone Awards were what was first awarded in the morning. As it was not a live broadcast, it was considered a warm up for the Golden Microphone Awards. Only after the Silver Microphone Awards were given out would the Golden Microphone Awards be broadcast live on television. There was indeed not much time left. There was no way the Silver Microphone Awards would be placed after the Golden Microphone Awards, as there had never been such a precedent!

The oldest employee gritted his teeth, “Don’t panic. We can still make it in time. The certificate is easy. We still have blank, ready-made certificates. Just filling it in would do. The judges would definitely have an official seal on their side. Little Chen, go get the seal from the judges. Little Wang, I’ll give you a task. Immediately call Yi Xuan. The trophies were produced by his company. I’m sure they still have backup Silver Microphone Award trophies. The name is blank, so get them to engrave the name ‘Zhāng Yě’ on it as soon as possible. Go get it yourself. Do it as soon as possible!”

“Alright!”

“Understood!”

The two of them went out. One of them made a phone call, while the other made the certificate.

The female employee first got Yi Xuan’s number and hurriedly called, “Hello, this is the Beijing Television Station…Yes, we have a situation here. Can I ask if there is still a Silver Microphone Award trophy…There is? That’s great, that’s great. Please help us make the name again. One of them was shattered…Yes…Thank you very much. Please do it quickly, or it will not be in time… Alright… The name? The name is Zhang…” Being in a hurry, she had forgotten the name that the old comrade had told her as she said into the phone, “Hold on!”

The youth had already taken out a certificate and was about to fill it in.

The female employee immediately asked, “Little Chen, what’s that person’s name?”

“Uh, the unit is the Beijing Radio Station, I think it’s Zhang.. Yě?” The youth was also not certain and did not feel comfortable asking Uncle Ping again, for fear of being reprimanded. Hence, he quickly searched for the nomination list on his phone. “Oh, I found it. Beijing Radio Station, it’s this; his name is Zhang Ye!”

“Which Ye?”

“Take a look for yourself.”

“Alright, I’ve written it down.”

The pronunciation of Zhang Ye and Zhāng Yě was about the same. They were both “Ye”, just that there was a slightly different tone.

The youth used a pen and wrote down the name from the internet.

The female employee also told the trophy makers, “It’s Zhang Ye (张烨)… It’s written with a 火 and a 华. His unit is the Beijing Radio Station!”