I am Really a Superstar

The television in the living room at Zhang Ye’s parents’ house was also replaying the Spring Festival Gala. From the sound of it, the rebroadcast seemed to have already reached Zhang Yuanqi’s “Where Has the Time Gone?” song.

The shouting of Zhang Ye’s mother came from outside the bedroom.

“Son, are you up yet?”

“I’m up, Mom.”

“Come and have breakfast.”

“Alright. Where’s Old Wu?”

“She’s making breakfast for you, so come out quickly.”

“OK, I’m coming.”

They were having leek dumplings for breakfast.

The moment Zhang Ye came out of his bedroom, he could immediately smell the aroma of the food.

Wu Zeqing was holding a pair of chopsticks. “Why didn’t you sleep a while longer?”

Zhang Ye sighed and said, “I wanted to, but there were so many calls the entire morning. Everyone was calling to say thanks or offer their congratulations, so how could I get back to sleep?”

Wu Zeqing smiled. “Yes, I heard your cell phone ringing. Come over and eat.”

Zhang Ye turned his head to the side. “Dad, what time did you all get back yesterday?”

His father put the newspaper down. “A little before 2 AM I guess?”

“Why didn’t you all turn off the TV before going out?” Zhang Ye asked.

His father laughed and said, “Your mom didn’t let me. She said that it would help with the viewership ratings that way.”

His mother said happily, “The TVs at your uncles’ houses were also left on. I called them and told them to do so before we went over to your grandma’s place yesterday.”

Zhang Ye applauded. “Great job, Mom.”

His mother laughed.

His father said, “How much viewership could it possibly add with just these few TVs switched on in our family?”

His mother shot his father a look. “What do you know? One more is still more than none!”

Zhang Ye asked, “I haven’t read the newspapers yet. What is everyone’s thoughts on the gala?”

“Of course it’s getting a lot of praise!” His mother got all excited the moment she spoke. She pointed at the stack of over a dozen copies of newspapers on the coffee table. “Read for yourself, I went out to buy them this morning. There’s also news online and on TV, and they’re all talking about you and yesterday’s Spring Festival Gala. Many of the industry insiders are saying that this Spring Festival Gala of yours is the most wonderful one since the debut one. Even the one that everyone thought was the best from 20 or 30 years ago is not as good as yours from the perspective of the acts’ quality, art direction, or entertainment value!”

Zhang Ye smiled. “The masses’ eyes are sharpest.”

After lunch.

Zhang Ye sat on the sofa and flipped through the newspapers one by one. Beijing Times, Morning Post, and even People’s Daily had all given this year’s Spring Festival Gala high praise.

Zhang Ye was quite pleased with everyone’s evaluation. If even this year’s Spring Festival Gala were to be questioned and criticized by the people, then that would really be the biggest joke in the world. Other people might not know about the origins of these acts, but Zhang Ye knew them quite well, of course. The acts that could be shown on the Spring Festival Gala in his world were the ones that had emerged from the competition in China. They went through a round of selection and those that did not make it were eliminated. The ones that remained were all the most excellent ones. And what Zhang Ye did this time was to put these selected acts through another round of selection to pick the most reputable and excellent acts from the best ones that had been on the Spring Festival Gala of his previous world. This was equivalent to picking out the best acts out of an already excellent pool of choices!

He did this for all 40 of the acts!

The “Thousand-Hand Guanyin”?

Liu Qian’s magic show?

“Selling Crutches”?

“Spring Days”?

Which of them were not well-known?

Which of them were not the classics of the classics?

So how could this year’s Spring Festival Gala not be enjoyable to watch?

It would be a wonder if it wasn’t good! Zhang Ye had brought over so many of the classic acts that spanned decades of the Spring Festival Gala in his previous world to this world and put them all into one show. He had basically brought over all that he could bring over. But of course, he wasn’t going to bother about next year’s Spring Festival Gala and the year after that. That would be left to some unlucky executive director to worry about. It was enough to be the executive director for the Spring Festival Gala once, and he definitely did not plan on doing it a second time. This job was way too tiring and the stress was too enormous. He had never had a good night’s sleep these past two months.

With the Spring Festival Gala over, Zhang Ye was finally able to take some time off. He was taking it easy and relaxing now. He just wanted to rest up for the next few days to enjoy the new year properly.

It was almost noon.

His parents were already dressed.

His father said, “Little Ye, Zeqing, we’re heading to your aunt’s place now.”

Zhang Ye asked, “So we’re heading to my aunt’s place for lunch?”

“Yes. Your dad and I are going over early to help make lunch,” his mother said.

“Alright, then Old Wu and I will be there in a bit,” Zhang Ye said.

“There’s no rush, just be there before lunch,” his mother said.

“Alright,” Zhang Ye said.

His mother reminded him, “You still have to go over to your maternal grandma’s house tonight since you weren’t there yesterday. Be sure to go over today to give your New Year’s greetings to them. Take a shower and quickly tidy up the place.”

Zhang Ye said, “I got it.”

His parents left.

When the door closed, only Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing were left in the house.

Wu Zeqing was clearing the plates from breakfast.

Zhang Ye gave a cheeky laugh and hugged her from behind. “Old Wu.”

Wu Zeqing did not turn around and laughed as she continued clearing the table. “What’s the matter? Why are you laughing so slyly?”

“Pfft, what do you mean? Listen to your choice of words. Aiya, stop clearing the dishes.” Zhang Ye hungrily eyed Old Wu, who was dressed in homey attire.

Wu Zeqing laughed and said, “Hur hur, aren’t I almost done clearing them away?”

Zhang Ye blinked and said, “This bro hasn’t been home in two months. Ahem, shouldn’t you express something to me?”

“Express what?” Old Wu asked.

“Come, let’s talk in my room.” Zhang Ye then led her into his bedroom.

“Wait, my hands are still dirty.”

“Aiyo, quickly, we have to leave soon.”

“But it’s still so bright and early.”

“It’ll be dark once the curtains are drawn.”

“There isn’t enough time.”

“There’s still an hour.”

“Hur hur, oh you.”

“Quickly, hully-arpu!”

This fellow suddenly threw out a phrase in English, catching Wu Zeqing by surprise.

“Little Ye.”

“Hm?”

“If you can’t speak English well, don’t use it.”

“Was the pronunciation wrong?”

“It wasn’t very good.”

“Oh, then I’ll study hard to learn it.”

“Why are you suddenly thinking of learning English?”

“Don’t just stand there. Let’s talk as we get out of these clothes. If I do get to the summit of the entertainment circle, the next goal will be to step onto the international stage. So it will definitely be useful to know some English, Russian, and Spanish too. I’m preparing to learn them all. It’s not that I want to communicate with them, but this bro would at least know who is scolding me. I’m going to focus my learning on the foreign swear words first. I’ll check if there are any crash courses on swearing in English later. If there’s one, I’m gonna sign up for it so that I’ll be prepared in times of need. Ai, do you think it’s easy being a celebrity? There are so many things to learn. I don’t think that just anyone can become a celebrity.”

“Hur hur, there aren’t any celebrities in the entertainment circle who learn a foreign language just to scold people either.”

“Aiya, hurry up, there’s no time! No time!”

“Alright, I’m ready.”

The door closed.

The curtains were drawn.

10 minutes.

20 minutes.

30 minutes.

A youthful energy encompassed room.

After two months, Zhang Ye finally drew tenth blood from Old Wu!!