I’m Really a Superstar

The next day.

It was the first day of the lunar new year.

In the morning, at the entrance to a neighborhood.

“Yo, Old Li!”

“Big Sis Zhou, happy New Year to you.”

“Happy New Year to you too! Why are you up so early today?”

“Hai, I was too tired last night, so I was already asleep by 8.”

“Ah? Then you didn’t watch the Spring Festival Gala?”

“The Spring Festival Gala? I haven’t watched it in some years. There’s nothing interesting about it anyway.”

“Aiyo, then you’re really wrong about it this time! There will be a repeat telecast of it on Central TV Channel 1 in a bit. Quickly go back and watch it for yourself. You’ll know how wrong you were after you’ve watched it!”

“This year’s Spring Festival Gala was that good?”

“More than that! It was crazy good!”

“Is that so? Then I better hurry home to watch it!”

Some people did not watch it yet.

Some people had only just found out about the news and hurried back home to catch the rebroadcast.

…

The Spring Festival Gala was being replayed.

A lot of those who were up early had actually waited in front of their televisions to catch the entire show once more from start to finish, Further, they were enjoying it very much!

On Weibo.

“This is really good!”

“There’s nothing to nitpick for this year’s Spring Festival Gala!”

“Zhang Ye is so awesome!”

“Yeah, this is what true skill looks like!”

“I think some changes might be stirring in the entertainment circle!”

“Can Zhang Ye make it to the top?”

“I don’t know, but I know that those Heavenly Kings and Queens will definitely be very worried!”

“The Spring Festival Gala was truly fabulous, but I’m definitely gonna remember that fellow forever due to the five fortunes!”

“Hahahahaha. Come on, don’t take it so seriously over this bit of money.”

“My 200 million, how can I not take it seriously!”

“*cries* You guys don’t know this, but I cracked my phone by tapping it too much while trying to get the work dedication card. In the end, all I received was 220 yuan! That Zhang Ye is awful!”

“Pfft.”

…

The newspapers on the first day of the new year went on sale!

“Shocking! The Spring Festival Gala has been revived from the dead!”

“The Spring Festival Gala sets off a wave of frenzy!”

“Zhang Ye: His march from variety director to the Spring Festival Gala’s executive director!”

“A Spring Festival Gala that everyone is praising!”

“‘Thousand-Hand Guanyin’ amazes the audience!”

“Topicality of Little Hu Die’s act shoots through the roof!”

“A magic show that shocks the industry!”

“Hilarious ‘Selling Crutches’ receives great praise!”

“Zhang Ye wins the affirmation of the industry insiders!”

“Former executive director of the Spring Festival Gala, Li Ke, lavishes praise upon Zhang Ye: ‘I admit that I am not as good as him.'”

“Many lines from the skit ‘Selling Crutches’ set to become this year’s hottest Internet slang!”

“Talk of all 40 acts on the Spring Festival Gala is bursting through the roof. An unprecedented occurrence!”

“The craziest Spring Festival Gala executive director in history: Personally crafting all of the acts on the show!”

“Dong Shanshan’s popularity soars!”

“Gathering the five fortunes—The biggest scam in the history of advertising and marketing!”

“The Spring Festival Gala’s viewership ratings to be revealed soon?”

“Zhang Ye’s path of defiance!”

“Can Zhang Ye reach the summit of the entertainment circle?”

At the newspaper stands, copies after copies of newspapers were flying off the shelves.

Online, the news articles were getting published one after another.

This was the effect of the Spring Festival Gala. This was a grand gala in which the entire world’s Chinese population participated in, and all the more so for this year’s miraculous Spring Festival Gala!

The media was dominated by news of the Spring Festival Gala!

From the various ranking lists, it could also easily be seen.

…

On the Top Chinese Music Chart.

#1: “Because of Love”

#2: “Where Has the Time Gone?”

#3: “Lucky Treasures”

#4: “A Night to Remember”

#5: “The New Drunken Concubine”

#6: “My Chinese Heart”

And so on.

Without exception, from the first to the tenth spot, they were all songs from yesterday’s Spring Festival Gala. In fact, they were all leading by far in their popularity compared to the other songs on the chart!

…

On Weibo’s trending topics.

First: The Five Cards of Fortune Collection scam

Second: “Selling Crutches”

Third: Little Hu Die’s “Time”

Fourth: Skit – “The Leading Role and the Supporting Role”

Fifth: Spring Festival Gala viewership ratings

And so on.

In the top ten places, no, in the top fifty places, the topics were all related to the Spring Festival Gala!

…

The views on the video highlights:

First: “Selling Crutches,” 300 million views

Second: “Thousand-Hand Guanyin,” 150 million views

Third: “Myriad of Changes” magic show, 120 million views

At the top of the charts were all acts that had appeared on the Spring Festival Gala. They had all exceeded a 100 million views, and that showed that the viewers did not get enough of it after only watching it once. They had to watch it a second, a third, or even a fourth time.

…

And on the most watched Celebrity Rankings Index, it was the same as well!

Needless to say for Zhang Yuanqi who was already a Heavenly Queen, it would not look too obvious even after her popularity had boomed. But this wasn’t the case for the others.

Dong Shanshan’s popularity had soared. With the skit she acted in, it brought her up into the middle of the B-list celebrity rankings!

Yao Jiancai’s popularity also rose after his outstanding performance on the Spring Festival Gala!

The successor to the art of cross-gender acting, Gao Xiliang, had risen up to the bottom of the C-list rankings overnight after being an almost unknown small-time celebrity all this while!

Ci Xiufang’s popularity grew by leaps and bounds too. Even if she was already considered a big sister among the domestic professional skit comedians, “Dance If You Like” had helped propel her to the top of the skit industry.

Magician Chen Tian became famous overnight and was now closing in on a place on the C-list rankings!

The one who surprised everyone the most was Hu Die. Everyone else still had some previous popularity to base off of. Even if some of them did not have lots of popularity, they were still at least at the D- or E-list rankings and had some fans to call their own. But Little Hu Die had started off from nothing. She was just a backup dancer and hadn’t even been the focus of the camera before. But just by spinning in circles on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, she actually managed to “turn” herself into a top D-list celebrity!

It was the same for many others!

The performers who participated in the Spring Festival Gala all experienced a significant boost to their popularities!

This was what the Spring Festival Gala was—a stage that could work miracles. On it, nothing was impossible if you dared to dream it.

But of course, a situation like this year was also an exception of exceptions. It was a never before seen development in the years since the Spring Festival Gala began. This year’s Spring Festival Gala had created so many stars that it was unimaginable. It was so heaven-defying that when the industry insiders and citizens saw the updated Celebrity Rankings Index, they got rather dumbfounded!

…

Later that morning.

Zhang Ye’s parents’ house.

Wu Zeqing was already up while Zhang Ye was still sleeping soundly in bed. At some point in time, the cell phone on his bedside started going off.

Ring, ring, ring.

Ring, ring, ring.

Zhang Ye rolled over and continued to sleep.

It wasn’t until he had no choice that he drowsily grabbed his phone and answered it.

It was the magician, Chen Tian.

“Director Zhang.”

“Yes?”

“Ah, you’re still resting?”

“It’s fine, just speak.”

“The rankings index has been updated. I just thought I’d call you to say thanks, but I won’t say too much so that you can get back to sleep. We’ll talk again when there’s a chance, or you can call me anytime you like!”

His phone continued to ring.

This time, it was Dong Shanshan.

“Haha, Zhang’er.”

“Hey, Shanshan.”

“Did you see my spot on the rankings index yet?”

“Are you a B-lister?”

“I’m in the middle of the B-list!”

“Whoa, congratulations.”

“I’ll treat you to dinner some time.”

“Alright, I’ll hold you to your word. It isn’t easy getting a meal out of you.”

Immediately after that, Zhang Xia, Chen Guang, Fan Wenli, Gao Xiliang, and the others who had performed on the Spring Festival Gala were calling to thank Zhang Ye. It was very late when they dispersed last night, and there were also a lot of matters to attend to. With the venue quite chaotic, everyone only cared about enjoying themselves. So they didn’t get to say some words to him. But with the Celebrity Rankings Index updated now, and the dust having settled, it was expected that everyone would come forward to thank Zhang Ye. It was Zhang Ye who had given them the chance to be part of the Spring Festival Gala, while the acts, set designs, and even the costumes were designed by him. Their rise in popularity was the direct cause of Zhang Ye, so it wouldn’t be right if they didn’t say a word of thanks to him.

There were more than 20 calls.

Zhang Ye spent a full 30 minutes answering them.

Afterwards, he didn’t feel sleepy anymore and sat up from bed with a bitter smile. But thinking about it, he also started feeling rather excited and couldn’t help but check out the Celebrity Rankings Index as well.

What about me?

What about this bro’s popularity?

He had nearly been driven crazy during these past two months. As a result, Zhang Ye immediately fell asleep in bed after returning home with Wu Zeqing. He did not even wait for his parents to get back from his maternal grandma’s house. The moment he opened his eyes again, it was already the morning of the first day of Lunar New Year, so where could he have found any time to check on the rankings index during the night?

Page 1.

Page 2.

Page 3.

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes and felt utterly speechless.

He couldn’t find his name on the list!

He knew that there could only be one explanation for this. It must mean that his popularity had increased by so much that the backend system or the manual calculations could not be handled properly. So his name and status was temporarily set as pending in the rankings. He wasn’t unfamiliar with this occurrence since he also had such a status once during a previous battle of the popularity rankings. The statistics were processed several days later and his popularity had soared at that time.

Hopefully, it was the same case this time!

Hurry up and let this bro get into the S-list!

Hurry up and let this bro reach the summit of showbiz!

Only this step was left!

It was the final push!

The “Reach the Summit” plan that was drawn up half a year ago had been successfully undertaken step by step. All that was left now were the results!