I'm Really a Superstar

Friday.

In the morning.

The alarm sounded and Zhang Ye climbed up from bed rubbing his eyes. He headed to the bathroom to wash up while calling out to the living room, "Mom, what's for breakfast? I'm not going to work this morning."

His mother asked, "Did you take time off to rest?"

Zhang Ye squeezed some toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "Yeah."

"There are only leftovers from yesterday, so make do with that," his mother said.

Zhang Ye said absent-mindedly, "Sure, anything's fine."

After breakfast, Zhang Ye kept checking his watch.

His father wondered, "What are you doing?"

Zhang Ye smiled. "It's nothing, I'm just whiling away the time."

His mother suddenly thought of something. "Did you see the news? They're reporting about the national curriculum revision for the elementary, middle, and high school textbooks. Do you have any chance with the Chinese language textbooks? Can any of your works get published?"

Zhang Ye spread up his hands. "How would I know?"

His father was also very concerned. He said, "Go ask around."

"I can't." Zhang Ye shook his head. "I could ask around about the voting process for the most coveted domestic literary awards, but for something like the curriculum revision process, I can't find out anything about it. That information is privy only to those in the Ministry of Education and a select few in the education community. It's no place for me to speak."

His father sighed, "I don't suppose there's much of a chance anyway."

His parents also knew that the curriculum revision was a huge event. Even if it were the most reputable and respected person in the literary circle, their names would not be easily made known to the public. The importance and sensitivity of such matters clearly went far beyond the selection process of the Yanhong Literary Prize or the Qilu Literature Prize. Any person, name, or essay that was shortlisted would cause a great discussion and have far-reaching effects in the education field, or even within society itself.

It was almost 7:40 AM.

Seeing this, Zhang Ye went back to his room and closed the door behind him.

His staff at the studio were all waiting for this slice of pie to drop from the sky, but only Zhang Ye was prepared to fight for it. Networking? That was not his style! This fellow had always preferred to be self-reliant!

There were two choices.

The Lucky Halo?

Or the Difficulty Adjustment Die?

After thinking about it, he felt that the latter was too precious an item. He only had one die left in his inventory. Moreover, the die was mighty powerful. Whether it be lowering or raising the difficulty level, it was overpowered. The effective duration of the item was also not fixed, so using it would be as good as wielding an atomic bomb. It couldn't be used unnecessarily. So the remaining option was clear and simple. Although the Lucky Halo (Upgraded) could not be compared to the Difficulty Adjustment Die in terms of its might, it was far more stable and dependable. It should be more than enough to handle this sort of situation. But of course, whether this plan would work was not guaranteed. He could only do his best and give it a try.

He activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded)!

The Reputation Points were getting consumed without stop!

-100,000!

-100,000!

A halo appeared over his head.

The bright pulsating glow rippled outward wave after wave.

…

Meanwhile.

The experts were busy chattering and analyzing things.

The netizens were also voicing their opinions.

The media outlets also set aside their headlines while waiting for the outcome of the curriculum revision.

Throughout society, everyone placed great hopes and expectations on this textbook curriculum revision. From a survey, everyone was happy to see the positive education reforms and changes that were going to be introduced. But as for the degree and depth of change the revisions would bring, no one other than those in the review commission set up by the Ministry of Education knew.

At an office somewhere in the Ministry of Education.

On the third level.

Inside the conference room of the Chinese language textbook revision work group.

"Old Qi, you're here?"

"Dr. Chen, good morning."

"So it's going to be decided today, huh?"

"It's already been dragged on for so long, so of course it has to be decided soon."

"In the past few meetings, they've nearly come to blows every single time, so how can we come to a decision?"

"Hai, hasn't it always been this way? Every time there's a textbook revision, it's always our Chinese language team that is the most 'lively.' We're always locked in a fierce struggle over the decisions. Didn't you also take part in the previous curriculum revision eight years ago? Let's see if the group leader will make the decision this time. If there's still no outcome, we'll have to turn to voting to decide it."

"Yeah, just look at the math group and the physics group. There's no resistance at all and their meetings are always carried out so harmoniously. Then look at our group over here. The only thing we're short of now is someone flipping the table."

"Scholars tend to scorn each other, and there are a lot of involved relationships."

"The main issue is the disagreements between the Peking University representatives and the Tsinghua University representatives."

"The Fudan University representatives are also not helping by muddying things further."

The meeting had not started yet, but people were gradually arriving.

The Chinese language textbook revision work group was mostly made up of doctorates and professors in the circle of Chinese Departments within the various well-known universities, as well as relevant educators in the industry. There were also representatives from the Ministry of Education, with the work group headed by a director from there. He was a very good person and a meticulous worker.

Several people from Peking University arrived.

Soon after, the Ministry of Education's Director Liu walked into the conference room with a big smile. He was the overseer of the Chinese language textbook revision work group. Although he was wearing a smile on his face, Liu Quancheng was actually feeling very down. It had been days and the mathematics and physics work groups had more or less wrapped up their revisions. Meanwhile, their work group was still arguing nonstop over several spots on the prominent pages of the textbooks. To be fair, the Chinese language work group had already finalized 80% of the content for the textbook revision, but the remaining 20% could not be finalized yet as everyone had their own ideas.

What a difficult task it was to lead this work group!

Whoever wishes to take this role in the future can come and take it, I've had enough!

Although he had such thoughts, Liu Quancheng could explicitly say such things. Many of the work group's members were distinguished people in the education field, and some of them were even teachers to Liu Quancheng's bosses at the ministry, or even his boss's bosses! All in all, the total age of the people in the room came up to over 2,000 years old, so of course he had to be courteous and polite to them. You wouldn't know which of them had direct access to the highest authorities, would you? The waters of the education field were too deep! As such, Liu Quancheng's opinion was very simple. He wouldn't offend anyone and just let them fight among themselves. He wasn't going to care at all.

An old academic representing Peking University looked at him. "Little Liu, are we going to have a vote today?"

Liu Quancheng nodded. "Old Master Chu, I think we should have the vote just to be sure. There are only that dozen or so spots left to decide on, so we have to get it done by today no matter what."

Old Master Chu used to be a dean of the Chinese Department at Peking University. He even became the vice president of the university later on, but that was more than 40 years ago. After his retirement, Old Master Chu was still involved in a lot of the decision-making processes regarding educational reforms and policies. So just by addressing the work group leader as Little Liu, that was enough for a director like Liu Quancheng to listen to him obediently.

Old Master Chu smacked his lips. "Why do we still have to vote? Since this is a reform, we have to be heavy-handed with the decisions. The world belongs to the young now; we have to show more acceptance and care for the younger generation of academics. We should allow their essays to be published and made known to everyone through the textbooks and not keep guarding those people who already have one foot in the coffin. Is there any meaning in doing so? Then what's the point of having a reform? By the way, I think Zhang Ye is pretty good, don't you?

An old man from Renmin University said, "I disagree. That Zhang Ye kid is too impulsive. 'Ode to Young China' must not make it into the textbooks, not even an excerpt."

"And who are you to say no?"

"It's not only me, many of the others disagree as well."

"Who are the ones who disagree?"

"Just wait for Old Hu and the others to get here!"

There!

Even before the meeting had commenced, they were arguing again!

Liu Quancheng could only sigh in his mind.

Old Hu and the others—that referred to the representatives from Tsinghua University. The reason why the curriculum revision had not wrapped up yet in the last few meetings was due to the representatives of Peking and Tsinghua University arguing every time they were about to decide on something. Especially when they touched on that fiercely contested spot in the seventh grade (middle school) textbook where an essay was to be featured, the arguments became even more intense. Three essays were shortlisted for it: Ji Hong's "Yangtze River," Li Yucheng's "Above the Storm," and Zhang Ye's "Ode to Young China"!

These three authors were respectively related to Tsinghua, Renmin, and Peking University. So the old comrades who represented these schools were all fervently arguing over which should be chosen. Later, the representatives from Fudan University joined the mix and started voicing their support for Peking University by agreeing that Zhang Ye's essay should be chosen. Seeing that, the representatives from Renmin University changed their tune and expressed their support for Tsinghua University's Ji Hong's "Yangtze River." The mess that followed was simply too chaotic!

Both sides stood by their views and were almost equal in numbers as well. As such, this was where it was most disputed since there was a possibility of either "Yangtze River" or "Ode to Young China" getting chosen.

Liu Quancheng mediated, "Teachers, when everyone has arrived, we'll decide by voting. We'll start off with the first grade elementary school textbook and vote on the disputed works one by one."

It was 7:55 AM.

In another five minutes, they would officially kick off the meeting. For now, they waited.

The few representatives from Renmin University looked at their watches and waited for the representatives from Tsinghua University to arrive. The reason why the representatives from Renmin University were supporting the Tsinghua University representatives was not that they had a good relationship with them. What happened back on the show Lecture Room, as well as Zhang Ye's lecture on Dream of the Red Chamber, had simply offended too many people at Renmin University. So when it was proposed that Zhang Ye's essay be used in the seventh grade textbook, and when the Fudan University representatives started supporting the Peking University's representatives call to include his essay, they knew that they couldn't allow it to happen. As such, they turned to supporting Tsinghua University's represented essay.

Why weren't they here yet?

Look at the time.

Two minutes had passed, but there were no signs of the Tsinghua University representatives!

Everyone started looking at one another.

At this moment, a phone rang.

"Hello, Old Hu, where are you?"

"I'm still at home."

"The meeting will be starting soon!"

"I suddenly got the runs, so I won't be able to make it in time."

"Ah?"

"Aiyo, I gotta hang up, I have to get back to the toilet."

Du du. The call ended.

Following that, another call came in for Liu Quancheng.

"Hello, Elder Chang?"

"Little Liu, has the meeting started yet?"

"Not yet, where are you?"

"Old Qing and I got stuck in traffic not long after we set out. We're on a viaduct and there's an accident ahead of us. We can't move at all, none of the cars can!"

Then came yet another call.

"Professor Xu, haven't you gotten off your plane? Didn't you catch the 5 AM flight from Shanghai?"

"I was just calling to notify you. There was a passenger causing trouble on the flight and the plane was late, so we were forced to land at Jinan Airport 1 . We won't be able to resume flying anytime soon!"

"Eh? Forced to land at Jinan Airport?"

No one had thought much of it when it was just the first call.

But after five or six calls, everyone felt like they had seen a ghost!

A stomachache?

Traffic?

The flight was forced to land?

The train was stopped due to a landslide?

All of the old comrades from Tsinghua University were not going to make it for the meeting?

Dammit! How can it be so coincidental?

Do you people from Tsinghua University have to be so down on your luck?!

Everyone has met with some kind of trouble?

Liu Quancheng was stunned for a very long time. "This…"

The representatives from Renmin University nearly vomited blood!

An old professor from Peking University said, "It's time, isn't it?"

Liu Quancheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Then let's get the meeting started so that we can vote."