I'm Really a Superstar

The next day.

At around 5 AM in the morning, the sky was still dark.

Someone had leaked the incident onto the Internet.

Following that, a well-known online media publication published an article: "According to an anonymous source who works in Central TV, the honeymoon period between Central TV Department 1 and Zhang Ye has ended. As of yesterday, due to an issue with the contractual agreement over the overseas copyright, Zhang Ye had his salary withheld. Afterwards, Zhang Ye got into a war of words with the director of Department 1's Finance Department as well as a colleague from the Finance Department. In the end, Zhang Ye was identified and criticized for his behavior. Zhang Ye still has nine months of contractual obligations to fulfill with Central TV, so he now has an awkward standing within the station. The new show with an 80 million RMB budget may be delayed because of this. There is also a possibility of the show's personnel being changed. We will continue to keep track of any further developments!"

Then, a series of other reports were published!

"Central TV Department 1 breaks contract for overseas copyright to The Voice?"

"Zhang Ye wreaks havoc in Central TV's Finance Department!"

"New show might not see the light of day?"

"Issue of the withheld salary? The truth or just a baseless rumor?"

"American production company already in final stages of negotiation with Central TV for The Voice's overseas copyright?"

"Three months into job at Central TV, Zhang Ye stirs up trouble yet again!"

Early in the morning, while many of the office workers were still half-asleep, news of Zhang Ye and Central TV was already overwhelming the Internet, making the rounds online.

"What?"

"Wasn't everything still fine yesterday? Didn't they already announce the new show as well?"

"Teacher Zhang's salary has been withheld?"

"F**k, this looks like the start of something big again!"

"From my understanding of Teacher Zhang, I have a feeling that this will be a big affair!"

"No, didn't you read that Teacher Zhang still has nine months left on his contract? If he really gets frozen by Central TV, what will he do for the next nine months? There definitely isn't a shortage of hosts frozen by Central TV! Counting them, there should be over a dozen such hosts. If the incident has really developed to the stage that is unmanageable, Zhang Ye will find it difficult to escape the fate of being frozen too. Then would he just sit around foolishly at Central TV without any show or work to do? I feel that Teacher Zhang would have considered that already. After all, there is still the new show waiting for him. He should understand very well which is the more important issue here."

"He could always resign if worse comes to worst!"

"Right, there're so many television stations who covet Zhang Ye. Surely someone would be willing to pay the breach of contract fines!"

"You speak of it so lightly. Let's not mention whether he can resign or not first, nor should we talk about whether Central TV Department 1 will release him. If he does resign, then Zhang Ye is in breach of the contract first. That would mean the copyrights to The Voice he has would be invalid along with that, right? Then disregarding The Voice's overseas copyright, Zhang Ye would even lose the rights to produce the second or third season of The Voice of China this way. As long as he chooses to leave his job, all of those copyrights will belong to Central TV Department 1 automatically. They can easily find someone then to make the second and third seasons of The Voice of China next year. I don't think Zhang Ye would agree to that whatsoever! For such a phenomena variety show, he must definitely retain the copyrights with him!"

"That's true."

"This is a really tricky situation!"

"Why is it that every bad thing always happens to Teacher Zhang!"

"Previous poster, let me tell you why. It's not that Teacher Zhang likes to create trouble, but because his nature is too straightforward. He speaks whatever is on his mind and does whatever he thinks he should do. He does not act otherwise and doesn't know how to curry favor with his superiors either, so naturally, conflicts arise easily. If it were any other person, they would have long since handed the copyrights over to Central TV and this situation would not have even occurred."

"Zhang Ye's grumpy temper is what I like most about him! It's right up my alley!"

"In the entire entertainment circle, there aren't many such people who will display their true nature in public anymore!"

At around 7 AM.

Central TV Department 1's official Weibo sent out an emergency clarification update to refute the issue of The Voice's overseas copyright as well as Zhang Ye's withheld salary!

Some netizens took their word for it.

"See what I said? I knew they were only rumors to begin with."

"Yeah, that news about the salary being withheld gave it away. Central TV Department 1 is such a big department, so how would they lack that bit of money? It's just not possible! It just doesn't make any sense!"

But there were also many others who did not believe this denial.

"If everything can be explained by logic, there wouldn't be so many issues in this world!"

"It has to be real! The whistle-blower has already made their points very clear!"

"For the interest of benefit, some people can resort to any means, so it's not that surprising!"

"Hai, the problem now is that Zhang Ye signed a one-year contract which contains many complex clauses and agreements in the interests of both parties. Therefore, even if Central TV Department 1 decides to withhold his salary, what can he do? Zhang Ye can do nothing about it! I believe that Central TV Department 1 is still going to continue criticizing him, but if Zhang Ye really decides to stand up against them, it wouldn't just be criticizing anymore, he would definitely be put in the freezer. Moreover, being put into the freezer by Central TV is not like being frozen by other TV stations. We also have to consider Central TV Department 1's status in the industry! They would make sure that Zhang Ye won't be able to get back up after this incident. Hasn't this happened before in the past, like with Old Liao and Old Yan? Didn't they end up in that situation?"

"Let's just wait and see how Zhang Ye deals with this."

"Hai, one can only accept it without making any noise in such a situation."

"Yeah, there's really no solution to something like that!"

"This matter has really left Zhang Ye in a predicament. Since the situation is different this time, I don't think that he can handle it like he did in the past, otherwise, he is going to find himself floundering!"

……

Later that morning.

While on the way to the office, Zhang Ye received many calls.

Yao Jiancai was the first to call. "Why are you getting into trouble again? Is what they reported on the news true? Or are they just rumors?"

"It's true." Zhang Ye laughed.

"You're still in the mood to laugh?" Yao Jiancai said in a speechless manner: "We're talking about Central TV Department 1, with whom you still have contract time to fulfill. So please consider carefully before you take any action."

Zhang Ye said: "I understand."

Only then did Yao Jiancai feel reassured. "Alright then."

The next caller was the singer Chen Guang.

Old Chen said: "Are you in a deadlock with Central TV Department 1?"

Zhang Ye laughed a little: "More or less."

"If you had signed a program contract, it might have been easier to handle. You would have been free to do whatever you wanted after the show finished. But the problem is that it's not, so you have to be more careful. From what I understand of Central TV Department 1, they never show any mercy to their artists. If they have to ban them, they will ban them just like that, so this situation is really no joke." Old Chen reminded him: "Right now, they still have to give in to you since you have such a great program planning ability that no one within Central TV Department 1 can replace you. I believe that in normal circumstances, they wouldn't dare do anything to you, but that's only if you don't do anything rash. Remember, don't beat anyone up!"

Zhang Ye said, "I know that, Old Chen. I'm not that stupid."

"Great. As long as you know what I'm saying, I'm less worried." Chen Guang hung up after that.

The last call was from Wu Zeqing.

Old Wu's first words were: "Are the puppies and kittens starting to jump around again? Hur hur, I've already heard about the matter. Don't worry about it, I'll solve it for you."

However, Zhang Ye immediately said: "Old Wu, don't bother yourself with this. I will handle it myself."

Old Wu gently said: "Listen to me, OK?"

"I really can't listen to you on this." Zhang Ye said nicely with a smile: "I have my own ways and principles to handle the issue. If I needed your help on something, I won't stand on ceremony with you, but I can't let you do it this time."

Old Wu asked: "Then what do you intend to do?"

"I will do whatever needs to be done," Zhang Ye laughed.

……

He reached the office.

Everyone at Central TV looked at Zhang Ye with strange expressions.

But Zhang Ye did not say anything and just went about doing his own things. After he went into his office, he did not leave it at all. Even Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo did not see him all day.

Little Wang blinked. "Director Zhang is behaving really strangely today."

Ha Qiqi also said, "I think so too."

Zhang Zuo sighed like he was about to speak but did not say anything in the end. What could he say? Even for a person like Zhang Ye, he would have to lower his head when going under the eaves, so what else could Zhang Zuo say?

It wasn't until afternoon that Zhang Ye finally came out of his office. He went straight out of the program team office and headed downstairs and left Central TV Tower. No one knew where he went. He didn't come back to the office either.

Everyone at Central TV was discussing fervently.

"There was nothing from Zhang Ye today?"

"Yeah, I thought that he would have gotten into another quarrel with the leaders."

"Doesn't he want his salary anymore? Why didn't he go to Finance to stir up some trouble today?"

"Stir up what trouble? At most, he would be able to vent his frustrations a little. It's clear that Central TV Department 1 does not want to issue him his salary and are doing so to give him a warning, so what can Director Zhang do? Do you think that he can really cut off all relations with Central TV Department 1? If it really came down to that, do you expect Director Zhang to end up having nothing to do anymore? He wouldn't do that for sure."

"True."

"Since Zhang Ye has already fallen silent, that means we're already not far from seeing a compromise."

"Yeah, he's already showing his attitude since he is no longer kicking up a fuss or creating any more trouble."

……

In Jiang Yuan's office.

He called his secretary in. "Did Zhang Ye scold anyone today?"

The secretary said, "No one. He just stayed in his office all day. I heard that he just left but I'm not sure if he left early or if he took the rest of the day off."

Jiang Yuan was a little shocked. "What? Nothing from him at all?"

"There's really nothing at all. He was just especially quiet," the secretary said.

Hearing that, Jiang Yuan grinned, thinking that the issue wasn't going to be a problem anymore. "That's how it should be. Alright, set up an appointment with Zhang Ye to meet with me tomorrow. Get him to see me first thing in the morning in my office. I'll talk to him about changing the contract again."

The secretary also smiled, and replied, "On it, sir."

……

At night.

There were countless reporters calling Zhang Ye to request an interview, but all of them failed. It was as though Zhang Ye had changed totally as a person, keeping his silence!

The reporters started speculating!

The netizens were discussing nonstop about it!

"Why isn't Zhang Ye saying anything?"

"This isn't like Teacher Zhang at all!"

"Say my ass! He's clearly succumbed, can't you all see it?"

"Hai, if Zhang Ye keeps badgering about the matter, not only would he not get a single cent of his salary, even the new show would be taken away from him. It's just a few thousand RMB of his salary compared to the 80 million RMB funded show, which one is more important? It's not worth it to risk that! He can still negotiate with Central TV Department 1 to get a better share of the copyright money before transferring the overseas rights to them."

"A silent Zhang Ye? I'm not used to this at all!"

"This is normal. This is how society works. There're many issues we cannot always fight against! We can only endure!"

"This is so f**ked up!"

The netizens lamented in unison.

The staff at Central TV Department 1 were already working on Zhang Ye's new contract with the instructions from the leaders.

There were also some of Zhang Ye's friends, colleagues, and other people from the entertainment industry who knew that this matter could only come this far.

But as it was, it turned out that the development of this affair was totally different from everyone's expectations!

As of this moment, on this night, explosive news that would cause a sensation throughout the entire entertainment circle was dropped without any warning!

When the news came out!

The netizens were shocked!

Central TV was shocked!

The entertainment circle was shocked!

All of the people in the country were also shocked!!

Zhang Ye had filed a petition against Central TV Department 1 to take them to court! He requested that Central TV Department 1 release his withheld salary of 8661 RMB as well as demanding a compensation of 100 million RMB!!!

At this moment, everyone realized one thing!

Silence can sometimes be very deafening as well!!