I'm Really a Superstar

At the same moment.

At Beijing Television.

The program team of Do You Remember had been celebrating. Zhang Ye's ex-colleagues were also feeling regretful for A Bite of China and Zhang Ye.

"Just missed it by a bit." Xiao Lu clenched her fist.

Dafei said, "If only they got a bit more lucky last week, A Bite of China would not have just tied for first place in the viewership ratings. They might really have rewritten a brand-new record for documentaries. What a close battle!"

Hou Ge said, "Hai, now that Rise to the Dance has become so popular, there's no hope for A Bite of China anymore."

However, Dong Shanshan asked puzzled, "Why is the viewership rating for A Bite of China getting released later than the other shows? And it is even so much later? This isn't normal, right?"

At this moment, Hu Fei's cell phone rang.

After answering this call, Hu Fei was stunned. He put down his cell phone and did not say anything for a long time.

"Eh?"

"Brother Hu?"

"Brother Hu, what's the matter?"

Xiao Lu, Dafei, and the rest were all asking at once.

More than a dozen of the other program team staff also looked over.

Hu Fei glanced at everyone and said dryly, "The viewership rating for the third episode of A Bite of China was—2.36%! It is the number 1 in the nationwide viewership ratings for the day, week, and month's television shows excluding news related programs!"

The lively office that was celebrating just a moment ago fell into a dead silence immediately!

...

At a certain television station.

In the program team office of Sing.

"Let's go! It's time for a celebratory feast! I will treat everyone a big meal!"

"Our leader is brilliant! Haha!"

"Let's try to do even better next episode."

"Luckily, this episode of Rise to the Dance has made an explosive breakthrough by achieving 1.52% of the viewership ratings. If not, the reputation of entertainment shows would have been trampled under the feet of documentaries."

"It was an impossible task since the very start."

"That's right, there won't be a second occurrence of last week's miracle."

"Actually, it was already very heaven-defying for Zhang Ye to make a documentary into something like this. They can forget about becoming number 1, but they can still fight for second or third place."

Suddenly, someone said, "The nationwide viewership rankings for Friday's TV shows has been delivered here."

"Ha, why is it so late?"

"That's because the viewership rating for A Bite of China had not been calculated until just a while ago."

"Let's see what place we got."

"Let me see."

Then, when they saw that copy of Friday's nationwide viewership ratings data, the office suddenly fell entirely silent!

...

Beijing Times.

At the entertainment section's office area.

Many of the staff here were happily chatting away as they drafted their reports.

"This time, I wonder how Zhang Ye's fans are going to stir up trouble in reaction to Rise to the Dance getting first in the viewership ratings. Hai, looks like there's going to be blood shed again online."

"Those fans of Zhang Ye all behave just like him. They're really too good at creating trouble!"

"Hurry up and finish with the draft. We have to submit it very soon. This article must be published for this evening's news."

"I know, I've drafted half of it already."

"Should we set the headline as 'Rise to the Dance clinches top spot' for this issue?"

"Yes, use that tentatively for now."

"Hur hur, Chen Ye has endured so many years of hardship and finally gotten first place. In the first half of the year, he had been held in check by The Voice and Zhang Ye, but now that Zhang Ye has been pushed aside to the documentary channel, there's no one left at Central TV to compete with Chen Ye anymore."

"Xu Yipeng has also finally made a name of himself in the entertainment show industry."

The moment they found out about the viewership ratings of Rise to the Dance, these reporters were already starting to draft their reports. The headlines and contents of the article had already been formulated in their minds early on. No one ever thought that there would be any other possibilities.

However, at this moment, one of the internal office doors was opened.

"Everyone, stop doing whatever you're doing for a moment." A middle-aged man came out of the office.

"Uh."

"Chief Editor?"

"Stop?"

"What's the matter?"

Everyone was a little stunned.

The chief editor looked with sympathy at several people drafting their reports. "The number 1 show for the nationwide viewership ratings is not Rise to the Dance, but A Bite of China."

The reporters went crazy at that instant.

"What?"

"That's impossible!"

"Ah? What did you say?"

"A Bite of China? A Bite of China was the one that took top spot??"

...

At a beverage company.

The general manager's office was filled with angry shouting!

"Who was the one who got contacted by A Bite of China when they first started pitching their advertising spots?"

"Director Han, that was…that's me."

"How much did they ask for back then?"

"I think it was…a few million."

"Are you an idiot? Ah? Are you an idiot or what?"

"I…didn't know that a documentary could get so popular."

"Get this straight! That is Zhang Ye's show we're talking about! With the presence of this name, even if he shoots a shitty show, the viewership ratings won't be bad! Why didn't you grab the golden opportunity offered us?! What is the use of having you as the director of our advertising department?"

Back then, when A Bite of China finished filming, Zhang Ye and his program team staff had contacted advertisers everywhere, many of them advertisers who had worked with them before. But at that time, everyone thought that no one would watch a documentary, so much less an advertising spot that cost a few million, even if it only cost a million, they would not want to take it. But when they saw this episode of A Bite of China doing far better than last week and achieved a viewership rating of 2.36%, many of those advertisers who were contacted by the A Bite of China program team instantly regretted things until their intestines turn green!

They wanted to be left alone for now.

They needed to be left alone!

...

The television and media industry insiders were the earliest group of people to learn about the news. Everyone's reactions were quite similar, but when all of these industry insiders found out about the news, they felt that they themselves, the people around them, and even the whole world had gone crazy!

How could that be?

How could they do that?

How could that be possible!?

Subsequently, this news was revealed online!

The nationwide viewership rankings for Friday was released!

Many of the audience and netizens reacted the same way as the industry insiders. After finding out about the viewership ratings of Rise to the Dance, they believed that there was no more suspense for the outcome. So when they saw A Bite of China written in bold headings in the top spot of the viewership rankings, you could imagine the look of shock on their faces!

The viewership rating of A Bite of China was 2.36%!

Compared to the second episode of Rise to the Dance whose viewership rating had increased to 1.52%, it was higher by more than 0.8%!

This difference was no longer possible to describe with just mentioning who got first and second place. It was nowhere near enough to show the disparity between these two shows anymore!

This was a wipeout!

This was an utter wipeout!

This was an outright crushing defeat!

Yes, it was an abject defeat by a documentary against a variety show!

The netizens went crazy as well!

"Holy fuck!"

"My eyes have been blinded!"

"I've been blinded too!"

"This is too fucking amazing!"

"It feels so good! This is truly way too insane! No one can stop A Bite of China any longer! No one can stop Zhang Ye anymore!"

"2.36%? Oh my god!"

"Holy motherfucking shit! The Voice was number 1 in the nationwide viewership ratings for TV shows in recent years and the highest viewership ratings it got was during the season finale episode—2.45%. That was the peak in recent years for viewership ratings! This history and legend was only recently created! But what was the current situation? A documentary…a documentary that only broadcast for three episodes actually fucking achieved a viewership rating of 2.36%?!"

"What magic does A Bite of China actually have?"

"We should ask Zhang Ye what magic he used!"

"Don't tell me that A Bite of China is going to surpass The Voice? Not only has a documentary become number 1 in the nationwide viewership ratings for the same period, they even want to fucking surpass the viewership rating record set by a variety show? They've gone mad! They have all gone mad!"

"I was wondering why Zhang Ye chose to broadcast on a Friday and Saturday. So it was because Zhang Ye did not treat Rise to the Dance as his opponent at all! He was heading for that peak record set by The Voice! He intends to break the previous record he himself had set! Yes, the person who can break the legend of the viewership ratings of such a heaven-defying show like The Voice…is probably only Zhang Ye himself! However, I think that before this matter happened today, no one could have ever thought that Zhang Ye would use a documentary to break his own record! This is too crazy! B-But he's really almost about to achieve it! He's actually just a step away from success! Fuck! Zhang Ye is a really fucking fierce person of this generation!"

"Zhang Ye is going crazy!"

"Can someone tell me that this is really happening?"

"This is too unbelievable!"

"Teacher Zhang Ye, why are you so fucking awesome!"

"I wonder what Central TV Department 1 is feeling now! Are their faces in pain or not?"

"I wonder if they regret muzzling Zhang Ye and then allowing him to go. All of that just for the overseas copyright of The Voice? This is simply too laughable now that I look at it! If Zhang Ye had stayed on, to say nothing of those little bit of copyright fees, he could even have earned back ten times that amount for them! Even though Zhang Ye went to an unloved and uncared for documentary channel, he could still produce a program that could deal a crushing defeat to all the variety shows' viewership ratings, let alone if he were given a variety show to do instead! How much money will A Bite of China earn this time? It'll probably be around the region of what The Voice got!"

"Those bunch of idiots at Central TV Department 1!"

"Yeah, those group of people are really fucking stupid!"

"Hahaha, Central TV Department 1 will surely insist that they don't regret it. But everyone knows the answer is obvious without needing to ask. I guess their faces have already turned green from regretting so much!"

"I wonder what expressions are on the faces of Chen Ye and the others right now."

Those fans of Rise to the Dance and Chen Ye who were happily cheering a few minutes ago were all at a loss for words. Not a single one of them replied.

The netizens were shouting loudly in shock due to this news.

It was also the same for many celebrities!

Yao Jiancai was shocked!

Zhang Xia was shocked!

Fang Weihong was shocked!

Fan Wenli and Chen Guang were shocked too!

Some of the famous, leading directors of the documentary industry posted on Weibo in unison.

The previous winner of the most prestigious award⁠⁠⁠⁠ for documentaries posted: "It's too incredible!"

Director of renowned documentary Science Life: "Congratulations to Zhang Ye and A Bite of China! You're all terrific! I'm sincerely happy for you and the documentary!"

Shao Chi, the documentary director who had interacted with Zhang Ye on Weibo before, also posted: "There is truly a day when the viewership rating of a documentary can crush an entertainment show's viewership ratings? Have I been transported into another world?!"

Yes, many people also felt that they have been transported into another world because this felt too unreal!

In the current situation, everything felt like a dream. Zhang Ye had managed to do what his predecessors could not. He had accomplished what all the other documentary directors did not even dare to think about!

Then, an unknown person posted a picture of Zhang Ye's calligraphy piece, written just a bit ago, onto the Internet!

"Spring in Qin Garden: Snow".