I'm Really a Superstar

The executives on the organizing committee who had been driven away in anger did not know what else they could say.

“What kinds of acts are these?”

“He can even make an act out of spinning in circles? How would that even be watchable?”

“What the heck is Director Zhang thinking?”

“He’s always been someone who doesn’t do things according to common sense!”

“Let’s see how the second approval session goes. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just cut them!”

“Do you even need to see how it will go? It’s definitely not going to work out. And by the time we cut the acts, it will definitely not just be one or two of them. It’s definitely going to be a mass cut, hai.”

If it were someone else?

If it were another director who did this?

They would have intervened much earlier on. In fact, they would probably have even lost their temper at that director!

But when faced with Zhang Ye, they found it more difficult to use harsh words on him. Even if they didn’t do it for the sake of the monk, they’d have to do it for the sake of the Buddha. Who could afford to not spare Wu Zeqing some face?

“Why don’t we bring this up to Chief Wu first?”

“I’ll see what Chief Wu’s attitude on this matter is.”

One of them immediately called her.

Du du du.

The call connected.

“Hello, Chief Wu.”

“Oh, it’s Chief Zhao.”

“I hope I didn’t disturb your rest at this hour.”

“It’s fine, I haven’t slept yet.”

“About the acts for the Spring Festival Gala, we’ve met with some problems. What I would like to ask is—”

“Hur hur, but the Spring Festival Gala isn’t under my jurisdiction, right? You’re the executives of the organizing committee, so I’m sure you can discuss it amongst yourselves.”

“You’re the SARFT’s leader, so how can we skip over you, right?”

“Aren’t Chief He and Director Liu already representing the SARFT on the Spring Festival Gala’s organizing committee? Besides, you should also be aware that the executive director of the Spring Festival Gala is my husband. Wouldn’t I have to steer clear of this matter?”

“But the issue is that there is a lot of controversy surrounding the acts.”

“Wasn’t there a new list of acts drawn up for the gala?”

“It’s the new acts that have an issue.”

“Old Zhao, if you’re asking me in my official capacity, I’d still say the same thing as I did before. This matter is not under my jurisdiction, so I won’t offer any opinion on it. But if you’re telling me this in my personal capacity, then I can only tell you that I understand what my husband is like. He might handle things in a rather odd way, but he has never disappointed before, has he? I believe in his judgment. If he thinks that a certain act will be good, then it will definitely be good.”

Do things in a rather odd way?

Was this odd?

It was more like bizarre, alright!

Chief Zhao could only shake his head helplessly with a laugh. “Alright, I understand.”

From those few words alone, even though Wu Zeqing said that she had to steer clear of the matter and that it wasn’t under her jurisdiction, she was actually giving her utmost support to her husband.

Hai, forget it.

They could only wait until the second approval session was held.

…

In the next few days.

He scheduled the acts into the lineup one by one.

The script for each act was written by Zhang Ye.

…

The fifth act.

Zhang Ye called Chen Guang and Fan Wenli.

“Hello, Director Zhang?”

“Old Chen, do come for the second approval session.”

“Me and Wenli?”

“Yes.”

“I was just waiting to hear these words of yours. What kind of act will it be?”

“It will still be singing, but I’ll need you to sing a different song. I’ll contribute a track for it.”

“Haha, that’ll be great. It’s our gain then.”

…

The eighth act.

Zhang Ye made a video call to Zhang Yuanqi.

“Old Zhang, are you back in the country yet?”

“I just came back yesterday.”

“Do you know how to play the piano?”

“I do, but I haven’t played for a very long time. I’m afraid that I’ll be out of practice.”

“That’s fine, the song isn’t difficult.”

“Then I guess it’s not a problem.”

“Good, then I’ll leave an act for you on the Spring Festival Gala.”

“What act is it?”

“It’s definitely a good act, so don’t you worry.”

“Sure.”

…

The 15th act.

“Hello, how’s the progress of that matter I asked about regarding the family of three?”

“We’ve already found them, Director Zhang.”

“Are they Mongolian?”

“Yes, it’s a couple who’re both Mongolian singers.”

“What about the child?”

“The child sings pretty good too.”

“Alright, bring them to Beijing and get them practicing immediately.”

“Understood.”

…

The 27th act.

“Director Zhang, hello.”

“Hello.”

“You were looking for me?”

“I heard that you’re the best magician in the country. I have a few magic tricks here that I wonder if you can perform.”

“About that, I’d have to see what the general difficulty of them are.”

“I can’t tell you about the level of difficulty. After all, I’m not in your line of work. However, I think it’ll be pretty challenging. I need someone who can perform this magic trick flawlessly within the month.”

“What’s the content of the magic performance?”

“I’ll come up with something for you.”

“I’ll give it a try then.”

…

The 30th act.

The staff of Ci Xiufang’s Studio came over.

“Director Zhang, please approve the skit we wrote.”

“Auntie Ci, I really can’t.”

“Everyone’s been preparing for it for three months now.”

“That still won’t do. The skit might be quite good, but it’s still far from being wonderful. For any other station’s Spring Festival Gala, I don’t care what they do. But on my side, it definitely won’t pass. But Auntie Ci, don’t worry about that. I didn’t say that I won’t let you on the show. How about this? I have a skit here that I find especially suitable for you. But I’ll need you to find a partner for it. There are some requirements for their appearance and height, though, so do you think you can do it?”

“Yes, pass the script to me.”

“Alright.”

…

The 40th act.

Zhang Ye called Grandma Zhang Xia.

“Grandma Zhang.”

“So is there a place for me at the second approval session?”

“Of course there is. I have a good act that I’ve kept for you.”

“How good is it?”

“It’s the last act of the Spring Festival Gala, the finale.”

“Who else is there?”

“There will also be veteran singers from the song and dance troupes, and you’ll be the one leading them in the song that I’ve planned to change this year.”

“Sure.”

…

There were about 40 acts in total for the Spring Festival Gala.

Zhang Ye implemented the acts one by one and followed up on each of them.

Zhang Ye’s workload in recent days started increasing as he went around looking for performers to invite onto the show. In between, he still had to take time out to plan the acts, as well as hold meetings with the performers to discuss the scripts. For some of the acts like singing, it wasn’t that troublesome to handle since Zhang Ye would only have to fill in the lyrics and compose the tune. Everything else could be left to the professionals, and he only had to make sure that the final product lined up with his requirements. But for some of the other acts, they were much more difficult to coordinate. For acts like dancing, because Zhang Ye was not a professional choreographer to begin with, he did not know how to present the idea he had in mind to them. He could only demonstrate to the dancers with actual movements and then correct them afterwards. This process took up too much time. As for the magic and acrobatic performances, which were much more complex, Zhang Ye had plans in mind that he needed to teach to the performers in person and was basically irreplaceable for this task.

Looking for people.

Practicing.

Constructing props.

Setting up the stage.

Preparing the costumes.

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

Zhang Ye was always kept busy until it was pitch-dark out!

It was also the same for the performers. Everyone went into full preparation mode overnight. Zhang Yuanqi turned down all work and refreshed herself on playing the piano. Ci Xiufang’s Studio was going through Zhang Ye’s skit for them over and over again. The deaf-mute dance troupe basically lived at Central TV’s dormitories since they had to verify the dance moves with Zhang Ye every day. Hu Die was also practicing her spinning daily and found that it was very difficult to spin for four hours straight. If she drank too much water, she would often get the urge to go to the bathroom. If she drank too little, she would easily become exhausted with the physical exertion on her body. She kept trying to find a balance.

Everyone was giving their best for the second approval session!

Only two approval sessions were going to be held for this year’s Spring Festival Gala. The second approval session was to confirm the final program list for the Spring Festival Gala. Even though some adjustments were still going to be made during the rehearsal, the changes would not be that major. No one was willing to give up on this chance, and everyone was thinking only of stepping onto this dream stage!