I'm Really a Superstar

On Weibo.

Many of those who liked Zhang Ye had come online to observe the happenings.

"Wow, Teacher Zhang has finally appeared!"

"Zhang Ye is aiming for the Most Popular Celebrity Awards as well?"

"Haha, there's something interesting to watch again this time. The first battle of Teacher Zhang Ye after his comeback!"

"He's posturing as though he's different from the others! This guy is too good at posturing! He's even using English! But…I like it! Hehehe!"

"'Follow your own course, and let people talk'? Well said! How philosophical! Only from Zhang Ye's mouth can such timeless quotes come out as though they were cabbages being sold in the market. He can just throw them out whenever he wants to and we can get as much of them as we want like it's on a one-for-one offer! If we have to narrow it, this has to be Zhang Ye's literary talents!"

"Teacher Zhang, we're cheering you on!"

"We're all supporting you and have voted for you!"

"Right, members of Zhang Ye's fan club, let's do it!"

"This catchphrase is really good, it seems like it's coming from the same direction as The Road Not Taken!"

"The voting is about to begin, let's not lose to the others. We will give our votes for the most popular celebrity to Teacher Zhang! To celebrate the return of Face-smacking Zhang, we have got to vote him up!"

"I'm here!"

"I'm here to support too!"

"Nothing to say except, I support Zhang Ye!"

"Teacher Zhang, you're finally back. We've waited for so long!"

Zhang Ye still had quite a large number of fans on Weibo, in comparison to the average C-list celebrity. The cohesiveness of his fans and their loyalty could even match up to some of the B- or A-list celebrity's fans. In other words, they were all hardcore fans who liked Zhang Ye very much. Even when he was not active before he updated his Weibo with that message, these fans could understand Zhang Ye and came rushing like the wind to support Zhang Ye.

But there were many netizens who also had differing opinions.

"This year's most popular celebrity rankings should still have those Japanese and Korean stars, right? There should be a few top spots that will be taken by them for sure. Zhang Ye has no chance."

“Although Zhang Ye's popularity is quite good, but compared to those top celebrities, it is nothing. There is still a large gap in the quality and volume of votes. If Zhang Ye wants to compete, the only thing he has is the recent coverage he has been getting for the mathematical conjecture that he proved. With the help of that, I think he should be able to place in the top 100 without any problems, but top 50? That could prove a little difficult."

"That might not be necessary. Zhang Ye's a wonder in the entertainment business. He's different from those common celebrities. Even if he were to break into the top 50 spots, I wouldn't be too surprised."

"He's asking for votes a little too late."

"Yeah, so many of the other celebrities had already started asking for votes a few days ago."

"I'm not optimistic about Zhang Ye's chances too. If he can even get into the top 100 spots, I would say he has done well, because that person's style does not have anything in common with the world's 'most popular'!"

If he can get into the top 50 spots, it will be an extremely good result for him. As there were close to 10,000 celebrities' names up for voting, and even included writers, models, overseas celebrities, placing in the top 50 would mean that he was already a top act in the entertainment circle. At least from previous years, those who managed to place in the top 50 were either B-list or A-list celebrities. Even for the B-list celebrities, they did not number many since this poll also included overseas celebrities like the Japanese, Korean, European, and American actors or singers. Many of them would occupy the spots in the top 50, and as such, being placed among them already said a lot.

It was almost 12 PM.

Many Weibo users had already logged on and focused to give support to their idols with their one or two votes. Every account could vote for the most popular celebrity as well as the most unpopular celebrity.

The poll had attracted countless people to Weibo. Zhang Ye was not the most well-known celebrity here and was just one name among many others. He could not compare to those A-list celebrities who got most of the attention, but compared to many others, his Weibo post could still get some attention. Those who liked or disliked him had all seen it!

……

At his grandma's house.

The 3 sisters were getting busy.

The eldest younger sister sent a message into a group chat with a link and asked, "Is everyone around? Classmates with Weibo, please give your vote to Zhang Ye. Thank you!"

"Hey, Sis Dan!"

"Dandan, I'm coming!"

"Classmate Cao has spoken, so we must support!"

"Alright, I'm casting my vote immediately!"

"Oh, my vote's already been reserved for Brother Yan. Sorry about that Dandan, maybe next time."

The eldest younger sister was quite good looking, good tempered, quiet, and got along very well with her classmates in university. Although no one knew that Zhang Ye was her cousin, many of them still gave her face. Only those who had their own idols that they wanted to vote for could not oblige, but the others were fine with whoever they voted for. Under Cao Dan's call, they went to the polling page to cast their votes for Zhang Ye.

When the second sister saw this, she also followed suit and sent a message to her high school's group chat: "Brothers and sisters! Weibo's Most Popular Celebrity Awards poll has begun! Please vote for Zhang Ye!"

Her classmates chattered at this.

"Who is Zhang Ye?"

"I don't know this person."

"How can you not know? He was the god who proved the global mathematical conjecture a few days ago. Tongtong, why are you pulling votes for Zhang Ye? Is he your idol?"

"There are so many handsome guys out there, why choose Zhang Ye?"

"Woah, Tongtong, you've got really unique tastes!"

The second sister whined, "Stop talking nonsense and vote!"

A female classmate said, "No, I've already given my vote to Steven, my Caucasian prince!"

Another female classmate said, "Me neither. I'm going to vote for Endo. I love that Japanese hunk! He's so handsome! I've always voted for him as the most popular celebrity every year!"

In the end, none of them gave any face to the second sister.

Cao Tong could only angrily stomp her feet. Unlike her sister, she did not have that much popularity among her classmates and it made her feel like giving up!

Meanwhile, the third sister, Cao Mengmeng was making some calls: "Hello, Dongzi. Don't ask me anything, just get on Weibo now and vote for my brother….What do you mean who is my brother! He's Zhang Ye!"

The room was full of noise and sounded like a big mess of chattering.

Zhang Ye felt a little embarrassed by all the goings-on, feeling as though his stature dropped. He couldn't help but say, "Come on you all, don't go around begging for votes. It's just a few votes, so what effect could it have on the poll? No matter what, your brother is a top C-list celebrity. If I just called out for votes, I would be getting lots of them within a short moment. With all of you going around begging for votes, it makes me seem like I'm not a popular person."

The three of them ignored him, acting like he wasn't there. They just continued looking for their friends to ask for votes.

Seeing his sisters trying so hard, Zhang Ye felt quite touched about it. He felt if he did not try hard himself as well, then he would have let down his sisters!

Canvassing for votes?

He should get to it himself too!

The quote earlier from the Divine Comedy suited the occasion but lacked some charm and impact.

Suddenly, Zhang Ye's doubters appeared on Weibo.

"He wants to compete for this award too?"

"He's overestimating himself!"

"This poll belongs to the A- and B-lists celebrities. What has it got to do with you?"

"Zhang Ye has really been unbanned? His name is included in the nominee list? What the heck is the SARFT doing? This sort of person should be banned for life! If you let him make a comeback, he will surely go around scolding people and cause a mess in the entertainment circle again! The previous time, when he went around scolding the other celebrities saying 'what lousy XX is this,' do you know how many people hated him to the bones because of that? Everyone hated him so badly that they wished they could just silence him!"

Most of the doubters were fans of Zhang Ye's adversaries.

When Zhang Ye saw this, his temper flared and he sent another Weibo post: "Please vote for me!" and added a quirky quote, "…Wear the shoes of others', so that others have no shoes to wear! Walk on others' paths, so that they have no paths to walk!"

When the people saw this post, many of them burst out laughing!

"Pfft!"

"Why does he even have to steal shoes!"

"Teacher Zhang, what are you trying to do!"

"Hahaha, what a great way to let the others have no paths to walk on!"

"Right, those of us from Zhang Ye's fan club must adopt such a stance of imposition! If God blocks us, we will kill God! If Buddha blocks us, we will kill Buddha! I want for the sky to not cover my eyes! I want for this land to not bury my heart! I want for all those countless celebrities to pack up and scram!"

"Get them!"

"Vote for Teacher Zhang!"

"This is the first battle since Teacher Zhang has returned! Let's fight it out with them! We need to get Teacher Zhang a good ranking!"

"Get ready for battle!"

"Haha, let the tempest come strike harder!"

Zhang Ye's hardcore fans were more than willing to battle it out for him. They'd bled and sweat together with Zhang Ye all the way up until now. There was no trouble they were afraid of. Instead, they craved it. Whenever they saw a battle happening, their eyes would light up—this was a common characteristic of Zhang Ye's fan club. Wherever you looked, whether it be internationally or domestically, you could only find such a fan club right here!

When the other celebrities and their fans saw Zhang Ye's newly posted Weibo update, they were speechless. Especially those fans who had earlier battled countless of times with Zhang Ye, the representatives from…Lee Anson's fan club, Lee Parkwoo's fan club, Tang Dazhang's fan club, etc. They all could only think of one thing, if you have been unbanned and are trying to make a comeback here, do it quietly. Don't go around offending others when no looked to make trouble with you. What are you trying to do here, carpet bombing everyone and talking about walking on someone's path so that they couldn't walk on it? Whose shoes were you intending to wear so that they would have no shoes to wear?!!

Be careful of getting smelly shoes!

Many of them immediately started to counterattack him.

"Pfft!"

"We need to get rid of Zhang Ye!"

"Yeah, everyone, join our hands together and get him!"

"That person really makes my blood boil! His fan club is also asking for it!"

"Hur hur, it's not like everyone has only just gotten to know Zhang Ye. The sort of person he is, don't you all know it well already? He just has a special charm to him—a word from him and everyone will hate him! Look at this, he has just made his comeback recently and he's acting up again! A leopard doesn't change its spots!"

He was getting a mixed reception!

The disputes were renewed!

In everybody's eyes, Zhang Ye seemed to have the innate ability to create trouble. But only Zhang Ye himself knew that his words now didn't carry any other meaning. It was just to ask for votes with some impact behind them, and to hit at those who doubted him. So why were all these people reacting so strongly? It was as though he was intent on declaring war on all of the other celebrities? But he did not have that intention!

Really, this was all just for the sake of art, don't you all know?

Zhang Ye could only shake his head slightly. Wear the shoes of others', so that others has no shoes to wear, walk on others' path, so that they have no paths to walk, what did those words mean? It can't be that none of you can understand it, right? There was a deep meaning to this, a hidden meaning that was the ultimate answer to all of literature. It was not as simple as anyone thought it to be. When you look at it for the first time, that phrase might not seem like anything. But if you looked hard and thought about it, it would dawn upon anyone with a sense of upbringing in literature that…well, that it doesn't have any other meaning to it.

Translator's Notes: Thank you for your support so far! Please continue to support IRAS by submitting a vote at Gravity Tales Vote Page. The top 3 novels at the end of the month will get a free sponsored chapter!