Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Several days later.

In the morning.

After resting for a few days, Zhang Ye finally got back to work at the studio.

Ha Qiqi smiled and greeted, Good morning, Director Zhang.

Zhang Zuo greeted, Good morning.

Have you finished resting? Little Wang said, giggling.

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, What rest? Ive been accompanying my wife and child at home for the past few days. I was either cooking or going on outings with them. It was even more tiring than working.

Little Zhou burst out laughing. What a humblebrag! I was taken by surprise!

Little Wang rolled her eyes. Have you ever spared a thought for those lonely people in the office? Youve got such a good daughter and a beautiful wife. How could you feel tired about that? Dont you know how to be content with what you have in life? Oh right, I forgot. Youre face-blind and dont know that your wife is pretty.

Zhang Ye said in amusement, Youre teasing me now, are you?

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Ye asked, Hows the ad doing?

Theyve started a global campaign. Ha Qiqi said, The effects are quite good.

Zhang Zuo smiled and said, Ive spoken with The Cola Company, and theyve mentioned that theyre pretty satisfied with it and its on the right track overall. Our international presence and fame are slowly building up too. Our position on the international celebrity rankings these few days has been very stable and we didnt increase or drop in ranking as we maintain our grip on a frontrunner position. It might be quite difficult to go further up the rankings, but it wont be easy to drop down in the near future either.

Ha Qiqi said pleased, Weve gained stable footing in the international scene.

Thatll do, not bad. Zhang Ye nodded approvingly.

Ha Qiqi asked, What are your plans?

Zhang Ye questioned back, What do you guys think I should do?

Ha Qiqi waved her hands in response. We dont dare to give any more suggestions. When Hollywood invited you to shoot a movie, we persuaded you to do it. As a result, we nearly caused a huge mess that would have sent our international popularity plummeting. So its better that you make your own decisions when it comes to work. Well carry out the dirty work in whichever direction you point us in. She then laughed and said, History has already proven countless times that the projects you choose will always turn out fine.

Zhang Ye laughed and said, Come on, I havent thought of anything yet either.

Movies?

Music?

Novels?

Games?

What should he dabble in this time?

He really had no ideas.

The movie this time had indeed brought him a lot of gains, and things like fame and qualifications were earned through it as well. But strictly speaking, he also resorted to quite a few gimmicks to achieve those results. Wolf Warrior 2 had indeed entered the Top 100 of the global box office rankings and shocked the entire world. But in reality, most of the box office earnings were achieved in China. Meanwhile, the people in most other countries had almost not even watched this movie. Hence, the popularity that he received through the screening of this movie was always lacking a little something and had its own set of restrictions in turn. This was also the reason why Zhang Ye would find it hard to break past the international C-list rankings in the short term. Even if he were to make another movie like Wolf Warrior 2, or another two or three movies like it, his popularity wouldnt be able to go much higher. At most, he would be able to stay at the top of the International C-list Rankings.

C-list?

B-list?

There was a fundamental difference between these two rankings!

Since this was the international stage, he would of course have to do something with an international appeal and influence. It couldnt be a show that only his own countrymen would like, but something that foreign citizens would take to as well. Only by crossing that line would Zhang Ye stand a chance of advancing towards his goal of reaching the International B-list Rankings. Any other talk right now would just be for naught.

Noon.

The takeout was delivered.

Director Zhang, its time to eat.

Youre still pondering about it?

Mhm.

While they were eating, Zhang Ye was still considering this matter.

He asked, We didnt receive any invitations for any projects?

Ha Qiqi said with a wry smile, We really didnt.

Zhang Ye wondered out loud, How is that possible?

Its because your popularity right now is too high. Ha Qiqi said helplessly, Thats why everyone thinks that youre too expensive to work with and that they cant afford you. That is probably the reason.

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. Sure, its my fault for being so popular.

Zhang Zuo said, The main issue is youre way too popular. Youre a director of a five billion yuan movie!

Zhang Ye corrected, Its 4.8 billion.

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, Dont mention 4.8 billion yuan. In China, even a director or actor who has had a part in an 800 million yuan production can easily call the shots in the entertainment circle. Just think, how many times have you exceeded their achievements by? But I guess we can wait for a bit longer. There will be no projects extending an invitation to us. The only thing we should be concerned about is whether it suits us or not. What we lack now is not work, but a good project. We have to first open up our path on the international market before we can go further.

Zhang Ye nodded. I agree with that.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang.

It was a call from his old classmate, Yu Yingyi.

Zhanger.

Yingyi? Whats up?

Are you at the studio?

Yeah.

Alright, Ill head over for a visit.

Sure, come over.

10 minutes later, Yu Yingyi arrived.

The moment she entered the office, she said in surprise, Youre still eating takeout?

Zhang Ye laughed as he ate, Then what should I be eating?

Youre already worth over 2 billion yuan, so why are you still eating this? Yu Yingyi said in amusement, I would have thought that youd be feasting on abalone and lobster every day. I wanted to come here to scrounge a meal off of you.

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, The money is not in yet. Im still as poor as I was right now.

Ha Qiqi gave up her seat. Ive finished eating. Take a seat here, Teacher Yu.

Yu Yingyi smiled and said, Thanks, Sister Ha.

Zhang Ye looked up and asked, What made you come to my office to visit today?

Sitting down, Yu Yingyi said, Someone never visits unless they need something.

So what is it? Zhang Ye blinked.

Yu Yingyi looked at him. Youve really done us Chinese people proud with your movie. In just a few months, youve built such a good reputation for our Chinese film industry. However, youre still a host based on your profession, and we both came through the television system. Surely you cant only be thinking of making movies now, can you? Shouldnt you also do your part and better the television industry of China as well? By making a TV show that can bring us up onto the international scene, right?

Zhang Ye said nervously, Do you think its that easy?

Yu Yingyi laughed and said, Its not easy, which is why I came to you.

Forget it, Im not that capable. Zhang Ye hurriedly waved it off.

Yu Yingyi said, not giving up, What do you think of Central TV International?

Zhang Ye said honestly, I dont think its much.

Yu Yingyi was horrified. Were the only international channel in China. How is that not something?

Do you guys have the viewership ratings to back it up? Zhang Ye asked.

Yu Yingyi said coldly, We have the coverage!

Zhang Ye said, What do you mean by that? Are you thinking of doing an entertainment show on CTV International? Hasnt it always been showing only politics and military programs?

Yu Yingyi said, We have to keep up with the times too.

Zhang Ye said, Its not easy making a TV show these days.

Yu Yingyi said, You mean there are still things that you cant do?

Zhang Ye laughed and said, Sister, Im not a god. Do you think that making a show is that easy? And you even want it to be interesting to international viewers too? Do you know what kinds of shows foreigners like? Talk shows? Although I was the one who started that format, it spread overseas a long time ago. They already have their own talk shows that are quite popular with the viewers. Who still wants to watch ours? Or do you want to make a documentary? The international documentaries have higher production value than ours, and their investments are larger as well. Their hosts fly all over the world to film their footage, so how can we compete? Or do you want to make a survival show? Theyre so overdone by the other countries that we wont have the first-move advantage, so it will be a surefire fail if we were to do them as well. This is why China does not have a share in the world when it comes to TV shows. If we wish to use our own TV shows to promote ourselves overseas, its an almost impossible task. No one will watch any of them.

It wasnt that he didnt want to make a television show to open up Chinas path overseas. This was something that he wished to do back then, but making television shows was different from making a movie. Chinas television shows had even less of a presence in the world than Chinas movies. After thinking for a very long time, there wasnt anything that Zhang Ye could bring to the table.

As such, he said, Just forget about it.

Yu Yingyi was taken aback. Wait a minute.

Zhang Ye asked, What?

Yu Yingyi looked at him with a puzzled face. When you mentioned that talk shows and documentaries are very popular overseas, I know that. But did you mention something about survival shows just now?

Yeah, Zhang Ye said matter-of-factly.

But Yu Yingyi asked, Whats that?

Zhang Ye was startled. Havent you watched a survival show before?

Yu Yingyi scratched her head. No, Ive never watched one before.

Zhang Ye said, They have such shows overseas, and theyre under the exploration genre

Yu Yingyi said, looking confused, I really dont know about them. What are you talking about?

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. Why are you such a hick? Then he turned and looked at Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others. Explain it to her.

However, their reactions were the same as Yu Yingyi.

Ha Qiqi said, I dont think Ive heard of it before either.

Zhang Zuo seemed like he was thinking hard. Are there shows like that?

Little Wang said, Exploration? Exploration of what? Digging for oil?

Everyone was shaking their heads. No one had heard of it before.

Zhang Ye was dumbfounded. Ah? There isnt such a thing?

He quickly searched for it on his computer.

Soon, a surprised expression appeared on Zhang Yes face. He shouted, What the fuck, it really doesnt fucking exist!

Yu Yingyi said curiously, Just what sort of strange show did you watch?

Strange show?

That show isnt strange at all!

It was a phenomenal show that was extremely popular all around the world!