Chapter 35

In the afternoon.

The air conditioner in the office area was broken.

"This damn air conditioner, why won't it start?"

"Is the power plug not inserted properly, Mr. Wu?"

"It's plugged in, but it won't turn on. Phew, it's so hot!"

Wu Datao, a veteran broadcaster of the morning show, fiddled with it for a long time but couldn't fix it. He was quite heat-sensitive and had worked up a sweat. Finally, he gave up and turned to look at the people in the office area. The clerical staff were all busy with other things, and the entire area was filled with broadcasters and hosts. He then looked at Zhang Ye and said, "Xiao Zhang, the air conditioner is broken. Go downstairs and find the receptionist to contact the repair people."

Zhang Ye looked back, "Can't I just make a call?"

Wu Datao said, "There's no repair phone number here, and you also need to fill out a repair form with the receptionist to tell them which air conditioner it is."

Zhang Ye was unhappy, "I'm busy with other things, I'll do it later."

Wu Datao no longer called Zhang Ye "Teacher Xiao Zhang." In the past, he could still chat with Zhang Ye and even praised him when his show was popular. But now his attitude had changed significantly, and he was treating Zhang Ye like a regular clerk. According to what Zhang Ye had heard, Wu Datao had a good relationship with Zhao Guozhou and was one of the director's confidants. There was even a rumor that he was related to Zhao's wife.

On the other side, Li Si returned, holding a thick basket of new letters. It seemed they had agreed on something, and he also found Zhang Ye, "Xiao Zhang, the reader's letters have arrived. Find yours and distribute them to everyone."

Zhang Ye countered, "2000, 211, what?"

Li Si said, "I have other things to do."

He put down the letters and left. A few days ago, Li Si had already softened towards Zhang Ye and greeted him proactively because of the principle of "the victor and the vanquished." But now that Zhang Ye had offended the leadership, not only Zhao Guozhou but also the station's top management, Li Si's attitude had reverted to what it was before.

Tian Bin also chimed in, pointing at the water dispenser next to Zhang Ye, "Xiao Zhang, the water is almost gone. Think about changing it later. You don't have much work to do anyway."

When the wall falls, everyone pushes! Zhang Ye let out a cold laugh!

For a moment, everyone in the office area treated Zhang Ye differently, except for three people: Wang Xiaomei, Teacher Feng, and Xiao Fang. The others either treated him with a new face, calling him here and there, or ignored him completely, not speaking or greeting him as if he didn't exist. They were all long-time employees and knew the situation well. The station was reprimanding Zhang Ye, removing him from his hosting duties but not firing him, to teach him a lesson and make him hand over the copyright of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" to the station. But after interacting with Zhang Ye for a few days, they knew his stubborn personality and that he wouldn't give in. So, everyone thought Zhang Ye's hosting career was over, and no one could save him. Why should they bother maintaining a good relationship with him? First, it wasn't necessary, and second, they couldn't do it! They were different from Wang Xiaomei and Teacher Feng. Teacher Xiaomei was a pillar of the station, and the leadership valued her, so no one dared to touch her. Teacher Feng was retiring soon and had been a veteran of the station for decades. Who wouldn't give him some face? And what could you do to someone who was retiring? The others, however, still had to work under Deputy Director Jia and Director Zhao for a long time. With the leadership's "blacklist" order, should they still be friendly with Zhang Ye? They didn't want to live that long, did they?

For the entire afternoon, Zhang Ye was everyone's target.

Xiao Fang, who had just finished her work, entered the office area and saw how others were treating Zhang Ye, her eyes turning red with anger!

"Xiao Zhang, what's going on?"

"Didn't I tell you to change the water?"

"Now that you have no work, you're acting high and mighty?"

Wu Datao and Tian Bin chimed in, and even Li Si, the assistant, didn't take Zhang Ye seriously, completely marginalizing him!

Teacher Feng couldn't stand it, "Aren't you all idle too? If you have the time to boss people around, why don't you make a call yourself?"

"Teacher Feng, are you still defending him?" Wu Datao was also annoyed by Zhang Ye, "Look at him, does he show any respect to the seniors?"

Xiao Fang was furious, "You're just being old and bullying people!"

Tian Bin had been putting up with Xiao Fang for a long time, "You're just a clerk, do you have the right to speak?"

Xiao Fang almost cried, feeling extremely wronged!

Zhang Ye's temper flared up, and he spoke for the first time, "What are you shouting for! Just because you have a loud voice! If you have something to say, say it to me! What are you showing off to a girl for! Say it to me! Come on!" Zhang Ye slammed the table, and the atmosphere in the room tightened, becoming silent!

"You..." Tian Bin didn't shout back at Zhang Ye, possibly because the verbal battle last night had left him with too many psychological scars, knowing he couldn't out-argue Zhang Ye.

The sound of footsteps, and Zhao Guozhou came out of his office, "I heard you shouting from outside! What are you doing? Do you think this is your home? This is a workplace!"

Although he used "you all," Zhang Ye knew Zhao Guozhou was talking to him. "Hey, I'm not bothering you, but you can't stop, can you? Everyone wants to step on me? What did I do to you?" Zhang Ye didn't shout at Zhao Guozhou. In that second, he remembered an item he had drawn in a lottery not long ago, the one he drew when recording with the advertiser—a one-time-use item called the "Bad Luck Aura." Zhang Ye didn't understand its function and hadn't planned to use it, but now he wanted to try it. He opened the game ring, reached into the item slot, and took out the black, angel-like halo, placing it on his head according to the usage instructions. The halo immediately started spinning, and transparent ripples spread through the air, forming a large area!

Ding!

[Bad Luck Aura activated!]

[Effect duration: 5 minutes, countdown started!]

The item description was: "When certain conditions are met, it can make people around the player suffer bad luck."

Zhang Ye wanted to see what these "certain conditions" were. After using it, he looked at the people around him but saw no changes; everyone was fine.

What's going on?

Is the item not working?

A minute later, Zhao Guozhou left.

Just as Zhang Ye was puzzled, Wu Datao started fiddling with the air conditioner's power again, but it still didn't work. He shouted, "Zhang Ye, are you going or not!"

Zhang Ye retorted, "Do you have legs or not?"

"Are you challenging me?" Wu Datao was angry, but just as he was about to scold Zhang Ye, sparks suddenly flew from the air conditioner's power source, as if it had short-circuited. A loud crack, and the sparks splashed onto Wu Datao's hand. He screamed in terror, his whole body trembling for a second. When he pulled the power plug and fell to the ground, several of his hairs stood up, and he was stunned!

"Ouch!"

"Teacher Wu! What happened?"

"This damn air conditioner! I said it should have been replaced long ago!"

Li Si pointed at Zhang Ye and accused, "Teacher Wu told you to report it to the receptionist! You didn't go! See what happened!"

Just as Li Si finished speaking, the window glass next to him shattered without warning, and a fluorescent bouncy ball flew in, hitting Li Si's forehead. It was a rubber ball that could bounce high when thrown on the ground, probably thrown by a mischievous child downstairs. It hit the glass and bounced off, making a loud thud and a painful cry as Li Si fell to the ground!

"Li Si!"

"Who threw that?"

"Are you okay?"

Tian Bin also took the opportunity to shout at Zhang Ye, "Look what you did! It's all because of you!"

Li Si's forehead was slightly bleeding from the glass shards, but it wasn't serious.

Zhang Ye laughed in anger, "Because of me? The kids downstairs throwing things is because of me? The air conditioner short-circuiting is because of me? Everything is my fault? What kind of logic is that!"

Just as Tian Bin was about to shout again, the nearly empty water dispenser next to him made a loud noise. The pipe burst, and a jet of hot water splashed onto Tian Bin's foot. He screamed and fell to the ground, holding his foot. Fortunately, the hot water didn't burn him through his clothes, but when he took off his sock, his foot was red and painful.

"Ah!"

Outside, Tian Bin's wife, who worked at the station, came in. Seeing her husband lying in front of Zhang Ye, looking in pain, she immediately flew into a rage, "What did you do, Zhang? Did you dare to hit someone?"

Teacher Feng immediately said, "It wasn't Xiao Zhang!"

Tian Bin's wife wouldn't listen and swung her arm to hit Zhang Ye with the plastic file folder in her hand. But the folder didn't fly out, and she lost her balance. Her eight or nine-centimeter high heels made her body tilt, and with a thud, the heel broke, causing her to fall to the ground. She was wearing a skirt, a tight mid-length skirt, and with a rip, her legs split apart, and her bright red lace underwear was suddenly exposed to everyone!

Tian Bin was stunned!

Li Si was shocked!

Wu Datao was dumbfounded!

Everyone was in a daze!

Zhang Ye heard the game ring prompt that the Bad Luck Aura had ended and reacted. Out of humanitarian aid, he was the closest and quickly threw his jacket to Tian Bin's wife to cover her exposed area. He was speechless and then looked at Tian Bin, Li Si, Wu Datao, and others, "Are you all okay? I have band-aids. Uh, can you get up? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

No one responded to Zhang Ye!

Everyone looked at Zhang Ye as if they had seen the devil!

Teacher Wu got electrocuted? Li Si was hit by a bouncy ball from downstairs? Teacher Tian was scalded by the water from the dispenser? Tian's wife twisted her ankle with her high heels? In an instant, many people recalled the strange incidents where Tian Bin had fallen three times in the office area, stepping on a lunch box lid and a broken light tube.

Too coincidental!

Are you a broom star incarnate?

In that moment, at least four colleagues instinctively moved two meters away from Zhang Ye, and no one dared to approach him!