Chapter 43

Damn!

Second place?

The "Old and Young Storytelling" program is in second place?

The entire arts frequency office area suddenly burst into excitement! Impossible! Absolutely impossible—this was everyone's natural reaction! What kind of program is "Old and Young Storytelling"? It's a program that has consistently been at the bottom or second to last for years. Even the once notoriously poor "Midnight Ghost Stories" could still manage to rank in the top ten or even ninth or tenth on the first day of a new novel, but "Old and Young Storytelling" had never achieved that. Its best performance was 18th place, and that was during a special program on Children's Day five years ago!

Second place? 2.40 in listenership? And it even surpassed news programs like "Daily Entertainment"? No one believed what they heard!

Wu Datao inexplicably got angry, "Did you read it wrong?"

Jia Yan also thought he might have read it wrong, "It... it's written like that."

"It can't be," Tian Bin didn't believe it either, "From the bottom to second place? That's impossible!"

Jia Yan nodded, looked at the listenership report again, and said, "There must be an error in the statistics. Let's not read it for now. The future rankings will definitely be inaccurate. I'll go upstairs and find the statisticians!"

Hearing these words, Zhang Ye exploded, "What do you mean? When my listenership was at the bottom, you thought it was normal. Now that it's good, you say it's a statistical error? Everything is according to your say? Everything is your logic?"

Zhang Ye's cold eyes fixed on everyone who doubted him, "I want to ask you! Has the station ever made a statistical error? Has it ever happened? Oh, when your performance is good, it's supposed to be? When my performance is good, it's a mistake? What kind of people are you?"

Jia Yan knew his words were a bit too much but still insisted, "Everyone has doubts about this statistic. We definitely need to check it, after all, the jump is too exaggerated!"

Zhang Ye smiled, "You can check, but what if there's no error? Will you take responsibility for your words?"

Jia Yan looked at him, determined that there must be an error, and said, "If the data is correct, I will apologize to you."

"Alright, go check then," Zhang Ye was confident, and this confidence came from his trust in his stories. Although he didn't know why the listenership suddenly skyrocketed, he was clear that his stories were classic masterpieces from his world, impossible to be uninteresting!

Jia Yan left, and the others were also whispering.

"Is it real?"

"Probably a mistake."

"I think so too, otherwise it's too exaggerated."

"Right, Feng Laoshi has always had the lowest listenership, how could it suddenly surge to the top in just three days with Zhang Ye?"

"Let's wait and see, Jia Yan should be back soon."

Feng Laoshi quickly pulled Zhang Ye aside, "What's going on?"

Zhang Ye said, "Don't worry, the listenership is definitely normal."

Feng Laoshi rolled his eyes, "This is called normal? This is too abnormal. I would believe 20th or 19th place, but second place? It's not that I don't trust you, Zhang, but really... do you think our obscure program can have a higher listenership than the news program 'Daily Entertainment'?"

Zhang Ye blinked, "Why not?"

Feng Laoshi said, "Why not? Like on TV, have you ever seen a program with a higher viewership than the CCTV News Broadcast?"

To be honest, Zhang Ye had seen it in his world!

"Alright, let's wait for the results," Feng Laoshi was also flustered.

On the other side,

1000

Jia Yan returned, and this kind of query was quite quick.

Tian Bin and Wu Datao asked, "Is it a mistake? Did the names get mixed up?"

Jia Yan said nothing, just looked at Zhang Ye with a dark face.

Zhang Ye also smiled at him, spread his right hand, snapped his fingers, and made a complex gesture.

Jia Yan lowered his eyes, holding his breath, and walked up, "I'm sorry, Teacher Zhang. I shouldn't have doubted your performance. The statistics were recalculated... there was no error!"

What?

Is it the real listenership??

Wu Datao and Tian Bin were stunned!

Zhang Ye accepted his apology and educated him, "No program is destined to fail forever. Don't immediately doubt and negate others when you see their program doing well!" He then looked at Wu Datao and Tian Bin, who were the first to blame the statistics, "Do you have anything to say?"

Tian Bin, of course, wouldn't apologize, pretending not to hear.

Wu Datao also went about his business, his confidence waning.

Zhang Ye, not letting up, said to the two, "I've improved the program through my own efforts. I'm upright and honest. Why say my listenership is fake or wrong?"

An old hand at the station tried to mediate, "Forget it, Teacher Zhang, no one is targeting you."

At this moment, Li Si suddenly shouted, "Come and look at the news! The Beijing education department issued a document this morning! It requires all kindergartens and primary schools in Beijing to fully promote the fairy tale 'Little Rabbit, Be Good.' They also issued a 'Letter to Parents' to bring the story into schools and homes, and recommend that parents learn and guide their children, emphasizing the importance of not opening the door to strangers!"

Jia Yan was familiar with this, having seen it in the news, "Is it the essay contest organized by the education department? What's the big deal?"

An editor said, "Is it really that surprising?"

Li Si smiled bitterly and said nothing.

A woman nearby glanced at Li Si's screen and was also stunned, swallowing hard, she exclaimed,

"First place in this essay contest, 'Little Rabbit, Be Good'... My God! It was written by our Teacher Zhang! It even surpassed many other teachers like Tao Xueru and Little Red Mushroom, taking the top spot!"

Zhang Ye added, "The story broadcast yesterday noon was this one!" Hearing this, he understood. No wonder the listenership was so high. He thought the news and newspapers hadn't advertised it, but the education department had directly issued a red-headed document. How many kindergartens are there in Beijing? How many primary schools? How many young students? Countless! Organizing schools to educate children, teachers have to listen, students have to listen, and more importantly, parents have to listen. That's why the listenership had a miraculous surge! It's like a mandatory education, everyone has to learn!

The woman then said, "I've seen 'Little Rabbit, Be Good' with my son. Their kindergarten even printed a brochure. Teacher Zhang, you wrote that story?"

Zhang Ye said, "Yes, Aunt Zhou. I saw the essay contest and felt inspired to do something for the children. The inspiration came, and I wrote it."

The woman praised, "You wrote it so well. My son loves it."

Wang Xiaomei looked at Zhang Ye, "Have the fairy tales in 'Old and Young Storytelling' these past few days all been written by you?"

Zhang Ye nodded, modestly, "Yes, I wrote a few."

Feng Laoshi was surprised, "You didn't use the story scripts I gave you? You really wrote them yourself?" Zhang Ye had told him that if the current fairy tale industry was in a slump, he would use his original stories, but Feng Laoshi didn't expect him to actually write them, thinking it was a joke!

Zhang Ye, unable to hold back a laugh, said, "Feng Laoshi, you haven't been listening to my program these past few days? This is a program you've been broadcasting for years, and you didn't listen?"

"No, I didn't. Cough, I didn't dare to listen," Feng Laoshi was a bit embarrassed, admitting it was wrong not to listen.

Zhang Ye explained, "All the stories are written by me. I do have some experience and talent in writing, and I apologize for any mistakes."

Apologize?

Many people could hear the sarcasm in Zhang Ye's voice!

Putting down their work, everyone went online to search, and they saw the full screen of praise and discussions on the forums!

"The stories are amazing!"

"Little Rabbit, Be Good, open the door, ha ha, Teacher Zhang's singing is so beautiful!"

"Right, the nursery rhyme is great. The melody is beautiful and very simple, easy to learn."

"My daughter has already learned the song, but she still asks me to tell her stories every day. From now on, I'll listen to Teacher Zhang's program every noon."

"You don't have to wait. Check the previous episodes."

"Previous episodes? I've heard them all."

"No, the previous episodes were also original fairy tales by Teacher Zhang, like 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' and 'The Emperor's New Clothes.' They are very well-told and full of meaning. In terms of literary quality, they are even better than 'Little Rabbit, Be Good'!"

"Really? I'll go listen!"

"I've listened, and I'm really impressed by Teacher Zhang!"

"I've decided, as long as Teacher Zhang is there, I won't miss a single episode of 'Old and Young Storytelling.' I'll listen and then tell the stories to my twin children at night."

"Hey, did you notice? The suspension notice on the Beijing Radio Station website includes 'Old and Young Storytelling.' Is such a good program going to be suspended?"

"Impossible?"

"Really, I'll send you the link!"

"Ah? Really? Suspended?"

"Damn! Are the radio station idiots? Suspending such a good program?"

"Ah, there might not be many episodes left. Everyone, listen quickly, one less episode each time."

"It won't be suspended. If it is, I'll complain. What's going on? Do they have no sense of aesthetics?"

On the other side, Xiao Fang brought today's reader letters, knowing that Zhang Ye was in second place, surpassing Wu Datao's news program. She was extremely happy, and the stack of letters was taller than a person, almost too much for her to carry, "Teacher Zhang, your letters."

Zhang Ye got up to receive them, "Which stack is mine?"

Xiao Fang happily said, "All of them are yours. The other teachers' letters are still in the mailroom; I couldn't carry them."

What? All mine?

There must be a thousand letters!

Feng Laoshi marveled, "Your number of letters is a record, right? Our frequency has never had more than a thousand letters from listeners!"

Xiao Fang smiled, "Yes, today's total letters from all other sources combined aren't as many."

Zhang Ye wiped the sweat from his forehead, carried the letters over, and started reading. Almost all were from parents, with