Chapter 47

Monday.

Today is such an important day that Zhang Ye couldn't sleep and got up at five in the morning. After tossing and turning, he still came to the office early. The office area was still empty, with no one around. The editor who usually opened the door hadn't arrived, so Zhang Ye had to go downstairs to the security room to get the key for the cultural frequency, and only then could he enter the office.

Check the news.

Search for his name.

Look up the reviews of his program.

These are the three things Zhang Ye does every morning. A quick glance at the news is enough, and the program reviews are mostly the same as yesterday—either cursing Zhang Ye for being a pervert or demanding that "The Old and Young Storytelling" not be canceled. Zhang Ye mainly searched for his name and was surprised to find that in just one day, his name had been searched over 16,000 times on the largest search engine in the country. Although this is far from the hundreds of thousands or even millions of searches for top-tier celebrities, it still represents a significant increase. Note that this is not the search count for Zhang Ye's program or his fairy tales and novels, but just the name "Zhang Ye."

The search volume for "Ghost Blows Out the Light" being over ten thousand is not surprising; in fact, it has thousands of searches every day!

The search index for "Little Bunny Foo Foo" being ten thousand is also not strange; in fact, it had over 110,000 searches the day before yesterday!

All these searches are different, but the value of searching for Zhang Ye's name is unique. It indicates that many listeners have started paying attention to Zhang Ye behind the radio, which is a sign of growing popularity. Zhang Ye, who aspires to become the world's greatest and most famous star, naturally understands the intricacies of this. Paying attention to a work is just the initial stage, a superficial level of popularity that can easily fade as the work becomes outdated. However, paying attention to a person is much deeper and more lasting.

The popularity has increased, even if some of it is negative, it still counts as recognition. Zhang Ye can feel that his dream, though just at the initial stage, is moving forward every second without stopping.

However, despite the good news, he can't be happy.

Because the fate of "The Old and Young Storytelling" is still uncertain. If the program is canceled, without a platform to release his works and a continuous channel to attract popularity through quality content, the little popularity Zhang Ye has will not last long, and it will all be for nothing.

"Hey, Xiao Zhang is here?"

"Teacher Zhang is so early today?"

It was past eight, and colleagues were gradually arriving at the office.

Teacher Feng also arrived early. Seeing Zhang Ye, the old and young exchanged a glance, greeted each other, and then fell silent. Both knew what was at stake. Teacher Feng was also waiting for a result, wanting to see if Zhang Ye could create history and a miracle!

Many people were discussing this.

"Do you think the station will cancel the suspension of 'The Old and Young Storytelling'?"

"I don't think so. Xiao Jia is the relative of Deputy Director Jia, don't you remember?"

"But now Teacher Xiao Zhang has made the program so popular, with a second-place listening rate. If the station doesn't revoke the previous notice, they will face a lot of pressure, right?"

"That's true. The listeners even crashed our station's official website with their complaints yesterday!"

"But they won't revoke it, there has never been a precedent before."

"Precedent? Late-night programs have never entered the top three in listening rates, and children's story programs have never been in the top two. Precedents are meant to be broken!"

"Where do we know the leaders' attitude? We'll just have to wait and see."

At this moment, Tian Bin and Jia Yan arrived, and everyone stopped discussing the topic.

The office fell silent, as if everyone was observing Zhang Ye and Jia Yan. Everyone knew that today was their day, the day of their struggle!

At nine o'clock, Zhao Guozhou arrived on time. He looked like he had just gotten to the office, holding a leather bag. Without even going to his own office, he came over with yesterday's listening rate chart and said, "Everyone is here, right? Let's pause for a moment. I'll read out the listening rates."

Everyone was very serious, and many were curious about "The Old and Young Storytelling's" listening rate yesterday. Although the first day of the serial was a success, the second day was uncertain. Perhaps the listeners didn't realize it was a serial at first, so they listened all the way through, but once they found out, many lost patience and didn't listen the second day. This listening data was clearly a key point in today's battle between Zhang Ye and Jia Yan.

"First place, 'Words of the World,' with a listening rate of 3.81%." Zhao Guozhou looked at Wang Xiaomei with satisfaction, "Teacher Xiaomei did well. After I criticized you, your program improved significantly yesterday. There were many new elements. I especially liked the watermelon-eating segment. Was that an impromptu addition?"

Wang Xiaomei smiled, "Yes."

"Good job, keep it up. I think breaking the four percent barrier shouldn't be far off." Zhao Guozhou praised her, then looked at the chart, "Second place..."

He paused for a long time, seemingly on purpose.

When everyone was on the edge of their seats, Zhao Guozhou finally said, "Second place, 'The Old and Young Storytelling,' with a listening rate of... 2.78%!"

Whoa!

Everyone was shocked!

2.78%? Holy cow!

Are you crazy? No one can stop this now??

Keep in mind, a few days ago, "The Old and Young Storytelling" had a listening rate of just a few tenths of a percent. Even yesterday, it was around 2.4%. Today, it increased by more than 0.3 percentage points? It's almost on a trend to break three percent? Holy crap! This is too intense!

Many people gasped in shock!

At this rate, "Daily Entertainment" will find it hard to catch up with "The Old and Young Storytelling." The perennial second place will find it hard to reclaim the second spot, though that might not be the case, as today's program might be canceled. Without the program, there will be no listening rate, and "Daily Entertainment" can easily reclaim the second place.

Teacher Feng was the happiest, slapping Zhang Ye's hand and squeezing it hard.

Zhang Ye was actually prepared for today's listening rate. The first day of "The Wizard of Oz" was carefully chosen to retain the large audience from "Little Bunny Foo Foo." The results showed that Zhang Ye not only achieved his goal but also performed exceptionally well, almost to the best possible extent. On the second day of the serial, Zhang Ye's goal was not just to retain the audience but to develop new listeners and encourage them to listen every day at the same time. Missing even one day would break the continuity, and this was a way to force the audience to accept the serial format. The listening rate today showed that Zhang Ye had succeeded again!

As long as "The Old and Young Storytelling" is not canceled, Zhang Ye has reason to believe that the listening rate for "The Wizard of Oz" will continue to rise!

This is the benefit of a serial!

This is the advantage of a serial!

Zhao Guozhou did not praise Zhang Ye as he did yesterday. He mentioned it lightly and then read out the other listening rates, which only added to everyone's confusion.

After finishing, Zhao Guozhou turned and left, just like yesterday.

Jia Yan was also surprised, thinking Zhao Guozhou would say something, but he said nothing and left just like yesterday.

"Director!"

"Xiao Jia?"

"I want to talk to you. Do you have time?"

"Sure, come to my office."

As they left, Aunt Zhou was worried for Zhang Ye, "Xiao Zhang, you should go too!"

"Yes, yes," Aunt Wang also said, "You should go and plead your case. Maybe the leadership will change their mind!"

Previously, Zhang Ye's relationships were not good. He had offended the leadership and, being new, hadn't interacted much with everyone, leading to a lack of familiarity. Now, through a few fairy tales, Zhang Ye had won the favor of at least five or six older colleagues in the office. Jia Yan, being young and arrogant, had disrespected Teacher Feng on his first day, which the older colleagues found unacceptable, gradually shifting their support to Zhang Ye. No matter how intense Zhang Ye's outbursts were, he had never disrespected the older colleagues, always addressing them politely. In terms of interpersonal skills, Zhang Ye was far superior to Jia Yan.

"No need," Zhang Ye didn't go.

"Are you so proud that you can't lower your head? Will it kill you?" Aunt Wang was frustrated.

Zhang Ye saw through it, "I'll do my best. The leadership's decision is probably already made, and I can't change it."

Though he said this, the process was still very agonizing.

Jia Yan was gone for two hours, and no one saw him.

Zhang Ye frequently checked his watch and went to the leadership's office, but found no one. He returned to the office area and asked an old editor, "Editor Xu, the noon program is about to start, but the leadership isn't here. What's going on? What about today's program?"

Editor Xu didn't know either and couldn't reach Director Zhao!

It was almost noon, and Zhang Ye was confused, "What's happening?"

Editor Xu patted his forehead, "Xiao Zhang, why don't you start recording?"

"It's too late to record, we can only do a live broadcast at this time," Zhang Ye pointed to his watch.

Editor Xu clicked his tongue, "Then do a live broadcast. You take over, and we'll see what happens after!"

Zhang Ye agreed and immediately called his assistant, "Xiao Fang, quickly book the live broadcast room, as soon as possible." He took a few sips of mineral water to moisten his throat and followed.

...

Noon.

Zhang Ye adjusted the volume, "Hello, listeners. Due to some special circumstances, today's program is still 'The Old and Young Storytelling.' I will be telling you the fifth chapter of 'The Wizard of Oz': 'Rescuing the Tin Man.'"

...

After rushing to complete the live broadcast, Zhang Ye left the studio at one o'clock and returned to the office area, where he saw Jia Yan sitting silently.

Jia Yan saw Zhang Ye, looked up, and then lowered his