I’m Really a Superstar

The Popularity Rankings Index was published!

There was an uproar across the nation!

Zhang Ye’s name was boldly inked in first place!

It wasn’t the first place of the A-list rankings!

It wasn’t the first place of the other categories!

But the first place of the entire Chinese popularity rankings!

…

At Zhang Ye’s parents’ house.

“It’s my son!”

“It’s Little Ye!”

“He’s in first place! He’s in first place!”

“We’re not dreaming, are we?”

…

At Ning Lan’s house.

A few of his friends were gathered here.

“First place!”

“It’s Zhang Ye’s name!”

“Oh my God!”

“He has reached the summit! This fellow has really reached the summit!”

…

At an entertainment company.

“Even the male idols are unable to stop him?”

“There’s going to be a change of eras!”

“But the times have already changed!”

“I can’t believe that it’s him!”

“He’s someone who left the industry for four years!”

“Hai, a legend is still a legend.”

…

At a media outlet.

“Something big has happened!”

“There’s really going to be a change!”

“Hurry! Work on the draft report!”

“A few years ago when Zhang Ye was sent to prison, everyone thought that it was all over for him. Everyone thought that it would be impossible for him to make a comeback again. But who could have thought that after four years, the domestic popularity rankings would actually be ruled by him? If this is a joke, then this joke has gotten way out of hand!”

“I’m still in a state of shock!”

…

At Zhang Ye’s Studio.

“Ahhhh!”

“Hooray, Director Zhang!”

“We did it! We really did it!”

“I feel like crying!”

“Director Zhang is too fucking awesome!”

“We’ve won!”

…

At a male idol’s studio.

“But that’s impossible!”

“This—oh my God!”

“Has he really reached the summit?”

“How did it turn out to be him! How can it be!”

“It’s over! Guan Zhaohua has been pushed down by him!”

…

At Guan Zhaohua’s studio.

“We’re no longer in first place?”

“How is he so popular!”

“This doesn’t fucking make any sense at all!”

“Damn, what do we do now!”

“Surpass him, of course! We have to catch back up!”

“Look at the gap between Zhang Ye’s popularity score and ours, look at that number. In the short term, there’s no chance that we can possibly catch back up to him. His popularity right now is simply too high!”

“This is illogical! This is totally illogical!”

…

In the Go world.

“Minister Wu’s husband has really reached the summit!”

“How freakishly awesome!”

“Lord Zhang is so domineering!”

“The entertainment circle is finally presided over by Lord Zhang!”

…

At the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“How could it—”

“Damn, someone from our Chinese Academy of Sciences has actually reached the summit of the domestic popularity rankings?”

“Ah? Is Zhang Ye considered one of our academy’s people?”

“Why not? Isn’t he a research fellow from our academy?”

“Uh…”

…

At Central TV.

“It’s a change of dynasties!”

“Yeah, a new state of showbiz has arisen!”

“Now that Zhang Ye has reached first place in the domestic popularity rankings, it will be really difficult to say how our showbiz’s future will pan out.”

“With Zhang Ye’s temper, it might just signal that chaos will be breaking out in the international scene soon!”

“Or perhaps he might bring the Chinese entertainment industry towards a brighter future?”

“Brighter future?”

“Zhang Yuanqi’s era of celebrities did not achieve it, and neither did Guan Zhaohua’s era of celebrities succeed, so can Zhang Ye do it?”

…

On Weibo.

The netizens went crazy!

“This is too exciting!”

“An oddity of a generation, a legend of a generation!”

“I’m so happy for Teacher Zhang!”

“Ahhhh, I’m so fucking excited!”

“It’s been eight years, eight whole years! I’ve been with Teacher Zhang since the beginning. I’ve liked him ever since he debuted and followed him all the way til now. I’ve personally witnessed how Teacher Zhang has made it thus far in these eight years, and it has really not been easy at all. It has been so difficult for him! There hasn’t been a celebrity like Zhang Ye before, and there won’t be another like him in the future either!”

“I’m also a fan of Guan Zhaohua’s, and I like Ai Fei too. They’re both so good-looking and without a blemish to their reputations, so who could dislike them? But when it comes to one’s verve, courage, and charisma, they’re lacking by far as compared to Zhang Ye! Therefore, I’ll accept that Zhang Ye has taken the top spot of the domestic popularity rankings!”

“There has never been anyone so ordinary-looking who has taken the number one spot in the domestic popularity rankings!”

“But I find Zhang Ye to be very attractive!”

“Hehehe, I feel so too!”

“Whether a person is attractive or not doesn’t depend on their looks alone!”

“Motherfucker, I only like people like Zhang Ye. I love seeing him scold people, love seeing him write poems, love seeing him stir up trouble, and love seeing him cross over to all the different fields and shocking the eyeballs out of others. Pfft, aren’t I asking for it?!”

“Congratulations to Zhang Ye!”

“Congratulations on starting your reign, Teacher Zhang!”

…

It blew up in the outside world.

Countless people sent their congratulations.

At home.

Zhang Ye’s cell phone was exploding with calls, together with the landline at home, Old Wu’s cell phone, and Old Wu’s parents’ cell phones.

Ha Qiqi screamed excitedly: “Director Zhang, you’re amazing!”

Zhang Ye laughed and said: “It was all to the credit of everyone!”

In the call, Little Wang could be heard crying. She sobbed: “We’ve finally reached the top! The top! Director Zhang! I knew you could do it!”

Zhang Ye said: “If not for you guys, I couldn’t have gotten to where I am.”

Zhang Zuo snatched the phone and said: “We didn’t do anything at all. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have witnessed such a situation either! You were the one who brought us to the summit!”

Tong Fu also shouted from the other end of the line: “You were the one who made it possible for us!”

Wu Yi said loudly: “Director Zhang! Thank you!”

Little Wang was still crying. “You’ve worked hard!”

Yao Jiancai.

Ning Lan.

Zhang Xia.

Chen Guang.

Hu Fei.

Dong Shanshan.

Zhang Yuanqi.

His three sisters.

His aunts and uncles.

His family and friends were all congratulating him!

There were even a lot of unexpected people who sent him messages on Weibo.

The male idol, Hai Yifei: “Congratulations, Teacher Zhang!”

The former most popular celebrity, Guan Zhaohua: “Congratulations!”

A newly crowned Heavenly Queen posted on Weibo: “Fully deserving of being the number one!”

At this moment.

On this day.

In the entire country.

In the entire media.

In the entire entertainment circle.

Perhaps some were sincere and some not so. But practically everyone still came forward with congratulations!

Zhang Ye couldn’t help but sigh.

Eight years.

It had been eight years.

The grievances that he had felt.

The difficulties that laid in his path.

The ups and downs he had been through.

Along the way, he had experienced so many incidents, too many twists and turns. Sometimes, when he thought about the suffering he had gone through years ago, he felt like he was telling a story. Even Zhang Ye himself did not know how he had made it through all of that. In fact, he couldn’t believe it at all. Did he really come this far by himself?

He had been banned by the industry more than 10 times!

He had been detained at a police station!

He had crossed paths with death on a hijacked airplane!

He had been besieged by several hundred people from the martial arts world!

He had been sent to jail!

He had bade farewell to the entertainment circle!

If he had to experience these things again, he didn’t know if he could get through it all. But here he was, leading his team step by step towards the highest place in the Chinese popularity rankings. He had reached the peak, the pinnacle, the spot where he was the most popular celebrity in the country!

Countless people came to congratulate him!

Zhang Ye was surging with emotion!

At this moment, Zhang Ye got reminded of a poem that he posted before.

It was Du Fu’s “Admiring the Mountains.”

Towering over all Shandong with endless green.

Heavenly beautiful splendor Nature gathered;

the shaded north side cut off from the south side’s sheen.

Clustering clouds cleanse the cracks in the heart,

eyes strain watching homebound birds fly through the ravine.

Someday I shall ascend your highest heights

to see other summits dwarfed, and savor the scene.

This was a promise he made back then. Today, Zhang Ye had finally made it!