Chapter 356: Looking for Zhang Ye to be a spokesperson?
Chapter 356: Looking for Zhang Ye to be a spokesperson?
The next day.
It was around 7 in the morning.
Zhang Ye was awoken from his nightmare. Touching his back, he could feel it was completely soaked from his cold sweat. Hai, it was all because of last night's incident that had given him a big scare. To be honest, it wasn't so much being scared, but rather that he was totally embarrassed about the situation.
The door opened.
His mother walked in, "You're up?"
"Yea." Zhang Ye acknowledged.
His mother said, "Then come quickly and have breakfast, you still have to get ready for work."
Zhang Ye blinked a few times, "I don't think I will be going to work today? After all, there's no classes at the university anymore and it's the last day before the winter break."
His mother haughtily brushed him off, "That’s all the more reason you should step up. Why do you have to find an excuse on the last day? Quickly get up and have your breakfast. Don't be lazy like a pig. I have not questioned you why you came back so late last night. You jogged for 2 hours? Since when did you have so much stamina!"
Zhang Ye quickly waved her off, "Don't bring up yesterday's issue. I get a headache whenever you mention it. I will just get up." He continued grumbling as he got up, "Hai, if I said I was going to have a jog at that time of the night, why didn't you and dad stop me?"
His mother was amused, "Rascal, you said that you wanted to go out for a breather, how dare you push the blame on me and your dad now?"
Zhang Ye wanted to cry, "You must definitely stop me next time if I mention I'm going out at night."
After breakfast, Zhang Ye went off to work. Once bitten, twice shy. Truthfully speaking, he really did not want to go to the university today. He did not know what he would do if he bumped into Wu Zeqing. Although there was already a conclusion for the case of the photos from Wu Zeqing, Zhang Ye still did not feel comfortable about it. Even if she had said so and assured him, things do not get brushed aside so easily. After all, those photos were not any normal photos.
......
Peking University.
Zhang Ye drove into the university.
The security guard took a look, then smiled and greeted, "Teacher Zhang, good morning!"
"Good morning." Zhang Ye said.
There were so many teachers at Peking University and the security guard couldn't possibly know all of them, but he knew Zhang Ye well. Not a single person from Peking University would not know Zhang Ye. He said, "There are some renovations going on at the Chinese department auditorium. There are construction materials all over the place and the car park is closed off. I suggest you park your car outside."
Zhang Ye looked at him, "OK, thanks for the heads up."
He parked his car outside and walked towards the the main entrance.
As he made his way over, a lot of people were looking at him. About 7 or 8 people surrounded him.
"It's Zhang Ye!"
"Aiyo! We finally saw him in person!"
"Are you here at Peking University to work? Let's get an autograph quickly!"
There were old ladies and young children in the group. Men, women, seniors, and young people were all fans of his. Even as an A-list celebrity, it was rare to find someone who could attract such diverse fans. A typical celebrity would usually find themselves with a more specific demographic of fans. Like those singers from Korea, their fanbase were mainly targeted at teens below 20. Then the A-list domestic actors mainly attracted those in their 20s to 30s, while some of those veteran actors would have fans ranging across several age groups, but still generally around 30s to 40s. However, it was different for Zhang Ye. He had not limited himself on the topics that he could talk about. He had read children's stories, created 'Lecture Room', created a talk show, wrote a song, published a book, scolded people, and made trouble. These were the reasons why there was no particular age or gender of the people who liked him. His fans ranged from age 4 to 80, all pretty similar in numbers.
To other people, this was Zhang Ye's disadvantage because he did not have a proper focal point for fans, but Zhang Ye himself thought otherwise and felt that this was an advantage instead, since his goal was different from others. He wanted to become the top celebrity in the world. This was something that no one had managed to achieve yet and was obviously not something that someone with a focused age group fanbase would be able to do. There was no meaning to have a focused fanbase and they would never be able to reach the top that way. Even though Zhang Ye's path would mean that he would move along slower than others and may be more difficult, each and every step he took was real advancement and was very steady and stable. His foundation was also very strong. This was the meaning of a beard well lathered is half shaved. Although his popularity was a little messy right now as he has been dabbling in all areas of work and had not reached an end point where he could fully maximize his popularity and fame, Zhang Ye was already extremely satisfied. The advantage of having such an all encompassing fanbase would slowly show in the near future.
"Zhang Ye!"
"Please give me your autograph!"
"Teacher Little Zhang, my kids especially love you."
"Teacher Zhang, my dad is a fan of yours. He said that your lecture about 'Dream of the Red Chamber' was really good. Can you take some pictures with me? My dad would be delighted."
Everyone surrounded him and did not let him leave.
Zhang Ye was in no rush, so he obliged to everyone's request.
There were still some passers-by who looked at the scene curiously. They clearly did not know who Zhang Ye was. In Beijing, Zhang Ye's popularity was very high, but still he wasn't so popular that everyone would instantly recognize him. His spread out development in different areas of work had caused him not to leave such a deep impression like those who constantly focused on one aspect of the audience. Among similar ranked celebrities, Zhang Ye definitely had the highest popularity and reputation. No one was better at this than him.
It was time to go.
After he finished giving out autographs, Zhang Ye slowly strolled into the university. Many of the students who saw him also greeted him warmly. Zhang Ye also returned their greetings with a "Good morning".
It was the Chinese department right up front.
Indeed, there were many big trucks going back and forth. They were all carrying construction materials.
There were a bunch of people busily giving directions there. Zhang Ye had wanted to walk over directly, but with a sweep of his eyes, he subconsciously shivered a little — He had spotted Wu Zeqing.
The person that he wanted to avoid the most!
How did he bump into her the moment he arrived at work?
Zhang Ye suddenly felt that he was down on his luck today. He hurried to find another way around and pretended not to see her, trying to avoid her.
Wu Zeqing was still dressed in a qipao today, though the color was different. She was dressed in a purplish-blue qipao, embroidered with a black flower on the chest area. Other than that, there weren't any other decorations. A purplish-blue dress was hard to carry, especially a qipao. A normal person would not be able to wear it well as it would make them look older than they were, but not on Wu Zeqing....all right, she looked a little older too, but that was what her age was anyway. She couldn't possibly be all dolled up like young people. As the weather was cold, she also had a coat over it. In any case, she still looked beautiful however she dressed!
Wu Zeqing was standing over there with a man who was similar in age to Zhang Ye, speaking to him.
Wu Mo was speaking in a little spoilt manner with her, "Aunt."
Wu Zeqing did not look at him, but continued supervising the construction work. She smiled and said, "Don't say anymore, quickly go back to your office. I still have work to do."
Wu Mo sighed, "Are you the only one busy while I am not? Do you think it is easy running a company? I still have over a hundred mouths to feed, so can't you help me out this time? Otherwise, my company will not be able to make it through New Year. The company's sales are getting worse by the day and I'm dying of anxiousness."
"Old Zhang, these materials cannot be exposed to the rain. Let your people bring them inside. Good job, go in and take a rest now" Wu Zeqing told the few men who were working. Then she turned around and said gently to her nephew, "Little Mo, when your family wanted you to study well back then before starting your career path or just for knowledge, you refused to listen. You tried entrepreneurship before you even earned your degree. Now you know it's difficult? Did you think that a company would be so easy to run?"
Wu Mo said, "I've borrowed quite a sum of money from my parents and might even lose more than that. How would I be able to face them in the future. You must really help me out this time."
Wu Zeqing casually said, "I still have some money with me. It might not be able to cover what you'd owe, but at least it should help stabilize your business a little."
Wu Mo refused, "I can't take your money. Besides, it's not enough and would not solve the root of the problem. What I need now are sales volume and results. It's almost New Year's and I have already taken a 15 second commercial slot on Beijing Television Station's satellite channel with all the money I have left. This is your nephew's last shot, so why would you refuse my request? I am not asking for much. All I want is for you to mention to Teacher Zhang Ye that I'm requesting for him to be my company's product spokesperson and to plan an advertisement campaign on it if he could. Of course, it would be good if he does not request for a high fee. *cough* *cough*."
Eh?
Why did they mention me?
Zhang Ye had coincidentally overheard their conversation. He could no longer pretend he did not notice, spokesperson? Commercial? Wu Zeqing's nephew?