Chapter 505: Zhang Ye's wondrous way of cooking up publicity!
Chapter 505: Zhang Ye's wondrous way of cooking up publicity!
There was nothing going on outside the study room.
What was Old Wu doing now?
Zhang Ye decided to go online to check out the reviews for his novel. Some commented that it wasn't good, while others said it was just so-so, but most other reviews said that it was good and it seemed like the novel was also quite well received. The main reason for the negative reviews was that most of the readers could not understand it and thus did not want to continue reading on. Those that liked it could not wait for the next chapter to be released and even labeled it as a work of God!
The click rates for a single chapter was around 600,000. The click counter on the blog was a little inaccurate as the 600,000 didn't mean all 600,000 people had read it. It included repeated clicks and also those who clicked on it by accident. This result might seem like it was quite good for most other people, as it showed that a lot of people read it, but for a literary figure of high standing like Zhang Ye, this results was not considered good. It was at most an OK turnout. In the past, whenever he posted a poem, any poem, it would receive a few million views at the very least. The poem post would be forwarded countless times too, but this time, the reaction to the novel was rather flat. It did not cause any sensationalism and only a portion of his hardcore fans called it good. Many others probably did not know that he had published a new novel at all.
This was a consequence of being banned!
Zhang Ye had already anticipated this earlier!
What should he do? He had to think of an idea. Such an excellent piece of work must not be ruined by his hands. It's fine even if he couldn't publish the novel or earn any money from it, but the amount of people who should read it mustn't be just a small handful like this. Since he had already published it online for free, he must surely try to gain as much reputation from it as possible. In this period of being banned, any reputation earned would surely be considered as very precious. He should definitely maximize his returns from it!
In the discussion area.
"I'm extremely disappointed!"
"What an insult to 'Journey to the West'!"
"I've read a few chapters already, but I have no idea what it’s talking about!"
A few comments caught Zhang Ye's attention. Those were the comments from several people from the literary world who had irreconcilable differences with him, people like Big Thunder and the Beijing Writer's Association's Vice-President Meng Dongguo. Zhang Ye had gone from the crosstalk circle and jumped back into the literary world. Because of that, this bunch of people surfaced again!
When Zhang Ye saw their comments, he did not get angry. Instead, his eyes lit up as he thought of an idea!
These people could be considered his 'old friends'. Zhang Ye had battled with the literary world for so long that he had lost count of how many times they had battled. In the past, when this bunch of people appeared, they were always finding fault with him and attacking him, stepping on him only to be slapped back hard on their mouths by Zhang Ye, but Zhang Ye was not preparing to do so today, instead he had decided that he would make the first move!
He tapped on Meng Dongguo's Weibo and discovered that he had published a novel just last month. It was a fictional book called 'Wind in the Paddy Fields'. The sales seemed to have done quite well.
"It's quite flavorful to read."
"Teacher Meng's new book is really a good read!"
"Looking forward to Teacher Meng's new novel!"
Zhang Ye had not read this novel before and did not plan to, but he directly posted on Weibo, "@MengDongguo, 'Wind in the Paddy Fields'? Why don't you call it 'Oil in the Gutter' instead! What lousy novel is this!"
"Ah!"
"Zhang Ye posted on Weibo!"
"What? Oil in the Gutter?"
"Zhang Ye is attacking Meng Dongguo's new novel?"
Zhang Ye's fans were shocked for a moment.
Meng Dongguo and his fans would not have any of this. They angrily called out, rolled up their sleeves, and went straight for Zhang Ye's Weibo!
"Zhang Ye! Who are you to question Teacher Meng!"
"Have you even read 'Wind in the Paddy Fields'?!"
"Are you even qualified to criticize it!"
"Do you think that your novel is any good!"
"This is so numbing! You're the one who is gutter oil!"
Very quickly, Zhang Ye and Meng Dongguo's fans were crossing swords as well!
......
However.
The accused, Zhang Ye did not stay around. He went over to Big Thunder's Weibo and found out that he had posted a poem a while ago named 'Are you doing well?'. And so, he posted his comment: "@BigThunder! What lousy poem is this!"
If it were anyone else who posted this, Big Thunder and his fans would not be angered. There were many people who liked to criticize others and not everyone could be forced to like something, but the person who was criticizing it was Zhang Ye, a celebrity. Thus, his fans immediately reacted!
"Zhang Ye!"
"You are going too far!"
"Why are you scolding others out of the blue!"
Yet another wave of fans of Big Thunder were stirred!
......
Next, Zhang Ye went to famed fairy tale author, Little Red Mushroom's Weibo. He saw that she had just released a fairy tale collection of stories earlier today and there were posts that were promoting it. Zhang Ye posted his comment: "What lousy book is this!"
Little Red Mushroom was stupefied. She had been promoting her new collection of stories online when she saw Zhang Ye’s comment. Her first reaction was something along the lines of 'Damn it, Zhang Ye! I didn't step on your tail recently! It was all in the past, but now that you have nothing to do, you came to scold my new collection of fairy tales?' This was bullying!
Little Red Mushroom checked his Weibo and found out that he had written a new novel. After reading it a little, she angrily posted: "That 'Legend of Wukong' of yours is the ridiculous one! And you even dare to come to my Weibo to scold my new book? You're a public figure, so you should watch your words. Everyone can see what you’ve written! Don't make yourself appear so tasteless!"
Then, Zhang Ye replied with another, "What lousy book is this!"
Little Red Mushroom was so angered by this. He's such a big bully! What a big bully! She immediately gathered her fan club's members and went to Zhang Ye's Weibo for a scolding battle with them!
......
Then, Zhang Ye had come to crosstalk actor Tang Dazhang's Weibo and found a post that he linked to a previous crosstalk performance of his. He left a comment saying: "What lousy crosstalk is this!"
"Zhang Ye!"
"That Zhang Ye is here!"
"Damn! ****!"
"The crosstalk competition was cancelled because of him! I'm so angry! And he still dares to come here to cause trouble now!?"
Tang Dazhang only found out about this when he got a call from a friend. He woke up in anger and switched on his computer to post a reply to Zhang Ye on Weibo!
......
After a minute.
Zhang Ye had arrived at Lee Anson's verified Weibo account. Seeing how he had cowardly been hiding back in Korea to prepare his new album,Zhang Ye posted: "What lousy song is this!"
Lee Anson's fans would have none of this nonsense!
"F**k! Zhang Ye is here!"
"Lousy song?"
"Your sister! Anson-oppa's new song hasn't even been released yet! How would you know if it is lousy or not!"
"He's definitely picking a fight! Sisters! We must not let this slide!"
"Let's go! We'll go to his Weibo to scold him!"
......
Zhang Ye was looking for trouble everywhere.
The funniest incident was with Lee Parkwoo, who had an altercation with Zhang Ye before on Weibo. Seeing that he had been promoting his new movie, Zhang Ye gave a shoutout over there as well. As he had been scolding the crosstalk actors earlier, like Tang Dazhang, his disciples, and Xu Wenxiang as well as the other crosstalk artists who had abused and scolded him before, when it came to Lee Parkwoo's time to be scolded, Zhang Ye sent the wrong message.
Zhang Ye: "What lousy crosstalk is this!"
A lot of Zhang Ye’s and Lee Parkwoo's fans were stunned.
Zhang Ye panicked little, but did not feel embarrassed. He immediately changed his scolding and said, "What lousy movie is this!"
At this moment, many of Zhang Ye's fans burst into laughter, "Pfft!! Teacher Zhang Ye had been copy pasting all his scoldings! He even sent it wrongly! Are those the only scolding words that will be used?"
Of course Lee Parkwoo's fans did not agree with the scolding. Zhang Ye was a famous person. He was even a famous person amongst famous people. If any other person scolded Lee Parkwoo, they wouldn't have been stirred at all since, if they were bothered, it would mean they acknowledged that person. But for Zhang Ye to be scolding, they couldn't take it sitting down. If they didn't say a word, wouldn't that mean that they were afraid of him? Yes! Zhang Ye, you're great at scolding people, have wit, and can scold others in all kinds of ways, but you can't bully us! When did we do anything to deserve your scolding? Parkwoo-oppa only said some words about you some time ago, but that was because of an incident. But now? Your scolding came out of the blue! Did you come here just to scold!
"This is so maddening!"
"How dare you scold Parkwoo-oppa?"
"You've already been banned yet you still try to cause trouble!"
"Sisters! Let's get him! Scold him!"
......
In a short 10 minutes or so.
Zhang Ye had scolded many of the crosstalk world and literary world members. He even scolded some of the celebrities who had altercations with him before. He scolded them using "What lousy ‘XX’ is this!" on their Weibos!
After that, Zhang Ye continued checking Weibo and found a few people that he had forgotten about. They were his old enemies that he had forgotten about and he did not let go of this chance to make up scoldings!
Zhang Ye: "@RenminUniversityProfessorMaHengyuan What lousy class is this!"
Zhang Ye: "@BeijingRadioStationDeputyStationHeadJia What lousy shirt is this!"
Deputy Station Head Jia, who had already left his post, had recently posted a photo of himself wearing a suit and this had led to Zhang Ye nonsensically scolding him!
Ma Hengyuan was so angry that his moustache was displaced a little!
Deputy Station Head Jia also nearly vomited blood!
Many of these people had already found out the hard way about Zhang Ye's vicious mouth and had not dared to provoke him anymore, but who would have expected him to come provoke them instead!
Suddenly, Weibo was full of activity!
Online, a mess ensued!
Hundreds of celebrities, along their fans came to find the person responsible! Some of them publicly scolded Zhang Ye, while others privately messaged him. There were also those who posted a lot of messages to harass and cause inconvenience for him. The scolding battle did not only happen on Weibo, but also on Zhang Ye's fan club in Tieba. It was flooded by countless angry celebrities who had come to return the favor!
The wrath of the celebrities!
The wrath of their fans!
Thousands and thousands of people had joined in to denounce Zhang Ye and he suddenly became the public enemy. Everyone was shouting to beat him up or to kill him!
"Zhang Ye, come out!"
"You're too wicked!"
"What gives you the right to scold our Anson-oppa?"
"How dare you scold Professor Ma? You're all teachers, so how can you act this way! Where is your bearing as a teacher!"
"I'm so mad!"
"This Zhang Ye is truly hateful! He lacks virtues!"
"This thing is really good at offending others! We need to get him off Weibo today!"
"Who'd even want to read that lousy 'Legend of Wukong' of yours! Who would read it!"
The sacking force kept increasing as many people only saw Zhang Ye's latest updates that contained the phrases "What lousy book is this", "What lousy movie is this", "What lousy crosstalk is this", etc, etc, etc. Many of these posts were repeated but posted to different people. It seemed like he was doing a carpet bombing on Weibo!
But no one had expected the reason why Zhang Ye was doing this!
Zhang Ye's fans and friends who saw him jumping up and about, causing trouble everywhere were at a loss of whether to laugh or cry!
The smarter ones could see that Zhang Ye was just trying to hype up his new novel release and trying to pull in as much attention as he could!
But many people were only witnessing such a f**king wondrous way of publicity for the first time in their lives. This was an act that lacked all virtue!!
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