I am Really a Superstar

Tuesday.

Back at home.

In the morning, Zhang Ye was checking his Weibo while still under the blanket. There were traces of his philanthropic efforts in many of the news articles, Weibo posts, and trending topics as he browsed through them.

—This behavior cannot be advocated.

—Passion for charity starts from me.

—Come, friends, join us at #TeamCharity# ¹ !

—Reject extravagance, resist wastefulness.

—Think about the children in poor rural areas. Do you think your actions are right?

—Comrade, I have to criticize you. We cannot give up halfway when it comes to charity!

Comment after comment!

In no time at all, he left over a hundred of them!

Old Wu had already left for work. It was almost 9 AM, but Zhang Ye still hadn’t got out of bed. He was holding his cell phone and typing out a flurry of comments with a serious look on his face.

The news reports were also unending.

“Zhang Ye’s Studio donates 200,000 RMB to aid Hope Elementary, located in the mountains!”

“Zhang Ye calls for all of the country’s citizens to do their part for charity!”

“Zhang Ye appeals to everyone to show love to children suffering from leukemia!”

On Weibo.

The netizens were sneering unceasingly.

“This fellow is at it again!”

“Ignore him!”

“I laugh at his attempts!”

“This fellow must have gotten addicted!”

“Heavens, Face-smacking Zhang is really going further and further along the path of charity!”

“Is there a screw loose in this fucker’s brain?”

“Will somebody awaken Face-smacking Zhang? I find it unbearable to see him this way!”

“Yeah, and it’s been going on for two days!”

“Has this fella fully dedicated himself to performing charity?”

“Are we really not going to see him fighting with others in the future? That would be really boring.”

“Zhang Ye! Wake up!”

“Face-smacking Zhang! Come back to us!”

A lot of people could no longer bear to watch. Very quickly, a barrage of “awaken Face-smacking Zhang” comments went out in full swing. The netizens spontaneously joined into the action. Some of them direct messaged him, while others left messages on his and his studio’s Weibo. Others replied to his comments. However. It didn’t seem like Zhang Ye saw anything at all. He continued battling at the front lines for charity. Wherever there was a topic related to charity, there would be signs of Zhang Ye’s “industriousness”!

The fans: “…”

The netizens: “…”

The entertainment circle: “…”

In the end, they could do nothing about it.

But with these posts by Zhang Ye, the effects turned out to be quite remarkable.

There was an upswing in attention towards philanthropic causes.

Donations to the Red Cross Society soared!

The number of volunteers signing up with various charities increased!

…

On the same day.

The Red Cross Society’s letter of appointment arrived.

The Red Cross Society had already updated the public service announcements with Zhang Ye’s picture in them. Below it, some text introduced the new Asian philanthropic ambassador for this year. Zhang Ye’s name and picture also started appearing in the various local languages of the countries across Asia through their print ads and television stations.

Online.

“Eh, the ads are out?”

“Zhang Ye has officially stepped into the role?”

“It should be rolling out Asia-wide, right?”

“I think so.”

“It’s no wonder those Asian celebrities are all vying to become the Asian philanthropic ambassador. It’s only logical that they’re all trying so hard to fight for it. There’s the contributing score to the Asian Celebrity Rankings and also a chance to build up a positive image in Asia, not to mention the free advertisements from the Asian Charity Association that can increase one’s exposure throughout the region!”

“But there shouldn’t be too many people watching those ads, right?”

” No matter how small, a mosquito is still meat ² !”

“Right, it’s free exposure for him!”

A lot of people saw it, but it didn’t really cause much of a reaction.

They were charity advertisements, after all, so there was going to be a limited amount of attention given to them.

TV series?

Variety shows?

Even if they were not compared to these and just an ordinary type of advertisement, the PSAs were still less appreciated. Most people would usually only sweep a glance at it.

…

Noon.

At the studio.

Everyone was seated together. The television was switched to Central TV where a charity advertisement was running. Such advertisements were run for free and coordinated by the charity organizations with the various countries’ television stations. Each year or each month, there would be an allocated amount of minutes given to broadcast such PSAs. This was something that Zhang Ye had done for Beijing Television as well.

The ad was quite normal.

Zhang Ye’s picture only flashed onscreen during the final two seconds.

Then the PSA ended.

Ha Qiqi turned off the television. “That’s it.”

Zhang Ye was not very satisfied with it. “That’s it?”

Ha Qiqi blinked and said, “I thought it was pretty alright?”

“Isn’t this just a run-of-the-mill charity ad?” Zhang Ye said with a shrug.

Ha Qiqi said, “Yep.”

Zhang Ye said disdainfully, “It’s too average. No one would watch this. The team behind this ad is too unimaginative. What time do we live in? They really need to keep up with the times. Otherwise, if they keep up their old mindset, what would become of the charity ads? Even charity ads need to be done in a way that can attract people’s eyes and catch their attention.”

Zhang Zuo said with a wry smile, “The charities are mostly run by volunteers, although there’s full-time staff as well. But from a professional point of view and their abilities, there’s really no comparing to the commercial businesses. Their annual salaries are not on the same level, so it’s not like a truly capable advertising team would be willing to step up and bend over backwards just for a charity, right? I also find this ad to be quite alright. At least in terms of its quality, the majority of the advertising teams in the country still can’t come up with something like it.”

Zhang Ye shook his head and said, “This kind of PSA doesn’t have any influence at all. They’re scheduled to be broadcast every month for free across Asia, but for such a good spot and time slot to be used in such a way, it can only be deemed as a joke. Even with a good hand of cards, it’s totally wasted by them. This is such a shame!”

Little Wang exclaimed, “Are you thinking?”

Ha Qiqi was also taken aback. “Do you mean to say?”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Didn’t you guys say that they don’t have a good advertising team? Then I’ll do it for them. Old Ha, get in contact with them and let’s do it as we just discussed!”

“Alright, understood!” Ha Qiqi immediately went to get it done.

Zhang Zuo, Little Wang, and the others were also very excited to hear this.

That’s right!

Isn’t there Director Zhang?

This is exactly what Director Zhang is a professional at!

Conserve electricity!

Quit smoking!

Bottled water!

Toothpaste!

Milk!

Health supplement products!

What kinds of advertisements had Zhang Ye not done before?

In the Chinese advertising world, Zhang Ye’s name was a prominent one. Even the former number one of the advertising world, Li Xiaoxiao, had suffered a defeat at the hands of Zhang Ye. The phenomenal advertisements that surfaced in China in recent years were the handiwork of Zhang Ye!

Over there.

Ha Qiqi managed to get in contact with the liaison.

When the employee at the Asian Red Cross Society heard, he was also startled. “Did Teacher Zhang really say that?”

Ha Qiqi said, “Yes.”

The employee said, “But to remake the PSA, our budget—”

Ha Qiqi readily said, “We’ll pay for it.”

The employee said, “But the manpower—”

Ha Qiqi did not hesitate. “We’ll provide the manpower as well.”

Providing the money.

Providing the manpower.

Providing the facilities.

Ha Qiqi clearly understood Zhang Ye’s thinking. She also knew exactly what they needed most right now. Money? What was that to them? Even if Director Zhang often yakked about money being an issue, if he really wanted to earn it, he could simply sell his calligraphy or take commercial appearances and the money would come rolling in. There were some things that couldn’t be bought with money, like this role of the philanthropic ambassador, and even more so, the broadcast of this charity advertisement that would be shown all over Asia. If they handled this well, how much popularity and fame would it bring Zhang Ye? Ha Qiqi knew exactly what it meant!

They did not lack money! What they lacked was an opportunity!

An opportunity for him to show himself to all of Asia!

The employee got excited. “Aiyo, th-then that’s great! Who doesn’t know about Teacher Zhang’s reputation in the advertising world? He’s absolutely the vest person in the Chinese advertising world! We’ve all seen those PSAs by Teacher Zhang so many times. They’re such classics. To have Teacher Zhang personally directing our ads for us, we definitely won’t have any issues with that. We’re just afraid of troubling you all, and the funding is also—”

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, “No worries. Since Teacher Zhang has accepted the role of Asian philanthropic ambassador, he will naturally do his best. We’re willing to come up with the necessary money and manpower and not scrimp on that. We are all doing this for charity, so you don’t have to be so polite with us.”

The employee quickly said, “Thank you so much! We’re burdening Teacher Zhang!”

Ha Qiqi said, “It’s what we should do.”

The employee said, “Then I’ll report this to the leaders immediately!”

When Ha Qiqi was finally done talking with them, she informed Zhang Ye.

Ha Qiqi said, “It’s done. The charity’s executives were full of praise for you. The top two executives even called in personally to convey their thanks.”

Zhang Ye smiled and waved it off. “It’s all for the people, all for the people!”

Ha Qiqi blinked and said, “I told them that we’ll be providing the money and manpower since I doubt they can afford it.”

“Alright, that won’t be a problem.” Zhang Ye said, “Let’s get started then.”

Zhang Zuo was taken aback. “Right now?”

Zhang Ye was an impatient man. “Of course, the faster, the better. Let’s make the most of it and produce two ads today, then another three tomorrow. As for the manpower and facilities, those won’t be issues either. If we just head to Beijing TV or Central TV to borrow their venues, the production of the PSAs will be completed in no time! When we’re done, we can quickly get them to start broadcasting the new ones. The current ads are terrible and annoy me so much!”

Wu Yi said with trepidation, “But we haven’t even decided on what kind of ad to make.”

Zhang Zuo looked at Ha Qiqi. “Did they mention what kind of ad they want?”

Ha Qiqi shook her head. “They didn’t say, so I guess anything is fine. In any case, the focus of each country will be slightly different from each other. Some of the countries geared their PSAs more towards addressing AIDS, while others use whichever types of PSAs based on their requirements. When the time comes, someone will plan out how to unify the different PSAs and decide on which country they want to show them in. They can also take turns running the different charity ads.”

Little Wang said in a speechless manner, “If they didn’t mention any requirements, how do they expect us to know what to do?”

But Zhang Ye said, “Something for the deaf-mute children? Leukemia sufferers? A quit smoking ad? How about one for AIDS? Regardless, I’ll just give them whatever they want! If not, we can just do everything once over! It’s not like it’ll take much effort anyway!”

“Director Zhang is mighty!”

“I really have to give it to you!”

“How domineering!”

Give them whatever they want?

Give them however many they need?

Only Zhang Ye would dare say stuff like that!

When it came to creating advertisements, one would have to first write a rough draft and then make a proposal. Afterwards, it would have to be approved by the higher-ups before considering the manpower and the scheduling of the shoot. From the pre-production to wrap, it would be fantastic if they could finish it within half a month. If it were slower, it might even take up to a month to complete. But Zhang Ye, he always did things in a rapid-fire fashion. The moment he opened his mouth, it was two ads a day, or three ads a day. He even said that he could give them whatever they wanted and provide the money and manpower as well? He was going to take on this huge project all by himself!

Come on!

Let’s do it!

Let’s create a charity storm across Asia!

Let’s spread the charitable reputation of Director Zhang across Asia!