Chapter 101: One Day at the Television Station

Chapter 101: One Day at the Television Station

A few days later.

The long National Day holidays were over.

Now, Zhang Ye was already so poor you could hear his coins jingle. However, when he woke up to go downstairs to the BMW X5 in the parking lot, he felt that it was all worth it. He had obtained his driving license when he was in his fourth year in college when there weren’t many classes. Yesterday, the car had already been brought back by Zhang Ye. After settling the procedures for his license plate, he drove with an air of dignity out of the parking lot.

4.4L!

330kW!

Turbocharged!

Its external appearance looked similar, but the inside was different. The configuration of a bulletproof X5 was completely different from a normal X5. Even if it did not compare with the ordinary X5’s low configuration, even comparing it to the X5’s high configuration, the bulletproof X5 was was better than it by a mile. It was definitely worth its price!

It was extremely cool!

People in the community raised their eyebrows. Some were envious, some twitched their mouths, and some looked at it respectfully.

When he went passed his block, Rao Aimin happened to be throwing out the trash. Her eyes were sharp and saw the car, “Eh, Little Zhang? You bought a car?”

Zhang Ye braked and lowered the windows with a smile as he patted the steering wheel, “How about it, Landlady Auntie? This car is not bad, right? Ha, you don’t have to say. You must think this is a normal X5, right? Let me tell you that it is definitely not. It looks the same, but my car…”

Rao Aimin glanced at him, “It’s just about five million. Look at your smug look.”

Zhang Ye said, “Ah, you know this is a bulletproof car?”

Rao Aimin mocked, “You think you are the only one who can afford it? I previously drove this before. But it was not an upgraded version. I drove a normal bulletproof X5.”

Zhang Ye perspired. He had bragged to the wrong person!

Your sister! Only now did he recall that the landlady owned several residential apartments in a certain level of a certain building in his district. Just any two small apartments would already cost 5,000,000. If she had bought the larger ones, it would exceed 5,000,000. And this was just buying at a whim. Who knows if the landlady had other property and savings? Zhang Ye estimated that even if he sold another ten copyrights to “Ghost Blows Out the Light”, each selling for 6,000,000, he would not have a chance to compete with a female tycoon like the landlady. He was far from it!

Forget it; I’ll not compete with you!

If he couldn’t compete upwards, he could compete downwards!

Zhang Ye drove to work grumpily.

En route, Zhang Ye had purposely driven slower. He drove slowly, so as to enjoy the attention from others. Actually, this was nonsense; he couldn’t drive fast even if he wanted. This was the Third Ring Road, and it was during rush hour; how could he drive fast? That must be you dreaming while driving due to fatigue! In Beijing, even if you had an Alto, you could not push it to its maximum horsepower. If you ignored your safety and sought a thrill? Then there’s no need to ask; when you take out your cellphone from your bag, there would definitely be a short message waiting for you: Hebei Mobile welcomes you!

……

Beijing Television Station.

Arts Channel, station logo, BTV – Arts.

In the past, Beijing’s channels were represented by numbers. For example, BTV-2 (the Arts Channel from back then) and BTV3. Now that they had been changed to text across the board, making it more convenient.

The Beijing Television Station Arts Channel had the purpose of “Broadcast the Strengths of an Era to Serve the Capital’s People”. It adhered to correct guidance of public opinion, and used existing resources to its maximum effect, creating a new literary entertainment image. There were 11 programs in all, including celebrity interviews, film and television special topics, variety interaction, cultural information, etc. All of them were artistic programs with different styles and themes. In fact, to put it plainly, it was pretty similar to Zhang Ye’s previous job at the radio station’s Literature Channel. However one was an audio media, while the other was a television media. The size of the audience base differed greatly.

Arts Channel D office.

30+-year-old Hou Ge (elder brother Hou) smiled. “I heard that we will be getting a rookie?”

“I heard that, too.” Another, Hou Di (younger brother Hou), who looked exactly the same as him said, “I think it’s either a host or guest? Dafei, did you hear about it?”

Dafei seldom listened to gossip, “No idea.”

Hou Ge asked, “Xiao Lu? Do you know?

The lady sitting behind said, “I’m a newcomer; how would I know?”

“Fine. You think all of us are old people?” Hou Di was using a razor to shave somewhere he had missed shaving, “We are newcomers, too. At most, we were hired a few days earlier than you. My brother and I came from making television dramas. Dafei does movie scenes.”

Xiao Lu said, “I was previously from a newspaper editorial. I knew Teacher Hu a long time ago, and thanks to Teacher Hu appreciating me, I came over.”

“Everyone is the same.” Hou Ge said.

Hou Di said, “Right. We must communicate more often in the future.”

“We are now all considered old people.” Hou Ge suggested a bad idea, “When the rookie comes, we should put him in his place. As a host, his status is higher than us, so when he gets arrogant, and starts ordering us around, it wouldn’t be good.”

Xiao Lu raised her hand in support, “Agreed.”

Dafei quietly said, “…Nothing better to do.”

The Arts Channel’s D office, with D representing the program time slot. This office was also for programs of a certain time slot. As the program for that time slot was still being broadcast, and their program team had just been established, everyone here was a newcomer. It was considered a program team that Hu Fei had formed himself. Some of them may have dabbled in television, or movies, or editorials, but no one was a layperson. All these skills were portable. They must have had excellent results in their own fields to obtain Hu Fei’s appreciation.

“Hey, there are footsteps.”

“Someone is coming, someone is coming.”

They looked towards the door.

At this moment, Zhang Ye was brought in by Hu Fei into the D office area. Although it’s described as an office area, it was actually just a bit bigger than a fart. It was very tiny. There were six to seven desks and four people.

Hu Fei smiled and explained the situation, “This place is different from your radio station. Every channel will have its program teams separated into different offices. Our program will still take some time before it gets broadcast, so there aren’t that many people. When the program is done planning, the personnel and equipment will increase. But for now, if we want to record a program, we still need to get other personnel from the station to help. It’s quite troublesome.”

Zhang Ye smiled. “It will be better in the future.”

“Yes, with Teacher Little Zhang joining us, we are like tigers that have gained wings.” After that, Hu Fei introduced the people inside, “These are Hou Ge and Hou Di. They are twins. Of course, these aren’t their real names. But to distinguish them better, we call them this way. Their position is that of program director. This is Dafei; he deals with program design and the scene. In terms of technology, he is also very proficient. This is Xiao Lu, a text editor. She’s an elite in the industry. I spent a lot of effort to headhunt Xiao Lu over. Anyway, all of us here are elites. The general team will be this. In the short-term, I do not have plans on adding others. After all, we are doing some history- and educational-related program. We do not need as many people as the variety shows do. For example, for lighting and cameras, the station has a complete set mechanism, so we just need to borrow people when the time comes.”

Hu Fei was the program’s overall-in-charge and overall-director and overall-producer and executive producer.

Man, he had so many positions and led five staff members? It was indeed a bit shabby.

Although the Arts Channel’s signal could not cover the whole country, and could at most cover the capital’s region, its ratings were pretty good. It was considered quite a popular channel in Beijing, and the local audience were very loyal. For example, Zhang Ye and Zhang Ye’s parents had grown up watching the Arts Channel. But why were there so few people? It was probably because Hu Fei was new here after having job-hopped, so he did not want others to meddle in his core team. So he was more focused on quality than quantity? Allowing him ease to express himself?

Zhang Ye immediately shook hands with everyone, “Hello, everyone. I’m very pleased to meet you. I’m Zhang Ye.”

Hu Fei said, “Let Little Zhang introduce himself. I have a meeting to go to, so I’m leaving first. Communicate well, and do the program design again.”

After he finished speaking, he left.

Left behind were Zhang Ye and four others.

Xiao Lu glanced at him, “Zhang Ye, what did you do in the past?”

Zhang Ye said, “Oh, I was a radio anchor.”

Xiao Lu was curious, “It seems Brother Hu appreciates you greatly. What sort of results did you have in the past?”

“Nothing spectacular.” Zhang Ye said modestly, “Just some trivial stuff. Brother Hu was too kind.”

“A radio anchor can come over to be a host?” Hou Ge blinked, “How old are you? Should we call you Little Zhang in the future? Come sit here. This is your desk.”

“Alright, thank you Hou Ge.” Zhang Ye smiled and didn’t mind it. He took his things and sat over there.

Seeing that Zhang Ye was a person who could communicate easily with them, Hou Ge began to take advantage of his seniority, “Little Zhang, in the future, we must communicate more often. If you have anything you do not know, ask me. Although my brother and I were not in the television business, we have still done many years of television dramas, so we are definitely more experienced than you.”

Zhang Ye said, “Sure, I’ll consult with you if I have anything I do not know in the future.”

He finally understood. These colleagues of his were not exactly people of his industry. They had come from other industries over the past few days. It was no wonder that they did not know who he was. In the industry, few would not know of Zhang Ye, especially in the Beijing Television Station. Any veteran or person who had paid attention to the Golden Microphone Awards, or had heard chatter from colleagues, would definitely know about Zhang Ye.

This was good, too.

He was able to get along much more easily.

After Zhang Ye got used to it, he was quite pleased with his environment.

From another side, Dafei looked at him, “If you have a problem with computers, look for me. There’s nothing I can’t handle.” Then, he handed over a document in a strictly business manner, “This is our program’s planning. Everyone has one. I’ll lend you my copy. I’ll make a copy for you in a while.” Saying that, he lowered his head and worked on his computer.

“Thank you, Brother Fei.” Zhang Ye said.

Hou Ge stared at Dafei. They had already agreed to put the newcomer in his place, so why were you in a hurry? Hence, he said, “Little Zhang, we have unwritten rules that when a newcomer just arrives, he is in charge of cleaning and pouring water.”

Zhang Ye was amused, “Alright, I’ll do it. Who wants water?”

“I’ll have one.” Xiao Lu raised her hand, “Thanks.”

“I want one, too. Thanks for the hard work.” Hou Ge said.

Hou Di did not feel like it was right to get one, but Zhang Ye still poured a cup for him in the end.