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Two days.

Three days.

Be it in China.

Or in Asia.

The entire entertainment industry was observing the activities of Zhang Ye’s Studio. However, after several days had passed, there were still no signs of anything happening. The first project that Zhang Ye would be taking after his return did not come to fruition. Originally, everyone was not too optimistic about Zhang Ye’s chances and felt that his status in the entertainment industry was kind of awkward. But now, they felt even more pessimistic about it.

Quite a few news reports came out.

“The fees to invite Zhang Ye for a commercial appearance falls to a low!”

“Zhang Ye’s endorsement fee drops like crazy!”

“Advertising fee is not even comparable to a C-list celebrity?”

“According to an inside source: Li Ke’s new film had the intention to invite Zhang Ye on board their project but was blocked by production’s investors!”

“Zhang Ye’s Studio reopens, but obstacles abound!”

“Experts’ opinion: It will be difficult for Zhang Ye to rise again!”

“For now, no entertainment company is willing to offer an olive branch to Zhang Ye!”

“A Heavenly King returns, but no one is optimistic!”

…

On this morning.

At the studio.

Ha Qiqi kept lamenting, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Still no suitable projects?”

Ha Qiqi shook her head. “I’ve already asked everywhere.”

Wu Yi said, “We’re not asking for those big projects like we used to do four years ago. But the problem is that there aren’t even smaller but reliable cooperative deals that we can find. The investors are only thinking of making a quick buck. They’re trying to make use of the momentum from your comeback to stir up those nostalgic feelings from the yesteryears, but their offers are quite insincere.”

Zhang Ye laughed. In the entire studio, he was the only one who was taking it well. He said, “Take it slowly. I’ve only just returned, so everything will have to start afresh.”

Cooperation?

Projects?

Where were they supposed to look for all of that?

Zhang Ye’s Studio was really short of money right now. Zhang Ye had given in on taking commercial appearances. They could accept those jobs, but the offers were too low. Further, this wasn’t going to be a solution for them in the long run either. For work like commercial appearances, one’s popularity would decrease the more they took. The root of the problem was: They had to urgently get a project to prove themselves with. They had to prove that they could still do everything well after so many years away!

At this moment, Zhang Ye’s cell phone rang.

It was a call from Wu Zeqing.

Zhang Ye walked off to answer. “Old Wu, you’ve reached your office?”

She said: “Yes, I just got out of our morning meeting. Where’s Sisi?”

“I sent her to my parents’ place this morning.”

She asked: “Are you at the studio?”

Zhang Ye said: “Yeah.”

She asked: “You haven’t received any work yet?”

“Not yet, everyone is just chatting.”

She said: “Then why don’t you come to my office to have a look.”

“What’s up? Is there something?”

She said: “Come over and talk.”

“Alright, I’ll go over to have a look then. I haven’t been to your workplace after you were transferred to a different department.”

After hanging up, Zhang Ye informed his staff and drove out.

Around 20 minutes later.

At West Chang’an Avenue ¹ .

At the compound of the Central Publicity Department ² .

In front of a high wall, Zhang Ye’s car drove over. There were three cars waiting in the line ahead of him, and the security guard at the gate was checking them one by one. One of the cars did not have a valid pass and was stopped.

The woman in the car said, “I have an appointment with Deputy Director Chen.”

The security guard said with a straight face, “We did not receive any notice of that.”

The woman had to make a call on the spot. Soon after, a young man who seemed to be a secretary working here ran out to bring the woman in. All of the inconvenience left her very unhappy.

The woman said, “Little Sun, why is it so strict over here?”

Secretary Sun smiled and said, “A lot of meetings have been held here recently, so the checks have gotten stricter.”

Zhang Ye’s car also drove in.

The security guard stopped him.

Zhang Ye lowered his car window and took off his sunglasses.

When the security guard saw his face, he immediately waved him through.

The woman wasn’t happy to see that. “Why didn’t they check him?”

Secretary Sun also wondered and said, “I’ve never seen that car before?”

When the BMW got parked, the car door opened and Zhang Ye got out.

The woman said angrily, “Why is there such biased treatment? I needed someone to escort me in and even had to go through the security checks, but why is that person allowed to just come in like that?”

When Secretary Sun saw the young man, he froze. Then, when he heard the complaints of his boss’s cousin, he got scared. He anxiously hushed her. “Sister Li, be quiet, be quiet!”

The woman asked, “What’s the matter?’

Secretary Sun whispered, “That’s an official’s husband.”

“And I am an official’s cousin!”

Secretary Sun gave a wry smile. What kind of official is yours, and what kind of official is that person’s!

Secretary Sun said, “That’s Minister Wu’s husband.”

The woman was startled. “Isn’t Deputy Minister Wu’s husband that guy?” She finally reacted as she looked at the man. “Ah? That’s—”

There were a few people in the compound.

One of the young men who spotted Zhang Ye reacted very quickly. He hurriedly went up to greet him. “Mr. Zhang, you’re here?”

Zhang Ye didn’t know who he was, so he just smiled and said, “What floor is Old Wu on?”

The young man replied, “I’ll bring you there. This way, please.”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Alright, sorry to trouble you.”

“Aiyo, you’re too polite,” the youth said courteously as he led the way.

On the way there, they met a few other people, and all of them also greeted Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye smiled and nodded back at them.

The environment here was clearly different from the SARFT when Old Wu was working there. It was very quiet in the compound, and everyone seemed to be very reserved and careful when they spoke.

A few minutes later.

In a building block.

Zhang Ye met with Wu Zeqing’s new secretary.

The young man said, “Sister Ci, it’s Mr. Zhang’s first time here, so I led him over.”

Secretary Ci smiled. “Thanks, Little Han.”

The young man said, “You’re welcome, you’re welcome.”

Secretary Ci quickly opened the door. “Teacher Zhang, please come in.”

Zhang Ye went inside.

In the room.

Wu Zeqing was altering a document with her head lowered.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “It’s so difficult to meet you in here. I had to go all over the place just to get here since you didn’t arrange for anyone to bring me in.”

Wu Zeqing finished writing and put aside the document. She said with a smile, “I didn’t know what time you’d get here, so I didn’t arrange for Little Ci to meet you downstairs.”

“You’re so busy?” Zhang Ye asked.

Wu Zeqing said, “Yes, I was just transferred here a few months ago, but there’s already a lot of work piling up. It wasn’t so bad in the past few years when I was in a non-leadership role. There wasn’t much to do then, and I could still occasionally take care of our daughter when I wasn’t busy. But I can’t do that anymore.”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “You’re a deputy minister, so of course you’d be busy.”

Wu Zeqing said, “I’m just at the lowest rank of ministers in the Party, and it’s just a deputy post.”

Zhang Ye spread his hands and said, “It’s still a high-ranking official position. You didn’t see it earlier, but when I entered the compound, so many people were greeting me to the point that I felt embarrassed. It wasn’t so bad with the ‘Mr. Zhang,’ but some others were clearly around your age and greeted me as ‘Big Brother Zhang.’ I don’t even know if I should acknowledge them. I think it’s best that I come here as little as possible.”

Wu Zeqing smiled. “I’ll talk to them next time.”

Zhang Ye waved it off. “Forget it, this happened when you were at the SARFT too. I’m used to it.”

Old Wu had been officially posted to the Central Publicity Department, so Zhang Ye was actually pretty happy. He knew that after his incident, Old Wu also got implicated. They were a couple, after all. When Old Wu took the initiative to resign from her role at the SARFT after the incident, the party transferred her to a standard department. For several more postings after that, she continued being transferred to other standard departments, holding a non-leadership role as well. Now that her career was back on track, Zhang Ye felt very happy for her.

Zhang Ye asked, “Oh yes, Old Wu, why did you ask me to come here?”

Wu Zeqing pulled a drawer open and took out a document. “Take a look at this.”

“What is it?” Zhang Ye crossed his legs and sat back, taking the document from her.

Wu Zeqing smiled. “Aren’t you getting no work at the moment? I have a project over here, but it’s not anything good. Take a look and tell me if you’re OK with it.”

Zhang Ye blinked. “You even have something for me here?”

Wu Zeqing said, “I really do.”

Zhang Ye flipped through the document. He was dumbfounded!

A film and TV project?

An anti-corruption drama?

Wu Zeqing explained, “This was a project that the Central Publicity Department came up with at the end of last year. You may call it a political duty, because there is a very fierce crackdown ³ on the ‘tigers’ going on, and the State is very determined to fight corruption. As an ideological mouthpiece, the ministry is leading the way by producing a TV series, and the basic concept is anti-corruption. It’s been over half a year, but there hasn’t been any progress at all. There are many reasons for this, with one being that no one dares to take on a TV series with propaganda, and two being that there isn’t much funding for it. The funds that the ministry has for this project is limited, with at most 30 million RMB allocated to it. Based on the specifications, it’s not really enough to get any of the more popular actors on board for the project. We’ve approached quite a few directors, but none of them are willing to take it on. Although the ministry also has an in-house video department, they are only meant for doing promotions. There aren’t any professional film directors. With the lack of a director and a script, the project kept getting put on hold.”

Zhang Ye was already getting very excited. “Are there any limitations on the script?”

Wu Zeqing said, “No.”

Zhang Ye asked, “What about the scope of involvement?”

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, “It can involve official ranks.”

Zhang Ye said, “OK.”

Wu Zeqing said, “Without any restriction on how high up the ladder it can go.”

Zhang Ye said, “Don’t try to fool me. I know the criteria that the SARFT will assess it on. When one of the dramas back then showed a police station’s director getting involved in criminal activities, the SARFT banned it.”

Wu Zeqing smiled. “That’s old news from so many years ago. The SARFT is under our jurisdiction, so would they dare ban a project headed by the Central Publicity Department?” With a pause, she said, “Since this was requested by the higher-ups, everything will naturally be greenlit. But since this is a drama with a political message, there are some requirements to it. We request that it meet a 1% nationwide viewership rating. We don’t want to fork out 30 million yuan and end up having no one to watch it. That wouldn’t do. At the very least, there must be a minimum amount of viewers. This was also why a lot of the directors that we approached were unwilling to take on the project. There’s no profit to be made, yet they must still guarantee a minimum amount of viewership. Therefore, just like I told you, this project isn’t actually that good. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been delayed until now with no one wanting to take it on.”

An anti-corruption drama?

Without any restrictions?

Hahahaha!

Zhang Ye jumped to his feet.

Wu Zeqing said, “What is it?”

Zhang Ye strode up to Old Wu and excitedly kissed her. “Old Wu, you’re really my dearest wife!”

Wu Zeqing laughed. “What am I if I’m not your dearest wife?”

What do you call timely rains?

This is what you fucking call timely rains!

What do you call timely assistance?

This is what you bloody call timely assistance!

He was getting whatever he needed!

Wu Zeqing knew that her husband did not have any experience filming TV series and films, so she asked, “Can you direct a TV drama?”

Zhang Ye banged the table excitedly and said, “Can I direct it? I’ll direct one and show you what I can do. Old Wu, I accept this project!”